Asylum Avenue/Nichols Avenue was the only major southward road through the area until the 1890s, when the lower portion of South Capitol Street was constructed. A bridge connecting South Capitol Street to the area south of the Anacostia River was first proposed in 1889, but never acted on. However, in 1890, Colonel Arthur E. Randle founded the settlement of Congress Heights. The development was wildly successful, and he invested heavily in the Belt Railway, a local streetcar company. In 1895, Randle founded the Capital Railway Company, which constructed streetcar lines over the Navy Yard Bridge and down Nichols Avenue to Congress Heights.