Existing comment:
1800-1860: The Federal City:
"Once crossing the avenue at 7th Street, our young druggist lost a shoe, which sank into the ooze and was with some difficulty recovered."
-- Dr. William Gunton, 1807
Moving to Washington:
French-born architect Pierre L'Enfant, who was hired by George Washington in 1791 to design the new federal city, had big plans for the city's main street: "The grand avenue connecting both the palace and the federal house will be most magnificent and most convenient." But Pennsylvania Avenue was just a dirt road in 1800, when the federal government official moved the nation's capital from Philadelphia to Washington. The avenue soon began to fill with houses, hotels, and shops. Oil street lamps were added in the 1840s, and for several years Pennsylvania Avenue was the only illuminated street in the city. But pigs and cows roamed the street while carriages lurched through ruts and sank in the mud. |