If a place was more than two centuries old, was once home to a distinguished DC family, held connections to President Washington and President Lincoln, and served as a home to the elderly for over 150 years, it would be a very special place.
Perched higher and standing back from a long line of commercial buildings below it, such a place is the Aged Woman’s Home of Georgetown (1255 Wisconsin Avenue). Its setting, further obscured behind a tree, serves as a metaphor for its forgotten history.
Thanks to the kindness of one of its staff members, I was able to take the first steps to learn more about the Lutz family, who, before moving to the city of Washington, lived at this dwelling in the first half of the nineteenth century.
The early details of the family, especially around the first John Lutz, are fuzzy. We do know Lutz family members lived at 1255 Wisconsin from about 1805 to 1868. In 1868, the Female Union Benevolent Society (became the Aged Woman’s Home in 1914) acquired the dwelling from the family. As noted by the Aged Woman's Home website, the home "offers, free of charge, a private room for senior citizens, as well as emotional support and the benefits of group living."
A HABS report says the house is “probably one of the earliest extant structures in Georgetown, is one of the few residences in the commercial district, and a portion of this building has a rare flounder half gable, alleged to date from 1756.” An addition was made in 1870 to the front and in 1872 to the rear.
Affixed to the front of the home is an historical marker. It tells the reader:
“From 1804 to 1841, the home of John Lutz, Sergeant of General Washington’s Guard at Valley Forge. Placed by The Historians and USA Bicentennial Committees - District of Columbia, DAR, 1970.”
This is the puzzling part of the story. Our searches for information on this John Lutz came up empty.
Things begin to clear up with John Lutz (1775-1841), perhaps the son of the above mentioned John Lutz. He became a well-known saddler and harness maker in Georgetown and served on boards with John Marbury and Francis Scott Key. In their collections, Mount Vernon has a campaign trunk probably used by Washington in the Revolutionary War. In 1820, Elizabeth Parke Custis had the lining refurnished. The Lutz shop label is affixed inside.
There are several other relics in this story. The first has been cared for by the Aged Woman’s Home. In their possession is a framed copy of a letter written by Elizabeth Parke Custis. The date is April 14, 1828. It’s addressed to the two sons of John Lutz — John S. Lutz (1813-1869) and Francis Asbury Lutz (1820-1885). An attached note shows it was written in Washington and delivered in June by Captain William Tell Poussin (1794-1876). Guillaume Tell Poussin (1794–1876) was a French topographical engineer who helped survey the waterways and roads of the US.
Custis, the eldest grandchild of Martha Washington, began by writing:
I have long intended to offer my good friend, Mr. John Lutz, a present, which he would not only value as a gift from one of the children of his General, but more so, because it once belonged to him.
She went on to say:
You must call to see me sometimes, my good friend. We will talk of your general. My health I believe, will never be good again.
John Lutz (1775-1841) passed away in 1841. He had two sons, John and Francis. Both earned some level of fame and carried the Lutz family story forward.
John S. Lutz (1813-1869) went off to the Big Apple and struck up a relationship with Laura Keene. (Note: Two excellent biographies are, “Our American Duchess: A Biography of Laura Keene" by Vernanne Bryan and "Laura Keene: Actress, Innovator and Impresario" by Ben Graf Henneke.)
Keene earned fame on the big stages and was also a pioneer as a woman owner of a theatre in New York. John was her watchful eye and indefatigable manager. Keene and Lutz probably stayed in the Lutz house on occasion, but they were on the road a lot. They had no children together, but Keene had two daughters (Emma and Clara) from a previous marriage and Lutz had Adelaide from his marriage to Malvina.
Deeds show John giving the home on Wisconsin Avenue (then High Street) to Adelaide in 1851. In 1872, Adelaide deeded the property to the Trustees of the Female Union Benevolent Society. One can conjecture with some degree of confidence that without their ownership, this dwelling might have been demolished.
On the night of April 14, 1865, after John Wilkes Booth mortally wounded President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Keene, starring in the lead actress role (Florence) of “Our American Cousin,” ran from the stage to comfort the President. She later gave her blood-stained cuffs (the second relic) to Morris Adler, a clerk in the War Department who had married Malvina Lutz (1810-1855), a daughter of John Lutz the Saddler. The Adlers lived at a handsome brick dwelling at 1821 Wisconsin Avenue, that was demolished in 1938.
Adler remarried to Mary Kurtz (1815-1898). Their grand daughter, Virginia Adler Thompson (1879-1962) donated the cuffs to the Smithsonian, who have displayed it from time to time. Ford’s Theater has also displayed them.
The web site Glover Park History (Carlton Fletcher) tells us about a leather-covered wooden box dated 1838. It belonged to Adler and was manufactured by John Lutz (resists quip about Adler and Saddler…). This trunk is on display and in the good hands of the Peabody Room at the Georgetown branch of the DC Library.
The other son of John Lutz was Francis Asbury Lutz (1820-1885). Like his brother, he was probably born in the family home on Wisconsin. In 1853, Francis moved the Georgetown store his father started to Washington. Under his management, and then that of his son Francis Jr (1843-1903), the family established one of the finest Harness, Saddlery & Trunks outfits in Washington.
Perhaps Francis and his family attended a “Humorous Lecture” in Georgetown on the night of February 22, 1868. The great quipper, Mark Twain, drew laughs and spoke on the topic of the Sandwich Islands. The marquee event was held at Forrest Hall (now a Gap store), a stone’s throw from the Lutz House.
In what was Twain’s last public lecture in Washington, monies earned were donated to the Female Union Benevolent Society of Georgetown, who was renting the Lutz House. Britannia Kennon (1815-1911), the wife of Commodore Beverly Kennon (commandant of the Navy), the mistress of Tudor Place, and the daughter of Martha Custis Peter, and, most famously, a granddaughter of Martha Washington (Martha and Thomas Peter built and lived in Tudor Place), served as its President from 1879 to 1911. Perhaps one or members of the Lutz family visited the Kennons at Tudor Place.
Although Keene and John were not in Washington a lot, Henneke tells us John and Francis had a cordial relationship. It could have been torn asunder when their father willed his estate not to John, the eldest, but to Francis. John headed for New York where he met Keene. She had a remarkable career on stage. It was a vagabond existence, but Keene showed complete concern and care for her two daughters from her first marriage, Laura and Emma. She enrolled them at the Ladies Academy of the Visitation in Georgetown. Francis enrolled one of his daughters there, too.
Where John had no children with Laura, Francis and Nellie begot five who lived beyond childhood. The 1870 Census shows the family as: Francis (50), Mary (47), Francis A. (28), John A. (25), Mary E. (19), Samuel (17), Ada (15), and Adelaide (28). Adelaide was the daughter of John and Malvina.
Their home was at the corner of C and Four and a Half Streets. This put them in position A in the Judiciary Square neighborhood, about halfway between the White House and the Capitol, and the center of the city. Before it began to fade, the downtown neighborhood was one of the most fashionable residential sections in Washington. Former residents included Chief Justice John Marshall, Henry Clay, and Francis Scott Key. Elegant Blagden Row ran nearby.
Salmon P. Chase lived at 6th and E streets in an handsome Greek Revival house. A great social event took place there, giving the war-weary administration and city a brief distraction. On November 12, 1863, Chase’s (Secretary of Treasury, 1861-1864) oldest daughter Kate married William Sprague, wealthy Senator of Rhode Island. The wedding was a trifecta for head turning with Chase’s political stature, Sprague’s wealth, and Kate as the city’s premiere socialite. President Lincoln attended.
Salmon P. Chase and daughters, one of them Kate. , . [No Date Recorded on Caption Card] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/cph6238/.
The site of the family home is somewhere close to the John Marshall Statue at C and 4th. Steps away stood the Metropolitan Memorial Methodist Church. Dedicated in 1869, the church was a towering landmark. One source called it "the Westminster Abbey of American Methodism." Its first service drew 2,000 including President Grant, Chief Justice Chase, a large number of senators and representatives and other distinguished guests from the across the country. (Demolished in 1956).
From an article in the Evening Star, we know Francis served on the church board with Grant and Chase and Washington mayor Matthew G. Emery. Without a doubt, this was a high point of pride for the Lutz family.
A reporter for the Evening Star described the Lutz house as follows:
Standing high on a terraced lot at the NE corner of 4 1/2 streets is an old-fashioned brick house which was one of the most pretentious homes in Washington fifty years ago. John Quincy Adams once lived in it. It is four stories high and has a mansard roof. Originally it had a gabled roof. This was changed by the late F. A. Lutz, when he bought the property in 1861. Gottlieb C. Grammar (DC banker) lived in this house for thirty years before his death in 1857. Issac Torrey, Secretary of Navy, also lived in the house.
The Lutz family made the society news from time to time. A January 2nd, 1872 report said:
We venture the assertion that there was no finer reception given yesterday in all Washington than that of Mrs F A Lutz at her princely residence, corner of C and Four and a Half Streets.
Across the span of three generations, the Lutz family earned praise as makers and sellers in the saddle and harness business. John Lutz (1775-1841) would have been proud of his descendants. Francis, his son Francis Jr, and his grandson Francis III kept things going in fine fashion. An article in 1853 reported on "Awards of the Metropolitan Mechanics Institute." Francis won "first diploma for buggy harness, somerset saddle, gig saddle and and second diploma for shaftoe saddle."
The Washington Evening Star sang the praises of F.A. Lutz Jr. & Bros, noting “every President from Washington to Roosevelt has been a patron, and enrolled on their books are the names of cabinet members, ambassadors, and diplomats of world-wide fame.” Francis’s two eldest sons, Frank (1843-1878) and John (1845-1878), helped run the business.
“Luggage and Leather Goods,” (Volumes 25-25, 1909) wrote:
“Today, the business is one of Washington’s prominent enterprises and is carried on successfully by the fourth generation of the Lutz family — a record unparalleled in the trunk trade of America.”
In 1906, the company moved to 1325 G Street in a new three-story building.
In 1925, Corinne Frazier, a writer with The Washington Post, sat down with the shop’s musty old ledgers and found the accounts of President Lincoln and Booth. The President overpaid his account by 1 cent, and died before he made any more purchases. Booth purchased a pair of spurs the day before he ended the President’s life.
Seemingly something out of a script, Robert E. Lee’s account showed 37 cents in the deficit.
Part of the Lutz story made its way to Leesburg after the Civil War. The youngest son of Francis Asbury Lutz was Samuel (1853-1918). He and his family acquired and remodeled Springwood in the Second Empire style in 1869. The landmark home was built c. 1840 by George Washington Ball (1828-1889). The Lutz family made it their home and wedded there until at least 1946. Today the three-story dwelling houses a health facility on the outskirts of the town.
In 1925, The Washington Post published a story of the letter Elizabeth Parke Custis had written to John and Francis, the one displayed at the Aged Woman's Home in Georgetown. The article pointed out the letter was in the possession of Frank Lutz, Jr (1874-1933) of Woodside, Maryland. He was a great grandson of John Lutz (1775-1841), grandson of Francis Asbury Lutz (1820-1855), and son of Francis Jr (1843-1903). Along with the letter, Elizabeth Parke Custis had given the family some buttons from George Washington's uniform. The buttons were in the hands of Samuel’s widow, Mary Ida Lutz (1853-1943).
In 1936, Jessie Fant Evans (Evening Star) sat down with John A. Lutz (1884-1955) at his home at 1812 Monroe Avenue. She told her readers he was the last of the family's male line. John showed Evans his collection of Washingtonia, which included copies of letters and portraits. When John passed away in 1955, his obituary told the reader he was "an old time auto race driver here in the early days of motoring" and winner of several Silver Cups. His house at 1812 Monroe Street NW, where he lived for 45 years, still stands.
Lutz family members continued to make the news from time to time. John's sister Eleanor (1885-1960) married Richard Wilmer Bolling (1879-1951), who was a brother of Edith Wilson, second wife of President Wilson. At the time of his passing, he was living with her at the Wilson home in Washington.
In 1946, readers of the Loudoun News (November 28) saw a front page story that led with:
"One of Loudoun's most beautiful estates, Springwood, was sold at public auction."
Leta Lutz Clagett (1878-1948), daughter of Samuel (1853-1918) and Mary (1853-1943) acquired the family home. She passed away two years later.
One of the last obituaries in The Washington Post to mention the family history came on July 23, 1960. Eleanor Lutz Bolling (1885-1960) had passed away (2219 California Street, NW). It pointed out she was "a great, great, grand daughter of John Lutz who served with George Washington at Valley Forge and settled in Georgetown after the Revolution."
John and Eleanor and Leta and that line of the family had lived long, full lives. They witnessed the end of the saddle and trunk era, one that had been so much a part of the landscape of the colonies and the United States. Many of the Lutz family members were laid to rest in Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown. Not far away lies the house on Wisconsin Avenue where their story began. The house is a special place and the story of the family is special, too.
Note: Oak Hill Cemetery records show the family having two places there - Chapel Hill, 565 and Chapel Valley, 415.
I took the above photo of the Lutz family obelisk. It is located at the Chapel Hill lot. As you can see it is down the hill from the chapel, about 50 yards away.
The two slabs are shown at Find a Grave to be John (1775-1851) and Mary (1783-1851).
On the obelisk is:
Francis A. Lutz (1820-1885), Mary (Wife, 1823-1897)
John A. Lutz (1878, In His 33 Year)
James F. Lutz (1847-1861), Ella Virginia Lutz (1857-1862), Oydanna C. Lutz (1864-1865), Clara Lutz (1861-1865)
Find a Grave shows for John S. Lutz (1813-1869) having an unmarked burial in Chapel Hill.
So close (2,000 feet), yet so far (16 miles) seems to be the case with Fort Washington Park, at least as you see it from the Virginia side. Been many moons since we went so a return trip beckoned.
George Washington passed by here a number of times on the ferry ride to and from the Piscataway village and then parts eastward to Annapolis. He also turned and went to Port Tobacco and further southward to see family or duty at Williamsburg. Washington knew Thomas Attwood Digges (1742-1821) and his family who lived at Warburton Manor (site near the fort) and sold part of their lands to the US government for a fort.
In his diary (November 3, 1793), Washington described this part of the Potomac (Digges Point) as, “remarkably well calculated for a Battery.” Thomas Jefferson echoed this (January 31, 1808): “Digges Point below Alexandria is a commanding position.”
The knoll is one of the higher and steeper ones in this part of the Potomac where the river makes a sharp turn. Perhaps Washington would be pleased one still today sees mostly water, trees and sky. River Farm, the GW Parkway, Piscataway Park, and two long expanses of the mighty river are part of the landscape.
The history of the fort has been summarized by the NRHP, but the form notes the lighthouse is not within the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and does not contribute to theme of site as significant military structure.
There are quite a few resources on the web, but they don’t all agree at times, and there seems to be no definitive effort. We’ll try our best to find middle ground. LighthouseFriends bathed light on the subject and Frederick Tilp’s “This Was Potomac River” is a trusty beacon. Other sources include Chesapeake Chapter United States Lighthouse Society, 1933 HABS report (“Fort Washington, Fort Washington Light, Northeast side of Potomac River at Fort Washington Park), Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses published by Bella Terra and "Light 80," an article at NPS. "The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake" by Robert de Gast answered questions.
Construction of the fort began in 1808, but it was destroyed by retreating American forces under the command of Captain Samuel Dyson on August 27, 1814. The new fort was completed in 1824, but there would be on going repairs in the coming years. The NRHP points out little work was done on the fort from 1848 to 1861 and it was unoccupied from 1853 to 1861.
Tilp tells us:
“lighthouses have always symbolized integrity, constance, reliability, and succor when it was most needed, but those on the Potomac have not always measured up to the best.”
In 1851, in the wake of a scathing report by the Secretary of Treasury, Congress created the Lighthouse Board. In 1857, one year after the completion of the lighthouse at Jones Point, an eighteen and a half feet cast iron pole with a light on top was built along the wharf at Fort Washington to aid the captains and watermen. Although this was a navigating aid, it was not a lighthouse in the traditional sense. One source called it a “feeble illuminating apparatus.”
Skippers complained about the inadequacy of the light at this key turning point of the river. In response, a sixteen-foot tower rose up closer to the water’s edge in 1870. It was built elsewhere and shipped to the site. de Gast says this was “the first real lighthouse at Fort Washington.” It was shorter than the first, but placing it closer to the water’s edge was an improvement. It had a 6th-order Fresnel lens that is displayed at the Museum of Chincoteague Island.
Construction of several sheds and boathouses obstructed the light. In 1882, a thirty-two foot fog bell tower was added (the current one). The HABS report points out it was rare for a fog bell tower to support both a light and fog signal. Most became obsolete. In 1884, a keeper’s house was built. A photo at Lighthouse Friends shows a two-story dwelling of some size with a picket fence.
The fort sat quiet from 1872 to 1896 when it was reactivated. In May, 1898, The Washington Post reported the Commander of the Fifth Lighthouse District ordered the light be discontinued as well as the fog bell sounding at night. This came at a time during the Spanish-American War. He wrote:
“Should a warship of the enemy manage to reach a point so high in the river the light at Fort Washington would have served as an excellent guide for firing."
In 1901, “four new caps were put on the sills of the fog bell tower and a platform was built on them to support a lens lantern.” The old tower was demolished as well as the keeper’s house. In 1904, the tower was enclosed in wood.
In 1920, the light was made electric and the color changed from white to red. The following year an electric bell striker was installed in the tower, hitting every 15 seconds. Steven L. Markos notes it still required a light keeper who was also responsible for two dozen other lighthouses.
Tilp tells us that in 1921, Fort Washington became home of the 12th Infantry. The commander warned the keepers “about their activities as go-betweens for the soldiers as well as in their supplying sugar for the local river moonshiners.”
In 1946, the National Park Service gained control of the lighthouse. Tilp’s research shows the last keeper being Mrs. Josephine Ekland in 1953 and the penultimate Jean Marie Roest. The first was Joseph Cameron.
In the 1954, the light was changed to an unmanned automatic flashing red light. The wharf and keeper’s house were removed.
In June 1963, the light house made the front page of the Evening Star, with a large photo showing two children beside it. The caption said:
“Beacon for Tourists. The lighthouse at Fort Washington on the Maryland side of the Potomac southeast of the Nation’s Capital, holds the attention of Richard Gardner and Debbie Kramer of Westchester Estates, Md, just two of the visitors who tour the historic fort at the rate of about 10,000 a week during the summer.”
There were no visitors after 9/11/2001. Markos writes that the military took over and used it as a radar tower until 2005. The fog bell tower was returned to NPS control and restored in 2009 by their Historic Preservation Training Center. In 2020, the United States Coast Guard removed the light and the triangle red marker. The tower remains standing in its original place, the sole sentinel of a lost past.
Historical marking is good for the fort, but none for the lighthouse. Our recommendation is a marker or two showing a timeline with images and perhaps publication of an updated definitive source.
Hopefully, that is not as far away as it seems…
Note: I completed this article last fall, but overlooked posting it. My sincerest apologies.
Throughout the past ten or so years, a great source of our pleasure has been Beth Mitchell’s 1760 map of Fairfax County. Sprinkled on it like magic dust are churches, ordinaries, mills, roads, and tobacco inspection stations.
Because they take us to a body of water, we particularly enjoy visiting the sites of mills. Our latest look see took place in Franconia, a roughly 450-acre section bounded by I-95, Van Dorn Street, Franconia Road, and the rail tracks. It’s a collection of smaller neighborhoods such as Franconia Forest, Runnymeade, and Van Dorn Village.
Mitchell’s map shows a mill about three miles west of Alexandria. The modern day location is somewhere near Langton Road. This mill site stands out as the rare case of homes being built right by and around its site. Most of the others in the county are on the long run of a creek. This is a small branch.
Anyway, we offer the following timeline for this part of Franconia. Many thanks to Carl Sell, volunteer at the Franconia Museum, author and former editor of the Washington Star. We also spent some time with Mary Smith, who shared a few of her memories of living near the railroad station and visiting Alexandria in the 1950s. What a treasure you have Franconia, you don’t know how lucky you are.
1706
John West, Thomas Pearson and William and Thomas Harrison acquire land west of Alexandria and south of Back Lick Run, an extension of Great Hunting Creek.
1760s
Land owned by John Monroe, who owned three enslaved humans. Leased by Thomas Monroe. George Washington sold him 16 yards of cotton in 1767. Mill on Mitchell’s map.
Note: (I took this photo earlier this week. It's hard to know the exact site of the mill. This is looking east towards Langston Drive).
1800s
Roads expand in the county. Fairfax Road (modern day Franconia Road and formerly a rolling road for tobacco), laid out connecting Alexandria with points to the west.
Church worship begins at Olivet Church, which has had several locations.
1860s
Land owners include Elizabeth Broders, James Talbot, Thompson Javins, Peter Tresler and Virginia Scott. Scott was probably the widow of Richard Marshall Scott, a descendent of Richard Marshall Scott (1769-1833), who lived at Bush Hill (site is 4840 Eisenhower Avenue). The Broders family was well known in Alexandria. Joseph Broders lived at 215 N. Washington, the lovely brick Greek-Revival dwelling known as the Hallowell-Carlin House.
Note: Photo, Bush Hill Franconia Museum.
Civil War
Anyone living here during the Civil War would have had a bird’s eye view of the Cameron Valley, where troops marched to and from Alexandria along the Little River turnpike, as well as movements along what is now Franconia Road. Troop movement also on modern day Beulah Street. Farmers here would have heard the sound of cannon fire at the two battles of Manassas and whispered stories of Colonel John Mosby, the famed "Gray Ghost" who knew these parts like the back of his hand. Enslaved African Americans might have fled to Alexandria. hoping to taste freedom.
1872
Franconia and this part of Northern Virginia is forever changed. Franconia Station is built as part of establishment of continuous rail service from Richmond to Alexandria. Prior to this, passengers deboarded at Aquia Creek and took steamboats Washington.
Note: I took this photo on Tuesday, October 19. The two left tracks are for Metro. The other three are for Amtrak, VRE, and CRX. The site of the Franconia Station (1904-1954) is about where the first large telephone pole is on the right hand side.
1900
Roads are modern day Franconia, Van Dorn and Larkspur. Structures along Fairfax Road (Franconia).
1914
Craven Simms (74) passes away at his home in Franconia. He was an attendant at the Alexandria farmer's market for many years.
Photo: Simms House, Franconia Museum
1937
Camp Kiwanis, summer retreat for children.
1945
Modern day Valley View Drive and some new homes along it.
Camp Kiwanis (near end of Cobbs Road)
1951
Mt. Hebron Park and Franconia Hills homes along Valley View Drive. Camp Kiwanis.
1956
Maple Grove Estates ads in Washington Post.
1957
Franconia Baptist Church
1962-1964
Capital Beltway built. Along with the railroad tracks, this creates a two-sided, no-cross border.
1964
Homes on Larkspur built with Maple Grove farm still there beside it.
1966
More homes in Mt. Hebron Park.
Maple Grove Estates fully line Larkspur.
1964 ad gives the following directions:
South on Shirley Highway to Springfield-Franconia exit, east on Franconia Road 2 miles to Maple Grove entrance on left (directly across from Franconia Elementary School, proceed to Larkspur Dr. Wills and Van Metre builders.
1984
Homes built between Valley View and RR tracks.
1988
Homes built along Langton Drive, near mill site and creek.
2002
Sycamores at Van Dorn and mixed use on both sides of Oakwood Drive. Site of former farm, home demolished c. 1980s, the last vestiges of the older places.
“Washington, DC is the nation’s finest urban achievement.” -- Prologue, “Worthy of the Nation, Washington DC from L’Enfant to the National Capital Planning Commission”
"To a designer in the City Beautiful tradition, the urban experience was to be realized on foot." -- “Worthy of the Nation"
Last month when I visited the Mall during Memorial Day, part of my walk included a stroll down Constitution Avenue between 17th and 23rd. Though the years, countless commuters and visitors have passed along this main stretch north of the Mall and a gateway into the nation's capital. We’ve certainly done so a time or two, but it was only by walking that I began to appreciate and see more than just a glimpse of the impressive set of buildings set back on the north side.
Washington architecture and art critic Benjamin Forgey described this setting as a “Beaux Arts allee, a unique little stretch.” Unique, for sure, but there might not be any other stretch (in this case six blocks) in the monumental core where public knowledge of the names of the buildings is so low. Roberta and I have been here 27 years and of the six buildings on this stretch, I only knew the Federal Reserve.
Here, then, is a brief look at four of these buildings which were built in the 1920s and 1930s in the Stripped Classicism style, and are located between 19th and 23rd.
We’ll never know what Pierre L’Enfant thought of the City Beautiful movement that inspired urban planning in the city he sketched out a century earlier. But his ideas and concepts were certainly a guiding hand used by planners in Washington. Throughout much of the first half of the twentieth century, implementation of the McMillan Plan transformed large swaths of the central part of the city. The Federal Triangle and its set of massive governmental buildings come to mind, as well as the remaking of the Mall and construction of Federal buildings south of the Mall.
Seemingly lost in the shuffle of memory is the Northwest Rectangle. Many may not know there is a Northwest Rectangle Historic District, much less that it was built in part to frame the Lincoln Memorial. Even those who work here, who enter on the C Street side, may not have ever taken a stroll on the Constitution Street side.
As far as what was here before, this part of the district was once a stream bed and tidal flat. This portion of Constitution (then B Street) runs where the waters of the Washington City Canal flowed into the city. The Lock Keeper’s House at 17th and Constitution tells some of its story.
Near that same intersection is the site of the home of David Burnes, a Maryland planter and one of the original proprietors of the new Federal district. With its distinct pre-Washington look and feel, the dwelling stood there from 1760 to 1894. The Burnes home was one of the oldest in the city. The highly revered Van Ness mansion also stood near the corner of Constitution and 17th Street. The only thing left from those days of old is the Van Ness House stable (1816), which was reconstructed and incorporated into the grounds of the Pan American Union Building.
In our time we see the Lincoln Memorial as a monument connected not to Constitution Avenue, but the linear landscape of the Mall and the Memorial Bridge. In the 1920s, however, planners were focused on this stretch as part of framing the Lincoln Memorial. In a major shift, planners had decided to put Federal and public building west of the White House instead of east of the Capitol. The Federal Government was growing and larger central buildings were needed to replace older offices scattered about.
Note: The National Mall does not include West Potomac Park, but for simplification purposes, we use that term. West Potomac Park runs from the Lincoln Memorial to the grounds of the Washington Monument.
After the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in 1922, the Commission of Fine Arts began to look at the north side of Constitution between 17th and 24th Avenue. The CFA had been created by Congress in 1910 to “protect the goals introduced by the McMillan study.” The nomination form tells us the CFA, “concentrated particularly on the design and construction of the Lincoln Memorial and the landscape of West Potomac Park.”
The McMillan Plan had enlarged the Mall to the west, but planning and deciding what went where took some time. The first buildings to arise in what became the Northwest Rectangle were the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1897), Pan American Union (1910), DAR Memorial Hall (1910), American Red Cross HQ (1917), and the Department of Interior (1915-1917). Those buildings are a part of the Northwest Rectangle, but they form its eastern most part and are connected to the White House and the Ellipse.
What got the National Capital Parks and Planning Commission more focused on the area between 17th and 23rd was the housing needs of the Navy and War Departments. With the Federal Triangle mostly filled up with other departments, the NCPPC set its sites on the Northwest Building Area, which became the Northwest Rectangle. They began their efforts in 1931. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. prepared the formal recommendations for a “sophisticated grouping of buildings” that was similar in concept to the Federal Triangle.”
National Academy of Sciences Building
2101 Constitution Avenue
1924
Early Stripped Classicism
The first building to more closely frame the Lincoln Memorial, which stood like a lonely sentinel in its early years, was the National Academy of Science Building. The organization had begun in 1863, and was housed in the Smithsonian. Their new building was dedicated in April 1924.
The Washington Post reported:
Standing high in its architectural splendor in a setting of green and looking out on the Lincoln memorial only a few hundred feet away, science’s new temple — a monument to progress — was dedicated by President Coolidge. Attending the ceremonies were scientists from all parts of the country.
The prolific Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue’s design was an “original interpretation of the Neo-Classic design.” His "creative solution combined the regularities of Classicism with his own preference for “irregular” forms.” This novel synthesis came to be known as the “Alexandrian” style.” Sadly, Goodhue passed away just a few days before the grand opening.
The landscape plan was “suggestive of the Lincoln Memorial grounds.” The walkway extends for over 200 feet, a signature element of all four of the buildings we are looking at.
Wings were added to the building in the 1960s. It got a 50th birthday gift of sorts, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. The Albert Einstein Memorial, unveiled in 1979 to commemorate the centennial of his birth, is located on the Academy grounds.
A marker points out the National Academy of Science established the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. Another says these organizations are dedicated to the furtherance of science, engineering, and medicine to the public welfare.
American Pharmacists Association HQ
(American Institute of Pharmacy)
2215 Constitution Avenue
1933
Early Stripped Classicism
In 1931, seven years after the National Academy of Science building opened, the National Capital Planning Commission voted to adopt the Northwest Rectangle Plan. It would eventually encompass the six buildings fronting Constitution between 17th and 24, others on C Street, as well as the aforementioned group facing 17th Street.
As noted by the nomination form, the ones on Constitution would pay tribute to classical principles, while reducing the ornamentation and application of columns. "Classicism Lite," if you will. Unlike the Federal Triangle, a notable portion of landscaping surrounded the buildings. The long staircases are also a standout feature.
The National Academy of Science building had kicked things off this way in 1924. In 1933, two more in this style were completed. On the corner of 24th and Constitution Avenue arose the American Institute of Pharmacy.
Of the four buildings we are looking at, the APA building is the smallest. This “pretty little building” was designed by John Russell Pope as a “temple to pharmacy.” The organization dates back to 1798 with the establishment of the Marine Hospital Service. The new name came in 1912.
Dedicated in May, 1934, the building was made of with Vermont marble. The long sloping lawn “mimics the siting of the Lincoln Memorial.” The entry is “embellished with allegorical bas-reliefs to portray the progress of pharmacy as well as Light and Hope.” The building possesses a “formal Palladian pavilion-like quality.”
At the dedication, Sir Henry Wellcome was honored with the Remington Medal, given for the greatest contribution to the profession of pharmacy in America. The Wellcome Trust is one of the wealthiest charitable foundations in the world.
The Evening Star pointed out it the building stood “in the shadow of the great Lincoln Memorial” and was “the first imposing structure one sees coming across the Arlington Memorial Bridge into Washington (seemingly forgetting the Lincoln Memorial). They also noted widening of Constitution Avenue was taking place at that time.
According to Potomac View Terrace, the building is the only privately-owned real estate on the National Mall. The expanded building, completed in 2009, is LEED certified and includes the Potomac View Terrace, which is situated on the 6th floor. The 200 foot long front stairs is a somewhat unique feature. A marker was recently installed that pays tribute to "Covid-19 Heroes."
3. U.S. Public Health Service
Interior Department South
Federal Reserve-East
1931
Moving companies must have loved this building. Its occupants have been the US Public Health Service (1933-1942, 1946-1947), the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Atomic Energy Commission (1947-1958), the National Science Foundation (1958-1965), the Department of the Interior (1965-2018), and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (2018-current). The Department of Interior’s move in 1965 here prompted a name change to Interior South, an annex for the department’s large HQ facing C Street.
Knowing jobs would be available in the growing nation’s capital, architects made their way to Washington in the 1930s. One of them was Jules Henri de Sibour, who came by way of Paris and New York. His works include the French Embassy, and Oxon Hill Manor.
The Evening Star noted the million dollar building held “an air of quiet dignity” and exemplified modern developments in lighting and other health and comfort features.” The E-shaped building is also formed in marble.
This organization goes back to the Marine Hospital Service in 1798. It gained its current name in 1912. Housed in five different buildings, they needed a bigger central place.
In 1968, the Department of Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs moved their offices here. Four summers later, about 500 native Americans, who represented a coalition of 250 tribes, barricaded themselves inside. The leaders called for the "abolition of the bureau and creation of a new agency more responsive to their needs."
In 1978 the building was renovated extensively. In 2018, the building was vacated and was transferred to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (new name is Federal Reserve Board-East and is currently seeing renovation work.
Federal Reserve (Eccles Building)
Constitution Avenue
1937
Early Stripped Classicism
Given the weight of its voice, one would think the Federal Reserve would be located closer to the center of action in Washington. Then again, maybe this quiet and leafy spot is better as a place to try and make calm decisions.
This was the last building constructed on Constitution between 17th and 24th. From 1913 to 1937, the Board of Governors had met in the US Treasury Building and the employees worked at three different locations across the city. According to the Reserve website, the Banking Act of 1935 centralized control of the Federal Reserve System and put the Board of Governors at the helm.
The designer was Paul H. Cret. Like deSibour, Cret was born in France and came from the Northeast (Philadelphia). His designs in Washington include this one and the Pan American Union Building three doors down, as well as the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Duke Ellington Bridge.
As was the case with the other buildings beside it, this one takes a Stripped Classicism approach with limestone. And like the others, the Commission of Fine Arts approved its design.
As the Society of Architectural Historians website points out, the external appearance of the building was so progressive that the AIA Journal reported, “This would appear to indicate that the reign of the column and pediment is nearing its close, even in Washington.”
As was the case with the other buildings beside it, this one has had a quiet front, with car parking underground and entering from the C Street side. Like the American Pharmacy Association building, this one has a long marbled walk. Sidney Waugh designed the eagle sculpture above the entrance. Bronze windows are “separated by spandrels of polished Swedish granite, on which the bronze plaques are mounted.”
FDR dedicated the building. In her paper, “Paul Cret and the Federal Reserve Board Building,” Elizabeth Grossman tells the reader Roosevelt “associated the austere marble building, with the “increased power” given to the system under the New Deal Banking Acts. The new legislation “shifted power to Washington, DC” and the new building “symbolized both a more powerful Board of Governors within the Fed itself.”
In 1982, the building was named for Marriner S. Eccles, who had served as Chairman of the Board from 1934 to 1948. The Fed is expanding and is expected to occupy the former Public Health Service building to its east.
Conclusion:
It’s hard to know what the future holds for this stretch of Constitution Avenue. There are empty spaces nearby — one west of 23rd and one east of 23rd — that might be built upon.
From a planning document, we know the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board) proposes to renovate and expand the Eccles Building and to renovate and construct an addition on the Federal Reserve Board-East Building (nee Public Health). The proposal indicates the changes would infill and or behind the current buildings. The view shed seems unlikely to change but purists might worry.
Our one request is the erection of an historical marker for each of these buildings. The impact on the view shed would be very small and public knowledge would be increased. Walkers, of course, would appreciate it the most.
In December, 1928, a number of distinguished guests including Vice President-elect Charles Curtis and Senator George H. Moses (President pro tem), gathered at a hill-top mansion in southeast Fairfax County.
Mount Vernon? No. Gunston Hall? No. Woodlawn? No. River Farm? No. Collingwood? No.
The glory of that day belonged to what is known today as Hollin Hall III. Harley Peyton Wilson (1873-1934) and his wife built the three-story Colonial-style structure with 18 rooms and clapboard wings, completing it in 1920.
Still purposeful as a space for weddings, receptions, parties and rehearsal dinners, the manor sits tucked away just north of Sherwood Hall Lane and next to the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church (1099 Windmill Lane). The location is about three miles south of Alexandria and about a third of a mile north of a private home known historically as Hollin Hall I, the Spinning Room and Little Hollin Hall (1901 Sherwood Hall Lane). The neighborhoods of Hollin Hall and Hollin Hills bookend Hollin Hall I and III.
Fairfax County residents know a thing or two about the Mason footprints in this part of the county. In 1760, George Mason owned 8,280 acres, more than three times George Washington’s total before the future President acquired land from William Clifton and named it “River Farm.” (Image: An Interpretive Historical Map of Fairfax County, 1760 by Beth Mitchell).
Thomson Mason, a son of George Mason, and his family lived at Hollin Hall I. Hollin Hall III sits on the site of Hollin Hall II, which burned down in the 1820’s. Mason and his family were living there (Hollin Hall II), but had to move back to Hollin Hall I after the fire.
(Note: Hollin Hall I is on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites. It has gone through a number of changes from its first iteration. The home is a private residence and can't be seen from the roads around it.)
Forgotten in these stories are the Wilsons. And that’s somewhat ironic. One can’t even see Hollin Hall I from the roads that surround it, but you can drive up the hill and see Hollin Hall III. If you get lucky like I did the other day, Amanda Casey, the Rental Events Coordinator, will treat you like a guest. You can walk the hilltop grounds, imagining the Wilson’s showing guests their English garden and the spread of land below when trees and homes did not block the views.
Northerners had been coming to Virginia for many years before the Wilsons arrived in the 1910s. Before and after the Civil War, this part of the county had been influenced by Quakers. In the 1890s, magnates from Pennsylvania had helped finance the new Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Electric Railway that ran about a half mile to the east of Hollin Hall I and the site of Hollin Hall II.
Born in New York in 1873, Harley Peyton Wilson built an impressive resume before coming to the former Mason land outside of Washington. He became “one of the foremost public utilities organizers and executives in the country.” He was also the principal owner of the Washington Rapid Transit Co. and a director in the Washington Railway & Electric Company. In 1925, when the Washington region was in the midst of putting more and more buses on the roads, Wilson purchased 97% of the WRTC stock. As pointed out by DC Preservation, “The all-bus WRTC inspired the growth of competition and encouraged expanded bus routes.”
In 1913 Wilson acquired the Hollin Hall Farm that spread across land known today as the Hollin Hall neighborhood. On that high point south of Alexandria, Wilson and his wife built their new home on or close to the site of Hollin Hall II. They stayed at Hollin Hall I until their new home was completed in 1920. In addition to the 18 room manor, they also built a guest house, carriage house and gardens.
Part of their bragging rights would have been pointing out or pointing to their proximity to the boats and steamers on the Potomac River, the electric trolley line (Belmont Station, modern day Alexandria Avenue), Mount Vernon and Woodlawn, and the road George Washington had used to get to Alexandria and points northward. On its way to becoming a major thoroughfare (Route 1), the road was beginning to hold more and more automobiles. Washington was in the midst of a boom that would take its population from 278,000 in 1900 to 437,000 in 1920. As Smith and Miller note in A Seaport Saga, “As Alexandria entered the Roaring Twenties, it basked in the sunshine of peace and relative economic prosperity."
Readers of The Washington Post first read about the Wilsons in March, 1913. Wilson had acquired the “historic Hollin Hall farm,” consisting of 300 acres. Mrs. Wilson began to show up in the Alexandria Society sections. Locals who could afford it were “motoring” to see relatives and friends, while the passages on the smoke-stacked ships still announced wealth.
Coverage of the Wilson’s hosting and activities dotted the society section of The Washington Post, The Evening Star, and The Washington Times for the next twelve years. In April 1926, William Gibbs McAdoo (1863-1941) and his family stayed a few days. His wife Eleanor was the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson. The marriage took place at the White House. Eleanor wrote two books. McAdoo’s resume included helping Wilson get elected. His reward was an appointment as Secretary of the Treasury (1913-1918). McAdoo would become Senator of California (1933-1938).
When they weren’t at home, the Wilsons traveled to New York, other esteemed summer places, and abroad. In 1928, they visited France, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland. At one point, Mrs. Wilson divided her time between Hollin Hall and the swanky new Mayflower hotel in Washington, which became known as the “Grande Dame of Washington, D.C.” She hosted a number of teas, including ones during the Virginia Historic Garden Week, as well as a Flower Show in May, 1933.
In October 1919, the Wilsons hosted Mr. and Mrs. William Cox. He served as Secretary of Commerce under the Wilson administration. Other guests were former Governor (California) Frank and Mrs. Merriam, and General and Mrs. Arthur Murray.
The Washington Post reported:
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are living in the old “spinning house” of the estate while their new manor is being completed.
The Wilsons continued to host throughout the 1920s and hit the big time in December 1928. Entering the mansion was the Vice President-elect/Senator (Majority Leader) Charles Curtis (1860-1936), as well as Senators George Moses and Samuel Shortridge, Representative Adam Wyant and Wallace Dempsey, Justice Peyton Gordon, Judge Barley of Alexandria, and others such as Mr. Louis Hertle of Gunston Hall.
Perhaps Hertle had a moment in the sun talking about Thomson Mason, (1759-1820), who served as Justice of the Peace in Fairfax County, State Senator (1800-1804), and delegate to the General Assembly. Or maybe he pointed out that George and Martha Washington dined at Hollin Hall on March 19, 1798 and that Thomson and his wife Sarah dined at Mount Vernon on November 2, 1797.
In January, 1929, the Wilsons hit another milestone when they entertained about 250 guests. The Old Guard families in Alexandria -- the Smoots, the Leadbeaters, and others -- continued to make the society papers, but there’s no denying the Wilsons were stealing some of the show. Country seats dotted the hills around Alexandria, but the Wilson’s had their new roomy place and high connections to Washington.
The garden corps surely enjoyed the Wilson's garden. A description given in 1941 described it as:
Wonderful cultivated gardens with their backgrounds of old boxwoods, clump shrubs, rose colored arbor, marble fountain and charming flower beds all surrounded by expansive lawns.
Mrs. Wilson, who was born in Portland and grew up in Oakland, served in a number of leadership roles including President of the Fairfax Garden Club, Vice President for the Anne Lee Memorial Home of the Aged, and a member of the board of GW University Hospital. At one event at their home, fifty percent of the proceeds went to the Wakefield Memorial Association. Mrs. Wilson also donated a rare antique bowl and a silver bowl that served as prizes for winners at the Fairfax Garden Club Show in May 1931.
Although it was not the original one, “Hollin Hall” got attention in the newspapers. The Seattle Times (June 22, 1928) wrote an article titled, “Washington’s Society Seeks Outdoor Life.”
The Wilson’s entertained for the birthday anniversary of a cousin of the late Woodrow Wilson. Friends stayed at the guest house, danced in bathing suits and listened to an orchestra.
Coverage of the Wilson's was bountiful, but there was some confusion. One report in 1932 said, "Hollin Hall, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, is one of the historic places of the Old Dominion." Then again, confusion still exists today. Hollin Hall I is on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Places, but a sign outside Hollin Hall III says “Hollin Hall."
Mrs. Wilson continued to make the Society news in 1933. Then came sad news in 1934. At age 57, she had drawn her last breathe at their home. Surviving were Harley and her two sisters, Margaret Dieke and Mrs. Marcy C. Hughes, who were living at the Wilson home. Services were at Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria and she was laid to rest at the Presbyterian Cemetery.
Harley joined her just a few months later. He had bequeathed $1,000 to the Anne Lee Home for the Aged. At his funeral, former Vice President Curtis was among the honorary pall bearers, along with Major General William Connor, Superintendent of West Point.
After the Wilsons passed away, the property did not have an occupant. Then in 1941, Merle Thorpe, a writer, advisor to FDR and former editor of the magazine, The Nation’s Business, acquired the house. The report was on the front page of the Evening Star’s Section B. It described the dwelling as having colonial brick and a green slate roof and included the guest house, a hot house, cultivated gardens and a swimming pool.
The tradition of hosting continued in May, 1947, when Dr. Esther Cuakin Brunauer of the State Department was the guest speaker there at the installation meeting of the Washington Alumnae Chapter of Delta Gamma. She was one of five women who had been selected by the Women’s National Press Club for outstanding service in 1946.
In December, 1958, the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church bought the home, the ten acres, the guest house, garage, and greenhouse. By that time, suburban homes had sprouted up nearby, including the neighborhoods of Hollin Hall and Hollin Hills. The latter offered mid-modern homes designed by Charles Goodman.
In the 1960s, mansion homes south of Alexandria such as Mount Eagle, Spring Bank, and City View gave way to the tsunami of suburban growth. Hollin Hall III might have gone down too, but the new church had come to its rescue. As told at the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church website, the congregation began to meet in the late 1950s at the main room of the guesthouse. A new church (meeting house) arose in 1985, just steps from Hollin Hall III.
The tradition of hosting continues at the century old mansion with weekend rental events, mostly weddings. We think the Wilsons would like knowing people still gather at the home they built and the place they nourished.
Note: I would like to thank Susan Hellman for her assistance in understanding the history of Hollin Hall I; Amanda Casey, Events Coordinator, Hollin Hall and the Meeting House, for showing me inside Hollin Hall III; and David Heiby, Superintendent, Presbyterian Cemetery and Columbarium, for showing me where the Wilsons were laid to rest.
One of the things that fascinates me are places that hold some history, but are overlooked or seldom visited. One such tucked away place is located in Woodbridge, south of the Occoquan River and west of Route One. Railroad Avenue, Colchester Ferry Place and Potomac Path Drive of the Belmont Bay neighborhood hint at some of the forgotten history there.
Before we get rolling, a tip of the hat to two main sources —Prince William County (map) drawn by Eugene Scheel (1992) and “Along the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac RR” by William E. Griffin, Jr. Also, a big thank you to Steven B. Shwartzman and his book, “Fortunate Son, Thomas Mason of Woodbridge.”
The Potomac Path starts this story, the colonial road (later known as the King’s Highway) the Virginia planters and others took to get from the Northern Neck to points northward. Their seventeenth century forebears had not been interested in travel, and were annoyed when anyone crossed their plantation fields or wanted them to build a road.
But the dependency on tobacco continued to wear out the fields. Slowly, the gentry moved further and further away from Williamsburg and into the northern part of the colony. In the second half of the seventeenth century, speculators acquired thousands of acres on or near Mason Neck and Great Hunting Creek. One of the biggest purchase was made by Robert Howsing in 1669, 6,000 acres that would become land we now call Old Town Alexandria, Potomac Yard, Crystal City and Pentagon City.
This movement led to the founding of Prince William County in 1731. A marker at the corner of Route One and Annapolis Way tells us the first courthouse of the county stood 150 yards to the east. That would put its site near the end of Colchester Ferry Place, a quiet place away from the rush of cars on Route One.
Note: It appears this marker was removed for current construction.
We know very little about the courthouse, but the book “Prince William: A Past to Preserve” tells us a jail, pillory and stocks were also built beside the courthouse. In his book, “The Courthouses of Early Virginia,” Carl P. Lounsbury notes the Prince William justices did not always bother to travel the far away distance. Nevertheless, courthouses were critical to the needs of the people and were “symbolic manifestations of the authority” of the gentry and justices.
Putting a courthouse in a far corner of a new county might seem like an odd thing to do. But as Donald Swieg explains (“Fairfax County, Virginia, A History”), the location of the courthouse made it easier for those wanting to ride and examine the lands north of the Occoquan. A land boom led to the founding of Fairfax County in 1742, Alexandria in 1749 and Colchester in 1753.
Before it got to the Occoquan River, the Potomac Path skirted past many a shallowing creek that fed into the Potomac. But as the Indigenous peoples knew, the Fall Line had created a gorge at the Occoquan. Its waters did not thin out until a point well upstream. Or as Edith Moore Spouse put it, the “Occoquan was no gentle stream.” Given this lay of the land, there was no choice but to establish ferry service.
The Mason family had a presence in this part of the colony. Thomas Mason, the youngest son of George Mason of Gunston Hall, lived at a plantation south of the Occoquan. Very little is known about it, but Steven B. Shwartzman (“Fortunate Son: Thomas Mason of Woodbridge) shines some light. He tells us Thomas Mason would have built his home on the highest ground available. Its site could very well be where the Potomac Path approached the Occoquan. Richard R. Mason later placed an ad in the Alexandria Gazette. It described Woodbridge as the residence of the late Gerard Mason. “It lies on the Occoquan River immediately opposite the village of Colchester and contains 500 acres of land.”
Mason also operated a ferry. Nothing visible remains, but in 1929, "The Rambler," a reporter for the Evening Star, found remains of a stone house near what is now a sanitary sewer pump just to the north of the end of Colchester Ferry Way. Shwartzman hopes any future surveys there might identify the ferry house as well as the county courthouse. Old Colchester Road ends at the Occoquan and gives one the sense of the Potomac Path.
Ferry service began at this location in 1684. Thomas Mason was the fifth generation of Mason’s to operate the service. One of his customer’s was George Washington. In his book, “The Nine Lives of George Washington,” William Betts, Jr. writes about an incident there in 1791. Four of George Washington’s horses slipped off the deck, but the carriage managed to stay on.
A wooden toll bridge built in 1795 and replaced the ferry service. Shwartzman gives an informative account. He believes Timothy Palmer may have designed the span. It went up around the same time as a wooden bridge at Little Falls. A chain bridge replaced it, so we know the current span as Chain Bridge near Georgetown.
Mason’s bridge made it easier to cross the Occoquan, but heavy rains and flood waters wiped it out in 1807. In some ways, this opened the door for Occoquan, located about a mile upstream. John Ballendine had helped put the village on the map in the 1750s when he built two mills and a commodious stone home there. Already prosperous, Occoquan gained the passenger and mail business.
Woodbridge was never incorporated into a town like Occoquan. But some rail buffs there might have jumped for joy in 1872 when passengers on the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac could finally ride the rails all the way from Fredericksburg to Washington. Previously, they disembarked at Aquia (later Quantico) and boarded a steamer to Washington.
Part of that ride was the first rail bridge over the Occoquan just west of where Mason’s ferry had taken passengers over to Colchester. H.K. Bradshaw of Alexandria built the trestle structure. Griffin, quoting the Gazette, tells us a “goodly gathering of the citizens of Prince William County and a number of fair ladies” were on hand.
Newspaper accounts show some activities at Woodbridge in the 1880s. A horse race track was located at the station. Baseball games were played and political gatherings held. W.D. Clarke ran a store. Republicans, supported by African Americans, gathered in Occoquan, while Democrats (conservative) rallied in Woodbridge.
The torrents of rain waters returned in 1889 and damaged the bridge. The Southern Railway rebuilt it in 1892 with a metal Pratt truss.
The bridge one sees now was completed in 1915 by the RF&P. Nathaniel Lee tells us more about it in his book, “The Iron Road of Franconia.” Designed by the famed Gustav Lindenthal in the “Parker through truss” style, the 920-foot span was “the largest single feat of engineering undertaken by the railroad company in Fairfax County.” Other examples across the country are dwindling in number.
Lee reminds us such structures are works of public art and that the bridge is on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites. It is used by CSXT, Amtrak and VRE and a DC2RVA report points out it is eligible for listing in the NRHP.
Around the time the new bridge was built in 1915, a couple of homes (13221 built in 1913 and 13221 built in 1913) also sprung up near the station on Railroad Avenue. They joined 13215 (1901), 13209 (1910) and 13217 (1913). Historic aerials also show a row of structures on the west side of the tracks. The houses remain but the other structures slowly went away.
The site of the railroad station is just to the east of the tracks near the VRE station. As Griffin points out, the station was alternately known as both Woodbridge and Occoquan. The station to the south at Cherry Hill was Myron and to the north was the Long Branch Station at Newington.
More excitement came to this part of the county in 1927 when the Washington-Richmond highway (Route One) was completed. Instead of a new bridge being built, the metal bridge built in 1892 for the railroad was converted for vehicle traffic. Prior to the new highway, motorists used an out of the way course of Old Colchester Road, Furnace Road underneath the railroad tracks to Lorton Road and then to Ox Road where they crossed over the Occoquan at Occoquan. Another way used Lorton Road.
In 1941, the Route One highway bridge was widened. In 1957, a front page story for the Richmond Dispatch told readers about 9 injured in a head-on collision on the bridge. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes damaged some of the bridge. A temporary bridge was built and became the southbound span in 1981.
Automobiles made captains and conductors of every driver behind the steering wheel. Passenger numbers on the RF&P declined after World War II. The company announced plans to dismantle a half dozen stations in 1952, including Woodbridge. It’s no coincidence that Shirley Highway was completed that same year.
In the second half of the century, Woodbridge continued to grow as a bedroom community and census designated place. Visit Prince William notes: “Woodbridge is probably the most renowned area in Prince William, Virginia.”
A new VRE station and parking garage went up in October 1991. The Post reported it was expected to be the busiest in the VRE system. A new overpass over the RR tracks was also built. Woodbridge was the only station to have a new station house.
An elected official at the ceremony was quoted as saying, “Transportation affects every person who lives in our community.”
Perhaps when Prince William County celebrates and commemorates its 300th birthday in 2031, we will hear something like that again. Maybe even at this tucked away historic spot.
For more than sixty years, a Giant grocery story has stood on top of Beacon Hill in Groveton. Lest we forget what this anchor has meant for the community and surrounding areas, let’s take a brief look at its story.
The Giant in Groveton opened in 1960. It was located where the current one is, near the corner of Richmond Highway and Memorial Avenue (then known as W. Oak Street). The address, as it is today, was 6800 Richmond Highway. The new store was part of a wave of supermarkets from the growing chain. The first Giant had opened at Georgia Avenue and Park Road in NW DC in 1936. Five years later, Arlington got bragging rights as the first outside the District, followed by Silver Spring in 1946.
In the summer of 1955, the supermarket company, based in Landover, opened their 30th store and eighth in Virginia at the Bradlee Shopping Center at 3708 King Street. It must have seemed like the company could not build them fast enough. The great suburban boom was on in the Washington region. Fairfax County’s population would leap from 98,557 in 1950 to 275,002 in 1960. Giant was on its way to a total that has now reached more than 150 stores in the greater DMV region.
A long forgotten figure in Washington’s retail history is Nehemiah Myer Cohen (1893-1984), who founded the company. A native of Jerusalem, he owned three grocery stores in Lancaster, Pennsylvania before opening that first Giant in DC in 1936.
The story of the Groveton Giant began in 1956. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors held meetings to discuss two proposals in this growing part of the county two to three miles south of Alexandria. One developer wanted a shopping center in Hybla Valley. Tower Construction, Giant’s shopping center builder, wanted one in Groveton on top of Beacon Hill.
At that time, this crown of land was occupied by the Beacon Airport and City View II, a landmark home built in 1920. Beth Mitchell's Interpretive Map of Fairfax County in 1760 shows small tobacco plantations made up the county. To get to Alexandria, George Washington took the colonial road that Route One partly follows today. Groveton sprung up on both sides of the road in the 1870s. The completion of the Richmond-Washington Highway in the 1920s signaled the start of a new era that would forever change the once rural landscape.
Harry Lehman, grandson of W.F.P. Reid and son of Franklin Reid, was born and raised in City View II. Its all-weather top deck provided sweeping views of not only Alexandria, but also Prince George’s County and Washington, D.C.
“When you sat up there,” Lehman said, “you were high in the sky.”
Note: City View II replaced City View I, which was built in 1868 and burned down in 1918).
Groveton was an early suburban neighborhood in the county. By 1937, a number of homes had sprouted up near the airport and on both sides of the highway. Route One was on its way to becoming a busy artery for both local traffic and travelers. Interstate 95, the Beltway and the Wilson Bridge would not be built until the 1960s. This part of the county, especially Penn Daw, became a mecca for travelers. Almost all of the motels are gone, but a few remain to remind us of those earlier times.
Another busy place in Groveton was the Dixie Pig Restaurant, a culinary landmark that fed many a hungry tummy from 1947 to its closing in the early 1990s. In her book, “Groveton, Images of America,” author and local resident Charlotte Brown tells us Benjamin and Helen Bishop of North Carolina imported the Tar Heel state’s signature recipe for moist pork and beef barbecue to their location. Their restaurant was situated across the street from City View II and the airport.
In 1957, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors initially denied the application by Tower Construction for the City View tract. The Board was worried that a shopping center there would pull business away from the one approved for Hybla Valley, about a mile to the south.
The dispute went to court. That same year Judge Harry L. Carrico ruled the Board of Supervisors could not deny a request for a commercial zoning on the basis of “fear of competition.” The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision.
City View II (site Famous Dave's) was demolished in 1959. That summer Giant Food announced record sales and the start of their new “Super Giant” stores, which combined foods and department store items.
Photo: Historic Aerials, 1949
One of those Super Giants was the new Giant in Groveton, built right where the one is located today near the corner of Richmond Highway and Memorial Avenue.
Historic aerials show that for a few years, parts of the two runways were still there. The store was located steps from where the two runways had crossed. Even today, the long fence behind the store between Memorial and Southgate marks the location of the north-south runway. The site of City View is between the Panera and Famous Dave’s.
Photo: Historic Aerials, 1962
How exciting it must have been on Monday, August 22nd, 1960 when the new store opened their doors. The Washington Evening Star (August 21) reported “the store will display some innovations in super market design.” An ad in the Star said, “Super Giant, a new dimension in retailing.” A photograph in the August 23rd edition shows Cohen admiring a “modernistic 90-foot agricultural mural decorating each of two Super Giants, which the firm opened yesterday.”
The manager was James L. Tartar, 30, of Alexandria. He previously ran the Giant on North St. Asaph Street in Alexandria.
A Super Giant also opened in Springfield. The stores were 30,000 square foot combination supermarket and self-service department stores and “the first examples of Giant’s new market designs.”
In addition to food, shoppers could purchase clothing, small electric appliances, glassware, china, toys, and kitchenware, and “Charge It” with the company’s credit plan. Bonus stamps was another popular program.
It’s hard to know the store’s sales figures, but the 1960s was certainly a good time for retail in the area. The population of the county lept from 275,000 in 1960 to 455,000 in 1970. The surrounding neighborhoods such as Bucknell Heights, Jefferson Manor and Virginia Hills were on board or coming soon.
The store also brought good attention to Groveton. For example, an ad in the Star (December 6,1967) showed the manager of the Giant in Groveton, presenting a scholarship award to the Thomas Edison High School faculty advisor Miss Elizabeth Cofer and three students. Giant sponsored the popular TV Quiz program on WRC, Channel 4.
It’s also hard to know all the places where folks in Groveton went for groceries before the Giant was built. Alexandria was certainly an option. Anne Marie Hicks told this writer about “Chauncey's Groveton Market,” a full service grocery directly across from the airport. Margaret W. “Peggy” Chauncey’s obituary in the Post tells us she (1906-1996) she helped run the King Street store in the 1940s and 1950s.
In “Snake Hill to Spring Bank,” Jason Hoffman recalled Chauncey’s Market being “up here on the hill.”
The Giant store was initially the only building on the footprint that is now the Beacon Center (renamed in the 2000s. In 1972, the Washington Post reported the start of construction for “Beacon Mall,” the “first enclosed shopping mall in southeastern Fairfax County.”
The Beacon Mall grew throughout the 1970s. A 1978 ad in the Post listed 33 stores. Among them were Baskin-Robbins, Beacon Florist, Beacon Mall 4 Theatre, Beacon Tailors, Eastern Palace, Giant, Goodyear Tire, Mr. Foto, People’s Drug Store, Record Rack, and Woolco.
The Beacon movie theaters must have been a big deal. The first movies, shown in March 1974, were Jesus Christ Superstar, M*A*S*H* and Westworld. Prior to that, residents could choose between the Alexandria theaters and the Mount Vernon Drive-In that was located where Costco is today on Route One at the corner of Ladson and Richmond Highway. In the late 1980s, the drive in was demolished and replaced by a set of theaters that were later demolished to make way for the Costco.
Like neighboring Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, Fairfax County’s population continued to grow. It reached 596,000 in 1980 and 818,000 in 1990. Giant grew with it every step of the way. In 1989, the company controlled 48 percent of the local grocery market. Israel Cohen, son of Nehemiah Myer Cohen, had kept the helm steady. In 1998, Royal Ahold, a Dutch conglomerate, acquired Giant for about $2.7B. It ranked 19th in sales in the US. Israel Cohen, the founding CEO and Chairman, had passed three years earlier.
The turn of the century saw the population of the county reach 969,749. In the mid 1990s, the Beacon Mall had gained more restaurants, including the Outback. In the first part of the 2000s, the design of the mall was tweaked to its current configuration. A big and popular newcomer was Lowe’s, giving the shopping center a one-two punch.
Groveton’s identity, lacking in historical and “third places,” continues to be juxtaposed with the popularity and size of the shopping center. The neighborhood had also lacked historical markers. But several years ago, a county historical marker was erected to honor the Beacon airport. It stands just a few steps from the Giant.
Last year, the Giant store was revamped with a new look. Perhaps pleasing many long time shoppers, the seafood section was moved from the far corner spot to a more central location. The self-service area in front was also reconfigured.
With competition from Harris Teeter, Whole Foods and others, Giant’s share of the market in the region has dipped to about 20%. Nevertheless, it remains the region’s largest grocer.
What the future holds for this landmark store we do not know. County planners have big ideas that would transform the Beacon Center into an urbanesque footprint with residential and mixed-use. Metro has said it could extend the Yellow Line to Groveton, possibly by 2040. A new Bus Rapid Transit line is on tap for later this decade and one of its stops will be Groveton (Beacon Hill).
They say you can’t eat history, but you can sure appreciate buying food from a place that now has six decades under its belt. We salute all the workers who have brought us and sold us the food these past sixty plus years and related items. Their efforts were especially noteworthy during the Covid.
I’m a place south of Washington. Tall ships, hogsheads of tobacco, and Scottish merchants are part of my early history. I have an historic district and proud to know George Washington lived just a few miles away.
Too easy, right?
Well, yes, Alexandria is correct, but did you know that the above also applies to Piscataway?
Piscataway, both an unincorporated community and the smaller historic district within it, came across our radar screen when I was reading, “Along the Potomac Shore, in Prince George’s County.” The book was written by the Tanta-Cove Garden Club, a group of caring members whose community-minded organization began in 1966.
Note: Piscataway, which is located east of Fort Washington, is not to be confused with Piscataway Park, which lies south of Mount Vernon. They do share the history of being where the Piscataway peoples lived.
As an historic village, Piscataway is not exactly a one-of-a-kind place. Northern Virginia has the time capsules of Millwood, Buckland and Waterford. But from Alexandria, you have to invest some time to get there and back. This one is just a half dozen miles south of National Harbor.
Piscataway is part of four mile stretch south of National Harbor that is rich in historical assets. However, it’s a mixed bag. Although one can visit Oxon Hill Manor, St. John’s Church, Fort Washington, and the Colonial Farm at Accokeek, some of the others stand in limbo.
I have to confess I knew next to nothing about Piscataway until I read about it in this book. As they say, half the fun is getting there. Let’s take the plunge…
Almost a half-century before Alexandria was founded in 1749, signs of English life began to emerge on the Maryland side of the Potomac. Around the first part of the eighteenth century, both Broad Creek and Piscataway got their start as tobacco ports. Planter Thomas Addison built a brick mansion on top of Oxon Hill, long an early landmark in this part of Prince George’s County until fire took it down in the 1890s. The site is the MGM Resort, just north of Oxon Hill Manor, built 1920s, in the above map).
In terms of shipping activity and a place of some commerce, Broad Creek would not prosper like Piscataway. But some of the first stories of that part of Prince George’s County took place there. The parish vestrymen built the first of several churches, whose site is at or near the current St. John’s Church, about three miles north of Piscataway.
An older sign in Piscataway says, “Established 1640.” Perhaps that refers to “the Baptism of the Piscataway Chief Kittamaquund by Fr. Andrew White, S.J.” Of course, the history of the Piscataway peoples here goes way back. On this land they knew so well as their home, the new port town of Piscataway was founded. Unlike Broad Creek, it emerged as one of Maryland’s four major ports (Annapolis, Upper Marlboro and Port Tobacco). Like so many other ports, including Dumfries and Colchester, the ships would eventually stop coming to Piscataway. The American Revolution rang the death knell and silting finished them off.
Piscataway, however, had a hey day as a port and then held on as a hamlet with farming, some fishing, being a cross roads place, including the post office. The village had a tavern, stores, a church, a school, and the post office. The Maryland Gazette and Alexandria Gazette covered some of its shipping, steamer, and estate news, as well as obits. Sadly, the coverage included ads for the selling of enslaved humans and reward notices for their return.
Like Alexandria, Dumfries, Colchester and others, Piscataway provides windows into the area’s colonial past. As Alan Virta points out in “Prince George’s County: A Pictorial History,” Piscataway was a thriving little place.”
The Scottish shipping firm of John Glassford & Company had trading stores in a number of ports in Virginia and Maryland (One of the great losses in Alexandria was the (1915) demolition of the company’s commodious brick and stone store at the corner of Lee and N. Fairfax). The company was the Walmart of its day, with stores in Alexandria, Colchester, Dumfries, as well as Port Tobacco, Upper Marlboro, Piscataway and elsewhere. The triangle of trade involved mostly tobacco from the Chesapeake, sugar and rum from the Caribbean, and the household goods from England. Sadly, enslaved humans were part of the economic flows.
Bringing some of the Piscataway story back to life is Thomas W. Cuddy and his book, “Revolutionary Economies.” He first tells us about Ebenezer Cooke’s “infamous tale,” The Sot-Weed Factor, Or a Voyage to Maryland” (1708). The setting for the long, satirical poem was “Piscato-way.”
The port town seemed to get the last laugh. It prospered and became a “substantial community.” George Mason was a regular customer. James Marshall, Alexander Hamilton (no, not that one!) and Thomas Clagett ran the trading stores so vital to the life of the planter community.
Piscataway, closer to Mount Vernon than Alexandria, was in the orbit of George Washington. With a good number of entries, Washington’s diary reflects his interest in Piscataway. On May 13, 1762, he wrote: “Got a Cask of Leith Ale from Mr. Marshall Piscataway.”
That same month he wrote to the London-based Robert Cary & Company, another major shipper of tobacco.
The Tobacco’s of most of your friends upon Potomack (or that Ships from thence) lies within 15 Miles above & below this place, and as good, or the best harbour (Piscataway) is within sight of my Door. It has this great advantage besides good Anchorage & laying safe from the Winds that it is out of the way of the Worm which is very hurtful to Shipping a little lower down & lyes in a very plentiful part of the Country.
Another future President and Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson, dined at Piscataway (August 4, 1775).
The town was connected with the Virginia side of the Potomac by a ferry ride to Clifton Landing, modern day River Farm. Martenet’s Map of the county in 1861 shows a road running northeast up to Upper Marlborough. The modern day equivalent is roughly Piscataway Road/223 past Clinton.
Horse racing was popular in Maryland and Piscataway held days for races and the accompanying festivities. The village did not make the cut for Eshelman’s “A Travel Guide to The War of 1812 in the Chesapeake,” but the townsfolk surely felt high anxiety during the British campaign and some may have heard the sound of gunfire during the Battle Of White House Landing at Belvoir.
At first thought, it’s tempting to say not much happened in Piscataway during the Civil War. That is relatively true, but then we came across the story of Thomas Harbin (1833-1885). He lived in Piscataway and was a Confederate agent. At the beginning of the Civil War, Harbin was the proprietor of the hotel Harbin House, which later became Piscataway Tavern.
Forgotten is the role he had in helping John Wilkes Booth and David Herold as they fled southward from Washington in April, 1865. The military commission decided not to prosecute Harbin. He later lived in Washington and worked as a hotel clerk. In 1884, George Alfred Townsend, the famed chronicler of the war, interviewed Harbin.
Townsend wrote:
On one occasion he concluded to go into Piscataway, where he had once kept a hotel, and about all persons in the town knew him, and all knew that he was the chief Confederate in that part of the country. The bar-room was full of Federal soldiers, and a whole regiment was stationed in the neighborhood. He walked to the counter and asked them all to drink - soldiers and citizens. The citizens stood trembling for fear he would be arrested or informed upon. Harbin himself reflected a moment that he had better be cautious, so he had his horse sent to the neighboring house of Dr. Dyer, from which he departed.
After the Civil War, the African-American community of Chapel Hill emerged just north of Piscataway. Like elsewhere, larger plats of land became smaller ones for farms.
GM Hopkins map of Washington 1879 shows Piscataway as one of 14 districts in Prince George’s County. The southern border of Oxen Hill was Broad Creek. Piscataway ran from there down to Mattawoman’s Creek, about a mile south of Accokeek. Names dotting the district included Dr. Hurttt, Dr. Edelen, Joseph Hostetter, and Joseph Hatton.
The short lived Baltimore and Potomac RR (1872-1892) ran about five miles to the east. That was too far away to make an impact for Piscataway. In the other direction, perhaps young boys popped a blade of grass in their mouth and wandered over to the Potomac to wave at the steamboats or skip stones across the waters of the creek. Maybe some climbed the step hill up to Fort Washington to get a better glimpse of Mount Vernon.
Memories can be sweet, but Piscataway was on a slow fade away from its former glories. In 1905, a visiting writer with the Evening Star described it as “a shabby hamlet.” Nevertheless, it still had its setting in “an amphitheater of splendid hills” and “a proud long past.” The writer pointed out the main feature of Piscatway was the St Mary’s Catholic Church. It was just one year old and had been erected on the site of a church in 1838.
In the 1920s, Prohibition gave a few in the village an opportunity. In his indispensable guide, "This Was Potomac River," Frederick Tilp recalled “Piscataway Corn,” was a big hit in the Alexandria speakeasies during Prohibition.
The post office in Piscataway closed in 1943 (became Clinton). In the 1950s, Highway 210 gave motorists the faster, divided highway option. For those hoping the highway would not portend the end of Piscataway's rural nature, they could be pleased that post war growth in Washington did not overtake this part of the region in the sometimes overwhelming way it did in other parts of the region.
In 1992, however, Wayne Hardin ("Uneasy Times for Nice Little Village," Baltimore Sun) wrote a story about Piscataway. Mary Forsht-Tucker, Piscataway Citizens Association president, said, “We’re tremendously threatened by development.”
Twenty years later, a new set of homes, Preserve at Piscataway, was built east of Piscataway Road. The archaeological investigations there near the Edelen House (2445 Bailey's Pond Road) enabled Cuddy to pair the artifacts (12,793) with the Glassford records. This helped further tell the story of the great reach of the Glassford company and also shined a light on the Edelen family.
For now, there’s been no further encroachment. The dozen contributing buildings along Floral Park Road provide a unique and special place.
Below are our photos. The final three are not part of this historic district but we include them for reasons noted.
St. Mary's Church
St. Mary’s Church is a striking landmark, rising tall in the Gothic style. Catholic congregations here go back to the 1770s. The convent and school were built in 1961.
The cemetery holds the passed souls and reveals names of the past.
Contributing Buildings on Floral Park Road
Miller House, 2312 Floral Park Road
Dr. Edgar Hurtt House, 2308 Floral Park Road
Gallahan-Davis House, 2306 Floral Park Road
Hardy Tavern, 2305 Floral Park Road
Bond Bungalow, 2209 Floral Park Road
Clagett Store/Harbin House, 2208 Floral Park Road
Stanton-Bladford House, 2207 Floral Park Road
Piscataway Tavern, 2204 Floral Park Road
Sarah Underwood House, 2004 Floral Park Road
Thomas C. Underwood House, 1908 Floral Park Road
Farmington Landing
Steamboats ferried passengers to and from here. By the 20th century the landing had fallen out of commercial use due to the rapid accumulation of silt, but the spot remains a favorite for local fishers and kayakers. Close your eyes and imagine George Washington sliding by.
St. James Hill
St James Hill lies on a small hill about a half mile south of the historic district. It is also known as the Hostetter House. The name of the dwelling might have come from a plantation of the same name. Reverend John Fraser, the first rector of Piscataway Parish, owned the 700-acre tract. This would have been around the 1710s and was where the Piscataway had lived south of the creek.
In “Along the Potomac Shore, in Prince George’s County,” Pauline Collins shows a long list of owners and neglect. Perhaps the most famous was Dr. Benedict Semmes (1789-1863), who married Emily Edelen. He served at the House level in the State and then the US.
The build date is uncertain. A Digital Maryland document shows the original frame part as mid eighteenth century. The two and a half story brick is early 19c. Collins tells us Lorena Boswell and her brother restored it in 1936. They added a hyphen that connects to the brick part. In 1976, Mr. and Mrs. Briesmaster acquired the home and restored it. They added a wing.
Piscataway House
This is a fascinating story, one touched on by the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places for Piscataway. Charles Wallace Collins (1879-1964), a lawyer, writer and librarian with the Library of Congress, acquired Harmony Hall in 1929. He and his wife lived there.
Around the same time, he also purchased one of the homes in Piscataway. It was a Tidewater-style framed house that was going to be demolished. He had it moved brick by brick to a spot north of Harmony Hall. Collins also dredged part of the canal to help facilitate the move by water.
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