Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-13

inrs placed two of it's. familiar signs.
One of these signs reads: "Site OF the
Old Capitol Building, Where President
Monroe Was Inaugurated," and the
other reads: "On This Site Was Capt.
toll Prison. Where Many Famous Per-
sons Were Confined During the Civil
War ON the front of the northern
most of these houses is bronze tab
let. bearing this legend:
Congress convened here during 1Slo-lS
while the Capitol was being rebuilt, and
here also the inauguration of President
Monroe took place in 1917. Later the
building became known as the brick Cap
itol, and was the home of many con-
gressmen, including John C.. Calhoun
who died within it's walls March 81. 1880
During the civil war the building was
used as a prison and called the Old Capt.
toll Prison."
The land on which this building stands
was part of the farm of Daniel Carroil
and soon after the city was laid out the
land at the southeast corner of 1st and
A streets was bought by Lund Washing
ton. the first postmaster of washington
city. This owner soon after MS pur-
chase sold the land to George walker
In 1904, it was bought by William Tun-
necliffe. and he built there a hotel which
appears in the early annals of the city as
the Tunneciffe Hotel. Tunnecliffe sold
to Pontius d. STEELE, and the building
then became celebrated as Stelles Hotel.
The number of hotels and taverns and
boarding houses in early Washington
was greater than the young city could
support and Stelle's Hotel failed, being
sold for debt and coming into possession
of Peter Miller. An old account of this
property recftes that 1.-The great house
lost money for everybody who touched
it. and at last in 1912. it fell into the
hands of the original owner of the land,
Daniel Carroll. 1t continued to sink
money for him. SO he closed its doors,
nailed up its shutters and left it to en-
brace decay The audaciouS British
saved the trouble of razing it, however,
for after burning the Capitol, with it's
wealth of books and valuable old papers,
they set their torches to the luckless old
hotel and burned it to the ground"
*
With the capture of Washington by the
British in 1914 and the destruction or at
least the serious damaging of the two lit
tie sandstone wings of the Capitol-the
only part of the great building that had
then been erected-there arose strong
contention that the seat of government
should be removed. Congress found a
temporary refuge in Blodgetts Hotel, at
the northeast corner of Sth and 4 streets
northwest This hotel had previously been
used as a public building, the general
post Office and the patent office having
been CHARTERED in it some time before the
war of 1872
AS a check to the propaganda for the
removal of the seat of government, Elias
b. Caldwell, W. Emack, Daniel Carroll,
William Brent and Griffith Coombe or
ganized company called the Capitol
Hotel Company. the purpose being to pro-
vide adequate temporary accommodation
for Congress until the Capitol should be
restored. Daniel CARROTS subscription to
the stock of the company was in the form
of land. and that at the southeast corner
of LIST and \ streets. was chosen as the
site for the new structure. The corner
stone was laid July 4, 1919. and the build
ing completed at a cost of $4,000. When
the Fourteenth Congress met. December
il. 1915. in Blodgett's Hotel, or the pat
ent office, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Henry Clay, directed at
tention to an offer of the Capitol Hotel
Company to let to Congress the new build
ing at a rental of S1,6J0 a year. In the
chronicle from which the Rambler has
distracted much of the information here
given occurs description of the building,
which says that the building was a
barn of a thing it's normal architecture
remaining a gibe for years after Congress
left it, The hall of the House was on
the second floor. 1t was seventy-seyen by
forty-five feet, with a gallery, and the
ceiling was twenty feet high The Senate
occupied the first floor hall, which was
forty-five by twenty-five feet. with nj
teen-foot ceiling. The Supreme Court OF
the United States and the Circuit Court
of the District of Columbia also met
there. The remainder of the big shell
was gwen over to committee rooms
AS told by the bronze tablet and the
temporary marker set there by the inau-
guration committee on historic sites.
President Monroe was inaugurated there,
the oath of office being administered TO
him while he stood on a little platform
erected at the front entrance on LIST
street When Congress returned TO the
restored Capitol in 1919 the Capitol Hotel
Company had an improbable building on
its hands. 1t was put 10 various uses,