Washington Canal filled in By 1871, the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/41">Washington Canal </a>was little more than an <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/298">open sewer</a>. Although many people proposed ways to make the canal functional, no solution was ever put into practice. In February 1871 Congress revoked the charters that made <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/251">Washington and Georgetown</a> independent cities and brought the entire District of Columbia under a territorial government. The Director of the Board of Public Works for this new territory, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/124">Alexander Shepherd</a>, immediately enacted a solution to the canal problem by filling it in. The newly created road where the canal had been was first called <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/311">B Street</a>, then renamed Constitution Avenue in 1931. <em>Evening Star</em> (Washington, DC), August 9, 1871, via the Library of Congress. <a href="http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1871-08-09/ed-1/seq-4/">View original</a>. 1871 <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1860-1889">1860-1889</a>