Evening star., 1940-02-04
Bv Joseph S. Edgerfon.

By Joseph S. Edgerton.
The 194O-50 decade, although it
unquestionably will bring great de-
velopments and improvements to
every section of the Greater WASH
ington area, probably will bring no
greater or more beneficial changes
to any single area than it now
seems assured will be brought to
the Southwest section of the city.
A great Federal building plan, now
just getting well under way in the
hitherto neglected area south
of the Mall, brings assurance of
changes during the decade which
will raise Southwest Washington to
dignity and beauty to its rightful
place among the more favored por-
tions of the District.
Construction of three large Fed
eral office buildings now is in prog
ress south of the Mall between the
Smithsonian Institution group and
the new Botanical Garden-itSelf a
beautiful new addition to the at
fractions of the growing Southwest
section. These three buildings being
erected to house the Social Security
Board, the Railroad Retirement
Board and, for the present, the eX-
panded Census Bureau, firmly estab-
lish in the formerly neglected area
south of the Mall major Federal
building center which may, in the
future, rival that on the north of the
Mall in the so-called Mall Tri-
angle"
The changes which this great
building group may initiate seem
certain to overshadow even the ex-
tensive improvements which already
have been made during the latter
half of the past decade in the vi
cinity of the Agriculture Depart
ment and Bureau of Engraving and
Printing.
New Business Area.
It is possible that the influx of
Federal workers into the area south
of the Mall following completion of
the new Southwest Triangle, coupled
with increasing congestion in the
downtown business area north OF
the Mall, may stimulate the de-
velopment of a new business area
in the vicinity of the new Federal
building sites. 1t also is possible
that the quest of employees there for
homes in the vicinity may lead to
something of a housing renaissance
for Southwest Washington.
Cleaning up and Identification OF
the large section involved in the
Federal construction program in
Southwest Washington, the Wash
ington Channel waterfront pro-
gram, which is changing another
large area of Southwest Washing
ton, the Botanical Garden project
and the extensive construction pro-
grams which have been completed
for the Agriculture Department and
the Bureau of Engraving and Print
ing and other Federal and local
projects, such as the Identification
of the old canal right of way and
proposed slum- clearance and hous-
ing activities, are factors which are
destined to be of the greatest i'm
portance to Southwest Washington
during the new decade.
Construction of proposed grade
separation at the Tidal Basin Bridge
to separate traffic in the Fourteenth
street and Maine avenue axes and
lowering of the southbound railroad
main line from the present embank-
ment through Potomac Park into
tunnel which would extend under
the Potomac River into the present
Potomac Yards south of the river
are under consideration, and it is
regarded as likely one or both prof.
ects may be undertaken during the
new decade.
The proposed construction of a
new bridge across the Anacostia
River at or near South Capitol street
also would benefit both the South
west and Southeast sections ma
terially. Construction of the new
Potomac Electric Power Co. generat-
ing plant near the foot of South
Capitol street has been one of
number of important developments
of the past decade looking toward
establishment of an important in
dustrial area in the once neglected
and rundown area in Southwest
Washington along the shore of the
Anacostia River between the Navy
Yard and Fort Humphreys, in which
stands the Army War College.
Economical Housing.
Development of the new Federal
building area in Southwest Wash
ington first gave promise of becom-
ing a reality only as recently as
June, 1898, when Frederic A. Del
ano, chairman of the National Cap
ital Park and Planning Commission,
in a letter to the House Appropria-
tions Committee in connection with
the hearings on the second def
cheney appropriation bill of that
year, advanced the theory that low
salaried employees, who made up
the bulk of the staff of the Social
Security Board, would be able to
obtain economical housing IN prox-
unity to their work if the building |
were to be located south of the Mall.
Chairman Delano said that, for
this reason, his commission had
approved the projected construc-
ton of not only the Social Security
Board building, but the proposed
Railroad Retirement Boards new
quarters in Southwest Washington.
This unsuual factor was one OF
several, Mr.. Delano said, which had |