Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1955-09-29

llOIldl highway 1llldllSCu at L GU
eral expense, as well as in the
development of the earliest of the
great railroads to the west -
the Baltimore and Ohio.
Such was the significance of
this part of historic Montgomery
County, Maryland, situated on the
beautiful Potomac; and, as Wash
ington so wei ! appreciated, no
location for the national capital
he could have chosen would have
been more central from the
standpoint of the States as they
then existed, or of the vast terri
tories toward the interior. Just
then coming into direct posses
sion of the Federal Government
through the cessions from the
several States of their western
land claims.
Moreover, there were other
superior features of which the
first President personally knew.
Except for some low lying
sWampland at the rivers edge,
the "ten.mile square" contained
much high ground, and an en-
chanting gorge running to the
northward into the heart of
Montgomery County, through
which the waters of lovely Rock
Creek tumbled - all of it giving
a variation in scenic charm that
has never failed to appeal to those
who study it.
Finally, there were the already
busting communities of Alex
andria and Georgetown, situated
near the "fall-line", Whic h,
through business connections
established long since, were in a
position to furnish much of the
supplies and labor necessary in
creating a city in a natural wild
ernesS.
Even the striking differences
between these two communities
had made their impression on
Washington, the one thoroughly
Virginian and Church of England
in its background, the other
typically Marylander and under
strong influence from the Carroll
family, which was to furnish the
first Catholic archbishop in
America.
To man of Washington's
breadth of mind and thoughtful
reflections, the very fusion of
these diverse elements as SYM
boliZed in the new Federal city
would tend to represent and to
illustrate the generous scope of
our national foundations and the
freedom of men to believe and to
worship as they please. Then,
too, the carving of the new CAPT
tai out of the land would in
itself typify the essential process
of the American Nation - that
of creating a civilization where
there had so recently been a
wilderness.
So here, in a carefully con.
sidered site and in the imme-
diate vicinity of his own beloved
Mount Vernon and among his
own neighbors, the father of his
country" persuaded his people to
build capital city, that through
the decades and centuries to
come would make its charm and
power felt increasingly, until one
day it would become the first city
of the civilized world.
In the same month (January
179), in which this great decision
crystallized, the president named
three commissioners to super.
wise the construction of the Fed
eral city-Daniel Carroll, Thomas
Johnson and David Stuart; and
to assist them in the technical
aspects of their work, the cele.
brated planner and architect,
Pierre Charles L'Enfant and the
surveyor, Andrew Ellicott.
Before six weeks had passed,
all of these men were on the
ground and were sitting in with
the President in the negotiations
with the local land owners. Most
of early sessions took place in the
pleasant rooms of historic Suffers
Tavern in Georgetown.
Basic agreements We're reached,
not without some difficulties, to
give the Federal Government
such land as it wished for its own
buildings at the fixed price of
25 pounds per acre chat is. be-
tween sos and 500. The land
owners were TO be given the right
to sell other lands at whatever
price the market would justify to
persons wishing them for bust
ness or residence locations, but
the Federal Government (Which,
with the consent of the States of