Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge

Gazing up at the Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge, have you ever considered its other name? It’s also known as the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge. This elegant concrete arch gracefully spans Rock Creek and Rock Creek Park, right here in Northwest Washington, D.C.. The Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge carries Massachusetts Avenue across the natural beauty of the park. Its construction, completed in 1941, resulted in a structure of impressive scale. The Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge stretches an impressive 386.2 feet. Its creation involved replacing a much older, smaller iron truss bridge built in 1888 when Massachusetts Avenue was extended past Florida Avenue. That bridge was replaced in 1901 with a land fill. Rock Creek was channeled through a culvert. This solution, however, became impractical with the construction of Rock Creek Parkway in the 1930s. The new Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge not only solved this issue but also significantly raised the level of Massachusetts Avenue compared to the previous crossing. The bridge’s name honors Charles Carroll Glover. He was instrumental in shaping this part of Northwest Washington and passed away in 1936. A darker moment in the bridge’s history occurred in 1946. Stephen Norman, Theodor Herzl’s grandson, tragically jumped from the Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge. He took his own life after learning of his family’s fate in the Holocaust.