Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-19
CAPITAL s HISTORY
TOLD FOR SOCIETY
City's Development Traced
From 1918 to Present in
Illustrated Lecture.

''The City of washington; Then and
Now" was sketched in speech and pic
ture by Allen G. Clark, president of
the Columbia Historical Society, in his
illustrated lecture at the meeting of
the society In the Cosmos Club last
night.
Beginning with brief outline of the
Columbia Historical Society itself, Mr..
Clark reviewed the unfolding of the
now beautiful National Capital from its
1nauspicious beginnings, giving empha-
sis to that development by contrasting,
In his conclusion, the old Potomac River
flats" with the stately Lincoln Memo
nal and its surrounding landscaping.
The first regular meeting place of
the Columbia Historical Society, MIR.
Clark explained, was the residence of
its president, DR.. Joseph Meredith
Toner, 1445 Massachusetts, avenue, while
its first meeting was held May Z, 1894.
Mr.. Clark paid tribute to DR.. Toner
for his careful res ~ch in historical
data, a work viii I'D in the COL
lection by him 20 books and
pamphlets, whic4-g ; left to the
Library of Congress
John Adams KaSson, statesman and
diplomat was the second president OF
third head of the organization was
Judge Alexander Burton Hagner..
Avenue in 1913.
Following his discussion of the his
korical society Mr.. Clark launched into
q series of "reminiscences and discus
sions which presented the washington
Of yesteryear and today. He exhibited
q sketch of Pennsylvania Avenue in
1918" which BENJAMIN Henry Latrpbe,
first surveyor of the city, had drawn.
Prominent in the sketch was the inter-
section of the Avenue and Twelfth
street, at which point was shown the
Post ONCE Building. One Of two struc-
lures shown then at Twelfth and d
streets, Mr. Clark said, still is standing.
Commenting upon the appearances
of the city shown in the sketch, Mr..
Clark said:
"The designers of the city evidently
concluded in advance all OF the people
were to be well off and none poor.
The regulations provided only for wide
brick houses, two or three stories in
height. It was in the early period, the
reverse. Mr.. Latroloe says the appro-
priations, capriciously made, for public
works gave good wages for short time
and almost none for the remaining
Mr.. Clark pointed out the quarters Of
The Evening Star in the period be-
ginning in 1854, explaining that the
little building which he exhibited in
conjunction with the Latrobe sketch. was
drec1ly opposite the present Star Build
ing.
Oldest House In City.
aThe city was plotted into streets and
squares with little. If any regard to ex-
isting elevations or depressions, streams
and drainage" the speaker declared.
grading were on heights or in depths.
Through many years and at enormous
expense, there has been a gradual con-
forTnity to as established grade" 4
-'@-'- declared that he holds
s.vs4-S4.. sow," on Four and-a-Half
street, as the oldest house in WASH
angton. The section, he explained, was
called Greenleaf's Point for one of the
members of the early building syndicate,
Robert Morris, John Nicholson and
James Greenleaf. The row of houses
he added, was called ''Wheat's Row
after an owner of one Of the mansions.
Mr.. Clark exhibited a picture of
Robert Mills. native of Charleston,
8. O., who was Mr.. Latrobe's early
assistant. Mills, Mr.. Clark explained,
subsequently became the architect for
the Washington Monument here, the
washington Monument in Baltimore
and the Bunker Hill Monument, and
was the architect of the Treasury and
Post ONCE Departments.
The little house which formerly stood
at the northeast corner Of Twelfth and
= streets was shown as the residence
Of James MacNeill Whistler, the
eminent artist. Whistler was a drafts
man in the Coast Survey at the time
Of his residence IN that house John
Philip Sousa, eminent bandmaster, was
another of the better known natives of