The Potomac waterfront

The river at the city's edge: the Highway Bridge, boathouses, excursion steamers and the winter ice.

Aerial view of a frozen river with a long bridge crossing it — January 1922 The Potomac River and the Highway Bridge from the air under snow, early 1922.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H234- A-4025 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

History

The Potomac was still a working river in the 1910s. Excursion steamers carried day-trippers from the city to Mount Vernon and to the picnic grounds at Marshall Hall across the river, the Highway Bridge of 1906 carried traffic to Virginia at 14th Street, and the Aqueduct Bridge, with its streetcars, did the same from Georgetown. In hard winters the river froze.

What's there now

The 14th Street bridges, the Arlington Memorial Bridge and the Key Bridge cross the river, and the waterfront is parkland, boathouses and trails.

Then and now

The river’s shape at the city’s edge is much as it was after the reclamation that followed the flood of 1881; the Highway Bridge and the Aqueduct Bridge have both been replaced, and the steamers are gone.

Photographs 15, oldest first

A small steamer carrying large guns on the open river — c. 1900–20 A steam vessel loaded with heavy guns crosses the Potomac, bound for the testing grounds.Detroit Publishing Company, Library of Congress · LC-D4-500512 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Two men fishing from the riverbank under an iron bridge — c. 1909–23 Men fishing in the Potomac beside the 14th Street bridge.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 44220 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A river choked with jagged slabs of ice beside buildings on the bank — c. 1909–23 Broken ice piled up along the Potomac during a winter flood. place probableNational Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 44248 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A steel truss bridge beside a rocky embankment, the Washington Monument far off — c. 1909–23 The Highway Bridge crosses the Potomac on a stone causeway, the Washington Monument faint across the water.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F81- 56 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Slabs of broken ice piled along a riverbank with industrial buildings — 1918 Ice jams on the Potomac in the hard winter of 1918, piled against the riverside works.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H261- 23138 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Broken ice piled along a riverbank with open water and a distant bridge — February 1918 Heaped ice lines the bank of the Potomac during the ice jam of February 1918, a bridge faint on the far side.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F82- 10171 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Rowers in a racing shell passing beneath a bridge — c. 1915–23 An eight-oared crew rows under a bridge on the Potomac, 1915-1923.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H27- A-718 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Silhouetted trees framing a long steel truss bridge across a river — c. 1915–23 A railway truss bridge across the Potomac seen through the dark silhouettes of riverbank trees.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H27- A-1089 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Men working on pontoon boats at the edge of a wide river — 1923 Marines build pontoon bridges on the Potomac, 1923.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 25596 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A long flat barge with two masts and passengers on the water, a dome far off — 1923 A two-masted barge crowded with passengers and a carved figurehead noses along the river in 1923, the Capitol dome on the far horizon. place uncertainHarris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H234- A-6140-XIV [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A person hanging from a rope line above a river, a sailboat and steel bridge beyond — June 1923 A figure slides on a rope line out over the Potomac in June 1923, a sailing boat and the long truss bridge behind.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H234- A-5863 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A small motor launch with an officer beside a larger dark police boat at a wooden pier — July 1, 1926 A harbor police launch flying the flag comes alongside a larger patrol boat at the pilings, July 1926.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 40170 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Cranes and barges on a river at a construction site, a white memorial on the shore — c. 1926–27 Cranes and barges at work laying the foundations of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, 1926 or 1927, with the Lincoln Memorial on the shore.National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress · LC-F8- 41146 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

A willow on the riverbank and a small boat on calm water — June 1929 People fishing from a boat and the bank of the Potomac under a willow, 1929.Harris & Ewing Collection, Library of Congress · LC-H2- B-3444 [P&P] · No known restrictions on publication

Nearby: The Tidal Basin and Potomac Park · The Washington Monument · The Southwest waterfront · The Lincoln Memorial · Seventeenth Street