Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-25

II
send this letter from
Washington TO George
L town for the same rate you
can send 1t to Washing
| ton address. Georgetown is sepa-
| rate post office, you know, just like
| Philadelphia or New York, SO youll
need instead of a 2 cent stamp"
Thus did the post Office clerk remind
| his friend of the postal regulations of
| 1875, and John paid another penny
for the privilege OF mailing his letter.
! That regulation. no longer in force,
! is one OF many items which were
| printed in the Congressional Direc-
| tory of so years ago, and which re-
veal interesting phases of life in the
| National Capital at that time.
Happy was the man who possessed a
| Congressional Directory in 1875. Be-
| sides telling him how much II cost to
send a letter to his sweetheart, IL told
him where to take her TO amuse her,
| where he might find q minister TO
marry them, and what time they could
/ board train TO start on their honey
! moon. Those were the days when a
| Congressional Directory was almost
| as great an asset to household as a
cook book or an almanac.
Evidently there We're many Johns"
who forgot to put Scent stamps on
| letters which were to cross Rock
| Creek. for the directory states: AN
| impression seems TO prevail that let
ters for Georgetown require only 2
cents, or local rate of postage.
Georgetown, being a separate office,
full prepayment by 2-cent stamp is
required"
1t took longer to send a letter to
Georgetown than to Alexandria, &C.
| cording to a table showing Time of
| Arrival and Closing OF the Mails"
| Letters intended to reach Georgetown
at pm. had to be mailed two hours
and Is minutes before that time,
| while mail due to arrive in Alexan-
| dria at 2 pm. needed to be mailed
only one hour and thirty minutes be-
| fore that hour.
Ten pages ahead OF the mail table
is a list of Washington's Places of
Amusement" only two of which to-
| day have the same name and location
| they had then. The places listed are !:
| National Theater-E street, between
! Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets.
Ford's Opera House-Ninth street,
| below Pennsylvania avenue.
Metropolitan Variety Theater-D
| street, between Eleventh and Twelfth
| streets,
| Eleventh street west and C street
| north.
| Odd Follows HalI-Seventh street
west between D and E streets north.
| Odd Fellows Halfway Yard,
| Eighth street east.
| Masonic Hall-Corner T street
north and Ninth street west
| Lincoln Hall-Northeast corner D
street north and Ninth street west
willard HALF street. rear Of
| willard Hotel.
HDLACES OF DIVINE WORSHIP Is
i the heading of another section
| of the directory. 1t catalogs WASH
| ingtons churches, locates them and
gives the names of clergymen in
| charge of them.
| Washington's places of worship
| then totaled rs, less than one-ffth
| the present number, and were as fol-
copal, IL; Baptist, IL; Presbyterian,
| IL; Catholic, 10; Lutheran, 4: Metho-
| dist Protestant, 2, and Christian.
Congregational. Friends, Hebrew.
Methodist Episcopal South, New
Jersusalem, Reformed, Unitarian and
1 UniVersalist, l each.
II the Washingtonian Of a half
century ago wished to travel, he could
| turn to pages 1874 and 1875 of his Con-
gressional Directory and there find
railroad time tables and steamboat
| schedules.
steamers for New York left the
wharf at the foot of High street,
| Georgetown, every Friday at am,
and Baltimore-boundb boats left Wash
! ington every Monday at 1890 pm.
the directory stated, There was no
| Union Station then, the Baltimore
and Ohio depot being located at New
! Jersey avenue and street. and the
| Baltimore and Potomac Railroad ter
| n1inal at Sixth and streets north
! west.
Recognizing the needs of visitors
I who come to the National Capital,
! the directory included q guide to the
| city's points of interest and hotels.
| Scanning that list, the present-day
reader realizes how much Washington
| has changed, for that time-yellowed
| guide states that the City Hall was
| on Four and-a-half street; the De-
| partment of Agriculture, ION the is
! land, opposite Thirteenth street." the
| Post Office Department. on e street
| between Seventh and Eighth streets
| northwest. and that the Young
| Mems Christian Association building
and the Grand Army of the Republic
Hall stood on opposite corners of
Ninth and d streets northwest.
Besides mail, train and boat sched-
! ules. guides to churches, public build
I ings and theaters, the 1875 Congress
sional Directory also contained loca-
tions of fire engine houses-and yet
1t is only one-third as thick as its
present. day successor which lacks all
that Information,