Evening star., 1935-12-01
Dis aster Marked
End of One Early
Bridge, Followed
by Classic Among
City's Ghost Tales.

4
his father, still recalls with much
pleasure his rambles through the wood
of his parents farm, and his pill
grimages along Rock Creek, where
are now the Taft and the new Calvert
Street bridges. There was good gum
ming around there in those days, and
probably excellent fishing, too. At
this time the land lying to the west
Of the creek. where are now the two
bridges mentioned, was owned by Mrs.
A. E. Kervan and the land to the
serves as the Office for the National
Geological Park. Mrs. S. r. Hobbie.
l.. Thomas, John Little, the Corcoran
heirs, Joshua Peirce and the Hol-.
meads were also large holders Of
property in this vicinity. And then
there was historic Kalorama nearby,
where in all probability Robert Fulton
made some of his early experiments
in steam navigation.
The first bridge of any importance
to be erected in this immediate neigh.
borhood was the Woodley Lane Bridge,
which looked like big structure when
it was completed, July Is, 1889, and
yet pictures of the Taft Bridge under
construction shows one of its massive
arches encircling the older bridge,
and consequently, due to this en-.
gineering arrangement, there was little
interruption to traffic during the
1f he
structure The Woodley Lane Bridge
was started September Is, 1888. It
cost only s35,000, as a result OF a
saving of $4,000 by the use of three
spans of iron originally intended for
the Eastern Branch Bridge. The
principal dimensions of the bridge
were: Length, 450 feet; width of
roadway, "a feet; sidewalks, each, q
/ feet wide. It was built by the Groton
Bridge & Manufacturing Co. of Gro
ton, N. Y, and consisted Of four
spans Of iron Pratt trusses, 1l2 feet
long, each, supported by two masonry
abutments and three iron trestle
! towers.
THE Rock Creek Railway Co., orig
= inally incorporated by act Of Con-
gress of May %. 1890. and which
extended its line from the city across
Rock Greek to Chevy Chase and Chevy
Chase Lake. built both the old Calvert
Street Bridge and the former Klingle
| Bridge over Klingle Ford road on Con-
necticut avenue. The former was
begun July 20, 1891, and the latter
some time during the same year. Both
bridges were soon thereafter trans
ferred to the Commissioners Of the
District Of Columbia.
The new Klingle Bridge was finished
and turned over to the District on
January 27, 1882, cost the District
s469 900. was designed by Modjeski,
Masters & Chase and was constructed
under the direction Of Capt. H. G..
Whitehurst, c. R. Whyte, engineer Of
bridges of the Highway Department,
and A. B. Green especially employed
as resident engineer. Due to the fact
that traffic was never halted during
building of the bridge. the cost of the
work was $4,000 more than it other
wise would have been.
Had this bridge been built a Few
years sooner it might have saved three
lives. for on June l6. 1925. an auto
mobile driven by Comdr. Henry A.
Thayer crashed through the railing
when the car became unmanageable
and plunged to the bottom Of the
ravene, a depth of rs or 80 feet.
Comdr. Thayer, Joseph Anthony
Macias and his wife, Mrs. Virginia
Macias, and their 2-year-old daughter,
Miriam, were in the car and all were
killed except the child.
The old Calvert Street Bridge was
an iron viaduct, $50 feet long, with
six iron trusses supported on iron
trestles. The roadway was originally
40 feet, with two footways. each feet
wide. In 1912 the Commissioners re-
duced the roadway to rs feet. A new
deck was installed in 1922, with steel
joists, laminated floor and asphalt
surface, in place of the old wooden
beams and planks. Traflc guards
we're installed in 1926, after serious
accident on February IL of that year,
when an automobile skidded over q
pile of snow and went through the
railing, causing the death Of Mrs. Rose
Standish and the critical injury OF
Miss Kathryn Collins, her passenger.
The story Of bridges is not without
Its humor, as we can see by an item
in The Star of January 2, 1885, when
some one tried to steal the Chain
Bridge, or at least some Of the iron
of which it was constructed. and
more recent incident tells Of the
DETACHMENT of one of the buffalo orna-
ments on the @ Street Bridge, when,
on October 20, 1928, some one cut on
the tail of one of those bronze crea-
lures with a hack saw, which later
was restored.
THE moving of the old Calvert Street
Bridge for a distance Of 80 feet
was an engineering feat of note. The
bridge after being moved was con-
tinued in use for trafic until the new
bridge was opened.
The present structure Is indeed q
monumental one. with It's three beauti-
4 full and impressive 146-foot arches.