Recognizing the Dacor Bacon House

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the DACOR Bacon House (the ``House''), formerly known as the Ringgold-Carroll House. The House, a building in the District of Columbia, celebrates its bicentennial today.

The House is situated on land previously owned by David Burnes, whose other landholdings now house the National Mall, the White House and other notable D.C. landmarks.

The House was constructed in 1825 by Tench Ringgold using enslaved individuals. Shortly after being built, the House's boarders included Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall and occasionally other Supreme Court Justices, including Joseph Story, Gabriel Duvall, Smith Thompson and Henry Baldwin.

In 1835, the House was sold to former Maryland Governor Samuel Sprigg, who gifted it to his daughter and son-in-law, Sally Sprigg and William Thomas Carroll, the Clerk of the Supreme Court. When the Carrolls owned the House, it hosted numerous dignitaries, including President Abraham Lincoln.

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the House remained a home for dignitaries. Residents included Russian Imperial Minister Nikolai Shishkin and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Melville W. Fuller, who hosted Presidents Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as William Howard Taft during his tenure as Secretary of War.

Illinois Senator Medill McCormick and his wife, future Congresswoman Ruth Hanna McCormick, resided in the House during the 1920s, where they entertained lawmakers and their spouses.

In 1925, the House was purchased by Congressman Robert Low Bacon and his wife, Virginia Murray Bacon. Virginia Murray Bacon founded the Bacon House Foundation, which worked with the DACOR Education and Welfare Foundation to form the DACOR Bacon House Foundation, which maintains and preserves the House today.

Since 1986, the House has served as DACOR's headquarters, regularly hosting educational programming related to foreign policy, including professional development and networking. The House continues to welcome dignitaries, including the numerous ambassadors, military officers, political appointees and members of Congress who are members of DACOR.

I ask the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing the DACOR Bacon House for its contributions to American history.

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