Evening star., 1937-03-28
By John Claeet Proctor.

not be many years before all the old
buildings there are replaced by new
and modern structures
Originally this block, known as
square 469, consisted of IA lots, and
on lot No. l, where the Police Court
Building now stands, was the old Uni
tartan Church. dedicated on June 9,
1922. Charles Bulfnch. who was
architect of the Capitol from 1920
to 1880, designed the building, and it
remained as the only example of his
architectural ability in this city until
removed for the present court building
in 1906
Because the Unitarian Church
stood on this site until compara-
lively recent date, 1t is naturally still
recalled by many of our older resi-
dents-and they need not be so very
old at that
The building Was Of brick construc-
ton, with a smooth plaster finish eX-
terror and a steeple in which was
placed the first bell erected in the
city With the exception of the one
used at the Capitol to announce the
hour for starting or ending work. At
the time of the execution of John
Brown, at Charles Town, Va. in 1859,
1t was the only bell in Washington to
toll mournful sympathy, but this
was so resented by the city govern
ment that from that time on its use
for official announcements was dis
continued.
When the new church was built at
Fourteenth and L streets northwest,
the bell was moved there, and after
this church was crowded out. to be
replaced by business block, 1t was
probably taken to the new church
at Sixteenth and Harvard streets 1t
was cast in 1922 in Paul Reveres
foundry.
TN THE early days of the church,
when Robert Little was its pas
tor many prominent persons gathered
there on Sunday to hear him preach,
and surely if great men lend insplra-
ton to speaker Rev. Little was
much encouraged, for we find among
the Worshipers and listeners such
noted men as John Quincy Adams,
later President of the United States,
and John C. Calhoun, then Secretary
of War and later twice Vice Presi-
dent and United States Senator from
South Carolina. Calhoun died in the
old brick Capitol, where the Supreme
Court Building now stands. on March
81, 1850 william Winston Seaton and
Joseph Gales, jr., editors of the Ma
ole
bers of Rev. Little's congregation. The
former was Mayor of washington
from 1840 to 1849 and the latter from
1927 to 1929 Others who attended
were Joseph Gales sr; William Eliot.
Charles Bulfnch, John F. Webb, S. C.
Fowler and Judge William Cranch
Later on the following names also
appear on the church records: Moses
Poor, Noah Fletcher, Richard Wal
ZACH mayor from 1861 to 1850, Rob-
ert Little, Seth Hyatt. C, Andrews
S. Robinson, Pishy Thompson (Who
kept a bookstore on the Avenue and
for a while published the American
Quarterly Review. Thomas Bates, A.
B. Waller, Thomas C. Wright, NJ.
Claxton and S. Franklin. Thomas
Law, who married Mrs. Washingtons
granddaughter, was among the con-
tributors who helped build the church.
Being one of the most fashionable
churches in the city, it was visited
by many prominent people and, un-
doubtedly, up the same aisles law
breakers later trod, members of Wash
ington's elite once marched to the
strains of the wedding march. All
the society folk of the city must have
gathered there to witness such cere-
monies.
That Gen Lafayette visited this
church during the latter part of 1924,
when he was visiting America for the
last time. we are told by Mrs. Seaton,
wife of the Uell-knoWn editor of the
National Intelligencer and Mayor OF
Washington from l840 to 1849, who
wrote to her parents at the time, say
ing:
LAFAYETTE goes with us next Sum
day to the Unitarian Church, being
deeirous of hearing Mr.. Little, of
whose fervid eloquence he has heard
20 much"
Horace Greeley when in Congress,
also attended this church. He was
present when the Rev. Mr.. Conway
preached his decisive sermon on slav-
cry, and reported it to the New York
Tribune. Mr.. Greeleys term In Con-
gress was of short duration. He served
only from December 4, 1848, to March
3, 1849.
A MOTHER use to which the old
Police Court Building was put
while it was still being used for church
purposes was that of Civil War hos
pital. It was used as such for about
six months in 1862, being opened in
July and closed in December of that
year.
Perhaps no site in the District has
served better purposes. AS a church
1t ministered to the souls of men, as
q hospital it cared for the manned
and wounded soldiers who fought, and
In some cases died, that their country
might live, and as court it rem
dered-and is still rendering-a neces-
sary service for the encouragement of
crime.
The present court building covers
more than the original site and in
cludes on the D street side a part of
what was once known as the Webster
Law Building.
In 1903 Douglass Zevely, in a paper
written for the Columbia Historical
Society, tells much of the early history
of the buildings on the north side of
D street between Fifth and Sixth
streets, and includes, among others,
reference to the old building on the
northwest corner of Fifth and D
streets where police headquarters was
located from 1882 to 1898.
According to this authority johnson
HELEN, a lawyer, erected this building
about 1882 He was a Washingtonian
by birth and occupied this corner as
his home until his death, January 81,