Evening Star Newspaper, April 10, 1932, Page 75

e seen by those passing alcng the Woodley lane road. It is mow ocoupied by Chief Engineer Henderson, U. S. N. Mr. Forrest built upon his place, Rcsedale, a frame house, which is still standing, although much changed, and is now occupied by two oi Mr. Grezn's sisters. At his death the place was leit to his two sons and two daughters, the latter being Mrs. Dr. Bowie of Georgetown and Mrs, Green. The sons died without heirs, and the property descended to the two daughters. In 1868 Rosedale was subdivided, and upon the 28! acres which have just been purchased for the President, for $21,500, was erected a two-ztory stone house. To the east of this was another subdivision, consisting of 16 aeres, which be- longs to Mme. Iturbide, one of the daughters of Mrs. Green, who scme years ago married Count TIturbide. who was then the Minister from Mexico. The son by this marriage was adopted by King Max'millian, and in this way became the heir to the tiirone of M-xico before the republic was esiablishad. Mrs. Iturbide and her son are now li in7 in Mexico, “The house occupied by Mrs. Green, as well as the grounds, will nc~d some improvements before the Pre:ident can take possession. The house is already rcomy, there being a wide central hall and rooms cn each side with spacious porches. It is understood that it i the intention to replace the present high roef with & mansard, and at one corner build a tower from which a view can be had, it is said, as far down the river as Mount Vernon. ‘The elevation of the hous» is 388 feet above PRISIDENT CLEVELAND believed in prac- tcing what he preached, that “a public office was a public trust,” and for that reason he did not see any reason why the Army should supply him with a Summer residence at the Soldiers’ Home, as had been a custom with other Presidents for a number of years. However, the offer was made to him, but he politely declined, no doubt for the reason stated. Along this line, a contemporaneous story says: “President Cleveland has become a real estate owner Just about the time Miss Folsom arrived in New York on her return from Europe he completed the purchase of a house and tract of about 30 acres of land on the Tenallytown road, one and a half miles north of Georgetown, and about three miles away from the White House. Last Summer when occupy that house he declined, having a strong cenviction against the propriety of using a building maintained by the contributions of " the Army. “The White House becomes a monotonous residence for one who is confined to its four walls and the almost constant visits of place- -hunters and anxious officers. To find a piace aot teo remote from the Executive Mansion out in the country the President drove about on a prospecting tour, and a modest little gray stone house on high ground, from the front of which an extensive view of the hills of Virginia, the Potomac River, and the Capital was obtainable, arrested his attention. After some negotlations it was purchased for him at cost of $21,500 and the deed was registered his name. “It is a place with a long but not important history in the office of the recorder of deeds. R has been variously named ‘Pretty Prospect,’ _“Resedale’ and ‘Forest Hill’ but the latter designation is the one by which it is to be _kmown. The house is constructed of rubble, square, and with a slightly pitched roof, and with an extension kitchen, with servants’ rooms above. On the parlor floor are parlor, library, dining room pantry and kitchen. There are five chambers, moderately spacious, well lighted and ventilated, on the second floor. The piazza on the south side, fronting the road, commands the best view, and was an attractive feature to the President when he fitst saw the place. Nearby is Woodley, formerly the home of Philip Barton Key, and not far away is the country place of Secretary Whitney, which has been known as Grassland. Mme. Iturbide, who married Count Iturbide, formerly Mexican Minister, has a place in the neighborhood. “The country nearby is not altogether at- tractive to the Northern eye, accustomed to more fertile farms, greener fields and more luxuriant trees, but for the purposes of the Preésident the place is admirable. It is not his imtention to occupy it as a permanent resl- dence, even for the Summer, unless it should happen to prove attractive to Mrs. Cleveland. He contemplated only the occasional resort to it in extremely hot weather, when the tempera- ture is always higher in the city than it is outside the line of asphalted pavements, and when he feels compelled to apply himse}f to tasks that ought not to be interrupted by casual visitors. On such days as those he had in mind, when the city is sweltering and work in the White House is out of the question, he believes that he can go to the broad hall at Forrest Hill, and, seated at a table over which the unobstructed breeze has full play, devote himself uninterruptedly to a good deal of serious business, which would be difficult to expedite in the White House, open as it is from morning until night to every person who chooses to ca'.” HE outgrowth of the purchzses made in this part of the District by Mr. Cleveland, Wil- liam C. Whitney and others, was the platting of nearby farm land into what is now Cleve- - land Park, Chevy Chase and other subdivisions in this section of the C>pital, ang which has grown today to be a good sized city. Of course, Mr. Whitney made money—he knew how to— and Mr. Cleveland sold cut a few years later for $140,000, or a gross profit of $118,500. " Col. Robert 1. Fleming became the owner of Red Top about 30 years ago and used it as his Summer residence. charging its name to Oak View. Later the building went into other hands, and more recently it was entirely removed, and a handscme modern residence now occupies a part of the site, which was between Macomb and Newaik and Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth streets. Rosedale, a brick away to the north, still stands as a reminder of the Revclutionary pstriot who once lived there, and, though the Green family, descend- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 10, 1932 Old sione building in the rear of The Highlands on Wisconsin avenue, erected by James (son of Joseph) Mourse during the Civil War. ants of Gen. Forrest, was quite a large one, yet it went into other hands some six or seven years ago. At the time Cleveland bought Red Top the Green sisters and brothers, grand- children of Uriah Forrest, included Miss Nan- nie Green, Mrs. Devereau, Mrs. Norton, Miss Augustine Green, who married the Mexican Minister, Count Iturbide; George and Osceola Green, and there might have been others. Uriah Forrest had four children, two sons and two daughters. One daughter married Dr. Bowie, the cther Mr. Green. The sons died unmarried and intestate, and their property’ interest went to their sisters—Mrs. Bowie and Mrs. Green—before mentioned. OSEPH NOURSE, the Register of the Treas- ury, to whom the writer referred recently in connection with Bellevue was also con- siderably interested in real estate along Wis- consin avenue in the vicinity of the Cathedral, where he purchased a farm after disposing of “To the east of Twenty-eighth tending southerly from Q to P street erly to Mill street, is Bellevue. part passed from Beall to 1796 and included a large street, which had not then far to the east. Between thea & Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Duvall immediately conveyed to Nourse, and all payments of purchase money were made into the Treasury. A few years later Nourse purchased the western part from Beall, making the tract as it existed wntil a comparatively short time ago. It is more than probable that the row of Lombardy poplars along Twenty-eighth street front, which by their size and beauty formed one of the great attractions of the town, was planted during the ownership of Nourse. * * * “In 1813 the entire tract was sold by Nourse to Charles Carroll of Bellevue, nephew of Daniel Carroll, the Federal commissioner, and brother of Daniel Carroll of Duddington. The fact that he and his brother had shortly before purchased the paper mill on Rock Creek, just below Bellevue, may have b2en the inducement for making it his home. A few years later he removed to Livingston County, N. Y. where he died in 1824. In the deed to him he is styled ‘Charles Carroll of Bellevue,” and so signed himself in his will. As he had not used the designation prior te acquiring the property, it would seem that he adopted it at that time. Since then the place has been known as Bellevue.” NCIDENTALLY, the latter name has now been changed by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, to Dumbarton House, the restoration work on which was done, the writer is informed, under the direc- tion of our own local architect, Horace W. Peaslee, with Piske Kimball serving in a con- sulting capacity on certain items. Joseph Nourse had much to do with the set- tling of the city. Indeed, he was one of the first Government officials on the ground here when the transfer was made from Philadel- phia following the ending of the first session of the Sixth Congress, May 14, 1860, and many of the boxes sent here at that time were addressed to him Of this important event Christian Hines has recorded in his “Recollections,” as follows: “About this time, 1800, the seat of Govern- ment was being removed from Philadelphia to Washington City. The vessels, in which were brought furniture, etc,, landed and discharged their cargoes at Lear’s wharf, and as the ves- sels were unladen their contents were carted away to the War and Navy Offices, the only two that were built at the time. Some of the furniture was stored away in the stone ware- house and afterward taken away in wagons, being too bulky to be removed in carts. Wag- ons were rather scarce in Washington then, and our cart was engiged with others im re- moving the boxes of bocks, papers, ete. I still remember that many of the boxes were marked, ‘Joseph Nourse, Register.’ “In the course of a few days I became ac- quainted with and obtained the names of several clerks and messengers who were about the wharf attending to the unicading and re- moval of the Government property from the vessels. The names I now recoliect are Mr. Crawford (afterward proprietor of the Union Hotel, Georgetown), who seemed to me to be the principal manager; Benjamin Betterton, James Hodnett, Mr. Burrows, Mr. Fogle and Mr. Poor, mess:_ngers.” Though generally quite accurate, yet Mr. Hines has been criticized for referring to the War and Navy offices as being “the only two that were built at the time,” when, as a matter of fact, the Treasury Building was the only one then ready for occupancy. Mr. Hines was born in 1781, and his recollections of the city bear date of 1866, so a few slips of this kind are not so bad, afier all. BUT whatever Mr. Hines may have said, the removal of the public records to this city was not such an easy job as one might suspect, and, in addition, economy was then urged, just as we find it being impressed upon us today, as we can see by President Adams’ executive order of May 15, 1800, in which he says: “The President requests the several heads of departments to take the most prudent and economical arrangements for the removal of the public offices, clerks and papers, accord- ing to their own best judgment, as soon as may be convenient, in such mapner that the public offices may be opened in the city of Washington, for the dispatch of business, by the 15th of June.” However, whether economy was exercised or not, the entire amount expended for this re- moval of the Capital was $48,165.57, and in looking over the records we find such items as: “To Jacob Wagner, for packing boxes and trunks purchased by him for the removal of the books and papers bclonging to the office of the Secretary of State, including carting, $222.61. “To Hazen Kimball, clerk of the office of the Secretary of State, for himself and the other clerks of said office for expenses in- curred in removing from Philadelphia to Washington, $1225.43.” Indeed, the Government defrayed all ex- penses incurred by the empiloyes and their families in removing to Washington, an amount which came close to $24,000. Regarding the receipt of the Government records in this city, J. B. Osborne, a more re- cent and accurate writer on the subject, in speaking of War and Navy records says: “The bulk of the records of the War and Navy Departments was first stored in Lear’s warehouse, s stone structure, near the foot of Twenty-fifth street west, owned by Col. Tobias Lear, at one time private secretary to Gen. Washington. Several weeks prior to the re- moval, a three-story brick building, owned by Joseph Hodgson and located on the south side of Pennsylvania avenue, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second streets, had been leased as a temporary War office awaiting the com- pletion of the executive office to the west of the President’s house. The War Depart- ment took posscssion of the Hodgson property in June and remained there until November 8, 1800. when the building was destroyed by fire. The Navy Department also leased @ building, or at least & part of one, in the vicinity of the Presidert’s house. The general post of- fice was located near the corner of Ninth and E streets northwest, in a large three-story house owned by Dr. Crocker. Mr. Abraham Bradley, jr., Assistant Postmaster General, had charge of the removal, leaving Phila- delphia May 27 and arriving at Washington on the evening of May 29. “So much confusion exists on the subject of the original executive buildings that I pre- sent here the results of an examination of the unpublished proceedings and letters of the Commissioners of the District, which are on file in the office of Public Buildings and Grounds in the War Department. “The Treasury office, as already stated, was the first one erected. It occupied the site of the south wing at the present Treasury, and was damaged by fire on January 20, 1801, burned by the British August 24, 1814, and destroyed by fire on March 31, 1833." R. NOURSE'S property, on Wisconsin avenue, included what is now the Ca- thedral Close, where is being erected the beautiful Washington Cathedral, and here once stood his home, a large freme house which was built by a Mr. Harrison, who had sold the farm to Mr. Nourse and who had bought it from John R. Platcr, who in turn took title from Gen. Forrest. Mr. Nourse gave the place the neme “Mount Alban,” because, it is said, “its sleping hill- side reminded him of descriptions of the hill where St. Alban was martyred in ancient Britain.” Another tract of land on Wisconsin avenue, owned by Joseph Nourse, and which contained about 100 acres, was given to his son, Charles J. Nourse, who erected thereon the familisr and 7 T S g attractive residence now owned by Rear Ad- miral Cary Grayson. This property was pur- chased by the senior Mr. Nourse in 1817, and the house—known as The Highlands—was buiit by the son, and completed In 1827, A few days ago the writer was attracted to an old stone building to the rear of Admiral Grayson’s home, close to where there is now being ccmpleted a large public school building. It had every app2arance of being quite oid, and so the writer sought out Miss Adelaide Brown, whose people had once occupied the place, and from her comes the information that it was built by James Nourse, another som of the Register, probably as a tenant’s quarters. Mr. Nourse must have been a most efficient public servant, for he served the Government of the United States from its beginning in 1789 to 1829, when he was dismissed by President Andrew Jackson for nepotism—or for showing too much favoritism to relatives. Indeed, if we look in the city directory at about the time he died we will find the following members of the Nourse family serving the following Federal positions: Michael Nourse, chief clerk, Reg- ister’s Office, with a salary of $1,700; John Nourse, clerk, Register’s Office, $1,000; William Nourse, clerk, General Land Office, $1,200, while Charles J., who apparently could mot get landed, was conducting an exchange brokerage side of Pennsylvania avenue be- and Seventh streets, and Jaseph les H. were teaching, one om the Massachusetts avenue between Seventh streets, and the other on side of Indiana avenue between Third and Four-and-a-half streets. OWEVER, Mr. Nourse was a valuable Fed- eral employe, and if his relatives were as capable as he, no doubt the Government was just that much better off. Indeed, if our civil service today gave employmen_'. to the most efficient, rather than separating the Federal force into State quotas, the Government would greatly profit by the change in method of se- lecting Uncle Sam’s workers. The shock of being “fired” did not kill Mr. Nourse, for we find him living 12 years longer, when he had nearly reached his eight-eighth ner, all the duties required by-it, adorning the profession by a life of the purest virtue and benevolence “After such a life he was permitted to de- part, full of years, without sickness and with- out even a struggle, to a brighter and better world. “May our latter end be like unto his.” Katydid a Prophet A)(ONO the signs from which amateur weather prophets draw their conclusiens as to the future weather is the first song of the katydid. These insects of the grasshopper family fill the role of forecaster of the advent of Winter just as the groundhog is supposed to foretell the approach of Spring. The first song of the katydid is supposed te mean that frest is due in six weeks. ; There is probably enough ace: in past predictions to bear the katydid out, for the in- sect does not arrive until Midsummer or later and early frosts would fall well within the katy- dia’s six weeks of wait. Because of its pale green color, which makes it almost invisible when resting on a green leaf, it is difficult to find the katydid. They do aM their singing at night, so there is no call to at- tract the eye. The singing, incidentally, is done entirely by the male and is accomplished by means of rubbing the forewings together. The sound carries as much as a quarter of & mile and at a distance has a remarkable resenflance to the human volce. The female of the katydid lays her eggs in the early Autumn, usually on a leaf and in regular rows. The eggs do not hatch untijl the following Spring. Of all the insects, the katy- did seems to be the least harmful to vegetation and because of this not so much has been writ- ten of its life habits. It's “Katydid, Katydidn't” is well known, however, on hot Summer nights, Much Lettuce S, /11'/)/)0(1 LE’I'I‘UCE, partly through the campaign ef the dietitians and partly through the im- provement of the product, has grown in popu-~ lar favor until now more than 50,000 carloads are shipped annually to market. Hot Summers mean prosperity to the lettuce growers, for the substitution of salads for heavier foocdstuffs during hot weather brings a big increase in ief- tuce consumption. The drive to have at least one leafy vegetable a day in every diet finds lettuce growing in importance. y