Many folks don’t know a canal system once crossed the National Mall, replete with locks to manage the differing water levels, just like the Panama Canal. Now, you can dig into the history of the canal by visiting the Lockkeeper’s House: the oldest building on the National Mall is officially open to the public after being shuttered for the last 40 years.
As reported by Smithsonian, the Lockkeeper's House sits at the corner of 17th Street and Constitution Avenue in Washington DC and is now open for visitors to tour exhibits and attend a six-minute immersive multi-media program about the mall’s history and growth. The programming cost nearly $1 million and focuses on topics like Native American history and culture, city planning, the area’s story of enslavement and African American perseverance, and the National Mall’s recognition as a civic stage.
The 540-square-foot structure is made of stone walls on the interior and exterior. The lockkeeper in residence would have operated the lock, collected tolls from users and kept records of merchandise entering the city. When the canal system was abandoned, the house too was deserted, in 1855. The house, originally built in 1837, was restored and moved to its present location in 2018 by the Trust for the National Mall in partnership with the National Park Service. The move involved taking out the bottom four feet of stones, which were carefully inventoried so that they could be perfectly replaced upon arrival.
The house has served several oddball jobs since the canal was removed: a tool shed, watchman’s lodge, and for a brief time, a park police jail.
As for the canal, The C&O (Chesapeake & Ohio) Canal once had an extension running along today’s Constitution Avenue where the Lockkeeper’s House was built. A key supporter of Washington’s earliest canal system? Yup: George Washington. He created a company called the Potowmack Company that built several canals to make navigation on the Potomac River easier.
The house is now meant to welcome visitors to the National Mall, a great place to stop in first and get an introduction to the complex.