THE SMITHSONIAN BUILDING 

 AND GROUNDS 



By George Brown Goode 



«-■ ^v^ 



^^HAT the Smithsonian Institution, before it 



could begin active operations, must have a 



|;^|\0\ home of its own would doubtless have been 

 ^=^^ regarded as a necessity by any one consider- 

 ''^^^^^^^^^^ ing the requirements of the future. Richard 

 Rush, however, appears to have been the first to state this 

 idea in words, which he did in a letter addressed November 

 6, 1838, to the Secretary of State, in response to a request 

 of the President for suggestions in regard to the proper 

 manner of carrying out the bequest. 



In the bill prepared by John Ouincy Adams, and presented 

 February 18, 1839, it was provided that the observatory, 

 which was to be the first of the Smithsonian buildings, 

 should be erected, under the direction of the Secretary of the 

 Treasury, upon land belonging to the United States, which, 

 after its selection, should be granted for the purpose and con- 

 veyed as a deed of gift to the trustees of the Smithsonian 

 fund. In those days the locality known as Camp Hill, near 

 the banks of the Potomac, opposite Analostan Island, near 

 the mouth of Rock Creek, seems to have been under consid- 



247 



