Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-05-10

The location Of the jail in the center
OF judiciary Square had given it the pop
ular name of the Jail Lot" and for
nearly twenty years it had stood there.
the solitary Improvement in the square.
It's location had not been conducive to
the appreciation of property whereabouts,
the price Of which was from q half cent
per foot to 5 cents, and few and far
between were the houses; scarcely any
in view to the northward, a few stray
Cling ones to the eastward. and until 9th
street was reached. large spaces sep
arated them. Southwark the two squares
thanking ~ street showed scarcely
any more improvements until about
1920 The public grounds had extended
along c street and Az street to the
Avenue
Before the war of 1912 a small house
at the northwest corner OF 9th and ID
streets was owned by James Hoban, and
there was also a small brick building on
the northwest corner of 9Th and F streets,
and this was occupied in the twenties
by Francis Brooks, grocer. On the
north was a house occupied by Robert
Brown, and west OF Mr.. Brooks Mary
Johnson lived in 1920; and on the square
& c. w. Boteler, gun and lock smiths;
John Warden, who at one time kept the
museum at AZ and D streets. and was
the curator Of the museum in the patent
Office, the forerunner of the National
Museum; Giovanni Andre, one of the
Italian sculptors engaged on the Cap
itol. from about 1916, and south Jona-
than Appler had opened a boarding
house.
Used as Pasture Land.
Before the year 1900 a city hotel was
Sfor fod CT n
of this the land had been used for farm
ing purposes, and that portion of the
square appeared to have been used as
the pasture. At the corner Of Sd and
d. streets Moses Young, who had served
in the revolutionary war and been asso-
ciated with Benjamin Franklin and Col
Henry Laurens in diplomatic service and
for many years clerk in the State De-
partment, had his home, and his son
David resided there afterward.
Most of the ground east of 4th street
was given over to brick making. On E
street James Eslin was an early butcher,
but subsequently had a brickyard near
by. and afterward kept public house
on Columbia road near the old national
race course. popularity known as Hol-
meads. which hourished from 1904 to
the late fifties, and as is the case with
champion base ball games the races there
often drew public men thereto. the House
and Senate frequently adjourning early
to enable the members to hasten to the
course.
About the year 1916 Nathan Cook.
popular English bricklayer. erected
home on the east side Of Sd street be-
tween F and G, and his countrymen were
in the habit of gathering about the place,
and this, together with the fact that dur
ing the British invasion of Washington
a detachment had camped not far of.
near the intersection OF Massachusetts,
and New Jersey avenues caused that To-
cality to be named English Hill" which
name has survived to this day. South OF
this were James Story and Joseph Scot
field. and John Wilkinson was on q
street between I'd and Sd and William H.
Sweeney on E street between Sd and 4th.
There were east of the square the brick
yards Of John A. Wilson, and subsequent
ly those of William Degges. the father of
the well known family of bricklayers.
Charles Pettitt, a carpenter, In 1873
built small dwelling on E street few
doors east Of 9th street. and some time
afterward became attached to the Office
of Secretary Of the Treasury, and for
many years was in that department. He
was the father of the late c. w. Pettitt.
an octogenarian. who also served in that
department to 1881.