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52-477: The earliest documented name for the tip of the peninsula that now constitutes the area known as Buzzard Point was Turkey Buzzard Point , in use by 1673 when it appeared on a map published by Augustine Herman , a Bohemian explorer and one of the early European settlers of the Eastern Shore of Maryland . This name — often shortened to Buzzard Point remained in use until the federal capital was planned during

104-555: A Supreme Court decision upholding the order. As a result, Pepco's stock was distributed to Washington Railway's shareholders in December 1947, making Pepco an independent, publicly traded company. In 1954, revenue exceeded $ 50 million for the first time. In 1969, the company suspended its dividend due to rising costs. In 1980, the company cancelled plans to build a $ 930 million power plant in Montgomery County as

156-460: A bowling alley on site. The United States Geological Survey 's (USGS) most recent topographic maps identify the tip of the peninsula that contains Fort McNair as "Greenleaf Point". The USGS maps also identify a lesser point to the northeast of Greenleaf Point as "Buzzard Point". (James Creek, which was excavated during the 19th century to become a branch of the [now defunct] Washington City Canal , once separated these two points. Its name persists in

208-462: A diplomatic mission to New England to resolve concerns about rumors of a Dutch and Native American alliance against the English . Of greater lasting importance, in 1659 he was sent to St. Mary's , Maryland with Resolved Waldron to negotiate the dispute between New Netherlands and Maryland 's proprietor Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore over ownership of the lands on the western shore of

260-539: A holding company that owned many public utilities, gained control of Washington Railway and Electric. The Public Utility Holding Company Act was enacted in 1935 to force the breakup of large utility holding companies. Under this law, the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1942 ordered the North American Company and its subsidiaries to split up. A years-long legal battle ensued, culminating in

312-569: A large tract along the western shore of Arthur Kill from what is now Perth Amboy to Elizabeth . Herman married December 10, 1651, while he was in New Amsterdam. His wife was Jannetje Marie Varleth, the daughter of Caspar Varleth and Judith Tentenier, of New Amsterdam . They had five children, Ephraim, Casper, Anna, Judith and Francina. Jannetje died before 1665, and sometime after that Herman married again, this time to Mary Catherine Ward from Maryland . Stuyvesant would send Herman on

364-662: A mistranslation of the original Dutch document, and all these events would have required him to have been born about 1605, married at 45, and lived to over 80. In 1640, working for the West India Company Herman arrived in New Amsterdam , now Lower Manhattan in New York City. Due to his strong personality he soon became an important member of the Dutch community and its commerce. He was an agent for

416-478: A newly formed holding company, Pepco Holdings . In 2003, Pepco's investment subsidiary, Potomac Capital Investment, was transferred to Pepco Holdings. In 2014, Pepco Holdings agreed to be acquired by Exelon for $ 6.8 billion. The deal faced opposition from Pepco customers and from officials in Washington and Maryland, but was ultimately approved. The acquisition was completed on March 23, 2016, making Pepco

468-400: A result of reduced demand. In September 1995, the company announced a merger with Baltimore Gas & Electric; however, the merger was cancelled in December 1997. In 2001, Pepco agreed to acquire Conectiv Power Delivery, the parent company of Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric, for $ 2.2 billion. The purchase was completed in 2002, with Pepco and Conectiv becoming subsidiaries of

520-452: A scandal that implicated Spiro Agnew , but were eventually leased to the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard . The Federal City Council commissioned a study in 1981 promoting the area as a development area with great potential and little resistance. Pepco subsequently began to explore redeveloping its large holdings redevelopment in the 1980s, working with other developers to form a nonprofit called

572-403: A subsidiary of Exelon. In 2011, Business Insider named the company first on its list of "The 19 Most Hated Companies In America" based on its American Customer Satisfaction Index rating. An investigation by The Washington Post in 2010 faulted Pepco for poor reliability. The report noted that the company's performance had slipped since 2005, comparing poorly to other major utilities in

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624-405: A tract of 3,750 acres (15 km ) to them because of legal issues. The group established a colony but it was not very successful not growing larger than 100 people. The settlement ceased to exist after 1720. For the remainder of his life, Herman managed his plantation and enjoyed the life of a country squire, occasionally engaging in mercantile activities and official duties. He was a member of

676-643: A trip to North America in 1633, when he allegedly signed his name witnessing the Dutch purchase of lands from the Lenape Native Americans near the later site of Philadelphia . Some also claim that he made voyages to the Dutch Antilles and Surinam and that he claimed to be "the first founder of the Virginia tobacco-trade," which began in 1612. All these claims are undocumented and highly questionable. The witnessing cited above may have been

728-510: The Delaware Bay , that were claimed by both parties. Herman first articulated the argument that Lord Baltimore 's charter was only good for lands that had not been previously settled, and that the short-lived, 1631 Swanendael settlement (usually spelled Zwaanendael), at present day Lewes , Delaware , gave the Dutch prior rights to the whole Delaware River watershed. Baltimore rejected

780-637: The National Capital Planning Commission . The agency initiated several studies throughout the 1960s and 1970s that imagined considerably increased density along South Capitol Street and public parkland along the riverbank. While the plans had little traction, developers, the Washington, D.C. government, and the Federal City Council remained interested in the area. Lazlo Tauber, a developer, built two large buildings for federal offices . The buildings were mired in

832-701: The U.S. Congress provided money to construct additional buildings. During the American Civil War , experiments on new weaponry were performed both at the nearby Washington Navy Yard and the Washington Arsenal as the Army installation had come to be named. Breechloaders , the Spencer carbine , and the Gatling gun were among the weapons tested on the peninsula. In 1908, the peninsula's tip had

884-480: The Washington Traction and Electric Company , one of the private streetcar companies in Washington. On December 17, 1896, after a court battle, the company received a contract to light the city of Washington, D.C. In January 1889, the company merged with its rival, United States Electric Lighting Company . In 1899, the company merged with Washington Traction and Electric Company. In June 1901,

936-511: The "peninsula where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers met was an obvious, natural military site." This site, sported a "one-gun battery mounted behind earth breastworks," possibly as early as 1791 but, at any rate, definitely by 1794. Within a few years, "The U.S. Arsenal at Greenleaf Point" grew from 28 to more than 89 acres (360,000 m). By 1803, the Fort was first referred to as an arsenal and

988-468: The 1790s, at which time it became Young's Point , from one Notley Young, the then owner of the land. Very soon after that, it was renamed Greenleaf's Point , or Greenleaf Point , after James Greenleaf , a land speculator and purchaser of numerous lots in the new city, many of which were located in the vicinity of the Point. George Washington had intended the military to use some of Greenleaf's lots at

1040-709: The Buzzard Point Planning Association. They hired the firm Keyes Condon Florance , later Keyes Condon Florance Eichbaum Esocoff King, to create a detailed planning study. The FCC returned to complete a second plan, hiring Wallace Roberts Todd to develop its own plan for the area. Both plans were rejected by the District of Columbia's Office of Planning, who instead initiated the Buzzard Point/Near Southeast Vision 2020 Plan to balance these business interests with

1092-608: The Buzzard Point power plant by 2012. On July 25, 2013, a tentative deal was announced to have a 20,000-seat stadium for the D.C. United soccer team built at Buzzard Point and to cost $ 300 million. Audi Field opened July 14, 2018. Augustine Herman Augustine Herman, First Lord of Bohemia Manor (Czech: Augustin Heřman , c. 1621 – September 1686) was a Bohemian explorer , merchant and cartographer who lived in New Amsterdam and Cecil County , Maryland . In

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1144-701: The Fort retained a predominantly rural aspect. Wrote an early resident of this period: "From the Navy Yard westward along the Eastern Branch [the Anacostia] to Greenleaf's Point was a wild stretch of land with here and there a hovel or a house, and a stouring of brick kilns." The marshy James Creek, flowing alongside the Arsenal (canalized in 1866 as the James Creek Canal but never connected to

1196-568: The Herman family was never able to lay proper claim to the title. Chroniclers have spelled the surname variously: Herman, Herrman, Harman, Harmans, Heerman, Hermans, Heermans, etc. Augustine Herman himself usually wrote Herman, which is now the accepted style. He frequently added "Bohemiensis" ("the Bohemian ", "the Czech"), as a suffix. According to the most reliable evidence, Augustine Herman

1248-454: The Point, including for defensive works. In 1791, he and Pierre Charles L'Enfant chose the site for the emplacement of a redoubt of some sort. They acquired approximately 28 acres (110,000 m) by a deed of trust during that year and confirmed it in a July 25, 1798, executive order. L'Enfant intended for a fortification to be placed there, according to his city plan, setting it aside as "Military District No. 5", because, as one author wrote,

1300-459: The area to be covered with railroad spurs and new large-scale manufacturing and utility uses that were unwelcome in other parts of the city. This effort destroyed what little was left of the old rural area without bringing in more than the railroad lines, including Pepco , a power plant and oil and gas storage facility. During the mid and late-20th century, these two major facilities and adjoining smaller ones were closed as new development began from

1352-585: The argument completely, but subsequently the English successors to the Dutch title, the Duke of York and William Penn , were successful in making the case, ultimately leading to the separate existence of the state of Delaware . Regardless of the success of the negotiations, Herman had made a good impression on the Calverts . Herman, weary of conflict with Stuyvesant and remembering the fine lands he crossed in

1404-628: The city of Washington, D.C. , and to surrounding communities in Maryland . It is owned by Exelon . The company's current trademarked slogan is "Your life. Plugged in." Its former slogan was "We're connected to you by more than power lines." Pepco's bulk transmission system consists of transmission lines operating at 115 kV, 138kV, 230 kV and 500 kV. Pepco has interconnections with Potomac Edison (230kV, 500kV), Baltimore Gas and Electric (500kV, 230kV, 115kV), and Dominion Virginia Power (500kV, 230kV). The company's predecessor, Potomac Electric Co.,

1456-818: The city. Buzzard Point is close to Nationals Park , and not far from the Waterfront and Navy Yard – Ballpark Metro stations. The Buzzard Point waterfront extends from the Fort along the west bank of the Anacostia River as far as South Capitol Street at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge . From west to east along it from the Fort are the James Creek Marina, the former headquarters of the U.S. Coast Guard , Buzzard Point Marina, and Buzzard Point Park . During 2007, Pepco Holdings announced that it sought to retire

1508-709: The company agreed to pay regulators $ 1.6 million for violations of the Clean Water Act . In October 2023, Pepco agreed to pay $ 47 million in costs and $ 10 million in penalties to D.C. for decades of discharging toxic chemicals in the city, affecting the Anacostia River and other areas. In March 2022, the D.C. Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the People’s Counsel alleged Pepco

1560-633: The company filed for bankruptcy and was acquired by the Washington Railway and Electric Company. In 1905, revenues exceeded $ 1 million for the first time. In 1906, the company began construction of the first unit of the Benning Road Power Plant , along the Anacostia River. When its last unit was completed in 1931, the power plant had a 185,000-kilowatt capacity. In 1928, the North American Company ,

1612-513: The employment of Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore , he produced a remarkably accurate map of the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay regions of North America , in exchange for which he was permitted to establish an enormous plantation that he named Bohemia Manor in what is now southeastern Cecil County , Maryland . Land rights to the area now known as St. Augustine, Maryland were granted to Herman by Lord Baltimore prior to 1686 but

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1664-752: The existing Washington Canal), served only as a source of disease, often used for trash dumping. An 1875 survey of Buzzard Point (below Q) found only 36 residences, eight "shanties," and six businesses. These numbers barely increased over the years. Census numbers show the population peaking at 323 in 1894 (this from the Police Census for that year, found in the Metropolitan Police Annual Report) and then decreasing gradually: 231 in 1900; 185 in 1920; 19 in 1940. The area generally had proportions matched almost perfectly of black and white residents, living intermingled and all being of

1716-565: The frequency and duration of power outages . Thousands of people lost power for as many as five days after only 5–8 inches of heavy wet snow. During the June 2012 North American derecho , more than half of the customers in Montgomery County, Maryland lost electric power. The company was criticized for being slow to restore power and for charging its customers for the power outage. The company's Benning Road Power Plant produced air pollution that negatively affected neighboring communities. In 2017,

1768-567: The governor's council and a justice of Baltimore County which then included all of the upper Chesapeake Bay . In 1674, Cecil County was created, and the first courthouse was built near the Sassafras River . In 1678, Herman was appointed as Cecil County's Commissioner for Peace to treat with the Native Americans. During his last years Herman was disabled by paralysis, and according to one source, by an "inattentive wife." He

1820-558: The land east of the Elk River and north of the Bohemia River . The manor house was built on the north shore of the Bohemia River , across from Hacks Point, and just to the west of present-day Maryland Route 213 . The property included an enclosed park where Herman kept deer as pets. Because he was of non-British origin, Herman was obliged to apply for citizenship of Maryland by an act of their Assembly. His petition, in 1666,

1872-730: The largest landowners in North America . For added insurance he then successfully negotiated an agreement to pay a compensatory sum for the territory to the Susquehannock Native Americans , who owned the land. Jasper Danckaerts and Peter Sluyter, emissaries of Friesland pietists , known as Labadists , met Ephraim George Herman, the son of Herman, in New York and he introduced them to his father in 1679. Initially Herman did not want to grant land to them, only permit their settlement, but in 1683, he conveyed

1924-458: The mercantile house of Peter Gabry and Sons of Amsterdam, and was one of the owners of the frigate " La Grace ," which was engaged in privateering against Spanish commerce. In partnership with his sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Anna Varlett Hack and George Hack, he became the largest exporter of tobacco in America. Trading furs and tobacco for wine and slaves, he quickly became wealthy and

1976-433: The name Arsenal Point because of its military use at the time. Washington Arsenal was renamed Fort Lesley J. McNair in 1948. From its earliest times, the point was primarily ignored by the city's population since it was largely isolated within the city. L’Enfant's and Washington's hopes for bustling river traffic at Buzzard Point wharves never came to be; instead, the area south of Q Street SW and between South Capitol and

2028-519: The nearby Navy Yard area. Some boatyards and marinas maintained themselves on National Park Service-owned land along the Anacostia River. Industry in the area tended to serve the growth of the city, with construction, demolition, and fuel companies dominating the waterfront. Other businesses served the Navy Yard factories. In the early 1960s, the Naval Gun Factory was shuttered and much of the supporting businesses left, concerning planners at

2080-567: The needs of the broader community. The development plans collapsed during the city's financial crisis . Nevertheless, interest in developing these areas persisted and the plans and policy set the pattern of development for the area that has followed. In 2022, developers announced construction would begin on a two million square foot mixed use project called The Stacks, which is expected to deliver in 2025. The project will include 2,000 residential units and more than 80,000 square feet of retail space. Additionally, there will be hotels, restaurants, and

2132-532: The owner of considerable real estate, including most of what is now Yonkers , New York . At that point he was one of the most influential people in New Amsterdam, he was elected in 1647 to board of the Nine Men a body of prominent citizens organized to advise and guide the Director-General of New Netherland . In time he would chair this Board. Unhappy with the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant Herman

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2184-420: The present-day James Creek Marina, located between the two named points. In early times, James Creek was also known as St. James Creek.) Although officially the name of only a tip of the peninsula, the term "Buzzard Point" now serves to identify much or all of an urbanized area south of M Street SW and west of South Capitol Street SW , excluding Fort McNair. The area has long been known as an industrial part of

2236-462: The road and profusely surrounded with chickens, stables and farm implements", The Washington Post reported on November 21, 1886. The neighborhood was visited seldom by outsiders: "A stranger is a very strange thing on Buzzard Point." Deterioration was evident by the 1910s as fields were abandoned and the trash-strewn James Creek Canal was progressively filled in. Unpleasant semi-industrial uses crept down South Capitol Street, including trash, which

2288-763: The upper Chesapeake Bay , offered to produce Lord Baltimore a map of the region in return for a grant of land in the area of his choosing. The offer was accepted and the grant made in September 1660 so Herman began his 10 years of work on the map. It stated that as compensation for his services Lord Baltimore would grant him "Lands for Inhabitation to his Posterity and the Privilege of the Manor." Wasting no time, Herman moved his family to Maryland by 1661. Herman selected his first grant of 4000 acres of land and named it " Bohemia Manor " after his birthplace. It included much of

2340-561: The working class. "Farmer" was the most common profession until about 1920 when "driver" replaced it. The few accounts of this 1880–1920 period describe a modest community dominated by tidy truck gardens to the south and west and workers' houses and some small businesses along the eastern border from South Capitol to First Streets SW. "It is bordered on either side by true market gardens in the highest state of cultivation. The fields are interspaced with orchards of small fruit trees and occasionally these miniature farms have buildings set back from

2392-491: Was 65 years old when he died in September 1686 at Bohemia Manor in Cecil County , Maryland and he is buried there. A plaque is displayed in the town of Mšeno , Czech Republic on Cinibulkova street. On the plaque Herman is referenced using the Czech spelling of this name, Augustin Heřman . Pepco The Potomac Electric Power Company ( PEPCO ) is an American utility company that supplies electric power to

2444-642: Was a wealthy merchant and councilman of Prague , who was killed in 1620 at the Battle of White Mountain during the Thirty Years' War , remains hearsay. Herman was trained as a surveyor, and was skilled in sketching and drawing. He was also conversant in a number of languages, including Latin, which he successfully applied in his diplomatic assignments with the British. There has been much speculation about Herman's early years. It has been asserted that he made

2496-453: Was born about 1621 in Mšeno , Kingdom of Bohemia ; the location he himself stated in his last testament. The claim that he was born in 1605, as the son of Augustine Ephraim Herman, and Beatrice, the daughter of Caspar Redel, has never been established, nor has the belief of some that he may have been the son of Abraham Herman, the evangelical pastor of Mšeno . Accordingly, the claims that his father

2548-472: Was hauled legally or otherwise to various points along that street and the Anacostia River and also dumped into the river through the city's new sewage system. As the population decreased, city planners tried to plan other uses for this neglected area. The city's new zoning system of 1920 optimistically implemented industrial zoning in the area of the Point, followed by the 1929 National Capitol Parks and Planning Commission's development planning report intending

2600-481: Was one of the signatories of a complaint, the "Vertoogh," which was sent to Holland in July 1649 "to represent the poor condition of this country and pray for redress." Stuyvesant could not let this challenge pass, and proceeded to take measures to assure Herman's financial ruin. In 1653, Herman was briefly imprisoned for indebtedness. In 1651, on behalf of the province, Herman negotiated the purchase of Staten Island and

2652-542: Was organized in 1891 to provide street lighting and streetcar power in Georgetown and Northwest D.C. After suffering during the Panic of 1893 , the company filed bankruptcy and, on November 6, 1895, was acquired by Oscar T. Crosby and Charles A. Lieb for $ 5,500. The company was incorporated as Potomac Electric Power Company on April 28, 1896 in Virginia. It became a subsidiary of the North American Company , which owned

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2704-481: Was successful and he became a naturalized citizen of Maryland . Once he completed the map of Maryland and Virginia in 1670, additional grants were made. They became known as "Little Bohemia," south of the Bohemia River , and "St. Augustine Manor," stretching to the Delaware River between St. George's Creek and Appoquinimink River . In all he owned nearly 30,000 acres (120 km ) and became one of

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