Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-08-28
ALEXANDRIA, VA.
MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST %, 1882.

TO OUR OLDEST citizens, the changes
which have taken place in the appearance
Of Alexandria seem striking, yet they are
but the result of changes in its business.
Years ago, when there was great trade in
-four, long lines of wagons, their horses de-
corated with bells, crowded the upper end
of King street, whilst the river front was 4
forest of masts due to the foreign trade. The
middle of King street, was mean collection
ofone and two story frame houses used for the
retail business, whilst at both its ends were
lofty warehouses for wholesale trade. Grad
ually Baltimore extended her railroads, and
the -four inspection was reduced from two
hundred to twenty thousand. Then the
wagons disappeared, the warehouses went
to decay, and the upper part of the town
looked ruined and deserted Next there
was change in theshipping business large
steamers took the place Of ships and briggs,
and railroads began to centre in few large
cities; then our wharvcs decayed, our ware
houses were deserted, and war and the de-
vouring element combined to ruin the work
VI SSOiS vi Ittuol. -lCdllN Hllc. LOWcNcI,
King street was looking up fine houses
were taking the places of the little tene-
ments there, and its appearance was i'm
proved more rapidly in the centre than it
drteriorated at the ends. This was due to
the improvement in our back Virginia coun-
try, and TO the building of the railroads
Fairfax had ceased TO be an old field and
was becoming a market garden Loudoun
and Fauquier, Culpeper and Orange, were
linked to us by bands of iron, and the retail
trade increased. Many of our citizens re-
member when there was not brick house
ON the north side Of King street from Fair
fax to the corner of Pitt, and when the
ground now covered by Sarepta Hall was
filled by low-story shanty, with doors
opening on two parts, like those of London
when robbers infested its streets, and on
the south side it was scarcely better. Now
stately buildings occupy the whole line, and
even u two story frame is an exception.
Next came the resurrection of upper King
street. The Midland Railroad continued
to bring trade, and multiplied its en-
p!oyees, and the old warehouses were
either rejuvenatcd, or torn down, to make
room for dwellings, and now that end of the
city is, once more, hourishing. The revival
seems now 10 have reached the river front.
The mill wharf has been solidly rebuilt and
those below it are in process of reconstruc-
lion, and though the Long wharf, Cazen-
owes and others are still in ruins and Lam
b ITS and Twins not in good repair, Mr.
John Lannon is building new wharfwhere
there has been none for half century, if
there ever was before, and other improve
mcnts will doubtless follow. The ware
houses, too, are being fixed also, and the
river front is gradually putting on its old
look Of prosperity. The filling up of the
old dock at the foot of Prince street and
the extension Of the Strand across the end of
that street, is the greatest of all the changes
made both for convenience and appearance
People mourn over our lost trade, but they
fail to remember that it is more apparent
than real. Sugar and lnolasses do not come
here from abroad by sea; nor do we ship
toooNNo W T-lIOlc. Dut we 90 receive ana
sup coal in great quantities, and whilst our
Hour trade is not as great as it once was, it
Is by no means rs small as it had become.
One car makes very little show, but it holds
as much rs several wagons, whilst a three
master or even an ordinary coal schooner is
as large as our ships of the olden time,
though it attracts less attention since it
takes less time to load it, and it thus comes
and goes without notice People forget
that we have nearly double the population
we had fifty years ago, and that the people
all live better than they did then. More
houses have been built this year than in
any one year for half a century; where did
the money come from? Two-thirds of our
tax bills were paid within two weeks after
they We're III readiness, to save discount ;
that required ready money Yet the
croakers say the old town is dead: they
cannot see beyond their noses.
MAJOR JOHN DANIEL in 4 recent cnaoob