What to see in America . quaremiles. The topographical plan of the city was devised by aFrench engineer who had served in the Continental based it on that of Versailles, the seat of government inFrance. The plan was on such a grand scale, and the actualgrowth so slow for many years that Washington was oftensatirically called the City of Magnificent Distances. Long straight avenues were cut through the forest, andon September 18, 1793, the southeast corner stone of theCapitol was laid by the President. After the exercises endedthe assemblage retired to an extensive booth to partake ofa
What to see in America . quaremiles. The topographical plan of the city was devised by aFrench engineer who had served in the Continental based it on that of Versailles, the seat of government inFrance. The plan was on such a grand scale, and the actualgrowth so slow for many years that Washington was oftensatirically called the City of Magnificent Distances. Long straight avenues were cut through the forest, andon September 18, 1793, the southeast corner stone of theCapitol was laid by the President. After the exercises endedthe assemblage retired to an extensive booth to partake ofa barbecued ox, and presently fifteen volleys of artilleryconcluded the festival. The White House was begun ayear earlier and was ready for use in 1799. John Adams wasthe first President to occupy it. Mrs. Adams says in oneof her letters: The lighting of the apartments from thekitchen to parlors and chambers is a tax indeed. Thegreat unfinished East Room I make a drying-room to hangmy clothes in. 140 What to See in America. The White House Washington calledthe place FederalCity, but after hedied it received hisname. When theseat of governmentwas moved from Phil-adelphia to the newcapital in 1800, de-partment records andequipment were sentby vessels, and the clerks and officials journeyed with theirfamilies by stage. They found Washington very inade-quately prepared to receive them, and those who could notcrowd into the few hotels and other buildings had to resortto Georgetown, three miles away, through mud and one government building was finished, and Pennsyl-vania Avenue, the principal thoroughfare, was a bog linedby bushes. The original intention was to build the city onthe salubrious high ground immediately around the Capitol,and that the Presidents house should be a secluded, comfort-able retreat amidample grounds inthe suburbs. Butthe people per-sisted in build-ing on the lowground adjacentto the broadPennsylvaniaAvenue whichled from the Cap-itol to the Ex-ecutiv
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
