The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-11-28
Spectators in Real Estate at'the
National Capital
LOOK TO GROVER CLEVELAND
10 Assist Them to Make Fortunes, as
He Did When He Was President
Before.--Tho President and His
Wealthy Friends Madc Big For
tunes.

Grover Cleveland and a Democratic ad-
ministration will cause a revival Of the
boom in real estate which made the
property owners and spectators SO
happy a few years ago.
For several years preceding the adj
vent of the Cleveland administration
there had been a steady increase in the
price of property. governed altogether
by the growing demand for residence
and business sites, and it was becoming
daily more apparent that, owing to the
climate and various other causes, Wash
ington was slowly but surely becoming
a most popular city with residents OF
all parts OF the United States, tho bulk
of whom read about it constantly and
visited it afterward in great numbers.
But it was while Mr.. Cleveland was
President that the great boom came
which made Washington what it is to-
day. In 1889, when President Harri-
son was inaugurated, the city had set
tied down into the enjoyment OF the
good things that had come to it as a re-
suit of what was generally known as
"the Democratic BOOM" which started
in soon after Mr.. Cleveland became
President.
WHITNEY AED CLEVELAND l n LUCK.
His purchase OF a country house
turned the eyes of speculators and prop
erty owners to the beautiful suburban
region which he and Secretary Whitney
had selected as their temporary summer
homes, and in an almost incredibly
short space Of time several syndicates
Of capitalists had been formed, and the
broad acres in the neighborhood OF Oak
View and Grassland were subdivided
into town lots and selling at town lot
prices. Many OF them have been sold
over and wei again since that time, yet
there arc not to-day one dozen o
houses in the immediate region OF these
two estates than there were in 1885.
Town lot prices, and stiff one at that,
still prevail, however, and SO confident
are the capitalists who WI the lots
that Washington will grow until this
country property will no longer be su-
burban that they are holding prices up
and spending money without stint on
street railways and other costly and ex-
tensive improvements.
WASHINGTON FAIRLY PoUScED DOWN UPON.
The success Of the "Woodley lane"
spectators was SO great that local and
foreign capitalists at once pounced upon
Washington as q good field for invest
ment, and money came from almost
every state in the Union, and, as If by
magic, suburban prices went up to the
city mark, and city prices almost out OF
sight.
sion, electric and cable and railroad
building, electric lighting, sanitary
sewerage, etc, was put into operation
in the suburbs until now the villages
around and about Washington that ten
years ago were completely isolated are
now almost within the city itself.
Many men grew rich out of the sud-
den development OF Washington's fiat,
scraggy mudhole of 1865 into the City
of Magnificent Distances OF 1880, but
many men grew more suddenly and
more honestly rich when the second
transformation occurred, and the luck
lest ones of the lot were Grover Glove
land and William @. Whitney. They
were pioneers in their t~estifying to
their belief in the future greatness of
Washington, and each was q great
gamer thereby.
s~PBcULAToRs KEEP UP THE SPIRIT.
When Mr.. Cleveland left Washington
he soldo Oak View at a net profit of $780,
600, and Mr.. Whitney Jared correspond
ingly we'll. When Benjamin Harrison
came to the White House some real es-
tate spectators, more enterprising
than discreet, attempted to repeat the
success which some of their rivals had
met with through their dealings with
the property Of President Cleveland and
his secretary Of the navy.
A tract of suburban land was selected
that has since become tho headquarters
OF a branch Chatauqua society, and so
we'll did the real estate boomers manip-
ulate preliminary matters that the citi-
zens OF Washington were able to read
at their breakfasts one morning that al
most every inmate of the White House,
with the exception Of the President
himself, had purchased q corner lot at
Glen Echo, the consideration in most
cases being q merely nominal sum.
Even old DR.. Scott, the ladies OF the
household, and Miss Sanger, the type
writer, had not been forgotten, and the
published accounts OF the transaction,
compiled from the official records Of the
adjoining county, stated with cruel ex-
actness, the full details Of the latest
real estate dicker.
II MARX FAIRLY OVERSIGHT.
The boomers overshot the mark, how
ever, and the proprietorship Of the
presidential household killed the whole
project OF the building up Of this par
ticular suburban retreat almost as
effectually az the famous gift OF the
Harrison cottage killed Cape May
Point, drove its owner into bankruptcy
and left little remaining on the lone
some point OF sand beside tho gift cot
tage and the moaqitoes.
Since Harrison has been President,
however, Washington proper has gone
on proudly, prices have not fallen, and
capital has continued to pour in aeem-
ingly from everywhere. Change OF adj
ministration is variously regarded as
benefting the real estate market, as
giving it a setback, and as having no
effect whatever upon it. The majority
OF the operations. however, OF those
who are supposed to have information
on the subject is that q new admins
tration adds new life to the real estate
business and adds materially to the
prominent growth Of the city. 1t is
claimed by those OF this opinion that
at least nine-tenths OF all discharged
government officials remain in Wash
ington to mako it their permanent