The Aqueduct Bridge (also called the Alexandria Aqueduct) was a bridge between Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...

, and Rosslyn, Virginia

Rosslyn, Virginia

Rosslyn is an unincorporated area in Northern Virginia located in the northeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, north of Arlington National Cemetery and directly across the Potomac River from Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Rosslyn encompasses the Arlington neighborhoods of North Rosslyn...

, in Arlington County. It was built to transport cargo-carrying boats on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. The total length of the canal is about . The elevation change of...

 in Georgetown across the Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 to the Alexandria Canal. The same eight piers

Pier (architecture)

In architecture, a pier is an upright support for a superstructure, such as an arch or bridge. Sections of wall between openings function as piers. The simplest cross section of the pier is square, or rectangular, although other shapes are also common, such as the richly articulated piers of Donato...

 supported three different bridges: a wooden canal bridge, a wooden double-deck canal and roadway bridge, and a roadway-only iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 truss bridge

Truss bridge

A truss bridge is a bridge composed of connected elements which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. Truss bridges are one of the oldest types of modern bridges...

. The bridge was closed in 1923 after the construction of the nearby Key Bridge

Francis Scott Key Bridge (Washington)

The Francis Scott Key Bridge, more commonly known as the Key Bridge, is a six-lane reinforced concrete arch bridge conveying U.S. Route 29 traffic across the Potomac River between the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia and the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C...

.

History

In 1830, merchants from Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

, which was still part of the District of Columbia at the time, proposed linking their city to Georgetown to capitalize on the new Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Congress granted a charter to the Alexandria Canal Company in 1830, and construction soon began on the Aqueduct Bridge that would carry canal boats across the Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 and downriver on the south side without unloading in Georgetown. The bridge was designed by Major William Turnbull. Construction of the bridge and Alexandria Canal began in 1833; both were completed a decade later. To withstand Potomac ice floes, the piers were made of gneiss

Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...

 boated down from quarries upstream and were sloped upwards from the river on their upstream sides. The water-filled bridge was a weatherproofed timber queen-post truss construction. The Civil War interrupted plans to make an upper level for a railroad crossing above the lower canal level; instead, the canal was drained to make a roadway for military troops.

In 1866, the boat channel was restored to private ownership, and in 1868 arching Howe trusses were installed to support a toll highway and footpath on top of the lower canal level intersecting to M Street

M Street (Washington, D.C.)

The name "M Street" refers to two major roads in the United States capital of Washington, D.C. Because of the Cartesian-coordinate-based street-naming system in Washington, the name M Street can be used to refer to any east-west street located twelve blocks north or south of the dome of the United...

. The going rate for a foot passenger was two cents; a horse or cattle, five cents; a vehicle drawn by one animal cost fifteen cents, twenty-five cents if drawn by two; and a penny for any pig, sheep, or other live animal. Only military troops and munitions were exempt from the tolls.

In the 1880s, the old bridge was sold to the federal government and replaced in 1887 by a light iron truss bridge

Truss bridge

A truss bridge is a bridge composed of connected elements which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. Truss bridges are one of the oldest types of modern bridges...

 for wheeled traffic. This bridge was manufactured by the Mount Vernon Bridge Company of Mount Vernon, Ohio. Their bid was $80,905.50. In 1889, the northern arch in the Washington abutment was enlarged so that the Georgetown Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 could pass underneath. When that line was abandoned, Water Street, NW, was extended west through the passageway to the Washington Canoe Club. The empty lot before the canoe club had previously been occupied by Dempsey's Canoe Livery. The rest of the Georgetown Branch right-of-way

Right-of-way (railroad)

A right-of-way is a strip of land that is granted, through an easement or other mechanism, for transportation purposes, such as for a trail, driveway, rail line or highway. A right-of-way is reserved for the purposes of maintenance or expansion of existing services with the right-of-way...

 is now occupied by the Capital Crescent Trail

Capital Crescent Trail

The Capital Crescent Trail is an long, shared-use rail trail that runs from Georgetown in Washington, D.C., to Silver Spring, Maryland. The portion from Bethesda to Silver Spring is also called the Georgetown Branch Trail but is recognized as the Future Capital Crescent Trail.The Capital Crescent...

.

In 1904, the Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad

Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad

The Great Falls and Old Dominion Railroad was an interurban trolley line that ran in Northern Virginia during the early 20th century.-History:...

 constructed a superstructure

Superstructure

A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...

 that extended outward from the upstream side of the bridge's deck

Deck (building)

In architecture, a deck is a flat surface capable of supporting weight, similar to a floor, but typically constructed outdoors, often elevated from the ground, and usually connected to a building...

. The superstructure carried the electric trolleys

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 of the railroad and its successor, the Washington and Old Dominion Railway

Washington and Old Dominion Railroad

The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad was an intrastate short-line railroad located in Northern Virginia. Its oldest line extended from Alexandria on the Potomac River northwest to Bluemont at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Snickers Gap, not far from the boundary line between...

, between Georgetown and Rosslyn, Great Falls

Great Falls Park

Great Falls Park is a small National Park Service site in Virginia, United States. Situated on 800 acres along the banks of the Potomac River in northern Fairfax County, the park is a disconnected but integral part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway...

, Leesburg

Leesburg, Virginia

Leesburg is a historic town in, and county seat of, Loudoun County, Virginia, United States of America. Leesburg is located west-northwest of Washington, D.C. along the base of the Catoctin Mountain and adjacent to the Potomac River. Its population according the 2010 Census is 42,616...

, and Bluemont, Virginia until the bridge closed.

In 1923, the bridge was closed after the Key Bridge

Francis Scott Key Bridge (Washington)

The Francis Scott Key Bridge, more commonly known as the Key Bridge, is a six-lane reinforced concrete arch bridge conveying U.S. Route 29 traffic across the Potomac River between the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington County, Virginia and the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C...

 was built downstream about a hundred feet east. The Aqueduct Bridge's superstructure and most of the above-water portions of its piers were removed in 1933. The bases of the piers were retained to protect the Key Bridge's piers from ice floe damage. In 1962, seven of the eight remaining pilings from the Aqueduct Bridge were blasted out to a depth of twelve feet below the waterline after recreational boaters claimed that they were hazardous.

The Aqueduct Bridge Washington abutment still survives and is located west of the Key Bridge. The southern arch underneath the abutment is used to shelter rowing shells

Racing shell

In watercraft, a racing shell is an extremely narrow, and often disproportionately long, rowing boat specifically designed for racing or exercise. It is outfitted with long oars, outriggers to hold the oarlocks away from the boat, and sliding seats...

belonging to members of the Potomac Boat Club. The sole remaining pier is located in the river near the Virginia shore. The bridge's Virginia abutment remains in place beneath and upstream of the Key Bridge.

External links

• Photographs of Aqueduct Bridge and its remnants. Last photo (colorized) shows electric trolley on bridge. Accessed September 7, 2007.
• Aqueduct Bridge
• Aqueduct Covered Bridge of Arlington County Virginia in website of Foundation For Virginia's Lost Covered Bridges, Inc., Accessed October 29, 2009.
• Coordinates of Aqueduct Bridge abutment, Georgetown: 38.90429°N 77.070411°W
• Coordinates of Aqueduct Bridge pier, Potomac River: 38.901516°N 77.07061°W
• Coordinates of Aqueduct Bridge abutment, Rosslyn: 38.901157°N 77.07068°W