Courtesy of National Photo Co.
SITE AND MATERIAL FOR DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY BUILDING, 1839
Georgetown had become a great trading center. From 1815 to 1835 products to the value of $4,077,708 were exported from Georgetown to foreign markets, and from 1826 to 1835 nearly $5,000,000 worth of products to other American cities, including a million barrels of flour and 5,400 hogsheads of tobacco.
GATEHOUSE, BUILT IN 1835, ALONG THE OLD CHESAPEAKE & OHIO CANAL
In the spring of 1828, shortly before what was called the corner stone of the main line was laid, Congress enacted a law granting entrance of a railroad line into the District. Some six years passed before the Washington branch reached the District line. The first service began on Monday, July 20, 1835, with two trains each way. A great celebration, in which 1,000 passengers and 2 bands on 4 trains took part, marked the entrance of the railroad service to the National Capital. The steam cars passed through the city on their daily trips to the depot at the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Second Street. October 1, 1835, it was reported that the average number of travelers per day was 200.
During this period the construction of the present Treasury Department, Patent Office, and old Post Office Department Buildings was authorized. They conformed to the Capitol and the White House in their fine style of classical architecture, and emphasized the fact that Washington is the National Capital.
Unfortunately, it was during this period that great mistakes were made—such as giving over part of the Mall to garden purposes and in letting Government areas, so much desired now, go for private purposes; also in the location of certain public buildings, as erecting the Treasury Department in the center of Pennsylvania Avenue.