USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 18
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Georgetown, in carrying out the provisions of this act, assessed
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the property owners the full cost of laying the water pipes in that city, and thus relieved themselves of the necessity of establishing a water rent.
An ordinance of the city of Washington, passed June 2, 1859, provided for the appointment of a water registrar, and imposed upon him the duty of assessing water rates, according to the tariff estab- lished by the ordinances of the city, and of making out and presenting to the Mayor annually a full report of all his proceedings in connec- tion with the duties of his office. It was also made the duty of the Mayor to appoint four suitable citizens of Washington, who, together with the Mayor, should constitute the water board of the city.
By a law passed July 14, 1870, the engineer of the Washington aqueduct was required to lay from the distributing reservoir to Capitol Hill an iron pipe, or main, thirty-six inches in diameter, the entire cost of which was to be borne proportionately by the corpora- tions of Washington and Georgetown, the water rates to be increased to such an amount as might be necessary.
By 1879 the question of an increased water supply became one of great importance. The daily supply for the past six years had been as follows: In 1874, 17,554,848 gallons; in 1875, 21,000,000 gallons; in 1876, 24,177,797 gallons; in 1877, 23,252,932 gallons; in 1878, 24,885,945 gallous; in 1879, 25,947,642 gallons. When the proper deduction was made by the United States, viz., 2,626,188 gallons, there were left 23,321,454 gallons, which amount was consumed by the inhabitants of the two cities. This was an average of 1553 gallons per head for each person, while in twenty other cities of the United States the average number of gallons used by each inhabitant ranged from 25 in Providence, Rhode Island, to 119 in Chicago, the average in these twenty large cities being 583 gallons per head, a little more than one-third as much as was used in Washington and Georgetown.
An increased supply of water was therefore an apparent necessity, and the commissioners of the District of Columbia recommended the extension of the conduit from the distributing reservoir to a point north of the city and east of Seventh Street, and the building there of a large reservoir, to be connected by a four-foot main along New Jersey Avenue with the principal mains then maintained from the vicinity of L and G streets. The total cost of the extension of the conduit was estimated at $554,731.41; the cost of the four-foot main was estimated at $91,298; and the cost of completing the dam at Great Falls was estimated at $200,000, making the total cost of these three items $846,029.41. The commissioners also recommended
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the building of an additional reservoir, which would cost $462,512.50, making a total expenditure needed of $1,308,541.91. General Meigs was opposed to the reservoir north of the city, because in his opinion it would be a constant menace to the lives and property of the. citizens.
One of the most remarkable structures in the world is "Cabin John Bridge," erected by General Meigs over Cabin John Run, at a distance of seven miles from Washington on the line of the aque- duct, for the purpose of carrying the aqueduct over the run. It is a stone structure, 584 feet in extreme length, and 101 feet high, above the stream. The arch proper is 200 feet wide at the base, and 50 feet high, and is believed to be the largest stone arch in the world. The thickness of the bridge above the arch is 143 feet, and it is 20 feet wide.
Ever since the Potomac River water has been introduced into the District, there has been great interest taken by scientific men in the question as to the reasons for the impurities that at regular periods are noticeable therein, as well as by those who are compelled to use the water thus affected. In addition to its roiled and muddy appear- ance, there has been detected a fishy odor which is anything but pleasant. The chemist of the Engineer Department, in 1886, in refer- ring to this odor, which is noticeable only occasionally, stated that all scientific men believed it to be due to the formation of microscopic algæ, such as conferve, oscillatoria, and protococci; but there was no evidence, he said, to warrant the suspicion that the water would produce deleterious effects upon the health. He also explained the periodicity of the phenomenon of the muddy water by saying it was more noticeable during that portion of the year when most moisture falls, and said that the same thing was remarkable more or less in all parts of the world.
During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, a 48-inch main was constructed. It was begun in August, 1889, and so far completed by March 20, 1890, that the water was turned on, and the protracted famine of water at the Capitol building then came to an end. The meter system was introduced in 1888, and by June 30, 1890, there were 90 of them in operation, varying in size from 2 of an inch to 6 inches in diameter. The prevailing sizes, however, were 1, 13, and 2 inches, of which sizes there were 70 in all. The 48-inch main, in the relief it gave to the city, was a very gratifying improvement for the area sup- plied by the gravity system. The average quantity of water drawn daily from the gravity supply and delivered into the standpipe was in 1891
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376,130 gallons, and the entire average daily amount of water used in the two cities of Georgetown and Washington at the present time is 38,000,000 gallons. In the latter part of 1891, there were 1,157 fire hydrants in service, and 287 publie hydrants, the latter being largely used by the poorer people, who cannot afford to have the Potomac water introduced into their houses. There were, also, at that time (December 1, 1891), 264 public pumps in the District, the cool water supplied by which in the summer time is very acceptable to such as cannot afford the use of ice. The total number of houses in George- town and Washington which are supplied with Potomac water was at this same time 32,074, and the number of miscellaneous water takers was 5,174.
One of the first fires that occurred in the city of Washington was that which destroyed the building occupied by the War Department, and the one adjoining, November 8, 1800. The building in which the department was situated was owned by Joseph Hodgson, and upon the repeated petition of his widow, his legal representatives received $6,000 for the loss thus occasioned, in accordance with an act passed by Congress, May 7, 1822. Another extensive fire occurred January 20, 1801, in the Treasury Department, which was extinguished by the citizens with water buckets; but not until after several valuable books had been destroyed The necessity thus becoming apparent for organized protection against the ravages of fire led to the enactment of a law by the city authorities, January 10, 1803, which provided. that every proprietor of a dwelling or business house should, prior to March 1 ensuing, provide at his own expense as many fire buckets of leather, containing two and a half gallons, as there were stories to his house, under a penalty of $1 for each bucket he did not provide as required by law; and all were required to keep these buckets in a conspicuous place, and send them to fires that might break out.
On July 24, 1804, the city was divided into fire wards, and fire companies provided for. All that part of the city west of Sixteenth Street constituted the first ward; that part bounded by Sixteenth Street on the west, by G Street on the south, and by Third Street on the east, constituted the second ward; that portion south of G Street constituted the third ward, and the rest of the city the fourth ward. Under this act, one individual in each ward was appointed to call the citizens together for the purpose of organizing themselves into fire companies, one in each ward. Each company was to elect annually one of its members as a member of a board of fire directors, which board should have general charge of the extinguishing of fires. Meet-
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ings were held then to organize companies, in accordance with the law. Union Fire Company was organized September 8, 1804. On December 31, 1814, this company had the engines of the Treasury Department placed in its charge. The apparatus of the companies then consisted of ordinary hand engines. The Union Fire Company was in existence until 1864, when, on account of many of its members having enlisted in the army of the Union, its organization ceased.
On December 18, 1837, a meeting was held at the Franklin Fire Company's Hall, to organize a regular fire department, and on January 4, 1838, the following officers were elected: Rev. French S. Evans, president; E. Hanley, vice-president; Charles Calvert, secretary; S. Stott, treasurer; and S. Drury, captain of engineers. Rev. Evans resigned his position February 13, and was succeeded by Mr. Hanley. The Perseverance Fire Company was also in existence at this time, and the Northern Liberties Fire Company was organized in 1840. The Columbia Fire Company was organized soon afterward.
In 1856, there were in existence the Union Fire Company, the Franklin Fire Company, the Perseverance Fire Company, the North- ern Liberties Fire Company, the Columbia Fire Company, the Ana- costia Fire Company, the American Hook and Ladder Company, and the Metropolitan Hook and Ladder Company.
September 15, 1859, the steam fire engine of the American Fire Company, of Philadelphia, was publicly exhibited near the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Tenth Street. A stream was thrown 110 feet in perpendicular height through a nozzle 13 inches in diameter, and a horizontal stream was thrown 198 feet. The stream thrown was equal in extinguishing power to at least three of those thrown by the most efficient hand engines in the city. The cost of the steam engine was $3,200.
January 21, 1860, the steam fire engine "Maryland," built by Poole & Hunt, of Baltimore, was tried in front of the Bank of Wash- ington, and its efficiency conclusively established. The engine was attached to a street hydrant and the boiler filled directly from the street main. Steam was raised from this water and the engine put in operation in nine minutes from the lighting of the torch. The greatest distance played from the cistern was 241 feet horizontally, through a nozzle 13 inches in diameter. The weight of the engine was 6,000 pounds.
Under an act passed October 6, 1862, the fire department was reorganized, and named the Washington Fire Department. It was made to consist of five delegates from each of the companies then in
12
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existence, the Columbia, the Union, the Franklin, the Anacostia, and the Perseverance Engine companies, and the Western Hose Company, the Metropolitan Hook and Ladder Company, and the American Hook and Ladder Company, and from such other companies as should afterward be organized. The department as thus organized was given power to make all by-laws and regulations needful for their own government, and to make nominations for a chief engineer on the last Monday in May in each year. An act for the purchase of one steam fire engine was introduced at the same time, which was after- ward changed so as to provide for the purchase of three steam fire engines. On Monday, November 17, 1862, nominations were made for a chief engineer, and J. J. Peabody was chosen. Early in 1865, the first steam fire engine was received in the city, and it was tested March 31, that year. This engine threw a large stream of water from the corner of Eighth and E streets to the center of Seventh Street. Steamer No. 2 was also received early in the same year. This was a second-class engine with a double-acting phinger pump, and ten feet long, exclusive of the pole. At fair working speed it was capable of throwing four hundred gallons of water per minute, and of throwing the stream over two hundred feet. Engine No. 3 was tried March 14, and threw a stream through a one-inch nozzle two hundred and twenty feet. By April 1, 1865, the steam fire department was completed. These three steamers were located as follows: No. 1, at the Union Engine Ilouse, in the first ward; No. 2, at the Franklin Engine House, on D Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets; and No. 3, on Capitol Hill. The Metropolitan Truck House was on Massachusetts Avenne, between Fourth and Fifth streets. Besides these, the Govern- ment steamers acted with the city fire department. The names of the Government steamers were the "General Meigs," the "Hibernia," and the "Rucker." J. H. Sessford was then chief engineer of the fire department. All the steamers in the city at that time were manufac- tured by the Amoskeag Company, of New Hampshire. On April 4, they were tested at the corner of Indiana Avenne and Four and a Half Street, to the satisfaction of all concerned.
In 1864, the Government disbanded its fire department, and in 1867 the city added two more steam engines to its number. In 1874, it was recommended to the city government that two additional engines be introduced, so as to bring the department up to the efficiency it had eight or ten years before, before the fire brigade of the Gov- ermment was dispensed with. In 1891, on account of the steadily increasing extent of territory to be protected and of the increase in
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the number and size of the buildings within the territory thus increas- ing in extent, a movement was started to increase the capacity of the department by the organization of a new company in the northern section of the city. According to the report of Joseph Parris, chief engineer of the department, for June 30, 1891, there were then 8 engine houses and 2 truck houses in use. The engines in active use were as follows: 3 second size engines, 700 gallons per minute; 1 third size, 650 gallons per minute; 1 third size, 500 gallons per minute; and 3 fourth size, 450 gallons. Besides these, there were two engines in reserve. The force consisted of 1 chief engineer, 2 assist- ant engineers, 1 fire marshal, 1 clerk, 8 engine companies of 10 men each, 2 truck companies of 12 men each, 1 truck company of 11 men, 1 chemical company of 3 men, and 6 watchmen, -129 in all. The department had 53 horses. From this statement it is clear that the department is far too small for the extent of territory -72 square miles, containing nearly 50,000 houses, and a population of 235,000 - which it is required to protect. To meet possible exigencies, which it is only the part of a wise precaution to provide for, the number of engines should now be fifteen, with other apparatus in proportion.
In 1877, an improved fire alarm telegraph was introduced, and the expense incurred in its erection was much more than saved by its celer- ity and certainty in operation, enabling the firemen, as it did, to get almost immediate information of the breaking out of fires. In 1879, there were 80 automatic signal boxes, and in addition several of the police stations were used as fire alarm stations. During the year end- ing June 30, 1885, 46 new fire alarm signal boxes were added, of the latest improved Gamewell system. In the latter part of 1891, the fire alarm telegraph consisted of 7 signal and 4 alarm circuits, all metallic. There were 150 alarm boxes on the 7 signal circuits,-precisely twice as many as when the system was first introduced in 1877, but the number of circuits remained the same. On the 4 alarm circuits are the gongs and bells upon which are sounded the alarms for fires and the hours of the day. In all there were then 19 gongs and 4 bells. In addition to these, the department was using 233 sets of exchange telephones.
The city post office of Washington was established in 1795, with Thomas Johnson as postmaster, who was appointed September 1, that year. Prior to that time, the nearest post office was in Georgetown, mails being received there three times each week. Mr. Johnson kept the post office in his own residence on Pennsylvania Avenne, just west of Seventeenth Street. He served as postmaster until January 1, 1796,
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when Christopher Richmond was appointed. Mr. Richmond served until the 1st of the following October, when Lund Washington was appointed, and served until April 1, 1799. During Mr. Washington's time the post office was on New Jersey Avenue. Thomas Munroe was appointed postmaster April 1, 1799, and served continuously until April 29, 1829. Early in Mr. Munroe's term, the post office was removed to the west exeentive building, west of the White House. Subsequently, the room thus occupied by the post office being needed, a room was rented still further to the westward on Pennsylvania Avenue, to which the post office was removed. "Indeed, the officials generally of that day, like their successors, could not be convinced that the center of the city was to be found anywhere but in one end of it; and it was apprehended by many that our post office would at last be located in Georgetown, by way of promoting the public good of the citizens of Washington." Other removals occurred, and for a time the office was in a building on the north side of F Street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets, and still later on a square further to the east.
At length Congress took up the question, and purchased Blod- gett's or the Great Hotel for the use of the Post Office Department, on E Street, between Eighth and Ninth streets, for $15,000. This hotel was situated on the southwest portion of the present site of the Post Office Department. To this building the city post office was removed in 1812. Still later, a building was erected at the east end of the hotel building for the accommodation of the city post office, and both the General Post Office and the city post office remained here until the fire of 1835 destroyed the buildings.
April 29, 1829, Dr. William Jones was appointed to succeed Mr. Munroe. He served until March 23, 1839. It was during his inenm- beney that the fire mentioned above occurred. After this disaster, the post office was opened in the lower part of Mr. Seaver's brick house on Seventh Street, near the office of the National Intelligencer. It was afterward moved to the Masonic Hall building, where it remained until 1839, in which year Dr. Jones was succeeded by James S. Gun- nell, who proposed to remove it to the westward. This proposition brought out several remonstrances from the people in the eastern por- tion of the city, who thought that the new postmaster had not learned that the tax on postage was quite heavy enough, without their being compelled to submit to additional burdens in having to bring into requisition the penny post. On the other hand, it was said that the proposed removal would greatly accommodate the President and the heads of the departinents; but the Intelligencer said the location of
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the post office was preferable to the proposed one by about the ratio of three hundred to thirty-five. Notwithstanding the protests of the citizens of the eastern part of the city, the post office was removed to the basement of Carusi's saloon, standing on Eleventh Street below Pennsylvania Avenue, and it was afterward removed to the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Four and a Half Street, opposite the City HIall. From this location it moved to Seventh Street, between E and F streets, and thence to F Street, opposite the Patent Office. In November, 1879, it was removed to the Seaton building, on Louisiana Avenue, where it remained until 1892, when it was finally removed to the new and elegant building erected especially for its use on Penn- sylvania Avenue, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets.
The postmasters since Mr. Gunnell have been as follows: Charles K. Gardner, March 31, 1845, to June 28, 1849; William A. Bradley, June 28, 1849, to May 27, 1853; James G. Berrett, Dr. William Jones, Lewis Clephane, Sayles J. Bowen, Colonel C. M. Alexander, Judge James M. Edmunds, May, 1869, till his death in 1880; Colonel Daniel B. Ainger, 1880 to 1882; Thomas L. Tulloch, November 25, 1882, to June 23, 1883, when he died; Colonel D. S. Parker, one week, when he declined to serve; F. B. Conger, June 29, 1883, to January 30, 1888; John W. Ross, January 31, 1888, to September 30, 1890; and finally Henry Sherwood, appointed September 12, 1890.
At the main office, and at the sixteen branch offices, there were sold $500,000 worth of stamps in 1891; but as about seventy-five per cent. of the mail matter sent out from this office goes free, it is safe to say that, were none of it sent free, the income of the office would be $2,000,000. The regular delivery division, in 1891, handled 45,900,- 000 letters, cards, etc., while the special delivery division handled 63,783 letters. This feature of the mail service was established in 1885, and for the year ending June 30, 1886, the special delivery letters numbered only 25,154. The number of registry pieces handled by the main office and its branches for the year 1891 was 2,394,806, the value of which was nearly $530,000,000. The weight of this matter was about 1,568 tons for the year. The weight of the mail handled by the mailing division amounts to nearly 30 tons per day.
The free delivery system was introduced in Washington July 1, 1863. This was the first day on which this system was used anywhere in the United States, and there were six other cities in which it was introduced on that day. The number of carriers now employed in the city is one hundred and forty-three.
CHAPTER VII.
GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE CITY.
The Grandeur of the Plan of the Capital-Early Inhabitants -- Early Attempts to Improve the City -- Locality of First Improvements - Noted Residences in Wash- ington - Quotation from Benjamin O. Tayloe-John Sessford's Statistics - About the Removal of the Capital - Work under the Charter of 1820-Improvement on Pennsylvania Avenue-Senator Southard's Report- W. W. Seaton's Report --- Statisties of Buildings Erected in Recent Years-Census and Debt of the District - Progress Since the War -Change in Form of Government -The $4,000,000 Loan -- Sewerage Built -Street Improvements-Governor Shepherd's Work - Area of Public Parks-Extent of Paved Streets.
F ROM the nature of things, it was to be expected that the growth of the Capital City would be slow. The establishment of a great city in the midst of what was a wilderness, in every respect, appar- ently, unfitted for the location of such a city, was a project entirely new, and without a precedent in the world's history. In addition to this, the plan of the proposed city was one of a magnitude without a parallel. The idea of the projectors of this grand city embraced within its scope the erection of a site for a Federal city that was to have at the outset buildings not only sufficient for the accommodation of the Govern- ment of the new Republic, but buildings that should be in keeping with the grandeur of the nation that was to be. Especially prominent among these buildings were the Capitol, for the accommodation of the legislative branch of the Government, and the house for the President. Other buildings for other purposes were also projected upon a scale simpler, it is true, than these, but yet sufficiently grand and commo- dions for the purposes that they were to subserve. All the ideas of the men who were principally concerned about this plan of the future Capital of the Nation were grand in every way, and looked to a future that was far beyond the conception of most of their contempo- raries. These ideas, too, were far beyond what the accommodation of the Government at that time demanded, and were, indeed, in the opinion of many, far beyond what it was probable the Government ever would demand.
The very fact that these public buildings were placed, upon the plan of the Capital City, in positions so remote from each other, was
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calculated to retard the rapid growth of the Federal City. About this matter the notions of those who were placed in charge of the plan of the city vere very diverse, and it was not until almost the last moment that it was determined to locate the buildings destined as the meet- ing place of Congress and the residence of the President at so great a distance from each other. At one time it was thought best that the President's House should be in close proximity to the Capitol, and after the present location of the President's House was determined upon, there were several projects for using that building in connection with the legislative or the judiciary branch of the Government. How- ever this may have been, and howsoever various the projects of those who were concerned in the erection of the public buildings, the fact remains that in this wilderness, selected to be the site of the Federal Capital, these buildings were erected so far apart as to make their connection by an inhabited city a matter of the slow development of many years.
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