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Although malaria was eliminated in the United States by the early 1950s, the disease was widespread across the American South, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions during the previous century. The threat was so severe in Washington, D.C. that in the late 1800s, a well-known doctor proposed constructing a massive wire mosquito net as tall as the Washington Monument to cover the capital. Standing at 555 feet upon its completion in 1884, the Washington Monument was the world's tallest structure at the time, surpassed only by the Eiffel Tower five years later. Such a colossal screen would have been an extraordinary feat of engineering.
The National Mall once served as an ideal habitat for malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Contrary to popular myths, the District of Columbia was not built on a swamp, but frequent flooding from the nearby Tiber Creek, part of the Washington City Canal, often turned the area into a waterlogged, foul-smelling marsh during the mid-1800s.
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Dr. Albert Freeman Africanus King was among the pioneers to link malaria to the mosquitoes thriving in the marshy areas of the National Mall. In 1882, he presented a lecture to the Philosophical Society of Washington, detailing 19 reasons why mosquitoes were likely responsible for spreading malaria.
This theory was highly controversial at the time. Scientists had not yet proven that mosquitoes acted as carriers, or vectors, for the malaria parasite. Instead, the prevailing belief in the 1800s medical community was that malaria resulted from noxious vapors, or miasmas [PDF]. The term 'malaria' itself originates from the Italian mala aria, meaning 'bad air.'
During his 1882 speech, King suggested constructing an enormous wire screen to protect the nation’s capital from mosquitoes and, consequently, malaria. As noted by Leon J. Warshaw in his book Malaria: The Biography of a Killer, King’s proposal was met with loud laughter from his scholarly audience. A condensed version of this speech was later published in the September 1883 issue of Popular Science Monthly.
King later expanded on his malaria theories. In an 1899 article in the National Medical Review, he provided more specifics about his envisioned citywide mosquito screen:
Regarding Washington, D.C., it was proposed that the Washington Monument could serve as a useful structure for determining the altitude at which mosquitoes fly. By placing illuminated fly-traps at various heights on its exterior, researchers could study how high mosquitoes travel or are carried by winds from the nearby Potomac flats.
In a 1969 article published in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences [PDF], author Steven T. Charles noted in a footnote that King’s groundbreaking paper on malaria failed to achieve the global recognition he had anticipated and was largely ignored.
Although King’s unconventional proposal never gained widespread support, his theory about malaria transmission proved correct. However, he never received formal acknowledgment for his insights. It wasn’t until several decades later that the idea of mosquitoes carrying malaria gained acceptance. In 1902, Sir Ronald Ross was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the malaria parasite’s life cycle in mosquitoes.
Additional sources: Malaria, the biography of a killer.
