Evening star., 1945-04-15
BY John Clagett Proctor.

some marble building of the Supreme
Court of the United States.
In the early history of the city this
square was not of any special interest,
except that it was once flower garden,
and the place where Lund Washington
the city postmaster and a distant
relative Of the first President, kept the
city post office from 1896 to 1899 per-
hapS in the building erected in the
latter year on the south side of A
street NE, just off of First street,
by William Tunnicliff, who conducted
the Washington City Hotel there until
August, 1904, and where President John
Adams stopped when he visited this
city in June, 1900
Meeting Place for Congress
And, of course. the burning of the
public buildings of Washington by the
British on August "a 1914. soon there.
after attracted attention to this par
ticular site as an ideal location for
a temporary building in which Con-
gress might meet until the destroyed
building could be restored, since it was
realized this would require several
years.
Congress was due 20 meet in Wash
ington on September 10. the month
following the invasion, but where it
would hold its sessions was quite
problem, and the best it could do was
to meet in the Blodgett Hotel building,
then on street between Seventh and
Eighth streets, which proved inadequate
and unsatisfactory. The cornerstone
of this building was laid on July 4, 1893,
and was lottery project which proved
a failure In 1910 the Government
bought the property, and at the time
of the invasion it housed under its
roof the Post Office Department, the
City Post Office and the Patent Office,
and the building was only saved from
the torch through the entreaty of Dr..
William Thornton, then superintendent
of patents, as here were kept the
patent models which could never be
replaced, and if destroyed would prove
a great scientific loss.
Burning of the Capitol
Fortunately or unfortunately, de-
pending upon the viewpoint, the burn
ing of the Capitol brought up the
question of moving the seat of Govern
ment to some other place. Indeed,
when Congress met, the matter went
so far that a record vote was taken
In the House on this proposition, and,
according to the National Intelligencer
of September 81, 1914, it was decided
not to remove the Government. the
vote being 50 for and 83 against. After
a lapse of three months the Senate
also voted in the negative.
To the student of local history it is
easy to see the underlying cause that
brought this decision. George WASH
ington, when President of the United
States. had urged the capitalists of
the country to invest their fortunes
In Washington real estate, and, sup
ported by Congress, the most glow
ing inducements had been set forth in
direct appeal and in advertisements.
They did so, but with regrets, for by
the time Washington was burned out
nearly all had gone broke while those
who had not were fighting with their
backs against the wall to save what
little still remained. If the Capital
were removed, complete bankruptcy,
and perhaps imprisonment besides
stared them in the face.
Providing Adequate Quarters
Under these circumstances, Congress
should not for one moment even have
considered removing the Federal Capital
elsewhere However. as Grover Cleve-
land might have reasoned, it was A
condition and not a theory that con-
fronted the people of Washington at
that time. and in this predlcament
they realized that there were just two
things that must be done, and one was
Immediately to provide adequate quar-
ters for Congress, the other to lend it
sufficient funds to begin restoring the
public building. Both of these were
done.
Congress accepted the offer of the
banks to loan the Government half
million dollars, and a stock company
erected forthwith the Old Brick Capitol,
where Congress met for four years or
from 1915 to 1919. when the original
Capitol was sufficiently restored to re-
ceive it again. Here President James
Monroe was inaugurated in 1917, and
delivered the first inaugural address
outside of the Capitol, and here John
C. Calhoun died in 1850.
This building, which stood on the
southeast corner of A street and Mary
land avenue, was razed in 1881, after
having served such noble purpose.
At the time it was erected it was the
largest structure built here by private
enterprise up to that time, the corner
stone being laid on July 4, 130 years
ago.
After the Capitol was restored, the
temporary quarters became boarding
house, and after the Civil War it was
turned into three dwellings, in one of
which Associate Justice Stephen j.
Field of the United States Supreme
Court resided for some years. And at
the time it was removed, it was the
home of the National Woman's Party.
Some years ago James Croggon gave
q list of the early owners of Square 728,
where now stands the Supreme Court
Building and where was formerly Tun-
nicliff's Hotel and later the Brick Capt.
tol. Mr.. Croggon says:
Square 72s (Old Capitol Prison