Evening star., 1933-10-08
Site ofFWst Rail-
road Station Has
Been Cleared.
Caldwell House:
Used by Supreme
Court Afer the
Burning ofPubHc
Structures Brit
Hh Reports.
BY JOHN CLACETT PROCTOR.

BY JOHN CLACETT PROCTOR.
T does not seem safe to leave Washington
even for a month or two nowadays, for il
you do, most anything is liable to happen
while you are away. Indeed, the day after
the destructive storm of the 23d of August,
while the writer was on the Atlantic about
900 miles from New York, he read in the
Ocean Post, a column about the hurricane that
did 50 much damage here and elsewhere, and
of course. everybody from Washington and this
part Of the country was very much concerned
This Is what the ships paper said about Wash
ington:
Throughout the country the storm made It
self felt. Washington was drenched by heavy
rain Trees along Pennsylvania avenue in front
of the White House were uprooted and store
windows crushed as the pressure grew" Natur-
ally, we were all anxious to learn about our
own property, and if the roof was intact or not
and when we arrived in the city, few days
later we found the damage was not near as
great as we had been led to believe
But other things we're happening of which
we did not know until we made part inspec-
ton of the city and found that since we had
been away, the building occupying the site OF
the first railway station in Washington, at the
northwest corner Of Pennsylvania avenue and
Second street, had been entirely removed; the
old residence at 206 B street southeast once
occupied by the Supreme Court of the United
States, after the burning Of the Capitol by the
British, was almost removed, and that the Hotel
Driscol, at First and streets northwest, where
Col Charles A. Lndbergh's father and family
once lived was in the hands of the wreckers
= and fast disappearing.
The building occupying the site of the old
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Station was not the
original station and ticket Office that opened
there SO years ago. Indeed it would require
stretch of the imagination today even to fancy
we see Pennsylvania avenue and this neighbor-
hood on that 25th day of August, 1885, when
the steam engines George Washington, John
Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
came putting into the National Capital for the
first time.
IT did not cost near so much to run q train
then as it does now, and as one might sup
pose, there is practically no comparison in COM
fort, luxury and efficiency with it and the
marvellous trains we ride in today. A mile in
three minutes was then considered the maxi
mum speed. and for every stop along the way
another minute had to be added. One of the
earliest locomotives the Arabian ran with the
Frederick passenger train up to what was
known as Plain No. /. for SO successive days. 80
miles day, without lay-of or repairs of any
kind. and this was then considered to be some
thing of record, Her daily expense came to
a ton; so cents for oil; engineers wages, 81;
fireman, $780, an interest charge of rs cents
and a contingency fund of 81. It was estimated
that 1t did the work each day that would have
required 113 horses to do.
Inside of few months, according to an old
account, "the company secured the eastern
portion of reservation IL, fronting Pennsylvania
avenue west of Second street, or Tiber Greek,
lots and and parts of 16 and II, extending
to street, as site for a depot, with the
square on which is the present depot for an
engine house.
The Tiber near the Avenue ordinarily gently
flowed as wide stream, few feet in depth over
a bed Of white gravel, and it was a favorite
place for the hackmen to water their horses.
1t was not however, entirely safe, as was proven
by the drowning therein of hackman and
his horses about 72 years ago. the team getting
in a hole, and there were more instances than
one, after storms, of the turbulent waters
wrecking the bridge or archway on the Avenue,
as well as houses-the Jackson Tavern, on the
Avenue, about 1889 and Foy's Hotel, on C
street. In the SOS man slipped in the creek
and was drowned in 18 inches of water, but
whisky had much to do with it. For many
years, there was barely room between the rail-
road buildings and the stream for a carriage
or wagon, with no protection by barrier. As a
result, now and then some one fell into the
water but, it being shallow few fatalities oc-
CURED.
It is said that the two corner houses, just
removed, were erected on the foundation Of the