The trail runs on the abandoned right-of-way of the Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The branch was partially built in 1892 and completed in 1910. It served Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO), the Washington Mill, and federal government buildings; but with the changing use of Georgetown's waterfront, became obsolete. B&O was purchased by the Chessie System in 1973. In 1983 the railroad notified the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) that the Georgetown Branch that it would be the subject of an abandonment application. Within a year, the Washington Area Bicyclist Association contacted the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning Commission about turning it into a trail. The idea of using the right-of-way as a trail dated back to the early 1970s as it was mentioned as an existing proposal in the 1975 Bethesda Central Business District Sector Plan. In January 1986, WABA completed a feasibility study of the trail, and the next month advocates chose the name "Capital Crescent Trail."