The Boundary Channel

England's King Charles I granted the entire Potomac River to Maryland in 1632, yet four centuries later Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia were still disputing their mutual boundary. One controversial site was Alexander's Island, known for its "bogs and swamps and frogs." At low tide the island was attached to Virginia and was claimed by it, but at high tide the Potomac encircled it, making it part of the District of Columbia. Tensions over Alexander's Island erupted in 1904 when a group of enraged men carrying axes and sledgehammers raided the Alexander Island Race Track in an attempt to close it, because the District of Columbia did not permit race track betting while Virginia did. In 1915 the Army Corps of Engineers began dredging the Potomac River and completely removed the swampy landmass that had been Alexander's Island. In its place they created the Boundary Channel and Columbia Island. In 1934 Congress determined that although Alexander's Island had once definitely been part of Virginia, its destruction had shifted the shoreline of the Potomac River. The Boundary Channel then became the new official border for Virginia, and the man-made Columbia Island was unquestionably part of Washington, D.C.

Arlington, Virginia · United States