Evening star., 1936-01-12
Bv WiIliam 4. Millen.

~ TANDING at the threshold of
the twentieth century, half
dozen prominent men surveyed
~ the wreckage wrought by a
hundred years of neglect of the proper
development of plan for Washing
ton. Now more than a quarter of a
century later, most of their major OBJ
jectives have been realized.
1t was the Chicago Columbian Ex-
position of 1893 and the Centennial
Celebration of the Founding of the
Federal City that gave spur to the
creation of the Macmillan Park Com
mission of 1901, comprised of the half
dozen prominent men whose work now
nears completion.
Still remaining to be accomplished
among the recommendations of that
august body are: The proper housing
of the District government, including
an armory: a park entrance to the
District of Columbia near Bladens-
burg, Md, by way of the Anacostia
River Valley; the George Washington
Memorial Parkway, from Great Falls
southwark to Fort Washington. Md,
and Mount Vernon, Va; suitable gar
dens at the Washington Monument
and the erection of Government build
ings around Lafayette Square.
Death has claimed the railroad
builder, Mcmillan, Senator from Mich
igan. whose name history has given
to the plan because, in a legislative
way, he fathered it; Burnham, the
director of works at the World Colum-
bian Exposition; McKim, the pre-
eminent architect, creator of gems in
stone, and st. Gaudens, the Irish
born artist who brought his genius to
America and wrought his wonders
here.
OF that gallant band associated with
the commission of 1901, one who sur
wives is Frederick Law Olmsted, out
standing landscape architect of Brook
line, Mass, and Palos Verdes Calf,
former member of the Fine Arts Com
mission and also of the National Cap
1tal Park and Planning Commission.
His father had fashioned the terraces
Of the Capitol in an earlier day. 1t
was but logical that he should have
been chosen by the planners of 1901
to serve with them, for he had been
associated with his father in the land
scape work that formed the basis of
the design for the World Columbian
Exposition.
Still living, too, is DR.. Charles
Moore, then secretary to Senator Mo-
MILAN and now chairman of the Ma
tional Commission of Fine Arts. Will
liam T. Partridge, chief craftsman to
the 1901 commission, is now consult
ing architect of the National Capital
Park and Planning Commission
JUST as the plan of LEnfant, the
eminent French engineer and hero
Of the American Revolution, in its day
was branded fantasy, so, too, was the
Mcmillan plan dubbed "a snowy
sham," or at best, scheme to be
realized in an indefinite future" But
time has justified those who sponsored
1t and confcunded the skeptics. The
commission of 1901 determined that
the plan of L'Enfant. prepared with
the assistance of Washington and
Jefferson, was the best, viewed
through the mellowing distance of
. century, and so it was modernized
and expanded. not only to embrace
the whole District of Columbia. but
beyond. In its studies the commits
sion was guided by the researches of
E1lApAyH ny~r
LEnfant plan.
Historically ringing in its ears,
when the 1901 commission set to work,
was the charge that the L'Enfant plan
had become. noss-backed; its lessons
forgotten. its practice preached. The
Mall, that great central park of down.
town Washington, which was the
pride Of Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant,
had become encumbered; slashed into
q number of pieces. and. worst of all,
steam engines ano horse cars were
crossing it, just west of the Capitol,
and q full-fiedged railroad station was
perched nearby.
Back in 1864 Gov. Alexander R.
Shepherd Of the District, singing un-
der the sarcasm that the National
Capital was but city of mud and
dirt, moved to clean it up, straighten
its rural streets and generally make
1t measure up to its destiny. What
ever criticism may be shot at his
methods, Gov. Shepherd accomplished
results that are noted by the planners
of. this day.
When the commission Of 1901 came
upon the scene, it faced the Gar
gantuan task Of clearing the public
carriers out Of the Mall and persuade
ing the Pennsylvania Railroad, which
ct that time controlled the Baltimore