Clarendon Trolley Car and Station
The Clarendon train station was located at the hub of commercial Clarendon, at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and Wilson Boulevard.
The Clarendon train station 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.
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 history and heritage that is vital to an understanding of the development and growth of Arlington.
The Clarendon trolley station was constructed in 1904 and pictured here circa 1910. The trolley station stood opposite 3211 Wilson Boulevard at North Washington and Clarendon Boulevard. Arlington‘s trolley stations ran throughout the County beginning in the 1890s up until the Great Depression when they were unable to compete with the rise of the automobile.
One way to trace Arlington’s history is through its development. The changing use of this building has paralleled Clarendon’s role for Arlington residents—as a place of utility in the mid-20th Century, utility and leisure in the late-20th Century, and leisure and socialization in the last 20 years.
Images
