Strand Street

The Alexandria waterfront had been an industrial and shipping edge from the colonial period through the mid-twentieth century. Its features included the tide lock at the southern end of the 1 Wilkes Street Place 1 Wilkes Street The 1843 stone tide lock at the southern terminus of the Alexandria Canal, which connected the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal at Georgetown with the Alexandria waterfront via a seven-mile … , the Torpedo Factory complex ( 105 North Union Street Place 105 North Union Street Waterfront munitions plant built in 1918 as the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station; produced torpedoes through World War II, served as federal records storage after the war, and has … ), shipbuilding yards, fuel depots, and — beginning in the 1950s — the South Union Street Place South Union Street Complex of converted warehouse buildings along South Union Street used by Interarms from the late 1950s to the late 1990s to store surplus military small arms. At peak the complex … ^[1] Source 1 HABS Alexandria survey Government record .

Beginning in the 1970s the City of Alexandria and a succession of private developers pursued a long-running, often-contentious redevelopment of the waterfront. The City’s 1974 acquisition of the Torpedo Factory and its 1980s Wales Alley and Founder’s Park projects reshaped the northern waterfront into a public-facing district of galleries and parks. The Robinson Terminal complexes — former newsprint warehouses serving the Washington Post — were redeveloped into mixed-use buildings in the 2010s and 2020s ^[2] Source 2 Alexandria Library Special Collections Manuscript . The redevelopment has proceeded against the backdrop of recurring tidal flooding, archaeological discoveries, and public debate over density and access.

A continuous public waterfront walk now runs from the Torpedo Factory south to Waterfront Park and, intermittently, beyond to Jones Point. The walk’s completion sits in tension with ongoing questions about sea-level rise and the long-term viability of low-lying Potomac frontage ^[3] Source 3 LOC Prints & Photographs Photograph .