TRIP, PART 3: Here’s the next part of the stories about the 1924 trip of Bradford High students to Washington, D.C.
“Leaving the commission building, we entered the Old Museum and we were confronted with a great array of varied displays. From the Museum we visited the Smithsonian Institute and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In this last named building we saw the printing of paper money and postage stamps. Many of the party wished they could borrow the printing establishment for a day, but the government needs the $90,000 that it turns out at the building each day.”
Today, $541 million is the total for a day’s work at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
“Our afternoon’s trip was, in many people’s opinion, the most important tour of the day, for we visited first the Botanical gardens, where we saw all varieties of tropical plants and trees. This building is regulated with heat necessary for the growth of the vegetation and we found the atmosphere to be quite warm.”
We didn’t know much about the U.S. Botanic Garden, so we checked the website. It’s a “living plant museum that informs visitors about the importance, and often irreplaceable value, of plants to people and Earth’s ecosystems. More than 200 years ago, George Washington had a vision for the capital city of the United States that included a botanic garden to demonstrate and promote the importance of plants to the young nation. The U.S. Botanic Garden fulfills that vision. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1820, the Garden is an independent federal agency in the legislative branch. It is the oldest continuously operating public garden in the United States.”
See? We’re learning too. More on the trip tomorrow.
