Evening star., 1939-01-08

who, when grown, settled in George
town and here became acquainted
with George Peabody, later to be-
come an international figure in
finance and one of our greatest
philanthropists.
Mr.. Riggs soon engaged In the
dry goods business. employing Mr..
Peabody as bookkeeper, and later
admitted him into partnership.
Elisha Riggs married Alice Lawra-
son, daughter of James Lawrason, a
prominent merchant of Alexandria,
then a part of the District of Co.
lumbia His two sons of this union
were George Washington Riggs
(born July 4, 1879 and Lawrason
Riggs. In 184O, George w. Riggs
married Miss Janet Sheldon, and
at the time of his death he left two
sons, one of whom was E. Francis
Riggs, and probably four daughters.
of whom were Mrs. Henry Howard,
Miss Jane A. Riggs and Miss Alice
L. Riggs, all now deceased.
At the time of the death of George
w. Riggs, August "a, 1881, the bank
ing firm Of Corcoran g. Riggs con-
sisted of himself, his son. E. Francis
Riggs; Charles C. Glover. Thomas
Hyde (whose Office was a little one
story building just above the bank
on Fifteenth, as many will recalD
and John Elliott.
Evidently George w. Riggs trans
ferred his affections from George
town to Washington as early as l843,
for we find him that year residing
on New York avenue between Thir-
teenth and Fourteenth streets, near
Fourteenth, and it was some time
subsequent to this that he built and
moved into the I street residence,
a large, handsome brick structure
which was recently scrapped, so to
speak.
Sixteenth street north Of La
fayette Park did not develop as fast
as did street and many people still
with us can recall when beyond
Scott Circle was suburban property.
During the period of the Civil War,
for instance, we find on Sixteenth
street just above st. Johns Church
and across the street from the Tuck
erman-Porter residence, before re-
ferred to, the wood and coal yard of
Dickson g. King Later this firm
bought the southeast and southwest
corners of Sixteenth and K streets
NV. and stored coal at the former
and wood at the latter. However,
even this location was soon regarded
as too far uptown for an Office and
they rented a piece of ground on
the east side of Sixteenth street
just south of street and had their
: Office there for a while, but subse-
quently moved to the southeast cor
ner of Sixteenth and K streets.
Not long after this they leased a
: lot on the south side of New York
, avenue between Thirteenth and
, Fourteenth streets, where was later
, erected THE Rink" There Peter
: Grogan subsequently kept a furni
ture store and afterward was built
the Hall of the AncientS, where now
o stands the Capital Garage. Before
! this, however, John Dickson had re-
, tired from the firm and his sons
y Henry and James, had taken over
! his interest.
Soon Ferdinand King and James
, King, sons of the second William
9 joined the firm as clerks. having
. previously been employed in like
! capacity at William McLean's lum;
= ber yard. On the death of John
:, Dickson, his son James sold his in
- terest to his brother Henry, and be-
= cause of failing health Henry Dick
son also left the business in 1880
when the third William King be.
came sole owner of the firm, ano
;, upon his death the business de-
scended to his son, LIE Roy O. King
the present owner.
e An idea of just how rural thi,
e part of Washington was northwarc
) (See LAFAYETTE PARK, Page C-5.J