Evening star., 1907-08-03
LAST OF THE row
Old Newspaper Offices Taking
Their Departure.
NEVER TO BE SEEN MORE
Sobs of the Sentimentalists Heard int
the Land.
RENDEZVOUS OF STATESMENa
Every Landmark Is Soon to Be Wiped
out-Modern Prosaic Hotel
Will Usurp Place.
.ENDEZV0US OF STATESMENs

old-time newspaper row, already on thoH
| road to yesterday, viii be completely wiped
| out by the work OF demolition which will
| soon be begun to clear the ground for thea
| erection of the Randolph Hotel at t4tf
street and Pennsylvania avenue The old 1
print which is reproduced on this page. Gives9
an excellent idea OF how the rows the
square from F street to Pennsylvan.a ave.i
nue. on 14th was called-appeared n tho
early seventies. There are still a good
many newspaper men in the business whor
used to have their offices IN the cd struc@i
lures on this square. and the publication Of
the print will doubtless turn a bunch Of
"reminiscences loose IN this town that wilt
last. perhaps, until the Congress nests again.i
This 10 a fine time for the sentane talistai
to sob soulfully as they chat of the faded
glor1es OF newspaper row. And the senti<
mentalists are always on the Job. In those1
fine old days when statesmen and scrtbes
waded arm in arm down unpaved Pennsyi1
vania avenue or cried into each others neck !
ruffes over large steaming bowl of vfos
lently seductive punch, newspaper row
was 1T" The aurora boreals orft
schedule every morning at BIB and the
genial fragrance Of bruised mint and undttj
gested alcohol hung over the block like ~
benedcuon. There's no question about it-a
them was grand days.
No Redeeming FeaturesP
The sentimentalists will ever be uncon~l
vinced that there are any redeeming feas
lures involved in the passing Of Newspaper
Row. They are of a class with the folkdj
who live in the present day. but who are IN
reality Of the ox-cart and old-oaken bucke6
age who chant the glories Of the tin bucket
and the COB Of soft soap as opposed to-
open plumbing and the porcelain bath, and |
who wouldn't speak to a hard working geru1d
even after the second Introduction.
BUT shucks Everybody else knows that
in the old days Newspaper Row was a buncHl
OF bum buildings that wouldn't be toleratedj
nowadays in Punkintown, and that tie ims
provements, made and contemplated, araJ
the best possible things that could evera
happen.
Newspaper Row, the members Of the BRAIN
trust who had their offices on 14th, betweeu
the avenue and B street, were pestered tor
death by senators and representatives, WHO
| didn't know when to stop talking. Every
statesman, politician. and accidental PROG.
want to go homo made practice of drifcS
ing down on the row and keeping the poor
newspaper men up o nights; Then it was
the mode for the great lights and lesser
luminaries Of the national capital to fuctuS
ate up and down the line Of partial inebris
alton between January and December 81
winding up on the New Year with a largs
ornate and alcoholic upheaval, A good
part of the sweet sentiment that clinge
about old Newspaper Row depends for its
A
faithful factotums carrying homo In the
gray dawn Of a great political day sizable3
packages belonging to their masters, theSl
celebrities from the gas house on the NIL.
Old Occidental.
The Occidental building, which stood ona
| the site Of the present Willard office buildf
| ing, was once upon time, the center OF
I the brain trust of Newspaper Row Back IN
| 1872 when the Fortysecond Congress was
| OF fha n1d
| ing, with the other smaller structures ON
| both Sides up toward f and down to the.
avenue, were occupied almost entirely oy
| Washington correspondents. Such WelS
| known newspaper men as Z. V. Smaley OF
| the New York Tribune, H. j. Ramsdeli or
the Cincinnati Commercial and T. l.. Whit9
| Of the Tribune had Offices In the Occ.denta&
building James Rankin Young OF the New
| York Standard. later member of Con.
eress and now at the head Of the dead let-
ter division Of the Post Office Department.
| was in 621, up near street, ana al.onS
| the other members of the brain trust or
| those days, who thought In Ink under the
| hospitable rooftrees along the row. We're
| L. A. Gobright and james G Holland OF the
| New York Associated Press. ]. w. knowit
| ton of the Chicago Tribune d. X. Mckee OF
| the Associated Press, Uriah H Painter OF
! the Philadelphia Inquirer, ]. o. Proctor OF
! the, Philadelphia Ledger, w. b. SHAW or the
| Boston Transcript and L. Q. Washington
| Of the London Telegraph =.
| Up to comparatively recent years old
| Newspaper ROW kept ltS lltio aLiu soiio "
| its own peculiar variety of dignity, but them
| the exodus began. Round the corner on
| e street went many of the correspondence
| and with them stretched the name of neWs7
| paper row. Then came improvements ana
big Office buildings uptown, and nowadays
| there isn't any row. The out-of-town news"
| paper offices are scattered over wide area,
| and when the last of tie old buildings on
| l4th street are torn down to make room for
| the Randolph there simply won't be any
| one square to which the name Of newspaper
| row may appropriately be attached
| Old Trees Gone.
| lust the other day five of the big treea
| that had fourished on the row for SO many
| wears were cut down and the roots taken
| I'D. Senators, representatives and cores
| spondents used to take their chairs out on
| the sidewalk in the old days when the ses-
| sions were long and the summers hot and
| do their chatting on subjects political and
| otherwise in the open. The late PresldeAt
| Mckinley when member or Congress IlNet
| at the EIb.bitt House and had his cflee i4
| the Occidental building. He could BE- found
| almost every evening when the weather was
suitable propped back in chair under ono
| Of these old trees
| OF course, as the sentmentalists say,
| there are a whole lot of things To think
| about in connection with the passing or
Newspaper Row. But modern folk. even in
| the National capital and in the newspaper
| business, seem TO think that freproof Of
| flee buildings elevator service and such IKE
| compensate for great deal one thlhS ls
certain. Newspaper Row VIII be worth III
great deal more financially and artistlcally
| when the present improvements are com-
| pleted. Twill be worth looking at, that
street.
The Sultan's Kitchen