Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-09-11
OLD CLUB SIGN NOW MARKSTHE
ADVANCE OF LOCAL POPUL ALTON


of $4,000 persons is spread over an
area Of 1925 square miles.
There are some widely held mis-
conceptions concerning the location
OF population in the District. For i'm
stance, IT Is commonly supposed that
the city has grown steadily and
chiefly to the Northwest. The de-
velopment of Washingtons residence
sections, the growth of its popula..
ton. is supposed to have occurred
mainly in the Northwest. If the Cap
itol Is considered the center of
circle. this Is in part true ? A police
census of a few years ago gave the
population of Northwest Washington
as 10000. against the combined
populations of Northeast and South
east Washington of something over
100000. But the Capitol is neither
the. geographical nor the population
center of the District. The geo
gra phical center used to he located
somewhere near the Washington
Monument. When the land originally
coded to the District by Virginia,
comprising a large part of Arlington
County, went back 20 Virginia. the
geographical center of the District
moved to its present location. at
Fourth and l. streets.
The center of population of the Dis
trlct is now at Seventh and G. streets.
Ihlrty years ago it was at Fifth
and G. and it was generally supposed
tnen That Its course would he to-
Ward seventh and h. the Public Lii
Drary Instead ii has not moved
northward at all, but in the last 20
years has travelled only two blocks
west. The center of population of
| the So-called metropolitan area, taxi
! ing In all area of Is miles from the
District line, Is two blocks south
at seventh and f. streets. The. flow
or population into tire suburbsr has
not moved the center of population
to the Northwest but to the South
west. The rapid residential develop
ment in Northwest Washington and
into Montgomery County, Md, has
been offset by as rapid a develon-
ment In Virginia and I'M East Wash
lngton. Today there are about as
many people living east of Seventh
street In the District as there are
living west. When the police took
their census In 1925, they discovered
that. the precinct showing the great
est growth was the eleventh: which
takes in the Anacostia area. This
increase was from 1900 persons in
1913 to 2S.000 in 1925 yThe second
largest increase was. in the second
ID Il
on the. south, s ON the north, FIJI
teenth5 on tho west and the railroad
on the east. Here the popula ton in
creased from 44,441 i'm 1919 to So ,2O4
in 1926. ~ ~ -
1 - ..;,. * &,** t>.ev
Washlngton's center of wealth Is 10.
Gated in the vicinity of Fourteenth and
q streets, which is the heart Of the
| business district. From that 1oca ton
| the value of land decreases in a grad
ual curve toward the extrefnetfes of
! the District. 1t is only in the region
| bordering the outskirts of the business
! section that signs of congestion are
/ beginning to show themselves. The
signs are apartment houses, where a
building erected on. a. plot of ground
! which once supported. a family. resi-.
dence now comfortably houses scores
of families. When the urge Of hun
dreds of people to live in one locality
| becomes strong enough. they build
| their homes up in the air instead Of
spreading them around. Rising land
values, prevent this spreading out.
Some OF the experts at the District
Building calculate roughly that in IS
years the population Of the District
OF Columbia may reach 1,000, 900 per.
sons. That is allowing for normal
development. Eighty per cent of the
District Is now subdivided. leaving
only 20 per cent for future subdivision
But only half of the District is now
built up Subdividing does not
mean. necessarily. building. if,. in the
next 81 years, 10000 persons live
i'm the District there viii be little con-
gestion. Still another million can live
comfortably by building over the heads
Of the first million. And there would
still he Poem for. another, Million But
that'sa long time on Few Of those
now living in the District Wilt have
to bother about it. There's no use
losing any sleep over the problems
which may then present themselves.
Somebody else will have to solve them.