Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-05
SLU|CE RUN SECTION
Settlement of That Area Sew
eraI Generations Ago.
EAST OF FRANKLIN SQUARE
Infantile Boom in the Period of Early
Development.
BUILDING LOTS WERE SPACIOUS
Enough Room for Front Yards and
Gardens-The Original Houses
Widely Separated.
BUILDING LOTS WERE SPACIOUS

Widely Separated.
The Sluice Run. or the down by-marsh
market neighborhood, three or four gen.
eratons ago was the scene of early settle
ment. Though the run, which crossed 10th
street south of H street and turned south
ward to intermingle with the waters of
Franklin Square springs and with those
or the Tfber was an unsightly object,
houses had been built very near it in 1900.
On Pennsylvania avenue. and especially
ON Z and F streets, prior to 1920 there we're
many property improvements and, though
compared with the business of today, the
real estate transactions connected there
with constituted a mere speck there was
a veritable infantile boom in the early
period of the development of that section.
The improvements in those days were sell
dom more than detached buildings. Few
of the squares were so plotted that each
lot was large enough for front or back
garden connected with the building. Even
in that square bounded by the avenue, d,
9th and 10th street, where today there are
perhaps fifty houses and subdivisions, there
We're but eleven original lots, eight of them
being on the avenue.
Thomas Law was one of the early land
owners who had property north of the ave-
nus in 1877, possessing six of the eleven
lots In the square, nearly all on the ave-
nue., but In five years he conveyed them
to William Brent. On the corporations
taking charge the valuation of the ground
was placed at II cents per foot in 1862,
at III in 1907, and in 1925 it reached co to
~ cents. The property of NJ Atkinson
assessed at $1,000, and that of Gillispie and
Strong at 81 200. was in lot eleven at the
southwest corner of 9th and d streets
Whalen and Crowley's property, consisting
n n fhraa Dc,
of 9th street was assessed about this time
at $500. William Morgan in 1907 bought
part of lot II and transferred it to S.
Myer, but Andrew and George May, print
ers, had bought lot II in 1895 and had to
pay taxes at a valuation of $4,000 In
1911 they also bought lot one the southeast
corner of the square, thus acquiring the
9th street front. In 1920 Jacob Gideon
became a property owner on the square
purchasing parts OF lots IL and IL
About Century Ago.
About 1910 parts of lot on tile avenue
went to Lawrence O'Connor, James Can
non, Joseph Moore and James Donoho:
Samuel speake took lease on lots and I,
which he afterward assigned to George
Moore, and n. Travers bought lot 5. About
1915 David and p Mauro purchased part of
lot 2. Capt. S. Burch bought part of lot g.
John OFT purchased part of lot H. w Coop
er part of lots and Z, B. Nj. Belt and
q. j
NJ. Varnum bought Dr. Thorllton's lot. No.
S, the west end of the square fronting on
ID and 10th streets and the avenue on
which he erected a row of pain brick
the upper stories for dwellings. This was
the "Varnums row." well-known to the
grandfathers of the present generation.
In 1920 Dr. William Gunton purchased
part of lot ], at the corner of 9th street
described In the deed as adjoining the
houses occupied by DIR. Cutbosh, u s. NJ
and Micajah Tucker. Here DR.. Gunton
carried on the drug business which has
continuously been located there r S. Pat
terson and ]. W. Naun, his clerks, succeed
ed him. About this time Parker Palmer and
J. Leonard occupied houses on lot under
leases, and John Gardner had a lease on
part of lot T. a part of which was sold to
Mary B. Varnum. Michael Shanks who
had a nail factory near Az and streets
southwest before was then conducting a
china and glass store located on the north
side of the avenue on parts of lots s ard 6.
Maj Robert Keyworth, matchmaker and
jeweler, and James Moore had leases on
parts of lot o, and Francis Mast bought
part of on which he lived with his broth
ers Seraphim and Vincent
In 1925 the valuation of the Improvements
We're: On lot l. property of William tSunton
$6,940 including $500 on stable; A and
G. Way, $4,000; lot 2, T; Mauro. auctioneer,
Keyworth. s7oo; Michael Shanks. $500 and
$500; lot ), N. Traverse, $500, and c. w.
Cooper So. 200; lot T. B. N. Bell, 81 700; lot
g. ]. M. Varnum, $4,000; part lots 10 and
IL, G. and A. Way, 1900: Way and
Gideon, $500. and Jacob Gideon, 81 leo
First Houses Erected
Among the buildings on the square In the
twenties were the Patriotic Eank, the fancy
goods store of Martha seaver the dry
goods houses of 1. II B. Morton, Gardner
and Ennals Colston and Lookerman. c. T.
Coote; and the drug stores of DR., Gunton
and ]. Dockworth. apothecaries as drug
gists were then called; the stores OF P
Palmer, halter: Way & Gideon, printers;
A. Way, printer Mary Wedd dressmaker;
u. Dunn. broker. and the residences of E.
Cutbush, u. s. N; A. Bradley, ware dealer;
John Latrust ]. Leonard. R. Keyporth S.
Mast: the stores Of Fales & Showers and
Jones, jewelers.. j. B. Holmead and Pom
thus D. STEELE lived in Varnum's row The
latter was prominent before 1900 as the
proprietor OF Stelle's Hotel on Capitol Hill
and also as secretary of the common coun-
ell.
Avenue Front of Square,
The avenue front of the square was a
solid block of three-story brick dwellings,
with stores, by 1S45. with the exception of
one or two small brick and frame houses
about the center and the two houses of DR..
Gunton and DIR. James C. Hall used entire
ly for dwellings. About this time, Robert
S. Patterson succeeded TO the management
OF DIR. Gunton's drug store, In which he had
long been a clerk. Robert Key worth. S.
Mast and James Gait had long been estab-
lished as watchmakers and jewelers. There
was the hardware store of Il. Lindsey the
variety store of George Savage. the auc-
ton house OF William Marshall, the pa-
perhanging and upholstery houses of S. p.
Franklin and Douglass Moore the fancy
stores of Selby Parker. Julius Wiser and
Lewis Clephane. The corner of 10Th street
was then occupied by W. Q. Force as a sta