Evening star., 1935-03-31
RAZING PROJECT RECALLS
UNIVERSITIES EARLY DAYS
Tract Where Old G. W. Buildings Are
Now Passing Bought by John Funk,
German Emig grant-Church Intact.

lumbia," was in the making, Jacob
Funk assigned his holdings in Ham,
burg in trust to William Deakin, jr,
of GEORGETOWN, treasurer of the Board
of Commissioners, and Benjamin
Stoddert. an original holder of land
in the District of Columbia and our
first Secretary of the Navy. These
two trustees were Ito execute deeds to
holders of lottery tickets issued for
the sale of lots in Hamburg" On
April Z, 1898, Thomas Johns, James
M. Lingan. Uriah Forest and Ben
jamin Stoddert decided all their lots
in Hamburg and Carrolsburg to
Thomas Beall of Georgetown, and
John M. Gannt, trustee, "in trust to
convey the same to the United States
commissioners for the purpose of
building Federal city" A portion of
this tract was conveyed by the trus-
tees to John Lenthall on July 18,
1900, this being the first conveyance
of this lot to bona fide purchaser" :"
Washington's Interest.
Gen. Washington's interest in the
town of Hamburg is clearly indicated
in several letters written upon the
subject, one Of which was addressed
by him from Philadelphia on February
II, 1871, to William Deakins and Ben
jamin Stoddert, who were later to
serve as trustees for Jacob Funk. In
deed, Gen. Washington afterward pur-
chased square number 81, said to be
in Hamburg" which he willed ito
George Washington Parke Gusts,
grandson of my wife and my ward"
1t is not generally known that
Thomas Jefferson thought this Sec
ton of the city the ideal one for the
location of the Capitol itself, and in
connection with his rough outline of
a plan for the Federal city wrote the
following:
"The highest summit of land in the
town heretofore called Hamburg with
in the territory, with a convenient
extent of ground circumjacent, shall
be appropriated for a Capitol for the
accommodation of Congress, and such
other lands between Georgetown and
the stream heretofore called the
Tyber as should on due examination
be found convenient and sufficient
shall be appropriated for the accom-
mediation of the President of the
United States for the time being and
for the public Offices of the Govern
ment of the United States"
The exact location which President
Jefferson indicated as his choice for
the Capitol Building, according to the
research of Miss Maude Burr Morris
of the Columbia Historical Society,
was the site at the southwest corner
of Nineteenth and G streets, now
occupied by the 'rLenthall Home for
Widows"
This home, incorporated in 1888, is
the memorial of his two devoted
daughters to the memory of their dis
tinguished father, the John Lenthall
who was the first bona fide purchaser
of lot in Hamburg. Born in Eng
land in 1852, the son of Sir William
Lenthall, Speaker of the House of
Commons, John Lenthau came to
America in 1893 when he was at
tracted no doubt by the opportunities
IOE IIlc pIdCGlCC VI LID PlO4CoolOu AL
the Nations Capital. When, in 1903,
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, also an Eng
lishman, took charge of the construc-
ton of the Capitol, Mr.. Lenthall was
selected to be CLERK of Works and
Principal Surveyor" He met an un-
timely death in the falling of one of
the vaulted arches in the Capitol
basement
Became Residential Section.
With the growth of the Federal City
the area which had once been in
cIuded in the town of Hamburg, be-
came an exclusive residential section
of the Nations Capital. Probably in
few cities in the world were so many
families Of similar culture and ideals
congregated in happy homes as were
to be found in this vicinity during
the latter part of the last century.
At the time of the division Of
Washington into districts known as
"wards," of which there were seven
in all, this part Of the city was in
cluded in the first ward, which COM
prised the area bounded by Fifteenth
street, Boundary street .(noW Florida