Washington City Canal
The segment of Constitution Avenue west of Pennsylvania Avenue was once the Washington City Canal.
Construction on the canal, which was part of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's original plan for the city, began substantially in 1810. Tiber Creek was transformed into the northern portion of the City Canal, which ran along what is today Constitution Avenue, eventually working its way towards the U.S. Capitol and southward to the Anacostia River. The canal began operation in 1815.
It is believed that early city plans called for building connections to an extensive network of canals that would snake through the northeastern United States. Plans for such a canal system were abandoned around this time, in favor of a railroad system that would connect Washington to the West. After the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad built tracks into the city in 1835, city officials abandoned their plans for their own rail system.
By the 1850s, the City Canal had fallen into disuse. It had become common for Washington residents to throw their garbage into it, and the unsanitary conditions became a health concern. In the 1870s, the city began to convert the Tiber Creek portion of the canal to an underground tunnel. Other portions of the canal were also paved over.
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