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 Rosslyn Connecting Railroad abandoned nearly all of its line in 1962 and closed in 1969. 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. The section of the Blue Line opened on July 1, 1977.
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. 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.
Map of canal1878 map of Alexandria County, Virginia (now Arlington County, Virginia), showing the route of the Alexandria Canal (identified as the "Chesapeake and Ohio Canal") southwest of the Potomac River
^(1) 1900 map showing the route of the "Washington, Alexandria & Mt. Vernon Electric R. W." within the route of the "Old Alexandria Canal" northeast of Four Mile Run and west of the Alfred Richards Brick Co. and the Morrison Brick Co.: "Map of Alexandria County, Virginia for the Virginia Title Co". Alexandria, Virginia: The Company. 1900. Retrieved October 7, 2019 – via Library of Congress website.
^Wilson, William Bender (1899). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company: with Plan of Organization, Portraits of Officials and Biographical Sketches. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Co. p. 332. OCLC671596804. Retrieved June 27, 2017 – via Google Books. 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.
^(1) 1900 map showing the route of the Washington Southern Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad (formerly the Washington Southern Railway) inside the route of the "Old Alexandria Canal" within the "Arlington Reservation", between the Potomac River and the "National Cemetery": "Map of Alexandria County, Virginia for the Virginia Title Co". Alexandria, Virginia: The Company. 1900. Retrieved October 7, 2019 – via Library of Congress website. (2) Roberts, John (Denton, Texas) (February 4, 2013). "Comments". Abandoned Rails.com: Alexandria to Bluemont. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017. 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) (3) CSXvet (July 26, 2003). "Re: W&OD Railroad - Adjacent to Pentagon?". Nostalgia & History > W&OD Railroad. Trainorders.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017 – via Digicert.com. 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 Commission (1926). "Valuation Docket No. 160: Rosslyn Connecting Railroad Company: Appendix 1". Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States (Valuation Reports): October 1925 — February 1926. 106. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office: 678. ISSN0083-1530. OCLC6392128. Retrieved October 26, 2019 – via HathiTrust Digital Library. The grading is rather light. 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.
^(1) "History: Rosslyn Connecting Railroad Co.". Third Annual Report of the State Corporation Commission of Virginia for the Year Ending December 31, 1905. Vol. 2. Richmond, Virginia: Davis Bottom, Superintendent Public Printing. 1906. p. 541. OCLC5329199. Retrieved June 27, 2017 – via Google Books. (2) Pennsylvania Railroad (1958). "Rosslyn Connecting Railroad Company". Record of Transportation Lines Owned and Operated by and Associated in Interest with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Philadelphia. p. 74. OCLC35068648. Retrieved June 27, 2017 – via Google Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) (3) "Rosslyn Connecting Railroad"(PDF). Cheyenne, Wyoming: LaBelle Woodworking Company. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 28, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2016. (4) "Rails and Transit in Washington DC"(blog). Penney Vanderbilt and KC Jones: All About Railroads. March 22, 2017 – via WordPress. 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. (5) "Certificate: Rosslyn Connecting Railroad Company - Virginia 1944". Scripophily.com. Archived from the original on June 28, 2017. Retrieved June 27, 2017. 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. (6) 1942 map showing the Rosslyn Connecting Railroad, the planned route of Virginia State Route 110 (below the railroad), The Pentagon building and Arlington National Cemetery: "Plate 22". Plat Book of Arlington County, Virginia. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Franklin Survey Company. 1943. Retrieved October 25, 2019 – via Historic Map Works, LLC. Residential Genealogy.
^(1) Feaver, Douglas B. (July 1, 1977). "Today, Metro could be U.S. model". The Washington Post. p. A1. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017. 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. (2) "Metro History"(PDF). Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Archived from the original(PDF) on July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017. 1977 ... July 1: Blue Line opens from National Airport to Stadium-Armory — 18 stations and 12 miles of line.
Barr, Keith L. (1989). The Alexandria Canal: Tidewater Terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal System. Alexandria, Virginia: Alexandria Archaeology Publications. OCLC34470316.
Bertsch, Amy; Mallamo, Lance (September 6, 2007). "The Alexandria Canal Tide Lock"(PDF). Marking Time. Alexandria Times. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 27, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2017 – via Office of Historic Alexandria, Government of the City of Alexandria, Virginia..
Department of Planning and Community Development & Alexandria Archaeology, Office of Historic Alexandria. "Alexandria Canal"(PDF). Government of the City of Alexandria, Virginia. Archived from the original(brochure) on March 22, 2016. Retrieved June 26, 2017..
