Evening star., 1941-03-09
Called to Halt
GroupofLand
Spectators
He Had to Disguise
Ideas of Washington
And Jefferson
By Pat Jones

Washington will commemorate
without ceremony today the 150th
anniversary of the date on which
q 36-year-old Frenchman came to
the District of Columbia ostensibly
to lay off the site for the City OF
Washington, but more particularly
In the beginning to stave off
group of land spectators. Both
of these he did in record time and
then started on the decline to life
of poverty.
To this Frenchman, Maj. Pierre
Charles L'Enfant, Revolutionary
War soldier, military engineer and
architect, fell, without his knoWl-
edge, the lot of Disgusting the in
tentions of George Washington and
Thomas Jefferson.
Residents of Georgetown, then the
principal settlement of the District,
remembered we'll the tall, erect for
eigner who arrived, muddy and tired,
March 9, 1871, and asked to be
directed to the home of the mayor.
1t was rainy and foggy, but he was
enthusiastic, live of step. He had
an important task before hlm-to
plan the Capital of the first Nation
in history circumstances had per-
mitted to map in advance the site
chosen for its seat of government.
In another decade he was a
changed man. Through his own
weaknesses and peculiarities he had
permitted America to eat out his
heart, to send him down to ruin and
to his death a penniless artist whose
genius would not bring him recog-
milton until talk turned from George
Washington to Teddy Roosevelt.
AS early as June, 1873, members
of the Continental Congress, pre-
pairing to draw up Constitution by
which the Nation would become the
United States, realized there must be
a Federal territory in which to locate
the seat of government. Soldiers of
the Revolution that month had
mutinied and had marched on the
legislators, sitting at Philadelphia,
and had demanded money due them.
A plea to State authorities for pro-
lection was made without avail.
When word that the Federal Gov
ernment was looking for home got
around, offers came from many
sections. Eventually the matter de-
veloped into a fight between the
North and South, and there it sty-
mied.
In 1890, after a compromise, the
South was able to get through what
was known as the residence bill. 1t
authorized the selection of site,
not to exceed 10 miles square, some
where in the Potomac region, and
assigned to the President the task
of choosing it, acquiring the tract
and appointing the building COM
missioners. This was a stupendous
Job. Congress had no money, and
Maryland and Virginia had agreed
to provide between them for public
buildings only $4,000. The re-
mainder of the funds needed must
OCpCIlQ upO4l IIlC oil dAlSCLlCl1Oo VIC
Chief Executive, as agent for Con-
gree, made with the landowners of
the area.
Washington started upon the
duties of his role as agent in Octo-
ber, 1890 In a way the site along
the Potomac had been chosen in
honor to him. 1t was near his home
and he was thoroughly familiar with
it. But there were natural advan-
tages also. 1t was the most nearly
accessible to both Northern and
Southern States of any available To-
cation. 1t was the farthest inland
of any site on the Atlantic Seaboard,
which still could be reached by ocean
navigation.
Up and down the Potomac for