Evening star., 1933-03-05
BY DON S. WARREN.


sions may have been closed with the
Roosevelt celebration yesterday.
Constitution avenue appears des-
tined to resound in the future to the tramp
of marching inaugural throngs to take the
place of Pennsylvania avenue as the cere-
monial way Of the National Capital. Like the
Date March 4, the old thoroughfare may lose
much of its inaugural character four years
hence.
But such a change In the future will not rob
Pennsylvania avenue Of its glorious past, for
through its course and near its borders down
the years since the distant days of 1900 have
swept prodigious series of events marking
the progress of the Nation.
Vast changes have been wrought in its physi
cal appearance and neighboring developments
since that day, long past, when Jefferson rode
horseback over that roughly cleared stretch OF
Empowered land to take the oath Of office
in the newly built Capitol. Through ALL how
ever, there still cling mute but poignant re-
mi1ders of dramatic days now historic.
Far too many notable personages have been
associated in life and death with the old
Avenue for it to be forgotten. And the stored
relics and the well marked sites of its develop
nlents of other days remain to mark its fame.
Chameleonlke, it has been colored in har-
mony with the varied character of events 1t
has witnessed in the past 1872 years. Peo-
pied by throngs in many different moods, it
has reflected their solemnity their gayety,
their tragedy and joy. It has borne masses
in Mardi Gras spirit and demonstrations OF
fraternalistic, religious, political, warlike and
democratic tone.
What variety of events have been staged
on its concourse! Witness the visitations of
Washington John Marshall, Henry Clay, Web
ster, Hamilton: the impressive funerals Of
Lincoln Garfield, Mckinley. Taft, Wilson and
Harding; the wildly unrestrained celebration
too. tkn nlohr horn
Washington won the world series pennant in
1924; the Lindbergh reception, the Prepared
ness parade, the return Of the 1st Division from
the World War, the Holy Name parade. the
Ku Klux Klan parade the Shrine and Legion
parades, the march of the Bonus Expeditionary
Force and the riots, the procession of the
hunger marchers the impressive funeral pro-
cession of the Unknown Soldier. The number
of events in its history is legion.
Many old buildings, some of them of no his
torcal Importance. were swept into limbo dur
ing the past four years as the new Federal
building program progressed, and visitors here
yesterday saw stately buildings of classic motif
rising where old brick and frame once stood.
The development today however, is far
cry from the conditions Of 1900 to 1918.
The lower section of the Avenue in those
days was ''desolate" in appearance There
were no houses there then and sidewalks Of
brick were lacking. The land on the south
side from Sixth street to the Capitol and the
north side from John Marshall place to the
Capitol was owned by the Government and
therefore entirely neglected" due to lack
of funds.
The Avenue during that period was closely
bordered on the south by the Chesapeake &
Ohio Canal and the Tiber River" and beyond
lay tangled mass Of vegetation in veritable
swamp On the north side was high ridge.
One of the first functions exercised by the
Commissioners of the District was the opening
of streets, but that work was at a minimum
due to lack of money. Historians tell of the
clearing of passage way" from the White
House to the Capitol. Directions had been
given in the Spring of 1892 that the overseer
of labor have "a breadth of perches done
in the middle Of the Avenue from the 'Presi-
cents Palace as the White House for time
was called, to the Capitol" Here in these
quaint old words we have description Of the
birthday of the thoroughfare, as taken from
the proceedings Of the Commissioners on April
IA, 1892.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHN COTTON SMITH
~ In 1900 gave this description Of Penn
elder bushes which were cut through the
width of the intended avenue during the then
ensuing Winter"
bitches were dug along either side to carry
off the water. bridge of stone was built
over the Tfber at Second street Earlier, the
Commissioners had to order brickyards re-
moved from the line of the proposed street
development.
jefferson used a large portion of an appro-
priation for the Capitol in 1903 for improve
ment of the roadway. The broad surface was
divided into three sections, marked by four
rows of Lombardy poplars, in a fashion sug-
gestive of Paris boulevard.