The slaveholding patriots were not blind to the contradiction inherent in their claims for civil rights. In January 1880,Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show made quite an impression as the troupe performed equestrian maneuvers and depicted an "Old" West which was already vanishing. Indeed, all the cars utilized on the Manassas Gap Railroad and the Orange & Alexandria Railroad were constructed at this establishment. Hundreds of returning Confederate soldiers, many missing limbs, faced the daunting prospect of beginning life anew after their homes and businesses had been confiscated, and their former way of life swept away by the conflict. Although the original stone was erected with grand ceremony on April 15, 1791, it is possible that it was replaced in 1794. The Polk administration propelled the country into conflict over the annexation of Texas and a disputed boundary. What initially looked like a promising future for local blacks, however, proved illusory. The Fairfax County Court, which had met on Market Square since 1752, relocated to the town of Providence, now Fairfax City, in April 1800. Congress passed an Act of Neutrality with respect to these great powers- over the objections of the French and a minority of Americans who considered it a violation of the Franco-American military alliance that had been signed in 1778 and which was largely responsible for winning the Revolution. The lynchings were among 4,743 reported nationwide during the same period. This institution was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 1871, but some of the museums collections are now at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial [T. Michael Miller,Portrait of A town - Alexandria District of Columbia [Virginia] 1820-1830]. Municipal authorities believed "that the sale of spirituous liquors on the Sabbath day like many other trades while it is an infraction of divine law, it exerts a most prejudicial and baneful influence upon the morals of the community." The Panic of 1873 and the ensuing depression further injured Alexandria's economy and caused high unemployment. On the third Monday of each month, when court convened, it was the political, economic and social center of town. The City of Alexandria does not operate any public utilities. On March 2, 1867, two to three hundred black men met at The Lyceum with a number of Unionists to demand the right to vote as full citizens in the municipal elections. ", One of Alexandria's stand-out structures of the first decade of the twentieth century is the 1909 Elks' Club at 318 Prince Street. And then, a disaster occurred which probably affected Alexandria more adversely than any other single event-the tragic fire of January 1827. Was it stubbornness, defiance, habit, or was flattering the Alexanders just no longer necessary? Dr. Dangerfield informs us that surgical cases are rare Baths have been lately established, the price of which is half a dollar. So too did Alexandrians 225 years ago. Raising Alexandria | Science| Smithsonian Magazine On behalf of the organization, John Carlyle and John Dalton informed the Bostonians that they were "deeply interested in the fate of their city now suffering the scourge of oppression and make no doubt that the spirit which has distinguished Virginia as the intrepid guardian of American liberty, will shine forth in all its former Lustre." Several more small houses stood along the way to the town's southern boundary. With access to a deep water port, Alexandrians initially neglected the importance of a transportation system to the transmontane region. The second-story arch above the entry contains a full-size, half-ton bronze elk statue, with its head and antlers projecting just beyond the plane of the wall. The polarization over slavery was reaching a crisis. Because of the orders, no municipal elections were held in Alexandria in March of 1868 or 1869; this was the first time in the city's history that elections had been canceled. (Smith and Miller, Seaport Saga) Alexandria's port also suffered considerable damage when a massive 1889 flood inundated its wharves and waterfront. For many years it was the scene of plays by Shakespeare, Moliere and other notable bards. Virginian participation in the wars between the European powers became significant only after 1739 during the "War of Jenkin's Ear" (1739) and "King George's War" (also known as the War of the Austrian Succession, 1740-1748). They pressured the owners of the marshy lots on the north end of town to drain and improve the land. The back buildings of several houses on Royal Street were consumed, as was also a frame dwelling fronting on the alley, and immediately south of Mr. Green's work shop. The major feature of the front is a tetrastyle Doric portico, in this instance with fluted columns. The next year "The Railroad and the Canal"-prescient about the success of the railroad-was presented both in Alexandria and Washington and featured the first use of a railroad locomotive in a theater production. Located on the southwest corner of Prince and St. Asaph Streets, it was a completely fireproof structure, made of granite with cast iron doors, window frames and stairways. Although the formal peace was more than a year off, all sides recognized that the outcome of the war on the American continent had been settled. When war erupted in the spring of 1898, Lee enlisted in the army and was made a Major General of U.S. The Lee/Cameron intersection was just below sea level in 1750, but about eleven feet above in 1891. In 1769, Washington carried to the legislature a proposed agreement on non-importation drafted by George Mason, but the Governor dissolved the House of Burgesses before the proposal could be considered. Information on how to get to and through the City of Alexandria, including walking, biking, bus, rail, air, ridesharing, and more. [St. Mary's Catholic Church, St. Mary's: 200 Years for Christ]. From the mid 1870s until the present day, Alexandria's city government has been dominated by the Democratic party. This surge was fueled in part by the lucrative grain trade as thousands of wagons wended their way to the port of Alexandria from Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William Counties to off-load their cargoes of wheat, flour, rye and corn. Georgetown and Washington prospered at her expensewith the benefit of trade once confined to the better known Alexandria Alexandria's commerce has dwindled to less than the tithe of what it was, and the trade of a great producing country has gone with it. In 1974, a five-foot deep privy was excavated at 406 King Street. Learn more about Alexandria's accountable, effective, and well-managed government. (from theWashington Republican, reprinted in theAlexandria Gazette5/3/1888). It was inscribed "John R. Bell" John Bell's prediction had come true. After the battleship Maine was lost in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898, requests poured in from all quarters for information about [men] who served on the ill-fated ship. [The Maine's chaplain John] Chidwick noted that of all of the crewmen on the Maine, more requests concerning the welfare of John Bell came to him than concerning any other crewman. What caused so many people to inquire about Bell was simple. Rather than give up their own slaves, however, Virginians looked first to curtailing the international slave trade. Historic Alexandria is a treasure trove of early structures, artifacts, and records that creates a unique way of life for its citizens and provides enjoyment for thousands of people who visit this special community every year. [Thomas Duffy, Decline of the Port of Alexandria, 1800-1861, M.A. The men were later acquitted, likely for lack of evidence. A large percentage of Alexandria's commerce also centered around its coastwise trade with New England. It is likely that all of the significant landowners had slave laborers working their fields. Ships from Spain, Britain, Portugal, the West Indies and the Caribbean unloaded their precious cargoes of imported china, rum and molasses. Local business leaders subscribed to shares in theChesapeake & OhioCanal, which was intended to cross the mountains and reach the Ohio Valley. 1893 to more nearly match its original appearance. His efforts were particularly valuable as the allies prepared for what would be the decisive battle of the war. The election of 1885 was notable, however, because of the scare the Democrats received from the narrowness of their victory. In June 1770, Alexandrians John Carlyle, Robert Adam and Thomas Kirkpatrick met with other members of the Virginia legislature in Williamsburg to respond to the Townshend Act. But by the end of the revolutionary struggle, George Washington had emerged as the pre-eminent hero of the conflict. The most common type of house, known as the "hall and parlor" plan, consisted of only two rooms usually with a loft above. On July 4, 1831, with great fanfare the construction of the canal began one mile north of Alexandria on the Washington Road. Behind these proximate causes was an awakening nationalistic/imperialistic consciousness of America's "manifest destiny" to occupy as much of North America as possible. WebAlexander the Great Founding Alexandria. WARNING: You have chosen to translate this page using an automated translation system. An essay in the February 1881Scribner's Monthly Magazinecharacterized the way many outsiders perceived the city. Alexandria and its environs were bustling as soldiers dug fortifications, performed commissary duties, hauled sick soldiers, and guarded the Potomac River to prevent the British from plundering the countryside. Most, however, saw no solution but to return blacks to Africa and, in 1823, organized a local chapter of theAmerican Colonization Society to raise funds to resettle African Americans in Liberia. Hesychius of Alexandria, a grammarian "In Sept. 1841, the dullness of the market [in Alexandria] was owing in some measure to the want of vessels to take it off." In 1761, William Ramsay, one of the affluent founders of the town was invested as "Lord Mayor" of Alexandria a largely honorary role, but one which suggests the prevailing conservatism and hierarchical social outlook modeled on that of the mother country. For the next three years, the British conducted a lackluster and disastrous campaign. The second floor contained the Alexandria Library in the north, the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, the Exchange Coffee House and Reading room, and after 1827 the Town Hall for Council meetings. In 1854 Council saw fit to "protect the public morality" and enacted blue laws which outlawed the sale of liquor on Sunday. Thinkers of the era "discovered" a rational order to the universe, an order which they claimed was also revealed by the use of reason. WebAlexandria was founded in 1749 by Scottish merchants and was named after Scotsman John Alexander. His pottery was located on South Washington Street, beneath what is now Lloyd's Row. Headquartered at 1315 Duke Street the firm ofFranklin and Armfield, slave dealers, commenced operation in 1828. Colonel Fitzgerald served as mayor and collector of the port, but perhaps his most lasting contribution was his organization of fundraising for Alexandria's first Catholic church. The new land countered with periodically severe outbreaks of malaria, as in 1687. Soon, the closing of the port of Boston and British efforts to seize arms and powder stores brought New England to the brink of war. Efforts were made, both public and private, to lure European immigrants to settle on the area's extensive underused (and not especially rich) lands. A short time later, on his way to Fort Duquesne, Washington and his men killed and captured a small group of French soldiers camping in a narrow glen. 1845: Baptist Convention splits over slavery; phrase manifest destiny coined; Texas annexed to U.S. 1846: Smithsonian Institution established; sewing machine patented. George Washingtons Mount Vernon is the riverside home of our nations first president, George Washington. Here soldiers were served lunch through the efforts the Ladies Relief Association [Alexandria Gazette7/25/1898]. The population was growing very quickly in this prosperous era; between 1790 and 1798, the town's population grew by about 2000 individuals or 41%. Alexandria's mayor, James Hendricks, a former army officer, was instrumental in encouraging the construction of additional defenses and in cajoling the local merchants and millers to accept the credit or inflated scrip of the Continental Army in exchange for provisions. Many of these dwellings were commodious, 3-story Greek Revival town dwellings of pressed brick with ornate molded brick cornices. Dependent on far-flung commerce, Alexandria was damaged as much as anywhere. The sidewalks and docks were covered with drunken men, women and children and quiet citizens were afraid to venture into the streets and life and property were at the mercy of the maddened throng-a condition of things perhaps never in the history of this country to be found in any other city. The enterprise was formed to construct a lateral canal around Great Falls and to improve navigation as far northwest as Cumberland, Maryland. Now occupied by a business, the structure still stands and has recently been nicely restored. Riverside lots were at a premium, and occupants of those lots built up wharves with fill dirt and timbers. The new facility was completed by January 1873 [Penny Morrill,Who Built Alexandria?]. True, many Americans were still strongly pro-French, but others were just as staunchly mistrustful of the radical Jacobins and the consulate and the empire which followed. In 1753, Governor Dinwiddie sent the 21-year-old George Washington to protest the French action and to ascertain their intentions. C. Smoot and Son which gave employment to upwards of 100 men. In 1794 Council passed an act to pave the principal streets with cobbles. His funeral was virtually an Alexandria affair; perhaps a quarter of the townspeople participated in some fashion, and many streamed to Mount Vernon to pay homage their hero and beloved friend and neighbor. [Harrison,Landmarks of Old Prince William] Alexandrians also shortened the distance to the towns of Colchester, Occoquan and Fredericksburg. Alexandria in the 1790s was a grand cornucopia from which almost any item from ostrich feathers to pianofortes could be acquired. In early 1781, a British army led by the turncoat Benedict Arnold took Richmond and Portsmouth and routed the Virginia militia under the Baron von Steuben. However, a new prime minister, William Pitt the Elder, committed England to total war and to reinforcing the colonies. The houses have a mean appearance. [Smith and Miller,Seaport Saga; Penny Morrill,Who Built Alexandria? More is known about the fourth tenant, James Going, who raised horses "and spent much of [his] money at the races." Taverns were a growth industry; eighteen ordinary licenses were issued in the 1750s, although no more than six were operating at any one time, plus one at the Cameron settlement. TheAlexandria Gazetteof October 19, 1824, vividly described the scene: Between twelve and one o'clock General LaFayette entered the line from the Potomac Bridge, under a salute of artillery from Capt. Alexandrias history reaches back more than 13,000 years. As a seaport town Alexandria was vulnerable to epidemics including yellow fever and malaria. Not all entertainment was so high-minded or genteel. The British succeeded admirably, routing American troops at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, and burning nearly all of Washington's public buildings-including the Capitol and the Executive Mansion-on the 25th and 26th. By November a resolution was passed by the Virginia Board of Public Works instructing an engineer to survey the route. About a third of the colonists were killed in 1622 during a widespread uprising by thePowhatansand their allies directed at the new plantations and towns. With the slave trade still unrestrained, African slaves were widely available and increasing in numbers in Virginia. All was not work without play. Robert T. Hooe, a successful merchant, became the first mayor in 1780. It is surely more than coincidence, however, that much of the land upon which the town was founded was then still in the hands of the Alexander family. Tavern business, in particular, picked up as visitors from the hinterlands arrived for justice-and gossip. [Ann Royall,Sketches of History, Life, and Manners in the United States (1826), reprinted inPen Portraits of Alexandria, Virginia, 1739 - 1900, courtesy Sarah Revis; edited by T. Michael Miller, Heritage Books, Inc. 1987]. Prophetically, theAlexandria Gazetteeditorialized in June 1812: "What pledge have we that a naval force will not be sent to lay our rich maritime cities under enormous contributions or raze them to the ground?" During the war Alexandria was transformed into a huge logistical supply center for Federal armies fighting in Virginia. The Origins and Early Development of the Virginia Fall-Line Towns. The boycotts had their desired effect, as did the sometimes violent protests in New England. The Conservative Party, however, maintained control of the Common Council and the Board of Aldermen. Apprehended and put under guard in the schoolhouse, they nonetheless escaped, probably with the help of friends. The City took over the two former Freedmen's Bureau schools for use as grammar schools for black boys and girls. But events served to gradually radicalize the population of the colonies. Seven firemen were killed when the burning building collapsed on them. Walk to the seawall near the lighthouse and look down into the opening to see what remains of the southern cornerstone. On August 17, 1873, after one of the heaviest deluges of rain in thirty years, many cellars in Alexandria filled with water. It was fireproof construction and its facade had a two-story Doric portico above a high basement. Alexandria is known as being the adopted hometown of Americas first It also encouraged Virginia slaveholders to sell one of their greatest assets, human beings, to plantations of the Deep South. In January 1901 German-American entrepreneurs and local glassblowers announced they would soon erect a new glass works on the river front along the old Alexandria canal locks on the 800 and 900 blocks of North Fairfax Street near Montgomery Street. [Yet], Alexandria holds her own. Giles settled on the south side of the Potomac near Aquia Creek, becoming the northernmost white resident of Virginia. He also worshiped atChrist Church(you can tour the site and sit in his pew number 60), and frequentedGadsbys Tavern. "The town is built upon an arc of this bay; at one extremity of which is a wharf; at the other a dock for building ships, with water sufficiently deep to launch a vessel of any rate or magnitude." In a public display, Mayor Philip Marsteller, the Commonality and free masons marched to Jones Point on April 15, 1791 to lay the first cornerstone of the District. 301 King Street [William Francis Smith and T. Michael Miller,A Seaport Saga: Portrait of Old Alexandria, Virginia]. L. Powell, Chief Marshalland marched through the principal streets. Expecting a bright future as part of a booming metropolis, Alexandrians rejoiced when surveyor Andrew Ellicott and his assistant, African American Benjamin Banneker, arrived in town in the spring of 1791 to lay out the new district. The agreement, a boycott of British products, was not very successful; according to factor Harry Piper, "all the stores on this side [of the Potomac] have imported goods as usual, and hitherto no notice have been taken of them." Elder of Fredericksburg, Virginia heard of the proposed memorial, he submitted a clay model of the figure in his painting Appomattox," which was promptly accepted as the design. In 1765 Fairfax Parish was created, and local residents sought to build their own Anglican church. He probably served as a servant to a naval officer during the Civil War. Buildings of the seventeenth century were essentially medieval in construction techniques, plan and massing. On May 6, 1851, the first locomotive belched smoke and cinders and the shrill sound of its whistle could be heard as it chugged down Union Street to the Wilkes Street tunnel." A horrific part of Alexandrias history is that, prior to Americas Civil War, Alexandria served as one of the largest domestic slave trading ports in America. The nineteenth-century descendants of the Goings were buried behind 1407-1409 West Braddock Road. Unlike the streets laid out in the 1760s and early 1770s, new streets were not named for heroes of the French and Indian War like Wolfe and Montgomery but for heroes of the Revolution, Virginian patriots, and Englishmen sympathetic to the American cause, including Nathaniel Greene, LaFayette, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Washington, George Wythe, and John Wilkes. Residents paid reluctantly, except for Quaker William Hartshorne, who, according to George Mason, "flatly refused; his conscience would not I suppose suffer him to be concerned in paying for the instruments of death." Should any neutrals violate the blockades, each of the combatants was more than willing to seize their ships and cargoes. The City administers various housing-related programs and services. This information increases transparency, improves many City technology applications and provides critical data to decision makers and the public. Rather than a wide open area with the town hall looming in the background, you would have seen a series of wood frame and brick buildings along the perimeter-on Cameron, Fairfax and Market Alley, which bisected the block into a northern and southern half. He proceeded to bank out 400 feet from the shoreline at King and Water (Lee) Streets, creating Fitzgerald's Wharf. An intricate system of credit increasingly pushed the colonists into debt to English merchants. Some were quite hotly contested. It was no surprise that Alexandrians, who were Federalists to a man, supported the ratification of the Constitution. Angered, the French retaliated, defeating Washington at his hastily constructed and badly situated Fort Necessity. The following companies are the primary providers of their respective service: Whether you live here or are just visiting, Alexandria is a great place to shop, dine, take in the arts, get outdoors, and just have fun. Jim Mackay, former Director ofAlexandria History Museum at The Lyceum, wrote a fascinating thesis on taverns in Alexandria. The countryside was up in arms, and the repercussions were extensive. Practically the entire city plus thousands of visitors enjoyed a lavish parade. We know from George Washington's diaries that he partook at both Arell's and Hawkins's taverns during this time. The bank failed in the Panic of 1834, and the structure was thereafter incorporated into James Green's Mansion House Hotel complex. Such eating and drinking behavior complemented games and discussion of the momentous events of the period. Both Alexanders had extensive slave quarters on their lands. As originally constructed, it consisted of three bays on each street facade, but it was later enlarged to five bays on the St. Asaph Street side. Follow an 18th century costumed guide by lantern From seaport pubs to international cuisine, Alexandrias culinary history runs deep. Furthermore, the 1801 District Act disenfranchised the local populace. The sixty-foot-square edifice was erected by Alexandria contractor James Dixon. Never, since General Washington died, has any death produced, in this city, such manifestations of universal regret as that of General Lee. View a list of City departments, offices and other agencies, and learn about their role in the organization. Locally, William Ramsay rejoiced at the March 1768 revocation of the Stamp Act. In 1796, it ranked as the third largest exporter of flour and the seventh largest port in the United States. Even the period of the English Civil War and the Commonwealth (1642-1660), which shook England to its foundations, left the Old Dominion relatively unscathed. Lee Camp received approval from City Council to place the statue at the intersection of Washington and Prince Streets, the point from which the Alexandria troops had mustered and departed the city on the morning of May 24, 1861. With the new capital so close, it was natural that the commander-in-chief would occasionally visit. The Ringgold Cavalry and the Mt. There is no stone belt course between stories. When the votes were tallied, Polk had won the nation, but voters in neighboring Fairfax County came out for the Whigs. The town's major markets were Portugal and Spain. Neither fortune nor position changed his demeanor, and throughout life he was the same good natured, sympathizing friend to those he deemed worthy of his esteem, and clung to them through evil and good report while his intimates were not the opulent or prominent in this word. (Alexandria Gazette2/10/1886) During the same year, sanitation throughout the city was improved as workmen began installing new sewers built of heavy oak timber. A postwar recession depressed trade late in the decade. In May 1886, City Council considered a petition of the city's ministerial association protesting gambling in town. 1817 - Market House built. On the advice of Andrew Ellicott, the director of the D.C. survey, Washington altered his initial plan to include the thriving port of Alexandria the southeastern and southwestern sides of the District would "Beginat Jones Point, being the upper cape of Hunting Creek.". A 28-horse stable and carriage house also graced the lot. Most of the twenty or so international mercantile large firms in town were trading wheat and flour to the West Indies and Great Britain. By about 1715, much of the area had been cleared and was under tobacco cultivation. The Compromise of 1850 struck blows at the institution by outlawing the slave trade in the District of Columbia and by admitting California as a free state. The reader may judge. He was comfortably re-elected in 1887. The town also boasted the steam wheat mill of George Y. Worthington, the sash door and blind factories of Rishiell and Hooge and Jamieson, Uhler and Co., the brickyards of W.D. Also foreshadowing the conflict of mid century, of course, was the Missouri Compromise of 1820. An 80-man company of black soldiers left the city for basic training in Georgia on July 7, 1898. [Alexandria Gazette3/9/1843]. By the fall of 1877, a large number of vagrants had assembled in Alexandria. Facing South, with head bowed, the figure suggests no bitterness or defiance, but only profound grief. To those who ruled, it was self-evident who should rule, namely the gentlemen: those with the most education, the best upbringing, the most to gain and the most to lose. Information about transportation projects and plans in and around the City. This growth is suggested by the myriad goods and services available in town. Locally, politics was in the hands of an elite few. T.B. A soldier at Camp Lee wrote: "The food is horrible. Its upper room served as a town hall and assembly room. By the terms of the constitution, Alexandria and every political entity within the Commonwealth with a population of 10,000 or over became an independent city. In 1808 the Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike Company built a new paved road between Fairfax and Warrenton and connected to the Little River Turnpike. Encouraged by the success of New York's Erie Canal, however, it would not have seemed unreasonable to bet on these man-made waterways. Washington retreated to Virginia, burying General Braddock near the site of Fort Necessity. The various coal yards employed several hundred laborers. The year 1667 showed how precarious an agrarian life could be on the margins of empire. A large percentage of the firm's business was the manufacture of bottles for the Portner brewery on St. Asaph Street. Elder's painting depicted a Confederate soldier viewing the forlorn battlefields of the South after the surrender at Appomattox. The mayor issued a proclamation requesting that all businesses close in recognition of the day. More than half of the country's urban population was concentrated in its four largest cities (in descending order): New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. Following Smoot's sudden death, the Board of Aldermen met on December 30, 1887, to pick an interim chief executive. Nonetheless, the editor of theAlexandria Gazettecommented on what he perceived to be an underlying weakness in the local economy and suggested that Alexandrians rely less on flour exports and concentrate on establishing large, diversified trading houses. Sharing many of the elements of its predecessor, the Georgian style, Federal architecture was more chaste, refined and attenuated.
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