SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this book Because it has been said "Ever thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book." Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/cityofnewyorkinyOOsmit_0 Plan of the C.i t y of New York. ft EFFKENCES F I Federal //all W &Uhmmi fAreh 2 St/'auls Churrh 20 French- D" 3 Trmity D" 21 New Quaker Mkrtmff 4 Old Prettgterian J) ' 22 Stetdtr, />' 5 Erchangr S3 Moravian /)' 6 AW Church 2/ Fori Gearys in Latitude 10 41 7 New Presbyterian- 25 fly Market It StStHjH Inapt/- 26 Osweyo D " 9 Sf I'eteh Church 2 7 Boar D * 10 TheColJeye 2X Pecks Slip D° 11 New . Scot* Meeting 2!) New D" 11 Old Dutch Church 30 Bn - Jewell ft New Dutch 1)' 31 City Mm J Ho 14 Jews Synagogue 32 Prison /.> Old QuakerMeetino 33 Hospital /t, Methodist D" W Theatre islJ}" 3S> Tern 'Burying Crnund 15 tnlvanist Cluirch 36 Lower Barrack 37 Upper D° X" I South Ward THE CITY OF NEW YORK IN THE YEAR OF WASHINGTON'S INAUGURATION 1789 BY THOMAS E. V. SMITH I pray you, let us satisfy our eyes With the memorials and the things of fame That do renown this city." Twelfth Night NEW YORK ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO. 38 West Twenty-third Street 1889 5 Copyright, 1889, by THOMAS E. V. SMITH TROWS PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY, NEW YORK. CONTENTS. i. PAGE General description of the city — Population — New York Hospital — Great George Street — Water supply — City buildings — Society for the Relief of Distressed Debtors — Broadway — Bowling Green — Fort George — Residents of the principal streets — Fed- eral Hall — Suburban residences, I II. City Government — Courts — Judges — Lawyers — Watchmen — Fire- men — Militia — Society of the Cincinnati — Naval officers — Poli- tics — Congressional election — State election — St. Tammany's Society — Meeting of Congress — Election of United States Sen- ators — Federal office-holders — Post-office — Representatives from foreign countries, 53 III. Healthfulness of the city — Climate — Provisions — Markets — Physi- cians — Dress — Trade — Stage routes — The Chamber of Com- merce — Exports and imports — Wharfs and ferries — Marine So- ciety — General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen — New York Manufacturing Society — Bank of New York — Mutual As- surance Company — Societies — Social amusements — Taverns — Slaves — Society for the Manumission of Slaves, 88 IV. Sunday laws — Collegiate Dutch churches — Protestant Episcopal churches — Corporation for the Relief of the Widows and Chil- dren of Clergymen — French Huguenot church — Friends' meet- ing-houses — Lutheran church — Jewish synagogue — Presbyterian iv Contents. PAGE churches — Baptist church — Moravian church — German Re- formed church — Methodist churches — Roman Catholic church — Independent Congregational church, 124 V. Theatres in the city previous to 1789 — The John Street Theatre — The Old American Company — Plays acted during the year 1789 — Plays by American authors— Theatrical controversies — Nat- ural curiosities and wax-works — Musical entertainments, . .166 VI. Columbia College — Controversies with regard to its establishment — College professors — Commencement exercises in 1789 — Schools — Music — Dancing-masters — Literature — Science — Books and booTcsellers — New York Society Library — Artists— Newspapers and editors, 189 VII. Messengers appointed to notify the President and Vice-President of the United States of their election — Congressional commit- tees to receive them in New York — John Adams' reception and installation in office — The Presidential Barge — Reception of George Washington in New York City — Dr. Cogswell's account of it — Extracts from Miss Morton's Diary — The President's house — Discussion with regard to the President's title — Ar- rangements for his inauguration — The inaugural ceremonies — Contemporary accounts of the event — Washington's household expenses — The Assembly Ball — Addresses of congratulation — Mrs. Washington's arrival in New York — Incidents in Washing- ton's life while in New York — Comparison between New York City in 1789 and in 1889, 214 I. General Description of the City. On the first day of January 1789 New York City had not yet fully recovered from the effects of the great fires of Sep- tember 2 1st 1776 and of August 3rd 1778 nor from its occu- pation by the British during seven years which ended on the 25th of November 1783. Three of the city landmarks had not yet been fully restored. Trinity Church was not completely rebuilt ; the Lutheran Church which had stood on the south- ern corner of Rector Street and Broadway was a mass of ruins known as the Burnt Lutheran Church ; and the Middle Dutch Church was still in the hands of its rebuilders. Improve- ments, however, had been actively begun, and the poverty caused by the Revolution was now considerably amended. In 1785 John Thurman, a city merchant, wrote: " Many of our new merchants and shopkeepers set up since the war have failed. We have nothing but complaints of bad times. In Philadelphia it is worse. Yet labour is very high and all arti- cles of produce very high. Very small are our exports. There is no ship building, but house building in abundance, and house rent remains high. Law in abundance, the Tres- pass Act is food for the lawyers — yet we say there is no money. Feasting and every kind of extravagance go on — reconcile these things if you can. Gloomy joys." In a paper published by the American Philosophical Society in 1843 Samuel Breck also writes as follows: " In the month of June of the year 1787, on my return from a residence of a few years in France, I arrived at that city, and found it a ne- glected place, built chiefly of wood, and in a state of prostra- tion and decay. A dozen vessels in port; Broadway from Trinity Church inclusive down to the Battery, in ruins, owing 6 New York City in 1789. to a fire that had occurred when the city was occupied by the enemy, during the latter part of the war. The ruined walls of the houses standing on both sides of the way, testifying to the poverty of the place, five years after the conflagration ; for although the war had ceased during that period, and the enemy had departed, no attempt had been made to rebuild them. In short, there was silence and inactivity everywhere ; and the whole population was very little over 20,000." Mr. Breck's chronology with regard to the fire was several years out of the way, but the matters which fell under his own ob- servation were, without doubt, stated with substantial accu- racy. The year 1788 saw a change in the desolation which had followed the war, and in 1789 New York, the Capital of the United States, was larger in size and more prosperous in business than ever before. It was somewhat irregular in shape, its main portion being on the east side of the island. The houses were not built closely together, but were scat- tering and surrounded by gardens. From the west side of Broadway to the west side of Greenwich Street, which was then the street nearest to the North River, the ground was more or less closely built upon from the Bowling Green to the south side of what is now Reade Street. Beyond Reade Street the only buildings were the Hospital and a few scat- tered houses, one of which, on the west side of Broadway a short distance below the line of the present Leonard Street, was a Congregational meeting-house. On the east side of the island the city extended somewhat farther north, its limit being the south side of Bayard's Lane, which in 1807 received its present name of Broome Street. The south side of this street was built upon from Mulberry Street on the west to the present Suffolk Street on the east, and a line drawn from the southwest corner of Broome and Suffolk Streets to the northwest corner of Cherry and Pike Streets would approximately mark the northeasterly limit of the city in 1789. North of the present line of Reade Street no streets were laid out between the North River and Mulberry Street, with the exception of Greenwich Street and Broadway, and General Description. 7 upon them there were but few houses. Along the East River, Front Street was the street nearest to the water from Whitehall Street to its end at Burling Slip, whence Water Street extended along the river as far as the foot of James Street. Beyond that point Cherry Street was nearest to the river and there were but few buildings on its water side. It extended to about the present Pike Street, beyond which was a large swamp, and the country residence of Mr. Rutgers. In 1786 the population of the city was estimated to be 23,614, and the number of houses 3,340. According to the census of 1790 the population of the city and county was 8,500 white males, over sixteen years of age ; 5,907 males under sixteen ; 1 5,254 white females ; 1 101 other free persons ; 2,369 slaves ; total, 33,131 inhabitants. This, however, in- cluded Harlem, which, properly speaking, was not a part of the city. Another calculation, printed in the newspapers, made the number of inhabitants 30,022, classified as Free- holders of £100, 1209; Freeholders of £20, 1221 ; Tenants of 40s., 2661; Freemen, 93; Males, 13330; Females, 14,429; Slaves, 2263. This calculation practically omitted the inhabi- tants of Harlem and probably was a tolerably accurate enu- meration of the inhabitants of the city itself in 1790. In 1789 the number of inhabitants of the city proper might be placed at 29,000 and the number of the houses at 4,200, the city di- rectory, published on the 4th of July 1789 by Hodge, Allen and Campbell, containing the names of about 4100 house- holders. Among the buildings were a number of the old Dutch houses with lofty peaked roofs and their gable ends to the street, but the prevailing style of architecture was English. Noah Webster, in an article which appeared in the American Magazine in March 1788, writes that the houses were for the most part built of brick with tiled roofs, but the advertise- ment of the Mutual Assurance Co. in 1789 states that they were chiefly framed buildings with brick fronts, which Avas probably the case, although in 1761 the legislature had enacted that none other than stone or brick houses should be erected south of about the present Duane St. after the 1st of January 1766. The time was afterwards extended to January 1st 1774, 8 New York City in 1789. but on the 2nd of May in that year nearly 3000 citizens peti- tioned for the repeal of the act, and, although their petition was not granted, the act was probably not strictly enforced. The streets were many of them narrow and crooked, Water and Queen (Pearl) being in some places too cramped to allow the building of sidewalks. On the 2 1st of March 1787, how- ever, the Legislature had authorized the Common Council to lay out new streets and to improve those already existing, and in 1788 improvements were begun. The act provided that streets already laid out should not be made wider than four rods nor narrower than two rods, and that the Kingsbridge Road should not be made narrower than it was at that time, nor in any part less than four rods wide. In all cases of per- sons meeting on the highway, those going out of 'the city northward were to make road for those coming in southward under a penalty of forty shillings fine for each failure to do so. In August 1784 the Common Council had also expressed its determination to strictly enforce the city ordinances with re- gard to the care of the streets, but in May 1788 the Grand Jury reported them to be dirty and many of them impassable, and an ordinance published in April 1789 added several new requirements in this regard. The footpath on each side of the street was to be one-fifth the width of the street, paved with brick or flat stone, and curbed ; the other three-fifths were to be a cartway, properly arched, and to be paved and kept in re- pair by the householders under a penalty of forty shillings fine. Driving, sawing wood, and leaving coal on the side- walk, or otherwise obstructing it, were strictly forbidden ; no posts were to be erected except at the intersection of streets, and a penalty of £5 was attached to the offence of planting trees south of the Fresh Water and of Catherine St. except in front of churches and other public buildings. Another im- portant provision of this ordinance was that on every Friday between the first day of March and the first day of December each householder should cause the dirt from his yard, cellar, and the street in front of his premises to be gathered near the gutter before ten o'clock in the morning, and have it removed before twelve o'clock the next day under a penalty of five General Description. 9 shillings fine. The enforcement of this ordinance was en- trusted to James Culbertson, the high constable, and that worthy published a card in the newspapers stating that he should perform his duty without respect of persons. But his efforts do not seem to have been altogether successful, for, in the Daily Advertiser of December 19th 1789, there appeared a call to the high constable, the echoes of which are still to be heard : "AWAKE THOU SLEEPER, let us have clean streets in this our peaceful seat of the happiest empire in the uni- verse. That so our national rulers and their supporters may with convenience and decency celebrate a merry Christmas and a happy New Year." The sanatory arrangements of the houses had evoked the highest praise from Brissot de War- ville, a young Frenchman who had visited the city in 1788, but the sewerage system of the city was extremely primitive. It consisted of the negro slaves, a long line of whom might be seen late at night wending their way to the river, each with a tub on his head. Street lamps had been introduced in 1762 but the lighting of them was regulated by the moon, and there were frequent complaints of the darkness of the streets at night. On the 3rd of December 1788 a standing committee of the Common Council was appointed to attend to the erec- tion of new street lamps and to put them on the houses in- stead of on posts, wherever it was possible to do so, but the committee does not seem to have been able to keep the lamps lighted, as, on the 31st of the same month, the firemen pre- sented a complaint that their work at a recent fire at one o'clock at night had been greatly impeded by the fact that most of the lamps had gone out. The matter was referred to the committee, but again in 1789 an unfortunate citizen in- formed the public that in coming home one stormy night in June he had run into a pump in Nassau Street not a hundred perches from the Mayor's house and had received a severe con- tusion on his head, there being not alighted lamp nor a watch- man in sight. During the year 1789 Abraham Van Gelder received about £33 a month for the lighting and cleaning of the lamps, the pound being worth about two and one half dollars of the present money. Mr. Van Gelder died in Jan- 10 New York City in 1789. uary 181 5 aged 81 years. The most elevated street in the city was Broadway, which had received that name about the year 1674, extending from the Bowling Green to St. Paul's Chapel, above which it was called Great George Street. Its original course above St. Paul's Chapel had been along the present Park Row and Chatham Street to the Bowery, and in 1789 the portion of it called Great George Street extended only to the present Broome Street and was very sparsely built upon. One of the most northerly buildings upon it was the house of David M. Clarkson which stood on the east side of the street about the middle of the present block between Leonard and Franklin Streets. It was a two-story house about thirty feet wide surrounded by a large garden, the property having a frontage of about 160 feet on Great George Street and a depth of about 380 feet. On the west side of the street a short distance below the present Leonard Street was a building which in November 1789 was first occupied as a Congregational church, and below this, on a plot of ground 440 feet by 455 feet, afterwards bounded by Broadway, An- thony, Church, and Duane Streets, stood the Hospital. The erection of this building had been begun on the 27th of July 1773, the basement walls being of brown stone and the upper portion of blue stone, but it had no sooner been completed than the interior was destroyed by fire on the 28th of Febru- ary 1775 at a loss of £jooo, and although immediately rebuilt, it had never served its original purpose. The Provincial Con- gress ordered it to be used as a barracks in April 1776 and the British afterwards used it for the same purpose. The Govern- ors of the Hospital, twenty-six in number, held a charter granted June 13th 1 77 1 , but during the Revolution they had merely held elections of officers, and lack of funds prevented the opening of the building as a hospital until the 3rd of Janu- ary 1 791 when eighteen patients were admitted, the Legisla- ture, on the 1st of March 1788, having granted to the Govern- ors ;£8oo annually for four years out of the excise revenue of the city. In 1788 a part of the building was used as a dissect- ing room and on the 13th of April in that year it had been stormed and dismantled by the mob in the " Doctors' Riot ; " General Description. 1 1 but in 1789 it was apparently entirely unoccupied and in June was offered as a temporary place of meeting for the Legislature or the Courts. The officers of the Board of Governors of the Hospital in 1789 were Richard Morris, president, Isaac Roose- velt, vice-president, Henry Haydock, treasurer, and John Keese, secretary. The old building ceased to be used for hospital purposes in February 1870. Below the Hospital, on the northeast corner of the present Duane Street and Broadway stood an old brewery, and farther south on the east side of Great George Street opposite what was then the end of Reade Street was the old Negroes' Burying-Ground, occupying about 400 feet on Great George Street with a depth of about 600 feet. The next place of im- portance was that known before the Revolution as Mon- tagnie's Garden, No. 317 Great George Street, situated on the west side of that street near the north corner of Murray Street. In the stirring times before the Revolution it had been the headquarters of the Liberty Boys and the scene of conflict between them and the British soldiery, and after Mr. Montagnie's death had been kept by his widow. In June 1785 an advertisement appeared stating that Henry Kennedy had taken " the well known Mead House, the sign of the Two Friendly Brothers, late occupied by Mrs. Montanye " with gardens attached, but in February 1786 it was again advertised to be let, and in 1789 it was apparently kept by Jacob de la Montagnie. Among the few residents on Great George Street in 1789 were at No. 1, on the present site of the Astor House, Walter Rutherford ; No. 2, Lewis Scott, State Secretary ; No. 3, William Warner, livery stable; No. 5, Miss Moore; No. 6, Charles Warner, coach-maker, and James Warner, harness- maker. Number 8 was at the corner of Robinson Street (Park Place), and near Murray Street was John Walker's ball-court; John Leonard lived at No. 36; John Nourse at No. 42 ; and No. 43 was the residence of Lewis Nichols, cab- inet-maker. Number 1 Great George Street had been built before the Revolution by Major Walter Rutherford, a Brit- ish army officer, who occupied it for many years ; and No. 12 New York City in 1789. 2 had been confiscated from Colonel Axtell, also of the British army, and by Act of March 29th 1784 appropriated to the use of the State Secretary who occupied it until the re- moval of the State Government to Albany in 1797. To the west of Great George Street, above Reade Street, there were few buildings east of Greenwich Street. Church Street ran, as a lane, about to the present Anthony Street, and there ended. No other streets were laid out between it and Green- wich Street, the land being largely a swamp. To the east of Great George Street and approximately bounded on the west by the present Centre Street, on the south by Duane Street, and on the north and east by Pearl Street, was a small pond which connected on the north with the Collect or Fresh W ater Pond, the latter occupying the space now approximately bounded by Franklin, Elm, Worth, and Baxter Streets, including the site of the Tombs or, more prop- erly speaking, the Halls of Justice. North of the Collect were swamps and bogs through which its outlet ran north- west to the present crossing of Broadway and Canal Street, where it was spanned by a bridge, and thence flowed nearly along the present line of Canal Street into the North River. Between the two ponds, on what was once a small island, stood a powder-house which in June 1788 was leased for three years at an annual rent of ^42, and which disappeared by the summer of 1791. In winter the Collect was used as a skating- pond, and one of the uses to which it was put in summer appears from a complaint published in the New York Packet of August 19th 1784 that, in that warm and dry season, a great number of people assembled around the pond whence the tea-water was drawn and washed their dirty linen therein. Before the Revolution an attempt had been made to introduce a system of waterworks, and in 1776 a reservoir had been completed by Christopher Colles from which the water was to be distributed through wooden pipes. It was situated on the east side of Broadway between the present Pearl and White Streets and the water was to be pumped into it from wells, but the Revolution put an end to the scheme. On January 29th 1788 a petition to the Common Council appeared in the General Description. 13 New York Packet praying that the houses might be supplied with water through pipes, provided that the average tax for that purpose should not exceed 26 shillings for each house. According to this plan the annual expense was to be £4160, to be raised by a tax of 40s. on 1000 houses, 26s. on 1000 more, and 10s. 2d. upon 1200 more, the total number of houses to be furnished with water being estimated at three thousand two hundred. And again on the 30th of January 1789, the Mayor presented to the Common Council a letter which he had received from the Rumseian Society of Phila- delphia stating that Mr. Rumsey had invented an engine far superior to any other for supplying towns with water, that he had applied to the Legislature for the exclusive right to put such engines in operation, and that the Corporation would do well to make immediate arrangements for the use of the engine or to complete the contract for it during the following summer. The state of the city finances, however, forbade such an investment, and for a number of years the greater part of the city water continued to be supplied by the Tea Water Pump, which stood in Chatham Street a little to the north- east of the end of Queen (Pearl) Street. The water was carried around the city by " tea-water men " in carts built for that purpose, the price being 3d. a hogshead of 130 gallons at the pump. The well in which this pump stood was fed from the Collect, and was about twenty feet deep and four feet in diameter, the average quantity of water drawn from it daily being about no hogsheads. In hot weather as many as 216 hogsheads were drawn in a day, and it is said that there were never more nor less than three feet of water in the well. The Collect having been granted to Anthony Rutgers in 1733, the city purchased his heirs' interest in it for ,£150 in 1791, and, after becoming an unmitigated nuisance, it was filled up between the years 1800 and 18 10. The Park, which had been enclosed with a wooden fence in 1785, extended in triangular shape from Vesey to Murray Street, and north of it, about on the northerly line of Murray Street, stood the Bridewell, Almshouse, and Jail, in a row facing south. The Bridewell, or criminal prison, which stood 14 New York City in 1789. nearest to Great George Street, was erected in 1775, accord- ing to plans furnished by Theophilus Hardenbrook, and had been paid for by a lottery in which the city bought a thou- sand tickets. It was a long two-story building constructed of gray stone, the keeper and his assistants occupying the first floor, and the second floor being divided into two wards, one of which, for the keeping of less desperate criminals, was called the Upper Hall and the other the Chain Room. During the Revolution the British had used the building as a prison, and its use as such was continued until 1838 when it was torn down and some of the stones were used in the construction of the present Tombs. To the east of the Bridewell, about on the site of the present City Hall was the Almshouse, a two- story gray stone building, fifty-six feet in front by twenty- four feet deep, erected in 1736, at an expense of £122 10s. and demolished in 1797. These institutions were under the care of thirteen commissioners whose proceedings were inves- tigated annually by the Common Council and apparently re- quired some supervision, as in May 1788, a committee of the Common Council, appointed to investigate a charge that the Commissioners had furnished bad butter and flour, found that the statement was true. This, however, was said to have happened accidentally; but in February 1790, Willett Sea- man, one of the commissioners, was ordered to take back a quantity of poor shoes which he had furnished to the Alms- house and to refund the money which had been paid for them. The expenses of the Almshouse during the year amounted to about £3700 or $9250, those of the Bridewell being considerably less. The vagrants confined in the latter were employed in August in cleaning out the drains beneath the Exchange and the Fly Market, the Common Council having petitioned in October 1788 for the enactment of a law providing for hard labor by vagrants both within and without doors. Beyond the Almshouse stood the Jail, or debtor's prison, a rough stone building three stories high, sur- mounted by a large cupola containing a bell. A corridor ran through the middle of the building, and one side of the sec- ond floor was used as a chapel. In 1830, the Common Coun- General Description. 15 cil decided to reconstruct this building for the use of the Reg- ister of Deeds, and the cupola and top floor were re- moved, the exterior stuccoed, and the present porticoes put up, the changes being completed in 1832 when the building was occupied by the offices of the Surrogate, Register, Comp- troller, and Street Commissioners. The Register's Office alone has occupied it since 1870 when further changes were made in it. The practically endless imprisonment of debtors was greatly modified by an Act passed February 13th 1789 limiting imprisonment for debts of £\o or less to thirty days, and that for larger amounts to three months, provided that the debtor would make oath that he had no property where- with to pay his debts, but these unfortunates still led a mis- erable existence. On the 9th of April 1788 the Common Council accepted an offer from John Pearsee the keeper of the jail to feed the prisoners at 8d. a day each, but the meagre fare which they received from this source was supple- mented by contributions of food from the Society for the re- lief of Distressed Debtors which had been founded January 26th 1787. iVccording to the original plan this society was to consist of twenty-four members who were to meet on the sec- ond Friday in every month and to choose a president at each meeting, while the secretary and treasurer were to be chosen annually and a committee of three members was to be chosen to visit the jail at stated times, one of its members retiring from office each month. In 1789 the officers of the society were President, Rev. Dr. John Rodgers. Vice-president, Dr. J AMES COGSWELL. Treasurer, Richard Platt. Secretary, Moses Rogers. Its charitable work seems to have been very successful as on the nth of May 1789 it acknowledged the receipt of 1500 pounds of fresh beef which it had received from an unknown person between the 17th of February and the 30th of April, and in December 1789 the prisoners returned thanks for a contribution of fifty guineas from the President of the United *6 New York City in 1789. States. The secretary of the society, however, published a card stating that the society had not authorized the announce- ment of the President's gift, as he had requested that it should be kept secret. On the 25th of October 1789 a charity ser- mon for the benefit of the society was also preached in the North Dutch Church, probably by Dr. Linn who was one of its founders. Between the Jail and the Almshouse stood the Gallows in a gaudily painted Chinese pagoda erected in 1784, which, under the barbarous laws then existing, was put to frequent use, as by Acts passed in February 1788 the penalty of death was attached to the crimes of treason, murder, forgery, coun- terfeiting, rape, forcible detaining of women, robbing a church, housebreaking by day or night if the house were occupied, robbery, wilful burning of any house or barn, and malicious maiming. An Act of February 16th 1787 provided that no person should be taken or imprisoned upon the appeal of a woman, for the death of any other than of her husband. Dur- ing the year 1789 the Court of Oyer and Terminer imposed ten sentences of death, all for burglary, robbery, and forgery, five executions taking place on the 23rd of October. Near the gallows also stood the whipping-post and stocks for the pun- ishment of minor offences, the public whipper, Joseph Shelvey, receiving a yearly salary of ^25 for his services. By Act of March 24th 1787 larceny was to be punished by such corporal punishment as the court might direct, but, if by whipping, not to exceed thirty-nine lashes in one day. In February 1788, the Justices of the Sessions were also authorized to punish disorderly persons and vagrants by six months imprisonment and whipping at such times as they might consider proper; but in February 1789 the Act was modified by adding hard labor to the imprisonment, and leaving the whipping part of the punishment to the discretion of the court. An example of this kind of punishment was given in February 1789 when George Talbot and Richard Howard, for grand larceny, were sentenced to one month's imprisonment and to receive twenty lashes at the cart's tail on three successive Mondays, near the 'Exchange, the Fly Market, and the Peck Slip Market. At General Description. 17 the same time others were sentenced to 39 lashes for petit lar- ceny, and one month's imprisonment and 39 lashes for grand larceny. The penalty of death was confined to the crimes of treason and murder only by Act of March 21st 1801 and whipping was dropped from the punishment of larceny at the same time. In the rear of these city buildings, upon the present line of Chambers Street, were the Upper Barracks which had been used by the British. In January 1790 the Common Council ordered them to be sold and removed by the 1st of June, but they appear on the map of 1791. Broadway in 1789 was of less importance both as a place of business and of residence than were the streets to the east of it. It was paved from the Bowling Green to Vesey Street but its grading was probably very bad. The method of regu- lating and paving the streets at that time is well illustrated by proceedings in the Common Council in 1788 with regard to this street. On the 9th of April the clerk was ordered to prepare an ordinance for the digging down and paving of Broadway, Verlittenbergh (Exchange Place), and New Streets, according to the proposed regulation of those streets reported August 23rd 1786. On the 21st of May complaint was made that the arch of the pavement then being laid descended too much toward the houses, and a surveyor was ordered to ar- range the matter satisfactorily to the property owners. On the 23rd of May he reported that the arch of the street was six inches too high, and would now be lowered to eighteen inches. But later in the year another complaint was made by Mrs. McAdam which was referred to a committee who made a report on the 27th of October. Their statement was that the distance from the northeast corner of the Lutheran Church lot on the corner of Rector Street to the south line of Mrs. McAdam's lot was 255 feet, and that the descent was 4 feet \ \\ inches, while the distance from Mrs. McAdam's lot to the pump opposite Mr. McComb's house was 151 feet and the ascent 1 foot 4 inches. Upon this statement it was re- solved that the ground opposite the pump at Mr. McComb's be taken down six inches, and the pump removed ; that the * IS New York City in 1789. pavement on the west side of Broadway be taken up and re- laid with regular descent from the Lutheran Church past Mr. McComb's door ; that the east side of Broadway at Verlitten Hill be raised twelve inches, and continued with proper descent down the same ; and that John Stagg should be em- ployed to do the work and should receive for it £120, and the necessary amount of sand. A motion was then made that John McComb, the city surveyor who then had the work in charge, be removed from office for incapacity, but action upon it was postponed, and he was afterwards promised a hearing, which was apparently satisfactory to the Common Council. Public pumps stood in the middle of Broadway for many years after 1789, it being the usual custom for the house- holders to dig the well and for the city to contribute £\o toward the building of the pump. The most noteworthy buildings on Broadway in 1789 were St. Paul's Chapel, the City Tavern, Trinity Church, the McComb mansion, and the Kennedy mansion. A description of the churches will be found in another chapter. The City Tavern, a wooden building which stood on the west side of the street, between Thames and Little Queen (Cedar) Streets on the site of the present Boreel Building, was the prin- cipal hostelry of the city, its long-room being used for soci- ety dinners, lectures, and various public amusements. In December 1789 the Common Council also made arrange- ments for its use by the courts, as the Exchange, in which they had been held, was to be used by the Legislature. The building had first been used as a dwelling house but was opened as a tavern by Edward Willet in 1754, his successors down to the Revolution bearing the names of Crawley, Burns, Bolton, and Hull. During part of the war it was kept by one Hicks, who was succeeded in 1781 by Charles Roubalet, and in October 1783 it passed into the hands of John Cape, who advertised it in April 1784 under the title of " The State Arms of New York at No. 18 Broadway." In February 1786 Mr. Cape, having fallen into financial troubles, ab- sconded, and the contents of the tavern having been sold by the sheriff, it passed to the management of Joseph Corre, who General Description. 19 advertised that private families might advantageously place their cooks under his instruction. In April 1788 Mr. Corre removed elsewhere, and the City Tavern passed into the hands of Edward Bardin, an experienced innkeeper, under whose management it remained until 1793 when the building was demolished to be replaced by the Tontine City Hotel. The McComb mansion, on the west side of Broadway, was built in 1786 by Alexander McComb, as a residence, and in 1790 was occupied by Washington as a presidential mansion, its rent being $2500 a year. In later years it became a part of Bunker's Hotel at No. 39 Broadway. No. 1 Broadway, known as the Kennedy mansion because of its ownership by Capt. Archibald Kennedy of the English navy, who married into the Watts family, was one of the fin- est houses in the city, being a spacious two story and attic brick building with the entrance in the middle and two win- dows on each side of it, the frontage on Broadway being fifty- six feet. The block upon which it stood escaped the fire of 1776, and during the Revolution this house is said to have been occupied by a Mrs. Loring as a fashionable boarding- house. After the Revolution, it is said to have been occupied for a time by Isaac Sears, a merchant, who was commonly known as " King Sears " from his daring leadership of the Liberty Boys. In 1785, however, King Sears was over- whelmed with debt, and having on the 3rd of February made an assignment of his interest in the assets of the firm of Sears and Smith to his partner, Pascal N. Smith, took advantage of his immunity from arrest as a member of the Assembly and sailed for China, where he ended his stormy career on the 28th of October 1786. In 1789, and perhaps before that year, this house was occupied by Don Diego de Gardoqui, the Spanish Ambassador, and in 1790 it was occupied by Mrs. Graham's fashionable boarding-school for young ladies. In after years it was the residence of Nathaniel Prime, was later turned into the Washington Hotel, and was finally demolished for the erection of the present Washington Building. The Bowling Green had been enclosed as a park as early as 1733, and near its lower end stood in 1789 the foundation 20 New York City in 1789. of the statue of George III. erected in 1770 and demolished at the declaration of independence. This foundation was not torn up until 1818, and the stone base of the statue, after serv- ing as a gravestone and as a door step, is now in the possession of the New York Historical Society, together with the tail of the king's horse. In 1789 a committee of the Common Council was appointed to put the Green in order and to rent it, and it is said that their duty also included the removal of the " Federal Ship Hamilton," a miniature 32 gun frigate, thirty feet long and ten feet wide, which had been used in the Federal Procession on the 23rd of July 1788, and then depos- ited in the Green. The Bowling Green was oval in shape, with the smaller end toward the north, and was about 220 feet long by 130 feet in its widest part. The statue of George III. stood about 50 feet from its lower end, which was on a line with the present north side of Battery Place. Directly below the Bowling Green was Fort George, the distance from the lower end of the Green to the north line of the enclosure of the Fort being 150 feet. By an Act passed March 29th 1784 the Fort had been placed under the control of the Governor, but in 1788 a dispute arose between the State and City au- thorities as to which held title to the premises. The At- torney General reported that there was no doubt as to the State's title, and from a survey of the property, made in 1788, the following description is made with approximate accuracy as to distances. The Fort was a rectangle with large solid five-sided bastions at its corners, its parapet consisting of a wall of masonry from eight to ten feet thick, banked with a mound of earth about fifteen feet thick on its easterly and southerly sides and of about twice that thickness on the westerly side, the distance of which from the water's edge was about 200 feet. The curtains of the Fort were about 140 feet in length on the east side, and about 145 feet on its southerly and westerly sides. The bastion at its northwest corner was complete, but the left face of its northeast bastion was but half finished and its left flank was entirely wanting. The distance between the flanked angles of the bastions was 305 feet on the east side of the fort, 340 feet on its south side, and General Description. 21 320 feet on its west side. The side toward the Bowling Green was not fortified. Inside of the Fort, close to its west- erly wall, was a barracks 100 feet long by 20 feet deep ; near what should have been the left shoulder angle of its northeast bastion was a small stable ; and just outside of the right face of its northwest bastion was a larger stable. On the corner of Whitehall Street and the present Bowling Green, was the old office of the Colonial Secretary, a building 55 long by 30 feet deep, which faced on Whitehall Street. Entrance was apparently made to the Fort through a passage along the southerly end of this building leading into the incompleted left face of the northeast bastion. On the easterly and south- erly sides of the Fort were large gardens. The whole struct- ure in 1789 was in a state of dilapidation and decay, and was worthless for purposes of defence, if it had ever possessed any such value. What had once been an earthwork, and still con- tained guns, was known as the Battery and extended from what was known as Eld's corner, on the south line of Battery Place, along the water's edge to Whitehall Slip, there being three bastions in that distance of about 1450 feet. On the 10th of June 1789 the Common Council appointed a commit- tee to confer with the Assemblymen from the city as to the best means of obtaining for the city's use the lands at the Fort, Battery, and Nutten (Governor's) Island, which were then controlled by the State. The result of this conference was the adoption of a resolution by the Legislature, in July 1789, that the ground upon which the Fort stood should be reserved for public use, and that a house for the use of the President of the United States should be erected upon part of it, the necessary provision for such a building to be made at its next session. It also requested the Governor to direct that Broadway should be continued through the Fort, so much of that building as obstructed, to be removed at state expense. In accordance with this resolution the Governor and the Common Council viewed the ground on the 30th of July 1789, and the Governor proposed to remove, at state ex- pense, so much of the Fort as obstructed the line of Broadway to the river, and that the city should erect bulkheads " from 22 New York City in 1789. Eid's corner to the Flat Rock " to receive the dirt from the Fort and thus enlarge the area of the Battery. The Common Council at once agreed to this and, on the 12th of August, decided that a bulkhead should be immediately built from Kennedy's Wharf, which was apparently near Eld's corner, to the northwest bastion of the Battery, a distance of about 210 feet. The work was done by Elias Burger, jr., for ^"378 or $946, and seems to have proceeded quite rapidly as, in No- vember, the newspapers announced that half of it had been completed, and that it was hoped that in the Spring a beauti- ful circuitous street would be completed around three-quarters of New York by way of Greenwich Street to Whitehall, and thence along the East River on the Albany Pier. The whole plot of ground included in the premises belong- ing to the Fort extended from the north corner of the Secre- tary's Office southerly 395 feet along the west side of White- hall Street to the lower end of a small building at the corner of the land of Capt. Thomas Randall, thence nearly due west about 425 feet to a point which had formerly been the shore line, and thence northerly about 400 feet to Eld's corner on the south line of the present Battery Place, and along it 430 feet to Whitehall Street. By an Act passed on the 16th of March 1790 the portion retained by the State was defined as extending the whole length on Whitehall Street, and about 192 feet from the corner of that street along Battery Place, its westerly boundary being a line about 360 feet long which terminated nearly at the flanked angle of the southwest bas- tion of the Fort, whence its southerly line ran nearly due east ' to Whitehall Street. This portion included the whole of the Fort, with the exception of its northwest bastion and a por- tion of its western parapet ; all the remaining land at the Battery belonging to the State was, by the same Act, vested in the City Corporation to be used for buildings and purposes of defence only. The plan of erecting the President's House on the site of the Fort met with some opposition on the ground that it might easily be destroyed by the guns of some adventurous cruiser. A complainant in the New York Journal of August General Description. 23 6th 1789 stated that the site was poor on account of the neigh- borhood, and that " this valuable property should stand alone in some spacious square with gardens and court annexed, on account of magnificence, beauty, salubrity and safety." He suggested as a proper site the Spring Garden, Rutgers farm, or what was formerly Delancy's. These objections, however, were not heeded and the construction of the new building, on the site of the six brick buildings now occupied by steam- ship offices facing the lower end of the Bowling Green, was placed in the hands of three commissioners, John Watts, Richard Varick, and Gerard Bancker, its first stone being laid on the 2 1 st of May 1790. The State granted ;£8ooo for its construction, but it was never occupied by the President, as the seat of the National Government was removed to Phila- delphia before its completion ; but the Governor occupied it for some years and it was afterwards used as the custom-house. In levelling the ground at the Fort several old relics were un- earthed, including Dutch tobacco-pipes of rude workmanship, the remains of a brass-hilted sword, and a few coins, one of which bore the date 1605. In removing the earth where the old Dutch chapel had stood, a number of bones were dug up and three burial vaults were discovered, in the first of which was found the coffin-plate of Lady Elizabeth Hays, wife of Governor Hunter, who died August 8th 17 16. The second vault contained pieces of four or five coffins, one of which made of lead, bore the escutcheon of the Coote family of Ire- land and was identified as that of Lord Bellamont who died in 1 70 1 ; the third vault contained but a few bones. A square stone was also found in the foundations of the Fort among the ruins of the old chapel, bearing the inscription in Dutch, " In the year of our Lord 1642, William Kieft, Director-Gen- eral, caused the Congregation to build this Church." This stone was preserved in the Garden Street Dutch Church until its destruction by fire in 1835. Below the Fort property was a plot of ground extending along Whitehall Street about 125 feet to the corner of Pearl Street which ran one block west of Whitehall Street to the water's edge. Below it was another block of about 200 feet 24 New York City in 1789. on Whitehall Street, the lower boundary of which was called Copsie Street, which ran one block west of Whitehall Street, and marked the original shore line. On its south side were the Lower Barracks, which in 1789 were apparently used as dwelling houses, the building being about 210 feet long by 25 feet deep, with an ell about 70 feet long at its west end. The space of about 240 feet from the front of these Barracks to the southern extremity of the island was apparently unoccupied, with the exception of one small house on the west side of Whitehall Street. The houses on Broadway were not numbered by any regu- lar system and the street numbers in 1789 can be used in few instances for the present identification of the sites of build- ings. Thus, No. 33 was at one of the corners of Cortlandt Street ; No. 29 was near Maiden Lane and No. 58 was nearly opposite to it ; No. 62 was at the corner of Liberty Street ; No. 76 was nearly opposite the City Tavern which was be- tween the present numbers 113 and 121; and No. 85 was nearly opposite to Trinity Church. Odd and even numbers were given to houses without regard to the side of the street upon which they stood, and in some cases two houses bore the same number. The first systematic numbering of the houses was proposed in 1790. Many of the citizens changed their residence during the year, but from the City Directory for 1789 and from newspaper advertisements in that year, all the inhabitants upon Broadway and the number of their houses at that time appear to have been as follows : No. No. 1. Don Diego de Gardoqui. II. Elizabeth B. Hatter. 2. John King, shoemaker. Benjamin Groves. 3. Robert R. Livingston, 12. Mrs. Ball, dry nurse. chancellor. Derril Mack, shoemaker. 4. 5. Mrs. Cortlandt. 6. Mrs. McAdam. Mrs. White. 7- 8. Henry White. 9. Garret Heyer, shoemaker. 10. Gen. Maunsel. Mrs. MontcrierT, school. 13. Widow Ingram. Henry King, carpenter. 14. — Battow, upholsterer. Abraham Benzaken, tailor. 15. Hercules Wendover, tavern. 16. Widow Barham, porterhouse. General Description, 25 No. Dinah Clark, washerwoman. 17. George Walker, cake shop. 18. 19. Richard Anderson, grocer. John Wickman, attorney. 20. Philip Jacobs, shopkeeper. 21. Henry Whiteman, shopkeeper. 22. Widow Bailey, boarding-house. 23. William Allen, gunsmith. 24. 25. Nicholas Bogart. Samuel B. Webb. 26. Cornelius Bogart. 27. John Amory, whipmaker. Hayman Solomon, shopkeeper. 28. Nicholas Bogart, shopkeeper. Peter Jay Munro, attorney. 29. Ebenezer Hazard, postmaster- general. 30. Daniel McLaren, shopkeeper. John Stoutenburgh, merchant. 31. Frederick Ransier, cooper, 32. John Bogart, ironmonger. John Miller, hairdresser. Thomas Mullet, merchant. 33. Jacobus Bogart, baker. James Bond, blacksmith. Pascal N. Smith, merchant. 34. Samuel Jones, attorney. Jacob Resler, chandler. 35. Frederick Heerman, druggist. Leonard Rogers, breeches- maker. 36. John Fawpel, peruke-maker. Henry Frederick, breeches- maker. John Hoffman, dry goods. 37. John Pierce, shopkeeper. William Ross, harness-maker. 38. John Jones, dry goods store. John Mills, shoemaker. 39. Sylvester Buskirk, tinware. Thomas Lefoy, hatter. Cato Railmore, fruit shop. No. 40. J. W. Gilbert, storekeeper. Frederick Merchant, shoe- maker. William Parker, tailor. 41. John King, shoemaker. 42. Sigismund Hugget, grocer. 43. James Hallett, coachmaker. 44. John McKesson, clerk of Supreme Court. 45. Blaise Moore, tobacconist. 46. Rev. Benjamin Moore. 47. Robert Dodds, silk-dyer. 48. John Houseman, shopkeeper. 49. John Glover, dry goods store. 50. Peter Ritter, ironware and jewelry. 52. William Deane, coachmaker. 53. Benjamin Haight, saddler. 54. McLeod & Masterson, shop. 55- 56. Widow Colley, boarding-house. John Dover, storekeeper. David Cation, storekeeper. 57. David Coutant, chairmaker. Theodorus J. Hamilton, grocer. Henry Roome, storekeeper. 58. Jacob Morton, attorney. 59. James Kipp, brass founder. 60. Mrs. Bowie, shopkeeper. Anthony Latour, bajber. Widow McKinley. 61. John B. Dash, jr., hardware. 62. Sebastian Bauman, grocer and postmaster. 63. Christopher Beekman. Mrs. Sebring, boarding-house. 64. Alexander Hamilton, shoe- maker. 65. James Anderson, shoemaker. 66. Abraham Brown, tailor. 67. Thomas Grindell, pewterer. 68. John B. Dash, sr., hardware. 69. Ephraim Ross, tavern. 26 New York City in 1789. No. 70. 71. 72. 73- 74- 75- 76. 77- 78. 79- 80. 83- 84. 85. 86. 87. Mary Dixon. Widow Hoffman, shopkeeper. John Jackson, carpenter. James Nesmith. William Roberts, cordwainer. Joseph Ouinnion, tailor. John Jackson, shopkeeper. Mrs. Carter, young ladies' school. Baptist Gilliaux, hairdresser. John Stackler, blacksmith. Thomas Parsell, coachmaker. William S. Livingston, attorney. Mrs. McCullen, boarding- house. James Jarvis. Peter Deschent, fruit shop. Archibald McCullum, saddler. Malcolm Campbell, school. Joseph Harden. James Tillery, M.D. John Van Gelder, tailor. Mrs. Bayard. David Campbell, attorney. W. G. Forbes, goldsmith. No. 89. 90. 91. 92. 93- 94. 95- 96. 97- 98. 99. Lawrence Kortwright, merchant. John Foxcroft, agent for British packets. John H. Merkle, goldsmith. John Nixson, cookshop. Widow Laycock. Walter Livingston, attorney. John Cochrane, M.D. Mrs. James. George Turnbull. Thomas Ellison. Robert Melvin, carpenter. Joseph Nourse, register of the treasury. 100. John Charlton, M.D. Peter McKinnion, hairdresser. 101. James Hill, painter. 102. James Hill, jr. 103. 104. John Slidell, chandler. Thomas Ten Eyck, merchant. 105— 117. 118. Anthony Bolton, shoemaker. 119. William Heyer. 120. John Rogers, merchant. 121 — 132. 133. John Jay. Among the residents whose street numbers do not appear in the Directory were M. du Moustier, the French minister, who resided near the Bowling Green ; Gen. Henry Knox, who resided in 1787, at No. 4 Broadway, and probably occu- pied the same house in 1789; Alderman William W. Gil- bert ; Widow Van Cortlandt, on the corner of Thames Street now occupied by the Trinity Building ; James Thompson, merchant, corner of Thames Street ; Manasseh Salter, shop- keeper ; and William Wilmerding, storekeeper, corner of Dey Street. Elbridge Gerry and William Smith, congressmen from Massachusetts, also lived on Broadway, the former at General Description. 27 the corner of Thames Street with his father-in-law James Thompson, and the latter next door to the Spanish Minister. Senator Ralph Izard of South Carolina lived opposite the French Ambassador. The east side of Broadway below Wall Street had been swept by the fire of 1776 and had been re- built with cheap frame buildings but these were beginning to be replaced by fine residences, and, a few years later, the lower part of Broadway became one of the most fashionable places of residence. The house occupied by Gen. Knox, the Secretary of War, which was advertised for sale in the latter part of 1789 was probably a fair representative of the better class of dwelling houses at that time. It was described as a four story brick house on the west side of Broadway, 31^ feet wide by 60 feet deep, containing two rooms of thirty feet in length, one of twenty-six feet, three of twenty-three feet, and two of twenty feet, besides four other rooms with fireplaces, and four smaller ones without them. On the ground-floor there was a large servant's-hall which communicated with the area, and a kitchen 20 ft. by 30 ft. in dimension. In the rear of the house there was a piazza thirty feet long by ten feet wide and the back yard contained a good well, cistern, and ash-house. The lots ran back about 500 feet to the end of a wharf on Greenwich Street, and upon one of them, fronting upon Greenwich Street, was a coach-house twenty-eight feet four inches wide. No houses were allowed to be erected in the city unless the property was previously surveyed by a city surveyor, the penalty for disobedience of this rule being a fine of and by ordinance of April 15th 1789 no stoop was to extend more than six feet nor any bow-window more than twenty inches into any street. The City Surveyors were Isaac Stoutenburg, jr., Dey Street near Broadway; John McComb, 21 Smith (William) Street ; Evert Bancker, 3 Fair (Fulton) Street ; and Charles T. Goerck, 20 Gold Street. The transfers of real es- tate on Broadway in 1789 were very few. Among the deeds recorded in that year, but dated two or three years before, was one conveying for £yoo a plot of ground on the north- west corner of Broadway and Liberty Street twenty-five feet 28 New York City m 1789. wide by ninety feet deep, with a smaller plot in the rear, while another lot in the same neighborhood, thirty-eight feet wide by ninety feet deep, was sold for £600. A plot on the west side of the street, probably some distance below Wall Street, having a frontage of 105 feet and a depth of 270 feet to high water, running thence to low-water mark and thence 200 feet into the North River, was sold for £3,200. A Church Farm lot twenty-five feet wide by 108 feet 9 inches deep on the west side of Broadway between Warren and Murray Streets brought ^"240, and £150 were paid for a lot 33 feet wide by 190 feet deep on Great George Street in the neighborhood of the Collect. The cross streets on the west side of Broadway were nearly the same as at the present time but in a few cases had different names. Duane Street, which extended but one block west of Broadway was called Barley Street ; Park Place was called Robinson Street and was not cut through the block then occupied by Columbia College; Fulton Street on that side of the city was called Partition Street, while Liberty and Cedar Streets were known respectively as Crown and Little Queen Streets. Exchange Place on the west side was known as Oyster Pasty Lane, and the present Morris Street was called Beaver Lane. West Broadway and Col- lege Place ran only from Reade to Barclay Street and were called Chapel Street, while Church Street extended only from Reade to Fulton Street. The street corresponding to the present New Church Street extended from Liberty Street to Exchange Place and was known as Lumber Street. Improvements in these streets had been begun in 1788 and during that and the following year Barclay, Vesey, Partition, Cortlandt, and Lumber Streets and Oyster Pasty Lane were ordered to be paved. Among the residents on Cortlandt Street were at No. 1, William J. Elsworth, pewterer, and Dr. Edward Eager ; No. 46, James Prince, merchant ; No. 49, Samuel Fraunces, tavern ; No. 63, Rev. Dr. John Mason ; and No. 66, Rev. Dr. William Linn. One of the streets upon which the greatest improvements were being made was Greenwich Street, which ran close to General Description. 29 the water's edge from the Battery to Cedar Street, but from that point to Reade Street was separated from the North River by short blocks filled in on its west side. In May 1788, a part of it was being regulated and in July of the same year, the Common Council ordered the paving of it from Cort- landt to Barclay Street. Subsequently this work was ordered to be extended to Warren Street, and by the 29th of Sep- tember, 1789, it had progressed so far that a committee of the Common Council was appointed to investigate the error in it. The street was also apparently widened as a number of old buildings were removed from the line of it, and commissioners during the year 1789 awarded about ^"1950 to property own- ers for injury caused to their premises by the improvements. The commissioners themselves, five in number, asked for but $120 for their services. Among the places of business on Greenwich Street were that of Frederick and Philip Rhine- lander on the corner of Barclay Street, and the store of Isaac Stoutenburgh and Son, on the corner of Dey Street. In June 1789, the corporation of Trinity Church announced the sale at auction of two lots on the corner of Greenwich and Murray Streets with the house lately occupied by Mr. Rich- ard Deane, and also the much-admired lots called Vaux Hall, which were one hundred feet square with buildings and gar- dens bounded in part by Warren Street. Another advertise- ment of the sale of a distillery on Greenwich Street describes it as the growing part of the city. Pearl Street, which was originally on the water-line, in 1789 bore that name only from the present State Street to Broad Street. From Broad Street to Wall Street it was called Great Dock Street, and thence to its end at Chatham Street it was known as Queen Street, a name which it re- ceived in 1695 and retained until toward the close of the last century. In 1788 and 1789 it was regulated and paved from the present Oak Street to Coenties Alley. A number of the chief merchants had their residences and places of business in the part of it known as Great Dock Street, while the part known as Queen Street shared with Water Street and Han- over Square the principal business of the city. The highest 30 New York City in 1789. street number given to a house on Great Dock Street by the city directory of 1789 is fifty-six. A few of the residents on that street were as follows : No. 2. Josiah Ogden Hoffman, attorney. 9. Farmer & Bishop, store. 10. Abraham Brinkerhoff, store. 11. Atwood & Tronson, iron. 12. J. B. Colles, iron. Nicholas Hoffman & Son, merchants. 13. Robert C. Livingston. No. 14. Johnston & Ogden, merchants. 17. Christopher Beekman, tavern. 19. Abraham Maziere. 35. Gulian Verplanck. 39. William Constable & Co., merchants. 40. William Neilson, merchant. 41. Hill & Ogden, merchants. At No. 15 was Mrs. Dunscomb's boarding-house which was patronized by Caleb Strong, Fisher Ames, Theodore Sedg- wick, and George Leonard of Massachusetts. On Queen Street the highest street number was 244 and some of the residents were : No. I. James Rivington, bookseller & tobacconist. 4. William Bayard, merchant. 8. Joshua Waddington & Co., merchants. 9. Isaac Desbrosses. 11. Richard Harrison, attorney. 13. Samuel Dunlap, store. William Dunlap, portrait painter. 1 5. Alexander Robertson, merchant. James Smith, merchant. 17. George Scriba, merchant. 21. John Keese, notary public. 24. John J. Glover, merchant. 25. Nicholas Brevoort, iron. 26. Alexander Dunlap, iron. 37. George Bowne, merchant. 38. John Bard, iron. 39. Robert Bowne, merchant. 43. Pearsall & Embree, watches. No. 44. James Scott, merchant. 50. Thomas Franklin, merchant. 51. Edward Livingston, attorney. 52. Walter Buchanan, merchant. Jacob Leroy & Son, merchants. 56. Willet Seaman, merchant. 67. William Walton. 68. Jared Walton. 73. James Roosevelt, merchant. 79. Ephraim Brasher, goldsmith. 98. Solomon Hull, soap-boiler. 101. White Matlack, brewer. 155. John Murray. 156. Benjamin Kissam, M.D. 159. James Roosevelt & Son, merchants. 162. John Lawrence, merchant. 168. Peter Byvanck, iron. 171. James Cogswell, physician. 173. James W. Depeyster, merchant. Ge?ieral Description. 3i No. No. 175. William Depeyster, dry goods. 212. 177. Peter & James Burling, leather. 213. 181. Streatfield & Levinus 215. Clarkson. 222. 183. Samuel Franklin, merchant. 223. 184. Murray & Sansom, merchants. 227. 185. Effingham Embree. 189. William Kenyon, merchant. 228. 190. William & Samuel Bowne, merchants. 233. 191. De Luze, de Montmollin & Co. 193. Edmund Prior, merchant. 234. 194. James Parsons & Son, 235. merchants. 236. 196. Embree & Lawrence, iron. 237. 197. Henry Haydock, merchant. 238. 200. William Laight & Co., merchants. 239. 201. Hallet & Brown, iron. 202. William Robinson, merchant. 240. 203. Thomas Pearsall & Son, 241 . merchants. 205. Pearsall & Pell, merchants. 244. Alsop & James Hunt, leather. John Thompson, merchant. William Wilson, merchant. David Provoost, merchant. Lyde & Rogers, merchants. Effingham Lawrence, druggist. Besley & Goodwin, druggists. George Lewis & Co., merchants. Andrew Mitchell, merchant. Robert Lenox, merchant. George Douglas, jr., merchant. Robert Hodge, bookseller. Hay Stevenson & Co., merchants. M'Farran & Dunlap, auctioneers. James Beekman, merchant. Jacob & Philip Marks, merchants. Frederick Jay, auctioneer. By an Act passed on the 29th of March 1784 the Commis- sioners of Forfeitures were ordered to set apart such a house as the Governor might choose for a residence, and his choice fell upon the house Number 10 Queen Street, opposite the end of Cedar Street, which had been confiscated from Henry White. On the 1st of May 1786 the Commissioners were ordered to sell this house, and it was conveyed by them to Henry White, jr., by deed dated June 19th 1786, but the Governor apparently continued to reside in it, paying a rent of £300 a year. It was a two-story and attic house, five win- dows wide, with a sloping tiled roof, containing five dormer windows. The house on Pearl Street which has received the most attention in history was the Walton mansion on the east side of Franklin Square, and afterwards known as No. 326 Pearl Street. This house was built about the year 1754 of brick, which are said to have been brought from Holland, 32 New York City in 1789. trimmed with brown stone. It was fifty feet wide, with three stories and an attic, above which was a slightly sloping roof adorned with a balustrade in front. The entrance was in the middle of the building with spacious drawing-rooms on each side of it, the elegant woodwork and decoration of the inter- ior making it one of the finest mansions in the city. Its builder was William Walton, an old merchant of the city, who, at his death, left it to his nephew William Walton, who was its owner in 1789 but resided himself at No. 67 Queen Street. From 1784 to 1787 the Walton house, which was known as No. 156 Queen Street, was occupied by the Bank of New York, and in 1789 it was the residence of Dr. Benja- min Kissam. After suffering various vicissitudes it was torn down in 1881. In 1789 the house No. 27 Queen Street, three stories high with three rooms on a floor, was rented for $362. Water Street from Whitehall Street to Old Slip was called Little Dock Street, but above the latter point was called Water Street to its end at James Slip. From Burling to James Slip it was the street nearest the East River. Dur- ing the years 1788 and 1789 it was paved from Coenties Slip to Peck Slip, but a proposition to straighten it from Dover Street to James Slip was rejected by the Common Council in January 1789, and in June the paving of that portion of it was suspended until further order. Some of the householders on Little Dock Street in 1789 were: No. 5. George Remsen, merchant. 7. James Youle, ironmonger. 8. B. Svvartvvout & Son, store. 9. Abraham Kipp, store. 10. Lansing & Heyer, store. 12. Nicholas Hoffman & Sons, merchants. 15. William Durell, china. 16. David Currie. Nicholas Hoffman. 20. Elting & Varick, iron. Peter Elting, alderman. 32. Peter Elting, jr., store. No. 34. John Elting, store. 35. Coster & Co., merchants. 38. John Cooper, furrier. 40. John Ten Eyck. 41. Lynch & Stoughton, counting-house. 42. John Stoughton, merchant. 43. Josiah Shippey & Co., merchants. Nicholas Van Antwerp, merchant. 48. Townsend Underhill,merchant. 49. John Lasher, port-officer. General Description. 33 On Water Street the high among the householders were : No. 5. Samuel & John Loudon, printers. 6. Henry Sevvall, broker. 7. Robert Stewart, tobacco broker. 17. John Reid, bookseller. 24. Jacob Hallet, merchant. Nicholas Low, merchant. 26. William Mercier, lighthouse office. 27. Theodosius Fowler, broker. 28. George Pollock, merchant. 29. John Delafield, insurance broker. 31. James Saidler, broker. 32. Daniel Phoenix, merchant. 35. Moses Rogers & Co., merchants. 36. Marinus Willet, merchant. 42. Abraham Herring, store. 50. David Grim, commission merchant. 51. Nathaniel Hazard, commission merchant. 53. P. P. Van Zandt, merchant. 55. Leffert Lefferts, distiller. 56. Thomas Lloyd, shorthand writer. 61. Jonathan Lawrence, merchant. 62. Sears & Smith, merchants. 68. John Ireland, dry goods. 70. Thomas & William Burling, glass. 71. Peter Schermerhorn, ship chandler. 101. Alexander Hamilton & Co., distillers. 103. Thomas Andrews, parchment. 134. Benjamin Hilldrick, distiller. 135. Abram Walton. street-number was 217, and No. 136. Samuel Delaplane, merchant. 137. Thomas & John Brown, boat builders. 145. Joseph Blakley, china. 1 57. Coen & Wright, sailmakers. 163. Nicholas Delaplane, merchant^ 170. Wynant Van Zandt, jr., merchant. 171. William Johnson, iron. 172. Hawxhurst & Mowatts, china. 173. Peter Griffin, dry goods. 174. Samuel Forbes, dry goods. 176. William Thompson, dry goods. 177. Robert Johnson, dry goods. 178. James Seaman, china. 186. William Henderson, insurance. 187. John Price, merchant. 190. Francis Childs, printer. John Swain, printer. 194. Charles M'Ever, insurance. 195. Richard Piatt, broker. 196. Thomas Greenleaf, printer. 199. Clark Greenwood, mathematical instruments. 200. Widow Bradford, coffee house. 201. William Hill, merchant. 202. Leroy & Bayard, merchants. 206. Shedden, Patrick & Co. merchants. 208. Anthony L. Bleeker, auctioneer. 210. John McVicker, merchant. 211. Randal & Stewart, merchants. 213. John Shaw, merchant. 215. Sadlier & Bailey, merchants. 217. John Gibson, physician. 34 New York City in 1789. Front Street was of less importance. It ran only as far north as Burling Slip, and in 1788 and 1789 was paved from Coenties Slip to the foot of Maiden Lane. Hanover Square was the chief centre of business after Pearl and Water Streets, and was paved in July 1789. Among the householders here were : No. 5. James Farquhar. 6. John Broome, merchant. 7. Maule & Bullock, merchants. 8. Henry Remsen. 10. John & Francis Aitkinson, merchants. 11. Bank of New York. 12. William Seton & Co. merchants. 13. Vanhorne & Clarkson, merchants. 14. James Barclay, auctioneer. 16. William Van Nest, saddler. 18. M. & H. Oudenarde, merchants. 23. Francis Wainwright, druggist. No. 24. Timothy Hurst, druggist. 26. Oliver Hull, druggist. 31. Collin M'Gregor, merchant. 32. Michael Roberts, jewelry & stationery. 34. Thomas Roberts, dry goods. 35. Berry & Rogers, jewelry & stationery. 37. Francis Durand, merchant. 38. Theophylact Bache, merchant. 40. James Bleeker, merchant. 41. Archibald M'Lean, printer. 43. Uriah Hendricks, merchant. 44. Samuel Campbell, books. 46. Andrew Hamersley, saddler. 48. Peter Goelet, iron. William Street below Maiden Lane was known as Smith Street, and, at its upper end, the two blocks from Frankfort to Pearl Street were called King George Street. In 1788 and 1789 it was paved from Stone Street to Wall, from Pine Street to Liberty, and from John Street to Beekman Street. With Nassau Street it shared the principal retail trade of the city, and was also a place of residence. Some of the house- holders on Smith Street were : No. No. 5. Obadiah & Andrew Bowne, dry 21. John M'Comb, surveyor. goods. 22. John Marsden. 14. Peter Kemble, merchant. 28. Peter Bogart. 15. Mr. Ketteltas. 47. Isaac Classon, merchant. Brockholst Livingston, 49. Cornelius Ray, merchant. attorney. 50. Charles M'Knight, physician. 16. Grove Bend, merchant. 55. Anspach & Rogers. 18. Thomas Storm, merchant. 59. Donald B. Campbell. General Description. 35 On William Street were : No. No. i. William Griggs, jewelry. 46. Rev. Abram Beach. 5. Mrs. Henshaw, ladies' academy. 49. John Stakes, grocer. 6. John Siemon, furrier. 55. Gilbert Saltonstall, merchant. 11. Robert Robertson, merchant. 56. John Greenwood, dentist. 18. Pope & Cadle, stocking 91. Commodore Nicholson. factory. 92. James Renwick, merchant. 25. John Ramage, miniature painter. Nassau Street also was a place of residence and of retail trade. Among the householders on it were : No. No. 1. John Wiley, alderman. 18. Garret Steddiford. 2. John Burrows, chairmaker. 21. John George Leake. Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost. 23. William Mooney, upholsterer. 5. Jacobus Lefferts. 27. Richard Morris, chief-justice. 10. Aaron Burr. 48. Johnson & Lemilt, hatters. 15. John Mildeberger. 50. David Grim, merchant. 17. James Duane, mayor. 69. Dr. John Gamage. Other residents whose street numbers are not given in the directory, were Egbert Benson, on the corner of Pine Street ; Peter Ogilvie, probate judge, on the corner of John Street ; and Dr. Nicholas Romaine, on the corner of John Street. Broad Street was occupied by small shops, and a few resi- dences, among which were those of Dr. Samuel Fleming, at No. 10 ; Thomas Ludlow, No. 40 ; Dr. Samuel Bard, No. 45 ; Alderman Jeremiah Wool, No. 49 ; and David Shakespeare, chandler, at No. 61. In the middle of Broad Street between Water and Front Streets, stood the Merchants' Exchange, a brick building on arches, which had been erected in 1755. The building, however, was no longer used for its original pur- pose, and in September 1788, when the City Hall was appro- priated to the use of the National Government, the Common Council decided to use the Exchange for the courts and the corporation. On the 7th of October 1788 it was ordered that the building be repaired "in the most economical man- ner," and it was apparently used by the courts during 1789, as, 36 New York City in 1789. on the nth of December in that year, Bardin's long-room was obtained for a court-room, as the Exchange was needed for the coming meeting of the Legislature. The building was ordered to be torn down on the nth of March 1799. Of the cross streets below Wall Street, one was the He- brew centre of the city. This was Mill or Duke Street, which extended in the form of an elbow from the east side of Broad Street south into Stone Street, but now forms a part of South William Street. Among its inhabitants were : No. 3. Widow Gomez. 4. James Stewart, merchant. 5. Moses Gomez. 7. Haymen Levy, merchant. Rev. Gershom Seixas. No. 1 1. Manuel Noah. 12. Rynier Suydam. 15. William Backhouse, merchant. 19. Benjamin S. Judah, merchant. 26. David Fitzgerald, merchant. Mill Street is also spoken of in the minutes of the Com- mon Council as Jew Street, and although on the map in 1789 it is marked Duke Street, that name on the maps in some other years is applied to Stone Street east of Broad Street. Beaver Street east of Broad Street was called Princess Street ; but west of Broad Street it bore its present name, and at No. 4 lived John Watts, who, in 1792 removed to No. 2 Broadway. The streets below Beaver Street were Market Street ; Stone Street, upon which at No. 5 lived Nicholas Cruger; and Wincom Street, which is now Bridge Street. Exchange Place was known as Verlittenberg Street. Pine and Cedar Streets were known respectively as King and Little Queen Streets until the year 1804. Among the residents on King Street were at No. 23, John Taylor, merchant; No. 26, Charles Thomson, secretary of Congress; and at No. 52, Comfort Sands, merchant. Liberty Street was called Crown Street, and at its North River end was a bath-house kept by Henry Ludlam, with warm and cold water of sufficient depth for both ladies and gentlemen. One of the best-known buildings on this street was the sugar-house on its south side, east of Nassau Street, and adjoining the Middle Dutch General Description, 37 Church. Built of stone, with five stories and a loft, pierced with three small windows on each floor in front, and five on the side, this structure remained for many years a monument to the sufferings of the American prisoners who had been in- humanely packed within its walls by the British. Maiden Lane bore its present name, there being among its householders, at No. 23, Walter Heyer; No. 27, John Dewint ; No. 33, John and Nicholas J. Roosevelt, merchants; and at No. 46, Alderman Lott. John Street, east of Dutch Street, was called Goldenhill Street ; and Fulton Street to the east of Broadway was known as Fair Street, and to the west, as Partition Street. Ann Street was the same as at the present time, and Beekman's Swamp was the only place south of the Fresh Water where raw hides were allowed to be stored for more than twenty-four hours. A few of the residents on Beekman Street were : No. 5. William P. Smith, physician. 8. John and James Aymar, tobacconists. 22. Hubert V. Wagenen. 25. Alderman Blagge. Cornelius J. Bogert, attorney. 27. Henry Rogers, merchant. No. 39. George Moorewood, merchant 40. William Cowenhoven, hatter. 55. John Cosine, attorney. 64. Peter Bogert. John Jackson, merchant. 71. John Blagge, flaxseed. The present Spruce Street was called George Street, one of its householders, at No. 22, being Philip Rhinelander. Frankfort Street bore its present name. At No. 21 King George Street, as the upper end of William Street was called, on the block above Frankfort Street resided William Rhine- lander, sugar boiler, in a two-story and attic dwelling-house, next door to which was the sugar house, four stories high, with a cellar and loft, and bearing the date 1763. Gold Street was the same as at the present time, but Cliff Street ran only from John Street to Ferry Street. Vande- water Street bore its present name, and a street correspond- ing somewhat to the present Rose Street was called Prince Street. The dirtiest street in the city was apparently Ferry 3S New York City in 1789. Street, as on the 12th of August 1789 its inhabitants peti- tioned the Common Council that the sand and filth brought into the street by every heavy storm might be removed at public expense ; but the Aldermen decided that the applica- tion was improper and that no such relief could be granted. In December 1788 it was ordered that Chatham Street should be regulated from James to Division Street, and in July 1789, it was ordered that it be paved. But it seems to have been in a poor condition, for in August 1789 a committee of the Common Council recommended that the bank on its west side be cut down as much as possible without injury to the houses, in order to render the street more " uniform and con- venient." At No. 5 Chatham Street were Peter and George Lorillard, tobacconists, and at No. 36 was the brewery of Ap- pleby and Matlack. The present Baxter Street ran but one block north of Chatham Street and was known as Orange Street. Roosevelt, James, Oliver, and Catherine Streets, bore their present names, but the only two streets to the east of them, which had names, were called George and Charlotte Streets. The present East Broadway was called Harman Street, and, with the exception of Orchard and Grand Streets, none of the streets east of the Bowery and north of Division Street bore their present names. Chrystie, Forsyth, Eldridge and Allen Streets were known respectively as First, Second, Third, and Fourth Streets, this first attempt to give numbers to the streets having apparently been made about the year 1766. Hester Street, east of the Bowery, was called Eagle Street ; Canal Street was Pump Street ; and Bayard Street was Fishers Street. The most important street in the city was Wall Street, which was the most fashionable place of residence, and in 1789 was the centre of the political life of the United States. The inhabitants of this street in 1789 were as follows, different houses evidently bearing the same street number : No. No. 2. John McPherson, store. 4. William Collett, coachmaker. 3. John Smith, farrier. John Cransbaugh, grocer. Daniel Crommelin Verplanck. William Maxwell, tobacco. General Description. 39 No. John Stephens, livery stable. 5. Johannah Van Burgh Ursin, boardinghouse. Samuel A. Otis, secretary U. S. Senate. 6. Daniel Ludlow. 7. William Edgar, merchant. 8. William Bedlow, postmaster. 9. Thomas Smith, attorney. 10. William Denny. 1 1. John Startin. 12. John Marsden Pintard. 13. John Lawrence, attorney. 14. John Jones, merchant. 15. Mrs. Mary Daubigny, boarding house. 16. John Miller, Merchant. 17. 18. Mrs. Cuyler, boarding house. 19. Joshua Jones, grocer. 20. Richard Cusack, hatter. Robert Hunter, auctioneer. 21. Isaac Moses, auctioneer. 22. Smith and Bradford, auctioneers. 23. James Smith, auctioneer. 24. 25. Robert Lylburne, merchant. 26. Thomas Buchanan, merchant. Francis Giffin, porterhouse. 27. Robert Sanders, cooper. 28. William Vandrill, tavern. 29. William Allen, shop. 30- 31. John Anderson, auctioneer. Henry Hannah, shoemaker. Neal McKinnon, grocer. 32. Thomas Biggs, mathematical instruments. 33. William Matthews, tailor. 34. Thomas Wainslow, perukes. 35- No. 36. 37- 38. Francis Panton, haberdasher. 39. Daniel McCormick, merchant. 40. Mrs. Sheldon, boarding house. 41. John Wilkes, notary public. 42. Richard Kipp, upholsterer. 43. Robert Reley. 44. John Lamb, collector of the port. 45. Abijah Hammond, merchant. 46. Joseph Lepine, grocer. 47. Ludlow & Goold, merchants. 48. Edward Goold, merchant. 49. Christopher Baehr, tailor. 50. Mrs. White. 52. Richard Varick, attorney general. 53- 54. E. Seaman, merchant. 55. Joseph Corre, confectioner, 56. James Jauncey. John Jauncey. Gabriel W. Ludlow, merchant. 57- 58. Alexander Hamilton, attorney. 59. Francis Mallaby. Adam Prior, confectioner. 60. William Irvin, commissioner of accounts. Jonathan Burrell. 61. Sadler Heyer. 62. Hugh Ross, tavern. Joseph Mitchell, shoemaker. 63. Joseph Corre, boarding house. 64. James Culbertson, high constable. 65. S. L. Clark, grocer. 66. William Cock, attorney. John J. Morgan, attorney. 67. George Turnbull. 40 New York City in 1789. The Verplanck residence was next door to Federal Hall ; No. 5 was on the northwest corner of Wall and William Streets, having a frontage of fifty feet on the former street ; No. 20 was on one of the corners of Water Street ; and No. 32 was near the Coffee House which stood on the corner of Water Street. Two of the most noted residences in Wall Street were that of John Lamb next to the northeast corner of William Street and that known as the McEvers mansion, afterwards occupied by the Bank of New York, on that cor- ner. The boarding house of Mrs. Daubigny at No. -15 was one of the best in the city and in 1789 was patronized by Richard Basset and George Reed of Delaware, Benjamin Contee, Joshua Seney, and Michael G. Stone of Maryland, and by Richard B. Lee and Andrew Moore of Virginia. A number of Congressmen also boarded at a tavern kept by Michael Huck on one of the corners of Wall and William Streets. The remains of the statue of William Pitt which had been erected in the middle of Wall Street at its junction with William Street had been removed by order of the Common Council in July 1788, and are now to be found in the collection of the N. Y. Historical Society. The value of real estate on Wall Street in 1789 may be judged by the sale for £1800 of two lots on the south side of the street near Pearl Street, being about 57 feet front and rear by 106 feet on one side and 135 feet on the other. The most pretentious building in the city was Federal Hall, on the northeast corner of Wall and Nassau Streets, and extending somewhat into the latter. The first City Hall or Stadt Haus was erected by the Dutch in 1642 on Pearl Street facing Coenties Slip and was sold at auction in August 1699, a new Hall situated on the northeast corner of Wall and Nassau Streets being completed in 1700 at a cost of ^"1151. Here were held the meetings of the Common Council, Pro- vincial Assembly and the Courts, and in 1785 the building was occupied by Congress, the ground floor containing a prison, watch-room, and engine-house. In August 1788 it was re- ported to the Common Council that the copper roof of the building was so leaky that it should be replaced by cedar General Description. 4i shingles and an offer by James Robinson to do this work for £35 was accepted; but a more complete change in the build- ing was soon decided upon. On the 17th of September 1788 the Common Council resolved to appropriate the whole of the City Hall to the use of the General Government and aldermen Gilbert and Willet and assistant alderman Janeway were appointed to confer on the subject with the congressmen from New York and to report the result to the board. On the 30th of September 1788 this committee reported that it had secured a satisfactory plan for the alteration of the build- ing from Major L'Enfant; that a number of citizens offered to advance money for the purpose, trusting to future legislation for reimbursement, and that they had appointed Robert Watts, Alexander Macomb, Major L'Enfant, James Nicholson and William Maxwell commissioners to purchase material and superintend the work. The board approved this report : " So that no charge be made upon this Corporation for any part of the expense." The Corporation credit, however, was very soon used for the repair of the building, as on the 3rd of December 1788, the Bank loaned £1000 on its note payable in twelve months, the work on the building having been begun on the 6th of October. On the 7th of January 1789 the Common Council petitioned the Legislature to authorize a tax of £13000 to be raised in the city for the erection of the Hall and to indemnify John Jay and other citizens who had given their notes to the Bank for that purpose, and, on the 9th of January 1789, an act was passed in accordance with the petition, although a lottery had been at first proposed as a means of raising the money. By the 1st of April 1789 the Corporation had given notes to the Bank to the amount of £6000 and on that day it was resolved to request the Bank to advance the further sum of £2600 3s. iod. in paper and to liquidate that and former loans in specie at an advance of eight per cent, and to take the bond of the Corporation for £9000 payable in twelve months in gold or silver with interest at seven per cent. On the 13th of April, however, the Com- missioners reported that the amount raised by this bond would not be sufficient to finish the Hall and £2000 more were 42 New York City in 1789. borrowed, but, on the 27th of April, the Common Council re- solved that the city credit had been extended as far as was justifiable, that no more money be advanced, and that the Commissioners be requested to act accordingly. But subse- quent pressure led to the appointment of a committee of Aldermen on the 17th of May to inspect Federal Hall and to ascertain the expense of completing it, and in pursuance of its report, made on the 18th of June, the Bank was requested to advance £2000 more, it being believed that the building could be completed for that amount. The Bank refused to loan more than £1000, and on the 24th of June the Common Council requested the Commissioners to submit their accounts to the City Chamberlain and appointed Mr. Nicholson to endeavor to raise £1200 on the city credit to complete the building. This amount, however, was apparently not suffic- ient for that purpose as on the 30th of July the Mayor was instructed to apply towards its painting and completion a balance which Mr. Nicholson had on hand from the sale of stone which had been brought from the Battery for the build- ing of the Hall and had not been used. The State Govern- ment laid claim to this money but it was finally appropriated to building purposes. On the 9th of September 1789 the Chamberlain was instructed to pay the Bank from time to time sums from the tax then being collected and on the 1st of January 1790 the Corporation's indebtedness to the Bank had been paid with the exception of ^1502 4s. nd., for which a bond was given. In March 1789 the Corporation also pur- chased from Mr. Verplanck, for £434 13s., the lot on the east side of Federal Hall, for the enlargement of the premises on that side ; it was compelled to build a new engine-house, for which work Isaac Meade received £25 ; and in September it purchased for £450 a small house on the southeast corner of Wall and Broad Streets to accommodate the watchmen who had been deprived of their former quarters. The tax of £13000 which had been authorized, netted £12433 when the collectors' fees had been deducted, but this was only half the cost of the building. Early in 1790 the Corporation informed the Legislature that the £ 13000 raised by tax had already been General Description, 43 expended, and that the city was also indebted to the amount of ;£ 13000 more for the alterations made in the City-Hall. Relief was accordingly afforded by an Act passed on the 18th of February 1790 authorizing the City to raise £ 13000 by one ♦ or more lotteries for the payment of this indebtedness. By the first lottery it was decided to raise £7500 by the sale of 25000 tickets at 40s. each, the largest prize to be ^3000. The drawing began on the 5th of August 1790 and lasted until the 4th of September, the capital prize being drawn by a ticket held by two young girls and " purchased with savings from their laboriously earned pittance." The second lottery consisted of 23000 tickets at 40s. each, 7676 of which were to draw prizes, and, after two postponements, the drawing be- gan on the 2nd of May 1 791 and lasted for twenty-three days. The new Federal Hall thus apparently cost about ^26000 or $65000, exclusive of the interest paid on notes and bonds. The work of building was begun on the 6th of October 1788 and by the 7th of December the structure was under cover. At that time the Postmaster General wrote that he supposed it to be the largest and most elegant building on the continent. Much of the old brick City Hall remained, but some new wails were built and the interior was changed and decorated with an elegance theretofore unknown in America. On the 6th of February 1789 it was announced that the eagle on the pediment of the front of the building would be dis- played that day, and that the ceremony would be attended by the Troop of Horse, Company of Light Infantry, and Com- pany of Grenadiers. This event, however, did not occur at that time, and was apparently postponed until the early part of April. On the 3rd of March 1789 the Recorder was in- structed by the Common Council to officially offer the use of the building to Congress, and at the same time the suggestion was made that Congress should appoint Rynier Skaats keeper of the building. But after this offer, written by the Mayor, had been read in the United States Senate on the 6th of April, the suggestion regarding Mr. Skaats was politely de- clined until such an office was created, and the Common 44 New York City in 1789. Council was informed, in a reply of thanks on the 14th of April, that in the meantime it could employ whom it pleased to take care of the building. Mr. Skaats was accordingly in- stalled as keeper in two rooms at the southwest corner of the ground floor, one of the windows being made into a door ; and the premises seem to have been a healthy residence, as Mr. Skaats did not leave this world until September 18 14, when he had reached the age of 82 years. The rest of the building was entirely occupied by the Federal Government with the exception of the uppermost room in its southeast part, which was granted by the Common Council to the Soci- ety Library, on the 7th of January 1789, provided that it were not required for the use of the government. When the first Congress of the United States met in the building on the 4th of March 1789 the only room which was completed was the Senate Chamber, the Representatives meeting in a small room adjoining it which was fit for use. The doors of the Representatives Chamber were not thrown open to the public until the 8th of April, and it was a number of months later before all the finishing touches were put upon the building. On the 9th of May, a committee of the Senate was appointed to confer with a committee of the House as to the appropria- tion of the rooms. The Assembly Chamber in the old City Hall had been adorned with a portrait of Columbus; life-size portraits of the King and Queen of France, presented by them to Congress ; a portrait of Washington, presented by a gentle- man in England ; and portraits of several of the heroes of the Revolution. These probably remained in the new Federal Hall, the portrait of Columbus being transferred to the Cap- itol at Albany in 1827. The contemporary description of the building, which ap- peared in the magazines of the time, was as follows : " The basement story is Tuscan, and is pierced with seven open- ings ; four massy pillars in the centre support four Doric col- umns and a pediment. The freeze is ingeniously divided to admit thirteen stars in the metopes ; these with the Ameri- can Eagle and other insignia in the pediment, and the tablets over the windows, filled with the thirteen arrows and the General Description. 45 olive branch united, mark it as a building set apart for nation- al purposes. After entering from Broad Street, we find a plainly-finished square room, flagged with stone, and to which the citizens have free access ; from this we enter the vesti- bule in the centre of the pile, which leads in front to the floor of the Representatives' room, or real Federal Hall, and, through two arches on each side, by a public staircase on the left, and by a private one on the right, to the Senate Chamber and lobbies. This vestibule is paved with marble ; is very lofty and well-finished ; the lower part is of a light rustic, which supports an handsome iron gallery ; the upper half is in a lighter stile and is finished with a skylight of about 12 by 18 feet, which is decorated with a profusion of ornaments in the richest taste. Passing into the Representatives' room, we find a spacious and elegant apartment, sixty-one feet deep, fifty-eight wide and thirty-six high, without including an al- coved ceiling of about ten feet high. This room is of an oc- tangular form ; four of its sides are rounded in the manner of niches and give a graceful variety to the whole. The win- dows are large, and placed sixteen feet from the floor ; all be- low them is finished with plain wainscott, interrupted only by four chimnies ; but above these, a number of Ionic col- umns and pilasters, with their proper entablature, are very ju- diciously disposed and give great elegance. In the panels between the windows are trophies carved, and the letters U. S. in a cipher surrounded with laurel. The speaker's chair is opposite the great door, and raised by several steps ; the chairs for the members are ranged semi-circularly in two rows in front of the Speaker. Each member has his separate chair and desk. There are two galleries which front the speaker ; that below, projects fifteen feet ; the upper one is not so large and is intended to be at the disposal of the mem- bers for the accomodation of their friends. Besides these gal- leries, there is a space on the floor, confined by a bar, where the public are admitted. There are three small doors for common use, besides the great one in the front. The curtains and chairs in this room are of light blue damask. It is in- tended to place a statue of Liberty over the Speaker's chair, 46 New York City in 1789. and trophies upon each chimney. After ascending the stairs on the left of the vestibule, we reach a lobby of 19x48 feet, finished with Tuscan pilasters ; this communicates with the iron gallery before mentioned, and leads at one end to the galleries of the Representatives' room, and at the other to the Senate Chamber. This room is 40 feet long, 30 wide and 20 high with an arched ceiling ; it has three windows in front, and three back, to correspond to them ; those in front, open into a gallery 12 feet deep guarded with an elegant iron rail- ing. In this gallery, our illustrious President, attended by the Senate and the House of Representatives, took his oath of office, in the face of Heaven, and in presence of a large con- course of people assembled in front of the building. The Senate Chamber is decorated with pilasters etc., which are not of any regular order ; the proportions are light and grace- ful ; the capitals are of a fanciful kind, the invention of Major L'Enfant, the architect ; he has appropriated them to this building, for amidst their foliage appears a star and rays ; and a piece of drapery below suspends a small medallion with U. S. in a cipher. The idea is new and the effect pleasing; and although they cannot be said to be of any ancient order, we must allow that they have an appearance of magnificence. The ceiling is plain, with only a sun and thirteen stars in the centre. The marble which is used in the chimnies is Ameri- can, and for beauties of shades and polish, is equal to any of its kind in Europe. The President's chair is at one end of the room, elevated about three feet from the floor, under a rich canopy of crimson damask. The arms of the Union are to be placed over it. The chairs of the members are arranged semicircularly as those in the Representatives' room. The floor is covered with a handsome carpet and the windows are furnished with curtains of crimson damask. Besides these rooms, there are several others for use and convenience ; a library, lobbies, and committee-rooms above, and guard-rooms below. On one side is a platform, level with the floor of the Senate Chamber, which forms a convenient walk for the members, of more than two hundred feet long, and is guarded by an iron railing. We cannot close our description without General Description. 47 observing that great praise is due to Major L'Enfant, the architect, who has surmounted many difficulties, and has so accomodated the additions to the old parts, and so judi- ciously altered what he saw wrong, that he has produced a building uniform and consistent throughout, and has added to great elegance, every convenience that could be desired." The architect of Federal Hall was Major Peter Charles L'Enfant who was born in France in 1755 and came to America and joined the Continental army in 1777. He be- came a captain in February 1778, was severely wounded at the siege of Savannah in 1779, and received the rank of major in May 1783. On the 12th of October 1789 the Com- mon Council resolved that he should be presented with the thanks of the Corporation, the freedom of the city, and ten acres of the Common Lands for his services in erecting Fed- eral Hall, and on the 30th of December it was decided that the land should be ten acres of Provoost's land on the Post Road adjoining the north line of John Hardenbrook's land, its present situation being on the east side of Third Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets. On the nth of May 1790, however, Major L'Enfant declined the gift of land and in 1801 petitioned for a sum of money in its stead but again declined the sum of $750 which was offered him. He was also the de- signer of the medal of the Society of the Cincinati, and author of the original plan for the City of Washington. In 18 1 2 he declined the Professorship of Engineering at West Point, and died on the 14th of January 1825 in Prince George Co. Maryland. During the construction of Federal Hall he does not seem to have added to his popularity among the mechanics of the city as, on the 26th of March 1789, a card appeared in the N. Y. Journal complaining that the work of upholstering the Hall had been given by him to a " menial servant " of the French ambassador without regard to a peti- tion for the job presented by some city decorators. Such " truckling to foreigners " was roundly denounced by the dis- appointed upholsterers. The mason-work upon the building was done by James Robinson and the carpenter-work by one 48 New York City in 1789. Smith. Opinions differed with regard to the beauty of the building. The Gazette of the United States pronounced it to be " o % n the whole superior to any building in America,'' and also announced that the general appearance of the front of it was " truly august." The Anti-Federalists, however, were eager to express their contempt for it, and everything con- nected with it, and when the building was decorated on the 4th of March 1789 in honor of the beginning of the new Con- stitution they declared that the flag raised consisted of the French colors over the Federal standard, the truth being that the flag had belonged to the " Federal Ship Hamilton " and that the paint had been washed off of it by a heavy shower during the Federal Procession in July 1788. A southern member of this disappointed and embittered faction wrote from New York to friends in Philadelphia on the 12th of Feb- ruary 1789: "I wish that you or either of you was in this town for a few hours if it were only to view the Old New Building nicknamed Federal Hall and by others who are ill- natured called Fool's Trap. . . Verily I believe that it is expected that this medley of a house will induce us to forget that wrong is not right and that two and two are just equal to four." The fact that it had to be paid for by a lottery also afforded an opportunity for sneers on the part of the Anti- Federalists and in July 1790 when a portrait of Washington had been ordered to be painted by Trumbull at an expense of 100 guineas, " A Burgher whose eyes are open " inserted the following in the N. Y. Journal : " Is it prudent in a city which is reduced to pay its debts by lottery, to incur the superfluous expences of disinterested flattery ? Is this canvass compliment to be discharged by a Picture Lottery and en- trusted to responsible and respectible commissioners ? If the expenses of this disinterested compliment are to be discharged by assessments will the citizens deluded by Federal tricks and oppressed by Federal burdens chearfully submit to a Picture Tax ! " The building had little about it to commend it to the architectural taste of the present day, but the fact that the place of Washington's inauguration and of the meeting of the first Congress under the present Constitution was allowed General Description. 49 to fall into decay and to be torn down within the short space of twenty-two years, cannot be too deeply regretted. Con- gress met in it for the first time on the 4th of March 1789, and occupied it for two sessions, when, upon the removal of the Federal Government to Philadelphia, it became the City Hall and place of meeting of the Courts and Legislature, the latter body using it until 1797. In May 1800 the building of a new City Hall was proposed in the Common Council and the corner stone of the present building was laid by Mayor Edward Livingston, assisted by Mr. M'Comb the architect, at six o'clock in the evening of May 26th 1803. This stone was laid at the southeast corner of the building and the whole structure was completed in 1812. There then being no fur- ther use for the old building, it was ordered to be sold, and on the 6th of May 181 2 Bleecker and Bibby, auctioneers, an- nounced that on the 13th of May 1812, at twelve o'clock, at the Old City Hall they would sell at auction " Four lots of Ground fronting on Wall Street on which the Hall stands and adjacent thereto," and " The Old City Hall which is to be removed by the purchaser previous to the 15th of July next." The account of the sale given in the Commercial Ad- vertiser of May 14th 1812 was as follows: "The Old City Hall. This building was sold at auction yesterday for 425 dollars and one of the lots on which it now stands for $9,500. The sale of the remaining lots was postponed. It is to be hoped that the building is not to be left many days in its present tattered state." Nor was it left many days. On the back of an old engraving of the building, in the possession of the New York Historical Society, is inscribed : " Presented to the New York Historical Society by John Pintard on the 15th May 1812, the day in which this Building was pros- trated, the materials having been sold at auction to Mr. Jin- nings for four hundred and twenty-five dollars." The pur- chaser was apparently Mr. Jonathan Jinings of the firm of Jinings and Mills, grocers, at No. 30 Peck Slip. Thus dis- appeared the building of the greatest historical interest in New York City. The four lots of which the premises con- sisted are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the map accompanying 4 New York City in 1789. the deeds of the property, number one being on the corner of Nassau Street. Their dimensions were respectively 25 ft. 6 in., 23 ft., 26 ft. 6 in., and 27 ft., front and rear, by 1 12 feet in length, with a right of way over an alley ten feet wide in the rear. Lot number one was sold on the 13th of May 181 2 for $9,500 to Joel Post and John B. Lawrence, druggists, who conveyed it on the 29th of January 18 13 for $12000 to James Eastburn, Thomas Kirk, and John Downes. The sale of the other three lots took place on the 28th of January 181 3, number two being conveyed to Kirk, Eastburn, and Downes for $8433.33, number three to Garrit Storm for $8566.66, and number four to George Griswold for $8499.99. The premises were 102 feet wide on Wall Street but Federal Hall probably occupied but three of the lots having a frontage of 75 feet. The appearance of the property was completely changed by the 3rd of December 18 13 as on the morning of that day a nearly completed new brick building erected on lots numbers one and two by Eastburn and Kirk, booksellers, was badly dam- aged by fire. That firm, however, had moved into this new building in February 18 14, and held the property until the 2nd of December 1816 when they sold it to the United States Government for $75000, subject to two mortgages aggregating $35000, to be used as a custom-house. Garrit Storm, in April 1825, conveyed Lot No. 3 to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co. for $29000, and that Company, in December 1832, conveyed it to the United States Government for $47000. The present Sub-Treasury building which now occupies these and other lots was begun in May 1834 and finished in May 1 841. Many of the residences in the suburbs of the city had been ruined during the Revolution and but few of them were sufficiently near to the closely inhabited portion of the city to appear on the city map of 1789. One of these country seats was that of Mr. Rutgers, running back from Cherry Street to the present Henry Street, and bounded on the west by the present Pike Street and on the east by the present Clinton Street. The house itself did not entirely disappear until 1875. To the east of this on the bank of the East River was the General Description. 5i residence of Mr. Byvanck, and to the north, on Grand Street near the present Clinton Street, was that of Mr. Jones. The most highly cultivated country place near the city was that of Baron Frederick Charles Hans Bruno Poelnitz, comprising 22^ acres of land situated on the present Broadway between Eighth and Tenth Streets, the rear porch of the house being destroyed by the cutting through of Broadway. This place had been purchased in 1766 by Lieut. Governor Elliot and by him was called " Minto," and in 1789 was devoted to fancy farming by Baron Poelnitz, who offered it for sale in that year. The advertisement of it stated that it was about two miles from the city and abounded with a greater variety of the choicest fruit trees and flowering shrubs than perhaps any other place in the state, while it possessed the richest soil of any estate on Manhattan Island. In 1790 it was sold to Robert R. Randall for £5000 and by his will in 1801 it was devoted to the purposes of the Sailors' Snug Harbor. On the west side of the city near the present Laight and Hudson Streets was the property of Mr. Lispenard, and on the south east corner of Varick and Charlton Streets was the Richmond Hill Mansion, occupied in 1789 by Vice-President Adams and afterwards the residence of Aaron Burr. Of this place Mrs. Adams wrote in 1790: "The venerable oaks and broken ground, covered with wild shrubs, which surround me, give a natural beauty to the spot which is truly enchanting. A lovely variety of birds serenade me morning and evening, re- joicing in their liberty and security, for I have, as much as possible, prohibited the grounds from invasion, and sometimes almost wished for game laws, when my orders have not been sufficiently regarded. The partridge, the woodcock, and the pigeon are too great temptations to the sportsmen to with- stand." The cultivated shrubs which were sold in 1789 in- cluded shaddock, citron, lemon, olive, lime and green bay trees ; large alotis, large myrtle, box leaf, small myrtle, tea plant, pomegranate, creeping ceres, Arabian jasmine, balm of Gilead, rosemary, and lavender ; common, striped, and par- tridge breast aloe, passion flower, oleander, polyanthus, auri- cula, and carnation pink, William Prince offered for sale, at 52 New York City in 1789. Flushing Landing, fruit trees for is. 6d. each, and a great variety of roses and plants ; but when Washington visited this nursery on the 10th of October 1789 he expressed his disappointment at all that he saw with the exception of the young fruit trees, the shrubs being trifling and the flowers few in number. II. City Government. — Militia. — Politics. In 1789 the city had its corporate existence by virtue of the Dongan charter of 1686, a confirmatory Act of 1708, the Montgomerie charter of 1730, and the State Constitution of 1777. The city government consisted of a Mayor, Recorder, seven Aldermen, and seven Assistant Aldermen. The su- preme appointing power in the State was lodged in the Coun- cil of Appointment which consisted of the Governor and four State Senators, chosen from the Senate by the Legislature, one from each of the four senatorial districts of the State. In 1789 none of these four Senators resided in New York City. The Mayor, Sheriff, and Coroner were appointed annually by the Council of Appointment until its abolition in 182 1. The Recorder was appointed by the Council at its pleasure. In 1 83 1 he ceased to have a voice in the city government and in 1834 the Mayor was first elected by the people. The Al- dermen and Assistant Aldermen were elected by the people, the voters, by an Act passed February 23rd 1787, being re- quired to be twenty-one years of age, and freemen of the city for three months and residents of the ward in which they voted for one month before the election. There was also a property qualification requiring them to be freeholders in their own or their wives' right in lands or tenements to the value of £20 over and above all debts charged thereon, situated in the ward in which they voted, and in their possession for one month before the election unless acquired by descent or de- vize. Persons owning property on the east side of Broadway were to vote in the West Ward, even if their property ex- tended into the North Ward. The election for city officers took place on the 29th of September, inspectors of election 54 New York City in 1789. for each ward being appointed by the Common Council a week before the election. The Aldermen and Assistants who were in office from September 29th 1788 to the same date in 1789 were : Aldermen. Jeremiah Wool. Peter Elting. John Lawrence. Wm. W. Gilbert. John Wylley. Benjamin Blagge. Nicholas Bayard. Ward. South. Dock. East. West. North. Montgomerie. Out. Assistants. Joseph Pierson. Winant Van Zandt. James Nicholson. Abraham Van Gelder. George Janeway. Tobias Van Zandt. John Quackenboss. Of these Benjamin Blagge was the most experienced, hav- ing been an Alderman since 1766. Those elected on the 29th of September 1789 were : Aldermen. Jeremiah Wool. Winant Van Zant. Daniel McCormick. Isaac Stoutenburg. John Wylley. Theophilus Beekman. Nicholas Bayard. Ward. South. Dock. East. West. North. Montgomerie. Out. Assistants. John Van Dyck. Peter T. Curtenius. John Pintard. Wm. T. Els worth. George Janeway. Tobias Van Zandt. Stephen McCrea. Of these Nicholas Bayard served the longest term being elected continuously from 1785 until 1797. The City Clerk from 1784 to 1 801 was Robert Benson, whose office in 1789 was at No. 22 Maiden Lane. By a city ordinance of March 1 6th 1784 the city seal, the seal of the mayor's court, and the seal of mayoralty had been changed by defacing the imperial crown and placing in its stead the crest of the Arms of the State of New York, — a semiglobe with a soaring eagle there- on. On the 8th of December 1683 the city had been divided into six wards, and the boundaries of the seventh, the Mont- gomerie Ward, had been denned by the charter of 1730. In 1789 the South Ward was bounded by a line along the centre of Broad Street from the East River to the centre of Wall Street, thence running west to New Street, down New Street City Government. — Militia. — Politics. 55 to Beaver, and thence nearly west to the North River. The Dock Ward was bounded by Broad, Wall, Smith (William) Streets, and the East River. The East Ward was bounded by a line running from Old Slip along Smith and William Streets to John Street and down John Street to Burling Slip. Montgomerie Ward was very irregular in shape. Its boun- dary line ran from Burling Slip to the junction of John and William Streets, along William Street to Frankfort, thence through the blocks to the south end of the Fresh Water, thence east to the Junction of Chatham and Roosevelt Streets, down Roosevelt Street to Cherry, along Cherry Street one block to James Street and down the latter to New Slip. The North Ward was bounded on the east by William Street from Wall to Frankfort Street and a line from the latter street to the south end of the Fresh Water, whence its line ran almost due north to Broadway, thence south, parallel with Broadway and in the rear of the houses on its east side, to Wall Street, and along it to William Street. The West Ward included the portion of the city north of the line of Beaver Street and west of Broadway and the North Ward. The Out Ward lay to the east of Broadway and included the rest of the island north of the Montgomerie and North Wards, being divided into the Bowery and Harlem Divisions. By an Act of February 28th 1 791, the boundaries of the wards were somewhat changed and they were designated by the numbers one to seven. Ac- cording to the census of 1790 Montgomerie Ward was the most thickly populated ward in the city, containing 6271 in- habitants. It also seems to have contained the greatest num- ber of poor people, for in January 1789, when the Aldermen distributed £100 among the poor, the largest share, which was £20, was to be given to this ward, while the smallest shares of £& each were to be given to the Dock and East Wards. The East Ward contained the wealthiest inhabitants, the tax of £5784 5s. iod. upon it in 1789 being larger than that upon any other ward. During the year the taxes upon the city were that granted on the 22nd of January of £13000 for the building of Federal Hall, and another, granted on the 2nd of February, of £6000 for the maintenance of the poor, the New York City in 1789. Bridewell, roads, and improvement of the streets, and of ^"4000 for the payment of watchmen and the care of the lamps. The Mayor of the city from 1783 until September 1789 was James Duane, son of Anthony Duane and Altea Ket- tletas. Mr. Duane was born in New York City on the 6th of February 1733 and studied law with James Alexander, one of the most prominent lawyers in the colony. In 1789 he was one of the oldest city practitioners in the Supreme Court, having been admitted to practice in that court on the 3rd of August 1754. During the Revolution he was an active pa- triot, being a member of the first Continental Congress in 1774, and also from 1780 to 1782, and a member of the New York Provincial Convention of 1776 and 1777. He left the city in June 1776 and did not return until November 1783, being appointed its mayor on the 5th of February 1784. He was also a State Senator from 1783 until 1790, except in the years 1786 and 1787, and a member of the Constitutional Con- vention at Poughkeepsie in 1788 in which he was a strong supporter of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. He occupied the mayoralty until September 1789 when he was appointed the first Judge of the United States District Court in New York. He resigned this office on the 8th of April 1794 and at the same time retired from the war- denship of Trinity Church which he had held for ten years. He then retired to Schenectady and died at Duanesburgh on the first of February 1796. The Mayor's salary was derived from fees which during the last year of Mr. Duane's incum- bency amounted to about ^"800, but the amount varied in dif- ferent years, and in December 1789 Mr. Varick, his successor, agreed to take a fixed salary of £600 a year. The Recorder of the city from 1783 until 1789 was Rich- ard Varick who was born at Hackensack, N. J., on the 25th of March 1753. Before the Revolution he became a lawyer in New York City, and during the war attained to the rank of colonel, acting at times as the military secretary of Gen. Schuyler and the recording secretary of Gen. Washington. At the close of the war he was appointed Recorder, he was a member of assembly in 1787 and 1788, and in June 1789 was City Government. — Militia. — Politics. 57 appointed Attorney General of the State, but in September of that year succeeded Mr. Duane as Mayor, Samuel Jones being appointed Recorder and Aaron Burr Attorney General. Mr. Varick occupied the Mayoralty until 1801 and died in Jersey City on the 30th of July 183 1. Mr. Jones continued to be Recorder until 1796. The Sheriff of the city was Robert Boyd, who held that office from 1787 until 1791. The City Chamberlain chosen by the Mayor, four or more Aldermen and four or more Assistant Aldermen, was Daniel Phoenix, who held that office from 1784 until 1809. Mr. Phoenix was born in the city in 1742 and, entering into business early in life, was for many years one of the most prominent merchants of New York. He was one of the Sons of Liberty and a patriot during the Revolution. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce from 1770 until 1812; a trustee and manager of the financial affairs of the Wall Street Presbyterian Church from 1772 until 1812 ; a Governor of the N. Y. Hos- pital, and trustee and treasurer of the Society Library. He was also an alderman in 1783 and 1784. He died in 1812. The courts which sat in New York in 1789 were the Court of Chancery, the Supreme Court of Judicature, the Mayor's Court, the Court of Sessions, the Court of Probates, the Court of Admiralty, and the United States District Court. Robert R. Livingston, the Chancellor, was appointed to that office by the State Convention on the 5th of May 1777 and received his commission on the 17th of October in the same year. He was born in New York on the 27th of November 1747, gradu- ated from King's College in 1765, admitted to the bar in Oc- tober 1773, and soon afterwards appointed Recorder of the city, but was removed from that office in 1775, because of his patriotism. He was one of the committee who prepared the Declaration of Independence, and was one of the framers of the N. Y. State Constitution of 1777. In October of that year he received the thanks of the New York Convention for his faithful services in the Continental Congress, and from 1 78 1 to 1783 was Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He declined the office of Minister to France in 1794, but resigned the Chancellorship in 1801 to accept it, remaining in France until 58 New York City in 1789. 1805. He died on the 26th of February 18 13. One of his biographers states that he was