Evening star., 1938-03-13
By John Clageff Proctor.

THE recent removal Of the black
ened walls of the Hahn shoe
store building at Seventh and
4 K streets. together with the
debris that usually follows big fire,
has brought to light sign on the
wall Of the Goldenberg Building that
has been obscured at least since 1898.
when William Hahn & %. enlarged
its Seventh street store.
Just who occupied this building
when the sign was painted on the
wall the writer confesses his re-
searches did not definitely disclose,
although it seems to have been placed
there by the firm of Carhart g. Leidy,
which succeeded w. w. Burdette on
this spot, and which remained here
until about 1895, when it gave way to
M. Goldenberg. Carhart & Leidy sold
dry goods and house furnishings and
the firm included Albert Carhart and
Augustus P. Leidy.
Close by also was John Rudden.
furniture dealer. However, after the
Hahn company enlarged its building in
1898, taking in the corner property,
whatever sign might have been on the
adjoining wall disappeared from view.
William Hahn, who laid the founda-
ton for the firm of William Hahn &
Co., came to Washington from Ger
many as a young man and gained
his experience in the shoe business
with his uncle, Louis Heilbrun. who
IN 1855 was in partnership with his
brother. Samuel, in the boot and shoe
business in the old 1ntelligencer Build
Ing at Seventh and Q streets NV.
In 1876 Mr.. Hahn opened a store
OF his own at 1922 Pennsylvania ave-
hue. at the Sign of the Red Slipper"
and he called it the Bargain Shoe
Store" In 1879 he took in the store
at 8l6 Seventh street, and when, in
1891, he moved to the site recently
destroyed by fire. he took into the
business his brothers, Morris and S.
Fred Hahn. and since then the firm
has continued to grow. and is now
planning to rebuild, on the old site,
handsome and attractive building,
with clock in the tower to accom-
modate the public that depended upon
the old timepiece for so many years,
or until it recently went up in smoke.
IT MAY be interesting to say that
this corner as early as 1860, was
occupied by the grocery store of John
T. c. Clark, who in 1850 was residing
on the north side of F street between
Fifth and Sixth streets NV. When
Hahns moved to this neighborhood
the corner was occupied by a small
brick building owned and occupied
as grocery store by Philip r. Wilson.
The opposite corner-that is, the
southeast corner-was occupied in
1846 by John Neal as a wood and
coal yard, to which Richard w. Burr
later succeeded. In 1865, Mr.. Burr
was trading under the name of Burr
d Bro. in the shoe business at 383
Seventh street (old number, the
brother being Benjamin B. Burr, who
then lived on Eighth street between
G and H streets.
However, as a shoemaker, Thomas
French was probably the pioneer in
this neighborhood He lived on the
southeast corner of Ninth and K
streets, where he owned a two-story
frame house. He was here prior to
1843.
The corner, where was the wood and
coal yard, at Seventh street was pur-
chased by George w. Utermehle, and
here were erected several low gabled-
rooted frame buildings where Augustus
Coppes kept the Oriental restaurant,
and these buildings later gave way
to the present structures, early oc-
cupied by the Jackson Bros. Furni-
ture Co.
South of Mr.. Utermehle's holdings.
on the east side of Seventh street be-
tween and K, was owned by Andrew
Rothwell, who worked as a printer at
the case early in his life, and" ac-
cording to Mr.. Croggon, who probably
knew him well, lin the thirties he
published a paper and carried on a
job printing Office on the Avenue
near 412 street."
In 1889, Mr.. Rothwell was elected
collector of taxes, and continued to
f1ll the Office for IL years. At this
time he resided on the east side of
Seventh street between and K, but
by 1850 he had moved to the north
east corner of Seventh and streets,
and in 1860 kept fancy goods store
IN that vicinity. Six years later he
was clerk in the Navy Department.
His earlier activities included the
of the Washington City
Chronicle, with T. w. Ustick, for a
brief period, about 1928 to 1929. A
few years later he prepared the third
digest OF the laws of the corporation
OF Washington. That he rendered
service to the temperance cause is
evident from the fact that in 1880
he was vice president of the Franklin
Temperance Society.
Mr.. RoTHWELL prospered and ac-
cumulated what was fortune in
MS day, and when the Third Baptist
church was organized, in 1843,. he
gave the lot upon which the church
building was erected. on the south
side OF E street, between Sixth and
streets, in 1846. And it still
stands. However, it has long since |
gone into other hands. Though its |
official name was the Third Baptist
church 1t was generally known as
the E Street Baptist Church or DIR.
Samson's Church." for Rev. George
W. Samson was its first pastor and
served as such until 1859, when he be-
came president of Columbian COL
lege (now George Washington Uni
versity). incidentally the writer al
ways thinks kindly Of DR.. Samson be-
cause he performed the marriage GER
emony for his parents.
Andrew Rothwell was a member of
the Association Of the Oldest Inhab-
atants at the time Of his death.
WHEN the city was first laid out
wv the immediate vicinity of Mas
sachusetts avenue and Seventh street