Franklin Square

Franklin Square. Civil War to Civil Rights.

"Going into the country"

, This urban oasis exists because President Andrew Jackson needed water. The site of excellent springs (a rare commodity in the early city, when everyone was dependent on private wells), this square was purchased by the federal government in 1832 so that it could pipe fresh water to the White House. The arrangement lasted until 1898, well after the city had installed pipes to bring its water supply from above Great Falls on the Potomac River., In July 1861, as the nation prepared for war, soldiers of the 12th New York Regiment moved into the square, then a lightly settled spot on the city's northern edge. Their flimsy barracks were typical of the temporary quarters thrown up all around the city as Union troops poured into the capital., President Lincoln frequently passed this way going to or from Anderson Cottage (now President Lincoln's Cottage) on the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, where he escaped the summer heat and constant hubbub of the White House. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton lived on the north side of the square at 1323 K Street, and the president was sometimes seen in his open carriage parked in the street conversing with Stanton. Now and then, the president's eye was drawn to Union troops playing baseball in the square across the street., With the rapid growth of the population after the war, Franklin Square continued to attract the city's elite. Cecilia Sherman, wife of Secretary of the Treasury John Sherman in the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes, described her move to a new house in the area as "going into the country." Future president James A. Garfield lived in a house on the northeast corner of 13th and I Streets while serving in the House of Representatives., Franklin School, completed in 1869, stands as the only remaining vestige of this fashionable community. Designed by prominent architect Adolf Cluss, its elegant combination of Gothic, Romanesque Revival, and Second Empire styles is testimony to the pride the city took in its public school system. Its design and the city's educational programs won prizes in Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), and Paris (1878). Washington resident Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, made the first wireless voice transmission from Franklin School to his nearby laboratory on L Street in 1880.