Evening star., 1935-11-17

~ IlUI l1lWccG COIllSl VI TUul
wv teenth street and New
York avenue is removed, a;
we are told it will soon be, another in
tersting early structure will havI
passed into the discard, and a squa-t
which has remained about the SAM
for more than half century will loci
entirely different and strange to th'
old Washingtonian, who has passec
along this thoroughfare for man.
years.
Perhaps there is nothing partic'
ularly charming about this building
nor is it of any especial historic in
terest, and yet to many, it has growr
to be a landmark, and as such it viii
be missed. 1t has all the appearance
of havin9 been erected at two sep.
arate times, and if so, the earlier par
dates back to 1851, when it was built
for zalmon Richards, who established
here the Union Academy. He hac
previously been employed as an in
structor by Columbian College, in &
building erected by it in 1848, as a
preparatory school at N and Four.
teenth streets.
Mr.. Richards was native Of Ohio
and conducted the Union Academy
until about 1855, when he entered the
Treasury Department as clerk. Mrs
Richards became the principal OF the
school, the name being changed to
Union Female Academy, and during
this time both Mr.. and Mrs. Richards
made their home at the Rugby House,
site of the old Hamilton Hotel, north
east corner of Fourteenth and K
streets, where had formerly been the
Rugby Academy, erected by S. F. Nor
1ison in 1851.
In 1866, one room in the academy
was occupied by Secondary School
No. /, but it was removed about this
time. as the owner refused to rent it
longer as public school.
Under the legislative acts of May
2 and September Z, 1859, Mr.. Rich
ards became the first superintendent
of public schools, but his tenure of
Office was brief. since he refused to
recognize the superior authority of the
Board of Trustees, and was eventually
forced to retire, his place being taken
by j. Ormond Wilson on June 25, 1870
when he resumed his profession as
teacher.
ZALMON RICHARDS was a brother
to Almarin c. Richards, who, be-
fore he became major of police in
1864. upon the resignation Of William
B. Webb, was also teacher of a pri-
Sate school in Washington.
AS chief of police, he brought the
force up to a high standard. He took
Office during critical period of the
Civil War, which included also the
time of the assassination Of President
Lincoln. He served for nearly Is
years. and resigned on January g.
1873, being succeeded by Maj. Thomas
p. Morgan, who became one of the
Commissioners of the District of Co.
lumbia.
Later the Union Academy Building
was purchased by Albert Gleason, a
Washington contractor generally re-
ferred to as Yankee" Gleason, to
distinguish him from Andrew Gleason,
also local contractor and politician.
Albert Gleason remodeled it about as
1t is today, and by 1873 it was known
as the New York Avenue Hotel. BY
1887 it had changed its name to the
by Mrs M. j. Colley who had formerly
managed the Hamilton House. Later it
haro tho HvfnrI y1-ith
as proprietor. and in more recent years
1t has served many purposes.
THE block in which stands what we
may still call the oxford Hotel
building on the plat book
as square 222-was not early built
upon, and, according to an old ac-
count, must have once been a very
unsightly place. Of this square, an
old-timer records the recollections:
I'm that square north of New York
avenue and east of Fifteenth street,
now occupied by banking. houses
hotels, boarding houses, stores, ETC.,
some not very old men can remember
when but two or three dwellings,. a
stone yard and two carpenter shops
saved it from it's entire use as a
dumping ground. About 1900, Rob-
ert Sutton owned lot on H street;
Pierce Purcell, two lots on New York
avenue, near Fourteenth street; John
McElwee, lots at the east end of the
square; William Doughty and Robert
Alexander, on H street; Joseph Taylor
on Fifteenth street, and Thomas
Snowden, four lots on New York ave-
nue. and Fifteenth street. In 1909
Moses Young bought two lots at the
east end of the square. and in 1874
lots on Fifteenth street passed to
John D. Barclay, and after, through
Samuel Brook, to Richard Cults.
THE first improvement of a perma-
nent character appears to have been
made by George Graham. who in 1920
bought three lots at the southeast cor
ner of Fifteenth and H streets, on
which he erected a fine residence,
where he died shortly afterward. The
family lived there for many years and
until few years ago it was standing.
1t was taxed for $4,500 in the twenties,
and two other buildings on H street
near Fourteenth street for $500 each
and the ground value was 8 to 1S
cents.
About 1921 James McClery bought
two lots on New York avenue west OF
Fourteenth street and erected a school
house, as well as a dwelling, having q