The Alexandria Marine Railway

The Alexandria Marine Railway. . , The Alexandria Marine Railway Company was founded in 1849 at the site of the former Keith's Wharf. Until the Depression of 1857, the firm refitted and repaired the sailing craft that plied the harbors of Alexandria, Georgetown and Washington. The marine railway used an engine to pull small to medium-sized craft up onto a track and was an alternative to a dry dock., As the local economy slowly recovered after the Civil War, the Alexandria Marine Railway and Ship Building Company was formed in 1874 to reestablish the earlier marine railway and shipyard. The company constructed new shipways and tracks and rebuilt or reused features of the old yard and military wharf. The company repaired the substantial fleet of schooners carrying coal, fertilizer, building materials, ice and other bulk commodities on the Potomac. The company also repaired smaller craft and constructed an average of 10 vessels a year. The first large ship built was the 180-foot, 631-ton, three-masted, oceangoing Robert Portner, launched in 1876. Purchased by a New England syndicate in the 1880s, the shipyard began producing still larger schooners, including the four-masted William T. Hart, the largest vessel built in Alexandria. The company also produced some steam vessels, including tug boats. The shipyard operated into the 20th century, constructing and repairing river work boats like the George, a 50-foot Potomac longboat designed for hauling cordwood and stone., Archaeologists uncovered and recorded sections of the railway, the foundations of shipyard structures and several 19th-century boats and barges during excavations at this site in the early 1990s. The archaeological resources remain in place beneath the Ford's Landing development., [Captions:] , The schooner William T. Hart, lauched on July 31, 1883, was the largest ship built at the Alexandria Marine Railway and Ship Building Company. The schooner had four masts and a carrying capacity of 14,000 tons., Alexandria Marine Railway and Ship Building Company ad. , (Illustration: Alexandria Library, Special Collections), This illustration from A Strangers Guide, published in 1845, shows the Alexandria waterfront and the bluffs behind the Alexandria Marine Railway Company. , (Illustration: The Lyceum)