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Tiber Creek
D.C. Tributary
Tiber Creek is a paved-over tributary of the Potomac that flows under the streets of Washington, DC. It was a free-flowing creek until it was channeled in 1815 and became part of the Washington City Canal. Originally known as Goose Creek, the stream played a central role in the early geography of Washington, D.C. Before the city was established, the creek meandered from the hills north of the Capitol down to the Potomac River, forming a broad tidal estuary near what is now the National Mall. In the late 1700s, Pierre L'Enfant envisioned transforming the creek into a commercial waterway, and by 1815 it was incorporated into the Washington City Canal. However, the canal quickly fell into disrepair and became an open sewer. In the 1870s, city officials enclosed the creek in underground tunnels, effectively erasing it from the surface landscape. Today, Tiber Creek still flows beneath Constitution Avenue, a hidden reminder of the city's watery past.
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D.C. Department of the Environment
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