Pennsylvania Railroad F 199 . P41 Copy 1 GUIDE TO WASHINGTON. 1897-8 \ /^ff^ (* '» I r- ' / / / < J ■M I (- PHNNSVL\ AM A W \II I'OAI). A GUIDi; TO WASHINGTON. I «S t; 7 - i*^ . J. R. W(XMX GK). W. BOYD. 3519 Copyrighted 1897, by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Press of AUeu, Lane & Scott, Phi/n. WASlilNr]Tr)\ THE CAPITOL. THH Capitol of the United States is situated on Capitol Hill, one and one-third miles from the White House and half a mile from the Pennsylvania Railroad Station. The building is open from g.co A. M. to 4.30 P. M. daily, except Sundays and holidays. Congress goes into session during its term at tweKe o'clock noon. Visitors are allowed on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatises until 11.4s A. M. during the days on which Congress meets : after tiiat hour they are admitted to the galleries only. The central portion of the building is constructed of Virginia sandstone, painted white: the Senate and House wings are of Massachusetts marble. The col- umns of all porticoes are monoliths. The entire length of the Capitol is sesen hundred and fifty-one feet and four inches : width, three hundred and I'iftv feet ; area, over three and one-half acres. The corner stone of the main building was laid by President Washington on September iX, 170}. The ■'tier stone of the extensions was laid by President huimore on July 4, iSsi, Daniel Webster being the orator. Until the completie received from 12.00 o'clock noon to 1.00 P. M. ever>' day except Tuesdays and Fridays. These rules are sub- ject to change, however, at the will of the President. The building is constructed of Virginia freestone and is one hundred and seventy feet long and eighty-six feet in depth. It consists of a rustic basement, two 8 stories and an attic, the whole surmounted by an orna- mental balustrade. The White House was the first public building erected at the new seat of Govern- ment. The corner stone was laid by Washington, Oc- tober 13, 1792. John Adams was its first occupant in 1800, In 1814 it was burned by the British, and upon THE " WHITE HOUSE." its restoration the stone was painted white to oblit- erate the marks of the fire. The East Room is usually the only one shown to visitors. From the grand central corridor, however, which extends clear through to the conservatory, other rooms lead off, sumptuously furnished, and taking their names from the predominant cun>i oj their Ue».i>ra- tions. The Green Room is now used principally for a music room. The Blue R«>om is also used by the President as a reception room. It was in this n)om that the Cleveland marriage took place in June, i8i<6. The Red Room is used as the family sitting room, and also for receptions by the ladies of the President's household. Beyond the Red Room is the State Uin- ing Room, where the state dinners are given to the Cabinet, the Justices of the Supreme Court, and the Diplomatic Corps. The President's Room on the second tloor is reached by a stairway which ascends from the hall betweeii the vestibule and the East Room. Opening off from the President's Room is the Cabinet Room. All of these rooms are luxurious in their furnishings and contain many valuable paint- ings of former Presidents and noted personages. THE TREASURY. The Treasury of the United States is situated on Pennsylvania Avenue at Fifteenth Street, it is open to visitors from o-oo A. M. to 2.00 P. M., daily except Sundays and holl- lays, but the tour of the build- ing can be made only t>etween 11.00 A. M. and 12.00 noon, and 1. 00 and 2.00 P. M. This building is constructed of sandstone and granite, and has a total length of four hundred and fifty feet and a width of two hundred and TO fifty feet. Its site was chosen by President Jackson, who, becoming impatient at the long delay, stuck his cane into the ground one morning and ordered, " Build it here." This is the bank of the nation, and in it are to be seen the Cash Room, Division of Issue, the NATIONAL MUSEUM. Redemption Division, the bond and gold and silver vaults, and the Secret Service Museum. BUREAU OF ENGRAVING AND PRINTING. This important branch of the Treasury Department is located in a handsome brick building on the Mall II between Fourteenth nnJ B Streets, quite near the WashinRton Mominient. It is ht-re th.it all the na- tional paper currency, (jovernment bonds, stamps, passports. cVc, are engraved and printed. On the ground floor is a museum containing specimens of the old fractional currency known as " shinplasters." series of all the notes printed, beside many specimens of counterfeit notes and the tools and machinery used in their manufacture. The building is open to vis- itors between ().cx) A. M. and 12.00 noon, and i2.}o and 2.30 P. M., and upon application to the ofticer at the door a competent guide will be furnished to show the visitors through the building and explain the various processes and methods used in making the national bank notes. .cing loaned bv the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. 14 This building is open daily except Sunday between 9.00 A. M. and 4.30 P. M. THE NEW CONGRESSIONAL LIBRARY. This magnificent building is situated just east of the Capitol at Pennsylvania Avenue and B Street. It is open to the public from 9.00 A. M. to 4.30 P. M. week- days. The material used in its construction is the pur- est white New Hampshire granite. The order of archi- tecture is the Italian Renaissance. The building covers about three and one-half acres, and is the most elabor- ately adorned edifice in this country. In its frescoes and friezes, its statuary and paintings, its bronzes and bas reliefs, it bears comparison with any of the public buildings of the world. It has forty-three miles of shelving, and its present capacity of one million eight hundred thousand volumes could easily be increased to four million five hundred thousand volumes. The largest library in the world, outside of this building, that of France, con- /! vi,>^*«# -^lii tains only two million two hun- dred and fifty thousand volumes. THE NEW CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART. The new Corcoran Art Gallery, recently completed, is situated on Seventeenth Street, occupying the entire square betw^een New York Avenue and E Street, N. W. Vis- itors are admitted free on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 9.30 A. M. to 4.00 P. M., and on >5 Sundays from 1.30 to s-oo P. M. On other days an admission fee of twenty-five cents is charged. The building is constructed of (jeorgia white marbl'- in the Ne«)-Grec style of architecture. rhe collection of paintings, sculpture, and bronzes Is very large, embracing works of the most eminent artists of the world, mostly contemporaneous, THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL MONUMENT. * *—* OUBTLESS one of the most interesting objects at the National Capital is the Monument. This greatest of memo- rial shafts, rising to a height of five hundred and fifty-five feet, is situated in Washington Park, near Fourteenth Street, and is open to visitors daily from •).oo A. M. to 4.30 P. M. The foundations of the monument were ■ ijjt F"; Tjf iS«Ss that the completed structure ^^^^^ ^^ '*^ '^P^" ^^ ^'^^ public. The lower ^^^^ part of this imposing edifice is built of New tngland granite, faced with crystal marble. In the construction of the upper part of the monument white marble exclusively is used. The top is reached by an elevator running every half hour or by a flight of nine hundred steps. The view from the top, embracing Washington and its environ- ments, the winding Potomac, and the heights of Vir- ginia, is most magnificent. The total cost of the monument was 51.300,000. i6 THE PATENT OFFICE. The building of the Department of the hiterior, in which the Patent Office is located, is a massive struct- ure of freestone, marble, and granite in the Doric style, and is bounded by Seventh and Ninth and F and G Streets, covering two large squares. Visitors are admit- ted to the building and museum of models from 9.00 A. M. to 2.00 P. M. The museum of models, the chief point of interest to visitors, is located on the second floor. Here may be seen models of all the inventions patented by American genius. Among the two hundred thousand or more models is the original printing press of Benja- min Franklin. A part of the models are on exhibition in the Union Building on G Street between Sixth and Seventh Streets. THE PENSION OFFICE. The Pension Building is situated in the northern part of Judiciary Square, on G Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets, N. W. Visitors are admitted be- tween 9.00 A.M. and 4.00 P. M. It is an immense fire-proof struct- ure built of brick and ornament- ed with a border of terra cotta bas relief. Here is kept the rec- ord of the one million tw^o hundred thousand pension applicants. This 17 buildiiiR is the largest of its kind in the world, over fif- teen million bricks being used in its construction. The estimated cost was 5 1,000,000. THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. On F Street and directly opposite the Patent Oftice is the huge granite structure in which the business of the Post Office department is transacted. It is open to \ isitors be- tween the hours of y.oo A. M. and 2.00 P. M. Probably the most inter- esting sight to the visitor is the Dead Letter Oftice and its museum stocked with all sorts of curious objects taken from the unclaimed letters which are received at this department in numbers varying from fifteen to twenty thou- ^and dailv. THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. This building is located at North Capitol and H Streets, N. E., and visitors are admitted from 10.00 until I I.JO A. M. and from 1.00 to j.oo P. M. It is an uninteresting building to one who is not engaged in the same art, and the ordinary visitor prefers to spend his time in some of the other buildings. It is said to be the largest printing establishment in the world, and in order to successfully handle the enormous amount of printing required by the i8 Government the building has been divided into four parts. The first floor contains the press and reading rooms, the second the composing rooms and oftices, the third floor the binding department, while on the fourth floor all of the folding is done. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE The Agricultural Buildings are situated in the Mall, a short dis- tance west of the Smithsonian In- , stitution. They are open to vis- V- itors from g.oo A. M. to 4.00 ,^< p. M. In the museum may x'^v.V^s*-'" be seen a complete exhibition of the agricultural, horticul- tural, pomological, and botan- ical productions of the country. The building also contains an elaborate library, besides a large miscel- laneous collection of trees, shrubs, and plants. ' ! THE WEATHER BUREAU. The interesting little building occupied by the Weather Bureau is situated at the corner of M and Twenty-second Streets. Visitors are admitted between the hours of 9.00 A. M. and 2.00 P. M. Here are kept in active use instruments for measuring the ve- locity of the wind, delicate barometers, and curiously- devised instruments for determining the volume of rainfall. 19 THE NEW NAVAL OBSERVATORY. I he new Naval Obser\'atory is situated on I jeorge- town Heigiits, in West Washington. Visitors arc admitted freely by day, but niniU \ isitors are restricted to Tuesdays and Thurs- days, wiien admission may l>e gained by permit from the Super- intendent. On these nights the Observer is present to give visit- ors an opportunity to view the heavens through tlie large tele- scope. The meridian of Washing- " ton passes through the centre of the dome of this building, and the large time ball is dropped from the mast every dav at 12.00 M., and instantly noontime is transmitted by telegraph to all parts of the United States. One of the largest telescopes in the world, a twenty- six-inch equatorial, costing 5s^),ooo, is located here. THE LINCOLN MUSEUM. In a small tluee-story house at 516 Tenth Street, N. W.. may be seen the room in which President Lincoln died on the morning of April 15, iJVis. The building is open daily to visitors, and a small fee is charged for admission. In this house is a large col- lection of Lincoln relics, among which are over two hundred portraits, [directly opposite this building Is the site of Ford's Theatre, in a box of which Lincoln received his death wound. 20 SOLDIERS' HOME. The Soldiers' Home is situated on a hill three miles* east of the Capitol, and may be reached via the Sev- enth Street cars. It is open to visitors from 9.00 A. M. until sunset daily except Sundays. The grounds cover some five hundred acres of diver- sified lawn, slope, and ravine. It is an institution for the benefit of soldiers who have been honorably dis- charged from the regular army after twenty years' ser- vice, or who have been disabled by wounds or disease. It was at this picturesque spot that President Arthur spent his summer vacations. MT. VERNON. This historic spot, the home of General Washing- ton, is situated on the south bank of the river, and is reached via the Washington, Alexandria & Mount Vernon Railway Com- pany's electric line from i;^j4 Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. In the mansion the rooms will ''r^ 22 be found just as they were in the time when the " Fa- ther of his Country " lived at this beautiful spot. The old family vault, in which Washington's body lay until 1837, may be seen in the beautifully-wooded park surrounding the house. The body now rests in the handsome marble sarcophagus. ARLINGTON. The Arlington National Cemetery is situated on the Virginia side of the Potomac, on a hill overlooking the Capital. It is reached by the cars of the Washing- ton, Alexandria and Mount Vernon Railway, starting from 1312 Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. The cemetery is open daily, including Sundays, from sun- rise to sunset. At Arlington rest sixteen thousand soldiers who gave up their lives in the War of the Rebellion. It is his- toric ground. The mansion, one of the old landmarks, was built in the early part of the century by a foster son of Washington. On the 22d of April, 1861, Rob- ert E. Lee went out from this, his home, to fight for the Confederacy. The view from Arlington Heights is most beautiful. Below flows the peaceful Potomac ; on the farther side, with its towering monument, its parks, and its imposing buildings, lies the Capital of the Nation ; beyond rise the encircling hills, rolling gently away to the dim, dis- tant horizon. LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 014 310 455 2