The Washington herald., 1919-07-06

chamber can he gained from the
statement that in April. 1913. the
national body was made up OF 3as
organizations in forty-three States.
whereas today it has 1.200 affiliated
organizations in forty-eight States.
In April. 1913, there were no in
dIvldual members. Today there are
iV'eoo individual associated mem
bers.
In view of the enthusiastic man.
ner in which the suggestion to buy
national headquarters was receiy-
ca oy the delegates at the ST. Louis
convention the officers of the cham
! Der are confident that whatever the
cost OF the site and building
amounts to will be readily SUBJ
scribed by the hundreds of busi-
ness men connected with the cham
| ber.
The property stood in the name
OF Daniel Webster from June. lS44.
| tlll the date of the deed to Moses
n. GrinnelL The deed TO Daniel
Webster. who is described as Daniel
! webster of the city of Boston. in the
state of Massachusetts was from
Robert p. Swami. of Loudoun County.
Va, and Richard Smith, of Washing
ton. the latter being the trustee named
under a deed of trust to secure certain
sums of money advanced by the
Bank of the United States and
! George Bomford to Thomas Swami.
Thomas Swami took certain lots
IN The square as devisee Of his
| iather Thomas Swami, who. by
deeds recorded in 1921 and 1927 se-
cured this land from Gen. James
Breckinridge and his wife. Ann. who
Oht ainad hxr II
! deed dated February Is, 1877. from
Mary Pattison. to Samuel Davidson.
original proprietor" by will dated
in 1905 and probated in 1910.
Swami House Built Before 1888,
The Swami house was built be-
tween 1925 and 1888. In the as
sessment records of the District
for 1924, no improvements are
shown in the square. The records
from 1924 to 1929 are missing. The
assessment record book. covering
the period from 1929 TO 1888. shows
that Lot No. 5. at the northeast
corner of Connecticut avenue and
II street, was improved by a build
ing assessed at $4,000. That was
the house which passed from Swami
, TO Webster, from Webster to Grin
nell and from Grinnell to Corcoran.
1t was the first house built in the
square bounded by H. I and Six.
teenth streets and Connecticut
avenue.
Square No. 1856. bounded bv Six
tecnth. H and / streets and Con-
necticut avenue. is in the south
western part of an old tract called
: Port RIVAL "hnr he Svtr
Columbia was surveyed in 1881 the
eastern part of that tract appears
under the ownership OF two, men
by name Lynch and Sands. the mid
die part was owned by John David
son and the western part by Sam
uel Davidson. The east line of
Samuel Davidson's part extended
from Fifteenth street and PennsyI-
;vania avenue north to Fifteenth
street and Massachusetts, avenue
and included Lafayette and Farra-
gut squares
In the Washington assessment of
1902. this square was in the name
of Samuel Davidson. of Georgetown.
and the value of the land was put
down at cents a square foot. There
were no houses on the land and the
square had not been divided into
building lots.
The square was sub-divided by
Davidson April 3. 1909.
The square was sub-divided by
w. W. Corcoran August 20. 1866.
and Mr.. Corcoran. recorded another
sub division of the square on March
6, 1850. making a survey of the lots
as they stand today