The Georgetown waterfront is one of the oldest areas in the Washington, D.C. region. Today it is a park, but over the years it has experienced evolving periods of commercial prosperity and urban blight.
The waterfront was a bustling port during the Colonial period, dotted with wharves and tobacco warehouses.
According to the Washington Post, “by the end of the 18th century, it was just about the largest tobacco port in the United States, an economic powerhouse.”After the Civil War the port entered into a long period of decline, as numerous factors contributed to make Georgetown a less than attractive navigational destination. Construction of the Long Bridge at 14th Street prevented sailing ships with large masts from traveling up the river. Worse still, the piers that supported the bridge span were magnets for sediment, and the Potomac soon began to silt up. The port began to hemorrhage traffic as steam power replaced sails and the size of oceangoing ships increased. The draft on these new larger ships required depths greater than the 20-foot waters at Georgetown.
The waterfront was revived in the beginning of the 20th century as new factories sprouted up. The American Ice Company produced and stored its frozen products in large ice houses opposite the…
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