This week on Georgetown Time Machine, I’m exploring yet another interesting shot from the DC Historical Society. According to the photo’s record, it is showing the old Aqueduct Bridge during the great Potomac Flood of 1889.
To orient you, the old aqueduct bridge ran south from just west of where the Key Bridge now stands. So the photographer is standing roughly in front of where the Car Barn now stands. Here is a clearer photo of the bridge before it was demolished:
Interestingly, this steel version of the bridge only opened the year that the photo was taken.
The photo record doesn’t really provide a whole lot of detail. It just says “View south along the Aqueduct Bridge Georgetown bridge during Potomac River flood of 1889”. It’s not even clear what time of year this flood happened. Some Googling tells me that it occurred on June 1st-2nd and was due to spring rain storms:
More to the point, the flooding was a direct result from the much more famous and tragic Johnstown Flood that took place days before. A wonderful article on the Potomac Flood can be found here.
The silly old timey bike that you see in the photo is called a penny farthing. Interestingly enough, it was already out of style by the time the shot was taken. They were being replaced with the “safety bicycle”, which is what they called bikes with two smaller wheels (i.e. the same type we have today). You can even see one of these “safety bikes” just to the left of the penny farthing.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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