USA > Washington DC > The chronicles of Georgetown, D.C., from 1751-1878 > Part 4
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In the same year (1836), while the Alexandria Aque-
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duct was being constructed, under a charter passed by Congress, dated 26th May, 1830, also, under a large donation of four hundred thousand dollars given by Congress to aid in the construction of the work, the corporate authorities of Georgetown undertook, by an injunction, to stop the further progress of the work. The case came on for a hearing before the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, when the Court de- cided against the town on a demurrer to the bill. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States; that court held " that the plaintiff's, in their cor- porate capacity, could not maintain this suit in behalf of the citizens of Georgetown. It was not like the common case of the creditor's bill, where the persons bringing the suit by names have an interest in the sub- ject-matter which enables them to sue; and the others are treated as a kind of co-plaintiff's with those named. The appellants have no authority to vindicate, in a court of justice, the rights of citizens of their town in the enjoyment of their property." (12 Peters, p. 91.) This was an unfortunate suit for the town. It gener- ated bad feeling between Alexandria and Georgetown, and when we went to Congress and asked for a free bridge by the side of the Aqueduct, Alexandria op- posed it, and we obtained nothing.
BASIS OF AN AGREEMENT FOR THE CONSOLIDATION OF WASHINGTON CITY AND GEORGETOWN.
In the year 1856, on the 17th and 24th of Septem- ber, and 15th and 17th of October, a committee from the town, appointed by the corporate authorities, met
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a committee of Washington City at the City Hall, for the purpose of devising some plan to consolidate the two cities; the following propositions were submitted and argued at length by the gentlemen on both sides.
"1. Georgetown, as such, is no longer to have any separate existence as a corporation. All of its powers of legislation and distinct corporate action are to be surrendered.
2. Georgetown is to form two wards of Washington City, to have a representation in the Councils of Wash- ington, as such, and to have the rights and incur the obligation of such.
3. The people of Georgetown, in becoming citizens of Washington City, will assume their proportion of the debt of Washington, and submit to such revenue system and taxation as is or may be imposed upon the citizens of Washington City, for the purpose of pay- ing the principal and interest of said debt.
4. The debt of Georgetown, funded and floating, is to be assumed by Washington.
5. The property, real and personal, now owned by Georgetown, the debts owing to it, the stocks held by it, and assets of any and every kind belonging to it, are to vest absolutely in Washington City.
6. The obligations incurred by Georgetown, so far as they bind it, and no further, are to be assumed by Washington.
7. The present western or Virginia Channel of the Potomac is not to be altered or in any manner affected, except by the consent of the people resident in the aforesaid two new wards, or of a majority of their rep-
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resentatives in each of the branches of the Corpora- tion of Washington.
8. The people of Georgetown, in becoming citizens of Washington, will assume their just and fair propor- tion of all the obligations, past and future, incurred by Washington City.
9. Georgetown and Washington City will unite in an effort to have any plan of union agreed upon car- ried out by appropriate legislation by Congress.
10. Any plan agreed upon by the joint committee is to be submitted to the people of Washington City and Georgetown, respectively, for ratification, and shall only be effectual when ratified by both cities and con- firmed by Congress."
All the propositions were agreed to except the sev- enth, to which the Washington committee objected ; but our committee held on to the seventh proposition, when, no agreement being accomplished, the meeting adjourned sine die.
In the year 1838, on the 29th and 30th of January, and at other times, several meetings were held at the old Lancaster School room, on Beall Street, to consider and discuss the question of retrocession to Maryland of all that part of the District lying west of Rock Creek, including Georgetown. Samuel McKenny ad- dressed the citizens in favor of the question in an able speech, that occupied two evenings in its delivery ; he was replied to by others, when it was agreed to sub- mit the question to a vote of the people. On an elec- tion being held in the town a majority of sixty-five votes was declared in favor of retrocession. Con- 7
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sequently, a committee was appointed to visit Annapo- lis and lay before the Legislature of Maryland a peti- tion of the citizens of Georgetown for annexation to the State of Maryland, which was favorably received and considered; but the Congress of the United States took no action on the petition. In 1851, several meet- ings were held at Forrest Hall to discuss the ques- tion of retrocession. Able speeches were made for and against retrocession by Henry Addison, Samuel McKenny, and Robert Ould and others, but no vote was submitted to the people, and the question rested. The chronicler at that time penned an allegory on the question of retrocession to Maryland, or annexation to Washington, published in the Georgetown Advocate, in 1851, which we will now insert :
"Is it best to marry widower Georgetown to Miss Maryland or to Lady Washington ?
MR. EDITOR : It is proposed to marry Georgetown to Maryland, a buxom lady of seventy-five years of age, with a debt resting upon her shoulders of fifteen million dollars, running on interest at 6 per cent. per annum, making the interest for the first year nine hun- dred thousand dollars. Now we well know, according to the rules and laws of matrimony, that widower Georgetown must take Maryland with all her advan- tages and disadvantages, and if Maryland has not enough to pay her debts while single, the property of her husband, Georgetown, must be taken to pay her liabilities. Now, Lady Maryland has been accustomed to high life, and high living. She has given soirees
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and parties frequently at her palace at Annapolis, and invited the surrounding country and legislature to feast on champagne and oysters, while old Georgetown has been accustomed to live upon Potomac herrings and corn-bread, and by his economy has laid up a little property; which he is now going to throw away upon his extravagant lady-love, Maryland. Why, Lady Maryland has been accustomed to move in a high and noble sphere. She has involved herself in debt by making railroads, on which she could take pleasant rides with her company and enjoy a season at Harper's Ferry, in beholding the surrounding scenery, the hills and valleys of Virginia, and the meanderings of the Potomac from the unbroken plains. She has luxuri- ated at Martinsburg, then at Winchester, then next at Cumberland, where she settled down and built a pal- ace to feast the inhabitants of Alleghany. We next hear of her preparing for a departure from that city, with more than a dozen cars in her train, carrying her company, baggage, and boxes, with a snorting, fiery locomotive ready for the word, and when she takes her departure, we cannot tell where she will spend the next summer, whether upon the hills of Pittsburg, or slum- bering upon the banks of the Ohio, at Wheeling. Now, would it be well to marry widower Georgetown to such an extravagant lady as this ? The best we can do is to unite Georgetown to Washington. Lady Washing- ton is but little in debt compared to Miss Maryland, and she has an uncle, called ' Uncle Sam,' who is very liberal towards her. He owns large possessions; he owns the Capitol and the departments, the Smithsonian
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Institute, large tracks of land in the West, and all California. He has a large revenue of fifty millions, out of which he generally gives two or three hundred thousand a year to his niece, as pin money, which en- ables her to adorn her person in fine attire, and beau- tify her city by making rough places smooth, and fill- ing up her valleys, and laying off her streets and ave- nues, lighting up the city with gas, and having a guard to attend her person. In fact, so kind is he towards his niece, that it is generally believed, when the old man dies, he will leave her all his property, and she will become the richest lady in the world. Now to his distant relative, Georgetown, he has occasionally given something to keep him from starvation. He once gave him one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to help to buy a bridge and make a road to the same, and on another occasion he went his security to the Dutch for one-fourth of a million, which he had to pay- both principal and interest; and he has never given him anything since. Now, as old Georgetown is rather poor, and hard pushed for money to get along, would it not be well to marry him to Lady Washington so that he can share in her prosperity and wealth ? He would certainly have a life-estate in all her posses- sions, and would be entitled to receive the emblems and income of her vast property; and if heirs should be born alive (of which I hope there will be a great many after the union), then Georgetown would, in case of the death of Lady Washington or the removal of the seat of Government, become tenant by the courtesy during his natural life. He would then be entitled to
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SKETCH OF ITS LEGISLATION.
all the Capitol, the public buildings, and the innumer- able wealth of 'Uncle Sam.' Then we need not go to Washington for a walk, nor go there to laugh and talk, &c., &c."
SKETCH OF ITS LEGISLATION.
Our charter was our guide and strength. It gave us power to act and to do in all things relating to the welfare of the town. In an evil hour we were, like Sampson of old, lulled to sleep by a false Delilah, in the shape of a bill to create a form of Government for the District of Columbia, passed by Congress on the 21st of February, 1871. Section 37 was as follows:
" SEC. 37. That there shall be in the District of Co- lumbia a Board of Public Works, to consist of the governor, who shall be president of said board; four persons to be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen- ate, one of whom shall be a civil engineer, and the other a citizen and resident of the District, having the qualifications of an elector therein; one of said board shall be a citizen and resident of Georgetown, and one of said board shall be a citizen and resident of the county outside of the cities of Washington and Georgetown. They shall hold office for the term of four years, unless sooner removed by the President of the United States. The Board of Public Works shall have entire control of and make all regulations which they shall deem necessary for keeping in repair the streets, avenues, alleys, and sewers of the city, and all other works which may be entrusted to their charge
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SKETCH OF ITS LEGISLATION.
by the Legislative Assembly or Congress. They shall disburse, upon their warrant, all moneys appropriated
by the United States, or the District of Columbia, or collected from property holders, in pursuance of law, for the improvement of streets, avenues, alleys, and sewers, and roads, and bridges, and shall assess in such
manner as shall be prescribed by law upon the prop-
erty adjoining, and to be specially benefitted by the improvements authorized by law and made by them, a reasonable proportion of the cost of the improve- ment, not exceeding one-third of such cost, which sum shall be collected as other taxes are collected. They shall make all necessary regulations respecting the con- struction of private buildings in the District of Colum- bia, subject to the supervision of the legislative as- sembly. All contracts made by the said Board of Public Works shall be in writing, and shall be signed by the parties making the same, and a copy thereof shall be filed in the office of the secretary of the Dis- trict ; and said Board of Public Works shall have no power to make contracts to bind said District to the payment of any sums of money except in pursuance of appropriations made by law, and not until such ap- propriations shall have been made. All contracts made by said board in which any member of said board shall be personally interested shall be void, and no payment shall be made thereon by said District or any officers thereof. On or before the first Monday in November of each year, they shall submit to each branch of the legislative assembly a report of their transactions during the preceding year, and also fur-
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SKETCH OF ITS LEGISLATION.
nish duplicates of the same to the governor, to be by him laid before the President of the United States for transmission to the two Houses of Congress ; and shall be paid the sum of two thousand five hundred dollars each annually."
This section gave the Board of Public Works un- controllable power to dig down, fill up, and change the grade of the streets wherever they thought best. The consequence was, the District of Columbia was, with- in three years, overwhelmed with a debt of twenty- two millions of dollars, of which Georgetown had to bear its share in the shape of heavy taxation, to pay the interest on said debt.
The Board of Public Works entered the town to make what they called improvements, in altering and changing the grade of the streets, to the great detri- ment and injury of a large class of property holders. If ever a set of sensible men were guilty of a wrong, it was in filling up Bridge Street between High and Market Streets; also Market Space on the east and west side of the market house. They filled up at the head of the market house thirteen feet with earth, and at the foot twenty feet; thus leaving the market house in a hollow, as well as the row of buildings on both sides of Market Space. The consequence was, the District of Columbia had to raise the buildings to the new grade of the street at a cost of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; and the cost of raising the market house and underpining the same was twenty- four thousand, nine hundred and eighty four dollars. (See the acts of legislature of June 25, 1873, page 11,
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SKETCH OF ITS LEGISLATION.
of the statutes relating to the District of Columbia.) By thus filling up Market Space a most serious injury was done to the property holders. The grade of the streets was destroyed, and all communication was cut off from the canal and river-the south side of the canal being twenty feet below the foot of Market Space. Your chronicler has seen thousands of hogs- heads of tobacco, and barrels of flour, hauled to the river down Market Space, in days gone by, to the ves- sels at the wharves, to be shipped to Europe; but all this communication is now cut off, and stores and dwellings which formerly sold, before the grade of the street was destroyed, from three to four thousand dol- lars, would not bring at the present time more than one-third of that amount.
After the District of Columbia had been in exist- ence as a municipality a little over three years, under the act of 21st of February, 1871, Congress repealed the law, and passed an act on the 20th of June, 1874, establishing three commissioners to manage the affairs of the said District, to abolish all useless offices, and reduce the expenses of said District.
The salaries of the officers in the employment of the said District, amounted to five hundred and forty thousand five hundred and ninety dollars per annum, as per report of the comptroller made to the legisla- ture on the 5th of May, 1873. (See journal of the House of Delegates, volume 5, page 65.) Such heavy salaries were sufficient to sink the District of Colum- bia into bankruptcy, if continued for a length of time. To get clear of this great expense, the commissioners
onti
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OFFICERS OF THE CORPORATION.
consolidated some offices and abolished others, and re- duced the expenses of the District to an economical working condition. The salaries of the public school teachers being two hundred and ten thousand dollars, and the salaries of the officers employed in managing the business of the District, about ninety thousand dollars, making in the aggregate, three hundred thous- and dollars.
[A bill has been introduced in Congress to form a government for the District, and if it should pass and become a law, while penning these chronicles, it will become a part of this book.]
The great evil under which the District of Colum- bia suffers, is its enormous debt of twenty-two million dollars, the interest on which exceeds a million dollars per annum, which is nearly equal to two-thirds of the revenues of the District. Now, what is a million of dollars ? The chronicler will here give you a defi- nition of a million : Place a million of silver dollars on the floor of a room, and the chronicler will allow an accountant to count one hundred per minute, day and night, and at the end of a week he will have counted a million.
OFFICERS OF THE CORPORATION.
Although our town was chartered in 1789 by the legislature of Maryland, from that year to the first day of June, 1871, it never had but two clerks : the late John Mountz was clerk from the passage of the char- ter until 1856, when he was superseded in office by the late William Laird, Esq. Mr. Mountz became dis- 8
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OFFICERS OF THE CORPORATION.
qualified for the active duties of clerk by advanced age, but was still retained by our corporate authori- ties as consulting clerk until the 1st of August, 1857, when he died at an advanced age-" An honest man the noblest work of God."
Mr. Laird, his successor, had no superior as an ac- countant in this country. Being the son of an eminent merchant of our town, and qualified by a liberal educa- tion and long service in the counting-room, he fulfilled the expectations of the people.
Now that our charter has passed away, and we have entered upon a municipal District government, the question is, Shall we be benefited by the change ? We are now, with Washington, one town, one city, and one people. If our new government is strangled in its infancy with too much " pap," we shall perish ; other- wise we shall float upon the tide of prosperity, and the Genius of our commerce will again spread her white wings over every sea, until we shall become renowned throughout the habitable globe.
On the fourth Monday in February, every two years, the citizens would elect a Mayor and five members of the Board of Aldermen to serve two years; and on each and every year they would elect eleven members of the Board of Common Council, to serve one year. Prior to the amended charter of 1830, the Mayor was elected by the joint meeting of the two boards. I will now mention those citizens who have served as Mayor and Recorder from the time the charter was granted :
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OFFICERS OF THE TOWN.
MAYORS.
Robert Peter, Mayor from 1789 to 1798; Lloyd Beall, from 1798 to 1803 ; Daniel Rentzel, from 1803 to 1805 ; Thomas Corcoran, from 1805 to 1806 ; Dan- iel Rentzel, from 1806 to 1808; Thomas Corcoran, from 1808 to 1811 ; David Wiley, from 1811 to 1812; Thomas Corcoran, from 1812 to 1813; John Peter, from 1813 to 1818 ; Thomas Corcoran, from 1818 to 1819 ; Henry Foxall, from 1819 to 1821 ; John Peter, from 1821 to 1822; John Cox, from 1822 to 1845; Henry Addison, from 1845 to 1857 ; Richard R. Craw- ford, from 1857 to 1859 ; Henry Addison, from 1859 to 1867; Charles D. Welch, from 1867 to 1869 ; Henry M. Sweeny, from 1869 to 1871.
All the other officers of the corporation were elected by the joint meeting of the two boards every year, on the first Monday in January.
RECORDERS.
John Mackall Gantt, from 1789 to 1809; James S. Morsell, from 1809 to 1813 ; Francis Scott Key, 1813 to 1816; John Wiley, from 1816 to 1819; James Dunlop, from 1819 to 1839; Clement Cox, from 1839 to 1847; Robert Ould, from 1847 to 1851, also from 1853 to 1859; Walter Cox, from 1851 to 1853; Hugh Caperton, from 1859 to 1861; Walter Cox, from 1861 to 1866; Charles M. Matthews, from 1866 to 1868; Charles A. Peck, from 1868 to 1869; Hugh Caperton, from 1869 to 1870; Charles A. Peck, from 1870 to 1871.
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NAMES OF THE STREETS.
There are in the town thirteen streets running east and west, also thirteen streets running north and south. Some of these streets had various names for certain distances; but to have nniformity in the names of all the streets, our town authorities enacted an ordinance on the 13th April, 1818, that the following alteration be made in the names of certain streets in George- town, to wit: Water Street and High Street; High Street continued and Commerce Street shall be hence- forth called and known by the name of High Street. The streets known by the name of West Landing, Keys, Causeway Street, and that part of Wapping in a line therewith, shall be henceforth called and known by the name of Water Street. The street known by the name of Back Street, in Beall's addition to George- town, running parallel with Beall Street, shall be henceforth called and known by the name of Stoddard Street. The streets known by the name of Duck Lane and West Lane shall be henceforth called and known by the name of Market Street. Cherry Street, com- mencing at the street at present known by the name of Keys, and running northerly, including Market Space to Potomac Street, shall be henceforth called and known by the name of Potomac Street. The street known by the name of Gay Street shall be henceforth called and known by the name of Lingan Street. The street known by the name of Bridge Street and Fall's Street shall be henceforth called and known by the name of Bridge Street. The street known by the name of New Street and Mill Street shall be henceforth known by the name of Monroe Street. That West
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ILLUMINATING THE TOWN.
Street, in Beatty and Hawkin's addition to George- town, be called Madison Street. The street known by the name of Fishing Lane and Congress Street be known by the name of Congress Street.
ILLUMINATING THE TOWN.
On the 6th of September 1810, the corporate au- thorities passed an ordinance for the erection of lamp posts and lamps at the corners of the various streets in the town, to give pedestrians an opportunity to find their way to and from church on a dark night. These lamps were trimmed with oil purchased from the yan- kee vessels, which traded with our town, loaded with onions, potatoes, and oil. These lamps lasted for many years, until the posts, from advanced age, be- gan to topple over, and were never replaced until their number were reduced to four-located at the corners above the market. These stood perpendicular for a number of years, when, by an unfortunate accident their number was again reduced: A team ran off with a wagon, and its wheel striking one of the posts, shivered it into fragments ; of course, the lamp shared the same fate. There was then but three lamps left, which cast a triangular light at each other, making darkness visible in the distance. Under this state of affairs, our citizens began to complain for more light, when, on the 20th day of July, 1854, Congress granted a charter, creating a gas company, by which it was en- acted, that, David English, Robert P. Dodge, Richard Cruikshank, Win. M. Fitzhugh, Richard Pettit, W. F. Seymour, Adolpheus H. Pickrell, and Wm. Bucknell,
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ANTS FROM THE WEST INDIES.
are hereby declared to be a body corporate by the name and style of "Georgetown Gas Light Company." Our corporation responded to the gas company by passing an ordinance, on the 6th of June, 1853, allow- ing the gas company to lay pipes through the streets of the town (and the corporation at the same time erect- ing gas posts), to illuminate the streets. Our citizens introduced gas into their stores and dwellings, as a substitute for candles (which were manufactured at O'Donnoghue's Soap & Candle Factory, situated in the west end of the town.) In those days, when tallow dips were used, we had candle-sticks made of brass or tin, and occasionally of a block of wood, and when a candle burnt down considerably below the wick, it required snuffing, to give a brighter light, when the thumb and finger were brought into operation to de- capitate the luminary at the expense of smutting one's fingers.
ANTS FROM THE WEST INDIES.
John Laird & Son, tobacco merchants of our town, who shipped large quantities of tobacco every year to Europe, in brigs or barks, had ordered to Georgetown some vessels in ballast, to be loaded with tobacco. The vessels came and threw out their ballast on the wharves at the foot of Frederick Street. This ballast contained a large number of ants, taken on board in the West Indies, and being cast into town in the summer season, they multiplied by thousands and millions, and entered into every store and dwelling. as they multiplied and marched onward due north.
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