Hooff's Run Bridge (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

Hooff's Run Bridge
Alexandria Heritage Trail

The bridge is one of the last remnants of Alexandria's first railroad, the Orange & Alexandria. The “O&ARR,” as it was commonly called, opened in 1851 and had 148 miles of track in 1860. The bridge was constructed by the railroad as it went from Alexandria's Potomac River wharves to the roundhouse at Duke and Wolfe streets, and then west to Manassas Junction, Orange, Gordonsville, and finally to Lynchburg, Virginia. The O&ARR made Alexandria a regional commercial center in the mid-nineteenth century. During the Civil War (1861-1865), the railroad was seized by the U.S. Military Railroads and used to transport troops and supplies west and south. Thousands of wounded Union soldiers were also brought from the battlefields to the more than 30 U.S. military hospitals operating in Alexandria.

The Hooff family has had a continuing presence in Alexandria since the eighteenth century. Family members have been involved in farming, butchering, banking, and real estate.

The bridge consists of two round arch sections: the northern, older portion, and the southern addition. The northern part dates from 1856 and replaced a wooden trestle (1851-1895) used when the Orange & Alexandria Railroad began operation. The 28-foot wide structure was constructed with a brick barrel vault, still observable under the bridge today, and faced with gray dry-laid sandstone. The Washington-Southern Railroad built a 16-foot wide addition, circa 1885-1895, to accommodate another track. By the early twentieth century, two more bridges stood to the north with additional tracks; they both were dismantled around 1948.

The Hooff's Run Bridge is the only existing stone structure associated with the Orange & Alexandria Railroad in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the oldest surviving bridge in Alexandria, and the Wilkes Street Tunnel, one of two preserved structures associated with the town's first railroad.

Erected by The Marriott Corporation & The Alexandria Archaeology Museum.


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Lawrence Hooff, II:
The first Lawrence Hooff moved here to sell Conestoga wagons to General Braddock for the French and Indian War; son Lawrence (above) was pallbearer at George Washington's funeral.
Close-up of silhouette on marker, Alexandria Library, Special Collections

Duke Street, 1923:
Cars travelling on Duke Street once had to cross over Hooff's Run on a stone bridge. In this 1923 view, the Hooff's Run Bridge is farther downstream to the right; Old Town is in the background.
Close-up of photo on marker, Alexandria Library, Special Collections

Brick Barrel Vaults:
The brick barrel vaults of both the original stone bridge and the southern addition are laid in all-stretcher bond; the semicircular arch spans 21 feet 1 1/2 inches and rises 10 feet 6 inches.
Close-up of photo on marker, Alexandria Archaeology Museum

North Face:
The north face of the original stone bridge is in smooth and rock-faced gray sandstone laid in random-range ashlar; the stone may have come from the Little Falls of the Potomac.
Close-up of photo on marker, Alexandria Archaeology Museum

The Southern Addition:
The southern addition to Hooff's Run Bridge constructed of red Seneca Sandstone has an arch composed of 33 rock-face ashlar voussoirs and a larger keystone. The east wing wall descends on top of the Alexandria National Cemetery wall, which is made of similar stone.
Close-up of photo on marker, Alexandria Archaeology Museum

You Are Here, 1877 Map:
Detail of map showing the railroad tracks crossing Hooff's Run, 1877. Red circle mark the bridge location at west.
Close-up of map on marker, 1877 Hopkins City Atlas of Alexandria, Virginia

Civil War View:
Civil War view from the roundhouse looking west over the fortified U.S. Military Railroads compound, circa 1863. Red arrow marks the location of the Hooff's Run Bridge.
Close-up of photo on marker, National Archives

Lincoln Railroad Car:
The railroad car used to take President Abraham Lincoln's body to Illinois for burial, as seen with W.H. Whiton engine, January 1865, was made at the U.S. Military Railroads yard east of the bridge.
National Archives

Combined Sewer Warning:
Combined sanitary and storm sewers are subject to overloading during flood events. They need to overflow rather than back up into people's bathrooms. Hooff's Run is one of the those overflow points.