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EASTERN POWER BOAT CLUB WASHINGTON, D.C.
Since 1905

A century on the Anacostia

A volunteer club built on affordable boating, open to everyone, that has weathered a river’s decline and helped bring it back.

Our Story

More than a century of good neighbors on the river

Founded in 1905 and incorporated to promote “the sport of motor boating,” the Eastern Power Boat Club is the oldest boat club on the Anacostia and one of the oldest in America devoted entirely to motor boating.

For more than a hundred years this stretch of river has been home to a volunteer-run club built on a few simple things: a place to keep a boat without paying a fortune, a welcome for anyone who loves the water, and a stubborn loyalty to the Anacostia through its best years and its worst. Generations of members have called it home, on a waterfront that has changed almost beyond recognition.

Aerial view of the Anacostia River winding through Washington, DC in 1944, the Washington Navy Yard and Boathouse Row lining its banks.
The Anacostia from the air, 1944. The river threads past the Washington Navy Yard and Anacostia Park, the club’s home on Boathouse Row among them. The club’s first home stood at the foot of the north side of the 11th Street Bridge, just at the bottom of this view. Eastern Power Boat Club has kept a place on this water for more than a hundred years. Aerial photograph, from the club archives.
The Early Years

A river alive

In the club’s early decades the Anacostia, then still called the Eastern Branch, was a river alive with recreation. It was good fishing water, and the club itself grew out of a “hook, line and sinker gang” of anglers who found themselves sitting side by side near the Navy Yard, banded together, and turned to power boating. It was a swimming river too: the swimming holes along the bank were many and well populated, and every neighborhood child knew their names, Rutman’s beach, the Coal Chute, Ant beach, Glass beach, the Gas House Wharves.

And it was a boating river. As one 1925 sportswriter remembered, every kid in the Branch would beat it for deep water whenever Commodore Battenfield’s Gray Bat went by, just to “ride” the rollers it threw.

The club traces its founding to 1905. By the autumn of 1910 it had taken organized form: twenty “motorboat bugs” met on October 3, 1910, named themselves for the many motorboats kept on the river at the southeast edge of the city, and elected William A. Mills commodore. They built a first clubhouse at the foot of Eleventh Street Southeast, and on June 6, 1911 the club incorporated “to promote the sport of motor boating.”

Powerboats racing on the Potomac with the Washington Monument on the horizon, early twentieth century.A racing speedboat on the Potomac in the club’s early years, a steamer beyond.Powerboats on the Potomac for a regatta, seen from the deck of another boat, early twentieth century.A willow leaning over the Anacostia shoreline in the early twentieth century.

Powerboats racing on the Potomac in the club’s early years. The club’s members raced the wider Washington waters as readily as they ran the Anacostia they called home. Period photographs, from the club archives.

The Eastern Power Boat Club clubhouse and a long scow being floated across the Anacostia River in 1924, with a cable running to the far bank.
1924: the whole clubhouse floated across the river on a scow, the long barge at left, to clear its old ground for the new Anacostia Park. Washington Post / Fred Miller, Post Staff Photographer.
An Affordable Home Port

A working boater’s club, by design

From the start it was a club for working people who loved the water. While other Washington clubs catered to the wealthy, the club was built around affordability. Most of its members, by the club’s own thirtieth-anniversary account in 1933, worked at the nearby Washington Navy Yard, then the Navy’s great gun factory, building the naval guns that armed American warships through two world wars; others were brewery workers, tradesmen, and servicemen. They paid dues of fifty cents a month, and the club has kept that down-to-earth character ever since: a cooperative run by its own members, offering a home port on the river at a fraction of the cost of a high-end marina.

The club has had three homes on the same river. It began at the foot of the 11th Street Bridge, on ground that is now part of the Navy Yard. In 1919 it moved across to the east bank. Its present home came out of a change to the river itself: as the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the channel and reclaimed the Anacostia Flats into what is now Anacostia Park, the club moved, in 1924, onto the new ground at Historic Boathouse Row, and the members built the site up by several more feet. A turn-of-the-century winch from those years still works on the club’s marine railway today.

A cast metal compass rose lettered E.P.B.C. and dated 1929, set into the ground at the foot of the clubhouse stairs.
Another survivor: a cast compass rose lettered E.P.B.C. and dated 1929, set into the ground at the foot of the clubhouse stairs, where members still cross it today. Photograph from the club.
The Racing Years

Speed on the Potomac

The club was built for boaters who wanted to run. Racing was written into its by-laws, which called for “such regattas and races as the Regatta Committee, with the approval of the Club, shall decide.” The club ran with the Chesapeake chapter of the American Power Boat Association, holding sanctioned races in the smaller classes, and its boats, the Jolly Roger among them, raced the Potomac and the Chesapeake.

At their head was Commodore John Battenfield, an award-winning racer who took home some thirty trophies. His legendary Gray Bat was once recognized as the fastest boat on the East Coast, the fastest craft on the Atlantic seaboard in its day.

From 1926 its members also helped run the Presidents Cup, the big powerboat regatta that drew unlimited hydroplanes to Washington every September into the 1970s. The club’s people were officials and organizers as much as drivers. Bruce Wallen, a member who owned his own boat, was still at it at the start of the 1960s, serving as an official of the Capital Power Boat Association and assisting the chairman of the Presidents Cup.

Newspaper portrait of Commodore John E. Battenfield, a heavy-set older man in a suit and tie. Commodore Battenfield at the wheel of his racing boat the Gray Bat, a Corinthian Yacht Club burgee on the bow.
Commodore John E. Battenfield and the Gray Bat. Battenfield (1866–1950) was, by his obituary’s account, the first Washington resident to pilot a power boat on the Potomac. He went on to lead the club as commodore, but he raced first with the Corinthian Yacht Club, whose burgee flies on the bow of his legendary Gray Bat (right), once recognized as the fastest craft on the Atlantic Coast. He won some thirty trophies before giving up racing in 1926. Portrait: The Evening Star, 1950. Boat: The Evening Star, 1933.
The unlimited hydroplane Miss Detroit at speed on the Potomac during the 1960 President’s Cup, throwing spray, with cars and spectators lining the shore. The unlimited hydroplane Miss Thriftway on the Potomac at the 1960 President’s Cup, attended by officials in white.

The disputed 1960 Presidents Cup. Off Hains Point on the Potomac, Bill Muncey’s Miss Thriftway (right) crossed first but was ruled to have jumped the gun, handing the Cup to Chuck Thompson’s Miss Detroit (left). The unlimited hydroplanes were the headline act; the club’s members were among the officials and volunteers who ran the regatta. Left: United Press International Telephoto. Right: AP Wirephoto. Via Hydroplane History.

Every Background Welcome

From tradesmen to congressmen

For all its racing silver, the club never lost the working-class character it started with. A 1988 Washington Post feature on the blue-collar boat clubs of the Anacostia put the club front and center, proud to defy the blue-blood yacht-club image, with monthly fees of about thirty dollars, roughly a tenth the cost of a slip at the tonier clubs.

The membership ran the full range of the city, from tradesmen to White House executive staff to several sitting members of Congress. On Commodore J.R. Taylor’s decades at the helm, 1970s–2000s

That mix could make for unlikely company. Congressman James Traficant of Ohio kept his powerboat at the club, and it surfaced in the federal corruption case that ended with his conviction on ten felony counts and his expulsion from the House in 2002.

Front page of the 1988 Washington Post feature on Anacostia boat clubs, with a photo of the Eastern Power Boat Club seen from Anacostia Park.
“Anacostia Boat Clubs Just Keep Rollin’ Along.” The Washington Post put the club at the center of its 1988 feature on the river’s working-class clubs. The Washington Post, July 28, 1988.
Hard Years, and a River Reborn

Weathering the century

A hundred-odd years on one river means weathering everything a century can bring. The club came through the Great Depression intact: by its thirtieth anniversary in 1933 it counted sixty-eight members and a fleet of about forty, with J. E. Battenfield in his twelfth year as commodore. It came through the World Wars, floating the clubhouse on pontoons during one of them and sending members like James Barry O’Rourke into the Coast Guard. It even came through disaster closer to home, when a propane tank being used to rebuild a van in the club yard blew up in 1978, knocking out windows but hurting no one.

The hardest loss was the river itself. The same reclamation that built the club’s ground erased the old swimming beaches, and for much of the twentieth century the Anacostia carried the District’s stormwater and sewage along with the runoff of the industry on its banks. Upstream, stretches of the riverbank were used as a landfill, and riverside oil depots and gas works fouled the water and the ground around them. By 1971 swimming was banned outright, and the river was counted among the most polluted in the country.

Aerial view of the Anacostia River and Washington, DC in 1932, a large cylindrical gasworks storage tank standing on the near riverbank, the Capitol and Washington Monument on the horizon.
1932: the river and the District from above. The Capitol and the Washington Monument sit on the horizon. The club’s clubhouse stands on the riverbank just below the big cylindrical gas-storage tank at left, part of the riverside gasworks.
An early aerial photograph of the Eastern Power Boat Club, its docks lined with boats on the Anacostia beside the gasworks’ great cylindrical storage tank.
The club beside the gasworks. A closer early aerial of the club itself, its docks crowded with boats right beside the great gas-storage tank, the same tank that marks the spot in the wider 1932 view above. From the club archives.
A 1966 survey aerial of the Anacostia River and its bridges in Washington, DC.
1966: the river from a survey flight. The Anacostia and its bridges from above, the club’s home reach below, a few years before swimming was banned outright and the river reached its low point.
A 1973 color aerial of the Eastern Power Boat Club, its boats lined along the docks on a rust-orange, polluted Anacostia River, with riverside gasworks tanks and the city beyond.
1973: the river at its worst. The club’s boats line the docks on a rust-orange Anacostia, the gasworks looming behind. Two years earlier, swimming had been banned outright.
The Eastern Power Boat Club clubhouse and docks seen from the water in recent years.
Today. Still on the Anacostia, on far cleaner water, still welcoming boaters home.

The Anacostia has come a long way back since the late 1980s, with cleaner water and a revived waterfront. The river’s neighbors were part of that turnaround from the start: in 1985 Howard Gasaway of the Seafarers Yacht Club, one of the country’s oldest African American yacht clubs and a fellow Anacostia club just up the row, began what grew into the annual Anacostia River Earth Day cleanup, now one of the largest single-day volunteer events in the region. The club is glad to carry that work forward, hosting an Earth Day cleanup at the club and joining shoreline cleanups through the season.

Much of that recovery is the work of two organizations the club is proud to stand with. The Anacostia Watershed Society, founded in 1989 and a special member of our club, has spent more than three decades putting the river back together: planting tens of thousands of native trees, restoring wetlands and wildlife habitat, monitoring the water, and hauling well over a thousand tons of trash off the river and its banks.

The Anacostia Riverkeeper, founded in 2008, is a valued partner in the same work. Its team watches over water quality, runs cleanups, and opens the river to everyone through free boat tours and Friday-night fishing. We are especially grateful for the great work the Riverkeeper has done removing abandoned and derelict boats from the Anacostia, which keeps the river safer and cleaner for everyone who shares it.

A Century at a Glance

Milestones on the river

1905
Eastern Power Boat Club is founded in Washington, DC by William A. Mills, L. J. Johnston, and Monty Williams. It is the first boat club on the Anacostia River and one of the oldest in America devoted exclusively to motor boating.
1910
The club holds its first meetings and builds a clubhouse at the foot of the 11th Street Bridge. Early members are Navy Yard and brewery workers, tradesmen, and servicemen paying dues of 50 cents a month.
1911
The club incorporates on June 6, 1911, “to promote the sport of motor boating.”
1919
The club moves from the foot of the 11th Street Bridge across to the east bank of the Anacostia, just east of the bridge.
1924
With the reclamation of the Anacostia Flats complete, the club moves to its present location on Historic Boathouse Row, on reclaimed land that is now Anacostia Park. The members build the ground up by several more feet, and the Washington Yacht Club, also on the east bank, moves at the same time.
1926
The Presidents Cup powerboat races begin on the Potomac River. The club’s members race in the era’s regattas on the Potomac and the Chesapeake.
1920s–60s
The club’s racing years. Through its Regatta Committee, the club runs American Power Boat Association races in the smaller classes, and its members help organize the Presidents Cup regatta on the Potomac into the 1960s.
1971
Swimming is banned on the Anacostia, by then one of the most polluted rivers in the country.
2008
The National Park Service transfers the historic Boathouse Row land, the club’s site included, to the District of Columbia.
Today
A thriving private social club on a much healthier river. The club hosts an Earth Day cleanup and takes part in shoreline cleanups through the season.
From the Archives

Documents and photographs from the early years

The club holds a deep archive of early photographs, press clippings, leases, and records. A selection from the founding decades is below.

The Club Chat column of the November 1910 Motor Boat Magazine announcing the club’s founding.
Motor Boat Magazine, November 1910. The “Club Chat” column announces the organization of Eastern Power Boat Club.
A Washington Times photograph of the club’s first clubhouse, a wooden boathouse lettered “Power Boat Club,” with members on the dock at the foot of Eleventh Street Southeast.
The club’s first clubhouse at the foot of Eleventh Street Southeast, members lined up on the dock. From the Washington Times. The club moved across the Anacostia in 1919 and on to its present Boathouse Row site in 1924.
The first page of the club’s 1911 articles of incorporation.
The first page of the club’s 1911 articles of incorporation, from a copy obtained from the District of Columbia in 1957.
The June 1911 wharf-lease bid won by William A. Mills.
June 1911. William A. Mills’ winning bid of $1.75 per foot for the club’s first wharf lease.
The club’s 1912 waterfront lease from the District of Columbia.
1912. The club’s lease of 93 feet of District waterfront for $162.75 a year.
A July 1912 Washington Times article about a club regatta and a new clubhouse.
Washington Times, July 1912. Plans for a regatta, and for a new 30 by 40 foot, two-story clubhouse with a loft.
Members at an oyster roast in the club’s early days.
An oyster roast in the club’s early days.
A June 1919 Washington Herald article on the club’s move from the 11th Street Bridge.
Washington Herald, June 1919, reporting the club’s move from its first home at the 11th Street Bridge.
A 1925 Army Corps of Engineers report recording the club’s 1924 move.
A 1925 Army Corps of Engineers report recording the club’s 1924 move to its present Boathouse Row site.
A turn-of-the-century winch still in use on the club’s marine railway.
A turn-of-the-century winch, still in use today on the club’s marine railway.

Historical details on this page are drawn from the club’s own records and history page, together with the historic-preservation record of Boathouse Row: the “Historic Boathouse Row” river-tour guide (2008) and the Washington Yacht Club National Register and DC Landmark application (2019).

In the News

A century in the papers

For more than a century the club has turned up in the Washington papers, from its founding notice in a national motorboating journal to feature stories and the occasional bit of waterfront drama. Two from the archive are below.

1913 Evening Star article headlined “Corinthian and Eastern Club Members on Outing Today,” about the clubs’ annual oyster-roast excursions.
The Evening Star, October 26, 1913

Corinthian and Eastern Club Members on Outing Today

An end-of-season scene: the launches of the Eastern Power Boat Club and the Corinthian Yacht Club, decked with bunting, heading down the river for their annual oyster roasts. The club’s fleet ran to River View, the procession led by the launch flying the flag of Commodore William Wagner.

View the full clipping
1925 Washington Times Sports article headlined “King Speed to Reign on River,” recalling how children rode the wake of Battenfield’s Gray Bat past the swimming holes on the Anacostia.
The Washington Times, July 30, 1925

King Speed to Reign on River

A preview of the big Potomac regatta that turns into a love letter to the original Gray Bat. Fifteen years earlier, the writer recalls, Battenfield’s first Gray Bat “threw” the biggest rollers on the river, and every kid at the swimming holes along the Eastern Branch, Rutman’s beach, the Coal Chute, Ant beach, Glass beach, the Gas House Wharves, would beat it for deep water to “ride” the boat’s wake.

View the full page at the Library of Congress
See the full newspaper archive
In Remembrance

Honoring those who came before

We remember the past leaders and officers whose dedication built and sustained this club across more than a hundred years on the water.

Commodore, 1970s to the 2000s

J.R. Taylor (Lloyd Taylor, Jr.)

For roughly three decades, from the 1970s into the 2000s, the club was led by Commodore J.R. Taylor. He was a fine leader, and the club prospered under him. The membership in those years ran the full range of the city, from tradesmen to White House executive staff to several sitting members of Congress.

Read his obituary

We also remember

  • Tom Speight Past Commodore
    2013
  • Rick Greene Past Commodore
    2022
  • Bob Currie Past Secretary and Treasurer
    2023

    An ardent fisherman and lifelong boating enthusiast, as happy working on a boat as running one.

  • Tom Johnson Past Commodore
    2024

    He brought his boat up from Florida and found both harbor and friendship on the Anacostia, then took the helm as the club’s elected commodore.

  • Eric Cloud Past Secretary and Trustee
    2024
  • Charles “Chip” Taylor Past Measurer
    2025

    A member of the club for more than thirty-five years, he served as its measurer for most of that time.

Listed by the year they passed. Links open each member’s obituary or memorial.

Help Us Tell the Story

Have a photo, a document, or a memory?

The club holds a deep archive of early-1900s photographs, clippings, rosters, and records, and there is always more of the story to gather. If you have something to add, we would love to hear from you.

Reach out to the club