History
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West Potomac Park is a largely man-made ceremonial landscape in Washington, D.C., adjoining the National Mall and encompassing the Tidal Basin. Created after devastating 1881 floods, it emerged when Congress ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Potomac, reclaim shoreline, fill Babcock Lakes, and raise low ground, with the new parkland largely completed by 1890. Beautified after 1902, it became the setting for major memorials and for Washington’s famed cherry trees, realized through the efforts of Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, David Fairchild, Helen Herron Taft, and Jōkichi Takamine. It remains both a commemorative center and an engineered landscape shaped by ongoing environmental challenges.
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Arlington, Virginia · United States
