A view of the Lockkeeper's House <span><span>The </span><a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/4"><span>lockkeeper's house</span></a><span> at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue is a reminder that canals once flowed through Washington, DC. Between 1835 and 1855, a </span><a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/266"><span>lockkeeper served the lock</span></a><span> that connected the Washington branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to the </span><a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/41"><span>Washington City Canal</span></a><span>, which ran parallel to the National Mall, where Constitution Avenue is today. At that time, the Potomac River extended nearly to the base of the Washington Monument and a wharf stood on the south side of the Lockkeeper's House. The National Park Service took over the site at the beginning of the 1900s.</span></span> Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/dc0170/">View original.</a> 1933 <a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1830-1859">1830-1859</a>