Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02
who three years later transferred It to Rob-


| Sth street lot on which he had $1,000
| building and John Boor had building of
| like value on the same lot, While Mr. MO
| riarty owned one valued at the same on the
southeast corner of Sth and D streets.
Henry Whetcroft owned lots and be-
| fore 1909. which his children sold to Letitia
King. Thus the south front of the square
was out of the hands of the original own
ers
In 1912 James NJ Varnum obtained a
four-year lease on Mr.. Youngs Sth street
| lot, and lots and 4 were subdivided into
subs A. B, and c. presumably for stores.
In these were Mr.. Varnum, A. Kerr. after
George klefber, and John Randall interest
ed. and Fred Wager owned property east
ward. In the same year Washington Boyd
and Charles Glover acquired the corner OF
Sth and D streets. In 1915 Mr.. Varnum
bought the corner of 9Th and c streets and
other property on the space. F. Pic leased
a frame house on 9Th street and transferred
1t to Washington Hall three years after.
and r. Ballard bought Sub on the space.
A. Oehler, tailor, in 1892 had lease on
part of the Der'mott property and after
1897 assigned 1t to John SimOnd. with an
agreement that his two frame houses 'front.'
ing on 18th street should be moved so as to
front the alley.
Real Estate Figures.
In the twenties the valuation Of the
ground was GO to 65 cents on the space, G
street % to IS cents on 7th street and Is
to % cents on d and Sth streets. The valu-
alton for improvements were: Lot 1, prop
erty owned by Ann r. Dermott $500;
lot .. John ]. Dermott, $1,000; lot 3, j. M.
Varnum $500; lot 1, Phineas Bradley
$4,000; Mr.. Varnum, 1920, and Joseph
Walker, 81 30; lot 6, on street, j. G..
Wilson. s1,SO0; T. Young. $1,S00: lot Z
r. Jones, S1SOO. and C. w. Boteler, $3.50.
In the thirties the ground valuation had
risen to S1.00 per foot and there was an In
crease in the amount and number of i'm
provements. as the following will show: Lot
1, Ann r. Dermott, $4,000; A. B. Waller,
$1,000; 3, Varnums heirs. $1,000; +. Brad
~. $500; I. P. Brady, So 500: John Walker
81 200 and Varnum's heirs, $4,000, on the
space; B, Mary P. Varnum, $500; 6, j. a.
Wilson, $1,000; Thos. Young, $500; Z,
James Fauble $3.50; r. Jones, S1.S0O, on 9Th
| street; s, Varnums heirs, $500, on D street;
Patriotic Bank, which acquired the corner
of 18th and D streets in 1925. So. 500. and r.
Mr.. Waller, So, 500 and Ann X. Dermott,
$500, on It'll street.
scribed, like it, was of but twelve original
lots, but in 1912 that portion bordering on
the space and 9th street was subdivided
Before 1900 most of the lots were owned
by Nathan Bond, Thomas Law and Law
| renee Sands and in that year Joseph and
Isaac Perkins acquired property around the
east half of the south front of the square
The original ground valuation was II
cents and improvements came slowly
Among the property owners prior to 1920
was John Mason, owning a piece of land
at the corner of 9Th and D streets; w. H.
Dorsey, avenue and 9th street lots; Henry
Whitcroft, 9th street and the avenue, which
property afterward went to David OFT; and
7. w. Pairo, N. Whelan F. CLARK and John
]. c. Palmer and Isaac Edelin,, 9th street;
Simon Mead, corner of 9th and D streets,
and Peter Lenox. the corner Of Sth street
and the space.
IS cents on the space and 55 cents on other
portions. Hanson Gassaway then owned
property at the corner of 9th street and the
avenue. keeping a hardware store. which
Quoted a dry goods business on adjoining
property assessed at $500; and eastward
were Whalens heirs, $3.50; T. Delany, $50;
N. Whalen's heirs. 800; F. Clark's hairs,
81 500, and the property of Peter Lenox, 500
On 9th street ]. Durphy was paying taxes
on 81 500; L. E. Pack, $1,15O; ]. Spratt,
s., 200; G. c. Grammer, s2,1OO. On 9Th street
]. B. German paid taxes on 800 and P.
Lenox on $500.
Record of Improvements.
Before 1880. when the ground had appre-
ciated to the value of Is cents and 81 at the
corner of 9th street, on the space, James
Marin acquired property on the southeast
corner of 9th and D streets and established
a grocery store, paying taxes on an assess
ment of $1,000. Thomas Cookendorfer, then
running a stage line between this city and
Baltimore, owned lots on 9th street and
was paying taxes a $1,000 residence
Sam Devaughn lived In leased property on
9th street and he afterward bought the
house.
In the 'thirties Selby Parker long in a
fancy goods business on the avenue near
10th street. resided on 9Th street north of
the avenue, but sold his frame house to
William Doughty. James Richey had a
lease on house on the avenue east of 9th
street, where he kept a fancy store and
after transferred it to Charles Lyons and
IN, ttt~, 20 %
had frame building on 9th street north of
the avenue used a billiard saloon, which
he sold to ]. w. Garner.
Nathan Jewett was, in the 'forties, the
owner of the Clagett corner of 9th street
and Pennsylvania avenue, and George w.
Adams, father of the late George w.
Adams. well known as a journalist and
a member of The Evening Star COMPANY
was keeping dry goods store on the space
In leased property. On Sth street Samuel
Kirby owned lot 10. on part of which he
had his cabinet factory, other parts be-
ing occupied by the house of BENJAMIN
Burch, William Poulton's cooper shop and
residence and the residence of r. S. Pat
terson, a druggist.
Early Settlers.
In the twenties Capt. Phillip Mauro had
his auction and commission house at the 7th
street end of the space. The hardware
store of Hanson Gassaway was at 9th
street. The dry goods stores of William
Prout, jr., and William Owner, the gro
ceries of M. Murray and Mrs. Jane O'Leary
the tin shop of Henry Ault. the barber
shops of John Bull and A. c. Moore and
the shoe shop of M. Speake were then on
the space. In the forties the dry goods
trade had number of stores on the space
and the space had become more attractive
to the ladies than any part of Washington.
There were here the larger portion of
Washington's dry goods houses, and some
of the stores carried surprisingly large
stocks. Among these were the houses of
Darius Clagett & Co., at 9th street; WILL
lam R. Riley, afterward a bank president
Henry Carter. A. T. Wall, r. c. Washing
tom Hall & Brother. H. c. Spaulding r.
w. Carter and R. Estep. Miss Jane Bris-
coe kept millinery establishment, j. H.
Gibbs, fancy goods store, and Boteler &
Dom house furnishing store. The
wholesale and retail grocery houses of
George & Thomas Parker. Lewis & Hol-
land and Edward Hall and the boarding
houses of Mrs. E. NJ. Janney and Mrs
Kluber were situated on the space
In the 2Os on the west side of 7th street
were James Grains tavern. Thos. Col
clazer's blacksmith shop and A Oehlers
tailor shop, and twenty-five years later
there were the grocery of Moorhead &
Browne, fruit store Of Michael Tally, tavern
of VIM. Feeney, the Patriotic Bank and