DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL THE PLAN OF THE CITY
SITE OF THE FEDERAL CITY
The first mention of the upper Potomac and adjacent regions to
Indianhead, about 35 miles south of Washington, is made by Capt.
John Smith, who explored this region from the Jamestown settlement
in Virginia in 1608. In 1634 Henry Fleet, who was taken captive by
Indians, visited the falls of the Potomac. In 1635 a tract of land
(400 acres) called Rome was laid out for Francis Pope, gentleman. The
Capitol is said to be on this land. In 1790 the region in which the
city of Washington has been built was in the form of 17 large farm
tracts, as is shown on the following page. They were covered with woods
and streams; the arable portions were tilled and produced wheat, maize,
and tobacco. Two hamlets, Carrollsburg (where the War College now
stands), and Hamburg (about where the Naval Hospital is located), which
was then southeast of the thriving port of Georgetown, were within the
limits of the early survey.
On April 30, 1783, 19 days after the proclamation of peace between the
American Colonies and England, the subject of a permanent capital for
the General Government of the States was brought up in Congress. The
act of July 16, 1790, heretofore cited, provided for the selection of a
permanent site on the upper Potomac River for the National Capital--
according to such plans as the President shall approve and prior to
the first Monday in December, 1800, and suitable buildings for the
accommodation of Congress, and of the President, and for the public
offices of the Government of the United States.
On January 22, 1791, President Washington appointed three
commissioners--Daniel Carroll and Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, and
David Stuart, of Virginia.
By proclamation of January 24, 1791, President Washington directed that
the three commissioners appointed pursuant to the act approved July 16,
1790, “proceed forthwith to run the said lines of experiment and, the
same being run, to survey and by proper metes and bounds to define and
limit the part within the same,” which were substantially in accord
with the lines subsequently adopted, moving the southern boundary point
of the 10 miles square farther south, so as to include a convenient
part of the Eastern Branch and also the town of Alexandria.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON IN EMBRYO]
When President Washington arrived in the future National Capital he
found the great task before him was to bring into harmony the rival
interests of the Eastern Branch, or Carrollsburg, and of Georgetown.
The property holders of Carrollsburg appeared to be anxious that the
new public buildings be located in their town. David Burnes, who owned
much of the land that now lies between the White House and the Capitol,
was keen to have, on condition that he give up part of his property,
the public buildings located there. Thus from the beginning of the
history of the city there has been rivalry between various sections of
the city while the Government was planning for its development.
The controversy between the landholders led Thomas Jefferson to make
a rough outline plan for a city one-fourth less in size than that
which George Washington had in mind, to be built in the vicinity of
Georgetown. This sketch showed the Capitol building at the site of the
town called Hamburg, about where the Naval Hospital is now located;
from there eastward public walks or a Mall was planned, with the
location of the President’s House at about the present Nineteenth
Street, south of Pennsylvania Avenue. Jefferson also proposed a
rectangular system of streets, in contrast with the open spaces and
radiating avenues planned by L’Enfant, who also reversed the position
of the Capitol by placing that to the east of the President’s House on
Jenkin’s Hill.
TERMS OF ORIGINAL AGREEMENT
The terms of the sale of land to the Government were agreed to on March
30, 1791, under which the original owners agreed to convey to the
United States Government, free of cost, such portions of their farms
as were needed for streets, parks, and other public reservations; and
to sell such land as was needed for Government buildings and public
improvements at £25 per acre (about $67). The remaining land was to be
laid out in building lots and apportioned equally between the Federal
Government and the original owners. Rufus R. Wilson, in Washington, the
Capital City, says:
In this way, without advancing a dollar and at a total cost of
$36,000, the Government acquired a tract of 600 acres in the heart of
the city. The 10,136 building lots assigned to it ultimately proved
to be worth $850,000, and now represent a value of $70,000,000.
Shrewd financier as he was, it is doubtful if Washington ever made
another so good a bargain as that with Burnes and his neighbors.
The following is a copy of the agreement:
THE AGREEMENT OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON WITH THE ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS
We, the subscribers, in consideration of the great benefits we
expect to derive from having the Federal City laid off upon our
Lands, do hereby agree and bind ourselves, heirs, executors, and
administrators, to convey, in Trust, to the President of the United
States, or Commissioners, or such person or persons as he shall
appoint, by good and sufficient deeds, in Fee simple, the whole of
our respective Lands which he may think proper to include within the
lines of the Federal City, for the purposes and on the conditions
following:
The President shall have the sole power of directing the Federal City
to be laid off in what manner he pleases. He may retain any number
of Squares he may think proper for public Improvements, or other
public Uses, and the lots only which shall be laid off shall be a
joint property between the Trustees on behalf of the public, and each
present proprietor, and the same shall be fairly and equally divided
between the public and the Individuals, as soon as may be, after the
City shall be laid off.
For the streets the proprietors shall receive no compensation; but
for the squares or Lands in any form, which shall be taken for
public buildings, or any kind of public improvements, or uses, the
proprietors, whose lands shall be so taken, shall receive at the rate
of twenty-five pounds per acre, to be paid by the public.
The whole wood on the Lands shall be the property of the proprietors.
But should any be desired by the president to be reserved or left
standing, the same shall be paid for by the public at a just and
reasonable valuation, exclusive of the twenty-five pounds per acre to
be paid for the land, on which the same shall remain.
Each proprietor shall retain the full possession and use of his
land, until the same shall be sold and occupied by the purchasers
of the Lots laid out thereupon, and in all cases where the public
arrangements as to streets, lotts, &c., will admit of it, each
proprietor shall possess his buildings and other improvements, and
graveyards, paying to the public only one-half the present estimated
value of the Lands, on which the same shall be, or twelve pounds
ten shillings per acre. But in cases where the arrangements of the
streets, lotts, squares, &c., will not admit of this, and it shall
become necessary to remove such buildings, Improvements, &c., the
proprietors of the same shall be paid the reasonable value thereof,
by the public.
Nothing herein contained shall affect the Lotts which any of the
parties to this Agreement may hold in the Towns of Carrollsburgh or
Hamburgh.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and Seals, this
thirtieth day of March, 1791.
{Signed
Signed & sealed in presence of us--Mr. {ROBERT PETER (Seal)
THOS. BEALL, making an exception of the {DAVID BURNES (Seal)
Lands he sold Abraham Young not yet {JAS. M. LINGAN (Seal)
conveyed. {URIAH FORREST (Seal)
Witness to all the subscribers including {BENJ. STODDERT (Seal)
WILLIAM YOUNG {NOTLEY YOUNG (Seal)
WILLIAM BAYLY {DAN. CARROLL of Dn. (Seal)
WILLIAM ROBERTSON {OVERTON CARR (Seal)
JOHN SUTER {THOS. BEALL of Geo. (Seal)
SAMUEL DAVIDSON witness to ABRAHAM {CHARLES BEATTY (Seal)
YOUNG’s signing {ANTHONY HOLMEAD (Seal)
BENJ. STODDERT witness to EDWARD PEIRCE’s {WM. YOUNG (Seal)
signing. {EDWARD PEIRCE (Seal)
JOSEPH E. ROWLES for JNO. WARING. ABRAHAM YOUNG (Seal)
WM. DEAKINS Junr. for WM. PROUT & WILLIAM {JAMES PEIRCE (Seal)
KING as attorney in fact. {WILLIAM PROUT (Seal)
ROBERT PETER, as
attorney in fact for
ELIPHAS DOUGLASS. (Seal)
BENJ. STODDERT for
JNO. WARING by
written authority
from Mr. Waring. (Seal)
WILLIAM KING (Seal)
[Illustration: MAP OF BOUNDARY STONES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA]
[Illustration: THREE OF THE BOUNDARY STONES]
The land which was being considered for the city proper consisted of
about 6,000 acres. In laying out the streets 3,606 acres were taken,
and about 540 acres were bought by the United States as sites for the
public buildings and grounds. The lots laid out numbered 20,272. Of
these the United States took half and the property owners were given
back the remainder. The United States sold its share of the lots and
from the proceeds paid for the 540 acres on which it was to put the
public buildings.
The United States also took a fee-simple title to the streets and
avenues.
BOUNDARY STONES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
A survey of an outline of the District of Columbia was made by Andrew
Ellicott. From the initial point at Jones Point, on Hunting Creek, at
the Potomac (just south of Alexandria), a line was run due northwest
10 miles; thence (into Maryland) due northeast 10 miles to a northern
boundary point (now called Sixteenth Street Heights); thence due
southeast 10 miles; thence due southwest 10 miles, or back to Jones
Point.
[Illustration: BOUNDARY STONE NEAR SIXTEENTH STREET, NORTHWEST]
This survey was approved by Congress with the amendment that all public
buildings should be erected on the Maryland side of the Potomac River.
On March 29, 1791, President Washington arrived on a visit to the
Potomac and stayed at Suter’s Tavern in Georgetown. The next day,
accompanied by the three commissioners and Maj. Pierre Charles
L’Enfant and Andrew Ellicott, he rode over the ground. Washington met
the owners of the land the same night, and the general terms were then
agreed upon and signed by the 19 “original proprietors.” The area of
100 square miles embraced about 64 square miles of Maryland soil (ceded
previously in 1788) and about 36 square miles of Virginia soil (ceded
in 1789).
Thereupon the three city commissioners were ordered to have the
boundary lines permanently marked by monuments placed 1 mile apart.
One of these boundary stones can be seen to-day near the north corner
of the District of Columbia. Each stone was quite large, and this
particular one is well preserved.
PRELIMINARY STUDIES
When the city of Washington was planned under the direct and minute
supervision of President Washington and Secretary of State Jefferson,
the relations that should exist between the Capitol and the President’s
House were closely studied. On August 7, 1791, L’Enfant sent a sketch
to President Washington, with a note, “the plan altered agreeable to
your suggestion.” Indeed, the whole city was planned with a view to the
reciprocal relations that should be maintained among public buildings.
Vistas and axes; sites for monuments and museums; parks and pleasure
gardens; fountains and canals--in a word, all that goes to make a city
a magnificent and consistent work of art were regarded as essential.
Thus, aside from the pleasure and the positive benefits to health that
the people derive from public parks in a capital city like Washington,
there is a distinct use of public spaces as the indispensable means
of giving dignity to Government buildings and of making suitable
connections between the great departments.
The original plans were prepared after due study of great models. The
stately art of landscape architecture had been brought oversea by royal
governors and wealthy planters, and both Washington and Jefferson were
familiar with the practice of that art.
On September 8, 1791, it was decided by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of
State, and James Madison, in conference with the Commissioners of the
District of Columbia--
to name the streets of the Federal City alphabetically one way and
numerically the other from the Capitol and that the name of the City
and Territory shall be the City of Washington and the Territory of
Columbia.
The city had also been divided into four sections--namely, northeast,
northwest, southeast, southwest--with the Capitol as the center and
North and South Capitol Streets dividing the east and west sections and
East Capitol Street and the Mall the north and south sections.
[Illustration: BUILDING REGULATIONS ISSUED BY PRESIDENT WASHINGTON]
[Illustration: SKETCH OF THE L’ENFANT PLAN]