The John Philip Sousa Bridge, also known as the Sousa Bridge and the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge, is a continuous steel plate girder bridge that carries Pennsylvania Avenue SE across the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The bridge is named for famous United States Marine Band conductor and composer John Philip Sousa, who grew up near the bridge's northwestern terminus.
The first bridge at this location was constructed in 1804, but burned by United States armed forces in 1814 during the War of 1812. It was replaced in 1815, but the bridge burned to the waterline in 1846. The rapid growth of residential developments east of the Anacostia River led to the construction of a narrow, iron girder bridge in 1890. This bridge led to even swifter economic and residential development of the area. Efforts to replace the 1890 bridge with a modern structure began in 1931, but were not successful until 1938. The downstream (southern) span opened on December 9, 1939, to great fanfare. The upstream span was completed in December 1940 and opened on January 18, 1941.
The Sousa Bridge has a partial interchange with the Barney Circle traffic circle at its northwestern end, and a partial interchange with Anacostia Freeway at its southeastern terminus. A major battle over building an Inner Loop Expressway in the District of Columbia occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. This led to the partial construction of Interstate 695 from Interstate 395 to Barney Circle, but political battles over the wisdom of further construction led to cancellation of the remaining highway—leaving Barney Circle and the northern approaches to the Sousa Bridge partially deconstructed. An attempt to build the remainder of Interstate 695 (the "Barney Circle Freeway") in the 1990s also failed. In 2010, the District of Columbia decommissioned the portion of Interstate 695 leading to Barney Circle and the Sousa Bridge, and began rebuilding the circle and approaches.
Early bridges at the site The village of Georgetown in what later became the Washington, D.C. was founded in 1745. A road ran generally southeast along what is today Pennsylvania Avenue NW to Capitol Hill, and then along a slightly more southerly course than present-day Pennsylvania Avenue SE to stop at the intersection of what was then Virginia Avenue SE, M Street SE, and 14th Street SE on the shores of the Anacostia River (then known as the "Eastern Branch"). Aquila Wheeler had a ferry there which he used to take people across the river to the Upper Marlboro Turnpike (now Pennsylvania Avenue SE). This ferry was known as the Upper Ferry, distinguishing it from the Lower Ferry (which ran from Barry's Wharf near the intersection of New Jersey Avenue SE and O Street SE across the Anacosita to Poplar Point). Wheeler died in 1796, and his widow, Elizabeth, operated the ferry until she was declared insane in 1799.
The bridge of 1804 In 1795, Daniel Carroll, William Duncanson, Thomas Law, Notley Young, George Walker, and Matthew Wigfield petitioned the Maryland General Assembly for permission to construct a bascule bridge over the Anacostia River. On December 24, 1795, the Maryland legislature adopted a bill authorizing the bridge. The Maryland act required that the bridge be constructed at the base of Kentucky Avenue SE (less than a hundred feet downstream from the terminus of the current bridge). (William Young, Elizabeth Wheeler's brother and a relative of Notley Young's, owned this land.) Its southeastern terminus was to be on land owned by Wigfield. It was authorized by law to collect tolls, although these could be no higher than the market average. A corporation, the Eastern Branch Bridge Co., was formed to build the bridge. It issued 225 shares at $200 a share, with dividends to be paid from tolls collected on the bridge. Under the terms of the legislature's bill, title to the bridge reverted to the state of Maryland after 30 years. The corporation didn't act with much urgency. It was not until March 18, 1801, that stock in the firm was sold, but even then $43,000 was quickly raised.
The bridge was completed and opened for traffic in January 1804. The bridge was wide and had a draw span wide. Its abutments were of stone, but its piers were wood. Construction of the bridge allowed Pennsylvania Avenue to be extended across the Anacostia River for the first time. A major flood struck the Anacostia River on July 8, 1804, and piled logs and fence posts against the bridge. It survived.
The bridge did not survive the War of 1812. The United States Army suffered an ignominious defeat in the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, leaving the city of Washington open to the British Army. The Eastern Branch bridge was one of only three land routes into the city. Early in the afternoon, Captain John Creighton, a United States Navy officer, burned the bridge to the waterline.
The 1815 bridge The Eastern Branch Bridge Co. sued the U.S. Navy for burning its bridge. To quiet the suit, Congress appropriated $20,000 (another source says $20,500) to pay the bridge's investors. The bridge company used some of this money to rebuild, and a wooden bascule span bridge reopened in the same spot in 1815. Now often called the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge, it operated as a toll bridge from 1815 to 1841. It deteriorated over time, and in 1841 was closed to vehicular traffic (but remained open for foot traffic).
In 1846, a steamship attempting to go up the Anacostia became wedged in the draw span. Sparks from the ship's funnel ignited the bridge, and it burned to the water line. For many years thereafter, the pilings of the old bridge could be seen when the water level in the river was low.
The 1890 bridge
No bridge connected the east and west ends of Pennsylvania Avenue SE over the Anacostia River between 1845 and 1890. Benning Bridge, erected upstream in 1805, and the 11th Street Bridges, built downstream in 1820, also carried vehicular and foot traffic over the Ancostia. But the Uniontown "suburb" was platted in the Anacostia area in 1854, and development slowly began to turn the agricultural land into businesses and residences. The destruction of the Eastern Branch Bridge in 1846, however, significantly slowed growth in the area for five decades.
About 1871, a real estate development known as "East Washington Heights" began. Citizens in the area wanted a bridge to reconnect "their" Pennsylvania Avenue (which ran through the center of their neighborhoods) with the Pennsylvania Avenue "in the city". Building a new bridge over the Anacostia River only slowly became an issue for them, and it was not until 1875 that the EWCA began agitating for one. A new bridge, the EWCA pointed out, would save residents of East Washington in travel every time they visited the city center on the other side of the river. On February 19, 1886, the EWCA formed a committee to lobby the Commissioners of the District of Columbia (the city government) and Congress on the issue.
Later that year, Representative Barnes Compton (D-Maryland) introduced legislation in Congress to build a $60,000 bridge of wood on wooden piers. But the Compton bill was strongly opposed by the D.C. Commissioners. The legislation required that the city pay half the cost of the structure, and Commissioner Samuel E. Wheatley led the city government in adamantly refusing to support the bill. A group of EWCA members began personally lobbying Congress for the bridge. Samuel Taylor Suit, a state senator in the Maryland legislature, won passage of a resolution by that state supporting the bridge. These efforts proved highly successful. Senator Blackburn and Representative Rowell won a $40,000 increase in the amount appropriated for the bridge, and inserted language into the bill requiring that it be constructed of iron and be set on stone piers. This legislation passed both chambers of Congress unanimously on February 23, 1887.
Construction of the new bridge began in November 1887. Complications arose when the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&PR), whose tracks ran along the north/eastern shore of the Anacostia River, sued the federal government, arguing that the bridge abutment encroached on its right-of-way; eventually the railroad agreed to move its tracks closer to the riverbank, and the federal government paid for the move. But yet more construction delays occurred. Due to the heavily silted bottom of the river, the Army Corps of Engineers could not find solid ground on which to build the bridge's piers and abutments, requiring construction of a cofferdam and extensive excavation and investigation of the riverbed. A major flood in 1888 damaged some of the work, and caused further delays.
The new Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge, as it became known, was complete in June 1890. The EWCA decided, however, to delay the bridge's formal dedication and opening until August 25, which was the anniversary of the 1805 bridge's destruction in the War of 1812. The new bridge's dedication was a major even in the history of Washington, D.C. Some 8,000 to 10,000 people attended the event, which included the United States Marine Band, conducted by John Philip Sousa, providing music throughout the afternoon and evening. The total cost of the bridge was $170,000.
Construction of the 1890 bridge led to extensive new development east of the river. As the bridge was being built in 1889, a consortium known as the Bliss-Havemeyer Syndicate purchased of land in the former East Washington Heights development. They built a number of roads in the area, and landscaped the plots along Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Alabama Avenue SE, and Branch Avenue SE with gardens, orchards, pavilions, and shade trees. In 1903, Colonel Arthur E. Randle formed the United States Realty Company, bought out the Bliss-Havemeyer Syndicate properties, and founded the settlement of Randle Highlands. In 1902, Randle won approval from Congress to lay streetcar tracks across the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge. By 1905, he had extended his line down Pennsylvania Avenue SE into the new Randle Highlands. The streetcar line over the bridge spurred extensive new development east of the river. Randle began selling lots in Randle Highlands at a brisk pace in 1903. He made so much money that by 1905 he formed the development of "North Randle Highlands" (now the neighborhoods of Dupont Park, Penn Branch, and the lower portion of Greenway), which extended to Massachusetts Avenue SE. In October 1906, The Washington Post called Randle's developments "among the largest real estate enterprises ever successfully carried through in the District."
The John Philip Sousa Bridge
Campaign for a new bridge As early as 1931, the Randle Highlands Citizens Association (the former East Washington Citizens Association changed its name in 1908) began pressing city government to replace the aging, inadequate Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge.