Kingman Lake

Kingman Lake
A view of the northern portion of Kingman Lake on the west side of Kingman Island, facing south
Location	Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′47.41″N 76°57′55.91″W / 38.8965028°N 76.9655306°W / 38.8965028; -76.9655306Coordinates: 38°53′47.41″N 76°57′55.91″W / 38.8965028°N 76.9655306°W / 38.8965028; -76.9655306
Type	Artificial
Primary inflows	Anacostia River
Primary outflows	Anacostia River, evaporation
Basin countries	United States
Built	1920 (1920)
Surface area	110 acres (0.45 km2)
Average depth	6 feet (1.8 m)
Islands	4 (Kingman Island, Heritage Island, Island No. 3, Island No. 4)
Settlements	Washington, D.C.
References

Kingman Lake is a 110-acre (0.45 km²) artificial lake located in the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The lake was created in 1920 when the United States Army Corps of Engineers used material dredged from the Anacostia River to create Kingman Island. The Corps of Engineers largely blocked the flow of the Anacostia River to the west of Kingman Island, creating the lake (although some water is permitted to enter the lake to prevent it from completely evaporating and to refresh its waters). Kingman Lake is currently managed by the National Park Service.

Prior to the arrival of European settlers in the 18th century, the Anacostia River was a fast-flowing and relatively silt-free river with very few mudflats or marshes. White settlers cleared much of the surrounding forest for farmland, however, and extensive soil erosion led to a heavy load of silt and effluent in the Anacostia. In 1805, local landowner Benjamin Stoddert built a wooden bridge over the Anacostia River at the present site of Benning Bridge. The bridge was sold to Thomas Ewell, who in the 1820s sold it to William Benning. Thereafter the structure was known as Benning's Bridge (or Benning Bridge). The wooden bridge was rebuilt several times after 1805. This included construction of a steel bridge in 1892. The construction of Benning and other bridges and the diversion of inflowing streams to agricultural use also slowed the river's current, allowing much of the silt to settle and be deposited.

Between 1860 and the late 1880s, large mudflats ("the Anacostia flats") formed on both banks of the Anacostia River due to this deforestation and runoff. At this time, the city allowed its sewage to pour untreated into the Anacostia. Marsh grass began growing in the flats, trapping the sewage and leading public health experts to conclude that the flats were unsanitary. Health officials also feared that the flats were a prime breeding ground for malaria- and yellow fever-carrying mosquitoes. By 1876, a large mudflat had formed just to the south of the western end of Benning Bridge, and another mudflat about 740 feet (230 m) wide had developed in the river south of that. By 1883, a stream named "Succabel's Gut" traversed the upper flat and another dubbed "Turtle Gut" the lower, and both flats hosted substantial populations of American lotus, lily pads, and wild rice.