The caption says that photo was taken in 1919............



In order to clean up the flats and to make the Potomac more navigable, Congress directed the Army Corp of Engineers to dredge the river. Sediment removed within the shipping channel was used to fill in the flats. The work started in 1882 and continued until 1890. In the photo above, you can see the river being dredged in the area that would form the East Potomac Park and the waterway between the park and the docks that is now the Washington Channel. When the project was completed, Washington, D.C., had 628 new acres of land as seen below.

Potomac Park, pictured here in 1919, begins to take shape. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-hec-12308

Over the years, the land became populated with many different attractions—memorials, a recreational center, and, of course, the cherry trees. The cherry trees were a gift from the mayor of Tokyo and were planted in 1912. This led to one of the most popular festivals in