Beneath our feet flows a story as rich and complex as the city that surrounds us. We are standing near the path of what was once known as Goose Creek. Later, it was renamed Tiber Creek. This creek played a vital role in the early development of Washington D.C. It is a story of transformation, engineering, and the relentless march of progress.
Goose Creek got its new name from settler Francis Pope. He owned a large farmstead along its banks in the late 1600s. With a touch of grandiosity, he dubbed his land “Rome”. So, he renamed the creek after the famous river of the Italian city.
Imagine this area centuries ago. The banks of Goose Creek were covered in lush trees and bushes. The creek teemed with fish. Anglers could catch shad, herring, eels, pike, catfish, and perch. They fished as far upstream as Pennsylvania Avenue and Second Street NW.
Pierre Charles L’Enfant envisioned a grand plan for the city in 1791. He saw Goose Creek as a potential commercial waterway. The creek could be widened and channeled into a canal, connecting to the Potomac River. By 1815, the western part of the creek became part of the Washington City Canal. It ran along what is now Constitution Avenue.
However, the Washington City Canal became a notorious open sewer by the 1840s. Washington lacked a separate storm drain system at the time. In 1871, Alexander “Boss” Shepherd joined the D.C. Board of Public Works. He initiated massive infrastructure improvements. One key project enclosed Tiber Creek and the Washington City Canal. Engineer Adolf Cluss constructed a tunnel from Capitol Hill to the Potomac. It was large enough for a bus to drive through. This effectively put Tiber Creek underground.
Today, many buildings on the north side of Constitution Avenue stand above the buried creek. The Internal Revenue Service Building is one example. Part of it is built on wooden piers sunk into the wet ground along the creek’s former path.
Sometimes, the past resurfaces. The low-lying topography contributed to flooding in 2006. The National Archives Building, IRS headquarters, and the William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building were temporarily closed.
Even during the construction of the Ronald Reagan Building in the 1990s, engineers had to divert the water. Dewatering efforts caused the wooden piers under the IRS building to lose stability. Part of the building’s foundation even began to sink.
A pub once stood near Tiber Creek’s historic course north of Capitol Hill. It was appropriately named the Tiber Creek Pub. Today, the Bistro Bis restaurant occupies that location. A lock keeper’s house from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal remains at the southwest corner of Constitution Avenue and 17th Street NW. It marks the former mouth of Tiber Creek and the western end of the Washington City Canal.
So, as you explore the city, remember the hidden story of Goose Creek. It is a reminder that beneath the surface of modern Washington, a natural world once thrived. It shaped the city’s development in profound ways.