The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-17
TUE NATIONS PROMENADE.
orNysYLVANIA AVENUE, WHERE
sr,TEsMEN ARE SEEN DAILY.

,,,.+ory of the Great street-AnteF-
.,nr Points About WashingtOn's
r.oroughfares-COn and
s.to1ars Who Attract Attention
Vbeir FecuIiartties-Other Mat
AR. Of Special Interest.
,ington. Jan. IA stranger at
rotional capital need not go around
..,inp the lions of official life in the
-.o+a chamber and supreme court room,
=. executive mansion and cabinet homes
Ear walk along Pennsylvania avenue,
n ~ fine day during a session OF congress-
AiI how him plenty of them. Especially
var the opening and closing hours OF
nocb DAVIS session, when the legislators
Co bieing themselves capitolward, or
rning to their haunts in the fashion
.hIs northwest is this Appian way OF
az country thronged with pedestrians
ND elegant equipages-with the brains
on5 beauty, the social as well as the
~nfitical leaders of Washington. Not
rrnIv is Pennsylvania avenue at all times
favortte driveway but the citizens
g. habit of turning out, en- masse,
a. certain hours and strolling between
9So white house and the capitol; when at
very step of the historic mile you may
,ast men and women whose names are
honsehold words-statesmen multi-mil-
ionaires. geniuses of all sorts, shining
Tgbts in art, science and literature.
First a word about this grandest prom
enade in America. The streets OF WASH
inoton are Of greater width, uniformly,
t59n those of any other city in the world,
and though there are many cities much
larger than this ''of magnificent dis
A tances." not one has so much asphalt
pavement Washington's go miles of
streets and avenues cover little more
than , $50 acres, (about tWo-thirds of its
whole area, and are now nearly all paw
ed from end to end with Trinidad as
pbalt: never any dust, or mud, or special
frossings to bother about, but smooth as
A house-foor and kept as clean. 1t is
impossible to crowd them, except on very
rare occasions, and then only two or
three streets will be temporarily con-
gested. Pennsylvania avenue, the great
central thoroughfare, is four and one
half miles long and 100 feet wide. Be
ginning at Rock Creek, in Georgetown
the Oldest part of Washington, which was
once a separate village-it runs past the
state and treasury departments, the
white house and Presidents, grounds,
Corcoran art gallery and splendid new
postoffice; past parks and reservations
with their fountains and statuary,
through the entire length of the best
business quarter; then winds UP the
hill surmounted by the capitol, and it's
beautiful grounds and the most magnif-
cent library building in the world, and
on to its terminus on the banks of the
Anacostia river.
About 100 years ago, shortly after the
seat Of the United States government was
removed from Philadelphia to Washing
ION, a road was cut through the alder
bushes from Georgetown to Capitol Hill.
1t was made for the purpose of accom-
modating the procession incident to the
laying Of the cornerstone of the national
state house, and over it passed George
Washington, the central figure of the oc-
casion, in the full paraphernalia of his
Masonic dignity, with the other great
men of the time This was the beginning
Of what is now Pennsylvania avenue,
the most historical street in the country.
1t may well be called the
promenade of statesmen. over it has
passed to his Inauguration every President
since Washington. Traditions and MEM
cries hover around it of jefferson and
Jackson, Taylor, Webster, Clay, Lincoln,
douglass, and all the greatest men of the
\ republic; the tramp of armies going 20
oatue' and the grandest military review
he world has ever seen when Grant dis
handed his victorious troops after the fall
OF the eonfederacy.
After time the street was rudely
drained and provided with a walk on the
north side. made from the clippings of
stones employed in the cons ruction of
'he new buildings. During Jeffersons adj
mhlsratlon it was laid out in three road
ways from the capitol to the white house,
nae uhter den Linden, at Berlin, and he
personally superintendent the planting OF
1Out rows of Lombardy poplars along
eaCn cdrbstone and equi-distant down the
middle quarter of a century later the
soulh SIDE was paved; but still the CEN
IRA driveway was deep in clouds of dust
al summer and in the winter and spring
was Iul Of mud holes, which often be-
1ane axle deep, while the side streets
was almost impossible beds of red clay.
"olAea by hoofs and wheels into stiff
nlVI Jar John Randolph used to call Penn
yNahld avenue 1.-THE great Shirbonian
w. and discant upon the dangers of a
up over it, in the numbering old stage
AZ IAN with seats on top, called the "Roy-
a. george which cohVeyed- the legislat-
re- ui nose days from the capitol to the
~ Cu .h motel in Georgetown, where most
ioi V n- put up" 1t is related that Dan
~ WEBSTER and friend once undertook
w 50 10 Georgetown In a hackney coach,
~ "'ena a dinner party. Three times
| Fehicle stuck in the mud on Pennsyl-
s 1'1a avenue, and the driver was compel
m H., carry MS passengers, one by one,
so. uS Dack to the sidewalk, where they
nsT', until the empty carriage could be
s1 49, out. Webster was no light weight,
b"a, years afterward he used to
b,1s about the d, incident and
5r, Isars that the driver would
d,p Alm In the mud and spoil his
g,. SUIT About 1915 the avenue was
~ and macadamized by Robert f.
~ Weh a young officer in the army.
be, poplars were cut down; elms, ma
AMI ana trees of heaven" were planted
hoo" amps set at intervals. Georgetown
rar,N. TO lose caste in the face of these
d. ana the distinguished Lawmakers
sbg,,' yea her and Took rooms over the
NV mat bordered the great Washing
b.'t eVard 1t remained for Gov. Shep- |
tv..' o'u Hallet Kilbourn, during the last
cal Ivy years or SO, to inaugurate the radi-
,''''p, oFements which have made WASH
AMI ~ me most beautiful city In America
Tr,, US streets the best In the world
CIR as George Parsons Lathrop saws;
II 81. uaN OF the boss is over it ali: but
he r, " plcturesque trail and excellent In
of .tigttls' They removed whole blocks |
no,, innings and graded to such an enor- |
bsIo,,. A'ent thar some houses are left
tbsi," we level of the new streeets. so thar
wall, ulinney tops just touch the side |
On stli. "hlie others look as If standing
Of s'i,',,.a, stranded high and dry on banks |
.ta.,' Ppery clay, to be reached bv Ions, |