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 44
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In addition to the work ordinarily performed by boards of this kind in the various cities of the country, the committee on universi- ties, of which Mr. Alexander D. Anderson is chairman, is performing great and valuable public service in aiding to build up and foster the great universities established, or proposed, for the city of Wash- ington. The purpose is to make Washington the great educational center of the United States.
419
MERCANTILE HISTORY.
Washington has had market houses, one or more, ever since its carliest days. But the old market houses were destroyed in 1870-72, when the era of improvement commenced. There are now eight public markets in the District, six in Washington and two in George- town. The largest, and one of the finest in the country, is the Center Market, between Seventh and Ninth streets, and Pennsylvania Avenue and B Street. This market house took the place of one that had for years been an eyesore to the residents of the city. It was erected by a private company, chartered by Congress for the purpose. The entire stock of this company was taken in October, 1870, 10,000 shares at $50 each. Mayor Emery subscribed for 1,000 shares; Fitzhugh Coyle, 500 shares; A. R. Shepherd, 1,000 shares, and later for 500 shares more; Moses Kelly, 500 shares; II. D. Cooke, 500 shares; E. M. Tinker sub- scribed for 1 share each for five persons, one of the five being Iliram Sibley, and 10 for himself; Mr. Chandler subscribed for 1 share each for several different persons, and 1,245 for himself, and afterward he subscribed for 1,250 more shares for himself; Mr. Hildreth subscribed for 5 shares for F. B. Whiting, and 1,245 for himself; Mr. Ordway subscribed for 1 share each for five individuals, and 1,245 for himself; several shares were taken by parties whose names were not ascertained; then, it being found that there were only 220 shares left, Mr. Chandler took them. November 5, 1870, the incorporators were organized by the election of directors in the persons of H. D. Cooke, A. R. Shepherd, II. S. Dawes, S. S. Smoot, C. Cushing, H. Van Aerman, N. M. Ord- way, John Roche, M. G. Emery, E. M. Tinker, T. C. Connolly, W. E. Chandler, and T. A. Hildreth. H. D. Cooke was chosen president; Moses Kelly, treasurer; and a building committee of six was chosen as follows: Shepherd, Ordivay, Davis, Tinker, Hildreth, and Smoot. Adolph Cluss was selected as the architect, who drew up plans for the building; which, as it stands at the present time, is as follows: Whole length of market houses on Seventh, Ninth, and B streets, 740 feet; average width, 82 feet; length of wholesale store building, 274 feet; width, 37 feet. In the central portion of the building is the armory, and in the second story of the Ninth Street portion is the drill room. The buildings were completed in 1872, and are of the most substantial character. The retail building is a one-story brick, and covers 60,172 square feet of ground. The retail market has 666 stalls, and cost $350,- 000. The average monthly rental of the stalls is $8.35. As has been intimated in the above, this market is owned by a private corporation; all the other markets, brief mention of which follows, are public.
North Liberty Market is on the corner of Fifth and K streets
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Northwest. It is a one-story building, covering 41,600 square feet of ground. It contains 284 stalls, and cost $152,000. The average rental of the stalls is $5.90.
Riggs Market is on P Street, between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets. It a one-story frame structure, 130 x 70 feet, contains 60 stalls, and cost $5,000. The average rental is $4.333.
Corcoran Market is a low frame building on O Street, near Seventh Street, Northwest. It contains 187 stalls, the average rental being $3.56.
Western Market is on the southeast corner of Twenty-first and K streets Northwest. It contains 105 stalls, which rent for $3.63 each per month.
Butchers' Market, on IIigh Street, between First and Second streets, in Georgetown, is a one-story brick structure, 80 x 60 feet, and cost $5,000. It contains 48 stalls, each of which rents for $3.80 per month.
Georgetown Market, on Bridge Street, fronting ou Market Street, is a one-story brick building, 36 x240 feet. It contains 75 stalls, and cost $60,000. Each stall rents for $1.92 per month.
Eastern Market is on Seventh and C streets Northeast. It is a one-story brick building, 205 x47 feet, cost $90,000, and contains 85 stalls, each of which rents for $3.75 per month.
While not a part of the commercial history of Washington, yet it is believed that no more fitting place in this volume can be found than this for a brief outline of the movement resulting in the Col- umbian Exposition to be held in Chicago in 1893. It is due to Washington, and it is also due to the truth, that such a statement should somewhere herein be made. It is a matter of fact and of record that this coming Exposition at Chicago is the outgrowth of the proposed Three Americas' and World's Exposition at Wash- ington. The author and projector of this proposed Exposition was Mr. Alexander D. Anderson, of Washington, who, backed by the citizens of Washington and of Baltimore, spent four years' time and $33,000 in money in promoting the movement. The project was first foreshadowed by him in an interview in the New York Herald, November 19, 1884. He submitted it in writing to the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, January 1, 1885, and presented it in detail to the citizens of Washington at a public meeting February 26, 1886, at which meeting committees were appointed, head- quarters opened, and a vigorous campaign commenced. The memorial of the committee was presented to the Senate of the United States in
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MERCANTILE HISTORY.
April, 1886, by Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland, and this memorial was published in full in the Congressional Record.
The local board was then converted into a national board of promotion, and, in response to notices of appointment sent out, Mr. Anderson received formal letters of acceptance from the governors of forty States and Territories, the mayors of fifty-five of the leading cities, one hundred and seventy-six presidents and secretaries of boards of trade, and the officers of thirty State and Territorial granges, approving of the movement, and pledging cooperation.
June 16, 1888, Hon. Perry Belmont, of New York, submitted a report to the House of Representatives in favor of the project, and naming Washington as the place for holding the Exposition. But before the report of the committee could be acted upon by the House, New York, in the summer of 1889, attempted to appropriate the work of Washington, and to secure the great Fair for herself. Against this attempt Chicago made a vigorous protest, and it was only when the latter city saw that New York was determined to have the Fair, and that there was danger of her securing it away from Washington, that she herself determined to secure it away from New York. The result of the contest between Chicago and New York is well known to everybody.
Mr. Anderson thereupon publicly stated that it had become the duty of every American citizen to aid the Exposition to the best of his ability, and to make it a success worthy of the Nation. IIe projected an amendment to the Exposition bill, providing for a grand review of the navies of the world in the New York harbor and Hampton Roads, preceding the opening of the Fair at Chicago, which amendment Senator Daniel, of Virginia, introduced into the Senate, and which is now Section 8 of the Exposition act. This grand review is to take place in April, 1893, immediately preceding the opening of the Exposition itself at Chicago.
CHAPTER XII.
MANUFACTURING.
Early Establishments - A Nail Factory - A Hat Factory -The Steam Engine -Thresh- ing Machine-The Columbia Manufacturing Company - Foxall's Foundry - Manu- factory of Fire Engines -- The Columbia Rolling Mills -Paper Mills- Pope's Threshing Machine - Bomford's Flouring Mill-George Page, Shipbuilder - Steam Marble and Brown Stone Works-George Hill, Jr.'s Paper Mill - William Stick- ney's Envelope Manufactory -The Washington Gas Light Company -The United States Electric Lighting Company -Summary of Manufacturing Establishments in Existence at the Present Time.
WV ITH reference to manufacturing establishments, the same remarks may be made as have been already made with regard to com- merce. Washington has had, from year to year, a considerable number of such establishments of different kinds, and yet not enough to render the city a distinctively manufacturing center. In December, 1800, Wilson & Handy commenced the manufacture of furniture on New Jersey Avenue, between the Episcopal church and the Sugar House. They expressed their confidence that they should be able to give general satisfaction, from the experience they had had in the principal shops in Europe and America. The articles made by this firm were secretary desks, portable writing desks, chests, card tables, etc.
A nail factory was established about February 1, 1801, on F Street, where all kinds of ent nails were made. John Minehen moved his shoe factory from Philadelphia to Washington about this time, locating near the Eastern Branch, and afterward on New Jersey Avenue, near the Capitol.
In April, 1802, Benjamin Henchey gave notice that he would exhibit his new mode of obtaining light in a variety of thermo lamp, commencing the next Friday evening after the 14th of the month, and continuing until May 18, at Mr. Thompson's new brick house on Pennsylvania Avenue. Tickets were $1, which would admit one gen- tleman twice or a gentleman and lady twice.
Joel Broun, in 1803, established himself in Washington as a man- ufacturer of hats, and in February, 1804, removed to Georgetown. In February, 1806, Evan Evans advertised for sale an improved straw-
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MANUFACTURING.
cutter, at his house between the Six Buildings and the Potomac. "Ile forms the steel of this machine aslant so as to cause the knife to cut off the straw at an angle of twenty-two and one-half degrees, which makes it cut much easier than at right angles." Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, was the maker.
February 19, 1806, John James Dufour made a remark about the steam engine worthy of note, to the effect that many people attributed the great prosperity of England to it, and that its introduction into the United States would certainly produce the same result; but the great question of iron, which it required for its construction, and the complicated mechanism necessary to produce a rotary motion from its natural motion, would operate for some time to prevent its adoption. He therefore advertised an invention of his own, whereby the rotary motion could be easily effected, and urged capitalists to take an interest in his invention.
Tunstall's patent threshing machine was one of the noted machines of the day. Cast-iron wheels for this valuable machine could be bought at H. Foxall's Georgetown foundry, and also of T. Hogan, on F Street, Washington. This machine was capable of threshing, with two horses or oxen, three hundred bushels per day, and it sold for about $150. A quantity of straw, supposed to contain about two hundred bushels of wheat, had been threshed with this machine, and then rethreshed with flails, and this second threshing produced only a pint and a half of grain.
June 15, 1808, the Mayor of Washington, Robert Brent, called a meeting of citizens of Washington at Stelle's IIotel for the 21st of the month, for the purpose of taking into consideration the expedieney of organizing a plan for the encouragement of domestic manufactures. Of this meeting Mr. Brent was elected chairman, and John Law secretary. Samuel II. Smith offered a series of resolutions, which were in substance as follows: That at a time when our rights are trampled upon with unprecedented audacity and injustice by the belligerent nations of Europe, it became the duty of the people either to make sacrifices for their country or to unfold their energies; and that whether peace or war should come, it was the duty of the people to make themselves independent of the workshops of Europe; that it was the duty of all sections of the Union to encourage the establishment and extension of domestic manufactures; that the city of Washington, for various reasons, was eminently fitted for attain- ing manufacturing importance, and that a plan should be reported to a subsequent meeting. A committee was appointed, and authorized
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
to call another meeting when they were ready to report. This committee was composed of Samuel H. Smith, William Cranch, Gabriel Duval, Cornelius Cunningham, A. Cutting, George Blagden, Buller Cocke, and Robert Brent.
The adjourned meeting was held in accordance with the call of the committee, which reported articles of association for the Columbia Manufacturing Company. There were nine articles adopted. The first declared that the object of the association was to carry on the manu- facture of cotton, wool, hemp, and flax, and to promote such other domestic manufactures as should be thought advisable. The second article provided that the capital stock of the company should be $50,000, to be raised by subscription, shares to be worth $25 each, and the books to be opened on August 1, that year. As soon as five hundred shares should be subscribed, a meeting was to be called for the purpose of devising a plan for conducting the business. If five hundred shares should not be subscribed within six months from the time of opening the books, then the money which had been subscribed should be returned. Application was to be made to Congress for the incorporation of the company. The chairman of the meeting, Robert Brent, was authorized to appoint nine commissioners to receive sub- scriptions, three from Washington, three from Alexandria, and three from Georgetown. The commissioners from Washington were Wil- liam Craneh, William Brent, and George Blagden, and the books were opened August 1, 1808, at the office of the clerk of the Circuit Court.
On the 14th of February, 1809, John Gardiner congratulated the commissioners on having made a successful start, and offered his services as secretary of the company without compensation, and also offered to devote his leisure time to the superintendency of the factory, only asking that at the end of the year, if he then had served the interests of the company well, he receive some honorary testimonial to that effect.
But upon the organization of the company, on the 22d of Feb- ruary, 1809, the following directors and officers were chosen: Direc- tors- Robert Brent, Nicholas King, Michael Nourse, William Cranch, Charles Jones, Samuel H. Smith, John P. Van Ness, Thomas Munroe, and Joseph Huddleston. Robert Brent was elected president, Samnel H. Smith and Michael Nourse vice-presidents, and Thomas Carpenter secretary.
In November, 1809, the question was whether the company could succeed in getting a start, and a series of resolutions was adopted at a meeting of the directors, in which the opinion was expressed that
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MANUFACTURING.
the success of the institution depended upon the prompt payment of the installments due upon the stock subscription, and requesting the president of the company to have prepared and published a statement of the financial condition of the company. Accordingly, the secretary and treasurer, Thomas Carpenter, under date of November 20, presented a statement of the condition of the company, in which it was shown that there had been four hundred shares subscribed, and that the amount of money paid in was $1,414.33, of which $1,320.10 had been paid out. Of this latter sum $500 had been paid for a carding machine, and $222 for a billy of forty-four spindles and a jenny of sixty-six spindles. One bale of cotton had been purchased for $51.64. In order to compel the payment of the installments due, it was determined to put in operation a rule of the company by which delinquent subscribers forfeited their rights and interests in the com- pany, so that all of those who, by the 22d of February, 1810, had not paid in nine installments should lose their interests in the com- pany. An election was held the same day for nine directors and a secretary. The factory was located on Greenleaf's Point. The com- pany continued in operation for several years, and in 1812 John Gardiner was the secretary.
One of the historie institutions of the early day in Washington was the Foxall Foundry, established in 1800, by Henry Foxall. At this foundry most of the heavy guns were cast that were used in the War of 1812-15. Previously to coming to Washington, Mr. Foxall had operated in Philadelphia, in partnership with Robert Morris, the great financier of the Revolution, a similar institution, called the "Eagle Foundry." The guns made at the Foxall Foundry were the first bored guns made in this country, and many of them were dragged across the country by oxen to the lakes. It is said that they were used by Commodore Perry in his battle on Lake Erie.
After Mr. Foxall's death, the foundry passed into the hands of General John Mason, and for some time afterward was known as the Columbian Foundry. In 1843, an addition was erected at its eastern end, and in this eastern addition were cast most of the heavy guns used in the Mexican War. After the close of this war, the building was used as a distillery for some time, and early in the fifties it was converted into a flouring mill, and is still used for the purpose of manufacturing flour.
In the early part of the century, there was situated on Rock Creek what was known as the Federal Mills, within one-fourth of a mile of Georgetown. These mills had four pairs of stones, capable of manufac-
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
turing into four fifty thousand bushels of wheat in a season. They were the property of John F. Rowles up to the time of his death, in 1812. What became of the property afterward was not ascertained.
In December, 1810, Philip Pyfer, Jr., commenced the manufacture of hides, on Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the Central Market, where anyone, by calling. could be accommodated with hides of any kind "on the lowest terms imaginable." John Helmer was also a manu- facturer of hides at that early day, and was located opposite Dr. Thornton's residence. About the same time, a blanket manufactory was established in Georgetown by Elkanah Cobb and Daniel Bussard & Company.
John Achmann, who had "been regularly brought up in Europe to the making of engines," carried on the manufacture of fire engines in Washington for several years, commencing in 1812. He had a fire engine in Fredericktown, Maryland, of the following description: The box of copper, the pumps of brass, and the rest of the engine, except the carriage, of iron. It conveyed the water through a tube three- fourths of an inch in diameter one hundred feet, through a hose one hundred and four feet in length, then, with a tube one-half inch in diameter, it was conveyed seventy feet. He took out letters patent for his "new invented fire engine," and offered rights for sale.
The Washington Brewery was established in 1811, and was located at the foot of New Jersey Avenue,-J. W. Colbert & Company, pro- prietors. In December of that year, this company advertised malt liquors of a superior quality. Table ale was $3 per barrel, strong ale $4 per barrel, and ale $5 per barrel.
In May, 1813, R. Parrott & I. W. Westerman, of England, were established in the city as manufacturers of machinery for spinning and carding wool and cotton. They were then setting up machinery of their own manufacture at R. Parrott's mill, at the foot of his ropewalk. R. Parrott & Company had also a "grocery warehouse" on the wharf.
The Columbia Rolling Mills were situated near Georgetown, and were the property of George French. They turned out rolled iron of all descriptions.
In May, 1817, the Washington Knit Stocking Factory went into operation, at which were manufactured cotton and woolen pantaloons, cotton and woolen stockings, cotton and woolen waistcoats without sleeves, cotton and woolen drawers, Berlin lace or tulle, etc. Isaac Keller was the proprietor of this establishment. The Columbia Mills went into operation about the same time. Of these mills George
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Johnson was the proprietor, and at them woolen goods were manu- factured.
The Window Glass Factory of A. & G. Way was established in Washington in 1810 or 1811, on the bank of the Potomac, near the mouth of the Tiber. At this factory there were produced an average of three thousand boxes of glass per year, each box containing one hundred square feet of glass.
A paper mill on Rock Creek was offered for sale in December, 1821. This mill was one hundred and twenty feet long, three stories high, the first story built of stone. It was a two-vat mill. A flour mill belonging to the same property, sitnated at the Little Falls bridge, three miles above Washington, was also offered for sale at the same time. It was a three-buhr mill. A woolen factory adjoining the flour mill was also offered at the same time. This was a two-story stone building one hundred and ten feet long, with carding machines, billies and jennies, twelve broad looms and a number of narrow ones, and, including the flour mill, cost $40,000.
In February, 1824, Pope's patent threshing machine, adapted either to hand or horse power, was on exhibition at Mr. Steuart's coach maker's shop, on Pennsylvania Avenue, at the foot of Capitol Hill. This machine, with the ordinary power of one horse, and with one man to feed it and one man to take away the straw, was guaranteed to thresh with ease eight bushels of wheat per hour. It was invented by Joseph Pope, of Massachusetts, greatly celebrated both in Europe and the United States for his philosophical researches and attainments. The orrery then in the philosophical and astronomical department of Harvard College was of his invention. The threshing machine com- bined all that had long been wanting in such a machine -strength and simplicity of construction, and in its operation economy of labor, with the most powerful effects.
George C. Bomford had a large flouring mill in Georgetown, which was burned down in 1844. Upon the ruins Mr. Bomford erected a cotton factory, with a water wheel thirty feet high. The building was four stories in height, and had three thousand spindles and one hundred looms. It furnished employment to about one hundred laborers, male and female. In order to encourage the industry, the corporate authorities of Georgetown exempted the machinery from taxation. At this same time, a Mr. Davis had a flouring mill in Georgetown, grinding from three to four hundred barrels of flour per day.
About the first of the year 1851, George Page began the build-
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
ing of ships in Washington, on the river at the foot of Seventh Street. He had in June, of that year, just completed a steamboat called the Champion, which was one hundred and fifty feet long, twenty- four foot beam, and eight feet in depth of hold. Her engine was of one hundred horse-power, and her wheels twenty-four feet in diameter. Her captain was H. J. Strandberg, of Baltimore. He also had on the stocks a steamboat one hundred and seventy-five feet long, twenty-four foot beam, and nine feet depth of hold, the timbers for which were ent from the logs by machinery invented by Mr. Page. He was also then constructing a wharf at Seventh Street, four hundred feet long, from which vessels were to run to Mount Vernon. This one hundred and seventy-five foot steamer was named William Selden. He also built, about the same time, a boat which was owned largely by the work- men, named the Jenny Lind, one hundred and twenty feet long and of a proportionate width. Then came a ferryboat designed to ply between Washington and Alexandria, two hundred and fifty feet long and thirty-four feet broad.
The William Selden was a very fast boat for those times. Upon one occasion, in September, 1851, a New York built steamer, named the George Washington, made a fast run from New York to Washing- ton, and Mr. Page, in order to try the speed of the William Selden in comparison with that of the George Washington, went down to Piney Point, and as the George Washington passed, began a race with her to Washington. When the William Selden started from Piney Point, the George Washington was about six miles ahead. The William Selden, however, after some time overtook and passed the George Washington, and came to her wharf at the foot of Seventh Street in five hours and fifty-six minutes, the entire distance being about one hundred miles, and gaining about ten miles on the George Washington.
In 1852, there were several important manufacturing establishments in full operation in Washington, furnishing employment to a large number of workmen, concentrating considerable capital, and building up a home market for country and other produce.
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