The Division WILSON PLAZA SOUTH PASSAGE
Soon after the federal government moved to Washington in 1800, the southwest portion of the Triangle attracted shops and stables to serve the new residents. Where Constitution Avenue runs today, Tiber Creek flowed — and often flooded. In 1815 engineers transformed it into a canal. By 1860, however, the Washington Canal had deteriorated into an open sewer. Impoverished families, both African American and white, lived in small wood-frame houses along unpaved, often muddy streets and alleys. Crime was rampant. The Civil War (1861-1865) brought thousands of soldiers and civilians into the capital, and brothels and saloons thrived. This area became known as “Hooker’s Division,” a pun on the name of General Joseph Hooker, who commanded an Army division defending Washington. After the war, Alexander “Boss” Shepherd, head of Washington’s powerful Board of Public Works, filled and paved over the canal. Reformers such as the Central Union Mission and Anti-Saloon League moved here, as did industrial enterprises. Yet the old businesses continued — despite the 1908 arrival of the District Building, home to the city government and police department — until Congress outlawed prostitution in 1914 and Prohibition closed the saloons a few years later. The Division, including a church and a school, was bulldozed for construction of the Federal Triangle in 1926. Five years later, Congress renamed B Street, NW, the old canal route, Constitution Avenue. The arched South Passage to Constitution Avenue showcases a picturesque Federal Triangle cobblestone walk.
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