Independence Avenue (Washington D.C.)

Independence Avenue

Street sign at 1900 Independence Avenue SW
Former name(s)	B Street
Maintained by	DDOT
Location	Washington, D.C., US
West end	Ohio Drive SW
Major junctions	Maine Avenue SW 14th Street SW Washington Avenue SW Pennsylvania Avenue SE Massachusetts Avenue SE
East end	East Capitol Street
Construction
Commissioned	1791
Completion	1941

Independence Avenue is a major east-west street in the southwest and southeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States, running just south of the United States Capitol. Originally named South B Street, Independence Avenue SW was constructed between 1791 and 1823. Independence Avenue SE was constructed in pieces as residential development occurred east of the United States Capitol and east of the Anacostia River. Independence Avenue SW received its current name after Congress renamed the street in legislation approved on April 13, 1934. Independence Avenue SW originally had its western terminus at 14th Street SW, but was extended west to Ohio Drive SW in 1941 and 1942. The government of the District of Columbia renamed the portion of the road in the southeast quadrant of the city (west of the Anacostia River) in 1950.

In the District of Columbia's Cartesian-coordinate-based street-naming system, Independence Avenue was originally known as South B Street. The street began construction sometime after 1791. By October 1803, it existed definitively between New Jersey Avenue and 1st Street East, and in 1809 it was opened between New Jersey Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. By 1816, the entire length of the avenue appears to have been opened. At the time, South B Street's western terminus was on the shore of the Potomac River, which at the time was located where 14th Street NW is now.

After terrible flooding inundated much of downtown Washington, D.C., in 1881, Congress ordered the United States Army Corps of Engineers to dredge a deep channel in the Potomac to lessen the chance of flooding. Congress also ordered that the dredged material be used to fill in what remained of the Tiber Creek estuary and build up much of the land near the White House and along Pennsylvania Avenue NW by nearly 6 feet (1.8 m) to form a kind of levee. This "reclaimed land" — which today includes West Potomac Park, East Potomac Park, the Tidal Basin — was largely complete by 1890, and designated Potomac Park by Congress in 1897. Congress first appropriated money for the beautification of the reclaimed land in 1902, which led to the planting of sod, bushes, and trees; grading and paving of sidewalks, bridle paths, and driveways; and the installation of water, drainage, and sewage pipes. But South B Street was not extended through the newly reclaimed land.