Thomas Law and the Sugar Refinery

One of these days I'll get around to posting about Thomas Law but for now I'll just post a small bit about Mr. Law and one of the first industries in Washington DC.

Thomas Law, was born October 23, 1756, at Cambridge, England and christened at Little St. Mary's, Cambridge. Mr. Law was the sixth son of Right Reverend Edmund Law, D.D., Lord Bishop of Carlisle, and Mary.  Early on Mr. Law had amassed a small fortune in his dealing with the East India Company and by 1795 he had moved to Washington DC.  In 1796 he married Elizabeth Park Custis the granddaughter of George Washington. 

Mr. Law invested most of his savings in real estate in Washington and had several properties located in and around Near Southeast and Southwest (one of his properties is still standing in SW). He made his mark in Southeast by establishing a sugar refinery. The sugar refinery (aka The Sugar House) was the first and largest manufacturing enterprises in early Washington DC.  "The main building was eight stories high and the wing five." The industry was started about the middle of 1798, but was short lived, partly because of differences between the co-promoters of the refinery. The refinery remained idle for several years, but business was resumed in 1808 but as a brewery but that was short lived and closed in 1811. In 1817 the site reopened again as a brewery and was named Coote's brewery.  By the 1840s the building was a mass of ruins and was torn down around1847.  Sometime after 1847 the site was used fas a lumber yard (Smith Lumber Yard). Today the WASA Pumphouse occupies the site (see picture below from 1925). 

The sugar refinery is visible in the painting by George Cooke, "City View of Washington from Beyond the Navy Yard, 1833".  It the reddish/brown building to the left of the white navy yard building and directly above the tree on the Anacostia side of the river that is painted over the Eastern Branch.

Site of Sugar House in 1925

Photo courtesy of Historical Society of Washington DC

Garbage Transfer Station (NJ Ave and K St)

For years DC was plagued by open sewers but none more so than in SE with the stagnant Washington City Canal.  To piece together the history of the transfer station and the pumping station located near Yards Park is a little difficult.  By the late 1890s, after the Washington City Canal had been filled in, DC didn't have the most efficient sewer system but steps were made to improve the sewer problem in and around Washington DC.  Some of those steps involved the building of the pumping station located near the Yards park/entrance to the old canal (which can still be seen today).  Additionally, Congress and the resident associations battled as early as 1893 on where to place a new transfer station/crematory.

The first protests I could find against the creation of the transfer plant on NJ Ave came in 1905 from the East Washington Citizen's Association (Washington Post 7 Apr 1905).  The reasons they provided for relocating the proposed station as stated by Mr. Weller, vice president of the association, was simple, "We have your almshouse, your poor house, your jail...and really we can spare the garbage transfer station."  The city responded with saying that it would cost between $25,000 to $40,000 to relocate the station.  A few months later (Jun 1906) about 60 property owners petitioned the city commissioners to remove the planned station but the Washington Post reported that it was unlikely the city would remove the plant despite no contract being signed to build the station.  By 16 Jul 1907, the transfer station was operational (probably around Jul 1906) and a legal decision came down that the station could operate legally but that it should be regularly inspected.

More protests followed in 1915 from the East Washington Association.  They called for the removal of the plant and in its place the "establishment of a parked space" from 1st St SE down to the DC Water Pumping station on NJ Ave/2nd St.  As you will see over the next few decades residents and associations would continue to complain but to no avail.  By 1918, problems arose with the Washington Fertilizer Company over how to run the station.  Eventually the city paid $300,000 to take over the plant, or risked - this apparently was an option - turning it into a hog and chicken farm for the farming of fresh eggs and to fatten pork.  Even with those problems, the operation of the plant kept chugging along.

In an editorial to the Washington Post, 2 Jul 1929, a SE resident complained about conditions prevailing in the neighborhood and complained that SE was being discriminated against because of the conditions at the garbage plant.  The complaint focused on the smell, lack of service, the methods of the railroad to remove the garbage (which might explain the set of old tracks on Canal St leading to the old Post plant) and just the general disregard for the health of SE residents.  But one of the most striking comments made by the resident was a perception that could almost be made today but one that has impacted SE since 1792 was the apparent disregard for SE and it development while other parts of the city reaped the benefits of tax revenue.

By 1934 District officials had described SE as the most underdeveloped section of DC.  Piggybacking on that sentiment, complaints continued to arise about the garbage plant and by 1934, the president of the Southeast Business Men's Association (is that kinda like todays Capitol Riverfront BID) called for the (immediate) removal of the NJ Ave garbage transfer plant to another part of the city.  The group expected to raise up $1500 to bring attention to removing the station from SE (the $1500 also included several other projects w/in Se that needed attention) but needless to say, it didn't work.

By the late 1940s and despite all these protests over the years, the city thought it was a good idea to make use of the same location and build a new transfer station.  Those dreams came true on 24 Jul 1949, when a brand new two-story transfer station became operational.  The new station had replaced a nearly "50 year old loading platform for garbage, street sweepings, and household ashes from collection trucks to trailers, railway gondola cars and farmers' trucks."  This new transfer station is the same structure you can pick-up sandbags from today and dump your Christmas tress off as well.  But what people probably don't know, especially those who live in 909 at Capitol Yards and Capitol Hill Towers and who have a spectacular view of the garbage transfer plant, is that the station they live across the street from is an award winning garbage transfer plant!

In 1951, the American Public Works Association bestowed upon, William Xanten, the District superintendent of sanitation, the Charles Walter Nichols Award (and $500).  The award was in response to the construction of a $918,700 state of the art garbage transfer facility built two years earlier at NJ Ave which incorporated "a unique dust and odor control system."  I'm not sure this process is still practiced today but one of the functions of this new plant was to grind up garbage and dump it into the city's sewer system and to load street sweepings onto railroad cars for transfer to Cherry Hill, VA.  I'm not sure the grinding and dumping process still takes place today but back in the day the location would make sense with the old railroad tracks visible today, proximity to the old canal (which became a sewer) and the pumping station straight down 2nd St.

JDland.com has posted that operations at this transfer station may stop soon and over the last few weeks, there appears to be less traffic/activity at the station but that could just be an optical illusion.  Regardless, I won't hold by breath until the station is closed and the stack is down before rejoicing that it took nearly 100 years of complaining to finally remove the plant from the 'neglected' part of the city.

Been Away for a while

Been on the road the last few weeks so as soon as I get settled in, I'll get another historical post up.  Maybe something along the lines of the churches that used to occupy sites along Va Ave near 5th/6th Streets SE.

Alley Life in SE

"Cushing Place" - many people have probably driven by that alley and thought it was just another side street in DC or maybe they read about in JD's post about crime in SE and the murders that took place there.  But going back to around the turn of the century "Cushing Place" was one of the few occupied alley dwellings in SE (south of the freeway - Navy Place was larger and more notorious which eventually morphed into the Ellen Wilson Housing Projects) along with "Dick's Court and Mechanic Place."

     Cushing Place, which was located between L and M St SE and First and Half St SE was mentioned as one of those alleys that escaped demolition even as parts of SE improved at the turn of the century.   Cushing place, as described in the book Neglected Neighbors, in 1905 was an area "surrounded by by weed-grown, vacant lots, this open alley, developed before its time, is like a giant, ugly caterpillar not yet encode in chrysalis form.  The seven two-story wooden dwellings of "Cushing Place" look out towards Half Street across a vacant area about which the neighbors raise complaint.  They say the earth was taken out for use by the brickyard nearby and that water stands in the depression, stagnant, ill-smelling and breeding place for malarial mosquitoes.  Next to this the chief cause of dissatisfaction is the garbage collector whose infrequent collector whose infrequent calls are said to excuse the tenants for throwing refuse out upon the vacant lots.  There are only wooden box toilets in this alley.  The row of dwellings is ancient and weatherbeaten in appearance.  Their inner walls are spoken of as "smoked and dirty."  Four leaking roofs are reported out of the five houses entered."  As the author noted in 1908 upon a follow-up visit, some cosmetic maintenance had been performed to ward off demolished but basically the alley dwellings looked as though they did in 1905.

     "Dick's Court" which was made up of three one-story frame houses was tucked in behind a public school between M and N St and 3rd and 4th St SE - that public school was McCormick School.  Also in the vicinity of Dick's Court was Mechanic Place.  Mechanic Place was significantly larger and contained 67 residents which were all white.  Apparently not all of the residents of Dick's Court spent their lives in poverty.  According to the author, one the residents of the alley was an "inventor and Knight Templar."  Two other resident pointed out by the author was a woman who devised a double who was to blame for all her troubles and a third woman who, "having apparently worn away the glamour of the marriage ceremony by using it frequently, had subsequently attached herself to another man without the bother of a legal process.  In short, the usual alley standards were as apparent here, among the white folks, as elsewhere in colored alleys."  The conditions of the dwelling in both Dick's Court and Mechanic Place were just as squalid as Cushing Place and other alleys around Washington DC.  In Dick's Court, the only privies were wooden toilet boxes which contained a roof but were without cover in the front and were lined with wood and dirt.  As with other alleys, water had to be carried in from long distances since there were no hydrants or running water within the alleys.  By 1908, the author noted that the alleys were vacant even though the dwellings remained.  The author also took note of the close proximity to the McCormick School, "...intimate proximity to the McCormick public school suggests dual standard of public education.  That is, though the housing conditions which it tolerates the community often permits the teachings of its educational institutions to be undermined."  While it doesn't say when these alleys were ultimately razed, it is probably a safe bet to say they were razed along with McCormick School as the Navy Yard expanded westward.

     Not every "alley" in Washington DC was occupied or lived in but a lot were - especially in SW but with the "urban renewal" no real alleys remain.  However, in SE one alley that still retains some of the characteristics (layout of the alley) from the early 1900 is "Ruppert's Row."  Ruppert's Row can be visited by entering the alley on 3rd St between C St and PA Ave SE.  While the alley has been modified over the years you may be able to get a feel of the isolation the residents endured and how whole communities could develop in the alleys.

Note:  After doing research on "Cushing Place" I tried to find out why the alley and today's street had the name Cushing.  D.C. had an association with three famous Cushings since the late 1700s:  Civil War hero CDR William Cushing, U.S. Attorney General Caleb Cushing and Supreme Court Justice William Cushing.  The book "George Washington Never Slept Here," states that the alley was named after Attorney General Caleb Cushing.   The problem I feel is that the author just assumed that both Cushing Places NW and SE were named after the same Cushing.  I have been unable to determine if that is in fact true but my belief is that Cushing Place SE was named after CDR Cushing who served as Executive Office of the Navy Yard.  NW DC just seemed like a more fitting place to name a street after an attorney general rather a starting to be run-down SE DC.  Plus with a Civil War hero stationed near by - it would make sense to name a street near the Navy Yard after him rather than an Attorney General.

Va Ave Tunnel Part 1a: Next Few Updates

After reading JD's page it appears there are a lot of arm-chair lawyers and some real lawyers out there digging for the legislation of the VA Ave Tunnel.  In Part 1, I  provided two dates about the approval of the tunnel but didn't go any further and I didn't really want to but since there is some interest out there I'll go that route.  Part 2 will really be nothing more than posting articles that talk about the right of way and approval of the tunnels (Va Ave and 1st St).  Part 3 will talk about the Navy Yard Tunnel (where you can still a piece of those rails), construction of the Va Ave Tunnel along with some cool pictures of both tunnels and maybe some articles relating to the construction.  Part 4 is gonna be my favorite because I have come across a ton of articles (okay maybe a few) of early DC residents complaining about the train whistles - 'Trains waking babies on Capitol Hill since the 1880s' or 'Capitol Hill residents complaining about trains since the 1880s'.  The complaining started in the 1880s and its still happening today with one of the latest complaints bing verbalized by ANC6B Commissioner Neil Glick.  According to Mr. Glick the train whistles have gotten louder the last couple of years (would love to see how you prove that since inversions, temperature and prevailing wind direction all combine to help make the whistle louder or softer - plus you have the train conductor's mood when he blows the horn) but not all the whistles come from CSX trains - so don't blame every whistle you hear on CSX - Amtrak is out there blowing too.  Legislation.  I'm not a lawyer, I'll never pretend to be one, not a fan of them except the one I'm dating so I'll keep this to the old articles.....

McCormick School

The first school to 'experiment' with summer school within Washington D.C. was located right here in Near-SE but you won't find it standing today.  That first school was McCormick School which was located at 3rd between M and N St SE just north of today's Yards Park.  Prior to the construction of McCormick School, a public tobacco inspection station occupied the site.

McCormick School was built in 1870 and eventually became the test bed for summer school within the Washington D.C. school system in 1899.  The Washington Post reported that the summer school experiment was in fact a success and summer school was expanded throughout the District..  However, by 1906, due to decreasing budgets the school fell into disrepair, “The McCormick School in Southeast Washington is said to be in a dilapidated and unhealthy condition. It is a two-story frame structure with poor sewage and ventilation and plumbing and its quarters are inadequate to accommodate the number of school children living in the area."  The school did manage to stay open for a few years later but in limited capacity and eventually the school was razed as the Navy Yard continued its westward expansion.

Marine Barracks is this 1969 All Over Again?

We have all heard the story about the Marine Barracks on 8th SE.  So no need to bore you with the history of those barracks.  What I want to focus on is the expansion of the Marine Barracks south of the SW/SE Freeway.  Next to the CSX/Virginia Ave tunnel project this might be the second most contentious development issue south of the SW/SE Freeway.

What ever side you are on, you should read this article published by the Washington Post August 2 1969.  By 1969, the freeway had been constructed to 6th St SE (it would be a few more years before it would be finished) and the Marines were eyeing land just north of the freeway to expand their barracks.  Even in 1969 you had a NIMBY syndrome.  As you will read in the article the Marines choose that spot for a few reasons:  the land was cheaper, it would "break the integrity" of the historic barracks plus it was convenient for troop movement.  Now lets fast forward 41 years and read a letter from Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.  You'll notice that in her letter the word 'convenience.'  So why, separated by 41 years is it that word still in this debate about the construction of barracks?  This time convenience may result in the loss of a community garden, (historic) homes and businesses.  Maybe Congresswoman Norton's letter will spur the Marines to develop a plan that looks for a different site that would retain the sense of community that has sprung up around the Va Ave park area in the last five years.  Or is this 1969 all over again?

The image above is actually two images - click on bottom image for article.
Published by Washington Post Aug 2 1969