Friday, January 23, 2026

1853 (6th)-1870 + 1938,1983 (8th) Chain Bridges over Potomac River at Arlington, VA

1853: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER)
1938: (Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; Satellite)

1853 (6th) Bridge


ArchivedBridgeHunter_1853
"Sixth bridge at this location, derives its name from the third bridge, a chain suspension bridge. First bridge built by Timothy Palmer for Georgetown Bridge Co., wooden covered bridge opened 1797, rotted and collapsed 1804. Rebuilt by Georgetown Bridge Co. in kind, washed away by flood after six months. Third bridge opened 1810, chain suspension span 136' long, 15' wide designed by Judge James E. Finley of Uniontown, PA, swept away by flood 1812; fourth span damaged 1815 by floods; fifth span built 1840 and also destroyed by flooding. Sixth bridge wooden covered span of seven spans, Howe truss with arches, uncovered during Civil War to prevent arson, washed out 1870."

Images of Yore posted
View down the Chain Bridge over the Potomac near Washington circa 1865. (by William Morris Smith)

1937 (8th) Bridge


D.C. Dept of Highways, 1948 via BridgeHunter_1937

Wikimedia via ArchivedBridgeHunter_1938, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)
"Eighth bridge at this location, derives its name from the third bridge, a chain suspension bridge....Army engineers built iron truss replacement 1874, weakened by 1936 flood and replaced with current girder bridge."

I imagine that a steel girder bridge of that magnitude would have been bleeding edge in 1938. Most 1930s bridges are steel trusses.

Aridane Rodríguez, Jul 2023

Manuela Costescu, Nov 2021

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