Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-10-11
John Classen Proctor.

- nelghDOr 10 Tie nOrLnSdSt
and one of the most thriv-
4 ing towns around Washing
ton, celebrated the golden jubilee Of
its incorporation yesterday in very
enthusiastic manner, though it might
have done so last Spring, since its
charter was signed April 7, 1885.
when the metes and bounds Of ths
town were then given as:
Commencing at the junction of
the Eastern Branch of the Potomac
River and the Northwest Branch and
following the Northwest Branch to
Cartons Dam; thence in direct
line to stone on the south side of
the public road leading to Bladens-
burg: thence in a direct line to the
western extremity of Avalon avenue:
thence with Avalon avenue to the
western boundary of the Washington
and Baltimore turnpike, thence with
western boundary of said turn
alike southerly to its intersection with
the southern line of Riverdale, eX-
tended; thence with said line easterly
to the Washington branch of the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; thence
with the easterly boundary of said
railroad right of way southerly to the
Alexandria junction of said railroad:
thence with the eastern boundary of
the right of way of said Alexandria
Branch road to the East Branch Of
the Eastern Branch of the Potomac
River and thence with said East
Branch and adjacent limits of the
corporation of Bladensburg to the
place of the beginning"
The records show that Harrison
s. Bowen. Frank A. Aman. the
brother of Joseph w. Aman of Rails
ton and Lutrell avenues, and Seth A.
Holton, uncle of the present Town
Treasurer William A. Shepherd, were
appointed judges for the first election,
held the first Monday in May, 1886,
and at this time the members of the
board declared elected were DR..
Charles A. Wells, who became presi-
dent. John Luther Shedd, Joseph A.
Aman, Jackson H. Ralston and Rich
ard P. Evans Seth A. Holton was
chosen treasurer and Fred A. Holden,
clerk
"A S MIGHT be supposed, nearly all
of these men were Washing
tonians or former residents of this
city. and had taken up their resi-
dences at Hyattsville principally be-
cause land and living we're cheaper
there at this period than they we're
in the more congested parts of the
District of Columbia. And we find
that even taxes were much less there
at this time, for there was in the act
OF Incorporation specific clause, that
only a maximum Of Is cents on 500
could be levied as a tax on real and
personal property, based on the county
assessments.
1t was a high-type class of people
who formed the group of early resi-
dents of this town, which, in few
years. it seems. will constructively
and substantially become part Of
the Nations Capital itself, from the
way both places are now growing
though the people in Hya ttsville would
probably never be willing to be an
actual part of the District, and thus
relinquish their rights of citizenship
and be debarred from the privilege of
representation in the Congress of the
United States and in other ways dis
franchised, as happens to be the plight
of the people in Washington. And,
no doubt, it was this political ineouity
also that prompted many of the early
city residents to migrate to. and help
build up. the town of Hyattsville, as
we'll as other nearby towns in Mary
land and Virginia.
DR.. Charles A. Wells, first president
Of the Board of Town Commissioners
of Hyattsville, was originally resi-
dent of Bladensburg, and a highly re-
spected physician there, before he
moved into the new town just across
the branch. Harrison S. Bowen was
q clerk in the Navy Department. The
Aman family. of which Joseph A. and
Frank A. Aman we're members, came
to Hyattsville in 1873. when it was
q struggling village. Seth A. Holton
was a clerk in the third auditors Of
flee, Treasury Department.
John Luther Shedd, who shares the
honor with Jackson H. Ralston of
being one of the two surviving men,
bers Of the original board, was born
at 423 Eleventh street, not far from
The Star Office, in 1885, and moved
to Hyattsville with his parents in 1868.
when the family first occupied the old
Octagon House on Locust avenue AS
q young man he attended the Mary
land Agricultural College, now the
University of Maryland, to which place
he frequently walked when the old
gray mare was not available. 1t is
said that at the time of his election
to the board he was its youngest
member. After many years spent in
pioneering in nearby Maryland. Mr..
shedd returned to this city and now
resides at 1927 Newton street, north
west.
MANY will recall Jackson H. Raj
ston, one of Washington's out
standing lawyers of upward of
quarter century ago, when he decided
to retire and make his home in Cali
forria, where he now resides, for the
writer is under the impression that
he still lives. AS early as 1878 he
was working here as a printer in the
Government Printing Office, and stop
ping at 1901 Eleventh street northwest.
In 1883 he was member of the firm
OF Hillyer g. Ralston, attorneys at law,
and later became associated in the
practice of law with the late Judge
Frederick L. Siddons. Sometime sub
sequent to 1880 he took up his resi-
dence in Hyattsville, and a street in
the town is named for him.
For a time at least Mr.. Ralston
believed in the Henry George theory
of a single tax for revenue purposes,
and worked enthusiastically to bring
this about, and in 1892 had 1t adopted
by Hyattsville, the first town or city
in the United States SO to approve the
plan. However. in a short while this
action on the part of the town was