Full House

This beautiful “semi” bungalow at 5415 Cathedral was built with Number One Pine in 1922, perhaps by its first owner John A. Rhine who was a carpenter by trade. John Augustus Rhine was born in Mechanicsville, Maryland in 1876. His father Augustus Rhine, was a blacksmith. John and his wife Florence married in 1897 in DC, but lived in the nearby Arlington and Mt Rainier before buying the property on Cathedral Ave.

 In 1930, the Rhine’s adult daughters Beulah and Edith, plus their daughters' families lived there as well. John Rhine, now 54, was working as a carpenter. Beulah’s husband John Padgett was an electrician, and they had two little girls- Virginia and Dorothy. Edith’s husband Elmer Smallwood was working as a milkman while she stayed home with Elmer Jr age 2. Their daughter Gladys came along in 1932. Perhaps it was the Depression that drove them all under one roof.  The Rhines tried to sell the house for several years. Here’s an ad from 1929.

In 1935 the house finally sold to Nellie Hogan, a single working woman. Nellie was born on a farm in Natural Bridge, Virginia in 1883. Both of her parents were born in Virginia and were descendants of Irish immigrants. The Hogans were a large, close knit family, and Nellie was the third of eight children. 

By 1910, Nellie had moved to DC and was living with her uncle Michael.  In 1922 there’s a mention in the newspaper of a Miss Nellie Hogan being a registered nurse at Georgetown Hospital, and I believe this is how she made her living. I can’t find Nellie in the 1930 census, but in 1940 she was listed as a nurse working in a public hospital. She also rented rooms to supplement her income. In 1940, two other families lived at 5415 including a young couple from the midwest, Jack Winkler, a butcher, and his young wife Irma, plus Frederick Bolton, a “medical instructor,”his wife Jessie, and their teenage daughter Constance. Here’s an ad from 1937.

In 1945 Nellie’s sister Mary also moved in while studying at Catholic University to be a nurse. Nellie died in 1958 “suddenly” at home. She was 75 years old, and she left the home to her siblings. 

A Ready Made Bungalow

This Sears kit bungalow on the corner of Cathedral and Carolina was built in 1922, the same year that Sears opened a model home store on 10th Street NW. Kit homes started popping all over Potomac Heights.  

The house first belonged to Albert J and Susie Kegal. Albert was born in Holland in 1873. He came to the US when he was eight years old with his parents Martin and Johanna. They settled in Milwaukee, and in 1896, Albert married a Wisconsin girl, Susie Kampe.

Suzie Kampe

Albert worked as a pressman all of his life, and Suzie was a homemaker. In 1900, the couple adopted a baby boy and named him Earle Martin. When Earle was about 20, the family moved to Washington, DC. Albert got a job at the printing office and rented a place until he could afford the new house on Cathedral Avenue in 1922.  That same year in June, Earle married Gladys Steel. Both families lived together in the Cathedral house for about 20 years during which time Earle remarried. 

In the 1930 census Earle and Gladys have a one year old son named Martin. Earle was working as a car salesman. Albert was still employed as a pressman, and Suzie was very active in the Potomac Heights Community Church which often had fun and crazy fundraisers like this one - an all woman, cross-dressing wedding.

Suzie front row, second from right 

By the late 1930s. Earle had married a neighbor, Mary Hill, who was living on Hawthorne Place. I'm not sure what happened to Gladys, but Earle, Mary, young Martin and a new baby, Mary Elizabeth, all were living with Albert and Suzie according to the 1940 census. 

That same year, on an extra cold day in January, eleven year old Martin made the papers when he and his friend Don Custard fell through the ice into the canal while trying to walk under Chain Bridge. Martin could swim and was able to get out and run for help, stopping traffic on Canal Road. James Cox, one of the firemen who came to the scene, also fell through the ice, on his first attempt, but eventually was able to get Don out by throwing him a rope. 

 Don, who lived across the street from Martin, survived without ill effects even though he was in the freezing water for a half hour. Later in life, Don joined the Marines and died on active duty in Korea in 1951. Martin came out unscathed, but their hero, James Cox was hit by a car the next day on Canal Rd while discussing the rescue. Both of his legs were broken.

Earl and Mary moved to 5618 Conduit Rd by 1942 according to his draft registration, but Susie and Albert stayed in the house until the end of their lives.  Susie died in 1948 and Albert died a few years later in 1952. The house was left to Earl, and he sold it soon after his father died.

Albert and Suzie in the yard of 5423

The Cutler House

 

Howard Cutler, born in 1883, might be most famous for designing the Kodak Tower in Rochester, New York, but here  in Washington DC, his architecture is found all over town including the Masonic temple in Silver Spring, Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, and St Andrew’s Church in College Park. He also designed the unassuming but handsome home at 5404 Cathedral Avenue. 

The first owner, William Franklin Young, was born on a farm in 1860 in Fairfax Virginia- just before the Civil War. He moved to DC by 1889 and married Sina V. Collins relatively late in life. He was 30, and she was 26. I found them in the 1900 census renting a house in DC and living with their  three children- Ruth,Thomas, and Calvin. The census listed Sina as a house inspector, and William was a carpenter. The family wanders a bit in the next twenty years. In 1910, they were living in Fairfax. In 1920, they moved to Miami, Florida, but then William bought the lot on Cathedral Ave in 1923 and built the house in 1926 when he was 67 years old. Was he unhappy in Florida? Or was it an investment? In any case the house went on the market starting in 1927 according to this ad in the Evening Star.

The house didn’t sell. Maybe the Depression was partly to blame.  In the 1930 census, the Youngs were all living on Cathedral Ave. Their son Calvin, now 37, still lived at home. Calvin was a steamfitter. 

 In 1932 The Youngs left Calvin behind and moved back to Florida. They finally sold the house in 1934 to David and Grace Rogerson, a young couple with three boys. David Jr, Chester, and William. David supported the family by working in the dairy industry,  I found this little clipping on Dec 25, 1940 in the Evening Star. (Weaver Place is now called Arizona Avene)

Poor Chester...I wonder if he got the bike for Christmas?

In 1946, the couple divorced. David moved to Baltimore and remarried while Grace stayed in the home with the boys. In the 1950s, Grace joined the bowling league at Palisades church. The boys went to Wilson High School and afterwards, David Jr joined the military. 

Grace sold the house in 1962 to Ruth Olsen and Marguerite Roney who were living there when I moved onto the block. The "bluestone finish" had been inexplicably painted black by then which, I imagine, set Howard Cutler to rolling in his grave. 

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The Oldest House on the Block

The house at 5426 Cathedral Ave was built in 1917, and the first owner was James Price Cochran. James was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1863, when the Civil War was still raging. He was the eldest of ten children, born when his mother Amanda was just 17. His father William was a wheelwright and ran a grocery store. James became a policeman in 1883 and saved the lives of two people caught in a house fire in 1890.  In 1886, he married Emma Kate Gertrude Huysman in Washington, DC. and worked for the fire department here before returning to the police force. He served both in uniform and plain clothes and according to the Evening Star made many “clever captures” which included a gang of silver thieves operating near Dupont Circle.

A daughter, Merceda, was born on March 3, 1890, but by 1899 his marriage was in big trouble. Allegations of “unfaithfulness with persons of questionable character” were made by James and denied by Emma. (I wonder if James used his detective skills for domestic purposes as well.)

In any case, James resigned from the DC police force in 1899 and started a new career as a night watchman. He was instrumental in starting the NIght Watchman’s Association in 1905 and was their business agent.

During a Watchman meeting in October 1905, stories were told about the original watchmen, Fritz Stutz, “a venerable German who patrolled the warehouses on the riverfront of Georgetown” in the 1850s when there was no metropolitan police force “with his Cossack-like fuzzy cap, his heavy hickory staff, watchman’s rattle and queer-looking lantern…” Sometimes  Mr Stutz would throw in a bit of news on the hour as well. The current watchman’s association worked with the police and often guarded department stores and other private businesses and homes. 

James married again in 1906 when he was 43 years old. His new bride Mary Louise Rawlings grew up on a farm in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Mary, no spring chicken herself, was about 30 when they tied the knot. 

The Cochrans bought the large house at 5426 Cathedral Ave in 1916 when James was 54 years. He still worked as a watchman, but the five bedroom house gave them an opportunity to make extra money by taking in boarders. In the 1920 census, a boarder named Annie Phipps lived with them. She was single and a seamstress.

Meanwhile, James’ daughter Merceda had married George Isemann.  The  two lived nearby in Georgetown. Both would become champion duckpin bowlers and frequently appeared in the sports pages until George died of a throat infection in 1940. James' ex-wife Emma married two more times before she died in 1922. Her last husband was an embezzling, brawling bartender who made the papers when he assaulted a cop in 1916. I can’t help but think James probably heard about that one.

In 1925, when James was 62 and Mary about 50, a baby appeared in their lives. He was named George Michael Cochran. Here’s Mary with George on her lap from a 1926 Potomac Heights Church congregation photo. 

James and Mary attended one of the very first meetings which initiated the formation of the Potomac Heights Community Church. (Now Palisades Community Church) Mary taught Sunday school from the very beginning in 1923 until the 1950s. She was also enthusiastic about drama, and when the church was first getting organized she proposed scoping out “home talent to put on plays.” Later Mary herself participated in those plays including this one. 

Mary back row far left next to David Correll of 5414 Cathedral

In the 1930 census, Annie had left the household, but three more boarders appeared. George F Cochran was listed as an adopted son. James was still working as a watchman at 67 years old.  That same year little George was bitten by a dog. It made the Evening Star on April 24, 1935.

In the 1940 census, The Cochrans were still hosting lodgers which included Bess Custard and her two little boys, Don and Jimmie. Bess was divorced and supported herself as a stenographer.  Don and his friend Martin Kegel, who lived across the street, made the papers when both fell through the ice while playing on the canal that same January. Even though Don was in the icy water for at least a half hour, he survived the incident unscathed, and joined the Marines at 18. He was killed while serving in the Korean War. 

Evening Star Jan 16, 1940 (Don on right)

James died early in the summer of 1942 and was buried in Lynchburg. He was almost 80 years old. George joined the Navy that August and served until 1947. Mary stayed in the house until 1946 when she sold the property to James and Marguerite Schaeffer. Mary remained active in the church until her death in 1961

Mary and James congregation photo 1940

. George joined the Navy that August and served until 1947. Mary stayed in the house until 1946 when she sold the property to James and Marguerite Schaeffer. Mary remained active in the church until her death in 1961. She even manned a ceremonial shovel when the church built an addition in 1959. Here are two of her recipes from the church cookbook. (click on the photo for a larger version)

I don’t know much about the Scheaffers, who lived here for 8 years, except that they  won a prize in a beautiful house contest in 1952. This ad appeared in March 1954 when Armin and Mary Hufnagle bought the house. 

Armin was in turns an insurance salesman, a “proprietor” and a cabbie. Armin died in July 1973, and Mary sold the house to the current owner in November 1973. 

Here's one more photo of Mary hanging out with other charter members at church.

Potomac Heights: Have You Seen It?

In the summer of 1909 a new "suburb" called Potomac Heights opened in the Northwest corner of Washington, DC. At the time only a semi- abandoned athletic park with a race track for bicycles existed on this edge of the city. The track, which opened in May of 1896, was nestled near the corner of Macarthur Boulevard and the Dalecarlia reservoir where an alley with a deep approach is now. 

1903 Baist Map

An article in the Evening Star had this description: "there are no obstructions in the entire area, and the only landmark is a solitary tree, which stands about the center of the place, and in the side of which, as a mark and a relic of bygone days, a piece of bayonet is firmly held, which was undoubtably imbedded in the tree doing war times, when the place was used as a camp by soldiers." Yep, that was a while ago.

An estimated 18,000 yards of earth were removed to create a sunken amphitheater effect with the course being one third of a mile long.  The president of the company,  Jacob P. Clark, was also the president of the Great Falls Electric Railway at the time. Housing development plans were alluded to, but never came to fruition. Here's a drawing of the bike track.

On June 16, 1909 a group of real estate men from North Carolina bought the 75 acre property which was still mostly undeveloped land, described at the time as "a maze of timothy oats and undergrowth."  The tract was one mile long, bounded by Arizona Avenue, the Dalecarlia reservoir, MacArthur Boulevard, and the bluff of the river.   JD Dorsett, R H McNeil and JM Maupin called their new corporation "The Potomac Heights Land Company." 

The new neighborhood would be three blocks wide, bisected by what was then the Glen Echo trolley line which provided the convenience of a streetcar to anywhere in the city.  Originally about 800 lots were planned with two acres donated to become Carolina Park by the developers where "walled springs under wide-spreading branches provided deliciously cold water." The springs are mostly forced through tunnels today, but one still meanders close to Macomb Street. The lots were 25 feet wide, and buyers were encouraged to purchase two at $800 a pair with financing available "for less per month than you pay a good cook."

 Potomac Avenue, a brand new road, was described in an Evening Star article on June 3, 1911 as "extending along the very brow of the hill and commanding a magnificent view of the Potomac River and the valley." As beautiful as the topography was, and still is, land near the river was not traditionally considered to be desirable. In the 1920s Chain Bridge led to a gas station and a tavern on the Virginia side. A watering hole had anchored that side of the bridge ever since one took the place of an abandoned Civil War guard station. 

photo from Library of Congress

Due to flooding, Chain Bridge has been replaced many times, and first got its name from a suspension bridge version  in 1808. The current stone piers have been in place since just before the Civil War. Various taverns came and went as well. During Prohibition in the 1920s, McKey's Tavern was known as a bootlegging outpost. I love this noir type shot.

Taken from parking lot of McKeys Tavern 

Of course, the DC side of the bridge had its own share of shady goings ons. In August of 1927, eighteen men and women were arrested for disorderly conduct, and three for bootlegging during a midnight raid on a house at the corner of Canal Road and Arizona Avenue. A thousand bottles of home brew and liquor were seized. In the summer of 1933 undercover cops in bathing suits arrested two entrepreneurs on a houseboat who had been "catering to canoeists and swimmers all summer doing a particularly heavy week end business." Business was booming. The cops seized a dozen quarts of their "alleged whiskey."

A girls' reform school, which opened in 1893 on the site of the present day Sibley Hospital, flanked one end of the neighborhood- just across the road from the bicycle track.

Reform School Admin Building 1937

In 1921 eleven girls escaped from the reform school. Thirteen men and women were later arrested for harboring the runaways, several being caught while "enjoying life in Marquise Camp" south of Chain Bridge according to a story in the Evening Star. A motorboat called "The Vamp"was raided and yielded more arrests. The girls reported that they "were motored about the river" and that bathing suits were acquired for them. I have a feeling their benefactors were not well-intentioned. 

Life was both rural and blue collar here in the early 1900s. Fishermen and laborers lived in shacks which dotted the bluffs on both sides of the river. Quarries lined the Virginia side from near Spout Run to Pimmet's Run by Chain Bridge. Barges still ran up and down the canal delivering everything from coal to ice cream until a flood in 1924 basically shut down operations.  Here's a canal barge serving as a party boat in June 1916.

Canal Party photo by Willard Ross 

The B and O Railroad ran a line from Georgetown along where the Crescent trail is now, but Chain Bridge was often the scene of recreation as much as commerce as this "Chain Bridge Hike" in June of 1916 portrays.

Postcard by Willard Ross

The Potomac Height Company capitalized on the natural beauty of the area with advertisements proclaiming the benefits of healthy living with city conveniences. "Your home -within 5 cent street car fare of Washington-on the healthful level of 150 feet above and overlooking the most beautiful part of the Potomac-that's what awaits you..."

 Many subsequent ads hinted that the neighborhood would soon be lake front property. For decades plans to harness the river's energy were pondered. The Great Falls Manufacturing Company which later reorganized as the Great Falls Power Company retained riparian rights starting in the 1839 even though the river was within the jurisdiction of Maryland. A massive hydro-electric dam was proposed in the 1890s. The lake would be named after Montgomery Meigs, an architect and engineer who oversaw the construction of the Washington aqueduct which included a feat of engineering now known as the Cabin John Bridge. The 220 foot masonry arch was the longest in the world for about 40 years after its creation. 

In 1864, Meigs, a fervent supporter of the Union during the Civil War, was Lincoln's quartermaster and later a self imposed doorman when Lincoln lay dying at the Petersen House. It was Meig's who had the vengeful idea to bury soldiers in Robert E. Lee's yard and turn the grounds into Arlington Cemetery.

Montgomery Meigs Library of Congress

But I digress.  

The powers-that-be finally came to their senses in 1927, when the National Park and Planning commission realized a dam would be environmentally ruinous, attract unwanted heavy industries, and possibly  "imperil" the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument downstream if breached. About ten years later, the government bought the C and O Canal from the B and O Railroad.

The most disturbing history of Potomac Heights can be found in 1911 when an ad in the Evening Star listed 15 "good" reasons to buy property here, the number one being "because the property is in a splendid neighborhood and free from persons of African descent." 

This ad was the most blatant I found, but not a one off by any means. Advertising pitches repeatedly emphasized that "only the best people" could buy homes here, and deeds with racial covenants were not outlawed until 1957. In July 1919 an ad in the Evening Star had this abhorrent description of home sales in Potomac Heights: "Under stringent restrictions. It will always be white." And that's pretty much what happened.

Development of the neighborhood preceded slowly. Sears and Roebuck, the mail order company, began selling homes in 1908, but the DC market took off in 1922 when a local sales office opened on 10th St NW.  Sears kit homes came in a stunning array of both styles and materials and were a popular choice for those investing or moving to Potomac Heights. 

In 1923 The Potomac Heights Community Church forged connections between many of the new neighbors. The only church in the area was Catholic, and since there weren't enough Baptists or Methodists to make a difference, a group of neighbors decided to join the community church movement and merged eleven denominations into one church.

Now many of those homes are making way for newer bigger buildings- especially on lots overlooking the river.  My block of Potomac Heights has two Sears homes, including my own. This year, listening to all the hammering nearby,  I wondered who first lived on this block. under the shade of our 100 year old willow oaks? Stay tuned to this site for those House Stories. 

 

The Hollywood Inn of Maryland

By the time my father George was twenty years old, he was supporting his wife Bebe, a young son Peter, and a new baby. My grandparents Pota and Pete were still crazy upset that my parents had eloped in 1935, and that my mother was not a Greek girl. Pota still refused to accept the situation, but in 1937 when my sister was born, my grandfather Pete was ready to cave. He had bought property near Camp Springs some time in the early 1930s thinking the urban congregation of St Sophia's might want to use the grounds for picnics and gatherings. The Hollywood Inn, as it was called, was near the middle of nowhere in an area so rural, it didn’t have a street address. The area which was once known as Red's Corner or Meadows. Unfortunately the church thought the place was too far from the city and not as much fun as an excursion to Marshall Hall. Pete upped his game when he secured a license to sell beer in June 1933 as soon as regulations prohibiting the sale of beer were relaxed and before the official end of prohibition at the end of that year. Here's a Hollywood Inn ad from 1934.

And here is a photo of the family on the front porch around 1935. My grandfather Pete is in the back standing between his brother Alec and his daughter Catherine. The front row is son Nick, Alec's wife Koula and my grandmother Pota. The children belong to Koula and Alec. My father is in the very back grinning.

After my sister was born, Pete decided to let his son live there in exchange for running the roadhouse. During the week, George worked for Quick Service Laundry. When he was out driving the delivery truck, he would put flyers on parked cars advertising Saturday night dances and chicken dinners on Sunday at the inn. (Chicken plucking was also on his resume.)   

I am guessing my father got an extra good deal on these business cards because his name is misspelled.

I only have one rather desultory photo of the Inn's interior. Seems like everyone is waiting for Godot including my grandfather Pete who is standing to the right of the stage.

Both of my parents grew up in the city. This was their first run at life in the country with chickens, dogs and cats. I love this goofy photo of my sister sharing her playpen with a dog and puppies. Her brother Pete has his head at the bars.

One memorable Saturday, the Inn was rented out to a group who wanted to have a "smoker." George had no idea what was involved until the entertainment arrived. My father took one look at the four dancers and decided he should ask my mother to leave her hostess stand and stay upstairs for the rest for the evening which, as it turns out, was cut short by a raid. As my father told it, a nosy neighbor caught wind of the affair and called the police. The incident garnered a mention on the front page of The Evening Star on February 5, 1938. My father was arrested and fined for his ignorance, but he always loved to tell the story.

A year later the word "smoker" took on a whole new meaning on a windy night in March.  My parents hosted a friend's birthday party earlier in the evening. They had cake and danced, mostly to "Hold Tight" which was in heavy rotation on the music box as my mother called it in her journal. The party broke up just before midnight, and after shutting down the Inn, my father fell asleep while Bebe was reading in bed. She heard rustling noises in the attic and wondered why they still had rats with all of the new cats roaming the property. She woke up George, and after listening a moment, he went down the long hall to investigate. When he pushed open the trap door to the attic, he discovered flames and yelled back to my mother to wake the household which included their helpers Mary Louise and Horace. They left the building at 12:15. My father went back in with Horace to try and save a few things, but it was too smoky. Half of the building was already consumed by flames.  George drove his DeSoto four miles to the Forrestville fire department to get help, but by the time he returned, the inn had burned to the ground. The devastation took less than forty five minutes, and the recruited firemen used their resources to save the woods and neighboring houses. 

George and Bebe lost everything that night except the clothes on their backs which were pajamas. They stayed with a neighbor and had to borrow clothes to drive into town the next day. Pete eventually sold the property to Andrews Air Force Base. My father found an apartment on E Street a week later, and they started over from scratch with donated clothing and furniture.