On this day, the inaugural Orange & Alexandria Railroad engine passed through Alexandria’s newly constructed Wilkes Street tunnel, running beneath the city between Royal Street and the Potomac River waterfront. Chartered in 1848, the O&A Railroad soon became a key transportation route, linking Alexandria to Gordonsville and forming critical rail junctions at Manassas. By the mid-1850s, it was a powerful force for commerce—moving goods and agricultural products throughout Virginia faster than ever before.
Just a decade later, the same rail line would become a fiercely contested asset in the Civil War, serving as the only rail connection between Washington, D.C. and Richmond. Both Union and Confederate forces battled for control of the O&A throughout the war.
Today, the old O&A rail bed runs just north of the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex—now known as Jamieson Avenue. The cemeteries and the railroad developed side by side in the mid-19th century, each shaping the city’s growth, movement, and memory in very different ways.
The Wilkes Street Tunnel, viewed from South Royal Street looking east toward the Potomac River and Union Street, now serves as a pedestrian walkway. The tunnel extended beneath Water Street (now Lee Street), connecting the rail line to Wilkes Street, which runs westward to the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex. The street itself was named after John Wilkes, a radical member of British Parliament whose support for American liberties made him a hero among early revolutionaries.
➡️ Read more about “The Ugliest Man in Britain” and how Wilkes Street got its name