Walking along Pennsylvania Avenue near 10th Street in Washington DC, I saw protruding from a bed of gravel a structural shape that appeared to be an I-beam. There were several of these gravel beds surrounding mature trees, and the I-beams appeared to have been a support when the trees were first planted. These I-beams may have come from a stock of iron and steel left over from building and demolition projects. I-beams were first rolled around 1856 at the Trenton Iron Works in New Jersey and at the Phoenix Iron Works in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and were used in many early Federal Government buildings. It would be of historic value if these possible I-beams could be examined to determine if these are historic wrought iron and steel structural shapes.
Our short trip to Washington DC ended on an Airbus flight home, and as the pilots turned to prepare for landing at Detroit DTW a spectacular view of Detroit, Canada and the Detroit River came into view. In the background the Ambassador Bridge, a riveted suspension bridge opened in 1929, and in the foreground the Canadian Gordie Howe International Bridge scheduled to open in 2025.
