Evening star., 1939-03-26
By John Clagen Proctor.

By John Clagett Proctor.
The extensive excavating going on
along Massachusetts, avenue between
Thirteenth and Fifteenth streets,
and particularly at Thomas Circle
and Fourteenth street, continues to
create considerable curiosity. OF
course, by this time everybody knows
that a tunnel is being constructed
between the streets mentioned and
beneath the circle to facilitate
vehicular traffic, and that it will
accomplish what it is intended to
do, there can be little if any doubt;
but it is big job and is costing a
lot of money.
The writer confesses he has known
this neighborhood for considerably
more than half a century. Indeed,
even before Thomas statue was un-
yelled here on November 10, 1879.
for even as a tot he attended the
Sunday school in the Lutheran
Church that adorns the northern
edge of this circle.
This ediface, officially the Luther
Place Memorial Church, was the of
shoot of st. Paul's English Lutheran
Church, formerly at Eleventh and H
streets NV. A part of the congre-
CATION, under the leadership of the
Rev. John George Butler, DID,, pur-
chased the Thomas Circle site from
Caleb Cushing, in March 1866, for
which they paid $1,000, which was
probably reasonable sum even 73
years ago.
Required Courage.
At this date, there was much un-
improved property in this part of
the city and 1t took real foresight
and courage to undertake to build
q church of this size so far north of
what was then the central part of
Washington. Indeed, those who
have been accustomed to following
the traffic lights and at times work.
ing their way through a maze of
automobiles around Thomas Circle,
but whose memory will not go back
very far, can scarcely visualize what
this neighborhood looked like when
the ground for this church was pur-
chased in 1866.
Perhaps a faint idea may be had
from the statement made by the
noted English writer, Anthony Troll
lope, when he visited Washington
just four years before the ground
for the church was secured. Here
is his description:
Massachusetts avenue runs the
whole length of the city and is in
serted on the maps as a full-groWn
street about 4 miles in length. Go
there and you will find yourself not
only out of town, away among the
fields, but you will find yourself be-
yond the fields in an uncultivated
undrained wilderness. Tucking your
trousers up to your knees, you will
wade through the bogs; you will lose
yourself among the rude hillocks
you will be out of the reach of hu-
manity. " The place is very full
during Congress and very empty
during the recess BY which mean
to be understood that those streets
which are blessed with houses are
full when Congress meets. I do not
think that Congress makes much
difference to Massachusetts, avenue.
s"' A stranger finds himself in the
position Of being sent across the
country knee deep in mud, wading
through snipe grounds. looking for
civilization where none exists"
Impression of Area.
But If 1t would be hard to visualize
this vicinity during the Civil War
period, how much harder it would
certainly be to imagine its rural
conditions when William H. Craw-
ford took up his residence where is
now the National City Christian
Church in 1920, when he was Sec
retary of the Treasury. Prior to
this, Mr.. Crawford had resided on
the east side of Delaware avenue
between B and c street NE, but due
to illness he had been ordered by his
physician to move to the country,
where the air would probably be
purer and there would be more quiet
and less interference, and so at this
time he moved to what is now
Thomas Circle, where the house was
surrounded by spacious grounds,
comprising nearly the entire square.
However, 1t is evident he did not re-
main here very long. for by 1926 the
house was occupied by James Green
leaf and family.
Subsequently Charles Hill moved
into the Crawford residence and
remained there until the beginning
Of the Civil War. In 1846 he was
a director Of the Bank of the
Metropolis, and as further evidence
of the rural condition of the vicinity
Of Thomas Circle in 1860, the city
directory for that year refers to Mr..
Hill as farmer" He most likely
had q son, Nicholas S., lawyer.
Occupants Of House.
An item printed in 1881, In re-
ferring to the Crawford residence,
said: 1T was afterward occupied
by Mr.. Hill, whose daughter mar
ried foreigner and went away with