Before the city built a bridge

Before the city built a bridge. Dupont Circle. , Before the city built a bridge over Rock Creek at P St., this area was a favorite fording place. In fact, it was here that the Baltimore Light Dragoons and French units led by Lafayette, Count Rochambeau and Duc De Lauzan crossed Rock Creek during the American Revolution. A low-level covered bridge crossed the creek from 1855 until 1871, when Georgetown and Washington jointly constructed a $43,000 metal truss bridge. A horse-drawn trolley of the Metropolitan Railroad Company ran west from Dupont Circle across the P St. Bridge into Georgetown. The present double arched masonry bridge was built in 1935 and renovated in 2004. , The elegant Dumbarton or "Buffalo Bridge" that carries Q St. over Rock Creek was built in 1914-15 to the designs of Glenn and Bedford Brown. The bridge is embellished with a series of masonry heads modeled on Sioux chief Kicking Bear as well as two large bronze buffalos (above) by sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor (1860-1950), Fire Fact | April 1, 1940 , Box 345 sounded for fire at 2131 O St. NW. The four-alarm fire at an old stable converted to apartments killed three. , Fire Department information and images courtesy of Capitol Fire Museum, Artist | Jody Bergstresser , The artist's comments have been vandalized and are unreadable., Sidebar: , Fire Alarm Boxes such as this one (originally painted red) were installed in the District after the Civil War. Telegraphs transmitted the box number (top) to a fire alarm center. This system was used until the 1970s when the boxes were converted to a telephone system. By the 1990s, the callbox system had been replaced by the 911 system and was abandoned.