Evening star., 1941-04-20
Native Son
Held Post of
Governor
His Energy Made
City Fit Place
To Occupy
By John CIaeetf Proctor.

The plan which has been approved
by the Commissioners of the District
of Columbia, to remove the
Shepherd Statue from in front of
the District Building at Fourteenth
street and Pennsylvania Avenue to
a commanding position near the
new Municipal Building, between
Third street, John Marshall place,
Indian avenue and C street, an &C
count of which has been mentioned
in the press, will undoubtedly also
receive the hearty Endorsement of
all Washingtonians, and particularly
those who are familiar with the
record of the man, Alexander R.
Shepherd, who did more as a
member of the Board of Public
Works and later as Governor of the
District of Columbia, to have
literally lifted, by his dynamic
energy, the City of Washington out
of the mud and transformed it, not
only into a City of Magnificent
Distances. but into a city of beauti-
full avenues and streets as well, than
any other man.
There are many statues in Wash
ington'S public parks, some erected
to former Presidents, others to
statesmen and military heroes, while
others were placed there in memory
of important churchmen, with no
special reference to the Nations
CAPITAL, but the Shepherd Statue
is the only one erected here to a
native son, a great civic leader, and
to one of its most notable and most
highly respected residents as well.
Born in the District of Columbia,
Gov Alexander Robey Shepherds
birth occurred on January 81,
1885, in a section of Southwest
Washington, early referred to as the
Island" because it was once
separated from the northern part of
the city by Tiber Greek, later con-
verted into the Washington City
Canal.
The exact spot where this dis
tinguished man was born is ques-
tionable. Some say it was in
modest home which once stood at
926 G. street SW., while others are
equally sure it was on the south side
of Maryland avenue between Twelfth
and Thirteen and half streets,
where his father, who also was
named Alexander, was at the time
engaged in the wood and lumber
business.
The mother of Gov. Shepherd,
before her marriage, was a Miss
Susan Davidson Robey, which ac-
counts for the Governors middle
name. She is spoken of as being
large and strong in person, and cor
respondingly apt and forceful in
mind.
AS to his education, we are told
that this in part was acquired under
a private tutor, and part at Nourse's
School, then on the south side OF
Indiana avenue between Third street
and John Marshall place, in the
same vicinity to which the statue
will be moved, and this was added
to by a short term at old Columbian
College. now George Washington
University.
His business career began when,
as a young man, he secured en-
ployment with John w. Thompson,
then a leading contractor for plumb
ing and gas fitting in this city,
whose business in 1850 was located
on the south side of Pennsylvania
avenue between Ninth and Tenth
streets. where is now the Justice
Department Building, and also, IN
cidentally, the site Of this building,
at the northeast corner of Tenth
street and Constitution avenue, was
the first gas plant erected in Wash
ington, about 184O, but which did
not prove financially successful, and
was soon abandoned.
In 1860 Mr.. Shepherd was still
associated with the Thompson firm,
then known as John w. Thompson
e. Bro, and the following year,
when President Lincoln called for
the three-month volunteers, Shep-
herd, and his brother, Thomas NJ,
were of the first to enlist on April
IS, 1861, as privates in the COM
pany commanded by Capt. John R.
Smead, Sd Battalion, District of
Columbia Volunteers. The nap
sack carried by Alexander R. Shep-
herd is now one of the prize relics
of the Association of Oldest Inhabi-
tants.
Apparently, while still a soldier
In the Army, he Was elected in June,
1861, a member of the Common
Council of the District, during the
administration of Mayor Richard
Wallach, and also served as presi-
dent of the Common Council in 1862,
and as a member of that body in
1868. In 1870 he was elected a
member of the Board of Aldermen
An the ytv-eirhth Council of