SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. PARK IMPROVEMENT PAPERS NO. 7. NOTES ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL PARK IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND THE ACQUIREMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE VALLEY OF ROCK CREEK FOR PARK PURPOSES. BY WILLIAM V. COX. APRIL 19, 1901.-Printed for the use of the committee. The first mention in legislative records that I find of any effort being made to acquire a national park in the District of Columbia was after the close of the war, in the Thirty-ninth Congress, when on June 21, 1866, the Hon. Benjamin Wade, of Ohio, offered a resolution instructing the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds to inquire into "the expediency of the United States acquiring the title to the land between Maryland avenue and Pennsylvania avenue, east of the Capitol, to Nineteenth street, for the purpose of a national park in which to erect a new Presidential mansion, and report by bill or otherwise." On June 25, 1866, Mr. Luke P. Poland submitted the following resolution, which was considered and by unanimous consent agreed to: Resolved, That the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds be directed to inquire whether a tract of land of not less than 350 acres adjoining or very near the city can be obtained for a reasonable price for a park and site for a Presidential Mansion, which shall combine convenience of access, healthfulness, good water, and capability of adornment. (Congressional Globe, Thirty-ninth Congress, first session, Part IV, p. 3374.) Five days later, on June 30, Senator Howe offered a similar resolution, the quantity of land not to be less than 100 acres. On July 18, 1866, the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, a member of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds in the Senate, to which these resolutions had been referred, made a report, and that committee was empowered to employ a practical landscape gardener or topographical engineer to examine different tracts of land. (Journal of the Senate, first session Thirty-ninth Congress.) SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. PARK IMPROVEMENT PAPERS NO. 7. NOTES ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL PARK IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND THE ACQUIREMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE VALLEY OF ROCK CREEK FOR PARK PURPOSES. BY WILLIAM V. COX. APRIL 19, 1901.-Printed for the use of the committee. The first mention in legislative records that I find of any effort being made to acquire a national park in the District of Columbia was after the close of the war, in the Thirty-ninth Congress, when on June 21, 1866, the Hon. Benjamin Wade, of Ohio, offered a resolution instructing the Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds to inquire into "the expediency of the United States acquiring the title to the land between Maryland avenue and Pennsylvania avenue, east of the Capitol, to Nineteenth street, for the purpose of a national park in which to erect a new Presidential mansion, and report by bill or otherwise." On June 25, 1866, Mr. Luke P. Poland submitted the following resolution, which was considered and by unanimous consent agreed to: Resolved, That the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds be directed to inquire whether a tract of land of not less than 350 acres adjoining or very near the city can be obtained for a reasonable price for a park and site for a Presidential Mansion, which shall combine convenience of access, healthfulness, good water, and capability of adornment. (Congressional Globe, Thirty-ninth Congress, first session, Part IV, p. 3374.) Five days later, on June 30, Senator Howe offered a similar resolution, the quantity of land not to be less than 100 acres. On July 18, 1866, the Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, a member of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds in the Senate, to which these resolutions had been referred, made a report, and that committee was empowered to employ a practical landscape gardener or topographical engineer to examine different tracts of land. (Journal of the Senate, first session Thirty-ninth Congress.) 2 PARK SYSTEM OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Maj. N. Michler, of the Corps of Engineers, was selected for this work, and spent much time examining the various sites offered the committee. On January 29, 1867, he made a report, giving maps of the Rock Creek region, proposing two plans, one for a park of 2,540 acres, the other for one of 1,800 acres. This report, as picturesque as the Rock Creek Valley of which it treats, is reproduced in Appendix A. A bill (S. 549) was thereupon formulated by the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, within the lines projected by Major Michler, to include 2,700 acres, and General Meigs, General Wright, and Major Michler were named as a committee to negotiate with the owners of the land and report to Congress. (Appendix B.) The Hon. B. Gratz Brown, who had introduced the bill, imbibing the spirit of Rock Creek surroundings, most eloquently said: The character of the ground around and adjacent to that stream is exactly suited to the purposes we desire. It has running water, it has rugged hills, it has picturesque scenery, it has abundance of varied forest timber, it has a native undergrowth blushing with beauty; it has the tangled vine and the clustering wild flower, and the quiet mosses gray with age, and, indeed, a thousand imprints of native adornment that no hand of art could equal in its most imitative mood. Moreover, with so much of attractiveness in its present uncultured state, it has likewise every capacity for adornment and development, and can be made, with less expense than almost any spot of equal area I have ever seen within the reach of a great city, one of the most beautiful resorts in the world. The amount of ground which was surveyed embraced 2,700 acres. It will not be necessary, however, to take in all of that ground in order to secure what is desired for the purposes of a park in the shape of drives, alcoves, recesses, and places capable of adornment. Fortunately the amount to be embraced is almost entirely optional, as the situation is such that large omissions may be made without abating much the extent of the drives or the beautiful diversity of views. There is no expenditure that can be made which shall add to the grandeur or adornment of the public buildings that fill so largely the eye of admiration of the world, or of the vast libraries that are accumulating so rapidly the treasures of all languages within our reach, or of the conservatories and gardens and cabinets that minister to your tastes, that will not freely be sanctioned by the people, for such in itself is the establishment of a nation's university, whither all may come to wonder and to learn, and in which all may feel a rightful patriotic pride. Only let it be worthy. Let your doing be on a scale commensurate with the pride to which you minister and the people you are sent to represent. And it is in the same spirit that I would have you, Senators, inaugurate a public park that shall have no rival anywhere for beauty or extent or ornamentation, as it will have none for the illustrious characters gathered from a whole continent in the after time to wisely rule our Republic from this center of its power. To the disappointment of many the bill failed. Sixteen years elapsed before record is found of any further serious effort being made to acquire the beautiful Rock Creek Valley. In 1880, however, Captain Hoxie, in a report, suggested the desirability of turning the Rock |