The southern part of the Pennsylvania Avenue district was flooded many times in the last three decades of the 19th century. Major floods occurred in October 1870 (during which Chain Bridge was destroyed), February 1881, November 1887, and June 1889 (the same storm which caused the Johnstown Flood).[6] Floodwaters were high enough that rowboats were used on the avenue, and horse-drawn streetcars saw water reach the bottom of the trams.[6] After a disastrous flood in 1881, the United States Army Corps of Engineers dredged a deep channel in the Potomac and used the material to fill in the Potomac (creating the current banks of the river) and raise much of the land near the White House and along Pennsylvania Avenue NW by nearly 6 feet (1.8 m).[7][8][9] Much of the dredged material was used to build up the existing tidal flats in the Potomac River as well as sandbars which had been created by silting around Long Bridge.[10] Reclamation occurred in three phases: Section 1 (what is now 135-acre (550,000 m2) West Potomac Park), section 2 (what is now the 277-acre (1,120,000 m2) area around the Tidal Basin), and section 3 (what is now 327-acre (1,320,000 m2) East Potomac Park).[11] Congress formally designated these areas "Potomac Park" on March 3, 1897.[12]
To ensure that the island was not eroded by the river, poplars and willows were planted along edge of the island to stabilize the shoreline.[13] Over the next two decades, most of East Potomac Park lay untouched, and dense thickets of trees and brush grew up on the island.[14] Dredging of the Potomac River continued even after East Potomac Park was considered finished, and additional dredged material was placed on the island in late 1900,[15] 1901, 1902,[16] 1903,[17] 1904,[18] and 1907.[19]
Beginning in late 1907, a bridge was built across the Tidal Basin Outlet Channel, carrying the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway (a streetcar line) over the Washington Channel and the Long Bridge into Virginia. This was completed in June 1908.[20] More dredge material was deposited on the island in 1909,[21] 1911,[22] and 1912.[23]
In 1900, the United States Senate established the Senate Park Commission to reconcile competing visions for the development of Washington, D.C., and the parks within it. Better known as the "McMillan Commission" because of its influential chairman, Senator James McMillan, the Commission released a document known as McMillan Plan in 1902.[7] The McMillan Plan called for turning the undeveloped land into a formal park with extensive recreation facilities.[24][25]
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