Coquelin Run

Last updated
Coquelin Run
Coquelin Run at Connecticut Avenue.jpg
Connecticut Avenue culvert
Location
State Maryland
County Montgomery County, Maryland
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • location Bethesda, Maryland
 • coordinates 38°58′57″N77°05′28″W / 38.9825°N 77.091111°W / 38.9825; -77.091111 [1]
Mouth  
 • location
Rock Creek
 • coordinates
 38°59′40″N77°03′47″W / 38.994444°N 77.063056°W / 38.994444; -77.063056
Basin size1.71 square miles (4.4 km2)
Basin features
River system Rock Creek

Coquelin Run is a tributary of Rock Creek in Montgomery County, Maryland. It rises in the Town of Chevy Chase, runs for about two miles while draining an area of 1,095 acres (1.71 square miles), and debouches in Rock Creek. [2]

Contents

While the stream valley remains largely wooded, it has long been affected by nearby urban and suburban development, and its course has been followed for more than a century by railroads and rail trails.

Course

Coquelin Run rises just east of Elm Street Park in the Town of Chevy Chase, apparently fed by nearby springs or groundwater. It flows for several hundred yards through the back yards of properties along the north and west sides of Elm Street and Oakridge Lane.

Several storm sewers carry water into the stream from nearby Bethesda, particularly a 24" cast-iron outfall just below and south of the Georgetown Branch Interim Trail. On particularly rainy days, the stormwater can exceed the stream's normal flow. [3]

Along the west side of Maple Avenue, the stream runs into a large concrete conduit that ultimately carries it under East-West Highway. [4]

After Coquelin Run emerges north of the road, it enters Columbia Country Club and crosses the southern part of its golf course. A landscaped channel carries it past or through holes 1, 15, 16, 17, and 18; it is dammed at the 17th hole to create a 250-yard-long pond south of the green, where it is joined by other streams. [5] After the stream leaves club property, it runs through woods to a culvert under Connecticut Avenue, then through a wooded, once-dammed valley, and thence to Rock Creek.

History

For the first hundred years after the founding of Washington, D.C., Coquelin Run drained "a patchwork of open fields around occasional farm houses and barns." [6]

Suburban development reached Coquelin Run in 1892, when the Chevy Chase Land Company graded an extension of Connecticut Avenue from the District of Columbia to just north of the stream. A culvert was built to carry the stream under the dirt road and the double-track streetcar line that ran down its center. This was the Rock Creek Railway, formed by the Land Company to haul passengers to its nascent development of Chevy Chase, Maryland. Where the tracks and the road ended, just past Coquelin Run's northern bank, the Land Company built a terminal complex: a railway office of pressed brick, a wood-framed car barn, and a coal-fired power house with a tall chimney. Coal would be supplied by a new railroad spur: the Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which ran along the northern side of the stream's valley west of Rock Creek.

As part of the project, the Land Company dammed Coquelin Run about a half mile east of Connecticut Avenue. The resulting artificial lake had two purposes: to supply water to the power plant's steam turbines, and to be the centerpiece of a trolley park named Chevy Chase Lake. [6] The 3.5-acre lake, roughly 160 by 240 yards, was eventually populated by turtles, frogs, snakes, and fish. [6] [7] The amusement park was an instant hit, with city dwellers and suburbanites taking the trolley to boat on and swim in the new lake. [7]

In 1910, the B&O extended its spur westward along upper Coquelin Run; [8] the following year, the Columbia Country Club built its golf course on both sides of about a quarter-mile of the stream. [5]

A 1912 photo shows Coquelin Run running through Columbia Country Club; the B&O rail line is visible in the background. COLUMBIA COUNTRY CLUB. GOLF LINKS LCCN2016864003.jpg
A 1912 photo shows Coquelin Run running through Columbia Country Club; the B&O rail line is visible in the background.

In the 1920s, the Columbia Country Club channelized and dammed the creek to create a pond on its golf course. [5]

Around 1930, the Chevy Chase Land Company removed its dam and drained Chevy Chase Lake, [6] because of community concern over insect populations and safety. [9]

In 1953, the Maryland State Roads Commission proposed to build an elevated highway along the stream valley from Connecticut Avenue to East-West Highway on land owned by Montgomery County. [10] [11] The proposal was opposed and ultimately defeated by local residents, civic groups, the Montgomery County Board of Education, and the Chevy Chase Land Company.

In the early 1960s, Coquelin Run was placed in a conduit along the west side of Maple Avenue. [4]

In the 1970s, the country club's channel, dam, and pond were altered when the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission built a new sewer line and water line through the property. [5]

In 1997, the B&O right-of-way along Coquelin Run was turned into an interim rail-trail called the Georgetown Branch Trail. In 2017, construction began on the Purple Line, a light-rail line that uses the right-of-way. The trail is to be rebuilt alongside the new tracks, which is projected for completion in 2027. [12]

In 1997, Coquelin Run was given a preliminary sub-basin/stream condition of “fair” by Montgomery County officials. [13] This assessment was downgraded to "poor" in 2002 and back to "fair" in 2008. [9] In 2012, a planning report noted that invasive plant species had decreased the stream's natural biological diversity, and uncontrolled stormwater had eroded banks and deposited sediment that reduced habitat for aquatic animals. [9]

In the mid-2010s, the stream restoration firm Environmental Quality Resources worked to restore native plants and aquatic species to Coquelin Run, as well as to prepare the stream for anticipated increases of stormwater from the under-construction Chevy Chase Lake development. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevy Chase Section Three, Maryland</span> Village in Maryland, United States

Chevy Chase Section Three is a village in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It was organized as a special tax district in 1916 and incorporated as a village in 1982. The population was 802 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevy Chase, Maryland</span> Unincorporated community in Maryland, United States

Chevy Chase is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in the same area of Montgomery County and one neighborhood of Washington include Chevy Chase in their names. These villages, the town, and the CDP share a common history and together form a larger community colloquially referred to as Chevy Chase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sligo Creek</span> Stream in Maryland, United States of America

Sligo Creek is a free-flowing tributary of the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River in Maryland. The creek is approximately 9.1 miles (14.6 km) long, with a drainage area of about 11.6 square miles (30 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock Creek (Potomac River tributary)</span> Tributary of the Potomac River in Maryland and Washington, D.C., United States

Rock Creek is a tributary of the Potomac River, in the United States, that empties into the Atlantic Ocean via the Chesapeake Bay. The 32.6-mile (52.5 km) creek drains about 76.5 square miles (198 km2). Its final quarter-mile is affected by tides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevy Chase (Washington, D.C.)</span> Place in the United States

Chevy Chase is a neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. It borders Chevy Chase, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Route 185</span> State highway in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, known as Connecticut Avenue

Maryland Route 185 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Connecticut Avenue, the state highway runs 8.30 mi (13.36 km) from Chevy Chase Circle at the Washington, D.C., border north to MD 97 in Aspen Hill. MD 185 serves as a major north-south commuter route in southern Montgomery County, connecting the District of Columbia with the residential suburbs of Chevy Chase, Kensington, and Wheaton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Connecticut Avenue</span> Thoroughfare in Washington, D.C., and Maryland

Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue was one of the original streets in Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's plan for Washington. A five-mile segment north of Rock Creek was built in the 1890s by a real-estate developer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis G. Newlands</span> American politician

Francis Griffith Newlands was an American politician and land developer who served as United States representative and Senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Crescent Trail</span> Rail trail in greater Washington, D.C.

The Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) is a 7.04-mile (11.33 km), shared-use rail trail that runs from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Bethesda, Maryland. An extension of the trail from Bethesda to Silver Spring along a route formerly known as the Georgetown Branch Trail is being built as part of the Purple Line light rail project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock Creek Railway</span>

The Rock Creek Railway, which operated independently from 1890 to 1895, was one of the first electric streetcar companies in Washington, D.C., and the first to extend into Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Route 410</span> State highway in the U.S. state of Maryland, known for most of its length as East–West Highway

Maryland Route 410 (MD 410) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland and known for most of its length as East–West Highway. The highway runs east to west for 13.92 miles (22.40 km) from MD 355 in Bethesda east to Pennsy Drive in Landover Hills. MD 410 serves as a major east–west commuter route through the inner northern suburbs of Washington, D.C., connecting the commercial districts of Bethesda, Silver Spring, and Hyattsville. In addition, the highway serves the industrial area of Landover Hills and the residential suburbs of Chevy Chase, Takoma Park, Chillum, Riverdale, and East Riverdale. The road also connects many of the arterial highways and freeways that head out of Washington. Additionally, it provides a highway connection to transit and commercial hubs centered around Washington Metro subway stations in Bethesda, Takoma Park, Hyattsville, Silver Spring, and New Carrollton–the latter two of which provide additional connections to MARC and Amtrak trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabin John Creek</span> Tributary stream of the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States

Cabin John Creek is a tributary stream of the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland. The watershed covers an area of 26 square miles (67 km2). The headwaters of the creek originate in the city of Rockville, and the creek flows southward for 10.9 miles (17.5 km) to the Potomac River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Subdivision</span> Railroad line in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, United States

The Metropolitan Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the District of Columbia and the U.S. state of Maryland. The 53-mile line runs from Washington, D.C., northwest to Weverton, Maryland, along the former Metropolitan Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streetcars in Washington, D.C., and Maryland</span>

Streetcars and interurbans operated in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., between 1890 and 1962.

The Capital Traction Company was the smaller of the two major street railway companies in Washington, D.C., in the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Railway and Electric Company</span>

The Washington Railway and Electric Company (WRECo) was the larger of the two major streetcar companies in Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs in the early decades of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Falls Branch (Potomac River tributary)</span> Stream in Maryland, United States of America

Little Falls Branch, a 3.8-mile-long (6.1 km) tributary stream of the Potomac River, is located in Montgomery County, Maryland. In the 19th century, the stream was also called Powder Mill Branch. It drains portions of Bethesda, Somerset, Friendship Heights, and Washington, D.C., flows under the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O), and empties into the Potomac at Little Falls rapids, which marks the upper end of the tidal Potomac.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland Route 186</span> State highway in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, known as Brookville Road

Maryland Route 186 is a state highway in Montgomery County in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Brookville Road, the highway runs 1.52 miles (2.45 km) from the District of Columbia boundary at Western Avenue to MD 410 within Chevy Chase. MD 186 passes through an affluent, mainly residential area in its course through the many incorporated and unincorporated areas of Chevy Chase. Brookville Road once connected Tenleytown with what is now MD 97 north of Silver Spring. MD 186 was paved over most of its course by 1910. The northernmost part of the highway was paved when MD 410 was built in the late 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Chevy Chase Land Company</span> American real estate company

The Chevy Chase Land Company is a real estate holding and development company based in suburban Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway</span>

The Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway was a streetcar company that operated in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, from 1895 to 1935. It connected the town of Kensington to the northern terminus of the Rock Creek Railway in Chevy Chase Lake. At its peak, it operated on about 3.75 miles of track, including the associated Sandy Spring Railway.

References

  1. ↑ "Washington West Quadrangle | U.S. Geological Survey". www.usgs.gov. Archived from the original on 2024-01-30. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  2. ↑ Brown & Caldwell (October 2018). "Rock Creek Watershed Assessment Summary Document" (PDF). Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 30, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  3. ↑ Fosler, Scott (April 18, 2017). "Letter (Mayor of the Town of Chevy Chase to John Grace, Chief of the Source Protection and Appropriations Division / Maryland Department of the Environment". Town of Chevy Chase. Archived from the original on February 7, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  4. 1 2 "The Setting". Town of Chevy Chase. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Columbia Country Club / Maryland Historical Trust Determination of Eligibility Form" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. July 10, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 8, 2023. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Duvall, William. "Chevy Chase Lake". Town of Chevy Chase. Archived from the original on February 7, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  7. 1 2 "Chevy Chase Lake Amusement Park | Chevy Chase Historical Society". www.chevychasehistory.org. Archived from the original on 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-01-30.
  8. ↑ "History of the Georgetown Branch". Coalition for the Capital Crescent Trail. Archived from the original on 2024-01-31. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  9. 1 2 3 "Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan: Appendix" (PDF). Montgomery County Planning Department. July 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Chevy Chase Lake Sector Plan: Approved and Adopted" (PDF). Montgomery County Planning Department. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 29, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  11. ↑ "Chevy Chase Groups Step Up Campaign to Block New Highway". Washington Evening Star. 1953-02-15. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2024-02-17. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  12. ↑ Shaver, Katherine (2020-05-01). "Firms building Maryland Purple Line say they plan to quit the job over disputes with the state". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2021-04-15. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
  13. ↑ Anita L. Anderson, Cherie V. Miller, Lisa D. Olsen, Edward J. Doheny, and Daniel J. Phelan (2002). "Water Quality, Sediment Quality, and Stream-Channel Classification of Rock Creek, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 31, 2024. Retrieved January 31, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ Moments, Watershed (2017-02-15). "Coquelin Run Stream". EQR, LLC. Archived from the original on 2024-01-31. Retrieved 2024-01-31.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.