Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) -- Description and travel; Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) -- History
Then we come to 1254 Wisconsin Avenue, Stohlman's, which, ever since
1820, has dispensed a very different form of refreshment--ice cream.
First it was Arnold's Bakery, then, in 1845, the business was sold to
Mr. and Mrs. May; then, in 1865, to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Stohlman, she
being the niece of Mrs. May; then to J. William Stohlman, father of the
present owner by the same name, and they are still serving the "elite of
Georgetown" not only with ice cream, but other dainties. Back in my
girlhood it was "quite the thing" to go down to Stohlman's and have a
saucer of ice cream in the back parlor at one of the little
marble-topped tables.
Right next door is Forrest Hall. Here, at one corner of the property,
was one of the original stones marking the northern border of Georgetown
when it was surveyed, No. 46. On this lot stood the Union Bank and then,
in 1855, Bladen Forrest, (not a descendant of Colonel Uriah Forrest),
built this large and very good-looking building.
The enlisted men of the battalion of the Second U. S. Infantry were
quartered in Forrest Hall for a time at the beginning of the Civil War.
Later it was used as a hospital for Union soldiers. After that, the
Georgetown Assemblies were held there for several years, and various
other affairs. I remember a fete called a "Chocolatere" when I was a
little girl, and going to it with my mother, and seeing three pretty
girls dressed in Japanese costume singing "Three Little Girls from
School Are We." I think that was not so very long after the _Mikado_
made its debut.
On the northwest corner of High Street (Wisconsin Avenue) and Prospect
Street, the building which has an interesting cornice and roof is where
W. W. Corcoran started his career, in the dry goods business.
Just beyond was a market; I think it was called a "Farmers' and
Butchers' Market," an offshoot of the old Market on Bridge (M) Street. I
remember going there when I was a little girl with my mother, and her
buying vegetables from a Dutch woman, Mrs. Hight. I have always
remembered her rosy, smiling face, and her stall of gay, vari-colored
vegetables. She had a farm out on the Rockville Pike, and I think of it
sometimes when I pass.
High Street (Wisconsin Avenue) nowadays has become the center of antique
shops, there are many of them, also now there are dress shops and
accessories of all kinds.
Then we go along Prospect Street, which was named for the tract of land
belonging to Benjamin Stoddert, called "Pretty Prospect."
On the corners of Potomac Street are two quaint, little houses. On the
southeast corner of Frederick (34th) and Prospect Streets stands an
apartment house, which, before a false front was added a few years ago
when it was converted, was the dignified brick house where Benjamin
Stoddert lived and entertained in most hospitable style.
[Illustration: BENJAMIN STODDERT'S HOUSE]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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