* • ■'i^ .■^■ A ^^• ^, aN^ -^. v*^' 'Vv*^ % ^-^ -•c.^^^ .^•^%, ,V .r. ^'^^.■. ' ,H 't-,. V .^-^ --. >>o=i<. ^t ^ '• ^^0 .-4 -i-.. U '•'-.,■ ■i'^ ? I z 5 S ? THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 1639 - 1913 ITS MARVELOUS DEVELOPMENT AND HISTORICAL SURROUNDINGS BY HARRY T. COOK ASSISTED BY NATHAN J. KAPLAN PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR AT 1660 BOONE AVENUE. NEW YORK 1913 COPYRIGHT. 1913 BY HARRY T. COOK Al-U RIOHTS RESERVED DEC 31 mi €'CI,A362006 FOREWORD The Purpose of this book is to tell the story of the wonderful rise and de- velopment of the Borough of The Bronx. It is a story of heroic endeavor, individual self-denial, slow progress and final triumph. The hardy pioneers who sacrificed their comforts and lives to wrest the wilderness from its savage lords, and who blazed the path for progress and civilization, builded better than they knew. The teeming Borough today is a nqble monument to the greatness of the men who brought it into being. As long as it endures their achievements •will be told in song and story. Here will be found a record of the extraordinary growth of this great Borough. It is not the purpose of this work, however, to give a detailed description of the early history of The Bronx, but rather a brief summary of the most memorable events in its historical, commercial and municipal development. It has been the aim of this book to indicate the modern development and future prospects of the Borough as well as to create associations of Colonial and Revolutionary memories with which almost every inch of ground in the Borough is hallowed. In compiling a work of this kind, the author has had much assistance in gathering material and making it accurate and authentic. He is especially indebted to Mr. Nathan J. Kaplan for assistance rendered, suggestions made and material furnished; also to Mr. James L. Wells, Mr. Louis F. Haffen, Mr. Walter G. Scott, Mr. Lindsay M'Kenna, and Mr. Randall Comfort, who furnished many of the photographs illustrating this book — all of whom have rendered valuable service and made possible the publishing of this book. Where facts could not be obtained from local residents, the author con- sulted early histories and documents for his data. Chief among the books consulted were Bolton's "History of Westchester County"; Scharf's "History of Westchester County"; Comfort's "History of the Borough of the Bronx"; Kelly's "Historic Guide to New York"; and Jenkins' "The Story of The Bronx." The last mentioned work has been re- cently issued and contains a mine of historic information relative to the Borough. Besides these, a host of minor books, encyclopedias, newspapers and magazines were drawn upon. HARRY T. COOK. I_ike tall monument of granite Standeth Tackamuck, the mourner, Grieving for his vanished nation Long years thriving in their vigor 'Mong the Bronx hills, but now scattered As dead leaves by blasts of autumn. In his vision sad the chieftain Sees of white man's arts the progress Through the long moons — arts transplanted From the distant lands of sunrise To grow fair in western tillage And displace the Indian customs. Out of stone brought fi-om the quarries The new builder rears his dwellings Towering like the pines of forest, Steadfast in the gales of winter. Better than the deerskin wigwam Gone from sight upon the morrow. Through the waters once so tranquil — On their placid wave reflecting All the blueness of the heaven — Now the boats of the bold stranger. Every birch canoe surpassing, Swiftly dash, like the strong salmon. O'er the plains the steam horse rushes. Faster than the flying pony Ridden once by fearless warrior; In the air above the tree tops Soar the winged ships like eagles. Mounting to the highest heaven. All, O Tackamuck, has altered Since in Bronx woods roamed thy people; Yet their setting suns are followed By a better morning's sunrise For the Indian who surviveth And for him who is thy brother. 'Tis the will of the Great Spirit Ruling high above the storm clouds. Maker of this earth so beauteous, With its satisfying fountains Flowing full for all his children. Both the Red Man and the Pale Face. — A. B. Sanford. CONTENTS Chaptes Pa«s I. EAULY HISTORY i He^nry Hodsmi Skirts the Western Shore of The Bronx. 1609 — His Kneoonter with the Indians — Adrien Block Explores the Eas-era ^K>re, 1614 — The Settlement and Dev^o^nent of The Bronx — ^An Intimate Recital of Jonas Brai^ the First White Settler to Locate There. n. MORRISANTA 12 CoIoDial and Revtdationary Days — Story of the Public-Spirited and Patriotic Moms Family — Lewis Morris. Signer of the Dec- laratioa of Indep^idaice. Who Backed tip His Signanir« by Joining the Army with His Three Sons— -Goaverneor Morris, Statesman and Diplomat — Landmarks in Morrisania — Founda- tion of \ lUage in 154*. m. DEVELOPMEXT OF THE BROXX 23 What Organised and IntdKgent ESort has Accomplished — The Rush of Ca|Htal and Steady Flow of Population. rV'. A CITY WITHIX A CITY -30 How the Child Grew up a Giant — The Past Speaks in Thtmder Tones or tie PrvKperity Advancing Years Bring to the Home, the Merchant and the Manufacmrer — What Rapid Transit Stands for in the Growth of a Metroptdis. V. BIG IXDUSTRIES 36 Where Men and Wom^i Shop — The Facilities Offered by Trac- tion Con:paniei — Proposed Improvanents. VI. THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 45 i -e Water Front That Invites Big Ships from Over the Seven Se.is — Early Highways- \TL THE PARKS 56 The Parks Show Xarane in Her Happiest Mood — Broad Acres Yield to Sport and Sentiment — Scenes Hallowed by Sacrifices and Struggles of Otir Ancestors — ^A Page of Old History — The Bronx Beantiftil Society. Vm. EDUCATIOXAL IXSTITUTIOXS 72 How the Furore of the Child is Anticipated and the Schools Ttim Oat the Men and Women of Tomorrow — Chur\:hes — How the Spiriroal and Moral Welfare is Looked After — Hospitals — Benevolent and Charitable Institaticws — Ceaneteri^ rS. OAK POrXT 83 The "Cradle of Cuban Liberty" — Wreck of the British Frigate X. HtXT-S POIXT S9 Colonial and Revolutionary Dajrs — ^The Story of Joseph Rod- man Drake — -A Visit to "God's little Acre." XI. THE R03IAXCE OF BESSIE WARREX 102 The Daughter of Old Simon the Landlord of the "King's Arms" — Her Love for the Dashing Officer Who Was Branded" a British Spy — The Maiden Who Did Xot Forget But Answered the Sam- CONTENTS mons of a Beckoning Spirit and Was Taken Over the Great Beyond. XII. The "NEUTRAL GROUND" 106 The Indian Cave — Leggett and His Stolen Mare — The West- chester Guides — Barretto's Point — Wooden Armchairs that Came over \vith the Pilgrim Fathers. XIII. NATHAN HALE 112 "I regret That I Have But One Life to Lose for My Country" — Capt. Hale, the Patriot, Scholar and Soldier, Whose Mission Brought Him Death But Spread His Name on the Living Pages of History. XIV. CLASON'S POINT 119 The Coney Island of The Bronx — Cornell's Neck— Three Clergy- men Who Hid in a Farm House in the Days of the Revolution — The Distinction of the Ferris Mansion at Zerega's Point — The Fate of Anne Hutchinson. XV. THROGG'S NECK , 126 "The Lexineton of We- Store — ^A ^e^; vir-.iiy of menjiaiidise is on disolav. 'val together with — =^^~= iortie iEost suocess-fui candi- SEEN .VN A_M.\TEl"R GET THE Wrestling These v. rr?:.-:ij —niches bv the top-notchcTS and head liners in their profession — Under the personal soper- viskHi and direction of Mr. George Bothno-, Cbajmpicm ligfatweigfat Wrestler of the World — are marvds of "i-en those who have not cnliivatEd a 38 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX The Bronx is truly undergoing Aladdin-like changes. 'One has but to step around the corner to note some transformation that has, mbshroom-like, made its appearance overnight. Take, for example, the section lying south of Westchester McKiNLEY Square — 169th Street and Boston Road Avenue and the Southern Boulevard and see what miracles have been wrought there. Less than half a dozen years ago this region was but sparsely settled with a dozen or more neglected estates scattered over its large territory ; today it is teeming with activity, and the old mansions which were once the country seats of promi- BIG INDUSTRIES 39 nent families have been swept away, and upon their sites have been erected hundreds of handsome brick one-, two- and three-family homes, and rows upon rows of beautiful apartment houses of the most modern and high-class type. The American Real Estate Company, Henry Morgenthau Com- pany, Geo. F. Johnson, and James F. Meehan, four of the largest operators and home-makers in the Bronx, purchased practically all of the property embracing what is generally known as the Hunt's Point section. For years after their purchases, this section was in a state of chaos; rocks were being blasted, streets were Boston Road, South from 166th Street in 1883 being laid out, sewers were being constructed and a total of upwards of one million dollars were spent by these owners in transforming this territory into city property. It is said that the buildings which they erected in that section, can house more than one hundred thousand persons. A late purchase of the American Real Estate Company was the ninety-three acres of the Watson estate lying just north of Westchester Avenue and east of the Bronx River. The property is located on high ground and contains about twelve hundred city lots. ALL POINTS OF THE i^Il I ir^AlM^Q COMPASS LEAD TO VJ 1 J-i !-• 1 VJ /\ 1 1 O! WINTER GARDEN new york-s MOST FAMOUS CABARET In the Heart of the Bronx Lobster Belt Latest and Most Populcr • Song n 1 1 5 PROFESSIOXAu ENTERTAINHR3 'direct from Broadway's Leading Productions DANCING EXCELLENT CUISINE Elaborate CABARET The happiest com-' bination for the Grouch or worn out bus iness man. j , , „ , . We make your Com- We"t of -^rO Ave. fort our Hobbj Come and Get Acquainted ,"h"eVe°"w°'" 149th St., Tel. Melrose 8129 Open Day & Night CRITERION TAXI SERVICE Touring Cars and Taxi Cabs For All Occasions 391 East 149th Street SPECIAL RATES ON Near Third Avenue Shopping. Theatre Parties Wedding Calls, Etc. NEW YORK Telephone, 892 Melrose MAX DEUTSCH Graduate N. Y. Pedic Society Ready to Wear Orthopedic FOOTWEAR 2653 Third Avenue Bet. 141st and 142d Sts. NEW YORK MAKER OF ORTHOFORM SHOES 1 RESCRIPTION SHOES BE A WEISER MAN — AND — WEAR WEISER'S CLOTHESJ B'way Styles at Bronx Prices Our Specialties: $IO.OO $I5.00 $20.0C Our Men's Furnishing Dept. is the most complete in the Bronx WEISER'S Areco Bldg. 149th St., 3d Ave. BIG INDUSTRIES 41 tion differs from the main thorofare, in that only one- and two- family dwellings are being erected. The same conditions prevail in the Bedford Park section. Crossing over to the easterly section, we come to Throgg's Neck, one of the most attractive shore fronts in The Bronx. There is a great future before it, particularly if the proposed new subway route, which, according to one plan, will have Pelham Park as a terminal, will be carried to completion. One of the first improve- ments planned, is a shore drive, one hundred feet wide, which will skirt Throgg's Neck. The water front of The Bronx, aggregating more than forty miles of navigable waters, has added unlimited trade and commerce to the Borough. Almost the entire territory from Highbridge to Hunt's Point has been utilized by railroads, factories and other industrial enterprises requiring shipping facilities along the water front. The Bronx contains seven hundred factories, each large enough to be subject to State supervision and inspection. They give employment to at least thirty-five thousand people. Among the numerous industries which have contributed toward making The Bronx a manufacturing center of world-wide renown, the manufacture of pianos and organs ranks among the foremost in importance. No less than sixty factories are located within the Borough, which turn out these musical instruments in amazing quantities annually. These are shipped to all quarters of the globe. The mammoth plant of the American Bank Note Company at Hunt's Point is another institution which employs an army of over two thousand workers. For more than a century this com- pany has been recognized by experts as the leading engraving and printing concern in America, if not in the world. The choice of its present site in the Hunt's Point section of The Bronx was the result of a thoro canvas of all the available sections in Greater New York. Another enormous plant is the De la Vargne Machine Works at the foot of East One Hundred Thirty-eighth Street. Other industries covering acres and doing a large business are the Ward Bread Company, and the lumber, the coal and the brew- ing companies. A comparison of the business done during 1912 with that of the previous year by some of the public service corporations will 42 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX give one an idea of the immense business transacted in the Borough. The New York Telephone Company, for example, which has about $4,000,000 invested in The Bronx, increased its services by installing 4,648 telephones during the past year. On January 1st, 1906, there were but 5,573 telephones in use in The Bronx, while on February 28th, 1913 there were 26,622. The New York Edison Company is also making large ex- penditures in The Bronx for the development and improvement of its facilities for furnishing both light and power. The increase in its business during the past year was most remarkable. In 1911 it had 20,148 customers on its books and in 1912 they numbered 28,582. The Bronx possesses the largest and most perfect plants for the making of ice machines and gas engines. All the five com- panies which supply gas in the Borough show marked increases in the number of customers supplied during 1912. The Central Union Gas Company alone entered over 7,000 new customers on' their books during the year, which brings their total to 87,000 customers. The annual consumption of coal and the increase from year to year is also a fair barometer of the business activity in The Bronx. In 1912 it reached its record mark of 1,760,000 tons. Another proof of the growth of the general retail business activity in the Borough is the fact that the National Cash Register Company sold over a thousand additional machines during the last year. By means of the Harlem River Ship Canal many of the new products of the country are brought nearer to the Bronx Borough. For the accommodation of business men, manufacturers and merchants, financial institutions of every class, including a National Bank with numerous branches of State Banks and Trust Com- panies have been established at all convenient points. For the thrifty there are saving banks. All of these institutions are well managed and conducted on safe lines so as to command the full confidence of their customers. For the very immediate future the following improvements have been contemplated which will add impetus to business growth : Erection of a new station on the New York Central Railroad; change from a two-track to a six-track system on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad from Harlem River to New L eadin g Bronx Stationer SCHAPIRO'S The Store that gained its reputation by the quality of merchandise sold there. Individual Departments (Main Floor) Commercial Stationery Social Stationery and Fancy Goods Filing Cabinets, Etc. Artists' Materials Kodaks and Supplies Sporting Goods Dinner Favors and Prizes for Card Parties, Etc. OUR TOY DEPARTMENT (2d Floor) One of the largest and most spacious in the City, devoted to Imported and Domestic Toys and Dolls Children's Furniture and Wheel Goods Baby Carriages Trunks, Bags and Valises Printing Dept. on the Premises Work of the "Better Kind"~Write or Telephone for our Representative) 3410-12-14 THIRD AVENUE At 166th St. "L" Station Telephone Connections to all Departments )^ "Confidence Not Gained in a Day" jt'J( ^^ Est. 1880 BRONX LOAN OFFICE PAWNBROKERS 2794 3d Avenue 2794 Bet. 147th aud 148th Sts. BARGAINS FOR SALE IN Diamonds, Jewelry, Furs, Clothing — and — mj' All Kinds of Merchandise W Telephone, Tremont 1586 Established 1883 HARRY B. SMITH GENERAL CONTRACTOR ^igns;, picture Jf rameg iHirrnrs anb (Slass a §>prriaUij 4187 Third Avenue, .-. BRONX, N. Y. Between 17Gth Street and Tremont Avenue Telephone Melrose 6S11 Telephone Bryant 3721 NAT T . EWIS, Exclusive Haberdasher "The Accommodating Shops" 569 Melrose Avenue 25 West 42d Street Cor. 150th St. Opp. Public Library Open Evenings MY STORE POLICY: "Every article you buy here MUST please or you MUST return it." Tailors of Quality Bronx $1.00 Skirt Co. J. H. WEISS, Proprietor Skirts to Order $1.00 up Suits to Order $6.00 up From Your Own Material 2829 THIRD AVENUE BRONX Bet. 14Sth and 149th Streets THE ONLY AUTO SUPPLY HOUSE IN THE BRONX Ford Cars DISTRIBUTORS AUTOMOBILE Accessories Overland Cars Simmons Automobile Company Office and Salesroom lMo«*r Y«-ki.L- Service Department 415 East 149th St. l-^CW 1 UFK 2138 Westchester Ave. Tel. 7774 Melrose J. GORSE SIMMONS, Pres. and Gen. Mgr Tel. 74 Westchester First Class Tel. 4417 Melrose DENTISTRY Jacob 1 iandy electrical Contractor If you want Good Legal Service, Good Medical Service, 673 Elton Avenue JUNCTION OF THIRD AVE. & I5.»d ST. New York Good Dental Work You have to pay a Good Price. I am the High Priced Dentist of The Bronx, 1lisf)t anb ^otuer But My Services are Worth all I charge. Edwin B.Swift, D. D. S., 2498 DeVoe Terrace BRONX The Story of the Bronx From the Purchase made by the Dutch from the Indians in 1639 to the Present Day By STEPHEN JENKINS Authir o( 'The Greatest '■"tietl in the Woild - Broadway." 8vo. With over 100 illustrations and maps. $3 50 net; by mail. $3.73. The romantic liistory of the northern .section of Greater New York from the days of Jonas Bronk, after whom the I3ronx was named, throug'i the centuries crowded with events that have issued into the present, The geographical landmarks acquire a new signilicance as around them' this accurate historian of local events and cjiiditions weaves the substantial fabric of fact and more sparingly the lighter web of tradition. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, 2-4-6 W. 45th St , New York BIG INDUSTRIES 43 Eochelle; proposed New York and New Jersey bridge across the Hudson at One Hundred Forty-ninth Street ; the erection of a new Federal building at One Hundred Forty-ninth Street and Mott Avenue, which is to cost over half a million dollars, and is to in- clude the Bronx Central Post Office, the Internal Revenue Bureau, the Treasury and Commerce and Labor Departments; the build- ing of a connecting railroad, connecting Long Island with the Borough by a bridge; the erection of a direct east side subway; the improvement of the splendid water front by increased dock facilities; and the establishment of a public produce market. The following waterway improvements are now under way or planned : Deepening of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, Harlem River, and Bronx Kills in connection with Barge Canal traffic; widening and deepening of Bronx River and Westchester Creek; plan adopted to make the Hutchinson River 80 to 900 feet wide. Borough President Cyrus C. Miller proposes a plan for in- dustrial development benefiting directly the area which may be described roughly as lying south and east of a line beginning in the South Bronx at Macomb's Park and running thence easterly across One Hundred Sixty-first Street to Westchester Avenue; thence easterly along Westchester Avenue along West Farms Road and Boston Road to One Hundred Eightieth Street at the easterly boundary of Bronx Park ; thence northerly along the eastern boun- dary of Bronx Park to Bear Swamp Road; thence along Bear Swamp Road to Morris Park Avenue to Stillwell Avenue to Bronx and Pelham Parkway, and from this point east to Long Island Sound. This district comprises about one-third the area of The Bronx, or about fourteen square miles. It is bordered on the south and east by the Harlem River, Bronx Kills and Long Island Sound, and intersected by Bronx River and Westchester Creek, which run up into the mainland from the Sound. It has a water front seventeen miles long with bays and indentations for the anchorage of ships and the building of docks. The prime necessity for the whole plan is an industrial rail- way for freight around the south and east shores of The Bronx, so as to connect all the railroads coming into The Bronx with the dock system planned by Commissioner Tomkins, and by means of spurs, with the factories to be built in the territory described. This will make it possible for a loaded freight car to come 44 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX into The Bronx on any railroad or steamship pier or dock, or to any factoiy or warehouse that is connected with the railway by a spur. The Borough President has directed his engineers to draw up tentative plans for the Industrial Railway and has interested men of capital in the plan. One step in this development has been made by the Ryawa Realty Company, which has begun a $20,- 000,000 development at the mouth of the Bronx River, similar to the Bush Terminal stores in Brooklyn. Part of the plan is to have a Union Terminal Market on the line of the Industrial Railway, where food products may be carried by all the railroads and steamships coming to The Bronx and dis- tributed directly and cheaply to the retail dealers of the Borough. CHAPTER VI THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES The Water Front That Invites Big Ships from Over the Seven Seas — Early Highways. pLLIONS of dollars have been spent by the Govern- ment in deepening and widening the channels of waterways, and more money is constantly being ex- pended on improvements. The crowding of com- merce and the ever growing demand for more docking space in Manhattan will eventually force the city to build substantial wharves and piers along the matchless water front. The opening of the Erie Canal and the Harlem Ship Canal has brought The Bronx and the maritime states of New England into direct water communication with the Great Lakes of the Northwest, and it is only a question of time when the ocean greyhounds will be docking at Port Morris, at which point the East River is deepest. This will save 300 miles of water route, as it will enable steamers to come direct thru Long Island Sound, instead of the Narrows and the Lower Bay. Our forefathers, as far back as 1693, saw the necessity of a bridge across the Harlem River. Since then nearly every leading thorofare of Manhattan has been extended into The Bronx by means of a bridge, and around these centers there has been un- paralleled gro\\'th of traffic and prosperity. The old bridges which once connected the Borough of The Bronx with Manhattan have all been taken dovm and replaced by up-to-date steel structures. The first bridge across the Harlem River was built by Fred- erick Philipse in 1693. It was named "King's Bridge" and stood about where the present Broadway Bridge is situated until 1713, when it was moved to just east of the present structure which bears the name of Spuyten Duyvil Creek Bridge. Originally a ferry, owned by Johannes Verveelen, plied be- tween Westchester County and Manhattan Island. As traffic 45 46 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX became too heavy, it was decided to replace the ferry by a bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek; but the public treasury was insufficient for the undertaking of such a project. The wealthy Frederick Philipse, foreseeing the possibility of reaping a large revenue, pro- posed to build the bridge at his own expense if he were permitted to collect tolls. The Provincial Assembly granted to Philipse "the neck or island of land called Paparinemo with the salt meadows thereunto belonging, together with power and authority to erect a bridge over the water or river commonly called Spiten Courtesi/ Dcpartnieiit of Bridfics, City of Neio York King's Bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek in 1856 Devil Ferry or Paparinemo." The "Dutch Millionaire" was author- ized to impose the following tolls: " 3 pens (pence) for each man or horse that shall pass in the daytime. " 3 pens for each head of neat cattle. "12 pens for each score of hoggs, calves, or sheep. " 9 pens for every boat, vessel or canoe that shall pass the said bridge and cause the same to be drawn up. " 9 pens for each coach, cart, or sledge, or waggon." The bridge was of much importance during the Revolution. Over it Washington's defeated and disheartened army retreated in THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 47 September, 1776; and over it again in November, 1783, Wash- ington, Governor George Clinton and a guard of honor crossed, this time with their faces southward, to resume once more the pos- session of the City of New York. The surrounding section re- ceived the name of Kingsbridge from this bridge. A short distance southeast of the King's Bridge stood the Farmers' Free or Dyckman's Bridge, erected in 1758 which, unlike King's Bridge, was free of all tolls. Philipse's bridge had become irksome to the farmers who were obliged to pay toll each time they •i'" './': Courtesy Department of Bridnes, City of A'rtr York Farmers' Bridge (Dyckman's) over Spuyten Duyvil Creek in 1860 crossed and recrossed it on their way to and from market. A move- ment was therefore started by Benjamin Palmer of City Island for raising a popular subscription with which to erect a free bridge. Palmer was encouraged in his efforts by Thomas Vermilye of Fordham and Jacob Dyckman of Manhattan, both of whom fur- nished the land for the approaches of the bridge. Despite the persistent opposition of Frederick Philipse, who realized that his revenue would be curtailed, the project was effected and the "Free Bridge" formally opened on New Year's Day of 1759. Thus was a blow struck at Colonial aristocracy. The bridge was also known as "Farmers' Bridge," "Dyck- 48 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX man's Bridge," and afterwards as "Hadley's Bridge"; the latter name after George Hadley who purchased this section in 1785 from the Commissioners of Forfeiture. The bridge was destroyed during the Revolution, but rebuilt after the war. Jn 1911 it was replaced by a steel structure. In 1795 the State Legislature granted a franchise to John B. Coles to build a dam bridge across the Harlem River. This is known as the first Third Avenue, or Harlem, Bridge. Heretofore all persons going from Manhattan to the mainland, and vice versa. Free or Farmer's Bridge in 1910 were obliged to travel in a round about way across Spuyten Duyvil Creek by ford or ferry or bridge. The bridge was to be constructed within four years, and the o^vnership was to be vested in Coles for sixty years, after which period it was to become the property of the State. A lock, attended by a lock-keeper, was to permit the passage of vessels. The tolls which Coles was authorized to collect, provided he kept the bridge in repair, ranged from one cent for every ox, cow, or steer, and three cents for every pedestrian to thirty-seven and a half cents for every four-wheeled pleasure carriage and horses that passed the bridge. At the expiration of the sixty years, THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 4S the Harlem Bridge Company, which was incorporated in 1808, loathe to relinquish so rich a pudding, made efforts to procui-e an extension of its franchise ; but the State Legislature turned it over to the counties of New York and Westchester, who converted it into a free thorofare. For almost seventy years the Harlem Bridge did noble service across the Harlem River, when, owing to the increased traffic between Harlem and Morrisania, it was found necessary to replace it with an iron structure. This second Third Avenue, or Harlem, Courtesy Dcpai-tmcnt of Bridncs, Citii of Ncio York Macomb's Dam Bridge over Harlem River, 1838 Bridge was in turn removed to make room for a more modern steel and iron bridge with a draw of 300 feet. The third Harlem Bridge was opened to the public on August 1st, 1898, at a cost to the City of $2,357,742.51. In 1800 Alexander Macomb, a wealthy merchant of New York City, who had come into possession of the forfeited Philipse prop- erty, obtained from the city authorities a water grant extending across Spuyten Duyvil Creek just east of the King's Bridge. His son Robert obtained, in 1813, a grant to erect a dam across the Harlem from Bussing's Point on the Manhattan side to Devoe's Point on the Westchester shore, thus practically forming a mill 50 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX pond out of the Hai-lem River and the Spu\-ten Duyvil Creek to supplj- power to the mills constructed along the Westchester side. There was a sl:ipulation, however, that the dam should be so con- structed as to allow the passage of boats, and that Macomb should alwaj's have a person in attendance to afford the desired passage. He neglected, however, to carry out this direction, and not only erected the dam without the specified contrivance, but converted its lip into a permanent bridge, known as Macomb's Dam Bridge, and collected tolls from all who crossed it. The utter obstruction (ourtesy Defartmtnt of Bridges^ City of A** ir York Macomb's Dam Bridge in 1861 of the river thus introduced, continued until 1838. In the mean- time Robert Macomb had become insolvent and his property was now in the possession of the Renwicks. Protests were raised against the obstruction of the Hai-lem River as well as against the unauthorized collection of tolls, but they went unheeded. In 1838, Lewis G. Morris, a member of that family which have always championed the people's rights, devised a plot whereby he would bring the matter to an issue before the courts. He built a dock half a mile north of Highbridge and chartered the vessel Nonpareil to carry a load of coal for delivery at Morris TELEPHONE, 3869 MELROSE LEWIS G. FRIED 863 Kelly St., Bronx, N.Y. Parquet and Hardwood FLOORS OF EVERY DESCRIPTION Old Floors Cleaned, Scraped and Refmished Prospect Taxi Co-, Inc. High Class Work and Low Rates Accessories and Repair Work Taxi Service ! 784-786 Southern Boulevard i BRONX. NEW YORK IPhone. Melrose 7"»8 Pt^ONE 4619 MELROSE Dresses and Slirts a Specially A. GREIF Ladies' Tailor 885 Prospect Ave. Between 161st and \62A Streets New York Prospect $1.00 Skirt Company S30 Westchester Ave. Near Prospect Ave. Sub Station Skirts Made to Order $1.00 up Suits Made to Order $6.00 up We also make SKIRTS and SUITS from our own material. Specialty in Robes and Gowns AUG. KORSMEIER. Prcsideai Tel., Tremont 2500 BOULEVARD AUTO CO. GARAGE " "■ ^ 4 k 3 r ^ _&s i--i3rcj=^ "^ U^ p ;4^^ iig ' I): 11 ' '' HR 1 Mill KflH^SIlM ^ ^•^r^^ — ■ — No. 2073 Southern Boulevud Near 180tb Street Storing Renting Supplies Charging Ignition Batteries and Electrics Our Specialty General Over- hauling Painting Uphol- stering Auto Tops and Re- pairing All Work Done on Premises by Expert Mechanics Rates Lowest Possible, Consistent with High Class Work Delivered BRONX AGENCY FOR BUICK CARS Limousines. Touring Cars and Tasis to Hire for all Occasions Open Day and Niglit Ideal Factory Sites Between Rail and Water For Sale on Liberal Terms Port Morris Land & Imp't Co. 141 Broadway, New York LION'S BAKERY ^P 4380 Third Ave., Cor. 180th St. New York Phone Trcmont 1844 THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 51 Dock. When the Noiip"it-til reached the dam at full tide, Mor- ris demanded that the passage be opened. As this request was not complied with, Morris with the aid of about one hundred men, who appeared on a number of small boats, tore out a part of the dam and thus forced thru the passage of his vessel. A suit was instituted by the Renwicks against Morris in the Superior Court for the damage done to the dam, but a decison was rendered Macomb Mansion, Kingsbsidge against the plaintiffs. The Supreme Court and later the Court of Errors upheld the original decision. Chancellor Walworth, in handing down his decison, said in part: "The Harlem River is an arm of the sea and a public navigable river; it was a public nuisance to obstruct the navigation thereof without authority of Law." From that time on a drawbridge was always maintained in the dam rendering the Harlem free to navigation. It was in turn replaced in 1861, by a swinging draw which became known as the Second Macomb's Dam Bridge, and remained in service until 52 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX 1895, when a Third Macomb's Dam, or Central Bridge, a steel structure, took its place. The oldest bridge across the Harlem today is the famous High Bridge, which was completed in 1849. It is 1,450 feet long and 25 feet wide, and extends between West One Hundred Seventy- fifth Street and Tenth Avenue, Manhattan, and Aqueduct Avenue near One Hundred Seventieth Street, The Bronx. It is an excel- lent example of masonry arch construction, and is one of the sights of the neighborhood. High Bridge, as the name suggests, was so constructed as not ^Q W^ / ^ --^jV iJ'-iJtirtmcnt of Briihh .,. i ./_;/ <;; A\ ,i io. /. Willis Avenue Bridge to interfere with the navigation of the Harlem River. This was- the effect of the decision rendered by the courts of the State of New York in connection with the Macomb's Dam Bridge.- It had been planned to conduct the water of the Croton River by means of a low siphon bridge across the Harlem River to supply water to the City of New York. But the decision of 1839 caused the Legislature to pass an act directing the water commissioners to construct the aqueduct over the Harlem River with arches and piers ; the arches to have a span of at least eighty feet and not less than one hundred feet from the usual high-water mark of the river to the underside of the arches of the crown. THE STORY OP GREAT BRIDGES 55 Between the King's and the Farmers' or Dyckman's Bridges stands the Broadway Bridge, a perfect example of its type. It was opened to the public October 14, 1900. Facing the Broadway Bridge is the Macomb Mansion. In 1693 this was known as the "public house at the north end of the bridge," and in 1776 as Cox's Tavern. It was bought by Alexander Macomb in 1797, who built nearby in 1800 the First Macomb's Dam, and in 1848 was sold to the late J. H. Godwin. Parts still show its age. The Washington Bridge, with its two great steel arch spans of 510 feet each comes next and is one of the most beautiful speci- mens of ornamental bridgework in the world. It connects West One Hundred Eighty-first Street, Manhattan, with Aqueduct Ave- nue near East One Hundred Seventy-first Street, The Bronx. The bridge was opened to the public in 1888, after two years in building and at a cost of nearly three millions of dollars. Its entire length is 2,399 feet, and it is 86 feet wide. The crowns of the arches are 1331/2 feet above the mean high-water mark. Beginning at the East River and extending towards the Hud- son is the magnificent Willis Avenue steel drawbridge which sup- ports a heavy traffic. It connects East One Hundred Twenty-fifth Street and First Avenue, Manhattan, with East One Hundred Thirty-fourth Street and Willis Avenue, Bronx. It cost two mil- lion dollars, and was opened to the public August 22nd, 1901. Next comes the Third Avenue Bridge carrying the Elevated Railroad. This is owned by the Suburban Rapid Transit Company, but there is a free public footway. The Fourth Avenue Bridge is said to be the heaviest steel drawbridge in the world, and is used exclusively for railroad crossing. The splendid Madison Avenue Bridge comes next, connecting Madison Avenue, Manhattan, with East One Hundred Thirty- eighth Street, The Bronx. This was the first bridge to be well elevated above the river so that it would not be necessary to open the draw for every passing vessel. The draws are not opened before 9 o'clock in the morning nor later than 5 o'clock in the afternoon, so as to avoid blocking the traffic and delaying the passengers. The first Madison Avenue Bridge, constructed in 1884, was replaced by a larger and more substantial structure,. which was opened to the public on July 18th, 1910. The One Hundred Forty-fifth Street Bridge connects West 54 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX One Hundred Forty-fifth Street and Lenox Avenue, Manhattan, with East One Hundred Forty-ninth Street, The Bronx. It was opened to the public on August 24th, 1905. Then follow the Ma- comb's Dam; New York and Putnam; Washington; University Heights ; Ship Canal ; Broadway and King's Bridges. Connecting the Borough of The Bronx with the Borough of Queens is to be the new steel Bronx-Astoria Bridge, now in the process of construction. This bridge, which will be the largest of its kind in the world, will consist of a series of spans from Port Morris over Randall's and Ward's Islands, to the shore of the Borough of Queens, and will provide for direct railroad communi- cation between the two boroughs. It was designed by former Bridge Commissioner, Gustav Lindenthal and Palmer and Horn- bostel. The viaduct in The Bronx will be twelve blocks long, from One Hundred Forty-second Street and Walnut Avenue, where it will be twenty feet above ground, thru the Port Morris yard of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, to the water front ; here its height will be sixty-five feet. The first span, a 300-foot bridge of the lift type, will cross Bronx Kills. There will be a steel pier in the center, so constructed as to permit, in the event of the Kills being deepened, as was pro- posed by the War Department, the passage of vessels from the Hudson River to the Sound by way of the Harlem Ship Canal. Next will come a 2,600-foot viaduct across Randall's Island, connecting with the second bridge, a 1,000 foot riveted truss bridge composed of five spans across Little Hell Gate. This joins the viaduct across Ward's Island, which will rest on concrete piers and will be 2,600 feet long. This viaduct will join the main bridge structure across Hell Gate, connecting with the Astoria shore be- tween Ditmars and Potter Avenues, just south of the old Barclay Mansion. The railroad crossing this bridge will have a line for freight and another for passengers. The passenger line will connect the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New Haven by means of the Penn- sylvania tunnel under the Hudson River and the tunnel under the City at Thirty-fourth Street, thus making a route thru The Bronx from the southwest to New England and Canada. The freight line will' come by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad along the north shore of Staten Island to St. George, thence by tunnel THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 55 under the narrows to South Brooklyn, and thence by the Bronx- Astoria Bridge to the Bronx. The finest bridge of all, however, will be the Henry Hudson Memorial Bridge which is to be erected over the ship canal con- necting Manhattan and The Bronx. This bridge will have a span of 703 feet and will rank as one of the grandest achievements in bridge engineering, as no masonry arch has yet been built with a span of even 300 feet. With the possible exception of the Albany Post Road, which extends along the eastern bank of the historic Hudson; the old King's Bridge Road leading thru Fordham; and the Boston Post Road, which branches east at King's Bridge, nearly all of the early highways have disappeared entirely or have been so altered that they are unrecognizable. The old Westchester Path, which was the first roadway cut out in Westchester County by the early pioneers, is but a memory today; and all traces of its former existence have been obliterated. In the early Colonial days it was the only road leading from Manhattan Island to Westchester County. By going along its crooked route, denoted by marked trees thru the dense wilderness, it was possible, if one cared to follow the Indian trails, to reach Greenwich and the Berkshire Hills. Many of the families followed the line of the old Westchester Path as is shown by the early deeds which speak of the old West- chester Path as bounding their property on one side or the other. It was also over this path that the Colonial Legislature made its flight to White Plains in 1776, from the scenes of its deliberation in New York City, and this was the r6ad chosen by Harvey Birch, Fenimore Cooper's Spy, in his secret journeys for the Commander- in-Chief of the Continental army. CHAPTER VII THE PARKS The Parks Show Nature in Her Happiest Mood — Broad Acres Yield to Sport and Sentiment — Scenes Hallowed by Sacrifices and Struggles of Our Ancestors — A Page of Old History — The Bronx Beautiful Society. w p^?;^HAT has already greatly added to the attractiveness ■^iljll of The Bronx is its splendid chain of parks and recrea- tion places. All the boroughs have beautiful parks, but in none has Nature been more lavish in her handi- work than in those located in The Bronx. In April, 1883, the Legislature of New York, in the face of much opposition, passed an act authorizing an appointment of a commission to select one or more parks beyond the Harlem River. This commission was duly appointed, and they marked out the sites of the three large parks — Pelham, Bronx and Van Cortlandt — and of three little ones — Crotona, Claremont and St. Mary's. The commission consisted of Luther R. Marsh, President; Waldo Hutchins, Louis Fitzgerald, Charles L. Tiffany, George W. McLean, Thomas J. Crombie, William W. Niles, and John Mullay, Secretary, nearly all of whom had been from the beginning conspicuously active in the movement. The chief objection raised against the purchase of park land was that the parks would be a heavy expense to the city, and that the money was needed for other purposes. But this was met by the argument that the acquisition by the city of the parks would raise the value of real estate in their neighborhood, and that the city would profit by the increased taxable value of the property. This was shown to be the case in regard to Central Park. The experience of other cities, particularly Chicago and Boston, was cited to substantiate this statement. In June, 1884, the legislature passed an act giving possession of the six parks to the City of New York, and directing the Supreme Court to appoint a commission to appraise the lands. This was done, and the land became the property of the City at a cost of $9,000,000. 56 THE PARKS 57 There are seventeen named parks in the Borough, with a total of 3.916 acres, besides numerous unnamed grounds open to the public. The Bronx has 1.148 more acreage of park lands, including the parkways, than all the other boroughs combined. They are so evenly distributed thruout the Borough that they are within the reach of all and afford ample pleasure grounds for the multitudes. The parks and park^-ays of The Bronx extend from one end of the Borough to the other. Beginning with the most westerly park limit there is the Spu>-ten Dujwil Parkway, beginning at the junction of Spuji:en Dujwil Creek and the Hudson River, and wind- ing over the hills and thru the valleys until it intersects Van Cortlandt Park at Two Hundred Seventy-second Street. This park- way is intended to be a connecting link, in time, between the system of parkways in The Bronx and those in Manhattan by means of a \iaduct over the Spuj-ten Duyvil Creek, to connect with a similar parkway leading along the western side of Manhattan, which will be an extension of Riverside Drive and Boulevard Lafayette. Going easterly thru Van Cortlandt Park, we enter the Mosholu Parlvway, which leads directly to Bronx Park. Crossing Bronx Park, and still going easterly we enter The Bronx and Pelham Parkway, which brings us over to the great Pelham Bay Park, and following along the roadway thru Pelham Bay Park leads us up to the northerly limits of the Citj-, and out into the town of Pelham Manor and New Rochelle. The largest of these parks are: Pelham Bay. Van Cortlandt, and Bronx Parks. These three alone cover 3,608 acres. Other parks in the Borough include Claremont, Crotona, De Voe, Joseph Rodman Drake. Echo. Sigel. Macomb's Dam, Poe. St. James. St. Mary's, University- and Washington Bridge. Pelham Bay, the largest of the parks, is twice the size of Central Park, and contains large tracts of woodland with nine miles of water front. It has a fine athletic field and parade ground, an 18-hole golf course, and also two excellent bathing beaches. Here we have located a tent citj-, named Orchard Beach, where families and clubs erect their tents and spend the summer in the open air under the supervision of the Park Department. It was in this park that Thomas Pell signed an important treaty with two Siwanoy Indian sachems in 1654, which made him lord of all that region. An iron fence that once surrounded ^ ■^ AMUSEMENT ^ «» RYE, N.Y. PARK on Long island Sound ACCESSIBLE FROM ALL POINTS BETWEEN NEW YORK CITY AND BRIDGEPORT OPENS DECORATION. DAY CLOSES SEPTEMBER 15th. FINEST AND SAFEST BATHING BEACH ON LONG ISLAND SOUND New Concrete Bathing Pavilion with over 300 Rooms. A SCORE OF THE SAFEST AND MOST MODERN AMUSEMENT DEVICES. Westchester's Paradise for Children and Grown Ups Ideal (or Sunday School Picnics and Outings. Basket Parties Welcome. Accommodations for 1,000 in Grove. 60 foot Ferris Wheel — Commanding a Magnificent view of surrounding country. "Dip the Loop" Half Mile Coaster — Speedy, Safe and Strong. Mammoth Circle Swing — Blood Tingling and Ejhilaratirg. Frolic and Old Mill— Will drive away the blues— Both Uproariously Funny. MANY OTHER FEATURES. Large Open Air Theatre — Two high class performances daily. Immense Dancing Pavilion and Good Music Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Most Luxurious Bathing Pavilion in United States. RYE BEACH PARK LET THEM ENJOY THE DELIGHTFUL AIR, THE SAFEST BATHING ON THE SOUND and Dig in the Sand or Fly on the Swings, etc. They will have the care of our personal attendants on the CAROUSEL Plenty of room for them to roam, or they may find an abundance of Free Games to amuse them The Pony Track, around which speed gentle and well broken ponies, will prove a source of great delight to them. The Candy, Ice Cream and Lemonade are made on the grounds from pure ingredients 58 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX the famous tree under which it was signed, is all that remains to remind us of "Treaty Oak," which was destroyed in 1906 by a bolt of lightning. Here, too, on October 18, 1776, Col. Glover with a brigade of 550 Marhlehead fishermen engaged Sir William Howe's army and held it in check long enough to enable General Washington's forces to make a successful retreat to White Plains. Pell Treaty Oak, Pelham Bay Park This feat is memorialized by a tablet on the face of a great glacial boulder on the City Island road, known as "Glover's Rock." Extending thru this park, also, is "Split Rock" Road. This derives its name from a large boulder which seems to have been cleft in twain by a tree growing up thru the middle of the rock. Near this boulder is the site of the house of the unfortunate Anne Hutchinson who was cruelly butchered by the Indians. THE PARKS 69 Over the Hutchinson River, which pei*petuates the memory of the fateful religious reformer in this region, is the Pelhani Bridge, constructed in 1908. This bridge replaced an older one built in 1870, which was itself a successor to one erected in 1834. The Pel- ham Bridge has been famous for the large fish that have been caught from it, i-anging in weight from twenty to sixty-three pounds. The famous old chestnut tree, under whose spreading branches Lord Howe and his officers had their luncheon just before the battle of White Plains, is still standing in a wooded dell north of Eastchester. The region at one time abounded in wild animals. Within two centuries, wolves were a great pest in this neighborhood. The Provincial Assembly enacted that in the County of Westchester twenty shillings (about $5) should be paid for a grown wolf killed by a Christian, and ten shillings ($2.50) for one killed by an Indian, and half that sum respectively for a whelp. The remains of wolf-pits were, up to recently, to be seen not far from Pelham Park. Besides the deer, the wild turkey existed in great numbers on the verge of the forest. It is said that flocks of them used to fly from the ridge west of Van Cortlandt Park across Tippet's Brook to a hill east of this little stx'eam. The flight was always begun by a large black cock, and was made at sunset. The leader gave the note and the flock were at once on the wing. Beavers were very common on the Bronx River. The last of them were seen there about 1790. It is said they at one time changed the course of the river by a dam. If the current was feeble, they saved themselves trouble by building the dam straight across; but, if it was strong, they built the dam in a convex shape, so as to resist the strength of the water. It was, therefore, possible to tell the force of a stream by the shape of the beaver dams. Van Cortlandt Park, a botanical reservation, is situated in Northwest Bronx and is the second largest in the Borough. On account of its accessibility it is much further advanced in its development and is more generally used than Pelham Bay Park. Its smooth 150-acre parade ground, hemmed in on three sides by rugged hills and picturesque landscapes, makes a very impressive scene. On this green sward the National Guardsmen in summer fight their sham battles and hold their dress parades. The field 60 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX is also used for athletic sports of all kinds, particularly baseball, golf and polo. The parade ground is the site of Adrien Van der Donck's Planting Field (1653), where he located his bouwerie. Van der Donck had been sheriff of Rensselaerswyck, but his young, newly- wedded wife persuaded him to remove to Manhattan. Before he had completed his arrangements for removal, his pretty cottage burned down ; and, as it was in the depth of an inclement winter (1647), Van Corlear invited his houseless neighbors to share his hospitality. A quarrel soon arose because the host insisted that Van Cortlandt Vault, Van Cortlandt Park Van der Donck was bound to make good to his patroon the value of the lost house. Van der Donck retorted sharply, and was orderd from the house. Kieft, who was indebted to him for a large amount of borrowed money, permitted him to purchase from the Indians a large tract of land, now part of Van Cortlandt Park, and granted him the privileges of patroon. This took the name of Colen Donck. on Donck's Colony. Many of the Dutch were in the habit of calling this estate de Jonkheer's Landt, Jonkheer being a title which in Holland was applied to the sons of noblemen. The English cor- rupted it and called it "Yonkers," whence the name of the town north of Van Cortlandt Park. Van Cortlandt Lake comprises about seventy-five acres and during winter offers opportunity to ten or fifteen thousand skaters. THE PARKS 61 and in summer is dotted by those who love to go out in small boats. It was made in 1700 by throwing an embankment across Tippett's Brook, the Mosholu of the Indians. No spot of ground around New York is so hallowed by Revolu- tionary memories as this. It was on Vault Hill, to the northwest of the Van Cortlandt mansion, that Washington in 1781 kept a string of camp fires blazing for several days to deceive Clinton across Spuyten Duyvil Creek, while the allied French and American armies were speeding across the Jerseys on their way to Philadel- ^ ^'-^M Van Cortlandt Mansion, Van Cortlandt Park phia and Yorktown. Vault Hill derived its name from the ancient burial place of the Van Cortlandts. It was in this vault that the records of the City of New York were hidden by Augustus Van Cortlandt, then City Clerk, when the City was evacuated by the Americans in 1776, and preserved until peace was restored. In the lower part of Van Cortlandt Park, in front of the Parade Ground, still stands the historic mansion erected in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt, who married Frances Jay, daughter of the ancestor of Chief Justice John Jay. Frederick Van Cort- landt refers to it in his will, written in 1749 as "the large stone dwelling house which I am about finishing." 62 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX Two eagles surmounted the posts of an old gateway which, according to Bolton's "Histoiy of Westchester," were spoils taken from a Spanish privateer, and presented to the house by a British Admiral. The Eagles have disappeared since the sale to the City. General Washington occupied this house for a brief time in 1781, prior to his retreat to Yorktown, and at the close of the war in 1783 spent a night there before ci'ossing King's Bridge on his triumphal entry into the City of New York. The house is still in Van CuKTLANLiT Mills an excellent state of preservation, and is used as a repository of Colonial and Revolutionary relics, in the care of the Colonial Dames. It is furnished, as in the old historic days, with high canopied bedsteads and other quaint household articles. In the kitchen may still be seen the old fashioned utensils and the large fireplace. It was in the capacious rooms of this grand, old resi- dence that Washington, Rochambeau, the Duke of Clarence (later King William the Fourth) , and other celebrities were entertained. During the Revolution this structure was the headquarters for the Hessian Jaegers. Captain Rowe of the Princhbank Jaegers, having been mortally wounded by the American water guard stationed on THE PARKS 63 Wild Boar Hill, was conveyed into one of the rooms of the Van Cortlandt mansion, where, after faintly speaking a few words to his broken-hearted bride-elect, became exhausted by the effort, and expired in her arms. Grand old trees surround the ancient mansion and spread their mighty boughs above the eaves of that stately old building, as if to shield it from the blustering winds that on stormy days sweep over the ridge. South of the mansion, surrounded by a moat, is Fifteenth Milestone Tenth Milestone the Dutch garden. One of the stones of the old mill forms the base for the pedestal of a sun dial. Under the shadow of this building may be seen the grim Rhinelander Sugar-House Prison window, removed hither from Duane and Rose Streets, Manhattan. This Rhinelander Sugar House was used during the Revolutionary War as a British military prison, and it was against the solid iron grated bars of this window that the patriots pressed their faces to get a breath of pure air. The window was presented by T. J. 0. Rhinelander, and dedicated on May 26, 1903. It is flanked by two cannons from Fort Independence. A crumbling old millstone on the bank of the mill race, near the site of the original Van Cortlandt house, is the only remaining 64 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX relic of the picturesque saw and grist mills erected by Jacobus Van Cortlandt, in 1700, which stood on the west side of the bridge crossing the dam; they were struck by lightning and destroyed in 1901. To the westward, on Newton Avenue, part of the old Albany Post Road, near Two Hundred Twenty-second Street, may still be seen one of the two surviving milestones in this Borough, recently reset by the City History Club. It was the fifteenth on the route to Albany; the other one (the tenth milestone) is located at One Hundred Sixty-eighth Street and Boston Road. Hadley House About four hundred paces north is the Van Cortlandt's miller's Jiouse, a white house built for the miller of the old estate. Further along on the left is the Hadley house, partly of wood, unpainted, and partly of stone covered with vines. It probably antedates the Van Cortlandt mansion. It is said to have given shelter more than once to Washington. In the adjoining woods many relics have been found, including old English muskets, and an Indian skeleton in a sitting position, holding a small child's skeleton in its arms. Just above, north of Riverside Lane, is the ARE YOXT HIPP'!^ GO TO IvIPP'S I i Situated iu most picturesque part of Bronx directly op- posite Fordliam en- trance of Bronx Park Large, shady veran- da, wliere you can he entertained by a con- stant stream of auto- raoljiles from four dif- ferent directions Easily accessible from any point in the city. All cars stop at or transfer to the door. ■♦♦♦ Musical Enlerlainment Afternoons & Evenings ♦♦♦■ Refreshments of Every Description ♦+♦ Meals a la Carte At Popular Prices Large up-to-date Sheds for the accommodation of Horses and Automobiles KIPP'S PARKWAY HOTEL, Under the management of Frank W. Kipp for the past thirteen years Z Cor. Fordham Road & Southern Boulevard, Bronx, N. Y. C. T- Directly Opposite Bronx Zoo. Entrance at 1 82d avern st.&so.Boui. henry jaeger, Prop. Tei.470 ■^ * Ire men Summer and Winter Garden Hall for Weddings and Private Parties Banquets and Lodge Meet- ings. Automobile Parties a Specialty Excellent Service Popular Prices Vocal and Instrumental Music every Sunday Have you ever had the C^i^-j^^QnTQ Cafc, Hotcl ond Restaui'ant pleasure of dining at vJ vJiilldlll O East Side of White Plains Road, South of Pelham Parkway. Near Bronx Park, N. Y. C. Table d'hote from 1 2 I till 8:30 P. M. A la Carte till 1 1 P. M. Italian Table d'hote Din- ner and a la Carte Real Italian Spaghetti in Real Italian Style our Specialty A visit to SORMANI'S will leave pleasant recol- lections Telephone 168 Williamsbridf TEL. TREMONT 843 WM. M. TIVOLI MOHEGAN TAVERN HIGH CLASS CABARET 178th SOUTHERN BOULEVARD . 179th otreet crotona parkway AND MOHEGAN AVENUE ONE BLOCK TO 177th and 180th ST. CROSSTOWN CARS Bronx, N. Y. large Hall Free for Smokers, Entertainmenls, and Receptions for Clubs Every Evening at 8 o'clock THE PARKS 65 Somler house, the older portion dating back to the Revolution. Near Hawthorne Avenue, west of Valentine Lane, is the re- mains of Washington's chestnut, a gigantic tree over two centuries old, which, tradition says, Washington used as a place of ob- servation. At the corner of Hawthorne Avenue is the Lawrence house, where Washington stopped. This house was probably given to Lawrence as a reward for his services as guide. At Sycamore Avenue and Two Hundred and Fifty-third Street, one block south of the Morrisania mansion, stands the former home of Mark Twain, where he lived in 1901. Another interesting scene worth visiting in Van Cortlandt Park is the Indian Field at Two Hundred Thirty-seventh Street and Mount Vernon Avenue. On this plot lie the remains of Chief Nimham and seventeen Stockbridge Indians, who died on August 31, 1778, fighting on the side of the patriots. The Indians put up a desperate resistance against the British Legion Dragoons, but were overmatched by superior numbers. Chief Nimham wounded Sim- coe, one of the British commanders but was himself killed by Wright, his orderly Hussar. A cairn, upon which has been fas- tened a bronze memorial tablet by the Bronx Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is a tribute worthy of that valorous band who gave their lives for liberty. It bears the following inscription: AUGUST 31, 1778. UPON THIS FIELD, CHIEF NIMHAM, AND SEVENTEEN STOCKBRIDGE INDIANS, AS ALLIES OF THE PATRIOTS, GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR LIBERTY. Erected by Bronx Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Mount Vernon, New York. June 14, 1906. The Mosholu Parkway over 6,500 feet long and 600 feet wide leads direct from the Van Cortlandt to the Bronx Park. The grandeur and natural beauty of the Bronx Park is unsurpassed. The Zoological Park and the Botanical Gardens are the most com- plete, and are said to be the finest in the world. 66 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX The Zoological Park is free to the public every day, except Mondays and Thursdays (if not holidays) when the admission fee is 25 cents. Almost every specimen of wild animal is to be found here amid surroundings as nearly like those of their native haunts as it is possible to create. The Botanical Gardens are alone worth a visit to the park, Indian Monument, Van Cortlandt Park and are a wonderland of trees, flowers, and shrubberies. The celebrated Hemlock Grove on the west bank of the Bronx River is a favorite resort of artists who find many an inspiring scene for brush or pencil. Other interesting points are: The Crystal Palace, the 100-ton Rocking Stone, and the Boars' Den, a natural cave in the rocks. Bronx Park was at one time the property of the Lorillards, THE PARKS 67 whose mansion still stands near the waterfall that ran the old snuff mill from which the family derived its fortune. During the Revolution it was the one place in the Colonies where snuff was manufactured. The manor-house has been renovated and turned into a museum by the Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences. The Lorillard Mansion Museum is open free to the public from 2 to 5 p. m. It would thrill the heart of an antiquarian to see the varied exhibits, historical relics, and countless other curiosities. Elephant House, Bronx Park Thru a rocky chasm flows the romantic Bronx River, made famous by Lord North. His Lordship once remarked that Howe should have sailed his fleet up the Bronx River, and thus cut off Washington's retreat. Had Howe followed up this ludicrous order the British fleet would, no doubt, have remained there to this day. The Bronx River runs directly thru part of the park from north to south, varying in width from 50 to 400 feet. Crotona Park is situated in what is now one of the most popu- lous sections of the Borough, and with its ball fields, tennis courts, athletic fields, and Indian Lake, affords splendid recreation grounds for those living in its immediate neighborhood. Many improve- ments have been made in this park within the last few years. In «8 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX the northwest corner of the park stands the Borough Hall, erected in 1897. The land comprising Crotona Park constituted the Bathgate Farm. Alexander Bathgate, a Scotchman, who came to this coun- try early in the nineteenth century, was overseer on the farm of Gouverneur Morris, the First. He was frugal and thrifty, and he saved enough to purchase the farm from the second Gouverneur Morris. I "GuNDA," The Famous Elephant of Bronx Park Zoo Crotona Parkway, 100 feet wide, connects Crotona Park with Bronx Park. It was opened in 1910. Claremont Park is situated on very high natural ground and gives an extensive view of the surrounding territory on all sides. This was formerly known as the Zborowski Farm, which Martin Zborowski obtained as a dowry from the Morris family thru his marriage to Anna Morris. The headquarters of the Bronx Park Department is located in what was known as the Zborowski man- sion, a stone building erected in 1859, and is evidently on the site of an older building dating about 1676. Beyond is the famous Black Swamp, where cattle have been lost since the time of the Indians. For years it has defied the efforts of all contractors to fill it up. THE PARKS 69 Claremont Park is connected with Crotona Park by means of Wendover Avenue. A little north of Claremont Park are located the smaller parks, known as Echo Park, St. James Park and Poe Park. Poe Park is so named because adjacent to the park was the Poe Cottage, recently removed to the Park and where Edgar Allen Poe wrote many of his poems. Here, Virginia, his invalid wife, died and was buried from the Fordham Manor Dutch Reformed Church, Kingsbridge Road and Aqueduct Avenue. In Poe Park, directly opposite the cottage, there is a bust of Poe with an inscrip- BiKD Court, Bronx Park tion, erected by the Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences on the centenary of his birth, January 19th, 1909. In the Cromwell house near the Poe cottage lived an old lady who supplied Poe with the necessities of life during his deepest poverty. St. Mary's Park is situated at the southerly end of the Borough and was formerly a portion of the property of Gouverneur Morris, who lies buried in the churchyard of St. Ann's Church, within a few feet of the park. In the northwesterly end of the Borough are Franz Sigel Park, Macomb's Dam Park, University Park and Washington Bridge Park; all small but splendidly located, and adding much to the general beauty of the Borough. Franz Sigel Park, originally 70 THE BOROUGH OP THE BRONX called Cedar Park from the number of cedar trees growing there, was so renamed, in 1902, in memory of the heroic Civil War veteran who lived during the latter part of his life not far from Cedar Park. Recently some of the members of the North Side Board of Trade and The Bronx Industrial Bureau called, thru W. R. Messenger, the Secretary of the Bureau, a meeting of citizens in LoRiLLARD Mansion, Bronx Park the Morris High School to consider the organization of a society which should have for its object the preservation of the natural beauties of the Borough and the improvement of its home sur- roundings. A large and interested body of citizens responded to the call, and the meeting resulted in the organization of the Bronx- Beautiful Society. Among those urging its formation and indicating its tield of usefulness were the Hon. C. C. Miller, President of the Borough; Hon. Joseph A. Goulden, ex-member of Congress; Hon. Thomas THE PARKS 71 J. Higgins, Commissioner of Parks ; Chancellor Elmer E. Brown, of New York University; R. E. Simon, President of the Bronx Industrial Bui-eau ; E. B. Boynton, President of the American Realty Company ; Hon. James L. Wells, who was elected Presi- dent of the Society; Chancellor Brown became its Vice President; Hon. Joseph A. Goulden was made Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Charles F. Minor, manager of The Bronx branch Bathgate Homestead of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, became Treasurer, while W. R. Messenger was elected secretary. Other members of the Executive Committee were J. J. Amory, E. B. Boynton, Prof. Irvini Chaffee, William S. Germain, Rev. Thomas F. Gregg, Rev. W. H.. Kephart, Hon. F. D. Wilsey, R. E. Simon, W. R. Messenger, and Olin J. Stephens. To this committee have since been added Charles. Hilton Brown and Mrs. Miller, of Mount Hope. CHAPTER VIII EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS How the Future of the Child is Anticipated and the Schools Turn out the Men and Women of Tomorrow — Churches — How the Spiritual and Moral Welfare is looked After — Hospitals — Benevolent and Charitable Institu- tions — Cemeteries. N educational facilities The Bronx possesses all that can be desired. No civic institutions have been more zealously looked after by the municipality than the public schools. True, some of the lower grades have been necessarily put on part time be- cause of the enormous increase in population in the last two years; but many new schools are now in course of erection and the work is being pushed with all vigor so that in due time there will be a seat for every child in The Bronx. Search among the old records has failed to reveal just where and when the first school in the Borough was established. It was in a quaint little story-and-a-half schoolhouse once standing just east of the old Boston Post Road, now Third Avenue, and One Hundred Fifty-sixth Street that the gentry of the neighborhood, including the various branches of the Morris family, learned the rudiments of reading, writing, and ciphering. Bolton in his "His- tory of the County of Westchester" says that the first schoolhouse in Eastchester was erected in 1683, but it hardly seems possible that the burghers' children with their thirst for knowledge were so long without a school. In Westchester the English school was established and main- tained by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The first schoolmaster of whom we have any rec- ord is Edward Fitzgerald who served in 1709. He seems to have taught in the school only provisionally, for in that year the Rev. John Bartow wrote to the Society recommending the appointment of Daniel Clark, the son of a clergyman, as schoolmaster. Mr. Clark served from 1710 to 1713, when he was succeeded by Charles Glover, who held the position until 1719. Mr. Glover was paid a 72 EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 73 salary of eighteen pounds per annum, which was considered quite an income in those days. Mr. William Forster, who subsequently opposed Judge Lewis Morris in the election for representative in the Assembly, is next mentioned as the schoolmaster at Westchester. His remuneration was ten pounds per annum and a gratuity of ten pounds. He served until 1743, and the following year was succeeded by Mr. Basil Bartow, the son of the Rev. John Bartow, who held the position until 1762. There was a vacancy for two years which was filled by Mr. Nathaniel Seabury, a son of the Society's missionary at Hempstead, Long Island, and a brother of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, rector of the parish. The power of appointment had been vested by the Propagation Society in the rector; George Youngs succeeded Nathaniel Seabury in 1768, and served until 1772. There was a vacancy again for two years, and in 1774 Mr. Gott accepted the appointment and held the office until the Revolution. After the war the school passed from the authority of the church to that of the town. It was not, however, until 1874, when the Twenty-third and the Twenty-fourth Wards were annexed to New York City and the schools passed under the control of the Board of Education, that they developed to any degree of efficiency. Since the consolidation of the Greater City in 1897, the public school system in the Borough has reached its highest mark. From a small number of scattered schools with a few thousand pupils there has grown a school population of 86,000, housed in fifty ele- mentary school buildings and one secondary school. There is a class for crippled children in Public School No. 4 at Prospect Avenue and One Hundred and Seventy-sixth Street. They are transported to and from the school by means of two stages. Open-air classes are provided for enemic children, who are supplied with free lunches and sitting-out paraphernalia. Besides these schools there are within the Borough limits twenty parochial schools and the two great universities — New York and Fordham. The New York University, founded in 1831, ranks among the foremost institutions of learning in the United States. The founders had an idea of grandeur and beauty when they selected this spot for the celebrated college. It is charmingly situated on a forty-acre elevation on Fordham Heights and overlooks the Harlem 74 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX and Hudson Rivers, as well as Long Island Sound. Its environ- ments are ideal and invigorating for the educational advantages and physical opportunities provided under the experienced and able supervision of Dr. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Chancellor, and a most distinguished faculty. About five thousand students are distributed thru the fol- New York University lowing departments: College of Arts and Pure Science, Graduate School, School of Pedagogy, School of Commerce, Law School, and Medical College. Adjoining the Library Building is the "Hall of Fame," where are recorded on bronze tablets the names of America's immortals in science, literature, art, law, politics and other fields of noble endeavor. These names are selected by a committee of men who are themselves leaders in their respective professions, and who are thus best qualified to pass judgment upon such matters. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 75 The site of Fort Number Eight was acquired by the University in 1907. It is marked by a boulder inscribed: The Site OF Fort Number Eight 1776-1783. Fordham University, established ten years later, has a wide- spread fame, and its students come from every quarter of the globe. The college is located in Fordham at the northern part of The Bronx. Since its inception, in 1841, it has been under the auspices of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. No college thru- out the land is more thoro in its system of education than this, and no student gets his university degree until he has attained the high intellectual qualifications for which the university is noted. The university includes three departments: The Department of Philosophy and Arts, the Department of Medicine and the De- partment of Law. A school of Pharmacy was added last year, and Schools of Dentistry and Engineering will be established in 1914. At the corner of Fordham Road and Sedgwick Avenue, on the site of the Old Dutch Burial Ground, stands the imposing Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders. It was founded and endowed by the eminent shipbuilder and naval architect, William Henry Webb, who is noted for his ship, the Dimderberg, built in 1864 for the United States Government and afterwards sold it to France. The Academy gives young men. who are citizens of the United States and who pass the entrance examination, free instruc- tion in the science and the art of shipbuilding and marine engine building. It furnishes its students with board and lodging as well as with all of the necessary tools and materials. The Home affords free relief and support to aged, indigent, or unfortunate ship- builders or marine engine builders, as well as to their wives or widows. Other institutions of importance are : The Morris High School on Boston Road, Classen's Point Military Academy, and the Convent Schools and Academies of Mount St. Vincent, St. Joseph, St. Jerome, St. Martin of Tours, and Mount St. Ursula. The spiritual and moral welfare of the community is looked after by one hundred and seventy-seven churches, made up of the following denominations : Baptist, 13 ; Congregational, 6 ; Disciples 76 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX of Christ, 2 ; Jewish, 12 ; Lutheran, 23 ; Methodist, 26 ; Moravian,! ; Presbyterian, 17 ; Protestant Episcopal, 25 ; Reformed Church of America, 9 ; Reformed Episcopal, 1 ; Seventh Day Adventists, 3 ; Roman Catholic, 38, and United Presbyterian, 1. Accessory to these are many charitable and benevolent insti- tutions, as well as hospitals and free dispensaries. In these the wants of the needy are looked after and the sick are admitted free. MoRKis High School if too poor to pay for treatment. On the staffs of these hospitals are many distinguished physicians and surgeons who receive large fees in private practice, but who, as humanitarians, give their time and service to the poor without remuneration. There are ten hospitals in The Bronx, three of which have ambulance service answering all calls in the Borough. Fordham Hospital, established in 1882, is under the charge of the Board of Trustees of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. It is not only the busiest hospital, but it covers more territory than any of the other EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 77 institutions; its ambulance district reaches from East One Hun- dred Seventieth Street to City Island. The hospital is admirably situated at Southern Boulevard and Crotona Avenue and faces the Bronz Zoological Park. An excellent corps of physicians and surgeons treat an average of one hundred and sixty patients a day. There are one hundred and fifty beds distributed in six wards, and in all there are accommodations for five hundred patients. Reposing upon the rocky heights at Cauldwell and Westchester Avenues is Lebanon Hospital, formerly the Ursuline Convent. Al- tho incorporated in 1890 by Jewish philanthropists its doors are open to all, regardless of nationality or creed. Connected with the hospital is a free dispensary and a splendid training school for nurses. For the eight months preceding December 31st, 1912, 2,593 patients were treated in the hospital. In addition the ambulance service responded to 1,639 calls, of which 1,436 were accident cases that were taken to the hospital for treatment. During the same period 27,309 patients were treated in the dispensary free of charge. The hospital is maintained partly by voluntary subscription and donations, and partly by the city. Its ambulance territory is from One Hundred Forty-ninth to One Hundred Seventieth Streets. Lincoln Hospital, at East One Hundred Forty-first Street and Concord Avenue, was originally incorporated in 1845, as a colored home and hospital. In 1901 it was opened to the general public and an ambulance service was added, covering the territory from Harlem River to One Hundred Forty-ninth Street. It provides separate buildings for consumptive and maternity patients, and a detached pavilion for persons afflicted with infectious diseases. It has also a home for the aged, infirm and destitute colored people of both sexes; a home for incurables; and a training school for colored nurses. The hospital has a capacity of four hundred beds. It is supported by voluntary subscriptions, donations and bequests. St. Joseph's Hospital for consumptives, a Roman Catholic institution, is located at St. Ann's and Brook Avenues, East One Hundred Forty-third and One Hundred Forty-fourth Streets. It was established in 1882, and is in charge of the Sisters of the Poor of Saint Francis, a German order. During 1912, over 2,000 patients were treated here irrespective of nationality or religious denomination. The hospital has five hundred beds which 78 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX are constantly occupied by sufferers in all stages of the "Great White Plague." Seton Hospital at Spuyten Duyvil is another fine institution where tuberculous patients are treated irrespective of race or creed. Its location is ideal. Overlooking the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, it embraces an area of twenty-eight acres. The hospital was named after Mother Elizabeth Baily Seton, the founder of the Sisters of Charity in the United States. It was incorporated m 1892 and opened in 1895 by Sister Mary Irene of the Sisters of Charity, under whose management it is conducted. The main building, formerly the Whiting mansion, which is used exclusively for men, accommodates two hundred patients. The House of Nazareth, a branch of this hospital, is used for the accommodation of women and children, and has a capacity of two hundred. St. Francis Hospital occupies the entire block between One Hundred Forty-second and One Hundred Forty-third Streets and Brook and St. Ann's Avenues, and is under the direct charge of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis ; the same denomination as that having charge of St. Joseph's Hospital. It is one of the Borough's largest and most modern charity hospitals and treats diseases of all kinds. The institution has over four hundred beds at the disposal of patients regardless of sect or nationality. For the treatment of non-paying poor it is reimbursed by the City. Union Hospital is located in the old Eden mansion, formerly occupied by Fordham Hospital, at No. 2456 Valentine Avenue, corner of One Hundred Eighty-eighth Street. It is a general hos- pital for the treatment of all ailments and has many prominent physicians connected with it. It is maintained entirely by volun- tary contributions and membership in the Union Hospital Asso- ciation, and receives patients of all creeds, sects or nationalities. During the first year of its existence over five hundred surgical operations were performed by its surgeons including the most severe and difficult. Riverside Hospital, on North Brother Island, is a city institu- tion for the isolation of contagious and infectious diseases. It has accommodations for five hundred patients. Its ideal location on the Sound is one of the factors that help to efl["ect many cures; it is under the charge of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. The Home for Incurables, on Third Avenue between One Hun- dred Eighty-first Street and One Hundred Eighty-fourth Sti'eets, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 79 is one of the oldest institutions in The Bronx. It originated in 1866 in a small rented house in West Farms, the Old Jacob Lo- rillard mansion ; but it rapidly outgrew its limited accommodations. Thru the generosity of the late Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, the spacious grounds upon which the institution now stands were deeded to the Home in 1873. During the forty-six years of its existence 3,261 patients of both sexes suffering from "incurable" diseases, not contagious nor infectious, have found a home there. Of this number two per cent have left the institution cured, while 1,019 were discharged for various reasons. There are at present about 286 invalids in the Home. At its new quarters No. 459 East One Hundred Forty-first Street, the Bronx Eye and Ear Infirmary has been doing excellent work for the last nine years. Persons sufl:"ering from diseases of the eye, ear, nose or throat who are unable to pay for professional services are accorded free treatment at the infirmary. They have now also opened a dental clinic. A new Bronx Hospital is to be erected in the neighborhood of Kingsbridge Road and Sedgwick Avenue. It will be on the style of Fordham Hospital, with excellent ambulance service, and is to be directly connected with Bellevue and the allied hospitals. In addition to the hospitals already mentioned, there are many church and private .societies who supply medicine and medical as- sistance to the poor and needy. Among the benevolent and charitable in.stitutions, the New York Catholic Protectory, situated on Walker Avenue and the Unionport Road in Westchester, ranks as the largest. It was founded in 1863, and since its doors opened it has sheltered and educated approximately 50,000 wayward and destitute juveniles. Like all truly great religious and benevolent enterprises, its be- ginning was small, but the field was so large and worthy that many prominent men were influenced to aid Archbishop Hughes and the Brothers of the Christian Schools in this great charity work. The present site at Westchester, covering an area of 114 acres, was purchased June 9th, 1865, and cost $40,000. There are three classes admitted to this institution — those under fourteen years of age, who, with the written consent of their parents or guardians, may be intru.sted to it for protection or reformation ; those between seven and sixteen years of age com- mitted as idle, truant, vicious or homeless by order of a magistrate ; 80 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX and those of a like age transferred by the Department of Public Charities. The boys, in charge of the Christian Brothers of the Catholic Church, receive a general school education and are taught trades, such as printing, electrotyping, bookbinding, shoe, brush, harness, and paper box making, baking, farming, tailoring, chair caning, brick laying, plumbing, telegraphy, blacksmithing, wheel- wrighting, carpentering, painting, drawing, etc. The girls, under the tutelage of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, also receive a general school education and are taught ma- chine sewing, typewriting, cooking, laundry work, telegraphy and music. The famous Protectory Band has won an enviable reputa- tion in the musical world and is a great credit to the institution. The Peabody Home for Aged and Indigent Women at Boston Road and One Hundred Seventy-ninth Street was founded in 1874, and is a free and non-sectarian institution for white women over sixty-five years of age. The Home is supported entirely by volun- tary subscriptions and accommodates about thirty-five. The Home for the Friendless at Jerome and Woodycrest Ave- nues, opposite Macomb's Dam Park, was opened in 1902, and aims to save from degradation, friendless and neglected children ; boys under ten and girls under fourteen. It is under the control of the American Female Guardian Society. After being legally surrendered to the society, they are transferred by adoption to Christian families who, upon investigation, can give satisfactory assurance that they will provide good homes for the children. Other philanthropic institutions are: The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum at Fordham Heights ; The Hebrew Infant Asylum ; St. Philip's Parish House, and Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders, mentioned elsewhere in another connection. The New York Public Library absorbed in 1904 the Bronx Free Library and maintains five branches in beautiful Carnegie Build- ings, where books and periodicals are loaned to young and old, and where reference and reading rooms accommodate scholars and students. The libraries are located at 321 East One Hundred Fortieth Street, 78 West One Hundred Sixty-eighth Street, 610 East One Hundred Sixty-ninth Street, 1866 Washington Avenue, and 3041 Kingsbridge Avenue. It is a natural phase of human existence that a city's cemeteries expand in numbers and dimensions in direct ratio to the city's increase in size and population. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 81 Foremost in The Bronx is Woodlawn Cemetery, at Woodlawn. It was incorporated in 1863 and covers four hundred acres of ele- vated, sloping lands that display the height of the landscape gardener's art and is one of the most picturesque burying grounds in the world. It is situated on the westerly side of the Bronx River, and extends to East Two Hundred Twenty-third Street. The grounds are divided by countless pathways, walks and avenues, and the contrast of the hundreds of marble and granite columns, monuments and mausoleums against the rich, green lawns affords a rare picture. Trees of great age and splendor, beds of flowers and plants and the green beds of ivy that almost hide many of the grey-white tombs add to the delicious richness of the spot. Representatives of some of the most prominent families in New York have tombs there. Most notable are: The Appletons, Goulds, Vanderbilts, Lorillards, Choates, Corbins, Crosbys, But- terfields, Dillons, Flaglers, Havemeyers, Sloans, and Whitneys. The remains of Lieut. De Long, and Jospeh Pulitzer are also interred there. Lieut. De Long's body, with those of his comrades, were brought from the Arctic regions and interred on Chapel Hill Avenue. One of the most imposing of the monuments in the cemetery is that of our first admiral, David Glasgow Farragut, who was buried here in 1870. The shaft is of fine white marble in the shape of a portion of a ship's mast, at the foot of Avhich are nautical paraphernalia, a sword and symbolic shields. The inscrip- tion reads: Erected By his Wife and Son To THE Memory of DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT, First Admiral of the United States Navy* Born July 5, 1801, Died August 14, 1870. Bensonia Cemetery, altho now a neglected, barren tract of land known on the City Map as the "Public Place at Rae Street," was once a picturesque burial ground, in a lovely section of Mor- risania, densely shaded by elms, poplar and evergreen trees. The land was purchased in 1853 by Robert H. Elton, who laid out what 82 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX he termed the "House Territory of Bensonia." About three years later it came into the possession of James L. Parsball who enlarged its boundaries so that it extended from Rae Street on the south to Carr Street on the north. In 1868 the trustees of Moi-risania forbade further inter- ments within its limits, and henceforth the cemetery has been neg- lected. A new street, St. Ann's Avenue, was laid out so as prac- tically to cut the burial ground in two, and the bodies thus un- earthed were removed to other cemeteries. The extreme southeasterly section of Bensonia Cemetery was bought half a century ago by the Sons of Liberty, and here rest over 150 of its members. But the brave soldiers of the Civil War who were buried have not a tablet to indicate their resting places. In his police history. Inspector Byrnes states that the ghouls who robbed the grave of A. T. Stewart temporarily hid his remains in this sequestered spot, and no one can accurately say whether his body rests under his costly mausoleum at Garden City. Efforts have been made to have the City convert the Bensonia Cemetery into a public park, but as yet without success. It is hoped that in the near future the tract known as the "Public Place at Rae Street," will be transferred into a beautiful breathing place. St. Raymond's Cemetery on the Fort Schuyler Road in West- chester is used exclusively by the Roman Catholics. It embraces eighty-six acres and has many beautiful and imposing monuments. CHAPTER IX OAK POINT The "Cradle of Cuban Liberty" — Wreck of the British Frigate Hussar. 'F the future prosperity of Bronx Park depends upon the productive and commercial activities of its people, its success is assured, for no city in the world has such natural or economic advantages. What has been done in the way of improvements is small compared to what is projected for the near fu- ture. New arteries of travel are to connect every section of the Borough with Manhattan. With the tri-borough subway under construction, and other local facilities for transportation extended, an efficient municipal and borough administration to push the work ahead, The Bronx has indeed a bright and glorious future. So fast have events crowded one upon another since the days of Jonas Bronck, that the Borough's historic surroundings are rapidly being lost sight of. One of the most conspicuous landmarks that was swept away by the 1906 land boom was the Casanova mansion, known as the "Cradle of Cuban Liberty." For years this famous structure had been standing a quaint, gray spectre at Oak Point, neglected and untenanted, and without a sign of life about, save the New Haven and Hartford freight station a quarter of a mile away. The mansion was built in 1859 by Benjamin M. Whitlock, a wealthy grocer of New York, on a property consisting of fifty acres. The building cost $350,000 when completed, and was the most imposing residence above the Harlem at that time. It is said that the door knobs were made of solid gold. As a carriage approached the gates of the estate the horses stepped on a hidden spring causing the gates to fly open ; and the house had secret underground passages. The house contained one hundred rooms and the beauty in the decoration of these rooms has not been sur- passed to this day. 83 84 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX The mansion was known as "Whitlock's Folly," and the name clung to the place until the building was destroyed. In 1867, after the death of Mr. Whitlock, his widow sold the house to Senor Yglesias Casanova, a wealthy Cuban sugar and coffee planter, for $150,000. Senor Casanova was a leader of a band of Cuban pa- triots, and during the early struggles of the Cuban people for liberty, this place was the rendezvous of Cuban patriots and sym- pathizers. It is said that the cellars and subterranean passages I Casanova Mansion were stored with powder and rifles which eventually found their way into the hands of the patriots in Havana and other Cuban cities. An underground passage had been made, running from the house to the Sound, and under cover of darkness boats, which were undoubtedly filibusters, were occasionally seen to steal into the little cove that the mansion overlooked; and, after being freighted with ammunition and other implements of war, to creep out again as mysteriously as they had entered. After the suppression of the first Cuban revolution, Casanova, whose loyalty to his country never waned, became down-hearted, and the mansion that for many years had been the scene of revelry OAK POINT 85 and likewise of social functions, ceased to be occupied. Mr. Casa- nova moved to New Orleans, and the house began to fall into decay for want of care and attention. When the war was declared between this country and Spain, Mr. Cosanova was an aged man. It is said that he returned to Spain where he died. Just prior to the demolition of the building, the author had occasion to visit it. The once magnificent old structure appeared in a pitifully dilapidated state. The grounds surrounding it were overrun with rank weeds and other unsightly growth. The mas- sive bronze doors, with their Spanish coat-of-arms, turned heavily upon their squeaky hinges, as if reluctant to admit the feet of common mortals. As one entered the dimly lighted hall, he seemed to be stepping into the shadows of former ages, for everything looked so sombre and sepulchral. An unnatural hollow sound echoed and reverber- ated thru the spacious hall as one's footsteps fell upon the marble floor. A hasty glance thru the rooms left one amazed at the elaborate beauty of the architecture. The decorations of each apartment were difl'erent, there being no two rooms alike. Some had panelled ceilings and walls, others were richly decorated in fleur-de-lis and other floral designs, with heavy carved woodwork of cherry and oak. So artistically and sumptuously were they fashioned that one was fascinated with their grandeur. There were numerous stairways leading to the cellar, some of which were rather risky to descend, as they wei'e narrow and dark. The cellar was strewn with old rubbish, and on the south side of the building there was a large kitchen. A rusty iron oven, a three-legged stool and an old wooden table upon which stood several broken dishes, were the only furnishings of the room. The place was musty and malodorous and shrouded in darkness. With the aid of a lantern the old tunnel was located. It was choked up with dirt and rubbish, but there was enough of it exposed to give a fair conception of what it had once been. On either side of the tunnel were half a dozen cells built of solid rock with heavy iron hinges riveted to both the floors and walls. To what use they could have been put can only be surmised. Could they speak what tales they might have unfolded! Off Port Morris is the deepest water in the vicinity of Ne v 86 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX York. The Great Eastern made her first anchorage here on her maiden trip to New York, having come in by way of the Sound. Close by is Pot Rock where the British frigate-of-war Hussar sank with one hundred and seven men on board. The vessel reached New York from England on September 13, 1780, carrying Subterranean Passage and Cells American prisoners and laden with a mass of gold, silver and cop- per coin with which to pay off the British forces in the Colonies. Rumors having reached the English Admiralty that New York City was about to fall into the hands of the Americans, the Hussar was given orders to sail up the Sound to Newport. But it struck in the vicinity of North Brother Island and Port Morris on the 23rd of November, 17P0. It was said that she carried to the bottom with her not only OAK POINT 87 her own treasure but also three hundred and eighty thousand pounds which had been transferred from the Mercury; another British vessel. Numerous futile attempts have been made since 1818 to recover the treasure, and over a quarter of a million dollars have been sunk in the endeavors. In 1819 her guns and upper sheathing were brought to light. One treasure-seeker unearthed from the wreck fifteen guineas, a number of relics, including some beer mugs, inscribed "George III. Rex." and a cannon now in the museum of Worcester, Mass. Copper rivets of the prisoners' mana- Leggett's Lane cles, projectiles, and parts of the ship's woodwork have also been found. Finally Secretary Gresham of the New York State Depart- ment exploded the myth of the lost treasure. He examined closely the report of the Admiralty Office and the logs of the Hussar and the Mercury, but found no mention of any treasure. A report of Fletcher Betts, an officer of the Hussar, was discovered which stated that there had been twenty thousand pounds in gold on the Hussar, but that two days before the disaster the money had been delivered to the Commissary General at New York; Betts himself having assisted in the transfer. Near the Longwood Club House at Southern Boulevard and 88 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX Leggett Avenue, formerly Leggett's Lane, is the site of a Revolu- tionary cave. There was a skirmish close by between the British and the Americans, and the patriots were forced to flee. They car- ried their dead along with them, and when they reached this cave they hastily concealed the corpses of their comrades. One of the SHOW PLACES of the Bronx y ?n I' I HUNT'S POINT PLAZA COMMUNITY BUILDING 163d STREET AND SOUTHERN BOULEVARD JAMES F. MEEHAN, Architect, Builder and Owner his magnificent structure, designed and erected by its owner, James F. Meehau' Hi the prominent architect, is indeed a "community" of itself. It contains: Many Showy Shops, connected by brilliantly lighted and artistie- |Jly decorated arcades where the wares of leading merchants are displayed; I Palm Garden with domed ceiling and many white be-decked tables 'almost hidden by tropical verdure, and where a string orchestra adds to 'the delight of the diners; ' The Beautiful Theatre, in which 2000 persons can be seated; The Roof Garden, high above the hot streets, where gentle breezes 'cool and refresh one and add so materially to the comfort of the patrons; The Ball Room, finished in white and gold, with balcony and loges, with neither pillar nor column to obstruct the view; i The Banquet Hall, especially equipped for dinner-dances, the Bil- iliard Rooms, Cafes, Private Banquet Rooms, Club and Lodge Rooms and ffice accommodations for various professional men and women. One of the important features of the building is its accessibility The Hunts Point Plaza is destined to become one of the greatest shop- ing, social and theatre centers of New York City, being at the junction f three very important arteries of transit, 163rd Street, Southern Boule- jvard and Hunts Point Avenue. Each of these thoroughfares is 100 feet wide. The handsome new station of the New York, New Haven and Hartford [Railroad recently completed, which will be also used by the New York, Boston and Westchester Railroad at this point, is one short block distant. While the Hun ts Point Station will be an express stop of the new Lexing- ton Avenue subway. 2964 TELEPHONES TREMONT 2965 BRONX TAXI CAB CO BOSTOI^ ]ROiVD a^H AOE HARRY L. HILL, Manager ^ ■^ PAINT SHOP MACHINE SHOP REPAIRIlN^a SUPPLIES ACCESSORIES 1323 BOSTON ROAD NEAR McKINLEY SQUARE NEW YORK Tel. 2246-3001 Tremont AN OAL L BiMKIiBI Ml. & ISithST. EAL ESTATE PATTON Commercial Schools McKINLEY BLDG., on 1 69th St. BERGEN BLDG., on Tremont Ave. MEEHAN BLDG.. 961 So. Boulevard Known and Recognized for Thorough Work. Finest School Rooms in the City. Come Uptown to School. Better Light, Better Air, Cheaper Tuition and Better Work. Come and See Us Before Buying Elsewhere We can Save You Money and Challeng Competitors to Beat our Prices We Carry a Complete line of High Grade Bicycles f Motorcycle Of all Makes and Models. Also do Repairli of all Descriptions, Brazing and Vulcanizing half usual prices SERINIDES BROS. 639 E. 169th ST., NEW YORK CITY Telephone Tremont 5175 CHAPTER X HUNT'S POINT Colonial and Revolutionary Days — The Story of Joseph Rodman Drake — A Visit to "God's Little Acre." NE by one the old landmarks of The Bronx are disap- pearing. The few that have been preserved are worth more than a casual inspection. There are few places ^^^^^^^^ in the Borough about which cluster so many interest- ing and historical reminiscences of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods as the Hunt's Point section. A few years ago, there were many- of these early landmarks standing, but the region is changing rapidly ; the old sites giving way to bright, new bricks and mortar. On April 25, 1666, Edward Jessup and John Richardson ob- tained from Governor Nicolls a patent for certain lands, now known as the West Farms Patent; they having previously, on March 12, 1663, purchased the Indian rights. These lands lay along the west bank of the Bronx River, bounding "to the midst of the said river" running from the Fordham line south to the Sea or East River, and westerly to a little brook called Sackwrahimg, or Bungay Creek, which ran along about where Intervale Avenue is now located. On obtaining possession of this patented land, Jessup and Richardson set aside two home plots, each consisting of thirty acres of upland and eight acres of meadow. These were located on the old Hunt's Poiiit Road just south of the present Lafayette Avenue. The Dickey and Spofford properties on the east of the old road, include within their bounds Richardson's thirty acres and most of the two meadow parcels. This home-lot vested, in 1679, in Gabriel Leggett, thru his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of Richardson, and remained in a branch of the Leggett family down to 1836. It was known as Barretto's Point. Historians give but meagre information regarding John Rich- ardson, but speak of Edward Jessup as a most remarkable man, 89 90 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX not because he was a magistrate and a large land owner, or be- cause he sprang from an ancient and illustrious English family; but, because he was a brave, daring, upright man, full of restless energy, and the recognized champion of the colonists. Among his neighbors, he was popularly known as Goodman Jessup, and in 1665, he was one of Westchester's two delegates sent to the Convention of Towns held in Hempstead, Long Island — the first representative and deliberative body that assembled in the Colony. In that convention Jessup boldly advocated the right of the people to elect their own magistrates, instead of having those officers selected and appointed by the King. This convention is referred to by historians as the precursor of the elective judiciary system of our State — a system which has been aptly described as "the growth of the soil." Edward Jessup was the progenitor of a family who became distinguished in the annals of our country, and among whom was Major General Thomas Sidney Jessup, a hero of the War of 1812, and of the Mexican War, and who was prominently mentioned as a Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Edward Jessup, on his death in 1666, devised his interest in the patent to Elizabeth Jessup, his widow. She married one Robert Meacham in 1668, and they in the same year conveyed the Jessup interest in the patent to her son-in-law, Thomas Hunt, Jr., who married Elizabeth Jessup, the daughter of Edward Jessup. It was after this Thomas Hunt, the son of Thomas Hunt of the Grove Farm Patent, that Hunt's Point received its name. In 1669 Hunt sold his home lot on which he then resided, and built on a parcel of land at the north end of what is now Barretto's Point, near the old Landing Road. Around this section we find the early houses were erected. Later, Richardson or Leggett, Richardson's son-in-law, erected a house west of the old Hunt's Point Road, south of the present Spoff'ord Avenue, and near Bound Brook, on the land which also was acquired by the Leggett branch, and in which Gabriel Leggett, the second, lived, dying there about 1786. This property also remained in the possession of the Leggett family down to 1850. Richardson and Hunt entered upon and cultivated parts of the present Hunt's Point. Richardson used a parcel of about twenty acres of upland at its southerly end along the Sound, probably as a cornfield, and both cut the meadows on the east side HUNT'S POINT 91 of the Point; Richardson cutting the upper, and Hunt the lower end. It would appear that disputes soon arose between them as to their occupations of the Point, and to settle the same they ap- pointed four commissioners in 1669 to adjust the differences and make a division of the lower end of the patented lands. This the commissioners did, awarding Richardson the twenty acres so oc- cupied by him, and sixteen acres of meadow, cut by him at the northwest corner of Hunt's Point, and Barretto's Point on the west, which last mentioned point they called in their report the "Long Neck"; while they awarded to Hunt all the rest of Hunt's Point, which they called the "Cornfield Neck," and certain meadows at its upper end. The old Hunt's Point Road, which ran thru the middle of the patent down and into the Point was no doubt opened first at its lower end and used by Hunt and Richardson, while the old Landing Road which branched from it and ran into the Barretto's Point, or "Long Neck" lands, traces of which are still visible at its junction with the Hunt's Point Road, was opened prior to 1700. About 1700 Thomas Hunt's eldest son, Thomas, acquired the Richardson twenty acres at the south end, and his father's interest in the rest of the Point, which was then and for many years thereafter called the "Planting Neck." The Indian name was Quinnahung. This property remained in this branch of the Hunt family down to the middle of the last century. While mentioning the names of "Cornfield Neck" and "Plant- ing Neck," we might incidentially call attention, as a matter of historical information, to names given other parts of the Point; for instance, the "Little Neck" which lay along the old Hunt's Point Road, at the upper end of the Point east of the BarrettO' Homestead. On this road at the upper end of the Little Neck, about 250 feet north of the Eastern Boulevard, was the old gate or entrance to the Hunt property on Hunt's Point. Alongside of the old road, and just west of the angle where it turns toward the Hunt and Leggett cemetery, is an old well nearly filled in, which was probably the old well known as "Richardson's well," while on the east side of the Point, near the easterly end of the Eastern Boule- vard, is a district, known for 200 years as the "Fox Hills," which probably derived its name from the fact that it was at one time a fox haunt. 92 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX In 1680 Hunt and Richardson arranged for a division of the upper end of the patent into twelve great lots, but before the divi- sion was completed Richardson died. In 1681 Hunt and Richard- son's widow, who acted on behalf of Richardson's heirs, completed the division by drawing lots, each taking six lots. Hunt divided his six, except one which he sold, among his sons and grandson. The tract was therefore called the "Twelve Farms" as well as West Farms. Edward Jessup had three children: Elizabeth, who married Thomas Hunt, the second, about 1662; Hannah and Edward, the latter two probably by a second wife. There is much confusion in the old records with reference to Elizabeth Jessup, wife of Ed- ward Jessup, and Elizabeth Jessup, daughter of Edward Jessup. There is a deed extant, dated June 20th, 1668, recording the pur- chase by Thomas and Elizabeth Hunt from "Robert Beachem and Elizabeth, formerly the wife of Edward Jessup." John Richardson also had three children : Berthia, who mar- ried John Ketcham ; Mary, who became the wife of Joseph Hadley ; and Elizabeth, who was espoused to Gabriel Leggett. Thomas and Elizabeth Hunt are the progenitors of a large family scattered all over the United States. Gabriel and Elizabeth Leggett are the ancestors of the Leggett, Fox and Tiffany families of West Farms. Mrs. Richardson afterwards, in or about July, 1683, married Captain Thomas Williams, and on her death the Richardson inter- est, consisting of the Legget, Hadley and Ketcham families, in 1695, divided their interests in the patent among themselves. At the southern end of Hunt's Point, the old "Grange" was «rected, which still stands as a mute memorial of those Colonial days. This famous old structure, which has withstood the storms of over two centuries, and in which generations have lived and died, is fast falling into decay for want of repairs and attention. For years this picturesque relic of bygone days has been the chief attraction at Hunt's Point, but its inevitable downfall, when some factory or dwelling will later take its place, is but a few years distant. There is much romance woven about this quaint building. During the struggle for independence, it was occupied by Thomas Hunt, the fourth, the grandfather of Montgomery Hunt, a noted financier, and a Presidential Elector in 1816, who voted for James HUNT'S POINT 93 Monroe for President, and who was the father of that eminent jurist, Judge Ward Hunt of the Court of Appeals of the State and of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomas Hunt, the fourth, was a patriot and a staunch ad- herent of the principles which his great-grandfather had embodied in the Charter of Liberties in 1683. He was prominent in all affairs pertaining to the separation of the Colonies from the Mother Country. He was an influential member of the Committee of Safety, and was instrumental in organizing the West Farms and Fordham Company of Minute Men, in which no less than seven -3S«^:; ""^^1 Hunt's Mansion members of his own family enlisted. During the Revolution he espoused the American cause. He was the friend and confidant of Washington, who relied implicitly upon his calm judgment, his patriotic courage, and his thoro knowledge of the country. The British frigate Asia was kept at anchor in the Sound near his home. His estate was devastated and his family driven from their home. One of the cannon balls, which was embedded in the west brick wall, where it lodged until a few years ago, is now in the writer's possession. There appears to be much doubt among historians as to the 94 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX exact age of the old mansion. One historian gives the date of its erection as 1688, while others give much later years. Thomas Hunt, Sr., on conveying the "Planting Neck" prop- erty to his son Thomas in 1698, and again executing a deed in 1718 — shortly after which he died — mentions his new dwelling and orchard containing three acres. Traditions are numerous regarding the building of the old mansion. It is said that when Hunt first began to erect the build- ing, lumber commanded a very high price, as a result of a heavy tax which had been levied upon building material, and he decided to construct his of stone, of which there was an abundance in ••> ■ ■ ? 1 I^^H Relics Found in Hunt's Mansion the neighborhood. Hardly had he put up the west wall, however, when the tax was removed and he completed the building with lumber. The girders and rafters used in its construction were hewn from solid oak, while the laths used in the interior walls, rough and irregular, were made of strips of ash. The chimneys were built of the bricks brought over as ballast by the Dutch traders. The ceilings are low, and the closets with which each room is supplied open in two parts. The open fireplace in the living room, without which no old mansion was perfect, is crumbling away with age and is no longer used. Across the hall- way is the kitchen. The last occupant replaced the Dutch oven by a modern stove. HUNT'S POINT 95 The upper chambers are reached by a narrow but substantial stairway. The tower, which gives the house the appearance of a fort, is reached by a spiral stairway from the living room. It is so narrow that only one person at a time can ascend it. This was apparently so constructed as a safeguard in emergency, should admittance be gained within the house by the wily Indians who frequently made attacks upon it. For many years the "Grange" was the residence of Joseph Rodman Drake, the poet who won immortal fame as the author of "The American Flag" and "Culprit Fay." It was this gifted young poet who celebrated the rural beauties of The Bronx in some of his most charming verse: The Bronx I sat me down upon a green bank side. Skirting the smooth edge of a gentle river, Whose waters seemed unwilling to glide, Like parting friends, who linger while they sever; Enforced to go, yet seeming still unready, Backward they wind their way in many a wistful eddy. Gray o'er my head the yellow-vested willow Ruffled its hoary top in the fresh breezes. Glancing in light, like spray on a green billow. Or the fine frost work which young winter freezes. When first his power in infant pastime trying, Congeals sad autumn's tears on the dead branches lying. From rocks around hung the loose ivy dangling. And in the clefts sumach of liveliest green. Bright rising-stars the little beach was spangling, The gold-cap sorrel from his gauzy screen. Shone like a fairy, enchased and beaded. Left on some morn, when light flash'd in their eyes unheeded. The hum-bird shook his sun-touched wings around, The blue-finch carolled in the still retreat; The antic squirrel capered on the ground, Where lichens made a carpet for his feet. Thro' the transparent waves, the ruddy minkle Shot up in glimmering sparks, his red fins tiny twinkle. 96 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX There were the dark cedars, with loose mossy tresses, White-powder'd dog trees, and stiff hollies flaunting. Gaudy as rustics in their May-day dresses, Blue pellorets from purple leaves upslanting A modest gaze, like eyes of a young maiden Shining beneath dropp'd lids the evening of her wedding. The breeze fresh springing from the lips of morn, Kissing the leaves, and sighing so to lose 'em, The winding of the merry locust's horn. The glad sighs spring gushing from the rock's bare bosom. Sweet sighs, sweet sounds, all sights, all sounds excelling;. Oh ! 'twas a ravishing spot, form'd for a poet's dwelling. And I did leave thy loveliness, to stand Again in the dull world of earthly blindness, Pain'd with the pressure of unfriendly hands. Sick of smooth looks, agued with icy kindness; Left I for this thy shades, where none intrude. To prison wandering thought and mar sweet solitude. Yet I will look upon thy face again My own romantic Bronx, and it will be A face more pleasant than the face of men. Thy waves are old companions, I shall see A well-remembered form in each old tree, And hear a voice long loved in thy wild minstrelsy. Joseph Rodman Drake was born in New York City on August 7, 1795, and was a lineal descendant of the Colonial Drakes, set- tlers of Eastchester. Left an orphan at an early age, he was placed under the care of a guardian. As a boy he was fond of rowing his boat among the inlets of the upper East River where he could steal off by himself unmolested and spend the long summer after- noons in the shade of some willow tree along the river bank. The happiest hours of his boyhood days he passed in the environs of Hunt's Point which gave inspiration to his verses. It was while he lived in the old "Grange" that he became acquainted with the daughter of Henry Eckford, the well-known shipbuilder. He commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Nicholas Romayne in 1813, received his degree in 1816, and in the same year he mar- ried Miss Eckford. After a visit to Europe and to New Orleans in a vain effort to restore his failing health, Drake died of con- HUNT'S POINT 97 sumption, September 21, 1820. at the age of twenty-five, before his art as a poet had fully matured. "There will be less sunshine for me hereafter," said Halleck, "now that Joe is gone." The association of Halleck and Drake in the most intimate of friendships is the pleasantest incident in the history of Ameri- can letters. The two poets charmed the town, in 1819, with a series of humorous satirical verses which they contributed to the New York Evening Post under the signature of "Croaker & Co." Judged by what he had begun to do, this young poet was cut down at the opening of a promising career. Had the author of "The Culprit Fay," "American Flag," and "The Bronx" lived to a mature age, the prose fancies of Irving might have found a counterpart in the verse of Drake, inspired by the enchanted ground along the banks of the Hudson. In memory of the intimate friendship that existed between them, Fitz-Greene Halleck wrote, at the death of Drake, a touching tribute beginning with these exquisite lines: Green be the tui'f above thee. Friend of my better days; None knew thee but to love thee, Nor named thee but to praise. The author shall never forget his first visit to Hunt's Point some ten years ago and with what frequency he visited it there- after. He had seen rural country — much of it — but nothing has ever taken so firm a hold upon his imagination as that piece of ground. He never could fathom why it appealed to him so strongly, perhaps it was the quaint old mansions and shady lanes that lured him to these scenes; but whatever the cause the spot had cast a bewitching spell upon him and he passed many a pleasant idle hour there. During his rambles thru this isolated region he collected from old residents many an interesting tale of its early history, for few regions have been more kindly disposed than this to the preservation of their traditions. One of the first points of interest the author was shown was 98 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX the quaint little Hunt burying ground * in which early settlers were interred and which is the last resting place of Joseph Rod- man Drake. Until Park Commissioner Higgins sent a force of men there in the summer of 1910 to clear away the over-grown weeds and brambles and to cement the broken pieces of headstones together, the repose of the little cemetery was rarely disturbed, and all sum- mer long the birds and insects raised an unceasing song around the weed-grown graves of the forgotten dead ; the winter spread a Hunt's Point Cemetery in 1900 blanket of white snow over it which remained until spring came slowly and reluctantly to this upland resting place. And so the seasons came and passed, leaving the finger marks of time and ruin. Yet on a summer's day the little knoll with its crumbling, weather-beaten old tombstones is really a delightful spot, and from its summit one can obtain an excellent panoramic view of the surrounding country. * The little "God's Acre" is less than half an acre in area and is located on the summit of a wooded knoll a short distance from the Hunt's Point Station on the New Rochelle branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad running from Mott Haven to New Rochelle. HUNT'S POINT 99 Before you are the placid, rippling, flashing waters of the Sound dotted here and there by the white sails of pleasure craft; while in the distance rise the dim bluish outlines of Long Island. Toward the west lies the Metropolitan City of Greater New York in all its majestic splendor. Silhouetted against the sky are the outlines of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Luke's Hos- pital, Columbia Library, and Grant's Tomb as well as the College of the City of New York and Columbia University with their many outlying buildings. The populous Bronx stretches northward, and Grave of Joseph Rodman Drake the green rolling slopes of Westchester extend toward the east. The evidences of vigorous life and progress viewed from this little resting place of those so long dead bring strongly to mind the achievements of our own era. But when the wintry clouds scurry over the hill, and the rain beats down the withered weeds and dark graves, the burying ground seems weird and desolate. Years of wind and weather show plainly their imprints on the fifty or more tombstones scat- tered about, some of which, overspread with a coat of green moss, and sunken deep into the sod, date back nearly two and a half centuries. 100 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX Some of these grave stones may have been new and un- tarnished when Washington's Continentals in their retreat from Long Island, trudged along the old Colonial road which winds around the little hillock, and when Lafayette revisited this country in 1824. The noted French General, after crossing the famous "Kissing Bridge" which stood to the right of Southern Boulevard and Lafayette Lane, "paused in silent meditation at the grave of Joseph Rodman Drake," and then passed thru the narrow lane which was afterwards widened and named "Lafayette Avenue" in his honor. Surrounding one plot in the old cemetery was attached a rusty iron chain. It has long mouldered away from all but one of its fastenings to which it still clung creaking and rattling like a dun- geon fetter as the wind tossed it to and fro. Close by lay a shat- tered marble shaft which the angry winds had hurled from its pedestal and tall weeds and rank gro\rth were blotting out its inscriptions. Decadence due to neglect was manifest everywhere in this ruined city of the dead. Facing the entrance of the cemetery from the south stands a plain marble shaft seven feet high which marks the grave of Joseph Rodman Drake. Whatever fitness there may have been hi burying Drake in that particular spot, was lost in the neglect into which his grave Avas afterward permitted to fall. In 1891 the Brownson Literary Union in appreciation of his genius restored the monument to a semblance of its former neat- ness. The inscription reads : Sacred to the Memory of Joseph R. Drake, M.D. who died Sept. 21st 1820 Aged 25 Years None knew him but to love him, Nor named him but to praise. Renovated by The Brownson Literary Union July 25, 1891. HUNT'S POINT 101 The little cemetery is also the final resting place of veteran^ of the various Colonial wars and of Continental soldiers, members of the Hunt. Leggett. Willett and allied families. Directly opposite the Hunt burying ground is a small en- Slant Burying Ground closure in which the slaves of early residents were interred. It is also said that "Bill," the negro pilot of the wrecked British frigate Hussar, was buried there: "After the voice of shrieking winds And tossing of the angry deep, In kind embrace of Mother Earth Resting, like child in quiet sleep." CHAPTER XI THE ROMANCE OF BESSIE WARREN The Daugrhter of Old Simon, the Landlord of the "King's Arms" — Her Love for the Dashing Officer Who Was Branded a British Spy — The Maiden Who Did Not Forget; But Answered the Summons of a Beckoning Spirit and Was Taken over the Great Beyond. IHE consolidation of The Bronx with the Greater City in 1897, brought about many changes. When the Hunt's Point section was mapped out into regu- lar city streets, the little "God's Acre" was threat- ened with destruction, for a street was to be cut directly thru its center. When this became public, a storm of protests arose from various historical societies and literary associations to pi-event the obliteration of the old cemetery. One of the staunchest champions for its preservation was the Hon. James L. Wells, and thru his untiring efforts, com- bined with other pressure that was brought to bear, the original street plan was finally altered and the historic spot saved. By way of compromise the city turned the burial plot into a park and it has since been known as the Joseph Rodman Drake Park. Of the many headstones crumbling into decay, there was on$ which has been marvelously preserved, and stood as firm and erect as when first placed there. It was the grave of Elizabeth Willett, who departed this life the 19th of June, 1772, aged 27 years, three months — so the inscription on the tombstone averred. Here are the lines graven beneath her name : Behold and see, as you pass by; As you are now, so once was I, As I am NOW, you soon will be, -j Prepare for death and follow me. • Why was so grim an epitaph chosen for her? An involuntary shudder passes over one as he muses over these lines : 102 I THE ROMANCE OF BESSIE WARREN 103 " 'Tis the wink of the eye, 'tis the draught of a breath From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud — Oh! Why should the spirit of mortal be proud?" One wonders whether the Elizabeth Willett resting there could be the Elizabeth Warren whose romance, full of pathos and sorrow has been handed down from parent to child for more than a century, and who is said to be sleeping in an unmarked grave somewhere in the neighborhood. Whether Elizabeth Warren really existed in life, or was merely the fanciful creation of a romancer can not be authentically stated, as historical research has failed to reveal her identity. Tradition tells us that when Elizabeth Warren was the belle of Hunt's Point, that section was considerably smaller than it is today — there were the meeting house, the blacksmith's shop, the "King's Arms," and a dozen or two cottages. These were all, but in those days such pioneer buildings constituted no mean village. Elizabeth was the daughter of old Simon Warren, the landlord of the "King's Arms" and she entered her maturity at a time when the air was overcast with rumors of approaching trouble. Already the first sign of that unrest which was to culminate in the Revolu- tion, was plain to all who had eyes to see and ears to hear; and it was said that there was no better place to observe these symp- toms than in the tap-room of Warren's inn. Warren came of that New England stock which had turned England topsy-turvy, and which was later to suffer severely for it, tho with ultimate happy results. The English consequently had no more bitter enemy in all the restless Colony than Simon Warren. To his place it was, therefore, that young hot-heads of the neighborhood resorted when they desired to discuss the manner in which they were to rid themselves of the insufferable yoke of the Mother Country. One evening at the close of a stormy day, a mud-bespattered traveler entered the "King's Arms" and sat long before the fire with old Simon, while pretty Bessie, the landlord's daughter, brought them many a foaming tankard to help the talk along. Now, it never occurred to the hospitable Simon that the polite stranger he was entertaining was a British spy who had been sent to feel the pulse of the Colonies. Having discovered that Simon's 104 THE BOROUGH OP THE BRONX inn was the meeting place for the revolutionary hot-heads, he de- cided that he couldn't gauge the sentiments of the people better than at the old inn. He was young, handsome, learned; and, before he had been at the "King's Arms" very long, he had captivated Bessie's heart, and in their rambles thru the lanes of Westchester, he poured into her innocent heart the witcheries of romance and poetry. So sentimental were his words and so gallant his actions, that Bessie looked up to her youthful admirer as a being of a superior order; and, before she was aware of it, she had blushingly con- sented to become his wife. On the very day he had asked for Bessie's hand, came the discovery that he was a British spy. They found him in the garret with his ear to a crack in the floor listen- ing to the fiery speeches of the Patriots' Club in the room below. It was a wild night — outside the inn the great elms tossed their branches about like giants in agony. The signboard groaned as it swung before the gate. The fury of the storm kept the happy Bessie awake long after she had said "Good night," and retired. It seemed to her that she heard a shot — another, and another. The wind lulled for a second ; and, as she listened, in the sullen silence there was an awful cry. Then the storm swept down again and she told herself that it was nothing but a loose shutter; but her nervous fear worked on her imagination until she believed a tragedy had occurred. They told Bessie the next morning that her lover was a spy and that he had fled like a thief in the night with the dread of discovery. The blow came like a thunderclap from a clear sky to Bessie. It was rot long after this that a great shadow darkened her life. None knew whether she suspected the truth about the disappear- ance of her handsome lover, but many of the country-folk round about declared that they had seen a ghastly figure wandering nightly over the hillsides, always looking for something it never found. Like a beautiful lily cut down, Bessie began visibly to pine away. Everything possible was done to divert her thoughts and bring the color back to her pallid cheeks — but all in vain. Some- thing had gone out of her life that could not be replaced. Then one day old Simon found his daughter sitting at the window of her room apparently gazing earnestly out at something. He called I THE ROMANCE OF BESSIE WARREN 105 to her, but there was no answer; he touched her with a feeling of awe, for there was that about her that transcended his under- standing. His eyes filled with tears; he broke away from her with a great cry. He understood: Bessie had found her lost lover. Tradition says that they laid her tenderly in a grove of tall elms on the hillside where she watched nightly for the return of her lover: "In vain her vigils did the maiden keep — This patriot daughter with her love-lit eyes — Waiting her absent lover's slow return Beneath Westchester's mellow evening skies. Dim figures they of that far-distant strife Whose swords are sheathed, with all their dent and stain, This warrior bold, this sweetheart desolate Wounded to death by war's stern thrust of pain. Yet still above thy turf-grown bed, sweet girl, Walk other lovers of this latest day, Who hear thy tale of passion and of grief And in their reverance hold thee dear alway. So shall the memory of thy woman's trust More beauteous ever grow, as swift time Hies, Like flowers that blossom from the common dust And shed their fragrance as of Paradise." CHAPTER XII THE "NEUTRAL GROUND" The Indian Cave — Leggett and His Stolen Mare — The Westchester Guides — Barretto's Point — A Wooden Armchair That Came over with the Pilgrim Fathers. HE most powerful of the tribes of aborigines which inhabited The Bronx were the Weckquaesgeeks. Relics of their settlements are still to be found along the shores of the Bronx and the East Rivers. Of these prehistoric relics, perhaps the most interesting is the "Indian cave," which is located a short distance east of the Hunt burying ground and about three hundred yards north of the bridge crossing the creek. This is said to have been the favorite haunt of the redmen, and it is there that many treaties were made with the whites. Close by are the remains of hastily thrown up earth- works of Lord Howe's Armj'. During the dark days of the Revolution, the little settlements along the East River endured many hardships and privations. With the retreat of the American army in November, 1776, Westchester County was overrun with British refugees, known as "Cowboys," who committed all sorts of depredations and raids upon the de- fenseless farmers. Equally rapacious were the American ma- rauders, called "Skinners," who made frequent raids upon the loyalist inhabitants of the county. These bands of cowboys and of skinners carried on their plundering expeditions into the so- called "Neutral Ground" — a strip of land between the American outposts under the command of General Heath and those of the British under Lieutenant-Colonel James De Lancey. An interesting story is told about Thomas Leggett, whose ancestors had been resident proprietors of the "Planting Neck" section. Thomas Leggett was the oldest son of Gabriel Leggett, 2nd. He strongly resented the invasion of the British. He organized a vigilance committee of Home Guards, as they were called among 106 THE "NEUTRAL GROUND" 107 the young men of the neighborhood, and patrolled the highways. At the first approach of the enemy they were to give the alarm and as they were equipped with the latest firearms, they hoped to drive invaders off their lands. However, they were caught napping. A party of British refugees got thru their lines unobserved, and seized Leggett just as he was leading his favorite mare out of the barn. Being unarmed he had to submit to their outrages. They carried off the young mare, which had been a gift of his par- INDIAN Cave ents, along with the other property. Leggett was furious ; he threat- ened to have the marauders hanged ; but they only mocked him as they went on their way. He followed them, however, hoping to meet some of the Guards, but they all seemed to have vanished. When the party reached the junction of what are now Tremont Avenue and Boston Road, two Continental soldiers rose from be- hind a stone wall and fired. The man leading the horse was shot and he fell. The mare, finding herself free, took to her heels and ran home, much to the delight of her owner. • The County of Westchester contributed largely to the Ameri- can cause. Versed in every hidden path of the region, the West- 108 THE BOROUGH OF THE BkONX Chester guides were of invaluable service to Washington and his troops. The foremost of these patriotic-spirited guides were Abraham and Michael Dyckman, whose old homestead at King's Bridge Road (Broadway) and Hawrthorne Street, rebuilt at the close of the Revolution, is still pointed out as the only remaining Dutch farm- house on the road. In May, 1780, Michael Dyckman acted as guide to Captain Gushing of the Massachusetts Line in his attack upon De Lancey's Corps. The Americans captured more than forty prisoners. Michael Dyckman figured in an exploit on the 26th of March, 1782, when, with thirteen volunteer horsemen he made an excur- sion to Morrisania, and took five of De Lancey's corps and five horses. On their return they were pursued by a party of the enemy's horse, but when the British came near, the gallant West- chester Volunteers faced right about, charged vigorously, took one man prisoner with his horse, and put the rest to flight. The enemy again appeared on the old Eastchester Road but dared not renew the attack. Abraham Dyckman was mortally wounded on March 4th, 1782, while piloting a body of volunteer horse under Captain Hunnewell (after whom Honeywell Avenue in West Farms was subsequently named) . The Americans made the attack on the cantonment of De Lancey's corps just before sunrise, taking the enemy completely by surprise, killing and wounding many, and capturing twenty prisoners. De Lancey himself would perhaps have been taken prisoner had not the British loyalists fired the alarm guns and thus caused the Americans to retire. The enemy quickly started in pursuit but soon fell into an ambuscade set by Major Woodbridge, who with a party of light infantry had ac- companied Captain Hunnewell. The State of New York has erected a granite monument at Yorktown in memory of the patriotic services of Abraham Dyckman. The headquarters of De Lancey's corps was the De Lancey Block House, which had stood on the site of the Peabody House (One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Street) , and which was destroyed in a midnight attack by Aaron Burr in 1779. The De Lancey Pine, 150 feet high, is still one of the historic landmarks of West Farms. Telephone, 1333 Tremont C. SILVESTRO MANUFACTURER AND DESIGNER OF Electric and Gas Fixtures REMODELING AND REFINISHING Electrically Lighted Statuary lALESROOM AND FACTORY: 4149 PARK AVE. Near 176th Street NEW YORK CITY Telephone, 676 Tremont TREMOMT GARAGE, Inc. A. H. SEADALE, Mgr. (TORING AUTOMOBILES -RENTING REPAIRS & ACCESSORIES 932-4 Washington Ave., near Tremont Ave. NEW YORK CITY 'uits Made to Order Dresses Made to Order rom y<»ur own uiaterial Ktoni your own material ] $6.00 Up $3.00 Up \\\t Slrrmont ^1.00 g>kirt i»l|np 470 TREMONT AVENUE (ROOM 8) (Bet. Bathgate and Washington Aves 1 Bronx, n Y City "Good Service at Low Cost" EstablUhed '^'y/f'^^ Telephone Slate and Metal ROOFING Hot Air Furnaces Leaders Ranges Skylights Gutters Roofs Repaired and Painted CHAS. H. KIRK 1109 Washington Ave. Bronx, N. Y. City Tremont Packing House 645 Tremont Ave., near Belmont Ave. J. OECHSNER Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Jersey Pork, Bologna and Provisions. Sugar Cured Hams and Bacon our Specialty. GERMAN SAUSAGES Manufactured on premises under strictly sanitary conditions. Phone. 506,S Tremont Established 1889 FRANK GASS Incorporated Real Estate and Insurance 2215 WESTCHESTER AVE. BRONX Telephone Westchester 137 i Rents Collected Estates Managed Real Estate Appraisals Money Loaned on Bond & Mort^a^e ZOb\ 'WtircMtftrcR. . Telephone, 290 Westchester Schultz's Hotel and Park CHARLES A. SCIIULTZ, Prop. Newly Renovated DANCE HALL and BOWLING ALLEYS The Shadiest Park in the Bronx Automohile .Sheds 2061 Westchester Avenue Near 01nislea