Evening star., 1937-06-13
FLORIDA AVENUES PIONEERS
lie Dro Park Was Developed Early Days of Washington While
Bloomingdale Grew With Ciy-Beale and Moore
Families, and Cemetery History Here

Barber and his partner, Andrew
Langdon, who lived at 1901 HareWood
avenue, and David McClelland, who
lived on the opposite corner at what
was then 1900 HareWood avenue.
Barber, being promoter, did not re-
side in the park for many years, for
almost Immediately thereafter he be-
gan to develop Columbia Heights and
about 1885 erected for himself a
castlelike stone residence at Thir-
teenth and Clifton streets, where now
stand the Clifton Terrace Apart
ments, 1t was in this Columbia
Heights residence that Melville w.
Fuller later made his home after he
became Chief Justice of the United
States.
LIE Droit Park was not a large sub
division, There we're but five streets
running north and south and three
streets running east and west. The
former were named beginning from
the east) LIE Droit avenue, Hardwood
avenue, Linden street. Lsrch street
and Juniper street, and the latter
streets were called Maple, Spruce and
Elm. When the changing of the
names of these streets took place some
years ago, lie Droit avenue became
Second street, Harewood avenue,
which was originally section of old
HareWood road, was changed to Third
street; Linden street to Fourth, Larch
to Fifth and Juniper to Sixth street.
Maple avenue is now T street, Spruce
street U street, and Elm is the only
street that still bears its original name
TWO of the most important streets
seem to have been Maple and
HareWood avenue Of the many i'm
portant people who resided in Maple
avenue I recall but few, and these
were w. Scott Smith, correspondent;
Arnold B. Johnson, chief clerk. Light
house Board; George S. Prindle, pat
ent attorney; Sumner l. Kimball,
superintendent, Life Saving Service;
Ellery C. Ford, lawyer, and Henry A.
Merrick. On Harewood avenue lived
chief geographer. United States Geo.
logical Survey: Arthur A. Birney, at
one time district attorney: Benjamin
ButterVorth, member of Congress
from Ohio and afterward commits
sioner Of patents. James H McGill,
the architect who drew the plans for
so many of the houses in the park;
Staughton S. Doyle, who taught mu-
sic; Ezra B. Barnum, Pennsylvania
avenue clothier; N. M. Brush and Dr.
Joseph NJ Rose, who died recently
Rev, c. H. Fay lived on Spruce street,
as did j. j. Albright, Charles w
Fisher, Capt. Howard L. Prince, Abram
L. SWartout, George E. Sloat, William
T. Hornaday, for many years the di-
rector of the Bronx Geological Park
at New York, Charles Ruoff of the
firm of Willet e. Ruoff, and Marie
Ginesi. Mrs. w Norman Fleming and
Edmund Woog. chief of the Financial
Division, Indian Office, resided on
Linden street.
Others who resided in the park in
the early days we're Charles Darwin,
librarian of the Geological Survey;
Col. o H. Irish of the Bureau of En-
craving and Printing; Brenton l..
Baldwin, Emma B. Smith, F. H.
Ramey, w E. Williams, Ralph Bald
win, Mrs. B. Pettingill, S. S. Gannett,
F. j. Young, Charles A. Hamilton, cor
respondent; O. B. Brown, William H.
DeggeS, w, F. Hildebrand, James A.
Marter, 7. B. Campbell T j. w. Rob-
ertson, E. M. Merrick. De Lancey Gill.
H. B, Wyman, NJ. Horstman, A. w
Conlee, C. R. Follin. Mary Ragan, Os-
car T. ToWner, E. Woodruff, w. Hol-
H. E. Cooper and j. B.
Thomas.
OF course, there were many others
who lived in the park, but they cannot
be recalled at this time.
During the Civil War Campbell Hos
pital occupied the area of LIE Droit
Park and vicinity, and at the close
of the war the buildings were trans
ferred to Gen. O. O. Howard and
formed the nucleus of Freedmens
Hospital.
Prior to 1861 the only landowners
listed on the north side of Florida
avenue between Seventh street west
and Lincoln road were c. Miller, D.
McClelland and Mrs. Emily Beale St.
Patrick's Cemetery abutted Florida
avenue and to the rear was the prop
erty of G. Moore A map of 1852
shows two tracts of land to the
north of the Beale estate owned by
some one named Moore; probably
David Moore. The plat book for 1878
shows Mrs. Beale's land as being at
the northwest corner of Lincoln road
and Florida avenue.
A MAP Of old Watercourses of the
District of Columbia shows two
small streams which had their sources
in the Soldiers Home area. and both
Of which joined together on S street
a little to the west of
First street, and there became a part
of Tiber Creek. The little branch
to the west flowed through Moore's
Lane, and the stream to the east
flowed to the west of Glenwood Gene
terry and generally southwark between
North Capitol and First streets north
west.
To many reference to Moore's lane
will bring fond memories, as it Ger
tainly does to the writer, for in his
childhood days he frequently went
to this place in Summer time to catch
small fish which inhabited the stream
and to shoot birds. There was moth
ing picturesque about the place, for
the branch was shallow and the land
was level and showed no indication
of ever having been farmed. Brier
bushes seemed to be growing every
where in profusion, and these at
tracted in large quantities what the
boys then called brier birds, un-
doubtedly local name for what the
ornithologist would call something
else
Originally, all of this area to the
Eastern Branch belonged to Motley
Young and was known as the Mill