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The Globe was established in December, 1830, by Franklin P. Blair. Mr. Blair came to Washington and started the paper at the instigation of President Jackson who had been much im- pressed by a vigorous article against nullification written by Mr. Blair, which had appeared in the Frankfort, Kentucky, Argus. Shortly following its establishment, Mr. Blair took into partner- ship John C. Rives, and employed Amos Kendall as an editorial
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writer. Mr. Kendall was the President's spokesman on the Globe, voicing the President's views in the vigorous broadside editorials which immediately became a prominent feature of the paper. For eleven years following its establishment the Globe received the benefit of the public printing and advertising, which was transferred to the National Intelligencer with the incoming of the nomination of James K. Polk, a Democratic candidate for ceived the contracts for printing the Congressional debates. In 1849 the interest of Mr. Blair was acquired by Mr. Rives who continued to publish the paper until his death when it was con- tinued by his sons.
The establishment of the Washington Union was the result of the nomination of James K. Polk, a Democratic candidate for the presidency, over Martin Van Buren. Prior to this event, the Globe had supported Van Buren for the nomination and the Richmond Enquirer and the Nashville Union had supported Polk. From these last mentioned papers came to Washington in 1845, Thomas Ritchie and John P. Heiss, who, on May 1, 1845, issued the first number of the Washington Union, and later pur- chased the Globe. The Union continued to represent the admin- istration until 1849, when the Whig Party returned to power, and under President Fillmore the National Intelligencer was re- stored to its former position of organ of the administration. The Union was again made the government organ under President Pierce and so continued through the administration of President Buchanan. In 1859 it was sold by Mr. Ritchie to A. J. Donel- son who had been Private Secretary to President Jackson, charge d'affaires to Texas, and Minister to Prussia and the Ger- manic Federation. Mr. Donelson shortly afterwards sold the paper to George W. Bowman who changed the name to the "Con- stitution." It was purchased in 1860 by William M. Browne who discontinued it on January 31, 1861.
The Republic was established in 1849, immediately after the inauguration of President Taylor. Its first editors were Alex- ander Bullitt, formerly of the New Orleans Picayune, and John Sargent of the New York Courier and Enquirer. It appears to
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have been short lived and to have gone out of existence upon the death of President Taylor.
The National Era was an anti-slavery publication which first appeared on January 7, 1847, under the editorship of Dr. Gamaliel Bailey, of Cincinnati, Ohio. The publishers were Mar- tin Buel and William Blanchard. It was established by means of a fund of $20,000 which had been raised by the advocates of freedom headed by Lewis Tappan and represented in a clerical capacity by Lewis Clephane. Dr. Bailey was a prominent aboli- tionist, having been associated in the editorship of the Cincin- nati Philanthropist with James G. Birney, who afterwards, as nominee of the abolition party for the presidency, caused the defeat of Henry Clay. While Dr. Bailey was connected with the Philanthropist that paper had twice been the victim of mobs which had destroyed its office and thrown its type into the Ohio River. The National Era played a prominent part in the aboli- tionists' movement. Its regular corresponding editor was John G. Whittier. Other contributors were Theodore Parker, Alice Phoebe Cary, Dr. Pierpont, William D. Gallagher and H. B. Stanton, author of "Modern Reformers." A series of sketches of men and things about Washington was contributed by Dr. James Houston, an accomplished Irishman. Later the Era num- bered among its contributors Edward Everett Hale, Salmon P. Chase, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gail Hamilton and Mrs. Bailey, the wife of the editor. Through its columns Mrs. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin first ap- peared as a serial story in 1851.
In April, 1848, the office of the National Era was attacked by a mob as the result of an attempted escape by a party of sÃaves in a sloop named The Pearl which succeeded in getting as far as Cornfield Harbor near the mouth of the Potomac. The office of the Era was at this time on 7th Street between F and G Streets. It was afterwards removed to the Tremont House at the corner of 2nd Street and Indiana Avenue, and at this place which was occupied also by the Republican headquarters, the paper was again slightly damaged by a mob following the elec- tion of Mr. Lincoln to the presidency.
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The National Republican first appeared on Monday, Novem- ber 26, 1860, under the ownership of a company at the head of which was Mr. Lewis Clephane. During the war the paper vigorously supported the Government. In 1867 or 1868, it was acquired by William J. Murtagh and S. P. Hanscom and was continued under the editorship of the latter. It was subse- quently edited in turn by Mr. Harris, formerly of the Patriot, Mr. Connery, and John P. Foley.
The Daily Patriot was started as a conservative Democratic paper by a syndicate of wealthy Eastern men under the editor- ship of James E. Harvey with Oscar K. Harris in charge of the news department and Ex-Mayor James G. Berrett as business manager. These men were succeeded soon after by A. G. Allen as editor-in-chief and Louis Bagger as local editor under the general managership of Col. W. H. Philip, J. C. McGuire and R. T. Merrick.
The Evening Star was established by Capt. J. B. Tait in December, 1852, a specimen issue being put out on the 4th of that month and the regular daily issue first appearing on the 16th. It consisted of four pages with a total of twenty col- umns, and its circulation slightly more than 800. It was printed on a hand press. Its first office was at the corner of 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. In May, 1854, it was removed to the second story of a blacksmith shop on D Street near 12th Street, northwest, the present site of the Franklin engine house. Soon thereafter Mr. Tait sold the paper to W. D. Wallach and W. H. Hope, Mr. Wallach soon after acquiring entire ownership. In 1854 the office was removed to the southwest corner of Pennsyl- vania Avenue and 11th Street, the present site of the Post Office Department. In 1855 Mr. Crosby S. Noyes became associated with Mr. Wallach on the paper and in 1863 a Hoe rotary press was installed. In 1867 the paper was sold for $110,000 by Mr. Wallach to a syndicate composed of Crosby S. Noyes, S. H. Kauffman, A. R. Shepherd, Clarence Baker and George W. Adams. These gentlemen were incorporated into the Evening Star Newspaper Company by a special Act of Congress in 1868. In 1881 the Star acquired the ground and buildings at the north-
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west corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 11th Street, the site of its present structure, and installed what was then a modern perfecting press and folding machine. In 1890 the company erected a four-story building on 11th Street adjoining its former building and shortly afterwards acquired the property adjoin- ing its holdings on Pennsylvania Avenue. On April 13, 1892, the paper suffered severely from a fire but its publication was not discontinued on this account. The present building at Penn- sylvania Avenue and 11th Street was erected in 1899, and occu- pied by the Star on July 1, 1900. The Sunday morning edition of the Star was inaugurated on March 26, 1905.
The Washington Critic originated as a theater program. It was published as an independent evening daily from 1868, with the exception of a short period in 1888, when it appeared under the ownership of Stilson Hutchins as the Evening Post, until May 14, 1891, when its equipment and United Press franchise were purchased by the Evening Star Newspaper Company at a receiver's sale. It was owned successively by Ringwalt, Hack and Miller, by Hallett Kilbourn, and by Richard Weightman and his associates.
The Daily Morning Chronicle which had been started in 1861 by John W. Forney of the Philadelphia Press as the Sun- day Morning Chronical under the editorship of Joseph A. Ware, became a daily in 1863. It was acquired in 1870 by John M. Morris, formerly clerk of the United States Senate, who was also proprietor of the South Carolina Republican. In 1882 the Chronicle was acquired by John Q. Thompson and Company.
The Washington Post first appeared on December 6, 1877, under the ownership of Mr. Stilson Hutchins. At that time the morning newspapers of Washington were the National Republi- can, owned by A. M. Clapp and Company, and printed in what is now the Southern Railway Building, at 13th and Pennsylvania Avenue, northwest; and the National Union, published by ex- Congressman John Lynch, of Maine, in the old Congressional Globe Building on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, be- tween Third and Four-and-a-Half Streets. The evening papers were the Evening Star, and the Critic. None of these dailies
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then had Sunday issues. In the Sunday field were the Sunday Chronicle, the Sunday Gazette, the Sunday Republic, the Sun- day Herald, and the Capital. The latter under the ownership of Don Piatt had acquired a national reputation.
The Post was started in the building at 916 Pennsylvania Avenue, formerly occupied by the Chronicle which had gone out of existence some months previously. The Managing Editor was Col. John A. Cockerill, who had previously been the Editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer. On the editorial staff were A. C. Buell, Montague Marks, Captain Charles H. Allen, and, for a time, Joseph Pulitzer, who afterwards acquired the St. Louis Post-Despatch and the New York World.
In May, 1878, Mr. Hutchins purchased the National Union, which he consolidated with the Post, and moved the Post to the Globe Building on Pennsylvania Avenue. Immediately after this Col. Cockerill resigned to become the Editor of the Baltimore Gazette, and Mr. Walter Stilson Hutchins became Managing Editor, in which position he remained continuously, except for several absences due to illness, throughout the period of his father's ownership of the paper.
In 1879 the Post inaugurated a Sunday morning edition and became the first seven-day paper in Washington.
In 1880 Mr Hutchins bought the building on the Peter Force property at the northeast corner of 10th and D Streets, northwest. This building was destroyed by fire in July, 1885, and was immediately replaced.
In 1887 Mr. Hutchins purchased the National Republican and merged it with the Post, which thus became, and remained until the appearance of the Times in 1894, the only morning paper in Washington. During the later years of the Post under Mr. Hutchins' ownership its staff numbered among other no- table men Henry L. West; Captain Page McCarty, who had been one of the principals in the celebrated Mordecai-McCarty duel in 1873, in which the former was killed, the last prominent Vir- ginia duel; Maurice Splain, at present Marshal of the District of Columbia; General George H. Harries; Richard Sylvester,
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the father of the present Chief of Police; Richard Weightman, grandson of former Mayor Weightman; and two afterwards well known women contributors-Mollie Elliott Sewall and Jeanette Duncan.
On January 1, 1889, the Post was sold to a syndicate headed by Frank Hatton and Beriah Wilkins. About two years later it removed to its present quarters at 1340 E Street, northwest.
In 1888 Mr. Hutchins purchased the Evening Critic and issued it for some months as the Evening Post. It was later sold and re-established under its former name.
In October, 1905, the Post was purchased by John R. Mc- Lean. The Post has always been Democratic in politics and for many years was generally recognized as the National Democratic Organ.
The Washington Times was started as a co-operative enter- prize in 1894 under the editorship of Herbert J. Browne by a number of union printers who had been thrown out of work by the introduction of linotype machines. Shares were issued at $10 each and a capital of $1,800 subscribed. The first issue ap- peared on March 17, 1894. The paper was first published in the building formerly occupied by the Washington Post at 10th and D Streets, northwest. After three months of co-operative own- ership the paper was purchased by Ex-Congressman C. G. Conn, of Elkhart, Indiana, who removed it to a building at 11th and E streets, northwest, and added an evening and a Sunday morn- ing edition in 1896. In 1897 Mr. Conn sold the paper to Mr. Stilson Hutchins, who took it back to its former quarters, and issued it for four years and a half under the management of Mr. Walter Stilson Hutchins, as a morning, evening and Sunday morning paper. In November, 1901, the Times was bought by Mr. Frank A. Munsey, who discontinued the morning daily edition and changed the Sunday morning to a Sunday after- noon edition. In 1905, the paper removed to its present quarters at 1329 E Street, northwest. The Times has since been pub- lished as a one-cent Sunday afternoon paper.
The Washington Herald was started in 1905 through the efforts of Mr. Scott C. Bone, formerly Managing Editor of the
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Washington Post, who became the first Editor-in-Chief of the paper. Its first issue appeared on October 8, 1906. In 1910 Mr. Henry L. West, on retiring as District Commissioner, ac- quired a large interest in the Herald and late in 1910 Mr. Bone severed his connection with the paper to take up the editorship of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In 1912 Mr. West withdrew from the Herald and in October, 1913, Mr. C. T. Brainard of New York bought a controlling interest in its stock.
The Herald has always been a politically independent morn- ing paper. It was first published on 15th Street, between New York Avenue and H Street, northwest, but soon moved to its present location on New York Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, northwest.
The Real Estate and Court Record, a daily, has been in continuous existence over a hundred years, the precise date of its establishment not being known. When started it was a single sheet about six by eight inches in size.
The publication of the Congressional Record by the Gov- ernment was begun in 1841, when, upon the inauguration of President Harrison, the public printing was taken from the Globe which had held it for eleven years.
CHAPTER XVI
History of Banking
The bank of Columbia was established at Georgetown in 1793 and was the first banking institution within what afterward became the District of Columbia. It was established by Samuel Blodgett, assisted by Mr. Stoddert and Governor Johnson, of Fredericktown. Samuel Hannon was its first cashier. The last legislation by Congress relating to this bank was approved Feb- ruary 25, 1836, by which its charter was extended to March 4, 1839. It was also provided that no discounts should be made except such as might be deemed proper to renew such notes as had already been discounted, and that no more promissory notes should be put in circulation. This legislation also provided that instead of a president and nine directors, as then required by law, a board should be elected on the first Thursday in March, 1836, and each year thereafter, so long as the law itself remained in force, who should elect one of themselves president; and the stockholders were authorized to choose trustees to wind up the affairs. It is probable that this bank ccased to exist about 1839.
Meetings of the president and directors of the Bank of the United States for the election of directors of the office of dis- count and deposit for the District of Columbia, were held, and such directors duly elected on February 4, 1806; February 3, 1807, February 2, 1808, February 7, 1809, and February 6, 1810. The first directors were Joseph Carleton, Thomas Tingey, William Brent, James D, Barry, John P. Van Ness, Caleb Swan, Thomas Munroe, Joseph Nourse, David Peter, William Stewart, Lewis Leblois, Benjamin Shreve, Jr., and Phileas Janney. On the third of March, John P. Van Ness was elected president of the board, and was annually re-elected until the expiration of the charter in 1811.
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The election of February 6, 1810, appears to have been the last election of officers for the branch of the Bank of the United States in the District of Columbia; and the Bank itself soon be- came extinct through the failure of Congress to renew its charter.
After the expiration of the charter of this bank, in 1811, the business of the office of discount and deposit in Washington was conducted for a time by a temporary board of agents, of which John P. Van Ness was chairman. Still later, a committee was appointed to manage the business, with a view of settling its affairs. This having been accomplished, it was soon found desir- able to make an attempt to establish another bank in Washing- ton, as there was then but one little bank, on Capitol Hill, which had not funds sufficient for the business of its vicinity.
At a meeting, held in Davis's Hotel, January 3, 1814, of the stockholders of a new bank, which was named "The Bank of the Metropolis," John P. Van Ness was chosen president of the new bank and Alexander Keer cashier. The location of this bank was at the corner of F and Fifteenth Streets, west of the Treas- ury building. Toward the close of the War of 1812-15, when General Jackson made an appeal for funds with which to pay the American soldiers, this bank loaned largely to the Govern- ment. After General Jackson became President of the United States, he kept his private accounts with this bank, and after the removal of the deposits from the United States Bank this bank was made a public depository. At length, it was organized under the National Banking law as the National Metropolitan Bank, with John B. Blake president and Moses Kelly cashier. Mr. Blake remained president until 1874, when he was succeeded by John W. Thompson. Mr. Thompson was succeeded in the presidency of this bank by E. Southard Parker, in 1901. Mr. Parker retired from the presidency of the Columbia National Bank in 1897, and became affiliated with the National Metropoli- tan, first as cashier, then as first vice-president. He was elected president and served as such until the annual election of 1909, when George White was elected to succeed him. At that time a controlling interest in the stock passed into the hands of a new
-
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set of financiers and the policy and management of the bank changed. Negotiations culminated in 1904 in which the Citi- zens' National Bank was absorbed. The name "National Met- ropolitan Bank" was changed at that time to "National Metro- politan Citizens' Bank," which was retained but two years when the original name was restored.
The Metropolitan Bank occupied the building owned by the Citizens' Bank after the merger, until the new bank building which it now occupies was finished.
The Bank of Washington was chartered in 1809, and was the first bank established in the City of Washington. The capital stock was $100,000. Daniel Carroll, of Duddington, was its first president, and Samuel Eliot, Jr., its first cashier.
In January, 1886, this institution was organized as the "Na- tional Bank of Washington."
In the early part of 1907, some of the younger stockholders and directors sought to enlarge the capital of the bank and to inject into its management a little larger activity. The bank at that time was ultra-conservative in management, and the younger men affiliated with it feared loss of power and prestige because of its energetic competitor the Central National Bank.
As soon as it was learned that the President and a majority of the old directors were averse to any change in capitalization or departure from the established order of things, negotiations began with President Clarence F. Norment and other affiliated with the Central National Bank, for the purchase of control of the Bank of Washington. This was gradually brought about within a few months, and at the annual meeting of the Bank of Washington, in 1907, new directors were elected by the interests connected with the Central Bank. The actual merger was ef- fected in April, the charter of the Central Bank surrendered, and the two institutions united under the charter of the National Bank of Washington. The merged bank took possession of the banking house of the older bank and the Central Bank building was retained merely as an investment.
In October, 1908, the stockholders voted to increase the capi- tal stock from $700,000 to $1,050,000 which approximately rep-
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resented the capital of the merged banks with the addition of the surplus of the Bank of Washington. The new stock was prac- tically all taken by the stockholders of the two banks, by ex- change and purchase on the basis of $150 a share.
The Union Bank of Georgetown, District of Columbia, was chartered by Congress, March 11, 1811. The capital stock of the bank was $500,000, in $50 shares. For most of the time during the existence of this bank, Robert Beverly was its president, and David English appears to have been cashier during its entire existence. In 1840, it went into liquidation, but its charter was extended from time to time until 1849, to allow its affairs to be fully settled.
The Central Bank of Georgetown and Washington was char- tered March 3, 1817, and when organized John Tayloe was presi- dent, and A. R. Levering, cashier. Mr. Tayloe resigned the presi- dency in May, 1818, and was succeeded by Francis Dodge, who remained president during the bank's short existence. March 2, 1821, Congress passed an Act authorizing this bank to pay off its debts and close its affairs, there being then too many banks in the District of Columbia.
The Farmers and Mechanics' Bank of Georgetown was start- ed in 1814, at a meeting held February 15, at Crawford's Hotel. William Marbury was elected president, and Clement Smith, cashier.
April 12, 1834, its board of directors resolved to suspend specie payments, saying, in explanation of their course: "They foresee that the present prostration of business confidence, and consequent derangement of the currency, must eventually re- duce them to this course, and they prefer to anticipate the event by yielding at once to the pressure, rather than to avert it by holding out during the short practical period of delay, at the expense of sacrificing the permanent interests of the bank. This measure is of temporary duration. The board see no necessity in the condition of the bank, for extending it beyond the present singular crisis in the banking history of the country, and confidently anticipate the resumption of active business on a specie basis as soon as this crisis shall pass away."
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The original charter of this bank was dated March 3, 1817, and it was renewed by Congress from time to time. On January 15, 1872, this bank was organized as a national bank under the name it now bears, "The Farmers and Mechanics' National Bank of Georgetown." At the time of this organization, the following nine directors were elected: Henry M. Sweeney, Philip T. Berry, William C. Magee, Esau Pickrell, William King, Francis Wheatley, John Davidson, Charles M. Matthews, and Evan Lyons. Henry M. Sweeney was continued as presi- dent of the bank. William Laird was continued as cashier, and served in the same capacity for forty years.
Upon the retirement of Henry M. Sweeney, after nearly forty years' continuous service, S. Thomas Brown was elected president, September 10, 1896. He had been associated with the bank's affairs since 1876 and was made vice-president in 1891. Mr. Brown died February 22, 1913, and William King was elected president on February 27. The building which the bank has occupied for many years on the south side of M Street in the heart of the business section of Georgetown was reno- vated and practically rebuilt in the spring and summer of 1912. The capital stock of the bank is $252,000.
The Patriotic Bank was established in May, 1815. On June 7, Robert Brent was chosen president, and Overton Carr, cashier. On June 28, 1825, this bank opened its business in its new banking house, at the intersection of Seventh and D Streets, northwest, opposite the office of the National Intelli- gencer. On June 1, 1829, the capital stock was $250,000 and its total assets $503,133.87. On April 14, 1834, at a special meeting, it was resolved that, in the opinion of the board of directors, the interest of the bank and its creditors required that the payment of specie for its obligations ought to be sus- pended. This bank resumed specie payment July 10, 1836, by unanimous resolution, but on May 12, 1837, again suspended specie payments in common with the other banks throughout the country. In 1846, this bank opened a savings department, . receiving sums of $5 and upward, upon which it paid interest
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