The President’s desk at the White House, 1923

“When you substitute patronage for [instead of] patriotism, administration breaks down. We need more of the Office Desk and less of the Show Window in politics. Let men in office substitute the midnight oil for [instead of] the limelight” – Address at the home of Augustus P. Gardner, Hamilton, Massachusetts, September 1916.

This portrait of Calvin Jr., depicted sitting on the front porch rail at the Coolidge Homestead, by Ebin Comins, was presented in December of 1927 by Mrs. Coolidge to the Red Cross for display at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D. C., where young Calvin had spent his final week before tragically dying 90 years ago today.

Reflecting four years after the death of his younger son and namesake, Calvin Jr., President Coolidge wrote,

“He was boy of much promise, proficient in his studies, with a scholarly mind, who had just turned sixteen. He had remarkable insight into things…The ways of Providence are often beyond our understanding. It seemed to me that the world had need of the work that it was probable he could do…Sustained by the great outpouring of sympathy from all over the nation, my wife and I bowed to the Supreme Will and with such courage as we had went on in the discharge of our duties” — The Autobiography pp.189, 190, 191.

Calvin Jr.’s grave, where his body rests among those of his family at Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

In Memoriam Calvin Coolidge Junior, 1908 – 1924.

The President and Rob Roy on the front steps of 15 Dupont Circle

The Coolidges host Charles Lindbergh and his mother, June 11, 1927

The Coolidge start their gradual move into the Patterson home, spring 1927. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Sadly, history has been sold off and sectioned into rental apartments. The Patterson home, best known for its use as the temporary residence for President and Mrs. Coolidge from March to June 1927, during the renovation of the White House, has been sold for $20 million in order to serve as rental housing. Built in 1903, the landmark passed from Mr. Patterson to the Red Cross in 1948 which sold it to its last owners, the Washington Club in 1951. It was where the Coolidges received the pioneering aviator, Charles Lindbergh, after his solo flight across the Atlantic that June. This home, witness to so many long-forgotten, historic moments, will be officially overhauled and its significance lost. What a regret to watch it go.