Evening star., 1909-05-02

man the regeneration Of the National cap
ital, was born and bred in this city. His
birthday was January 81, 1885. His
father died when he was quite young
and left widow and four boys of whom
Alexander was the eldest. when quite a
youth he was compelled to aid in the
support Of his mother and brothers and
he first entered a store as an errand boy.
Afterward he went into the plumbing es-
tablishment of John Thompson & Co.. as
a clerk. and subsequently became chief
bookkeeper and afterward. on the retire.
ment of William Thompson. became a
partner In the firm. His business sagacity
was shown with this firm, and he was
decided factor in the prosperity of the
establishment. He subsequently started
in the plumbing business himself, and be-
came quite successful. erecting building
on the. south side of Pennsylvania avenue
between 9th and 10th streets, which was
entirely devoted to his business.
He early became interested in the prog
ress and welfare Of the city of Washing
ton. and was elected member of the
common council in 1860. Subsequently he
was elected to the board Of aldermen. and
was president Of that body when the terri
tOrlal act was passed. In his services In
the municipal councils he was always
looking to the advancement and beautifi-
cation Of the city, and any bill looking in
that direction received his active support
He was loyal at the outbreak Of the war
of the rebellion, and enlisted in the Ma
tional Rifles. serving for three months
with that organization.
Joins Citizens Movement.
After the war, when the population Of
Washington had greatly increased and
there was a good deal Of dissatisfaction
during the mayoralty of Sayles J..
Bowen. Mr.. Shepherd Joined in the cit
izens' movement which elected Matthew
G. Emery as mayor in 1870. Mr.. Shep-
herd thought. however, that something
better than two municipal governments,
those of the city of Georgetown and of
the city of Washington, was needed in
order to place the District of Columbia
in the position that it ought to hold as
the seat of the national government, and
he was an active member of the citizens
committee of 100. which formulated the
bill passed February u, 1871, giving to
the District Of Columbia territorial
form of government. His prominence in
that movement made him notable can
didate for governor. but Gen. Grant,
who was then President. appointed Henry
d. Cooke as governor. and Mr. Shepherd
was named as member of the board of
public works. which consisted at that
himself. of A. B. Mullett, who was the
supervising architect of the Treasury;
John A. Magruder. resident Of George
town. and s. P. Brown. who was born in
in the city for some time and had been
active in it's interests. The governor. ex
ofhcio. was president Of the board Of pub
lie works. and at its first meeting Mr..
Shepherd was elected vice president and
executive officer OF the body, and to him
was intrusted the details of the work of
carrying out the comprehensive plan OF
improvements which the board adopted.
This plan contemplated improvements in
every portion of the District of Columbia.
and comprised almost every street and
avenue in the cities Of Washington and
Georgetown, as we'll as all the roads in
the county. 1t also provided for the
building of the main sewer through Sth
street northwest and the Rock creek
sewerage of the valley of the Tiber The
plan OF sewerage was also enlarged so as
to cover the entire District. and this was
done under the esti, = tes of Gen. G.. S.
Greene. a distinguished civil engineer and
the father of Gen. Francis ". Greene,
who was subsequently an assistant engi-
neer of the District under the present
form of government. and who gained dis
tinction in the Spanish-American war,
both In Cuba and in the Philippines.
Many Were Opposed.
Although the plans of the board OF pub
lie works were submitted to the legisla-
ture. after they had been printed in the
public press, and were adopted by that
body and the four-million-do dollar loan that
was necessary to carry them out had been
voted for by the people of the District
there were many who did not believe in
the wholesale operations that the plan
contemplated and the board was ham,
pered by suits and injunctions in its early
efforts, and, In fact. during its entire ex-
istence. There were complaints made to
Congress. and at each session there were
investigations into the acts of the board,
and everything was done by some of the
most prominent citizens of the District to
discredit the work Of Improvement that
was being done.
Mr.. Shepherd, as the vice president of
the board and it's responsible executive
officer, was made the target OF all the
complaints that We're made, and more
abuse was heaped upon him than was
ever showered upon any other citizen
Of the District In the investigation
which finally resulted in the change of
the form Of the District government four
months were occupied. and never did a
congressional committee show more per-
tinacity and more bitterness than was
shown in the examination of the affairs
Of the board of public works. Notwith-
standing these searching investigations,
the members Of the committee concluded
that the charges presented to them, such
herd, who had the giving out of the con-
tracts, and of corruption In the man
agement of affairs, were unsubstantiated,
and he and the other members of the
DodTu emerged from tldL llVeStlSaI1On
without stain upon their personal in
tegrity.
September 13, 1873. Gov. Cooke re-
signed, and Mr.. Shepherd was made gov
ernor of the District, but even then he
exercised a careful control over the
actions of the board and was in touch
with all its work that was ordered, al
though the details were carried out In
an efficient manner by Henry A. Willard,
his successor as vice president of the
board.
Some Of the Work Done.
The life Of the board of public works
was about three years. and to give some
idea of the immense amount Of work per-
formed under Gov Shepherds supervi-
sion and direction 1t may be stated that
the contracts given out by him included
the following: Curb set, linear feet, ST.
S05: brick sidewalks laid. 1,1T6,453 square
square yards; flag sidewalks laid, 1S5. .429
square feet; gravel roadway. 1O3 $40
square yards: cobble roadway, 1922 |
square yards; bluestone roadways n 40 |
square yards: macadam roadway, 14S 9o6 |
square yards: Belgian and granite road |!
way. 1I.69S square yards; concrete road |
way, $4,000 square yards; wood road |
way. 1.OO5.231 square yards-or in miles
assuming sidewalks at ten feet in width
and roadways 30 feet in width, including
the county; curbstone set, 15IO9 miles. |
brick sidewalks laid, 2OO.O5 miles; hag
3.O3 miles; concrete sidewalk. |
miles; gravel roadway in the county. |
bluestone pavement. 3.S9 miles; macaaam |
pavement. 7.S miles: Belgian and gran
ite pavement, 9.46 miles; concrete pave
ment. 2S.34 miles; wood pavement, 53.5j |