the post office was preferable to the proposed one by about the ratio of three hundred to thirty-five. Notwithstanding the protests of the citizens of the eastern part of the city, the post office was removed to the basement of Carusi's saloon, standing on Eleventh Street below Pennsylvania Avenue, and it was afterward removed to the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Four and a Half Street, opposite the City Hall. From this location it moved to Seventh Street, between E and F streets, and thence to F Street, opposite the Patent Office. In November, 1879, it was removed to the Seaton building, on Louisiana Avenue, where it remained until 1892, when it was finally removed to the new and elegant building erected especially for its use on Pennsylvania Avenue, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets.

The postmasters since Mr. Gunnell have been as follows: Charles K. Gardner, March 31, 1845, to June 28, 1849; William A. Bradley, June 28, 1849, to May 27, 1853; James G. Berrett, Dr. William Jones, Lewis Clephane, Sayles J. Bowen, Colonel C. M. Alexander, Judge James M. Edmunds, May, 1869, till his death in 1880; Colonel Daniel B. Ainger, 1880 to 1882; Thomas L. Tulloch, November 25, 1882, to June 23, 1883, when he died; Colonel D. S. Parker, one week, when he declined to serve; F. B. Conger, June 29, 1883, to January 30, 1888; John W. Ross, January 31, 1888, to September 30, 1890; and finally Henry Sherwood, appointed September 12, 1890.

At the main office, and at the sixteen branch offices, there were sold $500,000 worth of stamps in 1891; but as about seventy-five per cent. of the mail matter sent out from this office goes free, it is safe to say that, were none of it sent free, the income of the office would be $2,000,000. The regular delivery division, in 1891, handled 45,900,000 letters, cards, etc., while the special delivery division handled 63,783 letters. This feature of the mail service was established in 1885, and for the year ending June 30, 1886, the special delivery letters numbered only 25,154. The number of registry pieces handled by the main office and its branches for the year 1891 was 2,394,806, the value of which was nearly $530,000,000. The weight of this matter was about 1,568 tons for the year. The weight of the mail handled by the mailing division amounts to nearly 30 tons per day.

The free delivery system was introduced in Washington July 1, 1863. This was the first day on which this system was used anywhere in the United States, and there were six other cities in which it was introduced on that day. The number of carriers now employed in the city is one hundred and forty-three.

CHAPTER VII.

GROWTH AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE CITY.

The Grandeur of the Plan of the Capital-Early Inhabitants Early Attempts to Improve the City-- Locality of First Improvements - Noted Residences in Washington - Quotation from Benjamin O. Tayloe-John Sessford's Statistics - About the Removal of the Capital - Work under the Charter of 1820-Improvement on Pennsylvania Avenue-Senator Southard's Report-W. W. Seaton's Report-Statistics of Buildings Erected in Recent Years - Census and Debt of the District -Progress Since the War-Change in Form of Government - The $4,000,000 Loan -Sewerage Built-Street Improvements - Governor Shepherd's Work - Area of Public Parks-Extent of Paved Streets.

FR

ROM the nature of things, it was to be expected that the growth of the Capital City would be slow. The establishment of a great city in the midst of what was a wilderness, in every respect, apparently, unfitted for the location of such a city, was a project entirely new, and without a precedent in the world's history. In addition to this, the plan of the proposed city was one of a magnitude without a parallel. The idea of the projectors of this grand city embraced within its scope. the erection of a site for a Federal city that was to have at the outset buildings not only sufficient for the accommodation of the Government of the new Republic, but buildings that should be in keeping with the grandeur of the nation that was to be. Especially prominent among these buildings were the Capitol, for the accommodation of the legislative branch of the Government, and the house for the President. Other buildings for other purposes were also projected upon a scale simpler, it is true, than these, but yet sufficiently grand and commodious for the purposes that they were to subserve. All the ideas of the men who were principally concerned about this plan of the future Capital of the Nation were grand in every way, and looked to a future that was far beyond the conception of most of their contemporaries. These ideas, too, were far beyond what the accommodation of the Government at that time demanded, and were, indeed, in the opinion of many, far beyond what it was probable the Government ever would demand.

The very fact that these public buildings were placed, upon the plan of the Capital City, in positions so remote from each other, was

calculated to retard the rapid growth of the Federal City. About this matter the notions of those who were placed in charge of the plan of the city vere very diverse, and it was not until almost the last moment that it was determined to locate the buildings destined as the meeting place of Congress and the residence of the President at so great a distance from each other. At one time it was thought best that the President's House should be in close proximity to the Capitol, and after the present location of the President's House was determined upon, there were several projects for using that building in connection with the legislative or the judiciary branch of the Government. However this may have been, and howsoever various the projects of those who were concerned in the erection of the public buildings, the fact remains that in this wilderness, selected to be the site of the Federal Capital, these buildings were erected so far apart as to make their connection by an inhabited city a matter of the slow development of many years.

It will be apparent to anyone who considers all the circumstances surrounding these beginnings of the city of Washington, that its early inhabitants must necessarily have been only those who were attracted by the operations of the Government, and, at the outset, particularly with reference to the erection of the public buildings. It is true, there may have been a few attracted to the city by the prospect it afforded for speculation in the purchase of lots in the new city. It may have been that a number of persons who were connected with the General Government were at that early day induced to select places for their future residences in part with a view to convenience and the further view of their possible speculative value. It may be that there were persons induced by the hope that the future Capital would offer a place for investments of various kinds, and that all of these classes sought to become inhabitants of the future city. But however all this may have been, we know from the history of the times that for years the population of the city was very sparse and limited in numbers, and confined almost exclusively to the persons and their families who were in one way or another employed by the General Government.

It is matter of fact, too, that several attempts made toward the improvement of the city by the erection of dwelling houses in any considerable number with the view of making profit of them by renting them to the citizens of the town, ended in failure. The history of the times plainly shows that the earliest improvements of any account were made at what was known as Greenleaf's Point, and

that as early as 1800 those who write about the city of Washington speak of the houses erected in this locality as the handsomest and most commodious in the city. This seems remarkable at this day, because these buildings have been for many years mere ruins, and the places they occupied are so remote from the present residence portions of the city that it is surprising to us that such buildings should have been erected. Not very remote from this section of the city, too, were the buildings on what was known as "Twenty Building Hill," about which there is a legend that a row of houses was built which were never occupied, and soon fell into ruin. All these buildings of which we have spoken were erected in the direction at least of the Capitol building. Perhaps this was because, as in the early years of our history Congress had been by far the most important part of the Government, it was thought the Capitol would be the center of the Federal City, and for that reason the tendency of interest was in that direction. In this connection it may not be amiss to state that the President of the United States himself selected a site and erected a building in the neighborhood of the Capitol, which was afterward known for many years as the "Washington Property," and is pointed out to-day to strangers as the house built by General Washington. In this neighborhood, too, were several other old residences. The Chief Justice of the District of Columbia, William Cranch, the clerk of the local courts, and several other notables resided in this locality.

On New Jersey Avenue, south of the Capitol, a number of fine old residences existed in that early day. Among them was that of Dr. Frederick May, the leading physician of the city, and a building occupied by one of the local banks. For many years after the organization of the local courts of the District of Columbia they occupied buildings near the Capitol. But notwithstanding this apparent, or perhaps we ought to say real, tendency of improvement in the direction of the Capitol building, for some reason, of which mention need not be made here, the real progress of the city took another direction, and passing over the difficulties that existed in the road between the Capitol and the President's residence, the city soon began to make the most rapid progress in the location or vicinity of the presidential mansion. A row of houses known as the "Six Buildings" was among the first indications of this progress, and another row known as the "Seven Buildings" was erected. Then came O'Neil's hotel, known in later times as Gadsby's Row, and several others of minor importance erected in this neighborhood. Pennsylvania Avenue,

the great thoroughfare between the Capitol and the President's House, seemed to offer the most advantageous location for the erection of houses of business, and before long this street, which L'Enfant had selected as the grand passageway between the legislative and executive departments, notwithstanding its line lay through what seemed to be an impenetrable morass and swamp, gave promise of being what he said it must be, a fine avenue. The effect of all this was that the business portion of the city soon began to be established on this avenue, and the city grew fast along this line which connected the two residence portions of the city, the one in the vicinity of the Capitol, the other in the vicinity of the presidential mansion, and the streets adjoining it, more particularly to the north. This then became the section of the city first built up by those seeking residences here, more particularly those connected with the Government.

At this early time, as may readily be conjectured, there were comparatively few residences of special note, size, or elegance; but there were some of such beauty of design as to merit particular mention. One of the earliest houses built in the city of Washington was the residence of Colonel John Tayloe, at the intersection of New York Avenue and Eighteenth Street. It was erected by Colonel Tayloe at the suggestion of President Washington, his personal friend, who subsequently watched the progress of the work when he visited the embryo city. This house was so erected as to face the Arlington House, on the opposite side of the river. It is in shape an octagon, and has always been known by that name. It still stands, but is now a ruin. Notwithstanding, however, its present dilapidation, it will pay anyone interested in such matters to examine the beauty and completeness of its interior arrangement.

Another house erected in those early days was the mansion of General Van Ness, on what was known as Mansion Square, near the river at the foot of Seventeenth Street. This house was, when it was first erected, pronounced the most elegant private mansion in the country. It was designed by Latrobe, and cost its owner a very large sum.

Mr. Benjamin O. Tayloe, son of Colonel John Tayloe, writing about the city of Washington in 1800, makes use of the following language, which may appropriately be introduced in this connection:

"I came to Washington in 1801, and remember it literally as rus in urbe, containing but a few thousand inhabitants scattered about in single houses apart from each other or in occasional groups, chiefly in the vicinity of the public buildings, from Georgetown to the Navy