Kingman and Heritage Islands are artificial islands located in the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Both islands were built from material dredged from the river and completed in 1916.Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1994..., 1994, p. 79.Turner, Justice on Earth: Earthjustice and the People It Has Served, 2002, p. 54.Forgey, "The Anacostia, Stream of Consciousness," Washington Post, March 28, 1987.Barker, "Clouds Gathering Over Children's Island," Washington Post, August 9, 1991. Kingman Island is bordered on the east by the River and on the west by the Kingman Lake. Heritage Island is surrounded by Kingman Lake. Both islands were federally owned property managed by the National Park Service until the D.C. government took control in 1995.
Kingman Island is bisected by Benning Road via the Ethel Kennedy Bridge at a place called the Burnham Barrier, with the southern half of the island bisected by East Capitol Street via the Whitney Young Memorial Bridge.United States Congressional Serial Set, Issue 14361, 1998, p. 45. Langston Golf Course occupied the northern half of Kingman Island, while Heritage Island and the southern half of Kingman Island constitute the protected Kingman and Heritage Island Park. The former RFK Stadium and future New Stadium at RFK Campus are located to the west. Kingman Island and Lake are named after Dan Christie Kingman, the former head of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.Forgey, Benjamin. "The Anacostia, Stream of Consciousness." Washington Post. March 28, 1987.
History
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.Busey, "The History and Progress of Sanitation in the City of Washington...", Annual Addresses of the President of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, 1899, p. 151. 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 Ethel Kennedy Bridge.Bryan, A History of the National Capital From Its Foundation Through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act, 1914, p. 492.Croggon, "When City Was Young," Washington Evening Star, August 17, 1906. The bridge was sold to Thomas Ewell, who in the 1820s sold it to William Benning.Bryan, A History of the National Capital From Its Foundation Through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act, 1914, p. 98-99. 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.Wasserman and Hausrath, Washington, D.C. from A to Z: The Traveler's Look-Up Source for the Nation's Capital, 2003, p. 33. 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.Busey, "The History and Progress of Sanitation in the City of Washington...", Annual Addresses of the President of the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, 1899, p. 152-153.
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.Gutheim and Lee, Worthy of the Nation, 2006, p. 147.Coues and Prentiss, "Avifauna Columbiana," Bulletin of the United States National Museum, No. 26, 1883, p. 17. 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 immediately south of Benning Bridge and another flat some wide had developed south of that.Report of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, 1876, p. 357. By 1883, a stream named "Succabel's Gut" traversed the upper flat and another dubbed "Turtle Gut" the lower, and almost all flats on the river hosted substantial populations of American lotus, lily pads, and wild rice.
Dredging
In 1898, officials with the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the District of Columbia convinced the United States Congress that the Anacostia River should be dredged to create a more commercially viable channel that would enhance the local economy."To Dredge Anacostia River," Washington Post, August 9, 1902. The dredged material would be used to build up the marshes—drying them out and eliminating the public health dangers they caused, as well as creating land where factories or warehouses might be built. Although the height of the reclaimed land would vary from to (the amount of dredged material depended on how much money was appropriated), the Corps of Engineers hoped to reclaim mudflats from Pennsylvania Avenue SE north to at least Benning Bridge.
Decisions on how to use the newly created land occurred over the next few years. In 1900, the United States Senate established the McMillan Commission, a body to advise the Congress and District of Columbia on ways to improve the parks, monuments, memorials, and infrastructure of the city as well as plan for urban renewal, economic growth, and expansion of the federal government. The McMillan Commission concluded that commercial land was not needed and proposed turning the reclaimed flats into parkland.Gutheim and Lee, Worthy of the Nation, 2006, p. 148."Flats Soon to Go," Washington Post, October 10, 1909. The D.C. government agreed in 1905, and the United States Commission of Fine Arts (a federal advisory agency with review authority over the design and aesthetics of projects within Washington, D.C.) and the Army Corps of Engineers concurred in 1914. Most of the reclaimed mudflats were subsequently declared to be parkland and named Anacostia Water Park (now Anacostia Park) in 1919. The National Capital Park and Planning Commission (NCPPC) signed on (belatedly) to the park plan in 1928.
The original dredging plan called for a channel wide on the Anacostia's west bank from the 11th Street Bridges to Massachusetts Avenue SE, narrowing to a wide channel from Massachusetts Avenue SE to the Maryland-District border line. In addition to this channel (which was meant to facilitate the passage of cargo ships), the McMillan Commission proposed building a dam across the Anacostia River at Massachusetts Avenue SE or at Benning Bridge to form a large lake for fishing and recreational boating."$1,000,000 For Flats," Washington Post, February 25, 1910. The commission also proposed using dredged material to build islands within the lake. The Washington Post reported in July 1914 that Congress had approved the plan for a dam on the river at Massachusetts Avenue SE."Reclaim Anacostia Flats," Washington Post, July 12, 1914. By 1916, the Corps of Engineers was still planning a dam, with access to the deep lake behind it controlled by locks."Another Aquatic Mecca Is Due In Near Future," Washington Post, July 30, 1916. The Corps also planned to create several large islands in the lake and planned to replace Benning Bridge with a drawbridge to accommodate cargo ship traffic through the lake."Drop Benning Bridge Draw," Washington Post, December 16, 1921.
The firm of Sanford and Brooks began the dredging in January 1903, at which time the Army Corps of Engineers began surveying the surrounding land to determine whether the federal government or private landowners had title to the marshes themselves."Dredging Anacostia Channel," Washington Post, January 15, 1903. The survey work was complete by November 1905, with the U.S. government asserting ownership over the flats."For A Park on Flats," Washington Post, November 5, 1905. In June 1912, Congress appropriated $100,000 to dredge the Anacostia from the 11th Street Bridges to the District-Maryland line.Tindall, Standard History of the City of Washington From a Study of the Original Sources, 1914, p. 480. In June 1915, the dredges discovered two large anchors with many feet of chain attached to them. The anchors were believed to have come from United States Navy gunboat barges burned on the Anacostia River in 1814 during the War of 1812."Digs Up Historic Anchors," Washington Post, June 20, 1915. Both Kingman Island and Heritage Island were completed in 1916.
1920s–1940s
In 1926, the National Aeronautic Association proposed filling in all or part of Kingman Lake to expand Kingman Island so that an airport could be built there."Chances of Airport in Anacostia Fade After Conference," Washington Post, August 11, 1926. Two years later, the piers supporting the Benning Bridge were reconfigured to permit a dredge to pass between them. The existing piers (which were apart) were replaced with piers apart."Reclaiming Flats for Anacostia Park Is Carried In Bill," Washington Post, March 25, 1928. The reconfiguration was exceptionally complex, as 92 percent of the city's electrical supply passed through cables carried by Benning Bridge."Concrete Culvert For Kingman Lake Nears Completion," Washington Post, January 27, 1929. The new, large dredging ship Benning was used to dredge the upper part of the Anacostia River, and some of the fill from this operation was used to create two new islands in Kingman Lake, named Island No. 3 ( in size) and Island No. 4 ( in size).
In 1934, Benning Bridge was rebuilt as a beam bridge on concrete piers.Wheeler, "Benning Heights' Twists and Turns," Washington Post, October 25, 1997. That same year, the Corps of Engineers transferred ownership of Anacostia Park, Kingman and Heritage islands, and Kingman Lake to the National Park Service.Abrams, Capital Sporting Grounds: A History of Stadium and Ballpark Construction in Washington, D.C., 2008, p. 161-162. The Park Service also proposed extending East Capitol Street onto the reclaimed land and then over the Anacostia River, and building a complex of sports stadiums, an armory, an outdoor theater, a swimming pool, an ice skating rink, and athletic fields on the flats.Abrams, Capital Sporting Grounds: A History of Stadium and Ballpark Construction in Washington, D.C., 2008, p. 162."Stadium Plans Will Be Given To Park Board," Washington Post, June 26, 1935. Legislation proposing a bridge across Kingman Island and stadium complex in Anacostia Park was submitted to Congress, which did not act on the proposals.Abrams, Capital Sporting Grounds: A History of Stadium and Ballpark Construction in Washington, D.C., 2008, p. 166. The first nine holes of Langston Golf Course were built on the north end of Kingman Island in 1939, and the back nine on the lake's western shore in 1955.Fitzpatrick and Goodwin, The Guide to Black Washington: Places and Events of Historical and Cultural Significance in the Nation's Capital, 2001, p. 52.
Work on the islands stopped in 1941 due to budgetary and resource shortages associated with the advent of World War II.Rogers, "Recreational Plan For River Region to Be Reviewed After 15-Year Halt," Washington Post, November 9, 1956. In August 1947, construction of an airport on Kingman Island was again proposed,"Plans Speeded to Construct Airport on Kingman Island," Washington Post, August 28, 1947. but the NCPPC disapproved the proposal in December."Airport Site On Kingman Island Out," Washington Post, December 13, 1947. The project was proposed again in August 1948, because dredged material was still being placed on Kingman Island to build it up and large portions of the island remained undeveloped."Trade Board Recommends Airstrip on Kingman I.," Washington Post, August 17, 1948.