Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-09-16
CITY OF ALEXANDRIA,
sfg HISTORY, OR, The PAST, PRESEN1
AND FUTURE.

o,s # the Most Suitable Places in the United
States for Home, and for Manufacturing
Purposes
about two thousand years ago we
-oId a party set out from some
nrara in Asia for the purpose OF fol
ia@ipg the example Of Romulus and
Remus by building 4 city, In their
rrospecting tour it is said they
nq..al over the present site Of Con
.antinople. After they mad began
10 build their city their attention was
r.Jlsd bv some parties to the fact
thet thcv had ignored one OF the
most suitable spots in the world.
They saw then. mistake when it was
loo late to remedy it, and several
centuries later others, more saga
rious. founded the present city, and
Bvzantium. STEAMBOAT, CONSTANT
g6ple New Rome, or whatever we
may be pleased to call it, took its
place among the great cities OF the
world.
We propose in this imperfect
article on Alexandria to show that
one Of the most suitable places III
the country for manufacturing OF
other purposes has long been
neglected and to presage Il time
when many will find themselves in
the Notifying position Of the stupid
city builders referred to, when Alex
andna shall have taken her proper
place in the countrys history.
That Alexandria is surely to be
come the chief city in Virginia is
conceded now by all dsinterested
persons. Some towns which few
wears ago were doomed are now
growing up in weeds, while Alexan,
5ne is steadily forging ahead and
growing daily IN importance. Sit
uated at the confluence OF the great
railroads of the country, with II
splendid harbor, the best water
transportation III the shape OF mod
un steamers and sailing craft, it
would be singular if the city didn't
grow.
The city of Alexandria from its
nucleus, in 1863, to the present day,
has Justly beenregmdcd by residents
as well as visitors as one OF the most
centrally situated spots for city of
commercial importance in the United
States, and that tins is no idle boast
propose to show in the description
of the city, It's eligible situation, its
ncmuess to large cities and com
mercial marts, together with the very
superior facilities which naturally be
long to it.
That the great grandfathers OF the
present generation entertained the
same views is evidenced by the fact
that over century before the site OF
the city of Washington was laid out
the present location of Alexandra
had been fixed upon for & city,
and later. when the British yoke had
been thrown off and our forcfathers
were casting their eyes around the
country for suitable spot upon
which to locate the capital city they
showed their wisdom by agreeing
that the tract of land extending from
the south side of the Potomac near
where the Long Bridge is situated
southwark to Hunting creek (Which
would necessarily have absorbed
what is now Alexandria, was the
most favored III every particular for
the seal of government of the nation.
Had the plan, and it was a good one,
been carried out, instead of the
Episcopal Theological Seminary and
High School which are now on
picturesque Shutters Hill, the capitol
Of the United States would have
adorned that eminence, and it would
to-day have been the Acropois of
this great and growing nation. The
massive buildings which adorn the
capital city would now be glistenins
IN the rising sun in Alexandria's
background had it not been for the
modesty OF that greatest Of all Amer
leans, GEORGE WASHINGTON, who while
recognizing the fact chat Alexandria
was the proper place for the capitol
was ayerse to hero worship and urged
tbeabandonment Of the plan upon the
ground that the proposed site was
too near to his Mount Vernon home,
and the placing of the capital city so
close TO him might be criticised I'M
tayorably. Had the intentions OF
his cotempora,ies been carried out,
however, a city of colossal proper
tons extending six mile north and
south and doubtless to Fairfax c. II.
on the west would have been the
picture for the rising generation to
behold
But We had no intention at the out
ser to draw pictures of what might
hare been, but what has, as, and can
Os doae in old Alexandria, and to
show that the place is yet outlined
on the phophetic chart for large
and lmpOrtanf city.