Evening star., 1950-04-02
By John CIoeett Proctor

py JoUH \io9ett FfOStof
The first intercity passenger
service for Georgetown and the
infant Capital had its beginning
in May. 1900. when a two-horse
stage covered the route from NJ
street near Wisconsin avenue to
Tunnecliff's Tavern, which then
stood on A street NE. where is
now located the United States
Supreme Court Building.
At this date there were SUBJ
stantially no street improvements
in Washington and what is now
Pennsylvania avenue was then "a
deep morass covered with elder
bushes which were cut through
the width of the intended Ave-
| nue."
N wonder Tom Moore spoke
derisively of the city in his Oft
quoted poem:
while yet upon Columbia's S
rising broW
The shoDy smile OF young pre-
sumption plays,
'TiS hedrtleSS speculative
i'll,
All youths tranSoresSions 10Th
all ages chill. "*'
This embryo Capital, ,Uhere
| fancy sees
Squares in mordsSeS, obeliSks in
trees
Which second sighted seers,
eUen noD ndorn
| With shrines unbuilt and heroes
yet unborn.''
Christian Hines fully bears out
the poet in his description of the
Avenue at this time. saying:
The commons, where now the
Avenue is. from the foot of Cap
itol Hill westward. was almost i'm
passable for vehicles of any kind:
indeed. it was difficult for a per-
son to walk, in some places, on
account of the mud, bushes,
thorns, briers, etc, and more par
ticularly on the south side, where
the clumps of thorn bushes in
some places were so thick that, l
believe, they were cut down with
scythes so as to enable the work.
men to make a footway to Fiji
teenth street. This they did by
carting earth. gravel, chips of
freestone. ETC.. on both sides of
the Avenue. to the full extent, un-
til a tolerably good footway was
made all the way along. On the
north side of the street it was not
quite so bad. because the road
from Georgetown to the Capitol
ran pretty much on high ground
from about Ninth street, in a
Southeasterly direction, passing
along the foot of the hill below
Blodgett's Hotel (where the Post
Office now stands, thence by Nc
Kinks little jail, and on past the
rear of Jackson Hall to Tiber
Creek and thence to the foot of
Capitol Hill. where it turned
|southWard and passed along where
Breckinridge's Church was after
ward erected"
Stoge Mode Slow Time
Obviously then. the stages re-
ferred to could not have used
Pennsylvania avenue for their
trips, but rather went by way of
F. street ridge. which was on high
ground, though even this route
must have been unenjoyable for
the passengers. who were usually
conveyed in a sea Of mud during
the rainy season and in a cloud
of dust during the warm summer
months. However, this marks the
earliest of our street transporta-
ton systems. If time only were
to be considered, one surely could
nave lCdIAICO lllo uCotiIldClOll
quicker by the use of shank S
mare" than he could have by the
stage. For we are told that it left
Georgetown at $50 am. and re-
turned to its starting point by II
just two hours and a half, or an
hour and a quarter each way. A
second and final trip for the day
was made in the afternoon in
three hours. sufficient time now
adays to comfortably motor at
least hundred miles.
In 1900, the stage that left
Georgetown at am. did not ar
rive in Frederick. Md. until "the
evening of the same day." and
the announcement might, with
perfect propriety, have added, eff
the stage does not break down or
get stuck in the mud" From
Annapolis to Georgetown re-
quired nine hours. or. according
to the promise" Of the stage pro-
prietors, the stage that left the
Fountain Inn. Baltimore. at II
m, would reach it's destination,
Georgetown. on the evening of the
same day: and if the passenger