USA > Washington DC > The chronicles of Georgetown, D.C., from 1751-1878 > Part 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
Although our town was chartered in 1789, and amendments to the same were made in 1797, also by Congress in 1805, 1809, and in 1824, it was not dis- covered, until John Barnes died, that such impecunious individuals as " poor people," were to be found in our jurisdiction ; when, all of a sudden, it was discovered that the town had no charter-power to build and erect a poor-house. An application was made to Congress, when authority was given by the act of 20th of May, 1826, when, by an ordinance of the corporation, ap- proved on the 30th day of December, 1826, James S. Morsell, John Little, John Baker, William G. Ridgely, Danniel Bussard, John McDaniel, Charles A. Burnett, and Gideon Davis, with the Mayor of the town as their president, shall constitute a board of trustees for the poor of Georgetown until the first Monday in Jan- uary, 1828, and until successors be appointed.
The corner-stone of the poor-house was laid by the Masons in 1831, in the midst of a large concourse of eiti-
115
THE POOR-HOUSE.
zens, and in the presence of the mayor, recorder, al- dermen, and common council of the town. The Rev. Mr. Wallace, the then pastor of the Methodist Protestant Church, preached a most eloquent discourse on the occasion. The building was soon erected, and has an imposing appearance a sseen from the road. It is two stories high with a wing at each end ; one wing being used by the family of the superintendent. The lower rooms in the main building were used for the kitchen ; Nos. 1 and 2, dining room for boys ; No. 3, dining room for girls. The rooms in the second story and dormitories were used for sleeping apartments. The rooms extend in depth to the width of the build- ing. The first superintendent was Charles Shoemaker ; the second, Jos. Brooks; the third, J. M. Barnecloe; the fourth, Reazin Stevens; the fifth, W. B. Pomeroy.
In those days the grounds were cultivated. Fruit and vegetables were raised in abundance to supply the inmates of the poor-house as well as for sale in the market, and the house and grounds showed a flourish- ing condition, that was captivating to the visitor.
They had a custom of washing off every person who was committed to the poor-house by the police magis- trate of the town, by stripping them of their clothing, whether the weather was cold or warm, and standing them in a tall chimney, two stories high) the top of which was covered with a sieve), when a man would carry up a large bucket of water and pour the con- tents upon the head and body of the prisoner. The consequence was, if the weather was cold, it was a chilly reception, and in two cases, to the chronicler's
,
116
THE POOR-HOUSE.
knowledge, when the shower bath had been used upon individuals who were committed for intemperance, in cold weather, were attacked with mania a potu and died from its effects.
Whether the building will be continued to be occu- pied as a poor-house, is a question to be determined. The chronicler is informed that it may be converted into a Home Industrial School, and the inmates of the alms-house sent to the poor-house located on the East- ern Branch. This, we think, would be a violation of the original design of the founder of the institution, and if converted to any other purpose than a poor- · house, the property might revert to the heirs of the late John Barnes. Although, a Home Industrial School is a good institution where the boys can learn habits of industry, that will carry them forward into any pursuit of life, nevertheless, this building has been dedicated for a poor-house, and should be used for that purpose in all time to come, and our District Com- missioners should see that the grounds are cultivated in a successful manner according to the rules of hus- bandry, by the inmates of the institution, so they can raise their supply of fruit and vegetables, and not de- pend upon the neighboring markets for everything to eat, by taxing the citizens with appropriations.
The chronicler is informed that, at the time of pen- ning these events, there are twenty-five boys attend- ing the Home Industrial School in town, who are lodged and fed at the poor-house, while the number of poor persons, who have been sent there for sup- port, does not exceed thirteen.
E
7
117
DONATION OF W. W. CORCORAN.
On the 29th day of May, 1848, William W. Cor- coran, being desirous to signify his attachment to Georgetown, the place of his birth, and to the inhabi- tants thereof, did, by his endorsement made on four- teen bonds of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Company (each bearing date the 3d day of May, 1848, and num- bered as follows: six bonds of one thousand dollars each, numbered 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, and 148, and . eight bonds of five hundred dollars each, numbered 135, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 151, and 152, making an aggregate of ten thousand dollars,) transfer and assign the said bonds to the mayor, recorder, aldermen, and common council of Georgetown, to be held by them and their successors forever; the interest accruing from said bonds to be applied to the support and main- tenance of the impecunious citizens of the town. This generous donation has now been in existence for thirty years, and has carried gladness to the hearts of many families who, otherwise, would have suffered for want of the necessaries of life. The chronicler is informed that the interest is paid over to the ladies of the Benevolent Society of our town, who purchase fuel and provisions and distribute them among the most needy citizens. This donation of Colonel Corcoran's is sufficient to entitle him to the grateful thanks of all the citizens of our town ; but what shall be said when the chronicler writes a chapter upon Oak Hill Ceme- tery, showing that his donations amount to upwards of a hundred thousand dollars, given towards this beau- tiful city of the dead.
16
----
1
118
COMMERCE.
To attempt to write an account of the commerce of a city, is to give a history of its export and import trade. But what the chronicler understands by com- merce, is not only transportation by water, but what- ever conduces to the traffic of a town or city, either by land or water, in multiplying business.
The commerce of our town had its origin in the first settlement of our country, by the farmers of the surrounding country bringing to market the various productions of the soil to be bartered or exchanged for domestic goods. Among the numerous articles of commerce brought to town for sale was tobacco, which was hauled from a long distance in wagons, and, after undergoing inspection, was sold to our merchants to be shipped abroad. The tobacco warehouse was then located on a large lot lying south of Bridge Street and west of Market Street; or rather between Market and Frederick Streets, was a frame building called Loundes' warehouse, where all the tobacco was in- spected and sold. The shipping at that time was con- fined to the west end of the town, near the Alexandria Aqueduct, where there were spacious wharves and warehouses ; and our ships that carried the tobacco to foreign countries sailed down the western channel, between Analostan Island and the Virginia shore, be- fore the stone causeway was erected in 1805. After the erection of the causeway the vessels sailed through the eastern channel, and our merchants commenced building warehouses along the south side of Water Street and nearer to the river center of the town.
In course of time the tobacco trade had increased
119
COMMERCE.
to such an extent that there was a demand for room. In the year 1822, the corporation passed an ordinance for building two new tobacco warehouses, three stories high, and fire-proof, on lots 46, 47, and 48, situated west of High and south of Bridge Street. The roofs were covered with slate and the doors and shutters with sheet-iron. The buildings were large enough to hold several thousand hogsheads of tobacco, but were found insufficient to receive the quantity of tobacco brought to the town for sale. Consequently, the cor- poration erected wooden sheds in addition to the brick warehouses. The inspection of tobacco multiplied, and the business so increased, that as high as five thou- sand hogsheads of tobacco were shipped to Europe in one year. The removal of the inspection of tobacco from Loundes' warehouse to the new buildings, was ordered by the town authorities on the 26th of July, 1824.
The tobacco business of the town continued pros- perous until the death of John Laird, on the 11th of July, 1833, when the firm of Laird & Son was dis- solved, and the trade died with them, as there ap- peared to be no other tobacco merchants in the market.
On the 18th day of March, 1836, George B. Magru- der, the tobacco inspector of the town, addressed a letter to the corporation, regretting that he would have to give up the cooperage on tobacco, finding by expe- rience in the last two years that, after paying for labor and nails on twenty-one hundred hogsheads of tobacco, coopered at seventy-five cents per hogshead, it had left him about two hundred and fifty dollars a year
原所
مراسم ١
120
COMMERCE.
for himself and pay of a clerk, requesting a salary for his services, and to have a cooper appointed. If this proposition should not be agreed to, he would try the inspection one year more, provided the corporation would give him the outage on all tobacco inspected by him.
In the month of September, 1844, the large mer- chant mill erected by Colonel George Bomford, at the foot of the market house, was destroyed by fire; and in the spring of 1845, Colonel Bomford erected a cot- ton factory on the ruins of the old mill, which went into operation in 1847. Colonel Bomford considered that a cotton factory would be of more benefit to the town than a flour mill, in giving employment to a large class of its population. The factory was run under his ownership until 1850, when it was sold to Thomas Wilson, of Baltimore, who run the factory until the breaking out of the late war, when the supply of cot- ton was cut off. In 1866 the building was purchased by our enterprising fellow-citizen, A. H. Herr, who converted it again into a merchant flour mill.
We here exhibit the trade, foreign and coastwise, of the port of Georgetown. Amount of duties on goods accrued ; expenses attending its collection in payment to officers ; also, the value of American goods and produce exported to foreign markets; also, the value of American produce and manufactures ship- ped coastwise; and the aggregate tonnage engaged in carrying on the trade in its different branches for a number of years :
W
பதிலை
121
COMMERCE.
No. 1. Amount of duties se- cured, beginning with the year 1815, and ending in 1835
$457,396
Payment of salaries
Bonds unpaid.
$40,000 4,479
44,479
Paid over to the United States,
$412,917
No. 2. Value of produce ex- ported to foreign markets from 1815 to 1835. $4,077,708
Being an annual average of ... $203,885.40
No. 3. Value of American pro- duce shipped coastwise from 1826 to 1835 $5,190,540
Items as follows :
Flour: 919,940 bbls. valued at $4,710,540
Tobacco : 5,400 hhd's 300,000
Other articles exceeding $20,-
000 per year. 180,000
$5,190,540
Average per year ... $576,726.663
No. 4. American and foreign goods brought into George- town $3,505,000
Items as follows :
Dry Goods.
$1,500,000
Groceries and Hardware
1,500,000
Lumber
200,000
Wood.
125,000
Anthracite Coal
75,000
Bituminous Coal
5,000
Domestic Produce
100,000
$3,505,000
02 L
-
122
- COMMERCE.
No. 5. Tonnage engaged in trade per annum :
Average tonnage arriving from for- eign ports ...
1,290 tons.
Departing to foreign ports.
2,868
Arriving coastwise with merchandise,
60,000
66
Lumber trade
30,000
Coal and wood
60,000
Other items
16,000
170,158 tons.
By returns during the year 1835, of the officer su- pervising the coasting trade to Georgetown, it appears there were near three thousand arrivals, whose ton- nage was a fraction less than two hundred thousand tons.
Many of our citizens remember the ships, Eagle and Shenandoah, which sailed regularly to Europe loaded with tobacco, and brought in return cargoes of salt. In course of time our ships went the way of all ships -- by being stranded at sea, and our noble town felt the great loss of the vessels that were wont to unload at our wharves, amid the shouts of the boatmen and songs of the sailors.
A number of enterprising citizens afterwards pur- chased four ships named the Francis Depau, South- erner, Caledonia, and Catherine Jackson. They made their appearance in our harbor, in the summer and au- tumn of 1836, and after making several voyages to Europe, were finally sold as being too large for our commerce. Our merchants, then engaged in the coasting trade, having a number of vessels sailing to Boston, Newburyport, New York, and other cities,
er
L
1
123
COMMERCE.
carrying away large quantities of flour and produce, brought down the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which extends into the interior of Maryland. Others ex- tended their commerce to the West Indies, and had large quantities of sugar and productions of the West Indies brought in every few months, and sold upon the wharves at public sale. In course of time the sailing packets passed away, and we have, in their place, steamers plying between our town, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk, which always arrive heavily loaded with freight, and carry away in return, cargoes of flour.
The heaviest trade carried on, at this time, is in the article of coal. Thousands of boat-loads of coal ar- rive at our town by way of the canal from Cumber- land, which is shipped in vessels to distant ports, and is largely used by the ocean steamers and manufactur- ing establishments. The river is frequently covered with vessels with their forests of masts reaching to- wards the sky, awaiting their turn to be loaded with coal, before sailing to a distant clime.
The town is so located, that the Potomac River has a fall of thirty-three feet, within four miles, from the Little Falls to the canal basin; and the canal flowing through the town (having the same fall) to the river, renders its banks desirable for milling purposes. The consequence is, we have a number of merchant mills in our town, located on the canal, propelled by water power.
The first is the mill of David L. Shoemaker; see- ond, F. L. Moore; third, Beall & Shoemaker; fourth,
1
124
COMMERCE.
William H. Tenney & Son; fifth, James S. Welch ; sixth, George Shoemaker; seventh, Ross Ray & Bro .; eighth, A. H. Herr, at the foot of the market, and George Hill, Jr.'s Paper Mill. The flour mills will shell out from one hundred and fifty to three hundred barrels of flour per day. Besides these, we have other mills in the neighborhood of the town, as the Lock Mill on the canal, and about two miles above town is Lyons' Mill, and the Columbian Mill, located on Rock Creek, all of which are supplied with grain brought down the canal or by vessels from a distance.
The flour and produce trade has become one of great importance in our town, and the most of our mer- chants are engaged in that line of business. There was a time, many years past, when the wholesale gro- cery business occupied nearly all the warehouses on Water Street. Our merchants attended the cargo sales of groceries in New York, where they purchased supplies for the District market. These groceries were brought to Georgetown in the sailing packets, that plied regularly between New York and our town, and were sold to the retail dealers in the District-embrac- ing Washington and Georgetown. A large and ex- tensive business was done in this way, until the rail- road was constructed between Washington and Balti- more, in the year 1835, when our retail dealers be- gan going to Baltimore and New York to purchase their supplies, instead of looking to our Water Street merchants; in this way the wholesale grocery busi- ness of Georgetown declined, while the flour and pro- duce trade has taken its place.
125
COMMERCE.
The quantity of flour inspected in our town has reached three hundred thousand barrels per year, all of which was transported down the canal, or manu- factured at our merchant mills.
Our principal flour inspector was George Shoe- maker, who was elected annually on the first Monday in January, in each and every year. He served the town faithfully in that office for forty-nine years, until his death in July, 1865. By his sound judgment in the grades of flour, he raised the Georgetown brands to such a degree, that the flour, with his inspection, was demanded in all the markets of the country.
In May, 1868, James A. Magruder, being then the collector of the port of Georgetown, addressed a letter to the then commissioner of public buildings, in ref- erence to the channel of the river and custom-house business. He says :
"The tonnage of vessels belonging to this District is twenty-two thousand four hundred and fifty-five and eighty-cight one hundredths tons, The number of vessels entered for the past year, is three hundred and seventy-three ; number of vessels cleared, for the same time, is two hundred and five." He further says: "You cannot judge of the amount of business done in this District from the number of vessels entered and cleared; for vessels in the coasting trade are not required to enter or clear at the custom-house, unless they have foreign goods, or distilled spirits on board. I suppose there are at least twenty vessels arriving here, which do not enter or clear, for each one that has to do so." 17
1
1
1
-
1
126
ALEXANDRIA AQUEDUCT.
A charter for the construction of the Alexandria Aqueduct and canal was passed by Congress on the 26th day of May, 1830, giving the company power to construct an aqueduct across the Potomac River, and excavate a canal to Alexandria. The work was begun in 1833 and completed by the 4th of July, 1843, when the water was turned into the aqueduct. The construction of two abutments and eight piers of stone, built upon the rock of the river at a great depth below the surface, was a triumph of engineering skill, not surpassed by any similar work in the country.
It was decided by the engineers in charge of the work, that the aqueduct should consist of eight piers one hundred and five feet apart at high water mark; two of the piers to be twenty-one feet thick, and the others twelve feet thick at high water mark; the south- ern abutment to be twenty-one feet thick, with circular wing walls thirteen feet average thickness at the base, sixty-six feet in length, to connect with the slope walls of the causeway. Each of the piers have an ice breaker upon the up-stream end in form of an oblique cone, sloping forty-five degrees, extending five feet below and ten feet above high water mark, made of cut granite ; the down-stream ends to be circular, and to have a slope the same as the sides, one inch to the foot. Upon this plan cach pier was erected.
The first coffer-dam constructed was built in a depth of eighteen feet of water and seventeen feet four inches of mud, being the second from the Virginia shore. The figure of the dam was a parallelogram, eighty-two feet long by twenty-seven feet wide. The
127
ALEXANDRIA AQUEDUCT.
inner row of piles were of white oak, forty feet long and sixteen inches in diameter at the larger end, shod with iron pointed with steel, weighing twenty-five pounds. They were placed four feet apart from center to center, and driven to the rock with a ram weigh- ing seventeen hundred pounds. The outer row of piles, fifteen feet from and parallel with the inner row, was also of oak, thirty-six feet long and sixteen inches in diameter. After the dam was constructed puddling clay was thrown in between the two rows of piles and well rammed to make the dam tight; then the steam- engine was used for pumping the water and excavat- ing the mud. Seventeen feet of water was discharged by two pumps in four hours and thirty-two minutes. After a large portion of the mud was removed, a break would frequently occur; and a dam has been known to fill more than a dozen times before succeed- ing in reaching the rock of the river. It was a spec- tacle so unusual to see men busily at work so far below the surface of the river, that it was an exceed- ingly interesting sight to the public ; but to the engin- eer, whatever might be his confidence in the ability of the dam to resist the immense weight which he knew to be constantly pressing upon it, the sight was one calculated to fill his mind with anxiety. The ice breaker at the head of each pier is of cut granite, the two lower courses, being five feet below high water mark, were twenty-two inches thick, and no stone
being less in size than twenty cubic feet. The piers were erected to the height of twenty-nine feet above high water mark. After the piers were erected, then
6
10min
128
ALEXANDRIA AQUEDUCT.
came the work of removing the dams, which was easily done by the steam-engine in drawing fifty piles a day.
To describe the construction of each dam and pier separately, would fill a volume. It is sufficient to say that the modus operandi of construction was the same in all, until the piers and abutments were erected to the required altitude above the surface of the river.
If it had not been for the United States, probably this work never would have been completed. Con- gress, by an act passed June 25th, 1832, gave one hundred thousand dollars towards this work, and, by a subsequent act passed March 3d, 1837, gave three hundred thousand dollars more. The whole cost of the aqueduct was six hundred thousand dollars, the canal five hundred thousand dollars, and the locks at Alexandria fifty thousand dollars.
The original plan of the aqueduct was to be all of stone, consisting of twelve arches supported by eleven piers and two abutments, the arches to be one hund- red feet span and twenty-five feet rise; but, the im- mense cost being beyond the means of the company, it was abandoned, and a wooden superstructure for the trunk of the aqueduct substituted.
Several ingenious plans used in the country were duly considered. Benjamin F. Miller, the master- carpenter and superintendent of the work, invented a model, which, having been tested in the presence of the directors and board of engineers, was adopted; and all the timber used in the construction was sub- jected to "Kyan's Process " for preserving timber.
T
0
129
ALEXANDRIA AQUEDUCT.
The length of the wooden trunk is eleven hundred feet; its width, from timber to timber, twenty-eight feet; width of trough, seventeen feet; width of tow- path, five feet, and depth of trough, seven feet.
Major Turnbull, who was the principal engineer in charge of the work, says :
" When I reflect upon the numerous difficulties which we have overcome in the progress of the work, and recall the disheartening predictions of that numer- ous portion of the community who looked upon the attempt to establish foundations at so great a depth and in a situation so very exposed and dangerous, and who did not fail to treat it as an absurdity, I cannot but congratulate myself upon having so happily suc- ceeded; and, while so doing, I recollect, with a very grateful sense of what I owe them for it, the very generous confidence which the president and direct- ors of the company always reposed in me ; and I re- call with pleasure and admiration the unhesitating promptness with which they always seconded me- bringing to my aid their own spirit of zealous perse- verance, backed by all the disposable means of the company."
The aqueduct being completed, and thought to be durable, was in use as a public highway from July 4, 1843, to May 23, 1861, when the United States took possession of the same, drew off the water, and con- verted the aqueduct into a bridge for the transportation of troops and munitions of war. It was used also as a road for common travel by the public (without pay- ing any toll) until after the close of the war, when it
130
WASHINGTON AQUEDUCT.
was surrendered by the United States to the aqueduct company, but in such a dilapidated condition that it would hold neither wind nor water. The consequence was, the company was not able to repair the struc- ture, and made a lease of the same to Henry H. Wells, Philip Quigly, and William W. Duncan for ninety- nine years, on condition that the said lessees should rebuild the aqueduct and erect over the same a bridge, suitable for railway or common travel, and collect tolls for crossing the same. A new aqueduct was im- mediately rebuilt after July 27, 1868, out of North Carolina timber. It has now been ten years since it was reconstructed, and, from present appearances, it will have to be rebuilt again to hold water and sustain the weight of travel.
This was an unfortunate investment for Alexandria -the sinking of one million one hundred and fifty thousand dollars-when, if she had constructed a set of locks, four in number, at Georgetown, to lock boats into the river, then tow them to Alexandria by steam tugs and back again to Georgetown, the expense would have been a bagatelle compared to the cost of the canal and aqueduct.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.