Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-03-18
Justice 10 Seek
Sale Of Tract at
Training School
Would Use Proceeds
To Finance Building
At Site Elsewhere
By GEORGE BEVERIDGE

The Justice Department plans
to ask Congress within the next
few weeks for permission to sell
most of the big 300-acre National
Training School for Boys tract
on Bladensburg road NE.
The Justice Department bill. it
was learned. will propose that
proceeds from the land sale be
used to finance construction of
"a new boys institution at an UNI
determined location somewhere
in the country.
The vast Federal tract reaches
eastward from Bladensburg road
almost to the Anacostia River.
between South Dakota avenue
and the District Maryland line.
Finishing Touches" on Bill
Justice officials said finishing
touches" are being put on the
and declined to dis
cuss its details. But other sources
said the form in which the bill
has cleared the Federal Budget
Bureau for transmission to Con-
|gress:
l. Rejects a request from the
District that the city have a
chance to acquire the property
by transfer.
2. Proposes that more than
100 acres of the site-on the
northern and eastern sides-be
transferred to the National Park
Service. One of the uses for this
part of the land would be to
provide a right-a-way for the
long planned Fort Drive road
way encircling the city.
The Justice Departments in
tention to vacate the local Train
ing School poses q major head
ache for the District: What to do
with about 200 District juveniles
now confined there. District AS
Isistant Engineer Commissioner
Thomas B. Hunter said he will
call a meeting early this week
to discuss the problem.
Would Kill Stadium Effort
In addition, the Justice De-
partment plan would kill a ma
jor new effort of the Washing
ton Board of Trade--a drive to
locate a big athletic stadium on
part of the tract.
Aware of the Justice Depart
ment's long intention to vacate
the northeast site. the Board OF
Trade had hoped that the Dis
trict would be able to acquire
the tract as surplus land. The
usual procedure when an agency
vacates land is to declare it as
excess" to its need, which
gives other Government agencies
a chance to acquire it before 1t
lis offered for public sale.
Justice officials, however, are
insiStent on sale of the land
to assure funds for the new
they need. Officials
would not speculate on the value
of the property.
Buildings every Old"
The Training School buildings
are on the Bladensburg road
side of the tract. and no use is
being made of the rest of the
land. Reasons the Justice De-
Ipartment wants to vacate are
that the buildings are very old, "
the feeling that such an institu-
Ition should be away from a big
city and the fact that as a Fed
|eral institution it is not CEN
Itrally located. About half the
more than 400 inmates at pres
Ient are District juveniles.
Entirely apart from the sale
LOT land, the Board of Trades
Stadium project is endangered
by the proposed 100-acre land
transfer to the Park Service.
If such transfer goes through,
the National Capital Planning
Commission proposes that the
Fort Drive route be run directly
through the only adequate area
on the tract for the stadium.
District Highway Department
officials. who long have pushed
See SCHOOL, Page Ais