The District of Columbia is a political entity comprising 60 sq. mi. of land and 10 sq. mi. of water surface, located on the Potomac River, 40 mi. southwest of Baltimore. As originally surveyed by Major Andrew Ellicott, the area was 100 sq. mi., for the District then included, in addition to land ceded to the Federal Government by Maryland, 30¾ sq. mi. ceded by Virginia. This portion, including the town of Alexandria, was returned to the latter state in 1846. The population of the District in the 1930 census was 486,869; and according to the latest Federal estimate (1937), 627,000. Other statistical estimates made for 1938 were: birth rate, 20.6 per 1,000 (increase from 19.7 in 1937); death rate, 12.7 (decrease from 13.9 in 1937).
Washington, the national capital, is located in a section of the District which has the effect of an amphitheater, owing to the gently rising hills towards the northwest which extend into the adjoining counties of Maryland. Climatic conditions in Washington are good, the District of Columbia being favored with averages rather than extremes. The protection of the nearby mountains causes spring to arrive about a week earlier than in Baltimore. The capital's Japanese cherry blossoms are famous the country over, and attract each year crowds of visitors to the parks bordering on the Potomac River. Numerous public squares and other open spaces add much to the charm of the nation's capital with their flower beds and shrubbery. Beautiful trees line many of the avenues and residential streets.
Among improvements induced by its rapid growth Washington has recently become increasingly bridge conscious. A new Pennsylvania Avenue bridge to connect with the adjoining suburban development in Maryland is now under construction. It is to be six lanes wide and will be sufficiently elevated to make a drawbridge unnecessary. Agitation has also been started for the building of a new bridge across the Anacostia River from the foot of South Capitol Street, and for two more across the Potomac River northwest of the city. Washington is fortunate in having in the Potomac River an abundant source of water supply which even under drought conditions is amply sufficient for its needs. Hence the storage of water during periods of abundant flow is unnecessary. The intake of river water is made above Great Falls, whence it is conducted through two conduits a distance of nine miles to the inlet of the large Dalecarlia Reservoir. Here the process of purification begins which results in good potable water for the District.
Gravelly Point opposite Washington was once the site of an Indian village, and later it was proposed for a projected Jackson City. It has in recent times been selected as the place for the Washington National Airport, part of a comprehensive plan in the rapid expansion of commercial aviation. The airport is now under construction and entails the relocation of a portion of the Mount Vernon Boulevard. It is expected that it will be ready for use in the summer of 1940.
The rapid increase in the population of Washington and its extensive suburbs has caused an unprecedented demand for new school buildings, the most noteworthy example being the new Calvin Coolidge High School in the northwestern section. School enrollment in the District for the school year 1938-39 was as follows: 58,807 pupils in school below the rank of junior high school; 20,898 pupils in the junior high schools; 1,738 in the vocational schools; and 18,327 in the senior high schools, making a total of 99,770. The annual appropriation for the 1938-39 school year was $12,769,519. The unusually large proportion of pupils in the advanced classes compared with the elementary is undoubtedly due to the fact that the families of a great many Government employees coming to Washington consist of children of secondary school age. The number of older pupils coming in from nearby Maryland and Virginia must also be taken into account. The falling birth rate in the United States probably has some influence too on the lower proportion in the elementary grades.
The late Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon (d. 1937), bequeathed his notable art collection to the nation and provided also for the erection of a National Gallery of Art in Washington. To his art treasures are to be added the large Kress collection recently given to the nation, and probably other masterpieces now privately owned. It is estimated that the total value of these various gifts will approximate a hundred million dollars. The imposing structure which will house them is now nearing completion on Pennsylvania Avenue, a short distance west of the Capitol. A similar enterprise now under consideration is the erection nearby of a building to be known as the Smithsonian Gallery of Art, intended for the fine collection now housed in the Smithsonian Institution. Several other buildings will soon be needed for Smithsonian exhibits, and it is tentatively planned to locate them near the present Library of Congress.
After much controversy among artists and architects the Jefferson Memorial is now being erected at the point where the line of Maryland Avenue intersects the White House axis. This point is on the south-east side of the Tidal Basin, which will be partly filled in near the Jefferson Memorial and correspondingly enlarged south of it. This is the last of the five cardinal sites designated by L'Enfant in his 1790 plan for the Capital City. A Latin cross will thus be formed, one arm extending from the Capitol to the White House and the other from the Lincoln Memorial to the new Jefferson Memorial, with the Washington Monument at the point of intersection. The building itself will resemble the Pantheon of Rome in a modified design, with the statue of the third President in the center. The cost is expected to be three million dollars.
The Government's model village community known as 'Greenbelt' is located in a farming section of Maryland thirteen miles to the northeast from downtown Washington. The houses were built in groups from factory-made parts of steel and concrete, the general scheme being horseshoe-shaped. It is controlled by the Farm Security Administration, and up to Aug. 1, 1939, had cost more than thirteen million dollars. It is effectively designed as a suburban residence district for low-income families, but whether it will ever pay its own way is problematical. As children are especially numerous the average age of its 2,900 inhabitants is less than 29 years. Young couples are welcomed by the management and at the end of its first year of full operation the village had the abnormally high birth rate of 64.5 per 1,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment