Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-01-09
BY John cIoeett Proctor

City Hall, or Fuller's, now the Will
lard Hotel.
An idea Of the horrible conditions
of many of our thoroughfares in the
early days is illustrated by an acct
dent that occurred In front OF the
Blodgett Hotel a short while before
it was destroyed, and of which the
Metropolitan newspaper said at the
time:
"A dangerous accident happened
yesterday to one of our respectable
citizens, from q cause which is a
reproach to our police, or rather to
our laws, for we believe it is only
very lately that sufficient legal
Authority has been given to abate
the nuisance. The gentleman re-
ferred to, descending the steps from
one of the doors of the post Office,
was encountered on the mid-pave-
ment by a full-grown hog, which,
running against him. threw him
down. His head striking the pave
ment, or curbstone, he received in
juries on his head and face so
serious that it is still doubtful
whether the injury may have been
mortal"
On April 81 the press records the
result of the accident, saying:
The Inflated man who was
thrown down by a hog. opposite the
general post Office on Thursday, as
mentioned in our last issue, died on
Saturday from the severe injury he
sustained, his skull being fractured
by that Infamous accident"
First Telegraph Office
Another unusually significant event
to take place close to the Blodgett
Hotel site was the opening OF the
first public telegraph office in the
United States, on April l, l845. The
building in which the Office was
located is described as having been
an ordinary two-story house with
an outside stairway leading to the
second story, where the telegraph
office was located. The front room
faced Seventh street, and here was
the operating room. and the other
rooms were used for the main bat
teries and other accessories.
But the opening OF this telegraph
office by Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse
was only the realization OF dream
of a great man who at last hao
achieved the goal he sought and hae
so long and diligently worked for.
Sessford tells us in his annals for
1889 that. The new Post Office, on
the old site, has Its basement COM
pleted and some height OF the walls
of the first story carried up. Its
south, east and west fronts are
veneered with white marble, and the
rear with gray granite. 1t will be q
chaste and beautiful structure"
| In 184l the same annalist records
1.-THE Patent and Post Office Build
ings are both occupied" Again, il
1912, he says: THE area wall. with
railing on it, around the genera
Post Office. has been completed, thu
area paved with white marble, The
footways outside with large flags"
However, there were several add
tions made to this building after the
Post Office Department took up it!
quarters here, but the original par
of the structure, as We see it today
was. even in its incomplete form II
l843, regarded as magnif1cen
structure, as we find by the Cit,
Directory of that date, which print
the following remarks:
This building, being of marble, II
of the most gorgeous exterior. 1t:
lively, brilliant and spangled white.
ness, when brought in comparison
with its motleyed and dingy com
peers, begets the idea of bloated i'm.
becility and premature decay, stand
ing side by side with youthful
healthy and elastic beauty. But thi!
edifice requires that emblem o.
strength and dignity-the 'portico
with its majestic pillars-to give i
the true characteristic of a nationa
structure. Though. perhaps, it i!
fortunate for the fame of all public