The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1897-01-07
POOR OLD GEORGETOWN.
A Century Ago It Was a Most
Prosperous Little City.
Now 1t Is Merely an Insignificant Suburb
of the National Capital and OF No
Commercial Importance
Whatever.
Especial Washington I.etter.l

The poet scarcely guessed all the wis
dom he expressed when he wrote the
"One-Hoss Shay" and penned the lines:
Little 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 its
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 artticer of a work that is
not his own. We do our blasting. NOR.
tar-making, stone dressing or spire
building, but none of US understands
the fulIness of the design of the archi-
tect who planned the whole.
Ninian Beall, the Scotchman who
came across the trackless Atlantic
wastes and settled upon the rock of
Dumbarton in this new world, founded
the city of Gcorgetown; and the new
national capital has grown up and alb
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
longer any necessity for the continu-
unce of the office, but it is a relic of
the days when Georgetown had 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-
ing 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.
When the revolutionary war began
the hills and dales now covered with
the residences and public buildings in
the national capital were as densely
wooded as the hills of Arlington.
Georgetown was then an established
town and doing a thriving business.
But all the land east of Eock creek
was occupied by the children of the
forest, the noble red men.
Georgetown grew and waxed strong
long after the seat of government was
located here, and many a statesman
lived in the quaint and aristocratic old
town, although their daily duties were
in the new city. In 1890 the federal
government established Offices in
Georgetown, and that was before the
capital had been located. On Febru-
airy 1G, 1890, William B. Magruder was
appointed postmaster, and en- October
l, 1900, James MCubbin Lingan was