Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-06-03
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Only six Presidents Have owned
Washfnnton proporty.

dent of the United States, and, strangely,
but the sixth to own real estate in the
District of Columbia George Washing
ton had little real estate in tho city he
founded, and Of part Of that there was
for years no record. On Oct. Sd 1898,
General Washington bought of Daniel
Carroll of Duddlngton for 1928. 40 rarte
of lots 6 and in block G3i, embracing
in all 5,355 square feet. The price was
exactly eight cents a foot, about one
fiftieth of what the same property In now |
worth. General Washington also bought |
of Daniel Carroll lot 16 in the same |,
block, paying $534.6O. On this lot he |
built three story brick structure. In |
that house he lived during his few brief
visits to the young capital. The building
has had two stories put on it, and has been
made over into small hotel, known as
the Billman House. Adjoining are q
number of low, small houses and saloons.
We're the Father of his Country alive to-
day he might not be entirely satisfied to
live in the only house he built in Wash
ington.
Near by is the Baltimore h Ohio depot,
where locomotives pass and repass, kissing
and snorting all day and night. Lumber,
lime and brick yards fill largo space in
the vicinity. In the same block, however,
on the south side, facing the capitol, are
some large, pleasant houses, among them
the homes of Senators Ingalls, and
Spooner. The deed for this house of
Washington's was never recorded. In
1917 description of it came up in
chancery suit and the heirs had the title
established in court. The property is,
however, listed in Washington's will, and
it is likely the old general had forgotten
the matter Of recording the deed. He
says in memorandum attached to his
will that he bought the property cheap
On condition that he would erect three
story building ON it. He valued the prop
erty in 1799at $15, 900, or, as he expressed
it, thought sit ought to stand him in"
that much.
Washington also owned four lots on the
Anacostia, three blocks from the navy
yard, which he thought worth ~ cents
foot in 1893. II may be worth quarter
of that now, although boom has begun
in that section since cable road has been
talked of to connect 1t with the city by
rapid transit. Washington also owned
some residence property in Alexandria,
then part Of the District, on Pitt and
Prince streets. For this he had refused
| So, 500 Just before his death. Some Of it
he leased perpetually at SO foot.
Gen. Washington estimated his wealth
OF $500, 900, most of it being real estate.
| He was doubtless worth much more than
that, and judges of real estate say it is no
exaggeration to call him millionaire.
The Mt. Vernon farms made track with
| 10miles of water front and five miles deep
inland. He owned 1886 acres In yir-
ginia, 10, AL on the great Kanawha, / : 19
Northwest Territory 1 900 on the Mo-
hawk in New York, and 8 900 in Kentucky.
Had the estate he left been kept together
and managed with his excellent business
sense, his representative would to-day
have been nti-millionaire.
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 ON the
14th of August, 1928, paying Richard
Smith, the cashier of the United State,
Bank, 800, 900 for the house and lot. The
purchase money was not cash down by
any means, and the debt on the property
hung along for several years before il wal
paid. During the past year Caleb vii
lard, the present owner, has had tn,
Adams house and the adjoining building
, remodeled into nm Office building. 1t i
, in the heart Of the city, just across l
street from the Ebbitt House, in a localit,
where rents are high and tenants legion
franklin Pierce owned considerable
, property in Washington at one time. l
was on Sixteenth street and consisted o
vacant lots in section that promise,
, very little toward becoming the section o
, fashionable residences that il now is
, Mr.. Pierce never appeared in these pun
i chases, the deeds being made ont in til
: name of friend named John u. Wilson
whom he brought to Washington an
made clerk in the treasury. II is nc
/ known whether Mr.. Pierce realized we
a on these lots or not.
9 Gen. Grant held one piece of Washing
ton property In addition to the nous
, in Philadelphia given him by citizens c
q that city he had present here of til
Z large mansion and grounds ON / street, /
a which the general lived just before entei
a ing the White House. In 1869 house an
! furniture were sold to Gen. Sherman fC
$64 900, and the latter lived in it while
the head Of the army.
Garfield was the last President to be
freeholder in Washington. In 1870 b
z bought the little drab three-story brio
house on the corner of Thirteenth and
# streets, opposite Franklin Park, where l
n did the hard work of his Congress oaree
y The previous owner of it was Thomt
n Wilson of Baltimore. General David {
Il Swain held trust deed of the properi
k for a debt of 81, 300. The lot has 52J fe,
1t frontage on / street and 80 on Thirteent
Is street, and contains 1875 square fee
o worth then, with the house on the sit,
o about SO foot, and perhaps third mo-
o than that now. The neighborhood is fl
Is from fashionable, and contains small
q plain houses occupied by the clerk an
10 shop class of people. Up the hill aero
g the park is section on X street as artist
cratic and fashionable as any in the cit
le Here lives Garfield's Miles Standish-Jof
a Sherman of Ohio.
ID Mr.. Cleveland is only following Il
is example of scores of ante. bellum ret
70 dents of Washington. The suburbs
is the city are studded with old count
10 seats bearing more or less romantic name
n and showing still in their poorly pr
10 served state the open-hearted liberali
with which their owners adorned life
those days. For years these places ha'
gone begging in the real estate marke
IL but of late, with Secretary Whitney
81 purchase on the Ridge road, q demaI
y has sprung up for them.
le One of the oldest country seats aroui
40 Washington is Mount Airy, the home
IN the Oalverts, situated mile north
H. Bladensburg Its buildings are of il
le ported Dutch brick, plastered and stu
IT. coed u creamy yellow Around this o
SO house when the city was founded de
60 roamed wild. Eleanor, the grand. daught
oil of Charles Calvert, fifth Lord Baltimol
us married John Parke Curtis, whose so
" George Washington Parke Curtis ICE
NJ Washington's adopted SOM was for yes
OF master of Arlington. Back and forth |
IL. tween these two historical mansions /
a. old-fashioned numbering family coach,
th with their yellow wheels and bodies NJ
IL panels gilded with armorial bearing
made frequent Journeys.
Kalorama, built by Gustavus Scott il
!, noted country place. Washington
H., ,;' nephew, William, bought Kalorama
~ ~ Major Scott and sold il to Joel Barlo
i'a the author of 1.-The Columbiad." Hi
Nv, Fulton, with his carpenter and blaC
10 smith, made his model of the first stea
;ro boat, and sailed it on the mill pond
~ Rock creek, back of the old mansiC
Ia Decatur lived at Kalorama for short int
AZ walls, and for 10 years his body lay in [
w fou,ilv tomb nm tho nlooa M,na INaooI