Working on Island Begins

Last month it was mentioned that the planner of Washington D.C, Pierre L’Enfant, purchased the island for the U.S. Government.  After he bought the isle, he traveled to Philadelphia.  In the winter he wrote his assistant, Issac Roberdeau, and ordered that he:  “….repair immediately to Acquia [sic] Creek to see the qurries [sic] there belonging to the public – to have barracks erected thereon for twenty men on each of these quarries, on the island purchased from Mr. George Brent and on that rented from Mr. John Gibson of Dumphries (Today we still don’t know where Mr. Gibson’s quarry was located.  Evidently it was on Aquia Creek and very close to the island, as a canal was dug connecting the two facilities)  ….The exporting of stone must be begun at once on both quarries; they must be opened at once all around the island…”  Can you imagine how busy it must have been on the island? 

L’Enfant never returned to the island, because The Commissioners in D.C. told him that he was no longer needed. He became a lonely, poor man.  He was described as, “Daily through the city stalks the picture of famine, L’’Enfant and his dog…”   Today 200 years later, L’Enfant’s name graces streets, squares, and buildings paying homage to this creative city planner.  However, L’Enfant went to his grave never receiving recognition or adequate pay for his accomplishments.         J. Conner, historian