In early maps, the stream was usually called "Oxen Run"; in 1892, the U.S. Geological Survey still labeled the stream as "Oxen Run" on its maps. Late that year, they changed the spelling they used, and others followed suit, though it's unclear what led to the spelling change.
Government officials and mapmakers often do not distinguish between Oxon Creek and Oxon Run, instead treating Oxon Creek as a continuation of Oxon Run, but USGS still does.[1] USGS first started labeling it as Oxon Creek in 1892.[2]
Geography
The headwater of the stream originates in the Coral Hills area of Prince George's County near Francis Scott Key Elementary School. From there, it flows west and then south for 7 miles (11km) to a confluence with Barnaby Run (sometimes known as Winkle Doodle Run), forming Oxon Creek, which drains to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. The watershed area of Oxon Run is about 5,312 acres (21.50km2) in Prince George's County and 3,968 acres (16.06km2) in Washington.[3] Some consider Oxon Creek to be a continuation of Oxon Run, but USGS considers them separate streams.
The stream flows mostly through open land in Prince George's County. It first flows through Coral Hills to a stormwater management pond near Seton Way, where it combines with water from a storm drainpipe that empties the Penn Station Shopping Center parking lot. From there, it flows through a floodplain forest north of Pennsylvania Avenue interrupted by a concrete box culvert under Brooks Drive; a series of galvanized steal culverts under private property, a church parking lot, and Quarter Avenue; and, at the end of the forest, through a concrete-lined channel beside and beneath Pennsylvania Avenue.[4] South of Pennsylvania Ave, it runs along the edge of Cedar Hill and Lincoln Memorial cemeteries before passing through a strip of parkland including Suitland Parkway and Oxon Run Valley Park at the same time passing under the Suitland Parkway at Naylor Road and then under Southern Avenue, into D.C.[5]
Map of the Oxon Run Parkway
Once in D.C., the stream flows through parkland. Upon entering D.C., it flows through the Oxon Run Parkway managed by the National Park Service. The parkway contains four northern magnolia bogs, the only ones on Park Service land, and is primarily made up of land from Camp Simms. The stream then flows through Oxon Run Park, which is in a concrete-lined channel. After passing under South Capitol Street, it flows through a natural channel between NPS's forested Bald Eagle Hill and a former landfill site owned by D.C. Just inside the D.C. Boundary, it meets with Barnaby Run and becomes Oxon Creek. Within D.C., there are approximately 38 sewersheds with storm drain outfalls discharging into Oxon Run.
Oxon Run was originally a meandering riffle-pool-type sequence stream with a gravel or sand bed. However, in the 20th century, it was changed by flood control projects and significant urbanization of its watershed. In addition, many of its tributaries have been converted to storm drains.
History
Until the 20th century, the Oxon Run watershed was a lightly settled valley filled with plantations, farms, and orchards. Initially a part of Maryland, it was split between the District of Columbia and Maryland when the former was created in 1800. In 1855 much of it was owned by the District's largest enslaver, George Washington Young, as a part of Nonesuch Plantation, and the Young family owned the land for generations starting in the 18th century.[6] Within the District, Oxon Run was contained within Washington County until the whole of the District was unified in 1871. There were dozens of properties and many owners in the valley, some of whose names are reflected in local street names, most notably Wheeler Road and Livingston Road.
The first boom in the valley came during the American Civil War. The U.S. Army built forts on the hills above Oxon Run, and the expansion of the population of the city led to the extension of formal roads into the valley. Wheeler Road, named for Colonel J.H. Wheeler, was extended across the stream in 1870, and two years later the first bridge was built across it to serve the road.[7] Additional roads and bridges were built across the stream around the same time forming Marlboro Road, Suitland Road, Livingston Mill Road (later shortened to Livingston Road and then partially renamed Atlantic Avenue) and Walker Road (later named Naylor Road).[8] All were built during the post Civil War boom and all were in place by 1878.[9]
The plantations, orchards, and dairy farms that filled the valley eventually gave way to the city's needs. The first developments to encroach on the valley were a pair of cemeteries and a military base. In 1895, the Cedar Hill Cemetery was founded as Forest Lake Cemetery along the east bank of the stream north of Suitland Road,[10] and in 1904, the military established a firing range that straddled the stream in DC as part of Camp Simms.[11] Nonetheless, in 1912, the stream was still described as flowing through a "gentle, graceful valley...between steep, wooded hills."[12] In 1927, Lincoln Memorial Cemetery was established just south of the Cedar Hill Cemetery on the south side of Suitland Road. It was the second cemetery in the Washington area to admit African-Americans and is the oldest one remaining.[13] Quarter Avenue in Maryland was built across the stream before 1938. Even with these changes, the watershed remained predominantly rural until World War II.
In the 1920s, Congress took steps to preserve much of the green space outside the old city of Washington, with a special focus on the stream and river valleys, including Oxon Run. In 1924, Congress created the National Capital Park and Planning Commission (NCPPC) to create a park and playground system for the National Capital, and by 1926, they had begun making plans for a "parkway" or park system that would include land in the Oxon Run valley.[14] By 1930, NCPPC had begun purchasing narrow strips of land along the shores of the stream for the "Oxon Run Parkway." This coincided with a report from NCPPC identifying Oxon Run as a possible water source for Maryland. The report stated that a sewer would be needed through the valley to protect the waters of Oxon Run from pollution.[15] After a 1937 flood of Oxon Run, NCPPC decided to widen the parkway by purchasing more land in the valley between the District line and the Camp Simms rifle range. This prevented the construction of homes in the floodplain and allowed for the construction of the sewer project, the Oxon Run interceptor, that was completed in 1939.[16][17][18] NCPC continued buying land in the valley from 1939 to 1944.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] By the end of 1944, the Parkway extended across the entire District, with the exception of the portion within Camp Simms. The use of the Camp Simms firing range ended in 1953 due to urban encroachment. In 1958, the Defense Department transferred the land to the General Services Administration, and later 94 acres of the site was added to the Oxon Run Parkway.[27] In the 1960s an unlined landfill was constructed along the east bank just south of South Capitol Street which was intended to become recreational space but never did.[28]
Following World War II, the preservation of the valley was extended into Maryland. In 1946, President Truman signed an amendment to the Capper-Crampton Act, which, among other things, called for the Oxon Run valley to be preserved from the District line to the Marlboro Pike (then known as Marlboro Road). By 1953, M-NCPPC had acquired 5 acres along the stream in Maryland and planned to acquire another 367.[29] 17 additional acres were purchased in 1955 and that land used to build the Hillcrest Heights Recreation Center.[30] In 1961, M-NCPPC acquired the Oxon Run Golf Course, located on the north side of Oxon Run between 23rd and 28th Avenue in Hillcrest Heights, and operated it until it was closed in June 1986.[31][32] The 9-hole course, the first public one in Prince George's County, was built in 1954.[33]
While the land around it was preserved, Oxon Run was channelized and straightened for flood control. Sections near the Potomac and along Cedar Hill and Lincoln Memorial Cemeteries were channelized before World War II. The stream in the Suitland Parkway was channelized by 1949, and in 1959, as part of the work extending Pennsylvania Avenue, the stream was realigned and placed in a concrete-line channel.[34] After Tropical Storm Agnes caused extensive flooding in the valley in 1972, 2,800 feet of the stream was dredged.[35] The largest channelization project came in 1978 and 1979 when the D.C. Stormwater Management Authority constructed a 7,920 foot long, concrete-lined channel for the stream from 13th Street, SE to South Capitol Street.[4] More recently, in 1995, WMATA stabilized and realigned the channel near the Suitland Parkway to allow construction of the piers for the Naylor Road Station.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Oxon Run Sewer Interceptor in the 1930s and the World War II population growth enabled another housing boom in the Oxon Run valley and a road network expansion.[36] Town centers at Silver Hill, Suitland, and Dupont Heights filled the watershed with urban and suburban housing and, to provide transportation to them, South Capitol Street, Branch Avenue, Shadyside Avenue, and Brooks Drive were bridged over the stream between 1938 and 1942.[37][38] From 1943 to 1944, the military constructed the Suitland Parkway, then known as the Camp Springs Highway, through the stream valley to connect Bolling Air Force Base to Andrews Air Force Base, crossing Oxon Run at Walker Road.[39] Between 1947 and 1951, bridges for the 23rd Parkway and the entrance road to Cedar Hill Cemetery were built across the stream.[40] In 1959 Pennsylvania Avenue was extended to Forestville, MD through the Oxon Run valley and over the stream at Shadyside Avenue and around the same time 4th Street bridged the stream. The last road bridge over the stream, at Southern Avenue, was built in 1980. The last transportation development in the valley was the final section of Metro's Green Line from Congress Heights to Branch Avenue, which WMATA built from 1995 to 2001. It extended Metrorail under Oxon Run and the Parkway through a tunnel and then over the stream twice, once just south of the D.C. boundary and a second time near the intersection of Suitland Parkway and Naylor Road before turning east along the Oxon Run's tributary to Suitland.
In 1971, the land between 13th Street and South Capitol became Oxon Run Park. It was placed under the control of the District government. At the same time, the land between 13th and Southern Avenue remained the Oxon Run Parkway under the management of the National Park Service.[41] In 1975, local officials began planning improvements in the Park but did not complete those plans until 1984 because of funding limitations. The plan called for several miles of jogging and bike trails, picnic areas, ball fields, an amphitheater, basketball and tennis courts, and a nature trail. Work began in 1984 and included five pedestrian bridges over the stream.[42] Between 2016 and 2017, the trail system was expanded and rehabilitated.[43]
Water quality
Oxon Run is in a highly urbanized area, and its water quality has been rated as poor by government agencies. The stream has been polluted by stormwaterrunoff, dumped trash, sewer leaks, and contamination from an old firing range and an unlined landfill. Much of the stream is in concrete channels or culverts. Virtually all of the streams in the watershed are unstable, with stream bank erosion producing 18,000 tons of sediment per year.[4]
Rock Creek Park is a large urban park that bisects the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. Created by Act of Congress in 1890, the park comprises 1,754 acres, generally along Rock Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River.
Suitland is a suburb of Prince George's County, Maryland, approximately one mile (1.6 km) southeast of Washington, D.C. Suitland is a census designated place (CDP), as of the 2020 census, its population was 25,839. Prior to 2010, it was part of the Suitland-Silver Hill census-designated place.
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).
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.
District of Columbia Route 295 (DC 295), also known as the Anacostia Freeway as well as the Kenilworth Avenue Freeway north of East Capitol Street, is a freeway in the District of Columbia, and currently the only signed numbered route in the District that is not an Interstate Highway or U.S. Highway. Also, DC 295 is one of the few city-level signed route numbers in the United States, along with Charlotte Route 4. The south end is at the junction of Interstate 295 (I-295), I-695, and the southern end of the 11th Street Bridges though originally I-295 was part of DC 295. Its north end is at the border with Maryland where it continues as Maryland Route 201 (MD 201) and then the Baltimore–Washington Parkway.
Interstate 295 (I-295) in the US state of Maryland and in Washington, D.C., also known as the Anacostia Freeway, is a six-mile (9.7 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway connecting I-95/I-495 and Maryland Route 210 near the Potomac River to I-695 and District of Columbia Route 295 (DC 295) in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Maryland Route 4 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 64.85 miles (104.37 km) from MD 5 in Leonardtown north to Southern Avenue in Suitland at the District of Columbia boundary, beyond which the highway continues into Washington as Pennsylvania Avenue. MD 4 is a four- to six-lane highway that connects Washington and communities around Interstate 95 (I-95)/I-495 with southern Prince George's County with southwestern Anne Arundel County. The highway is the primary highway for the length of Calvert County, during most of which the route runs concurrently with MD 2. MD 4 also connects Calvert and St. Mary's counties via the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge across the Patuxent River. The highway connects the Southern Maryland county seats of Leonardtown, Prince Frederick, and Upper Marlboro.
The Suitland Parkway is a parkway in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, administered and maintained by the U.S. National Park Service (NPS), National Capital Parks-East. The road has partial controlled access with a combination of interchanges and at-grade intersections, but without property access for neighboring land-owners. Conceived in 1937, it was built during World War II to provide a road connection between military facilities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It fully opened on December 9, 1944 as the Camp Springs highway, so called because it connected Camp Springs in Prince George's County with Bolling Air Force Base. However one lane of the highway was opened in mid-October 1944.
South Capitol Street is a major street dividing the southeast and southwest quadrants of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It runs south from the United States Capitol to the D.C.–Maryland line, intersecting with Southern Avenue. After it enters Maryland, the street becomes Indian Head Highway at the Eastover Shopping Center, a terminal or transfer point of many bus routes.
National Capital Parks-East (NACE) is an administrative grouping of multiple National Park Service sites east of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., and in the state of Maryland. These sites include:
Oxon Creek is a stream on the Potomac River which feeds a cove that straddles the border between Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland just north of Interstate 495 at Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Oxon Creek heads at the confluence of Oxon Run and Barnaby Run, sometimes referred to as Winkle Doodle Run. It starts just inside the boundary of D.C. and then runs 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the south and west into Maryland to empty into the Potomac at Goose Island across from the city of Alexandria, Virginia. Before reaching the Potomac, the creek widens to form Oxon Cove which is partially in Maryland and partially in Washington, D.C. The creek is almost entirely within Oxon Cove National Park, except for the first few feet in D.C. and a portion of the cove on the southside of the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant.
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.
Northwest Branch Anacostia River is a 21.5-mile-long (34.6 km) free-flowing stream in Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Anacostia River, which flows to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.
The Anacostia Tributary Trail System (ATTS) is a unified and signed system of stream valley trails joining trails along the Anacostia tributaries of Northwest Branch, Northeast Branch, Indian Creek and Paint Branch with a trail along the Anacostia River, set aside and maintained by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Maryland Route 218 is a state highway located in Prince George's County in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Suitland Road, the highway runs 1.64 miles (2.64 km) from near Southern Avenue at the District of Columbia boundary east to MD 458 in Suitland. MD 218 provides access to the Suitland Federal Center, which is home to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state highway was constructed in the late 1920s and widened in the early 1940s and again in the late 1940s. The county portion of Suitland Road was reconstructed by the state in the mid-1950s.
The Oxon Run Parkway is a corridor of federal park land in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The Parkway once extended across the District's southern corner in a crescent from Hillcrest Heights to Oxon Hill but most of it became Oxon Run Park in 1971, and now only the portion north of 13th Street still uses the Parkway name. It was originally intended to provide recreation space, but was later enlarged to provide flood relief, space for a major piece of sewer infrastructure and the possibility of a clean drinking water source.
The New York Avenue Bridge is a bridge carrying U.S. Route 50 and New York Avenue NE over the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was completed in 1954 as part of the Baltimore–Washington Parkway project.
The Rock Creek Trails are a series of trails through the Rock Creek valley and along the Potomac River in Washington, DC and Montgomery County, MD. The main route extends 22 miles from Lake Needwood in Maryland to the Inlet Bridge in Washington, DC, with a loop in the north part of Rock Creek Park and other trails through the Klingle Valley, Turkey Branch Valley and along the North Branch of Rock Creek. There are three separate trails that make up the main Rock Creek Trail route and others that connect to it. Along the Potomac River from Arlington Memorial Bridge to Rock Creek is a section sometimes called the Shoreline Trail.
Oxon Run Park is a recreational park in Southeast Washington, D.C., that features sports areas, trails, playgrounds and the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center. The park was created in 1971 from land that was previously part of the federally-controlled Oxon Run Parkway.
The Oxon Hill–Suitland Line, designated Routes D12 & D14, are daily bus routes operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority between Southern Avenue station and Suitland station of the Green Line of the Washington Metro. The D12 operates every 20 minutes between 7AM and 9PM and 60 minutes after 9PM while the D14 operates every 24-30 minutes during the peak hours and every 60 minutes all other times. Trips roughly take 60 minutes (D12) or 70-80 minutes (D14).
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