W. Milton Sladen's Memories of Lincoln Park
A personal account of life around Lincoln Park in Washington DC from the early 1900s, detailing the buildings, businesses, and notable residents who shaped this historic Capitol Hill neighborhood.
W. Milton Sladen Interview, August 28, 1974
This historical account comes from an interview with W. Milton Sladen, a longtime resident of Capitol Hill who shared his memories and knowledge of the neighborhood surrounding Lincoln Park.
Notable Residents of East Capitol Street
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Political Figures
At 1124 East Capitol lived George W. Norris who was a member of the House of Representatives from 1909-1913, and who moved to the Northwest after he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Stephen Early, who became FDR's press secretary, lived at 1226 North Carolina Avenue and often visited his mother, with a White House limousine parked in front of her house. Senator Henrik Shipstead of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party occupied 1113 East Capitol in the 1920s.
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Business Leaders
Bernard Walls built and owned the four-story store and apartment building at the N.W. corner of 11th and East Capitol Streets. He was a grocer who sold "Lincoln gin" at 25 cents a pint and also owned the Alcazar Apartments. The James Colliflower family lived at 1127 East Capitol, where he was president of a big coal business. Mr. Beuchler at 1116 East Capitol was well-known for his tinning and heating business.
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Community Figures
Charles F. Consaul, a well-known attorney whose wife was a woman of some means, lived at 1100 East Capitol with two servants and a coachman. The Farnsworth family lived at 1126, where Eunice still resided at the time of the interview. Her brother Tom, an Eastern High School graduate, was an aviator killed in WWI and buried in Arlington Cemetery. Cornelius Ford, the Public Printer during the Woodrow Wilson administration, lived at 1210 East Capitol Street.
Just beyond the intersection of East Capitol and North Carolina, at 1226 North Carolina, lived the family of Stephen Early. Steve lived there when he was a newspaperman, but moved away when he became FDR's press secretary. He visited his mother a great deal, and a White House limousine was often parked in front of her house. Epworth Lutheran Church, on the southeast corner of l3th and North Carolina, had recently moved from Seventh and A Streets NE. Chris Murphy, a well-known doctor who later became D.C. Coroner, lived at 1 l3th Street NE. One of his brothers owned several motion picture theatres in Southeast, among them the old Carolina across the street from my house. The W.A. Simpson house was at 1312 East Capitol. It's the one with the imposing white columns. Simpson owned the Walkcr-Hill Dairy on Seventh Street between E and G Streets SE. When he retired, the dairy was sold to Embassy Dairy. The four bay-window brick houses between the Murphy and Simpson properties were purchased by L.P. Steuart—the Ford dealer and coal man, and given to Epworth Church as a memorial to his mother. At the southeast corner of 13th and East Capitol was Carlton Van Emmon's drugstore, a very popular one in the neighborhood. . This store and apartment building was also erected by Bernard Walls. There was a fine hardware store at 106 13th Street SE, run by H. F. Walls (no relation to the grocer of the same name). H. F. Walls had been on Eighth Street near the Navy Yard, moving to 13th Street around the time of World War I. Ostrow's food store is now located in Walls' old store. The home of L. Hoyt Lamb, the druggist, was on the southeast corner of Kentucky and East Capitol Street. It is the house with the round porch. At the corner of 12th and East Capitol, 100 12th Street SE, was a house built by an architect named Bush, who lived there several years after its completion. It was next occupied by the Fluckey family. Isaac Newton Fluckey was a Government man; his wife, Lucia, was an artist whose specialty was painting on China plates. She had considerable reputation in this field in the Washington area. Their son, Eugene, was a Naval hero in WWII. He was a submarine commander who took a submarine into Tokyo Bay, a feat which won him the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was made a rear admiral and was later superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. He is still alive. The James Colliflower family lived at 1127 East Capitol. He was president of a big coal business. In the 1920's the house at 1113 East Capitol was occupied by U.S. Senator Henrik Shipstead, of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party. He was that party's first senator. He served 12 years. Hubert Humphrey was a member of that party in the early days.
W. Milton Sladen Interview, August 28, 1974
Streets Leading into Lincoln Park
I am now going to talk about the streets leading into the Park. At 130 12th Street NE lived Leonard P. Steuart, the coal and ice man. At that time Leonard and his brother Guy were running a small two-man business. Also, they had The Evening Star circulation routes for the Northeast section of the city. About 1910, they obtained a Ford car dealership. This was the beginning of their fortune. Later, they went into the heating oil business in a big way. A member of the family, Curtis Steuart, is still active today. George Judd lived at 151 Kentucky. He was president of Judd & Detweiler, the printing firm which produced the National Geographic Magazine for so many years. Milburn Donahoe, a well-known real estate man, lived at 159 Kentucky. His father, John F. Donahoe, was the leading real estate man on Capitol Hill around the turn of the century. Milburn Donahoe's son, Milburn, Jr., is still active in this field as an appraiser. He has an office of Seventh Street SE, opposite Eastern Market. [ed, 2003: these names should be spelled Donohoe] The Wheeler family lived at 137 12th Street SE. One of their sons, Gilmore, known as "Buster," had a distinguished Army career, rising to the rank of general. He became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a position which he held during the Vietnamese War. After the Wheelers moved, Captain Taylor Branson, leader of the U.S. Marine Band in the 1920's and 1930's, lived at 137. Across the street at 140 lived Glenn Taylor, a U.S. Senator from Idaho. He was known as the "cowboy" Senator and would play the guitar and sing western songs with his family on their front steps. He also conducted impromptu concerts on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. In 1948, he ran as the V.P. candidate on the Progressive Party ticket and was defeated. He went into obscurity, later emerging as proprietor of a wig company in New York, known as "Taylor Toppers." Albert Carry lived at the northwest corner of 12th and Independence. He had come to the U.S. from Germany in the 1880's. He owned the National Capital Brewing Company which was located at 14th and D Streets SE, present site of a Safeway store. The brewery brought many Germans into the area. Carry's house was a dramatic, imposing three-story brick residence, with a magnificent carriage house at the rear. His family lived on the grand scale at a time when many area people were making around $15 a week. It was said that Carry gave his wife $500 a month for house expenses. They had several servants. German girls coming to the U.S. worked for $5.00 a month and room and board while they were learning English. There were five Carry children. One of the girls married an architect named Albert Didden. Carry gave them the money to build a house 139 12th Street SE, now the rectory for St. Mark's Episcopal Church. There were connections between the yards to allow the Carry and Didden families to go back and forth.
W. Milton Sladen Interview, August 28, 1974
Notable Buildings and Residents
W. Milton Sladen was born in 1900 and lived his entire life on Capitol Hill, providing valuable historical accounts of the neighborhood.
The Carry Family Legacy
One of their children, George Didden, became president of National Capital Bank. (He does not live on the Hill, however.) Albert Carry was a founder and Vice President of this bank. At 121 12th Street is an apartment building now known as "Capital East." [Address is edited from original, where it was incorrect.] It was originally built by Albert Carry and was called the "Lincoln." Some of the Carry children lived in it. It had five floors with 4 large six room apartments on each floor. This building was in the Carry estate for many years and was sold about 15 years ago. It is now subdivided into 60 units.
There was also on 12th Street, the "Lincoln Park Apartments" built by a Civil War retiree named Captain Israel Stone. Stone's own home adjoined the apartment then known as "The Stonehurst." The apartment house was four stories high and contained spacious six room apartments. When Captain Stone retired, he planned to live in the big house, but he didn't live to do this. The property is now greatly changed. There are 21 apartment units in both houses.
Notable Residents
At 117 11th Street lived Margarite Runbeck, who went to Eastern High School in the pre-World War I days. She became a well-known writer whose novel "Hope of Earth" was a bestseller in the early 1950's. At 1008 North Carolina lived Jim Lucas, the famous United Press correspondent, who covered WWII.
Architectural Gems
At 119 12th was the Metzeroth house which was built in the early 1900's. Metzeroth was a lithographer at the U.S. Weather Bureau at 27th and M Streets NW. he walked to and from work. He had two children, Eric (a Col. in the U.S. Army) and Margaret (a schoolteacher, now retired). Margaret sold the house about a year ago. It was supposedly designed by the same architect who did the Library of Congress; it is an exceptionally fine house. St. Mark's Episcopal Church tried to buy the house for its rectory about ten years ago.
Colorful Characters
At 132 11th Street SE lived the family of Samuel Roy Beard, a neighborhood resident who achieved a great deal of notoriety. He started out as a bread wagon driver and in the course of his deliveries became familiar with Bland's Lunch at 14th and East Capitol, which was a hangout for gamblers. Beard became subsequently one of the most notorious gamblers on the Eastern seaboard, and as "Sam" Beard was alleged to be a member of the Costello syndicate in New York. He served a term in the '30's for income tax evasion. He testified before a Senate Committee Investigating gambling in D.C. in the early 1950's. He had an office on Ninth Street N.W. between D and E Streets; as a front he operated a pickle business.
At 131 11th Street is the Mattingly Funeral Home which was built by a grocer named Campbell in the 1890's. He had a grocery store at 230 11th Street SE. At the rear of his house is a fine carriage house. There was a white tile walk alongside the house with the name Campbell in blue tile. An attorney named
W. Milton Sladen Interview, August 28, 1974
Businesses and Landmarks
Fields next lived in the house. Fields had a number of Indian clients, and I remember seeing Indian Chieftains coming to the house. Mr. Fields always wore Indian moccasins. The Waters organ factory was located in the [100] block of 10th Street SE. It has been made into two houses. The Waters house is on 10th Street and the factory itself, at the rear, [111 10th Street SE] has been made into a private home. Waters was a well-known organ maker; he made the organ for Keith's Theatre at 15th and G Streets NW. and for many churches in the area. At 11th and C Streets NE were located the Herdic Stables. A Herdic was a horse-drawn omnibus in which patrons sat facing each other. It was named after the Austrian inventor, Peter Herdic. My grandfather was a blacksmith who worked for the Herdic Company, my mother told us that when it snowed, he would have to work all night putting rough shoes on the horses.
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Lincoln Park Entertainment
Lincoln Park provided summer attractions in the form of band concerts. In those days there was the U.S. Marine Band. Also the Engineer's Band which was stationed at the Washington Barracks in those days (now Ft. McNair). The U.S. Marine Band and the U.S. Engineer's Band alternated. The Park was safe in those days and there were large gatherings of families at night to attend the concerts.
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Community Gatherings
These concerts were great neighborhood events and afterwards, people would go to the drugstores such as Lamb's at 11th and East Capitol and Van Emmon's at 13th and East Capitol for sodas and sundaes and ice cream cones.
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Movie Theaters
The first motion picture house in Southeast was at the southeast corner of Fourth and East Capitol and was owned by Harry Crandall. He owned a number of movie houses; some of the best-known were the Ambassador at 18th and Columbia Road, the Tivoli at 14th and Park Road, the Metropolitan on F Street NW. between Ninth and 10th Streets, and Crandall's at Ninth and E Streets NW.
The Senate Theatre was located on the north side of the 300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue and the Avenue Grand was in the 600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue (now a vacant lot)—this was a deluxe movie house which opened in 1910 with a six-piece orchestra. On Eighth Street was the Navy Theatre at 410 and in the next block, just above G Street on the west side, was Meador's, also a popular house. A block below this opposite the Marine Barracks was the Zenith. The Carolina Airdrome at the southwest corner of 11th and North Carolina was opened in 1908. A second open air theatre was opened at 12th and C Streets NE. Both theatres were owned by the same man. One set of films was shared by both theaters. A popular job for a boy was "rushing the reels" from one house to the other between showings.
W. Milton Sladen Interview, August 28, 1974
Historic Drugstores of Capitol Hill
W. Milton Sladen documented the many historic drugstores that served as community gathering places throughout Capitol Hill.
Powell's
The drugstore at the northwest corner of Fourth and East Capitol was Powell's.
Sprucebank's
Another well-known drugstore at Fifth and East Capitol was operated by a man named Sprucebank. It was later taken over by Henry Werner.
Fuhrman's
Fuhrman had a drugstore at the northwest corner of Eighth and East Capitol.
Lamb's & Van Emmon's
At 11th and East Capitol was Lamb's drugstore and Van Emmon's drugstore was at 13th and East Capitol.
The oldest drugstore on East Capitol was run by Demoll & Helmsen at Ninth Street, on the southwest corner. The building still stands. The drugstore dated from Civil War days. It had one of the first soda fountains set up in the City of Washington and was in use as late as 1920's.
The drugstore on East Capitol was run by Demoll & Helmsen at Ninth Street, on the southwest corner. The building still stands. The drugstore dated from Civil War days. It had one of the first soda fountains set up in the City of Washington and was in use as late as 1920's.