Howard University - Bison Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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The Haven of the “Peace that passeth all understanding.”

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3n jflemoriam OSCAR JEFFERSON WALDO SCOTT 1868—1928 A.B., Ohio Wesleyan University......................1895 A. M.. Ohio Wesleyan University....................1898 B. D. Drew Theological Seminary....................1897 S.T.B., Iliff Seminary..............................1897 B.O., Denver University.............................1899 D.D.,Wilberforce University ........................1902 Pastor of important Churches in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, including the Metropolitan Church. Washington, D.C..........1897-1907 First Lieutenant in the Chaplain Corps, U.S.A.......1907 Captain.............................................1914 Major...............................................1921 Retired.............................................1922 Professor of Greek, Old Testament History and Systematic Theology, Howard University..........1923 Active in this position to the day of his death, March 13,.......................................1928

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Cfje s torp of asfjington Ciiv By William L. Tignor HE CITY that bears the honored name of Washington, within the Federal District named for the discoverer of America, is today recognized as the supreme combination of all that is desirable for a city designed to be the great capital of a great nation. It is al-ready the Paris of America in beauty and attractions. It is rapid-—ly becoming the Berlin of America in education and is destined to become the Rome of America in art. The reason for this growth is obvious. Washington is singularly free in its opportunity to devote its energies to enhancing its own stateliness and to furthering education and art, for it has never been a center for business or manufacture; it was built solely to provide a seat for government activities and a home for public servants to carry them on. The controversy over the location of the National Capital which finally ended in the selection of the “original ten miles square’' of the District of Columbia was bitter and long drawn out, lasting over seven years. About the first word heard of the question was in the fall of 1779 when some of the members of the Continental Congress discussed the advisability of setting up a capital at Princeton, New Jersey. Four years later, Kingston, New York, was offered as a site; Maryland offered Annapolis; New Jersey offered Nottingham Township; Virginia offered Williamsburg. Finally Virginia and Maryland united in an offer of land on the Potomac. A few days after the several bids for a capital site were presented, a mutiny of Pennsylvania troops occurred. The result was that Congress left Philadelphia and went to Princeton. The incident proved to Congress that the Federal Government must have a home of its own where it could have sole undisputed jurisdiction and where it could defend itself. The first Congress under the new government took up the matter and its second session fixed the site for the Federal District on the Potomac River. As soon as this was done, Washington himself took active charge of the wfork of its location. He finally selected the present site of the District of Columbia. The plan of the city was devised, as is well known, by Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer, who had come to the United States in 1777 and had served during the Revolutionary war in the French contingent. When L'Enfant was notified of his selection as the architect, he visited the district, viewed the ground on horseback in company with Washington and immediately set to work to perfect his plan, which he had begun a few days before. Washington and L'Enfant in their planning for Washington left a framework for its development that the ablest architects and artists, now more than 100 years after the plan was drawn and its execution begun, have confessed themselves unable to improve. During the month of October, 1806, the government took possession of Washington. The arrival of the officials created great excitement among the 3,000 inhabitants. When the little “packet sloop” bringing the records and furniture of the departments and some of the officials was seen slowly sailing up the Potomac, most of the people of the city gathered on the river bank and gave the vessel a hearty welcome. One wing of the capitol was complete and ready for Congress which