Electric Railway

Electric Railway (HM26JF)

Location: Alexandria, VA 22314
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Country: United States of America
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N 38° 48.275', W 77° 2.612'

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Inscription

City of Alexandria Est. 1749

Alexandria's electric streetcar system, the Washington, Alexandria & Mount Vernon Railway, was established in 1892 between Alexandria and Mount Vernon. In 1896, the line extended into Washington, crossing the Long Bridge where the 14th Street Bridge is today.

The line traveled from Mount Vernon Estate into Alexandria, up South Royal Street and for a time, South Fairfax Street, to King Street, then west to Commonwealth Avenue and north across Four Mile Run, into Arlington and then Washington. The tracks on King Street once reached across Union Street to the waterfront but in 1910 they ended at Fairfax Street. Between Columbus and Payne Streets, streetcars ran one-way with opposite direction tracks on Cameron Street. This photograph, probably taken in the 1920s, shows a car on North Columbus Street near Cameron Street.

The stops in Alexandria, and beyond in Del Ray which was then located outside the city limits, allowed connections to railroads operated by Southern and Washington & Old Dominion. They also encouraged the growth of Del Ray, St. Elmo, and Rosemont as streetcar suburbs, served by several stops along Commonwealth Avenue.

Trains ran regular schedules, traveling from Alexandria to Washington about twice an hour between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with less frequent service on Sunday.



In 1906, 30 daily trains between Mount Vernon and Washington carried 1.7 million passengers, a number that was likely boosted by the opening of an amusement park along Four Mile Run with its own station.

By 1930, as automobiles gained popularity and roads were improved to accommodate them, service to Mount Vernon was abandoned south of Alexandria to make way for the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Soon the Federal Triangle development in Washington resulted in condemnation of the railway station there, leaving streetcars from Virginia without a Washington station. On April 9, 1932, the electric railway service ended.
Details
HM NumberHM26JF
Tags
Placed ByCity of Alexandria
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, April 2nd, 2018 at 1:05pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 322552 N 4297074
Decimal Degrees38.80458333, -77.04353333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 38° 48.275', W 77° 2.612'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds38° 48' 16.5" N, 77° 2' 36.72" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)202, 703, 571
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling East
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 326-398 King St, Alexandria VA 22314, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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