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RE: Early DC
They had many more problems with flooding then, Gene, than now. The Army Corps of Engineers has done great work over the years to release the pressure on flood-prone areas.
One of the worst areas in my childhood and earlier (ancient times) was right on the Maryland-D.C. line in a town known as Bladensburg (where the British defeated a weak American contingent in 1814 and marched across the border to burn the Capitol, White House, etc.). Bladensburg had been a major port town in the early days, but silting had affected the channels of the Eastern Branch of the Potomac (what we now call the Anacostia River).
After World War I, our county had erected a huge monument to the war dead. It is called the Peace Cross, and every heavy rainy time, the Cross would be standing in water. I believe that it was the 1950s when the Army finally dredged and widened the Anacostia (with a big ditch) to prevent such occurrences.
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