Southwest Waterfront

After the city was established, much of the former Young plantation was purchased by a Bostonian venture capitalist named James Greenleaf, who received a discount on sixty thousand real estate lots in exchange for a promise to build ten new houses on them per year.[citation needed]) As a result, except for a few scattered buildings such as Thomas Law's (a land speculator who was able to put down pounds sterling) and workers' shanties, settlement of the Southwest Waterfront was extremely slow.He also initiated the construction in 1802 of the Washington City Canal, which connected Tiber Creek, at the western foot of the National Mall, with the Anacostia River—then called the "Eastern Branch"—just east of the Arsenal.The canal opened in 1815 but was too shallow and subject to unstable tides to be useful as the industrial pipeline Law had hoped for; instead, it quickly filled with trash and stagnant water, isolating the Southwest from the rest of the city.The Waterfront developed a thriving commercial district with grocery stores, shops, a movie theater, as well as a few large and elaborate houses—mostly owned by wealthy blacks— but most of the neighborhood was a very poor shantytown of tenements, shacks, and even tents.There was some opposition to the plan, notably from the Southwest Civic Association, because of its emphasis on building luxury housing rather than supplying low and moderate-income dwellings to replace the homes slated for demolition.However, the redevelopment plans, which had been crafted by architects Louis Justement and Chloethiel Woodward Smith and included modernist buildings, ample green spaces, and plenty of parking, were popular among many city residents and officials, and their appeal eventually won out.Only a few buildings were left intact, notably the Maine Avenue Fish Market, the Wheat Row townhouses, the Thomas Law House, and the St. Dominic's and Friendship churches.The heart of the urban renewal of the Southwest Waterfront was Waterside Mall, a small shopping center/office complex mostly occupied by a Safeway grocery store and satellite offices for the United States Environmental Protection Agency.Hubert Humphrey lived there while serving as U.S. Vice President, and Thurgood Marshall, Lewis Powell, and David Souter all had homes in Southwest during their tenures on the United States Supreme Court.
The Thomas Law House built in 1796
Shulman's Market (ca. 1942) , one of many Jewish -owned businesses that once operated in Southwest Waterfront. This was a DGS Store . [ 5 ]
Titanic Memorial located beside the Washington Channel in Southwest Waterfront
The fire pit at the Wharf
Construction of The Wharf in 2015
The marina at the Wharf
Washington, D.C.United StatesCharles AllenSouthwestBellevueAnacostia RiverSoutheastInterstate 395Washington ChannelSouth Capitol StreetThomas Law HousePierre L'EnfantWheat RowFort McNairWashington City CanalTiber CreekNational MallCivil WarFriendship Baptist ChurchAl JolsonMarvin GayeshantytownLong BridgeAlexandria, VAMaryland Avenue SWAmerican Civil WarNorfolk & Washington Steamboat CompanyJewishDGS StoreCongressurban renewaleminent domainJohn IhlderMaine Avenue Fish MarketSafewayUnited States Environmental Protection AgencyArena StageSoutheastern UniversityNikita KhrushchevDwight D. EisenhowerBolling Air Force BaseSovietTitanic MemorialModern ArchitectureCharles GoodmanTiber IslandKeyes, Lethbridge & CondonAmerican Institute of ArchitectsWashington MetroWaterfrontGreen LineDistrict of Columbia Public LibrarySouthwest Neighborhood Library3D printerscondominiumWashington NationalsMadison Marquette"The Wharf"National Capital Planning CommissionL'Enfant PlazaNational Park ServiceHouse RepresentativeJohn ConyersCharles H. RamseyHubert HumphreyThurgood MarshallLewis PowellDavid SouterUnited States Supreme CourtSyphax Elementary SchoolRandall Junior High SchoolDC Waterfront, Maine AvenueDelilah PierceThe Wharf (Washington, D.C.)College BoardNational Register of Historic PlacesThe Washington PostAssociated PressBoston.comWashingtonianGothamist, LLCNational Mall and Memorial ParksWayback MachineArcadia Publishing