Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-08
(To be concluded.)
THE MERIDIAN STONE,
Stood at the Head of 10th Street, but
is Now Lost.

At the request of Prof. Simon Newcomb
or 1920 p street northwest the District
Commissioners have been making inqui-
rles in regard to the old stone monument
removed from Meridian Hill in the line of
10th street about 1873. The stone con-
tanned an inscription purporting to give
the latitude and longitude of the spot it
marked. 1t was removed and cast aside
during street improvements. In inyesti-
eating the matter the Commissioners have
found in the National Geographic Maya
zine Of November 1, 1894, an article on
Surveys and Maps Of the District of CO.
lumbia" by Marcus Baker, in which &C.
ours the following paragraphs:
"a word now about the stone on Meri-
dian Hill. 1t will be remembered that
Commodore tafterward AdmiraD Porter
had mansion on the old Peter place at
the head of 10th street. Its main entrance
was due north Of the main entrance to
the White House. Exactly in line be-
tween these doorways. on the lawn south
of the house, stood a low sandstone block
on which was placed a brass sun dial
The stone was carved in cylindrical form
on its northern side. This stone so the
story goes, was removed when 10Th street
hill was cut down some twenty years ago
and is now doing duty as a carriage step
at the corner of 18th and r streets On
14th and r streets, however he denied
vigorously that this was the meridian
stone. He described the meridian stone
as similar to the Capitol stone. and Mr.
King, who set the meridian stone and the
Capitol stone in 1904, also describes them
as similar. 1 infer, therefore, that two
stones at the head Of 10th street have
been called meridian stone.
THE original one, still eXtant is said to
be now serving as kitching post in front
of the reform school. The carriage step at
l4th and streets is probably a later
stone set up as a base or support for a
sun dial, and came to be known as the me-
rldian stone to the exclusion of the orisi-
nal freeStone obelSk''
1t is said there is no record of the nonu
ment referred to in the engineer Office of
the District government nor of its re-
movai at the time the street was graded
contract was made October g. 1871 by
the board of public works with G. w. G.
Eslin for grading 10th street from the
Boundary to Columbia road. The work
was not done for four or five years for
in March, 1873, this contract was assigned
to William Fletcher The engineers re-
port for 1876 gives this work as complete,
SO that it must have been done between
March. 1875, and November, 1876
The engineer department has learned
that the stone at the southwest corner of
14th and R streets. now used for a car
riage block, is a fiat sandstone 6 or &
inches thick and Is or 20 inches wide
This could not be the entire stone used
not sufficient depth, but it might be a
portion of the stone. A report from enc
of the District assistant engineers says:
1.-THE stone Is described as carved in
cylindrical form on it's northern side, which
is the shape of the stone on r street, a
shape not likely to be given to a stone
originally designed for "a carriage stem
but such as 1t might and probably would
have if designed for affixing a sun dial.
1t Is easy to believe that six or eipht
inches was cut off from a larger stone
or this stone itself may have sat on an
other of sufficient size for a monument
and that this is a portion. The owner Of
this property, Mr. Patrick Brennan. was y
contractor under the board of public
works, though he may have had nothiner
to do with grading 10th street"