A Double and New Life

The Letters and D.C. Domiciles of Leon and Mary Grayson

Continued from “Live in Nation’s Capital!“

A New City, Summer 1935

In June 1935 our 28 year-old maternal grandfather Leon Harman Grayson (1906-1993), an attorney and native of Savannah, Georgia, was offered a temporary appointment in FDR’s Justice Department in Washington, D.C. Leon stayed in at least three different hotels and lived in four separate boarding houses during that hot and humid summer.

A Secret Plan, September 1935

I want you to come up. I’m working toward that end…

Leon carried on a correspondence with Mary Julia Bell (1909-2001), a 25 year-old dental assistant he was encouraging to join him, despite the uncertainty of his job situation. While their letters back and forth were no secret from their families, their plans certainly were. In early September Leon wrote from his third boarding house on Vermont Ave. NW just off Logan Circle:

“Honey, we belong together, and I’m working toward that end. I think we can work out October 1st, not positive but almost – I want you to come up then…. They say October is the loveliest month of the year, and it would be beautiful spending or rather starting off that month with you…. I’m moving Sunday to a new place. It isn’t so much to board as to keep house, so I think a nice room with 2 meals a day would be good to start on. Anyway Darling, plan to leave Savannah in less than three weeks. It may be deferred for a couple of weeks but not probably. Keep this quiet until you hear definitely.”

Look well before you leap…

Rumblings reached the family. In a September 24 hand-written letter, Leon’s successful but self-educated father Col. William L. Grayson (1870-1941) referenced not only the rumored union but also Leon’s lack of savings, debt back home, and precariousness of the Justice Department appointment (original spelling retained):

“I hope you will heed my advise and not ack hasty, you know there is a saying. ‘Marry in haste and repent a leasure.’… Hope this will reach you feeling much better and that you will look well before you leap, you ought to have some pretty firm ground on which to stand in the beginning of a double and new life.“

Money goes like water…

Our grandfather was inherently generous. If he had money, he spent it. In mid-September, after a last-minute two-month job extension, Leon moved into his seventh D.C. domicile and fourth boarding house – on Q Street (“Que St.” in many letters) NW near DuPont Circle. Leon wrote Mary of his double-edged anxiety: “Received your letter. It was wonderful. You didn’t say whether you would come or not…. Honey, it’s no bed of roses here, things are high and money goes like water.. This uncertainty is driving me crazy…. If you decide to come I’ll make the old financial arrangements.”

A Deeper Secret, October 1935

I have to pick another place for us to live.

Col. Grayson’s warning was thoroughly yet gently given. Nevertheless, his marital advice was late in coming: The couple had already secretly eloped in December 1933. As the planned October 1935 reunion date approached Leon wrote: “Have to pick a[nother] place for us to live…. This [Q St.] place is more of a mad house than the usual. Have a few freaks here, and that sort of stuff – that is they look queer.”

How was your wedding?

Mary arrived sometime between October 3-5. Despite Leon’s efforts she met and lived with those queer-looking freaks after all. Perhaps Mary wanted to please her devout father, as the couple was more formally married by a Catholic priest in Washington on October 5, 1935. “I had your silver marked. How was your wedding?” asked Mary’s mother Julia Barnard Bell (1889-1969) in an Oct. 14 letter.

Leon received a second job extension in November, and Mary spent about three weeks in Savannah over Christmas and New Year’s at the Grayson home, where Leon’s mother Lillian was ailing. In a January 6, 1936 letter, Leon wrote his wife, “When you get ready to pack up, I wish that you would bring up my diploma (Georgia); admission to the Savannah Bar; and my scrap book containing my military records (if you can find them.)” Each of these items remains in our possession today. Upon her return, Mary shared the “Que Street” mad house with Leon until mid-February 1936, during which Leon’s appointment was extended a third time, through March 10.

8. 1807 Kenyon St. NW, February 1936

Their move to Leon’s eighth D.C. domicile in February 1936 coincided with the purchase of a Kodak Brownie box camera. Kenyon Street is in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood and ascends steeply for four blocks from the National Zoo and the serene Rock Creek valley to the commercial establishments, luxury high rise apartments, and churches of Mt. Pleasant Street and 16th Street. As the couple did not own a car, the #40 and #42 streetcars conveniently turned around at Lamont Park to transport Leon to and from his city office. Many of Leon and Mary’s photos depict the boarding house and their neighborhood walks up and down the hill. One would surmise an extended stay based on the number of pictures, but their excitement or relief of escaping the mad house and the novelty of the camera better explains the quantity, as the duration of their Mt. Pleasant stay was no more than three weeks. Mary and Leon visited Savannah the weekend of March 7-8, and Mary again stayed for a time in their hometown without her husband. Leon wrote her (this time at her parents’ home) on March 9 from a different address.

9. 1336 New Hampshire Ave. NW, March – April/May, 1936

Have worried ever since I left home.

“Quiet home, Spacious grounds; spotless, cool, front rms.; $40 and $45; best food.” So read a contemporary advertisement for the rooming house at 1336 New Hampshire Avenue. In his March 9 letter from that address, Leon wrote, “I had another [fourth] extension, and was told I can take another week off if I wanted it.” He indicated he would return to Savannah the following weekend, presumably to escort Mary back to D.C. Leon continued, “Have worried ever since I left home about Mother, Dad, and You.” His mother’s condition had deteriorated and, in addition, Leon’s older brother Spence was then or soon bed-ridden after a health crisis, perhaps a heart attack.

There is really no change in Mother’s condition.

Leon’s father William dictated a typed letter to the New Hampshire Ave. address on April 20. “I was delighted last night to talk to you over the ‘phone…. Spence still has a twenty-four hour nurse on duty and the expense, with nothing coming in worries him a lot. He is really so blue and pessimistic that I get very little pleasure out of going out to see him. He takes the combative side of every question…. There is really no change in Mother’s condition. She wanted to talk to you last night but of course she is in bed and cannot come to the telephone.” Lillian was 63 and William, the long-time Chatham County Superior Court Clerk, was 65. He concluded, “I am getting to feel all right again, except that I tire very quickly. The walk from the Court House to Bull Street very nearly exhausts me, but I guess it will all come right in time.” Spence overcame the health scare and lived to age 90, their father William to age 70. Lillian died less than two weeks later. We assume the couple returned to Savannah for the funeral.

Congratulations on your permanent appointment.

Following her death, the few family letters in our possession were addressed to Leon’s Justice Department office, including an April 5 missive from Leon’s eldest sister and her husband, Lynne and Leo Mueller: “Congratulations upon you receiving a permanent appointment and promotion. Keep up the good work.” Lynne adds, “Mary is a dear, sweet girl and I surely am fond of her. Make her eat a lot and drink lots of milk and she should gain some weight.” It is unclear where our grandparents resided in May.

The house on New Hampshire Ave. has long-since been demolished, and it does not appear the couple took any photographs of it. The site is now #1 DuPont Circle, a modern commercial and office building that takes up the much of the triangle-shaped block.

10. 2145 C St. NW #513, June 1936 – June 1937

You take a great risk in frequenting the Zoo.

Leon arrived in Washington in June 1935. One year later, he and his wife Mary are living in at least the tenth of his D.C. domiciles. “Convenient, Reasonable, and Modern!” boasted an advertisement for the Riverside Apartments, located at 2145 C St. in Foggy Bottom near the Lincoln Memorial (1922) and the still-new Arlington Memorial Bridge (1932). “Facing South and commanding a splendid view of beautiful Potomac Park, the rentals are STRIKINGLY MODERATE! $47.50 and up.” The few letters we have for the remainder of 1936 include:

• June 10 from Leon’s niece Lillian Mueller: “I suppose Big Daddy has told you about us having a cottage at Tybee for the month of July. Otherwise there would be 14 of us at the Isle of Hope House.”
• June 18 from Col. Grayson (dictated and typed): “Savannah Chorus in Washington Sunday and Monday. Maybe you know a lot of those taking part. Billy could bring the things you asked about.“
• June 19 telegram from Leon’s 23 year-old sister Edith: “BILLY ARRIVING ONE TWENTY FIVE ACL WILL CATCH CAB.” Their 20 year-old brother Billy was arriving on the Atlantic Coastline Railway.
• July 19 for Mary’s mother Julia: “You asked what happened to Sugar lump. Both the dogs got a dose of poison some where around here and nothing that Daddy did for him did him any good.” Also, “Margaret and Max took us over to Brunswick and to the beaches. We had lunch on St. Simon’s and then we went to Sea Island. Beautiful places, much nicer than Tybee. Stopped by to see Joseph. It was certainly a nice day.” Margaret is Mary’s 25 year-old sister, with husband Max Pruitt parents of a one year-old boy. Joseph is Mary’s 23 year-old brother who lives near Brunswick.
• July 27 from Col. William Grayson (dictated): “You and Mary take a great risk in frequenting the Zoo. The people may by mistake lock you up.” Also, “Senator Russell was in Savannah. I had a very satisfactory talk with him. Everyone thinks it is going to be a very close fight between Russell and Talmadge. I believe Russell will win easily.” Eugene Talmadge was the sitting term-limited Governor. William served as Chief of Staff to then-Governor Richard Russell from 1931-1933. Russell won, and held that same Senate seat until his death in 1971. This is the last letter we have from 1936.
• Feb. 12, 1937 from a young man in Columbus, GA: “Dearest Mary, I guess you will be surprised to hear from me. I have been thinking about you for a long time. I don’t know wheather [sic] you are married or not but I sure hope that you are not. Do you remember that night we were on that old boat and what I asked you?”
• May 11 from Col. Grayson (handwritten with minimal misspelling): “I am looking forward with lots of pleasure to your and Mary’s visit home this Summer. Come as early as you can and stay as long as possible.”

By the time Leon and Mary moved into 2145 C St. in June 1936 the Parks and Planning Commission already had the neighborhood in their sights as “The Northwest Rectangle.” According to a news article in the Feb 12, 1937 Washington Evening Star, “In this area are the new Interior Department, just about finished, and the Federal Reserve Board building, under construction…. Already built there are the Public Health Service, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Pharmaceutical building – the “frame” for the Lincoln Memorial…. The Riverside Apartments at 2145 C Street will have to be purchased and torn down by the government to provide for the new War Department.” (Now the U.S. State Department complex). Again, we have no photos of the apartment building, except perhaps one taken from Potomac Park some few hundred yards away.

11. 1801 Biltmore St. NW, July 1937 – April 1938?

Am so glad you found a nice place.

This rooming house still stands in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood just off Calvert Street, walking distance to the National Zoo with a beautiful view of the Rock Creek valley from the Calvert Street Bridge. Interestingly, Leon and Mary’s grandchildren Susan and Cathy rented a basement flat in a nearby rooming house in the 1990s. Mary worked as a department store clerk in 1939-40, but we’re not sure what her outside employment was during this period. We surmise that Leon and Mary visited Savannah in late June and early July, and returned with Mary’s 14 year-old sister Betty Ann. On July 14, 1937 Julia Bell wrote, “Betty arrived home safely – after a very nice trip. She looks fine and has had a grand time. She’s seen so much she hardly knows what to talk about first. Am so glad you found a nice place, and do hope you are going to like it.” On July 16 Col. Grayson dictated and typed, “My Dear Mary: I am taking this opportunity to answer your kind letter. I do hope that both you and he will find it pleasant and comfortable at your new boardinghouse. I think you will find it more congenial and be able to live more economically than trying to run an apartment and both of you work. Affectionately, Daddy.”

We’ll stop here in Adams-Morgan for a while, and take up the narrative of their letters and abodes in a future post.