Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-27
EARLY REALTY VALUES
"reminiscences of Washington
Ante-BeIIum Days.
SOME NOTABLE LANDMARKS
Boarding House Life Back in the
Forties.
TRADERS AND THEIR WARES
Old Places Along Pennsylvania
Avenue Recalled-Remarkab
Changes in Localities.
TRADERS AND THEIR WARES

Admiral Farragut, the hero of Mobile
bay, whose statue attests his services, be-
came ten years before the civil war inter-
ested in Washington real estate. In 1851
he purchased at auction one of the six
buildings Pennsylvania avenue between
21st and 22d streets, fine commodious
brick structure erected about 1897, for
81, 400. This seems astonishingly low, for
the cost Of the building alone was more
than that sum. That was, however when
mills often expressed the price of Wash
ington property, when but seldom the dol
lar mark was used and while downtown
property prices were expressed in cents.
three-story brick building on 18th street
opposite The Star building about the same
time brought $1,000 of G. A. w. Randall,
and a lot of $500 feet on D street west of
10th street, with one and two-storied build
ings, brought s6,16O, from Clement Wood
ward.
Unimproved property was then appreciat-
ing in the neighborhood of Franklin row,
K street between 18th and 18th streets
northwest. so to 70 cents per foot being
obtained for lots on L and 18th streets.
On H street between 18th and 18th streets
lots sold at 17k cents per foot, on 18th
street between E and F streets at 121a
cents and on Pennsylvania avenue between
25th and 26th streets cent was obtained.
Near Wnat was tnen the new ra1lrOaQ
depot, New Jersey avenue between and
D streets northwest, "a to cents per foot
was obtained for lots on Massachusetts
and New Jersey avenues and F street.
square Of ground between K and L, North
Capitol and I streets, east near st.
Aloysius Church, nearly six acres, brought
81 $50 cash. about mills per foot, and part
of square near the penitentiary, now in
mills per foot A Tot on G street between
18th and 14th streets northwest brought
q cents per foot.
Location Of Old Canal.
Reservation or square A now appears on
the map of the city of Washington as the
business and residential block between
Pennsylvania and Missouri avenues and Az
street. 1t was not always bounded by
Missouri avenue, for being part or parcel
Of the public grounds until reclaimed and
plated, the lots fronting south were de-
scribed in the early deeds as fronting on
the MALI and in later papers as on Mis-
souri, street. AS has been stated it was in
1922 that Congress authorized the draining
of the low grounds by changing the location
of the canal between I'd and 7th streets
west The old course skrted the east 3D.
street front and the east half of the north
avenue front of the reserva ton, thence CO.
incident with the lines of B street west
ward This had to be filled after the course
was changed and the adjacent ground
drained before it was plated in 1926. In it
were thirty-eight lots, of which those num-
bered IL to 81 fronted Pennsylvania ave-
nue., / to II Missouri avenue, II and 13
fanking Az street and 80 and 81 fronting
Sd street.
The first sales appear to have been made
in 1926 Robert Rose and E. HaSon get
ting lot A. and David Munroe lot 90 on the
north 'front.' and in a short time each was
improved by brick houses, the former pass
ing to c. E. Eckel in 1923, and five years
later to Frederick Cudlip.
THE avenue. n north front lots of
twenty-five feet front and brought from
5000 to $500 each, the deeds passing when
this was paid 1t appears that the cor
poration value was from 80 to IS cents per
foot. and lots in other parts of the square
at from to 20 cents The Missouri ave-
nue. front kept pace with the north front Of
the square, both in number and value of
improvements as will be seen by the fol-
lowing listing: On Missouri avenue, lot =.
r. Semmes and c. Cox, s., 300; g. VIM. Bird,
5000; Z, John Underwood, 5000; II. A. 3.
Semmes, $1,000. On Pennsylvania avenue,
lot ID, NJ MacCarthy, $1,000; IA, c. E.
Eckel. $500; Is, N. Callan, $1,000; 10, G.
Watterson. $500; 22 A. NJ MaeIntre, 800:
81, P. G. Howle 81 400. On Sd street, lot
"a, T. sewall, 5000, and D. Munroe $500.
First Ten Years of History.
This was within the first ten years of its
history as building square, in 1888, and 1t
is possible that there were buildings incom-
which were not listed.
About 1884 the building at the southeast
corner of AZ street and Pennsylvania ave-
nue. was in the occupancy of Mrs. Elizabeth
Blake, who conducted boarding house for
several years 1t was the home during the
sessions of Congress Of Senators Cham
bers and Kent of Maryland and Represent
atives john Cramer of New York, J. G.
herd of North Carolina and others. In the
forties this house became tavern. con-
Quoted for some time by T. c. Peetsch, and
afterward by the well known John Clarvoe,
who had long conducted public house
near the mar ct.
There were also the boarding houses of
Mrs. Elizabeth Queen, Mrs Ballard, Mr.. H.
" Hill and others. These were OF the con-
gressional class, with little colonies of legis-
lators located therein. Mrs. Queen housed
Messrs. Mitchell. Hathaway, Halsey, J. W.
Burns and Bean of New Hampshire In
Mrs Billiards. were T. Foster, r. L.
Gamble and A. s. Clayton of>Georgia, and.
BENJAMIN Jones of Ohio. Mr.. Hill had as
his>guests A. Rencher of North Carolina
and Cave Johnson of Tennessee. The latter
afterward became postmaster general Mr.
Hill had before conducted boarding house
in the old Capitol building LIST and A
streets northeast.
Ten years later this locality maintained
it's reputation for fine boarding houses, and
made it a high-class neighborhood. New
names later attached to the boarding
houses. Mrs. Cudlip. who came on the
square about 1885, commenced business
in which she spent over thirty years. Be
meath her roof was Robert Dale Owen of
Indiana, noted as an author and legisla-
tor and his colleagues, O.. Hungerford and
e. Rathburn; r. p. Dunlop of Maine, ]. g.
Yost Of Pennsylvania and H. st. John of
Ohio. Mrs. .-cott also entered the same
business, conducting well patron.zed house
in which were Senators Niles of Connect
cut and Fairfield of Maine, and Represent
atives D. s. Dickerson and Preston King of
New York and p. Dillingham; Of Vermont.
Jefferson Davis Old Home.
Mrs. Potter's house sheltered a number Of
members, including Jefferson Davis, Jacob
Thompson and 8. Adams of Mississippi, H.
D. Foster of Pennsylvania and A. A. Sewer
of Arkansas. THESE were at that time serv-
ing in the House of Representatives, and
the two former were long associated in the
Senate and in President Buchanan's cabi-
net. 1t is too well known to repeat that
Mr. Davis was the president of the con-
federate states. and Mr.. Thompson promi-
nent in that government. A. c. Dodge of
Iowa and NJ. L. Martin of Wisconsin, then
delegates from those territories, were also
in this house. Linn Boyd of Kentucky, in
okar md