Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-06-18

THE STREETS OF WASHINGTON.
A Man Who Rides q wheel Talks Enthusiast
tically About Them.
THEIR sMoorHNEss, ArrRAcrIvExEss AND
sPAcIoUsSEss-THE OLD WASHINGTON con-
TRAsrKD WITH THE NEw-rHE rRAxsFoRMA-
TON INFECTED BY Ex-aov. sHEPHERD-rHE
ROADS ABOUT THE CITY.
"Clean, spacious and attractive at all times
the streets Of Washington are conspicuously
beautiful in summer" writes Frank L. Dyer of
this city in Good Roads for the present month.
Mr.. Dyer is chief consul Of the local division of
the League Of American Wheelmen and writes,
therefore. from the cyclists standpoint
ample foliage" he continues, ''broad lawns
and attractive buildings, public and private,
serve everywhere to attract and interest the
visitor, and lend pleasing contrast to the
smooth, gray concrete roadways and the clean
brick sidewalks which run in all directions
through the city. These streets, and some Of
the beautiful suburban driveways into which
they extend, have added 10 the fame Of an
already famous city. They present an almost
perfect surface for all kinds Of wheeled vehicles
and link together many points about which
American history. Vi
these same streets. 80 scientifically ron.
structed and 30 perfectly main tanned. are at
best modern institution. and should the visitor
OF today have had the misfortune to be
quartered in Washington during the civil war
when heavy, black southern mud prevailed in
every roadway. when paved resident street was
almost unheard of, when cows, pigs and hens
were allowed the freedom of the city, and
when a sluggish, dirty little stream. called the
'Tiber' flowed uninterrnptedly oast the patent
Office, the Transformation which he now Observes
might well be considered maryelous-n
TUT o,nw.su,xo-ov
.x.
Ai'ef oisoossihs oriehy tne origin OF wash
lngton, Mr. Dyer says:
On May Is, 1900. President John Adams is
sued An order directing the ramovsI of tho
minor EMPLOYEES and Official records from, Pb;lo0
delphia (which had been tbe can;tol ,;nca 17o0,
to the new federal citv." as washington was
then called. but IL is snrm ised fiat sometbino
must have been known ~ its OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
both from an esthetic and from hveienic stand,
point for IL was not ntij the neYt Octoher th tth
Presidents order Was carried ont In a NJ, ta;n
sense. therefore. washington was first inhoh;ted
by Compilation and not NV choice Re;ng sor
the most part below tide water and iocatad in
an EXTREMELY swamnv sect;on Of the connt-x
tho cond;t;on "a IL stroats 70 80 ~ a.is
he called at that time can veil be ;n,aa;naJ 49,
In those DAYS there was in Cnnpress a milo
sophical member from Cornact;cnt ,amad
Andrew Wolcott zbo elloa ,v;.h ,n;,-;r;. -
oording the no;cv ~ thn oorarn,na,,e j., $50
to create rnusbrooy, c;tv 40 The c;t, % faSarn1
affairs. celebrated the anniversary Of md
pendeuce by writing letter to his wife on July
4, lSOO, In which occurs these words:
uo NOT perceive now ,he members OF Con-
SilI consapt 60 I;yo ILL ,,,a uitI n sney
monks in a monastery crowded ten or t,sentv
in one bouse and utterly secJnded fron, soc;atr
The only recourse for such as wish TO live com.
fortably will think be found in Georoe.owr
three miles distant, over az bad a road in winter
as the CLAW grounds near Hartford ;,
Viewing the city AZ he did then IL would b.ve
required a mind more propbetic than his IN
foresee the ultimate destiny Of the canitaI
Little could he have imagined that tbere rronid
be a time like the present when Georgotow,n
which was then one Of the most important cities
of the country wonld he oversize loved ~ 81
finally added 10 tho ..villape +" which wss so
small that II cor1d hardy s,nn,w Iodo;nn ~
the Legislators of the United State ard tbat
the road scornfuIfv referred IN os be;na % ~
as the ..clay grounds near Hartford sbonid
deyelop into the magnificent pennsvlyanio ave-
nue.. one of the finest streets in the world har-
ing a width of 100 feet. and with a snrfaca "a
smooth as a billiard table and os cloo, a. ~; Us
eled stone 80
Mr.. Wolcott's colleasue John COTTON Smith
also adds h;a eomnla;rf ro,.n3;,,, ~, a:.'
in an article written i;t,Ia Istsr o nv. e IVY
saws: '.Instead OF recognizing tbe avennes and
streets portrayed on the nIan of the citv nnt
one was visible unless we excent a roaJ w;th
two buildings called New Jersev avenne ),
nrxy,v,, .,,,.,..,
m. n", IN OLD TIMES
Ahe FehnsyNahia avenue leading, as laid
down on paper, from the Capitol to the Presi-
dents mansion, was then nearly the whole dis
lance a deem morass .covered with alder hrsh.s
which were cut Though The w;dtb ., The ;n.
tended avenue during the enspino winter The
roads in every direction were MILDLY oNd nm
improved, Viewing the citv ga IL NV IL - !,
indeed difficult TO even imagine The cord;t;or
of affairs described Inv these writers =
The roadwavs running hetween The ;u.a;ro-r
street lines which extended in the earIv dsrs 90
the city are said to have been little better than
deep qua8mlres-the legitimate result of the
hn, n"pPy p's.u'n VI 1ne cry .se1. Ihey were
surface which in any waw anaI;ted then, fas
even the limited traffic which the necessit;ss ~
the city required at that time and old time
residents compare the streets of early Wa.b;no-
ton history with those encountered by the
Union troops in Virginia during the civil war
when it took six horses to drag an ordinary
howitzer a few weary miles each day. The idea
of grading these streets was unheard of and
Washing ton might be said 10 has had az NAV
ups and downs to its surface az to its vary;n.g
fortunes.