Evening star., 1925-10-25
Place Names in District of Columbia
Tell Interesting Story of Capital City

is "Woodley," built in 1900 by Philip
Barton Key. He was a noted lawyer.
though remembered chiefly today as
the uncle of Francis Scott Key. This
place is still in existence on Woodley
Road and has been kept up and oc-
cupied for century and a quarter.
The name is now applied to two
streets and to that section of the city
between the Connecticut avenue bridge
and Cleveland Park.
X x
NAMES of so many of the early
land grants and estates have been
perpetuated that it is interesting to
notice the changes of name of the
locality now known as Cleveland Park.
Gen. Uriah Forest owned this tract
and built "Rosedale." A portion Of
the property was inherited by his
grandson, George Green, who built
Pretty Prospect" Later it was pur-
chased by President Cleveland, who
called it Oak View" It was at one
time known as Red Bank" How
ever, in spite of all these names for
the estate, the cluster of houses which
grew up near il in the 90S be-
came known as Cleveland Park, in
recognition of the residence there of
President Cleveland.
Much more could be written of the
sections Of the city. but these examples
suffice to show the age and interest
of their names.
When street names are discussed,
fascinating field for research is open
ed. After the alphabetical letter
streets come streets with names of
two syllables in alphabetical order.
and then those with three syllables.
The majority of the streets were
| named for prominent men and a col
! lection of their biographies would
cover almost every phase of American
life and activity, with a few world
| citizens added.
Some are national chara cters, such
as jefferson. Hamilton, Tilden, Gar
! field, Irving and Lowell: while among
others less widely known today whose
memory is thus perpetuated are Com
modore Stephen Decatur of the Bar
| barry War fame; Crittendon, famous
Kentuckian of the middle nineteenth
century; Stephen Girard. the Phila-
delphia -philanthropist: Ad-
miral Rodman, of the Spanish-Amer-
! lean War; Gen. Upton. author of
! Secretary of the Treasury under
| Jefferson. and Maj. Andrew Ellicott.
co-partner of L'Enfant in laying out
! Washington.
| The history of Columbia road is in
| terestinG- In 1915 William J. Stone,
ST.. settled in Washington. coming
| from London where he was born in
! 1898. He was noted as an engraver on
! stone and copper and engraved several
maps of the District of Columbia
| In 1925 he cut a facsimile of the Decla-
| ration of Independence on copper
! plate for the State Department. His
wife was one of the earliest woman
engravers in this country. There is
still eXtant map of the District of
Columbia engraved by her.
| He bought a large tract Of land on
| the heights above Florida avenue and
in 1912 built a house, called Clifton.
at what is now the corner of Thir-
teenth and Clifton streets. Later, ad-
mirers of Gen. John A. Logan bought
the place and presented it to him. 1t
has been well kept up and is still in
| good condition.
In 1881 Senator John Sherman fore
saw the growth of the city and bought
| 121 acres of the Stone Farm and laid
out a subdivision, which he called
| Columbia Heights. The hill on what
| Is now 18th street was too steep for
| horse-drawn vehicles, so the way to
Columbia Heights was out Connects
| cut avenue to the city line and thence
| ny d iodu WHICH CillllDcu the
hill. following the easy grades and
slowly swinging east to Columbia
| Heights. 1t became known as Colum
bia road and is still so known, al
| though street cars and all traffic
! to Columbia Heights have been using
, 14th street for many years.
Other streets are named for promi-
nent Washingtonians or for Maryland
| families, such as Calvert, for the great
| family who founded Maryland, and
! Shepherd, for Washington's great