Lincoln's inauguration

[Csayankee]

I saw this on CNN today and thought it was a good article and photos recently found by the Library of Congress of Lincoln's inauguration. I thought they were very clear as well.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/16/lincoln.inauguration/index.html

[Rear Guard]

Re: Lincoln's inauguration

I was just sent this link with some of these same images and more...

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/new-images-of-lincoln-inaugural-found/20080117094909990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

[chesnutmor]

Re: Lincoln's inauguration

Hi,

I saw the pictures on the web for Lincoln's inaugural. Actually, the photos of the people lining the streets are fairly new. However, the one up against the Capitol is a fairly well established photo. Anyway, it is nice to hear positive chatter and communication concerning the Lincoln administration.

Jill A. Pierson

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Lincoln's inauguration

Apparently ANdrew Johnson was roaring drunk that day, and Lincoln said something like "Don't let Andy talk to the press." The pictures are wonderful. Troops in overcoats. Did you notice how slick the pavement is? Was it rainy that day?

[CYoungJSU]

Re: Lincoln's inauguration

According to the NPS:

The early Avenue was often a muddy quagmire that was not successfully paved until the late 19th Century. Flood waters from Tiber Creek, which crossed the Avenue near 2nd St. and from the City Canal, which followed along B St. just south of the Avenue, reportedly reached up as far as 7th St. on several occasions. Planned by L'Enfant in 1791, the Canal was constructed in the Tiber's bed south of the Avenue from 1807 to 1815 in order to link the city and its waterfront to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal that terminated in Georgetown. By 1820, this flooding had washed most of the Avenue's gravel pavement away. In 1832 and 1833, Congress passed bills to spend a total of $131,630 to macadamize the Avenue. Irish laborers, who also laid the Avenue's first water main in 1832, performed the work, but flooding overwhelmed this pavement as well. Cobblestones were laid in 1845-1848, but this proved unpopular with many carriage riders.
Never a commercial success, the Canal became an open sewer instead. The Center Market butchers, for example, routinely dumped rotted fish, poultry guts, and animal carcasses straight into the Canal. Human and animal waste from the Avenue's boarding houses, hotels, and stables also went into the Canal. Even President Lincoln fled its smell for the sweeter air of the Old Soldiers Home on hot summer nights. By 1860, some merchants were leaving the Avenue's southside for the higher ground along F St. Found undesirable by the city's elite, the area between the Avenue and the Canal was the home of warehouses, saloons, and houses of ill-repute. One notorious red light district, centered on old Ohio Avenue between 12th and 15th Sts., became known as "Murder Bay." (During and after the Civil War, this area was also known as "Hooker's Division" after General Joseph Hooker, whose men were encamped in the area for a time.) Alexander "Boss" Shepherd, vice-president of the Board of Public Works, and later District Governor, ended most of the Avenue's flooding problem, and successfully paved the Avenue during his 1871-1874 reign. Shepherd had the foul City Canal filled in, and the Tiber confined to an underground pipe, as part of a flood control project during 1872-1874. Paved with wooden blocks in 1872, thousands of Washingtonians celebrated the Avenue's improvement with a large parade. However, this $2 million project proved a failure as carts and horse's hooves turned the blocks into splinters in short order. However, other, earlier improvements did prove more successful. The Avenue's first gas street lights went up in 1853, and its first house numbers assigned in 1854. Finally, in 1874, the Avenue was successfully paved with asphalt and brick.

I am assuming this is taken on Pennsylvania Avenue...It seems to me that the street may be cobblestone, which would support the above written account.

[Parault]

Re: Lincoln's inauguration

I noticed in one of the pictures that Lincoln didn't have his hat on,while at the podium. Was it out of respect,akin to a gentleman taking his hat off before sitting down at the table? Did he not wear a hat giving speeches?