Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-28
OLD MAPS REVEAL
CAPITALS HISTORY
Exhibition for Association OF
Oldest Inhabitants Is
Prepared.

An interesting exhibition Of maps
of Washington will be one of the fea-
lures of the next regular meeting OF
the Association of Oldest Inhabitants
of the District of Columbia at the Old
Union Engine House on August S.
The exhibition has been prepared by
the associations Committee on Hall
andS Archives of which the chairman
is James F.. Duhamel. The maps in
clude some belonging to the asSocia-
ton and many loaned by its members.
Accord ng to Mr.. Duhamel, the list
begins with a copy of LEnfant'S early
sketch of the Capitol CITY. or. which
various sites are designated for the
public buildings, very few of which
have been located, such as the State
buildings along the Mall, the foreign
legation buildings, the National Reli-
gious Temple, the National University
and others.
Changes Are Shown.
The first engraved map, issued with
Boston periodical, the Massachusetts
Magazine, IN 1892, is loaned by Thomas
j. Owen, and in sequence appear che
Boston map printed by Samuel Hill, and
the more complete Philadelphia map
by Thackra g. Valance. All OF these
are from L'Enfants design with slight
alterations by A. Elliott with approval
of washington and Jefferson and which
raised the ire of the French engineer.
An interesting exhibit, Mr.. Duhamel
explained, is a copy of map from a
guide book published in Philadelphia by
Moore e. Jones in 1902 that attempts
to show the buildings existing about
that date and while not strictly correct
gives a fair idea of what had been
done during the first 10 years OF the
Federal City.
Robert King, one of the early sur
veyors of the city, prepared map
about 1905, having in the lower corners
pictures of the Capitol and the Execu-
tive Mansion. which is on exhibition.
About 1915" Mr.. Duhamel explained,
"a person named Warden printed in
Paris a book describing Washington
City and furnished with a finely
executed map of the city and the Dis
trict of Columbia. The old roads are
clearly and correctly shown, but the
whole Is on very small scale.
Printer Set Example.
THE next local issue. after quite an
interval. was published by printer,
S. A. Elliot. who in hsi day was re-
SponSible for a number of guide books
of the city. An interesting feature of
this map is an accompanying list OF
public buildings, churches, halls and
public resorts. This plan of designat-
ing prominent locations was followed
by later map publishers. The old wards
are also shown on this map for the
first time.
"A map from an atlas printed in 1886
shows the Baltimore g. Ohio Railroad
entering the city and terminating at
Second street and Pennsylvania avenue.
In addition to other buildings, an art
gallery, orphan asylum and fire engine
houses are indicated on this map, and
the six wards are colored.
"A finely executed map by w. S. Stone
appeared about 1910, with the new ar
rangement of wards which now number
seven. Another colored map, evidently
from an atlas, contains many references
to the location of public buildings and
shows the squares that are built up
with residences about this date.
"CaSimer Bohn, stationery dealer,
issued a guide book with a map in 1850,
and on the latter is shown the houses
on the various squares, references and
ward boundaries. AS these maps were
published. they usually had imprint Of
the Capitol Building in one corner, so
that the evolution of the building can
be traced. .-s-..
Boschke Maps Important.
Perhaps the most celebrated of the
maps of the city and District ever
issued was that of Boschke from sur
veys made about 1855 and revised for
the War Department in 1860. This
map is on large scale and shows all
of the houses of the city and county,
the divisions of the land and every de-
tail and was no doubt very useful in
the Civil War period.
The up-to-date map Of the Geolog-
ical Survey Office has its place among
many other maps of lesser importance.
"A unique production by A. M. Har-
mon is shown of the city as it was in
1900, and all of the houses at that
date appear, with the original roads and
wharveS.
In addition to these maps Of the
city, also are old maps of this section
of the country from early dates and
before the days of Georgetown or Alex
andria. each of which did not come into
existence until a hundred years after
the settlement of the neighborhood."
The map exhibition has been ar
ranged already, Mr.. Duhamel explained
today. in preparation for the meeting
August 5.