Evening star., 1932-01-31


the controversy over tie selection
of site for the Treasury Building
by simply strolling short distance
from the White House, sticking his cane in the
ground and declaring at the same time Put
it right here!'-indioating the site 1t now
occupies, which obstructs the Pennsylvania
avenue view of the White House-may or may
not be true but We do know that the site for
the present Post Office Department Building
was settled in substantially such a way, except
that the chief actors in this case were Senator
Leland Stanford of California and John B.
Mccarthy newspaper OF this city.
Everybody in WashingtOn-Or nearly every
body-knew Mr.. Mccarthy, for he was native
of the city, and engaged in newspaper work
here from the time he a youngster until
his death in this city May %, 1926 at an ad-
vanced age. He was as near the ideal citizen
as one might expect to see and especially was
he of the type of man whose word was always
beyond question. For many years he was a
constant attendant at the meetings of the Asso-
citation of Oldest Inhabitants, where he the
corresponding secretary and where he was
much beloved.
AS is customary at these meetings some OF
the members frequently entertain the others
present with the recollections of early Wash
ington, and it in this way that the writer
upon more than one occasion has heard Mr.
Mccarthy tell OF how the Post Office Building
was located on the south side of the Avenue
between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. Billy
Malone, the readjuster Senator from Virginia.
it appears wanted the building placed on what
was known as the Malone lot, on North Capitol
street about opposite the Sibley Hospital and
others wanted it placed elsewhere.
"A /HEN Senator Stanford came to Congress
w in 1885 he was placed on the Committee
on Public Buildings and Grounds and later be
was made chairman of the committee. At this
time MI Mccarthy representing here an
out-of-town paper, and Senator Stanford
drafted him secretary OF the committee on
which he chairman. 1t was during this
time that the question of the selection OF q
site for the Post Office came up, causing the
Senator much trouble.
Finally one day as the two were riding up
the Avenue, the Senator turned to his secre-
tary, and in sheer desperation said: mccarthy,
where would you put the Post Ofhce?' Being
as anxious as his chief to close the matter once
and for all time, he promptly replied, Right
there" pointing to the present Post Once site
and there it was placed. But Senator STAN
ford did not live to it completed, for he died
June 21, 1893 at Palo Alto Calf. He sleeps
within a mausoleum in the grounds OF STAN
ford University; Mccarthy lies here in Oak
Hill Cemetery.
Some of us may think it takes unnecessarily
long to construct the public buildings now under
way or just completed, but from the time the
act Of Congress was passed to acquire the Post
Office site-June 25, l890-until the building
was completed just nine years had elapsed. No
wonder Stanford died in the meantime
To many of us who were of voting age In
the District of Columbia ~ years ago-but
who could not vote then and even now labor
under that disadvantage-lt seems almost I'M
possible that so many years have elapsed since
Jr]a nlo oar1 Z
see the hole in the ground, just as we can see
the excavations today for the new public build
ings and we can the pile-drivers
hammering the piles deep into the earth. Not
the cement kind of piles which they are now
driving into the ground at Tenth street and
PENNSYLVANIA avenue, but long wooden piles
quite similar in appearance to telegraph poes
and they were driven as close together as pos
sible all over the block.
They came across some strange things here
also. among which was deep, unchaIted well,
into which a span of horses, used in plowing
up the earth, came very near falling
DEINCi one of Washington's earliest settled
D neighborhoods, we may still expect to find
most anything hereabout, and the deeply i'm
bedded brickWork recently unearthed just in
side the northeast corner of Tenth street on
Constitution avenue should cause no particular
surprise for this spot and the post office site
were very low ground at one time, and all this
area has been considerably raised since the
days of the Tiber and later of the Washington
Canal.
As to just what this semi-circular brickwork
was built for it would be hard to say, except
that it undoubtedly had something to do with
the old canal
Few people today have the slightest concep-
tion as to the real magnitude of this old water
way long since abandoned-partly filled in,
and portion converted into a sewer. In 1887
it was walled with stone throughout its course
from the Eastern Branch Ito the east of
Greenleaf Point to Seventeenth street north
west Its width somewhat varied, but from
Seventeenth street to the Center Market at
Seventh street, it $50 feet, and in other
sections from As to 30 feet At desirable places