The Southwest waterfront

The wharves of Water Street and Maine Avenue, the fish market and the river steamers.

Many small sailing boats packed side by side at a wharf — 1921 Oyster and produce boats crowd the Water Street wharves, 1921.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 15349 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

History

Along the Washington Channel, Water Street was the city’s working waterfront: steamboat wharves for the lines to Norfolk and the river towns, fishing boats, and the Municipal Fish Market, in business since 1805. Behind it lay Southwest, a dense neighbourhood of small rowhouses.

What's there now

Almost all of Southwest was demolished in the urban renewal of the 1950s and 1960s, which evicted nearly all of its residents. The waterfront was redeveloped again as “The Wharf”, opened in 2017–2022. The Maine Avenue Fish Market still trades.

Then and now

The fish market is the one direct survivor: seafood is still sold from barges beside the channel. The wharves, warehouses and rowhouses in these photographs are gone.

Photographs 4, oldest first

Tall-masted wooden schooners moored at a wharf — 1921 Sailing schooners tied up along the waterfront, 1921.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 15348 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Children playing in a line in a playground with a shelter and trees — September 26, 1922 Children at play on the Virginia Avenue playground, September 26, 1922. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 20511 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Girls in white dancing in a park — September 26, 1922 Girls dance on the Virginia Avenue playground, September 26, 1922. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 20512 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Nearby: The Mall · Washington Barracks and the War College · The Potomac waterfront · The Tidal Basin and Potomac Park · Center Market