Alexander Robey Shepherd

The Man Who Built the Nation’s Capital

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Architecture, History, Modern, 19th Century, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Alexander Robey Shepherd by John P. Richardson, Ohio University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John P. Richardson ISBN: 9780821445891
Publisher: Ohio University Press Publication: October 15, 2016
Imprint: Ohio University Press Language: English
Author: John P. Richardson
ISBN: 9780821445891
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Publication: October 15, 2016
Imprint: Ohio University Press
Language: English

With Alexander Robey Shepherd, John P. Richardson gives us the first full-length biography of his subject, who as Washington, D.C.’s, public works czar (1871–74) built the infrastructure of the nation’s capital in a few frenetic years after the Civil War. The story of Shepherd is also the story of his hometown after that cataclysm, which left the city with churned-up streets, stripped of its trees, and exhausted.

An intrepid businessman, Shepherd became president of Washington’s lower house of delegates at twenty-seven. Garrulous and politically astute, he used every lever to persuade Congress to realize Peter L’Enfant’s vision for the capital. His tenure produced paved and graded streets, sewer systems, trees, and gaslights, and transformed the fetid Washington Canal into one of the city’s most stately avenues. After bankrupting the city, a chastened Shepherd left in 1880 to develop silver mines in western Mexico, where he lived out his remaining twenty-two years.

In Washington, Shepherd worked at the confluence of race, party, region, and urban development, in a microcosm of the United States. Determined to succeed at all costs, he helped force Congress to accept its responsibility for maintenance of its stepchild, the nation’s capital city.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

With Alexander Robey Shepherd, John P. Richardson gives us the first full-length biography of his subject, who as Washington, D.C.’s, public works czar (1871–74) built the infrastructure of the nation’s capital in a few frenetic years after the Civil War. The story of Shepherd is also the story of his hometown after that cataclysm, which left the city with churned-up streets, stripped of its trees, and exhausted.

An intrepid businessman, Shepherd became president of Washington’s lower house of delegates at twenty-seven. Garrulous and politically astute, he used every lever to persuade Congress to realize Peter L’Enfant’s vision for the capital. His tenure produced paved and graded streets, sewer systems, trees, and gaslights, and transformed the fetid Washington Canal into one of the city’s most stately avenues. After bankrupting the city, a chastened Shepherd left in 1880 to develop silver mines in western Mexico, where he lived out his remaining twenty-two years.

In Washington, Shepherd worked at the confluence of race, party, region, and urban development, in a microcosm of the United States. Determined to succeed at all costs, he helped force Congress to accept its responsibility for maintenance of its stepchild, the nation’s capital city.

More books from Ohio University Press

Cover of the book Metaphor and the Slave Trade in West African Literature by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Disabled Upon Arrival by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Anglophone Poetry in Colonial India, 1780–1913 by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Thinking between Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Great American Desert by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Row by Row by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book The Riddle of Malnutrition by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book You Will Hear Thunder by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Pachakutik and the Rise and Decline of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Cast Out by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book The Bellwether by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book 491 Days by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book The Emergence of the Moundbuilders by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Taking Liberties by John P. Richardson
Cover of the book Prophetic Politics by John P. Richardson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy