You are not alone if you were unaware that Washington, D.C. is home to the oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States. Given Captain White Seafood Market’s departure from the Municipal Fish Market in 2021 and the extensive renovations to the D.C.
Waterfront (now known as The Wharf), it’s easy to assume that the fish market is only a small part of Southwest D.C.’s history. In fact, the market, which was known as the Maine Avenue Fish Market for many years, dates back to 1805, when Thomas Jefferson was president, and is 17 years older than New York City’s Fulton Fish Market.
The D.C. Waterfront was intended to serve as the capital’s commercial and transportation hub from its inception in 1791. Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the new federal city’s designer, envisioned a network of canals that would connect Washington, D.C., to the rest of the world.
The new federal district was established on marshy land where two rivers intersected. Many locals preferred to travel along the Potomac and Anacostia rivers because the few roads available were in poor condition.
In 1805, the Municipal Fish Market was established for seafood vendors to sell fish, oysters, and crab purchased from Chesapeake Bay watermen and transported to D.C. by boat.
In 1823, Congress designated a portion of the waterfront as “fish-docks.” The fish-docks were the only places in D.C. where fish could be legally sold off a boat.
From a permanent structure to a redeveloped Waterfront
A permanent Municipal Fish Market building was not built until the District experienced a building boom during World War I. The Fish Market was completed in 1918, the same year that the Main Navy Munitions Building on the National Mall opened. Immigrants, government employees, and Black families all called the Waterfront home.
In the 1950s, Washington, D.C. experienced a redevelopment craze, and the Waterfront area was designated as part of the Southwest Freeway route. Several years later, much of the Waterfront was scheduled for demolition, but the Fish Market’s seafood vendors cited their 99-year leases and refused to leave.
The District built a municipal pier near the I-395 bridge for seafood vendors to use, allowing the Fish Market building to be demolished. Vendors tied their barges to the pier and sold their goods there. Today, Municipal Fish Market vendors sell fish, shrimp, crab, and oysters from steel barges.
Working with developer Hoffman-Madison Waterfront, the District of Columbia Council advanced Waterfront redevelopment plans in the early 2000s. The Municipal Fish Market remains a part of The Wharf, a mixed-use development that includes hotels, high-rise apartments, offices, restaurants, and shops.
The owner of Captain White Seafood, a Fish Market mainstay, will leave the Waterfront in 2021 due to a dispute over rent and other issues. Jessie Taylor Seafood, which has been a Municipal Fish Market vendor since 1939, continues to sell fresh and cooked seafood to locals and tourists alike.
