^^ » .0" .0^ 4 o ^^ The Greatest Street in the World The Story of Broadway, Old and New, from the Bowling Green to Albany By Stephen J Member of the Westchester Com. y li. .'^•'»• odSi ,YBwbBoi3 ni sr tniW A ^t([ §niiniBq arfJ i3l^£ ,l3biBiiO yd gnivBigns hb moiT noidaS .H 160 Illustrations and 6 Maps New York and London Cbe fcnlckcrbccfecr pre^e 1911 iST' A Winter Scene in Broadway, lifi^ From an engraving by Girardet, after the pa,in!" H. Sebron The Greatest Street in the World The Story of Broadway, Old and New, from the BowHng Green to Albany By Stephen Jenkins Member of the Westchester County Historical Society 160 Illustrations and 6 Maps G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London Cbe Iknicl^erbocfter press 1911 r/zs .1.7 Copyright, 1911 BY STEPHEN JENKINS Ube ftnicbecbocbec pcese, l^ew ]?orIt CCI.A30014 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO JOHN W. DAVIS DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS VALUED ASSISTANCE AND ENCOURAGEMENT INTRODUCTION URING the past ten or more years I have been deHvering a lecture in New York and elsewhere, which I have called "Broadway, Old and New, from New York to Albany." In this volume, I have expanded the lecture to book size. Broadway is the longest of the modern streets of the world, though it is surpassed in length by two of ancient Roman construction: the Appian Way from Rome to Brundusium, 350 miles, and Watling Street in England, from Dover via London to Chester and York, thence in two branches to Carlisle and the Wall near Newcastle. These have, however, fallen from their high estate ; and of the latter road traces only are found in some parts of its course of over three hundred miles; remains of the former are sometimes unearthed, though a more modern road, built by Pope Pius VI. in 1789 parallels the ancient roadway from Rome to Albano, nineteen miles northeast of the Eternal City. From the beginning of the nineteenth century Broad- way has been the main artery of the city, and its growth has been an indication of that of the old city upon the island of Manhattan. It has become the Mecca toward which the eyes of exiled Manhattanites are always turned, and they long for a sight of "dear old Broadway." It vi Introduction represents to them New York — it is the epitome of the Hfe of the great metropohs, with its various activities, mercantile, social, political, and theatrical. The outsider must also see Broadway, if he should visit New York; though it is greatly to be feared that the gaiety of the thoroughfare is its most potent attraction to him. If you are a New Yorker, let me ask you if you have ever been away from the city for a few weeks? When you return and your footsteps carry you along Broadway, does not every face you see — whether man, woman or child — have for you so marked a familiarity that you feel as if you knew personally each individual, and you have an almost overmastering inclination to nod or to say "How d' ye do?" to each one you pass? In other words, you feel at home, or like Micawber, that "your foot is on your native heath," I sometimes wonder if the naturalized New Yorker ever experiences the same feeling. I do not believe he does. I think I am right in calling it "the greatest street in the world." There are famous streets in the other great cities of the world, but none that shows such wealth for so great a distance. It is said that when the famous Field Marshal Bliicher rode in triumphal procession through the streets of London after the battle of Waterloo he gazed about him in astonishment, and, true to his upbringing as a soldier of Frederick the Great and the military canons of the time, exclaimed: '^Gott in Himmel! Vot a magnificent city to sack!" If we could suppose the doughty old warrior transported to New York and driven over her great thoroughfare, we can readily believe that words would fail him. The question is often asked whether New York will ever be finished. It does not seem so, for there is such continual tearing down and building up. This has been Introduction vii a marked feature of Broadway since the days of the Dutch. It is, perhaps, a sign of financial progress and wealth — the desire to have something better than there was before. But it has its unpleasant side if we judge from the senti- mental point of view ; for old and historic landmarks have disappeared. Of course, if some of these had been pre- served, it would have been expensive toll to pay for senti- ment, and we are a practical people and inclined to say with Sir Peter Teazle : " D sentiment." Then again, our population is so mixed with foreign elements that historic associations have played but little part when utility has required change or demolition. In writing this volume, I have tried to be as accurate as possible, and where there has been doubt to give that statement which has the greatest authority. A biblio- graphy will be found at the end of the volume; and I wish here to acknowledge the obligations I am under to the Lenox, Astor, Society, Mechanics, New York Historical Society and Mount Vernon public libraries, and especially to the private library of District Super- intendent of Schools, John W. Davis; also to many individuals, both in public positions and private life, to whom I have addressed inquiries which have always been courteously answered. Stephen Jenkins. Mount Vernon, New York, January, 191 1. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. — The Dutch Heere Straat . . . . i II. — The Fort and the Bowling Green . . 12 III. — Broadway to Wall Street ... 31 IV. — From Wall Street to the Commons . . 58 V. — -The Commons, or Fields .... 84 VI. — The City Hall Park 109 VII. — From the Park to Canal Street . . 132 VIII. — From Canal Street to Union Square . 171 IX. — Places of Amusement below Union Square 192 X. — From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 220 XI. — From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth Street ....... 262 XII. — From Ninety-Sixth Street to One Hundred AND Sixty-Eighth Street . . . 297 XIII . — From One Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Street TO KiNGSBRIDGE ..... 324 X Contents CHAPTER PAGE XIV. — The Borough of the Bronx and Lower Westchester County .... 343 XV. — Upper Westchester County . . . 373 XVI. — Putnam and Dutchess Counties . . 405 XVII. — Columbia and Rensselaer Counties . . 436 Bibliography ..... . . 469 Index ......... 475 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE A Winter Scene in Broadway, i860, Showing the Broadway Sleighs .... Frontispiece From an engra\-ing by Girardet, after the painting by H. Sebron. Map of New York in 1642, Drawn "from the Best Data in his Possession" by D. T. Valentine . 5 Broad Street Canal ...... 7 Map of the Original Grants of Village Lots from THE Dutch West India Company to the Inhabi- tants OF New Amsterdam, 1642 . . .10 Southwest View of the City of New York . . 13 From William Russell's History of America, vol. ii., London, 1778, opposite p. 270. Also a copy on a smaller scale engraved by J. Carwitham (between 1737 and 1741). Carwitham was in his prime about 1740. Reproduced in Valentine's Manual for 1858 by Hay ward of New York. Firemen at Work in 1800 . . . . . 20 From Valentine's Manual. Pulling down the Statue of George III. . . 23 From an old print. Government House ...... 26 xii Illustrations " Steamship Row " AND THE Bowling Green . . 29 A Plan of the City of New York from a Survey by James Lane ....... 30 ^ Prepared by William Bradford. Havemeyer Mansion in i 861, between Fifty-Eighth ,/\ and Fifty-Ninth Streets and Eighth and Ninth X^ ' Avenues ........ 33 From Valentine's Manual for 1861. "The Duke's Plan." A Description of the Town OF New Amsterdam in 1664 .... 40 The King's Arms, Atlantic Gardens, in 1765 . . 46 From Valentine's Ma^tual for 1856. Broadway AND Bowling Green in 1910 ... 49 Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. The Bunker Mansion on Broadway, 1830 . . 51 From Valentine's Manual. Broadway and Cortlandt Street . . , -59 From Valentine's Manual for 1859. City Hotel, Trinity and Grace Churches, Broad- way, IN 183 I . . . . . . .65 From a drawing by A. Dick. The Singer Building ...... 69 From a photograph by Geo. P. Hall & Son. St. Paul's Chapel in 1875 ..... 73 From an etching by Eliza Greatorex The Loew Bridge at Fulton Street and Broadway 79 View from the Steeple of St. Paul's Chapel, 1849 81 From the drawing by J. W. Hill. Illustrations xiii Peter Stuyvesant's Army Entering New Amster- dam ......... 82 From the drawing by William Heath, London. (From Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York.) The Collect ........ 85 The Execution of a Negro on the Commons . . 87 Redrawn from an old print. Sketch Plan of the Commons in 1742 ... 89 Based on the drawing by David Grim. The Provost British Prison ..... 91 The Hall of Records ...... 93 From the drawing by F. B. Nichols. The American Hotel at the Corner of Barclay Street, and Philip Hone's Residence at 235 Broadway ....... 99 A View of City Hall Park, Looking North, about 1830 City Hall Park in 1827 . The Nathan Hale Statue in City Hall Park City Hall ....... The Rotunda in City Hall Park — 1852 . Ill 113 120 123 127 The North End of City Hall Park, Showing Scudder's Museum, 1825 ..... 130 The Astor House between Vesey and Barclay Streets ........ 138 The Seventh Regiment Marching down Broadway 141 (Thomas Nast — Original in 7th Regt. Armory.) Broadway Stages ....... 143 xiv Illustrations New York Hospital, about 1800. Broadway Oppo- site Pearl Street . . . . .151 Washington Hall in 1828 . . . . - 153 From Valentine's History of Broadway. East Side of Broadway, between Duane and Pearl Streets, in 1807 . . . . . .161 Masonic Hall, on the East Side of Broadway, be- tween Duane and Pearl Streets, 1830 . . 163 Apollo Rooms in 1830 . . . . • . 165 Lispenard's Meadows, Taken from the Site of the St. Nicholas Hotel, Broadway . . . 172 Drawn by A. Anderson, 1785. The Stone Bridge at Canal Street . . .173 From Valentine's Manual, 1857. Grace Church at the Corner of Tenth Street anl Broadway . . . . . . .180 St. Thomas's Church, Corner of Broadway and Houston Street, Erected in 1823 . . . 182 Broadway Tabernacle, between Worth Street and Catherine Lane, on the East Side of Broadway 184 Broadway at Canal Street in t86a. . . .185 Broadway AND Grand Street . .... 186 Drawn by Eliza Greatorex. Broadway and Bleecker Street . . . .188 Drawn by Eliza Greatorex Contoit's Garden in 1830 ..... 195 Redrawn from an old print. Illustrations xv PAGE Burning OF Barn um's Museum IN 1865 . . . 197 NiBLo's Garden, Showing Tents .... 202 The Metropolitan Hotel at Prince Street . . 203 Tripler's Hall, or Metropolitan Hall, 1854 . 206 Wallack's (Star) Theatre, View from Fourth Avenue ........ 209 Redrawn from an old print. Broadway Theatre, East Side of Broadway, be- tween Pearl and Worth Streets, 1850 . .212 Harrigan & Hart's New Theatre Comique . -215 Junction of Broadway and the Bowery . .221 The Statue of Lafayette in Union Square . . 224 The West Side of Union Square in 1897 . . 225 Buck's Horn Tavern, Twenty-Second Street and Broadway, in 18 12 . . . . . 233 From Valentine's Manual, 1864. The Site of the Flatiron Building . . . 235 M.\dison Square Park and Garden . . . 237 Franconi's Hippodrome, Twenty-Third vStreet and Broadway ....... 239 The Corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Third vStreet, 1852 ....... 240 On this site now stands the Fifth Av'enue Building. Fifth Avenue Hotel at Twenty-Third Street . 241 From a photograph. xvi Illustrations PAGE The West Side of Madison Square Showing the Worth Monument ...... 245 The Naval Memorial Arch and Colonnade, 1899, Broadway and Fifth Avenue .... 246 The Varian Tree in Broadway between Twenty- Sixth and Twenty-Seventh Streets, 1864 . 247 From Valentine's Manual, 1864. The Old Varian House, Bloomingdale Road . . 249 From Valentine's Manual, 1856. Herald Square at the Junction of Broadway and Sixth Avenue, Showing the Herald Building in the Centre ."..... 253 Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. Night Scene on the " Great White Way," Looking toward the times building from hotel astor 257 Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. The Times Building at Forty-Second Street . . 263 Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. Havemeyer Mansion in 1861, between Fifty-Eighth and Fifty-Ninth Streets and Eighth and Ninth Avenues ........ 265 Valentine's Manualior 1861. The Hopper House at Broadway and Fiftieth Street ........ 267 From an etching by Eliza Greatorex. The New Broadway Tabernacle .... 271 The Old Halfway House at the Junction of Broad- way, Eighth Avenue, and Fifty-Ninth Street . 273 From Valentine's Manual, 1864. Illustrations xvii PAGE The Columbus Monument at Fifty-Ninth vStreet . 275 Squatter Settlement — 1858 ..... 277 Redrawn by William J. Wilson from an old lithograph. At the Junction of Broadway and Sixty-Sixth Street ........ 281 Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. The Somerindyke Estate on Bloomingdale Road, near Seventy-Fifth Street . . . .284 From Valentine's Manual, 1863. The Apthorpe Mansion, Bloomingdale . . . 285 The Church at Bloomingdale .... 289 Drawn by Eliza Greatorex. Burnham's Mansion House, 1835 .... 293 Redrawn from Valentine print. The Old Abbey Hotel on Bloomingdale Road, 1847 296 From Valentine's Manual, 1864. Residence of the Post Family, now Claremont Hotel, Bloomingdale Road, near Manhattan- viLLE, i860 ....... 299 From Valentine's Manual, 1861. Grant's Tomb, Riverside Drive .... 301 Columbia Library and Campus .... 303 Photo by Geo. P. Hall & Son. Tablet in Wall of Engineering Building, Columbia University . . . . -304 The Suspension Bridge at Trinity Cemetery, Broadway and One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Street . . . . . . -311 xviii Illustrations PAGC The Audubon Estate on the Banks of the Hudson, Foot of One Hundred and Fifty-Sixth Street AT Carmansville . . . . , -313 From Valentine's Manual, 1865. The Roger Morris, or Jumel, Mansion . . . 318 Trees and Stone Wall Markinc; the West Side of Old Bloomingdale Road, 19C6. Looking South- west from Broadway at 124TH Street. Grant's Tomb in Distance ...... 320 The Crossed Keys Tavern ..... 322 Drawn by Eliza Greatorex. Northwest Corner of Broadway and One Hundred and Ek.hty-First Street, Opposite Holyrood Chapel ........ 325 From a photograph. Broadway at Dyckman Street, Inwood, Showing the Palisades in the Distance .... 327 From a photograph. Farmers' Bridge ....... 329 Courtesy of the Department of Bridges, New York City. Strang House, Old Dyckman Home, Broadway and Two Hundred and Ninth Street . . . 330 The Blue Bell Tavern ...... 333 Old King's Bridge ...... 335 Courtesy of the Department of Bridges, New York City. Kingsbridge and Spuyten Duyvil Creek before it was Filled in . . . . . 338 Century House, near Spuyten Duyvil Creek, Harlem River, 1861 ..... 340 Illustrations xix FACE Old KiNCiSBRiDGE Hotel. A Popular Road-House OF Former Days ...... 342 The Godwin, formerly the Macomb House, Kings- bridge ........ 347 From a photograph. Van Cortlandt Mansion in Van Cortlandt Park . 349 Van Cortlandt Park. The Dam and Mill . -351 Van Cortlandt Park. Ruins of Old Mill. Removed IN 1903 352 Monument on Indian Field, Van Cortlandt Park . 354 Yonkers, Getty Square, Hollywood Inn, and St. John's Church ...... 356 Philipse Manor-House, Yonkers .... 358 From a photograph. Philip Van Brugh Livingston House, Headquarters of Washington, Dobbs Ferry .... 362 From a photograph. Washington Irving ...... 365 From the etching by J. D. SmilHe. " Sunnyside," Irvington ..... 367 Lyndehurst, Home of Miss Helen M. Gould 370 Historical Sketch Map of King's Bridge, 1645-1783 372 Compiled by Thomas Henry Edsall. Monument to the Captors of Andre . . . 374 From a photograph by F. Ahrens. The Capture of Andre ...... 379 From a print in the possession of Dr. Coutant. XX Illustrations PAGE Upper Mills of Frederick Philipse (1682), North Tarrytown ....... 3«o Philipse's Castle. North Tarrytown . . . 382 Sleepy Hollow Church at North Tarrytown . 383 Van Cortlandt Manor-House, Croton-on-Hudson 389 Peekskill Bay . . . . . . - 391 RoA Hook, State Camp ...... 393 Photo by H. H. Pierce. The Seth Pomeroy Monument at Cortlandtville . 396 St. Peter's Church and Paulding Monument at Cortlandtville ...... 398 Dusenberry's Tavern, Cortlandtville, N. Y. . 400 Annsville Creek — Where Broadway Enters the Highlands ....... 402 Anthony's Nose, from South, Looking from Iona Island ........ 403 Division Map of the Highland Patent of Adolphus Philipse ........ 406 The Beverly House ...... 408 Courtesy of Putnam County Historical Society. Undercliff, the Home of the Poet Morris . -413 From an old print. Trinity Episcopal Church, Erected 1769, atFishkill 414 The First Reformed Dutch Church, Fishkill 416 Illustrations xxi PAGE The Old Grist-Mill at Brinckerhoff near Fishkill, OVER One Hundred and Thirty Years Old. Erected by Soldiers during the Revolution and still in Use . . . . 417 The Wharton House, Fishkill .... 419 The Teller House, Matteawan .... 420 The Verplanck Mansion at Fishkill Landing . 421 Wappingers Falls ...... 422 College Hill, Poughkeepsie ..... 423 The Van Kleeck House ..... 424 Thompson Memorial Library, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie ....... 426 Main Building, Vassar College .... 427 The Cantilever Bridge over the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie ....... 429 House Built by William K. Ludlow, 1786, now in Possession of his Great-Grandson, R. Fulton Ludlow, Claverack, N. Y. . . . . 443 Blue Store ........ 446 City of Nieu Orange as Sketched in 1673 . . 447 Reformed Church, Claverack. Erected a.d. 1767 448 Linden WALD, the Martin Van Buren Mansion . 449 The Van Buren Monument, Kinderhook . -451 The Old Centennial House, or Van Schaack Mansion ....... 453 xxii Illustrations PAGE The Modern Flying Dutchman — "The Albany " . 455 Stuyvesant Falls ...... 456 Toll-Gate, Hudson, N. Y 457 The Old Court House, Claverack, N. Y. . . 460 Fort Cralo Mansion, Rensselaer .... 462 Plan of Albany, 1695 ...... 463 A View of Albany from the Bridge . . . 464 The Governor's House, Albany .... 465 The City Hall, Albany ..... 467 Sketch Map Showing Broadway from the Battery TO Albany ...... at end Drawn by William J. Wilson. The Greatest Street in the World THE GREATEST STREET IN THE WORLD CHAPTER I THE DUTCH HEERE STRAAT N the fourth of October, 1609, Henry Hudson, having finished the explo- ration of the river which bears his name, set sail for Europe and win- tered in the port of Dartmouth, England. From this point, he sent accounts of his voyage to his em- ployers, in which he named the newly explored river the Mauritius, in honor of Prince Maurice of Orange. Several merchants at once began the fitting out of a vessel to take advantage of Hudson's discoveries. This vessel sailed in the following year (1610), and it is said that it was commanded by Juet, Hudson's mate on the Half-Moon. This voyage must have been of advantage to its * Between the Bowling Green and Vesey Street, Broadway has been called at various times in old documents De Heere Wagh Wegh, the Broad Wagon Way, the Common Highway, and the Great Public Road. 2 The World's Greatest Street backers, for we find that the United Netherlands Com- pany was formed for the purposes of trade with this new land. From this time forth, a succession of voyages fol- lowed under such commanders as Christiensen, May, Block, De Witt, and Volckertsen. While these expedi- tions ascended the river as far as the influx of the Mo- hawk — the heart of the fur trade with the Indians — Manhattan Island was made the chief depot of the trade, and Christiensen was made the agent of the Company for the traffic in furs, A small fort was built on Castle Island in the river near Albany, and another on Man- hattan Island with a few rough, bark huts near it. This fort was a small block-house surrounded by a stockade. It stood at the junction of Tiiyn, or Garden Street (Ex- change Place) and the present Broadway — approximately, at 39 Broadway. In the fall of 1613, Adrian Block lost one of his vessels, the Tiger, by fire; and he and Christiensen built several huts for the accommodation of their crews and spent the winter of 1613-14 upon the island of Manhattan. The site of these huts is marked by a tablet erected by the Holland Society upon the front of the building occupied by the Hamburg-American Line at 41-45 Broadway. These habitations are said to have been the first erected by Europeans upon the island of Manhattan, and the date is that usually given for the first settlement of New York. They were probably the huts of 1612 repaired for winter use, being contiguous to the small fort, or block-house, mentioned above. The crews were engaged during the winter in building a vessel to replace the one lost by fire. The new vessel was called the Onrest, or Restless. In it Block made explorations through Long Island Sound as far as the island which bears his name, whence he crossed to the northern shore and explored Narragansett Bay. The Dutch Heere Straat 3 These earlier voyages were conducted by traders, who, having bartered with the Indians for furs and pelts, returned each year to Holland; unless through some accident, as with Block and Christiensen, they were obliged to stay through the winter. The charter of the United Netherlands Company expired January i, 161 8; but special licenses to trade were granted by the States-General until the formation of the West India Company, June 3, 1621. This com- pany was formed principally through the efforts of Willem Usselinx, a far-sighted patriot and statesman, who had been urging the colonization of the newly explored lands ever since Hudson's report of his voyage had reached Holland, with its description of the richness and produc- tiveness of the country. The formation of the West India Company had three objects primarily in view: first, an immediate source of revenue to the State to aid in supporting the war then waging with Spain; second, to colonize the lands which held out so many prospective rewards to the colonizers ; third, to establish a permanent colony in America as an offset to the Spanish colonies, and as a base at which the Dutch vessels could fit out and from which they could sail to pounce upon the richly laden galleons of Spain on their homeward voyages from Mexico, South America, and the West Indies. In pursuance of these plans, a number of colonists, provided with tools, cattle, and other requisites, were sent out in several vessels and settled near the site of Albany in the first half of May, 1624. It was not until the spring of 1626 that a permanent, agricultural colony under Director Peter Minuits was established upon Manhattan Island; though it must not be forgotten that the island had been occupied as a trading post for several years before this. 4 The World's Greatest Street In 1 841, Dr. Brodhead visited Holland on behalf of the State of New York for the purpose of examining and codifying the ancient records relating to the Dutch occupation of New Netherland. He found that a great mass of the earliest documents and archives had been sold at auction as worthless lumber twenty years before his visit; and these priceless papers have probably disappeared forever. From the year 1638 onwards, how- ever, there are pretty full records, as the correspond- ence between the West India Company and its agents was very voluminous; and the reports of the directors- general and the petitions of the inhabitants of New Netherland against the tyranny and exactions of the company's representatives to their "Illustrious High- Mightinesses," the States- General, and other matters relating to the colony had been preserved. All of these, as well as similar papers in the possession of the State of New York, have been translated and codified by Brod- head, O'Callaghan, and their successors in the offices of state archivist and state historian ; and the work is still in progress. The very earliest history of Manhattan is, therefore, largely traditional and conjectural. The Company built a fort at the lower end of the island, and about this clustered the houses of the first settlers ; these were rude affairs of bark. Later, there was expansion along the shore of the East River as the set- tlers began to cultivate their bouweries, or farms. When Director-General Kieft massacred Indians at Pavonia and on Long Island and brought about the Indian wars of 1 64 1, and later, the people were obliged to flee from the outlying farms to the protection of the fort in order to escape death or bondage at the hands of the redskins. As it was, their cattle were killed, and their houses de- stroyed, while many of the men were tomahawked, The Dutch Heere Straat 5 and the women and children carried into captivity. The annals of these Indian wars teem with horrors — of the two belligerents, it appears that the Dutch were the more savage. MAP OF NEW YORK IN 1642, DRAWN " FROM THE BEST DATA IN HIS possession" by D. T. VALENTINE There was at first no order in which the houses were built. Each settler "squatted" wherever he pleased, his one desire being to get as close to the fort as possible. He built his house and cultivated his garden ; and after a period of occupancy, usually six years, received from the Company the grond brief, or patent, for his land. The first grant of land was probably that made in 1636 or 1637 6 The World's Greatest Street to Roelof Jansen of a tract of sixty-two acres on the west side of Broadway, extending from Warren Street to Christopher. It was not until 1642 that any grants were made of town lots; and it was not until the following year that such grants were made on the Heere Straat. These were principally on the east side, as the west side was taken up with the burying -ground (Morris Street) , the garden, and the orchard of the Company, the Company's bouwerie, and the country places of Vander- grift and Van Dyke. In 1631, a windmill for the use of the town was erected on the Heere Straat between the present Liberty and Cortlandt streets. On account of this "squatting" of the first settlers, there grew up that irregularity of streets which distin- guishes to-day the lower parts of the city of New York. Streets were unknown in those early days; but about the time of the first grants two streets leading from the fort seem to have formed themselves by common consent; one, the Heere Straat, which followed a ridge of land northward through the Company's farms and fields, the other, a street leading along the shore of the East River, which became the Great Queen Street of the English and the Pearl Street of the present. It was along this latter street that the settlement grew away from the fort, hav- ing its greatest density of houses and population in Blom- maert's Vly, through which flowed a sluggish stream that drained the swamp near the Heere Straat. As early as 1638, it appears that measures were taken to drain this marsh, but it was not until 1643 that an arti- ficial ditch was constructed to carry off the swamp water. At first, a roadway twenty-five or thirty feet wide was left on the west side only; but in 1657-59, arrangements were made with the landholders on the eastern side, and a similar width of roadway was secured on that side also. 8 The World's Greatest Street At the same time, the ditch was deepened and widened and its sides sheathed with planks, so that it became a canal through which the tide ebbed and flowed almost to Beaver Street. Here were conditions and surroundings with which the Dutchman was familiar ; he was reminded of home, and this section became the most desirable and thickly settled on the island. The street was called De Heere Graft; in English days and our own, Broad Street. By 1676 the ditch had become so unsanitary that Governor Andros ordered that the street be filled up, and the ditch became a covered sewer as far south as the bridge (Bridge Street). From the very beginning of the Dutch occupation, differences arose between them and the English as to the ownership of the land. It is stated that as early as 1614, Captain Argall, while returning from his eastern ex- plorations, stopped at Manhattan Island, and made the traders whom he found there acknowledge the supremacy of Virginia and pay quit-rent for the privilege of trading in the valley of the Hudson; and Captain Thomas Der- mer, the first Englishman to sail through Long Island Sound is known to have stopped at the Manhadoes in 161 9. There were constant disputes with Connecticut over the boundary line between the two colonies — a dispute that was handed down to our own time, for it was not until 1879 that the two States interested finally came to an agreement which was ratified by the Congress of 1880-81. In 1654, some English from Connecticut, probably in furtherance of that colony's claim to all the land as far as the ocean, settled on Westchester Creek, in what is now the Borough of the Bronx. Director Stuyvesant, and his council, fearing further encroachments by the English upon the land of New Netherland, and even upon The Dutch Heere Straat 9 New Amsterdam itself, sent an expedition to arrest the audacious intruders, and also during the same year, caused a palisade to be built from the East River to the Hudson. This palisade, or wall, was regularly patrolled by the soldiers of the Company, and several falcons were distributed along its length. Two gates gave egress and ingress; one being located at the upper end of the Heere Straat, called De Landt Poorte, or land gate ; the other, the more important of the two, called the water gate, at the shore of the East River. The land gate was opposite where Trinity Church now stands and gave access to the Vlacte, or pasture; the water gate gave access to the ferry to Brooklyn, to Allerton's ware- house, and to the other houses along the river road. In the morning men went through the streets blowing horns, and the cattle of the different inhabitants were put in their charge to be driven through the two gates to the common for pasture ; at night the cattle were driven back again through the gates, but distributed themselves to their own quarters. This palisade, or wall, gave its name to the street which was afterwards laid out along its length and which has become the financial centre of New York — Wall Street. The wall was, therefore, the upper limit of the town of New Amsterdam. If we measure the extent of the town from north to south by the scale on the "Duke's Plan " of 1664, we shall find that it did not exceed five hundred and fifty yards from the southern extremity to the wall. The palisade was allowed to decay, but was repaired from time to time as the danger of invasion arose during both Dutch and English days. In 1692, during the alarm of King William's War with the French, fears were entertained of an invasion from Canada, and two stone bastions were erected, one of which, called "Zea- lo The World's Greatest Street landia," stood at the land gate. The wall was finally demolished in 1699. When the workmen were digging up Broadway in 1799 to lay the water pipes of the Man- hattan Company, they came upon the foundations and posts of the old city gate at Wall Street. In 1652, upon petition of the inhabitants, the Com- pany granted them a burgher government; — this con- stituted the first incorporation of the city. In 1656, the first map of the city was drawn, showing seventeen streets, "to remain from this time forward, without alteration." In 1657, the average price of the best city lots was fifty dollars, and these were not on the Heere Straat. The rent of an average good house was fourteen dollars a year. In 1658, contracts were awarded to some of the city shoemakers to make leather fire-buckets; and a few months later, these buckets were distributed to several houses in the town, eleven being assigned to Heer Paulus Leendersen Vandergrift, whose house was on the Heere Straat nearly opposite Exchange Place. In 1664, at the time of the surrender of the province to the English under Colonel Nicolls, in addition to the tracts of land on the west side of the street already men- tioned, were the farms of Nicholas William Stuyvesant and Balthasar Stuyvesant, sons of the governor. Out- side the city gate, the Heere Straat did not extend as far as Fulton Street. This section had been granted in 1644 to Jan Jansen Damen, whose property extended, with some slight variations, from river to river, and was now rented by his heirs to five tenants. On the east side of the street, was a grant taken in 1643 by Govert Loockermans and Isaac Allerton, an English- man who had come over in the Mayflower to Plymouth. The property extended one hundred feet above Beaver Street on the Heere Straat, and two hundred and fifty of •». .. ORIGINAL GU^^'^^ (now NKVV-YORK.) hfinff hfloH- the present line of M A.l). XhHl. 'i'fsl 'ii,;,„ 1 The Dutch Heere Straat ii feet back to the swamp on Broad Street. Above this, was another farm of Jan Jansen Damen, which had been used formerly by the negro slaves of the Company to cultivate for their own use. Damen cultivated part of it, and used part of it for a sheep pasture. The next property was that belonging to Secretary Cornelis Van Tienhoven, which he had acquired in 1644. The few houses on the east side of the road were of a mean char- acter, little better than hovels, with one room and a fire- place, being occupied by mechanics and laborers. This was due to the fact that the Heere Straat was remote from the business parts of the town. CHAPTER II THE FORT AND THE BOWLING GREEN 1 HE fort at Garden Street (1612) I was a block-house surrounded by palisades, or, in the language of the times, "stockadoes." The fort erected by the West India Com- pany under Kieft at the lower end of the island was of similar descrip- tion; but it was the first building intended to be permanent. It was called Fort Am- sterdam, and the settlement which grew up about it, New Amsterdam. In 1633, a more pretentious fortifi- cation was begun by Van Twiller. This was planned to be three hundred feet long and two hundred and fifty feet wide, with four corner bastions built of stone, the ramparts between being of earth. It was finished in 1635 at an expense of $1688, and contained the governor's house, barracks for the garrison, secretary's office, etc. The stone church, seventy-two feet long, fifty-two feet wide, and sixteen feet over the ground, was begun by Kieft in 1641 and finished the following year. The roof was of split shingles; and upon the front was placed a tablet stating in Dutch: "Anno Domini, 1642, Wil- helm Kieft, Director-General, hath the Commonalty caused to build this Temple." The cost of the church, d o £ a. rt pi; e 3 a-c ,i4 . >-■ ^ o ^ §; i2 Iffi ,M .t: o O S >, ^ 13 14 The World's Greatest Street one thousand dollars, was raised by subscription, advan- tage being taken of a wedding party to get the merry guests to subscribe sums at which in the "cold, gray light of the morning after," they opened their eyes. The church was named Saint Nicholas in honor of the patron saint of Holland; but later it was also known as "The Dutch Church within the Fort." The contractors were John and Richard Ogden of Stamford, in Connecticut. During colonial and provincial times, the fort was the centre of political action, and, to a great extent, owing to its being the official residence of the governor, of the social life as well. Its site was on the plot of ground bounded by Whitehall, Bridge, and State streets, and the Bowling Green. The last named was on a hill outside the fort — it is there that Broadway begins. Whitehall Street was so called because it led down to a white building erected by Governor Stuyvesant, afterwards used by the Eng- lish Governor Dongan, and later as a custom-house. J. H. Innes* suggests that it may have been so called by the English in derision, as the building was not an im- posing one and may have recalled to them the dilapidated appearance of their own Whitehall Palace in London. Bridge Street led to the "long bridge" across the canal in Broad Street. State Street, afterwards the locality of some of the finest mansions in the city, was named in honor of the State. The Bowling Green was the open space north of the fort, originally called 7 Marckveldt (the Marketfield) or "The Plaine." A lane led to it from Broad Street, called 7 Marckveldt steegie, popularly known in English days as Petticoat Lane. A portion of the ancient lane is still hidden away between the Produce Exchange and the American Bank Note Company's building at Broad * New Amsterdam and its People. The Fort and the BowHng Green 15 and Beaver streets. Beaver Street also led into the Marketfield; and on the west, leading to the Hudson, and the landing-place of the Jersey farmers, was the Beaver path, an extension of Beaver Street, but closed as a highway and granted to private parties before 1650. In 1 64 1, Director Kieft ordered that an annual fair for the sale of hogs should be held in the Marketfield on the first of November. In 1658, a meat market, the first in the city, was established in the same place, and a shed was erected for the purpose. In the following year (1659) a great, annual, cattle fair was established in front of the fort between October twentieth and the last week in November, during which time no one could be ar- rested for debt. This, no doubt, added materially to its popularity, for it lasted for thirty years. The cattle to be sold were ranged along the west side of Broadway and fastened to stakes driven for the purpose in front of the burying-ground (Morris Street). The open place served not only as a market, but also as a parade for the soldiers, for a common out- door meet- ing-place of the inhabitants, and for bonfires. Maypole dances, and similar celebrations. The old parade also saw the departure and return of many a warlike expedi- tion. In 1 69 1 a shambles was established on the Market- field, where meat only was to be sold. The first Indian war of Kieft's administration was ended here on August 30, 1645, when the chiefs and sachems of the hostile tribes assembled on "The Plaine," smoked the peace pipe, and buried the tomahawk in sign of amity, at the same time marking their totems in sign of acquiescence upon the treaty which the Dutch had prepared for them. In 1655, Stuyvesant marshalled his army in front of the fort before starting on his successful expedition against the Fort Christina of the usurping 1 6 The World's Greatest Street Swedes upon the Delaware; and "The Plaine" also be- held the triumphant return of his (according to Diedrich Knickerbocker) motley army. For the last time Stuy- vesant marched his little army out of the fort with the honors of war, August 26, 1664, while the tri-colored flag of Holland fluttered to the ground and the standard of Great Britain rose in its place. Under Colonel Nicolls, New Amsterdam became New York, and the fort became Fort James in honor of the lord-proprietor, James, Duke of York and Albany (afterwards King James II.). For nine years, the Eng- lish remained undisturbed; then, England and Holland being at war, a Dutch fleet of five vessels under com- mand of Admirals Benckes and Evertsen appeared off New York, and the province became once more Dutch, with Captain Colve, commanding one of the vessels, as governor. The city was called New Orange, and the fort. Fort William Hendrick, August, 1673. In November, 1674, ^^e Dutch, by the treaty of West- minster, ceded the colony to the English, and the fort and city became again English, to remain so until the Revolution, As stated above, the fort was the centre of the politi- cal and social life of the city. Here the governors re- sided, here the taxes and quit-rents for land grants were payable, and here was quartered the garrison, consisting usually of a regiment of foot and a company of artillery. It is not necessary to give a list of these governors, most of them bad, some indifferent and a few, good. Probably the worst from a moral point of view was my Lord Corn- bury, a dissolute profligate, who amused himself and shocked the worthy citizens by parading about the fort dressed in women's clothes — his only title to considera- tion being that he was a cousin of Queen Anne and that The Fort and the BowHng Green 17 he needed all the money that he could force or beguile from the inhabitants. When, in August, 1689, the news of the abdication of James II. reached the city, the great mass of the citizens determined to get rid of the obnoxious Governor Nichol- son and declared for William and Mary; but there was far from being unanimity of opinion. A committee of safety was formed, and Jacob Leisler, one of the wealthiest merchants of the city and a captain of the militia, was declared commander-in-chief until such time as instruc- tions could be received from England. The five train- bands of the city and one from Eastchester paraded in front of the fort and refused to obey the orders of their colonel, Nicholas Bayard, but declared instead for Leisler, who then took possession of the fort and became the actual governor. When on March 19, 1691, Governor Sloughter arrived under appointment of William and Mary, the fort was, after some delay, surrendered, and Leisler was arrested and accused of high treason. A court of eight judges was appointed by Sloughter, and Leisler and his son-in-law, Jacob Milborne, were convicted of treason and sentenced to death. Sloughter, who appears to have been a well-meaning man when not under the influence of drink, would not sign the death warrant, probably believing that, while Leisler might be technically guilty, he had, in fact, saved the colony from anarchy and been loyal to the king, under whose orders he claimed, and rightly, always to have acted. There was also fear on the governor's part that he might incur the displeasure of the king by summarily executing the man who had been the first to raise the standard of William and Mary in New York. However, Leisler's enemies were determined upon his death and took advantage of the governor's weakness to accomplish 1 8 The World^s Greatest Street their purpose. They invited Sloughter to a banquet, got him drunk, and, while he was in that condition, induced him to sign the death warrant. Before he became sober, Leisler and Milborne had been executed. On July 23, 1 69 1, two months afterwards, Sloughter died suddenly while in a drunken state. It is to be hoped that remorse helped him on to his untimely end. Four years later. Parliament reversed the attainder, the confiscated prop- erty of the two victims was restored to their heirs, and the bodies of Leisler and Milborne were disinterred and buried with high honors in the Dutch church in Garden Street. For a quarter of a century afterwards, the politics of the city were swayed by the Leislerians and the anti-Leislerians. In 1 69 1, Abraham De Peyster, captain of one of the train-bands and a friend of Leisler, became mayor of the city, which office he held for three years. His statue is in the Bowling Green, facing the custom-house. South of the fort was a point of land, anciently called Schreyers' Hoek, or Weepers' Point, after a similar point in old Amsterdam, where people saw the last of departing vessels, carrying away those who were near and dear to them. A number of rocks, called Capske, projected their heads above the water. In 1693, during the progress of a war between France and England, the governor, fear- ing an attack by the French fleet, caused the edge of the point to be filled in and erected a platform upon which was placed a number of guns to command both rivers. The works extended from the present Whitehall Street westward about three hundred feet and were commonly known as the Whitehall Battery. This was the begin- ning of the present Battery; but much more land was subsequently filled in, making here one of the most de- lightful spots in the city. When fashion ruled in this The Fort and the Bowling Green 19 neighborhood, the Battery park was the favorite resort of the citizens. No disfiguring raihoad structure then in- tercepted the view, nor was conversation interrupted by the thunder of passing trains. Even now, one can travel to many places before he will see a view equal to that he gets from the Battery of the beautiful harbor of New York, with Bartholdi's grand statue of Liberty, and the constantly passing vessels lending animation to the scene. In 1732, the city council: "Resolved, that this corporation will lease a piece of land ly- ing at the lower end of Broadway, fronting the fort, to some of the inhabitants of the said Broadway, in order to be enclosed to make a Bowling-Green thereof, with walks therein, for the beauty and ornament of said street, as well as for the recreation and delight of the inhabitants of the city, leaving the street on each side thereof fifty feet in breadth." By this act, the first, and oldest, public park in New York city came into being. The section adjacent to the Marketfield had become the wealthy and fashionable quarter of the city, and the residents did not like the open market in front of the fort and so near to their own habitations. The lessees under the act were John Cham- bers, Peter Bayard, and Peter Jay; the rent was one pep- percorn a year, and the lease was for eleven years. There w^as no golf in those days and the sport of bowling was popular; for at the expiration of the first lease, it was renewed for eleven years more at a rental of twenty shillings a year to John Chambers, Colonel Frederick Philipse, and John Roosevelt. In the year 1746, a party of Oneidas and Mohawks with their squaws and papooses, amounting in all to several hundred, came in canoes down the Hudson River 20 The World's Greatest Street to hold a conference with the British Governor CHnton. They encamped upon the shore of the river where the N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. freight house is now located in the former St. John's Park, and marched down Broad- way to Fort George in single file carrying long poles ornamented with French scalps. The conference was held in the fort; and the whole proceeding was of great FIREMEN AT WORK IN I80O (From Valentine's Manual) interest to the inhabitants, as subsequently all such con- ferences were held in Albany. The German, Professor Kalm, in a visit to the city in 1748 describes the fort as "a square with four bastions," situated upon the southwest point of the city and con- taining the governor's residence, three stories in height. This house, which was called the Province House, was destroyed by fire during Governor Tryon's time, De- cember 17, 1773, with the loss of one life, that of his daughter's maid. Kalm states also that the chapel with- in the fort was destroyed by fire during the negro plot of The Fort and the Bowling Green 21 1741 ; and further, "According to Governor Burnet's observation, this fort stands in the latitude of 42° 12' north." On the first of January, 1672, Governor Lovelace started a post-rider from the fort to carry the mails to Boston; but only a few trips were made. The Boston post was successfully established a few years later. In 1753 there appeared the following in the New York Gazette: "The Post-Of!ice, at the Bowling Green, Broadway, will be open every day, save Saturday after- noons and Sundays, from 8 to 12 a.m., and from 2 to 4 P.M., except on post nights, when attendance will be given until ten at night, by A. Golden, deputy post- master. N. B. No credit in future." From this it would appear that the Saturday half-holiday was one of the early institutions of the city. In 1772 it was enacted by the provincial assembly that: "The mail be sent weekly from. New York to Albany, up one side of the River and down the other, for which an extra one hundred pounds be allowed." The mail was carried on horseback, and the post-rider would sometimes carry a woman passenger on a pillion behind him. In 1765, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act. A meeting of the merchants of the city was called at Burns's Coffee House on Broadway, and the first non- importation agreement was signed, October 31, 1765. On the evening of the next day, two companies of the Sons of Liberty appeared on the streets. One company marched to the Commons where they hanged in effigy Lieutenant-Governor Cadwalader Golden ; the other com- pany broke into Colden's stable and took out his chariot, in which they placed a copy of the obnoxious act and an effigy of the lieutenant-governor. Both companies then united and marched in silence to the Bowling Green, 22 The World's Greatest Street where they found the soldiers drawn up on the ramparts of the fort ready to receive them. General Gage, the British commander, thought it prudent not to fire upon the rioters; and, as they were refused admission to the fort, they turned their attention to the wooden railing which surrounded the little park. This they tore down for fuel; and, having burnt railing, carriage, act, and effigy, they dispersed to their homes. The Stamp Act stirred up a hornet's nest from Georgia to Massachusetts; and in order to allay the excitement, Parliament, on February 20, 1766, repealed the hateful act. When the news of the repeal reached New York, the inhabitants went wild with delight, the city was illum- inated, and special bonfires were lighted in the Bowling Green. In a burst of loyalty, the citizens determined to erect an equestrian statue of George III. in the Bowl- ing Green, and one of Pitt in Wall Street. The gilt statue of the king was erected August 21, 1770, amid the roar of artillery and the plaudits of the enthusiastic and loyal people. The wooden fence was replaced temporarily in No- vember of the same year ; but the general assembly of the province feared: "That unless the said Green be fenced in, the same will soon become a receptacle for all the filth and dirt of the neighborhood, in order to prevent which, it is ordered that the same be fenced with iron rails, at an expense of £800." It is generally stated that this fence and the original stones still surround the park; but the royal crowns and the leaden balls which ornamented the pillars were broken off, to be used as missiles to be fired at the Asia man-of-war, in case she bombarded the town. On the tenth of July, 1776, the news reached the city from Philadelphia that the Congress had declared that "these Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and The Fort and the Bowling Green 23 independent States." The enthusiastic populace tore the picture of George III. from its frame in the city hall in Wall Street, and then proceeded to the Bowling Green, where willing hands soon had ropes around the figures of the king and his horse. "With a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether," the leaden horse and his PULLING DOWN THE STATUE OF GEORGE III. (From an old print) leaden rider came tumbling to the earth. At the same time the railing was stripped of its royal ornaments. The pedestal was left standing until after the Revolu- tion. The lead figures were broken up and sent to Litchfield in Connecticut, the home of Oliver Wolcott, later governor of the State, by whose wife and daughter they were melted and run into 42,000 bullets, which the American patriots used later against the royal troops. 24 The World's Greatest Street Upon two occasions, one as late as the spring of 1909, pieces of the statue have been found in Litchfield while excavating for foundations for new buildings. It is supposed that these pieces fell into the hands of Tories, who had buried them for safe keeping ; but who were com- pelled to leave the relics when they, themselves, were obliged to flee from the wrath of their neighbors. The pedestal upon which the horse stood and a portion of the mane have for many years been in the possession of the New York Historical Society. On August 27, 1776, was fought the battle of Long Island; and on the twelfth of September, a council of war was called by Washington which decided that the city was untenable and should be evacuated. The fort was dismantled, and on the fifteenth, the British occupied the city. Once more the banner of Great Britain flew over the ramparts of the fort, while the Parade was trodden by men in the red coats of the English, the kilts of the Highlanders, and the green coats of the German yagers. They all departed forever on November 25, 1783, when the American army of occupation resumed possession of the city and fort and flung the starry banner to the breeze amid the roar of cannon and the cheers of the multitude. In the year 1786, Daniel Ludlow and Chancellor Liv- ingston asked individually and separately permission to have "the care and use of the Bowling Green," which they agreed to beautify and keep in order without ex- pense to the corporation. The chancellor had the bigger "pull" with the city authorities, and his request was granted on the terms first proposed by Mr. Ludlow. On July 23, 1788, three days before the State con- vention ratified the Federal Constitution, the New York merchants, mechanics, and others all friends and ad- The Fort and the Bowling Green 25 mirers of Alexander Hamilton — arranged a great pro- cession in his honor, the first thing of its kind in the city. There were several floats manned by artisans of the various trades ; but the most striking feature of the parade was a float drawn by six horses, carrying the replica of a 32-gun frigate, named the Federal Ship Hamilton, twenty-seven feet long, manned by Commodore Nicholson and thirty sailors and marines. The procession started from the Bowling Green and went to Bayard's farm in the vicinity of Grand Street, where a plentiful dinner was served to over four thousand persons. The ship must have been returned to the starting point and left there, as in the records of 1789, there appears the appointment of a committee "to remove the Federal Ship out of the Bowling Green, to have the fence repaired, and to let out the Bowling Green." When the fort was demolished in 1787 and 1788 to make way for the Government House to be erected on its site, a number of interesting objects was disclosed; among others, the stone tablet of 1642, which had been placed upon the front of the church to commemorate its building by Director-General Kieft, and the vault con- taining the leaden coffins of Lord Bellomont, and his wife, which were identified by the silver plates. The bodies were removed to unmarked graves in St. Paul's churchyard, while the silver plates, at first intended for exhibition in a museum, went at last into the melting- pot, and were converted into spoons. (From the grave to the gravy, as it were.) The stone from the fort was used for the foundations of the Government House, while the earth was used for filling in the adjoining Battery Park. It was intended that the Government House should be the residence of President Washington, but it was not 26 The World's Greatest Street ready for his occupancy before the removal of the seat of government to Philadelphia. It was occupied by Gov- ernors Clinton and Jay ; and later, when the State capital was removed to Albany in 1799, it was used as a custom- house. It is described as being two stories high with a portico before it covered by a pediment upon which were carved the arms of the State — the pediment being supported by four white Ionic columns. The house stood upon an elevation fronting Broadway, "having be- GOVERNMENT HOUSE fore it an elegant, elliptical approach, around an area of near an acre of ground, enclosed by an iron railing." In 1 79 1, the street committee reported that the Bowl- ing Green should be preserved and ' ' that the fence should be raised in proportion to the regulating of Broadway." In 1795, the park was set aside for the garden of the governor for the time being. On July eighteenth of the same year, its sanctity was invaded by a howling mob of indignant citizens, who there burned, to the strains of The Carmagnole the treaty with England, and the The Fort and the Bowling Green 27 effigy of its negotiator, John Jay. Our people were at that time very French in their sympathies. In 1798, John Rogers was granted the use of the BowHng Green "on condition that he keep it in order and suffer no crea- tures to ruin it." It seems, therefore, that for some reasons the park was not a success as a garden for the governor's private use. The State legislature of 1 8 1 2 authorized the comptrol- ler of the State to sell in fee simple the Government House and the adjoining grounds to the city of New York for not less than fifty thousand dollars. There was a pro- viso that the grounds should not be sold for the erection of private buildings or for other individual purposes; but the proviso was repealed, and the city's option to buy was limited to November i, 18 13. How and when the State obtained possession of this city property are not known; except, perhaps, as the inheritor of the province and by claiming that the fort and its appurtenances were pro- vincial property, and not municipal. However, the city received a deed from the state on August 2, 18 13, sub- ject to a lease of the property to DeWitt Clinton and others, expiring on May i, 1815. Some time during 18 1 5, the Government House is said to have burned down. The city divided the property into seven parcels, or lots, and these were sold on June 19, 1815. The pur- chasers probably bought on speculation, as all but one of the lots did not long remain in their possession but were transferred to others. This section was then the most fashionable in the city ; and as the lots, with one exception, were thirty feet wide, and one hundred and thirty feet deep, it was not long before a row of elegant mansions occupied the site. The grandmother of one of the author's friends used to live in one of these houses, and she 28 The World's Greatest Street used to tell how as a girl she went with the rest of her family to their summer house near Broadway and Four- teenth Street, and of the preparations made for weeks ahead for this summer flitting into the country. When the Croton water was introduced into the city, the occupants of the houses fronting on the Bowling Green erected a fountain, consisting of a rough stone structure, over which the water was conducted by means of a pipe. The design was not one of beauty and called forth considerable adverse criticism from visitors from abroad. And now Mr. Brown Was fairly in town, In that part of the city they used to call "down," Not far from the spot of ancient renown As being the scene Of the Bowling Green, A fountain that looked like a huge tureen Piled up with rocks, and a squirt beween. And he stopped at an Inn that's known very well, " Delmonico's" once — now "Steven's Hotel"; (And to venture a pun which I think rather witty, There's no better Inn in this Inn-famous city!) John Godfrey Saxe. By 1850, fashion had left this neighborhood and busi- ness had crept in; and these mansions became the offices of several of the foreign consulates and of the great steam- ship companies, so that they became popularly known as "Steamship Row." These are within the recollection of some of our younger citizens. The national govern- The Fort and the Bowling Green 29 ment bought the site for a custom-house, and held it for several years before beginning the work of demolition of the old mansions. The corner-stone of the building " STEAMSHIP row" AND THE BOWXING GREEN was laid October 2, 1902, and the building w^as opened for business in November, 1907. This beautiful and imposing building, designed by Cass Gilbert, cost the government about seven millions of dollars. Its front 30 The World's Greatest Street is ornamented by a number of statues of famous individ- uals, and by four symbolic groups, the work of Daniel French, representing in marble, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. ^Plan ()i|the City of New York from an ac 1 ual Sui \ CHAPTER III BROADWAY TO WALL STREET OLLOWING the custom of renaming which was introduced by the Eng- Hsh, the Heere Straat of the Dutch became Broadway, even the Dutch calling it in their own tongue, Breedeweg. Many of the grantees of lots on both sides of the street were imbued by the spirit of land speculation which has distinguished the city ever since, and the constant changes in ownership of the lots show this speculative spirit. The authorities tried in 1676 to increase the occupancy of the vacant lots of the city by directing all owners of vacant lots or ruinous buildings to build upon the lots or improve them under penalty of seeing them sold at public auction. This was an exercise of the right of eminent domain which would have satisfied Henry George two centuries later. At the time of the English occupation in 1664, the highway extended only as far as the wall ; it took nearly a century more before it was extended to the Commons, and this upper section was called Great George Street. The surface of Manhattan was naturally rolling, and this early Broadway followed the inequalities of the surface at the top of the ridge which sloped to both rivers. The two 31 32 The World's Greatest Street principal streets of the Dutch already mentioned were in fact, nothing but cow-paths over which the cattle were driven to and from pasture; this was pre-eminently so with Pearl Street, which was called the Cowpath. Broadway A cow-path only; yet in its birth, It had the promise of its present worth : For Nature had its course prescribed Between the eastern and the western tide. And man has learned, despite his bold persistence, That Nature's law is best — "the line of least resistance." In 1658, the inhabitants of Brower Street were directed to pave their street in order to facilitate traffic, as the street was almost impassable. This was the first street in the city that was paved, and in consequence it became known as Stone Street. Broadway was not paved until 1707, and then only from Trinity Church to the Bowling Green; at the same time the residents were permitted to plant trees in front of their lots. In 1709, the street was levelled as far as Maiden Lane, In 1 691, an order was made concerning the paving of certain streets, among which we find: "Broadway, on both sides, ten feet, down to Mr. Smith's (opposite the Bowling Green) on the west side, and to Lucas Kiersted's on the other." Yet it is probable that the vicinity of the Bowling Green was not paved until 1747, when a committee was ap- pointed to have so much of the street around the Bowling Green and the fence along the fort paved as they might see proper. The paving consisted of cobblestones, and extended only ten feet in front of the houses, the middle of the street serving as a gutter and probably being a quag- mire in wet weather. The work fell upon the owners of o w 33 34 The World's Greatest Street the lots, and in case of default in complying with the ordinance there was a fine of twenty shillings to be levied upon the recalcitrant householder. Anything in the way of sidewalks was at first voluntary on the part of the property owners; they were called strookes by the Dutch. Sidewalks did not come in until 1790, and then were made of brick. New York was far behind the Quaker City in this respect, as shown by a remark of Dr. Franklin to the effect that a New Yorker could be known by his gait, in shuffling over a Philadel- phia fine pavement like a parrot upon a mahogany table. A Philadelphia visitor about 1835 remarks then that New York's large flagstones and wide foot pavements surpass Philadelphia even for ease of walking, and the unusual width of the flagstone footways across the pebbled streets at the corners is very superior. It must have been a pleasure to him to get away from the possibility of stepping on a loose brick on a rainy day. There seems to have been some difficulty in getting rid of the water on Broadway after a heavy rain on ac- count of the configuration of the land. An early en- gineer proposed a scheme for lowering Broadway and diverting the surplus water into Blommaert's Vly and the Broad Street ditch ; but the project did not meet with ap- proval. In 1 712, Broadway was levelled between Maiden Lane and the Commons. It is probable that the street had been regulated in the vicinity of the Bowling Green before this, possibly by the ordinance of 1691, quoted above. That the street had been cut down some six or eight feet was shown by an ancient house which for- merly stood at Beaver Street and Broadway, whose foundations were left standing above the street after the cutting down. In 1760, a committee was appointed to regulate and pave Broadway between Dey and Divi- 35 36 The World's Greatest Street sion (Fulton) streets ; and after the Revolution, there were ordered surveys from Rector Street north preparatory to regulating and paving. In 1718 the first rope- walk in the city was established on the line of Great George Street, abreast of the Commons, between Park Place and Barclay Street; it is shown on the Montgomerie map of 1728. In 1677, public wells, two of which were in the middle of Broadway, were established for the better protection of the city in case of fire. One of these wells, called "Mr. Rombout's Well," was situated near Ex- change Place, the other, not far from it. The care of these wells was placed with a committee of the inhabi- tants of the vicinity, who were assessed for one half of their cost and maintenance. The water in the city was generally bad and scarce; though occasionally good sweet water was found, as at the famous "Tea Water Pump" at Pearl Street and the Bowery. Potable water from some of these good sources of supply was hawked about the streets, and sold to the inhabitants. The wells were abolished from Broadway in 1806. The question of an adequate supply of good water arose as early as 1774, when Christopher Colles con- structed a reservoir at public expense on the east side of Great George Street, between Pearl and White, then far out of town. Water was obtained from sunk wells and from the Collect, or Freshwater pond, on the site of the present city prison on Centre Street. The water was dis- tributed through wooden pipes in 1776, but the supply was insufficient and the quality poor. The British took posses- sion of the city immediately afterward, the plant fell into disuse, and the people returned to the ancient pumps and wells. In 1798, the question of getting a supply of water from the mainland of Westchester County was agitated, but the corporation was deterred Broadway to Wall Street Z7 by the expense. Alexander Hamilton did not believe that the matter of water supply came within the province of the municipality so far as ownership and maintenance were concerned. Then the Manhattan Com- pany was formed by Aaron Burr, whose charter gave the right of supplying the city with water and the further right to engage in the banking business. Colles's reservoir was utilized, and the old plan of wooden pipes was re- sumed; but water was both scarce and bad, and the com- pany paid more attention to banking than it did to water and thus lost the confidence of the community, which soon voted the new plan a failure. When, in 1894, the excavations were in progress for the cable road of Jacob Sharp, some of the old wooden pipes were exhumed in Broadway. The great fire of 1835, entailing a loss upon the city of 648 houses and over eighteen millions of dol- lars, quickened the public interest in the water question upon which the citizens had voted "yes" at the previous spring election. Croton water was admitted into the city on July 4, 1842, and the event was celebrated on the fourteenth of October with the most imposing celebra- tion which had yet graced the streets of the city. In the Dutch days, no attempt was made at lighting the streets of the town at night; but in 1679 every seventh house was obliged to hang out a pole with a lantern and lighted candle on the nights when there was no moon ; and at the same time a night watch was formed. The ex- pense of the lights was divided among the seven house- holders adjacent to the lantern. In 1762, an act of the assembly gave authority to provide means of lighting the city, and in that year the first lamps and posts were purchased. In 1774, sixteen lamplighters were employed. In 1823, the Manhattan Gaslight Company was in- corporated and permitted to light the city below Canal 38 The World's Greatest Street Street. The gas pipes were laid on both sides of Broad- way in 1825, and the lamps were lighted shortly afterward. This system still prevails throughout the city, though electric lighting has superseded gas in most of the impor- tant thoroughfares. Broadway, between Fourteenth and Twenty-sixth streets, was the first section of the city to be lighted with arc lights, December 20, 1880. About the same time, a high mast was erected in the middle of Union Square at the top of which was a cluster of electric lamps ; but this plan of lighting the square was not a success. The establishment of a meat market in the Bowling Green has already been described. It was still in use in 1702, as it was rented then for five years. About the end of the seventeenth century, a new plan was adopted by which the city was spared the expense of erecting the necessary market buildings. This was by the residents of a neighborhood petitioning for a market, for which they paid the cost of erection and maintenance and a rental to the city, which became the owner at the expiration of the lease. In 1738, the inhabitants of the West Ward between Broadway and the Hudson petitioned for the erection of a market in Broadway, as they were so distant from the markets already established, and for the convenience of farmers and others who came from New Jersey and from up the Hudson. Upon permission being granted, they erected (1739) a market-house forty-two feet long and twenty-six feet wide in the middle of Broadway, "front- ing the street in which the chief justice lives (probably Maiden Lane), and opposite to Crown (Liberty) Street." Mention is also made of a market having occupied this site in 1729. The market was called the "Oswego Mar- ket." In 1746, twenty-six feet were added to the south end of the building, and other additions were made later. Broadway to Wall Street 39 It enjoyed a prosperous existence for over thirty years, by which time Broadway had grown up and become one of the principal streets of the city. Many attempts were made to get the corporation to remove the market, tak- ing up, as it did, so much of the highway that it inter- fered with traffic ; but the corporation refused to act. At last the building was, in 1771, declared a public nuisance by the grand jury. They describe it as being one hundred and fifty-six feet long and twenty feet, three and one half inches wide. The Common Council decided to defend the indict- ment and consulted two of the leading lawyers of the city, James Duane and Samuel Jones. The former de- clined to act as counsel and the latter gave it as his opinion that the city should submit. This the city at first declined to do, resolving to let the matter be de- cided by the court ; but further reflection made them think differently, and they decided to move the market to an- other site. Several localities were suggested, — among others, the Commons, — and the Council finally settled upon the shore of the North River at the foot of Dey Street, where a new market-house was erected which subsequently became Washington Market (18 12). At the time that the Oswego Market was removed from Broadway, the street was paved in that locality. The market received its odd name from the fact that during the French and Indian War, Fort Oswego was con- sidered the most important place within control of the English to withstand the encroachments of the French from Canada. The troops, provisions, and other sup- plies for the fort were all shipped from the river front near the foot of the present Cortlandt Street, a point which be- came known as the "Oswego Landing," The lane from the landing led up to the market, which thus adopted the 40 The World's Greatest Street name of Oswego. It was also called the "Broadway Market," and the "Crown Market" from being abreast of Crown Street. After the removal of the market from the middle of Broadway in 1771, the residents of the vicinity felt the inconvenience of having no market near by, and so petitioned for the establishment of one on the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane; their petition was granted, and the market established shortly afterward. It took the name of Oswego, but is better known as "Old Swago." It stood until 181 1, when it was removed by aldermanic resolution, adopted May 6th of the same year. The first attempt to clean the streets was made in 1696, when a contract was made at thirty pounds sterling a year. Before this, every householder had been obliged to keep the street clean in front of his own residence. These ordinances failed of effect; and in 1702, all the in- habitants were required to sweep the dirt into heaps in front of their doors on Friday morning and to have it re- moved before Saturday night under penalty of a fine of six shillings. The cartmen were obliged to carry away the dirt at three cents a load, or, if they loaded their own carts, at six cents; in the event of a refusal, they were subject to heavy fines. As late as 1800, the chim- neys were swept by small negro boys who went their rounds at daybreak, crying: "Sweep, ho! sweep, ho! from the bottom to the top, without a ladder or a rope, sweep, ho!" with numerous variations. It was not until the days of Colonel Waring subsequent to January, 1895, that New York learned that its streets could be cleaned thoroughly and economically. From the Dutch days down to 1825, there were no methods employed for removing the refuse and garbage from the houses. All such matter was thrown into the streets where it was disposed of by the hogs, which were ^Mjfy^ ^^^c^^-^m^ Broadway to Wall Street 41 allowed to range the streets for that purpose, as the dogs used to do in Constantinople. It was estimated as late as 1820 that thirty thousand hogs roamed the streets of the city, and in Boston, Philadelphia, and other places. New York was a byword for filthiness. Notwithstand- ing the fatal visitations of the yellow fever and other diseases, — directly traceable to the festering masses of putrefying refuse in the city streets, — it was not until 1823 that the Common Council listened to the protests of the best citizens and directed that carts should be used to remove the garbage and that the swine should be cap- tured and sent to the public pound. The men and boys of the streets offered such forcible resistance to the carts and to the attempt to arrest the hogs that the ordinance became a dead letter until several years later, when a proper public spirit of indignation against such antiquated methods was aroused, and the hogs were driven from the streets and the carts permitted to go unmolested. Within the quarter century following the English oc- cupation, the character of Broadway, at least on the west side and in the neighborhood of the Bowling Green, be- gan to change; for several of the wealthy merchants erected their houses on Broadway, and it began to be- come a fashionable part of the city. It was customary in the old days for a merchant to live over his shop; but this was not so much the case in Broadway, of which it has already been said that it was remote from business. Both before and after the Revolution, William Street was the great dry-goods section, where the belles of those days purchased their materials, whose names and meanings are unknown to the present generation. There were amens, cordurets, camblets, callimancos, casserillias, durants, osnaburgs, platillas, ribdelurs, shalloons, tick- lenburgs, weldbores, and half a dozen others. It was 42 The World's Greatest Street not until about 18*40 that Broadway got its share of this trade, due to the great fire of 1835, which swept away the whole business section east of Broadway and south of Wall Street — a trade that it kept for many years after- wards. But even as late as 1845, Broadway was not by any means the sole business street of the city, though rapidly becoming the fashionable one. Of the character and number of the houses that stood on the west side of Broadway at the time of the Revolu- tion, we have no positive knowledge; as everything, with three or four exceptions, was swept away by the great fire which obliterated that section immediately after the British occupation, September 21, 1776. An enum- eration of the houses in 1744 shows there were 1141 in the whole city, of which 129 were on the west side of Broadway; but it must be remembered that even as late as the British evacuation in 1783, the street did not go much above St. Paul's. The lots on the west side all sloped down to the river, which at that time was about on the line of the present Greenwich Street. On the east side of the highway, the houses still continued to be of a meaner description. At the end of the Dutch days, on the west side of the Bowling Green, were two taverns, one kept by Pieter Kocks, later, by his widow Annetje, — the other, by Martin Krigier. Both of them had been soldiers; and as their taverns were near the fort, their houses became very popular with the members of the garrison and also with the people who crossed the Hudson to attend to business on the Marketfield. North of these taverns were the house of Dominie Megapolensis, the house of the secretary of the Company, and the burial ground near the present Morris Street. During the seventeenth century it was customary for Broadway to Wall Street 43 the European nations to allow citizens to fit out private armed vessels to prey upon the commerce of any nation with whom they might be at war. These privateers did not confine their attentions to the enemy's vessels; but as time passed, they became so bold that they attacked, captured, or destroyed any vessel that they thought worth while, no matter what flag it carried. If there were sufficient monetary or political influence, the letters of marque were easily obtained; so that privateers were soon numerous, and not a few became out and out buc- caneers. The whole American coast was infested by them, and legitimate commerce was almost entirely wiped out. Many of the wealthy New Yorkers were backers of these enterprises, and even Governor Fletcher was so deeply interested as to call forth the denunciations of the better class of merchants. These had their effect upon the home government, and Fletcher was recalled in 1695. He was succeeded by Lord Bellomont, who came in 1698 with the avowed intention of suppressing piracy. New York was the rendezvous of these gentry ; and it was no unusual thing to see them swaggering about the streets of the little town, armed with cutlass and pistol, resorting to the taverns and terrorizing the inhabitants. "Easy come, easy go," is a saying particularly applicable to money, and these privateersmen were liberal spenders; so that most of the gold and silver coin in circulation came from them. Much of this was of Arabian mintage, which the pirates obtained from their outrages in the Indian Ocean, where their headquarters were on the island of Madagascar. In fact, so supine were the gov- ernor and authorities that the town was at the mercy of these sea-robbers until Bellomont took vigorous measures to suppress them. The plot of ground formerly occupied by the Kocks 44 The World's Greatest Street tavern came into the possession of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, who erected upon it an elegant mansion, which passed later into the ownership of the Watts family. Captain Archibald Kennedy of the royal navy, at one time collector of the port, and later, Earl of Cassilas in the Scotch peerage, married Mary Watts, and thus came into possession of Number i, Broadway, which, in consequence, became known as the "Kennedy house." Kennedy gave this house to his son; and during the ownership of both, it became the centre of the fashionable life of the city. General Charles Lee made it his head- quarters in 1776, before his departure for Charleston, S. C; Israel Putnam occupied it until the Americans were driven from the city, and Washington also made use of it during the same period. It escaped the great fire of September, 1776, and was occupied successively by Sir William Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir Guy Carleton as their city headquarters during the time they were British commanders-in-chief in America. It was from this house that the unfortunate Andre carried on his correspondence with Arnold, and it was here that he had his last interview with Clinton and received his final in- structions before departing on his fatal journey to meet Arnold in September, 1780. One matter particularly impressed upon him by Clinton was that under no cir- cumstances was he to go within the American lines; and it was the violation of this order by Andre that brought about his capture and death. After the Revolution, the house was occupied by several leading citizens, among whom was Isaac Sears, the famous leader of the Sons of Liberty, who was popularly known as "King" Sears, and whose daughters were styled the "Princesses." While New York was the Federal capital, the Kennedy house was the residence of Don Broadway to Wall Street 45 Diego de Gardoqui, the Spanish minister. It then became a fashionable boarding-school for young ladies, to which the daughters of the city's best families were sent. It then passed into the possession of the wealthy banker, Nathaniel Prime; and after his death, it became the Washington Hotel, one of its guests being the great minister of Napoleon, Talleyrand, who, during his exile from France, sojourned here while in the city. The famous mansion was demolished in 1882 to make way for the Washington office building, erected by Cyrus W. Field, the layer of the Atlantic cable. Number i, Broad- way is remarkable in the fact that since the first grant of land was made of this plot in 1643, only three buildings have occupied it. The spot has been appropriately marked by a bronze tablet placed upon the building by the Holland Society. At Number 3, lived John Watts, a member of the governor's council, a colonial judge, and the father-in- law of Archibald Kennedy. The site of Martin Krigier's tavern is at Number 9. It seems that about the year 1700, or a little earlier, John Hutchins erected a tavern on this site, moving from his place opposite the City Hall at Wall Street, corner of Broad, where he had conducted a most fashionable public house, the headquarters of the anti-Leislerians, for several years previously. In 1763, Mr. Steel advertises that he "has moved the King's Arms Tavern from opposite the Exchange [Broad and Pearl streets] to the Broadway, at the lower end, op- posite the fort." The innkeepers of that time were in the habit of carrying with them the signs of their taverns if they had been popular ones. This practice has some- times caused difficulty in identifying the sites of the old taverns and their owners. In 1766, we find in an ad- vertisement that: "Concerts of Music are given by 46 The World's Greatest Street Edward Bardin, innkeeper, at the King's Arms garden in the Broadway, three times a week in the evening, in a neat and commodious room in the garden; tickets i^." The King's Arms, being so close to the fort, enjoyed great popularity during the Revolution and the days THE king's arms, ATLANTIC GARDEN, IN 1 765 (From Valentine's Manual for 1856) preceding it, and was the headquarters of General Gage during the time he was commander-in-chief. It escaped the fire of 1776 and was continued as a hotel for many years afterwards, becoming the Atlantic Garden toward the end of its career, which terminated about i860, when the property became a place for the storage of cars for one of the city lines. The King's Arms is of special interest m connection with Benedict Arnold, whose quarters were in this build- ing after his desertion of the American cause. The Broadway to Wall Street 47 patriots were very anxious to get possession of the traitor, and many schemes were proposed to accompHsh this pur- pose. The most famous is that of Sergeant Champe of "Light Horse Harry Lee's" squadron of dragoons. Champe came to an understanding with his commander, and then deHberately deserted his colors in New Jersey, and made tracks for the nearest British outpost. His companions-in-arms were unaware of his project, and so pursued him with all the energy and rancor that could be displayed against a deserter, firing upon him, but luckily not hitting him. Thus pursued, he came well recom- mended into the enemy's lines, where he stated he wished to join Arnold's American Legion. He had an inter- view with Arnold, who enlisted him. The watchful Champe noticed that Arnold was in the habit of walking in the garden of the King's Arms during the evening. The land sloped down to the shore of the Hudson, and a lane ran along the edge of the garden. Champe made his plans with his confederates, who were to come from the Jersey shore in the darkness, seize Arnold during his evening walk, and carry him by way of the lane to the waiting boat. The night for the en- terprise arrived, and everything was in readiness; but Arnold did not come. The next day he sailed for Vir- ginia on his ravaging expedition against Norfolk and Portsmouth, and Champe was obliged to go with him. The sergeant realized that his plan had failed and so took the first opportunity to desert the British colors and find his way back to his own. Lee brought him before the commander-in-chief who was cognizant of the scheme. Washington offered Champe a commission in the army, but at the same time advised him of the danger of ac- cepting it and of being taken prisoner by the British, and the surety of his being summarily shot as a deserter 48 The World's Greatest Street under such circumstances. He recommended Champe to move with his family from Virginia to Tennessee, prom- ising to clear his name of the charge of desertion. Champe found the advice good, as the British imder Cornwallis were then working their way up toward Yorktown, and the partisan Tarleton was appearing in the most unex- pected places and at the most unlooked for times and making it exceedingly dangerous for any one in Virginia not well affected to the royal cause ; so Champe migrated over the mountains into Tennessee, where his descendants may be found to this day. In 1744, an ordinance was passed permitting the own- ers of property between Battery Place and Morris Street (though the streets are not named) "to range their fronts in such manner as the Alderman and Assistant [alderman] of the West Ward may think proper." The following year, it was ordered that a straight line be drawn between " the house of Mr. Augustus Jay, now in the occupation of Peter Warren, Esq., to the north corner of the house of Archibald Kennedy, fronting the Bowling Green in the Broad Way, and that Mr. William Smith, who is now about to build a house (and all other persons who shall build between the two houses) lay their foundations and build conformably to the aforesaid straight line." It is apparent that the owners of the property preferred to have their houses with fronts square to the side walls instead of on the slant, as compliance with this straight line ordinance required, and that they found complaisant advisers in the aldermen from that day to this. And how could aldermen fail to be obliging to such persons as owned property and lived here from the beginning of the eighteenth century well on toward the first quarter r:*:;^ ■ir: ^^Ciik- 1==^H ! iicciii ^ IIIIIII > IIIIIII « IIIIIII " Illlill m m ^^- - - « m ^^^^^m ^^M m^> ?i:m l'^^ 'i ■' ^^ ^T.^ -/- . 1.1 '< ^^J'K li .,'ftli "' irt. ■» I « iTHi M ffJH "iL-" I «" <•• 1," ," '<" iW "iff.. ! .0 ..I t» '"j,-* ,(^' ■■ ■ €' nii' • •■■» » • ' ■* ■»ii:''i> - II: 'l-i. ^^■ O S O 49 50 The World's Greatest Street of the nineteenth — Jays, De Peysters, Van Cortlandts, and others of the great names in our city history ? Stand at the BowHng Green to-day and look along the west side of Broadway, and you will see a jog between each house and its next neighbor all the way up to the Stevens House at Morris Street; for the great engineering family lived here on Broadway, too, though their mansion has been a hotel this many a year. In 1840, just after the great panic of 1837, the house and lot at Number 11, Broadway, sold for $15,000, which was considered a low price, the lot being thirty-nine feet on Broadway, two hundred feet deep, and twenty-seven feet on Greenwich Street, At Number 19 was a boarding- house at which Daniel Webster often stopped during his visits to the city. Contiguous to Morris Street was the ancient Dutch burial ground, which was cut up into four lots, each twenty-five by a hundred, and sold in 1676 or 1677. The first builders dug up the bones from the un- marked graves. Number 39 was the McComb mansion, six stories in height, where Washington lived as president after his removal from Cherry Street. The rental was $2500 a year. We can imagine the great man strolling down Broadway for a breath of sea air from the Battery. On one of these occasions he was stopped at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street by an old Scotch nurse who presented to the president her infant charge, and asked him to bless the bairn, who had been named after him. Washington patted the boy on the head, asked his name, and passed on; but the youngster, who was Washington Irving, was proud of the fact and delighted in telling it in later years. Shortly before his death, Irving told the story to George Haven Putnam, then a small boy, and ended with a quiz- zical smile : "But you can't see now the spot on my head Broadway to Wall Street 51 that the president touched." Young Putnam went home with the story, and puzzled over its explanation until his father enlightened him with the remark that "Irving wore a wig." If Irving placed his hands on young Putnam's head, we have a line of apostolic sue- i 'fell 1 i5i i^.^f-t- ""' "ti — 1 — ..^ At^ i W5' 'V'-^ -^'"fl IB] ^^^f^ "-f&M M iiiiiiiiiiiiil THE BUNKER MANSION ON BROADWAY, 183O (From Valentine's Manual) cession by the "the laying on of hands" from the Father of his Country to the present.* Number 39, and the adjoining house later became the Bunker Mansion House, which acquired considerable popularity for many years. At the corner of Rector Street, within the present grounds of Trinity, Frangois Rombout, who was mayor in 1678, had a fine mansion with * I had this storv from Mr. Putnam himself. 52 The World's Greatest Street grounds sloping down to the river. It was during his administration that Governor Andros granted to the city the monopoly of bolting flour and the exclusive right to export it, and forbade all other towns to engage in the trade under penalty of forfeiture of the flour. Rector Street received its name from the fact that the first rector of Trinity, the Rev. William Vesey, used to live on this street; his name is also commemorated in Vesey Street on the north side of St. Paul's. The houses on the east side of Broadway continued to be of an inferior character for many years, even after the city came back to the possession of the Americans. We have inherited a good many customs from the Dutch, and it may be worth while speculating whether our preference for the west side of thoroughfares running north and south, both for residence and business, is not one of them. The only building on the east of any consequence seems to have been a tavern erected by John Corbett in English days below Exchange Place. During the fire of 1776, a num- ber of the houses were burned; they were replaced by others of an equally poor, or poorer, quality. The prices for which the properties sold are fair criteria of their quality; thus, the highest price is for a house on a lot fifty- five by one hundred and fifty feet, which sold in colonial days for £320. After 1790, fine residences began to line this side of the street as well as the other, occupied by many of the leading merchants and professional men, among whom may be mentioned Alexander Hamilton and Dr. Charlton. In 1827, the Adelphi Hotel, six stories in height, was erected at the corner of Beaver Street. By 1825, like the opposite side of the street, many of these fine residences were given over to hotels, inns, and boarding-houses. The most noted of all these boarding-houses in the I Broadway to Wall Street 53 thirties was located at 61 Broadway and was presided over by Miss Margaret Mann, who was called familiarly *'Aiint" Margaret. It was patronized largely by ladies, a sign of its eminent respectability, and it was also the stopping place in New York of such actors as Sinclair, the father of Mrs. Edwin Forrest, and Tyrone Power. At one time Washington Irving lived at Number 16 Broadway with his friend Henry Brevoort at the house of Mrs. Ryckman. He often strolled up Broadway to visit his friend, the Widow Jane Renwick, who lived at the corner of Cortlandt Street, and whose son afterwards became a professor at Columbia College. Mrs. Renwick was " The Blue-Eyed Lassie" of Robert Burns's poem. When Irving returned from his diplomatic post in Spain in 1848, he was not very well off, and he took a desk in the office of his brother, John Treat Irving, a well-known lawyer. Mr. George P. Putnam wrote to Irving making him a generous offer in the matter of publication of his past and future works. Washington read the letter to his brother John, and in his pleasurable excitement kicked over the desk in front of him and cried: "There is no necessity, John, of my bothering further with the law. Here is a fool of a publisher going to give me a thousand dollars a year for doing nothing." Putnam remained Irving's publisher until the latter's death in 1859, dur- ing which time Irving received much more than the thousand dollars a year. Among the other hotels which have enjoyed good reputations were Barnum's, called the Howard House in 1 85 1, and the Tremont Temperance House at Number no. In 1906, the small plot of ground 40 feet by 30, at the southeast corner of Wall Street, sold for six hundred dollars a square foot, the highest price ever paid up to this date (1910) for land upon the island of Manhattan. 54 The World's Greatest Street In the thirties, each of the Wall Street corners was occupied by a fashionable tailor shop, the firms being Howard, Keeler & Scofield, and St. John & Toucey. Here were built clothes for the fashionable Knickerbocker youth and for their more sedate sires, which were of such excellent materials, and so well made that they lasted their wearers almost a life time. They were made pretty much on the same pattern so that there was a similarity of dress that became in time monotonous. An English visitor of 1905 remarked to me that, while the American men are, as a rule, well-dressed, their clothes look as if they had all been copied from the same model; and he more than hinted that we are all slaves of the prevailing fashion, as he observed ii while walking with me on the great thoroughfare. This he thought strange in such a democratic and independent people. Let us see what a contemporaneous writer says of Broadway in a mock series of notes for a longer article. It is headed: THE STRANGER AT HOME; OR A TOUR OF BROADWAY BY JEREMY COCKLOFT, THE YOUNGER* Battery — flag-staff kept by Louis Keaffee — Keaffee main- tains two spy-glasses by subscriptions — merchants pay two shillings a year to look through them at the signal poles on Staten Island — a very pleasant prospect. Young seniors go down to the flag-staff to buy peanuts and beer [not lager beer, but spruce beer] after the fatigue of their morning studies, and sometimes to play ball, or some other innocent amusement. — Return to the Battery — delightful place to indulge in the luxury of sentiment. How various are the mutations of the world! but a few da,ys, a few hours — at least not above two * Salmagtmdi Papers, No. xii. — Saturday, June 27, 1807. We omit the various digressions. Broadway to Wall Street 55 hundred years ago, this spot was inhabited by a race of ab- origines, who dwelt in bark huts, lived upon oysters and Indian corn, danced buffalo dances, and were "lords of the fowl and the brute"; but the spirit of time and the spirit of brandy have swept them from their ancient inheritance. — mem. Battery a very pleasant place to walk on a Sunday evening — not quite genteel enough though — everybody walks there, and a pleasure, however genuine, is spoiled by general participation — the fashionable ladies of New York turn up their noses if you ask them to walk on the Battery on Sunday — quere, have they scruples of conscience, or scruples of delicacy? Neither — they have only scruples of gentility, which are quite different things. Custom-house* — this place much frequented by mer- chants — and why? — different classes of merchants — im- porters — a kind of nobility — wholesale merchants — have the privilege of going to the city assembly! — Retail traders cannot go to the assembly. — Some curious speculations on the vast distinction betwixt selling tape by the piece or by the yard. — Wholesale merchants look down upon the retailers, who in return look down upon the green- grocers, who look down upon the market-women, who don't care a straw about any of them. — Custom-house partly used as a lodging-house for pictures belonging to the academy of Arts. Bowling Green — fine place for pasturing cows — a perquisite of the late corporation — formerly ornamented with a statue of George the Third — people pulled it down in the war to make bullets — great pity ; it might have been given to the academy. — Broadway — great difference in the gentility of streets — a man who resides in Pearl street, or Chatham Row, derives no kind of dignity from his domicil; but place him in a certain part of Broadway, anywhere between the Battery and Wall * The old government-house facing Bowling Green, built for President Washington, afterwards the residence of Governors George Clinton and John Jay. See text. 56 The World's Greatest Street Street, and he straightway becomes entitled to figure in the beau monde, and strut as a person of prodigious consequence! — Quere, whether there is a degree of purity in the air of that quarter which changes the gross particles of vulgarity into gems of refinement and polish? A question to be asked, but not to be answered ^ — New brick church! — What a pity it is the corporation of Trinity Church are so poor! — if they could not afford to build a better place of worship, why did they not go about with a subscription? — Even I would have given them a few shillings rather than our city should have been disgraced by such a pitiful specimen of economy. Barber's pole; three different orders of shavers in New York — those who shave pigs; — N.B. — freshmen and sophomores, — those who cut beards, and those who shave notes of hand; the last the most respectable . . . and call themselves gentlemen ; yea, men of honor! — Lottery offices — another set of capital shavers! — licensed gambling houses! good things enough, as they enable a few honest industrious gentlemen to humbug the people — according to law. — Messrs. Paff — beg pardon for putting them in such bad company, because they are a couple of fine fellows — mem. to recommend Michael's antique snuff-box to all amateurs in the art. — Eagle singing Yankee- doodle — N.B. — Buffon, Pennant and the rest of the naturalists all naturals not to know the eagle was a singing bird.^ Cortlandt Street corner — famous place to see belles go by — ' The same idea is given in Halleck's poem Fanny. He woke in strength, Hke Samson from his slumber, And walked Broadway, enraptured the next day; Purchased a house there — I 've forgot the number — And signed a mortgage and a bond, for pay. The last removal fixed him: every stain Was blotted from his "household coat," and he Now "showed the world he was a gentleman," And what was better could afford to be. * The reference is to the sign of the Paffs, which was the picture of an eagle hanging from a tree in front of their door. Broadway to Wall Street 57 quere, ever been shopping with a lady? — Oswego Market — - looks very much like a triumphal arch — Saw a cartman driving full tilt through Broadway — run over a child — good enough for it — what business had it to be in the way? — Hint concerning the law against pigs, goats, dogs, and cartmen — inquiry into the utility of making laws that are broken a hundred times in a day with impunity; — my Lord Coke's opinion on the subject; my Lord a very great man — so was Lord Bacon: a good story about a criminal named Hog claiming relationship with him. ' — Hogg's porter-house; — a great haunt of Will Wizard.^ — Hogg's a capital place for hearing the same stories, the same jokes, and the same songs every night in the year — mem. except Sunday nights; fine school for young politicians, too — some of the longest and thickest heads in the city come there to settle the nation. — Dey Street — ancient Dutch name of it, signifying murderer's valley, formerly the site of a great peach orchard; my grandmother's history of the famous Peach war — arose from an Indian stealing peaches out of this orchard ; good cause as need be for a war; just as good as the balance of power. — mem. — ran my nose against a lamp-post — conclude in great dudgeon. ' The man Hog was convicted of heresy before Judge Bacon during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was asked if he had anything to say why sentence should not be pronounced against him. "My lord, " he answered, "you would not disgrace the family by sentencing me to death; for your name being Bacon and mine Hog, we must be related." "You are mis- taken, my good man," returned the learned judge; "you are no relative of mine; for Hog doesn't become Bacon until it is smoked"; whereupon he sentenced the unfortunate heretic to the stake at Smithfield. — Author. ^ One of the pseudonyms under which the trio of authors of the Salma- gundi papers — James Kirke Paulding and Washington and William Ir\-ing — wrote. CHAPTER IV FROM WALL STREET TO THE COMMONS N 1 696, the provincial assembly passed a law that each parish in the pro- vince should induct a good Protest- ant minister and pay his salary out of the rates. Governor Benjamin Fletcher, who was an active church- man, construed this to mean that the Established Church of England should become the Established Church of the province; and, notwithstanding considerable opposition succeeded in carrying his point. Thus Trinity came into being in 1696. The church edifice was enlarged in 1737 and destroyed in the fire of 1776. It was not rebuilt until 1 791; and the structure of that date stood until 1839- 40, when the present beautiful structure was begun. A quarter of a century ago, visitors to New York went to the top of Trinity steeple in order to get a view of the city which lay at their feet; and the most prominent object to any one approaching the city from any direction was the church spire, which stood above all other objects. Now, Trinity has been so dwarfed and surrounded by im- mensely high buildings that you cannot see the steeple until you are at the church itself. The church was usually spoken of in colonial days as ' ' the English church ; ' ' and it was the f a shionable church of 58 From Wall Street to the Commons 59 the city which was attended by the government officials and by many of the wealthy merchants, especially those of English birth or descent. The bouwerie of the Dutch West India Company, lying along the Hudson without the wall, had become the king's farm, and this was granted to the church by Queen Anne, a very devout church woman to whom so many of our colonial churches were deeply BkoADWAV AND CORTLANDT STREET (From Valentine's Manual for 1859) indebted. The ringing of Trinity's chimes upon holidays and upon New Year's eve has become one of the customs of the city; though the ringing in of the new year has in late years become something of a farce owing to the noise of the crowds who drown out the music of the bells with discordant blasts of tin horns. The edifice has been the re- cipient of many beautiful and artistic gifts from its wealthy parishioners— the reredos, the bronze doors, and the stained glass windows being particularly beautiful memorials. 6o The World's Greatest Street The ground upon which the church and graveyard stand was the plot set aside as a garden for the Dutch Company, The latter has been a burial place ever since the closure of the old Dutch burying-ground in 1676 or 1677 ; and it has been stated that previous to 1822, 160,000 bodies had been interred within its limits, though there is reason to believe that this number is greatly exaggerated. The yard contains the remains of many of New York's citizens of the olden time; but burials below Canal Street were prohibited in 18 13. Of the many prominent names which will attract a visitor to the graveyard, there are three that may be mentioned here. A stone sarcophagus on the left as we enter from Broadway contains the re- mains of Captain James Lawrence of the United States Frigate Chesapeake, which engaged in a fatal duel with the British frigate Shannon off Boston harbor on the first of June, 1 81 3, during which Lawrence was mortally wounded. In his delirium, he kept shouting, ''Don't give up the ship!'' Three months later, Oliver Hazard Perry went into battle on Lake Erie with Lawrence's dy- ing words upon his battle flag which he flew at the fore truck of his flagship, the Lawrence. When obliged to leave the sinking Lawrence, the battle flag went with him to the Niagara, from which he continued to direct the fight that ended in the destruction or capture of the British fleet.* Within a few feet of each other along the southern wall of the graveyard, overlooking Rector Street, are the graves of Robert Fulton, the inventor of the steamboat, and of Alexander Hamilton, "The patriot of incorruptible in- tegrity, the soldier of approved valor, the statesman of consummate wisdom, whose talents and virtues will be * Perry's battle flag is one of the most cherished relics at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. From Wall Street to the Commons 6i admired by grateful posterity long after this marble shall have mouldered into dust." Another grave which attracts the attention of the ro- mantically sentimental is that of Charlotte Temple, the heroine of an unfortunate eighteenth century love affair. In the upper part of the churchyard is a monument to the prison martyrs of the Revolution who died in New York. It is stated that this was erected by Trinity Corporation to prevent the city from cutting Pine Street through the graveyard, there being some law on the State's statute books to prevent the removal or injury of any public monument for purposes of highway improvement. The southwest corner of Rector Street was occupied at one time by a German Lutheran Church, erected about 1 7 10 by immigrants from the Palatinate who had been driven out of their desolated country by the armies of Louis XIV. The church was burnt in the fire of 1776, but was not rebuilt on this site. In 1809, there were some dissensions within the congregation of Trinity, and a number of the church members withdrew and erected a new church edifice on the site of the ''Burnt Lutheran Church." This was Grace Church, which, owing to the upward trend of population, moved to Tenth Street and Broadway in 1846. During the time it was located at Rector Street, it was as fashionable as any church in New York, and its pews commanded higher rents. The permission granted the inhabitants in 1707 to plant trees in front of their premises had in a few years resulted in the presence on Broadway of many beautiful trees which greatly enhanced the appearance of the street ; mention of which is made by many strangers who visited the city. The English officers called the section in front of Trinity "The Mall. " This was the place of the parade and the favorite lounging place of the officers and other 62 The World's Greatest Street fashionables. Here the band played, and spectators of both sexes assembled on the east side of the street to listen to the music and to watch the fashionable world on promenade. Just above Trinity, between the present Thames and Liberty streets, stood the mansion of Etienne De Lancey, erected about the year 1700. De Lancey was a French Huguenot who had been obliged to leave France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. He became a wealthy and influential merchant of New York and married into the Van Cortlandt family. One of his sons was James De Lancey, who became chief judge of the province after Morris had been removed by Governor Cosby, and lieutenant-governor under Clinton; another son was Peter, who inherited the mills on the Bronx River at West Farms, and a third was Oliver, who became a brigadier-general of Loyalists during the Revolution. In 1754, Edward Willett, one of the tavern keepers of the city, was attracted by the commanding position of the house and its fine view of the Hudson and rented it from Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey, the inheritor from his father Etienne, and opened it as a tavern under the name of the Province Arms. The New York Mercury of May 1 , 1 754, says : ' ' Edward Willet, who lately kept the ' Horse and Cart Inn ' in this city, is removed into the house of the Honorable James De Lancey, Esq., Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, at the sign of the 'Province Arms, ' in the Broadway, near Oswego Market." The first event to start it on its long and brilliant career was a public dinner given in 1755 to the new governor. Sir Charles Hardy. Hardy had been appointed successor to Sir Dan vers Osborne, who had committed suicide in the garden of John Murray's house, a short distance away on Broadway. The next public dinner of importance was that given in 1756, when From Wall Street to the Commons 63 the lieutenant-governor of the province, the governors and students of the college, and many prominent mer- chants and others gathered here and marched to the laying of the corner-stone of King's College, the ancestor of Columbia University. At the conclusion of the ceremony, they all returned to the tavern where they partook of "a very elegant dinner." In May, 1763, Mr. George Bums, another of the city's innkeepers, moved from the King's Head in Whitehall Street to the Province Arms, and the place became known as Burns's Coffee House, though still called the Province Arms and the City Arms. A month after Burns assumed control, a lottery was drawn in the tavern for the con- struction of a light-house on Sandy Hook. Being so close to the Mall in front of Trinity churchyard, the inn be- came the favorite resort of the English ofhcers, and of the fashion of the city, sharing its honors, however, with another inn, also in a De Lancey house, the Queen's Head at Broad and Great Queen (Pearl) streets, better known as Fraunce's Tavern, and still in existence under the foster- ing care of the Sons of the Revolution. But it is as the headquarters of the Sons of Liberty that Burns's secures its historic interest and from the fact that notable meetings were held there marking the progress of revolutionary feeling. The first of these meetings was on the evening of Octo- ber 31, 1765, to take measures to controvert the Stamp Act, which was to go into effect the next day. The mer- chants of the city adopted the following resolutions: I , To import no goods from England until the Stamp Act be repealed; 2, to countermand all orders already sent for spring goods; 3, to sell no goods from England on com- mission; 4, to abide by these resolutions until they shall be rescinded at a general meeting called for the purpose. 64 The World's Greatest Street This constituted the first non-importation agreement; and when the news of it was sent to the other colonies, they lost no time in passing similar resolutions. In ad- dition, a reward of five hundred pounds was offered for the detection of any villain who should make use of the stamped paper. Another meeting took place on the twenty-fifth of November, when the citizens assembled to renew the non- importation agreement and to frame an address to be pre- sented to the Assembly, complaining of the restrictions on trade, and especially protesting against the appeal from the decision of juries, which Colden was trying hard to introduce. This last, which was so objectionable to the inhabitants of 1765, has become an integral part of our jurisprudence; and he must indeed be a poverty- stricken client who does not in these days, either in a civil or criminal case, appeal from the decision of a jury. The tavern was used for other purposes than for indig- nation or political meetings of the inhabitants. It was the meeting place of St. Andrew's and similar societies and of the governors of King's College, who probably found it more comfortable to transact business in its genial atmosphere with a bottle of good wine before them than in the cold halls of education. Musical concerts were also given within the walls of the tavern and in the extensive grounds attached. In 1777, these gardens saw a fatal duel between Captain ToUemache of the Royal Navy and Captain Pennington of the Coldstream Guards. The duel was with swords; and a few days after the hostile meeting, Captain ToUemache was buried in Trinity churchyard. Burns remained here as host until 1770, when he was succeeded by Bolton, who came from the Queen's Head (Fraunce's) ; later, Hull assumed charge and had the honor 65 64 The World's Greatest Street This constituted the first non- importation agreement; and when the news of it was sent to the other colonies, they lost no time in passing similar resolutions. In ad- dition, a reward of five hundred pounds was offered for the detection of any villain who should make use of the stamped paper. Another meeting took place on the twenty-fifth of November, when the citizens assembled to renew the non- importation agreement and to frame an address to be pre- sented to the Assembly, complaining of the restrictions on trade, and especially protesting against the appeal from the decision of juries, which Colden was trying hard to introduce. This last, which was so objectionable to the inhabitants of 1765, has become an integral part of our jurisprudence; and he must indeed be a poverty- stricken client who does not in these days, either in a civil or criminal case, appeal from the decision of a jury. The tavern was used for other purposes than for indig- nation or political meetings of the inhabitants. It was the meeting place of St. Andrew's and similar societies and of the governors of King's College, who probably found it more comfortable to transact business in its genial atmosphere with a bottle of good wine before them than in the cold halls of education. Musical concerts were also given within the walls of the tavern and in the extensive grounds attached. In 1777, these gardens saw a fatal duel between Captain Tollemache of the Royal Navy and Captain Pennington of the Coldstream Guards. The duel was with swords; and a few days after the hostile meeting. Captain Tollemache was buried in Trinity churchyard. Burns remained here as host until 1770, when he was succeeded by Bolton, who came from the Queen's Head (Fraunce's) ; later, Hull assumed charge and had the honor 65 66 The World's Greatest Street of entertaining John Adams and his colleagues, who were on their way to the first meeting of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1775. When the British left the city in November, 1783, John Cape leased the tavern and changed its name to the State Arms ; and on the second of December a great entertainment was given in honor of Washington and the return of peace. It had various hosts until 1792, when the property passed out of the possession of the De Lanceys and into that of the Tontine Association, which demolished the old building and erected the City Hotel on the site, the first building in the city to be roofed with slate. Dr. Francis says: "So long ago as 1802, I had the pleasure of witnessing the first social gathering of Ameri- can publishers at the old City Hotel, Broadway, an or- ganization under the auspices of the venerable Matthew Carey." Carey was from Philadelphia and one of the earliest publishers in the country. Until the opening of the Astor House in 1836, the City Hotel was the most famous in the city ; and it did not lose its prestige entirely until 1850, when it was torn down and replaced by a block of stores. In 1828, the building with lots, taking up the whole block between Thames and Liberty streets, was sold at public auction for $123,000; in 1833 it was damaged by fire. The hotel was famous not only for its excellent fare and service, but more es- pecially for the banquets that were held there and for the distinguished men who were entertained. During the War of 1 8 12, on the twenty-sixth of December of that year, a great banquet, at which five hundred gentlemen sat down, was given to the victorious naval commanders, Decatur, Hull, and Jones. Later, others were similarly honored. On May 30, 1832, upon Irving's return from abroad, he was tendered a banquet with Philip Hone in the From Wall Street to the Commons 67 chair. The latter describes it as " a regular Knickerbocker affair." On February 18, 1842, during the first visit of Charles Dickens to this country he was entertained at dinner at the City Hotel, with Washington Irving in the chair as toastmaster. There were no clubs in those early days; but the leading hotels, the City and Washington Hall, had their own coteries of evening visitors who gath- ered for social intercourse and for discussion of affairs in which they were interested. On June 17, 1836, Colonel "Nick" Saltus as president formed the Union Club, the first organization of its kind in the city, and quarters were engaged at 343 Broadway as a club-house, which was opened June i, 1837. The Boreel building occupies the site of the old hotel at 115 Broadway, and upon its front an appropriate tablet has been placed by the Holland Society. The City Hotel was conducted by Willard and Jennings, the former of whom was the general factotum of the estab- lishment, while the latter looked after the provender and liquid refreshments, these latter being of incomparable quality and so famous that when the hotel was dismantled the bottles remaining in the cellar were sold at fabulous prices. Willard was never seen anywhere except in the hotel ; he was a man of cheerful disposition and indefatigable energy and was possessed of so wonderful a memory that he remembered every traveller who had ever stopped at the hotel ; and if the same guest were to visit the hotel again, Willard could at once greet him by name, tell where he was from, his business, and the room he had occupied. There is a well authenticated anecdote that when Billy Niblo moved from Pine Street and opened his suburban "Garden," many of his old customers were invited to be present at the opening. Willard neither accepted nor de- clined the invitation; and on the appointed evening a 68 The World's Greatest Street number of the hon vivants of the town waited upon him to escort him to Niblo's. After bustHng about and looking into all sorts of places for a while, he announced to his friends that he could not accompany them as he had no hat, and that some one had taken an old beaver which had been lying about for years and which he claimed was his. A liat was procured from Charles St. John, the celebrated hatter, whose place was directly opposite, and the party sallied forth with the best-known man in the city, who, strange to relate, would have been compelled to ask his way if he had gone more than a block from the City Hotel. I* North of Trinity churchyard is the land formerly belonging to Jan Jansen Damen, two large portions of which came into the possession of Olaff Stevenson Van Cortlandt and Tunis Dey about the time that the English took the colony from the Dutch. The properties were divided up by the heirs of Van Cortlandt and Dey and sold as building lots, the first about 1733, and the latter about ten years later. Broadway was regulated from Dey to Fulton Street in 1760. In 1745, a lot at the south- west corner of Dey Street sold for seventy-five pounds ; in 1770, a lot near this sold for three hundred and eighty pounds, which shows that the land in this vicinity was becoming more desirable and increasing in value; yet in 1785, just after the Revolution, Alderman Bayard sold full-sized lots at auction on Broadway below Fulton Street for twenty-five dollars ; but the price being so low, the sale was stopped. Of the houses that occupied this land noth- ing is known, as they were destroyed in the fire of 1776. Those erected in their places at first were of a temporary character; but about 1790 the street began to be lined by elegant brick mansions, occupied by the wealthiest and most fashionable families of the city. Broadway held this character of a .select, residential neighborhood until From a photograph by Geo. P. Hall & Son THE SINGER BUILDING C9 70 The World's Greatest Street about 1840, when business began to creep in and the resi- dents moved farther up the street and to other sections. What a change has come over Broadway in the past twenty-five years! Where these private mansions of the wealthy once stood now rise those marvels of engineering skill, the great office buildings of the present. Here and there are a few of the more modest buildings still standing, sandwiched in between their huge neighbors and looking to the eyes of the present generation to be sadly out of place. It will not be long before they, too, disappear; and coming generations will scoff at the idea that upon these sites once stood three or four story buildings with exten- sive grounds sloping gently down to the bank of the Hud- son. In this wilderness of brick and stone there still stand the oases of Trinity and St. Paul's churchyards, of such enormous value that the time may come when they, too, may have to go for sacrifice upon the altar of business. May that time be afar off — they are too rich in historic associations to be treated as ordinary land. About 1874, there was established on the top of the Western Union Telegraph office at the corner of Dey Street, then one of the tallest and most prominent buildings in the city, a time ball, which was dropped at noon by means of telegraphic connection with the Naval Observa- tory in Washington. This was of inestimable service to the masters of vessels in the harbor, who were thus enabled to compare and adjust their ship chronometers; and the inhabitants of the city set their watches by it. It was no unusual sight to see hundreds of faces turned anxiously upward about twelve o'clock, their owners, with watch in hand, waiting for the signal of noon. The ball is still dropped, but the erection of so many high buildings be- tween the harbor and the Western Union has lessened its value to mariners. In consequence, the Hydrographic From Wall Street to the Commons 71 Office has been experimenting for some time with a time Hght to be placed on the tower of the MetropoHtan Life building at Madison Square. As the light will be seven hundred feet above the street and will be visible for twenty miles, it is expected that the old usefulness of the time signal to mariners will be restored. In 1840, there were still living several people who re- membered when the site of St. Paul's, between Fulton and Vesey streets, was a wheat field. The church edifice, or more properly, chapel, was erected by Trinity Corpo- ration upon part of its farm in 1765, and opened the follow- ing year when the Rev. Mr. Auchmuty preached the dedication sermon. It is one of the three buildings of a public, or semi-public, character, dating from pre-Revolu- tionary days that still stand upon the island of Manhat- tan.* During the great fire of 1776 it was saved by the comparative flatness of its roof which permitted people to stay upon it and extinguish the burning brands which otherwise would have set it on fire. After his inauguration in 1789 Washington attended the service at St. Paul's given in honor of the occasion; and as Trinity was still in ruins, he continued to attend St. Paul's during the time New York was the capital of the country. Governor George Clinton of New York also attended services at the same place, and the pews occupied by these distinguished men on opposite sides of the church are appropriately marked by mural tablets, one bearing the coat of arms of the United States, and the other, that of New York. Within the churchyard the visitor can find upon the tombstones many of the historic names of the city. This yard is a favorite resort of many * The others are Fraunce's Tavern at the corner of Broad and Pearl streets, and the Roger Morris, or "Jumel, " mansion on Washington Heights. 72 The World's Greatest Street of the women clerks of the down-town district who come here with book and luncheon on the hot days of summer and pass the noon hour in the shade and coolness of the trees. Upon the Broadway front of the church is a mural tablet to the memory of that gallant Irishman and soldier, Major-General Richard Montgomery, one of the earliest victims of the Revolution. He was killed in the assault upon Quebec, December 31, 1775. His body was re- covered by the British commander, Sir Guy Carleton, and buried with appropriate honors. In 1818, the State of New York caused his remains to be removed to St. Paul's from Quebec with high honors, and the United States erected the tablet. Montgomery had been an officer of the British army and had been at the siege of Quebec under Wolfe. His prospects of advancement being poor, he resigned from the army and came to America, first settling at Kingsbridge. He married Janet Livingston, and thus became allied with one of the most powerful families of the province. At the outbreak of the Revo- lution he was made a brigadier-general and was ordered as second in command to Schuyler in the Canadian expedi- tion of 1775. Owing to Schuyler's illness, the command devolved upon Montgomery, who was made a major- general before the fatal assault upon the citadel of Quebec. Upon the bold promontory of Cape Diamond, one can read from the river St. Lawrence a sign maintained by the Canadians, "Here Montgomery fell, December 31, 1775." On the east side of the thoroughfare above Wall Street, the same conditions prevailed as below the latter street. Among the hotels were the Tremont Temperance House at Number no, the New York Athenasum established in 1824 at the corner of Pine Street, and the National Hotel i From an etching by Eliza Greatorex ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL IN 1875 73 74 The World's Greatest Street established in 1825 at Number 112, corner of Cedar Street. The name of WilUam Cullen Bryant is attached to the highway in the fact that in his earlier days he edited the New York Review ajid AthencBiim, whose office was in the building at the corner of Broadway and Pine Street, and for fifty-two years he was the editor of the New York Evening Post, located in its later days and at present at the corner of Fulton Street and Broadway. The Equitable Life Insurance building, opposite Trin- ity, may be considered as the pioneer of the modern high office buildings. It was erected in 1870, and for many years afterwards the United States Weather Bureau had its quarters on the roof. In the coiirse of time, the building was over-topped by its neighbors, and the bureau found lodgment in the tower of the Manhattan Life In- surance building at a height of three hundred and fifty-one feet above the street. In 1887, several additional stories were added to the Equitable Building. The earliest printing-press in the city was set up in Hanover Square, and here Gaines, Weymouth, and Riv- ington located and issued their journals. Among earlier publishers and booksellers in the thirties was Jonathan Leavitt, in the two story building at the corner of Broad- way and John Street. Leavitt's brother-in-law was Daniel Appleton, who came from the dry-goods trade to take care of the wholesale part of the book business, and who, in 1825, started at 200 Broadway the great publishing house which bears his name. T. & J. Swords were "the ancient Episcopal publishers in Broadway," whose imprint may be found as early as 1792. Elam Bliss catered to the reading public from his shop on the site of the Trinity buildings and was the publisher of the Talis- man, the first of the annuals, whose editors were Bryant, Verplanck, and Robert C. Sands. G. & C. Carvell, the From Wall Street to the Commons /o English successors of the more famous Eastburn, were on the corner of Wall Street and Broadway and had the most extensive retail trade in the city, their place being the resort of the literati equally with that of Bliss on the opposite side of the street. On the first of January, 1833, the first number of the Knickerbocker Magazine was issued from its office on Broadway under the editorship of Charles Fenno Hoffman, to whose sister Washington Irving was engaged to be married; her untimely death and the grief of it kept Irving a bachelor all his life. Hoffman was editor for a few months only, giving up the position on account of ill health and being succeeded by Lewis Gay- lord Clark, who conducted the magazine for over a score of years. In Jones and Newman's Pictorial Directory of New York, 1848, the following booksellers are given on Broad- way: east side, D. Appleton & Co., 202; Bangs, Richards & Piatt (auctioneers), 204; Stringer & Townsend, 222 (all these below the Park) ; and William Rudde at 322 whose sign reads "Homeopathic Medicines and Books." On the west side were Stanford & Swords, 139; G. P. Putnam, 155; John Wiley, 161; Cooley, Keese & Hill (auctioneers), 191; Leavitt, Trow & Co., at the same number; Mark H. Newman & Co., 199; Clark, Austin & Co., 205; Charles S. Francis & Co., 253; Carter & Brothers, 285; and Beraud & Mondon, 315, immediately south of the entrance of the New York Hospital. The picture of their place of business reads "Publishers of Forcing Books," probably a misspelling on the part of Jones & Newman. The names of many of these booksellers still appear in New York firms. In the Croaker Papers (1819) by Halleck and Drake, we run across several Broadway notables in one verse of the Ode to Fortune. 76 The World's Greatest Street The horse that once a week I ride, At Mother Dawson's eats his fill; My books at Goodrich's abide, My country-seat is Weehawk hill; My morning lounge is Eastburn's shop, At Poppleton's I take my lunch, Niblo prepares my mutton-chop, And Jennings makes my whiskey-punch. Robert Dawson was the keeper of a livery stable at Number 9, Dey Street, just off Broadway; A. T. Goodrich & Co. were booksellers at the corner of Broadway and Cedar Street, who kept a popular circulating library; James Eastburn & Co. were publishers and booksellers at the corner of Broadway and Pine Street, whose "rooms" were the favorite resort of men of letters and of leisure; Mrs. Poppleton kept a fashionable confectionery shop at 206 Broadway ; Niblo was then at William and Pine streets, and Chester Jennings was mine host of the City Hotel. Another popular shop was that referred to elsewhere by the poets as " Cullen's Magnesian Shop. " It was located at the corner of Park Place and sold ice-cream and soda- water ; it was the most highly embellished shop of its kind in the city. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, James Sharpless, the English portrait painter, was to be seen on Broadway; and at a later period, John Trumbull, the distinguished American historical painter. One of the "roasts" administered by the Croakers was against Trum- bull's famous picture of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, the particular object of the attack being the "woodiness" of the Signers, all drawn, apparently, whether seated or standing, from the same model. Secretary Van Tienhoven's plantation lay above Maiden Lane to a point about midway between Fulton From Wall Street to the Commons ']'] and Ann streets, and comprised about sixteen acres of land. It was decreed in 1674 that the process of tanning constituted a nuisance, and all engaged in that industry were required to move their pits beyond the city wall. Within a year or two, four shoemakers who did their own tanning bought what was virtually Van Tienhoven's old grant, which became known in consequence as the "shoe- makers' land. " In 1696, Maiden Lane was regulated, and the land of the shoemakers was cut up into one hundred and sixty lots. Eventually, they had to move their busi- ness to the neighborhood of the Freshwater pond and to Beekman's swamp, at which latter place are gathered the dealers in hides and leather of the present. In an advertisement of 1763, notice is given that "The Bake House at the corner of John Street is for sale ; it has a bolting house and a new cistern annexed, and is for sale by G. Van Bomel. " When, in 1775, at the comer of Broad and Beaver streets, Marinus Willett stopped the British soldiers from removing the arms, he mounted the first cart and drove to the place of Abraham Van Wyck, a staunch Whig, who kept a ball-alley at the corner of John Street and Broadway and deposited the captured arms in Van Wyck's yard. This was a favorite place with the Sons of Liberty ; later, when the Hearts of Oak were formed, the arms were used for equipping these rather irregular militia. An advertisement of 1769 reads: "Mary Mor- comb, mantua maker from London, at Isaac Garniers, opposite to Battoc Street in the Broadway, makes all sorts of negligees, Brunswick dresses, gowns, and other apparel of ladies, also covers Umbrellas in the neatest manner." For many years after the Revolution, New York had visitations of that dread West Indian disease, yellow fever. When the fever was in the city the residents used to flee 78 The World's Greatest Street to their country places, to Greenwich, or to other suburban villages. There were epidemics in 1791, 1795, and 1798, this last being the most virulent and carrying off 2086 persons, exclusive of those who fled from the city. The population at that time was fifty-five thousand. During the height of the disease the churches were closed, business was at a standstill, and the banks moved their offices to Bank Street (whence the name) in Greenwich Village. The post-office was removed to the house of Dr. James Tillary on the corner of Broadway and Wall Street, and the citizens came from their retreats in the country between the hours of nine a.m. and sundown, during which time physicians said it was safe to visit the city. There were several outbreaks of fever in later years, but the establish- ment of the quarantine at Staten Island in 1801 has for many years effectually prevented anything but sporadic cases. A visitor of 1 845 speaks of the noise and confusion on Broadway at that time. In the writer's boyhood, it was almost as much as his small Hfe was worth to cross Broad- way below Fulton Street. I think the truck drivers pur- posely went out of their way to enjoy the sights along the great thoroughfare and to show to pedestrians and their fellow drivers and those on the buses their capabilities in the way of what Mrs. Gamp would have called "langwidge," when their progress was blocked by other carts . So danger- ous was the passage at Fulton Street, although there were in those days no surface cars to increase the difficulties of getting across, that an iron bridge called the Loew bridge, was erected at this point across Broadway. It was com- pleted in May, 1867; but pedestrians preferred the dangers of the street to the task of climbing the stairs — - this was before the days of the elevated railroads — and so the bridge was removed in 1868. The widening of other From Wall Street to the Commons 79 streets convenient to the water front, and the establishment of the "Broadway Squad" of police, six footers, every one of them, and the present traffic squad have lessened the dangers to a minimum; though it is still difficult for him who is not born a New Yorker, or who has not been caught early and learned the ins and outs of metropolitan n^ ''"i III ,f "! '1 , I* ijr|li,i,,^iiB|iR THE LOEW BRIDGE AT FULTON STREET AND BROADWAY life, to cross Broadway between the Bowling Green and Manhattan Street. Broadway has been the favorite route of parades and processions from the earliest times until within the last decade. We have already mentioned Colve's march to the fort in 1673, the evacuation of the city by the British in 1783, and the Hamilton parade of 1789. Washington Irving gives in his amusing Knickerbocker' s History of New York the following description of the gathering of Stuyvesant's warriors for the attack upon the Swedes on the Delaware : 8o The World^s Greatest Street But I refrain frompursuing this minute description, which goes on to describe the warriors of Bloemen-dael, and Wee- hawk, and Hoboken, and sundry other places, well known in history and song — for now do the notes of martial music alarm the people of New Amsterdam, sounding afar from the walls of the city. But this alarm was in a little while relieved, for lo, from the midst of a vast cloud of dust, they recognized the brimstone-colored breeches and splendid silver leg of Peter Stuyvesant, glaring in the sunbeams; and beheld him approach- ing at the head of a formidable army, which he had mustered along the banks of the Hudson. And here the excellent but anonymous writer of the Stuyvesant manuscript breaks out into a brave and glorious description of the forces, as they de- filed through the principal gate of the city, that stood by the head of Wall-street. First of all came the Van Bummels, who inhabit the pleasant borders of the Bronx. . . . Close in their rear marched the VanVlotens.of Kaatskill. . . . After them came the Van Pelts, of Groodt Esopus. . . . Then the Van Nests, of Kinderhoeck. . . . Then the Van Higginbottoms, of Wapping's creek. . . . Then the Van Grolls, of Anthony's Nose. . . . Then the Gardeniers, of Hudson and thereabouts. . . . Then the Van Hoesens, of vSing Sing. . . . Then the Couenhovens, of Sleepy Hollow. . . . Then the Van Kortlandts, who lived on the wild banks of the Cro ton. , . . ThentheVanBunschotens,of Nyack and Kakiat. , . . Then the Van Winkles, of Haerlem. . . . Lastly came the knickerbockers, of the great town of Scaghticoke. . . . These derive their name, as some say, from Knicker, to shake, and Beker, a goblet, indicating thereby that they were sturdy toss-pots of yore; but in truth, it was derived from Knicker, to nod, and Boeken, books; plainly meaning that they were great nodders or dozers over books — from them descends the writer of this history. Such was the legion of sturdy bush-beaters that poured in at the grand gate of New Amsterdam; the Stuyvesant manu- script indeed speaks of many more, whose names I omit to mention, seeing it behooves me to hasten to matters of greater 82 The World's Greatest Street moment. Nothing could surpass the joy and martial pride of the lion-hearted Peter as he reviewed this mighty host of warriors, and he determined no longer to defer the gratification of his much-wished-for revenge upon the scoundrel Swedes of Fort Casimir.* Among the parades which have taken place since 1800, we may mention the Hudson bi-centenary in 1809, the reception to Lafayette in 1824, that in honor of the revo- lution in France in 1830, the admission of Croton water in 1842, the reception to the Hungarian patriot Kossuth in 1851 , the processions in honor of Alfred Edward, Prince of Wales (the late Edward VI.) and of the first Japanese embassy in 1861, the German parade in 1872 at the con- clusion of the war between Prussia and France, the Wash- ington centenary of 1889, and the Columbus parade of 1892 in commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America. Among the funerals, some of them actual and some commemorative, have been those of Hamilton in 1804, Montgomery in 1818, Andre in 1821, when his remains were removed from Tappan to England, President Monroein 1835, President Harrison in 1840, Pres- ident Taylor in 1850, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in 1852, General Worth in 1857, President Lincoln in 1865, General Grant in 1885, and Governor and Vice-President George Clinton in 1909, when his body was brought back to the state for which he did so much after its century-long rest in the cemetery at Washington, where he had died while vice-president . In the older days, there were parades every year upon the Fourth of July and upon Evacuation Day, November twenty-fifth. In war times there have been * The etymology of the names and the description of the peculiarities and characteristics of this valiant army of Dutchmen are too long to be given here, but they are highly amusing and well repay reading. PETER STUYVESANT'S ARMY ENTERING NEW AMSTERDAM S,f Km> ?K^K YING northeast of the City Hall ^7'"»i't*^^7 Park was the pond which has been C.lt''i^''^4^'l%jl frequently mentioned in these ^-^ ^' I pages, the Collect, or Freshwater. It had outlets to both the East River and to the Hudson, and it had been proposed several times from very early days to connect the two rivers by a canal across the island, making of the Collect an inland harbor, or basin. Near the North River, the little stream found its way through swamps and meadow land, which were known as Lis- penard's Meadows after the owner, Leonard Lispenard, who had married the daughter of Anthony Rutgers, the original grantee from the city in 1 730. Under the terms of his grant, Rutgers was obliged to drain the land; but it was not until 1792 that steps were taken to render the land useful for building purposes. Then followed plan after plan for disposing of the water of the Collect and its outlets; and these were of such diverging character that in the multitude of schemes nothing was done. At last, in 1808, the proprietors of adjoining lands in despair at the inactivity of the local authorities, petitioned the 171 172 The World's Greatest Street Legislature for the appointment of a commission that would adopt and carry out any one plan, however im- perfect, rather than that they should continue to be held up in their improvements by so many fluctuating ideas. The result was the laying out of a street one hundred feet wide, through the middle of which was an open ditch, or canal, with planked sides, which continued to carry |^£|3L#: Dra\sii l.y A. Avj'. v ' ••: . i : :- ^ LISPKNAKD's xMEADoWS, taken from the site of the ST. NICHOLAS HOTEL, BROADWAY off the water of the Collect. Trees were planted along the sides of the ditch and the street became populated; but this took several years to accomplish. In early days, the meadows were a favorite place for the sportsmen of the town, as ducks, snipe, and other game were plentiful. In the winter time, the skaters occupied the frozen meadows, and the slopes of the hills From Canal Street to Union Square 173 were convenient coasting places for the younger people. The Trinity Church farm extended as far north as this on the shore of the Hudson. Wishing to help the Lutheran Church located at Rector Street, the Trinity corporation offered it several acres of land near the meadows; but after looking it over, the officers of the Lutheran Church declined the offer, as the land, in their opinion, was not THE STONE BRIDGE AT CANAL STREET (From Valentine's Manual, 1857) worth fencing in. The river road to Greenwich passed over the meadows on a causeway and bridge. All that now remains of the ancient meadow is the small, trian- gular park at the foot of Canal Street near the Hudson. The regulating and grading of the streets in the vicinity were going on and the tops of the hills were used in filling in the Collect and the low land of Duggan Street, as it was first called after a tanner of that name 174 The World's Greatest Street who was located at Broadway and Canal Street. Within twenty years afterwards, about 1840, the canal became a covered sewer, which still continues to draw off the water from the springs which fed the ancient Freshwater Pond. At Broadway the stream was crossed by an arched bridge, which was known as the Stone Bridge. This was probably built by the British when occupying the city during the Revolution to serve as a means of communication between their fortifications on the Kalck Hook and those above the stream at Bayard's, or Bunker, Hill. The ancient bridge is buried some eight or ten feet below the surface of the present thoroughfare ; and when the engineers come to build the proposed sub- way under the line of Broadway, they will run across the old landmark. Near the bridge was the Stone Bridge Tavern. About 1850, the New York and New Haven Railroad had its station near the site of the bridge — this was then about the centre of the city. In 1 80 1, the Legislature authorized the appointment of a commission to lay out the upper part of the island above Houston Street in streets and avenues. The com- mission, consisting of Simeon De Witt, Gouverneur Morris and John Rutherford, began its work in 1807 with John Randall, Jr., as surveyor; the work was finished and the final plan submitted in 1821. In the plan of streets, no allowance was made for the natural configuration of the land nor for the lanes and roads already existing, except in a few cases, as with the Boston Road. Instead, a system of broad, parallel avenues, crossed by streets at right angles, was adopted which, while it might make for convenience, did not make for beauty, especially as the commission was chary in the allotment of spaces for public parks, for which, at that time, they could see no adequate reason. Their lack From Canal Street to Union Square 175 of foresight in that respect has since cost the city many- unnecessary milHons of dollars which might have been saved if the plan had included a number of parks for the prospective population. In the formation of this plan, the idea was at first seriously considered of doing away with Broadway altogether, as it was believed that the main artery of the city's business life would be the Boston Road, leading from the Park via Park Row and the Bowery. In fact, Felix Oldboy designates Broadway as "an accidental thoroughfare." The laying out of the city as far north as One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street caused a good deal of merriment on the part of the general population, and a good deal of fun was poked at the commissioners for their optimism, for which they felt called upon to apologize. The delay in the improvement of Canal Street held back the development of Broadway above that street for several years. The principal owner of property was Nicholas Bayard, whose farm extended across Broadway above the canal, so that the Middle Road divided it into the west and east farms. This land was badly cut up by fortifications which the British had erected during the Revolution. North of Bayard's west farm was the Herring estate, which extended north from Bleecker Street. Bayard's east farm extended to between Prince and Houston Streets; above this was the land of Alderman Dyckman ; above him was the land of Anthony L. Bleecker, and above him was the Herring property, which thus crossed the line of the road — the eastern boundary of these lands was the Boston Road, or the Bowery. In 1802, the Middle Road was surveyed and a plan devised for its regulation which was adopted, but which had to wait for the completion of some plan in regard to Canal Street. In 1805, Broadway was regu- 176 The World's Greatest Street lated as far as Prince Street, and in 1806, as far as Great Jones Street; in the following year (1807), to Art Street (also called Stuyvesant Street and Astor Place). By 1809, the street was paved and sidewalks completed as far as Art Street. In the same year, Mr. Samuel Burling offered to the city as many poplar trees as might line Broadway, provided the city would stand the expense of carting them and setting them out. The proposition was accepted by the corporation as *'an additional beauty to Broadway, the pride of our city." There was public spirit. for you. We do not find it in later days, when some of the biggest swindles perpetrated against the city have been the enormous prices of trees which have been used to line our boulevards and streets, and which ought to have been supplied by the nurseries in our public parks. A few pioneers found their way above Canal Street, but the war with England in 181 2 deterred others from trying the experiment. By 1820, however, there were a good many settlers as well as a good many vacant lots. The houses generally were of a poor character; though several fine residences, belonging to such people as Abijah Hammond, Elbert Anderson, Gabriel V. Ludlow, Albert S. Pell, Foxhall A. Parker, and Citizen Genet, who had become a citizen of the United States after giving Wash- ington so much trouble when French minister, were distributed along the thoroughfare as far as Astor Place. Stephen B. Munn was a speculative builder, who erected numerous houses and probably reaped the benefit of his foresight; nor must we omit Astor, who owned property everywhere on the island, whose son-in-law, Walter Langdon, occupied a handsome house between Prince and Houston Streets, on the west side. On the corner of Prince Street, was Dr. Henry Mott, the father of the From Canal Street to Union Square 177 famous Dr. Valentine Mott, Between Amity (Fourth) and Art streets were larger parcels of land still used as farms. The development of Broadway after 1820 was steady, as the stages made the section convenient. About 1825, at 663 and 665 Broadway, two houses were constructed with marble fronts, probably the only houses in the country so constructed. A great deal of interest was displayed in them by the general public at first, and the favorite Sunday afternoon walk of many of the in- habitants was as far up Broadway as Bond Street in order to see the "Marble Houses," as they were called, located near the northern boundary of the city. Later, they became known as the Tremont Hotel. Two other houses on the opposite side of the street opposite Wash- ington Place, with granite columns in front, remained standing almost within the present decade as reminders of the style of houses occupying Broadway at this early period. There are still standing two houses, one at the southwest corner of Third Street and the other at the southwest corner of Bleecker, which will give some idea of the style of houses of sixty years ago; though these have long since lost any air of distinction they may have possessed. Under date of 1850, Philip Hone says the mania for converting Broadway into a street of shops seems to be greater than ever, and that there is scarcely a block which is not being so transformed. There was evidently care- lessness in propping up adjoining houses while these changes were in progress; for he adds: "If they don't pull down the houses on Broadway, they fall of their own accord," referring to the startling crash of a falling house in his own neighborhood at Great Jones Street, whither he had removed in 1837 after the sale of his 178 The World's Greatest Street old house at Park Place. At the close of 1869, the Board of Education established a Normal and High School for the city of New York. Temporary quarters were engaged at the southeast corner of Broadway and Fourth Street, and Thomas Hunter, principal of old 35 in West Thirteenth Street, was chosen president. On February 14, 1870, the school opened with seven hundred students. Work was begun on permanent buildings at Lexington Avenue and Sixty-eighth Street in 1872; and the College, for its name had been changed in the meantime, was removed to the new buildings in the fall of 1873. Astor Place was originally a road leading from the Bowery over to the village of Greenwich and it was called the Sand Hill Road, as it led along the base of a range of low sand hills, called by the Dutch the Zantberg, which extended nearly all the way across the island. In 1766 Lieutenant-Governor Andrew Elliot purchased thirteen acres of land, extending from the Bowery west- ward almost to the present Sixth Avenue, His later purchases increased his holdings to twenty-one acres, which he called "Minto." In 1780, he was acting governor of the province under the British, and left the city when the evacuation took place in 1783. He had erected a fine mansion and beautified his grounds. The estate came into the possession of "Baron" Poelnitz, who sold it in 1790 to Robert R. Randall, a shipmaster and merchant of the city, for five thousand pounds, Mr. Randall had no children and no near heirs. At the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, so it is said, who made Mr, Randall's will, the devisor left the property, which he had named "The Sailors' Snug Harbor," as a home for aged and infirm seamen, Mr. Randall died in 1801, and his will at once became a From Canal Street to Union Square 179 matter of litigation on the part of his relatives, and it was not until 1831 that the matter was settled by the Supreme Court of the United States. It had been Mr. Randall's intention to have had the home occupy his mansion on the farm, which was to furnish vegetables, etc., to the inmates; but by the time his will was upheld, the property had become so valuable that the trustees thought it better to buy land on Staten Island, and the Snug Harbor was opened there on August i, 1833. The farm was divided up and let on long leaseholds which give the institution a yearly income of over $400,- 000. This is one of the most munificent charities ever established by any one in the city. Adjoining the "Minto" estate of Governor Elliot on the north, was the farm of Elias Brevoort, which extended from the Bowery to between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, its northern boundary being Eighteenth Street. The house stood on the Bowery on the line of Eleventh Street; and though the city made efforts in 1836 and 1849 to cut the street through, both attempts were blocked by the Dutch obstinacy of Hendrick Brevoort, then the venerable owner of the property. As we have come up Broadway from the Bowling Green, our course has been in a straight line; but after we have passed Canal Street, ever before our eyes and growing larger as we get farther north is a beautiful church steeple, rising apparently in the middle of the thoroughfare. We find the reason at Tenth Street, where Broadway changes its course and where stands Grace Episcopal Church, which was built here in 1846, after the removal of the congregation from Rector Street. By the plan of the commissioners of 1807, it was intended that the two main roads of the island, the Bowery and Broadway, should meet at the "Tulip i8o The World's Greatest Street tree," which was located in the present Union Square abreast of Sixteenth Street. It was found, however, that if Broadway were continued in its previous straight course, the meeting of the two roads would be below Fourteenth Street ; and the line of the Middle Road was therefore changed at this point. Many suggestions have been made to c u t ^_ % Eleventh Street through the Grace Church property, but these have been unsuccessful, as the members of the con- gregation represent too ^M. GRACE CHURCH AT THE CORNER OF TENTH STREET AND BROADWAY much wealth and influence. Tweed told the church boldly that he was going to do it, and the church authorities told him to go ahead ; but the street is not yet cut through. The church has been the scene of many fashionable weddings, and at several of these there have been scenes of crowding, spoliation of decorations, and exhibitions of bad manners which have made the New Yorker blush 1 I From Canal Street to Union Square i8i for the reputation of American women; for it has been the sensation-loving and uninvited women who have been the chief offenders. On the Tenth Street corner, there stood for many years the restaurant and bakery conducted by the Fleischmanns. The "bread Hne" here (only recently suspended) became one of the institutions of New York, for it was the custom of the firm to give away every night the bread and rolls that had not been used or sold during the day. It was a practical charity, duly ap- preciated by the poor and unfortunate — men, women, and children — who could be seen waiting here in line until midnight to receive their dole of bread, even on the coldest or most inclement nights. On the block below, is the old Stewart building, now occupied by John Wanamaker, who erected a still larger and taller building below Ninth Street in 1908, the two buildings being connected by a subway and a bridge across Ninth Street. Stewart moved here in 1862, but it took several years before he acquired the whole block between Ninth and Tenth Streets, as the Ninth Street corner was occupied by the firm of Goupil & Co., the art dealers. I remember in my boyhood seeing upon the steps of the Stewart store an old woman who used to sell shrimps — the only place in the city where I ever saw it done. Of the many churches that formerly stood on lower Broadway, the three already described — Trinity, St. Paul's, and Grace — are all that remain. When Grace Church left Rector Street, the corner lot there was sold for $65,000. The following is a list of the churches that once stood on Broadway: (1823) St. Thomas's Episcopal, Houston Street, removed in 1870 to Fifth Avenue; (1817) Broadway Congregational, corner of Anthony 1 82 The World's Greatest Street Street, dissolved; (1845) Unitarian Church of the Divine Unity, between Prince and Houston Streets; (1839 to 1865) Church of the Messiah, Unitarian, near Waverly Place; (1825) Scotch Baptist in a hall corner of Reade Street, and after several removals, again in Broadway near Bleecker Street; Swedenborgian, near Rector Street, ST. THOMAS S CHURCH, CORNER OF BROADWAY AND HOUSTON STREET, ERECTED IN 1 823 removed in 1816 near to Duane Street, and the Anglo- American Church of St. George the Martyr at Number 563; this last congregation, notwithstanding that it was assisted by Trinity, finally perished. The Broadway Tabernacle, Congregational, stood for many years between Worth Street and Catherine From Canal Street to Union Square 183 Lane on the east side of Broadway. It was the scene of the May meetings, where WilHam Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith, and the gentle Quaker, Lucretia Mott, used to hold forth upon the iniquities of slavery and advocate its abolition. The Sacred Music Society, founded in 1823, gave oratorios and con- certs in the Tabernacle, as did later musical organizations. In 1856, a great gathering of citizens was held in the Tabernacle to express their indignation at the assault on Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks while Sumner was at his seat in the United States Senate Chamber. The hall is said to have been the most convenient for public meetings and entertainments, as well as for re- ligious observances, of any in the city. In the same year as the Sumner meeting, the Tabernacle was sold by its congregation, which moved to the comer of Broad- way and Thirty-fourth Street, and which has since migrated to Broadway and Fifty-sixth Street. In closing these paragraphs on the Broadway churches, it may be well to repeat the remark of an old writer, who said that the churches in general kept clear of the noise and bustle of Broadway and sought their sites in quieter localities. The hotels and restaurants sought Broadway for the very reason that the churches shunned it. The hotels that have at various times occupied sites on Broadway have been legion; with the exception of the Astor House, all the first-class hotels have departed from below Union Square. We may mention a few of the older and best known. On July 9, 1842, Mr. Pinteaux, a Frenchman, opened the Cafe des Milles Colonnes at the comer of Duane Street, which soon became famous under the management of F. Palmo. The accommodations and appointments of this restaurant were far superior to 1 84 The World's Greatest Street anything of its kind yet seen in this country. In Febru- ary, 1844, Palmo, who was an ItaHan and a great lover of the music of his native land, opened Palmo's Opera House at 39 and 41 Chambers Street. He was unsuccess- fwliiif BROADWAY TABERNACLE, BETWEEN WORTH STREET AND CATHERINE LANE, ON THS EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY ful as an impresario, and the theatre passed out of his hands, and became Burton's Theatre, where that amusing comedian held forth for a number of years. Another famous restaurant much frequented by the fashionable ladies and gentlemen of the thirties and forties was Taylor's, situated on the west side of Broadway at the i85 1 86 The World's Greatest Street northwest corner of Franklin Street, and figuring largely in the romance of the day. Ainslee's, between Duane and Anthony Streets, and Lovejoy's, at the comer of Worth Street, also shared in the public favor. Probably the ancestor of all the restaurants conducted in a foreign style was Guerin's at 120, which from 181 5 onwards Drawn by Eliza Greatorex BROADWAY AND GRAND STREET for several years sold confectionery, chocolate, pastry, liqueurs, etc. ; this was below the Park, near Maiden Lane. Of hotels proper, there was the Broadway Hotel at the northeast corner of Grand Street, erected by Abraham Davis before 18 10, which became the headquarters of the Whigs when their party was formed and where the returns of the elections were received. After the elec- tion of 1844, the hotel lost prestige and declined in popu- larity. After 1830, a large room on one of the upper floors was used for some time as an armory and drill- room by the second company of the Seventh Regiment. From Canal Street to Union Square 187 In 1847 the New York Hotel, the second of its name in the city, was opened at 721 Broadway, between Washington Place and Waverly Place, by S. B. Monnot. The undertaking was considered by many to be a perilous one, as the hotel was so far up-town, Monnot was successful, notwithstanding the croakers, and after several years was succeeded by Hiram Cranston. The hotel was a favorite one with Southerners and remained so during the Civil War; so much so, in fact, that it was almost constantly under supervision by the Federal secret service. A number of romances have been written concerning the part played by this hostelry in blockade running and similar enterprises for the advantage of the Confederacy. The building was demolished in 1895, and the site has been marked by a bronze tablet on the front of the great New York Commercial Building which has taken its place. At Leonard Street, was a hotel known as the Carletcn House; there was another at Walker Street, known as Florence's Hotel; and on the west side, corner of Spring Street, was the St. Nicholas, a name very appropriate considering the Dutch ancestry of the city, but which has not been employed by a really first- class hotel since the departure of the old house. The Sinclair House stood for a long time at Eighth Street and has only been demolished within the past five years. Three hotels may still be found above Chambers Street; these are the Hotel St. Denis at Eleventh Street ; the Broadway Central, first established as the Grand Central at 671 on the site of the La Farge House, where, when it was the Grand Central, occurred the tragic death of James Fisk in 1872 at the hands of a rival for the favors of a worthless woman; and the Raleigh, opposite Bond Street, adjoining the Broadway Central. This last 1 88 The World's Greatest Street suffered a severe fire in the fall of 19 lo, and is marked for demolition, a business building having been planned to take its place. Speaking of the section of Broadway south of Bleecker Street, Charles H. Haswell says in his Recollections of an Octogenarian: At this period [1850], Broadway was undergoing a rapid :.33 Drawn by Eliza Greatorex BROADWAY AND BLEECKER STREET change into a street of trade. The Cit}^ Hotel, after its long existence, at last disappeared. A. T. Stewart extended his building to the corner of Reade Street. All through Broad- way, nearly to Bleecker Street, residences were coming down to be replaced by business structures. A popular place of resort for journalists and other writers for some years after 1858 was "Charley" Pfaff's, an ill-ventilated and rather dingy place situated in a From Canal Street to Union Square 189 cellar on the east side of Broadway a few doors above Bleecker Street. It owed its vogue to Henry Clapp and his associates on the Saturday Press, a journal of ephem- eral existence. When the paper suspended, there was pasted on the door of the publication rooms this notice: "This paper is obliged to discontinue publication for lack of funds; by a curious coincidence, the very reason for which it was started." "Pfaff's" was the resort of the Bohemians of both sexes, but there was good beer and there must have been good cooking, as we find that the place was visited occasionally by people who were somebodies in literature; such men as Thomas Bailey Aldrich, William Winter, the dramatic scholar and critic, William Dean Howells, Bayard Taylor, Edmund Clarence Stedman, and Walt Whitman, among others. George Arnold, the poet, was a visitor, and one night he saddened the crowd by his story of the suicide at the Stevens House of a friend of his, a young Englishman named Henry W. Herbert, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Frank Forrester." Another friend of Arnold, who introduced him to the coterie at "Pfaff's, " was George Farrar Brown, better known to the reading public as "Artemus Ward." They were a jolly crowd, but journalism had fallen somewhat from its high estate of a generation before, when the "Bread and Cheese Club" held forth at Washington Hall. Of the charms and delights of Broadway, we have the testimony of many people — visitors from abroad and from other sections of the country, as well as of residents of the city. Even as early as 1793, the accomplished wife of Vice-President John Adams writes to a friend at the prospect of leaving her residence at Richmond Hill and removing with the government to the larger town of Philadelphia: "And after all, it will not be Broad- IQO The World's Greatest Street way. " Let us also quote from Wilson's Memorial History of New York: A contemporary gives an interesting picture of the Broad- way of 1858. Once the seat of pleasant residences, shaded with trees, and famous for its walks and drives, it was now be- come a street of shops, hotels, and theatres. The business houses in the retail trade reached far up-town; the finer dwelling-houses were above Fourteenth Street and around Union and Madison Squares. "Broadway in 1858," says the Crayon of that year, "has become not unlike the Strand in London or a Paris boulevard. Early in the morning the street begins to fill with carts and vehicles bringing supplies from the country to the market. From all the by-streets which connect Broadway with the river crowds of men, wo- men, wagons, and horses emerge from the Brooklyn, Hoboken, Williamsburgh, Staten Island, and New Jersey ferries. It is still very early in the morning; the shops are still closed; only here and there an omnibus makes its reluctant appearance, its driver and horses not having yet shaken off the sloth of the night. There are also some carriages stopping before the Astor House, Metropolitan, St. Nicholas, and other hotels with a load of passengers just coming in from the east, west, north, or from European or California steamers. At this early hour Broadway looks thoroughly respectable, like a big ball-room." The writer goes on to paint its various changes: "Soon after a crowd of clerks and business men rush down the famous thoroughfare. Then comes later the stream of fair women shoppers from the upper part of the town, filling the sidewalks; next, in the afternoon, the tide of business men rushes back along the same thoroughfare; and in the evening the street is again crowded with persons going to theatres and various amusements of the night." In the later hours the street is no longer "respectable"; it was filled with disreput- able and noisy revellers ; now the police and the watchmen were on the alert, and the noise of wild songs and gross revelry dis- turbed the peace of Broadway. Such was our favorite Broad- From Canal Street to Union Square 191 way thirty-five years ago. How different now! The theatres are gone ; the retail shops are moved up-town ; a stately range of oflEice buildings and wholesale stores lines the street, and but a few of the old hotels still linger on their early sites. In the day no milk-carts, no omnibuses, no crowds of fair women, no gallant pedestrians fill Broadway; at night no cries of revelry. It is silent and abandoned after eight o'clock. One is almost startled by its solitude. Broadway has become the business centre of the continent — perhaps of the world. Though this was written in 1893, it is equally true to-day; and how changed the names of the merchants whose signs adorn the fronts of the buildings; for it was about this date that, owing to the persecutions of the Jewish people, the tide of immigration began from Russia and Poland. They have certainly made good in this land of opportunity, and have not been satisfied with anything less than a virtual monopoly of the greatest thoroughfare in the world. And the street has been di- vided into sections for each line of goods ; here are general dry-goods; here, ready-made clothing, women's suits, furs, notions, children's clothing, type-writers, sporting goods, millinery: — each article may be found within a section of a few blocks, generally at wholesale, but more rarely at retail, and then only in the daytime. At night and on Sundays it might be the street of a deserted city, save for the street cars crawling lazily along. CHAPTER IX PLACES OF AMUSEMENT BELOW UNION SQUARE' FO give a list of the theatres, of the plays, and of the people that ap- peared in them would be to write a history of the New York stage; I can only lightly touch upon the many that have filled so large a part of New York life. The first theatre of any consequence to open after the Revolution was the Park Theatre, opposite City Hall Park in Park Row in 1798. As Broadway grew, the theatres grew with it ; but there is not now a theatre on Broadway below Twenty-eighth Street. The circus seems to have been more popHilar before i860 than at present, for there are records of several occupying the vacant lots of the thoroughfare before that time; some of these developed later into theatres, as in the case of Niblo's Garden, The same degree of popularity also extended to the negro minstrels; for while to-day there is not a permanent minstrel show on Broadway, if in the city, in those earlier days there were several com- * In the preparation of this chapter I have been greatly indebted to The History of the New York Stage, by Thomas Allston Brown, published in three volumes by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1903. 192 Amusement Places below Union Square 193 panics occupying Broadway houses at the same time — Christy, Dan Bryant, Kelly and Leon, Campbell, Wood, Pell and Trowbridge, Morris Brothers, and many more. The New Yorker of the earlier day was fond of taking his amusements in gardens; and of these we find records of a great many, not only on Broadway, but elsewhere. Here concerts of music were given, exhibitions on the tight and slack ropes, displays of magic, and light plays. Besides these, there were the natural and artificial beauties of trees, plants, and flowers, and the enticements of shady nooks in which were served ices and other light refresh- ments. These gardens were eminently respectable and were visited by the best people. Many a gentle flirta- tion was carried on in these delightful places, and many a wedding ensued in consequence ; nor were they ignorant of settlements in accordance with the code of honor which led to the duel in the early morning, — a relic of barbarism now happily gone forever. Many of the taverns had gardens attached which served as extra inducements to the guests of those days, when there were no palatial hotels of fifteen or more stories with electric lights, express elevators, and all the conveniences, and expense, of our own time. But there were compensations in the fact that the proprietor knew his guests and cared personally for their comfort, and that a stranger need not long remain without companionship of the best sort if he had anything to commend him. Just above Murray Street, stood the inn and gar- dens of Mr. Montagnie, of which mention has already been made as the headquarters of the Sons of Liberty. Montagnie appears to have been here after the Revolu- tion, his place then being called the United States Garden. John H. Contoit conducted the place from 1802 until 1805 when he was succeeded by Augustus Parise. Later, 194 The World's Greatest Street a building called the Parthenon was erected on the site; and in 1825, Reuben Peale occupied the building as the American Museum, which was bought out several years later by P. T. Barnum and moved to the corner of Ann Street. Peale enjoyed a well-deserved patronage for fifteen years, the Museum being a place to which children could be taken with safety. On the block above Warren Street, a garden was maintained by a Mr. Cox. Contoit conducted his garden as above until 1805, when he moved to the block below near Park Place; four years later, he removed to 365 Broadway, between Leonard and Franklin Streets, where his New York Garden became the most fashionable resort of its kind in the city, aL-d where it remained for about forty years. The Mount Vernon Garden at the northwest cornei' of Leonard Street was opened July 19, 1800, by Joseph Corrie, who had been French cook to an English officer, and who made the cuisine of his place famous. At its opening, performances were given by the company from the Park Theatre, which house was closed for the summer. Close by at Thomas Street was the house of Anthony Rutgers who died in 1750; after his death it became a public house and with the surrounding grounds was called Ranelagh Garden, a popular place in its time. The Bayard east farm above Canal Street was laid out by a Frenchman named Delacroix, in 1798, as the Vauxhall Garden, and was for some years a popular resort with its mead booths, flying horses, fireworks, concerts, etc. The proprietor was obliged to move in 1806 as population came up-town and crowded him out, and he located himself on Broadway, south of Astor Place, the Vauxhall extending east to the Bower}" (Fourth Avenue). A ball was given once a week, and it became a place of great resort. Barnum hired it for a while in 195 196 The World's Greatest Street 1840, and it was afterwards used for public meetings. The garden was much curtailed about 1827, when Lafay- ette Place was cut through the property; the buildings were demolished in 1855. ' It was in Astor Place that there occurred a riot on the tenth of May, 1849, which is sometimes spoken of as the "Macready riot," the enmity of the rioters being directed against the famous English actor of that name who was appearing at the Opera House, whose site is now occupied by the Mercantile Library. The trouble grew out of the rivalry of Forrest and Macready, and the friends of the former aroused the passions of the multitude by making it a dispute between American and Englishman. The Seventh Regiment fired upon the mob, thirty-four of whom were killed and many wounded. The regiment itself had one hundred and forty-one of its members hurt, some seriously. Up to the year 1824, the only marble building in the city was the City Hall; and so strong was the prejudice of workmen against the use of the stone for building purposes, that when John Scudder wished to erect the American Museum on the site of Hampden Hall at the comer of Ann Street and Broadway in the above year, not a workman could be persuaded to undertake the work, and, as a last resource, a convict was pardoned out of Greenwich prison on condition that he would do it. After the Revolution, Hampden Hall was the town residence of Andrew Hopper. In 1840 the museum came into the hands of Phineas T. Barnum, "The Great American Showman," who united with it the collection from Peale's New York Museum and continued his American Museum in the building until he was burned out, July 13, 1865. Barnum used to run what he called "a lecture room" in connection with the museum; and Amusement Places below Union Square 197 here were given what he was pleased to call moral plays, so that many people who would not go to the theatre (horrible, demoralizing place!) went to see Barnum's show without any twinges of conscience. I remember visiting the museum here once when I was a very small lad, and the only recollection I have of what I saw was a whale swimming around in a glass tank. I know now i'lf.nfl U hi .,, -.;. i|ir ^|^»!,;,iinr ■■'■ IJLRMXG OF barnum's MUSEUM, 1865 that it was only a blackfish, but it looked very big to my boyish eyes. A rather funny incident is told of the old volunteer fire department in connection with Barnum's. The play was The Patriots of '7<5, and the manager invited the Lady Washington Light Guards, a well-drilled target company composed of members of Engine Company 49, to take part in the play. The men agreed to the proposal, intending to turn over their pay to some members of their engine company who w^ere out of work. In due 198 The World's Greatest Street time they appeared on the stage, some dressed as Conti- nentals, others as Indians, and one as Moll Pitcher, the heroine of Monmouth; but while in the midst of an ex- citing act, the City Hall bell sounded an alarm of fire. "Boys," cried the foreman, who was acting with them, "boys, there 's a fire in the Seventh District!" With that, he and his thirty comrades bolted from the stage, rushed up Broadway for their engine, and soon returned with it — the most extraordinary looking fire company ever seen in the streets of a civilized or uncivilized com- munity, Moll Pitcher at the head of the rope, and a live Indian brandishing a foreman's trumpet. On reach- ing the fire, followed by a motley and jeering crowd, they applied themselves to the brakes; while the mana- ger of the museum was trying to explain to the audi- ence the sudden and unexpected disappearance of the actors. Many actors who afterwards became famous made their first appearances at Barnum's. From the way in which he used to keep them busy, it was said that his actors could always be known by the fact that they carried their dinner pails with them to the theatre. He also employed a band, which occupied a balcony above the entrance and discoursed so-called music "from early morn to dewy eve." The story is told that a young fellow once applied to the great showman for a position in his band. Barnum told the applicant to go ahead. At the end of the week, the musician, seeing no pay coming, asked for it. "Pay!" cried the showman with a fine display of indignation; "we said nothing about pay. The honor of playing in my band is pay enough for a youngster like you." That the general public did not esteem the music as much as Barnum did is shown in the following lines from John G. Saxe: Amusement Places below Union Square 199 I love the city, and the city's smoke; The smell of gas; the dust of coal and coke; The sound of bells ; the tramp of hurrying feet ; The sight of pigs and Paphians in the street; The jostling crowd; the never-ceasing noise Of rattling coaches, and vociferous boys ; The cry of "Fire!" and the exciting scene Of heroes running with their mad "mercheen"; Nay, now I think that I could even stand The direful din of Barnum's brazen band, So much I long to see the town again! And Halleck gives us: Sounds as of far-off bells came on his ears — He fancied 't was the music of the spheres. He was mistaken, it was no such thing, 'T was Yankee Doodle played by Scudder's band. Bamum did not rebuild at Ann Street after the fire, but moved up-town. The site was taken by James Gordon Bennett, Senior, April 19, 1867, and the New York Herald was published here until August, 1893, when it removed to Thirty-fifth Street. Then the towering St. Paul Building was erected on the vacated site at Ann Street. Between Howard and Grand streets, there was a building originally designed as a circus; but which, as appears from an advertisement of 18 12, was the Olympic Theatre under the management of Dv.yer and Mc- Kenzie. It was West's Circus before 181 9, in which year it opened with The Spy. It had both a ring and a stage ; and on the latter the Park Theatre Company appeared in 1822 as being at a safe distance from the city which, at that time, w^as scourged with yellow fever. In 1820 it was a circus under Victor Pepin's management, 200 The World^s Greatest Street and it remained a circus as late as 1825, when it was owned by Pierre Lorillard; it occupied the lots 442 to 448 Broadway. In 1827, the circus was converted into a theatre called the Broadway; and at one time, it was known as the Marine Theatre, The Olympic Theatre was, in 1837, built at 444 and the rest of the site was occupied by Tattersall's, a famous horse and carriage mart until the fifties. The theatre was at first unsuccessful, as it was ahead of the times in prices and quality of plays. William Mitchell leased the house and opened it, December 9, 1839, as a low-priced house for amusing performances; and it soon became the fashion and the most popular place in the city. Steady prosperity followed until 1850, whem Mitchell gave it up. George Holland was one of the chief attractions, and Frank Chanfrau appeared here as Mose, the typical Bowery b'hoy with his girl Lize. The Olympic was a little bit of a place, with a stage not much larger than a modern sitting-room. Though assisted by a small and very able company, Mitchell, himself, was the mainstay of his petite theatre. He was a great mimic and "took off" the great lights of the stage, such as the elder Booth, Kean, and Forrest, in a manner that was excruciatingly funny. His crowning success was an imitation of Fannie Ellsler, the famous danseuse, who had won the hearts of New York by her grace and beauty. Ellsler's piece de resistance was a ballet called La Tarantule, in which her grace and agility were at their best and aroused the wildest enthusiasm in her audiences at the Park. Mitchell called his caricature The Mosquitoe, and arrayed himself as an exact copy of the original. He was a short, thick-set man, with heavy, bandy- legs, and red, full-moon comical face; and he made up for the part in short lace petticoats. Amusement Places below Union Square 201 his dumpy extremities encased in flesh-colored tights, white satin sHppers on his goodly sized feet, streamers of gay rib- bons fluttering from his broad shoulders, his big round head encircled by a wreath of bright flowers ; standing before you in a position of exaggerated grace, and with a fearful assumption of modesty, tremulously bowing to a perfect storm of cheers. Some faint conception may be formed of the nondescript apparition advertised to personate the most accomplished dancing woman of the age. In the item of graceful repose, Ellsler by common consent won the day; but when the item of agility comes to be dis- cussed, critics were divided, for Mitchell performed wonders in the jumping line, that were instigated by his arduous efforts to prevent his airy apparel from unduly rising and thus pos- sibly shocking the more sensitive of his refined audience. The closing scene of La Tarantule as performed by Ellsler was pronounced the "acme" of graceful power, for Fanny's aerial flights were stupendous; they carried Young America to the very verge of hopeless lunacy. Mitchell's genius was, how- ever, equal to such an emergency. He brought rope and hook to aid him in his determined resolve not to be outdone by a woman, and the burly humorist was through their agency hoisted high in air, where he kicked and floundered until the spectators were worn out with laughter, when he displayed a placard which triumphantly informed the public ''that he could jump higher and stay longer than Fanny ever could.' ^ On being lowered from his giddy height Mitchell "pir- ouetted" for a while, embowered in carrots, turnips, parsnips, and onions, and when backing out gave vent to his overflowing feelings with the simple broken words, " Tousand tank, me art too fool,'" which the arch knave had stolen bodily from the idol of the hour. Ellsler on more than one occasion witnessed the side-splitting contortions of Mitchell, and rewarded the incomparable mimic with genuine marks of her appreciation.* * From Last Days of Knickerbocker Life, by Abram C. Dayton. 202 The World's Greatest Street After Mitchell, Burton had it for a short time; and on November 6, 1850, it was opened as Fellow's Opera House and Hall of Lyrics with negro minstrels. It was used for some years for all kinds of entertainments that could pay the rent, and was called the American, and in 1853, Christy and Wood's Minstrel Hall. The "Old Circus," as it was sometimes called, was destroyed by fire, December 20, 1854; but was rebuilt and reopened. It became the Broadway Boudoir in January, i860, and the American again in August, 1863. It was finally NIBLO's GARDEN, SHOWING TENTS destroyed by fire on February 15, 1866, the City Assem- bly Rooms, which were overhead, suffering a like fate. In early years, a circus called the Stadium was established on the northeast corner of Prince Street. Shortly after the War of 181 2, it was used as a place for drilling officers of the militia; later, two brick buildings were erected on the site, in one of which the novelist Cooper lived for some time. The place was known as the Columbia Gardens in 1823 when William Niblo leased it, opening it as a restaurant and garden. In the garden was the old circus building, which Niblo converted into a fully equipped theatre in fifteen days after the burning of the Broadway Theatre, opening it July 4, 1827. A larger and better theatre building was erected and opened in 1829, which was known until its last 203 204 The World's Greatest Street performance on March 23, 1895, as Niblo's Garden. Niblo retired from the management in May, 1861, and the owner, A. T. Stewart, greatly improved the house. In 1852, the MetropoHtan Hotel was erected between the theatre and Broadway, but the entrance to the theatre was always from Broadway. In the same building as the theatre was Niblo's Saloon, given over to concerts, spiritualistic meetings, etc., until May 9, 1865, when it was converted into the dining-room of the hotel. While many famous actors appeared at Niblo's, it is probably best remembered by the performances of The Black Crook under the management of Jarrett and Palmer, whose ballet and spectacular effects, not to mention the wwdressiness of the women performers, shocked the sense of propriety of the people of that era. The play had a great run, opening September 12, 1866, and closing January 4, 1868, after four hundred and seventy-five performances; it was revived two years later. If some of the shocked people of that day could see some of our recent plays, they would, by contrast, consider The Black Crook as fairly decent. The hotel and theatre were both demolished in 1895 to make way for a large office building. When I was thirteen I made my first acquaintance with Scott in his novel of Ivanhoe, a novel which I have read several times since and which has never lost its glamor for me. A couple of years later I accepted an invitation from my brother, the late William R. Jenkins, who was at that time a dramatic critic and writer, to visit Niblo's and see a dramatization of Ivanhoe. There w^e chanced to meet Mr. O'Kelly, dramatic critic of the Herald, who, while correspondent of that paper in Cuba, had been arrested and imprisoned in Havana, there- by almost causing an international complication. The Amusement Places below Union Square 205 only member of the cast that I remember was lone Burke, who impersonated Rebecca. Perhaps my thoughts of chivalry had been too high pitched, or perhaps it was the scoffing of the two critics at the idea of a "blonde Jewess," but I remember the play impressed me as the veriest bathos. We stayed but one act and then wended our way to Booth's Theatre at Twenty-third Street and Sixth Avenue, where George Rignold was giving a benefit performance for some one — perhaps himself. Rignold was the first of the "matinee idols, " and his performance of the gallant and heroic Henry the Fifth had taken by storm the hearts of the feminine portion of the com- munity. This evening, he played Romeo, much to the amusement of the critics of all our papers, who united in genially roasting him. I visited Niblo's several times afterwards, seeing spectacular plays, Irish dramas, and what not. One of the funniest performances I ever saw on any stage was at Niblo's; it was The Babes in the Wood, with George Fortescue, who weighed in the neighborhood of three hun- dred, and Harry Mestayer, who weighed well over two hundred, in the characters of the little girl and boy who were the victims of the cruel uncle. To add to the ludi- crous character of the performance, the part of the captain of the band of kidnappers was taken by a dwarf less than four feet high — "Little Mac," I think he was called. The sight of this diminutive ruffian kidnapping the gigan- tic Fortescue was too funny for words. The last time I visited Niblo's was to see a play in which Minnie Selig- man Cutting, a Jewish actress who had married a member of the old Knickerbocker family, took the leading part. I have forgotten the name of the play — it was laid among the ancient barbarians, either Britons, Teutons, or Scan- dinavians, and it was well done, but it was not a success. 206 The World's Greatest Street Niblo's was already out of the world, and its audiences, recruited principally from the neighborhood, had little appreciation for and less knowledge of the ancient bar- tripler's hall, or metropolitan hall, 1854 barians who overturned the Roman empire — their prefer- ence was melodrama. Tripler's Hall was opened at 677 Broadway near Bond Street in 1850. Jenny Lind was to have opened the house, but it was not ready upon her arrival early in September of that year and so she appeared under the management of Bamum at Castle Garden; she sang Amusement Places below Union Square 207 at Tripler's in October. On the twenty- seventh of September, the hall, which was known both as Tripler's and as the Metropolitan, was opened by Henrietta Sontag in concert, repeating here her European successes. On the twenty-fourth of February, 1852, a memorial service, presided over by Daniel Webster and addressed by Washington Irving and William Cullen Bryant, was held in honor of the novelist Cooper, who had died in the preceding September. On September 22, 1853, Adelina Patti, then a child ten years old, appeared in concert, and gave promise of the wonderful voice which was later to enthrall the world. On January 8, 1854, Metropolitan Hall and the adjoining La Farge House were destroyed by fire ; but the hall was rebuilt and opened in the following September, under the name of the New York Theatre and Metropolitan Opera House. The great French actress Rachel appeared here in 1855 and during her engagement contracted a severe cold which resulted in her death. Towards the close of the same year the house was remodelled and called Laura Keene's Varieties; and in the following year, it became Burton's Theatre. In 1859 it became the Winter Garden and Conservatory of the Arts, the first part of the title being that by which it is best known and which it retained until its total destruc- tion by fire, March 23, 1867. The La Farge House was destroyed at the same time, but was rebuilt with a man- sard roof and called the Grand Central Hotel. As the Winter Garden, the theatre was the scene of many notable performances; among others, those of Edwin Booth. I remember seeing here John E, Owens in the title role of the play Solon Shingle, whose father "fit in the Revolution." When the fire occurred in the La Farge House, G. P. 2o8 The World's Greatest Street Putnam was located at 66i, adjoining the Winter Garden Theatre. The fire threatened 66 1, and the books and stationery of Putnam were carried across the way into Charles Scribner's store. The present firm of Charles Scribner's Sons is the direct descendant of Baker & Scribner, estabHshed in 1846. The pubHshers and book- sellers could afford to locate on Broadway, With the exception of Cooper, who was a rich man and independent of literature, I can find no other literary man who had a house on Broadway — as given elsewhere, there were several who boarded or lodged on the street. Probably, in those days, as in these, the charge was made that it was the publisher who became rich. At 485 Broadway, near Broome Street, John Brougham built and opened the Lyceum in 1850; the performances were principally burlesques and farces. James W. Wallack secured the house and opened it on September 8, 1852, with his sons, Lester and Charles, as stage- manager and treasurer. It was the successor of the old Park Theatre in the selection and presentation of its plays, and was steadily successful for nearly ten years until the playgoers had moved up-town. The prices of admission were fifty and twenty-five cents. The elder Wallack ended his career here as an actor, but not as a manager; as in 1861 he removed to the northeast corner of Thirteenth Street. After Wallack left Number 485, the theatre was continued under various managers and names and underwent various vicissitudes — German opera, melodrama, the legitimate, concerts, Lent's Circus — until 1864, when it came under Wood's management for several years, being torn down in 1869 to make place for dry-goods stores. James W. Wallack's last appearance on the stage was at the close of the season of 1862, when he made his 209 2IO The World's Greatest Street farewell speech ; he died two years later. The Thirteenth Street theatre was continued by his more famous son Lester; and Wallack's Theatre and its stock company became synonymous with all that is best in dramatic art — in acting, in scenery, in stage management and presentation, and in the play itself. The fact that an actor had been a member of Wallack's company was sufficient recommendation as to ability and training to secure him admission into almost any theatre com- pany in the land; although Thomas Allston Brown says that Wallack never made a good actor, but only engaged those who already had reputations. The first theatre I ever attended n my life was Wal ack's; the play was, 1 believe, The Clandestine Marriage, though I have little recollection of it. I have very distinct recollections of many another play at Wallack's, as at one time in my life I was a regular first-nighter here, and I remember some famous casts, especially of The School Jar Scandal with John Gilbert, John Brougham, Charles Coghlan, Charles Rockwell, E. M. Holland, and Harry Becket, Madam Ponisi, Effie Germon, Stella Boniface, and Rose Coghlan. In 1881, Wallack's was about the only theatre on Broadway below Twenty-third Street, as the theatre- going public had deserted lower Broadway; so a new theatre was built at Thirtieth Street which Wallack managed almost up to the time of his death. After Lester Wallack retired from the management of the Thirteenth Street house, it became for a time the German Theatre, passing later into the management of Henry E. Abbey, who presented grand opera. Wallack resumed possession January 10, 1883, and the house was reopened as the Star, March twenty-sixth. Then followed such a galaxy of actors as Modjeska, Lawrence Barrett, Booth, McCullough, Wilson Barrett, Boucicault, Amusement Places below Union Square 211 Florence, Irving, Hermann, Robson, and Crane. But its days were numbered, and toward the last, it was given over to melodrama. The last performance, The Man- 0' -war's Man, was g ven in April, 1901. It was a very rainy night, otherwise there would probably have been more people in the theatre to say good-bye to the old house. At the end of the performance there was a demonstration on the part of the audience, led by the photographer Rockwood; and those present united in singing yl 2 JJ La^ig Syne before dispersing to their homes. The building was demolished shortly afterward to make room for a great business structure. What recollections of great acting and fine casts the very name of Wahack's brings to those of us who are middle-aged! The Chinese Rooms at 539 and 541, above Spring Street, were opened September i, 1 851, with the Bloomer Company, all ladies, who dressed in the bloomer costume and gave fine concerts. In February, 1852, it became the Broadway Casino and in 1853, Buckley's Minstrel Hall. As the Melodeon Concert Hall (1858-61) it became notorious and one of the sights of New York, as in that neighborhood was the "Tenderloin" of the day, with many gambling saloons and worse places. After the fire of July, 1865, which burned out his Ann Street place, Barnum rebuilt the Melodeon Hall and opened it September 6, 1865, as Barnum's New Museum. I was an occasional visitor here as a boy and remember seeing Tom Thumb and Minnie Warren as well as some of the giants and the play of The Octoroon in the lecture room. Fire broke out in the part of the building occupied by Van Amburgh's Menagerie on March 3, 1868, and the place was destroyed. It was very cold weather, and the front of the house and the fire ladders were en- cased in ice, while the firemen looked like walking icicles. 212 The World's Greatest Street A second Broadway Theatre was opened in August, 1837, on the east side of Broadway near Walker Street in a building formerly known as Euterpean Hall and the Apollo Saloon; but the enterprise was soon abandoned. BROADWAY THEATRE, EAST SIDE OF BROADWAY, BETWEEN PEARL AND WORTH STREETS, 1850 Across the street, at Number 412, was the Apollo Bail- Room, a very popular resort for politicians opposed to Tammany Hall. In May, 1844, the Congo Minstrels, later called the Negro Minstrels, appeared at Apollo Hall. During the time of Fernando Wood, the building Amusement Places below Union Square 213 became the headquarters of the Apollo Hall, or Wood, democracy. During the vogue of the Apollo Ball-Room, it was the resort of many of the younger set, who here found a freedom of action and dancing which they were denied in the sedate affairs of society. In fact, patronizing the Apollo became a mild kind of dissipation among the society youths, just as at a later day it was considered the proper thing to visit "Harry Hill's" in Houston Street. The Old Broadway Theatre was located on the east side of the street, between Pearl and Worth Streets, and was opened, on September 27, 1847, with The School for Scandal and Used Up, in the latter of which Mr. John Lester (Wallack) made his first appearance on the Amer- ican stage. The house had been projected by "Tom" Hamblin; but he was not able to carry the enterprise through, so that the first manager was Alvah Mann, who later took Ethelbert A. Marshall into partnership. The firm lasted until October 25, 1848, when Marshall became sole manager and remained so until May i, 1858. By this time, the theatre had become too far down- town, the houses were declining, and Marshall was losing money. Many famous actors appeared upon the boards of the Broadway; and it was here that Forrest and Macready earned their greatest laurels. The theatre closed on April 2, 1859, and shortly afterward, it was torn down. Laura Keene's Varieties at 624, above Houston Street, was opened November 18, 1856, and remained under her management until May 8, 1863 The theatre was remarkable for presenting all sorts of plays and for the ability of the actors who appeared; among these we find the elder Sothern, Jefferson, Mrs. D. P. Bowers, Matilda Heron, and Laura Keene herself. For a period 214 The World's Greatest Street of six months, it became Jane English's Theatre; and then, on October 8, 1863, it became Mrs. John Wood's Olympic until June 30, 1866, and was as famous as under the management of Laura Keene. It then passed under new management; and on March 10, 1868, there was produced the great pantomime of Humpty Dumpty with George L. and Charles K. Fox as clown and pantaloon. The play was performed four hundred and eighty-three times to box-office receipts of $1,406,000 before it was withdrawn on May 15, 1869. I saw the play twice and shall never forget it; I also saw here Under the Gaslight. Humpty Dumpty was revived August 31, 1873, for a run of three hundred and thirty-three performances, and again on February 17, 1875, for a run of one hundred and twenty-seven more. Augustin Daly was one of the last managers of this theatre. The final performance was given in the house on April 17, 1880, shortly after which the building was torn down. The last performances of George L. Fox were attended with a strong element of pathos. It is stated that the powder he used for whiten- ing his face and head — bismuth, I believe — had pene- trated to his brain and produced insanity. He would be brought to the theatre, made up, and set upon the stage ; and so much had the character of the clown become a part of his very nature that he would go through his part and be as excruciatingly funny as in his best days. Buckley's Hall at 585, opposite the Metropolitan Hotel, was opened with Buckley's Minstrels, August 25, 1856. Ill luck seemed to be the fate of the house; for until May 8, 1865, it changed its name a dozen times at least and was under numerous managers. On this latter date its luck changed, for the San Francisco Min- strels took possession and remained until 1870. During the next five years, the theatre changed its name three HARRIGAN & HARTS NEW THEATRE COMIQUE 215 2i6 The World's Greatest Street times, the last time becoming the Metropolitan under Tony Pastor, until April i, 1881. Many actors and actresses, as Lillian Russell and the Irwin Sisters, who later became famous, began their careers in this house under Tony Pastor. Wood's Minstrel Hall at 514, below Spring Street, was opened July 7, 1862. It became Wood's Theatre on June 15, 1866, with performances of the legitimate drama; but changed its character in September of the same year when it became the German Thalia Theatre. March 2, 1867, it again changed to Wood's Theatre Comique. Harrigan and Hart appeared here December 2, 1872; and after it had been in the hands of other managers with variety performances, they obtained possession again on August 7, 1876, and kept it until April 30, 1 88 1, when the building was torn down and converted into stores. It was during this time that they produced "The Mulligan Guard " series, I remem- ber dropping into the theatre one afternoon in 1877 and seeing the play of Old Lavender. The audience was small, the house was dirty and dingy, and the curtain did not reach the stage when lowered; yet I felt like a discoverer as I remarked to my companion about the excellence of the acting in such inharmonious surround- ings and prophesied a career for the protagonist of the play. Wood's Marble Hall at 561 and 563, on the west side near Prince Street, was famous for minstrels fifty or sixty years ago. George Holland became a member of Wood and Christy's Minstrels on October 15, 1857. That was the time of the panic, and Holland felt im- pelled to offer a semi-apology to the public in leaving the legitimate drama. He stated that times were so bad that the managers of the regular theatres could not Amusement Places below Union Square 217 pay salaries, and as he had a family to support it was necessary for him to earn money. As soon as times became better he would return to his usual roles; in the meantime he would play his regular parts of low comedy, the only difference being that whereas he usually put red paint on his face, now he was going to put black. The house was torn down in July, 1877. The Atheneum. The Church of the Messiah, Uni- tarian, had been at 724 (later, 728) Broadway, near Waverly Place, from 1839 to 1864, when the congregation moved to other quarters. The church edifice took on a deserted and dilapidated appearance and was bought by A. T. Stewart, who renovated it and opened it as the Broadway Atheneum on January 23, 1865. Eleven months later, after being completely transformed archi- tecturally, it became Lucy Rushton's Theatre, and the house was dedicated to the legitimate drama; but the lessee failed to pay the government revenue tax and so had to give it up. From this time until 1881, its names and managers were numerous, and the performances ran the whole range from opera to variety. I remember seeing The Streets of New York here in 1869 when it was called the Worrell Sisters' New York Theatre. Mrs. Scott-Siddons, with whose husband Sothern, Nelse Sey- mour, Dan Bryant, and other jokers of the stage had had so much fun, made her American debut here in Shakes- pearian roles. At one time it was Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre after that manager's Twenty-fourth Street house had been burned on January i, 1873; but he had the good taste to see the incongruity of the name and changed it the second year of his management to Daly's Broadway Theatre. It also bore the name of Globe Theatre three several times; but its name was changed for the last time when Harrigan and Hart opened it 2i8 The World's Greatest Street as the New Theatre Comique on October 29, 1881. The new lessees had made it one of the handsomest theatres in the city; and it became immensely popular with the presentation of Harrigan's various plays with his stock company, which changed very little from year to year, so that every member was well-known to and beloved by the public. The house was destroyed by fire December 23, 1884, and the ground remained idle for a long time; then it became the Old London Street, February 26, 1887, and after a period of vacancy a gymnasium for sporting and sparring exhibitions in 1896. This last building was demolished in September, 1902; and at this writing (February, 191 1) the lots from 724 to 732 are unbuilt upon. Hope Chapel, formerly a church on the east side of Broadway below Eighth Street, was opened as a place of amusement on March 28, 1853, for lectures, spiritu- alists, etc. The Davenport Brothers exhibited here their spirit cabinet and mystified their audiences. It became the Broadway Academy of Music in 1864, and a year later. Blitz's New Hall, given over to concerts, etc. When I was a boy, I saw Blitz here with his tricks and his wonderful trained canaries. Kelly and Leon ran it as a minstrel hall from 1866 to 1870, during which time I was an occasional visitor, taking especial delight in the tall, lanky, and exceedingly funny Nelse Seymour, who was a member of the company. The minstrel burlesques in black of some of the popular plays were also very funny ; The Grand Dutch " 5", " a take-ofif; of Offen- bach's opera bouffe, being very amusing and having a run. In 1870, the house became Lina Edward's Theatre for two years, when Kelly and Leon took it once more on November 25, 1872 ; three days afterwards the building was destroyed by fire. Amusement Places below Union Square 219 Among the minor places of amusement on Broadway below Union Square were: Minerva Rooms at 460, where light entertainments, concerts, and lectures were given between 1847 and 1853; the Old Stu^^vesant at 663, opposite Bond Street (1852), later, Academy Hall, Donaldson's Opera House, The Canterbury, and Mozart Hall until 1862; Empire Hall, later the Santa Claus, at 596, next to the Metropolitan Hotel, between February, 1853, and January, 1859; the Broadway Museum and Menagerie at 337, between November, 1853, and April, 1854, during which time Chang and Eng, the Siamese Twins, were on exhibition; the Broadway Atheneum at 654, between Bleecker and Bond Streets, on the site of the Astor mansion, where light drama was given, making it one of the most popular places in New York sixty years ago; World Hall at 337 and 339, corner of White Street, devoted to panoramas in 1854; Bunnell's Mu- seum, corner of Ninth Street, west side, 1880 to 1883; Washington Hall at 598 in 1851; and the Art Union Rooms and Concert Hall at 495 and 497, from 1852 to i860. CHAPTER X FROM UNION SQUARE TO FORTY-SECOND STREET S before stated, the Bowery and Broadway were designed by the commission of 1807 to meet at the "tulip tree"; above this was the Bloomingdale road, into which the Bowery curved sUghtly from its route over that part of the present Fourth Avenue below Fourteenth Street. If the streets planned by the commission were cut through from east to west, there would be formed at this place a number of irregular blocks of inconvenient size and shape. To get out of this dilemma, the commission laid out at this point a small park where fresh air might be obtained when the city blocks should be built up. This park they called Union Place, because here was the union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island. In 181 5, by act of the legislature, it became the public meeting-place, or commons, for the people of the city; but it was many years before it was used for anything else than for the shanties of the squatters who occupied the site. Like nearly all the public parks of the city, it had before 18 15 been used as a potter's From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 221 field. In 1832, the corporation deter- mined to enlarge and regulate the place to its present area, from Fourteenth to Sev- enteenth streets and from Fourth Avenue to the extended north line of University Place. It was not un- til 1845, however, that with an expend- iture of one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars, the park was put into shape and that the elegant mansions were erect- ed which once sur- rounded the park, a few of which still remain as business places. Samuel B. Ruggles, one of the founders of the Bank o f Commerce, w a s chiefly instrumental in developing as a fashionable part of the city this section as well as Gramercy Square. In 1762, Elias Brevoort sold twenty- two acres of his ASTOH PtflCS JUNCTION OF BROADWAY AND THE BOWERY 222 The World's Greatest Street farm, extending from the Bowery westward between the present Fourteenth and Sixteenth streets, to John Smith, from whose executors the farm passed in 1788 to Henry Spingler, a shop-keeper of New York, for nine hundred and fifty pounds. Spingler's farmhouse stood within the Hmits of Union Square. Other farms as far as Twenty-third Street on the west side belonged to Thomas Burling, John Cowman, Isaac Clason, Sir Peter Warren, Isaac Varian, and Christian Milderberger. On the east side, were the two farms of Cornelius Williams and John Watts. At the comer of the present Seventeenth Street and the Bloomingdale Road was a square acre of ground belonging to the Manhattan Bank, acquired so it is supposed, as a sort of refuge for conducting business in case of being driven from the city by the yellow fever. The hotel known as the Spingler House stood for many years on the west side of the square on the site now occupied by the Spingler building ; on the south side, near University Place, was a fashionable restaurant called the Maison Doree; on the southeast comer of Broadway and Fourteenth Street is the Hotel Churchill, formerly the Morton House, and originally the Union Place Hotel, established in 1850. The section surrounding Union Square for several blocks was for a great many years the ultra-fashionable part of the city. Among the prominent shops which occupied the west side of the square was the great jewelry house of Tiffany & Co., which moved here from Broadway and Broome Street in 1870, occupying a site upon which formerly had stood the Spingler Institute. Tiffany remained at the southwest corner of Fifteenth Street until 1905, when the business was moved to Fifth Avenue and Thirty-sixth Street, as the highest class of trade was moving to that avenue. Schirmer, and Ditson & From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 223 Co., the leading music dealers and publishers of the city, were also here for many years before moving up- town. In fact, many of the leading stores of the city have moved from this vicinity within the past five years. To show how the retail trade is departing, I will repeat a story of one great house of international reputation, located near Twentieth Street, which spent $6000 more in advertising in December, 1910, than in previous years and did $55,000 less business in the same month. The assessed valuation of property in this neighborhood for taxes has been decreased in some cases for 19 10. The Gorham Company of silversmiths was at Nine- teenth Street for nearly thirty years, moving to upper Fifth Avenue in 1906. The great grocery house of Park & Tilford, which had occupied the southwest comer of Twenty-first Street for forty years, moved to the Brunswick building on Fifth Avenue in the fall of 19 10. The last of the old mansions that once stood in this neighborhood was one belonging to Peter Goelet at the northeast corner of Nineteenth Street; it stood until June, 1897, amid the great business houses that surrounded it. It was a rather gloomy place with few signs of occupancy except some peacocks which strutted proudly around within the railed garden in front of the house and attracted the attention of the passers-by. Most of the other great houses on the thoroughfare be- tween Union and Madison Squares — Arnold, Constable & Co., Lord & Taylor, Aitken & Son, Sloan's, Brooks Brothers, and others — are too well known at present to call for description. On July 4, 1856, the first statue erected in New York since that of George III. in 1770, was unveiled with appropriate honors in the southeast corner of the square. It is the equestrian statue of George Washington, ^ 224 The World's Greatest Street designed by Henry K. Brown. It stands near the spot where the citizens of New York met Washington on the Bowery Road when he was entering the city to take possession upon its evacuation by the British, November 25, 1783. At the head of Broadway is the statue of the gallant Frenchman Lafayette, who gave not only money and supplies to the American army, but his personal THE STATUE OF LAFAYETTE IN UNION SQUARE services as well, and with such marked ability as to deserve well of the American people. The statue is by Bartholdi and was given to the city in 1876 by its French residents. In the southwest corner of the square, is the statue of him who is called by Lowell "the first American." The Lincoln statue was modelled by Brown and was erected by popular subscription. It would From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 225 be a good thing if popular subscript on would take it down again and erect in its place a truly artistic statue of the Great Liberator commensurate with the greatness of the subject and of the city which desires to do him honor. For many years the park was enclosed by an iron THE WEST SIDE OF UNION SQUARE l.N i;S97 railing; but about twenty years ago, the city authorities awakened to the fact that the public parks should be free at all hours, especially at night in our hot spells, and the fence was removed. The fountain was erected in anticipation of the admission of Croton water and played for the first time upon the day of the great cele- bration in 1842. Several smaller fountains for drinking places have been erected about the park, and on the 226 The World's Greatest Street north is a house of comfort with a platform facing the open space of Seventeenth Street from which speakers can address the crowds upon pubUc occasions. This has been a favorite out-door gathering place upon May- day and Labor day for the socialistically inclined; and one can listen upon such occasions to a variety of denun- ciations by wild-eyed and long-haired foreign citizens. You may not be able to understand anything they say except the one word capitalisten, which is hurled with such obvious and bitter hatred that you come to the conclusion that it cannot mean anything else but cap- italists. At a meeting of this sort on March 28, 1908, a bomb was hurled at the police, but fortunately no one was killed except the hurler of the missile. For some years an open air flower market has been held in the early morning at the north end of the Square. Of a different class from the socialistic meetings was the great meeting in Union Square on the twentieth of April, 1861, when at three o'clock in the afternoon, over one hundred thousand people assembled in mass convention to take steps to redress the insult to the flag, which had been fired upon at Sumter less than ten days before. The meeting was presided over by John A. Dix with eighty-seven vice-presidents from the leading men of the community; among whose names you will find only half a dozen, which, at that time, would have been called foreign. The list began with Peter Cooper and ended with John J. Astor. The most famous of the orators who addressed the meeting was Senator Baker of Oregon, who, during the Mexican War, had led a New York regiment to the gates of the city of Mexico, and who, a few months later, was to give his life for the Union upon the disastrous field of Ball's Bluff, on the soil of the Old Dominion. The resolutions adopted by the From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 227 meeting gave encouragement to the Government and showed the spirit in which the city viewed the impending conflict. The mayor of the city at the time of this meeting was Fernando Wood, a wily and disloyal politician, who had proposed the secession of the city, together with Staten and Long islands, from the State of New York and the formation of a new State, to be called " Tri-Insula. " As mayor, he was chosen to preside at this meeting, and it was strongly intimated to him that it was as much as his place was worth if he did not come out boldly for the Union. With this threat in mind, and doubtless still further reminded of the necessity of being loyal by the shrill cry of a small boy perched in a tree: "Now, Nandy, mind what you say; you 've got to stick to it this time," he made a speech in accord with the loyal sentiments which animated the great crowd. A short time after the meeting there was formed a club of loyal and patriotic men, modelled after a similar one in Philadelphia, and called the "Union League Club." Its object was to assist the government in raising regiments and funds. It first occupied a house loaned for the purpose by Henry G. Marquand at the corner of Seventeenth Street and Broadway, later moving to Madison Avenue and now at Fifth Avenue and Thirty- ninth Street; its membership for many years has been restricted to members of the Republican party. One of my earliest boyish recollections is of a military procession in Union Square. It must have been in 1865 and was a review of the returning troops by Governor Fenton; for I remember seeing him and his staff on horseback. Besides the great crowd, my most vivid remembrance is of the Seventy-ninth Regiment of Highlanders and of another regiment whose brilliant 228 The World's Greatest Street uniforms, in which there was a good deal of red, particularly impressed me. This regiment was the Fifty-fifth, called the French Regiment or the Lafayette Guards, because recruited principally from men of that nationality. About thirty years ago, I lived not very far from Union Square in what had been the old village of Chelsea. My favorite walk on summer evenings was through Fourteenth Street, Union Square, Broadway and Twenty- third Street. I remember one evening passing two young fellows on the Square, who were evidently discussing that never-ending question of what one would do if he were rich; for as I passed them, I heard one say to the other: "If I were rich, I would have a new necktie every day. " I give this simply to show how various are the desires of the human heart. I trust the young fellow has been able to achieve his aspiration in the many years that have since elapsed. When the cable road was built on Broadway, it was customary for the cars to take the double curve from the west side of the Square into Broadway at full speed, the company stating that it was impossible to let go and grip the cable while on the curve — and the authorities believed them. So many accidents occurred here that the place became known as "deadman's curve." At last, the authorities threatened to do something — and the car company immediately found a contrivance for picking up and letting go the cable as successfully as on a straight course. The idea of a surface car line on Broadway had its inception as early as 1850, and a company of thirty was incorporated for the purpose. This corporation, of which Jacob Sharp and John L. O'Sullivan were the prime movers, secured from the Common Council in December, From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 229 1852, a franchise " to lay a double track in Broadway and Whitehall or State Street from the South Ferry to Fifty- seventh Street ; and also, hereafter to continue the same from time to time along the Bloomingdale Road to Manhattan ville." In addition, the company was to give free transfers to omnibus lines at a number of cross streets and to pay an almost nominal sum to the city for the privileges granted. The motive power was to be horses, the only known power at that time for street traction purposes. In granting the company the right to extend their line to the terra incognita of Harlem, the aldermen little thought how promptly the Man- hattanville section would be built up and that their generous grant would in the near future prove to be of immense value. As Broadway was then the chief residential street of the best society of the city, strong objections were made, and the company was enjoined from building the road. The matter was carried into the courts, where the fight lasted for over thirty years. The aldermen and assistant aldermen who, notwithstanding the vetoes of the mayor, granted this and other franchises without adequate compensation to the city, were denominated ' ' The Forty Thieves," as each board consisted of twenty members. William M. Tweed was at this time an alderman, and Richard B. Connolly, his coadjutor in the later infamous Tweed ring, was already known in political and municipal affairs as "Slippery Dick." As a result of failing to obey an order restraining them from granting the franchise, many of the aldermen were fined and one was imprisoned for contempt of court. When the rail- road matter was finally settled in 1885, most of the alder- men of 1852 were dead and not more than half a dozen of the original incorporators were alive. 230 The World's Greatest Street Between the granting of the franchise in 1852 and the construction of the road in 1885, the fight against it was so bitter and politics entered into it so largely that the contest had its effect upon the election of both state and city officials. In 1863, Commodore Vanderbilt stole a march on Jacob Sharp by getting the aldermen to grant him a franchise for the extension of the Fourth Avenue surface road down Broadway from Fourteenth Street to the Battery. He was the controlling power in the Harlem railroad which owned the Fourth Avenue line, the first surface car line in the city. In furtherance of his plan, the block between Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets on Broadway was torn up; but an injunction stayed the work, and the block remained in a disgraceful condition for two years while the matter was being adjudicated. In 1864, the Broadway and Seventh Avenue car line was established, and the cars were run on Broadway above Union Square, continuing through University Place below Fourteenth Street. Sharp was one of the di- rectors of this line and it became the backer of the Broadway line and the corporation through which the financial manipulations of the Broadway Surface Com- pany, as Sharp's line was officially known, were made. The principal difficulty experienced by the exploiters of the road was in getting the consent of property owners on Broadway below Fourteenth Street. At last, in 1883, Sharp succeeded in having passed at Albany a general railroad act which permitted the aldermen to offer the franchise of a street railway for sale or not, "at their option." On August 6, 1884, the aldermen, with only one dis- sentient vote, gave permission to lay tracks on Broadway ; but the mayor promptly vetoed the resolution. A tax- From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 231 payer named Lyddy then enjoined the board from passing the resolution over the veto; but Lyddy was bought off, and at nine o'clock on the morning of August thirtieth, the eighteen aldermen in favor of the franchise were called secretly together and repassed the resolution granting the franchise. No notice of the meeting was sent to those aldermen opposed to the grant, and the city got little for a franchise so valuable that two millions of dollars had been offered for it. The feeling of the public in regard to this flagrant abuse of power is shown in a cartoon of Harper s Weekly at the time. Two strangers inquiring their way are saying to a New Yorker: "We want Broadway and Tenth Street." The reply was : ' ' Broadway has already been given away ; but if you make haste, you may be able to secure Tenth Street from the aldermen." The act of the board had hardly become public be- fore injunctions were at once applied for. The Supreme Court appointed a commission to examine into the matter and to report upon the case. It was shown in the sen- ate investigation that some members of the commission were connected with the interested parties. Upon a decision of the Supreme Court in favor of the Broadway surface railway, Sharp lost no time in laying tracks and securing equipment, buying up all the stages and horses of the omnibus lines, many of whose drivers he later used on the horse cars. The last bus ran on Broadway below Fourteenth Street on June 20, 1885, and the first public horse-car ran over the route from Fifty-seventh Street to the Bowling Green the next day. The cost of building the road was about $138,000, but the company was financed for over two millions. The action of the Board of Aldermen aroused the ire of the public, and the State Senate began an investigation^ 232 The World's Greatest Street Their counsel was Roscoe Conkling, and the leaders of counsel for the railroad were James C. Carter and Elihu Root. One of the striking features of the investigation was the inability of Sharp to remember anything about transactions involving the drawing of checks amount- ing to over half a million dollars, though his memory was wonderful in regard to other matters. The Senate committee found that no legal authority had ever ex- isted for the construction of the Broadway surface road; that the Broadway Surface Railway Company was a sham and a scheme shaped in conjunction with the di- rectors of the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Company; that bribery had been employed and the city defrauded in the granting of the franchise, and that the franchise should be revoked. This was followed by the arrest of Alderman Jaehne, one of the "solid eighteen," on March i8, 1885. Of the twenty-two members of the Board of Aldermen that passed the franchise in August, 1884, all but two were found to be implicated. One of the two, Hugh J. Grant, later became mayor of the city. Of the remaining twenty, two were dead and three fled at the time of Jaehne's arrest. The others were indicted and tried for bribery and suffered various degrees of punishment from fines to imprisonment. The arch briber, Jacob Sharp, suffered imprisonment. It was shown that the price paid for votes was as high as $20,000. In the thirty-three years during which the conflict for the surface road had been carried on, the character of Broadway had changed completely. It was no longer a select residential thoroughfare, but it had become the main artery of the city's trade, and the advent of the horse-cars was hailed by the merchants with satisfaction. In a little more than five years the question arose of From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 233 changing the motive power to cable. The public was strongly opposed to it; but other cities had already introduced the cable, and New York was obliged to get rid of the antiquated horse-car, and the railway company finally won out. For months, the street was torn up from end to end and business was in a demoralized con- dition; but the work was at last done and the first cable buck's horn tavern, twenty-second street and BROADWAY, IN l8l2 (From Valentine's Manual, 1864) cars v/ere run in June, 1893. The change from the small, bumpy, and slow moving horse-car satisfied the public; and when, on September 5, 1898, an accident happened to the power house at Houston Street and the cars had to be hauled by horses from Thirty-fifth Street to the Bowling Green, their reappearance was greeted with derision. Then came the final change to electric traction. Overhead trolley wires with their potentiality of danger in a great thoroughfare like Broadway were 234 The World's Greatest Street out of the question, and the underground trolley was decided upon. Other city lines were changed firet; and as they worked successfully, even with heavy snow on the ground, the work of changing on Broadway was begun in September, 1898. It was expected by the railway people that the change would be effected by December of the same year; but it was not until May 26, 1901, that the cars were running by electric traction. This, briefly, is the history of the Broadway Surface Railway Company — a history replete with bribery, corruption, "Boodle" aldermen, iniquitous legislatures, and complaisant courts. At Twenty-second Street ana Broadway was situated the Buck's Horn Tavern, which is spoken of in 18 16 as "an old and well-known tavern." It was ornamented with the head and horns of a buck and was set back a short distance from the street about ten feet higher than the present grade. It was a favorite road-house for those who drove out upon the Bloomingdale Road (Boston Post-road). Almost opposite the tavern, the Abingdon Road (Love Lane) followed approximately the line of the present Twenty-first Street as far west as the Fitzroy Road (Eighth Avenue). The drivers of that day used to come as far as the Buck's Horn, then turn through the quiet and shady Love Lane to Chelsea, and thence by the river road through Greenwich village back to the city across the Lispenard meadows. Three hotels still stand in this section between Union Square and Twenty-third Street; these are the Continental, at the northeast corner of Twentieth Street; the Bancroft, at the corner of Twenty-first Street, and the Bartholdi, at the southeast corner of Twenty-third Street. Nearly on the site of the old Buck's Horn Tavern, Abbey's Park Theatre stood in the seventies and eighties. I From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 235 The stock company was one of the best in New York, containing several actors who later joined Daly's com- pan}^ Between seasons many well-known actors ap- peared; among them, Mrs. Langtry, who made her American debut upon this stage. The house was planned by Dion Boucicault, but he got into difficulties and was 1111; sin: OF THE FLATIRON BUILDING not its manager when it opened in 1874, It came under the management of Abbey on November 27, 1876, the actress Lotta being his financial backer. Among the plays first given here was The Gilded Age in which John T. Ra3"mond appeared as the protagonist, Colonel Ivlulberry Sellers. The play was founded on Mark Twain's story of the same name, and I was present on the opening night and heard the famous humorist 236 The World's Greatest Street make one of his characteristic speeches. The house was destroyed by fire, October 30, 1882, several hours before the evening performance, and was not rebuilt. The high building at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue is one of the curiosities of New York archi- tecture, and from its resemblance in shape to the common household utensil is popularly called the "Flat-iron Building." Its site was owned by Eno of the Second National Bank, who also owned the Fifth Avenue Hotel property. The triangular block was occupied for many years previous to the construction of the "Flat-iron" by a row of two-story buildings used as shops and offices, and at the Twenty-second Street boundary by a tall building called the Hotel St. Germain, the whole pre- senting an anomalous appearance upon one of the most beautiful squares in New York, with the trees and lawns of Madison Square Park so prominent in the view. At the time that the Fuller Company was constructing the building to its dizzy height, the streets of the city were torn up and gouged out by the workmen on the subway. A French visitor was moved to remark upon the idio- syncrasies of the American people. "I look up zare, " he said, "and zay are going up to heaven; I look down zare, and zay are digging down to — ze ozzer place." Which recalls the remark of another Frenchman, Lafayette, who, upon being shown the improvements in this vicinity during his visit in 1824 and especially the plans for the continuation of Broadway above Madison Square, asked facetiously : "Do you expect that Broadway will reach to Albany?" At Twenty-third Street, the great Boston Post-road turned to the eastward, running diagonally across the present park and following its wandering course up the east side of the city to Harlem, while the Bloomingdale From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 237 Road continued in a comparatively straight course toward the upper part of the west side of the island. The Boston Road was closed in 1 839, Where its road-bed used to be is the statue of William H. Seward, who was Governor of the State and United States Senator from New York. He was the favorite of many of the dele- MADISON SQUARE PARK AND GARDEN gates to the Republican Convention at Chicago in i860, but Abraham Lincoln beat him for the nomination. Lincoln made him his Secretary of State, and he held that position during the Civil War. The wedge-shaped plot of land between the two roads was a pasture in 1815, through which a small stream found its lazy way to the East River, opening out here in the park into the Gramercy pond. Another portion of the land was 238 The World's Greatest Street used as a potter's field from 1794 to 1797, when the burial ground was removed to Washington Square. In 1806, a United States arsenal was erected on a plot of ground extending over the site of the Worth monu- ment; it was turned into a House of Refuge for juvenile delinquents in 1824 and was burned in 1838, when another building for the delinquents was erected in Twenty-third Street near the East River. The commission of 1807 believed that a place for the drilling and manoeuvres of the military organizations was necessary and so laid out here a parade ground, which was to extend from Twenty-third Street to Thirty- fourth and from Third Avenue to Seventh. In 18 14, the limits of the parade were curtailed to Thirty-first Street and between Fourth and Sixth avenues; at the same time it was called Madison Square. Like Union Square, the plot was occupied for many years by squatters ; but in 1845 Mayor Harper devoted his attention to public improvements and the park was reduced to its present size and cleared up. On the west side of Madison Square, between Twenty- third and Twenty-fourth streets, there stood for about thirty years the "Madison Cottage," kept by Corporal Thompson. This house had formerly been the homestead of John Horn, who owned the land where Madison Square is now located. When the improvements were made in this vicinity, the old homestead was moved from the bed of Fifth Avenue to the site described above. It was a favorite road-house on the Bloomingdale Road, and at certain times of the year a cattle fair was held in the ad- joining lot. In 1853, the Cottage gave way to Franconi's Hippodrome, a two story, brick building, where per- formances of a superior quality were given. In 1858, the Hippodrome in turn gave way to a magnificent : iMt.imaiimisifwifn'sm, 240 The World's Greatest Street marble hotel, which was for many years the most notable in New York. This was the Fifth Avenue Hotel, which was the usual stopping place of most of the presidents after i860 when they visited the city. When Arthur was President, he received here the first Corean embassy that visited the country. The interpreter was a naval officer named Foulke, a classmate of the author. It was here that in 1884, during the Blaine-Cleveland campaign, the Rev. Mr. Burchard Ifp^fci THE CORNER OF FIFTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-THIRD STREET, 1 852 On this site now stands the Fifth Avenue Building ^T^ made use of his famous saying in referring to the Demo- cratic party as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion." The alliterative remark, made in the pres- ence of Mr. Blaine, went unrebuked at the time; and as it was repeated in the public press throughout the country, it gained such wide notoriety as to aid materially in the defeat of Mr. Blaine for the presidency. The hotel also sheltered the famous "Amen Corner," where the politicians, journalists, and newspaper men used to gather in social intercourse, resulting in an annual i6 241 242 The World's Greatest Street dinner somewhat resembling that of the famous "Grid- iron Club" of the national capital. At these dinners gather the jurists, editors, journalists, and politicians, and current affairs arc burlesqued in such a manner as to make lots of fun, at the same time conveying a moral. The hotel was demolished in 1908, making way for the great office edifice now occupying the site. The Bloomingdale Road was in colonial times a country road leading to the hamlet of Bloomingdale and to the farms and country residences of wealthy citizens on the west side overlooking the Hudson. In 1760, this road was widened to four rods to about the present Fortieth Street, and remained so until the improvements in this section subsequent to 1845. It was lined with farmlands belonging, on the west, to Matthew Dyckman, Jacob Horn, Isaac Varian, James Stewart, Samuel Van Norden, extending on both sides of the road, Mary Norton, and L. Norton as far as Forty-fourth Street. On the east side, above the arsenal, were the Samler, William Ogden, and John Taylor farms, some land be- longing to the corporation and the farm of Arthur Kind, extending to Forty-fifth Street. Many of these farms both above and below this immediate section, were the country places of well-to-do New York merchants who had their city homes and shops below Canal Street. There was no Newport, Lenox, or Bar Harbor in those early days to take the people away from the island; and if there had been, there were no luxurious boats or Pullmans to whisk them hundreds of miles in a few hours. After the development of the steamboat, Ballston Spa became the rendezvous of the best society during the summer time. It was not until the middle of the nine- teenth century that Saratoga Springs usurped its place to be in its turn more or less deserted for Long Branch, From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 243 Lenox, Bar Harbor, and Newport. Perhaps the lives of these people, their home lives especially, were all the more contented ; for they could enjoy the pleasiires of a country life with their families, and yet not be too far away from business in case of necessity. They took life more quietly, but enjoyed it thoroughly. There were not that rush, that hustle, that nervous strain and feverish excitement, which are, perhaps, the distinguishing fea- tures of our own epoch; yet the citizens acquired com- petencies, brought up and educated their children, and were not unacquainted with such comforts and luxuries as the time afforded. The "unearned increment" of these farms and country seats strung along Broadway — Great George Street, the Middle Road, the Bloomingdale and Kingsbridge roads — from the Commons northward to Spuyten Duyvel Creek, has rendered the descendants of these early owners wealthy beyond the dreams of Croesus. They still constitute the best society of New York, the old Knickerbocker society, which includes not only the descendants of early Dutch and English settlers, but also those of the sturdy and energetic sons of New Eng- land who flocked to the city after the Revolution until about 1840, and who became our great merchants, bank- ers, and financiers. It was about this later date that the stream of new life began running from the other side of the Atlantic in successive and ever strengthening waves — Irish, Teutonic, Scandinavian, Hungarian, Polak, Semitic, Italian — and New York began to assume the cosmopolitan aspect it wears to-day. On the west side of Broadway, at Twenty-fifth Street, the Hoffman House was located in the eighties and soon became one of the sights of the city on account of the paintings displayed in its barroom — all of them by 244 The World's Greatest Street the greatest of American and European artists — the especial object of interest being Bouguereau's Nymphs and Satyr. The Albemarle Hotel adjoins the Hoffman House on the Twenty-fourth Street corner; and at the southeast corner of Twenty-seventh Street is the Hotel Victoria, at one time the home of the late President Cleveland after his first term of office. At the junction of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Twenty-fifth Street is a small, triangular park, in which is a granite obelisk, known as the Worth Monument. If we read the bronze bands which are around the stone, we find inscribed Chippewa and Lundys Lane of the War of 1 8 12 and nearly every battle of the Mexican War in which either Taylor or Scott fought; for Major- General William J. Worth was the right hand man of both these commanders. Worth was a native of Hudson and a very distinguished officer. He died in Texas in 1849, and his body was brought here later. After lying in state in the City Hall, it was buried with imposing cere- monies on November 25, 1857, under this monument erected by the City of New York. It has become cus- tomary in late years to erect reviewing stands abreast of the monument when parades and processions pass down Fifth Avenue to the Washington Arch, or up the avenue to points above. Here the reviewing officer, whether president, governor, mayor, or other distinguished person, takes his stand. Before leaving this section, we would recall the beautiful arch and colonnade erected in 1899 when Admiral Dewey returned from Manila. The arch was miscalled the "Dewey" arch. It was, in fact, a naval memorial arch; and upon it and the columns were the names of John Manley and John Paul Jones, Decatur, Hull, Perry, Stockton, Farragut, Porter, and a host of 245 246 The World's Greatest Street others who have carried the flag upon the seas and added lustre to it in all of the wars in which the United States has been engaged from the Revolution to the present. The whole affair was made of "staff," and in the course of several weeks became so dirty and be- draggled that it had to be removed. It was intended THE NAVAL MEMORIAL ARCH AND COLONNADE, l! AND FIFTH AVENUE ), BROADWAY to perpetuate the arch and colonnade in marble, and subscriptions were started with this end in view; but for some reason — perhaps because the admiral became too prosaic an individual by getting married — the scheme fell through. It is a great pity; for the Farragut statue opposite the Worth Monument is the only memorial in New York which tends to do honor to that service From Valentine's Manual, 1864 THE VARIAN TREE IN BROADWAY BETWEEN TWENTY-SIXTH AND TWENTY-SEVENTH STREETS, 1 864 248 The World's Greatest Street that has always distinguished itself in time of war, and which is immediately forgotten in time of peace. TA^enty years ago, this section between Twenty- third and Thirty-fourth streets was the liveliest in the city. Here were located many of the popular hotels; and in the adjoining territory was the police precinct known as the "Tenderloin," to be the commander of which was the ambition of many police captains, as after one or two years of it they were assured of being able to retire with at least a competency for their declining years. Besides the hotels mentioned, the Hoffman and the Albemarle, there were the Gilsey at Twenty-ninth Street on the east side, the Grand at Thirty-first vStreet, just above, now called the New Grand, the Coleman House on the west side between Twenty-seventh and Twenty -eighth streets, the Hotel Martinique at the north- east corner of Thirty-second Street, and the Sturtevant at 1 1 86 Broadway, a favorite stopping place for officers of the army and navy. The last two have disappeared, the Gilsey is termed the New Breslin, and the Imperial at Thirty-first to Thirty-second streets, the finest hotel of all, has been erected and enlarged within less than fifteen years. Where the Gilsey House now stands was the field of the St. George Cricket Club, which was formed by the Englishmen who patronized Clark and Brown's English chop-house in Maiden Lane; the grounds of the club are now on Staten Island. At the southeast corner of Twenty-sixth Street, Delmonico's up-town restaurant was located from 1876 to 1888, when the Cafe Martin took its place and succeeded to its popu- larity. There are a number of well-known restaurants and Rathskellers on this part of the thoroughfare. One of the last relics of the olden time to disappear was a tree inw~~.^' - r- 1 '^; 250 The World's Greatest Street on the west side in front of Number 1151, near Twenty- sixth Street, which had been at the gateway of the old Varian farm near the homestead; it stood until about 1890. The San Francisco Minstrels moved up-town between Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth streets, on the west side, in 1874, and with Birch, Wambold, and Backus ran suc- cessfully for several years. J. H. Haverly secured control on December i, 1883, and ran his "Mastodon," or " Mega- therian, " Minstrels for some time. He was obliged to go back to the paleozoic age for an animal big enough to represent the size of his show, with eight end men and the company in proportion. The house was the Comedy Theatre under Haverly and was run as a combination house. Dockstader had the place for a while and gave his amusing monologue Misfits. The house belongs to one of the Gilsey family, and it has been through all sorts of theatrical vicissitudes down to 1909, rejoicing then in the name of the Princess Theatre. "Sam" T. Jack ran it for some time with a somewhat risky show. He appeared one morning in the Gilsey office, after he had signed the contract, with an old valise and several bundles tied up in newspapers, and notified the clerk he had come to pay his first six months' rent. The clerk expected a check; but instead of producing one. Jack tumbled his bundles onto the table and said: "Here it is ; count it and see if it is right." An examination showed the bundles to contain a collection of bills of all de- nominations, mixed up in apparently inextricable con- fusion. One of the Gilseys and the clerk put the bundles into a cab and drove to the bank, where, after two hours' work, assisted by several of the bank clerks, they suc- ceeded in sorting out the mixture and found it correct to the last dollar. From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 251 Lester Wallack moved into his up-town theatre at the northeast corner of Thirtieth Street in February, 1 88 1, but the building was not ready for opening until January 4, 1882. The exterior of the building has never been completely finished. Here Wallack had an excellent stock company as before; but the house never became so famous or so popular as the old Thirteenth Street theatre — perhaps, because a new generation of theatre- goers had grown up and the actor-manager was getting old. He retired from active management, and the house opened as Palmer's Theatre on October 8, 1888, to become and remain Wallack's once more on December 7, 1896. The oldest theatre in this neighborhood was originally Banvard's Museum and Theatre at 1221 Broadway, near Thirtieth Street. It was the first building in the city erected expressly for museum purposes, and was opened June 17, 1867. It became Wood's Museum and Metropol- itan Theatre in 1868, and Wood's Museum and Menagerie in 1869. Very good plays with first-class actors were given under both managers, as I can personally testify. In 1877, it became the Broadway Theatre, and two years later it became Daly's, remaining under the man- agement of Augustin Daly until his death. It was the one theatre where the visitor could find the perfection ui acting, management, and presentation, whether the play were a French or German farce or a Shakesperian revival. Ada Rehan, John Drew, Mrs. Gilbert, James Lewis, George Clarke, and others were known, admired, and loved by a generation of theatre-goers. The Brighton theatre at 1239 Broadway opened with a variety show on August 26, 1878; and after many changes of names, became the Bijou Theatre, December I, 1883. The Manhattan (or Eagle) Theatre stood on the west 252 The World's Greatest Street side of Broadway between Thirty-second and Thirty- third streets. It was opened with a variety show, October 18, 1875; later, it became the Standard Theatre, becoming the Manhattan again August 30, 1897. It was the first house in New York to present Gilbert and Sullivan's H. M. S. Pinafore which became so popular that it was played at over half a dozen theatres at the same time; that was before the days of international copyright. Towards the end of its career, it was about the only theatre of prominence in the city outside of the theatrical trust. At the last it became a moving-picture house, and was torn down in 1 909 to make way for Gimbel Brothers' big department store. Two other theatres have entrances from Broadway: Daly's old Twenty-eighth Street house, and Jo Weber's. The first began as Apollo Hall, and later became Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre. After Daly's removal, it became Harry Miner's Theatre and was burned out January 2, 1 89 1 ; it is now Keith and Proctor's. The other theatre on Twenty-ninth Street was originally Weber and Field's, where those amusing comedians gave very funny bur- lesques of the passing shows. After the dissolution of their partnership, it became Jo Weber's Theatre. The Union Dime Savings Bank stood on Thirty- second Street, facing Greeley Square, from 1876 to February, 19 10. From in front of the bank the old Bloomingdale stages had their point of departure before going out of existence altogether. About fifty years ago, the property belonged to Richard F. Carman, who asked $90,000 for the plot, but took $87,500, remarking to his agent with a chuckle of satisfaction as he closed the bar- gain : " I guess that fellow 's stuck. " Such was the opinion of many who considered the price beyond all reason for property in the neighborhood of Thirty-fourth Street; 253 254 The World's Greatest Street yet, in 1874, when the savings bank took title, it paid $275,000, or about seventy dollars a square foot for ap- proximately four thousand square feet. At the sale in October, 1906, the bank received about two hundred and fifty dollars a square foot; and the purchaser sold to an English syndicate in June, 1909, at a price which is stated to have been in the neighborhood of three hundred and seventy-five dollars a square foot, a value for city property only exceeded so far by the plot at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street. This will give some idea of the in- crement in land values in this vicinity within half a century. Broadway crosses Sixth Avenue at Thirty-fourth Street; and from Thirty-second to Thirty-fifth, there is an open space, except for two triangular parks. The lower one contains a statue of Horace Greeley and is called Greeley Square. The upper space contains a statue of William E. Dodge, one of New York's famous mer- chants, but since it stands in front of the Herald building, it is called Herald Square. The crossing here at Thirty- fourth Street is probably the most dangerous and the most congested spot on the whole line of Broadway at present. Though the houses on the west side from Thirty-second to Thirty-fourth Street, and on the east side above the latter to Thirty-fifth Street are actually on the line of Sixth Avenue, they are numbered as being on Broadway. There is now in course of construction on the block between Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets, on the east side, the Hotel McAlpin, which is to be a commercial hotel twenty-five stories high, with stores on the ground floor, one of which at the Thirty-fourth Street corner has already been rented at twenty dollars a square foot, the highest rent paid in New York. The hotel is to be From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 255 the largest in the city and will cost for building, furnish- ings, lease, etc., over thirteen millions of dollars. When the congregation owning the Tabernacle sold out their property in lower Broadway, they established themselves at the northeast corner of Thirty-fourth Street and remained until March, 1902, when they moved temporarily to Mendelssohn Hall in Fortieth Street near Broadway until such time as their new Tabernacle was ready for them. While at Thirty-fourth Street, the Rev. Dr. William Taylor continued to uphold the fame of the church. The wedge-shaped block between Thirty- fifth and Thirty-sixth streets, occupied by the New York Herald and the Evening Telegram was previously occupied by a building the upper floor of which was the armory of the Seventy-first Regiment of the National Guard. The newspapers introduced an innovation in exposing to public view the great presses upon which the papers are printed and folded when they took pos- session, August 20, 1893; ^^"^ the windows overlooking the press-room are always occupied by curious and interested spectators. For many years, "Parker's, " one of the most popular restaurants of the city, was located at 1305 Broadway; but it was a simple and unpretentious place by contrast with the modern Broadway establishments. No section of the city has shown such remarkable advance as this portion has in the last decade. Macy's opened here on November 8, 1902 ; Saks & Co., a Washing- ton firm, a year or so earlier; and at this writing, the Gimbel Brothers from Philadelphia have just opened on the block below another mammoth store. This region is becoming the greatest retail section of the city. This is due to a great extent to the fact that within the past five years the Pennsylvania Railroad has erected a great 256 The World's Greatest Street station a few blocks west and has connected this with New Jersey and Long Island by means of tunnels under the city and under the two rivers. Broadway from Thirty-fourth to Forty-seventh Street has been for the last few years the locality where the gay life of the metropolis has been most readily seen. Here are congregated great hotels, famous restau- rants, and theatres; and the brilliant illumination at night by the countless electric lights has caused this section of the avenue to be called the "Great White Way"; and no stranger has seen New York who has not traversed it. A quarter of a century ago, the south side of Union Square was the lounging place of many actors seeking employment at the theatrical offices in that neighbor- hood; and the section was called the "Rialto." With the upward trend of the theatres and theatrical offices, the "Rialto" has moved to this section of Broadway; and in the "off" season, the sidewalks are crowded with actors and actresses seeking engagements. It is to this part of the town that the heart of the exiled New Yorker turns, and it is hither that the foot- steps of visitors bent on gaiety naturally and inevitably find their way. The occupants of stores and theatres as far down as Twenty-third Street claim to be a part of it all — and they were ten years ago — but they cannot stop the law of progress up the famous thoroughfare. From abreast of the City Hall Park, in the first half of the nineteenth century, gay fashion has gradually worked its way northward to. this present section. Per- haps, at the end of this century, the "Great White Way" will be as quiet and colorless as is now the section of Broadway below Fourteenth Street, while the gay populace of that future time will find its pleasures in the 257 258 The World's Greatest Street neighborhood of Kingsbridge. This seems to be the law of the street. When that day comes, Manhattan Island will have lost the greater part of its population and will be devoted almost entirely to business; while the enor- mous mass of the people will live in the suburbs of West- chester County, of New Jersey, and of Long Island, carried daily to and from their occupations at rates of speed now undreamed of, and by means of transit which exist at present only in the dreams of visionaries. Yet, between Thirty-fourth and Forty-second streets, Broadway was sixty years ago little more than a country lane; and there are still many insignificant buildings along the thoroughfare. Beginning with the year 1838, various acts were passed affecting the laying out and widening of the Bloomingdale Road and Broadway between Twenty-first and Forty-fifth streets. Among the hotels between Thirty-fourth and Forty- second streets were, and are, the Marlborough on the west side between Thirty-sixth and Thirty-seventh streets; the Normandie at the southeast corner of Thirty-eighth Street; the Vendome at Forty-first Street; the Albany, the most recent, between Fortieth and Forty-first streets, both on the east side, and the Knicker- bocker at the southeast corner of Forty-second Street. This last is one of the Astor properties and occupies the site where stood for many years the Saint Cloud Hotel. On the west side, below Forty-second Street, the Cafe de 1' Opera opened in December, 1909. This was the most gorgeous and extravagantly fitted restau- rant the city has ever seen, costing, so it is stated, over a million of dollars. The news spread of its high prices, there was poor service, and its patrons were obliged to wear evening dress; as a result, it closed its doors four months after opening. After various vicissitudes with From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 259 the creditors, lasting several months, the place was acquired by Louis Martin, rearranged and refurnished, and opened on Christmas Eve, 1910. Upon the same site at first stood the Rossmore, later the Metropole, and the Saint Charles, upon land which is among the highest in the lower part of the island and which has been a hotel site for over forty years. Upon the angle formed by the junction of Seventh Avenue and Broadway, there was erected, in 1910, the Heidelberg building with its great tower designed for advertising purposes. At this time (January, 191 1), it is rumored that the famous Chicago house of Marshall Field & Co. has acquired the Marlborough Hotel property for a great department store. At the northwest corner of Thirty-fifth Street a building called the Coliseum was opened with a panorama in 1873 and was run until the following year, when it was taken down and removed to Philadelphia during the Centennial Exposition. October 11, 1876, the New York Aquarium took its place with a theatre, and later, a circus attached. The place was very popular until 1883, when it was torn down and the New Park Theatre was erected, opening on October fifteenth. Harrigan took possession and opened on August 31, 1885, after the destruction of his New Theatre Comique. It was called Harrigan' s Theatre and was successful, but the rent ate up the profits and Harrigan was obliged to give it up. It then became the Herald Square Theatre on September 17, 1895, and has retained that name until the present. After the destruction of his Park Theatre at Twenty- second Street, Henry E. Abbey had no house that he could call his own until 1893, when he opened the theatre at the northeast corner of Thirty-eighth Street, where 26o The World's Greatest Street he introduced Irving, Bernhardt, and other foreign actors of high rank, opening with the first named on November 8, 1893. On September 14, 1897, the house was opened as the Knickerbocker, a name that it still retains. The Casino, at the southeast corner of Thirty-ninth Street, was opened October 21, 1882, with The Queen's Lace Handkerchief. The building is in the Moorish style, and has been, more than any other theatre in New York, the home of comic opera. Among its greatest successes were Erminie and Florodora, the latter of which seems to have been unfortunate for many of its partici- pants, as several murders and numerous scandals in which Florodora girls were concerned filled the columns of the daily papers and set the town by the ears for some time during and after the run of the play. Between Thirty-ninth and Fortieth streets on the west side, taking up the entire block to Seventh Avenue, is the Metropolitan Opera House, which opened October 22, 1883, with Henry E. Abbey as manager. The house has been devoted almost exclusively to grand opera, as it is too great in size to be an ordinary theatre. It has also been the scene of many great gatherings on patriotic occasions, of many public balls, and of concerts, as well as of several fairs. The history of the operas produced and of the great artists and singers who have appeared here would fill a book larger than this. Its interior was destroyed by fire in September, 1892, but was rebuilt in the following year. Opposite to it on the south side of Fortieth Street is the Empire Theatre, whose entrance is from Broadway. It was opened January 25, 1893, under the management of Charles Frohman, and has been famous, not only for its early stock company, but as the New York home of From Union Square to Forty-Second Street 261 such actors as John Drew, Maude Adams, and similar stars. The Metropolitan Casino, at the southwest corner of Forty -first Street, was dedicated on May 2'], 1880, and opened as a concert hall by Rudolph Aronson on October 10, 1 88 1; to be followed later by Rudolph Bial and his orchestra with concerts and comic operas. On October 20, 1884, owing to bad business, the house became the Cosmopolitan Skating Rink. As early as 1887, a firm of which Bailey the circus man was an original member was started for the purpose of securing the property and opening it as a regular theatre. The house was rebuilt and opened March 3, 1888, as the Broadway/ Theatre. One of its greatest successes was the spectacular play of Ben Hiir, founded on General Lew Wallace's famous story of the same name. CHAPTER XI FROM FORTY-SECOND STREET TO NINETY-SIXTH HEN we cross Forty-second Street we are in the very heart of the "Great White Way." Hotels, theatres, and restaurants abound, and the owners and purchasers of property seem to be imbued with a perfect mania for tearing down and rebuilding. On the triangular block between Broadway and Seventh Avenue is the high building of the New York Times, from which the open space from Forty-third to Forty-seventh streets gets its name of Times Square. The plot was occupied from as long back as I can remember with a block of two-story buildings, containing a private school and several quiet stores, which seemed to be almost out of the business of the vicinity. About 1890, a hotel- keeper named Regan erected a building on the south side of the plot and ran it with a bar and famous Raths- keller. In 1900, the underground railway was com- menced, and about the same time the Times decided to erect its great building on the entire plot. The Regan building was one of the earliest of the skeleton, steel and concrete construction, and its demolition after about 262 Geo. P. Hall & Son A VIEW IN TIMES SQUARE, SHOWING TIMES BUILDING 263 264 The World's Greatest Street ten years of existence was watched by the architects and civil engineers with a great deal of interest in order to see the effect upon the steel framing. As it was torn to pieces, it was found that everything was as good as the day it was put into the building. An immense, deep hole in the solid rock was necessary for the new building ; for the subway was to pass under it, and its foundations were to carry not only the Times building itself, but the tracks of the subway also, and to be able to withstand the vibrations of the passing trains. In many respects, therefore, the building is one of the most wonderful in New York; and until the Singer building was erected, it was the highest structure in the city, if we figure from the lowest foundations, where the presses are located, to the top of its high tower. For many years before this open space became Times Square, it was the location of businesses connected with the manufacture and repair of carriages and harness; and in imitation of the locality in London devoted to similar activities, it was popularly, though not officially, known as "Long Acre Square." Then it became de- voted to the automobile industry, but now even that has departed to the section above. One Revolutionary event is connected with Times Square. On the fifteenth of September, 1776, the British landed at Kip's Bay from Long Island with the intention of cutting off the American Army, then in full retreat. The greater part of the army was well up on the Blooming- dale Road, but Putnam with four thousand troops was still in the city. Washington despairingly attempted to prevent the landing of the British on the shore of the East River, but his troops fled almost before a shot was fired. Word had been sent to Putnam to join the chief, and he hurried his troops out of the city. Guided by imj teif i'i^^ljiBi „ g 26= 266 The World's Greatest Street Aaron Burr over the Middle Road from the fortifications above Canal Street, he managed to escape the cordon of British troops being thrown across the island and joined the chief on the Bloomingdale Road at this point, barely getting through in the nick of time. A tablet to com- memorate this joyful meeting of the two generals was erected on the west side of the square some years ago by the Sons of the Revolution. The section of Broadway from Forty-fifth to Seventy- first Street was laid out and widened under a series of acts beginning about 1845 and extending to 1869. For some time after the earlier of these dates, the Blooming- dale Road was a country lane, lined with farm lands and homesteads. We have already given those above Twenty- third Street to this point. Continuing above on the east side as far as Sixty-fifth Street, we find farms belonging to Medeef Eden, Emmet (to about Forty-ninth Street), Andrew Hopper, Cornelius Harsen, Deborah Burton, Catherine Cosine, Jane Ackerman, Rachel Cosine, and John H. Tallman. On the west side for the same distance were farms belonging to John Jacob Astor, (a portion of the Eden farm on which the Hotel Astor now stands), Francis Church, Philip Weber, Andrew Hopper, Striker, Jacob Hayes, John Cosine, Hegeman, Sarah Slack, and Havemeyer. Many of these farms extended down to the Hudson River even in 1800, and most of them had originally done so, but had been divided up among new owners ; and even the names given here might not answer for a different period. The history of nearly all of them would be interesting had we the space to give it. During the spring of 1910 real estate interests were especially active in connection with the old Hopper farm which was on both sides of the road. The first 267 268 The World's Greatest Street of the name was Andries Hoppe, who came to New Netherlands in 1652. His son, Mathjes Adolphus Hoppe, bought a farm extending diagonally across the road between Forty-eighth and Fifty-fifth streets down to the shore of the Hudson River. His heirs inherited the property, which in time became divided up among them and passed to other owners. One of the old Hopper homesteads stood for a century and a half at Fiftieth Street and Broadway until 1883, when William H. Vanderbilt bought the property, and the old house was razed to make way for the American Horse Exchange. Andrew Hopper (i 736-1 824), for whom this house had been built by his father, John Hopper, the second owner, was a merchant of New York, having a place of business in Chatham Street. His town house was at Ann Street and Broadway, the Hampden Hall of the Liberty Boys, which later became the site of Scudder's and Barnum's museums. The first theatrical enterprise to locate in this vicinity was the large structure on the east side of Broadway between Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth streets, erected by Oscar Hammer stein upon the site of a building which had been the armory of the Seventy-first Regiment. Under one roof, there were a great music hall, a concert hall, and a theatre, the intention being to admit to all for one entrance fee. It was known as Hammerstein's Olympia, and the first performance was given in the Lyric Theatre on November 25, 1893. The manage- ment passed from Hammerstein ; and the music hall part became the New York Theatre in December, 1898, while the Lyric became, on August 29, 1899, the Cri- terion, under the management of Charles Frohman. Within the last few years, a new course has been pursued in theatrical management in New York and From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 269 throughout the country. The tendency has been for a great many theatres to come into the control of a few managers or firms, constituting what has been termed the "Theatrical Trust"; so that dramatic companies outside the combination have sometimes had difficulty in getting into New York houses. Another marked change has been the increase in the price of seats, and the elegance of the newer theatres. It is a far cry from the thirteen, twenty-five, and fifty cents of the best theatres of half a century ago to the dollar, dollar and a half, and two dollars of the present; and these prices are nearly always supplemented by an additional dollar paid to the ticket speculators who manage, notwith- standing the advertised efforts of the box-ofiices, to get the best seats in the house before any one else has a chance at them. Among the fashionable restaurants and hotels located here for several years are Shanley's, Rector's, Churchill's, the Hotel Cadillac, and the Hotel Astor. Several of these are putting up new buildings, so that in another year or so there will be a group of some of the finest hostelries in New York. The side streets contiguous to Times Square are also devoted to restaurants and theatres. The celebration of New Year's Eve in this neighborhood has become, so it is stated in the daily papers and by those who have been present, a grand orgy after mid- night, putting to blush the wildest capers of the Moulin Rouge, Maxim's, and other notorious places in Paris. For this occasion it is necessary to engage tables a long time ahead, and in the wa}^ of drink nothing but cham- pagne is served upon the night of the thirty-first of December. Rector's new hotel and restaurant at the southeast corner of Forty-fifth Street was opened on the twenty- 270 The World's Greatest Street seventh of December, 19 10. It cost upwards of three milHons of dollars, but its construction is remarkable for the speed with which the old buildings were torn down and the new one erected and furnished — all within a period of eleven months. The most prominent building on the west side of the square is the Hotel Astor, situated on the old Eden farm and belonging to the Astor estate. It was opened in September, 1904, by William Muschenheim, formerly steward, or commissary, at West Point, who had for several years previous run a restaurant, very popular with college and similar societies, called "The Arena," in West Thirty-second Street near Broadway. Mr. Muschenheim has one of the finest private collections of maps, documents, papers, and prints relating to old New York to be found in the city, and many of these are exposed on the walls of the hotel. The hotel is prob- ably the most popular and moderate priced of the really first-class hotels in New York. It has sheltered many ambassadors, special embassies, and distinguished foreigners, and is the favorite banqueting place of many societies, including some composed entirely of women. On the streets opening out of Times Square, and within a radius of half a mile, are numerous theatres erected within the past five years. Among those on Broadway itself, are the Globe, above Forty-sixth Street, the Astor, at the comer of Forty-fifth Street, and the Gaiety, at the corner of Forty-sixth — all on the west side; Cohan's, on the east side between Forty- second and Forty-third streets, and still others are pro- jected for the immediate future. To be bromidic: "It 's hard work to keep track of them; they spring up like mushrooms, almost in a single night." From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 271 With so many theatrical enterprises located on Broadway, it is natural that plays should be written about the great thoroughfare. Two of them — comedies, of course — are The Man Who Owns Broadway, and THE NEW BROADWAY TABERNACLE Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway. Numerous songs have sounded the glory of the street and have become popular. When the American fleet on its world en- circling cruise of 1908-9 left New Zealand, the farewell song of our English cousins of the Antipodes was Give 7ny Regards to Broadway, a song that stirred the heart 2']2 The World's Greatest Street of every American sailor, as he remembered, or antici- pated, the joys of the great highway. The triangular block at Forty-seventh Street, Broad- way, and Seventh Avenue, now occupied by Floyd & Co., auctioneers, was formerly the site of St. Martin's Hall, inaugurated February ii, 1850, for lectures, assemblies, and other social affairs for the up-town folks. The plot cannot long remain in its present condition, and a theatre or hotel will some day soon occupy the site. Above Forty- seventh Street, the thoroughfare is in a transition state; there are carriage factories and showrooms, automobile ware rooms, apartment houses, hotels, vacant lots, and some of the old buildings, including several cottages of the days when this was a country road. The site at Numbers 1634-1642, on the old Hopper farm, was occupied by the American Horse Exchange until 1910, when the Winter Garden Theatre was erected by the Shuberts. The Exchange was from 1883 the up-town Tattersall's where horses of the best breeds, carriages, and harness were sold, usually at auction. At the northeast corner of Fifty-sixth Street is the modern Tabernacle, first opened for service in March, 1905, and the legitimate successor of the other two which have stood on Broadway; it is a very ornate building, the corner-stone of which was laid in 1903. x\t Number 1684, the Metropolitan Roller Skating Rink has been in opera- tion since 1906. The building which it occupies has been an armory of one of the city batteries, a bicycle academy, and various other things during the past thirty years. At the northwest corner of Forty-ninth Street, the Old Guard had its armory from 1898 to 1908. This is not a part of the regular military force of the State, but it has peculiar privileges, and is usually detailed as an escort for any distinguished person who reviews parades From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 273 or processions. From a social standpoint, it ranks higher, possibly, than any other military organization in the city, and it partakes more nearly of the nature of a social club than do the regular regiments. The vast majority of the rank and file of the national guard organ- izations are young men, while those in the Old Guard have passed the meridian of life, having seen active and From Valentine's Manual, 1S64 THE OLD HALFWAY HOUSE AT THE JUNCTION OF BROADWAY, EIGHTH AVENUE, AND FIFTY-NINTH STREET strenuous service elsewhere. The City Guard was formed in 1833, and at the same time a rival organiza- tion, called the Light Guard, was formed out of the old Blues, dating from 1762. After the Civil War, the sur- vivors of the two organizations united to form the Old Guard on April 22, 1868. The distinctive white uniform and great bearskin hat always attract attention, and the veterans are held very high in popular estimation. 274 The World's Greatest Street At Fifty-ninth Street is the entrance to Central Park, and where Broadway, Eighth Avenue, and Fifty- ninth Street cross is an open space called "The Circle." Its centre is occupied by a fine column and base called the Columbus Statue, presented to the city by the Italian residents in 1892 in commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by their fellow- countryman, whose statue surmounts the column. Just north of the monument is a triangular plot, which for many years was occupied by Durland's Riding Academy, a very popular place of its kind in the nineties. The plot is now vacant and is awaiting development by William R. Hearst. Here is another theatrical centre within a few blocks, and nearly all the buildings have been erected within the past five years. There is the Majestic at Fifty-eighth Street, the Circle at Sixtieth, the Colonial at Sixty-second, and the Lincoln Square at Sixty-sixth. The houses are generally devoted to vaude- ville, light opera, moving pictures, and similar entertain- ments that do not call for anything from their audiences except laughter. With the section of the Bloomingdale Road above Fifty-ninth Street I was somewhat familiar in my boy- hood before 1870, as I used to visit friends who lived here, and I have also ridden in the old stages. Near-by was the residence of Fernando Wood at Seventy-seventh Street. In recent years, the name of Lincoln Square has been given to this immediate locality where Broadway crosses Columbus Avenue at Sixty-sixth Street. The Western Boulevard, or simply the Boulevard, as it was commonly called, was the work of the Tweed ring; and the highway was opened in 1868. The assess- ments levied upon the property owners contiguous to the old Bloomingdale Road were more than many of them From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 275 could pay, and they either lost their property or it became THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT AT FIFTY-NINTH STREET heavily encumbered. Like all the work of the ring, the construction was a gigantic steal; but Tweed cer- 276 The World's Greatest Street tainl}^ showed great foresight in laying out this fine thoroughfare, Hned with trees whose price to the tax- payers was enormous. The new Boulevard followed the general direction and l^ed of the old road, though it did not follow all its windings. As most of the farm lands and estates abutted on the Bloomingdale Road, we find that many of them will be found on both sides of the modern thoroughfare. The new thoroughfare was known as the Boulevard until January first, 1899, when the board of aldermen changed its name to Broadway throughout its length to Kingsbridge. As the downfall of the ring occurred shortly after the opening of the Boulevard, it was left for many years in an unpaved state, and was, in consequence, a mudhole in wet weather where vehicles frequently became stalled, and in dry weather the dust was terrific. I remember seeing the Twenty-second Regiment march to its new armory in 1891, and one could hardly see the soldiers for the clouds of dust. The first paving of the street was ordered from Fifty- ninth to Seventy -ninth streets in 1890; and all kinds of materials have been used — macadam, asphalt, and brick. The paving was done in sections as the needs of the rapidly building locality required, the last being completed in 1907. When the section as far as One Hundred and Sixth Street was finished in 1896, the street became the favorite route of the wheelmen, who turned through the last named street to Riverside Drive and so on to Grant's Tomb. It is now a finely paved, asphalt brick pavement, and is a much patronized route for automobiles. The armory of the Twenty-second Regiment of Engineers of the National Guard is on the east side of Broadway, between Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth Streets. '^k Y- A^t n w imir'r ■ 1 rS»<^^— ' - 278 The World's Greatest Street The regiment was organized in April, 1861, at the out- break of the Civil War and had its quarters at Seventh Street and Hall Place; it occupied its armory in Four- teenth Street near Sixth Avenue in 1864. I remember that we school children went there to see the great fair of the Sanitary Commission, which did so much to relieve the sufferings of the sick and wounded soldiers. The present armory was occupied in 1891. The regiment was mustered into the service of the national government during the Spanish War, and became an engineer regiment on February 20, 1902. A new armory, the corner-stone of which was laid December 19, 1909, is now in course of construction on Fort Washington Avenue at One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street at a cost of about a million of dollars; and the members of the regiment hope to occupy it in the spring of 19 12. The construction of the elevated roads in 1880, and the running of the surface cars made the section west of Central Park more easily accessible than in the days of the stages, and building operations began. Pre- vious to 1880 and even for some time after that date the vacant lots were occupied by squatters, whose ram- shackle structures, goats, and multitudinous children added what we may now consider as a picturesque touch to the scene, but which at that time we thought a blot upon the landscape. Some of the children of these squatters have become rich through the increase in value of the lots which their fathers had the foresight, or good luck, to buy in those early days. About 1890, the bicycle was in its glory ; and for nearly a decade the smooth asphalt of the Boulevard attracted the devotees of the wheel, the favorite ride being as far as Claremont and Grant's Tomb. The annual parades of the wheelmen were beautiful sights, especially at night, when countless From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 279 lights flickered along the roadway as the silent vehicles speeded swiftly along. Many shops and buildings were erected to accommodate the wheelmen and their needs; and there is no doubt that the desirability of this locality as a residence section was thus brought to the attention of many thousands and helped in its development. Now, alas! the wheel has departed; and where once bicycle shops abounded, we find their places taken by many more shops and garages for the sale and repair of the automo- bile. Where, in the nineties, the bicyclist had constant views of open spaces and truck gardens, now the autoist, as he dashes madly along, sees solid blocks of great hotels and apartment houses, with private houses only on the side streets. The subway railroad is directly responsible for this; and as it belongs to this period of Broadway's develop- ment subsequent to 1895, a brief account of it may be given here. The idea of an underground railway was of old date; and I remember when a schoolboy in 1870, visiting the Beach Pneumatic Railway under Broadway abreast of the City Hall Park, where its tunnel still exists. It was in 1890 that the first rapid transit commission was appointed by Mayor Hugh J. Grant; it reported in 1 89 1 that the tunnel franchise should be sold to the highest bidder, but capitalists were afraid to back the scheme on account of its uncertainty and the vast amount of capital involved. In 1894, the legislature created the Rapid Transit Board, which, fortunately, was com- posed of men of unimpeachable integrity and enterprise with no interest or concern in politics, and they went at the matter in a business-like way. The plans for the tunnel, drawn by the engineer, William Barclay Parsons, were approved by Mayor Strong in 1897; ^^^ the con- gested condition of the traffic lines due to the influx of 28o The World's Greatest Street visitors on Grant's Day, April 27, of that year, showed the absolute necessity of immediate relief. The con- tracts were let to John B. McDonald on February 21, 1900, and work was begun shortly afterwards, four and one half years being the time allowed for the completion of the work and the running of the trains. The section of the road under Broadway begins at Forty-second Street and continues to One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street, rejoining Broadway again at Two Hundred and Eighteenth Street and continuing over it as an elevated structure to the terminus at Two Hundred and Forty- second Street abreast of Van Cortlandt Park. The road is four tracks as far as One Hundred and Third Street and two tracks beyond. During the nearly five years that the underground was building, Broadway was a sight to be remembered, as the work was done from the surface and the street and the car tracks had to be supported by temporary bridges of planks; and it was no unusual thing for a vehicle to fall into the excavation. As a result of this excavation, the trees planted by the Tweed ring, which had by this time begun to beautify the thoroughfare, were badly injured, and in many cases destroyed com- pletely. In May, 1910, the central plots of the street were fenced in, sodded, and set out with plants and shrubs. In the Washington Heights section the cut was so deep that the work was done entirely below the surface by regular subterranean miners brought from the mining places of the world, and the surface was undisturbed. The subway was officially opened to the public from Brooklyn Bridge to Broadway and One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street on October 27, 1904; to One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Street, November 12, 1904; to Two 28 1 282 The World's Greatest Street Hundred and Twenty-first Street, March 12, 1906; to Two Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, January 14, 1907; to Two Hundred and Thirtieth Street, January 27, 1907; and to Two Hundred and Forty-second Street, its present northern terminus at Van Cortlandt Park, August i, 1908. At its lower end, it was opened to Fulton Street, January 16, 1905; to Wall Street, June 12, 1905; and to the Bowling Green and the South Ferry, July 10, 1905. In the Washington Heights section, some of the stations are so deep that elevators carry the passengers to and from the surface. So immensely popular has the subway become since its opening that it is greatly overcrowded, and other lines and extensions are projected. There are many thousands of New Yorkers who see and know nothing of their city except in the neighborhood of their homes and places of business, between which they travel on the underground. I saw a skit in the newspaper a short time ago, which told of a business man who took an afternoon off from business and rode home on a surface car for the purpose of seeing what New York looked like and what changes had taken place while he had been riding underground for five years or more. He was astonished at the changes, and said he felt like repeating the experiment occasionally in order to get acquainted with his own city. In colonial days, many of the wealthy merchants had country-seats near the bank of the Hudson. Some of these gentlemen were loyalists during the Revolution and, in consequence, lost their property by confisca- tion; among the owners we recognize many Dutch and Huguenot names. The principal owners as far north as Ninety-sixth Street were John H. Tallman, Bogert, G. Kimberly, John Gottsberger, John Hardenbrook, From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 283 Jacob Harsen, Sarah McGill, Stephen Jumel, Jacob Lorillard, Richard Somerindyke, John C. Vandenheuvel, John McVickers, Brockholst Livingston, James Hamilton, and David M. Clarkson. There is one name among the owners of property here that was still more famous in colonial days, but which we do not find after the Revolution — that of Oliver De Lancey. He was a loyalist during that struggle and was made a brigadier, commanding a brigade of loyalists and refugees, recruited principally from the Tories of New York, Westchester, and Dutchess Counties, and from Connecticut, New Jersey, and Long Island. His house, a fine colonial mansion, faced the Blooming- dale Road near Seventieth Street; and in it De Lancey extended a generous hospitality to the best society of the province. During 1776 and 1777, the British, and especially the loyalist battalions, overran the surrounding country on all sides of New York and perpetrated many outrages. In November of the latter year a party of Americans, intent on retaliation for the outrages inflicted on their fellow-countrymen, rowed down the river and surprised and captured the guard stationed at the landing near De Lancey 's. They then pushed on to the house which, besides the servants, was occupied at the time by Madam De Lancey, her daughters, Mrs. Cruger and Miss Charlotte, and a visitor. Miss Elizabeth Floyd of Long Island. The young ladies were about sixteen years of age. According to Judge Jones, the Tory historian of the Revolution, the Americans treated the ladies with insult and brutality, even attempting to abduct Miss Floyd, who managed to escape from their grasp. The ladies fled from the house in their night clothes, and the mansion was looted and fired. Madam De Lancey 284 The World's Greatest Street concealed herself under a i^orch until the intruders had retired. Madam Cruger fled through the night and was lost; at dayHght she found herself seven miles from the house and was obliged to seek shelter in a farmhouse. The two young girls, shoeless and stockingless, fled across the fields and found refuge in a swamp, where they stood in the icy water up to their knees until daylight, when they sought the Apthorpe house and were taken in From Valentine's Manual, 1863 THE SOMERINDYKE ESTATE ON BLOOMINGDALE ROAD, NEAR SEVENTY-FIFTH STREET and cared for. The fine mansion was completely de- stroyed, but was not rebuilt, as the De Lancey property was confiscated by the State under the laws against the loyalists. The following advertisement of May 8, 1732, taken from the city's oldest paper, the New York Gazette, will show how different this section was at that time from what it is to-day, with its enormous apartment houses and hotels. P^ 285 286 The World's Greatest Street In the out ward cf the City of New York near to the seat of Mr. De Lancey called Bloomendal, there is to be Sold a Plantation with a very good Stone House, Barn and Orchard, containing about four or five Hundred Apple Trees, and a Pair Orchard, w4th a great many fine Grafted Pairs, [sic] The Land is very well Timber'd and Watered: It has a very fine Brook very convenient for a Fish Pond, containing about Two Hundred and Sixty Acres of Land and six Acres of Meadow, situate, lying and being near Bloomendal as afore- said. Whoever incline to purchase the same may apply to Thomas De Key, now living on the Premises, and agree on reasonable Terms. The Apthorpe House stood until 1892 on the block between Ninetieth and Ninety-first Streets and Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues in the centre of a farm which originally consisted of two hundred acres. It was built about 1765 and was a fine mansion with columns in front. The gentleman who built the house was Charles Ward Apthorpe, a wealthy lawyer of New York, who, though a personal friend of Washington, was a loyalist of a mild type. In consequence, he lost his estates in Massachusetts, but his New York property was untouched as he died in the old mansion in 1797. It came into the possession of Brockholst Livingston, and later into that of Colonel Thorne, who had married Miss Jauncey, whose family were great landowners in this vicinity, and it continued to be the scene of social events for half a century longer, when it became a public house and picnic ground under the name of Elm, or Wendell Park, During the Civil War, the extensive property was used for en- camping and drilling recruits before sending them to the front. The Protestants from the north of Ireland, commonly called Orangemen, held a picnic in Elm Park on the From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 287 anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, July 12, 1870. As they marched up the Boulevard, then in course of construction, some of the airs played by their bands aroused the ire of the Catholic Irish laborers upon the street, who began to stone the procession. A small- sized riot ensued, in which shots were exchanged and three persons were killed and several wounded, some of whom died afterward. The Orangemen announced their intention of parading in 1871, and the Catholic Irish threatened to break up the celebration. The parade was prohibited by the chief of police the day before which it was to occur. Upon this becoming known, several of the public business and commercial bodies held indig- nation meetings and asked: "If the Irish Catholics are permitted to parade unmolested on St. Patrick's Day, why have not the Protestant Irish an equal right to do the same thing under police protection?" Governor Hoffman was telegraphed for; and after consultation with leading citizens, revoked the police order prohibiting the parade and ordered out the militia to protect the paraders. In view of possible disorder, all of the Orange lodges, with one exception, gave up the idea of a parade and sought various picnic grounds outside the city. Escorted by five regiments, Gideon Lodge, with less than one hun- dred men, started on the designated line of march for Elm Park. The streets were filled with spectators, and there was no disturbance until the procession reached Eighth Avenue between Twenty-fourth and Twenty- fifth streets; then a shot was fired and a storm of stones and missiles was hurled at the procession from the neigh- boring house tops. Two of the regiments fired volleys without authorization, and, as a result, fifty-four spec- tators were killed or mortally wounded, while many 288 The World^s Greatest Street others received injuries. As is usual in such cases, among those hurt or killed were many innocent lookers-on. Three of the soldiers of the Ninth Regiment were killed, and many others received injuries from stones and brick- bats. The marks of the bullets are still discernible upon some of the houses in Eighth Avenue. These two affairs of 1870 and 1 87 1 are known in the history of the city as the "Orange Riots." The Apthorpe house is also connected with the greatest name in American history. After the fiasco at Kip's Bay and the escape of Putnam's division on the fifteenth of September, 1776, Washington took up his quarters in the mansion. Preparations were made for supper, when the approach of the British was announced and the Americans made a precipitate retreat, leaving their meal to be eaten by Howe and his staff, who made the house their headquarters for several days. The Dutch, with fervent patriotism, having named the city at the lower end of the island New Amsterdam, proceeded to name places in the vicinity of New Amster- dam after home places of which they were reminded in this new land. Thus, a beautiful village near old Harlem called Bloemendaal and famous for its horticultural nurseries gave its name to this section not far removed from the New Harlem on the island of Manhattan; and it is only a step from Bloemendaal to Bloomingdale. Owing to the large estate of Jacob Harsen between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-second streets, it was also called Harsenville. Harsen's Lane led from within the present Central Park from Sixth Avenue, west- ward between Seventieth and Seventy-first streets to Columbus Avenue, and thence to the Bloomingdale Road half a block south of Seventy-second Street. Drawn by Eliza Greatorex THE CHURCH AT BLOOMINGDALE 289 290 The World's Greatest Street Harsen's House was at Seventieth Street and the Bloomingdale Road,* The Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church at SLxty- eighth Street and Broadway is the successor of the original church established near the same site in 1805. It probably owed its birth to the prevalence of yellow fever in the city and the desire of those who fled to this locality to have church services. In 18 13, Andrew Hopper, of whom we have already spoken, was married here a second time. Some generous elder of the church society gave to it a large plot of ground for a parsonage, and its increment in value saved the church from ex- tinction. When the Boulevard was opened, the old church edifice was in its path and had to be removed; but the immense value to which the parsonage lot attained enabled the church society to erect the present beautiful structure. Rutgers Riverside Presbyterian Church is at Seventy- third Street. It was first organized in 1796 under the name of Rutgers Presbyterian Church and had its origin in the desire of expansion on the part of the New York Presbytery after the recovery of the city by the Americans from the British. A lot was donated by Henry Rutgers of the Reformed, or Dutch Church upon his property at the corner of Rutgers and Henry streets; and a frame edifice was built and opened on May 13, 1798. By 1841, the congregation had so increased that a stone church was built upon the same site; twenty years later, the neighborhood had so changed and the congregation had grown so small that the property passed to St. Teresa's * It must be remembered that these streets'did not exist, even on paper, until the acceptance of Randall's map of 1821 by the commission of 1807; and that the actual cutting through of streets above Fifty-ninth, except in some few cases, did not begin until after i860. From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 291 Roman Catholic Church, which still occupies the same site. Rutgers formed a union with the Madison Avenue Church of that time at the corner of Madison Avenue and Twenty-ninth Street, which had been opened for public worship in 1844. In 1875, a new and larger structure was erected; but by 1881 the same conditions of change in population were met as in Henry Street, and the church was closed, to reopen six months later for a period of three years during which the church lost steadily. At the end of 1884, it was determined to close the historic church and dissolve the society, but another attempt to revive it was made in 1886, At the end of two years, it was seen that this effort also was fruitless, and it was determined to build west of Central Park. The church on Madison Avenue was sold to the Masons of the Ancient Scottish Rite; and the new chapel at the Boulevard and Seventy-third Street, under the name of Rutgers Riverside, was opened September 23, 1888, to be followed later by the present fine edifice, which was opened January 19, 1890. Christ Protestant Episcopal Church is also an his- toric church. It was organized in 1793 and was first placed on a site on Ann Street, which it vacated in 1823 to occupy a newly consecrated edifice in Anthony Street which had formerly been occupied by a theatre. The building in Ann Street was sold in 1827 to the Roman Catholics, then poor in wealth and population, and was long used by them as a church. The church in Anthony Street was completely destroyed by fire, July 30, 1847, but it was rebuilt and reoccupied until 1854, when the society moved to West Eighteenth Street, remaining there until 1859, when a new church was erected at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street. When this last edifice was burned in 1891, the society moved to its 292 The World's Greatest Street present location on the Boulevard. The original Ann Street structure was destroyed by fire in 1834. The other churches in this vicinity south of Ninety- sixth Street are all of more recent organization. They are: Manhattan Congregational at Seventy-sixth Street, organized 1896; Roman Catholic Church of the Blessed Sacrament at the southeast corner of Seventy-first Street, organized 1887; the First Baptist Church at the northwest corner of Seventy -ninth Street, organized in 1891 ; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church at the north- east comer of Ninety -fourth Street, organized 1897. Wherever Broadway crosses one of the avenues of the island, we find at the crossing, or near it, an open space of a block or more to which the name of "park," or "square" is given, and that the cross street is usually broader than those above or below it. This is the case at Fourteenth, Twenty-third, Thirty-fourth, Forty- second, Fifty-ninth, Sixty-sixth, and Seventy-second Streets, where Broadway crosses University Place, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth (or Columbus), Tenth (or Amsterdam) Avenues respectively. To the space from Seventieth to Seventy- third Street, at the last-named crossing, has been given the name of Sherman Square in honor of the great general. In the triangular plot at the upper end of Sherman Square is a marble statue of Guiseppe Verdi, the great Italian composer. On the base of the pedestal are several marble figures representing some of the principal characters from his operas. The monument was built by subscriptions obtained from Italian residents, principally through the efforts of one of the Italian papers of the city, and was unveiled on October 2, 1906. As late as 1893, there stood on a height of rock on the south side of Eighty -fourth Street east of the Boule- 293 294 The World's Greatest Street vard, where the cutting through of the street had left it, an old colonial house, once the residence of Edgar Allan Poe, in which he wrote The Raven. Poe's wife Virginia was in poor health and the couple came here in 1844 and boarded with Mrs. Brennan in order that Mrs. Poe could get the pure, fresh air. In the olden time, before the surrounding land had been covered with modem dwellings, the house commanded a magnificent view both up and down the Hudson. Another famous mansion was a stone house standing at Seventy-ninth Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue. This was built about 1759 by John C. Vandenheuvel, a Dutch governor of Demerara, who came to New York to escape the fever and liked it so well here that he bought four hundred acres of land in this vicinity and built his country house upon it. The Vandenheuvel town-house was opposite the City Hall Park, between Barclay Street and Park Place. The property was vacated during the Revolution, and was sold by the Vandenheuvel heirs in 1827 to Harmon Hendricks, who leased it in 1833 to Burnham at a yearly rental of six hundred dollars. Burnham' s, near Seventy-fourth Street and the Bloomingdale Road, was the most famous road- house in this section from before 1820 until the proprietor opened the still more famous Mansion House in the old Vandenheuvel dwelling. After Bumham's occupancy, the property passed into the possession of a Frenchman named Poillon, who sold it in 1878 to the Astor estate. The old house stood until the spring of 1905, when it was demolished to make room for the enormous apartment house and hotel called the Apthorpe, which occupies the whole block in the middle of which the old house used to stand. The Somerindyke house, at Seventy-fourth Street From Forty-Second Street to Ninety-Sixth 295 and the Bloomingdale Road, was an interesting place, because here, so it has been frequently stated, Louis Philippe, afterwards king of the French, and his brothers taught school while in exile. Later authorities proclaim the story a myth, as the three noblemen while in this country drew upon the purse of their friend, Gouverneur Morris, for their expenses. When they returned to France and fortune, they forgot their generous American friend until he reminded them of the debt. Then they repaid, but treated the loan as a business transaction entirely. This aroused the ire of the old aristocrat, who could be as sarcastic in his old age as in his earlier days; and since they ignored the element of friendship which had entered into the loan, he demanded the interest and entered suit against them, and his heirs eventually received the money. In 1 83 1, a Mr. Foley rented an open space near the Bloomingdale Road and furnished pigeons for trap shooting. The sport was a favorite one, as two other similar places were opened by Batterson and Burnham within a short time later. All of these road-houses, as well as the Abbey, Woodlawn, and Claremont, were formerly the coimtry-seats of well-known families. Of these, Claremont, belonging to the Post family in old days, and situated above Grant's Tomb, is the only one remaining, though there is a later Abbey on the heights of Fort Tryon, below Inwood. Occupying the entire block from Eighty-sixth to Eighty-seventh Street, and from Broadway to Amster- dam Avenue, is the apartment house called the Belnord. It contains one hundred and seventy-six apartments, with from seven to eleven rooms each, and a correspond- ing number of bath-rooms. It is said to be the largest apartment house in the world, and contains 296 The World's Greatest Street a population of upwards of a thousand. It was opened in 1909. The names of some of these old places have a meaning ; but the same cannot be said of many of the new. We are supposed to be a democratic people — at least wc are always claiming it — yet we have our Marlborough, Buckingham, Royal, Marie Antoinette, Imperial, Em- From Valentine's Manual, 1864 THE OLD ABBEY HOTEL ON BLOOMINGDALE ROAD, 1 847 pire. Princess, and similar named hotels and theatres. Why not use some of the old Dutch, Knickerbocker, or Indian names? They are distinctive and their use would show that we have some historic interest in our own city. Just as a century ago, an American literature was established by Irving, Cooper, and others, so in these days we need some builders to act as pioneers for a new hotel and theatre nomenclature — a nomenclature that would mean something. CHAPTER XII FROM NINETY-SIXTH STREET TO ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHTH STREET T Eighty-fifth Street, the old Bloom- ingdale Road wound to the east- ward, returning to the line of the Boulevard at about Ninety-seventh Street. At One Hundred and Eleventh Street, it curved to the westward becoming in later days Riverside Avenue abreast of the park of that name, and did not return to the Boule- vard again until One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Street was reached. Here it curved up the hill, finally turning to the northward and eastward and joining itself with the Kingsbridge Road from Harlem (the Boston Post-road, Harlem Lane, or St. Nicholas Avenue) near One Hundred and Forty-seventh Street. At One Hundred and Eleventh Street, Broadway changes from its diagonal course and continues straight up Eleventh Avenue to One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street, where it merges itself in the Kingsbridge Road, which assumes the name of Broadway to the end of the island. As early as October 23, 17 13, there was passed: "An Act for Mending and keeping in Repair the Post-Road 297 298 The World's Greatest Street from New York to Kings-Bridge," by which act, on account of the bad condition of the road, it was divided into sections to be kept in order by the different city wards through which it passed. This act also said that the roads were to be cleaned up and maintained by the ''Inhabitants of All Towns, Mannors and Precincts by and through whose lands any Common publick Roads or highways have or shall run." There were supplemental acts in 1721, 1723, 1728, 1736, and every few years later. By an act of September 30, 1874, the Kingsbridge Road was to be opened, widened, and straightened from One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street to the Harlem River; but it remained unpaved and badly lighted for many years afterward. From One Hundred and Eleventh Street northward we have, therefore, two roads to consider, the old Bloomingdale Road and the modern Broadway. We have already carried the property owners as far north as Ninety-sixth Street. Above that point to Manhattan Street the principal owners were David M. Clarkson, James Stryker (Stryker Bay farm), Ann Rogers, John Jacob Astor, William Hayward, Gordon S. Mumford, James De Peyster, Nicholas De Peyster, New York Hospital (Bloomingdale Asylum), Henriques, Marx, Courtenay, and Thomas Buckley. In the old Dutch days, the land between Ninetieth and One Hundred and Seventh Streets, Eighth Avenue, and the Hudson, was granted by Stuyvesant to Teunis Ide ; so that the property belonging to owners on the above list as far down as William Hayward was originally on the Ide tract. Following the old road toward the river, we find that it is the eastern boundary of Riverside Park for some distance. Abreast of One Hundred and Twenty-third Street is the restaurant called Claremont, which com- mands a superb view of the river. It was erected a little 299 300 The World's Greatest Street over a century ago by Dr. Post and long remained in his family. Previous to 1812, it was occupied by Lord Courtenay, whose name appears in the list of owners above as having property below and contiguous to One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Street. Courtenay, who afterwards became Earl of Devon, came to this country, so it was supposed, on account of political or social troubles in England. One writer describes him as living as a recluse with one man servant ; another, as being of a handsome and winning personality and dispensing a charming hospitality. However that may be, when the second war with England occurred, he went back to England and did not return to this country, his plate and furniture being sold at public auction. Another tenant of the mansion for some time was Joseph Bonaparte, ex- king of Spain, who resided here after the downfall of his famous brother. For over fifty years the mansion has been a favorite road-house and restaurant. A few rods south of Claremont is the mausoleum erected by the people of the nation to contain the remains of the great commander of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant. His wife lies beside him. His funeral occurred August 8, 1885, and was the most imposing one ever seen in this city. The body was placed temporarily in a small, brick vault adjacent to the tomb, work upon which was begun upon his birthday, April 27, 1891. It was dedicated April 27, 1897, upon which occasion there was an imposing military and civic parade which attracted to the city hundreds of thousands of strangers. The day was one of great discomfort and suffering to the spectators along Riverside Drive, as it was cold, and a strong gale pre- vailed which swept up the river without hindrance. During the celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the Hudson and of the one hundredth Ittp'^^ 301 302 The World's Greatest Street of steamboat navigation under Fulton, in the fall of 1909, the ships of the different navies that participated were strung along the river for miles. The naval parade and illumination were witnessed by half a million people, who blackened the slopes of the park in the vicinity of the tomb so that the lawns were obscured. Returning to the present Broadway, we find to the east of the thoroughfare at One Hundred and Tenth Street, also called Cathedral Parkway, the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which has been in course of construction for over a quarter of a century upon the site of the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum, which was established in 1831. The corner- stone of the cathedral was laid September 27, 1892. On the blocks north of it are St. Luke's Hospital and Home for the Aged. The blocks above One Hundred and Sixteenth Street on the east side were occupied from 182 1 to 1894 by the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum, which had moved in the former year from the grounds of the New York Hospital at Thomas Street, and which moved in the latter year to White Plains in Westchester County. In 1892, the asylum property was secured by Columbia College, which moved to this site upon the vacation of the property by the asylum. In 1896 the college, the an- cient "King's," became a university. Adjoining Colum- bia on the west side of Broadway is Barnard College for the education of women ; and on the north is Teachers College, the professional branch of the university for the training of teachers. Though both are separate corpora- tions, they are closely affiliated with Columbia. Teachers College located here in the fall of 1894, ^^'^ Barnard in the fall of 1897. In One Hundred and Twentieth Street, 303 304 The World's Greatest Street adjoining Teachers College is the famous Horace Mann School, a private institution. wmm- ^ ^1^ v^^'Xvi -.^.^^^ v>^ !*ftWBr- TABLET IN WALL OF EXGiNEERlNG BUILDING, COLUMBL\ UNIVERSITY The university and college buildings, constructed in the best styles of modern architecture, constitute an im- From 96th Street to 168th Street 305 posing group upon the plateau of Morningside Heights. The hbrary building, containing in the neighborhood of 450,000 volumes, is probably the most notable. It is a gift to the university from its former president, the Hon. Seth Low, as a memorial to his father, an old New York merchant. One of its striking features is its great dome, which has been copied in a smaller degree in the con- struction of Earl Hall on the west of the library building. One of the professors who was abroad during the con- struction of the Hall, was asked on his return how he liked it. He scrutinized the new building and then let his gaze wander over the dome of the library. "It looks to me," he said dryly, "as if the library had laid an egg'' Upon the Broadway side of the west hall, is a bronze tablet commemorative of the Battle of Harlem Heights and the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton. As the tablet indicates, we are upon historic ground. From One Hundred and Tenth Street north to Manhattan Street, the ground is quite elevated and was called, from early days, Harlem Heights, though now known, from the public park contiguous to the plateau, as Morningside Heights. In the days of Stuyvesant, the property from One Hundred and Seventh Street to One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street had been granted to Jacob De Kay, though by the time of the Revolution several farms occupied the original tract. Manhattan Street, called in olden times the "Hollow Way," is a natural valley leading down to the river between the high lands lying north and south of it, and was from the earliest times of the Dutch a road leading down to the ferry to New Jersey. On the morning of September sixteenth, 1776, the American army was encamped north of the valley, and the British to the south of it, Howe's headquarters being in the Apthorpe House, and Washington's in the Morris 3o6 The World's Greatest Street House. The Chief was anxious to know the disposition of Howe's troops, and it is probable that it was about this date that Hale had volunteered to find out and had started on his fatal journey. At daybreak on the morn- ing of the sixteenth, two detachments of the Rangers under Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton and Major Leitch, a young Virginian, were started from the Point of Rocks on the north side of the Hollow Way for the purpose of getting in the rear of the British on Vanderwater's Heights (Columbia University grounds). A body of Americans was also advanced in a frontal attack; but through some error, firing began too soon and the flanking bodies were exposed to danger, but managed to return safely to the main body. One of the buglers with the British troops at "Clare- mont" sounded the fox chase, and the Americans took up the contemptuous challenge. A body of volunteers was sent into the Hollow Way to draw the enemy, while Knowlton and Leitch were sent again to fall upon their rear. The ruse was successful, and the British rushed down the bank to the attack, but were driven back. The Rangers instead of falling upon the rear of the enemy thus fell upon their flank. In the hot fighting that en- sued Knowlton was mortally wounded, dying an hour later. He fell, crying: "I do not value my life, if we but get the day." Leitch was also badly wounded and died from his wounds two weeks later. Both officers were buried in what later became Trinity Cemetery. Notwithstanding the fall of their leaders, the patriots fought with spirit, forcing the British back as far as a buckwheat field at about One Hundred and Twentieth Street, and from this position back to the one near One Hundred and Sixteenth Street, where Knowlton had first attacked them early in the morning. Things were From 96th Street to 168th Street 307 going hard with the British, and Howe ordered up reinforcements from McGowan's Pass; but Washington did not wish to bring on a general engagement, and, having shown the British his mettle, withdrew his vic- torious troops. The battle lasted about two hours and resulted in the death of sixteen Americans, the attacking party; while the enemy reported fourteen killed and seventy- eight wounded. While the so-called battle was little more than a large skirmish, it put new heart into the Americans. They were unprovided with shoes, clothing, blankets, guns and ammunition, they were disheartened by the defeat at Long Island and the loss of New York, they had been on the run for days, yet here they had taken the offensive against several of the crack regi- ments of the British army and had routed them; the British regular was no longer invincible. At the northern end of the park on the Heights are remains of fortifications which were erected during the War of 1 8 12. These were quite extensive in this region and had been constructed to command the westernmost entrance to New York from the north: other forts and block-houses being erected in the present Central Park to command McGowan's pass through which the eastern post-road passed. While many of our historic sites and buildings have disappeared during the development of the city (and most of them from necessity) it is pleas- ant to know that the few that remain are being so care- fully guarded and marked by the various associations which have grown up within the past twenty years. May the good work go on ! Abreast of the university buildings, the underground railway emerges from the subway and is carried across the valley of Manhattan Street by means of a viaduct, enter- 3o8 The World's Greatest Street ing the subway again upon the north side at One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Street. The village of Manhattanvillc formerly occupied this section through the valley as far east as Seventh Avenue. I remember when the Eighth Avenue horse-car route was extended as far as One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, and we considered we were securing wonderful transportation. At One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, we cross into the ancient town of New Harlem, whose southern, or western, boundary line extended from the Hudson, just south of the Fort Lee Ferry at Manhattan Street, in a straight line diago- nally across the island to Seventy-fourth Street and the East River ; the other boundaries were the East, Harlem, and Hudson Rivers. Midway between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, and extending from Lawrence Street to One Hundred and Thirty-third is a section three blocks long, called "Old Broadway." It is a relic of past times and marks the ancient bed of the Bloomingdale Road, several fine trees still lining its course. Hamilton Place above gives an approximate idea of the continuation of the old road to its junction with the Kingsbridge Road near One Hundred and Forty-eighth Street. Upon Old Broadway at One Hundred and Thirty-first Street is the R. C. Church of the Annunciation, organized in 1840. At the same location is Manhattan College, founded by the Christian Brothers in 1853, and constituting one of the leading secular educational institutions of the Catholic Church in the city. In 1899, I moved into the suburbs and did not revisit upper Broadway until the spring of 191 o. As a cyclist, I was familiar with the appearance of the street and its scenes of semi-rural beauty, with occasional mansions of the olden time. It did not seem possible that such From 96th Street to 168th Street 309 changes could have been made in eleven years as those I saw on my later visit. Of all the old country places only one remained, that at the northwest corner of One Hundred and Fifth Street ; and it was crowded up against the side of a great apartment house with a small plot in front of it, still green with grass and shrubbery. It looked lost amid such surroundings, but still retained its look of quiet dignity among the bricks and mortar that had usurped its former extensive grounds. From Manhattan Street north to One Hundred and Sixty-eighth, there was an almost unbroken line of "flats" on both sides of the thoroughfare ; and the side streets, with their heavy pitch to the Hudson, were almost equally built up. On the west side of the island, and north of the Harlem boundary line just mentioned, the lands belonged in common to the settlers of New Harlem as secured to them by the grond brief of Governor Stuyvesant under date of March 4, 1658, afterwards confirmed to them by English grants of Nicolls and other proprietary and royal govern- ors. The first grants below One Hundred and Seventy- fifth Street were made during Kieft's time to Jochim Pieters and were known as Jochim Pieters's Hills. These are the present Washington Heights, also called in former days Carmansville, after David Carman, one of the large property owners upon the Heights. During the time of Governor Andros, he granted to some of his favorites lands claimed by New Harlem; and the Harlem settlers, fearing that other common lands would be taken from them, petitioned the governor and obtained his consent in 1676 to a division of the common lands among them- selves in severalty. They began with the Kieft grants, and in 1691 and 1712, made further divisions under fear that Dongan and Hunter would follow the example of Andros and give their lands to outsiders. A considerable 310 The World's Greatest Street farm just north of the boundary and taking in the ferry site came into possession of Picter Van Oblinus ; but just how he secured possession is not clear, as the tract had been common land of the settlers. Perhaps, as he was one of the leading magistrates and officers of Harlem, he may have managed to secure it by means which we moderns call "graft." There were twenty-six lots in this first division of the Harlem common lands; and among those who drew these we find such names as Tourneur, Vermilye, Brevoort, Bussing, Delamater, Waldron, Dyckman, Low, Delavall, and Van Oblinus (Pieter and Joost). In the agreement concerning the division, we find there was a clause securing the maintenance of the Kingsbridge Road, the old Indian trail leading to the north end of the island. Coming down to the early part of the nineteenth century, we find the owners of these lands to be James Byrd, John Barrow, John Lawrence, Nicholas Delongue- mare, Elizabeth Hamilton (the widow of Alexander), Samuel Broadhurst, Beekman, Trinity Cemetery, Audubon Park, Samuel Watkins, Ebenezer Burnall, Robert Dickey, Hannah Murray, Stephen Jumel, Arden Rosannah Bowers, Abraham K. Smedes, and Moore. Attracted by the salubrity and healthfulness of Wash- ington Heights, several charitable societies located among the country estates, on or near the old road or upon Broadway. The Sheltering Arms, organized in 1864 for homeless children between five and twelve years of age for whom no other institution provides, is at Amsterdam Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty -ninth Street. The Hebrew Orphan Society, founded in 1822, is on the same avenue at One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Street. At Broadway and One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street is one of the grandest charities in the city, the Hospital / 311 312 The World's Greatest Street and Home for Chronic Invalids, commonly called the " Montefiore Home." It was founded in 1884 and is supported almost entirely by the voluntary subscriptions from people of the Jewish faith, as a memorial to the famous philanthropist. Sir Moses Montefiore; it is open to both sexes without distinction of race or creed. The present quarters have been found to be too cramped to carry out fully the desires of the trustees, and arrangements are already completed to transfer the Home to the Bor- ough of The Bronx on the Gunhill Road near Jerome Avenue. The new buildings are to cost $1,500,000, and will be designed to accommodate six hundred invalids, with all modern improvements for their comfort and health. The Colored Orphan Asylum, organized in 1837, was for many years at Amsterdam Avenue and One Hun- dred and Forty-third Street until its removal to Mount St. Vincent. At the time of the draft riots of July, 1863, the asylum was located at Fifth Avenue between Forty-third and Forty-fourth streets. The malice of the rioting crowds was directed against every one who showed color, whether man, woman, or child, and many negroes were hanged from near-by lamp-posts. Inspired by this hatred, the mob made an attack upon the asylum and fired the buildings, which were consumed; but, fortunately, the children were withdrawn safely through a rear entrance. With the money obtained as damages from the cit}^ that secured from the sale of the Fifth Avenue plot, and that subscribed by citizens, many of whom had never heard of the institution until the burning of the asylum, the new buildings were started on Washington Heights. The Institution for the Deaf and Dumb was incorporated in 181 7 with De Witt Clinton as first president of the society; it is located at One Hundred and Sixty-third Street and Fort Washington Avenue. The New York 313 314 The World's Greatest Street Juvenile Asylum, founded in 181 7 at what is now Madison Square, long occupied a portion of the Smedes property below One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street until its removal to Dobbs Ferry. Trinity Church secured the plot of ground between Amsterdam Avenue and the river and between One Hundred and Fifty-third and One Hundred and Fifty- fifth streets, and opened it as Trinity Cemetery in 1843. To it were transferred at that time, and later, the bodies from the graveyards attached to St. George's in Beek- man Street, St. Stephen's in Broome Street, and St. Thomas's in Broadway, as those edifices gave way to the advance of business and were sold by their congre- gations. Upon the stone fence at the corner of One Hundred and Fifty-third Street and Broadway is a bronze tablet erected by the Sons of the Revolution, stating that upon this height and through the cemetery grounds was constructed one of the southern outworks of Fort Washington. It was the first portion of the works to fall in the assault of November 16, 1776. When the Boulevard was constructed about 1870, the cemetery was cut into two parts connected by a suspension bridge. The grounds are laid out in terraces, and from the top of the hill the view looking down through the trees to the river is a beautiful one. General John A. Dix is buried here; and upon several occasions I have been the guest of the Grand Army post named after him, and have attended the ceremonies at his grave on Memorial Day. To look from above while the veterans wind their way up the hill to the strains of Chopin's Funeral March presents an affecting and beautiful scene which one long remembers. A monument in the form of an Irish cross at the northern entrance bears the name of the great American naturalist and ornithologist Audubon. From 96th Street to 168th Street 315 Washington Heights have only become accessible since the building of the subway. In my younger days it was a favorite walk for myself and a few companions. We took the Eighth Avenue cars as far as their terminus at Manhattanville, and then struck down to the Hudson through the Hollow Way, turning north on the railway tracks to Jeffrey's Point upon which Fort Washington was in part located ; then we climbed to the top of the hill, ending our walk at Kingsbridge and returning by the railroad. The roadway over which we tramped led through one private estate after another, giving us fine views of comfortable mansions and well-kept grounds, with glimpses through the trees of the noble river below and of the Palisades opposite. Most of these mansions have disappeared, though there are several that deserve mention. The James Gordon Bennett place occupied a part of the land upon which Fort Washington is situated. John James Audubon lived in Audubon Park above One Hundred and Fifty -fifth Street. Here he was far removed from the noise and turmoil of the city — the "crazy" city, as he called it — -which he loathed with all the feeling of a man whose life had been spent principally in the open air in communion with Nature. Here he died in 1851 and was buried in Trinity Cemetery. Audubon Park has disappeared, and in its place are a number of city blocks already filling up with great apart- ment houses. A few of the old mansions are to be found below the public driveway the city is constructing (Twelfth Avenue) above the tracks of the New York Central railroad. Some of those in the upper part of the old park have been converted into road-houses along the line of Fort Washington Avenue, which begins at One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Street. The block bounded by Broad- 3i6 The World's Greatest Street way, Twelfth Avenue, and One Hundred and Fifty-fifth and One Hundred and Fifty-sixth streets is a notable one ; for it contains a group of beautiful buildings, due prin- cipally to the generosity of Archer M. Huntington. These already completed are the American Numismatic Society's building, organized in 1858, and the build- ing of the Hispanic Society of America, which was opened in 1908. Two other buildings are in course of construction at this writing (May, 191 o), that of the American Geographical Society of New York, organ- ized in 1852, and a small Roman Catholic Church for services in Spanish. The buildings already occupied contain: the one, a collection of coins, medals, etc.; the other, paintings, illuminated and printed books, pottery, and archaeological specimens and relics from Spain, showing the progress of civilization in that country since the days of the Phoenicians. Alexander Hamilton owned an estate in this neigh- borhood on the Bloomingdale Road near One Hundred and Fortieth Street, and here he erected a handsome country-house which he named the "Grange" after the home of his grandfather in Ayrshire, Scotland. The house has been removed a short distance away to the east side of Convent Avenue, where it serves as the parish house of St. Luke's P. E. Church; so that it is assured of preservation for some time, at least. From the Grange, Hamilton used to drive to and from his ofhce in the city; after putting his affairs quietly in order, he took his last drive for his fatal meeting with Burr, without letting his "dear Betsy" have an inkling of the prospec- tive encounter. Of the thirteen trees planted by Hamilton in com- memoration of the thirteen original States, nothing now remains but the stumps and a few fallen logs ; these could From 96th Street to 168th Street 317 a year or two back be easily procured by the relic hunter in the playground adjoining the R. C. Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in One Hundred and Forty-third Street. When searching for them in April, 1910, I was told by a real estate agent of the vicinity that the boys who use the playground had built fires about the few remaining trees and stumps with the result of destroying them all. South of Hamilton Grange are the extensive buildings of the College of the City of New York, situated on the summit of what used to be called Breakneck Hill, up which wound in olden times the steepest and most dan- gerous road in the city, a portion of the old post-road. The site is a commanding one; and its selection shows good judgment upon the part of those who are responsible for this group of fine buildings containing the highest of the city's free, educational institutions. Mention of Burr brings to mind a still older and finer house than the Grange, and filled with associations even more historic. This is the Roger Morris, or Jumel, man- sion, which stands near the Kingsbridge Road at One Hundred and Sixty-first Street. The property which it occupies was originally conveyed by the town of New Harlem to one of the settlers named Hendrick Kiersen, in March, 1696. The grant lay between the present One Hundred and Fifty -ninth and One Hundred and Sixty- third streets, from the Kingsbridge Road to the edge of the cliff overlooking the Harlem River. The present edifice was built in 1 758 by Colonel Roger Morris as a home for his bride, Mary Philipse of the Yonkers. Morris and Washington were aides on the staff of General Braddock in that ill-starred officer's unfortunate campaign in the old French w^ar. Military business brought the young Virginian to Boston in 1756, and on his return he stopped at the house in New York of his friend. Colonel Beverley 3i8 The World's Greatest Street Robinson, where he met his host's sister-in-law, Mary Philipse. Tradition says that he fell in love with her, but there are no facts in the case. However, if he had proposed to her, it is not likely that she would have ac- cepted an impecunious land-surveyor, as Washington was at that time. So he passed on, and his former companion-in-arms, Roger Morris, won the brilliant and witty Mary. During the War for Independence, THE ROGER MORRIS, OR JUMEL, MANSION Colonel Morris, though at first inclined to take up the colonial cause, was persuaded by his wife, so it is said, to remain loyal to the king. In consequence, he lost all his property in America by confiscation. During the operations in this vicinity, Washington occupied the house as his headquarters from September 1 6th, to October 21, 1776, when he retreated to White Plains. During the British occupation of the island, it was the headquarters, off and on for over six years, From 96th Street to 168th Street 319 of Lieutenant-General Knyphausen, the senior officer of the German mercenaries. After the war it passed into the possession of a farmer; and while Washington was President, he and his Cabinet visited the house in July, 1790. It was in this house in the fearsome days of 1776 that Washington first met Alexander Hamilton, later offering the young captain of artillery a position on his staff, which Hamilton accepted. Thus began that close intimacy which was to be of such incalculable benefit to the country, the calm steadfastness of the older man supplementing and holding in check the brilliant genius of the younger. The property passed into the possession of John Jacob Astor, who sold it, about 1810, to Stephen Jumel, a wealthy French merchant of New York. His wife was a beautiful New England girl of whom conflicting ac- counts are given.* Jumel and his wife visited France, where they moved in the best society of the First Empire, returning with many beautiful articles of furniture, the loot of French palaces and chateaux. With these they decked their rooms, extending a generous hospitality, and entertaining such distinguished visitors as Talley- rand and Jerome Bonaparte. Jumel died in 1832; and Aaron Burr, then almost an octogenarian, but still possessing those wonderful powers of fascination for women of whatever age for which he had been notorious, came a-courting the widow. She withstood his impor- tunities; but Burr said finally that he would appear on a certain day with a clergyman and the wedding should take place. He kept his word, and Madam Jumel, to avoid a scandal, consented. Under date of Wednesday, July 3, 1833, Philip Hone says in his diary: "The cele- brated Col. Burr was married on Monday evening to the * Read The Conqueror by Gertrude Atherton. \ TREES AND STONE WALL MARKING THE WEST SIDE OF OLD BLOOMINGDALE ROAD, 1906. LOOKING SOUTHWEST FROM BROADWAY AT I24TH STREET. grant's tomb IN DISTANCE 320 From 96th Street to 168th Street 321 equally celebrated Mrs. Jumel, widow of Stephen Jumel. It is benevolent of her to keep the old man in his latter days. One good term deserves another." Madam Jumel was rich and Aaron Burr was poor; but old as he was, his brilliant, but misguided, genius impelled him to attempt once more to recover the ground he had lost since the duel with Hamilton and his trial for treason. His wife's wealth was to furnish the means, and this he squandered so lavishly that she asked for an accounting. He refused. Then followed scenes between the ill-matched couple, and, after one year of marriage, a separation. Burr died in poverty and obscurity on Staten Island in September, 1836, and his widow sur- vived him until 1865. Her last days were spent in a different fashion from those of her youth and middle age. She became a greedy and avaricious recluse, seeing few visitors, and hoarding her income, which grew to be large from the increment in value of her real estate. The final sale of her property was in 1882, or 1883; I remember driving up the Kingsbridge Road about that time and seeing the posters advertising the sale. General Ferdinand P. Earle was the last owner of the property in 1900, and he called the place "Earlcliff, " In 1 90 1, the mansion and what was left of the once large estate passed into the ownership of the city of New York for $235,000 for use as a public park and museum of colonial and Revolutionary relics. Two patriotic or- ganizations, the Colonial Dames and the Daughters of the American Revolution, sought the honor of being its custodians; but the legislature was not to be overcome by the blandishments of either party, and left the decision to the commissioner of parks, fairly shirking the re- sponsibility and putting it upon his shoulders. (Poor man!) The various chapters of the Daughters of the Drawn by Eliza Greatorex THE CROSSED KEYS TAVERN 322 From 96th Street to 168th Street 323 American Revolution located within the city formed a general committee to take charge of the historic mansion, later forming themselves into the Washington Head- quarters Association and incorporating March 17, 1904; whereupon the custody of the house was awarded to them by the park commissioner. The house is in an excellent state of preservation and remains almost as it was originally built. It stands on a bluff; and from its cupola a magnificent view can be obtained of the Harlem Valley and its bridges; and, so it is stated, seven counties in three different States may be seen from the same vantage point. There is a com- memorative tablet on the building, placed there by the Washington Heights Chapter, D. A. R., and another which bears this inscription : ' ' This property was acquired by the city of New York under the administration of Seth Low, Mayor, and was formally opened as a public park December 28, 1903." There is also a bronze medallion of Washington at the side of the doorway. The house was opened as a public museum. May 28, 1907, and is free to the public. At One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street Broadway merges itself in the Kingsbridge Road which, during the rest of its course to the bridge over Spuyten Duyvel Creek, assumes the name of Broadway. At the junction of the two roads, on the west side from One Hundred and Sixty -fifth to One Hundred and Sixty-eighth streets is the new resort of the baseball enthusiasts, the American League Park. In colonial days a stone house and tavern, called the Crossed Keys from its sign, stood on the Kingsbridge Road at about One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Street. A notice of it appeared in the Historical Magazine for October, 1881, which describes it as still in use. CHAPTER XIII FROM ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHTH STREET TO KINGS- BRIDGE NE Hundred and Eighty-first Street is an important cross thorough- fare, leading from the Washington Bridge, and toward the west to Fort Washington. Holyrood Chapel of the P. E. Church, organized in 1893, is situated on it at Broadway. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Elizabeth, organized 1870, is at One Hundred and Eighty- seventh Street, and the Mt. Washington Presbyterian Church, organized in 1846, is at Dyckman Street, where the road leads down to Inwood Station. It is a quaint, country-like church with a tall steeple painted yellow. The Holyrood Chapel was built less than fifteen years ago and the property cost about fifteen thousand dollars; the land is now worth two hundred thousand dollars, and the church has already accepted an offer for it and will move to Fort Washington Avenue. This transaction gives an indication of the increase in values of land in this vicinity. On the river bank at Jeffrey's Neck, where is now located Fort Washington Park, was the Revolutionary fortification of the patriots, erected under the plans 324 326 The World's Greatest Street of Major Rufus Putnam, Washington's engineer. The outworks of the fort extended in all directions for over a mile, and on the Jersey shore of the river was Fort Lee. It was expected that these two forts, with the obstructions placed in the river for the purpose, would prevent the passage up the stream of the British vessels; but in this expectation the Americans were disappointed, as the war vessels sailed safely through the obstructions. Much against his own judgment, Washington, instead of dismantling the fort upon his own evacuation of the island, listened to the request of Congress and left it with a garrison under Colonel Magaw. After their unsuccessful Westchester campaign, the British turned their attention to the reduction of Fort Washington. After several days of preparation, they carried it by assault on November i6, 1776, and Magaw and his three thousand troops became prisoners of war to die and rot in the New York prisons. Thus the Americans lost their last foothold on Manhattan Island. The fort was occupied by the British and was renamed Fort Knyphausen in honor of the leader of the Hessians who had taken the principal part in its capture. We have a rather general idea that the Hessians were fit only for looting and other outrages. One has only to look at the precipitous bluff below Fort Tryon, the northernmost of the fortifications below Inwood, to realize that they could also fight upon occasion. Loaded down with paraphernalia weighing fifty pounds or more and carrying a musket weighing sixteen pounds, they stormed these bluffs and carried them in the face of the finest marksmen in the world. The lines of the old fort are plainly visible, and as they are within a public park, they bid fair to be preserved for all time. On November 16, 1901, the anniversary of the battle, an appropriate 327 328 The World's Greatest Street monument and tablet were dedicated on Fort Wash- ington Avenue, at the base of one of the old ramparts, the land being given for the purpose by James Gordon Bennett the younger, the proprietor of the New York Herald. The earthworks of Fort Tryon, just below In- wood, are easily discernible near the former residence of Will'am Muschenheim of the Hotel Astor. Beyond One Hundred and Seventieth Street, the Kingsbridge Road finds its way down the hill on to the Dyckman meadows between a precipitous bluff on the east, the Laurel Hill of earlier days where Fort George, one of the outer defences of Fort Washington, was located, and an equally bold line of bluffs on the west continuing to the end of the island. There is a passage through these to the Hudson to which the name of Inwood is given. This is the present terminus of Lafayette Boulevard which is itself virtually an extension of Riverside Drive. North of Inwood, the greater part of the land may be said to have constituted the old Dyckman property, though there were some other owners. Near the extreme end of the island, Governor Kieft made two grants to Matthys Jansen and Huyck Aertsen in 1646 and 1647; but the town of New Harlem later owned the tract at the wading place, of which more later, as common land. The Jansen and Aertsen tracts afterwards became the home farm of Jan Dyckman. The original home of the Dyckmans stood on the bank of the Harlem River near Two Hundred and Ninth Street but was vacated by the family during the Revolution when they left with the Americans. Upon their return, they found that their homestead had been burnt, and nothing but its ruins remained. A new homestead, still standing, was built at the corner of Broadway and Hawthorne Street; but 329 330 The World's Greatest Street how much longer it will stand unless measures are taken to preserve it, is a question easily answered when we take into account the fate of other ancient buildings. Associated with Dyckman was Jan Nagel, both of whom were young, enterprising, and progressive men, who in time secured by lot, purchase, and exchange nearly all of this upper end of the island. The Dyckmans, P'3 JUi i ni=Jn3-..:^j,.,;ijiF''W*»i5re^ STRANG HOUSE, OLD DYCKMAN HOME, BROADWAY AND TWO HUNDRED AND NINTH STREET both of this section and of the adjoining county of West- chester, were patriots during the Revolution, and several of them served as guides and scouts for the American marauding parties; one of them, Lieutenant William Dyckman, was killed at Eastchester near the end of the war. A monument commemorating his death and that of Lieutenant-Colonel Greene and Major Flagg of Rhode Island was erected som.e years ago at Yorktown Cemetery in the northern part of Westchester County. Greene and Flagg were killed at Pine's Bridge over the From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 331 Croton River during a raid of De Lancey's corps of loyalists.* Above One Hundred and Seventieth Street, there are still several estates on the west side of the road, and the green lawns and fine trees make a scene of great beauty. As in the days of old, a number of the mansions have been converted into road-houses where the autoist may refresh himself. But the doom of these places is near at hand ; for the street department of the city govern- ment is cutting through and filling in, and before many years have gone by we shall see solid blocks of houses occupying these still beautiful sites. Luckily, the con- figuration of the ground is such that the old rectangular plan of blocks has had to be modified, and we find avenues and streets curving and winding up the adjoining hillsides. To the east the meadows present no such problems, and it has been simply a matter of filling in the lines of the streets. The property has been on the market for a few years and is gradually being occupied; one thing in its favor being that, though it is a longer ride on the subway to business the passenger is reasonably sure of obtaining a seat in the cars instead of hanging by a strap. In- corporated in the wall of the property above Hawthorne Street on the west side is one of the old brownstone mile-stones, reading "12 miles from New York." On the west side of the old Kingsbridge Road, on the lane leading to Fort Washington (One Hundred and Eighty-first Street) there stood in colonial days a popular tavern known as the Blue Bell. Cadwalader Golden, while on a journey to New York in October, 1753, stopped here and later wrote to his wife: "It was very well kept by a Dutchman named Vandewater, and our food and lodging were very comfortable." Tradition says it was * See the author's novel, A Princess and Another. 332 The World's Greatest Street the headquarters of General Heath who was in charge of the American defences near Kingsbridge before the evacuation of the island by the patriots in 1776. The Hessian Colonel Rahl also occupied it after the attack on Fort Washington, One of his aides fell in love with the pretty daughter of the house and promised to remain in America if she would marry him. His commanding officer, as well as the girl's parents, favored the match, and so they were married. When the Hessians were captured at Trenton, the young husband refused to be exchanged, but took the oath of allegiance to the United States and, with his wife, settled in East Jersey. When the patriots were marching into the city at the time of the British evacuation, it is said that Washington stood in front of the house while the troops marched past in review. At the same time he gave into custody a young British deserter who had married a girl at the Blue Bell the day before and who did not w-ant to accompany his comrades on their departure from this country. The tavern was still standing in 1848, as a contemporary writer makes note of the fact; and it is further shown by an advertisement in the same year in which Stephen Dolbeer notifies his friends and the public that "he has opened the Blue Bell tavern, at Fort Washington." "Felix Oldboy" says that the Dutchman, having found a place for his home and garden, immediately be- gan to look about him for a place to dig a canal. We have seen how popular the section containing the canal in Broad Street became. Plans were early proposed for connecting the East and Hudson Rivers by way of the Collect Pond and the stream which took its overflow into the Hudson through Lispenard's meadow; and when the improvements in Canal Street w^ere made, even in American days, they at first took the form of a canal From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 333 lined with trees. The old Dutch settlers proposed digging a canal from the Harlem mere by way of Matje David's Vly, the Hollow Way, or valley through which Manhattan Street leads to the Fort Lee Ferry. In 1827, a company was incorporated for the purpose of doing what had been suggested a century and a half before by using the same route. Elaborate plans were formulated, glowing prospectuses were issued, some of THE BLUE BELL TAVERN the stock was subscribed for, a part of the work was actually done, — and then the whole scheme collapsed. It was reserved for the national government to carry out at last this two-century-old scheme of connecting the two rivers and to save vessels bound from one river to the other the long and hazardous trip around the island of Manhattan. The tortuous windings of Spuyten Duyvil creek did not commend that stream to the engineers, who decided to cut through the base of the limestone hill at the northern end of the island, about Two Hundred and Twenty-second Street, deepen the 334 The World's Greatest Street Harlem, and connect it by a wide and deep cut with the western entrance of Spuyten Duyvil creek from the Hudson. Several years were spent in the work and $2,700,000 were expended before the ship canal was opened for traffic, June 17, 1895. At the same time the city erected a great drawbridge to carry Broadway across the new waterway. When the subway was con- structed, it was found that this bridge would not be strong enough to carry the increased burden, and a clever engineering scheme was devised to remove the old bridge and replace it with one suited to the increased prospective weight. The new bridge was constructed on floats and taken to the canal; then large flatboats were placed under the old bridge, and as the tide rose it lifted the floats and the bridge with them. The floats were then towed away and the new bridge drawn into the vacant place. As the tide fell, the floats fell with it and the new bridge was thus lowered into place. The plan worked so well that there was but little loss of time or interruption to traffic over the roadway. Later, the New York Central Railroad determined to wipe out the circuitous and dangerous passage through Kings- bridge. A dike was built across the Harlem River below the Farmers' Bridge, and the tracks were laid upon a shelf blasted out on the northern bank of the canal. The Indian name of the stream connecting the East and the North Rivers was Muscoota; but from the very earliest days the part of the Harlem River nearest the Hudson was called Spuyten Duyvil creek, though how it received this name is still a question. Many reasons have been given, but none that is entirely satisfactory. The most likely is that the name was given from the spring of water which "spouted" from the hill near the 336 The World's Greatest Street end of the island; and mention is made of this spring in several of the early English grants. Another, offered by Riker, is that the Indians of this neighborhood, remembering their first encounter with the HalJ-Moon off the mouth of the creek and the firing of the falcon that killed several of them, called the creek "Spouting Devil"; but this explanation would presume on their part a knowledge of English, which they could not have possessed until sixty years afterward. Before the con- struction of the ship canal, the tides used to race through the creek with great rapidity, and when the two tides from the Harlem and Hudson Rivers met, the tide rips thus formed caused a great turbulence in the creek, so that the water "spouted," or was thrown into the air, a fact that will be remembered by those acquainted with the creek in those days. Upon ancient maps and records we find many variants of the name; as "Spitting devil," "Spiking devil," "Spitten devil," "Spouting devil," "Spiken devil, "—but many of these we may lay to bad spelling, as colonial orthography was no better than that of the present-day schoolboy. It is to Irving that we must go for a picturesque origin of the name. He says: .. u.^ Resolutely bent, however, upon defending his beloved city, in despite even of itself, he [Petrus Stuyvesant] called unto him his trusty Van Corlaer, who was his right hand man in all times of emergency. Him did he adjure to take his war-denouncing trumpet, and mounting his horse, to beat up the country night and day — sounding the alarm along the pastoral borders of the Bronx — startling the wild solitudes of Croton — arousing the rugged yeomanry of Weehawk and Hoboken — the mighty men of battle of Tappaan Bay — and the brave boys of Tarry Town and Sleepy Hollow. . . . From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 337 It was a dark and stormy night when the good Anthony arrived at the creek (sagely denominated Haerlem river) which separates the island of Mannahata from the main land. The wind was high, the elements were in an uproar, and no Charon could be found to ferry the adventurous sounder of brass across the water. For a short time he vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then bethinking himself of the urgency of his errand, he took a hearty embrace of his stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across en spijt den Duyvel, (in spite of the devil !) and daringly plunged into the stream. Luckless Anthony! scarce had he buffeted half way over, when he was observed to struggle violently, as if battling with the spirit of the waters — instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement blast — sunk for ever to the bottom. The potent clangor of his trumpet . . . rung far and wide through the country, alarming the neighbors round, who hurried in amazement to the spot. Here an old Dutch bur- gher, famed for his veracity, and who had been a witness of the fact, related to them the melancholy affair; with the fearfiil addition (to which I am slow of giving belief) that h saw the duyvel, in the shape of a huge moss-bonker, seize the sturdy Anthony by the leg, and drag him beneath the waves. Certain it is, the place, with the adjoining promontory, which projects into the Hudson, has been called Spijt den Duyvel, or Spiking devil, ever since. . . . Nobody ever attempts to swim over the creek after dark; on the contrary, a bridge has been built to guard against such melancholy accidents in the future — and as to moss-bonkers, they are held in such abhorrence, that no true Dutchman will admit them to his table, who loves good fish and hates the devil. At low tide there was a natural ford through the creek which was used by the Indians and by the early settlers. This is spoken of in the early records as ''the loading place,'' and was situated where the present 338 The World's Greatest Street Broadway crosses. During the administration of Gov- ernor Lovelace, the Harlem people established a ferry to the mainland from about Second Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, and Johannes Ver- veelen was made the ferryman. Rather than pay his KINGSBRIDGE AND SPUYTEN DUYVEL CREEK BEFORE IT WAS FILLED IN rates, the farmers and other travellers continued to use the ford; and so a fence was erected to prevent access to it and to oblige people to use the ferry. Several times the fence was torn down; and, finally, Verveelen made a virtue of necessity and the ferry was moved to the wading place. At the same time he was granted sixteen acres of land in what had been the Jansen grant of 1646, which the Harlem people claimed because the Jansens had not made the required improvements called for by their patent. Later, the Jansen heirs tried to recover the land; but Governor Lord Bellomont would From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 339 not sign the act of the provincial legislature restoring their right to it. From the Indian name, the place was known as Papariniman, or Paparinemo. The ferry was the only means of getting to and from the mainland until 1693, when Frederick Philipse secured his patent for the Manor of Philipsburgh, one clause of which required that he should build and maintain a bridge across the creek, for which he could charge and collect toll, and that it should be called "The King's Bridge." He was also required to conduct a tavern for the accommodation of travellers, and the rates were fixed; but there was free passage for farmers and others on the day preceding a fair, during its continuance, and the day after, as well as to troops, their guns and their equipment, and to persons on government or public business. In 1712, the bridge was removed to its present site but its days are apparently numbered, for the creek has been completely filled in on the west and there is a scheme to fill it in on the east as far as the New York Central tracks and to use the land thus made for a base- ball field. It will be a great pity to see this old landmark go. Over it crossed the retreating army of the Americans in the fall of 1776; over it they crossed again in 1783 when they came into their own again; and during the war it was used constantly by the British. For many years, the farmers of Westchester County objected to paying the tolls upon the bridge to help fill the coffers of the manor lord; and in 1758, Jacob Dyckman, Frederick Palmer, and others succeeded, notwithstanding the active, preventive measures of Frederick Philipse, in building a free bridge across the creek at the foot of the present Two Hundred and Twenty- fifth Street. This is officially known as the Farmers' Bridge, though locally, as "Hadley's" from one of the 340 The World's Greatest Street early land-owners in the vicinity. The free bridge was opened with a barbecue and great rejoicings on the first of January, 1759; and the ancient toll bridge was soon forced to become a free bridge, also. Dyckman erected and maintained a tavern on the Manhattan side; on the Westchester side, the bridge conducted travellers into CENTURY HOUSE, NEAR SPUVTEN 1)1 \ \ II. rKl.i:K, HARLEM RIVER, I861 John Archer's village of Fordham; i. e., the ham, or town, at the ford. The tavern became immensely popular on account of the diversion of traffic from the old bridge, but it did not pay, and in consequence Jacob Dyckman was obliged to make an assignment. His property of thirty acres was sold February ii, 1773, to Caleb Hyatt, who con- tinued to conduct the tavern and who was succeeded by his son Jacob, so that it became known as Hyatt's Tavern, and is so spoken of by General Heath in his memoirs. From 168th Street to Kingsbridge 341 The Farmers' Bridge was destroyed by the British when at the end of the war they left this section. On the bank of the Harlem, near Two Hundred and Thir- teenth Street, Jan Nagel, 2d, built a stone house in 1736, which was known for many years as the Cen- tury House. Its destruction is only quite recent. Up to within twenty years ago, boats used to ply on the Harlem from the Third Avenue bridge as far as the Century House. There were the Tiger Lily and several others; and the sail was a pleasant one, the boat stopping at High Bridge and other places where there were beer gardens and similar pleasure resorts, and connecting with the fast boats which formerly ran from Harlem Bridge to Peck Slip — this was before the days of the elevated railroad. There are a good many Revolutionary associations connected with this neighborhood; for the British had two forts on Marble Hill near the end of the island. These were Fort Prince Charles and the Cock Hill Fort; they also had two pontoon bridges connecting with the mainland, one near the Hudson and the other below Fort George ; in addition, Tubby Hook was also fortified. On the day of the assault upon Fort Washington, No- vember 16, 1776, Lord Cornwallis with several thousand troops went through the creek in a flotilla of boats for the purpose of attacking the fortifications from the Hudson River side; after the fall of the fort this section remained in the possession of the British until the close of the war. Heath describes an attempt to recover Fort Independence from the enemy in December, 1776, during which the Americans attempted to place a cannon on the opposite bank of the Harlem so as to get the range of the forts on Marble Hill; but the British acted first and opened fire on them so that the patriots had to scam- 342 The World's Greatest Street per up the bank, dragging their gun behind them. The fire from the Americans, however, sent the Hessians OLD KINGSBRIDGE HOTEL. A POPULAR ROAD-HOUSE OF FORMER DAYS within their forts and into the cellars of the houses for safety. At Two Hundred and Twenty- seventh Street is a large building, giving evidences of having seen better days. It is called the Kingsbridge Hotel, but was more famous in the days of the horse as the Kingsbridge Inn, when it was a favorite road-house. CHAPTER XIV THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX AND LOWER WESTCHESTER COUNTY 'N the year 1639, Comelis Van Tienhoven, the fiscal, or secretary, of the Dutch West India Company, bought from the Indians a tract of land called Keskeskeck on the Maine, north of the Harlem River, whose eastern boundary was Bronk's kill, and western, the Noordt, or Hudson River; the northern limits of the tract were indeter- minate. Owing to the fact that the first settler was Jonas Bronk, the eastern portion of this purchase was called " Brouncksland " and the river near his house and farm was called Bronk's River, from which we get, by easy transition, the Bronx. On November i, 1683, the proprietary of New York was divided into twelve counties, and the land just mentioned became a part of Westchester County. Strung along on the east bank of the Hudson was a number of Indian villages belonging to the Manhattans, the Weckquaesgeeks, the Sint Sincks and other kindred tribes of the Mohicans. Between these villages were Indian trails which were used by the incoming whites ; 343 344 The World's Greatest Street these, in time, developed into wagon roads, and the Albany Post-road, the present Broadway, was such an expansion of the old Indian trail with modifications as far as Albany. On the nineteenth of June, 1703, the colonial assembly passed: "An act for the Laying out Regulateing Clearing and preserving Publick Comon highways thro'out this Colony," part of which reads as follows: And one other Publick Comon General Highway to Ex- tend from Kings Bridge in the County of Westchester thro' the same County of Westchester Dutchess County and the County of Albany of the breadth of Four Rod English Measure at the Least to be Continued and remain for ever the Publick Comon General Road and Highway from King Bridge afore- said to the Ferry at Crawlew over against the City of Albany. This was the legal beginning of the post-road, but it was many years before it became a post-road in the ordinary accepted meaning of the term. From the Philadelphia Almanack of lyyg, we take the following extract from the table of roads from Phila- delphia to Crown Point: From Philadelphia to New York, 97; to Kingfbridge, 15; to Cocklins, 22 ; to Crotons Riv., 12 ; to Peekfkill, 10 ; to Rogers, 9; to Fifhkill, II; to Poughkeepffe, 14; to Staatfborough, 11; to Rynbeck, 6; to Schermerhorns, 10; to Livingftons M., 14; to Claverack, 7; to Kinderhook, 14; to half way H., 10; to Albany, 10 a total of 175 miles from New York to Albany. The place termed "Cockhns" is in Tarry town and should be Conklin's ; as we find in the town records of Greenburgh, Westchester County, under date of 1742: "fore overzeers for the Kings Roads Jacop Conklin, for the Road from tomas storm [Thomas Storm's] to the mills [Philipse's on The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 345 the Pocantico — this would be a portion of Broadway] . . . and Joseph Conkhn, Junr." Upon crossing the Spuyten Duyvil Creek by the ford, the ferry, or the bridge, the traveller arrived on a marshy island called Paparinemo. The Indians called this section Shorrack-kappock, and they had a village on Spuyten Duyvil, or Berrien's neck called Nipnichsen. Northward of Paparinemo was a great meadow, or marsh, through which meandered Tibbett's brook, the Mosholu of the Indians. The traveller could not, there- fore, go north, but was obliged to turn toward the east through the marsh to the higher and dryer ground on the east side of the valley. Later, about 1695, a causeway was built on the line of Macomb Street, which made it easier and dryer. Upon reaching the higher ground the road divided, the main one going up over the hill and across to Williamsbridge and Boston, the other turning northward and crossing to the west side of the valley in front of the Van Cortlandt mansion; this latter was the Albany Post-road and was opened as far as the Saw- kill in 1669. About 1808, the Highland Turnpike Com- pany filled in the marsh above the bridge and continued the road up the middle of the valley, erecting gates and charging toll; this is the approximate line of Broadway of the present. The first white owner of this section after the purchase of 1639 was Adrien Van der Donck, a native of Holland and a lawyer by profession. He was an educated and well-to-do man, and he bought from the company and the Indians a large tract extending several miles up the Hudson. In Holland the sons of a gentleman are called jonkheer, and Van der Donck was always called de Jonkheer Van der Donck. His tract was called by the English the "Jonkheer's land"; which, by natural con- 346 The World's Greatest Street traction, and since the Dutch "j" is pronounced "y, " became the Yonkers, the name by which this section was known until about 1830, when it became simply Yonkers. Under the provisions for forming patroonships adopted by the company in 1629, Van der Donck took steps to form his purchases of 1646 into a patroonship ; but he was disHked by Governor Stuyvesant, whose arrogant will he had attempted to thwart, and he did not succeed in becoming a patroon until 1653, dying within a couple of years later. His property of Colon Donck (Donck's Colony) as it was called by the Dutch, or Nepperhaem, as it was called in his grond brief, or land patent, passed into the possession of his widow, who married Hugh O'Neale of Patuxent, Maryland, before 1651. She turned the property over to her brother, Elias Doughty, in 1666. He sold the tract to various purchasers, one of whom, Frederick Philipse, became in time the owner of nearly all that had belonged to Van der Donck as well as a great deal more, carrying his territory as far north as the Croton River. He was the richest man in the colony and was called by the English "the Dutch mil- lionaire." In 1693, his land was formed into the English manor of Philipsborough, or Philipsburgh ; at the same time he built the bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek and as manor-lord became responsible for the maintenance of the road to the bridge, the Albany Post-road. During the time of Governor Fletcher, Philipse was more deeply interested in the piratical and contraband trade than any other merchant, and his name was sent to England as one of those who should be investigated. He was one of the backers of Captain Kidd in Bellomont's time, and it is stated that Lord Bellomont remarked that: "If the coffers of Frederick Philipse were searched, Captain The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 347 Kidd's missing treasures could easily be found." As a result of Bellomont's attempts to suppress the "free" trade, Philipse resigned from the council and retired to his manor about 1698 and spent the remaining years From a photograph THE GODWIN, FORMERLY THE MACOMB HOUSE, KINGSBRIDGE of his life in its development. He died in 1702, at the age of seventy-six. The first manor-lord was succeeded by his grandson, also a Frederick Philipse, and a minor at the time of his grandfather's death; and he, in turn, was succeeded by his son. Colonel Frederick Philipse, the third and last manor-lord, in 1751. Colonel Philipse was a Tory, or at least a neutral, during the Revolution and lost his estate by confiscation in 1779 under the laws against the loyalists enacted b}^ the State legislature. He died in England in 1785, having gone there to live when the exodus of the British took place in 1783. The British 348 The World's Greatest Street Government reimbursed him for the loss of his possessions, paying him about three hundred thousand dollars. The bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek is faced by a square stone house, known as the Godwin house, which was built by Alexander Macomb in the early part of the nineteenth century and was long occupied by his widow. Edgar Allan Poe, who lived at Fordham, less than two miles away, was a frequent visitor at the Macomb house. Incorporated in the mansion, it is believed, is the old inn which was erected by Frederick Philipse in 1693 and maintained by various inn-keepers for over a century. It was known at one time as Cock's Tavern ; and at another time, Cooper, in his novel of Satanstoe, makes the land- lady a Mrs. Lighte. His hero, Comey Littlepage, and his friend Dirck stopped at the inn upon several occasions. In the early part of the nineteenth century, General Alexander Macomb secured the right of establishing mill-dams and mills upon the Harlem River. The stream was dammed at the present Central Bridge near the terminus of Eighth Avenue, and also at Spuyten Duyvil, and a mill erected at the latter place. The scheme was unsuccessful, nor did the general's son do any better. The mill stood on the northern side of the creek, not far from the ancient bridge, and was supported by piers in the water, as well as on the land. The power was that of the tide. After the failure of the plan, the mill stood for many years unused; it was then converted into a boarding-house for workmen, but was finally deserted. It became in time a menace to life and was indicted as a nuisance, but in 1853, it took itself out of the way during a heavy storm and fell to pieces. The old road curves around the Godwin house lot, and a short distance above is Macomb Street, the site of the original causey connecting the bridge with the The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 349 village of Fordham which was situated near the present Putnam railroad station. As we proceed north, on our left is the rocky core of the island of Paparinemo, but within half a mile we are crossing the meadows contiguous to Tibbett's brook, which gets its name from one of the purchasers from Doughty of the Van der Donck land. VAN CORTLANDT MANSIOX IN VAN CORTLANDT PARK These meadows extend for a considerable distance; but if we measure the future by the past, there is no doubt that within twenty-five years, they will be drained, filled in, and built upon. Overhead, the "subway" thunders to its termination at Van Cortlandt Park, to be extended some of these days to the Yonkers line. In the year 1788, the legislature of the State formed several new counties and divided them, as well as the existing ten, into townships. The town of Yonkers extended to Spuyten Duyvil Creek on the south. In November, 1872, the lower portion was formed into the 350 The World's Greatest Street township of Kingsbridge; and on January i, 1874, it became a part of the city of New York and a part of the Twenty-fourth Ward. After the formation of the greater city in 1895, it became a part of the Borough of The Bronx, There are many historic associations connected with the spot, for here all travellers to and from Manhattan had to cross until the new bridge was erected over the Harlem near Third Avenue in 1797 and Coles laid out his new Boston Road through Morrisania. On Spuyten Duyvil neck the Americans constructed three redoubts to command the creek, and on Tetard's hill to the east, they erected a more pretentious affair, which they named Fort Independence, which commanded the bridges. When the British occupied the place in the fall of 1776, these redoubts were strengthened and formed Numbers One, Two, Three, and Four of a chain of eight redoubts along the creek and the Harlem. They served as bases for the marauding parties that went out through the country and also as havens of refuge in case of retreat. For a number of years preceding 1905, contractors were engaged in laying an immense trunk sewer under the highway, and the different strata of soil were exposed so that one could easily trace nature's work in filling in this ancient bay. The road was regraded and repaved and the trolley line connecting with Yonkers became more pleasant to ride upon, as passengers were not subjected to the bumps of the uneven road, nor to delays in waiting for other cars on the single track road. Then followed the change in the tracks of the New York Central which did away with several of the most dangerous grade crossings in the State. As we cross the meadows, we find that they are closing in and that the land north of us is becoming higher. On our right we soon come The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 351 to Van Cortlandt Park with a group of fine trees about the old mansion, very frequently miscalled the "manor- house. " The first wife of the first Frederick Philipse was a widow with a daughter Eva, whom Philipse legally VAN CORTLANDT PARK. THE DAM AND MILL adopted as his own. She married Jacobus Van Cort- landt to whom Philipse sold fifty morgens of land at a bend of Tibbett's brook called George's point. Here \^an Cortlandt erected his house, dammed the brook, and built mills which were used until about 1880, but which were demolished about five years ago by the park department, as they were too rotten to repair and too dangerous to be left standing. The house stood between the dam and the group of locusts; its foundations and some old Butch bottles and pottery were discovered in 352 The World's Greatest Street grading the grounds here about ten years ago. It is supposed that Van der Donck's house had formerly occupied the same site. The mansion now standing west of the dam, and used as a museum of Colonial and Revolutionary relics under charge of The Colonial VAN CORTLANDT PARK. RUINS OF OLD MILL, REMOVED IN I903 Dames of the State of New York, was built in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt, who died in the following year. As the property received from his father Jacobus was entailed, it passed to Frederick's eldest son, also a Jacobus, and was known as "Lower Van Cortlandt ' s, " a second son, Frederick, at the time of the Revolution city clerk of New York, having a place on the post- road a short distance above and known as "Upper Van The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 353 Cortlandt's," or the "white house." At this latter place, the British usually kept an outpost throughout the war. It was captured by General Lincoln in the advance against Fort Independence and the other fortifications in this neighborhood in December, 1776, by an expedition under Major-General Heath. On the east side of the valley, near the junction of the Boston and the Albany post- roads, Richard Montgomery, afterwards a major-general in the army, who was killed at Quebec, had a farm after he had resigned from the British army and had come to America, where, he said "he could hide his pride and his poverty." The Colonel Jacobus Van Cortlandt of Revolution? ry times was a Tory of a mild type, and his patriotic friends and neighbors who were so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the British often had their condition ameli- orated by the exertions of the kindly gentleman. The house has entertained distinguished visitors, including Washington and Rochambeau during the grand recon- naissance of the allied armies in the summer of 1 781. Washington also stopped here on his way to the city with Governor Clinton and General Knox in November, 1783. The old line of Broadway still exists to the west of the present highway, wandering through the hamlet of Mosholu. On the west is the Riverdale ridge with its knobby hummocks of land, in the midst of which the fleeing Stockbridge Indians sought refuge after their defeat by Simcoe, Tarleton, and Emmerick a couple of miles away in the northeast corner of Van Cortlandt Park. The entire Van Cortlandt estate and other property, amounting to 1 132 acres, were acquired by the city of New York in 1884 and formed into Van Cortlandt Park, which lies to the east of Broadway up to the city line. Just north of the Van Cortlandt mansion is the parade 23 354 The World's Greatest Street ground, which is also used for the game of polo. At its upper end is the high hill known as Vault Hill, where are the burial ground and vaults of the Van Cortlandts. Upon the evacuation of New York by the Americans in 1776, Frederick Van Cortlandt, the city clerk, hid MONUMENT ON INDIAN FIELD, VAN CORTLANDT PARK the city records within the vaults, but they were soon discovered by the British and returned to the city hall. After the reconnaissance in force of the allied armies which were threatening New York in the summer of 1 78 1, news reached Washington that the Count de Grasse with his fleet was approaching the capes of the Chesa- peake and that Lafayette had Cornwallis trapped in Yorktown, Virginia. The armies were paraded as if to attack New York, but were at once wheeled about The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 355 and took up the march for the King's Ferry at Ver- planck's Point below Peekskill. In order to deceive Clinton and make him believe the armies were still north of the Harlem River, extensive camp-fires were main- tained for several days on Vault Hill ; and Clinton did not know that the allies had departed until he received word from his outposts that the Americans and the French were half way across the Jerseys on their way to Phila- delphia and Yorktown; then it was too late to intercept them. The land becomes higher as we approach the city of Yonkers. The southern suburbs of that progressive city have been developed principally within the past five years, a development due to the completion of the subway to Van Cortlandt. South Broadway, as the thoroughfare is known in Yonkers, passes down a steep hill to Getty Square. Here are two buildings of special interest, the Hollywood Inn and St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church. Hollywood Inn was built for and presented to the workingmen of Yonkers by the late William F. Cochran, a wealthy manufacturer and philanthropist of the city, as a club-house for their use. It is unsectarian, and no attempt is made to use it for anything else than for the recreation, amusement, and instruction of the men, among whom it numbers a membership of over a thou- sand. It is probably the pioneer among workingmen's clubs in this country, and the plan of management and the way it is conducted have served as models for similar enterprises, both in this country and in others. On the outskirts of the city there is also an open-air ground for baseball and other out-of-door games. St. John's Church owes its being to the secona manor- lord. The first Frederick Philipse was a member of the 356 The World's Greatest Street Reformed Dutch Church, but his grandson, having an English mother and being born and brought up in Bar- bados, became a devout member of the Church of England. During the greater part of colonial days, St. John's was - 'j YONKERS, GETTY SQUARE, HOLLYWOOD INN, AND ST. JOHN S CHURCH a part of the parish of Westchester, the rector of St. Peter's at Westchester borough town coming to the Yonkers once a month. The first church edifice was erected in 1752, under a legacy made by the second manor-lord, who had died the previous year. Colonel Philipse, his successor, supplemented the benefactions of his father and secured a glebe to the church, which remained as a mission until 1787 when it became a separate parish. Besides the rectors of St. Peter's at The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 357 Westchester, from 1764 onwards, the church had its own ministers who were furnished by the Propagation Society in London; but the church still remained a part of Westchester parish. The first of these ministers was Harry Munro, the second was Luke Babcock, who main- tained the king's side so loyally that at the outbreak of the Revolution he was captured by a party of raiders and treated so inhumanly that he died from the effects of his ill-treatment. His widow was courted by Colonel Gist of the American forces, who used to visit her as often and as secretly as he could, with his force to protect him. This becoming known to the British, an elaborate plan was devised for his capture by Simcoe, Emmerick, and De Lancey, which only failed of bagging Gist and his whole command through the stupidity of some of the German mercenaries of the British. A third minister was George Panton ; but as his term was during the Revo- lution, he found his labors both unsatisfactory and dangerous. In 1791, the church edifice was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt the following year. When the present edifice was erected in 1870, the people were so attached to the old building and its associations that as much as possible of it was incorporated in the new. The most interesting building in the city is the old manor-house of the Philipses, which was used as a city hall until 1909, when Mrs. Cochran, the widow of the philanthropist, secured it and turned it over to the local patriotic and historical societies for preservation. It bears the dates 1 682-1 882, they being placed there at the bi-centenary celebration in the latter year. The first manor-lord erected a strong stone building which was used as a trading post and mills, and which was called by Philipse the "lower mills." The present building, which has the original one incorporated with it, was built 358 The World^s Greatest Street by the second manor-lord in 1745. Workmen and materials were imported from England especially for the construction of the mansion; and the elaborate carvings and workmanship are visible to-day. Every kind of available tree and plant that would grow in this climate was imported and planted in the gardens, which reached down to the bank of the Hudson in a series of From a photograph PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE, YONKERS terraces. Some of the boxwood hedges were in 1830 ten feet high. Every person of distinction who visited the province was made welcome and entertained by the manor-lord. In the attic of the house, so it was said, there were quarters for fifty household servants alone; from which some idea may be gained of the lavish scale upon which these great landowners lived. Besides negro slaves, of which there were very few, the servants and employees consisted of bond-servants, or redemptioners. But these manor-lords were not landowners only; they were great merchants whose ships visited all parts of the The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 359 world with which the navigation laws permitted them to trade and brought back the productions of every clime. Nor did they always obey these laws ; for it is a notorious fact that about one third of the colonial trade was contra- band, and that the great, noble, and wealthy merchants of all the colonies thought it no sin to cheat the king of his revenue whenever they could find or make the opportunity. In addition to their foreign trade, they carried on a fur trade with the Indians in the valley of the Mohawk and as far west as the French permitted them to go. In 1785, the commissioners of forfeiture appointed by authority of the state sold the confiscated estates of Colonel Philipse, preference in purchase being given to the old tenants of the manor lands. In this way the manor-house with three hundred and twenty acres sur- rounding it came into the possession of Cornelius P. Low, a merchant of New York, for fourteen thousand five hundred and twenty pounds. In 18 13, the property passed into the hands of Lemuel Wells, who died in- testate in 1842. His widow and heirs divided the prop- erty up into lots, and they were sold under orders of the Chancery Court. Five years later, the Hudson River Railroad was built, and Yonkers began to grow. It became a city in 1872, and it now has a population of over eighty thousand inhabitants. It is a great manufacturing city of varied industries, but the chief outputs are carpets, rugs, and hats. The power for many years was fur- nished by the Nepperhan River, which was dammed in several places. These dams were broken by the authorities in 1892 on the score of their being dan- gerous to the public health. Van der Donck had erected a saw-mill on the river, and the stream had been called de Zaag kill, or Sawmill River, by which 360 The World's Greatest Street name it is better known to-day than by its Indian name of Nepperhan. We pass up a very steep hill in leaving Yonkers toward the north, where the highway is called North Broadway; this is on the flank of one of the numerous hills upon which the city is situated and which is called Boar, or Hog, Hill. The Americans encamped here upon numerous occasions during the Revolution when engaged in guerilla warfare, and in 1781, during the advance of the allied armies, it was the right of the Amer- ican line. The ancient road came into the control of the Highland Turnpike Company about 1806, which pro- ceeded to improve and straighten it, erecting gates and charging toll for its maintenance. It thus became known, not only as the Albany Post-road, but also as the High- land Turnpike, and so appears on many documents describing property or residence. Up to a few years ago, this portion of the road was bordered with the elegant mansions and estates of wealthy merchants and professional men, but the real-estate broker has taken possession and the suburban villa is rapidly appearing. The most famous of these estates was that of "Grey stone," the residence of Samuel J. Tilden, now the property of Samuel Untermeyer, a prominent lawyer of New York ; Untermeyer was credited with having received in January, 1910, the record fee of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for a case upon which he had been engaged for two or three years. The next place through which Broadway passes is Hastings, a village in which there were some manufac- turing industries when it was first started in 1850, but which is now given over almost entirely to residential purposes. It is in the township of Greenburgh. Two incidents of the Revolution are recorded as happening The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 361 here. After the fall of Fort Washington, six thousand troops under Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson at Hastings for an attack upon Fort Lee, which was evacu- ated in such haste by the Americans that they left much of their baggage behind them. The other incident occurred in Edgar's lane and probably gives rise to the story of the Headless Horseman, who, according to the legend, was a Hessian. Colonel Sheldon of the American army, hearing that a body of Hessians under Lieutenant Wurtz was coming out on a marauding expedition from Philipse's (Yonkers), placed his dragoons in ambush in the lane and awaited their approach. The Hessians were guided into the trap by a farmer of the neighbor- hood named Peter Post, who was afterwards maltreated by the enemy for his share in the affair. The Hessian dragoons, unaware of their danger, rode carelessly along; suddenly the Americans were upon them at full charge. Many of the Hessians were killed and wounded and several were driven into the river where they were drowned or captured. This was in the spring of 1777. Dobbs Ferry got its name from the fact that one of the tenants of the Philipses was a Swede named Jere- miah Dobbs, who added to his gains as a fisherman by ferrying people across the Hudson during colonial times. His ferry boat was a periauger, a large canoe or dugout made from a single tree. The name has been rather obnoxious to the wealthy residents of the place, and several attempts have been made to change it. As early as 1830, Van Brugh Livingston filed deeds under the name of Livingston's Landing, and the new name was used for probably thirty years ; but the old name would not down. In 1870, a calm, deliberative meeting was held to decide upon a new name for the village, and that of Paulding, one of the captors of Andre, was almost agreed upon 362 The World's Greatest Street when a gentleman arose and made a speech in a serious vein to the following effect. He said he was no worship- per of Dobbs ; he disliked that his home should be identi- fied with such a low place as a ferry; double names es- pecially were uncouth and undesirable ; and he had known '^''^^'J^ From a photograph PHILIP VAN BRUGH LIVINGSTON HOUSE, HEADQUARTERS OF WASHINGTON, DOBBS FERRY Paulding personally and could not brook him. Van Wart, who had also aided in the capture of Andre, was a Christian gentleman; he, therefore, moved that in- stead of calling the place Paulding-on-Hudson, that the Van of Van Wart be stricken off and the place be called " Wart-on-Hudson. " The speech gave such a ridiculous turn to the whole affair that the meeting broke up and nothing further was attempted at that time. The village was later incorporated under the name of the township, Greenburgh; but this name has had no better The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 363 luck in supplanting the ancient name than did that of Livingston's Landing. On Broadway at Dobbs Ferry, we find an old fash- ioned house in front of which is a monument bearing in bold letters the names of Washington and Rochambeau. This is the Philip Van Brugh Livingston house, though the part of it referred to in the legend carved upon the stone is the rear part of the house. The legend states that in this house were the headquarters of Washington and that here he and the French commander, Rochambeau, planned their campaign against Yorktown, and that from this vicinity the allied armies took up the march. It states further that in 1783, the British commander-in- chief. Sir Guy Carleton, visited Washington under a flag of truce for the purpose of arranging with the latter the manner and date of the British evacuation of New York City; and further, that it was from this house that Washington, Governor Clinton, and the escort under General Knox took up the march down the post-road to re-enter the city of New York. The Indians located in this neighborhood were the Weckquaesgeeks, from whom Philipse bought the land; in consequence, it is described in his manor grant as the Weckquaesgeek tract. There is a good deal of Revolutionary history connected with Dobbs Ferry, as it is fairly within the famous "Neutral Ground" of the great struggle, and every place within that district was subjected to the raids and marauds of both sides. After the Westchester campaign of 1776, the Americans established a line of posts from the mouth of the Croton River eastward to the Sound to prevent the British from getting into the Highlands. The enemy established a similar line of posts in the neighborhood of the Harlem River, extending from Kingsbridge through Fordham, 364 The World's Greatest Street Morrisania, Westchester, Eastchester, and Pell's Manor (Pelham). In the summer time, these were extended to Yonkers, Valentine's Hill, and New Rochelle. There was thus between the two armies a tract twenty miles wide which was not in the possession of either — this was the Neutral Ground. The Americans were commonly known as "the upper party" and the British as "the lower." In addition to the regular troops and militia of both sides, there were bands of land pirates, or bushwhackers, who, under the guise of patriotism or loyalty, robbed, burned, and destroyed with great impartiality, tortur- ing, and even murdering, anybody out of whom they thought it was possible to extort anything in the way of plunder. These predatory bands were called "Cow- boys" and "Skinners"; the former being the British, who, at least, did their work under some semblance of authorization, the latter being the Americans, who did their nefarious work without the semblance of consent, except tacit, on the part of the officers on the Hnes. These marauders could change their politics with great rapidity as occasion required.* Irvington is the next place through which the post- road passes. This constituted the Bissightick tract of the Philipsburgh manor; but its name is due to Washing- ton Irving, who lived here until his death, after his return from his embassy to Spain. "Sunnyside lane" leads down to the shore of the Hudson to one of the most famous homes in America, "Sunnyside," where the genial writer entertained his friends, who constituted all that was best in the American culture of the period. In an interesting letter of Irving's, dated Madrid, Oct. 18, 1842, he says: * See Cooper's The Spy. y i-^yi -<•,'«< V /^^ / ^ A. From the etching by J. D. Smillie WASHINGTON IRVING 365 366 The World's Greatest Street You ask me about my own movements; for many years I have made none, having built for myself a snug cottage near Sleepy Hollow, on the banks of the Hudson, which I stocked with young nieces, like a dove-cote, and lived there the happiest of old bachelors. ... In an evil hour, how- ever, the Government having got information, somehow or other, that I had wonderful talents for diplomacy, though in a latent state, threw the bait of an embassy at Madrid, like a gilded fiy, into my quiet retreat, and drew me out like a trout. Irving has entwined many legends about the old stone house with its irregular formation and high gables, "as full of angles and comers as an old cocked hat. It is said, in fact, to have been modelled after the cocked hat of Peter the Headstrong, as the Escorial was modelled after the gridiron of the blessed Saint Lawrence. " It was built, Irving states, by Wolfert Acker, a privy coun- cillor of Peter Stuyvesant, "a worthy, but ill-starred man, whose aim through life had been to live in peace and quiet." He sadly failed; for "it was his doom, in fact, to meet a head wind at every turn, and to be kept in a constant fume and fret by the perverseness of man- kind. Had he served on a modern jury, he would have been sure to have eleven unreasonable men opposed to him." He retired in disgust to this place, which was then a wilderness, built the gabled house and "inscribed over the door (his teeth clenched at the time) his favorite Dutch motto, 'Lust in Rust' (pleasure in quiet). The mansion was thence called Wolfert's Rust (Wolfert's Rest), but by the uneducated, who did not understand Dutch, Wolfert's Roost." Later, the chronicler goes on to say, the farm came into possession of Jacob Van Tassel, a valiant Dutchman who espoused the cause of the patriots. Of his exploits 367 368 The World's Greatest Street with his famous goosegun, you may read in the Sketch Book. The old house was the domicile of the blooming Katrina Van Tassel, beloved by the Yankee pedagogue, Ichabod Crane, and by the blustering, swaggering Brom Bones. It was from here that the unfortunate Ichabod, stuffed full of Dutch dainties and ghost stories, began that wonderful ride along Broadway in which he was to meet the Headless Horseman and forever disappear from the ken of men — all of which you may read in A Legend of Sleepy Hollow* Besides Irving, Westchester County along the Hudson has been the home at various times of many men and women who have been more or less connected with lit- erature, who found inspiration in the beautiful hills or from the lordly river. Among those resident at Yonkers were William Allen Butler, the distinguished lawyer and author of Nothmg to Wear, in which he pictures the distress of "Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square"; Dr. Dio Lewis, the famous physician and physical culturist; Mrs. E, D. E. N. Southworth, whose romantic novels were the "thrillers" of a certain portion of our reading public a generation ago, and Melville D. Landon, the humorist, who is best known under his pseudonym of "Eli Perkins," and whose death at Yonkers was noticed in the press of December 17, 1910. Another name con- nected with Yonkers is that of Frederick W. Cozzens, a retired wine merchant, who gave no indication of his literary ability until he had reached the half-century mark. He was the author of the ' * Sparrow Grass Papers, published in Putnam's Monthly, and became famous as a humorist. Perhaps there is something in the air of Yonkers that creates humor, for one of the most popular * See the part of this volume describing Kinderhook for the originals of these characters. The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 369 of living humorists, John Kendrick Bangs, is also a resident of the place. He once ran for mayor, but was on the wrong side, the Democratic, and so suffered defeat; though the story he got out of his experience probably paid him better than the office would have done. Ad- miral David Glasgow Farragut, though not an author, succeeded very well in writing his name upon the scroll of fame ; he was a resident of Hastings at one time. John William Draper, M.D,, LL.D., the eminent chemist and physiologist and the writer of many books and treatises on these subjects, lived at Irvington before his death there in 1886. Jay Gould, the famous financier, was a resident of Tarrytown. We do not think of him as being a writer, yet in his younger days he was the author of a very good history of Delaware County. The upper part of the township of Mt. Pleasant, now called North Tarrytown, was especially favored by writers, among whom was General James Watson Webb, the veteran editor and journalist, whose house was at one time occupied by General John C. Fremont, the famous "Pathfinder" and the first candidate of the Republican party for the presidency. Another resident was Alexander Slidell McKenzie, the distinguished naval officer and author of lives of Paul Jones, Oliver H. Perry, and Stephen Decatur, as well as of other works. General Adam Badeau, author of The History of General U. S. Grant and Aristocracy in England, passed most of his boyhood here and was a resident until 1856; Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, who opened the ports of Japan to outside commerce, was a literary man in so far that he furnished the data for a history of his famous expedition ; A. C. Wheeler ("Nym Crinkle"), the poet and critic, also spent his boyhood here, and Hamilton W. Mabie, 370 The World's Greatest Street critic and essayist, lived for some time in North Tarry- town. Edward March Blunt, the distinguished navi- gator and author of Blunt' s Coast Pilot, now continued by the United States Hydrographic Office, was a resident of Sing Sing; and Henry Ward Beecher spent his summers at his country-place, "Boscobel, " at Peekskill. Albert Bierstadt, the famous artist of a generation or more ago, LYXDEHURST, HOME OF MISS HELEN M. GOULD had his home on the heights at Dobbs Ferry in a fine castellated mansion, which was destroyed by fire. Our route along Broadway passes the mansions and estates of wealthy residents who thus far have succeeded in keeping the trolley cars from the historic highway, the last effort in that direction being in opposition to a bill before the Legislature of 1910. To mention these owners would be to give a list of the greatest and best in the business, political, literary, and professional life of New York for several generations. The grounds are beautifully kept, and the houses are homes of comfort and refinement. There is one at which we must stop The Bronx and Lower Westchester County 371 before entering the village of Tarrytown. It belongs at present to Miss Helen Miller Gould, whose patriotism was shown during the Spanish War and since by many acts of kindness for the benefit of the soldiers and sailors of the United States. The estate is called Lyndehurst, and was originally the home of Philip R. Paulding. While Philip Hone was driving through this section in 1 84 1, he seems to have been impressed by the extrava- gance of the owner of "Paulding Manor," as the prop- erty was called when built in 1 840 ; for he calls it derisively "Paulding's Folly." In my boyhood days the estate was the property of a gentleman named Merritt and was called "Merritt's Folly," as the owner was deeply in- terested in horticulture and expended, so it is stated, over one hundred thousand dollars in the magnificent conservatories and greenhouses which still adorn the place, and to which Miss Gould kindly allows the public access on all days except Sundays. The property came into the possession of the late Jay Gould as a summer home, and at his death descended to his daughter. Be- sides the collections of ordinary plants from all the zones, there is here located what was for a long time the finest collection of orchids in the country. The name Tarrytown awakens thoughts of romantic and historic interest, for so many legends are attached to the locality. Once the scene of Revolutionary struggle and of easy Dutch life, it now contains the palatial homes of Standard Oil magnates and representatives of our modem industrial life and activities. The name Tarrytown is, itself, illusive. No one knows positively where it came from — probably from two brothers named Terry who were early settlers, though it is also said it came from "tarwe, " meaning wheat. But Irving, with that gentle humor which has accounted for so many 3/2 The World's Greatest Street things in this valley of the Hudson which he so dearly loved, says that the village received its name from the fact that on sloop days the farmers of the neighborhood used to bring their produce to be shipped to New York, after which they tarried so long at the taverns that their wives called the place Tarrylown. So, for want of a better reason, we are obliged to accept Irving's. The Indians had one of their villages here near the mouth of the Pocantico, which they called Alipconck, or the "place of elms." They sold to Frederick Philip se in 1 68 1, and it is described in his manor grant as the Pocantico tract; but in colonial days it was known as "Philipse's. " The property descended to the first manor-lord's second son Adolphus; but as Adolphus was unmarried the Upper Yonkers went at his death to his nephew Frederick, the second manor-lord. Many affrays took place between the contending armies during the Revolution, one of which is marked by a bronze tablet on the railroad station; and the locality was occu- pied alternately by the troops of both sides; but the ancient earthworks have disappeared under modern improvements. On Mount de la Salle the Brothers of the Christian Schools have St. Joseph's Normal College for the training of teachers for the Catholic schools; and distributed along the hills are many private schools and military academies of the first class for both sexes. On the west side of the road, after we have passed the trolley line coming from White Plains, is a modest edifice, Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, upon the front of which is a tablet conveying the information that Washington Irving was for many years a communicant and warden of this church, and that "he fell asleep in Jesus, November 28, 1859." CHAPTER XV UPPER WESTCHESTER COUNTY FEW rods beyond Christ Church we come upon a monument on the west side of the road which com- memorates the patriotism of three sturdy yeomen and marks the spot of the beginning of one of the sad tragedies of the Revolution. The monument is of native marble and is surmounted by the bronze figure of a minute- man, resting upon his long rifle and looking with attention up the road as if watching the approach of a traveller. There is a bronze bas-relief on the base depicting the scene that the monument commemorates and several inscriptions on the sides. The one most interesting to visitors is that which reads: On this Spot the 22nd day of September, 1780, the Spy, Major John Andre, Adjutant General of the British Army, was cap- tured by John Paulding, David Williams and Isaac Van Wart, all natives of this County. History has told the rest. 373 374 The World's Greatest Street On the north side of the pedestal is another inscrip- tion: "Their conduct merits our warmest esteem. They irom a photograph by F. Ahrens MONUMENT TO THE CAPTORS OF ANDRE have prevented in all probability our suffering one of the severest strokes that could have been meditated against us. " — Washington, The monument was erected by the people of West- chester County and dedicated October 7, 1853, and was upper Westchester County 375 remodelled as it now stands in 1880, the statue being given by one of the patriotic citizens of Tarrytown. At these latter ceremonies ex-Governor Samuel J. Tilden presided, a prayer was offered by the Reverend Alexander Van Wart, the only surviving son of the captor, and the oration was delivered by Chauncey M. Depew. Let us see briefly what history has told. A party of young men came down from the upper county on a scout during the night of the twenty-first, hoping to intercept some marauders on their way to the British lines. Three of them, the captors mentioned on the monument, kept on to the post-road, the rest of them remaining on the Bedford Road, which comes into Broadway a few rods above the monument. How this party on the Bedford Road failed to see and to stop Andre is a mystery. Upon reaching the post-road, two of the men began to play cards beside the bank of a small brook which here crosses the road, while the third took his post on the highway. The two playing cards were well screened by the bushes. They took turns acting as picket, and during the course of the morning there passed several persons whom they knew. A little before nine o'clock in the morning the tramp of a horse's feet was heard, and the two men in the bushes called to Paulding, who was on guard: ''Here comes a gentleman on horseback. He has his boots on. You 'd better stop him." As a key to what happened, it may be stated that Paulding had escaped from the New York prisons in the week preceding the capture, and that while there his coat had been taken by a German yager, who had given in exchange his own old green coat — the wearer was, therefore, in appearance one of the German mercenaries. At the approach of the mounted gentleman Paulding 376 The World's Greatest Street presented his firelock and commanded him to stop. The horseman looked Paulding over for a moment, and probably supposing from the green yager coat that this was the British picket of whose presence on the Tarry- town Road he had been apprised, said: "God bless you, my lads, I hope you belong to our party." "Which party?" was asked. Without hesitation the gentleman replied: "Why! the lower party. I am a British officer; I have been up the country on important business and do not wish to be detained"; and pulled out his gold watch and showed it to them in order to convince them of the truth of his statement. Whereupon they replied: ' ' We do not belong to the lower party ; we are Americans ; you are our prisoner." His face changed somewhat at this; but after he had dismounted, he came forward with a smile and said: "God bless my soul! A man must do anything these times to get along. Here is a pass from General Arnold. I am on his business ; and if you detain me, he will be angry." The pass was presented and was given to Paulding, the only one of the trio who could read. This is the pass: Head Quarters Robinson's House, Septr. 22nd, 1780. Permit Mr. John Anderson to pass the Guards to the White Plains, or below, if He Chuses, He being on Public Buisness by my Direction. B. Arnold, M. Genl. The pass appeared to be all right, and the yeomen were in doubt as to what they should do; when one of them said: "Let us take him into the bushes and search him." Their search revealed no weapon and no money, except some Continental bills. They then made him remove his boots, and there appeared a lump in one of his silk stockings; they made him remove the stocking Upper Westchester County 2>11 and found three papers; then the other stocking was removed and three more papers were disclosed. Paulding saw that they were reports on army matters and ex- plained to the others. "My God!" they exclaimed, "he is a spy. " They then asked him what he would give them to let him go. He made several offers of merchandise, of his horse and watch and of money up to five hundred guineas; but they refused, and ordering him to mount, said they would take him to the nearest American out- post, which was at Sands' Mills above White Plains (the present Armonk). They testified that his face became very serious, and that during the whole journey drops of perspiration streamed down his face. Asked if he would escape if he had the chance, he said he would; whereupon they said grimly: "We '11 see that you don't get the chance"; and he made no attempt. Arrived at Sands' Mills, they turned their captive and his papers over to Lieutenant-Colonel Jamieson of Sheldon's Dragoons, whose lack of judgment under the circumstances was Httle short of criminal ; for he imme- diately wrote a note to Arnold apprising him of the cap- ture of Mr. Anderson, in whose possession had been found some papers of a very compromising tendency which the writer had sent on to the Commander-in-Chief, then conferring with the French officers at Hartford, Connecti- cut. At the same time that the note was sent, Anderson was also sent with an escort to Arnold's headquarters. In the evening Major Tallmadge arrived from duty at the White Plains, and upon being informed of the capture and of the appearance of the prisoner, at once came to the conclusion that he was a person of some importance and that Arnold was in the scheme, whatever it was. He at last prevailed upon Jamieson to recall the prisoner, 378 The World's Greatest Street but could not persuade his superior to recall the note to Arnold. In consequence, the note reached Arnold while he was at breakfast with Hamilton, Lafayette, and others who had preceded the Chief on his return from Hartford. This gave Arnold the news of the capture of his agent, and, excusing himself on the plea of going across the river to West Point to meet Washington, he took a hurried farewell of his wife and infant child, rode to the boat landing, entered his barge and was rowed down the river to the British sloop-of-war Vulture, which had brought Andre up the river and which was awaiting his return. Arnold used his handkerchief as a flag of truce, went on board the vessel and disclosed his identity; upon which the Vulture returned with all speed to New York to let Sir Henry Clinton know of the capture of his beloved aid. Though the captain of the vessel was unwilling to do so, Arnold insisted upon having his boat's crew taken prisoners, and they were taken to New York with him, Clinton setting them at liberty immediately. The prisoner was brought back to Sands' Mills in a very dejected state of mind, as the express sent after the party had overtaken it at Peekskill, almost in sight of safety. Tallmadge now took charge of the prisoner, and with a large escort carried him farther within the county, as it was feared that an attempt at rescue would be made. While stopping in Sheldon's quarters in North Salem for orders, the captive asked for paper and ink and wrote a letter to Washington, disclosing his identity and telling how he came to be within the lines in disguise. Washington at once ordered a court- martial composed of eleven of the highest officers in the army, presided over by Nathanael Greene, who was famous for his kindness of heart. Upon Andre's own i fe 379 380 The World's Greatest Street admissions before the court and his letter to Washington, he was adjudged a spy and amenable to the law of nations. He was hanged at Tappan on October second in the presence of the whole army, hardly a man of which UPPER MILLS OF FREDERICK PHILIPSE (1682), NORTH TARRYTOWN could refrain from tears at the sight of the ignominious death of the handsome, brilliant, and engaging young fellow. From the time of his capture until the time of his death, he was treated with the greatest consideration and sympathy; and unofficially an attempt was made to exchange him for Arnold, which, of course, Clinton would not and could not do. A short distance above the monument the road de- scends a steep hill and crosses the Pocantico, a pretty upper Westchester County 381 stream which comes down from the Westchester Hills. The post-road passed originally along the hill, crossing the Pocantico east of the church; but the building of the first Croton aqueduct between 1835 and 1840 caused the change in the road to its present location. The old bridge over which Ichabod Crane swept in his mad flight from the Headless Horseman was a short distance up the stream from the present crossing. Below the bridge are the "upper mills" of the Philipses, which date from 1682. Here, also, is an ancient stone house, part of which dates from the same period; for Philipse owned this land long before he received his manor patent and did considerable trading with the Indians, whose village of Alipconck was near the mouth of the stream. The older part of the house is of great strength, and is loop- holed for defence. The old mill-pond can still be plainly seen, though the dam is broken; but the ancient mill was fast going to decay the last time I was there. It had stood the stress of more than two centuries of use, but could not stand a half century of non-use. The first manor-lord was a carpenter by trade, and the old mill showed his ability to construct a serviceable build- ing; the beams, studding, and rafters are all hewed timbers, put together with wooden trenails. The old trading house was known as "Philipse's castle." After the confiscation of the manor, the property was sold to Gerard G. Beekman, and later passed into the hands of Ambrose C. Kingsland, a wealthy grocer of New York and Mayor in 1851, being elected against Fernando Wood. Later, the property belonged to one of the old- time great merchants of New York, William H. Aspin- wall, who was interested in the building of the railway across the Isthmus of Panama, connecting Panama and Colon, the latter of which was renamed Aspinwall in 382 The World's Greatest Street honor of the railroad builder. The property has been in the possession of one of the great automobile companies for several years, whose extensive works are situated near the end of the point. Opposite the Kingsland Point property and just north of the bridge, is the oldest church edifice in the State of New York, the famous Sleepy Hollow Church. When it was built is not known, though a tablet on the *ii»^ philipse's castle, tarrytown side of the door states: "Erected and built by Frederic Philipse and Catherine Van Cortlandt, his wife, in 1699." The church edifice was remodelled in 1837, ^^^ it is likely that the tablet was placed at that time when the entrance and other parts of the church were changed about, and that a guess was made at the date. The original bell still hangs in the belfry and bears the date 1685, and the motto in Latin: ''Si deus pro nobis quis contra nos?'' (If God be with us, who can be against us?) The weather vane on the belfry bears the monogram "VF, " standing for the Dutch spelling of the manor- Upper Westchester County 383 lord's name, Vredry'-k Flypsen. The weight of evidence is that the edifice was erected not later than the date on the bell, 1685; and that in all probability it was erected several years earlier. This section was settled very early by the Dutch, as V:*'*^-- '^"^ '•'^■'■"??i?^^'*f^'' SLEEPY HOLLOW CHURCH AT NORTH TARRYTOWN is shown by the fact that one of the reasons given by De Vries to Kieft in 1641 for not making war on the Weckquaesgeeks was that there were so many settlers in this neighborhood whose cattle ran on the hills and who would be in danger in the event of war. Upon several occasions it has been necessary to remove the floor of the church for repairs, and several coffins have been exposed bearing dates between 1650 and 1660. The first known preacher was Dominie Guillaume Bartholf 384 The World's Greatest Street who came here several times a year from Hackensack, beginning in 1697. The church records date from the same year, but they were not regularly kept until 171 5. Dutch was the language used in the services and records until after the Revolution, and the first use of English in baptizing a little girl on September 25, 1785, raised a storm of indignation. The Reformed Dutch Church held, in 1899, a bi-centenary celebra- tion here, at which Governor Theodore Roosevelt was present. Adjoining the church edifice, is the famous Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, in which are a number of old Dutch burials ; though the larger part of the cemetery is modern and owned by a company incorporated in 1849 under the name of The Tarrytown Cemetery, but changed later at the earnest solicitation of Washington Irving, before his death in 1859, to The Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Many old tombstones can be deciphered, but the first object every visitor has in view is the grave wherein lies all that is mortal of the genial humorist and kindly gentle- man who has peopled the valley of the Hudson with the children of his imagination — Washington Irving. On Battle Hill, is a monument to the Revolutionary soldiers of the vicinity, and among the graves will be found many belonging to soldiers of the Civil War. As we leave the last resting-place of the genial writer, so loved by his own generation, there recur to our minds the delightful lines of Lowell — the only lines in A Fable for Critics which do not contain a sting: What! Irving? thrice welcome, warm heart and fine brain, You bring back the happiest spirit from Spain, And the gravest sweet humor that ever were there Since Cervantes met death in his gentle despair; Upper Westchester County 385 Nay, don't be embarrassed, nor look so beseeching, I sha'n't run directly against my own preaching, And, having just laughed at their Raphaels and Dantes, Go to setting you up beside matchless Cervantes; But allow me to speak what I honestly feel, — To a true poet-heart add the fun of Dick Steele, Throw in all of Addison, minus the chill, With the whole of that partnership's stock and good-will, Mix well, and while stirring, hum o'er as a spell, The fine old English gentleman, simmer it well, Sweeten just to your own private liking, then strain. That only the finest and clearest remain, Let it stand out of doors till a soul it receives From the warm lazy sun loitering down through green leaves, And you '11 find a choice nature, not wholly deserving A name either English or Yankee, — just Irving. Continuing our route over the post-road, we pass under the arch of the Croton aqueduct and through the residential village of Scarborough. A fine church of native marble has been erected here as a memorial of the late Elliott F. Shepard, a son-in-law of William H. Vanderbilt and proprietor of the New York Mail and Express, who had an extensive estate in this vicinity. To the west, on the river bank, is the little village of Sparta, whose ancient burial-ground still exists. There is a tradition that the Vulture mistook the gravestones for an American fortification and fired upon them on that memorable morning in September, 1780, when Arnold and Andre were in consultation at the house of Joshua Hett Smith on Treason Hill at Haverstraw. Sparta is also the birthplace of Rear-Admiral John L. Worden of the United States Navy, who, as a lieutenant, commanded the Monitor in her historic fight with the Merrimac in Hampton Roads — a fight that revolu- 386 The World's Greatest Street tionized naval architecture in its relation to war vessels. We pass into the township of Ossining, which we find to be a very hilly place. It was occupied in the early days by the Sint Sinck Indians, and the brook coming down from the high hills was known as the Sint Sinck kill. When the Dutch and the English settled in this locality after Frederick Philipse bought it in 1680, they very naturally took the name of the brook, and the place became, in time, Sing Sing. The Indian village was called by the aborigines Ossining, which, according to Schoolcraft, means "the stony place"; and that applies very well indeed to this section. Dolomite limestone of excellent quality is found here which can be used for building purposes or which can be burnt for lime. In pre-Revolutionary days, a silver mine was worked here, and in 1820, a copper mine was operated near the village of Sparta; but neither has paid, though several attempts have been made at various times to open up the old shafts. In 1824, the Legislature authorized the construction of a prison in one of the lower Senatorial districts, and this spot was selected on account of its healthfulness, its accessibility to New York and above by the river boats, and to the limestone mentioned above. In 1825, one hundred convicts were brought here, and the work of building the prisons begun; they were ready for occu- pancy in 1828, and the convicts were removed from the old Newgate in Greenwich Village in New York City. All the work in and about the prison since that time has been done by the prisoners; and most of it has been excellent, as there have been among the inmates, artists, sculptors, and skilled workers in wood, stone, iron, and plaster. The prison is known officially as the Mount upper Westchester County 387 Pleasant Prison, as this section used to be in that town- ship. For two or three years past, gangs of convicts have been clearing the land for new prisons on the west side of the Hudson, which work was halted in January, 1910, by the gift of Mrs. E. H. Harriman, the widow of the great railway magnate, and of others, which makes a great State public park possible in the section which includes that chosen for the new prison. Another site, therefore, was selected. In June, 1910, the State bought a five-hundred-acre farm at Wingdale in Putnam County, paying for it the sum of fifty thousand dollars, which was considered a bargain price. The farm was sold several months before for seventeen thousand dollars, and bought up by specu- lators for twenty-five thousand and sold at the above price to the State. Oh, yes; the State got a bargain! Until 1900, the principal village of the township bore the name of Sing Sing; but the associations with the name of the prison rather hindered the growth of the village, and so its name was changed to that of the town, Ossining. Three miles of rough, hilly roadway bring us to the Croton River, the northern boundary of the Manor of Philipsburgh. The Indian name of the stream was the Kitchawan, and the Indians of this locality were known as the Kitchiwonks. The old road crossed the Croton at a ford farther up the stream ; later, came a ferry, and, in 1 791, the bridge mentioned in Washington's diary. Theodore Dwight, travelling through this section on horseback in 181 1, speaks of the roads as being bad, and states that he crossed the Croton near its mouth on a wretched ferry, worked by a woman, the ferry-boat being connected with each bank of the stream by a chain. A long bridge now crosses the stream not far from its 388 The World's Greatest Street mouth; and about a mile above it is the great new dam which impounds the waters of the river for the use of the inhabitants of the city of New York, nearly forty miles away. On the northern bank of the Croton is the ancient manor-house of the Van Cortlandts, bearing the date 1681, A Van Cortlandt built it then, and a Van Cortlandt occupies it to-day. The house was originally forty feet by thirty-three, containing eight rooms, and was built of Nyack freestone, loopholed for the use of firearms in the event of an attack by the natives. At first, it was used as a trading-post by Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the purchaser of land from the natives and the manor-lord of Van Cortlandt Manor, which comprised in Westchester County alone over eighty- seven thousand acres of land. The house commanded the ferry across the mouth of the river, a few yards away. The sloops and sailing vessels used to sail up the river beyond the manor-house until 1841, when the Croton dam, then nearing completion, was swept away by a freshet and great quantities of earth were swept down, filling up so much of the stream as to prevent navigation. Where vessels used to ride at anchor, there are now many acres of fine meadow land. Henry Hudson made his first anchorage off the mouth of the Croton after leaving Yonkers. As times became more settled, the younger members of the Van Cortlandt family resorted to the Kitchawan for hunting, and the house was enlarged and rendered more habitable. Stephanus, the first and only manor- lord, left eleven children, among whom his property was divided in 1734, thirty-four years after his death. The survey was made by his grandson-in-law, Philip Verplanck, who uses the term " Croton' s River" as if it were a common and familiar one. The river may have 390 The World's Greatest Street gotten its name from Indian sources, or from some tenant living along its banks. In 1774, the house was in the possession of Pierre Van Cortlandt, a great-grandson of the manor-lord. In this year, Governor Tryon came to Croton, ostensibly on a visit of courtesy, bringing with him his wife, a daughter of the Hon. John Watts, a kinsman of the Van Cortlandts, and his secretary, Colonel Fanning, The next morning Governor Tryon proposed a walk. They all proceeded to one of the highest points on the estate, and, pausing, Tryon announced to the listening Van Cortlandt the great favors that would be granted to him if he would espouse the royal cause and give his adherence to the king and the parliament. Large grants of land would be added to his estates, and Tryon hinted that a title would be bestowed. Van Cortlandt answered that he was chosen representative to the Colonial Assembly by unanimous approbation of a people who placed confidence in his integrity, to use all his ability for the good of his country as a true patriot, which Hne of conduct he was determined to pursue. The discomfited Tryon returned to New York, and the patriotic Van Cortlandt, who had so much to lose in the event of British success, threw in his lot with the patriots and served them faithfully as their repre- sentative in the Provincial Congress, as President of the Council of Safety and as Lieutenant-Governor of the State from 1777 to 1795. He was also President of the State Constitutional Convention. His son Philip was an officer in the Continental army, and was on Sullivan's punitive expedition against the Six Nations after the massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley. He was brevetted brigadier-general for meritorious conduct in the siege of Yorktown. upper Westchester County 391 It was here at the mouth of the Croton that the Americans had the westernmost of their posts to pre- vent the British from getting through to the upper county and to the Highlands. Washington writes under date of July 2, 1781, of "the new bridge of the Croton, PEEKSKILL BAY about nine miles from Peekskills." The ferry-house then became a barracks for the soldiers; and here, in the middle of the winter of 1782, they were surprised and routed by a body of the enemy which came up from below. The manor-house itself is full of relics of almost inestimable value, while the historic associations that cluster around it are possessed by few other houses in America. Franklin, Rochambeau, Lafayette, Steuben, 392 The World's Greatest Street de Lauzan, and almost the whole roster of the American generals were welcome and honored guests; nor must we leave out Brant, the famous Mohawk chief, who visited here after the peace and during his stay told Colonel Van Cortlandt how near the latter had been to death by the chief's direction at the battle of the Chemung. " Had I taken a shot at you myself," said Thayandanagea, "instead of directing one of my warriors to do so, you would not have been here to be my host." A plate on the porch marks the spot upon which stood the great preacher, George Whitefield, when he addressed the mul- titude on the lawn below. Bishop Asbury also preached from the same porch. There is also a haunted room in the ancient house ; and the clandestine marriage of Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt's first wife may have furnished the basis of Mrs. Amelia Barr's Bow of Orange Ribbon. Croton Landing, or Croton-on-Hudson, formerly Collaberg Landing, lies above the manor-house; its chief industry is brick-making. Between the manor- house and Croton are Teller's Point — also called Sarah's Point after Sarah, the wife of the first settler, William Teller, and Croton Point. It was abreast of this point that the Vulture lay at anchor and aroused the animosity of the American soldiers, who brought a cannon down from Peekskill and fired on the vessel. Andre was ashore having his interview with Arnold, intending to return to the Vulture; but the vessel was obliged to drop down stream to escape the fire of the patriots, and thus Andre was compelled to return to New York by land with such tragic results. To the eastward of Croton is a hill six hundred feet high, which is known as Hessian Hill, from the fact that a body of these troops was at one time en- camped there, many of whom deserted their colors to join the Americans. 394 The World's Greatest Street The post-road passes on through Oscawanna, Crugers, and Montrose and we pass a number of fine estates. Verplanck's Point, with its brick-making industries, lies to the west. Here in colonial days was the King's Ferry, the principal line of communication across the Hudson, connecting New England with the Jerseys; so that its possession was of vast importance to the Ameri- cans. In those old days, a sign at the junction of the ferry road and Broadway read: "Dishe his de Roode toe de Kehings Farry, " a curious compound of Dutch, English, and bad spelling that must have aroused the laughter of Andre, if it were not too dark to see it, as he rode by it in company with Joshua Hett Smith on the afternoon or evening of the twenty-first of September, 1780. The point gets its name from Philip Verplanck, who married the granddaughter of the manor-lord and came into possession of it through his wife. Directly opposite to it on the other side of the Hudson, is Stony Point. Fortifications were erected on both sides of the river to command the ferry ; and these passed back and forward several times during the course of the war. In the summer of 1782, the French army came north from Virginia and was received with great honors by the Americans at Verplanck's Point. Under the direction of Baron Steuben and with the supplies furnished by Louis XVI., the Continental army had become so well clothed, equipped, and disciplined as to call forth from the Comte de Rochambeau the remark : ' ' You must have formed an alliance with the King of Prussia; these troops are Prussians." This was no doubtful compliment, as the troops of Frederick the Great were the best in the world. Above Verplanck's Point, the river, after its exit from the Highlands, opens into a beautiful bay known upper Westchester County 395 as Peekskill Bay. Henry Hudson thought he had reached the end of his voyage when he reached this point, but he finally discovered the passage through the mountains and continued on his way as far as the site of Albany. From the highway we get a view of the lower town of Peekskill near the landing, with its various industries, especially those in iron, which were started about a century ago. Across the river is a magnificent panorama of the Highlands. The Kitchiwonks had a village in this vicinity which they called Sackhoes ; but the white settlement that grew up about it was called Peekskill, after one of the earliest settlers, Jan Peek, through whose property flowed a highland brook, called Jan Peek's kill. Jan Peck, or Peeck, according to the records of the court of New Amsterdam for 1 653, was a tapster doing business on the Heere Straat. He appears to have been a somewhat disreputable character; for in that year he was proceeded against by Sheriff Van Tienhoven, who reports : that he has found drinking clubs on divers nights at the house of Jan Peck with dancing and jumping and entertainment of disorderly people; also tapping during Preaching, and that there was great noise made by drunkards, especially yester- day, Sunday, in this house, so that he was obliged to remove one to jail in a cart, which was a most scandalous affair. Peck was found guilty, though he did not appear to answer the charges; and upon the demand of the sheriff, he was fined, his license annulled and he was or- dered to stop tapping until he had vindicated himself. Peck petitioned at the next meeting of the court for permission to tap; and later, at his request, both oral and written, he was allowed to resume business, "inas- 396 The World's Greatest Street much as he is burthened with a houseful of children and more besides." The judge took into consideration that he was an old Burgher and permitted him to resume upon his promise to comport himself properly; but if he did not do so, his business was to be stopped without favor and himself punished as he deserves. At a later time, THE SETH POMEROY MONUMENT AT CORTLANDTVILLE after his death, his widow was banished for repeating his offences. Had it not been for his purchase of the land on the Hudson, he would probably have been un- known to fame. During the Revolution, the main army of the colonies was kept in this neighborhood, and Washington, himself, was not long away from it, as the Highlands commanded upper Westchester County 397 the valley of the Hudson and here was the principal line of communication between the colonies. If the British could get the valley of the Hudson, they had the rebellion throttled, as the colonies would be divided and could not act in concert. Many fortifications were erected by the Americans in this vicinity and above, and many were the attempts made by the British to get possession ; when force failed in getting hold of this vital point, Clinton tried bribery, with results that would have been fatal to the American cause, had it not been for the patriotism of three ignorant yeomen who, as we have already seen, stopped the agent of Clinton and prevented the treason of Arnold from attaining its completion. Among the American commanders were Seth Pomeroy, Heath, McDougal, Putnam, and Arnold, the last being again followed by Heath, who commanded during the Chief's campaign in the South. Fort Independence was located at Roa Hook, and a chain was stretched across the river at this point; it was easily broken by its own weight and the force of the tides ; the later chain was farther up the river between Constitution Island and West Point. In 1885, the state bought Roa Hook for a camp of instruction for the national guard. For many years it was so used; but within the last few years, since the passage of the so- called Dick bill, the militia of the several states have become virtually a part of the regular army and unite with it in annual manoeuvres, and the state camp has not been used. It was proposed to utilize it for the site of the new prison which is to take the place of Sing Sing. About three miles north of Peekskill, on the creek, is Cortlandtville, where the original village of Peekskill was located. It belonged to Cortlandt Manor, and the old house ©f the Van Cortlandts, much modernized, is 398 The World's Greatest Street still standing. It bears a tablet, which, besides describing the services of its owner. Colonel Pierre Van Cortlandt, says: "General Washington with his aides slept in this house many nights while making Peekskill their head- quarters, in 1776, 1777 and 1778." At Cortlandtville, is St. Peter's Church, a barn-like structure which dates ST. PKTF.R S fUrKCH AND IWILDINC. MOM'Ml-AT AT CORTLANDTVILLE from 1763. Surrounding it is the ancient cemetery, in which lie two distinguished personages of the Revolution, Seth Pomeroy and John Paulding. The former was the first commander of the minute men who gathered at Cambridge upon the news of Lexington, and who was the commander of the Highland military post at the time of his death, February 15, 1777. Though his grave upper Westchester County 399 is unknown, the Sons of the Revolution have erected within the cemetery a handsome monument commemor- ating his services both in the Revolution and in the old French war. John Paulding was one of the captors of Andre, and the city of New York erected a suitable monument over his grave in 1827. Gallows Hill gets its name from the execution of Edmund Palmer, a British spy, who was hanged there on August 7, 1777. The British commander in New York was anxious to save the man and wrote to Putnam, who then commanded in the Highlands, demanding his surrender and threatening reprisals in the event of his execution. Putnam returned the following characteristic reply: Headquarters, 7th August, 1777. Sir: Edmund Palmer, an ofRcer in the enemies service, was taken as a spy lurking within the American lines. He has been tried as a spy, condemned as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy ; and the flag is ordered to depart immediately. Israel Putnam. P.S. He has been accordingly executed. Just east of the Van Cortlandt house the post-road turns north to enter the Highlands, where one of the ancient milestones, marked "50 miles from N. Y.," still stands. There are occasional milestones on the west side of the road as far as Wappingers Falls, but the post-road has degenerated into a mere track a short distance above, the Highland turnpike having taken its place.* Several old houses still remain in this vicinity, among them Dusenberry's Tavern, where Major Andre and his escort stopped while on their way to West Point. * During the past year these old milestones have been reset and cared for by the Putnam County Historical Society. 400 The World's Greatest Street Andre was within a few miles of Arnold's headquarters and safety, when the express sent by Jamieson arrived, and Andre was taken back to North Salem; Lieutenant Allen continued on through the Highlands with the note DUSENBERRY S TAVERN, CORTLANDTVILLE, N. Y. to Arnold who was thus warned of the capture of his confederate and escaped. Continental Village stood about a mile north of Gallows Hill, in Putnam County. Great quantities of supplies were gathered here for the American Army and barracks were erected to accommodate fifteen hundred men. In October, 1777, Governor Tryon captured and burnt Peekskill and then pushed on to Continental Village, which he destroyed so thoroughly that nothing remains of it to-day, though it was again occupied by the Americans. In the spring of 1781, about fifteen years before Jenner made his successful experiments in vaccination, all the troops and others stationed here Upper Westchester County 401 were inoculated with the small-pox. "All the soldiers, with the women and children," wrote the army surgeon Dr. Thacher, in his diary, "who have not had the small- pox, are now under inoculation." "Of five hundred who were inoculated here," he wrote later, "only four have died," After the Revolution, Peekskill became the shipping point of farm produce to the city of New York, not only from the immediate vicinity, but from northwestern Connecticut and from Putnam (Dutchess) County. Six sloops were regularly engaged in the traffic to New York; and later, when the steamboats began to ply the river, the landing was removed from the mouth of Anns- ville Creek to the easterly side of the bay and Peekskill began to be an important commercial point; later, the railroad added to its importance. My heart is on the hills. The shades Of night are on my brow; Ye pleasant haunts and quiet glades. My soul is with you now! I bless the star-crowned Highlands, where My Ida's footsteps roam: Oh, for a falcon's wing to bear Me onward to my home! George P. Morris. A couple of miles, or less, above the centre of the present village of Peekskill, the post-road, here called Highland Avenue, plunges down a steep hill across Annsville Creek and disappears within the Highlands. These mountains are picturesque and impressive at all times; but when Nature paints them with her autumnal tints, words fail in describing their beauty, and no artist 26 402 The World's Greatest Street can do full justice to their grandeur. Just before crossing Annsville Creek, we get a view of the bold promontory of Anthony's Nose, jutting out into the distant river. This is the northwestern corner of West- !,_-... .^j*:*.. ^ ANNSVILLE CREEK — WHERE BROADWAY ENTERS THE HIGHLANDS Chester County and the highest point in it — one thousand two hundred and twenty-eight feet. It probably re- ceived its name from its resemblance to a gigantic, human nose; but Irving is on hand to tell the origin of its name. 403 404 The World's Greatest Street He says: And now I am going to tell a fact, which I doubt much my readers will hesitate to believe ... It must be known then that the nose of Anthony the trumpeter was of a very lusty size, strutting boldly from his countenance like a mountain of Golconda, being sumptuously bedecked with rubies and other precious stones — the true regalia of a king of good fellows, which jolly Bacchus presents to all who bouse it heartily at the flagon. Now thus it happened, that bright and early in the morning, the good Anthony, having washed his burly visage, was leaning over the quarter railing of the galley, contem- plating it in the glassy wave below. Just at this moment, the illustrious sun, breaking in all his splendor from a high bluff of the Highlands, did dart one of his most potent beams full upon the refulgent nose of the sounder of brass — the reflection of which shot straightway down hissing hot into the water and killed a mighty sturgeon that was sporting beside the vessel . . . When this astonishing miracle became known to Petrus Stuyvesant, and that he tasted of an unknown fish, he, as well may be supposed, marvelled exceedingly; and as a monument thereof, he gave the name of Anthony's Nose to a stout promontory in the neighborhood, and it has continued to be called Anthony's Nose ever since that time. CHAPTER XVI PUTNAM AND DUTCHESS COUNTIES 'HE county of Putnam, named after the famous "Old Put" of Revolu- tionary days, was formerly a part of the county of Dutchess, from which it was separated in 1812. Almost all of the county is com- prised within the patent granted to Adolphus Philipse on June 17, 1697. As Adolphus was a bachelor, the property went at his death in 1749 to his nephew, Frederick Philipse, the manor-lord of Yonkers, and to his nieces, Susanna, who married Colonel Beverly Robinson, and Mary, who married Colonel Roger Morris. The property of all three was confiscated by the State of New York on ac- count of the owners remaining loyal to the king during the Revolutionary struggle. Before being set off as a separate county, the land had been the precinct of Philipstown in Dutchess County. As to the availability of this land for settlement and cultivation, we have the statement of Governor Hunter to the Lords of Trade in 1720: Part of the resumed grant of Captain Evans being about twelve miles along the River, Mountainous and barren and 405 4o6 The World's Greatest Street Incapable of Improvement or of a road and only valuable for fire- wood, no man will accept any part of it under the Quit Rent directed to be reserved unless it be contiguous to the River, where he may with ease transport the wood. Lieutenant-Governor Golden to the Lords of Trade, February 14, 1738: "At about forty miles northward Rombout's Patent. Beekman's Patent. Major Morris' Col. Robinson's Water Lot. Back Lot, Four Miles i 01 _s Four Miles Square. 1 — i Square. 1 •>» s ^ 7 >, ■<)' >. s >> ,Q M 01 s Capt. Frederick s 1 s Capt. Philipse's Philipse's M M Back Lot, 3 3 Water Lot, . 01 ^ Four Miles 1 Four Miles Square. i 5 le Square. 8 C 2 c {3 c r ^ h-J 3 01 ^-^ m