Finding the best way to get from one location to another was as much of a concern to Arlington residents over 100 years ago as it is today.
Clarendon trolley car and station, ca. 1910.
This photograph of the Clarendon train station, ca. 1910, was located at the hub of commercial Clarendon, at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and Wilson Boulevard. The station building still stands today at Clarendon Circle.
The Washington-Virginia Railway and the Washington & Old Dominion Railway traversed Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, providing passengers with a variety of options. Whether one chose to travel as far as Bluemont on the Washington and Old Dominion Railway or took the Mount Vernon Line to a more local destination, passengers were offered a wide range of alternatives.
The Center for Local History holds many photographs of trains, trolleys, and the stations they served, as well as railroad maps showing track routes and stops.
From their inception in 1892, peaking in the 1920s, through to their eventual decline in the 1940s, these routes were of vital importance to the communities they served and continue to trace paths not only of travel and transport but of a history and heritage that is vital to an understanding of the development and growth of Arlington.
This blog post was originally written in 2006 and was updated in 2021.
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