Evening star., 1945-08-12
Noted Residents of the Old First Ward

1t must be rather embarrassing to
some of the older residents Of Wash
ington to find section of the old staid
First Ward making questionable head
lines in the newspapers. OF course, in
the past, we must admit there was a
part of the city where nice people were
not supposed to go, but this was not in
the old West End where the early resi-
dents, past and present, have been
noted for acting circumspectly.
Going back to the early days of WASH
ington, one of the most interesting
buildings still standing in what was
once the First Ward Of the city, is on
the northwest corner of Seventeenth
street and Pennsylvania avenue, since
it became the first headquarters of
Henry D. Cooke, after he was sworn in
on February 10, 1871, as Governor of
the District OF Columbia 1t was here
also that Alexander r. Shepherd was
chosen vice president of the board.
though no such office was provided for
by law. Gov. Cooke resigned on Sep
tember l3. 1873, and Mr.. Shepherd be-
came Governor the same date, the oath
Of Office being administered to him in
the home of ex-Gov. Cooke, southeast
corner of Thirtieth and @ streets,
Georgetown, by Justice Arthur Mac
Arthur of the Supreme Court of the
District of Columbia, grandfather of
Gen. Douglas Macarthur.
Commissioners Headquarters
The building at Seventeenth street
and Pennsylvania avenue also was oc-
cupied for brief period by the Com
missioners under the act of June &c,
1874, providing for the present form of
Government. The first meeting was
held in the H street parlor of the Ar
lington Hotel, the site now being oc-
cupied by the Arlington Building, where
is located the United States Veterans
Administration.
Farther down Seventeenth street at
F is the old headquarters of Gen.
Grant, and on the northwest corner of
the same intersection Columbus Alex
ander's printing Office replaced by the
Winder Building which has been con-
siderably enlarged since it was first
erected. The home of Mayor Thomas
Carbery stood at the corner Of G and
Seventeenth streets, and between Con-
stitution avenue and street was the
Van Ness mansion.
Mayor Carbery was born in st. Marys
County, Md, June 26, 1891, and was the
eighth child of a family of II children.
He bought the Seventeenth street prop
erty in 1918, and soon began the erection
there of brick residence, which was
probably completed in 1819 It was while
living there with his widowed sister,
Mrs. Ann Mattingly, that he became
Mayor of the city in 1922, and also
served as such the following year. He
died at his county seat, now included
in the Walter Reed Hospital grounds,
May %, 1868.
City's Early Days
Building in the West End began quite
soon after it was decided to move the
Capital Of the Nation to the River
Potomac, "at some place between the
mouths of the Eastern Branch ard the
Conococheague," as the act of Congress
puts it in designating the limits within
which the District of Columbia shall be
placed. OF course, we assume that the
Eastern Branch Is familiar to all, and
for the benefit of those who may not
know, the Co4ococheague is a small
stream which runs through the upper
part of Western Maryland and empties
into the Potomac River at Wiliamsport,
little over miles from Hagerstown.
When the City of Washington was
laid out, Pennsylvania avenue from
Rock Greek to the White House ran
through three parcels of land, and a
race track was laid out in 1893, covering
the approximate area bounded by Sew
enteenth and Twenty-f1fth streets, with
Pennsylvania avenue about in the CEN
ter. Its southern border was about
where is now F street. The judges
stand was at Nineteenth and F streets.
The stables and several of the buildings
were about where the Young Mems
Christian Association Building now
stands on g street.
In the western part of the First Ward
there was, as early as 1900, in the block
bounded by Twenty fifth and Twenty
sixth streets and Pennsylvania avenue
and M street, small wooden house