English: Dedicatory plaque in the Glover Bay in the south nave of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
Charles Carroll Glover began his career in banking in 1866 as a teller at Riggs & Company. He was elevated to cashier in 1874, and president in 1896. The bank's co-founder was William W. Corcoran.
Glover became one of the most important people in the development of Washington, D.C. He was director of the Washington and Georgetown Railroad, president of the Corcoran Gallery, and helped finish the Washington Monument. He purchased and consolidated all the land which currently forms Rock Creek Park and the National Zoo. When the federal government tired of buying this land from him, he donated the rest.
In the 1880s, Glover demanded that the federal government dredge the Potomac River to stop the city from being repeatedly flooded. Rather than get rid of the sediment, Glover aruged that the city should up up the National Mall and create vast new parkland. Local business leaders said the new land should be a railroad yard. But Glover lobbied the President of the United States personally, and on Grover Cleveland's last day in office he signed legislation establishing the parkland. Instead of a railroad yard, Washington got the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.
Glover also pushed for the development of Massachusetts Avenue, and in 1928 donated the land at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue to the British government for the location of their new embassy -- establishing Embassy Row in the process. In 1924, Glover 77 acres of land to the city to form Glover-Archbold Park.
It was at the home of Charles Carroll Glover at 734 Jackson Place that on December 8, 1891, a group of laymen and priests decided to build the Washington National Cathedral.