Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-01
ROCK CREEK SECTION
Early History of PopuIouS Dis
trict of Washington.
DRINKING WATER SCARCE
Prolific Spring at the Foot of a Gum
Tree.
SOME OLD-TIME RESIDENCES
Grades of Squares and streets-Cuts
and Fills and improvements
Slow Progress Noted.
;OME 0LD-TIME RESIDENCES

Slow Progress Noted.
In the days when that portion of Wash
ington about the western terminus of Penn
sylyania avenue at Rock creek had been
thrown open for settlement the few who
had made their homes there were not all
supplied with desirable drinking water.
There was an abundant supply In the creek
for washing purposes and some of the
springs furnished drinking water, but the
best water for drinking purposes relied on
by many on the west side of the creek and
the limited number of settlers on the Wash
ington side was obtained from spring
which issued from the foot of a gum tree
on the east bank of the creek. This spring
was not far below the aqueduct by which
the Potomac water is carried across and on
which thousands pass daily between tho
two cities.
Though no one is now living who knew
this spring a hundred more years ago
perhaps few may be found who drank of
the water from that source. 1t was for
long time peddled about the eastern por-
ton of Georgetown at cents per bucket.
A little stream In Georgetown flowing into
| Rock creek at its confluence formed basin
about where the canal afterward had its
outlet. The lower portion of this creek was
| well supplied with fish, and the catches of
| herring further up the stream gave the
name of Herring Hilr' to part Of George
| town. There were two bridges over the
creek known as the upper and lower
| bridges, at NJ and X streets, respectively,
| and it the former that the George
| town water cart made its trip TO the spring.
| In the early days of the last century
| Water street was busy thoroughfare, with
| its stores. warehouses and wharves, and its
| shipping from domestic and foreign ports.
/ The course of the Washington trade was
| across the lower bridge and by K street to
| Pennsylvania avenue. which, as may be
| conjectured a simple dirt road. In
| deed entering the city from that direction
| at any period before the war would not i'm
| press one that much had been done toward
making town. so sparsely settled was the
| site of the capital. but few of the public
| buildings making any show.
Early Improvements.
| AS early as 1903 the corporation had done
some work in that section, X street having
| been opened to 23d street. the avenue to
Rock creek and G street to Lear's wharf;
| but the sums approprfated-often less than
| a hundred dollars in each case-would Indi-
cate that little else was done than to keep
! the roadways IN passable condition.
! Then there was observable much of the
| primeval forest. and it may be said that
| much of the Peters tract included in the
plat Of the city was in the state of nature
| That portion north of NJ street along the
! banks of the creek we'll wooded before
| the soil had been cultivated, tobacco and
other crops being the products. Mr. Peters
| residence. which Is still standing-No. 2620
on the south side of X street between 26th
| and 9th streets-was perhaps the most pre-
| tentious In the neighborhood, and il was
here that Washington had often STONED
| He doubtless had a liking for that section
| as Included IN his property was square 81
| between d, r. 18th and 26th streets pur-
chased in 1874 for q residence. There were
| IN 1907 possibly eight ten buildings with
| in four squares north of X street and west
| OF 18th street Numbers of the lots had
| been purchased. Commissioner Thomas
| johnson. BENJAMIN Stoddert T. Barton
Key and Gen. John Davidson having in
vested. Then the assessment was on a ba-
SIS OF from three TO ten cents per square
In the square % fronting on X street ba-
tween 9th and 18th streets there were i'm
| provements of 81. 900. assessed 10 J. G King
| ana ;. D. Bussard. On X street eastward
| was the house Of Mr.. Peters then assessed
| Tor 5000 and the ground was valued much
higher than on Pennsylvania avenue In the
| twenues Capt John Peabody. one of the
sea captains sailing from Georgetown and
the father of Mr. John ]. Peabody, the vet
eran fire chief. resided there Mr. Holm
| Suter also lived on this square. Near the
| foot OF K street Mr.. j. A. Stenhens had a
| wharf on the creek.
Among other early settlers of this section
| Were James BIRTH stonecutter; Levi WASH
| burn, grocer; George Macdaniel. a govern
ment clerk; Richard Elliott quarrynan:
| VIM. Knowles. prominent In Masonic cir
cles, and Richard Emo There was sone
little business by small craft in the creek
| before the Chesapeake and Ohio canal was
constructed
The Street Grades.
| With few exceptions the grades of the
avenue and streets corresp onded with that
| of the squares placed by nature. AL
though in the appropriation bills the word
open was used with that Of repair It was
a few decades before the word grade was
employed.
! A considerable elevation in the nelghbor
hood OF I. and 10Th streets made 1t neces-
sary for cuts in NJ and 18th streets In tbe
! twenties, the bridge at NJ street being
reached by the avenue travel through 26th
street. This was the one artery between
| Washington and Georgetown for over fifty
years, the upper bridge route But in the
| nfues. when the water from the Potomac
was introduced, the mains formed a portion
OF the bridge at Pennsylvania avenue which
| Is used today by vehicles and pedestrians
| The street cars used the old elbow route.
Though that portion OF the city built up
slowly, 1t seems to have been attractive
for some leading men. and a few palattal
| houses, Tor those days, were erected. One
| or the best known was the residence of
! Iehch fangsoid. the marshal of the Dis
| trict II was erected on the site where the
| columbia Lying-ln Hospital now stands
| The Ianggold residence was built in 1872
| and was known by his name until early In
the htues. when the property became the
| Maynard mansion, named for Its purchaser
| Dr. Maynard. prominent local dentist
The grade having been lowered several feet
| DR.. Maynard was obliged to change It's
| original c0nditlon--in fact, to reconstruct IT
Before the dwelling came into the hands Of
DIR. Maynard Il had been occupied by some
of the foreign mlnisters-British consul gem
eral IN the twenties, and afterward by the
minister from Italy by Sir Fred Bruce Of
Great Britain and others In 1872 the old
property was purchased by the Columbia
Asylum authorities, and II has been since
! their possession