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MONIQUE JOHNSON ANACOSTIA RIVER CENTER
1520 First St SE
Washington, DC 20003
The historic Capitol Pump House, built in 1906, is our flagship community headquarters. In 1994, Mayor Marion Barry granted the Earth Conservation Corps the right to try to save the abandoned U.S. Capitol Pump House that was close to collapsing into the Anacostia River. By clearing a "Riverwalk " through a garbage dump the Corps created the first public access to the west bank of the river between the South Capitol and Benning Road bridges. The goal was to create a beachhead, a community gathering place for environmental education, and place-based river restoration. Today the Center is named for murdered founding corps member Monique Johnson. The Monique Johnson Anacostia River Center remains a lighthouse for active conservation.
The Monique Johnson Anacostia River Center is home to our Youth Media Arts Program & Anacosita Raptor Watch.
REMEMBERING MONIQUE JOHNSON
Named after one of the Foudning Earth Conservation Corps members, Monique Johnson. A bright teenager making a visible difference in her community who was murdered in 1992; Earth Conservation Corps carries on her name in a manner worthy of her light.
CAPITOL PUMPHOUSE HISTORY
Spurred by a partnership with PEPCO, a 20-year lease from the Department of the Interior, and a $600,000 Department of Housing Brownfields Redevelopment Grant, Earth Conservation Corps converted the abandoned lead filled PEPCO Pumphouse on Buzzard Point into the center of community enterprise, environmental restoration and community development now known as the Monique Johnson Anacostia River Center. Development included the reclamation of the 1 ½ acre site into a public park and completion of the first demonstration segment of the Anacostia River Walk.
Historical Society images of the Capitol Pump House during its original use of bringing heat to the white house, circa 1934.
Earth Conservation Corpsmembers participating in the construction; with a very special thank you to the U.S. Navy Seabees who led the renovation.
OUR PARTNERS
