Connecticut Avenue was first extended north from Rock Creek around 1890 as part of an audacious plan to create a streetcar suburb—today's Chevy Chase, Maryland—several miles distant from built-up Washington, D.C. The area northwest of today's Calvert Street NW was largely farmland when Francis Newlands, a sitting Congressman from Nevada, quietly acquired more than 1,700 acres in Northwest D.C. and Maryland along a five-mile stretch from today's Woodley Park neighborhood in D.C. to Jones Bridge Road in Maryland's Montgomery County.[2] Meanwhile, he acquired control of the nascent Rock Creek Railway, which had a charter to build a streetcar line in the District. Beginning in 1888, Newlands and his partners graded a roadway, laid streetcar track down its center, and erected a bridge over a Rock Creek tributary. The road proceeded in a straight, 3.3-mile line north-northwest from today's Calvert Street to today's Chevy Chase Circle, then another 1.85 miles due north to today's Chevy Chase Lake Drive. The streetcars began operating along the line's full length in 1892, connecting to their terminus at 18th and U Streets NW via the railway's iron trestle across the Rock Creek gorge.[3]
In 1907, the Taft Bridge across Rock Creek connected the southern and northern segments of Connecticut Avenue.[4]
In 1932, the Newlands bridge over the tributary was replaced by the current Klingle Valley Bridge.
Connecticut Avenue begins just north of the White House at Lafayette Square. It is interrupted by Farragut Square. North of Farragut Square and K Street, Connecticut Avenue is one of the major streets in downtown Washington, with high-end restaurants, historical buildings such as Sedgwick Gardens, hotels, and shopping.
As Connecticut Avenue approaches the Dupont Circle neighborhood, it splits at N Street into a through roadway and service roadways. The through roadway tunnels under Dupont Circle, while the service roadways intersect the outer roadway of the circle. The through roadway and service roadways rejoin at R Street. Originally, there was no tunnel, and all vehicular traffic on Connecticut Avenue went through the circle. The tunnel was built in 1949 to serve vehicles and a Capital Transit streetcar line that operated until 1962.
The National Zoological Park sits halfway between the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan and Cleveland Park Metro stations. A bit further north is the strikingly futuristic former headquarters of Intelsat; a bit further south are the Omni Shoreham Hotel and the landmark Wardman Park Hotel building, once the city's largest hotel. This section is also a major commuter route; until 2020, it had reversible lanes along most of its length that operated during the morning and evening rush hours (7–9:30a.m. and 4–6:30p.m.). It connects with the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway via 24th Street. Mid-century-era high-rise apartments line the avenue, with elegant, older detached homes on shady side streets.
Connecticut Avenue leaves the District of Columbia at Chevy Chase Circle, at the intersection of Connecticut and Western Avenues. Upon entering Maryland, it gains the route designation Maryland State Highway 185 and runs through the Chevy Chase, Maryland, postal area. This stretch is lined by the Chevy Chase Club, the former National 4-H Youth Conference Center, and Columbia Country Club.
After interchanging with the Capital Beltway at Exit 33, Connecticut Avenue enters Kensington, where it is the major north-south street of the central business district.
Connecticut Avenue long ended at University Boulevard (Maryland State Highway 193). Then Concord Avenue was extended northward to form an extension of Connecticut Avenue that passes through Wheaton and Aspen Hill. The state route designation ends at Georgia Avenue (Maryland State Highway 97). Connecticut Avenue, now simply a local street, continues past Georgia Avenue and ends at Leisure World Boulevard.
Transit service
Former streetcar lines
For more than six decades, Connecticut Avenue was host to various streetcar lines. The first was the Connecticut Avenue and Park Railway (soon absorbed by the Metropolitan Railroad), which opened in April 1873 and ran from the White House to Boundary Avenue.[5] In 1890, the Rock Creek Railway began operating from a terminus on Boundary Avenue two blocks east of Connecticut Avenue; its streetcars ran across the Rock Creek gorge on an iron bridge near today's Duke Ellington Bridge, then turned north onto Connecticut near today's Calvert Street intersection. The line continued down the middle of Connecticut Avenue to Chevy Chase Circle, then ran on to its terminus at Chevy Chase Lake, an amusement park just south of today's Jones Bridge Road.[6] A third streetcar line, the Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway (later, the Kensington Railway Company) began operations in 1895, running north from Chevy Chase Lake on Connecticut Avenue for a half mile before diverging to the right and heading on to Kensington, Maryland. Streetcar operations on Connecticut north of Rock Creek ended in 1935; their service was replaced by buses.[7] "It was the most significant District streetcar abandonment up to that time", the Washington Post would write.[8]
Metrorail
The Red Line of the Washington Metro subway system runs beneath Connecticut Avenue. Metro stations along or near Connecticut Avenue include:
Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW to the west, M Street NW to the south, and Florida Avenue NW to the north. Much of the neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, the local government Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Dupont Circle Historic District have slightly different boundaries.
U.S. Route 240 is a defunct designation for a short, but once very important, segment of highway between Frederick, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. It is now commonly known as Wisconsin Avenue, Maryland Route 355, and Interstate 270 (I-270).
Northwest is the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located north of the National Mall and west of North Capitol Street. It is the largest of the four quadrants of the city, and it includes the central business district, the Federal Triangle, and the museums along the northern side of the National Mall, as well as many of the District's historic neighborhoods.
Chevy Chase is a neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. It borders Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Maryland Route 185 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Connecticut Avenue, the state highway runs 8.30 mi (13.36 km) from Chevy Chase Circle at the Washington, D.C., border north to MD 97 in Aspen Hill. MD 185 serves as a major north-south commuter route in southern Montgomery County, connecting the District of Columbia with the residential suburbs of Chevy Chase, Kensington, and Wheaton.
Massachusetts Avenue is a major diagonal transverse road in Washington, D.C., and the Massachusetts Avenue Historic District is a historic district that includes part of it.
Francis Griffith Newlands was an American politician and land developer who served as United States representative and Senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party.
The Rock Creek Railway, which operated independently from 1890 to 1895, was one of the first electric streetcar companies in Washington, D.C., and the first to extend into Maryland.
Woodley Park is a neighborhood in Northwest, Washington, DC. It is bounded on the north by Woodley Road and Klingle Road, on the east by the National Zoo and Rock Creek Park, on the south by Calvert Street, on the southwest by Cleveland Avenue, and on the west by 34th Street.
Streetcars and interurbans operated in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., between 1890 and 1962.
The Mount Pleasant Line, designated Routes 42 and 43, is a daily bus route in Washington, D.C., It was a streetcar line until the 1960s.
The Klingle Valley Bridge, officially known as the Connecticut Avenue Bridge, is an Art Deco steel-arch bridge located near the National Zoological Park on Connecticut Avenue, Northwest in Washington, D.C. The bridge crosses Klingle Valley, running from Macomb Street to Devonshire Place and connecting the Cleveland Park and Woodley Park neighborhoods.
The Kalorama Triangle Historic District is a mostly residential neighborhood and a historic district in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The entire Kalorama Triangle neighborhood was listed on the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites (DCIHS) and National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1987. In addition to individually listed landmarks in the neighborhood, the district is home to roughly 350 contributing properties. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by Connecticut Avenue to the west, Columbia Road to the east, and Calvert Street on the north.
Western Avenue is one of three boundary streets between Washington, D.C., and the state of Maryland. It follows a southwest-to-northeast line, beginning at Westmoreland Circle in the south and ending at Oregon Avenue NW in the north. It is roughly 3.5 miles (5.6 km) in length. First proposed in 1893, it was constructed somewhat fitfully from about 1900 to 1931.
The Connecticut Avenue Line, designated Route L2, is a daily bus route in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States. The L2 operates seven days a week.
The Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District is a neighborhood and historic district located in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. The boundaries of the historic district include Rock Creek Park to the north and west, P Street to the south, and 22nd Street and Florida Avenue to the east. On the southwestern edge of the neighborhood is a stretch of Embassy Row on Massachusetts Avenue. The other neighborhood and historic district that lies to the east of Sheridan-Kalorama is Kalorama Triangle Historic District. The two neighborhoods are divided by Connecticut Avenue. For many years both neighborhoods were geographically connected before the stretch of Connecticut Avenue was installed towards the Taft Bridge. Often times, both neighborhoods are simply called "Kalorama" or "Kalorama Heights".
Daniel Boone Clarke Waggaman was an architect, designer, and lawyer. He designed residences, apartments, commercial buildings, townhouses, and country estates throughout America, most notably the Washington, D.C., districts: Dupont Circle, Sheridan Kalorama, Massachusetts Ave. Heights, West End, and Connecticut Ave.
The Chevy Chase Land Company is a real estate holding and development company based in suburban Washington, D.C.
The Chevy Chase Lake & Kensington Railway was a streetcar company that operated in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, from 1895 to 1935. It connected the town of Kensington to the northern terminus of the Rock Creek Railway in Chevy Chase Lake. At its peak, it operated on about 3.75 miles of track, including the associated Sandy Spring Railway.
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US 29 / Farragut Square 
MD 185 / Chevy Chase Circle 
