Kingsarms Wrote:
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> Here's a 1930s aerial view of the Washington
> Airport / Hoover field. Evidently the two
> airports were separate operations until they
> finally merged in the early 1930s. Wikipedia has
> more information on the two fields and how they
> operated with major safety issues including a road
> (Military Road) that bisected the runways. Even
> in the 30s, Military Road must have had a lot of
> traffic because Arlington County officials fought
> the Federal Government for several years to keep
> the road open.
>
> Several interesting things in the photo:
>
> 1) Look how close the terminal building is to the
> 14th Street bridge (then called the "Highway"
> bridge).
>
> 2) To the left of the air terminal, notice the
> huge swimming pool and beach area near what today
> we call the Boundary Channel Yacht Basin. Was
> this the "Arlington Beach" that has been mentioned
> previously on this site?
>
> 3) Does anyone know what the tall and
> irregularly-shaped building is behind the air
> terminal (in the parking lot)?
>
> 4) Photo was taken before Shirley Highway (now
> I-395) was built. The caption on the photo
> identifies the intersection as "Mt. Vernon Blvd -
> So End Highway Bridge" so this was probably before
> the GW Parkway was named.
>
> 5) The road to the right of the terminal is most
> likely Jeff Davis Hwy (Rt. 1).
>
> 6) The road in front of the swimming pool is
> probably Military Road? Guessing this because it
> does look like it would cross the runway.
I found two more aerial photos of the Virginia side of the 14th Street Bridge. These appear to have been taken around 1954/1955 - so roughly 20 years after the Hoover Field aerial.
Lot of changes during that 20 year span:
1) Pentagon construction completed - River Entrance and South Parking Lot can be seen in the first photo
2) Shirley Highway in place
3) Second vehicle bridge now in place at the 14th street crossing
4) Airport operations relocated to the nearby National Airport site
5) The large swimming pool and beach area are gone and the Columbia Island Marina is in place
6) At the approximate site of the old airport terminal, a new Hot Shoppe Restaurant and Drive In have been constructed.
7) At the bottom of both photos (near the railroad tracks) is the site that would become the Twin Bridges Marriott - the company's first "motor hotel". The Twin Bridges Marriott opened in 1957
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