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Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension facts for kids

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Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension
Lockkeeper's House.jpg
South side of Lockkeeper's House in August 2018
Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension is located in Central Washington, D.C.
Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension
Location in Central Washington, D.C.
Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension is located in the District of Columbia
Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension
Location in the District of Columbia
Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension is located in the United States
Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension
Location in the United States
Location 17th Street, and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.
Area less than one acre
Built 1835
NRHP reference No. 73000218
Added to NRHP November 30, 1973
Lockkeepers House Location Circa 1851
The Washington City Canal, circa 1851

The Lockkeeper's House, C & O Canal Extension is the oldest building on the National Mall, built in 1837 at what is now the southwest corner of 17th Street, NW and Constitution Avenue, NW, near Constitution Gardens.

The building dates to a period when the south end of 17th Street, NW was a wharf and Constitution Avenue, NW was the location of a section of the Washington City Canal, which connected the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. An eastward extension of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O Canal) met the Potomac River and the Washington City Canal at a canal lock.

The 350 square foot house served the canal lock keeper, who collected tolls, recorded commerce, maintained the canal and managed traffic.

History

The C & O Canal was extended between 1832 and 1833, to connect to the Washington City Canal. The lockkeeper's house was built in 1837 for toll collecting and record keeping, only to be abandoned in 1855 with the demise of the canal 30 years after its construction — which by then had ceded transportation of heavy goods to the nascent railroads and deteriorated into an open sewer.

In disrepair, the building became a squatters' tenement and in 1903 was partially renovated as a headquarters for the United States Park Police, with a holding cell. The house was relocated west in 1915 and aligned in its original east-west orientation parallel to B Street, NW (now Constitution Avenue, NW), which had been constructed above former sections of the Washington Canal and of the C&O Canal Extension after the covering of the two canals. Changes made to the structure at the time included removal of the original brick chimneys and their replacement with shorter stone chimneys.

On July 4, 1928, the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks installed a historical plaque on the building's exterior. In 1940, the first floor of the building was used as rest rooms then used as storage. It ultimately sat boarded up for forty years. As the intersection grew, street and sidewalk traffic encroached increasingly on the house until the traffic became adjacent to the house.

In October 2017, a National Park Service (NPS) contractor moved the building 36 feet (11.0 m) to the south and 35 feet (10.7 m) to the west (away from Constitution Avenue, NW, and 17th Street, NW) while retaining the structure's east-west orientation. The NPS restored the building's exterior to its pre-1915 modifications and replaced the structure's brick chimneys, thus restoring the building to its original 1800s appearance. The building reopened temporarily in late August 2018 and permanently on September 13 of that year. The house now serves in its new location as an NPS education center as part of the first phase of a renovation of Constitution Gardens.

Pictures

1900s

  • Lock Keeper's House, Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue 025997pv
    North side of Lockkeeper's House from opposite side of Constitution Avenue
    c. 1934-1935
  • Lock Keeper's House, Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue 311937pv
    Lockkeeper's House, facing southeast
    c. 1934-1935
  • Exterior of Lock Keeper's House 38804u
    Lockkeeper's House, facing southeast with Washington Monument in background
    c.1920-1950
  • Lock Keeper's House, Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue 025996pv
    Lockkeeper's House facing southeast from opposite side of Constitution Avenue

2000s

  • Lockkeeper's House, DC
    North side of Lockkeeper's House facing sidewalk of Constitution Avenue in 2008
  • Lock Keeper's House plaque by Matthew Bisanz
    Lockkeeper's House plaque photographed in 2009
  • LockKeeper'sHouse
    North side of Lockkeeper's House facing Constitution Avenue in 2012
  • LKDC2
    South side of Lockkeeper's House in 2013
  • Lockkeeper's House (8214d6a2-ff79-43b6-92fd-dc2238206131)
    South side of Lockkeeper's House in 2018


Images for kids

  • Lock Keeper's House, Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue 025997pv
    North side of Lockkeeper's House from opposite side of Constitution Avenue c. 1934-1935
  • Lock Keeper's House, Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue 311937pv
    Lockkeeper's House, facing southeast c. 1934-1935
  • Lock Keeper's House, Seventeenth Street & Constitution Avenue 025996pv
    Lockkeeper's House facing southeast from opposite side of Constitution Avenue
  • Lockkeeper's House, DC
    North side of Lockkeeper's House facing sidewalk of Constitution Avenue in 2008
  • Lock Keeper's House plaque by Matthew Bisanz
    Lockkeeper's House plaque photographed in 2009
  • LockKeeper'sHouse
    North side of Lockkeeper's House facing Constitution Avenue in 2012
  • LKDC2
    South side of Lockkeeper's House in 2013
  • Lockkeeper's House (8214d6a2-ff79-43b6-92fd-dc2238206131)
    South side of Lockkeeper's House in 2018