GEORGETOWN, the port of entry for the District of Columbia in the United States of North America, is situated on the left bank of the Potomac at the head of navigation, about 2⅛ miles W.N.W. of the capitol of Washington City, with which it communicates by four iron bridges thrown across Rock Creek. Founded by the colonial Government of Maryland in 1751, Georgetown was a city with a distinct administration from 1789 to 1871; but in the latter year it was merged in the District of Columbia, and in 1878 it was incorporated with the city of Washington, so that now it has properly no distinct existence. It is beautifully situated along a range of hills, whose loftier eminences, locally called the Heights, afford delightful positions for villas and country seats, with extensive prospects over the river and Washington. The most noteworthy institution is Georgetown College, the oldest Roman Catholic college in the United States, which occupies two handsome brick buildings in the midst of extensive grounds at the west end. It was founded as an academy in 1789, was chartered as a college in 1799, and in 1815 received the right of conferring degrees. Its medical department, originated in 1851, and the legal department, dating from 1870, are both in Washington. The university has a library of upwards of 30,000 volumes, an extensive apparatus for physical science, and a museum of natural history. In 1873 the teaching staff numbered 35. Among the other institutions in the town may be mentioned the Convent of the Visitation, with a female academy attached; the Peabody library; the Linthicum institute (founded in 1872 by a retired merchant, who left $50,000 for the education of poor white boys); the aged women’s house, maintained by voluntary subscription; and the industrial home ...for juvenile vagrants. The aqueduct which conveys a branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal over the Potomac is 1446 feet long, and its granite piers, nine in number, rise 36 feet above the ordinary surface of the water, and rest on the solid rock 17 feet below the bottom of the river. A great decline has taken place in the commercial activity of Georgetown. Its foreign trade is very slight, being represented in the year ending June 30, 1878, by no more than6113 dollars of importsand 10,056 dollars of exports; but its share in the coasting trade is still considerable, 187 steamers and 45 sailing vessels, affording a total tonnage of 96,339 tons, having entered in the year already mentioned; its position at the terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal secures for it a fair share in the shipping of the coal from the Alleghany fields; and its fisheries render it a great market for shad and herrings. Among the industrial establishments the first place is held by the flour-mills, six in number; but there are also cornmills, timberyards, tanneries, foundries, breweries, a papermill, and a vinegar factory. The principal cemetery for Washington occupies a beautiful situation on Georgetown Heights. In 1830 the population of Georgetown was 8441; in 1840 it was only 7312; by 1860 it had reached 8733; and in 1870 it was 11,384.
GEORGETOWN, known as Stabroek during the Dutch period, now the capital of British Guiana, is situated in the county of Demerara on the east bank of the Demerara river, about a mile from its mouth, in 6° 49' 30" N. lat. and 58° 1Γ 30" W. long. It is one of the prettiest towns of that part of the world, and presents an unusually attractive appearance to the approaching voyager. The streets are wide and straight, intersecting each other at right angles, and recalling, by the canals that run along the centre, the memory of the Dutch; and the houses are so richly embosomed by cabbage-palms, cocoa-nut trees, and other trees and shrubs, that they look rather like a collection of villas than a town. The street along the river side, where the shops and stores are mainly situated, forms, however, an exception; there everything is plain, bare, and business-like. Private dwelling-houses are usually built of wood and raised 3 or 4 feet above the soil on wooden piles or brick pillars; they are painted in various simple colours, for the most part in white; in front they have open verandahs. Among the public edifices the first place is due to a building in the centre of the town which was erected between 1829 and 1834'at a cost of £60,000, to accommodate the legislative council, the courts of justice, the custom house, the treasury, and other administrative offices; it is of considerable extent and architectural beauty, with shady porticoes and marble-paved galleries supported on cast-iron columns. Besides a cathedral, which cost £15,000, there are churches belonging to the Wesleyans, the Baptists, the London Missionary Society, and other ecclesiastical organizations, several liberally maintained hospitals, an icehouse, and two market-places, of which the one opened in 1844 cost £1 1,400, and tho other opened in 1852 cost £2450. The prison, a large building, or rather collection of buildings, surrounded by a strong wooden wall, can accommodate upwards of 200 prisoners. A fort, the Frederick William, situated below the town, only contains a small battery, but in the vicinity there are extensive and well-organized barracks. One of the principal disadvantages due to the position of Georgetown is the lack of drinking water; but this is so far remedied by the construction of both private and public tanks for the storage of the rain, by the introduction of water from the Lamaha creek, by a canal, and further by the boring of Artesian wells. The first attempts to apply the Artesian principle was made in 1831 by Major Staple, and his example has been widely imitated not only in the town itself but also in the surrounding country. Though the water thus obtained is strongly impregnated with iron, carbonic acid gas, salt, and magnesia, it is readily drunk by horses and cattle, and after it has been scummed and filtered it can be used for cooking. As it rises to the surface the water has a temperature of 84° Fahr., 5° higher than the water in the river. Ice is almost a necessity of life in the town, and it forms a regular import from Boston, along with fresh meat and other northern produce. The population of Georgetown in 1851 was 25,508; in 1861 it was 29,174; and by 1871 it had reached 36,562. (See Appun, Unter den Tropen, Jena, vol. ii).
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