Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-09-02
OLDEST RESIDENTS
TO PRESERVE PART
OF THE MORSE ELM
J. C. Proctor Gives History of
Early b. C. School at
Meeting.

street and Pennsylvania avenue. is
Inhabitants Of the District Of Column
bia will ask that part Of the trunk
be turned over to 1t for preservation.
Decision to ask for a relic of the
tree was reached at q meeting of the
association in Union engine house.
| 18th and H streets. last night. The
proposal was made by DR.. William
Tindall. who said he had already
asked Clifford Lanhan, superintend-
ent of trees and parkings. to save a
section Of the tree for the oldest
! inhabitants.
The Morse elm. which is rapidly
dying. was named after the inventor
of the telegraph and has thrived for
nearly century, despite the fact that
the laying of new curbings and side
walks has frequently injured its roots.
Members to Prepare History.
Two veteran officers of the asso-
BENJAMIN w. Sunny, who were re-
| tired from the government service
recently, announced last night that
! they Will devote their time to the
classification of the mass of historic
documents and relics which have ac-
cumulated in the archives of the as
sociation.
Mr.. Reiss served forty-eight years
and six months in the War Depart
ment and has been in the Association
of Oldest Inhabitants twenty-one years.
He is recording secretary.
DR.. Sunny. who is treasurer of
the association. served forty years in
the War Department. Another of
ficer of the association, John B. Nc
Carthy. corresponding secretary, re-
Gently was retired from the Depart
ment of the Interior. in which he
served many years.
Account OF WashinEton's Death.
Capt. N. M. Brooks presented to the
association copy Of the Ulster Coun-
ty Gazette Of January 4, 1900. con-
tanning an account Of the death of
George Washington.
scented the association with a copy
Of the New York Tribune containing
an account of the death Of Abraham
Lincoln, and with 1t a bit of the crepe
that draped the Tribune building at
that time.
Policeman Thomas Oriani present
ed the association with copies Of the
Intelligencer, local newspaper, of
1928. and. the Capitol. published in
James H. Clarke. 71s Lawrence
street northeast. was admitted to
membership. Henry L. Bryan presided
Paper by John G. Proctor.
SoHH S1A8CtL IIOCIOT Ieao a DaD0f
on the Jefferson School. which stood
at 18th and @ streets more than a
century ago. It follows:
According to the reports of the
public schools of the District Of
Columbia. the old Jefferson stable,
corner Of 14th and G streets north
west. where is now located the
Federal National Bank, was erected
in 1900.
christian Hines, in his Early Rec
gives this building as one of the few
structures standing in the year 1900
in the block bounded by 18th and 18th
and and G streets. With few in
terruptions 1t was used for school
was the oldest and most historic
schoolhouse in Washington at the
time 1t was demolished in 1885.
FOR many years it was the princi-
pal public school in the Dictrict of
Columbia, and many Of the older
Washingtonians well remember of the
celebrated instructors who Taught
here In days gone by.
Madison Opposed Plan.
1T was one-story. one-room brick
structure, 40 feet 3 inches by SO feet,
with a 14-foot ceiling, and contained
sixty-fo seats. It was sought as
public school as early as 1916, when
Madison in October of that year, but
without favorable result.
Sevefa! similar committees made
trips to the White House from time
to time to prevail upon the President
to permit its use by the school off,
Gals for the poor children of Wash
ington. However. it was not until
early in 1921 that President Monroe
agreed to allow it's use for the pur-
pose desired. Henry Ould. who was
tn attx
teach the Lancasterian system of ed
lucation, became its first preceptor, and
the subsequent list includes the names
lof such well known teachers as Mr.
and Mrs. Joshua L. Henshaw and Miss
Strong John Thomson, Miss M. ].
Richie. Alkaline X. Lowe, Helen e.
Williams, Mrs. NJ. I. Sampson, Mary E.
McGill and Mrs. Maria e. Rodier.
II Years to Get Land Title.
although the President and Con-
gross had donated, and were do
mating. millions of dollars Of land
for school purposes through the
sistance besides. yet 1t took the
Washington public just fourteen
years to secure even. partial title
| to this old-abandoned public stable.
it being ascertained at that time that
| Congress had already decided a part
| Indeed. the donation marked the
| first executive and congressional do
| nation to the District Of Columbia
for public school purposes. and. with
the exception Of one or two similar
gifts. was about all the United States
| did along this line for the Washing
| ton educational system until it as
! sumed the half-and-half in 1873.
| which. during the last session of
| Congress was even reduced to sixty
forty. regardless of the fact that for
seventy years. until that date, thou
! sands OF children whose parents re-
( sided in other states were educated
here at the expense Of the people of
| the Distric Of Columbia.
I'm 1872 Congress gave the gov
| ernor of the District permission to
sell the property and to invest the
proceeds in other school property. It
brought $7,706.97. probably one-tenth
of what it would bring today. 1t
| went into the hands Of Andrew Glea-
son. a well known Washington cons
! tractor of that period"