Evening star., 1900-11-19
OUR CENTENN NNIAL
Congress First Assembled in Wash
ington One Hundred Years Ago.
BEGI INNINGS OF The CAPITAL
One Of the Events to Be Marked
by the December Celebration.
CIR Z DE ACCOMMODATIONS
From the PhiladeIphia Press.

From the Philadelpha Press
On the third Monday in November, 1900.
100 years ago tomorrow, Congress convened
In Washington, and on the same day Phil
adeiphia ceased being the capital city of the
United States.
The District of Columbia this week is
celebrating the Tooth anniversary of the oc-
cupation of Washington by the Sixth Con-
gress The day is not likely to be marked
with any special demonstration in Phiadel-
phia.
The good people of young Philadelphia
in 1870 did not seem to relish the thought of
giving up the seat of government 1t is
certain that local records contain very little
information bearing on the departure of
President Adams and his first-of- century
lawmakers.
1t is certain, too. that the lawmakers
themselves rebelled in their hearts at leav-
ing their comfortable quarters amid the
refinementS and modern conveniences of
Philadelphia. and pitching their official tent
In a wilderness of alder bushes and vacant
lots on the banks of the Potomac.
OF course, Philadelphia knew what was
coming ten years before the legislative exo-
dus across the Schuyikill, and had so forti-
fled herself for the shock that she was able
u tbEcSdl any eNlUenctS OF pubic grief.
For ten years she had been national cap
ita' pro TEN. During that decade she had
seen President Washington renamed for the
highest office in the land and had seen John
Adams take the oath as his successor. She
had welcomed within her gates such men
as Pickering and jefferson and Randolph.
ana had attained an enyiable reputation as
a hostess.
The Hnsty Exodus From Princeton.
So successful was she in this that she
iveG down a bad name that certain cnvious
communities gave her in 1873, after a pack
Of hungry, unpaid Revolutionary heroes in
tattered regimentals had sent a frightened
Congress flying out of town by stage coach
t. Princeton.
After Congress adjourned in May, 1880.
the work of moving the seat of government
began. In seventeen years the nation had
gathered unto itself all sorts of documents
and records. for Congress in those days
was continually doing and undoing things,
passing measures one day and reconsidering
them the next day, and having a great deal
or trouble getting the nation settled in its
new house-the sort Of trouble the May day
mover has, you know. So when Congress
went away from Philadelphia 1t had official
papers and documental lumber or oxidize.
There were railroads in those days.
ana to move the governments effects over
land would have required most of the
horses in the thirteen states. Early in
the summer of 1900 President Adams and
his cabinet strolled down along the Della
ware water front inspecting the clumsy lit
tie sailing ships lying at anchor off the
city. They found a trim packet sloop tied
up to Arch street wharf. They went aboard
and poked their official noses into every
corner to assure themselves that the ves-
sci was watertight. Then they took a little
medicine with the skipper in the cabin to
guard against colds and chartered the
SlOOp.
Packinu I'm
All summer Independence Square rang
with the sound Of hammer and mallet and
in October when the leaves on the trees
along lower Chestnut street began to show
signs of a years wear and tear, a solemn
procession of carts passed down that thor
oughfare and came to halt at the gang
plank on Arch street wharf.
According to the best authorities, all
Philadelphia turned out to see the govern
ment do it's moving, and took as much in
terest in the operation as the average
neighborhood takes nowadays when the
furniture van backs up to the nomadic
househoder's door. For a week the lading
kept up, and then, a day when the wind
blew cool and fresh down the Delaware
the packet sloop spread It's white wings
fired salute and swept down past Green
wich Point and out of sight And that was
the last Philadelphia saw of the seat of
government. Still she still retained the
right to be called the capital city, for the
"HtelS OF the national aun1nlStratlOn did
not begin to turn in Washington until the
third Monday in November.
President Adams left the executive man.
sion at 7th and High streets, and, accom-
panied by his cabinet; travelled overland to
Connogcheague. then the only settlement
within the limits of the new city of Wash
ington. THE Indian place with the long
name on the Potomac" a statesman from
New England called the town.
Washington Looked Well on Paper.
On the maps sent to Philadelphia by
the three commissioners appointed to lay
out the new federal city, Washington
looked to be one of the most delightful
towns in the world. When the government
officials reached the Indian place" they
were much cast down.
They found Pennsylvania avenue deep
morass. bearing luxuriant growth of at
der bushes. Only one thoroughfare in the
city was passable. That was New Jersey
avenue, and 1t was marked out in its course
through the wilderness by double row of
log cabins, erected for the use of the work
men who were building the Capitol
One member of Congress wrote home:
There is nothing in sight but scrub oak
Only one wing of the Congress Hall is fin
ished We have to drive to sessions from
Georgetown in a rickety wagon and drive
back again in the evening. The worst is
yet to be told. There Is only one good