Evening star., 1948-04-04

the throne during McKinley's ad-
ministration, also stopped here in
1898, as had previously Senator
Charles B. Farwell Of Illinois.
President Benjamin Harrison and
Gen. Joseph Wheeler made the Ar
lington their home, and when Dom
Pedro, Emperor of Brazil; President
Diaz of Mexico, King Kalagaua OF
the Hawaiian Islands, Ii Hung
Chang, Chinese statesman; Henry
Irving, the actor; Adelina Patti, the
noted diva, and Gen. Roulanger
visited Washington, they made this
hotel their headquarters.
First Asphalt in 1870
The Arlington, as originally built,
was seven stories high and had a
frontage of 100 feet. 1t was in front
OF this building that the first asphalt
pavement in Washington was laid
in 1870, and it Is said to have worn
better and lasted longer than any
pavement laid since.
When the Arlington Hotel was
erected, 1t was considered an uptown
hotel and, judging from the follow
ing description of the neighborhood
made by George Alfred Townsend,
as 1t appeared in 1865, we might
even be justified in calling 1t sub
urban. Mr.. Townsend in speaking
OF the assassination of President
Lincoln and the attempt made upon
the life of his Secretary of State,
William H; Seward, says:
Vermont avenue was such a
sluice Of desolation that in 1865,
after stabbing Mr.. Seward, the as
sassin, Payne, galloped half a block
and disappeared out this street
among the stables, shanties, dump
ing piles and bitches which pressed
close up to Lafayette Square"
Immediately before the hotel was
erected the site was occupied by at
least three dwellings, the first one
having been the home of such dis
tinguished Americans as Reverdy
johnson, Senator from Maryland
and Minister to England, and James
Buchanan, before he became Pres
ident.
This house faced Vermont avenue
and was near the corner of I street.
1t had as its close neighbor to the
south the home d. of william l..
Marcy. who served as Secretary. of
War during the. administration of
James K. Polk and later as Secre-
tary Of State in the cabinet of Pres
ident Franklin Pierce.
Lewis Cass lived in the third
house south of I street.
Senator Summers House
At the northwest corner of Ver-
mont avenue and H street lived
Charles Sumner, Senator from
Massachusetts, and one Of the most
ardent and active antislavery mem
bers OF the United States Senate.
1t was during the bitter discussion
on the repeal of the Missouri Com
promise in May, 1856, that Senator
Sumner was assaulted by Repre-
sentative Preston S. Brooks, a
nephew OF Senator Butler OF South
Carolina, to whom Sumner had re-
ferred in his speech. So severely
injured was the Massachusetts SEN
ator that he was unable to appear
in the Senate for nearly four years
thereafter.
At his H street residence, where
he died March II, 1874. were many
portraits of celebrated men, en-
graved by masters Of the art of
engraving, to which he would some
times call the attention of his
visitors, and after speaking of their
artistic merits would proceed to give
biographical sketches of the orig
inals, together with brief histories
of the times in which they lived,
thus making each picture the text
of historical and biographical
discourse, to which 1t was both
pleasant and instructive to listen.