Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-11-02
RUTLAND HERALD.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER /, 1865,
Washington Correspond ence.
WASHINGTON, Oct. so,

known TO your readers that from the or.
ganizatiea of the Government In the
year 1889, to the year 1900, the sessions
OF Congress were held at first In the city
Of New York and afterwards in Phila-
delphia. Congress, however, early felt
the necessity of selecting capital and
of erecting appropriate public buildings
for the rising republic. Various sites
were proposed, but at length, partly by
the great personal influence OF General
Washington, and partly by the persist
emit efforts of members from the South,
and particularly from Virginia, the pres
ent location was selected. 1t lay few
miles north from Mount Vernon, at the
head of tide water on the Potomac. Be-
tween the river and Capitol Hill, dis
lance of half a mile, the surface is near
ly level, while from Capitol Hill, which
is elevated seventy feet above the river,
fine table land extends two miles to
the eastern branch of the river. The
land was owned by two or three propri-
etors who cultivated it for grazing. The
purchase having been made, the city was
regularly laid out, the streets running
exactly north and south, intersected by
Others which crossed them at right an
giles. There is one popularity not seen
elsewhere. The streets are cut diagon-
ally by avenues, the most noted of which
is Pennsylvania Avenue, extending from
the Navy Yard, past the capitol and the
Presidents house, to Georgetown-a dis
tance of five miles.
The capitol was built on the brow of
Capitol Hill, fronting eastward, with the
expectation that the city would be built
in that direction. But the Presidents
house and the buildings of the Depart
snents having been erected two miles
west Of the capitol, that became the
"court end" of the town, and the city
now occupies lower and less healthful
'osition than was first intended. Its
% 'owth was slow. Trade from the sur
rou nd4ng country flowed to Alexandria
or B altimore, and there was no stimulus
to en- tefprise except what arose from
the bus mess or patronage of the Govern
ment.
The VIII lite House was unfinished when
John Adams took possession Of it in the
year 1900, ard Mrs. Adams tells US in
her letters published by her accomplish
ed grandson--our present Minister to
she used the least room"
as a laundry. Pennsylvania Avenue was
then an impossible morass. So few
houses had been erected in the city that
most of the Members of Congress were
opiiged W And lodgings in Georgetown.
Fourteen years Afterwards the city was
occupied by the British troops under
Gen. Ross, and the public buildings were |
burnt. They were rebuilt after the war !
with sandstone from Acquia Greek, but
20 inferior Ia the quality of stone that it
IS necessary to paint it often to preserve
It from crumbling. Four buildings of |
brick were erected for the Departments, |
two on each side and at short distance |
from the Presidents house. One of |
these, occupied by the Treasury, was
burnt by an incendiary fire in 1882, and
most Of its records and papers were des-
troyed. A new building of granite was
erected in its place, extending to the |
State Department, and designed, when
to embrace and furnish room
or that Department.
The War and Navy Departments, stand
west Of the Presidents house and have
,een greatly enlarged since the COM
nencement of the War, and still, hun
lreds Of clerks are located in other
buildings.
The Patent Office, affording accommo-
latlons for all the bureaus o. the De-
Of the Interior, and the Post
Office, are superb structures of marble,
If vast dimensions, and are situated
midway between the Presidents house
md the capitol.
Pennsylvania Avenue, no longer a mo-
'ass, is now paved street, one hundred
Ind sixty feet in width, and the most
important and busy thoroughfare Of the
,ity.
The climate is temperate, and on the
whole, healthy, Notwithstanding the mi
.sma which arises from dirty streets
md imperfect drainage. There are sud-
len changes of temperature and cold
Winds and heavy rains in winter, but
here is very little snow, The heat OF
summer continues long, and is not re-
ieved. as at the north, by cool nights.
The spring and autumn months are de-
ightful.
1t is a note worthy fact that only one
railway, with a single track, led to this
city during the four yes..rs Of war. On
his, all the troops, munitio1s of war
and. Supplies for the army, as well as the
thousands who visited the city on bust
ness or for pleasure, were transported.
One would suppose that the capital of