Evening star., 1938-01-09
By John CIageft Proctor.

By John Clagen Proctor
~ STREET NV. in days gon'
by compared favorably will
Washington's most attractiv,
- residential streets, though
one must admit it does not do SO to-
day. However, the city is changing
rapidly, and this thorough1are viii
no doubt again become just as pleas
ing in appearance as it was many
years ago, though 1t will probably al.
ways be a street lined with business
places, Office buildings and apartment
houses.
Not so many years ago some of the
Districts most important people re-
sided along this street, although the
eastern end-toWard North Capitol
street-did not build up so fast as
did that part We still regard as be-
ing in the downtown section.
In 1878 Lasere Duvall and William
T Duvall were living at 124 D street
and Almon Baldwin g. Son had a
large contracting and building plant
nearby; the Misses Celia and Lizzie
Koones were teaching school at No
22l in the same street, the latter re-
siding there at least until 1878 Others
living in this square included Will
liam E. Howard. secretary of the
Fireman's Insurance Co.; Clement w
Howard, Andrew Coyle and his daugh-
ter. Mrs. Alexander Speir, and George
w. Phillips. Here on the north side
of the street was Mechanics Row
built, We are told, as early as 1850 by
several mechanics as an investment
D. Wesley Middleton built the house
at the northeast corner of Third and
d streets in 1881, and here he re-
sided until about 1882, when Alex
ander N. Zevely, father Of Douglass
Zevely, made it his home until 1858
Edwin Cecil Morgan took possession
when Mr.. Zevely moved.
THE early residents in the 300 block
were James Vaudeville Carlisle
who built the house at 307-9. over
looking the statue Of Albert Pike, In
@ocSs Az WAC CdSl VA I1lS Sdl llSlG
house, at the northwest corner of
Third street, lived John F. Clark,
father of Mrs. Ella King Middleton,
who was born there in 1858, and sew
eral years ago the writer made a
most delightful inspection of this
neighborhood with Mrs. Middleton
who has now passed on.
This charming old lady was, for her
age, really beautiful. and she came
by it rightly, for her fathers people
originally came to this country from
Glen McQuilde, near Garvah, Ire
land. and she was blessed with the
Beautiful eyes of Old Erin, which
still were as bright and as penetrat-
Ing as those of a woman 40 years
her junior.
OF course, this delightful woman
pointed out the corner where she was
born and told how, when she was a
child, she and the sons of James
Vaudeville Carlisle would park them
selves under the window of that noted
lawyers home (still standing at 307-9
d streeD until the elder Carlisle
would give each one of them a large
copper penny about the size of the
present silver quarter, and then of
they would Scamper to Aunt Bar
bara, a colored woman who sold dain-
ties on Third street opposite where
Trinity Church stood until recently,
and here they would buy honey cakes.
peppermints on paper, horse cakes
and such sweets as would for the
moment appeal to their childish fancy.
N THOSE days, according to this
venerable lady, the children's play
ground was in Judiciary Square, and
there was much vacant ground there
about. The Tiber was then an open
stream, and upon occasions of heavy
rains would overflow its banks and be-
come torrent
In referring to these interesting
events, Mrs. Middleton said that when
she was young the creek once became
so swollen that the stock yard of
Voltaire Willet at First street and In
diana avenue was flooded, and a large
number of his pigs had to be rescued
to keep them from drowning. Mrs.
Middleton said that they squealed ter
rif1cally when being taken from the
water by Mr.. Willet's men, and actual
ly woke up the neighborhood.
Speaking of the early conditions in
this vicinity-which bears out Mrs.
Mlddleton's recollections--Mr. Charles
N. Bradley said in 1902:
1T was comfortable, cheerful, un-
conventional and rather popular old
community then-much visited from
other parts of the city, and its two
boarding houses much frequented by
members Of Congress. It was the day
OF small incomes, cheap food and
Clothing and old-fashioned hospitality.
1T was also the day of pure de-
mocracy and the freedom of the city
was generally accorded to the animal
ngdom-giving certain neighbor-
hoods, and ours especially, a semi
pastoral appearance. Stately process
sions of conceited geese and insane,
Quacklng ducks waddled calmly and
peacefully along the streets to and
from their morning bath in Tiber
Creek; stray pigs rooted unmolested in
the cutters until their day of judg-
ment came-once a year-when a
stalwart Negro appeared with an eager
bulldog. which rushed with apparent
glee and enjoyment to his business of
catching pigs by the ear and holding
them until secured and carted of,
Cows browsed lazily along the curbs
and in vacant lots and occasionally
one more intelligent and romantic
than the rest-tired, perhaps, of a
steady diet of grass-would wander
forth moonlight nights, stealthily un-
latch front gates, make her way to the
garbage barrel in the back yard and
was never cured until one fateful night
the barrel remained on her head and
led to exposure and punishment.
"A not infrequent sight was a wag-
on-load of fresh hides being hauled