Evening star., 1937-02-07
Bv John Claeett Proctor.

y
-HERE are many charitable
institutions in and around
Washington, governed by diff
i ferent organizations and
bodies, and all are doing a magnifi-
cent work. Some Of these establish
ments are very old and date back al
most to the founding of the city, while
others, though not so old, are, never
theless, rendering just as creditable a
service to humanity and to the Dis
trict of Columbia.
One OF these in mind Is the German
Orphan Home, on the Good Hope
road leading out from Anacostia. and
that was for years the main highway
from Washington to Upper Marlboro
and farther on. This is one Of the
more recent institutions, and did not
come into being until october l, 1879,
when quarters in a small house, then
at 1927 l. street, were rented for the
purpose stated.
OF course, there is a beginning to
everything, and in an affair Of this
kind, some one must start the thing
going and do the pioneer work, and so
it was with this home for destitute
children, which was the thought of Rev.
Martin Kraft, pastor of the Evangeli-
cal Lutheran Concordia Church at
the corner of Twentieth and G streets
northwest, a church of interesting his
tory, since the ground upon which it
stands was donated for this purpose
by Jacob Funk, said to have been a
gunmaker Of Georgetown. and whose
historic work, in what is now the Dis
trict Of Columbia, was the laying out
OF q town named Hamburg, in It'll,
Funkstown, because OF its founders
name.
Funk purchased this tract Of land,
consisting Of about 130 acres, in 1765
from Thomas Johns. At consider
ably earlier date. in 1864, when a part
of Widows Mite, it was acquired by
John Langworth. Apparently, when
it was first laid off in 287 lots. Funk
did not Immediately record his plat,
as evidenced by a receipt given by
him three years before this was done
Incidentally, this receipt, in describing
the property. contained the interest,"
ing information that it lay between
''Rock Grick and Coos Grick," the last
name being the designation by which
Tiber Creek was also known, and by
which it was facetiously referred to
by Tom Moore, the Irish poet, when
he visited this city in 1904.
A MAP Of Hamburg, in the Library
Of Congress, shows five streets
and an alley running east and west,
and from the river northward they
were Water street. Front alley, Second
street, Third or Raven street, Fourth
street and Fifth street. The streets
running north and south would re-
mind one Of Philadelphia, for we find
such names as High street, Arch street,
Market street. Persemon CPersimmon)
street, Walnut, Locust, Mulberry and
Rock streets. Front alley was 80 feet
in width and the streets varied in
width from so to 80 feet.
The western boundary of the town
site was at about Twenty-third street,
the eastern line somewhere between
Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets,
and it extended from about H street
on the north to the Potomac River on
the south. The old-timer knows this
general locality as Foggy Bottom.
Mr.. Funk also provided ground for
another church to be placed in Ham
burg, which he refers to as for a
Calvinist society"
Time passed on and it was two
years after the corner stone of the
District of Columbia was laid-and
after the town Of Hamburg, as such,
had become merged into Washington
before any claim was made for the
lots so thoughtfully donated by Mr..
Funk for religious purposes, when, on
June %, 1893, Daniel Reintzel took
steps to secure title to the lots granted
on behalf of the societies named. How
ever, no effort was made to build
churches upon these sites for a long
while, and then not until the Con-
cordia German Lutheran Church
erected building on the Twentieth
street site in 1888 This church, of
course, later gave way to the present
structure, the corner stone of which
was laid in December, 1889.
The pastor of this church in 1843
was a Mr.. Borchere, who was then re-
siding on the north side of Louisiana
avenue (now Indiana avenue) between
Sixth and Seventh streets. In 1916
the same pastor; in 1860, Rev. Sam
uel Finckel; 1866, the same; in 1878,
Rev. G. L. Rietz, who was succeeded
in 1879 by Rev. Kraft, who, as stated,
conceived the idea of forming the Or
phan asylum, which first occupied the
L street house. This soon proved un-
suitable and other quarters we're Sc
cured in 1880 at 2422 K street north
west.
Some pioneer work in caring for
needy Children had already been done,
in the care and protection Of the
orphans Of the congregation by its
members, even before the Rev. Kraft
took charge of Concordia Church, and
It was their difficulties and uphill
work that attracted the pastors at
tention and really convinced him that
another agency Of greater strength
and scope was needed to care for the
destitute and abandoned children
coming under their notice The names
OF these early workers were Sophie
Aigler, H. Liesman, j. Thalburg, K.
g. Barthel. C. Schaefer, r. Kettler.
r. B. Roberts, Rosina Botsch, M.
Bottger and M. Falconer.
THE first meeting having in view
- the starting Of the asylum was
held in the Concordia Church on Au-
gust 81, 1879, and at this time reso-
luton was passed to appeal to the
citizens Of Washington in general, and
the German-American citizens Of the
District of Columbia in particular, for
aid In the establishment Of Ger
man Protestant Orphan Asylum. And
with this purpose in view a commit
tee was appointed to solicit aid for