The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-05-28
MIR. CLEVELAND'S WASHINGTON
REAL ESTATE SPECULATION.


dents who Have Bought Prop
criy NJ the Capital Before
Him. George Washington
Made Money.
WASHINGTON, May a3.-Mr. Cleveland
is the twenty.tifth presiden, of the [ nj.
ted States, and strangely, bu, the sixth
to own real estate in the District Of Go
lumbia. George Washington had little
real estate in the city he founded. and of
part Of that there was for years no record
On Oct. 3, l,9>, Gen. Washington
bought Of Daniel Carroll of nuddingtcn
for $42s.io parts of lots q and, in block
63i, embracing in all j,3jj square feet.
The price was exactly eight cents a foot,
about one.ifthleth of what the same
property is now worth. Gen. Washing
ton also bought Of Daniel Carroll lot III
in the same block, paying Sj3i,Go. On
this lot h. built a three.story brick
structure. In thar house he lived during
his few brief visits 10 the young
capital. The building has had 1.-TWO stories
put on it, and has been made over into u
small hotel known AS the llilman house,
Adjoining are number of low, small
houses and saloons. Were the Father Of
his Country alive to-day he might not
be entirely satisfied To live in the only
house in Washington
Near by is the Baltimore and Ohio lie.
pot. where locomotives pass and repass.
kissing and snorting all day and night.
Lumber, lime. and brick yards fills IA
large space in the vicinity In the same
block. however, on the southsidc, facing
the Capitol, are some large pleasant
houses, among them the homes of Sena
tors ingalls, and Spooner. The deed for
this house was never recorded, In Isl,
a description Of this house came up in {.
chanccry suit, and the heirs had the
title established in court. The property
is. however listed in Washington's will,
aud il is likely the old general had for.
gotten the matter of recording the deed.
lie SAYS in a memorandum attached to
his will that he bought the property
cheap on condition that he would or, ct a
building on it, lie valued
the propert, in 1899 at Sl5.OOo or as he
it, thought "it ought to stand
him in" that much
Washington also owned lour lots on the
Anacostia. three blocks from the navy
yard. which he thought worth twelve
cents foot in l,99. II may bp worth q
quarter of that now. although "A boom
ha, begun in that section since a cable
road has been talked Of to connect it with
The city by rapid transit. Washington
also owned some residence property IN
then part of the District, on
Pitt and Prince streets. For this he re-.
fused 81, 800 just before hi, death. Some
Df it he leased perpetually at ~ a foot
Gen. Washington estimated his wealth
At 500, ,OOO, most of t being real estate.
He was doubtless worth much mere than
that and Judges Of real estate say It Is
no exaggcraton to call him millionaire.
The Mt. Vernon farms made a tract with
miles of water front and five miles deep
inland. lie owned 1864 acres in \ir-
,inia, ban on the Great kanawha,
| ,ll9, in Maryland. 3, Isl in ONO, then
he Northwest Territory. 1000 on the
Mohawk in New York. and 5000 in
kentucky. Had the estate he left been
Kept together and managed with his cX-
,ellent business sense, his representative
would to-day have been Il centimillion'
hire.
John Quincy Adams was the second
president to buy land in Washington.
He bought the house on + street in
which he lived after he was president
IN the lith Of August, 1923, paving
Smith, the cashier of the lnl-
ted States bank, s2g, 900 for the house
and lot. The purchase money was not
rash down by any means, and the debt
On the property hung along for several
years before it was pald. During the
past year Caleb Willard, The present
owner. has had the Adams house and
the ad Joining bui ding remo1eled into
IN office building Ii is in the heart of
The city. just across + street from the
Ebbitt House. in locality where rents
are high and tenants legion.
Franklin Pierce owned considerable
property in Washington at one time. i
was on Sixteenth street, and consisted
Df vacant lots in a section that promised
very little toward becoming the section
If fashionable residences that it nov is.
Mr.. Pierce never appeared III these plir-
chases. the deeds being made out in the
name of a friend named John C..Wil,on,
whom he brought to Washington and
made a clerk in the treasury 1t is not
known whether Mr.. Pierce realized well
on these lots or not
Gen. Grant held one piece Of Wash
ington property In addition to the
house in Philadelphia given lm by clti-
zens of that city, he had present here
Of the large mansion and grounds on !
street. in which the General lived Just
before entering the White House. In
| $50 house and furniture were sold TO
Gen. Sherman for $4,000, and the lat,
ter lived in il while at the head Of tine
army.
Garfield was the last president 10 be a
freeholder in Washington. In 1870 he
bought the little drab tbree.story brick
house on the corner Of Thirteenth and ]
streets. opposite Franklin park, where
he did the hard work Of hls congress
career The previous owner Of 1t WAS
Thomas Wilson, Of Baltimore. bon.
David 6. Swain held a trust deed Of the
property for 1890. The lot has ,"
feet frontage on | street and 80 on Thlr-
teenth street, and contains l,jlj square