1634 Maryland Colony founded 1742 Bladensburg chartered as a shipping port for tobacco 1800 Agriculture shifts from tobacco to grain 1850 Potomac River becomes D.C.’s principal water supply
Port of Bladensburg silted in and useless 1861-1865 Civil War; epidemics of smallpox, typhoid, and malaria; government investigates sanitary sewerage 1871-1873 The Anacostia is viewed by local government as a sewage conduit 1890-1898 Col. Peter C. Haines plans to reclaim Anacostia mudflats 1902 Army Corps of Engineers dredges parts of the Anacostia 1916 Kingman Island created 1918 Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission organized to investigate typhoid epidemic and ensure pure water for Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, MD 1930s Evolution of land use in the watershed from agriculture to urbanization 1932 Bacterial contamination closes a large portion of the Anacostia 1938 Wastewater treatment plant at Blue Plains opens (find out more) 1948 Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 provides the first federal funds for state water control programs (find out more) 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson calls the Potomac “a national disgrace” 1971 D.C. Council prohibits water contact sports in the Potomac, Rock Creek, and the Anacostia 1972 Anacostia experiences major fish kills; Federal Clean Water Act passes (find out more) 1980 50 percent of the Anacostia watershed is urbanized; population reaches 569,000 1987 98 percent of the tidal wetlands and 75 percent of the basin’s freshwater wetlands lost or destroyed by this date 1988-1995 260 spills of hazardous substances totaling nearly 60,000 gallons in the Anacostia 2003 Anacostia Watershed Initiative of 2003, federal law 2005 Trash-Free Potomac Treaty (find out more) 2008 Kingman Island opens to public (find out more) 2010 D.C. Bag Bill law goes into effect (find out more)
Chronology adapted from The Anacostia River: The Death & Life of an American River by John Wennersten. Return to Making Mud of the Ancient Anacostia.