Evening star., 1937-03-23
SOCIETY IS TOLD
OF C|TY'S BRIDGES
Early Spans Over River and
Rock Creek Are Described
by Emery.

District of Columbia bridges, In
cluding the earliest spans as well as
the most recent structures, were de-
scribed last night by Fred A. Emery
at meeting of the Society of Natives
of the District of Columbia in the
Washington Club.
Emery also told of the bridges
predecessors, the ferries, which ex-
listed many years before the city had
become the Nations Capital
The first of all these ferries within
the District was established in 1913 at
Little Falls, where stands today the
old Chain Bridge. In 1776 ferry also
was operating out of Georgetown, at
the foot of Wisconsin avenue, then
High street, to what is now RoSslyn
and to Analostan Island, where a
: causeway connected the island and
the Virginia mainland" Emery saiu.
George Washington" he said, used
both the Georgetown and Little Falls
ferries"
He quoted from the diary of the
first President, from october IT, 1885,
reading: by ferriages at Georgetown
l shilling and pence"
Refers Once to Bridge.
The only time that George Wash
ington appears to have mentioned
crossing the Potomac River by bridge"
Emery said was on April 10, 1897,
when his diary read, Went by the
bridge at the Little Falls to the Great
Falls and returned home in the aft
ernoon.'
The first bridge ever built across
the Potomac in the District of Co.
lumbia was at Little Falls in 1897,
not far from the present Chain
Bridge" Mr.. Emery said. The Dis
trict's first bridge, however, was not
across the Potomac, but Rock Creek"
he said. That was the original M
Street Bridge, built and opened to the
public in 1788," Emery asserted.
The first span across the Potomac
was financed by tolls, the charges
being pedestrians, 3 cents; man and
horse, cents; two-wheeled vehicles,
25 cents, and four wheeled vehicles,
so cents.
Most famous of all the District Of
Columbia bridges was Long Bridge,
now superseded by the Highway
Bridge, as the gateway to the South"
Emery declared. Long Bridge stood
at the western end of Maryland
avenue at the foot of Fourteenth street
southwest Over this bridge of pic
turesque history passed a great deal
M vol Sllriro tho no rly
back almost to the foundation of the
National Capital at Washington.
British Burned Span.
Long Bridge, pile structure, l
mile long, with draw for navigation,
had a wooden roof When the British
invaded Washington in 1914 they set
fire to the north end of the bridge
and at the same time the retreating
American forces, to stop the British
set fire to the south end of the bridge"
Emery also described many of the
other earlier bridges and then gave
detailed accounts of WaShington's
newest and most modern bridges. Else
where in his address he said, Wash
lngton has not the greatest bridges,
nor the longest, nor the highest, nor
the most costly. But what Washington
lacks in massiveness of its waterway
crossings it offsets with historic en-
vironment along national lines.
Altogether there are in the District
approximately so bridges, large and
small, and upwards Of 12o culverts
that are miniature bridges"
An account of Washington's early
post offices was given by James F.
Duhamel, the society's historian.
In July, 1895, it was found neces-