The People

According to the 1880 census, five of the houses on Caroline were inhabited:

• 1501: Thomas M Baldwin, white, 32, born in Maryland, clerk in the Interior Department, his wife, four children and sister-in-law.

• 1502: George I Davis, white, 36. born Ohio, clerk in the Treasury Department, with wife and four children.

• 1503: John W Reid, white, 36, born Ohio, clerk in the Treasury Department, with wife and three children.

• 1506: Peter J Pierce, white, 50, born DC, plasterer, with wife and six children.

• 1509: George H Rice, white, 36, born New York, plate printer, with sister, four children and sister-in-law.

Apparently, the only other occupied houses in Square 190 were:

• 1908 15th: Herbert A Preston, white, 39, born Massachusetts, journalist, with wife and three children.

• 1914 15th: Edwin B MacGritty, white, 52, born Maine, clerk in the Treasury Department, with wife and 5 children.

• 1517 T: John A Ecker, white, 33, born New York, worked in dredging, with wife, two children, and Lucy Fitzhugh female Mulatto servant born Virginia.

• 1529 T: George H Thompson, white, 32, born Ohio, clerk in the Treasury Department, with wife, two children, and Louisa Lloyd female Black servant.

• 1531 T: Gilbert M Hustee, white, 39, born New York, clerk at the Treasury Department, with wife, three children and mother-in-law.

No 1880 census entries have been found for the 16th or U street sides of the square.

Thus we see that Groff was conforming with the District norm of an unwritten restrictive covenant: no Blacks unless as servants. And he was attracting white collar whites in government service, particularly those who had moved to the area from elsewhere and those working at the Treasury Department.

In the same year Paul Clendenin, 20, born Illinois and a clerk in the Treasury Department, is recorded as living in Georgetown with his wife Susie, a daughter, and three other people not related. The daughter Bessie was six months old and had been born in Illinois - i.e., the family had just arrived in the DC area.

In 1881, the Clendenin family moved. Paul, his wife Susie, daughter Bessie and another daughter became the first occupants of 1522 Caroline Street. According to his great-granddaughter, Deedra Cook, who visited the street in 1989 to see where her great-grandparents had lived, Clendenin was 21 years old at the time. He was employed by the US Bureau of Statistics, a part of the Treasury Department, and was going to night school studying to become a doctor. Mrs. Clendenin died in 1884, and Mr. Clendenin, by then a physician, joined the army as a surgeon. His two daughters, one of whom was Ms. Cook's grandmother, were raised by other family members. Dr. Clendenin died of yellow fever in 1899 during the Spanish-American War while serving in Santiago, Cuba.[1]

The two 1881 Clendenin letters (see Appendix C) provide a glimpse of what the interiors of houses on Caroline Street were like originally. In his October 19, 1881 letter to his mother, Clendenin notes that the house has six rooms and a bath, a Latrobe range, hot and cold water, and a cellar under the entire house. Thus, we know that Caroline Street houses had indoor plumbing from the beginning. The Clendenins were inconvenienced somewhat "by varnishing and other finishing touches being put on." It isn't clear whether this work delayed their moving in a few days or whether the inconvenience occurred during their first few days of occupancy. (Individuals who have stripped woodwork in their houses in recent years confirm that the interior trim was originally varnished before many coats of paint were added over the years.) Clendenin's earlier letter home dated September 29, 1881, indicated that the house was to be "fitted up" with gas fixtures. Again, recent renovations have frequently uncovered pipes in house walls and ceilings that carried gas to lighting fixtures on both floors.[2] From information in his letters, it can be deduced that Clendenin was probably earning about $1,200 annually in his government position. He paid $20 monthly to rent 1522 Caroline, and was also able to hire help for his wife in caring for the house.[3]

Other excerpts from the September 29, 1881 letter attest to the vibrant DC real estate market at the time: "Every agent says that there never was such a demand for houses as now." "So if you have any surplus capital that you want to be earning 10 percent or thereabouts and value increasing all the time, you had better build a block of small houses here."

Further enhancing the neighborhood was its convenience to the 14th Street streetcar line with its direct access to Clendenin's job downtown. It's probably safe to assume, too, that Clendenin's neighbors shared his views. After all, the Clendenins already knew someone who lived across the alley shared with houses on the north side of T Street - the Thomsons, mentioned in both letters. 

Clendenin noted that: "Our neighborhood is splendid and quiet and the 14th St. cars within 1-1/2 blocks of us." [Our house] "is about 1-1/4 miles from the office and a mile from the lecture hall" [where Clendenin was studying medicine].[4]

The Clendenin letters provide an intimate look at Caroline Street in the very beginning. Early Department of Public Works records and census data from 1900 (1890 forms were destroyed in a fire) through 1930 give other snapshots of street residents at 10-year intervals for its first 50 years. 

These summary census data show that:

• There were more renters than homeowners among Caroline Street residents during its first 50 years.

• The population of the street increased steadily, reaching a peak of 124 in 1920.

• Many residents took in boarders after 1910, while no servants are recorded after 1910. This suggests a decline in those who could afford servants.

• Young people under 18 were a significant part of the street.

• The average age of the Head of Household increased over the years.

• Racially, the street was all white until the third decade (1920-1929) of the 20th century, when African-Americans moved to the street in significant numbers.

• Large families, or extended ones, frequently lived here between 1880 and 1930. For example, in 1880, eight members of the George Pierce family lived in 1506. Eight members of the William T. Prentis family lived in 1509 according to the 1910 census. In 1920, nine members of the George Divnas family lived in 1512. And in 1930, seven members of the John W. Coleman family lived in 1515.

• The street always was a working class neighborhood, home to many government clerks and a wide array of other occupations.

• Several households remained on the street for extended periods. The John T. Rudy family, followed by a household headed by his son, Edgar, lived at 1519 between 1900 and at least 1930. The same timeframe applies to James E Flood of 1520. Thomas Alward and his household lived at 1518 for at least 26 years (1900-1926). The households of William Mintell (1505), Arthur Casanova (1506), and Alfred Hardisty (1523) lived at their respective addresses from at least 1910 through 1920, and those of Robert Hurst (1507) and Margaret Walker (1511) at theirs from at least 1920 through 1930. Thus, from its beginning long term residents were part of the street, They help to dispel the notion that Washington is only a city of transients. This same longevity of presence on the street is seen today by the Evans family (1504) and the Williams family (1508) who have, respectively, been part of the street since 1952 and 1956.