Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1896-12-05
POOR OLD GEORGETOWN.
A Century Ago 1t Was a Most
Prosperous Little City.
Row II lis Merely an Insignificant suburb
OF the National Capital and of No
Commercial Importance
Whatever.
Especial washington Letter.i !


The poet scarcely guessed all the wis
dom he expressed when he wrote the
"one-Hoss Shay" and penned the lines:
"Iittle of all we value here
Wakes on the morn of its hundredth year
Without both looking and feeling queer"
Old things pass away and all things be-
come new, for the progress of the eter-
nal plan of the universe involves in it's
maximum procedure the principle of
decay. Individuals, clans, tribes and
whole nations pass away in orderly pro-
cession in order that the new may have
the room of the old. Every man is the
intelligent artificer of a work that is
not his own. We do our blasting, NOR
tar-malsing, stone dressing or spire
building, but none of us understands
the fullness of the design of the archi-
tect who planned the whole.
Ninian Beall, the Scotchman who
came across the trackless Atlantic
Dumbarton in this new world. founded
the city of Georgetown; and the new
national capital has grown up and abb
sorbed the old village and corporation
of Georgetown, SO that it is now called
West Washington. But the landmarks
of the ancient and honorable municipal
ity have remained untouched, and will
SO continue as long as they may last.
But the government is about to invade
one of the most sacred precincts of an
cient Georgetown.
The customs port of Georgetown is
about to be abolished. There is no
l,,1 nannccifu 40 inn
ance of the Office, but it is relic of
the days when Georgetown had u large
place on the map, when her people
were prosperous, and when the minds
of her business men were filled with
visions of the development of a new
Liverpool city greater than any in
the old world. Nobody in those days
feared rivalry with New York, Phila-
delphia, Boston or any other city in
the new republic. Cincinnati, Cleve-
land, Chicago. st. Paul, and the magniti-
cence and wealth of and beyond the
great American desert. were all un-
known. Just as the Chicago man of
to-day talks of nothing but his thriv-
lug city, so the ancient inhabitants of
Georgetown talked of their growing
trade center. But the glory of George
town has departed, AMI her venerable
citizens sadly see the decadence.
The steamboats,, railroads, telegraph
and telephone lines have brought all
sections nearer together and all nations
closer in trade relations. The process
sion has passed by Georgetown, and she
10 no longer u requirement in the busi
ness world. 1t is easier to transact
business with New York, Baltimore oi
Philadelphia than TO sail or steam uT
the Potomac with traffic and passen
gers.
When the revolutionary war began
the hills and dales now covered witt
the residences and public buildings II
the national capital were as densely
wooded as the hills of Arlington
Georgetown was then an established
town and doing q thriving business
But all the land east of Rock creet
was occupied by the children of the
forest, the noble red men.
Georgetown grew and waNed strong
long after the seat of government was
located here, and LaSay Statesman
lived in the quaint and aristocratic oil,
town. although their daily duties wer'
in the new city. In l700 the fedora
government established offices il
Georgetown, and that was before th'
capital had been located. On Febru
ary l6, 1890. William B. Magruder wa!
appointed postmaster. and on Octobe,
], 1900, James McCubbin Lingan wa'