South Capitol Street

South Capitol Street

Looking north at the United States Capitol while standing on South Capitol Street
Other name(s)	South Capitol Street SW South Capitol Street SE
Maintained by	DDOT
Width	130 feet (40 m) (total width) 10 feet (3.0 m) (sidewalk)
Location	Washington, D.C., U.S.
South end	MD 210 / Southern Avenue
Major junctions	Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE I‑295 (Anacostia Freeway) Suitland Parkway M Street I‑695 (Southeast Freeway) Washington Avenue
North end	Independence Avenue
Construction
Commissioned	1791
Completion	1940

South Capitol Street is a major street dividing the southeast and southwest quadrants of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It runs south from the United States Capitol to the D.C.-Maryland line, intersecting with Southern Avenue. After it enters Maryland, the street becomes Indian Head Highway (Maryland Route 210) at the Eastover Shopping Center, a terminal or transfer point of many bus routes.

South Capitol Street from the United States Capitol to the Anacostia River was part of the L'Enfant Plan of streets for the District of Columbia. The Residence Act of 1790 gave President George Washington the authority to select the location for the national capital, and the area comprising the District of Columbia was chosen in late 1790. A surveying commission was chosen in January 1791, and in August 1791 Pierre Charles L'Enfant had delivered his plan for the city to Washington. Construction of the segment of South Capitol Street from the Capitol to the Anacostia River occurred over the decade, as the roadway was surveyed, trees were felled, brush and stumps removed, a roadway graded, and the street later paved with a variety of surfaces (wood blocks, granite blocks, oiled earth, aggregate, and macadam).

The area east of the Anacostia River remained mostly farms and forest with few roads. The area was served primarily by the Navy Yard Bridge, constructed in 1820. The first residential development in the area was Uniontown (now the neighborhood of Anacostia), begun in 1854. The following year, the federal government constructed the Government Hospital for the Insane (later known as St. Elizabeths Hospital). To serve the hospital, Asylum Avenue was constructed from the Navy Yard Bridge to the new hospital and then, running on the east side of a line of hills, down to the District-Maryland line. Additional construction in the area occurred during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The United States Department of War constructed the George Washington Young cavalry magazine on 90 acres (360,000 m²) of land on Giesborough Point. Two forts, Fort Carroll and Fort Greble, were constructed on the bluffs that began just west and adjacent to Asylum Road. After the war, the 375-acre (1,520,000 m²) Barry Farm housing development for freed slaves opened in 1867 and was rapidly occupied. Aslyum Avenue was named Nichols Avenue in 1879 in honor of hospital superintendent Charles Henry Nichols.