Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-14
Meridian Hill.

Mcr101an 1lll.
On the brow of Meridian hill, but some
what nearer 18th than 10th street at the
most commanding point In what VIII pe
Meridian Park, stands wide brick mouse
shaded by large trees. The Rambler ap-
preached this house from the north 10
avoid climbing the hill, entering the
Meridian Hill Park tract from that point
where 10th street emerging from the deep
cut made necessary by the steep contour
IF the land reaches the high and level
ground of the Meridian hill section near
the French embassy and the Haroie
home OF Mrs Marshall Field.
The northern part of the park area
has rather the appearance of commons.
n 10 grown with weeds and irregular
matches of sunburned turf and is crisis
crossed with hard-packed wandering Ioot
paths worn by persons making SNORT
cuts across lots. a.
stands alone on the brow of the hill a
sturdy man was pulling weeds In a. heid
of tall and thrifty corn. Standing at tnat
corn field one is within easy naillhS ois-
lance, but higher up. than the brown
stone Henderson house, the tree-boWered
and vine-tangIed Fuller house directly
to the west of Henderson Castle, The
house of former Ambassador White anr
other fine places in that neighborhood
The man pulling weeds out of the corn
was c. D. Colvtn once Of Prince Wiiilain
county, Va but for a quarter of a
century a resident of the Meridian nil
neighborhood and tenant for nine years
in the wide brick house on the brow of
the hill.
'This is the best corn I've ever had on
this place" he said. II planted It in June
(Colvin named the day, but 1t has been
forgotten and it has had too much dry
weather and some bad storms-the last
one broke that fence down-and 1t has
never been worked. 1t will help it a great
deal when l get these weeds out. Or
course I manured 1T we'll | keep two
cows There are two acres with the
house and this corn field covers about one
acre Much of this corn field covers land
that was at the back of the Wayland
Seminary building. All that is left of that
building is a part of the stone stairs
which stood at the 18th street entrance"
On the east side Of the field and close to
the footwalk on 18th street are two
broWnstone or brown cement piers that
served as the sides of the entrance steps
of Wayland.
when 1 came here continued the
worker in the corn, there was a great
hole in the ground over there near those
steps. 1t was the cellar of Wayland Sem
mary. It has been filled up and plowed
over.
THAT house has sixteen rooms in 1t, has
two stories and basement, and In the
yard, which covers a quarter or an acre,
are many fruit trees. l don't know when
1t will be torn down or when we will have
to move. 1t has been n good and pleasant
{Yr1n
"When l came into this neighborhoOd
10th street was a mud street lined with
shacks. many of them one story high and
rooted with tarred paper. The standpipe
stood right out there"-and Colvin pointed
toward the deep cut in Meridian hill
through which 10th street passes. The
pumping station on L street filled the
standpipe and in that way this high part
of the city was supplied with water.
where Mrs Marshall Fields house
stands a man had shack and a rickety
stable and ran a little dairy. Great
changes have come over this part OF the
city within a few years. That house the
brick on the brow of the hilD was built in
1887 by a gentleman named Noyes, who
lives now on Irving street. He sometimes
rides down here in his buggy to look over
the old home place. He sold the house to
Wayland Seminary. l think it was-n the
nineties that Wayland Seminary moved
building was torn down..
Then, Colvin resumed the wedding of
the corn
The Meridian hill neighborhood was the
site of numerous military hospitals dur
ing the civil war. One of the valuable
friends made by the Rambler last fall
during the course of his rough resur-
yey of the remains of the civil war
defenses Of Washington was Capt. Louis
C. Duncan of the medical department OF
the United States Army. Capt Duncan
has been engaged for a long time in the
preparation of a history of the medical
side of the great battles of the civil war
and Incidentally he gathered rich fund
Of material relating to the civil war hos
pitfalls in and around Washington.
Capt Duncan in talking with the Ram
bier said that when Gen. Mcdowell was
finally forced by the public demand for
action to move against the Confederate
forces gathered at and near Manassas
Junction some preparation was made in
Washington for the care of the prospec-
tive wounded. On July IA. 1861. mill
tary hospital was opened In the Column
bian College building on Meridian hill.
That building, which had been erected
in 1921 as the seat Of Baptist college,
was on, the west side of 14th street be-
tween what are now Clifton and Fair
Fowle and Abbot. They found that the
haze from katmai began to affect meas