Jaybird's Jottings

Lincoln’s Allee: Four “Stripped Classicism” Buildings within the Northwest Rectangle Historic District

“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.

 

 

 

 

The Wilsons and Hollin Hall III

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.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crossing the Occoquan

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. 

 

Giant on the Hill: A Brief History of the Giant Grocery Store in Groveton

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.  

 

 

 

 

 

1971-1974: A Glorious Run for the Greensboro Coliseum

Whenever a sports writer decides to spend some time on a book or lengthy article, the topic is usually a team, a player, a season, an era, or the like. 

In the case of Greensboro, North Carolina, someone could write a book about its Coliseum.   Admittedly, it wouldn’t be a best seller.  But its story is rich, unique and worth telling.   

Almost all of the bigger arenas in the US have, as tenants, either one or two major league teams, a Division One team, or a combination.  The Greensboro Coliseum has none of those.  It does have a counterpart that way, the Tacoma Dome.  But Greensboro is the largest of all the indoor arenas and has been around since 1959.  The Tacoma Dome opened in 1983. 

Adding to Greensboro’s uniqueness is the city’s population, 299,000 in 2020, ranking 70th.  The metro region (Greensboro/High Point/Piedmont Triad) ranks even lower at 76th (776,000).   

The Gate City does have professional baseball, an “A” level minor league franchise with a ballpark capacity of about 7,000.   UNC-G did become Division I in the 1990s, but it has not had a football team, and pro football, basketball, and hockey are elsewhere in Charlotte and Raleigh.

Nevertheless, the Greensboro Coliseum has a place in the story of sports in North Carolina.   It’s been filling up with fans ever since its start in 1959.   Conveniently located in the heart of the Piedmont near two Interstates, and adjacent to downtown, the arena has hosted a variety of events, concerts, and acts, including the ACC tournament twenty-eight times. 

But it’s not just the ACC tournament that makes the story of the Greensboro Coliseum stand out sports-wise.   From 1971 to 1974, the arena had a glorious run that included hosting not only the ACC tournament, but also the Big Four tournament, the Carolina Cougars of the ABA, the Greensboro Generals hockey team, the CIAA tournament, and its piece de resistance, the Final Four in 1974.

It’s been fifty years or so since that hey-day, a good time to take a look back.

 

The Coliseum

On November 11, 1926, officials in Greensboro unveiled War Memorial Stadium.  The Cone family had donated the 14 acres of land adjacent to the center of downtown.   

In his article (Greensboro Daily News, May 29, 1971, “Stadium Started Outdoor Sports Era”), Tom Einstein gave a run down of the uses.  Football included college and high school.  Baseball included semi-pros, Legion, college, high school, and pro.

The Greensboro Patriots won the league title there in 1926, 1929, 1932, 1933, 1942, and 1960.   The “G-Yanks” of the 1960s are part of the stadium’s long history, as are the Hornets and the Bats.   It now serves as the home field for the North Carolina A&T baseball team.   The landmark stadium (capacity 9,000) is on the National Register for Historic Places. 

In 1944, talk began of erecting a memorial auditorium in Greensboro.  The initial desire was for a suitable war memorial to honor the men and women who had died in the still on-going war, as well as a constructing a downtown auditorium. 

Herman Cone and Allen Preyer served as the first members of the World War Memorial Commission.  The idea of using tax money for funding was nixed.    By 1945, $400,000 had been raised or pledged with $750,000 total needed.   

Some of the boosters supported a site at the corner of Eugene and Bellemead Street. Others warned this downtown location would produce traffic jams.  This spot was ultimately not chosen and later became a Sears & Roebuck store.  The location is just south of where the Greensboro Grasshoppers minor league team has played their games since 2005.

The city then favored a site on N. Elm Street near downtown.   Moses Cone Memorial Hospital would later be built there across the street.  Contributions continued and reached $900,000.   Over the course of the next ten years, the commission, the city council and other groups continued to hash out their ideas.    

In his book, “Once Upon a City,” Howard E. Covington Jr. devotes a chapter to the story.    He tells us Charles T.  Hagan Jr. joined forces with former Mayor Sullivan, who was involved from the beginning.   Hagan himself was a veteran of the war and received the Bronze Star.

With continued pushback on the proposed downtown location, the commission looked to a spot about a mile and a half southwest of downtown.   George A. Hamid Sr. owned the fairgrounds property there facing High Point Road and Lee Street (both later renamed Gate City Boulevard).  Where the large parking lot sits today, the city’s annual agricultural fair had been held there as well as races on a small dirt track. 

In 1956, the public approved a $3M bond referendum that funded the coliseum and an auditorium.    Construction began a year later.   Jim Oshust, the Managing Director, headed up the governmental department that first ran the complex.  The new coliseum did not win style points in all corners, but the auditorium pleased non-sports fans and downtown would not be choked with traffic.

On October 29. 1959, a “Holiday on Ice” show christened the new facility.   Capacity was 9,000, one of the highest on the East Coast and comparable in high capacity to Philadelphia’s famed Palestra (10,000).   

Note:  Seating would increase to 15,500 in 1968, keeping it as the largest in the south.  In the early 1990s, capacity reached 23,000.  The Coliseum now includes three exhibition halls, a 4,500-seat mini-arena, the 300-seat Odeon Theatre, The Terrace, the White Oak Amphitheatre, the Greensboro Aquatic Center, ACC Hall of Champions, The Fieldhouse and Piedmont Hall.

 

The Generals (1959-1973)

Given North Carolina’s love of basketball, it may be hard to believe, but the first sporting event at the new Coliseum in 1959 was not hoops, but hockey.   The Greensboro Generals, who played in the Eastern Hockey League, helped christen the new arena and would make a fifteen-year run there from 1959 to 1973.  From 1973 to 1977, the Generals played at the Coliseum in the Southern Hockey League. 

Before the 1950s, minor league hockey was not played in the South.   The Eastern Hockey League had brought the fast-paced action to Charlotte in 1956, making the Checkers (first known as the Clippers) the first hockey team in the Southeast.  The Clippers won the league championship in their first season and drew big crowds to the Charlotte Coliseum.   

The ’59 start for the Generals came eight seasons before the NHL expanded from the “Original Six” of Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, New York and Toronto (added were LA, Oakland, Philly, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Minnesota).   The NHL didn’t come south of the Mason-Dixon Line until Atlanta in 1972 and Washington in 1974.

Smith Barrier announced the story of the Generals in his Feb 3, 1959 column in the Greensboro Daily News.  “City Commission Set to Apply for Hockey.”  At the bottom of the page, many readers surely looked more closely at the league standings for the first time, which showed Clinton in first, followed by Johnstown, New Haven, Philadelphia, Washington and Charlotte.  Geography teachers must have been smiling as well as transplants who knew the game.

The Troy Bruins of the International Hockey League became the new Greensboro team.   They had played from ’51-’52 to ’58-’59.   Lexington native and founder of Bain Oil Co, Carson Bain, who had served as Mayor and provided leadership to the Jaycees and the GGO golf tournament, emerged as the owner/president.   Irwin Smallwood called him “one of the giants of Greensboro.”

It didn’t take long for Smallwood, sports columnist and editor for the Greensboro Daily News, to have some fun with the newly arrived sport. Early that first season, he wrote:

A Southerner on ice skates, or why 99 and 44/100 of all organized ice hockey players are born and bred in Canada.

Smallwood pulled double duty, covering the Generals home opener, a 4 to 1 win over the Washington Presidents.  4,646 attended the game.  That figure may not sound like a lot, but the Generals’ average that season, 3,028, led the league.   They typically drew good crowds, including 6,524 in the '62-'63 opener versus Charlotte. 

Not all the fans in Greensboro knew what icing was, but they soon learned.   The Generals made the playoffs in all of their 15 seasons and had a combined 542-381 record.   

Pat Kelly, who played in the debut season, became an early fan favorite.  Kelly would go on to be inducted into the league Hall of Fame and became commissioner of the ECHL in 1988. 

A heated rivalry with Charlotte developed, helping boost interest and attendance.    “When Greensboro and Charlotte played, we’d fill buildings,” said Kelly.    

Boxing was not a part of the Coliseum history, but some of the fans might have quipped they didn’t need it with all the fights that broke out during the hockey games.  For the opener in 1970 against Charlotte, the Greensboro Daily News wrote: 

You might call the Greensboro Generals’ home opener tonight a return bout — like in boxing…  The two clubs fought (literally)… five times.

In November 1971, Meyer Anthony wrote: 

When the Checkers and Generals meet the action is fast and furious, that no quarter is asked or given.

Sports fans sometimes have to wait a long time before their team wins it all.  Greensboro was fortunate that it took just four seasons. On March 22, 1963, they beat the Charlotte Checkers 3-2 in overtime at the Coliseum to advance to the championship game.   A crowd of 4,349 watched in delight as left winger Ron Muir scored the winner.  The puck “hit the left post, caromed over to the right post, and stayed in the cage.”

Two weeks later the Generals beat Clinton 7 to 3 in Uttica.  Don Carter, a fan favorite from the original team in ’59, turned the hat trick.

The Generals were in their 12th season in 1971.  Coach Ronnie Spring had led them to the title in 1962 and 1963, and kept them going in the league.  The years 67-68 to 69-70 had been great ones, with the team advancing to the second round twice and the Finals once.   

Like any minor league outfit, fans in Greensboro saw a parade of players come through.   Carter, a native of Toronto, drew many cheers in his great career.  Number 14 lit up the lamp 364 times, with the majority while wearing the Generals uniform.  He coached the team in 71-72 and 72-73. 

Other standouts inducted into the Generals Hall of Fame include Stu Roberts.  Roberts played with the team from 67-68 to 75-76.   His best season was 70-71 when he scored 62 times and had 45 assists.

The Generals final season in the Eastern Hockey League came in 1972-1973, the year the league folded.  They made the playoffs for the 14th straight time and lost in the first round.

For the 1974 to 1977 season, the Generals played in the Southern Hockey League.   Their winning ways had run out and they moved to the Piedmont Sports Arena, only 5,000 or so capacity.    

Hockey came back to the coliseum 1989 with the Greensboro Monarchs of the East Coast Hockey League.  They brought back some of the magic, winning the league championship in that first season, and made the playoffs four out of five times.    

Then came the Carolina Monarch of the American Hockey League, but the league lasted just two seasons.   In 1997-1999, the Coliseum hosted the Carolina Hurricanes, the franchise shift from Hartford.   Then came the Greensboro Generals of the East Coast Hockey League, who played form 1999 to 2004.   They did not cover themselves in glory, except for the 2002-2003 season when they advanced to the Division Finals.    

 

The Carolina Cougars (1969-1974)

For many basketball fans in North Carolina, college hoops is their number one love.  Of course, the main drawback with that love affair is that a favorite player can only stay a maximum of four years.   Pro basketball offers something more steady, but most of the time, a favorite who played nearby gets signed by another club.

At least in North Carolina, the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association, took care of some of that situation.  In 1969, the year before the Big Four tournament made its debut, and two years before the ACC Tournament began its run in Greensboro, the Cougars began a five-season stay at the Coliseum.   

The Mavericks, a charter member of the ABA, had played two seasons in Houston, 1967-1968 and 1968-1969.   North Carolina native Jim Gardner bought the team and moved it to Greensboro. 

The Cougars took a unique regional concept approach, playing their games in Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh.   In 1970, North Carolina ranked as the 12th largest state.  Rich in textile jobs, Greensboro’s population’s had jumped from 74,000 in 1950 to 119,000 in 1960.  Nevertheless, that was still small potatoes, and Charlotte’s population of 241,000 in 1970 was also not at major league levels.

During the first season, the Cougars played 20 games in Greensboro, 14 in Charlotte and 8 in Raleigh.   The team’s offices were in Greensboro and they drew best there.  Carolina finished third and advanced to the playoffs.    

Hawkers that season trying to sell programs faced a stiff challenge.  The team was full of familiar faces.  Point guard Bob Verga, who played for Duke (64-67), led the team in scoring that first season with a 24 point game average, a figure that was second best in the league.  He also played in the All-Star Game.

Small forward Doug Moe had played for the Tar Heels (58-61) where he was a two-time All American.  He averaged 17 points.  In 72-74, Moe was the assistant coach for the Cougars, sitting beside Larry Brown. 

Larry Miller certainly needed no introduction.  He starred for the Tar Heels (65-68), earning ACC Player of the Year in ’66 and ’67.  Miller’s averages with the Cougars were 69-70 (10), 70-71 (12), and 71-72 (18).   On March 18, 1972, he blistered the nets for 67 points (Carolina 139, Memphis 125).  Dr. J, Rick Barry, nor anyone else ever matched or topped it.

DC born Gene Littles was a Cougar from 1969-1974.  In that first season he averaged 13 points.  Littles was the pride of neighboring High Point.   He attended the university there and holds the all-time scoring record for the school and was a three time NAIA All American.   

Bill Bunting averaged 14 points.  Born in New Bern, he played for the Tar Heels from 66-69, those first three seasons that marked the rise of Coach Smith.

The familiarity also included head coach Bones McKinney.   The summary for his biography described him as:

A chain-smoking, Pepsi-swilling Baptist minister who was not averse to using colorful language, but also a devoted family man to his six kids and wife of 55 years.

The website RemembertheABA writes McKinney, “was a gate attraction all by himself.”

Born near New Bern, the skinny forward played at both UNC and NC when they were in the Southern Conference.  His pro career took him to Washington and Boston, where he averaged nine points.   McKinney is best known for coaching at Wake Forest.  He turned around the floundering program with a 46 and 10 run from 59-60 to 62-63.   

McKinney then took over at the helm for the Cougars from 69 to 71.  He went on to have a long career as a color commentator on ACC basketball games broadcast on TV.   Behind the mics he teamed up with Billy Packer, who played at Wake and then served as McKinney’s assistance coach.   

It’s also worth noting that Ed Manning played for the Cougars from ’71 to ’74.   His son was Danny Manning, who would star for Greensboro Page High School before leading Kansas to the national title in 1988.  Danny Manning went on to an All-Star NBA career.   

The Cougars never won it all, but attendance was good in Greensboro, and the team went to the playoffs in five of nine seasons. 

Their best season was a first place finish in ’72-’73, their 57 wins the most in the league.  They finished second in the league in attendance.    The Cougars won 8 of 11 pre-season games, going 5-1, including a memorable romp over the Boston Celtics.   Perhaps some pre-game chatter included talk of the Celtics as one of sports greatest dynasties when they had Bill Russell, John Havlicek, and cigar-chomping coach Red Auerbach.   

The team the Cougars faced featured Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White, Paul Silas and Don Chaney (13 ppg).   The Celtics would go on to win the Atlantic Division with a 68-14 record before losing to the Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, 4-3. 

This writer was one of 5,019 fans in attendance.   The Celtics led at half time, but the Cougars cut loose with 22 straight points in the third quarter.  Cowens, a future Hall of Famer, kicked the ball in a fit of anger.   Slapped with his second technical, the ref gave him the heave-ho.  The crowd went nuts.    

Cunningham won the league MVP, Brown Coach of the Year, and Carl Scheer Executive of the Year.  Cunningham, Caldwell and Calvin played in the All Star game in Salt Lake City.   

Carolina beat the New York Nets in the first round of the playoffs, winning the clincher 136-113.  In the semifinals, they won Game Two at home against Kentucky, but the Colonels were too much. 

 

ABA All Star Game

January 23, 1971

A highlight of the Cougars stay in Greensboro was the ABA All-Star game on January 23, 1971.   Hanging over the game was the on-going talk of merger with the NBA.  Greensboro Daily News writer Larry Keefe quoted ABA commissioner Jack Dolph as saying:

“We believe a merger is inevitable, as we always have.  But negotiations with the NBA have ceased, and, for the time being, we must pursue a totally independent course.”

The ABA had seen some shuffling of teams.   The Washington Caps had moved to Norfolk to become the Virginia Squires, who won the Eastern Division.  The Los Angeles Stars became the Utah Stars, who finished one game behind the Indiana Pacers in the Western Division.   Former UNC star Charlie Scott led the Squires.

To the delight of the fans, the Eastern stars won the game, 126-122.  The contest was nationally-televised on CBS, but blacked-out in North Carolina.   The game was a near sell out, with 14,407 attending.

Smith Barrier wrote:

The ABA game came of age at the Greensboro Coliseum the Saturday afternoon, with a 14,000 plus crowd to match the NBA All Star game attendance about 10 days ago in San Diego.

Larry Keefe told his readers the game was “almost perfect.”   There were 20 tie scores and 18 lead changes.   The 14,407 attendance figure was a record for both the event and the recently expanded Coliseum.    

The East was sparked by the play of Joe Caldwell (21 points), the Cougar’s star forward.  He had been a great catch for the team, coming over from the NBA in 1970, where he had averaged 21 with the Atlanta Hawks.  In February 1971, Caldwell busted loose for 56 points with the Cougars, a 156-139 romp over Kentucky, with 6,173 on hand at the Coliseum.   

After the All-Star game, he told the reporters,

“This area is a college-oriented one.  But the fans are learning the pro game and they appreciate it.”

The Cougars final season was '73-'74.   All the key players were returning.  But as O’Henry magazine notes:

“Fate struck in an unmerciful fashion.Cunningham was sidelined with a serious kidney ailment and sat out most of the season.”

The team finished 47-37. 

Apparently, the Cougars wanted to stay.  But Ted Munchak, the absentee owner, did not want to pay the proposed higher rent at the Coliseum.   New ownership moved the team to St Louis.   Brown, Moe and Scheer headed to Denver.  The ABA folded in 1976.   Among its appeals had been the red, white, and blue basketballs and the adoption of the three-point shot. 

 

The Big Four Tournament (1971-1981)

In the spring of 1968, Greensboro voters approved a bond to expand the Coliseum from 9,000 to 15,550.   In the winter of 1970, the new arena opened with basketball fans poured in.   Are we talking about the ACC tournament? 

Actually this was the debut of the Big Four tournament in December.   It became an annual set of games at the Coliseum with a ten-year run.

One obvious factor for holding the tournament in Greensboro was the city’s central location along Tobacco Road.  But the biggest factor in getting the new tourney was the Coliseum’s expansion in 1971.  Its capacity jumped from 9,000 to 15,500. 

By way of comparison, Carmichael Auditorium in Chapel Hill held 6,822, Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum 8,500, the Charlotte Coliseum 8,600, Cameron 8,800, and Reynolds Coliseum 12,400.   

The tourney consisted of two rounds, with Round One (random drawing) played on a Friday night.  On a Saturday night, the two winners then played for the championship and the two losers would play for third place.

The teams did not have to travel far.   Wake Forest is just 25 miles west of Greensboro and UNC, NC State, Duke are about 50 to the east.   On all but the final mile, the team buses rolled down Interstate 40, an easy spin across the central part of the Piedmont.

Although the Big Four tournament games did not count in the league's regular season standings, they did in the overall record, as well as player stats.   Greensboro fully embraced the tournament in its run from 1971 to 1981.   

Note:   Greensboro hosted the ACC tournament in 1967, followed by Charlotte in 68-70.   Greensboro then gained it on a regular basis beginning in 1971. 

 

State of the Programs

Before we look at the results of the Big Four Tournament, it’s worth looking at the state of the programs going into the ’71 season and a bit of their history.    

As a rough measure, they all had played in three eras of college basketball.   The first took place when sport on college campuses had started out as recreation rather than a form of commercial entertainment.  Growing interest in football led to the desire for scholarships.   The Carnegie Foundation warned of college football becoming “a highly organized commercial enterprise.”  UNC President Frank Porter Graham was worried that funding for scholarships would come from ticket revenue and would lead to “unwholesome attempted control of the college.”   

Second came the start of the scholarship era and fanatical interest in not only football but basketball.   During this time, the Southern Conference rose to power and had a great run from 1928 to 1953.   It was one of the first to hold a post season tournament.   

Then came the ACC in 1954 and the continuation of the tourney winner being the only one to advance to the NCAA tournament.   The NIT was also a viable option, especially for regular season runner ups.

It’s worth mentioning that forgotten in this era is a point-shaving scandal in 1961.   22 college teams were involved, including UNC and State.  Among the 37 students charged were UNC’s All-American Doug Moe.  The Dixie Classic was cancelled.

 

Duke

Eddie Cameron (1902-1988) ushered in Duke’s first great era in basketball.  Like the other Big Four teams, the Blue Devils played in the Southern Conference in the 30s and 40s before joining the ACC in 1953.   Duke’s record during Cameron's 14-year tenure (1928-1942) was 226-99.  They won the tournament in 1938, 1941 and 1942.   When Duke’s new Indoor Stadium opened in 1940, a crowd of about 8,000 watched in glee as the Blue Devils beat Princeton.   That mark was reported to be the largest attendance ever for a basketball game in the South.

Cameron’s best season was ’41-’42, going 22-2 and winning the conference tourney in Raleigh.   Duke not making the NCAA tournament had nothing to do with Cameron or the university.    

In that season, there were 12 conferences across the nation, but only 8 slots in the NCAA and 8 in the NIT.   These tournaments were in their infant stages.   The televising of what became known as the Final Four of the NCAA tournament would not begin on a regular basis until the late 1960s.

Because of the “Cameron Crazies,” we remember Cameron, but forget those Duke coaches in between him and Coach K’s arrival in 1980.   Harold Bradley had all winning seasons and danced in ’55.   Vic Bubas (1927-2018) had a combined 213-32 record and took Duke to the NCAA four times (’63, ’64, ’66).  His best year was 1964 when the Blue Devils clobbered Connecticut 101-54 and then beat Michigan 91-80 to reach the Finals (UCLA 98-83).  Star players were Jeff Mullins (24) and Jay Buckley (14). 

Bucky Waters took over in 1969.  He lasted just four years with no NCAA appearances.   Duke was not at its best during the early Big Four years, until Bill Foster took the Blue Devils to the NCAA tournament from 77-78 to 79-80.  Coach K then began what became his legendary run.

 

Wake Forest

“Little ol’ Wake Forest” was first located in Wake Forest, a town near Raleigh.  The college, founded in 1834 with Baptist roots, made the move to Winston-Salem in 1956. 

Murray Greason (1900-1960) is a forgotten name, but he coached the Demon Deacons from 1933 to 1957.   Greason had a 283-244 record, with two NCAA appearances in 1939 and 1953.     

Bones McKinney gave the program a boost with two NCAA appearances (’61 and ’62) and a combined 46-10 league record from 1959-1963. 

During the Big Four years, Wake was coached by Jack McCloskey and then Carl Tacy.  Tacy took the Deacons to the NCAA in 1977, 1981, 1982, and 1984.   

 

NC State

The greatest coach in the history of NC State?

Now that discussion would rattle the bars in Raleigh.   All would agree, however, the conversation, if done chronologically, would start with Everett Case (1900-1966).   After winning 4 state titles in Indiana, the “Gray Fox” turned around a struggling program at NC State.  His teams (1946-1964) had a .700 or better winning percentage 12 of 18 times, with six NCAA appearances.   Under Case, State won the ACC tournament in 54, 55, 56, 59 and 65.  In 1949, he founded the Dixie Classic.

In her book, “The Classic: How Everett Case and His Tournament Brought Big-Time Basketball to the South,” Bethany Bradsher writes:

Before Everett Case came south to coach at N. C. State, football was the region's big sport.  Within a few years, though, Case and his Indiana-style basketball changed all that.  And nothing showcased the South's new obsession better than the Dixie Classic.

After Case, and one year under Press Maravich, Norm Sloan took the helm in 1966-1967.   Like Case, he came from Indiana.  Into the ACC hot bed Sloan walked, going just 7 and 19 in his first season (66-67).  In 1969-1970, Sloan, known for wearing plaid sports jackets, tasted the sweet tea of winning the tournament.   They beat SC in a 2 OT thriller.    Prior to that, Dean Smith’s had won the tourney three times in a row.   As a reminder, until 1975, the only way to advance to the NCAA was to win the tournament.    

 

UNC

Concerning the greatest basketball coach at UNC, there is no argument.   It is very important, however, to note that Frank McGuire certainly distinguished himself from 1953 to 1961, with a dream-like, 32-0 season capped off by a thrilling win in the NCAA final over Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas.  McGuire also mentored Smith, the assistant coach from 1958 to his promotion in 1961.

Long forgotten is Norman Shepard who guided the Tar Heels to a 26-0 record in the 23-24 season.  In their retro ranking system, Patrick Premo and Phil Poretta have them as the number one team that season.    Shepard’s best player was Cartwright Carmichael, the first member of the Tar Heels to earn All-American honors in any sport.   Jack Cobb also starred on the team.

In his 36 years at Chapel Hill (1961-1997), Dean Smith became a coaching legend.   Under his helm, the Kansas native won 879 games, the NCAA tournament twice and 11 Final Four appearances. 

But it certainly wasn't easy in the beginning.  After a 107-85 loss to Wake Forest in 1965, someone hung Smith in effigy in a tree in front of Woolen Gym.   In the next season, Smith’s Tar Heels went 26 and 6 and never looked back.   

But coming into the Big Four, UNC had not made the NCAA in 69-70 (State won the tourney) or 70-71 (SC beat UNC 52-51 in the tourney).   They did, however, accept a bid to the NIT in ’70 and won it in ’71.

 

The Big Four Tournament compared with the Dixie Classic

Not long after the announcement of the Big Four Tournament in 1970, the writers drew comparisons to the Dixie Classic.  It had been held at Reynolds Coliseum in the state capital in Raleigh from 1949 to 1960.   The Dixie Classic was the brainchild of Everett Case, coach at NC State.   As Bradsher put it:

“basketball backboards in North Carolina were scarce back then… the sport that had captivated the region was football.” 

The Dixie Classic was played on a weekend after Christmas.  Its field was the big four Tobacco Road teams and four others from other leagues.   No non-Big Four team ever won the tournament.    In its dozen times, the winners were State (7), UNC (3), Duke 1 and Wake Forest (1).   Woody Durham, Greensboro’s beloved sports anchor on WFMY, said, “The Dixie Classic was probably the foremost holiday tournament in the country.”

As things turned out, the Dixie Classic was too big.  A point-shaving scandal put an end to it in 1961.   Seven years later, the ACC Athletic Directors announced a Big Four tournament would be held annually in the Greensboro Coliseum during the Christmas holidays.   

 

First Playing of the Big Four Tournament

Dec 18-19, 1970

The Big Four tournament date moved around a few times.  It was initially held on the weekend before Christmas (December 18-19, 1970).  That timeframe was chosen as it was one of the “dull-times of the schedule.”    

In the first playing, State beat UNC 82-70.   This gave Wolfpack coach Norman Sloan his first win against Dean Smith, and ended State’s ten-game losing streak against their rivals.   Ladd Baucom of the Greensboro Daily News quoted Sloan as saying, “This is my fifth season at State, and to tell you the truth, it had been hanging in my mind.” 

In the consolation game, UNC faced Duke.  It’s hard to know the full mood of the fans as they poured into the expanded Coliseum.  Some must have thought it weird that the two teams were playing for third place.  For some, perhaps the game was their first chance to see them square off. 

As it turned out, the two rivals gave the 11,000 on hand a thriller.  As time ran out, Carolina’s small forward Bill Chamberlain (UNC’s second black scholarship basketball player) made a reverse lay-up for the win.   Barrier pointed out the score was tied no less than 20 times.   Duke was behind 78 to 70 but rallied to tie it.  Chamberlain and center Lee Dedmond combined for 42 points. 

In the championship game, State beat Wake 73-70 to take the first new set of bragging rights on Tobacco Road.  Sophomore Bill Benson iced the game with two free throws and led all scorers with 27 points. Attendance at all four games exceeded 11,000.

The Wolfpack did not parley their success in the Big Four’s first tournament, finishing 5-9 and 13-14.  UNC took the regular season 11-3, but lost 52-51 to South Carolina.   

When the first tournament did not sell out, the date was moved to the weekend after the big Bowl Games played on New Year’s Day.   In 1976, the tourney went back to December.

 

Mixed Feelings

Initially, at least one of the coaches, Norm Sloan, played the ACC organ and touted the benefits of the tournament.    Soon enough, however, most bemoaned it.   Each playing meant one of the teams would be saddled with back to back losses.    And when the ACC tournament rolled around, there was the chance two teams might be facing off for a fourth time.   

The athletic directors certainly loved the money.   As Tim Peeler pointed out, “That was huge in the 1970s, before there were even whispers of conference television packages.”

Peeler also noted the tournament kicked off the unofficial start to ACC season. 

The fans in Greensboro and nearby loved seeing the action with just a short drive to and fro.   High Point Road, later renamed Gate City Boulevard, fed some of the masses with fast food galore and beloved places like Stamey’s BBQ and Libby Hill Seafood.  The tickets were certainly not as tough as the ACC tourney, but attendance was high.   

The press spilled the commensurate amount of ink.  Covering the 1979 tourney, Barry Jacobs of the Christian Science Monitor pointed out that the tourney that year drew 235 media representatives and a regional television audience for the championship game.

He also noted that the tournament tickets were used to reward contributors left out in the cold after ACC tournament tickets went out.  For Duke and Wake, the private and smaller schools, the Big Four was a major revenue producer.

In his Christmas Day article in 1972, “Cry Wolf in Carolina,” Sports Illustrated’s Ron Fimrite wrote:

The event is only in its third year, yet it has been embraced by local fanatics as hidebound tradition and, therefore, just cause for hysteria.

The Big Four had a good run, but it took its swan song in 1980.  Wilt Browning of the Greensboro Daily News explained the problem (“End May Be In Sight,” November 16, 1979).

“An 0-2 start courtesy of the Big Four is now considered to be too great a risk for the Big Four teams looking to post season NCAA berths.”

Dean Smith led the way in nixing the tournament.  The final tournament was held on December 6-7, 1980.  The winners were State (71), UNC (72), State (73, 74), Wake (75, 76, 77), UNC (78), Duke (79, 80).  Overall records were State 13-9, UNC 12-10, Wake Forest 10-12 and Duke 9-13.   

 

Tobacco Road

Before we look at the ACC Tournament and the Final Four in 1974, it’s worth a diversion to talk about "Tobacco Road" and how the term came about.   

Before the ACC formed in 1954, the four schools had played in the Southern Conference from 1936 to 1953.    It was around the 1940s that some sportswriters in North Carolina began to use the term “Tobacco Road” in its basketball sense.   

The term itself came from “Tobacco Road,” Erskine Caldwell’s 1932 novel, which also became a Broadway play, and a Hollywood film in 1942.    The story involves depictions of poor white Southern cotton farmers in Georgia.   Letters to the Editor in the 1940s reflected the objections of many readers who thought the novel slandered the South.    One letter even pointed out the family grew cotton, not tobacco (Erskine noted the family’s forebears had grown tobacco). 

In 1935, a business news column in the Greensboro Daily News used the term as a subtitle for flue-cured tobacco farm reports in eastern North Carolina.

In 1942, a Wilmington paper wrote:

In Southern Conference basketball lingo, Tobacco Road is composed of Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest and NC State.  Many a high-riding team has come a cropper by meeting the four schools on this circuit.   

That year, the Southern Conference was made up of 15 teams.   In the semifinals in the tournament were Duke, Wake, NC State and William & Mary, with Duke beating State in the finals.   The four North Carolina schools did not always dominate the top of the standings, but they were coming on strong.   In the ACC’s first season of 1953-1954, the semis were Duke-State and Wake Forest-Maryland.  State took the title in an OT thriller.    

In 1951, Earle Hellen of the Greensboro Record used the term Tobacco Road and Big Four in the same column.  

Sad indeed is the way that Big Four football supremacy was toppled by outsiders this Fall.  The once proud Tobacco Road teams can not point with pride to a single outstanding victory with out of state competition this season.

Of course, that was football.

In 1954, the Greensboro Record (no by-line) wrote:

The only outside threat to the Big Four’s dominance of the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball race, the Maryland Terps, starts its first invasion of the Tobacco Road tonight when the Terps face Duke at Durham.

In his March 5, 1957 article, Hellen used Tobacco Road seven times.   Interestingly, an ad in the same issue invited movie goers to see the Tobacco Road film at one of the city’s Drive In Theaters.

There is no actual Tobacco Road, although there could be a conversation about Interstate 40 and Highway 70, the spine of the Piedmont.   The historical footprint of the industry spans the distance across much of the state from Winston-Salem to Durham and includes all those farms that were in the eastern fields.   

While tobacco is synonymous with North Carolina, the “obnoxious weed” was the economic lifeblood of Virginia and Maryland in colonial times.   Alexandria was founded in 1749 as a seaport where several tobacco inspection warehouses had been located at the terminus of a rolling road.  Tidewater planters stuffed the leaf into wooden casks called “hogsheads” and had them rolled to the Potomac River.

A dated (1939) but excellent primer on tobacco in North Carolina is, “Tobacco Manufacturing Industry in North Carolina.”   The author points out “North Carolina manufactures a greater volume and a greater value of tobacco products than any other similar area in the world.”

In 1926, the Tar Heel state surpassed Kentucky as the leading grower and by 1937, the output was almost twice the Bluegrass State.   The Tar Heel State’s forte was the blue flue-cured tobacco.  At one point, it made up 69% of the nation’s production.   

A word cloud from this rich history would include the leaf growers, the handlers, the auctioneers, the sellers, and the cigarette workers in the manufacturing centers in Winston Salem, Durham, and Reidsville.   

At that time, Greensboro stood out as the chief maker of cigars.   Winston-Salem got its name from two brands of cigarettes made by R.J. Reynolds, and Durham might as well be called Duke City.   Exact numbers are hard to know but safe to say education in North Carolina owed something to the sale of tobacco.   

 

ACC Tournament

As we have seen, the Generals, the Cougars, and the Big Four Tournament were key components of the Coliseum’s great stretch in the first half of the 1970s.    The star of the show was, of course, the ACC Tournament.   

The obvious appeal of the three-day tourney was the quality of the Big Four teams and the intensity of the rivalries.   It’s also worth repeating that until 1975, the only way to advance to the NCAA tournament in March was to win the conference tournament.    The regular season runner-up could get an invite to the NIT, but by the early 70s, that tourney was losing some of its luster.     

In his March 8, 1970 column, “ACC Tourney Tickets — They’re Like a Gold Mine,” Smith Barrier wrote, “An ACC tournament ticket is about the most precious sports ducat in the southeast.”   

He also told his readers all tickets had sold out each year beginning in 1965, and that “the demand has practically eliminated the college student.”   He added, “tickets are tied in with contributions to the athletic department.” 

Raleigh and its Reynolds Coliseum had grabbed the glory as host of the tournament from the ACC’s first season in 1954 to 1966.   During that time, only about two dozen teams across the country made it to what would become known as March Madness.  1969 brought an increase but only to 25.  In 1975, the number would rise to 32.   

Greensboro hosted the tournament in 1967, followed by Charlotte in ’68-’70.   Greensboro then gained it on a regular basis beginning in 1971 and has even trademarked the term, “Tournament Town” with the commensurate marketing campaign.

 

1971

SC 52, NC 51

Forgotten in these tales of ACC basketball are the South Carolina Gamecocks.   A force they once were, winning the Southern Conference in ’27, ’33, ’34, and ’45.   Then came the Frank McGuire era.   After he guided St. John’s to a bit of glory, McGuire turned around the program at Chapel Hill in just two seasons.   He then signed on with South Carolina in 1964.  His teams went a combined 69-16 from ’68 to ’71 with John Roche taking back to back ACC Player of the Year Awards.   The Gamecocks beat State (42-39) in the 1970 ACC tourney in Charlotte, in a double OT thriller.

In 1971, the year Greensboro regained the tournament for a five-year run, South Carolina finished the season with a 23-6 record, ranked number six in the country, and finished second in the ACC.   Led by a pair of junior forwards, Dennis Wuycik (18.4) and Bill Chamberlain (14.4), North Carolina went 26-6, ranked 13th, and won the regular season.   The two would meet in the ACC finals.

With the eight teams, the tournament had a perfect symmetry to it.   Work productivity and school attendance took a dip in Greensboro on that Friday afternoon, with Game One tipping off at noon, followed by Game Two around 2 pm.   After a smoke and supper break, Game Three started at 7.  Game Four began around 9.    

The finals in 1971 were what perhaps some dubbed a Carolina Classic.  The Tar Heels had many fans in Greensboro and had played four times there during the regular season.   

With six seconds left, things looked good for Dean Smith’s squad.   With Carolina leading by 1, a jump ball was called between 6’3 Kevin Joyce and 6’10 center Lee Dedmon.  Somehow, Joyce out-leapt Dedmon and tapped the ball to center Tom Owens who laid it in for the 52 to 51 win.  This was their only such title and South Carolina left the conference the following season.   

Smith Barrier pointed out the crowd of 15,170 set a conference and coliseum record for paid attendance.  He added that the working press table had 100 seats, plus another 18 in the radio boxes, and 30 photographers.

After South Carolina beat UNC in 1971, Maryland pulled off a rare accomplishment.  They made the finals of the tournament three times in a row (72,73,74).  This kicked off an era where the Big Four did not dominate as they had before.  In fact, the only Big Four finals in the 1970s were 1975 (UNC-State), 1978 (Duke-Wake Forest) and 1979 (UNC-Duke).  And the next time wouldn’t be until 1987 (State-UNC).

 

1972

UNC 73 MD 64

South Carolina was gone, but Maryland was just getting started.   Under the guiding hand of Charles Grice Driesell, the Terps would make it to the finals of the tournament in Greensboro in ’72, ’73, and ’74.

“Lefty” they called him.   Born in Norfolk, he played center for Duke from 1951-1954.  Driesell then turned around a struggling program at Davidson, located near Charlotte.  The small college that would produce the great Stephen Curry, went 176-65 under Driesell, and made the NCAA tournament three times.  Twice they advanced to the Elite Eight.  Driesell then arrived at College Park in 1969 and turned around the program at Maryland. 

It's hard to know what Lefty Driesell thought about playing in the Greensboro Coliseum.   He surely reveled in the chance to showcase his team in the big spotlight.  For a catchy title to an article about the Tar Heels, more than once did Sports Illustrated take a page from the song “Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina.”  One can imagine Driesell thinking, “Nothing could be finer than to beat Carolina in the ACC tournament.”

Perhaps some fans saw Driesell as a lovable foe.  Whatever the sentiments, Maryland’s head coach provided moments of entertainment, like flashing the two-finger V sign to his fans and raising his hands to fire up his defense.   A history of the Coliseum would be incomplete without mentioning the time (March 5, 1982) Lefty stomped on a chair and was billed for it by Coliseum Director Jim Oshust.

In his first season, ’69-’70, Maryland went 13-13 followed by 14 and 12.  Then Driesell brought in Tom McMillen and Len Elmore for the 71-72 season.    The team went 27-5, was ranked as high as fifth, and finished in second behind North Carolina.

In the tourney, Clemson darned near upset Maryland in the first round, but the Terps survived 54-52.   Maryland beat Virginia in the semis, but lost to the Tar Heels in the finals 73 to 64.

For Greensboro, always a second home for the Tar Heels, the tournament in 1972 was a special treat.   Greensboro-born Bob McAdoo was the team’s star center.  His father worked at North Carolina A&T, whose campus was just a few miles from the Coliseum.   In his only season with Carolina, McAdoo averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds.  In the championship tilt versus Maryland, McAdoo won the MVP honors.

 

1973 

State 76 MD 74

For the 1972-1973 season, Lefty Driesell added freshman point guard John Lucas to juniors McMillen and Elmore and senior Jim O’Brien.   What a coup Lucas was, a native of Durham.

But the Wolfpack were loaded, too.   Norm Sloan had recruited a 6’4 forward from Shelby, a small town near Charlotte.  He burst on the scene in ’71-’72 averaging 35.6 points.   Sloan added tiny Monty Towe to join sophomores Thompson and giant Tom Burleson.    The result was a perfect 27 and 0 season.  Perfect, except the NCAA had slapped the cuffs on Sloan for a recruiting violation with Thompson.   

NC State was denied a slot in the NCAA tournament, but they could still strut their stuff in Greensboro.   While Maryland cruised over Clemson, Wake stunned the Tar Heels 54 to 52 in OT. 

State beat Maryland 76-74 in the finals, but it was Maryland advancing to the NCAA.   They earned a bye and then beat Syracuse 91-75, but lost to Providence 103-89.    

 

1974 ACC Tourney

State 103, MD 100

Dean Smith had another great team for the ’73-’74 season.   Bobby Jones, Darrell Elston, Walter Davis and Mitch Kupchak all averaged more than ten a game.   The Heels tipped off their 28 game slate in Greensboro, a 94 to 74 cakewalk over Houston.   The Heels also beat Kentucky, Duke and Florida State in the Coliseum.   They were 20-4 coming into the ACC tournament, ranked number six. 

All good stuff, but there were two better teams in the league that season.  Maryland was 23-5 and ranked number four in the final AP poll. Ranked number one in the country in the final six weekly polls, Sloan’s Wolfpack were 30-1, 12-0.  Carolina’s four losses were one to Maryland and three to the Wolfpack.

The 1974 tourney would be a repeat of State and Maryland.  Driesell must have been over the moon after beating Dean’s Tar Heels 105 to 85 in the semis.   They had warmed up their Tobacco Road romping by beating Duke 85 to 66.

After he lost to State, a third straight title tilt defeat, Driesell must have felt like Sisyphus.   But what a game it was.   

The oddsmakers liked State, but Maryland was 21 and 4 and on a roll, winning its last 10 games.  Their dismantling of the Tar Heels the night before had surely gotten Sloan’s attention.  Nevertheless, the Wolfpack had been ranked number one in the nation since February 20th.   The Greensboro Coliseum gave them home court advantage (attendance 15,451), although one wonders just how much.

The game lived up to expectations and predictions it would be close.  Maryland blistered the nets with a 63.4%, while State made half.    The high scoring affair soared past norms when there wasn’t a shot clock and three pointers.   There was only four turnovers.

With the game tied at 97, McMillen made a steal.  Lucas missed a 25-footer as time expired.   In OT, Lucas, no doubt exhausted, made a bad pass to Elmore.   With six seconds left, Towe drained both ends of one and one for the win.

“State Wins Epic Final, 103-100 in OT” read The Washington Post’s morning paper. 

Paul Attner said the game was perhaps the finest of all the 21 ACC tournament finals.   40 years later, Dan Collins of the Winston Salem Journal wrote it was, "the greatest basketball game in the long and storied history of the Atlantic Coast Conference."   Other writers have expressed similar thoughts. 

It’s hard to believe now, but Maryland used just seven players and State only six in the game.   Burleson led all scorers with 38.  Thompson added 29.   Maryland’s balanced sheet read —  McMillen and Howard, 22, Elmore and Lucas 18.  State was a woeful 15 for 26 from the charity stripe.  But Burleson was the difference with his 18 for 25 shooting, 13 rebounds and 38 points.

Maryland was invited to the NIT, but the players said no.

 

A March to Remember

The Greensboro Coliseum website notes its set of facilities holds more than 1,000 events a year and more than 65 million patrons have turned the stiles.  Picking a most remarkable or memorable month out of that 60 plus years period would be tough, but a case could be made for March, 1974.

After the ACC tournament and the State-Maryland thriller (March 7,8,9), fans turned their attention to both the Generals and Cougars, who were once again in contention for the playoffs.   

On Sunday, March 10, the Cougars beat the Kentucky Colonels, 94 to 91, to get to within two games of first place.   Attendance was 6,694.   Carolina also played on March 15, beating Utah 114 to 105 in front of 8,992, and on March 18, a 100-93 loss to San Antonio (4,679).

The Generals were facing their arch rivals, the Charlotte Checkers, in a best of seven, first round series.   They played Game Three at the Coliseum on March 11, and Game Four on March 16.    The Generals ended up losing the series 4 games to 2.

Music fans were in heaven during this time.  Elvis was in the house on the 13th, a ticket perhaps hotter than the ACC tournament final.    On the 17th, Charlie Rich, the “Silver Fox,” stepped on the stage.   His set list included the silky smash hits, “Behind Closed Doors,” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.”  The Daily News pointed out, “Greensboro is in the unique position of being host this coming week to the two hottest male vocalists in the country, Elvis and Charlie Rich.”

Before the ACC tournament on March 7-9, the CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) had played theirs at the Coliseum (Feb 28 - March 2). In front of a Sunday crowd of 9,693, the Spartans of Norfolk State grabbed the glory and the trophy by beating Johnson C. Smith 74-65.   Sophomore center Gene Cunningham, born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia, starred with 23 points and 12 rebounds.   With Cunningham leading the way, Norfolk State won the CIAA tourney in ’74, ’75 and ’76.

The first playing of the CIAA tournament was in March 1946 at Turner’s Arena in Washington, DC.   The site shifted to Baltimore, then Durham and Winston-Salem, before Greensboro hosted in 1960 and from 1964 to 1975.   The CIAA, composed of historically black colleges and universities, has a proud history that goes back to 1912.  It is one of the oldest athletic conferences.   Their website points out that the tournament move to Greensboro shifted it “into the era of the super crowds.”   

Greensboro-based North Carolina A&T won the tourney in 1937, 1958, 1959, 1962 and 1964.   Cal Irvin, brother of Monte Irvin and a shortstop in the Negro Leagues, led the Aggies to four of those titles.   A&T is no longer in the conference, but the six other universities in the state make up the heart of the league.

 

The Final Four

The bracket in 1974 had 32 teams.   Drawing byes were State in the East, UCLA in the West, Michigan in the Mideast and Kansas in the Midwest.   Michigan and its head coach Johnny Orr stood on the cusp of greatness, while Kansas had been winning titles since “Phog" Allen arrived in 1907, replacing the game’s inventor James Naismith.   

John Wooden had arrived in Los Angeles in 1948.   The Bruins did not win the conference from 56-57 to 60-61, but what they did after that is one of sport’s greatest dynastic runs.    A great trivia question is —  What season did UCLA not win the NCAA tournament from 1963-1964 to 1972-1973? (1965)  Bonus points for knowing Oregon State won the conference that season.

State, UCLA, and Kansas all advanced to the Final Four, while Michigan lost to Al McGuire’s Marquette 72 to 70.

State began their journey with some home cooking, the friendly confines of Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.   Coach Sloan watched his Wolfpack take care of Providence 92 to 78.  Thompson poured in 40 points.   

In the Regional Final, and with another dose of home cooking at Reynolds Coliseum, State then took on Pittsburgh, ranked seventh in the nation with a 22 and 3 record.   During the season, they had won 19 in a row.   

Reynolds was, of course, packed to the gills for the Saturday afternoon game.   State was winning 24 to 21 when Thompson came roaring down the lane and leapt high to try and block a shot.  He came down hard on Phil Spence’s shoulder and landed on the back of his head.   

After four minutes of being unconscious and some of his blood pooling on the floor, Thompson was rushed to Rex hospital.  12,400 in attendance fell into a stunned silence. 

Smith Barrier tells us C.A. Dillion made an announcement in the second half.  “X-rays have been taken and they show there were no fractures.” 

A stitched up and bandage-clad Thompson returned to the arena with about seven minutes left in the game.  His teammates had responded to the crisis and were winning 79 to 59.  State won 100-72.   Thompson recovered in time for the next game.

Meanwhile, Marquette took the Mideast final in a 72 to 70 thriller over Michigan in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, while Kansas topped Oral Roberts 93 to 90 in OT.   Out west, UCLA marched like Patton’s Army over the Dons of San Francisco, 83 to 60.   

The Greensboro Daily News provided special coverage for the Final Four at the Coliseum.  It’s interesting to note that wikipedia currently points out the term Final Four can be traced to Ed Chay, a late Plain Dealer sportswriter, in a story he wrote in 1975.   The Greensboro Daily News used the term in a small headline on March 23 — “Final Four Arrive Today to Launch NCAA Event.” 

They also noted its playing in Greensboro marked the first time in the South and that tickets for the State-UCLA game had gone for $400 ($2,280).   Tom Einstein pointed out the four teams, ranked 1, 2, 3, and 6 in the nation, made up “one of the most solid fields ever for the finals.”

Initially, practice sessions at the Coliseum on Friday were to be closed door sessions.  But the NCAA changed their mind.  5000-6000 showed up to watch.   Records of such were not kept, but an NCAA official was quoted as saying that figure was one of the highest he had seen.

The sports reporters converged on Greensboro like never before and probably will never again.   NBC had the coverage.   That Saturday morning, subscribers of the Greensboro Daily News and Record read Barrier’s column, “The Long Road of the 1974 finals,” told how Greensboro had gotten the Final Four.

After the announcement that Coliseum would increase the venue’s capacity to 15,500, Barrier talked with Bob Kent, the Coliseum’s manager about submitting a bid.   In March 1969, NCAA executive director Walter Byers nodded and referred Barrier to the committee.    The chairman was Dr. Tom Scott of Davidson.

A team of suits consisting of Barrier and Jim Oshust, who replaced Kent (who had been promoted to the same position in Atlanta), Woody Durham of WFMY, and two others made their bid in July 1970.   The NCAA approved it the following January.

In his column, Barrier pointed out that tickets had gone on sale April 1, 1973.   A back up at the Greensboro downtown post office reached ten blocks away.  Ticket demand of 136,000 was “an all-time record for sellouts in any sport, eleven months in advance.”

The first two games were on Saturday, played at 1 and 3. An estimated 27 million fans watched the State-UCLA game, the most ever at that time for a semi-final game.

Maybe for some, watching the Final Four felt like a tonic.  Americans had grown weary of the Watergate scandal.  On March 1, Walter Cronkite told the nation a grand jury had indicted former members of the President’s staff.   The Oil Embargo and panic buying had produced long lines at the pumps.  The war in Vietnam had divided the country.

The Associated Press covered predictions for the game.  Crystal ball gazers were reminded that UCLA had given State what would prove to be its only loss of the season, an 18-point margin in St Louis in December.   But Dayton gave the Bruins fits in the West Regionals.   Thompson had healed, but questions swirled over if he was 100%.

It had taken State one overtime to beat Maryland in the ACC final.  It took two to topple UCLA.  With about three minutes left, it looked like the Wizards of Westwood dynasty would win their eighth straight NCAA championship. 

Behind 74-67 with 3:27 to play in the overtime, State fought back.  Thompson hit clutch shots and twice Towe made both ends of a one and one.  Burleson made a key steal.   The lighted dots below Greensboro Coliseum read:  State 80 UCLA 77.  

The writers gave Burleson credit for not being dominated by Walton as the key difference.  In the press conference, Coach Sloan said the home crowd helped.    Wooden said “critical mistakes” hurt his team.   Walton’s 29/18 led all players while Thomson’s 28 led State. 

Everett Case had passed away in 1966 but he was somewhere smiling.  But wait, the team still had to play on Monday night.   

With balanced scoring (Thompson 21, Towe 16, Rivers and Burleson 14), the Wolfpack beat Marquette 76-64.   The title win was State’s first, repeated only by Jim Valvano’s team in 1983.    

In their book, “The Road to March Madness:  How the 1973-1974 Season Transformed College Basketball,” authors Samuel Walker and Randy Roberts make the case that this season was “pivotal in the making of” March Madness.

Among their points are that NC State’s championship gave credibility and prestige to the conference on the national stage.   For all its swagger, the ACC had not won the title since UNC’s 1957 win over Kansas.   

The authors quote Doug Krikorian, a writer for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner who wrote that there is more to this state than “grits, tobacco, textiles and Hillbillies.”   

And by beating UCLA and then winning it all, State “presented an opportunity to build even greater interest in participation in the tournament and a shot at the national title were extended to a large number of deserving schools.”

For the 1975 tournament, the NCAA committee approved what some had called the “Maryland rule.”  The  tournament increased to 32 teams and where selected, two entries from the same conference.   

TV ratings increased to 42 million, a new high.    CBS outbid NBC and began promoting the tournament in a bigger way.   Year-by-year everything got bigger and bigger with more and more teams qualifying.  March Madness is a cultural phenomena.  “Bracketology” has captured even casual fans.  Last year, the tournament produced more than $1B in revenue.    

 

Concluding Thoughts

The loss of the Generals, the Cougars and the Big Four ended a great run at the Greensboro Coliseum.  The Coliseum would still hold the ACC tourney in some years, but the magic of the early 70s began to slip away.  It was no longer do or die in the tourney, and when the amount of teams in the league grew way past the original eight, some of the Tobacco Road flavoring grew stale.    Despite increasing its capacity to 23,000, the Greensboro Coliseum never again hosted the Final Four, and very likely never will.      

The fans, however, did continue to see some great action at the Coliseum.  On January 29, 1983, a crowd of 14,423 watched Michael Jordan drop 39 in a 72-65 win over George Tech.  In 1994, a game between the Greensboro Monarchs and the Charlotte Checkers drew a record crowd of 20,908.    A year later Wake beat Duke, Virginia and UNC to win the ACC tournament before a sell out crowd of 23,311.   In 1999, the Duke women upset three time defending champ Tennessee in the Regional Final, with a record breaking crowd of 11,133 on hand.   In 2003, the ACC’s 50th Anniversary season, the Coliseum hosted both the conference’s women’s and men’s basketball tournaments, marking the first time a facility hosted both tournaments back-to-back in the same venue.

All great stuff, but for some in the Gate City, the best days had come in the first part of the 70s when the Greensboro Coliseum had that glorious run.   

For one of their March 1974 issues, Sports Illustrated had put a photo of Thompson leaping past Walton on the cover, with the caption, “End of an Era.”   

In Greensboro, it surely was.

 

Jay Roberts grew up in Greensboro, living about two miles from the Coliseum.   He has long called somewhere else home, but has many fond memories of attending baseball and basketball games in his hometown, as well as hockey, and eating at Stamey's and Libby Hill.   He can be reached at [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Piscataway

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.

 

 

Newspaper Pioneer: Emily Edson Briggs

The pioneers who won recognition for women in the National Capital were not women lawyers, doctors or even educators, but the women who, in the early days of city life here, kept pace with men in the newspaper profession. — Vylla Poe Wilson, “Anne Royall, Pioneer Woman Publicist,” The Washington Post, May 10, 1931

Whether it’s Jenn White (NPR), or Christine Amanpour (CNN), or Robin Roberts (ABC), or Norah O’Donnell (CBS), or Judy Woodruff (PBS), or Sally Jenkins (The Washington Post), or other great journalists, the landscape for news reporting is fully enriched by these and many other women. 

Much, of course, is owed to the pioneers such as Margaret Fuller, Nellie Bly, Ida B. Wells and Mary Ann Shadd Cary.

We recently came across another trail blazer, Emily Edson Briggs (1830-1910).   From 1861 to 1881, she was a regular correspondent for the Washington Chronicle and the Philadelphia Press.   Let’s take a brief look at her life.

Life for Emily Briggs began in 1830 in the rural town of Burton, Ohio.  Missouri had become the 24th state in 1821, with Ohio no longer on the edge of the western frontier.   

Emily's father Robert and mother Mary raised her and her three sisters.  Robert bent metal as a blacksmith.  Emily taught school and in 1854 married John R. Briggs, who had a brief run as publisher of the Daily Whig in Keokuk, Iowa.   John and Emily had two children, John and Arthur.  Only John survived infancy and worked in real estate.

The path of so many Americans was changed by the Civil War.   In 1861, after President Lincoln appointed Briggs as assistant clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives, the couple moved to Washington.  The city was still one of “magnificent distances,” but the population during the four-year conflict swelled from 75,000 to 200,000.   There were stories around every corner.   

For most women, their fate was sealed by the societal norms of the day.   Some made the news, but rarely did they write the stories.  There were, however, a few remarkable exceptions in Washington before the Civil War.

Jane Swisshelm (1815-1884) blazed trails as not only one of the first women journalists (National Era), but also as publisher of the short-lived Reconstructionist.   Sarah Jane Lippincott (1823-1904) turned heads, writing with the pen name Grace Greenwood.  Not to be forgotten is Anne Royall, who published the Paul Pry from 1831 to 1836.  Margaret Smith (1778-1844) knocked down barriers as a writer for the influential National Intelligencer.

Emily Briggs began her career in 1861.  After seeing prejudice against women who worked as government clerks in Washington, she fired off a letter to the Washington Chronicle.    John W. Forney (1817-1881), edited the Sunday paper.   Forney knew talent when he saw it, and hired Briggs.

What was the news scene like during Emily’s time?

Fred A. Emery (“Washington Newspapers,” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, DC, 1937) and Donald A. Ritchie (“Press Gallery, Congress and the Washington Correspondents”) fill us in.

At the dawn of the Civil War, the Washington Chronicle was one of four major papers in the city.  In a situation that could never happen now, but was not uncommon at the time, Forney, the paper’s publisher, was Secretary of the Senate (1861-1868).  The other major newspapers were the National Republican, the Evening Star, and the National Intelligencer.  The pro-abolitionist National Era had shut down in 1860.   Paul Dickson tells us the National Intelligencer was the main city paper and a leading one in the nation until 1870.

The newspaper buildings, the Western Union telegraphic office, and the Willard and the Ebbitt hotels dotted the streets north of Pennsylvania, east of 14th, south of F and west of 7th.   Some time after the war, 14th Street between F and Pennsylvania earned the nickname “Newspaper Row.”   

The website, "DC Writers Homes" tells us Briggs lived in the National Hotel at Pennsylvania and 6th.   That put her just a short walk from the Chronicle and gave her more time for her work. 

Ritchie describes the reporters covering Washington after the Civil War as "hard-drinking, nose-for-news types."  They were middle-class and well-educated professionals.   Reporters wrote in long hand and type was set by hand.

Breaking into the inner circles of this all male club of cigars, liquor, and spittoons was impossible for women.   But that did not stop Emily from covering the news.   The Notable American Women website tells us she was the first woman to regularly go to the White House for news.

Emily’s male counterparts were an impressive group that included George Adams (New York World), H. A. Preston (New York Herald), Crosby Noyes (Evening Star), H.V. Boynton (Cincinnati Gazette), George Alfred Townshend (Washington Capitol), and Frederick Douglass (North Star).

It’s hard to know if Emily ever met Douglass, but in her columns, she mentioned him in a good light.  Writing about Senator Revels, she said — “he is a good man, but not great after the manner of Frederick Douglass.”

Readers of her columns in the Washington Chronicle and the Philadelphia Press knew Briggs as “Olivia.”   She began by writing book reviews and descriptions of the city during the war.

One of them read:

Washington is a Southern city in every sense of the word.  Slavery is dead, it is true, but the black man is not a citizen….  A bookstore has a set of pictures — General Washington being in the center, Jeff Davis on one side and Jesus Christ on the other.

Briggs penned her reports and observations for over twenty years.   For the Philadelphia paper, a messenger would hop on the train and deliver her column for publication in the morning paper.   

According to Ritchie, Briggs became one of the first women correspondents to use the telegraph for “spot news,” a sudden flash of important and late-breaking information."  He writes her “real talents laid in her colorful descriptions, her keen eye for social and fashion trends, and her witty style of writing.”   

Emily accompanied her husband when he reported to President Lincoln, and was a favorite of the First Family.  

About the President she wrote:

At that time, as all Americans know, Lincoln was the most jovial of men and the contrast in his appearance when I saw him at the levee was startling….  he stood there in perpetual fear of a dagger thrust or a bullet, and the warning notes of internecine strife sounding from the South. Every line in his face evidenced the kind, rugged character of the man, and every pose of his gigantic figure indicated Democratic nobility.

Of Mrs. Lincoln:

She reminded me very much of a very dear friend at home.  She was graceful, modest and kind to everybody.

Martha Joynt Kumar ("Origins of the White House Beat," White House Transition Project, 1997-2017) writes that:

One of the best known social correspondents was Emily Briggs.  She cast a wide news net, including her copy information on the operation of the WH.   Her approach became standard operating procedure for all WH correspondents, not just those tracking social receptions. She provided early institutional coverage of the WH in addition to her reporting of receptions.

The “Rambler” (Evening Star), a pioneer of sorts himself, gave Briggs her due in 1927.   He pointed out she and her husband initially lived at “Casparis House.”  Its site is near the Capitol and can be seen in “Early photographic view of Washington, D.C. from the Capitol, looking southeast.”  The address was at 11 A (Independence) Street, SE.  This location was close to the Capitol, but a long walk from the beating heart of the newspapers, downtown hotels, and the White House.

Briggs had a flair for writing about Washington society, but she wrote many a piece on politics, woman suffrage and even world affairs.  Her columns were typically about 1,200 to 1,800 words.   She covered Reconstruction, including a piece titled, “Delegates from the Southland.” In it, Briggs gave the following description of John Mercer Langston (1829-1897).

The smooth, handsome sentence of Professor Langston fell from his tongue like coin from the mint, each word having an appreciable value.  Like all of his race at the capital, he takes the deepest interest in the welfare of the freedmen farther South. 

Emily no doubt admired the women campaigning for suffrage.  In one of her pieces, she wrote:

In attendance were Elizabeth Cady Stanton — majestic and beautiful as a snowy landscape, Mrs. Pauline Davis, another exquisite picture of snow, Susan B. Anthony — hard, obdurate, uncompromising,  Josephine Green — best among women.

Emily also covered world affairs.   Her June 20, 1868 column was titled, “Anson Burlingame, His Triumphant Capture of the Inhabitants of the Flowery Kingdom.”

From 1862 to 1867, Burlingame, who had represented Massachusetts in Congress from 1855 to 1861, served as Minister to China.  The relationship was a good one, leading to the signing of the landmark Burlingame Treaty.   The agreement fostered trade and encouraged Chinese immigration to the US.

Briggs wrote:

A new and startling drama is performing on the world’s stage.The Occident and the Orient are at last united.Gray-bearded China, after being hermetically sealed during the long ages, opens her arms to embrace Young America. A countryman of ours has shown what genius and courage can accomplish in the great field of diplomacy. 

Whilst this Chinese panorama was unfolding, a graceful woman for a moment was pictured on the canvas — Mrs. Burlingame, the only woman who accompanies the party.There was a gleam of a pair of dark, lustrous eyes, a shadow cast by the heavy coils of black, wavy hair, something blue and films as Oriental gauze enveloped her fine figure: a side door opened, and the vision was gone.

Emily wrote until 1882.  She might have written even more, but as Ritchie tells us, male-dominated newspapers squeezed women out by not giving them the full time work that would have allowed them to have the credentials.  In desiring to remove lobbyists from the press, a reform movement in the late 1870s set standards.    

Banished, Emily turned her time and talents to other meaningful projects.  In 1882, she was elected founding president of the Women’s National Press Association.  

Emily must have been very proud of herself in 1906 when a collection (84) of her columns (“The Olivia Letters”) was published.   She covered many topics, including, A Plea for the Negro, At the Impeachment Trial, President Grant’s Inaugural, Woman Suffrage, Sessions of Congress, Charles Sumner, Georgetown Aristocracy, and Kate Chase Sprague.

In 1872, Emily and John acquired a notable large dwelling about six blocks south and east of the Capitol (619 D Street, SE).   It was initially known in the newspapers as Maple Square before being called The Maples. 

With the purchase, John and Emily (sadly, he died six months later) had some serious bragging rights.  William Mayne Duncanson, an early investor in the city of Washington, built the Georgian-style house in 1796.   Helen Betts points out “Duncanson, a British Army officer, could look from his house down to the Anacostia River to see ships sailing along the river.”

Other owners included Francis Scott Key, Major Augustus Nicholson (US Marines), Senator and Secretary of State John Clayton, and Count Louis Francois de Pourtales.    The house became associated with Key, but he and his family may not have lived there except for brief stays.

The house and property certainly stand out from the norm.   It is one of the oldest on Capitol Hill and still includes a strip of greenery that is uncommon in the row-house neighborhoods.   

The Rambler wrote this description in 1927:

The garden of the house, co-extensive with the square, was set with maple trees and the place had the name Maple Square.

A 1930 article in the Washington Times described Maples as:

… roomy house of colonial style, surrounded by spacious grounds, in which large maples grow.  The rooms are full of old furniture and relics of bygone time.  In the library, the bibliophile would find a thousand treasures in rare old books.   

Emily lived out her life there.   She joined that grand Washington tradition as hostess of teas and events.  The newspapers reported on her activities from time to time.   In 1899, the New York Tribune wrote about Baltimore hosting the ninth annual convention of the International League of Press Clubs.   The article highlighted Emily as well as Belva Lockwood.   Other women attending were Mrs. Juliette Babbitt and Abbie G. Baker, both special correspondents.

In the summer of 1918, with the US forces still fighting in World War II, Emily hosted an Independence Day celebration.  John Clagett Proctor, who wrote articles with a bent towards history in the Evening Star, read the Declaration of Independence.   

The following summer the papers told its readers:

Mr. and Mrs. J Edson Briggs announce the engagement of their daughter, Flora Amelia to Mr Charles K Hoover, formerly of Winchester now of Washington.  Marriage will take place at home of the bride, Maple Square.

Flora and her husband made The Maples their home.  They had acquired it from Flora’s father, and Emily’s son John Edson Briggs (1850-1928).  He passed away at Maples in September, 1928.   His obituary in the Evening Star pointed out he was one of the first presidents of the National Amateur Press Association, as well as a member of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia.   A graduate of Georgetown, he became a real estate developer. 

In 1937, the Hoovers sold the home and lot 801 to the Friendship House Association.   Emily likely would have been pleased.   The Friendship House was a settlement house, designed to “help organize the poor to advocate for themselves and create community” (Johanna Bockman, “The Lost Connections of the Friendship House”).     

In 1940, the D.A.R. unveiled a bronze tablet affixed to the home.  The thinking at that time was that George Washington might have stayed over, but a review of his diary does not reflect this.   

In 1954, Catherine Harrington wrote an article in The Washington Post (“Friendship House Door Has Been Open 50 years”) about the organization.  A guiding light was Lydia Burklin, who shepherded Friendship House starting in 1909.  Though the years, a number of events were held there to support charities.

Emily’s grandson, Edson W. Briggs, made the news a few times.  Like his father, John Edson Briggs, he worked in real estate.  Briggs took things to a higher level, developing a number of neighborhoods, including Colonial Village in the upper reaches of the District near Silver Spring.

Edson W. Briggs was first married to Minnie Louise (1886-1955). Jessie Fant Evans told her readers ("First Woman White House Correspondent," Jul 1952, Evening Star):

“The tree etchings of Minnie L. Briggs, now Mrs Henry Raul, are familiar to devotees of the old rotogravure section of the Star, in her series (1938) Washington Trees and later one, in 1942, “Tree Companions of the Road.”

In her 2019 article, “Mary Nimmo Moran and Minnie Briggs Raul,” Frances Williams details some of Minnie’s story.  Her second marriage was to Harry Lewis Raul, a noted sculptor and Art Curator with the Department of Interior.  She founded and served as the VP of the Society of Washington Etchers.   

Emily lived long enough to see the birth of her great grandson, Vernon Mason Briggs (1908-1987).  With Anne, he had two sons, Robert and Vernon Mason Jr.  They lived in Catonsville, Maryland.  Like his father, Edson, he, too, worked in real estate.

Emily Briggs passed away in 1910.   As a resident and a reporter, she had seen many things take place in the nation's capital.    Perhaps she was proud of the two newspapers that were thriving, the older Evening Star and The Washington Post.   

Emily was mourned locally and then laid to rest beside her husband in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago.   We all have our thoughts on what she would think of today’s world.  There are still inequities for woman journalists and they continue to endure harassment, prejudice and double standards.  

Personally, I think Emily would tell them to continue to push forward, and that she would be pleased to see the gains women have made.   They probably don’t all know of Emily Edson Briggs, but they would surely be proud to know she blazed trails for them.   

 

Note: 

In 1850, the book, "Ellen Parry, or Trials of the Heart" was published.  The author is listed as Olivia.   Apparently this was Emily, but I could find no indications in the newspapers.   The Wilmington Journal (North Carolina) wrote:  "This work is written with much vivacity, and delineates the influence of the misfortunes and trials of life to unfold the virtues and graces of woman’s lovely spirit."  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: George Washington Parke Custis: A Rarefied Life in America's First Family by Charles Clark

For those who have spent time looking into the history of the Parke Custis family, we've long felt it a paradox that there had been no biography on George Washington Parke Custis.  Although as Clark  honestly points out, that Custis was “not a great man,” there is a ton of material on his life that spanned from the birth of the republic to the year before the Civil War. 

Custis has received much attention as the step grandson of George Washington.   But there was more to his life than just that.  His forefathers were famous politician-planters, a multi-generation long Virginia tale of aristocracy and very sadly, ownership of large numbers of enslaved humans.   His mother was a Calvert, a family steeped in colonial fame as barons and proprietors on the Maryland side of the Potomac.

Of the four Parke-Custis kids, it has been Eleanor, the beloved Nelly, that has drawn eyes and authors.  “Wash,” the only male and last born, also saw a lot in his life, including the Mount Vernon years with George and Martha, and at Arlington House, the landmark home he built and lived in with his two Mary’s.   Famous people such as Marquis de Lafayette visited Custis, whose three Parke-Custis sisters were inaugural members of Washington’s elite “Cave-Dweller” club.

From his lofty perch overlooking the city of Washington, a panorama that included Georgetown, Alexandria, and the Potomac River, Custis witnessed much of the nation’s capital’s first half century.   In a variety of ways, the multi-talented Custis also participated in some of it.     

Ok, so I apologize for the long overture, but it’s been a long wait.   To the rescue is Arlington’s own, Charles Clark, whose new book is titled, “George Washington Parke Custis: A Rarefied Life in America's First Family.”

Let’s make no mistake.  Custis has a lot of baggage as a slave holder and many will not be interested in reading about the father-in-law of Robert E. Lee and antebellum Virginia.  Nevertheless, there are stories to be told here and Clark tells them well.   

Footnoting is outstanding.   Alexandrians will enjoy the handful of mentions about the seaport, including Custis orating in 1820 to the “Silver Grays,” an Alexandria-based militia, and his donation (parts of Washington’s tent) to the Masons.  As Clark points out, “Most of the Custis family’s social and commercial intercourse took place in Alexandria…”   He frequented bookstores and portrait studios. 

Unlike the irritating practice of books without or having very few images (remember the old saying — A picture is worth a thousands words?), this one has a good number.   One I had not seen before is Custis and Nelly circa 1789 by unknown artist, and his own “The Battle of Monmouth.”  Ephemera from the vaults includes his marriage deed and a haunting “Laissez-Passer” required of enslaved persons to leave Arlington House.

A nice bonus is “In the Footsteps of Custis,” as well as a thoughtful Afterword by Matthew Penrod, a retired National Park Service ranger and historian at Arlington House.   He touches on the ways we are grabbling with the past as seen through the lenses of our time.    

What isn’t nice is the part of Custis’s life that involved, as Clark puts it, “Hidden Interracial Sex.”   The author pulls no punches here.   He also acknowledges, the racism Custis "shared with his privileged peers,” as well as his condescending attitude toward enslaved persons.

The one and only one oversight, which does absolutely nothing to distract from this terrific book, is -- “John Custis IV who would build the importantly named Arlington Plantation on Virginia’s Eastern Shore…”   In fact, his grandfather, John Custis II built it.   Custis IV did build his own mansion in Williamsburg.

As a lover of historical markers, we hope this book will spark interest in one being erected for George Washington Parke Custis in Alexandria.   Quite frankly, we probably won’t see one for a while, but that’s ok.   Seekers of information on GWP Custis are used to waiting...

Note:  I read the Kindle version of the book. 

 

 

 

 

Carlyle Neighborhood: More History Than You Might Think

The most fascinating history of a neighborhood in Alexandria?   Carlyle, believe it or not, is certainly in the conversation. 

Note:  The area for our coverage is, at least on planning maps, called Eisenhower East.   Carlyle is a part of it and the more used name, and more developed, so we used it.

After being a backwater for many years, Rip Van Winkle woke up in the 1990s and began  a mercurial rise.   But even during those slow years, there were a variety of stories.   The one older marker in the neighborhood touches on the village of Cameron, but as the timeline shows, there are other candidates.   

From time to time in the past ten years or so, we have written about Carlyle.  “Rising” is the word we used to describe it.   Although the full buildout is still a distance away, the neighborhood is now a mature adult.  For many who whizz past the city on I-95, Carlyle’s impressive building scape might be their main visual take away.

In a piece (1990) in The Washington Post, Roger Lewis, Washington’s longtime architectural critic, had great things to say about the plans for the Carlyle neighborhood in Alexandria:

“Carlyle represents a significant, positive step in the evolution of urban design theory and practice, public land use policy and entrepreneurial initiative…  Alexandria has wisely sanctioned a durable, understandable, compelling urban design.”

We thought it a good idea to pay tribute to the neighborhood with some photos and the following timeline.  The most remarkable thing about Carlyle is just how long it remained a backwater.  Having said that, there was activity here.

For future hopes, we would like to see the construction of the “Old Cameron Run Trail,” a pedestrian and bicycle trail still on the planning boards.   A mural or two three would be great.  One idea we have is a transportation mural.   Through the years, the land that is Carlyle has seen a number of transportation stories, including horses and carts on old paths, the tall ships coming in from the Potomac, railroad tracks and yards, metro, automobiles and its infrastructures.

Note:  We give a big thank you to all the archaeologists who have conducted their studies and published their reports on this part of the city.

 

 

Timeline for Carlyle/Eisenhower East Neighborhood

 

1730s

The village of Cameron (site probably near I-95 and Telegraph Road) lies at the junction of the road to Colchester/Potomac Path (Telegraph Road) and Great Hunting Creek.

1749

Alexandria founded.  A road runs northeastward from Cameron to the seaport.

1754

Hugh West (1705-1754) buried in West Family Cemetery (vault) near village of Cameron (site on western portion of Carlyle Crossing).

1760

John West, Jr. owns 25 enslaved humans near Cameron. 

1786

Col. George West buried in West Family family cemetery.

1787

Sybil Harrison West (1705-1787) buried in family cemetery beside husband, Hugh West.

1790s

A pair of mills and a mill race built near West Family cemetery.

Early 1800s

West End rises up, teeming with the activity of “butchers, tanners, millers, carriage maker, tavern keepers, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, soap and candle makers.  Later came the selling of enslaved humans, glassmaking, brewing beer, selling dry goods and food, providing water, as well as growing flowers."

1810

Bridge built over Great Hunting Creek at modern day Route One.   Gives quicker access to Alexandria than the Cameron path.

1848

Rueben and Robert Roberts, Quaker brothers from New Jersey, acquire land and mill. 

1851

Roberts brothers sell eastern mill to the Alexandria Water Company. Continue to farm the land.

1850s

Mention is made of “Cameron Valley” in the Alexandria Gazette. 

The Orange and Alexandria RR inaugurates its service.  The line runs under a tunnel on Wilkes Street and eventually reaches Gordonsville.  

1861-1865

Fort Lyon overlooks and protects Alexandria.   Soldiers have bird’s eye view of the city.  Any timber in the area would have been cut down for firewood. 

1932

George Washington Masonic National Memorial opens.  Not within the boundaries of the neighborhood, but the temple certainly serves as a landmark.

1940s

Southern RR continues to use their Cameron Yards facilities.  Site is on and near USPTO).

1950s

Temple Trailer Village built for veterans and Federal Government workers.   Dirt roads include Lee, Temple Terrace, Mason, and Washington Drive.

City annexes land from Fairfax County.

1958

Developer Hubert Hoffman Jr (1920-2002) purchases 80 acres.   Land still mostly a back water.

1960s

Interstate 95/Capitol Beltway built, as well as Holiday Inn and Hoffman Building I.

1970s

Hoffman Building II and parking lots.

American Truckers Association built.  Site near ParcMeridian.

1980s

Metro’s Yellow Line, Eisenhower Avenue Station and Eisenhower Avenue.

“Eisenhower Valley” and “Cameron Valley” begins to show up in The Washington Post.

1990s

Roger Lewis article in The Washington Post praises plans for Carlyle, mixed-use development on 76 acre site. 

Hoffman Town Center Development

Discovery of West Family burials

2000s

Office Buildings, Residential, Hoffman 22 Theaters, US Patent and Trademark Office, Courthouse, slip ramp as part of part of new Wilson Bridge and thru/local.

2010

Lost Boy Cider

National Science Foundation

2020

Construction starts for Carlyle Crossing, which will include a Wegman’s.

2021

Marker Erected for Hubert Hoffman at end of Hoffman Street on Foundry Apartments Building.   

 

 

 

Morning Walk in Mantua

Inspired by a new book by Sue Kovach Shuman, I had a fun walk this morning through parts of Mantua, a neighborhood located between the Beltway and Fairfax.   Accotink Creek, Crook Branch and Long Branch are saving graces which run through the green oasis.  Like a lot of places in suburbia where the only thing left from the past are the water fingers, folks may not realize there is enough of a demolished past here to cover in a book. 

Much is owed to Richard Chichester (1736-1796), who obtained the patent in 1776.  His mother was Ellen Ball Chichester, a cousin to George Washington.  His second wife was Sarah McCarty.   They lived previously at Newington, which stood from 1760 to 1875 as the second Truro Parish Glebe House.   Sarah’s father was Daniel McCarty of Mount Air.   Their story is emblematic of a shifting economy away from tobacco to wheat.  The Chichesters built their mill on Long Run near where it flowed into the Accotink.  A good guess is they wanted to be closer to Alexandria but Beth Mitchell’s map of 1760 shows a number of mills already established west of Alexandria. 

Images of America books are of a varying quality.  Shuman gets an A plus for her full on research, knowledge and insight.  She covers the large petroleum leak (1990) from the storage facility on Pickett Road.   The company settled a lawsuit brought forth by the 110 homeowners.   Shuman points out this was the first time a company did so with homeowners rather than the EPA.   She also tells us Leroy Eakin’s donation of 15 acres in 1950 created the first park in the county system.   We bet he would be proud to see Mantua today, a community protecting the natural beauty, and balancing its needs in a good way.