Rosslyn and the Key Bridge 1945
9 09 2009Here we have a great historic shot of Rosslyn looking over the Key Bridge into Georgetown. As you can see, in 1945 Rosslyn was merely a train switching yard with a few warehouses, not the urban center of skyscrapers that it is today.
You can clearly see the relatively new in 1945 Key Bridge as well as the pillions of the Aqueduct Bridge that it replaced. The original bridge was built to carry the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal across the Potomac to connect with the Alexandria Canal. After the Alexandria Canal was abandoned, the bridge was converted into a roadway. The only piece that you can still see today is the Washington abutment located west of the Key Bridge. [Photo Credit: DDOT]
Wonder what Rosslyn will look like in the another 60 odd years?
reminds me of what NoMa used to look like… or the area in which the stadium currently stands.
[…] DCMetrocentric gives us a bird’s eye view of Georgetown in the 1940’s. […]
Are those shotgun houses at the lower middle of the frame? I don’t think a single building in this photo is still standing today. Even so, a few nice ones — the sturdy brick duplexes at middle-left, a few decent commercial storefronts, and the stone (?) church in the bottom right corner.
Amazing.
And on the circle, is that the original Hot Shoppe that eventually morphed into Marriott?
Also notice Georgetown without the Whitehurst Freeway.