2525
King Street
Single-family residence on the upper / western stretch of King Street, in the corridor that became Alexandria’s Middle Turnpike (chartered 1813, completed 1838) before the surrounding neighborhoods were annexed from Alexandria County in 1915. Possibly associated by family connection with the Janney family — the Quaker dynasty for whom nearby Janney’s Lane is named, and which gave the city the inventor of the modern railroad coupler — though that link has not been confirmed against primary sources.
- 1819approx
- Extant
- Old and Historic Alexandria District
Place narrative
The 2500 block of King Street sits along what was historically the Middle Turnpike (later the Leesburg Pike, today King Street + VA Route 7) — the wagon road from Alexandria’s Potomac waterfront west to Loudoun County. The turnpike was chartered in 1813 and completed in 1838; this stretch lay outside the original Alexandria city limits until the western annexation of 1915. [1] OHA — "Janney's invention saved lives of rail yard workers" Article
Local recollection associates 2525 King Street with the Janney family, the prominent northern-Virginia Quakers for whom nearby Janney’s Lane is named. The lane honors Eli Hamilton Janney (1831-1912), an Alexandria Confederate veteran and dry-goods clerk who, working from a King Street store after the war, invented the modern knuckle railroad coupler that replaced the link-and-pin system and saved tens of thousands of rail-yard workers’ lives. Janney patented the design in 1868 and 1873, sold the rights to McConway and Torley of Pittsburgh in 1878, and died at 607 Cameron Street in 1912. [1] OHA — "Janney's invention saved lives of rail yard workers" Article
Whether 2525 King was directly owned by Eli, by his father David Janney, or by another family member has not been established against primary sources — the editorial record will be deepened when Alexandria Library Special Collections holdings (Janney family papers, period tax-assessor cards) and the relevant Sanborn fire- insurance maps can be consulted.
Timeline
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Nearby in time
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Lower School (JK through grade 5) of St. Stephen's & St. Agnes School, on Fontaine Street in Seminary Hill. Originally a campus of St. Agnes …
Bruce Andersen from Washington, DC · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 Fifth of the original DC southwestern boundary stones, near the Arlington line. NRHP-listed 1991.
609 Oronoco Street 609 Oronoco Street
Federal-style brick house at 609 Oronoco Street where Quaker educator ran a boys' classical school from 1824. received his pre–West Point …
Bruce Andersen from Washington, DC · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 King Street
Fourth of the original DC southwestern boundary stones; the marker straddles the Alexandria-Arlington line. NRHP-listed 1991.
Nearby in space
2605 King Street 2605 King Street
Single-family residence on the upper / western stretch of King Street in the corridor annexed from Alexandria County in 1915. Possibly …
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Suburban Alexandria home of Gerald R. Ford and family during his vice-presidency and at the time of his ascension to the presidency in 1974. …
Russell Road Russell Road
The single-residence Russell Road property where the Reverend Edward Tate opened St. Stephen's School for Boys in 1944, with 97 students in …
Bruce Andersen from Washington, DC · via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 2952 King Street
Third of the original DC southwestern boundary stones, placed 1791-1792. NRHP-listed 1991.
Now
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King Street
Named for King George II of Great Britain (reigning 1727-1760), c. 1749.
Sources
- 1.
Office of Historic Alexandria, "Out of the Attic — Janney's invention saved lives of rail yard workers," Alexandria Times, 29 June 2017, https://media.alexandriava.gov/docs-archives/historic/info/attic/2017/attic20170629rail.pdf.
Article
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