The evening times., 1901-06-06

the first quarter century Of WashingtoD's
existence that Georgetown found Itself
losing its prestige and discovered that
II was being OUtdoue by Washington
Georgetown. however. kept its CONNER
cial supremacy partly on account OF the
theSaHea ke and Ohio Canal which hau
been favorite project Of Washington
and all the Presidents who succeeded
him The canal was begun in the Admin
Istration OF John Quincy Adams
The first earth was thrown on the low
ground Erar what was then called ECtS
Mil. one of the great mills of the South
Of which some ruins still stand JpILl
Quincy Adams turned the first Spadefui
There were present nearly all the pUt3-
ailitieS Of Virginia and Maryland over
q Thousand people We're on hand Adams
appeared IN the full-b0ttCr9ed coat, Wig
and the rest Of the fashionable costume
Of the period. When given the spade ne
made an attempt 20 press il into the
ground. The earth was hard, and ne made
no impression upon it. He tried a second
and q third time with the same result
Then, being somewhat nettied. he took OF
his coat. laid his wig aside and there N
the presence Of q vast COnCUUTSe OF people
the President in his shirt sleeves Jumped
with both feet upon the recalcltTdIiJ
spade drove it into the earth and tn
umphantlE dug up good SpadcIui Of ulft-
The rivalry between Washington ana
Georgetown about this time was very
keen. Washington was building up rapid
II and Georgetown moving very slowly
It is recorded that Washington had q road
ALIslll-- ll1CEltiIs ana A-eJL StlDhs-I tt.'4lI
But Georgetown, Wishing to make roads
sent to Washington to borrow the grading
machine The WaShiRSJcnianS' answer
was that Georgetown might have the ma
| chine two afternoons IN the week II they
would pay the hire of the Washington
man who ran il. This generous otIeT was
received by the Council Of Georgetown
and the thanks with regrets that thaL
body returned to the Washington auth0Tl-
ties were couched in language monumeh-
tally sarcastic.
-r~T. III !. nd
Newport News were gradually taking
away CIeOrgetOwn's commerce. Soon there
wee wharves in Washington, and these
proved almost the deathblOw to George
town as q business centre
Georgetown is known. among bOOkl0y6T5
as having been in the early years of the
century a great publishing centre From
| the presses established in that town came
! some of the Tarest first American pub
IicatiOnS- 1t was especially noted for
books on political economy. philosophy.
and religious subjects. Thomas JeffeT-
son. from Monticello. contributed fire.
Quently on pDiIJiCO-ecOnOInic subjects to
! the publishing house Of Joseph Miiljgan-
| From the press OF Elijah NeemS came
many volumes of sermons by the noted
/ preachers Of that day which are valuable
! now because Of their rarity rather than
/ Of their contents
During the wars Georgetown went prac-
| tlcally unscathed- II was in trOublCus
/ times a happy city 1t WAS not much
! disturbed during the civil war. and was
! The point OF attack by the British troops
who entered the District of Columbia
| as far as Georgetown was cor cerned,
/ was to have been the gun foundry OF Pc
! ter FOIhaH. which stood near the river
/ The British had determined to capture Il,
/ for II had the reputation of turning out
| the best cannon produced on this side OF
! the Atlantic Great ste-ms arose. lasting
/ several days and these saved FOXhall 5
/ foundry He considered the storms to be
an Intervention of Providence and to re-
/ turn thanks for his preservation he
] erected in Washington on the corner of
/ Fourteenth and c. Streets a small church
which he named Foundry Church The
church now standing at that point takes
/ its name from this.
! After The civil war. Georgetown did not
/ reviye Other towns took most Of the
/ commerce and Washington took its So
| Ciety and its politics Several years ago
/ by Congressional action, Georgetown was
| made West Washington and in the Opin-
/ ion Of great many Of its older citizens
/ that was the last blow to its ancient
/ prestige