Evening star., 1934-07-15
HOME PROTECTION
CHIEF AIM OF UNIT
IN MT. PLEASANT
Street Improvement ibrary
and Welfare Are Cited
Among Achievements.

Representing an area almost 20 per
cent of which is occupied a. residen-
tial property. the Mount Pleasant Cit
izens Association has devoted much
Of It's time and energies during the "a
years OF its existence 70 the protection
OF homes and property owners.
Many Improvements Of major i'm
portance have been brought 70 the
area living between Sixteenth street.
Rock Creek and Pincy Branch Parks.
and Columbia and Quarry roads but
since the territory is 50 largely resi-
Dental protection and improvement
OF homes has been one Of the major
obiectives Of the association, and not
without success
Mount Pleasant street south OF
Park road is practically the only bust
meas street in the area. and since the
enactment Of zoninR regulations in
the District. the association has sue
ceeded in having It's residential prop
erty chaneed from B" area 10 b
restricted area. a safeguard against
the encroa chment Of apartment
houses against the will Of adjacent
home owners.
Obtain Branch Library.
II was with the idea OF improv-
ing an exclusively home territory
that the association sought and OBJ
tanned the beautiful and useful
Mount Pleasant Branch Library and
the l7-room Bancroft Elementary
School. Mount Pleasant is one Of
the oldest settled suburbs Of Wash
ington and its large proportion Of
home owners aided greatly in obtain
Ing these two major Improvements.
When the Bancroft school was
built. one of the leading arguments
made by the association was the fact
that then, in the days before traffic
lights. many children we're forced
to cross Sixteenth street, a much-used
arterial boulevard on their way to
and from Powell-Johnson School.
which for many years was the only
nearby elementary school.
Among other accomplishments OF
notable worth attributed to the as
sociation are the following:
The general use OF a satisfactory
type electric street lamp instead Of
the antiquated gas lamp.
The use of tarvia macadam for
street surfacing in place of the dis
agreeable and dusty dry macadam,
which required frequent sprinkling
The association was the first to urge
the change and Mount Pleasant was
the first residential area in the Capt.
The successful results obtained there
led District officials TO replace the dry
macadam with the more satisfactory
surface.
In addition to the restrictions OBJ
tanned under coming regulations to
prevent the invasion of the area by
apartment houses against the will of
the property owners, committee of
the association, under the leadership
OF David d. Caldwell as chairman and
W. D. Robinson as his executive as
Sistant, restrictive covenants against
the residence of colored property own
ers have been obtained and recorded
for about 80 per cent of the entire
area.
A large proportion of the residential
property in the Mount Pleasant area
also is protected from possible future
damage by the establishment of build
ing restriction lines. Such restrictions
prevent a property owner from injur-
ing that of a neighbor by extending
the front Of his building closer to the
street than the established line for
residences already in existence,
The osc0ciafipy, a1cn ho oofiua
IN cooperating with other civic or
fare work. The association also has
supported national representation for
the District OF Columbia.
CoIdren First President.
The associations first president was
the late Fred G. Coldren. who later
became intimately connected with the
civic affairs of the Capital as counsel
for the National Capital Park and
Planning Commission. The early prog
ress of the association has been
largely attributed to Mr.. Coldrens
leadership.
Mr.. Coldren has been succeeded as
president by a number of men promi-
nent in the affairs of the District.
Among them are Justice Joseph w.
Cox Justice James NJ Proctor. DR..
Charles B. Campbell. DR.. E. F..
Sappington, DR.. A A. Chenay, DR..
c. D. Marsh. Col Robert H. Young
Col. William E. Rogers. Mai A. NJ
Holcombe, Charles F. ConSaul and
David d, Caldwell
Raymond J. Bowen recently has
been elected president, succeeding
Frederick G. Hunt John DeLaMster
Is secretary and Daniel Foley treas
urer, each having held Office for sew
eral years. Maj. Holcombe and Dr.
Chenay have been reelected dele
gates to the Federation of Citizens
Associations.