_Below Bridge Street_
Nearly all of the business, and most of the social life, up until 1800
took place below Bridge (M) Street. The island in the river below George
Town, which was called, variously, Analostan, Mason's Island, My Lord's
Island, and Barbadoes, was almost a part of George Town in those days.
It belonged to the great plantation of George Mason, of Gunston, the
brilliant statesman and author of the Bill of Rights.
His son, General Mason, had there an estate where he entertained in fine
style. Louis Philippe of France, while a visitor in George Town, was
feted there and said he had never seen a more elegant entertainment.
Twenty-three kinds of fish were caught in the river in those days,
besides terrapin and snapping turtles, so perhaps they helped to
embellish the occasion.
The island was rich in forest trees, foliage, flowering and aromatic
shrubs, orchards of cherry, apple, and peach trees. Cotton was grown
there which was the color of nankeen; it was spun, woven, and used in
its natural color, without being dyed. Also, there was grown a variety
of maize of deep purple color, used as a dye.
John Mason had also a town house which we shall mention later. He, like
most of the men in this community, was engaged in the business of
shipping tobacco. The majority of his trade seems to have been with
France, from letters of his father to him, in which the great George
offered to help out his son in his shipments by letting him have some of
the hogsheads he had on hand.
John Mason had been a general in the Revolution, and was at the head of
the militia here, and also owned a ferry operating to the Virginia shore
from the foot of High Street (Wisconsin Avenue). The ferry was worked by
a great iron chain.
In 1835 Analostan Island was purchased by William A. Bradley, nephew of
the Abraham Bradley who came to Washington with the Government in 1800
as Assistant Postmaster General. For many years it was a wilderness,
with only traces showing of its once famous house, but not long ago it
was purchased by the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association.
Robert Peter's house stood on High Street (Wisconsin Avenue), about
where Grace Church now stands. He owned the whole block between Congress
(31st) Street and High Street (Wisconsin Avenue), up to Bridge (M)
Street. It was called Peter's Square. At the age of forty, after he had
lived nearly fifteen years in George Town, he married Elizabeth Scott,
the daughter of George Scott, High Sheriff of Prince George County. They
had eight children.
Their eldest son, Thomas, was married in 1795 to Martha Parke Custis,
the second granddaughter of Mrs. Washington. The bride was sixteen, the
groom twenty-seven. The wedding took place at Hope Park near Fairfax
Court House, where Martha's mother, the former Eleanor Calvert (Mrs.
John Parke Custis), had been living since she became the wife of David
Stuart, one of the Commissioners laying out the City of Washington.
Soon after their marriage, Mr. Peter gave to Thomas and his wife one of
the six houses he had built for his sons on lots across Rock Creek in
the new city. The one he gave them was 2618 K Street, and is still
standing. It was there that General Washington stayed with the young
couple so often. Martha was very lovely in appearance, and very devoted
to her step-grandfather, and he, apparently, to her.
Robert Peter's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was married in 1787 to her
cousin, James Dunlop. Mr. Peter's mother had been Jean Dunlop of
Garnkirke. To this couple, the father also gave a house situated not far
from his own, a block away, up High Street (Wisconsin Avenue). There
they reared a large family.
No more interesting figure looms out of the mists of early George Town
than the Reverend Stephen Bloomer Balch, the founder and first pastor of
the Presbyterian Church. But, far more than that, he seems to have been
pastor, "Parson," as he was affectionately called, for the entire
community. It was in his church edifice that each denomination met until
they procured their own.
Born on his parents' place in the Susquehanna region, graduated from
Princeton in the same class with Aaron Burr, Dr. Balch went to Lower
Marlboro, Calvert County, Maryland, to take charge of a classical
academy in October, 1775. For two years he taught, drilled the students
in military training, and studied theology on the side. His books were
borrowed from the Reverend Thomas Clagett, who afterwards became the
first Episcopal Bishop of Maryland, and now lies buried in the
Washington Cathedral, not very far from his pupil in Oak Hill Cemetery.
Not very long after Dr. Balch was licensed as a preacher, he came to
George Town, about 1778, the only place of worship at that time being
the Lutherans' small building, where their new church now stands on the
corner of the present Q Street and Wisconsin Avenue. The lot was given
in 1769 by Colonel Charles Beatty. Dr. Balch preached there on Thursday
night and again on Sunday. He did not remain at that time, but, a year
or so later, asked to come back, and at first used a little frame house
on the north side of Bridge (M) Street, which was occupied on week days
by a school. Just about this time he was made principal of the Columbian
Academy, and the next year he married Elizabeth Beall, the daughter of
George Beall. I wonder if he had, by any chance, met her on his first
visit, and the memory of her bright eyes had followed him on his
journeys down into the Carolines and lured him back.
At the wedding of Dr. and Mrs. Balch in 1782, tea was served in cups not
much larger than thimbles. The ladies of George Town would not drink tea
at all during the Revolution, and it was still not plentiful.
He was of a susceptible nature, for, after his wife's death in 1827, he
was married the next year, when he was eighty-two, to another Elizabeth,
one of the King family. She lived only eighteen days, and a little more
than a year later, he again embarked on the sea of matrimony, this time
with a widow, Mrs. Jane Parrott. By his first wife he had eleven
children, the usual number in those days.
In 1783, one year after his first marriage, he built his home on Duck
Lane (33rd Street), which he called "Mamre," from the Old Testament.
After Abraham and Lot had separated, Abraham giving Lot the first choice
of location, "the Lord told Abraham to look over the whole land which He
would give to him and his seed forever, and Abraham moved his tent and
dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, and built there an altar unto the Lord."
In 1799, when a street was graded through, it completely ruined his
property and he was obliged to take refuge with neighbors. One of his
neighbors was James Calder, who was a trustee of his church, and Mr.
Crookshanks lived near by. Dr. Balch had an island on the river called
"Patmos." This time he went to the New Testament and named it for Saint
John's abode, where he wrote the Book of Revelations. This island
supplied wood for his fires. He had, also, a little way out of town, a
farm of ten acres.
One Fourth of July, his son, Thomas, aged eight, as he tells us in his
_Reminiscences_, wanted to deliver an oration which he had prepared--in
Scotch Row, near by his home. All of his comrades had gone to see
Captain Doughty's Company on parade with the fife-and-drum corps. But
the little boy was not to be deterred. He went up on Bridge (M) Street,
hunting an audience and a distinguished one he brought back with him. If
small in number, it made up in quality, for he had General John Mason
and Monsieur Pichon, a "bland and elegant" Frenchman sent by Napoleon to
receive the $15,000,000 for the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Mr.
Pichon was a Huguenot from the city of Lyons and lived, while here, near
the Bank of Columbia. This son followed in his father's footsteps as a
minister and did not have to go out always for his audience.
A short while after the death of General Washington, Dr. Balch gave
notice that he was going to speak on the life and services of the great
statesman. He preached in the open air to more than a thousand people.
The last years of Dr. Balch's life were spent at number 3302 Gay (N)
Street, where a bad fire destroyed many valuable papers and the records
of his church. He wrote to a friend: "Only the Parrott (his wife)
remains!" Apparently, he never lost his sense of humor. Perhaps it was
that which helped to make him so universally beloved.
Dr. Balch died on the 7th of September, 1833. Every house in town was
hung in black, all the stores and banks were closed and the bells tolled
as his body was carried to the church.
One block westward of Dr. Balch's original house lived another man, very
influential in the religious life of the town in addition to his large
business activities. Henry Foxall, a native of Monmouthshire, England,
was born in 1760. He went to Dublin, where he was put in charge of
extensive iron works and where he became a Methodist. On coming to this
country, he first settled in Philadelphia, where, in 1794, he was a
partner in the Eagle Iron Works of Robert Morris, the great financier
and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
When Thomas Jefferson became President, he thought it advisable to have
at the seat of government an ordnance plant, so Morris recommended
Foxall, who came here in 1799 for that purpose. He built his foundry on
the western outskirts of George Town, just behind Georgetown College.
He built also a large brick house, two stories, with dormer windows on
Frederick (34th) Street, between Water (K) and Bridge (M) Streets. It
was quite a pretentious house for that time, with its high ceilings,
elaborately decorated cornices of minute workmanship, and mantels of
carved wood. It had ample grounds, and in front stood two tall and
graceful Lombardy poplars. He had also a summer home, a little farther
out and higher up, called "Spring Hill," from whence he had a fine view
of the Potomac and the Virginia hills.
A warm friendship sprang up between him and Thomas Jefferson, as they
had many tastes in common. Both were performers on the violin and used
to accompany each other, and both were fond of tinkering. Jefferson, you
remember, was of a very inventive turn of mind. During this time he
thought of an air-tight stove and got Mr. Foxall to make some according
to his ideas, but they did not work out to please him.
Thomas Jefferson lived for a while in George Town on the little street
bearing his name, between Washington (30th) and Congress (31st) Streets,
running south below Bridge (M) Street, in a house demolished a few years
ago. It stood immediately south of the Canal on the east side, and was
in appearance much like the home of Francis Scott Key. It must have been
during the time he was Secretary of State in John Adams's administration
that he occupied this house.
Mr. Jefferson was never happy living in a town. I found this interesting
little tidbit about him in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_: "For eight
years he tabulated with painful accuracy the earliest and latest
appearance of 37 vegetables in the Washington market, and after his
return from France for 23 years he received from his old friend, the
superintendent of the JARDIN DES PLANTES, a box of seeds which he
distributed to public and private gardens throughout the United States."
So I think we might easily call him the founder of the Garden Clubs of
America, certainly of the Georgetown Garden Club.
Mr. Foxall was a convert to Wesleyanism, and a lay minister. He was in
the habit of entertaining the members of the Methodist Conference at
this home, and was once good-humoredly twitted by one of them in regard
to his inconsistent roles of "proclaimer of the gospel of peace and
forger of weapons of war." To this he replied: "If I do make guns to
destroy men's bodies, I build churches to save their souls."
At this foundry (then the only one south of Philadelphia), cannon were
cast for the American troops during the War of 1812. The artillery and
indeed all the military arms of this country were then very imperfect.
Foxall was the only founder in America who understood the proper mode of
manufacture. Here began the first manufacture of bored cannon in this
country, being vastly superior to the old ordnance. The abandonment and
recasting of the old-style guns speedily followed.
Commodore Perry would have no others on the little fleet he built at
Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. The battle of Lake Erie was deferred until
Foxall could fill an order from the government for guns, and transport
them over the mountains on carts drawn by ten or twelve yoke of oxen to
the scene of the engagement. From the deck of his flagship _The
Lawrence_, manned by these guns from George Town, Perry sent his famous
message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours!"
[Illustration: HENRY FOXALL]
In 1814, when the British entered Washington and burned the Capitol and
the White House, this foundry, upon which the country depended so
largely for its supplies, was in imminent danger, and its owner vowed
that, if God would spare it, he would build a church to His glory. The
enemy had their face set in its direction when a sudden and violent
storm turned them from their course. An old letter, written by George
Bleig, afterwards Chaplain-General of the British Army, says: "On the
25th a hurricane fell on the city which unroofed houses and upset our
three-pound guns. It upset me also. It fairly lifted me out of the
saddle, and the horse which I had been riding, I never saw again."
True to his vow, Henry Foxall built the Foundry Methodist Church at the
northeast corner of 14th and G Streets. It was sold some years later and
the Colorado office building erected there. With the proceeds the very
handsome grey stone church was built on 16th Street above Scott Circle.
The trustees of the Foundry Church were Isaac Owens, Leonard Mackall,
John Eliason, William Doughty, Joel Brown, John Lutz, and Samuel
McKenney.
Methodism at that time was in a struggling condition. The first visit by
a Methodist preacher had been one by the tireless Francis Asbury. He was
an old friend of Foxall, had visited him often in Philadelphia, and
preached in George Town December 9, 1772. But it was twenty years before
regular services were held, and then only by a preacher who came up from
Alexandria. It was not until after the arrival of Henry Foxall that any
Methodist preacher was stationed in the District. William Watters was so
appointed in 1802.
[Illustration: HOME OF HENRY FOXALL]
Mr. Foxall was instrumental in the erection of no less than four
churches, the old church at George Town on Rock Creek, one at the Navy
Yard known as Ebenezer, a colored chapel, and later, the Foundry Church.
In 1814 was organized the first Bible society in the District of
Columbia. Among its founders were Henry Foxall and Francis Scott Key,
near neighbors.
Mr. Foxall was three times married, his first wife was Ann Harward, whom
he married in England in 1780; his second was Margaret Smith, married in
Philadelphia in 1799; his third, Catherine, whom he married in 1816 in
England, while on a visit home. He had only two children and they were
by his first marriage--a son who died when twenty-five years old and
daughter, Mary Ann, who became the wife of Samuel McKenney, and for whom
he built a lovely home.
In the summer of 1823 he went to England for a visit, and there in
December of that same year he died, quite suddenly, in great peace. "He
served well his country, his generation, and his God."
Mr. Foxall was said by one of his old employees to have been honest and
just in his dealings, and although he did a large business, employing
many people, he owed no man a dollar. He was prompt in paying off his
workmen, usually making coin payments. He was a conscientious, earnest
Christian, a real enthusiast in his religion. During his term of office
as mayor in 1819 and 1820, the ordinances for the town which provided
against profaning the Sabbath, were strictly enforced.
The old Sunday Laws (so-called Blue Laws), which George Town inherited
from Maryland, were decidedly severe, and it took a man of Mr. Foxall's
force of character to enforce them. A few of the offenses against which
he waged relentless war may be mentioned. Five dollars was the penalty
for gaming, hunting, and fishing on the Sabbath. No trading was allowed
on the Lord's Day, except the selling of "fresh fish, milk, and other
perishable goods." Cock-fighting and drinking, when indulged in by free
men, were punished by a fine of $5.00, but when a slave was the
offender, he received thirty-nine stripes on the bare back in a public
place.
The old gentleman was fond of buying slaves whom he would set free after
teaching them a trade. Long years after, one of his old slaves boasted
of having driven the Marquis de Lafayette to visit his old mistress,
Mrs. Catherine Foxall, on his visit in 1824.
When the Potomac Canal was taken over and reorganized as the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal, a great celebration was made of the event.
On Friday, July 4, 1828, President John Quincy Adams, accompanied by
heads of Federal Government Departments, members of the Diplomatic
Corps, the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal
Company and authorities of the three cities of the then District of
Columbia: Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown, assembled early at the
Union Hotel. The procession formed and, to the music of the United
States Marine Band, marched to the High Street (Wisconsin Avenue) wharf,
where, on board the steamboat _Surprise_ and other boats, they moved up
the Potomac, until they reached the termination of the old Potomac
Canal, landed, and marched a few hundred yards to canal boats prepared
to receive them. They glided along until they reached the point of
destination where the old powder magazine stood. On landing, they formed
a large circle. The president of the C. & O. Company addressed President
Adams in a brief speech and handed him a spade. After making the speech,
he attempted to run the spade into the ground, but struck a root. He
tried it again, when a wag in the crowd cried out he had come across a
"hickory root," (allusion to Andrew Jackson, "Old Hickory," and their
political campaign).
He then threw down the spade, ripped off his coat, and went to work in
earnest. People on the hills around raised loud cheers until their Chief
Executive overcame the difficulty.
On July 4, 1831, water was let in the canal from the first feeder to the
Columbia Foundry. The loan of $1,500,000 was obtained in Holland through
Richard Rush on the credit of the citizens of Washington, Alexandria,
and Georgetown.
It is said that, with the probable exception of General Washington, he
took more interest in the affairs of the District of Columbia than any
other president. He was largely identified with its material prosperity;
he owned and operated a flouring mill on Rock Creek, but the project he
was most zealously interested in was the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Of
course, Mr. Adams had been here some during his father's presidency,
though he was a man in his thirties then and was much abroad on
diplomatic missions. He was also Secretary of State in Monroe's
administration, and after his own term of office as President, served as
a representative in Congress until his death.
A flouring mill which stood at the point where the canal of the old
Potomac Company entered the river, was owned by the Edes family. The
fish caught there were much larger than those caught elsewhere.
On the bank of the canal opposite the mill, lived Bull Frizzle, noted
for his enormous strength. One time, after there was an accident at the
Little Falls (Chain) Bridge, he crawled under a large beam and prized it
up by the strength of his back, saving the life of the man pinned
underneath.