^.- 4 o - -^ o o > V /v'^ 4 o ^'^. V ,-.-■ o'> ■"^^'"?^-'/' V^^'^^^"" V''^^^'./ ''^^ v^ .. -^ ''°'*° . .* ^^ % ^ ^ . 1^ . « • ^^ •" *v °,^ *»" o V ^^--^^ ^: ^ov-^ & - A Short History, and Facts on "The Park Commission Plans" (Fourth edition, March, 1916) y f ,^ -p n Prepared by The Committee of One Hundred on the Development of Washington In 1896 the Public Art League was organized for the sole pur- pose of having the Government create a Fine Arts Commission for the future development of Washington along the original plans of L'Enfant, who was employed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in 1789 to plan the Nation's future Capital, the only city in the world ever planned before its construction and even today con- ceded by all Nations the best planned city. In 1899 the Washington Board of Trade offered suggestions to Congress concerning the development of Washington (Park Improve- ment Papers of the District of Columbia, Public Document No. 1). The same year, through the Public Art League, the American Institute of Architects i organized a convention and were requested to present suggestions on the development of Washington. (Senate No. 94, 56th Congress, 2d session.) In 1900 the celebration of the National Capital Centennial went far to educate the people of the country as to the future of their Capital. As a permanent memorial a park development plan was de- sired. (Public Document No. 136, March 3d, 1901.) In 1901 the Senate authorized a Commission composed of D. H. Burnham, Charles F. McKim, Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Frederick Law Olmsted to study plans for the development of Washington. (Senate report 160, 57th Congress, 1st session.) 1902. The result of this Commission was the Park Com- mission Report, recommending a return to the original L'Enfant plans and advising that that part of the District not shown in the L'Enfant plans be developed in harmony with them, was presented to and accepted by the Senate. (The Improvements of the Park System of the D. C, 57th Congress, 1st session, Senate report 166.) Note is here made that upon research it will be found that the Park Commission Plans for the development of Washington are the result of careful study and an epitome of the best of the many plans and able suggestions that have been offered from time to time to the Government and offer to the Nation's Capital a tangible, econom- ical system for the location of its public buildings, bridges, statuary, highways, neighborhood parks, and a practical solution of the connect- ing of Potomac Park, National Zoological Park, Rock Creek Park, Soldiers' Home Park, and what will soon be Anacostia Park, the War College, the Mall and Arlington, through a system of smaller parks, drives and bridges. .A I W^iS" IJ^^The idea is not to accomplish all this in one decade, but if the Nation wishes its Capital ultimately to become the most beautiful city in the world, tJicn a plan is as necessary for its accomplishment as a plan is to the man who would build a home, a machine, or lay out a garden. 1903-1907. The Park Commission Plans were devised by mor- tals and it is not contended that they are infallible or that from time to time minor changes should not be made in them, under the expert advice of the National Commission of Fine Arts, but it is contended that future Washington depends materially on these plans and it is hoped that the House of Representatives will some day, in principle or in spirit, approve them as the Senate has done. It will then no longer he necessary for local and national organizations, so- cieties, and public spirited individuals to join in a movement, as was done during the years 1903 to 1907, to stop what they thought to be, though an honest, yet an unwise expenditure of public moneys by the location of parks, public buildings, and statuary not in harmony with the Park Commission Plans. In 1908 the President, recognizing this condition, appointed the Fine Arts Council (executive order 1010) and this council reported in favor of placing a projected Lincoln Memorial on the Mall, in keep- ing with the Park Commission Plans, and through the efforts of this Council the bill to place a projected Lincoln Memorial at the Union Station, a severe divergence from the Park Commission Plans was de- feated. In 1910, the Committee of One Hundred on the Development of Washington was organized by authority of the Washington, D. C, Chamber of Commerce. In 1910 Congress considered it wise to create a National Com- mission of Fine Arts (a commission that gives its time to the Government gratis) and appropriated $10,000 a year for its use. Every decision rendered by this Commission has been in keeping -with the Park Commission Plans. In 1911 Congress passed an act authorizing an appropriation of $2,000,000 for a Lincoln Memorial to be placed in the District of Co- lumbia and created the Lincoln Memorial Commission, which was to avail itself of the advice of the National Fine Arts Commission. (Public 346, Senate 9449, February, 1911.) During the years 1910 and 1911 the Washington Chamber of Commerce, the Washington Board of Trade, the Washington Federa- tion of Citizens' Associations and fourteen individual citizens' associa- tions passed resolutions indorsing the Park Commission Plans, and the Lincoln Memorial site on the Mall in keeping with the plans, and reso- lutions favoring the site as indicated by the Park Commission Plans were adopted by over tzcro hundred local and national clubs, civic, municipal, patriotic, historical, architectural, fine arts, landscape, and engineering organizations, and societies throughout the country, and the leading business organizations of Rhode Island, Maryland, Vir- ginia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Michigan, Iowa, Ken- tucky, New York, Missouri and Pennsylvania. 1912. On December the fourth, after many meetings and examining many plans, schemes and suggestions, such as roadways, etc., the Lincoln Memorial Commission, composed of President Taft, Speaker Clark, Representatives McCall and Cannon and Senators Cul- lom, Wetmore and Martin, and Col. Cosby as executive officer, recom- mended to Congress that the Lincoln Memorial be placed in tlie_ Dis- trict of Columbia on the Mall, in keeping with the Park Commission Plan^. On December the 13th, 1912, the Senate approved the findmgs of the Lincoln Memorial Commission. 1913. An executive order was issued (Dec. 28, 1913) that all Federal structures in the District of Columbia be referred to The National Commission of Fine Arts before final action. IN SPITE OF THIS. In spite of the fact that it has been proven again and again that with few exceptions business, civic, architectural and artistic America are a unit that the Washington, Jefferson, L'Enfant, and, in principle, the Park Commission Plans are the best iot the future of the Nation's Capital, there are constant and persistent efforts made to materially change these plans; no more glaring example of this can be found than the attempt that was made to divert the $2,000,000 appropriated by Congress for a Lincoln Memorial in the District of Columbia to a roadway outside of the District of Columbia. (Hearing Library Com- mittee, H. R. 13045, 1912.) 1915. In spite of this the Treasury Department let a contract for a Government Power Plant near the center of our most important Park System (December 24, 1915). 1916. In spite of the executive order (Nov. 28, 1913) this most important matter was not submitted to the National Fine Arts Commis- sion imtil January 14, 1916, twenty-one days after contract was let. "The Commission strongly disapproves the plans of this structure, and views with grave anxiety the location of any such plant on this site." (January 26, 1916.) A resolution was introduced in the Senate, askmg for a recon- sideration of the power plant building and site. (S. J. Resolution 92, January 29, 1916.) Conditions of this nature in 1910 brought mto life the Committee of One Hundred on the Development of Washington, a permanent committee, a national committee, and in its truest sense a vigilance committee, jealous for the future of Washington, positive as to the spirit of the Park Commission Plans. It is the desire of this committee, as far as possible, to inform the people of the country, who own and take such pride in their Capital, and their representatives in Congress (who for a hundred years have been, and for the centuries to come will be, considerate for it), on wliat the Park Commission Plans mean to future Washington so they can think and vote understandingly. Information in detail on the Park Commission Plans, slides and suggestions for lectures, photographs and half tones showing present and future Washington, news ^f or publications and resolutions to be adopted by organizations will be furnished upon request by addressing Glenn Brown, Chairman, The Committee of One Hundred on the Development of Washington, 806 17th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. The Committee of One Hundred ON THE Development of Washington. Organized 1910 SOLE OBJECT OF COMMITTEE: Preservation of plans for the Nation's Capital as approved by George Washington in 1789 and as extended by the Park Commis- sion in 1902. Glenn Brown, Chairman Wm. E. Shannon, Vice-Chairman John L. Weaver, Treasurer Milton E. Ailes John Barrett Paul W. Bartlett ^ Mrs. Paul W. Bartlett Alexander Graham Bell Charles J. Bell Clifford K. Berryman Miss Mabel Boardman William W. Bride Bedford Brown, IV Daniel J. Callahan C. C. Calhoun Frank G. Carpenter Mitchell Carroll Fred G. Coldren Edward F. Colliday Charles I. Corby William S. Corby J. Harry Covington A. Crawford Andrew Wright Crawford Grosvenor Dawe Frederic A. Delano Alphonsus J. Dolon John Dolph Edward H. Droop John Joy Edson Dwight L. Elmendorf Fred A. Emery Wm. Phelps Eno Wm. Corcoran Eustis Wm. John Eynon Henry P. Fairbanks Mrs. Austin Gallagher Julius Garfinkle Merrill E. Gates Cass Gilbert Samuel Gompers Edward C. Graham Henry S. Graves Thomas Grant Gilbert H. Grosvenor Wm. F. Gude Frank W. Hack3t477-l7d Alfred Harding Lq^ ^^ George W. Harris F. J. Haskin David Jayne Hill Archibald Hopkins Mrs. Archibald Hopkins J. Franklin Jameson Hennen Jennings Holcombe G. Johnson W. V. Judson Louis Kann D. J. Kaufman John B. Earner Francis E. Leupp James Rush Marshall John G. McGrath Miss Leila Mechlin E. P. Mertz C. R. Miller James Dudley Morgan Charles D. Norton Frank B. Noyes Theodore W. Noyes Robert Lee O'Brien James F. Oyster Thomas Nelson Page Henry C. Perkins John Poole Henry Kirke Porter Wallace Radcliffe Miss Janet Richards Charles W. Richardson Mrs. Charles W. Richardson A. G. Robinson Cuno H. Rudolph William T. Russell B. Francis Saul Thomas J. Shahan James Sharp Henry C. Sheridan Abram Simon Wendell Philip Stafford William J. Starr Harry C. C. Stiles Charles H. Stockton Mrs. Wm. Gumming Story Frank Sutton George Oakley Totten John Van Schaick, Jr. Charies D. Walcott " Richard R. Watrous Henry White Simon Wolf A. S. 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