Joshua Peirce Klingle

Built by Joshua Peirce the last owner of the estate was his nephew, Joshua P. Klingle

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Significance:

Land Owner

Place of Birth:

Philadelphia, PA

Date of Birth:

1835

Place of Death:

Washington, DC

Date of Death:

July 4, 1892

Place of Burial:

Washington, DC

Cemetery Name:

Rock Creek Cemetery

Joshua Peirce Klingle was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1835. His parents were Dr. George F. Klingle and Juliet P. Coats. His mother died in 1837 and his father remarried. Unfortunately, Dr. Klingle died in 1840, leaving his eldest son and orphan.

Juliet’s sister Susan had married Joshua Peirce and lived in Washington, DC. Susan and Joshua Peirce had no children of their own and when Dr. Klingle died in 1840, they adopted her nephew. The 1850 census shows Joshua P. Klingle, aged 16, living at Linnaean Hill with his aunt and uncle.

In 1851, he graduated from Columbian College. Columbian College occupied land in the current location of Meridian Hill Park. At his graduation, he delivered an oration titled “Science Applied to Agriculture.” Joshua Klingle continued to apply himself to agricultural pursuits. The March 17, 1858, issue of the Lancaster Examiner (Pennsylvania) says he was issued a patent for “improvement in steam plows.”

By 1860, Joshua is on census records under the name “Peirce Klingle.” His occupation is the same as that of his uncle—nurseryman. He is still living with his aunt and uncle.

Joshua married Laura C. Tiernan on the 17th of October 1865. When Joshua Peirce died in 1867, Klingle inherited the bulk of his uncle’s estate.

Joshua and Laura had a daughter—Beatrice—in 1868. The 1870 census says Joshua Klingle is “retired.” He was 35-years-old, owned real estate valued at $50,000 ($1.04 million in 2021) and a personal estate valued at $5,000. Laura died in 1885. Klingle remarried Georgiana May Morrisson (b. 1852) on February 5, 1890.

The federal government also began buying land in 1890 to create Rock Creek Park. Klingle encouraged the government to convert the house into an event space. Instead, the Linnaean Hill property became housing for park staff.

Joshua Peirce Klingle died in Washington, DC, on July 4, 1892, of heart disease. He was 57-years-old.

Today, Rock Creek Park’s headquarters building is not called Linnaean Hill, but Klingle Mansion. The Klingle Valley Trail is a popular greenway that connects Cortland Place NW to Porter Street NW and provides access to the park. The ford, a low place in the creek where it was safe to cross through the water, which once bore the Klingle family name, no longer exists, but the bridge over it is still called the Klingle Ford Bridge.