Alexandria Canal Tide Lock | |
Alexandria Canal Center with reconstructed Tidal Basin and Tidal Lock | |
Nearest city | Alexandria, Virginia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 38°48′49.6″N 77°2′18.2″W / 38.813778°N 77.038389°W |
Area | 5.7 acres (2.3 ha) |
Built | 1833 |
Architect | Alexandria Canal Co. |
NRHP reference No. | 80004305[1] |
VLR No. | 100-0099[2] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | January 15, 1980 |
Designated VLR | November 20, 1979[2] |
The Alexandria Canal was a canal in the United States that connected the city of Alexandria to Georgetown in the District of Columbia.
In 1830, merchants from Alexandria (which at the time was within the jurisdiction of the federal District of Columbia) proposed linking their city to Georgetown to capitalize on the new Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O Canal). Congress granted a charter to the Alexandria Canal Company in 1830. Construction began in 1833 and was completed in 1843.
The Aqueduct Bridge (also begun in 1833 and completed in 1843) enabled canal boats from the C&O Canal to cross the Potomac River without descending to the river level. The boats would then continue their trips downstream on a canal on the southwest side of the Potomac until they reached Alexandria's seaport.
The canal ran southwards for seven miles through today's Arlington County and City of Alexandria, Virginia, dropping 38 feet through a series of four locks between Washington Street and the Potomac River in the northern portion of Alexandria. The Canal ended at a Tidal Basin (Pool No. 1) and a Tidal Lock (Lift Lock No. 1) located at the north end of Old Town Alexandria.
The canal was abandoned in 1886. Ten years after the canal closed, an electric trolley line was constructed in 1896 in Arlington on the bed of the towpath that traveled near and along the canal's west side (see: Washington-Mount Vernon line of the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway).[3] Arlington's South Eads Street now approximates the canal's route in this area.[4]
Also in 1896, the Washington Southern Railway opened a line that traveled between the southern end of the Long Bridge and the southern end of the Aqueduct Bridge.[5][6] The line, which passed the present site of The Pentagon, traveled within the grade of the former canal in the area that lies between Arlington National Cemetery and the Potomac River.[7][8] The line became in 1904 the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, which the Pennsylvania Railroad owned through a subsidiary, the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad (PB&W).[8][9]
The Rosslyn Connecting Railroad abandoned nearly all of its line in 1962 and closed in 1969.[10] The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority then constructed an open section of Metrorail's Blue Line along a portion of the railroad's route that had traveled within the canal's grade.[11] The section of the Blue Line opened on July 1, 1977.[12]
After the Key Bridge was completed in 1923, the old superstructure of the Aqueduct Bridge was removed. During the 1980s, Alexandria City archaeologists and the developer of the neighboring Trans-Potomac Canal Center excavated the Tidal Basin and Lock and covered the original remnants with a reconstruction.[13] Aside from these two features, the abutments of the Aqueduct Bridge in Georgetown and Rosslyn, and a pier of the bridge in the Potomac River upstream of the Key Bridge, all of the canal's remnants have either been removed or remain underground.
The Washington Southern Railway extends from the junction of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad at the south end of the Long Bridge, opposite Washington, D. C., to Quantico, Virginia, a distance of 32.12 miles. It has three branches — .... ; and the Rosslyn branch from the south end of the Long Bridge to the south end of the Aqueduct at the village of Rosslyn, Va., opposite Georgetown, D. C., a distance of 1.13 miles. This latter branch was opened for business April 2, 1896.
The Pennsylvania Railroad had a very short line over on the Virginia side of the river. It ran from the Virginia end of the 14th Street Bridge to a terminal in Roslyn. I am not sure if the Pennsylvania Branch connected to the W&OD Roslyn Branch, but the ends of the two branches were very close. The Pennsylvania Branch served the old Pickle Factory that later served as the power house for the Pentagon. Then it ran in front of the Potomac-facing side of the Pentagon and then followed the route of the old Georgetown and Alexandria Canal to Roslyn. At the Pentagon, the rails ran under the concrete east entrance. That is, it did not run under the Pentagon Building itself. The branch line was not electrified, even though the Pennsylvania electric lines ran across the 14th Street Bridge to Potomac Yard.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The railroad that ran past the Pentagon was the onetime Pennsylvania RR Rosslyn branch. This branch left the mainline at RO (for Rosslyn) tower at the south end of the bridge over the Potomac and basically followed the Potomac northwest to Rosslyn. Part of it was built on the bed of the old canal that connected Alexandria with the C&O Canal in Georgetown. The line was always strictly freight and served some building supply companies in Rosslyn. Although the W&OD also terminated in Rosslyn, there was no connection between the two. The PRR's terminal was on the east side of town, and the W&OD ended just west of the Rosslyn traffic circle. I can't tell you when the Rosslyn end was abandoned, but I think the line remained intact as far as the Pentagon for some years longer.
The grading is rather light. The most of the line follows along the route of an old disused canal and in constructing the roadbed the carrier used the canal grading as far as possible.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)As well as owning the bridge from Washington to Virginia used by all passengers from the south, the Pennsylvania Railroad also owned the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad. This line ran from Potomac Yard to Rosslyn and used to supply the Pentagon (which it almost touched) with coal.
Continuing south in Virginia was the Alexandria and Washington Railroad, opened in 1857. The Baltimore and Potomac acquired this line after reaching it, operating it until 1901, when the Washington Southern Railway (the successor of the Alexandria and Washington) was taken over by the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, an independent bridge line owned equally by the PRR and five other railroads. Soon after, in 1904, the line from the Long Bridge to Rosslyn, built by the Washington Southern, was split off into the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, owned by the PRR.
The Commission .... has authorized the carrier to abandon a portion of line extending from valuation point 26 plus 49 near the Pentagon to ....
Rosslyn Connecting Railroad Company. — A class II railroad operating 2.69 miles of road from south of Potomac Bridge to Rosslyn, Va. This road abandoned 2.3 miles of road in 1962. It is wholly owned by the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad Company, a subsidiary of P.R.R.
The Rosslyn Connecting Railroad started operations in 1904 and stopped service in 1969 for a total period of operations of 65 years.
There used to be a rail line from Rosslyn to the Long Bridge, but that was replaced by the Blue Line.
With the opening today of its 12-mile-long Blue Line from National Airport to RFK Stadium, Washington's Metro subway grows from a downtown demonstration line into the spine of a regional transportation system that could rival the Capital Beltway in its effect on Washington.
1977 ... July 1: Blue Line opens from National Airport to Stadium-Armory — 18 stations and 12 miles of line.