under the Whitehurst!
December 29, 2009 at 9:45 amDC, Exteriors, bridges, georgetown, roads
…out of the SUUUN! under the Whitehurst… Whitehurst..
The Whitehurst Freeway rises above K Street in Georgetown, and it carries vehicles along the Potomac River between the Key Bridge at the west end and Rock Creek Parkway/K Street at the east end. Named after H.C. Whitehurst, the director of the District Highway Department at the time of its conception, the bridge was built in the 1940’s and was the District’s very first freeway. Steel shortages at the time delayed its construction and it opened a year behind schedule, in October 1949. The final cost: $3.3 million. Included in the demolition was the house of Francis Scott Key, writer of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Source: http://www.dcroads.net/roads/whitehurst
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December 30th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
This document chronicles the efforts to save the Key home in the 1940s. It includes a photograph of the home. Too bad they didn’t succeed!
http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/digital/assets/spec_ps2168_n6.pdf