Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-08
HOMES ALONG THE POTOMAC
OPENED BY TROLLEY LINE
Benefits of Country Life Brought Within
Reach Of the City Dweler.

Four years ago cars on the Great Falls
| and Old Dominion railway were run from
this city to Great Falls on schedule OF
thirty or forty minutes interval. Today,
as explained by j. Harrison Franklin OF
the management Of the road, the cars are
run every eight and ten minutes during
what are called the rush hours of the day
that is, before O'Clock and after 4
o'clock each day.
| The change in the schedule for the
| operation of the line, indicating as II
does an increase in the business OF the
| road, has, of course, the more important
significance of furnishing an index OF the
| increase in the population throughout the
| region Of country that has been opened
up by this road. 1t has only been five
years since the line was built and at that
time the country was entirely undevelop-
| ed as a suburban locality.
Heights Prove Attractive.
1t was then, as 1t is very largely at the
present time region Of farms through
out the rolling country which is the
pleasing characteristic of the plateau that
| crowns the hills after the first climb from
the city's level.
But the settlements Of the present day
| were lacking-the homes in the country,
which are now such feature and which
! are scattered and grouped all along the
| line of the trolley from the point where
the cars leave the Aqueduct bridge at
Rosslyn practically all of the fifteen
miles until Great Falls is reached. 1t is
quite evident these wooded. breezy
| heights on the Virginia hills have proved
attractive to large number OF home
seekers, whose business lies in the city OF
| Washington.
The building of houses is going on at
| such rate that one Is reminded OF the
| scenes or perhaps, only the accounts OF
the way communities in the west in FOR
mer days came into existence. To one
not very familiar with the progress OF
this region it appears that the course OF
development has been decidedly WESTERN
| for, as he can recall, hourishing COM
| munities are now where farm lands ana
woods but recently. as it seems. filled
the entire landscape.
Improvements All the Way.
The course of improvements begins
almost as soon as the cars leave the
terminal at 36th and NJ streets and. pass
ing over the Aqueduct bridge and through
Rosslyn, begin to climb the hill. The
ascent continues the entire length of the
line, although not in the same degree
las Is necessary in reaching the summit OF
the hills that fringe the southern bank OF
the Potomac. Colonial Heights and Park
Lane are soon reached, with their groups
of homes with gardens in the rear and
the places for chickens and plenty of
| room for the children. 1t is a good place
for the little ones apparently, and there
seems to be lots of them, and, that their
minds are not going to be neglected while
their bodies are getting the benefit OF the
free life of such surroundings. modern
| good looking school building recently
erected at Dominion Heights is sub
| stantial evidence.
| There is another schoolhouse near the
courthouse of Alexandria county, so that
| the facilities of this sort in the section
as now provided are another token of the
growth in the population. But the houses
are. after all. evidence enough. for they
are numerous, and. what is more. they
are not vacant. as II they had been built
for people who were expected, but who
| have not as yet arrived. The method of
developing this country is quite the re-
verse. as the houses are built for the peo-
pie who have arranged to come and do
come as soon as the buildings are finished.
Demand for Homes Persistent.
The demand for homes is so persistent
that no attention has been paid this year
to the usual limits of the building season
as recognized in this part of the country,
| but building has gone on all winter. AT
| haywood II. A. Thrift is said to have
built during the past eighteen months
road at Cherrydale the new houses stretch
| out to the west of the trolley, SO that
they almost form continuous line of
buildings with Clarendon, which Is on the
other trolley line.
The two sections which are served by
the two trolley lines are gradually get
ting closer and closer, SO that before long
it will be difficult to point out where the
linz Of rot
don as well as beyond Cherrydale the
courses of the trolley lines diverge more
and more from each other. but from the
| river to those points the various settle
| ments are approaching each other and in
many instances both roads are made use
Of by the residents.
Only glimpse can be had from the
cars of the houses which have been built
| in attractive surroundings OF forest
trees by DR.. Joseph Taber Johnson at a
place which has received the appropriate
name of Greenwood. Then comes Liv-
| ingston Heights. with Its villa-like resi-
| moderate size. At the station, which is
just beyond, the level of four hundred
feet above the sea is reached and the
station is called Summit as a permanent
| record Of the fact.
Houses Fit Surroundings.
Another group of houses set in the
trees is found at Lyonhurst, where Frank
Lyon is building houses Of the larger
type and where the homes now erected
and occupied fit in admirably with their
surroundings. In fact, the entire region
is as purely suburban as it is possible to
find in the vicinity of this CITY, and those
who have homes there have also the ap-
propriate setting of the country.
This is the feature of the location of
the Washington Country Club farther up
the road, with the clubhouse set on a