Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-09-16
STATE OFFICIALS VIEWS.
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICUuTURES RE
PORT ON ALEXANDRIA.
Resume of facts on the Growth and Develop
ment of the Coming Business City on the
Banks OF the Potomac.

ment OF tine IomIng Business CIty on the
Banks Of the Potomac,
The following is description of
Alexandria by the Hon. Randolph
Harrison, Commissioner of Agricul-
ture Of the State of Virginia
Alexandria was originally part
of Fairfax Having been ceded to
the General Government as portion
of the District Of Columbia, and re-
troceded to Virginia in 1S47, it was
organized into county The area
is very small, being only ten miles
long and five miles wide, with 1S,42l
acres, assessed at S796,57S. This
county lies along the south bank of
the Potomac river-the District of
Columbia, on the opposite bank, con
tanning the Federal Capitol, Wash
ington city, and Georgetown. The
county seat is the very considerable
town of Alexandria, on the Potomac
The commercial advantages of Alex
andria city and county are unsur-
passed, the facilities for shipping and
means of access to market being all
that could be desired. The river,
here mile wide, is navigable for the
largest vessels, with depth of thirty
five feet at the wharves. Alexandria
is admirably situated for manufactur-
ing purposes, being near mines of
coal and iron and on a deep river.
Washington Southern, Virginia Mid
land, Washington and Ohio, and Wash
ington and Alexanpria Railroads all
centre here; transportation is there
fore cheap and expeditions. The de-
cay of foreign trade, consequent upon
its concentration through the infu-
ence OF steam in few great cities,
has left large number of warehouses
unoccupied These can be purchased
or rented at very low rates for man
ufacturing purposes, and many of
them have wharf privileges and rail
road i'll front Of them. Clay for brick
making is abundant, and four extern
sive brick-yards are now in successful
operation and there is an abundant
supply Of excellent sand for building
purposes, while limestone is brought
to the kilns very cheaply by the canal
The city is being improved every
year by the erection of hundred OF
more buildings, many of them hand
some brick ones, yet rents are low
and lots cheap. School facilities are
excellent. Besides thepublic schools,
there are more private schools for the
population than in almost any city in
the Union. Church accommodations
are abundant There are five Meth
odist Churches, three Episcopal, three
Presbyterian, one Catholic, one Bap-
fist, and one Lutheran, a Friends
Meeting House and Jewish Syna-
gogue for white people, and seven
Baptist, one Methodist, and one Epis-
copal for colored-in all twenty-fom
places of worship, one for every six
hundred people. The place is quiet
and orderly, and its morality is de
cidedly above the average 1t has Il
very full supply of the finest and
purest water-so pure that the re-
agents which blacken ordinary by
drant water elsewhere do not affect
its transparency. It's fire department
is unexcelled in the country for its
efficiency. Its health is excellent; it
has not suffered from any pestilence
since the beginning Of the century,
even the cholera touching it very
lightly in 1892, and passing it by in
all its other visitations. One of the
schools, with fifty students boarding
in it, has had but two deaths-a
teacher and a pupil-in more than
half century, and advertised one
year that its physicians bills averaged
but twenty-five cents to each student
at full rates. Its nearness to Wash
ington also adds to its advantages.
There is communication by rail or
boat every half hour during the day,
and several trains up to midnight, at
a cost almost nominal, so that the
amusements and instructive collec-
tons Of that beautiful city are always
within easy reach. The soil of this
county is well suited for market gar
dcns, and the proximity of Alexandra
city and Washington gives great adj
yantages in this respect, and for dairy
farming. Washington is rapidly be-
coming one of the greatest cities of
the country, and lands in the vicinity
are fast enhancing in value"