Evening Star Newspaper, April 23, 1933, Page 72

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, B. @ APRIL 23, 1983, GARDENS AND PICNICS IN OLD Early Establish- ments Which Were Engaged in Meet- ing Local Demands for Beverages. Well-Remembered Summer Places Favored by Popu- lar Approval. Prohibition at the White House. BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR, “Oh, when you hear the roll of the big bass drum, Then you know that the Deitch have come, Por the Deitch company company ‘That ever came over from old Germany. is the best “When Greek meets Ggeek, then comes the tug of war, When Deitch meet Deitch, then comes the lager beer. For the Deitch company is the best company That ever came over from old Germany.” ND s0 beer has returned—and with it the short ones, the steins and the schooners! And soon we may look for the return of the Maennerchor, the Arion, the Saengerbund and other German singing societies so popular in Washington before Mr. Volstead outlawed the amber fluid and replaced the “Stein Song” with: “How dry I am. how dry I am— Nobody knows how dry I am.” Of course, to make things complete, we should have with it the return of “Dot Leedle Scherman Band” that once paraded the city 4 streets to the delight of every kid in Wash- ington, especially the jolly, rotund, red-faced man who played the tuba bass and occasion- ally dropped in a minor for a hatural, es- pecially if he were playing the Lauterbach song or “O du Lieber Augustin,” particular favorites with these musicians. Indeed, it might be seasonable to reintro- duce some of the old drinking songs, now almcst forgotten, but known to every old-timer, such as “Brown October Ale,” sung by W. H. MacDonald of the Bostonians 1,406 times during the first 13 years that DeKoven and Smith’s tuneful opera. “Robin Hood,” was sung on the stage. Perhaps you recall the finale—see if you do not. It went like this: *®Yes, laugh lacs, and quafl lads, 'Twill make you stout and hale! Thro’ all my days I'll sing the praise Of brown October ale.” Then there was that German drinking song =—made famous by that great American basso, Myron W. Whitney—entitled in English, “Down Deep Within the Cellar”; in German, “Im TiefTen Keller Sitz' Ich Hier.” It is only natural for the present generation to speak of this basso or that basso as being the greatest of the great, and perhaps they are not to blame, for, after all, they speak of present-day talent, and may never have heard Myron Whitney, Eugene Cowles and others of our own country, and Edouard de Reszke from abroad. Mr. Whitney has living a son and namesake, who makes Washington his home, and who, dike his father, is greatly interested in music. If our thirsty Washingtonians are not in- terested in some of the older drinking songs, there are other more recent stein songs which always help to cheer the soul and add to the enthusiasm of the occasion; one ends with: “For it's always fair weather When good fellows get together, With a stein on the table And a good song ringing clear.” E writer has not before him the number of beer saloons in the District before the town went dry—officially dry. But the city tirectory for 1899 lists under the heading, “Restaurants and Saloons,” just 480 places, Bnd it is probable that the total number of beer licenses ere long will at least equal ome dor every gasoline station in the city—and surely that ought to be abundance. Seriously, whatever may happen, wénditions can hardly be worse than they have een dur- ing the last decade, when everything e«as sup- posed to be dry, and when, in reality, accord- ing to conservative estimates, there ‘gere more Piney Branch Hotel. Brightwood. which stood west of Colorado avenue and south of Kennedy street. 4 well known thirst emporium of bygone days. amateur brewers in Washington than there were Federal employees, and no one was pay- " ing a license or revenue tax. The manufacture of clear beer, we are told, is of very high antiquity, and is ascribed by Herodotus to the invention of Isis. The Egyp- tians made a drink of this character and Xeno- phon mentions it as being used in Armenia, while the Gauls were early acquainted with it. At a much later date, the Pilgrims brought a stock of it along with them to this country, and when their own supply ran out. that, too, on Christmas day, and the skipper observed the passengers drinking water, in the good- ness of his heart he gave of his own private stock, and so, to quote the words of our an- cestors, “We had at divers times, now and then, some beer.” The real lager beer—so called because it was usually kept for four to six months betore being used—if not originally made in Germany, at least reached its perfection of manufacture there, where hops for this purpose are raised in great quantities, as personally observed by the writer last Summer while traveling through that country. In the early days of Washington, before com- pressed yeast was used, hop yeast and potato yeast were almost entirely, if not exclusively, ‘This was due to the great demand for it from the soldiers and sutlers, and then everything, including stale bread, was acded as a filler. From the first, even hotels and boarding houses served it at meals covered with a nice sauce, and finally the bakers of other cities grasped the idea, and we are told that even such well-known places as the Astor House, in New York City, served it upon occasions. Of ocourse, this did not go with beer, like pretzeis, rye bread and cheete, and its sale was generally confined to children, when its popu- larity was on the wane. OOKING back into the history of the early days of the Capital. the writer finds that as early as 1797 a building of stone was com- pleted in the square bounded by Twenty-first Twenty-second, B street and the Potomac River, and in it was established a brewery by C. Conmgham & Co. The C. Coningham was Dr. Cornelius Coningham. a native of England. and the company James Greenleaf, who erected the building for the brewery, and, indeed, in conjunction with Robert Morris, Thomas Law and others, bought more of the city’s lots than he could pay for. Just before the crisis came. when he was forced to enter the debtor’s jail, he turned over to his brother- R K Kerwin's Brewery, N street, between First and Second northwest. later a public school and first home of the National Homeopathic Hospital. used in the making of bread, and many fami- lies grew their Winser's supply of hops in their own gardens. Two or three cents’ worth of potato yeast—if hops could not be had—was sufficient for the making of a batch of bread. It was about the consistency of cream and was generally procurable at the beer saloons throughout the city, as well as quite likely at bakeries and other places. This was during the period of half a century ago, when Washington pie was still considered by many—especially the youngsters—as a luxury. Indeed many of those whose scruples prevented them from tasting beer were not s0 pearticular about Washington pie, which was made of scraps of cakes and pastries of all kinds, and not very wholesome as food. Milk and water were added to this conglomerated mass, a few raisins thrown in—just for ap- pearance sake—and it was then baked in sheets about an inch thick, in large iron pans. A nickel would buy about as much a5 a healthy boy could eat, and 20 cents would buy a whole panful. Those who lived here before and during the Civil War say that, as originally made, it was very fine, though it fell into disrepute during the early sixties when certain bakers, in their efforts to produce great quantities of it, were not very careful as to what it was composed of. in-law, John Appleton, his interest in the brewery. “In the Washington Gazette of 1796 appears an advertisement telling of this brewery, which reads: “Washington Brewery. Strong Beer at 6 dols. Table do, at 3 dols. Hops, grains and Yeast, likewise ‘Whiskey of a superior quality now ready for sale by C. Coningham & Co. - Who will give a generous price for Rye and Barley.” The site of this old brewery, as near as can be judged, was in the block now occupied by the National Academy of Science Building. George Watterston places this brewery where the glass house was afterward erected, and a very early newspaper item tells us that the glass house was near the Potomac River in square 89, between Twenty-first and Twenty- second streets west, and informs us: “The window glass made at this factory was superior to most glass made in the country, and was held by the giaziers and others in high estimation. This factory stood near a wharf where, some 175 years ago, ships WET DAYS of considerable burden were accustomed to anchor. The channel has been filled up by the deposit of sediment_ brought down the river, and a new one has been formed on the Virginia side. This part of the city was originally called Hamburg, and afterward Funkstown, from an old Dutchman who was ambitious of having his name (Funk) transe mitted to posterity. He moved to near Hagers- town, Md., and had his ambition re- warded by giving his name to the small village of Funkstown. Near a rock in the river, west of the factory, Gen. Braddock is said 1o have landed with his army, on his way to the West. It was called by the old citizens Braddock’s rock, and the place near it Braddock's Land- ing.” Coningham did not conduct his Washington brewery very long at the original site. but soon sold out and removed to the Southeast, or Navy Yard section, where he continued in business for some time. He then had the only brewery in the city, as the brewery of Herford & Sons, which stood about on the site of the old Marble Saloon, a little west of Ninth street, on Pennsyl- vania avenue, was probably not u-e:d subsequent to 1808. This site is now occupicd by the De- partment of Justice Building. T was not far from the brewery of C. Con- ingham & Co. that Christian Heurich, many years later, erected considerable of 2 plant. However, he began the manufacture of beer at 1229 Twentieth street northwest., on rather a tmall, scale in 1872, a year after he came to Washington. According to an old sketch of him, published in 1884 nearly half a century 8go, we are told he is a native of Germany, where he was born September 12, 1842, When he came to the United States in 1866, he first obtained employment at his trade as a brewer in Chicago, later going to Kansas and then Baltimore before coming here When he left Burope, he was an overseer im the world-renowned brewery of A. Dreher, of Vienna. and had learned the manufacture eof the malted beverage from the ground up. As far back as 50 years ago the people of Washing- ton were consuming over 50.000 barrels of his beer annually. Mr. Heurich is one of the vice presidents of the Association of Oldest Inhabitants. and at nearly 91 gives every indication of being with us for some yvears to come. He is a« straight as an arrow. still has & beard and a good suit of hair, which is still more black than white, and although he is not a regular attendant at the monthly meetings, yet rarely misse< those of & patriotic character. . If indications prove correct, the people of Georgetown did not have to come to the Federal City. even at this esrly day, to quench their thirst, for it is probable that Caesar Lowry, or some unidentified person, was conducting & brewery somewhere an P street, west of Thirty- fifth, as early as 1800, if not, then in later days they surely soild abundance of drinkables at Green Springs, on the Conduit road. and Cabin John Hotel surely made a fair reputation along this line. In Washington, the amusement places and summer gardens supplied beer as an added at- traction, and some even provided a dance pavilion on special occasions and a vaudeville show besides. Of these, no doubt the first in importance was the old Schuetzen Park on Georgia avenue to the north of Howard Uni- versity, and not far behind it in reputation was Beyer's Park, now the American League base ball grounds. F course, there were earlier Summer gar- dens and parks throughout the District, generally conducted and patronized by the German residents, although thev aiwavs had plenty of company from other Washingtonians not of Teutonic origin to help them be merry and while away the time. The first place of this kind in the city, of which the writer has knowledge, is recorded by Christian Hines as being in the Southwest seciion “Among the earliest settlers of Washington,” he says, “was a Mr. Jacobs. a stone-cutter. who lived on the east side of Seventh street. between B street south and Maryland avenue, on what is now called the Island. He was the proprietor of a large plat of ground—perhaps the greater part of a square. This piece of ground was known by the name of ‘Spring Garden.” Here Mr. Jacobs kept a house of entertainment somewhat similar to the numerous restaurants which now abound in our city. I recollect there were. on the opposite side of the street, at that time (1802 or 1803) several large oak trecs, on which were suspended two or three swings in- tended for the amusement of younz people. Mr. Jacobs’ family consisted, at that time, of three bovs—Michael. Jasper and Philip. He did not continue there long, and I could never learn, to a certainty, what became of the family, but I have understood that they moved to Frederick County. Md. Ther= was another per<on living with him. or in the house adjoining, named Henry Orandorff. This property, I be- lieve, was afterward purchased and occupied by the late Mr. Hepburn. With some of the younger members of the family we were well ac- quainted, especially the sons. I thinkz John was in the war of 1812." Pearce’s, on the west side of Fourteenth street, probably between S and T streets, is recorded at least as early as 1846. In 1843 Seaton’s Garden was given as at the north end of Sixth street; three years later it was at the west side of Sixth street between K and L. (It is quite probable that in 1843 there were practically no improvements north of L street along the line of Sixth, and there- fore this would be the same designation.) UT where now is Brightwood—called be- fore the Civil War Crystal Spring—was a tract of land to the southwest of Colorado avenue and Kennedy street, much used by the German families as picnic grounds. The Piney Branch race track was established there in 1859, and what the nearby copious springs could not provide in order to make up a Ger- man Summer outing the refreshment counter at the Piney Branch Hotel always kept on hand for this purpose. For years, and until the Schuetzen Park om