Evening star., 1945-04-08


of his life there was always removal
Of the hat and a friendly lowering of
the head peculiar to the colored servant
of that day, whenever he passed our
house and saw my mother All of the
fiat ground extending from Florida
avenue on the north to perhaps R
street on the south and from Sixth or
Seventh street on the east to Fifteenth
street on the west was then called
Goose Level.
Cowtown itself was not all built up
then. either, and it was not necessary
for one to confine himself to the side
waikiki there happened to be one. In
most cases the paths were just as good
and in many cases better and, of course,
decidedly more direct.
Washington's Cowtown
But about Cowtown, this was not a
large place at all, being of rather
limited area, extending only from
Seventh Street road, now dignifed with
the name Georgia avenue, westward
to Sherman avenue, and from Grant
avenue-now Barry place-northward
for several blocks. Here everybody had
one or more cows and as many pigs
and as for dogs and goats it would have
taken some one with a tabulating
machine to have arrived at the cor
rect number. There were many horses,
too in this community, for where a
few peddled their milk by hand, the
vast majority, with very large routes,
were compelled to rely upon teams.
People who lived in CowtoWn were
as laW-abiding as any citizens They
knew how physically to protect their
own interests, and never hesitated to do
so. In this connection, it was always
an interesting day-and that day was
a frequent one-when Poundmaster
Sam Einstein swooped down on the
animals running at large here. They
then forgot their loyalty to Government
and just blew the lid right off
Up until 1871, when the territorial
form of government went into effect, the
Levy Court looked after the welfare
of the County of Washington, which
included Cowtown, and until that time
animals were permitted to run at large
under certain restrictions, of course
After Gov. Cooke came into Office,
however, things took on a different
turn, and animals were not permitted
District
This idea Of justice did not strike
the residents just over the border line
as being right or fair, and every time
Einstein put in an appearance he had
to fight every inch of the way through
the place. He rarely came alone, but
usually stopped by the old station house
on Georgia avenue, little north of
the baseball park, on the opposite side
of the street, where he secured one or
two mounted policemen for protection.
In this way he usually carried off
wagonload of animals which their own
ers or some of their neighbors were
unable to prevent being captured.
Bricks for the Poundmaster
1t was not unusual for the pound
master to have his head cut by flying
brick or bottle, nor was it out of the
ordinary if a few arrests were made
for resisting the majesty of the law.
At this period Washington itself was
not overly blessed with good streets and
the county was considerably worse off.
Before Sherman avenue was brought to
its present grade it was rather a steep
HILL as one can see by the cut made
alongside the hospital property. This
avenue then began at Barry place and
did not run through to Florida avenue
as it does now. In wet weather it was
very muddy and teams had much diff
Guilty in negotiating the grade. Upon
Sixty-five years ago Eighth and Ninth
streets extended went only as far as
Barry place, the only thoroughfare be-
tween Sherman and Brightwood ave-
nues in this vicinity being Wright road.
Down Eighth street, or perhaps paral-
leling it in places, ran Reedy Branch.
This stream had its source somewhere
to the north and flowed down the east
side of Sherman avenue in a narrow
deep cut. At about Euclid street it
turned almost abruptly into Eighth
street, passing close to where once was
the National Home for Destitute Col
ored Women and Children. Lining the
stream above Barry place were Num-