Evening star., 1943-04-11
Thomas Jefferson's City Of Washington
BY John Clagett Proctor.

BY John Clagett Proctor.
The dedication Of the Thomas Jeffer-
son Memorial in this city two days hence,
will unquestionably mark an event al
- ways to be remembered by the present
generation and to be recalled by future
generations for centuries to come. And
although this monument is practically
=, imperishable, yet the deeds Of Jefferson
will surely outlive this worthy tribute,
for even should this Republic In time
cease to exist, yet the works Of Jefferson,
in its formation, will still form part Of
the history of the governments Of ma
tions.
But, aside from this, Thomas Jeffer-
sons interest in locating here the Fed
eral Capital, and his subsequent concern
in It's educational and other affairs,
makes it even more than fitting that this
memorial to him should be located in
this city in the Capital he saw grow from
a forest inhabited by few people to-
population of about $4,000 at the time Of
his death.
Indeed, his ideas were so much In
harmony with those of President Wash
ingtons, in bringing the Capital to Its
present location, that in order to attract
attention to this particular part Of the
country he proposed, while the matter
was still undecided. that Congress hold
one of its sessions at Alexandria, but this
PROPOSITION was not adopted.
Jefferson's City Planning.
Having studied architecture, he anti
cipated what was best even for city
of magnificent distances" for his sug-
gestions included: ITO provide for
facilitating the extinguishment Of fires
and the openness and convenience OF the
town by prohibiting houses of excessive
height, making it unlawful to build on
any ones purchase any house with more
than two floors between the common
level of the earth and the caves, or with
any other floor in the roof than one at
the caves" He is recorded as having
spoken of the restrictions then in force
in Paris forbidding the building of
houses beyond a certain height, and
saying: "It is admitted to be a good
restriction, 1t keeps the houses low and
convenient and the streets light and airy.
Fires are much more manageable where
houses are low" If 1t had been left to
him, Bladensburg, in addition to Alex
andria and Georgetown, would have been
included in the Federal territory selected.
Even the treatment of the streets
was taken into consideration by Jeffer-
son, who proposed that they be at right
angles, as in Philadelphia, ''and that no
street be narrower than 100 feet, with
footways Of Is feet"
Where a street is long and level
1t might be 100 feet WIDE" he said.
Washington of 1900.
Just what Washington looked like
when Jefferson arrived here November
27, 1900, to take up his duties as Vice
President it would be difficult accurately
and fully to describe at this late date.
The population of the "city" had grown,
in about decade, to 3,210 and there
was probably not sidewalk outside of
Alexandria and Georgetown. Traffic
from Georgetown to the Navy Yard sec
ton was largely by way OF the F street
ridge, much of Pennsylvania avenue
then being impossible.
Christian Hines tells us in his Early
Recollections of Washington City" that
in 1899 or 1900 he remembered but one
house on the Avenue between the Capt.
tol and the White House, and this was
Jones coachmaker shop, a two-story
frame which he locates on the north
side Of this thoroughfare little east
of Second street. The Commons, where
the Avenue is" he states, from the
foot of Ca pitol Hill westward, was almost
impossible for vehicles of any kind;
indeed, 1t was difficult for a person to
walk, in some places, on account of the
mud, bushes, thcrns and briars, and
more particularly on the south side,
where the clumps of thorn bushes in
some places were so thick that, I be-
lieve, they were cut down with scythes
so as to enable the workmen to make
a footway to Fifteenth street.
When Jefferson was inaugurated. on
March 4, 1901, he did not, as has been
said so often, ride up to the Capitol,
hitch his horse to paling fence, go
inside and take the oath Of office and