Evening star., 1941-03-23

Ine DdSeDdu season Will open l.
when the Nationals will cross bats
with the great Boston aggregation
at the new park beyond the corner
of Seventh street and the Bound
ary."
The Washington club then in
cluded: Sam Trott, manager; Will
fred Casey Ca local boy), Bobby
Miller, George Keefe (another local
boy), and Bakely, pitchers; Tony
Hart and Mcclure, catchers; Nc
Query, first base: Fred Dunlap and
Gilbert Hatfield, second base; Dea-
con Smalley, shortstop; Paul Hines,
right field; Beecher, left field; Capt.
Visner, center.
In The Star Of April IA, 1891, it is
said that 1000 people witnessed the
game the previous day, which was
beautifully played, but that the
crowd went away disappointed, since
the score was 60, in favor OF the
visitors. Upon this occasion the bat
teries were, for Washington, Casey
and Mcclure; for Boston, Haddock
and Farrell.
The Washington lineup for this
game was: McQuery, Smalley, Hat
field, Beecher, Dunlap, Visner, Hines,
Casey (pitcher); MCGUIRE, catcher.
The Bostonians had in their lineup:
Murphy, who started to pitch, and
Haddock, who finished the game;
Brown, Joyce, Brouthers, Farrell,
catcher: Radford, Stricker, Dowd.
At this time, it would seem, Col.
Enoch Totten controlled the title to
the old Beyer's Park track, where
Is now Griffith Stadium, at any rate
the property was leased from him
on January 90, 1891.
Part of Hotel Estate.
Az the writer's personal recollec-
tions 20, this park prior to its being
used for its present purpose, was
part of the Park Hotel property,
where was at an earlier date the
MARYLAND House. 1t was then well
wooded with sturdy oaks Of the for
est primeval, and here was a dancing
pavilion, a bowling alley, merry
eo-round and other attractions, and
an occasional foot race, and here,
too, was a broad track, built during
the Civil War period upon which
pleasure seekers might operate the
old wooden bicycle.
Many years ago Mrs. Barbara
johnson ran a dairy at the Mary
land House. She was the mother OF
1t. Of Police James johnson, who at
the time of his death some years
ago was one of the Oldest members
of the Association of Oldest 1nhab-
itants, being somewhere in his 90s.
His niece, Mrs. Emma r. Heffner,
who is now in her 90s, and who Is
Barbara Johnson's granddaughter
ss well, and the widow OF Capt.
Heffner of the police force, said her
grandmother once owned all the
property from where the Maryland
House stood to Florida avenue. Mrs.
Heffner was born on the northeast
corner of Howard street and Georgia
avenue. and recalls when the Gross
Keys" Tavern stood on the north
west corner of Georgia and Florida
avenues. The first recollection the
writer has of this corner is that
a drug store was conducted there IN
the building still standing, even
prior to 1876.
The triangular lot bounded by T
street, Florida avenue and Seventh
street was occupied for long time
bv the car stable of the Seventh
street line of the Washington &
Georgetown Railway Co., now the
Capital Transit Co. About the time
t,fis company gave the cable method
a tryout, and for this purpose
erected the present buildings at the
river front, the wooden stables and
car sheds at the Florida avenue end
of the line were done away with.
Reedy Branch Location.
Another very interesting thing IN
this neighborhood was Reedy
Branch, which crossed Florida ave-
nue. at Eighth street on its way to
join the Tiber. AS the writer first
knew it as a wee tot back in 1871,
1t was considerable of a stream at
this point, and had to be crossed by
. small footbridge. Teams were
able to ford it under ordinary con-
ditions.
Shortly after the date mentioned,
II was inclosed in a large sewer,
which seemed to take in all OF
Eighth street. After this, however,
there was not sufficient sewerage to
carry off the water running down
from the hills to the north, and the
Board of Public Works attempted
to remedy this by building a sewer
around Florida avenue to empty in
the Eastern Branch. The work was
done, but so badly done that it was
found necessary to do the work all
over again, resulting in the building
Of the great boundary intercepting
sewer, which runs from about Eighth
street NV. to the Eastern Branch,
and which at the time of its con-
struction was in places the larg-
est cylindrical sewer in the world.
Few Of the hundreds of thousands of
people who annually attend the ball
games have any idea of the large
aever oVeY which ther ara walking