The times., 1898-02-03
MONEY IN REAL ESTATE
Mr.. Cleveland Learned This Be-
fore Going TO Princeton.
RED TOP YIELDED PROFIT
Bought for S21,5 500, 1t Was Sold
for 35,o0o-Scws of Recent
Purchases i'm Princeton No Sur.
prise to Local Investors History
OF n Suburban Boom of the Past.

The astuteness of ex-President Cleye-
land as a speculator in real estate
now showing itself in his new home in
Princeton, is not a surprise to the peu-
pie of Washington. The telegraphic
accounts from Princeton are that he
is buying heavily there. and that wher-
ever he purchases prices go up nicely.
so that Immediately he becomes richer
by his operations. Washington will be
far from doubling this. Indeed. Wash
inston would almost have been ready
to predict just these specuations I'm
Princeton when the former Chief Mag
istrate of the nation took up his abode
there.
There is almost a parallel between
the Princeton boom in real estate and
that in suburban property in the Dis
trict when Mr.. Cleveland was here ten
years ago. One Is perfectly justified in
supposing that flowers will continue to
bloom in the same joyous way wherever
he treads always until he dies.
The Red Top" deal here viii be part
of the city's history always. There was
q perfection in it that has raised it
above ordinary speculation in peoples
minds. The real estate men think of
it as a kind of poem.
When Mr.. Cleveland was about 10
be married, in 1885. during the first year
of his first term in the bonny month
of May, he bought suburban home
for himself. The tract was very Sc
cluded-in fact, almost in the primeval
forest. 1t was a large tract, away in
the northwest, on the Woodley Lane
road, at the intersection of that sylvan
lane with the Rockville turnpike The
owners were the Green heirs, the fam
ily of the original holder
The record of the transactions -bv
which President Cleveland became pos
SCISSOR of this place show first deed
from the Green heirs in the latter part
of May. not a month before the fam
Gus White House wedding, to Mr. A. A.
Wilson, and on the same day a recon-
veyance from Mr.. Wilson to Mr.. Cleve-
land. The price paid in each instance
was s21,500. The tract contained twen-
ty-eight acres, and thus sold for some
what less than $1,000 an acre.
Mr.. Wilson was marshal for the Dis
trict at that time. This gentleman fig
ured in the completion of this deal
some time after, and 1t may be said,
probably, with perfect fairness, that
there was nothing owing Mr.. Cleveland
for the appointment as marshal or for
the reappointment when the account
" aS closed.
The President took his young bride to
live in his new home far from the noise
and strife of the city. They spent the
summer there, and afterwards others.
But there was never the beautiful quiet
and peace that Mr.. Cleveland may be
supposed to have expected. Very soon
people began to inquire the price of real
estate in the vicinity, and very soon af-
ter there was talk of a subdivision and
of other subdivisions. Property on the
north and south and east and west be-
gan to rise in value. There were subdi-
visions with fat money for Syndicates
There was Cleveland Heights and there
was Cleveland Park, and both of these
cut the wilderness up into small build
ing lots that We're put OH the market
at tremendous prices, and sold too
Mr.. Cleveland sold Red Top" that
being the name of his country seat, Just
one month under four years from the
time he bought it, The purchaser was
Representative Francis G.. NewlandS.
of Nevada. The price Mr.. Cleveland re-
ceived for it was Sl35, 600. This repre-
sents an advance of between 500 and
900 per cent in the four years, and ii
also represents a snug fortune, fine
nest egg for future operations of Il like
nature III UllitI ClbitS that loiloWtU. MI.
Newlands soon sold out his purchase
to a syndicate, which then put Red
Top" on the market in small lots, as
the surrounding property had been.
Now a curious thing happened. The
great boom that had happened to this
section when the President of the coun-
try went to live in it died out COM
pletely, almost Immediately, when he
left it. All who bought after the first,
all. in fact, who did not get in on the
deal, lost. Mr.. Robert I. Fleming who
bought the Red Top house from the
syndicate would not be able to sell it
for what he paid by a good deal. real
estate men say, and the same is true
of all the others who purchased from
the syndicate.
The ex-President is still the owner of
real estate in Washington When |
Cleveland Heights was put on the mar
ket he bought two small lots in the |
subdivision for $4,000, which he has |
never cared to or never been able to
sell. They are now assessed at cents
a foot, and Mr.. Cleveland's former
goes down to the assessors Of !
flee every year and pays the taxes
This account tells only what the rec |
ords of the recorders Office show. 1t |
would probably not be fair to Mr. |
cleverness to suppose that |
all these subdivisions were rushed into |
the market to trade on his name and |
his vicinity.