Identifier: baconsdescriptiv00baco (find matches)
Title: Bacon's descriptive handbook of America ..
Year: 1866 (1860s)
Authors: Bacon, George Washington. (from old catalog)
Subjects:
Publisher: London and New York, G. W. Bacon and co
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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ure of brick cased with white marble. Itstotal height is 212^ feet, inclusive of the colossal statue ofWashington, sixteen feet high, which surmounts it. Thereare several public fountains, tastefully ornamented, fur-nishing, in connection with the city waterworks, a copioussupply of pure water. There are upwards of 140 churches,many of which are elegant and costly structures. TheCatholic cathedral is 190 feet long, 177 broad, and 127feet high, and is said to have the largest organ in theUnited States, with 6000 pipes and 36 stops. WASHINGTON. Washington City, in the district of Columbia, is thepolitical capital of the United States. Its situation on thebanks of the Potomac River was chosen by Washington,and the city was also planned by and named in honour ofhim. Possessing no great commercial or manufacturingestablishments, it affords a striking contrast to the otherlarge and bustling cities of America; but it is perhaps allthe better suited to its design—a place for quiet delibera-
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WASHINGTON. 297 lion. Pennsylvania Avenue, the principal street, is saidto be the widest in the world. It measures 1 GO feet inwidth, and along the sides of the footpaths are rows oftrees, which afford an agreeable shade in the heats ofsummer. In 1793, Washington laid the corner-stone of the oldCapitol, which, with the Presidents house and Library ofCongress, was burned in 1814 by the British. In 1818 itwas rebuilt, and in 1851 the corner-stone of the newbuilding was laid by President Fillimore. The edifice isnow almost twice the size originally intended. It has alength of 751 feet, and covers an area of three and a-halfacres. The whole pile, built of marble in the Corinthianstyle, with its imposing front, handsome portico, and loftydome, is an edifice which would do credit to any city inEurope. The rotunda is ninety-five feet in diameter, andis lighted from the cupola above, from whence a splendidview of the city and country around is obtained. On thewalls are a series of large pictu

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