l; but above all their excellencies, the disposition of benevolence stands conspicuous.... The women dress too fine and also appear too often in the streets. [Alexandria Gazette 3/6/1823]
Even as many "uncommonly moral" Alexandrians were campaigning to resettle African Americans, the firm of Franklin and Armfield opened their slave market at 1315 Duke Street (now Freedom House Museum) for the purpose of selling surplus northern Virginia slaves in the deep South. Indeed, most observers probably saw no need even for reform. "The slaves of this place bear every mark of good treatment; they look happy and are comfortably clothed, though not half so fine or richly dressed. [Ann Royall, Sketches of History, Life, and Manners in the United States (1826), reprinted in Pen Portraits of Alexandria, Virginia, 1739 - 1900, courtesy Sarah Revis; edited by T. Michael Miller, Heritage Books, Inc. 1987]
An English visitor was complimentary about the inhabitants, but criticized the appearance of the town:
Alexandria is built precisely on the plan of Philadelphia and is indeed frequently called Philadelphia in miniature... The houses have a mean appearance. There is ...scarcely one handsome mansion in the place. A great many of the habitations are of wood and are called frame houses from their being built in a frame on a moveable foundation: They are capable of being moved from one part of the town to another, a transition which frequently takes place; and it is no uncommon thing for a man who does not like his situation. This is done by loosening the earth from the foundation and hoisting them by means of levers upon a strong and low machine, something like our brewers' drays but square instead of oblong; in this manner they are carried to any part of the town which the owner deems more eligible.... The trade was destroyed by pirates during Mr. Adams administration along with the yellow fever which raged there very virulently a few years... ["The Confessions of a Rambler," The Repository (London, 1824), vol. III, No. VIII, p. 278.]
In 1826, an extensive social description of Alexandria was published by Ann Royall, an itinerant travel writer, who penned a detailed description of its people and physical environs. She had doubts about the town's future prosperity, but commented that the Corporation maintained spacious, well-paved, well-lighted, kept clean and safe streets. She praised the handsome market house and bank buildings and the availability of good seafood and exotic fruits and vegetables. [Ann Royall, Sketches of History, Life, and Manners in the United States (1826), reprinted in Pen Portraits of Alexandria, Virginia, 1739 - 1900, courtesy Sarah Revis; edited by T. Michael Miller, Heritage Books, Inc. 1987]
The economic panic of 1819 severely hurt Alexandria, and a malaise hovered over the community. Numbers of Alexandrians mortgaged their houses and businesses and were forced to sell them at public auction. Bankruptcy records for the period vividly record this turbulent epoch.
By the mid 1820s, however, the economy had dramatically improved. Among the new industrial concerns was T.W. Smith and Co., an early manufacturer of steam engines. The town's recovery, however, was led by flour exports. Flour inspector James Cloud estimated that more than 200,000 barrels would have been inspected here between the October 1, 1825 and October 1, 1826-a number which was expected to "exceed the inspection of Richmond and consequently entitle Alexandria to rank as the fifth flour market in the Union." [Alexandria Gazette, 7/3/1826] Some observers pointed out that the town was making little forward progress depending on this single oar and failing to organize to effectively extend its commercial sphere to the mountains and beyond.
Even the founding of the Franklin and Armfield slave pen to buy up surplus slaves for shipment south was a tacit acknowledgment that the soil of the countryside was largely played out.
Alexandrians largely blamed their commercial condition on the District of Columbia and the government's favoritism toward Washington Ci