Page:History of Cumberland, Maryland 2.djvu/531

Rh factories, wharves, railroad depots, &c., besides the elegant structure recently erected as a City Hall, and a number of streets desirable as places of resi- dence. The west side is devoted almost exclusively to private residences, and there are few thoroughfares in the smaller cities of the Union, superior to Wash- ington street in the character of its buildings and their tasteful surroundings. This avenue is well lined with shade trees, while spacious grounds and cultivated shrubbery surround almost every house. On it are located also the Court House, a handsome building, and two fine stone church edifices.

The Potomac River is spanned by an iron bridge, built by the city, for the purpose of affording easy communication with the people of West Virginia. Over Will's Creek are three iron bridges for general trafiic, one iron bridge for railroad purposes, one bridge for the passage of canal boat teams, and the splendid brick viaduct, built by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, in 1850, for the passage of its trains. This latter is about one sixth of a mile in length, has fourteen arches, and spans several streets, as well as the Creek. In addition to these there is a bridge of solid masonry at the north end of the city, constructed by the general government, as a part of its great improvement known as the National Road.

The streets are quite irregular, in the eastern section, and seem to have followed, to a great extent, the courses of the old roads. They are from thirty to sixty feet in width, and with few exceptions are graded and paved with cobble stones. Large sums