Kingman Island - Early Development Efforts

Early Development Efforts

In 1926, the National Aeronautic Association proposed filling in all or part of Kingman Lake to expand Kingman Island so that a new city airport could be built there. Two years later, the piers supporting the Benning Bridge were reconfigured to permit a dredge to pass between them. The existing piers (which were 26.5 feet (8.1 m) apart) were replaced with piers 30.5 feet (9.3 m) apart. The reconfiguration was exceptionally complex, as 92 percent of the city's electrical supply passed through cables carried by Benning Bridge. The new, large dredging ship Benning was used to dredge the upper part of the Anacostia River, and some of the fill from this operation was used to create two new islands in Kingman Lake, named Island No. 3 (3 acres (1.2 ha) in size) and Island No. 4 (4 acres (1.6 ha) in size).

In 1934, Benning Bridge was rebuilt as a beam bridge on concrete piers. That same year, the Corps of Engineers transferred ownership of Anacostia Park, Kingman and Heritage islands, and Kingman Lake to the National Park Service. The Park Service also proposed extending East Capitol Street onto the reclaimed land and then over the Anacostia River, and building a complex of sports stadiums, an armory, an outdoor theater, a swimming pool, an ice skating rink, and athletic fields on the flats. Legislation proposing a bridge across Kingman Island and stadium complex in Anacostia Park was submitted to Congress, which did not act on the proposals. The first nine holes of Langston Golf Course were built on the north end of Kingman Island in 1939, and the back nine on the lake's western shore in 1955.

Work on the islands stopped in 1941 due to budgetary and resource shortages associated with the advent of World War II. In August 1947, construction of an airport on Kingman Island was again proposed, but the NCPPC disapproved the proposal in December. The project was proposed again in August 1948, because dredged material was still being placed on Kingman Island to build it up and large portions of the island remained undeveloped.

In 1946, the last pair of bald eagles on the Anacostia River abandoned their nest on Kingman Island. Although a bird watcher claimed to have seen a bald eagle nest on the Anacostia River in 1988, the bald eagle did not return until transplanted eaglets returned to the river as adults in 2004.

The city finally extended East Capitol Street across the Anacostia River and Kingman Island in 1955. That 1934 proposal was finally approved by city and federal planners in 1949. Construction required that 650,000 cubic yards (500,000 m3) of lake bottom be dredged from Kingman Lake and replaced with sand and gravel to create a gently curving peninsula that extended 800 feet (240 m) into the western side of the lake. 1,300,000 cubic yards (990,000 m3) of fill would be used to raise the peninsula 35 feet (11 m) above the low water mark, so that the bridge's western approaches could built on the new land. The Whitney Young Memorial Bridge opened in November 1955.

Reclaimed land on the western shore of Kingman Lake became the site of RFK Stadium in 1957. D.C. officials, who had been seeking a site for a large all-purpose sports stadium since the early 1930s, finally won support from the U.S. House of Representatives for a stadium at Anacostia Park in January 1957. D.C. Commissioners approved the site a few days after the House vote, and the District of Columbia Stadium (renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in 1968) opened in 1961.

A number of development proposals were made for Kingman Island throughout the 1960s, although few were adopted. A second concrete span for Benning Bridge was constructed in 1961; the old span now carried eastbound traffic, while the new span carried only westbound traffic. In 1961, the NCPPC proposed filling in 59 acres (24 ha) of Kingman Lake (about 50 to 60 percent of the lake's total area) and relocating some of the riprap walls to make Islands 3 and 4 part of the mainland and add an additional 19 acres (7.7 ha) to Langston Golf Course. This plan was never acted on, and a year later the city proposed turning Kingman Island into a landfill. Two years later, the city proposed closing the first nine holes of Langston Golf Course and building a $10 million public aquarium on the site, but the National Park Service refused to turn over the land to the city. In 1965, the city again asked permission to turn Kingman Island into a landfill. Although this plan was not approved, the city did begin dumping environmental trash (such as grass cuttings, leaves, and tree stumps) on Kingman Island at this time. Four years later, the city proposed closing all of Langston Golf Course and building extensive low-income public housing on the golf course and the rest of Kingman Island.