Evening star., 1937-07-18


n Of building in some of our
~ older American cities does not
a mean very much, but in a city
like Washington, as designed by
LEnfant, which did not have its be-
ginning until April Is, 1891, when
the corner stone Of the District was
laid at Jones Point, just below Alex
andrla, Va. century means great
deal. especially to the antiquarian
who loves to dream of the days that
have passed and gone, the things that
used to be and the things We now
regard as ancient and to whom there
is always a charm and fascination
in everything old that presented day
people or present-day objects cannot
produce.
Theer are not so many buildings
In Washington that have reached the
age of hundred years. Indeed, the
population of the city in 1887 was
only about $4,000. and many of these
structures then standing were frame
There we're few residences north of
G street, and when in 1924, Just l3
years more than a century ago, Will
liam H. Crawford of Georgia. then
Secretary Of the Treasury, was ordered
to the country for his health by his
physician, we are told NJ. Crawford
found place that answered this de-
scription on Thomas Circle, where
now stands the National City Chris
tlan Church. So one can easily judge
now restricted Washington must have
been at that time and how really rural
it was when the Union engine house,
the meeting place of the Associate
Of the Oldest Inhabitants, was COM
pleted a hundred years ago.
THE record of this old building
shows that the ground upon
which it stands. lot II, square 141,
was purchased in the 30s by H. K.
Randall and that on April 4, 1887,
he conveyed it to the commissioner Of
public buildings as site for the
Union engine house. This fire COM
panv was the first to be formed within
the limits of early Washington, hav-
ing been organized August 10, 1904,
and reorganized in 1914, though it
again went out Of existence in a few
years, and remained dormant until
about 1887, when it was revived, and
from then on was one of the most
active and important companies in
the city.
At first it had its headquarters at
the West Market, a building also
known as the Town Hall, and the con-
struction of which was begun in 1902
While its opening took place the fol-
lowing year. 1t stood in the triangu-
lar space on the north side of Penn
sylvania avenue between Twentieth
and TVenty-first streets and its lower
floors were used to house the stalls
for the market, while the upper floor
was used as a public hall and for
while as a meeting place for Hiram
Lodge, No. 10, F. A. A. M.
This fire company was organized
mainly for the protection of the War
and Navy Buildings and was given
tilC hoC Va VIC SIlEIIit l4ldl DNlOllEeQ
to the Government and which was
then said to be in a building near
the Treasury office"
An old-timer says that the early
home of the Union Engine Company.
attached to the market house, was of
wood. two stories high, with a bell
tower over the gable, and that it re-
sembled in appearance the building
now occupied by the Oldest Inhabi-
tants. = 1t stood on the Twentieth
street side of the market and when
the company was reorganized in 1914
it occupied the same wooden struc-
ture. Of it's first officers we find such
vell-knoNn names as James Hoban.
president; Andrew Way, jr., vice presi-
dent; Washington Boyd, treasurer:
James Kearney, secretary. Clotworthy
Stephenson, Peter Lenox, Lewis Marin
and Henry Langtry were the engi-
neers: John Hewitt, Thomas Thorpe,
Thomas Carpenter, Henry Hereford,
John P. Van Ness and Joseph Calvert,
f1remen; James Huddleton, John
Aiken. Orlando Cook. Hugh Boyd.
George Moore, Thomas Given. John
Dobbin and c. NJ. Nautz, laddermen;
David Shoemaker Richard Forrest
John MCGOWAN, George Way, Lewis
Clephane and Thomas Heitz, senti-
nels, and the corpany's Board Of
General Superintendence consisted Of
John Payne, Edward Fretby. S. L..
Mccormick, Ezra Warden, Alexander
Cochran, Robert Tally, William
Thornton, James Thornton and John
Hewitt
A FTER the old Union company was
revived. about 1887. it moved into
the old fire house. still standing at the
southeast corner of H and Nineteenth
streets, this being the next to the
oldest engine house still standing in
the District of Columbia used by VOL
unteed companies, the old Vigilant
house in Georgetown probably having
been erected 10 years earlier. The
Union company's new home was
erected by Congress and the company
moved into it when it was completed,
the West Market, its former home,
being subsequently torn down in 1856.