COMMISSION APPROVES PLANS FOR ARLINGTON MEMORIAL BRIDGE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 9, 1924, the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission "approved plans for the Arlington Memorial bridge*, to cross the Potomac River between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery."
The Commission, chaired by President Calvin Coolidge, will recommend that Congress authorize $14,750,000 for the project, $500,000 of which should be made "immediately available" to begin preliminary work.
President Andrew Jackson was the first to suggest the idea for the bridge but congressional action for the project did not come until spring of 1886.
*Arlington Memorial Bridge is a neoclassical masonry steel and stone arch bridge with a central drawbridge that crosses the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. The bridge,designed by McKim, Meade & White architects, was completed in 1932.
SOURCE
"Memorial Bridge Plan Is Approved," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., April 9, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
Lincoln Memorial & Washington Monument
