USA > Washington > Standard history of the city of Washington from a study of the original sources > Part 37
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The herdic company continued to run its vehicles until the death of Commodore Potts of Philadelphia, the principal stock- holder, in 1896, when it ceased operations for some months. Through the efforts of Mr. Edgar A. Nelson, who had been super- intendent of stables practically since the inauguration of the company, and who secured an option on part of the equipment, the concern was reorganized as the Metropolitan Coach Com- pany with Mr. S. Dana Lincoln as its President, and on May 1, 1897, commenced operating a line from 16th and T Streets to 22d and G Streets, under a reciprocal transfer arrangement with the Metropolitan Railroad Company at 15th and H Streets. In 1909 it replaced its horse-drawn coaches with gasoline motor vehicles, experimenting with four different types, and re-equipping its entire line in February, 1913. In May, 1914, it extended its line, which then operated from 16th and U Streets to 15th Street and New York Avenue, on Pennsylvania Avenue to 9th Street, west.
After the construction of the last of the horse car lines in the early seventies, no important extensions were made in the street car systems of the city until the late eighties, when the need for some more rapid method of travel, together with the coming into use in other cities of the cable and various electric systems, resulted not only in the speedy abandonment of horses as a means of propulsion on the existing lines, but in the con- struction of numerous new lines both in the city and in its sub- urbs.
Several interesting experiments were made at this time with a view to discovering some practicable substitute for horses. One which was tried on a short stretch of track on 7th Street north of Florida Avenue in about 1890, consisted of two parallel tubes six or eight inches in diameter installed in an under-
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ground conduit and caused to revolve by compressed air engines stationed about five hundred feet apart, which imparted motion to the car by means of staggered wooden wheels which pressed against them. On the first attempt to operate this system the pipes supplying the air to the engines froze and the attempt was abandoned. Another system tried out without success by the Ana- costia line on a stretch of track three blocks long consisted of magnets set at regular distances along the track, and supplied with current by a wire, which were expected to attract and re- pel the car as it passed over them. The Metropolitan line tried storage battery cars on its F Street line for a year about 1890 in conjunction with its horse cars, but with little successs.
The Eckington and Soldiers' Home Railway Company and the Rock Creek Railway Company were both chartered in 1888 . and put in operation about 1891. The former started at 7th Street and New York Avenue, running east on the latter to 3d Street and thence northward to Brookland. As originally con- structed it used the overhead trolley and was the first road in the city to be equipped with electric motive power. Shortly afterwards this line constructed a branch connecting with its main line at New York Avenue and 5th Street, and running south on 5th Street, Louisiana Avenue and 6th Street to Penn- sylvania Avenue. This line was operated for a short while with storage battery cars, which however, proved so heavy and ex- pensive that the batteries were removed and horses substituted.
The Rock Creek Railway Company started with an overhead trolley equipment at 18th and U Streets and ran to the District line by way of 18th Street, the Rock Creek bridge, and Connecti. cut Avenue, extended. From 18th and U it ran east on UT Street. to 9th Street with an underground trolley known as the Love system, which employed a wheel for purpose of contact instead of the sliding shoe which later came and still remains in general use throughout the city. The cars were equipped for both over- head and underground connection, the change from one to the other being made at the junction of the two systems at 18th and U Streets.
In the District Appropriation Act of 1890 Congress author- ized the street railway companies then employing horses to
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change their motive power to electricity, either by storage or underground wire, or to cable. The Act required that in making such change the company should replace the old projecting rails with flat, grooved rails.
Under authority of this Act the Washington and George- town changed the motive power on all its lines to cable, the 7th Street line going into operation under the new power on April 12, 1890, and the 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue lines on August 6, 1892. The Metropolitan Railroad Company was requir- ed by Act of August 2, 1894, to change its motive power to an underground electric system and within the two years fixed by that Act had installed its present shoe contact underground sys- tem under patents owned by the General Electric Company. This system had been inaugurated in Buda Pesth, Hungary.
On September 21, 1895, the Rock Creek Railway Company purchased the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company, and under authority of Act of Congress of March 1 of that year changed its name to The Capital Traction Company. On the night of September 29, 1897, the power house which operated the 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue cables of this company, and which stood on the present site of the Municipal building, burned down, thus throwing the Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street cables out of service. It was determined to substitute the underground electric system which had been adopted by the Metropolitan line and the work was promptly started on all the Capital Traction Company's lines, horses being used on Penn- sylvania Avenue and 14th Street during the installation of the new system. The old cable conduits were used and operation was at no time suspended. The 14th Street division went into operation under electric power on February 27, 1898; the Penn- sylvania Avenue division on April 20, 1898; and the 7th Street division on May 26, 1898. In the Spring of 1899 the company changed the Love system on its U Street line to the shoe contact system, and extended the latter to its present terminus at Rock Creek Bridge.
The Columbia line changed from horses to cable on March 28, 1895, and from cable to underground electric on July 22, 1899. The Anacostia and Potomac River line, which had been
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extended from F Street north to Florida Avenue on 11th Street, changed from horses to underground electric in April, 1900.
During the period just discussed a number of electric lines came into existence, most of them of a suburban or interurban character, which outside the city employed the overhead trolley. Most, if not all, of them are mentioned in the following account of the formation of the Washington Railway and Electric Com- pany.
In 1897 certain northern financial interests entered upon a project to consolidate the electric power and railway systems of the District of Columbia. They acquired the Potomac Light and Power Company, changing its name to Potomac Electric Power Company, and the United States Electric Lighting Com- pany, but were deterred for the time from attempting to acquire any street railway lines by the policy which Congress at about that time indicated of refusing to permit overhead trolleys in the city. In 1899, however, the movement was revived by the or- ganization of the Washington Traction and Electric Company, the purpose of which was to acquire a controlling interest in the stocks of the various lines of the District, and which shortly after succeeded in obtaining control of the following lines :
The Anacostia & Potomac River Railroad Company, which had previously absorbed the Belt Railway Company; formerly the Capital, North O Street and South Washington Railway Company ; the Brightwood Railway Company; the Capital Rail- way Company ; the City & Suburban Railway of Washington, a consolidation of the Eckington & Soldiers' Home Railway Com- pany, Maryland & Washington Railway Company, and the Co- lumbia & Maryland Railway Company of Maryland; the Colum- bia Railway Company; the Georgetown and Tennallytown Rail- way Company; the Metropolitan Railroad Company, embracing the Connecticut Avenue & Park Railway Company, Union Rail- road Company, and the Boundary & Silver Springs Railway Company ; the Washington & Glen Echo Railroad Company ; the Washington & Great Falls Electric Railway Company, which had previously acquired the West Washington & Great Falls Electric Railway Company of Montgomery County; the Wash-
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ington & Rockville Railway Company; and the Washington, Woodside & Forest Glen Railway & Power Company.
The Washington Traction and Electric Company was a holding, rather than an operating company, but it was hoped, by the resulting co-operation among the companies under its control, to so reduce operating expenses and increase traffic as to quickly put the concern on a profitable basis. These expecta- tions, however, were not met, the dividends on the stock of the profitable companies being insufficient to pay the interest on the bonds covering the entire system, of which some of the lines were in a very poor financial condition. At the end of two years the Washington Traction and Electric Company defaulted the interest on its bonds and went into the hands of a receiver.
Notwithstanding the failure of this effort at consolidation, the benefits to the public which had resulted from the standardi- zation of the various lines, the interchanging of transfers and the improved facilities for bringing suburban patrons directly into the city prevailed upon Congress to consent to a second effort to bring about the desired consolidation, with the result that by an Act approved June 5, 1900, it authorized the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company to acquire the stock ot the various roads which had been under the control of the Washington Traction and Electric Company. This stock was acquired on February 4, 1902, by the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company, which under authority of the above Act, changed its name to the Washington Railway and Electric Company. An important feature of the Act authoriz- ing this consolidation was a clause giving the various companics the right to make contracts for the use of each other's tracks, under which the bringing of suburban and interurban traffic into the heart of the city has been greatly facilitated.
An attempt during the year 1912 to bring about a still more extensive consolidation of power and street railway companies in the District resulted in a recommendation by the District Commissioners on December 5, of that year in response to which Congress in the District Appropriation Act of March 4, 1913, included a provision known as the "Anti-merger Law" which prohibits any public utility corporation doing business in the Dis-
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trict from transferring its stock to another company without specific authority from Congress to do so. Another clause of the same Act created the Public Utilities Commission consisting of the three District Commissioners with power to supervise and regulate every street railroad or other common carrier, gas com- pany, electrical company, water power company, telegraph or telephone company, and pipe line company operating in the Dis- trict. This legislation was drafted by Corporation Counsel Ed- ward H. Thomas in collaboration with Commissioner William V. Judson, who zealously urged its introduction, and Senator Jacob H. Gallinger, who as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the District, earnestly furthered its enactment.
On March 30, 1914, Representative Robert Crosser intro- duced in Congress a bill directing the District Commissioners within ninety days after its passage to institute proceedings with the Public Utilities Commission for the condemnation of all the street railway lines doing business wholly or in part within the District of Columbia, the District to issue its thirty year 3.65% bonds to raise funds for paying the condemnation awards. The bill further authorized the Commissioners to purchase such por- tions of the street railways mentioned as extend outside the Dis- trict. The United States was not to be liable for either the principal or interest on the bonds, nor was any payment made or debt incurred by the District on account of such condemnation to be a basis of contribution by the United States toward the maintenance of the District Government. The passage of this bill has been recommended by District Commissioners Newman, Siddons and Harding.
The sightseeing traffic of the city originated in the latter part of 1902 when the American Sightseeing Car and Coach Company commenced operating sightseeing street cars on the tracts of the Washington Railway and Electric Company from 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. In 1904 large sightseeing automobiles came to the city, since which time a number of companies have gone into the business of enabling visitors to the National Capital to see its numerous points of interest with the least possible waste of time.
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The so-called taxicabs came to the city in 1908. On March 17 of that year the Commissioners passed an order setting aside a number of stands exclusively for the use of those vehicles.
While a number of causes have contributed to retard the development of the District of Columbia as an industrial center, nevertheless the increase in the number of industrial establish- ments in recent years has been of a character not to be ignored. Without going into great detail, it may be said that there are at present upwards of five hundred industries located in the Dis- trict, among which are in the neighborhood of 150 printing and publishing concerns; over seventy bakeries, five malt liquor fac- tories, about twenty-five foundries and machine shops, ten lum- ber factories, fifteen stone works, and seven flour and grist mills.
The new century has witnessed notable developments in both the retail and wholesale commerce of Washington. Through a spirit of co-operative enterprize among the merchants of the city, not only has the widespread custom which once prevailed among many local residents of doing their shopping in Balti- more, Philadelphia and New York been checked, but Washing- ton has in turn become the shopping center for a territory ex- tending forty miles to the east and north and for several hun- dred miles to the west and south. The city's retail establish- ments today number some twelve department stores; eighty dry goods stores and more than fifty hardware stores.
The extension of Washington's wholesale trade has kept pace with that of its retail trade, particularly in supplying the needs of an extensive territory to the south and west, with the result that new establishments have sprung up and old ones have been compelled to increase their facilities. The city has now eight large wholesale grocery houses, fourteen wholesale lumber mer- chants, thirty-three electrical machinery and supply firms, four wholesale paper firms, two wholesale drug firms, and sixty-five commission merchants.
The extent of the growth of the District of Columbia as a business center, generally, in recent years may be gathered from the fact that the bank clearings increased from $129,000,000 in 1900 to $392,000,000 in 1912.
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For many years during the latter part of the nineteenth century, probably dating back at least to the close of the Civil War, an important feature of the commercial life of the District consisted in the bringing of ice from the Kenebec River to Georgetown in coasting vessels which carried back to New Eng- land ports cargoes of Cumberland coal. The manufacture of artificial ice has within the past decade resulted in the entire abandonment of this traffic.
The civic, commercial and industrial development of Wash- ington in recent years owes much to the many citizens, mer- chants and other like associations organized for presenting the needs of various localities to Congress and to the Boards of Com- missioners. Preeminent in this direction, however, has been the organization commonly known as The Washington Board of Trade which was incorporated on December 11, 1889, as "The Board of Trade for the District of Columbia" by twenty-seven prominent citizens of Washington, and was largely due to the complaint by members of Congress that there was no represen- tative body which could present impartially to that body, the needs of the District as a whole. The principal function, there- fore, of the Board of Trade has been the advancement of every branch of civic betterment largely through the comprehensive and vigorous presentation to Congress of matters which concern- ed the welfare of the National Capital at large.
The Washington Chamber of Commerce was formed by the merger in 1907 of the Jobbers' and Shippers' and Business Men's Associations. Its purpose has been the exploitation of Washington's commercial advantages, in addition to which it has made a particular effort to attract conventions to the Na- tion's Capital. In 1909 and 1910 it raised a fund of $25,000 for this purpose; and its efforts have within the past four years re- sulted in bringing thousands of visitors and millions of dollars to the city.
The debt of the District of Columbia on May 31, 1871, when the Territorial government went out of office, was $3,256,382.48 of which $900,403.80 was floating, and $2,355,978.68 bonded in- debtedness. Of the total, the city of Washington owed $2,966,-
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693.27, the city of Georgetown $261,463.37, and the Levy Court $28, 825.84.
To offset this debt the city of Washington held a credit of $60,000, with accumulated interest, on account of bonds of the Alexandria and Washington Railroad Company to that amount which it had been compelled to pay on account of its guarantee of an issue of $150,000 on February 8, 1855. About $60,000 of this debt was afterwards collected by the city in a suit against the railroad company. In addition Washington held $50,000, and Georgetown $25,000, of the bonds of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company which those cities had subscribed in April, 1847, to assist the company to complete the canal to Cumberland. These bonds, with accrued interest and two certificates of in- debtedness amounting to $9,000, with interest from 1867, are still due.
On July 1, 1878, when the permanent Commission govern- ment went into effect the debt of the District was $22,106,650, which was shortly thereafter increased by the issue of $1,254,050 in 3.65% bonds on account of claims arising from the operations of the Board of Public Works. On July 1, 1914, this debt had been reduced to $6,939,150.
WHITE HOUSE
CHAPTER XII
Public Buildings and Grounds
The story of the erection of the north wing of the original Capitol Building by the original Commissioners provided for by the Act of Congress of July 16, 1790, establishing the per- manent seat of government at Washington, has been treated in the chapters bearing upon the establishment of the city by those Commissioners.
In 1803 President Jefferson placed the construction of the south wing in charge of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, a young Englishman who had met President Washington shortly after his arrival in this country in 1796, and who had attained some success in Philadelphia as an architect and engineer. The south wing was finished under the superintendence of Mr. Latrobe in 1811, and the two wings were connected by a wooden gallery or bridge occupying the place of the present rotunda. The struc- ture had at that time the appearance of two separate buildings, and was in this condition when the interiors of both buildings were destroyed by the British in 1814.
The reconstruction of the building was in 1815 placed in charge of Mr. Latrobe, who was in 1817 succeeded by Mr. Charles Bulfinch, a native of Massachusetts, who restored the north and south wings, reconstructing the Senate and House of Representatives chambers-now the Supreme Court and Statu- ary Hall respectively-and the west projection which enclosed the original quarters of the Congressional Library. Mr. Bulfinch also completed the rotunda with a low wooden dome. In 1827 the building as thus reconstructed was declared complete. The entire cost of the building up to this time, including both the original construction and the reconstruction, was $2,433,814.
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In 1850 Congress determined to enlarge the Capitol. Much discussion resulted as to the method by which this was to be done. To the influence of President Fillmore is largely due the adoption of plans contemplating extensions in the form of wings in conformity with the general architectural character of the original portion of the building as designed by Dr. Thornton. The wings and dome were the design of George U. Walter, of Philadelphia, who had designed the Girard College in that city, and under whose designs the Patent Office and Treasury De- partment buildings had been completed. The cornerstone of the south wing was laid on July 4, 1851, by President Fillmore, assisted by the Grand Lodge of Masons of the District of Colum- bia, the Grand Master wearing the regalia which President Washington had worn as Grand Master pro tem of Alexandria Lodge when he laid the cornerstone of the original building in 1793. The orator of the occasion was Daniel Webster.
The Statue of Liberty crowning the dome was modelcd by Thomas Crawford, in Rome, Italy, and cast by Clark Mills in his foundry, ncar Brookland, D. C.
The exterior of the original Capitol Building is constructed of sandstone brought from Aquia Creek, Va. This was so badly disfigured by smoke at the time of the destruction of the build- ing by the British in 1814 that it was necessary to obliterate the marks of the smoke by painting, which practice it has been necessary to continue ever since. The walls of the north and south wings were constructed of Massachusetts marble, and the monolithic columns are of marble from Cockeysville, Maryland. The result has been that the exterior of the building as a whole is not of uniform appearance.
The new Hall of the House of Representatives was first occupied on December 2, 1857, and the new Hall of the Senate on January 4, 1859, though the colonnades and porticos of thesc additions were not completed until shortly after the close of the Civil War. The dome of the Capitol, which had not been com- menced until 1856, was completed August 26, 1864. The work of completing the building was carried on during the Civil War at the instance of President Lincoln, who believed that its con-
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tinuance would have a powerful moral effect upon the country, and particularly upon those Union soldiers who had occasion to pass through Washington.
The bronze doors at the east entrance to the rotunda are the design of Randolph Rogers, who was specially commissioned by Congress to design them. They were cast at Munich, Bavaria, in 1861, and were designed and modelled at Rome. The bronze doors at the entrances to the Senate and House wings were designed by Thomas Crawford.
The total cost of the Capitol up to July 15, 1870, was $12,256,150.
The original construction of the President's House has been detailed in the chapters dealing with the establishment of the city.
James Hoban's design contemplated a central building with wings or terraces. It is uncertain just when the original east and west terraces were constructed, but they were probably completed during the administration of President Jefferson, whose office was on the site of the present Executive Offices opposite the entrance to the Navy Department.
After the destruction of the interior of the building by the British in 1814, it was rebuilt within the original walls which like those of the Capitol were painted white to obliterate the marks of the fire. The new building was completed in 1818. In 1819 Congress appropriated $8,137 "for enlarging the offices west of the President's House." The south portico was added about 1823, and the north portico about 1829. In 1848 gas lighting was installed and in 1853 a system of heating and ventilating was put in effect. About 1857 the west terrace was used to support a greenhouse which remained until the restora- tion of the building in 1902. The original east terrace was removed some time prior to 1870.
By Act of June 20, 1902, Congress appropriated $540,641 for the complete renovation and restoration of the building and the construction of a separate temporary office for the President. The work was placed in charge of Messrs. McKim, Mead and White, architects, of New York, and occupied about four months.
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