1940: District Of Columbia

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. The population of the District in the 1940 census was 663,091 compared with 486,869 in 1930, an increase of 36.2 per cent, while the fast-growing suburbs in Maryland and Virginia contributed to a metropolitan area count of nearly one million people. Arlington County in Virginia was the fastest-growing county in the whole United States during the past ten years. The joint population for Washington and its outlying areas, as recorded in the census, amounted to the impressive figure of 962,742, which was an increase of 43 per cent over the figure for 1930.

In December the Washington Board of Trade estimated that 20,000 additional employees had been domiciled in Washington after the census was concluded in April, and that 65,000 had been the total additional increase in the metropolitan area.

Water Supply.

During the hot-weather spell of July, 1940, water consumption amounted on one day to more than 150,000,000 gallons, almost the estimated maximum of the filtered-water production capacity of the District plant, and daily for a whole week the water consumption was only a little less. This emphasized the fact that the rapidly growing population would soon demand a further extension of the water works. Plans for 1942 contemplate the completion of a new 20,000,000 gallon filtered-water reservoir in addition to the existing facilities.

Defense Housing.

Washington still has 'temporary' frame shacks built at the time of the Civil War to relieve the housing shortage of that period; and the nearly two hundred existing alley slums were created for the same purpose. In recent times the Alley Housing Authority has been endeavoring to do away with the worst of these evils, and the National Defense Program has given a great impulse to the building of dwellings for the low-income group of defense workers now thronging into the metropolitan area.

In addition, no less than eight hundred new frame buildings are being erected at Fort George G. Meade, between Washington and Baltimore, for a portion of the National Guard and other military formations. Other camps are being built in the suburban areas of the capital.

The District of Columbia also needs greater hospital facilities to take adequate care of the ever-increasing multitude of new defense workers. At Fort George G. Meade a hospital unit is being constructed with a capacity of one thousand beds, and capable of being increased to fifteen hundred.

Washington National Airport.

President Roosevelt formally opened the National Airport at Gravelly Point on Saturday, September 28, 1940. The large airport, which was nearing completion at the time of the opening, is located opposite the lower part of Hains Point on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, within the original limits of the District of Columbia.

The most powerful fleet of fighting planes ever assembled in the United States thundered over the Potomac as President Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the terminal structure. More than five hundred Army and Navy planes took part in this demonstration of the country's rapidly expanding air power. Seventy-five thousand people assembled to view the awe-inspiring sight, which was the culmination of a long fight to build an airport that would be a model for American commercial aviation. It had cost thirteen million dollars. The chief runway extends 6,855 feet along a north-south axis, and the fill required 20,000,000 cubic yards of gravel and other material.

The airport has been so planned that several additional runways may be constructed when necessary. The present main runway can also be lengthened, and additional hangars built nearby. To obviate the danger of submergence of the runways during possible floods in the Potomac all plans are for a level above that of the highest floods on record at Gravelly Point. The landing areas became available for emergency use in December.

Calvin Coolidge High School.

This important new school building is located at Fifth and Sheridan Streets, N. W. Covering approximately twelve acres of ground, it consists of four floors, including the basement in which are the armory, gymnasiums, teachers' and pupils' cafeterias and kitchen, besides the auditorium. In all there are sixty-two instructional rooms, in addition to laboratories for biology, physics, chemistry and home economics. (See also ARCHITECTURE.)

Confederate Reunion.

Once again the aged Confederate veterans held a reunion in the Nation's capital, on Oct. 9, 1940. General Robert E. Lee and General Stonewall Jackson were both represented by descendants.