Three bridges have been built across Sligo Creek at Carroll Avenue. The first bridge, built about 1878, was a simple wooden structure located about 150 feet below the site of the present bridge. When the Seventh-day Adventist Church established a hospital and college nearby in 1904, it became apparent that a larger bridge capable of handling increasing traffic for the growing community was needed.
Walter Douglas, who engineered the Lion Bridge on Connecticut Avenue, designed and supervised construction of the new reinforced concrete structure. The Adventist Church made a substantial contribution toward the $10,000 costs, and the bridge opened on July 22, 1909, with a speed limit of 8 miles per hour!
The Douglas Bridge served the town until the 1930s, when population growth and ever increasing automobile traffic demanded a larger structure. Governor Albert C. Ritchie and leading state, county, and city officials opened the three-lane steel and concrete bridge on September 14, 1932, in a gala celebration attended by over 1,000 people.
Presented by Historic Takoma, Inc., 1988
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