Arlington VA

This lovely old photo was taken in 1941. You're looking at the old terminal (then the only terminal) at National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

Here’s an interesting proposal for the Southside Freeway in Arlington, which never came to be. This graphic is from The Washington Post printed on October 7th, 1960. That date, by the way, is when the famous Kennedy/Nixon presidential debate happened, being...

This old photo is over 50 years old, showing what Rosslyn looked like from Georgetown in 1964. Source: Library of Congress

This beautiful old photo shows the construction of Memorial Bridge looking from D.C. towards Arlington National Cemetery. The photo is dated May 15th, 1928. Source: Flickr user Tim Evanson

This cool old photo of Aqueduct Bridge shows what it looked like 105 years ago. Source: Dig DC

This photo is something that probably wouldn’t be shot today. At least, not easily, without military notification and support. So, enjoy this rare photo of the Pentagon as seen from above. Source: Shorpy

Clarendon started as a development off of the Georgetown to Falls Church road (now Wilson Blvd.) and the Washington, Arlington, Falls Church Railway.

Now this is an incredible, detailed map of Virginia outside of Washington. Click on it for a much larger version. Source: Library of Congress

Here is a photo looking at the Washington Monument from the vantage point of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Source: Library of Congress It looks like this bend is somewhere near where National Airport is today. What do you think?...

How cool is this old map of Arlington? It shows Arlington County as it looked in the 18th century. By the way, do you know why it’s named Arlington? Source: Library of Congress

What did Courthouse in Arlington, Virginia look like in the early 1990s?

Check out this amazing old photo of Washington & Lee High School in 1916 (according to the Library of Congress, though I’m sure that’s mislabeled because construction didn’t start until 1924 according to Wikipedia). If you didn’t know, the school has...

Rosslyn and Arlington weren’t always great places to be, especially in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many parts were quite bleak, and worse, extremely dangerous. There once was a place called Dead Man’s Hollow, a short distance from...

Here is a map of the Carlin Springs subdivision in Alexandria, now Arlington County. Source: Library of Congress The above map shows the area south of Arlington Blvd. and east of S. Carlin Springs Rd. Check out the Google Map...

Learn about Glebe Road. It dates back to the 1700s and initially was known as the "Road to the Falls" taking travelers from Alexandria to Great Falls.

GoDCer Chris graciously offered to share this cool aerial photo of Washington, taken sometime in the 1940s. Compare it to the Google Map below.

Hello GoDCers! Thursday is coming to a close, and tomorrow is Friday. So that’s great news. To celebrate, we’re sharing a great afternoon photo with you. This is a great photo that we dug up on Flickr. The photo was taken...

You may not know this, but many years ago, in 1925, Rosslyn was nearly destroyed by a major fire. We came across a crazy article detailing the horrors and action-movie like sequences of the fire that ripped the town. Below is...

Not a bad deal. Two-bedroom for $175 per month back in 1963. This advertisement was in The Washington Post on November 22nd, 1963. The day Kennedy was in Dallas.

If you live in Arlington, you’ve probably driven past this place a thousand times. The shopping center we’re talking about sits at the intersection of Columbia Pike and Glebe Road, Westmont Shopping Center. The Washington Post had a brief article...

Remember how nasty the Potomac River was? Yes, it’s still not the greatest, but it’s swimmable in some parts (as long as you don’t have open wounds). Back in the 1970s, it was absolutely polluted. Check out this sign from...

Here’s an old Mad Men-era advertisement for apartments in Arlington. The building still exists, and the rent is substantially higher than what’s listed below in the 1960s ad. Click on the ad for a larger version. Here’s the Google Street...

Six years before Rock Creek Park came to be and about 20 years after the Civil War, there was talk of a great park for Washington to be made from lands in Arlington, combined with the reclaimed flats on the...

Here’s another challenge for you Arlington folks. This is a photo taken around 1921, and it shows a few homes in Lyon Park. Any idea where this is or if these homes still exist? Source: Library of Congress

We need your help … this is a photo from the Library of Congress showing a home in Cherrydale. Can anyone identify this home (if it still exists today)? The photo appears to be from 1920. Source: Library of Congress...

The Ballston Skulls sounds like a gang. They weren’t. The Skulls played semi-pro football representing the village of Ballston. They played and practiced on a field, known as Ballston Stadium, at Ball’s Crossroads, currently the site of Ballston Common Mall....

Ball's Crossroads was established as a village in Arlington County in 1874, and in 1895, the official name was changed to Ballston.

Whitlow’s on Wilson wasn’t always in Arlington. For a really long time, starting around the end of World War II, it was down at 11th and E St. NW. Oliver Carr, a developer, had acquired much of the block in...

The treasure trove of maps held by the Library of Congress gave us this awesome map of Alexandria County (i.e., Arlington County today) from 1879. GoDCer Tim is going to love this.

Happy Saturday GoDCers! We are digging through old maps to post next week, and we uncovered some great old Civil War maps in the Boston Public Library archives, including this one of the rebel fortifications just west of D.C. You...