Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-26
IN SIXTEEN YEARS
Many Changes That Have Taken
Place in Washington.
THEY ARE ALL FOR The BETTER
Still a Good Many Things Left
to Be Desired.
INTERESTING COMPARISONS

INTERESTING COMPARISONS
An old Washingtonian. who was born in
this city in IS22 and a Washington news
paper CORRESPONDENT who has lived in the
capital since 1883, were talking old Wash
ington the other evening. The pioneer
was full of "reminiscences of the days when
Clay and Webster waded through the mud
dy streets Of the town, when Beau Hick-
man was concocting his ingenious schemes
whereby to live well on nothing a year.
when ward politics were a feature of
life in the District, when huge. full-rigged
ships used to come up the Potomac fruit
laden to the Georgetown docks. and so on
His stories were very interesting.
But you going back too far for me
to satisfactorily apprehend the greatness
of all the changes that have taken place in
Washington since you were young man,
said the Washington correspondent finally
Il can't compare the Washington that !
have known only for the past sixteen years
with the Washington that you knew wheI.
John Calhoun and Thaddeus Stevens trod
their respective paths about this town.
Now. l have only to revert to the begin
ming of those sixteen years, when l trst saw
Washington, TO be able TO point out scores
of remarkable changes that have taken
place in the appearance and character of
the city even within that comparatively
limited period. There has been a lot of
steady, healthy expansion going on IN
Washington since l first set foot here six
teen years ago. III try TO indicate few OF
the changes that have taken place here
since 1888 when Washington gaSned the
distinction of counting me among her in
habitants.
Atiauated Street Cars.
Where to begin? Well. I'll start ar ran
dom. When l came here in 1888 there were
bOb-tailed. One-horse cars snailing along
Pennsylvania avenue, and justices of the
Supreme Court used to amuse themselves
passing the pennies of whole carsful Of
passengers into the fare boxes. OF course.
there was a two-hOrse line of cars on the
avenue also. but they weren't much better
for comfort than the bob-tailers. 1t used to
be a hard tug at that time for the hill
horses to get the &c Iorse cars up the
hill at the south side III the Capitol and up
the 18th and 18th street hills The lumber
ing avenue hediCs that wound around the
concrete road in the nOrih-side grounds of
the Capitol got "A lot OF passengers, too.
There were suburbs To speak of at that
time outside of Tenleytown. Bladensburs
and Anacosria. Mt. Peasant wasn't much
better than a wilderness. and Columbia
Heights was a region where small boys re-
paired. as being out of the world. when they
were playing hockey from school. There
was no Chevy Chase and Glen Echo hadn't
been thought Of Takoma Park was in a
state Of embryo, and all the rest of the
beautiful suburbs of Washington existed
then only in the imaginatiOns of far-seeing
real estate men If you wanted to see the
pretty country surrounding Washington you
had to hire a carriage, and folks We're look
ed upon as exceedingly enterprising if they
Falls " "
r street and the Avenue.
There were plenty OF office buildings on
T street then. but not much business. The
Business tendency toward F street had
scarcely begun. The avenue caught all the
downtown promenaders and did the bulk
of; the business. There was ramshaclle
old dime museum and a number of dilapi-
dated old buildings where the city post
office now stands The Star a TWO or
thFee-sheet paper then, and you could read
ii through In the course Of a journey on
bub-tailed car. Now you've got to give
evening to II. ] mention The Star here be-
cause it fits in with the location I'm speak
ing Of. and because its new building is
going to he one of the marked features
among the changes that have taken place
here since ! came to Washington.
IN 1N>5 the necessity for d new Library
of Congress was indeed manifest. but not
even the statesmen who were fighting for
an appropriation for new library building
dreamed then that before the close of the
nineteenth century such superb recep-
tacle for the nations collection of books
would grace the ground then Uttered by
the Old Capitol prison ami lot of other
tumble-dUwn structures
The approach on the west to the Capitol
building consisted Of three old. worn
shabby sets of steps, and the magnificent
marble terrace that now ornaments the
CapitoIs west front had not. l think. been
puDlicly suggested then although il may
have been a slumbering dream in the minds
of the statesmen who finally put through
the bill for its erection
in Course of Construction.
THE Washington monument still had the
distiguring scaffolding around its uncom-
pleted top works. and the work on the Po-
fomac flats was dragging along slowly,
with many a complaint from citizens that
the government never meant to finish that
Job Big trees now line the banks of tta
flats The War State and NAVY building
was in a dismal state of uncoaiple ton and
huge cranes and derricks Uttered the Penn
savanna avenue front of IL. Most of the
cttys parks were surrounded by shabby
iron fences and the system of planting
beautiful beds of flowers in the parks by
rotation hadn't apparently been thought Of
"One apartment house. of no particular
magniflcence. was just then being built,
and We all thought il rather wonderful!
that the apartment house idea should reach
Washington so soon. Look at the superb
apartment houses that are scattered all
over the northwest section of the city
now.
"A number Of wealthy old residents had
charming estates on the hills beyond the
boundary line. but only the most shrewd
among Speculative land dealers then per-
ceived that the hills beyond the boundary
line would not long hence h. eagerly sought
Tor as home sites for comfortably-ofr or
Inodera teiy-rich people. A lot of the neg
lected streets of Washington then Were
paved with rapidly-rotting old wooden paw.
ing blocks, and the base hall fans kicked
a good deal because to see the games they
had 10 repair so far uptown as 4 street
The circUSes that visited Washington
spread their tents on New Jersey avenue
site practically under the shadow of the
Capitol. and the site was then little better
than dumping ground. Now it is entirely
built over.
Along Rock Creek.
'Of electric arc lights there were a few
on the downtown streets. but We had nc
trcandesceut lamps. Rock Creek Park was
ferest, pure and simple. and nobody II
Washington then believed that before this
wind-up Of the century Washington Womb
have the finest geological garden in tn,
United States. and one of the finest in the
world. In fact, / used To whale nv tive
boys for penetrating so far into the wilder