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Brief History of Holt House and Adjoining Land

R.Hoage 19FEB98

 

Note: The precise date of Holt House’s construction cannot be determined. However, analysis of historical facts indicate that the period between 1809 and 1820 was the most likely time of construction. In addition, this summary attempts to cover facts that bear on the relationships between Holt House and its adjoining property to African Americans before and after the Civil War.

There are three separate focuses in this report: Holt House and the Pretty Prospect property; the mills and adjoining land along Rock Creek; and the two cemeteries that were located to the south of Holt House.

"Pretty Prospect"

Before Washington, D.C. was created, the Beall family of Montgomery County received a number of large land grants in Maryland from 1703 to 1760. The Bealls owned the land that formed "Pretty Prospect," property that would become a significant portion of the District of Columbia, and, part of which, would be the land on which Holt House would be built.

In January, 1793, Thomas Beall sold the land that includes Pretty Prospect to Benjamin Stoddert--a total of 863.5 acres. Stoddert was a land speculator who purchased property in what was to be the new city of Washington. Stoddert lived in a house in Georgetown with nine family members and owned 11 slaves. No house on Pretty Prospect land was mentioned in the sale.

Pretty Prospect Parceled Up; Possible Mill Construction

Stoddert sold Pretty Prospect in a number of parcels to different buyers. In December, 1800, he sold 42.5 acres, including the land where Holt House now is, to Walter Mackall. The sale mentions buildings and improvements. It is possible that Stoddert constructed one or more mills on Rock Creek, but there is no documentation that he built a dwelling.

Mackall sold the 42.5 acres of Pretty Prospect to Jonathan Shoemaker in January, 1804. The sale mentions "mills, buildings, and improvements." Thus, it seems certain that along Rock Creek by this date one or more mills existed (known early on as Columbia Mills, later on as Adams’ Mills). Although it is possible that a dwelling may have already existed or been constructed by this time, there is no documentation. The construction of a significant dwelling seems all the more unlikely since Mackall resided in Calvert County, MD, and owned the Pretty Prospect land for only a short time.

Friends (Quaker) Cemetery

In 1807 Shoemaker, a Quaker, gave land within Pretty Prospect for a "Friends" (Quaker) graveyard in which his first wife was buried in 1807 and he, himself, 30 years later. The Quaker cemetery was used from 1807 to the 1850s. It remained in possession of the Society of Friends, Alexandria, VA, which petitioned to abandon the lot in 1899, but still held title to it in 1953 when Shapiro Inc. attempted to purchase it for a development project. No portion of the "Friends" cemetery was ever obtained by NZP. It eventually became District of Columbia public land.

Shoemaker’s Milling Operation

Jonathan Shoemaker apparently had been trained as a miller and brought his five sons up to be millers. As a Quaker it is very unlikely that he owned slaves. His milling operation did not fare well. There is no documentation that Holt House was built during Shoemaker’s ownership, although he and his family may have lived in a dwelling on or near Pretty Prospect.

Johnson Buys Pretty Prospect Land, Mills, but Not Quaker Cemetery

Shoemaker sold his 42.5 acres of Pretty Prospect to Roger Johnson of Frederick County, MD, in July, 1809. He did not sell the Quaker Cemetery to Johnson. Mills were not noted in the deed, just "buildings." No dwelling was mentioned. Roger Johnson’s will of March, 1831, is the earliest actual document that mentions a house and lot of land adjoining the Columbia Mills in the District of Columbia. [Yet, because Pretty Prospect appreciated in value by $2,000 in five years while Shoemaker owned it, this may be an indication that a dwelling had already been erected by 1809.]

Roger Johnson owned slaves: the censuses of 1800 reported 8; 1820, 34; and 1830, 22. [One might surmise that if Johnson provided support for the construction of a dwelling during his ownership, it is likely that any slaves he may have owned who were experienced in building structures would have played a major role in erecting such a dwelling.]

 

Most Likely Period When Holt House Was Built

Between 1809 and 1820, Roger Johnson’s son, George, received control over Pretty Prospect and Columbia Mills. However, Roger retained actual ownership. Records indicate that George Johnson invested some $60,000 in improvements to Pretty Prospect, especially in the milling operation which involved corn and wheat milling as well as the production of plaster of paris. Documents show that a new mill was built in 1814. [It is this period of construction and improvements to Pretty Prospect, between 1809-1820, that seems to be the most likely period when Holt House was built.] The 1820 census listed George Johnson as having three slaves and two free African-American servants.

John Quincy Adams Acquires Mills and Land Along Rock Creek

By 1818, George Johnson was deeply in debt; his father, Roger, worked with bankers to keep George from failing as a miller. In 1821, Columbia Mills were listed for sale and Roger Johnson was named as the owner. In 1823, George Johnson’s cousin, Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, was apparently prevailed upon to have her husband purchase Columbia Mills and 32 acres of Pretty Prospect. [It is believed that only the mill structures, nearby dwelling houses, and the land beside Rock Creek running eastward along what would become NZP’s southern boundary were involved in the sale; the sale did not involve any dwellings or property located where Holt House now stands.] J.Q.Adams made the purchase, but George Johnson, who would continue to operate the mills, had to pay for all improvements. Columbia Mills became known as Adams’ Mills and stayed in the Adams family until 1871-72. Given the Adams family’s opposition to slavery, it is unlikely that slaves would have worked at the mills.

By 1827, the Adamses appear to have "eased out" George Johnson from the mill operation as he was reported to have a job as a clerk in the Treasury Department in that year. In 1829, J.Q. Adams’ son, John Adams II, took over the operation of Columbia Mills. Unfortunately, John Adams II died in 1834.

Adams Family Sells Mills

In 1872, John Quincy Adams, Jr., sold the mills and land (23 acres) to Peter McNamara. In 1882, James Edwards purchased the mills and land from Peter McNamara, and, in 1884, sold them to Pacificus Ord. The land was surveyed at the time of Ord’s purchase, but, in 1889, when NZP obtained 24 acres of the property from Ord, the lines were no longer clearly known.

House and Adjacent Property Sold by Johnson Family

Returning now to the house at Pretty Prospect, in January, 1835, Roger Johnson’s sons, Joseph and Charles (the executors of Roger’s will after his death in 1831), sold the Pretty Prospect property and house (but not the mills and their property which were owned by the Adamses) to Dr. Ashton Alexander. Dr. Alexander was a well-known physician who lived in Baltimore, MD. Dr. Alexander rented the house and property for a number of years and by January, 1841, he listed it for sale in a dilapidated condition.

Henry Holt purchased the house and other buildings and 13.5 acres of Pretty Prospect in December, 1844, from Ashton Alexander. Holt was listed in censuses as a physician and farmer. He is known to have farmed his land and a nearby second lot. In 1850, his holdings listed cows, pigs, horses and machinery for growing corn, potatoes and hay. The 1850 census noted that he had a hired African-American servant.

Debts forced Henry and Susan Holt to transfer ownership of the property in 1854 to a kinsman, Thomas Jackson, for 23 years until it was transferred back. The 1860 census listed no slaves or freedmen working on the Holt property, but did note an Irish cook. By September, 1880, the aging Henry and Susan Holt transferred ownership of the property to their sons Charles and Henry. Henry Holt died in 1893 in Prince Georges County, apparently while living with his sons.

 

National Zoo Acquires Holt House and Adjoining Property

In November, 1889, NZP Commissioners purchased Holt House and its 13.5 acres for $40,000 from Henry Holt and sons. The property was said to be badly in need of repairs. The dwelling, in the five-part neo-Palladian style, had a central block flanked by two hyphens connecting an east wing and a west wing. The fact that Holt House had two stories differentiated it from other similar houses built in Maryland in the early 1800s.

In April, 1890, NZP took possession of Holt House. Surveyors confirmed boundary lines and property deed descriptions for the purchase. On August 8, 1890 a D.C. building inspector described Holt House’s walls as "unsafe." The dilapidated condition of the structure resulted in the comment that " more than simply minor repairs are needed as the walls are structurally weak." A building inspector noted on August 13, 1890 that the walls were "unfit for the purpose of a permanent building. To repair them would cost as much as to rebuild them...[thus, there is] no hesitation in recommending their condemnation and removal." Initial repairs cost $2,000 in 1890. In 1896 an additional $5,458 was requested. In January, 1891, Zoo superintendent, Frank Baker, began using Holt House as the NZP administrative office. This repair phase lasted from 1890 to 1903 when the most extensive work was done on the structure. More limited repair work was undertaken in subsequent decades.

In 1954, Holt House suffered a great termite infestation. By January, 1961, Zoo Director T.H.Reed wrote that he was very concerned about the unsafe conditions at Holt House and that the "building continues to be dangerous and that its effective and complete repair is beyond the capabilities of the NZP at the present time..." Reed wrote of his worry that Holt House might even collapse and wondered "...who has the power and authority to condemn this building?"

A 1961 "Findings and Recommendations" report for Holt House stated, "To restore the Holt Mansion to its original appearance for service as a museum or some other long-range purpose would involve razing the entire structure and then rebuilding." Another "Feasibility Study" for the GSA in January, 1967, reiterated the earlier report’s conclusion verbatim with the addition that "...with respect to internal and external architectural features which were demolished or modified many years ago [that makes] restoration with integrity...virtually impossible regardless of cost." Although the 1961 and 1967 reports recommended razing Holt House, it was protected from demolition by placement on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The structure continued in use, dilapidated though it was, until 1988, when it was boarded up.

National Zoo Acquires a Small Portion of Former Cemetery Land

As for the cemetery area south of Holt House and its 13.5 acres of land, this property came into the hands of the Adams family in the 1823 when J.Q. Adams purchased Columbia Mills and its associated acreage from Roger Johnson. The Quaker cemetery was not part of the purchase. In December, 1870, Charles Francis Adams, J.Q.’s son, sold 6.75 acres of the Columbia Mills (Adams’ Mills) land, next to the Quaker cemetery, to the Union Benevolent Association of D.C. to serve as an African American cemetery. The Association was also known as the Colored Union Benevolent Society and the cemetery was also called the Young Men’s Colored Baptist Cemetery [and, in one source, the Free Young Men’s Burial Ground].

In July, 1889, acting NZP superintendent, William Temple Hornaday, suggested buying 2.5 acres of the Association’s cemetery for land to plant a screen of trees along NZP’s boundary. The Zoo commission accepted the idea of buying 1.7 acres of cemetery land. On December 8, 1890, William Shorter, the Secretary for the Colored Union Benevolent Society, is reported to have informed the Zoo Commission attorney that the "removal of the bodies from the [NZP portion of cemetery land was] accomplished." The Zoo commission paid $2,000 for the 1.7 acres and $1,000 for the removal of remains.

Disposition of Former Cemetery Lands

By 1928, the Colored Union Benevolent Association (or Society) had been dissolved and the property was apparently in receivership; the cemetery was reportedly in a state of neglect. The receivers attempted to sell the property for ten years, but its sale was dependent on the reinterment of burials. Between 1939-1941, as many as five hundred remains were removed from the cemetery to the Woodlawn Cemetery. In 1940-41, Maurice Shapiro and Shapiro Inc. acquired the land of the former Association’s cemetery. Shapiro Inc. attempted to purchase the Quaker cemetery lot but the Friends still held title in 1953, although the last burial was in 1891.

By 1959, Shapiro Inc. was undertaking excavations in the locations of both of the former cemeteries. Human remains were found. An article in the Tennessee Anthropologist (Vol. XIV, 1989) reports that in 1959 the skeletons of 13 blacks and one white were recovered in the old cemetery grounds outside of NZP. The article suggested that it was "likely that some of the older individuals [from the Association’s cemetery] once served as slaves." This assumption, however, was not supported by documentation.

In October, 1963, Zoo director T.H. Reed wrote of his concerns about Shapiro Inc. unearthing human remains in the former cemetery areas. He wondered whether burials still remained on land acquired by NZP that had once belonged to the Union Benevolent Association. [It would seem that Reed was unaware of the 1890 document reporting that the remains buried in NZP’s small portion of the cemetery had all been removed.]

It appears that Shapiro Inc. never developed the former cemetery areas outside NZP’s southern boundary. That land returned to D.C. government ownership in 1981; it then became what it is today: the Walter Pierce Community Park.

 

 

 


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