The Proposed Institutions Near Washington
A Washington Newspaper Article
[We print herewith nearly all of an article which appeared in the Washington Evening Star of May 5. Much interest has been manifested by the public in the establishment of our work here, and the papers have treated the matter in a friendly spirit. This article will show how our plans are presented to the people.—Ed.] “The Seventh-day Adventists have just concluded another large and important real estate transaction at Takoma Park, making the second important purchase within less than a year. The property just acquired covers an area of nearly five acres, about one half lying within the District, and the remainder in the corporate limits of Takoma Park, Md., just across the District line. “The deal was made through Andrew A. Lipscomb and John P. Earnest, trustees, for what is known as the ‘Thornton Tract,’ lying in the District of Columbia and Maryland. “The purchase was made by the trustees of the Review and Herald Publishing Association of the Seventh-day Adventists and the trustees of the General Conference Corporation of the Seventh-day Adventists. The price paid, it is said, was about $1,700 an acre. A deposit has been made on the property. “It has developed that the heirs of the Thornton estate have entered objections to the purchasing price of the property, and will endeavor to have the sale set aside. According to the proposition which was put to the two boards of trustees the property was offered at about four cents a foot. The heirs of the estate are of the opinion that the property should bring at least ten cents a foot, and possibly twelve cents. The matter as it stands is left for the trustees to settle, inasmuch as the Seventh-day Adventists look upon the deal as closed, so far as they are concerned. As the trustees were appointed by the court in the interest of the property, it will be left for the court to decide whether the sale shall stand. It is expected that a hearing will be given at an early date in regard to the matter. “If decision should be rendered in favor of the trustees, the Seventh-day Adventists, according to their present plans, expect to establish the general offices and publishing plant on the property. The plant will be located within the District line, and will occupy the eight lots facing on Willow Avenue, with the pressroom, factory, and stables located on the same property in the rear of the main building. Facing on Laurel Avenue the offices will occupy three of the lots, where the officials and committees will meet to carry out the work of the various departments. The remaining lots will be used for the erection of dwellings and residences for the editors, publishers, and employees of the establishment. “The papers and magazines which will be published as soon as the plant is in operation will include the REVIEW AND HERALD, with a circulation of 15,000 copies; the Youth’s Instructor, 12,000 copies; and the Sabbath School Worker, 5,000 copies. . . . “It is the intention of the officers of the association to set aside three of the lots at the corner of Willow and Carroll Avenues to be converted into a park, adorned with shrubbery, flowers, and lawns. In the center of the remaining ground, facing on Carroll and Laurel Avenues, beyond the District line, will be erected a church of the denomination which owns the property, and which will also be surrounded on all sides with green lawns and beautified with flowerbeds, trees, and shrubbery. A small parsonage will adjoin the church edifice. “The Seventh-day Adventists last fall purchased forty-eight acres in block fifty-one of B. F. Gilbert’s division on the Sligo, at an expenditure, it is said, of nearly $8,000. On this property will be erected the two largest buildings of any owned by the church in the vicinity of Washington. They will consist of the sanitarium, where every modern facility20will be offered in caring for sick patients, and a training-school for Christian workers. The tract has been entirely cleared of timber and brushwood, and within the next few days the ground will be plowed, preparatory to the erection of several of the smaller outbuildings, such as sheds, stables, and storehouses, where the stock and property used in the construction of the larger buildings can be safely stored. “The buildings will be built in a semicircle on the crown of the hills overlooking the Sligo. On the crest of the eastern slope will be erected the training-school, while on the opposite hilltop will be the medical sanitarium. Arrangements for the construction of the buildings have been almost completed, and operations will be begun at an early date. Teams have been purchased for developing the work, and as it progresses, a larger force will be employed. . . . “This being the initial investment in this section, the officers of the association are desirous of putting their present plans into operation in order to ascertain what their future needs will be. It is the intention to put a portion of the ground under intensive cultivation, and preserve the remainder in natural woods, with parks and lawns for the use of the patients and employees of the institutions. A considerable portion of it will remain in its present rural condition, and when the buildings are completed, the grounds will have been improved so as to present an attractive appearance. “The location of the vast acreage is considered the most beautiful to be found anywhere in this section of the country. It is on the banks of the Sligo, on a high slope, three hundred feet above Washington. Dwellings will be built about the grounds for the accommodation of the physicians, nurses, and others employed about the various buildings. “The sanitarium, when completed, will accommodate about two hundred and fifty patients, but at the outset not more than twenty-five or fifty will occupy the wards. It is expected that about one hundred and fifty students will avail themselves of the opportunity to take up the studies for service in the missionary fields. Sanitariums of a similar character have been established in China, Australia, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, and Kobe, Japan; Cape Town, South Africa; Calcutta, India, and in Switzerland. When the institution is completed, it is claimed it will be the best equipped sanitarium of its kind in the country, with all of the latest medical and educational facilities, with which to continue the work which the denomination has carried on for the past twenty-five years.”