Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-20
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ington to select site for the federal city
on the Potomac river.
A letter written by Washington in 1871
shows plainly that the exact location for
the city had already been selected at that
time and that the three commissioners
had been appointed. In these days, before
railroads were known, travel was a seri-
Gus consideration in such a month as
March, as the following letter shows:
March II. 1891.
promise so to do: but it is not yet in my power
10 determine whether l can set out Monday
between this time and that / shall not he anx-
i"us about beginning that day. even il basi-
tbs sesua the A % aos 'st aa sSr
town must depend upon my departure from This
place. s f,pa e,s anno
write you again by Mondays post.
*
On the 2Sth of March the President
reached Georgetown and from there rode
over the entire new District with
L'Enfant and the three commissioners
Thomas johnson. Daniel Carroll and Da-
vid Stewart. The territory surveyed by
these nOtables was such a tract of land
as might be found in q rural district
of Maryland or Virginia today. There
were extensive fields. thickly wooded
hills. marshes and brierX junsies cut here
and there by winding branches and in
Vulnerable bitches. The corIsfeds and
extensive levels used for the cultivation
o. tobacco. the garden farms, barns and
scattered houses with their slave cabins
pig pens and rustic fences must have
seemed distressing reality TO the man
whose plans were shaping themselves
for the establishment Of a fine city to
be the capital of the greatest nation on
earth. Between Georgetown and the
Eastern branch there were two or three
little villages, with no common interest.
Carrollsburg, at the intersection of the
Eastern branch with the Potomac, and
Hamburg, OH Peters hill, where the old
observatory now stands. were the chle1
centers of life and industry. In all, what
is now the city o. Washington was
owned by nineteen landholders, but the
principal interests We're held by Daniel
Carroll. who owned most of the land
east OF 9TH street: Motley Young, whose
holdings We're situated in what is now
the center of the city; David Burns,
Scotchnan, whose plantations covered
the district south and southwest from
the White House, and Robert Peter OF
Georgetown. whose city possessions were
the lands in the neighborhood of the in
IerSection of Massachusetts avenue and
Connecticut avenue. To these four men.
well as with the commissioners and
l. Enfant, who was appointed by Wash
ington to plat the city, much of the
business of establishing d city out of q
wilderness Is due. Usually cities grow
by slow stages from the country post
office and grocery at the cross roads, but
here was 10 be city made at the start
and adequate in many ways for posterity
for generations to come. All phases of
institutional life were to be provided for.
Nothing but population was lacking.
4 unique plan, indeed. but one so far
sighted that it did not seem unreason-
able when projected by President Wash
ington. The first official business of the
new city was transacted at Sutor's Tav-
ern, in Georgetown.
At that meeting on March 80, 1891, the
fifteenth year of the independence of the
United States. Washington signed the
proclamation fixing the federal city as the
permanent seat of the government The
low wooden buildings described by Hutch
ms and Moore as Sutor's Tavern had
slanting roof and wide porch. 1t was
near what is now sd and NJ streets. and
kept by Scotchman named John Sutor,
and afterward by his widow. AS an
honest, jovial host. Sutor always provided
a bountifui table and welcomed his guests
with such whole-souled cheer and happi-
ness that his tavern soon became a favor
tie meeting place for the scattered popu-
lation. There day after day for several
weeks Washington met in conference
with l. Enfant and the commissioners to
plan and transact the business of the
new city or with the landholders to dis
cuss terms OF property transfer.
1t was President Washington's custom
to gallop up the Alexandra turnpike from
Mount Vernon on spirited horse to the
ferry at Georgetown, and then cross to
Sutors Tavern. his official conference hall
aud the meeting place of the wealthy
planters Georgetown was then a thirty
ing city, having been Incorporated under
the laws of Maryland nearly sixty years
before. Its Importance in those days was
of no slight consideration, for vessels
from all over the world brought merchan-
disc TO its swharves and carried away