Before there was a city called "Washington" or a federal District of Columbia—or even a United States—a small creek ran along the base of Jenkins Hill west toward the Potomac River.

The creek was originally known as Goose Creek, but was changed by the pretentious farmer Francis Pope who also named his farm just west of the creek "Rome."

When Washington was founded Jenkins Hill became Capitol Hill and Tiber Creek continued to flow, serving as a considerable challenge to travelers in the nascent capital attempting to go from the Executive Mansion or nearby Georgetown to the Capitol after a rain storm. The marshy lowlands north and west of the Capitol was called "the swampoodle" and during the end of the 19th century was the sight of an Irish shanty town that was cleared out to make way for the construction of Washington's Union Station.

Originally part of the canal system of the city running along modern-day Constitution Avenue, city engineers eventually decided to put Tiber Creek underground, where it still runs today—below official Washington, through the basements of major national and local institutions including the National Archives, the Smithsonian's new American Indian Museum and the Department of Commerce. (for more history of early Capitol Hill, please visit www.capitolhillhistory.org)