152 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (BATON ROUGE.) 



Ramsey, John Carlyle, and others founded Alex- 

 andria, with jurisdiction over 66 acre lots, 9 

 streets, a market space, and 2 public landings, 

 Lord Fairfax and Lawrence Washington being 

 among the trustees. Public warehouses and 

 wharves were built out of the proceeds of lot- 

 teries. In 1780 the articles of incorporation 

 granted in the year previous took effect, with 

 12 councilmen, who elected the mayor and other 

 officers from their number. In 1796 the town 

 was made into four wards and policed. About 

 the close of the century it was ceded to the 

 Federal Government as part of the District of 

 Columbia, and in 1804 it received a charter from 

 Congress. In 1846 it was ceded back to the 

 State of Virginia. During the period between 

 1791 and 1821 the city paid into the Treasury 

 nearly $4,000,000 in customs duties, and about 

 $173,000 on post-office account. The river, a 

 mile wide at this point, affords an excellent 

 harbor for the largest vessels. A report of the 

 Board of Trade, published two years ago, shows 

 the annual volume of business to be $3,955,000 ; 

 the tonnage by water in coastwise and foreign 

 vessels, 60.000 tons ; by river, 18,000 tons ; and by 

 rail, 90,000 tons. In 1891 the total tonnage of 

 the port was 101 vessels, the value of the im- 

 ports entered being $17,332. Transportation 

 facilities are afforded by the Pennsylvania, the 

 Chesapeake and Ohio, the Washington and Ohio, 

 and the Virginia Midland Railroads ; there is a 

 steam ferry line between the city and Washing- 

 ton, with boats running hourly, and there is 

 daily communication by steamer with Norfolk, 

 as well as triweekly with Baltimore. A con- 

 siderable tonnage of coal from mines around 

 Cumberland, Md., is received by means of the 

 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which before the 

 civil war was one of the large feeders of the 

 city. An electric railway, which passes through 

 the main streets of the city, has been constructed 

 to Mount Vernon. A charter for a street rail- 

 way has been obtained, and surveys made. Gas 

 and electric lighting are in use. Water of great 

 purity is supplied from two large reservoirs, on 

 an eminence a mile west of the city, one of 

 which, ten times larger than the other, is kept 

 as a reserve in case of drought. The volunteer 

 fire department consists of 3 steam fire engines, 

 1 hand engine, and a hook and ladder company. 

 The streets are paved. The city has increased 

 at the rate of about 100 houses a year since the 

 free mail delivery was established, and about 

 $160,000 are expended in building improvements 

 each year. Many of the old buildings possess 

 historic interest, such as the Carlyle House, oc- 

 cupied by Braddock in 1755, which was often 

 visited by Washington ; the house where La- 

 fayette was entertained in 1824 ; Christ Church, 

 where Washington worshiped, and his pew is 

 still shown ; the Braddock House, with its colonial 

 furniture and high ceilings ; and the old City 

 Hotel, where Washington's headquarters were 

 once established. Poliick Church, the parish 

 church of Mount Vernon, six miles from the 

 mansion, was built in 1768-'70 from plans drawn 

 by Washington, who was a vestryman of the 

 parish for twenty years. There is 1 Catholic 

 church in Alexandria, 1 Baptist, 1 Lutheran, 

 3 Episcopal, 2 Presbyterian, 4 Methodist, 1 

 Methodist Protestant, 1 Jewish synagogue, and 



a dozen buildings used by colored people as 

 places of worship. There are 2 brick and 2 

 frame public - school buildings. The public 

 schools employ 32 teachers ; the attendance in 

 1893 was 1,162 whites and 677 colored. The 

 first public school was erected in Alexandria in 

 1785, and was endowed by Washington with 

 1,000. The present system of public instruc- 

 tion was organized in 1871. In addition there 

 are 2 parochial schools, a military, a Catholic, 

 and one other academy ; also 3 female institutes. 

 A mile from the city are the buildings of the 

 Episcopal Theological Seminary and High 

 School, which commands a fine view of Wash- 

 ington. Two national banks have an aggregate 

 capital of $200,000 ; there are 14 building and 

 loan associations, and 3 local insurance com- 

 panies. One weekly, 1 triweekly, and 2 daily 

 newspapers are published, the " Gazette " being 

 one of the oldest in the country. A new opera 

 house has been completed recently, and there 

 are 7 halls and a large public library. There 

 are in all 231 firms and companies engaged in 

 manufacturing, and the capital so employed is 

 $1,104,480. In 1892 goods were manufactured 

 to the amount of 2.500,000, and the monthly 

 pay roll is $70,000. One of the largest establish- 

 ments is a brewery, capitalized at $300,000, the 

 plant of which covers two squares, and which 

 manufactures its own ice. Against 26,000 bar- 

 rels of beer which it turned out in 1883 it 

 showed 60,000 barrels in 1890, and its capacity 

 has been increased to 100,000 barrels. There is 

 also a tannery, which with its branch at Sperry- 

 ville tans 30,000 hides yearly, consumes 6,000 

 cords of oak bark, and disburses $3,000 monthly 

 in wages. The shops of the Virginia Midland 

 Railroad are here, and the company expends 

 nearly $500,000 yearly. Other establishments ' 

 include 3 brick works, with a capacity of 20,- 

 000,000 bricks yearly, 3 fertilizer factories, a 

 steam cracker and candy factory, 1 shipyard, 

 with 2 marine railways, representing a capital of 

 $100,000 ; 3 iron foundries and a vulcanizing 

 company, 2 machine shops and 1 boiler works, 

 4 lumber mills, and 14 cigar factories. In 1891 

 the lumber trade amounted to 12,000,000 feet. 

 There is a national cemetery here, and the 

 United States Government has constructed a 

 fine macadamized roadway and brick pavement 

 thereto. There is a United Slates Post-Office 

 and Customhouse building and a Young Men's 

 Sodality Lyceum (Roman Catholic). 



Baton Rouge, a city of Louisiana, capital of 

 the State and of East Baton Rouge Parish, on the 

 eastern bank of the Mississippi, 120 miles north 

 of New ^Orleans. By rail it is 89 miles from the 

 same city. The situation is picturesque, on a bluff 

 about 25 feet above high-water mark, and com- 

 mands an extended view of the wide-spreading 

 lowlands of cotton and sugar-cane plantations. 

 Much of the primeval forest remains intact, 

 contiguous to the city on the north and east. As 

 early as 1838 the city was the seat of a college, 

 and from 1847 to 1864 it was the capital of the 

 State. In the latter year the capital was re- 

 moved to New Orleans, but it was restored in 

 1880. It is the third city in size in the State. 

 In 1880 the population was 7,197, and it in- 

 creased to 10,478 in 1890. Its principal growth 

 has been within the past decade, when it was 



