Evening star., 1934-02-18

to fulfill the dream of Wash
ington and L'Enfant that they should
some day be magnificent. At time
when the facetious we're perhaps not
unjustly referring to our now stately
Pennsylvania avenue as "the great
Serbonian Bog" because of the fact
that during most of the sessions of
Congress it was impossible to traverse
its unpaved marshy length without
being mired in its ruts, Georgetown
was perhaps the greatest tobacco mar
ket in the Union.
Upon the aristocratic Heights Of
Georgetown" are many homes, built
with the wealth that accrued to their
owners from directing the overseas
commerce which came by sailing ships
into the Port of Georgetown" in
return for Virginia and Maryland to-
bacco and other Southern staples.
Their charm and their background
somehow continue over into our
present, and are integral parts in the
residential life of this twentieth
centurys march of progress, just as
they we're factors in the stately days
of a more leisurely time.
Water Front Crowded.
In the heyday of Georgetown's
shipping glory, tall-masted vessels
crowded its water front, their holds
heavy to the waterline with products
from the maritime ports OF the world.
IN return for our shippings of to-
bacco and cotton, there were hogs
heads of molasses and rum from
Jamaica, shipments Of fine crotched
mahogany for cabinet making from
San Domingo and casks of tea, coffee
and spices from the mother country
by way of India and Ceylon. The
verieSt youngSter among us knows Of
Colonial Boston and its Tea Party"
What Is comparatively unknown is
that it is a matter Of record that
Ceorgetown's Committee of Safety"
not only refused to permit taxed tea"
10 be landed but forced its conveyors
30 return it to England
In 1890, of the rs post offices in
the United States. Georgetown was
cne. A facsimile of the page of
Benjamin FTanklins ledger Of postal
accounts showing the transactions
pertaining TO the Georgetown post
office appears in volume 9, on page
l3, of the records of the Columbia
Historical Society.
Made Port of Entry.
It was likewise in 1890 that George
town was made an official port Of
entry. Gen. James Maccubbin Lin
gan, resident of Georgetown and
a Revolutionary hero of fame, was
appointed its first collector Of
customs.
It was also in the town of George
town on March 80, 1891, in the flf-
teenth year of our independence as
q Nation, that President Washing
ton signed his proclamation announc-
ing a permanent seat Of Government
for the United States.
Industries, and shops and factories
to house them, thrived apace. From
tiersmen going to engage in the In
dian Wars or in search of further
borders to conquer, outfltted them
selves here. In 1855 Virginia Co.
tonials joined forces with Braddock's
British sailors and soldiers near Alex
endria and marched through George
towns midst in the disastrous expedi-
tion against the French and Indians
et Fort Duquesne.
Very early in its history George
town seems to have been engaged in
the manufacture of arms and am
nuntion, doing some Quitting Of our
American forces during the Revolu-
tionary War and actively engaging in
the casting of cannon for use in
the War Of 1912 and the Mexican War.
Along the water front were ware
houses and supply bases. William
Gordon, in his delightful article "Old
Homes on Georgetown Heights" tells
Of Tong lines of wagons drawn by
hell-bowed oxen teams filled with
produce going out of Maryland, Vir-
ginia and Pennsylvania. He also
speaks Of the dust" of flour mills
and cotton factories and of the
dsrkeys. who were swarming every
where about, for as he puts it, "slav-
cry existed, mild kind of domestic
eervitude with ties of sympathy and
affection binding servant and mas
ter."
School for Financiers.
OF Georgetown it might be truth
fully said that it served as a grad
hate school of business administration
kor such men as George Peabody, Will
ham W. Corcoran and Elisha Riggs,
who later achieved international rep
station as f1nanciers and philan-
thropists.
One of Georgetown's famous old
homes, which is of particular inter-
est on this national anniversary, is
the house at 3014 N street, which was
Tor years the home Of Abraham Lin
coins eldest son, Robert Todd Lin
coin. Built almost a century and a
half ago, its history is a long and
an interesting one, the story of its
successive occupants curiously link
Eng the North and the South.
In 1900, one year after Georgetown
became an incorporated town, John
Laird, one of the wealthy gentlemen
merchants of his era, who was Of
Scotch descent as his name would in
dicate and recently of Bladens-
burgh," erected a new home suitable
10 his means and position upon his
holdings on Georgetown Heights.
1t is today as it was when first
built, a tall three-story red brick
structure with an air of impressive
dignity. Erected upon natural ele-
kation, its front entrance faces di-
kectly north upon N street. Under
cream portico of Colonial design and
exquisite balance, a brass knocker
CLEANS out from the wooden front
door, square-cut across its top with
hn arch above inset with fan-shaped
lights. Arched windows, four panes
wide and five panes high, balance the
doorway to the east and west.
Flanked by Broad Chimneys.
In the rear, which looks south, the
grounds, by a series of long, grad
hally sloping terraces, continue
through to the lower Levels of M
street below. Originally the silvery
stretches Of the Potomac could be
seen from all of the southern or rear
windows Now to a great extent,
modern structures interfere with the
VistaS of the Potomac from the lower