Evening star., 1936-07-19
By John Clagen Proctor.

Building on Pennsylvania ave-
nue. between Eleventh and
Twelfth streets prompts the writer
to repeat an item appearing in The
Star of Saturday, october 8, 1896,
which says:
Monday the last plank will be
bolted to the steel peak of the Post
Once tower, and the skaters begin
their perilous task. Four men have
been engaged in closing in the roof
of the tower, and their work has
been necessarily slow. It is not exactly
like making hen coop on the ground
this toiling up 800 feet in the mid
air. Slowly and surely, with constant
risk of life, each piece of steel and
timber has gone to its place, and
bolt after bolt has been driven home
and the interval to the last and
finishing stroke steadily lessened."
AS a matter of fact, the actual
height of this tower is said to be
3l5 feet which is quite a distance
up in the air, being % feet higher
than the Capitol. to the top ot the
Statue of Freedom. and about three
fifthS the height of the Washing
ton Monument our tallest structure.
OF course. If compared with some
of the tall Skyscrapers throughout
the country, this might mean nothing,
but here in Washington, where the
height of the buildings is restricted,
1t means a whole lot-and it seems
TO have meant a whole lot to our
Fire Department. which was called
upon to extinguish the flames on
this high tower.
Some folks seem to regard this
building as a very old structure,
whereas those of us who have resided
in Washington for long while do
not see it in that light. since it was
only completed and occupied in 1899.
ITO THE early Washingtonian it IS
quite interesting to look back
ward a few decades and recall the
Juggling that has taken place in the
securing of sites for Government
buildings. The selecting of site
for this old Post Office Building is
a typical example of how they did
things in ye olden days, and it Is
quite probable that some of our pres
ent lawmakers are following in the
footsteps of their predecessors.
The urgent need for Government
owned city post office building was
known for a long while before one
was ever built. In 1884 Frank B.
Conger, then city postmaster, made
a special report on the subject, in
which he said:
Since my appointment as post
master six months ago I have daily
become more and more impressed
with the fact that the location of
the city post Office in the present
building was a mistake, and that,
even if the immense business of the
Washington post Office could be ac-
commodated at the time of its original
occupancy, such business has grown
so rapidly that it is today absolutely
unfit for post Office purposes. There
is not a room in the building where
the necessary work can be speedily
and economically performed. The
various divisions are separated In
many parts of the building, and in
some cases the division has its work
divided up in several parts. Connected
with the Office is a mail bag repair
shop and depository. The depository
occupies the largest portion of
low. damp, gloomy and unhealthy
basement, which Is divided into ir-
regular spaces by wooden partitions,
greatly enhancing the danger in case
of fire, without the possibility of the
removal of a particle of valuable ma
terial which is stored therein. An
other portion of the basement is fitted
up for the accommodation of the
employees of the House and Senate
post offices, which, while very in
convenient for those Offices, is the
best that can be furnished.
There are several sites in the CITY
which would be suitable for a post
Office building, but I hope whatever
action is taken that the united sup
port of the entire population of Wash
1ngton may be given to efforts to Sc
cure from Congress an appropriation
Tor site and suitable building, leaving
the question of location to be deter
mined in such manner as Congress
may direct after the appropriation has
been made"
Several sites were selected from time
TO time for what was generally called
the City Post Office, but hardly had
the building been completed when the
Post ONCE Department moved in and
TOOK considerable part of the space
and eventually, as we know, crowded
out the local Office and took over the
entire building.
THE question of obtaining site for
post office was before Congress
Tor a long while before a conclusion
was finally reached. In 1888 the sub
committee of the House Committee on
Public Buildings and Grounds, having
IN charge the erection of building for
this purpose, agreed to place the struc-
ture in the block then bounded by
Ninth and Tenth streets, Pennsylvania
avenue and c street, which is now oc-
cupied by the northern portion of the
Department Of Justice Building But
evidently the Senate did not agree to
the proposition, for nothing further
was heard of the idea of placing it
there.
There has always been an apparent
desire on the part of Congress to OBJ
literate Judiciary Square for park pur-
poses, and so at this time it was sug-
gested to place the post Office in this
area. The square between Eighth,
Ninth. and F streets was advocated,
as well as other places, but that was
as far as the matter got until May "a,
1890, when the site on Pennsylvania
avenue was agreed upon by the differ
ent factions in Congress.
In those days Senator Justin S. Nor
rill took as much interest in providing
for public buildings as did Senator
Smoot until q few years ago, and both
usually had their say in such matters.
According to The Star Of January z,
1899, it was Senator Morrill,, more than
any one else, who selected the site and
.s1J $50 t~s-