USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > A modern history of New Haven and eastern New Haven County, Vol. I > Part 29
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Dr. Nicola Mariani is a physician whose appeal is naturally to the Italian people, and who delights to serve them. But not a few in New Haven know him as a gentleman of the rarest breeding, a man of high publie spirit, as well as a physician of skill. Dr. Isaac N. Porter is recognized in the fraternity as of eminent ability, and though his practice is mostly with his own people, there are not a few of all races who, seeking healing. are fain to disregard the color line.
New Haven had 218 physicians in 1917. Each has his place, and many who regard him as the best in the city. But no list would be complete without such names as those of Dr. C. Purdy Lindsley, Dr. William P. Baldwin, Dr. Arthur N. Alling, Dr. Leonard W. Bacon, Dr. Henry P. Sage. Dr. E. Reed Whittemore, Dr. Gustavus Eliot, Dr. Edwin C. M. Hall, Dr. Burdette S. Adams and Dr. E. Herman Arnold, the last further distinguished by his conduct of the New Ilaven Normal School of Gymnastics.
In many directions have citizens of New Haven brought honor as well as service to their city. The shortest path to fame. oftentimes, is by way of poli- ties. There already has been some mention of the contributions which the legal profession has made to politics and government. Its three governors in two deeades do not, however, exhaust New Haven's list. The business ranks con- tributed one governor in Rollin S. Woodruff. From 1907 to 1909 he was the state's chief executive, one of the most independent, upright and foreeful gov- ernors of the past two decades. Previous to that time he was lieutenant gov- ernor for a term, and still earlier he was state senator. In New Haven he has been president of the Chamber of Commerce, and one of the city's foremost business men.
The most distinguished New Haven figure in national politics in this period was doubtless Hon. Nehemiah D. Sperry, now resting from his labor. His work in New Haven as a builder, publie officer and postmaster belongs to an earlier period, but from 1895 till 1909 he was congressman from the Second dis- triet, and performed at Washington the erowning service of a useful career. New Haven was not the birthplace of Hon. John Q. Tilson, who in a way has
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come into his place, but he, after being member of the State Legislature and speaker, is in this time of war performing a notable service as congressman from the New Haven distriet.
A sterling citizen, whose longest work in New Haven has been as a manufac- turer, oceupied the mayor's chair in 1897-99. The biographieal works of the time are silent about Frederick B. Farnsworth, because he wishes them to be. It is his way. He didn't please the politicians when he was mayor, which means that he pleased the people. He has always lived a plain, rugged, public serving life. He has succeeded in his business, and is now able to sit back and watch for opportunities to do good. Itis eyesight is keen. and he seldom misses one. That the general public so seldom knows of it is, perhaps. a tribute to his dis- ereet ability.
There was another mayor for a brief time who deserves better than per- funetory mention. When tragedy removed Mayor Rice from his place in 1916, Samuel Campner was president of the Board of Aldermen. Automatically called to the mayor's chair. afterward confirmed in the office by legislative act, he performed a difficult task with a fidelity, a modesty and an ability that earned for him the enduring gratitude of the discerning, though they were too few to re-elect him.
New Haven had, in the second decade of the twentieth century. a demonstra- tion of the possibilities of citizenship which was at once pathetic and inspiring, an example of public service which was both thrilling and tragic. New Haven is a demoeratie city, but the office of mayor has usually gone to some man of well recognized prominence, either in public affairs or in politics. When Frank F. Rice was named for the office in 1909. he was known mostly as the popular president of the Young Men's Republican Club. a manager of some large cen- tral properties for a prominent real estate owner, a former member for several terms of the Board of Councilmen.
He came to the chair of mayor a plain, simple, sincere citizen, with the desire to serve his city uppermost in his mind. He made no promises except the com- prehensive one to do his best. He did, however, outline a few of his plans. One of them was to give New Haven some better sidewalks, and that. though one of the least of his achievements, is characteristic of his administration of city affairs. He found the sidewalks of ancient and billowy brick, of cracked and crumbling asphalt, of unfinished gravel. In less than six years he had, against indifference, prejudice and selfish opposition, given New Haven more than two hundred miles of modern eonerete sidewalk. and accomplished this simply by keeping at it.
For almost seven years Frank J. Rice gave of his best to serve New Haven. It should have been eight full years, but he wore out before the end of his time. In the truest, highest sense he spared not himself. He took his office and his opportunities seriously-too seriously-perhaps. He was never satisfied unless a problem was solved in the best possible way, unless the very best appointment was made, unless he could give his most intense attention to every subject. He responded to every eall the people made upon him. He grew into the heart of
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the people. They re-elected him in 1911 by a plurality of 2,029. He gave them another term of unselfish service. In 1913, a definitely democratic year, he was again elected, by a plurality of 1,201. In 1915 the city broke all records by re-eleeting a mayor to a fourth term, and the mayor was Frank J. Riee, this time by a plurality of 2,013.
By the time New Haven had really come to know and appreciate Mayor Rice it lost him. Too late his friends found they had been asking too much of him. Too late his political erities hushed their clamor when they found they had worried his sensitive spirit to the breaking point. Midway in the first year of his fourth term he broke under the strain, and though for several months he made a brave effort to rally, he came back no more to the desk in City Hall where he had so faithfully done the greatest of his life's work, and on January 18, 1917, his brave spirit rose to the land of his eternal ideals.
It was seven days later, in the course of an address before an association of Yale alumni in another state, that President Hadley went out of his way to, pay to Mayor Rice what, taken in its settings, must be considered a remarkable tribute. He was speaking on the ideals of public service which Yale teaches, and had mentioned the union of New Haven and Yale in the great anniversary Pageant of the previous fall, when he said :
"The mayor of New Haven did not participate in this celebration. He had done much to help in the early stages, but at the time when it came he was on his death bed-dying in office after having honorably served the city for several terms. He was not a Yale man, but with each successive year of his office he under- stood Yale better and worked more actively with us. With the announcement of his death came a message from the city asking if the funeral might be held in Yale university. On Sunday last thirty thousand citizens of New Haven, of every nationality, lined the streets to see the body of the chief magistrate borne from the City Hall to Woolsey Hall, and then to its last resting place. Thus was celebrated the last scene in the drama which commemorates the coming of Yale to New Haven. The Pageant had a worthier epilogue than human hand could have written."
VII
There were in New Haven at the beginning of 1900 ten banking institutions, the outgrowth of a single bank started in 1795 .* There are as many now, of the same class, but their arrangement is somewhat different. Then eight of these were national banks, centrally located, of the familiar sort. Now there are only five national banks. Of the survivors, one is a combination of three banks and another of two. To make up the number, there are a state bank and four trust companies, one of which is a combination of two.
In 1899 the ten banks had a combined capital of $4,014,800, and surplus and profits of $1,922,913. Now the ten institutions have capital amounting to
* The banking data are necessarily of 1917.
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$4,775,000, and surplus and profits of $4,457,392. The oldest and now the largest is the New Haven National, combination of the old New Haven National, the New Haven County National and the City banks, with capital of $1,200,000 and an equal snrphis. Its president is Ezekiel G. Stoddard. The present First National is an amalgamation of that bank with the Yale National, effected in 1917. It has a capital of a million dollars, and surplus of $650,000. Thomas Hooker, of the old Hooker family, one of the leaders in New Haven's banking develop- ment, is president. The bank next in strength is the Second National, which occupies the finest banking and office building in the city. It has a capital of $750.000 and a surplus of $700.000. Samuel Hemingway, another of the fore- most bankers of the city, is its president. The Merchants National Bank, now well established in the old Ford Building at the corner of Chapel and State streets, which it has made into a modern banking house, has capital of $350.000 and a surplus of $250,000. Its president is Harry V. Whipple. The National Tradesmen's Bank, of which George M. Gunn. of Milford, is president, has a fine banking house on Orange Street, capital of $300,000 and a surplus of $400,000. The single state bank is the Mechanies, a strong and growing insti- tution, which in 1910 completed one of the fine bank buildings of the city, on Church Street. It has a capital of $300,000, surplus and profits of $458.709. and William H. Douglass is chairman and vice president. The active president is Frank B. Frisbie.
The old Union Trust Company was the pioneer of that sort of institution in New Haven, and for some time held the field alone. Early in the nineteen hundreds the New Haven Trust Company was formed, and in 1909 completed a fine banking house on Church Street. Within two years after that it formed a combination with the older institution. and is now the Union and New Haven Trust Company, of which Eli Whitney is president. It has capital of $650,000, and surplus and profits of $663,429. The People's Bank & Trust Company. formed soon after this union, aims to be a popular institution, and does an excellent service. It has capital of $50,000, and surplus and profits of $132,077. Its president is Joseph E. IInbinger.
The other trust companies are the outgrowth of the banking needs of ex- panding New Haven, and account as well for the consolidation of some of the eentral banks. The Broadway Bank & Trust Company was founded in 1913 to serve the business men of the western and northern parts of the eity. It has capital of $100,000, and John B. Kennedy is its president. William M. Parsons, who about the time of its founding retired from the Chamberlain Furniture and Mantel Company, is its secretary and treasurer. The other trust institution is the American Bank & Trust Company, founded a year or two later to serve business Fair Haven. It has capital of $75,000 and a surplus of $3,177. Its president is Myron R. Dunham.
There are three savings banks, all of them of maturity and standing. The oldest is the Conneeticut, but the strongest is the New Haven, while the National makes a substantial third. Nineteen years ago they had combined deposits of Vol. 1-16
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$18,278,458. Last year the combined deposits of these three were $41,391,254. The trust companies, with the exception of the first, have savings departments, and the combined deposits of the six banks are $45,540,726. The New Haven has $21,062,000, and its president is Lewis II. English. The Connecticut Bank has $18,644,926; its president is Burton Mansfield. The National has $4,684,328. The three trust companies together have savings deposits of $1,149,472.
About 1914 there was founded in New Haven a bank on the Morris plan, baeked by some of the soundest and ablest business men. It is a popular loan institution, but an investment bank as well, and its management and prosperity have demonstrated that it fills a needed place in New Haven finanee. It has a capital of $100,000. John T. Manson is its president, and Judson D. Terrill its secretary and manager.
New Haven has never been an insurance center, but it has been represented in that business sinee its early years. The Security (fire) Insurance Company has had nearly a half century of confidence and prosperity, and now has a capital of $1,000,000, with a surplus of $836,745. Its president is John W. Alling.
New Haven's Building and Loan Association is a conservatively managed and prosperous institution, with assets of $359,727. Its president is F. L. Trowbridge.
The oldest of the public service institutions is the New Haven Gas Company, founded in 1847. It now lights and heats, in addition to New Haven, the towns of Branford, East Haven, North Haven, West Haven, Hamden. Orange and Milford, including all the neighboring shore resorts, a total population of more than 185,000. It has an authorized capital of $10.000,000, and its outstanding capital is half of that. Its president is Charles IT. Nettleton, a resident of Derby, but aside from him its directorate is composed of New Haven men, George D. Watrous being vice president.
The New Haven Water Company was incorporated in 1849, by New Haven men, to serve the eity with water. It has been conducted so honestly and ably that it stands for all the country as one of the best arguments against the public ownership of utilities of this sort. Eli Whitney is its president and treasurer, and has for many years been in large measure its genius, though the company owes much of its standing to the able management of David Daggett, who was its secretary for many years previous to his death in 1916. From eight great reservoirs, holding in the aggregate three billions of gallons of water, the eom- pany serves now the needs of New Haven, East Haven, Hamden, Branford, Milford. West Haven and some contiguous territory. Its high pressure service is from the pumping stations near Whitney and Saltonstall lakes, from which the higher ground in its territory is supplied. The other service reservoirs feed by the gravity system, but some of the largest are storage reservoirs. In addition to the two lakes mentioned, water comes from Wintergreen and Maltby
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lakes. from Fair Haven, and the three reservoirs in Woodbridge, Sperry, Daw- son, and newst of all, Lake Watrous, partly in Woodbridge and partly in Bethany. The company's authorized capital is $5,000,000.
The United Ihiminating Company, a utility of comparatively recent origin, is a consolidation of companies in New Haven and Bridgeport, and chiefly serves these two cities and the towns between, though it now reaches in all directions from the eities. It has a capital of $3,000.000. and James English of New Haven is president.
In the center of a great railroad system. New Haven is greatly influenced by the railroad and the men who make it. Two of the constructive presidents of the road in the modern period have been Charles S. Mellen, who had his residence here, and Howard Elliott, who thongh too busy in his brief term to spend much time in New Haven. proved a good eitizen. Many other prominent officials of the road have lived in the eity, and participated in its activities. Two who have especially joined in its life have been Vice President Edward G. Buckland and Lucius S. Storrs, president of the Connecticut Company.
The old-time tavern long ago has disappeared, but the modern hotel which has come in its place has much to do with the making of a community. New Haven, in the past ten years, has seen two of its old hotel landmarks go, one the "Tontine," which stood at the corner of Church and Court streets, razed to make room for the new postoffice, and the other the "New Haven House" of more than a generation. The latter is replaced by New Haven's superior mod- ern hotel, the Taft, erected in 1911, and securing its name from obvious sources. Louis E. Stoddard had as much as any New Havener to do with its financing and erection, but Merry & Boomer, a well known hotel management firm, has contributed materially to the reputation it has as one of the best hotels in New England.
At the gates of the new railroad station that is to be the Gardes several years ago reconstructed the old hotel which William H. Garde made famous in 1896 and the years following, and his son, Walter S. Garde, is conducting there now one of the best appointed and managed hotels in the state.
New Haven has had newspapers ever since 1755, when a publication whose name and substance seems to have been lost was established. It was so good as to die at the age of nine. Only two years later, in 1766, a small newspaper with the large name of the Connecticut Journal and New Haven Post Boy was established. That, by evolution to the Journal and Courier and the Journal- Courier, is today edited by Colonel Norris G. Osborn. The Courier, as New Haven calls it, has sinee 1880 been published by John B. Carrington and the Carrington Publishing Company, though the coming of Colonel Osborn in 1907 bronght considerable new capital into the concern, and gave the paper a new spirit and new life.
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The New Haven Register was founded by Joseph Barber in 1812, and for more than half a century was known throughout New Haven county and the state as a staunch organ of the Democratic party. The party left it in 1896 to follow after Bryan, and later, under a changed ownership, it became independently Republican. It became a daily in 1842. Not far from that time it passed into the hands of Minott A. Osborn, who made it one of the leading newspapers of Connecticut. It remained in the hands of him and his son until 1895, when a stock company was formed which purchased the family's interests. Colonel Norris G. Osborn remained as its editor until 1907, when he went to the Journal- Courier.
The New Haven Palladium was born in 1828, a Whig in polities, a Repub- lican when that party was formed. It departed this life in 1911, leaving many friends to mourn it. Between those years it had an honorable and valuable existence, being as ably edited, perhaps, as any newspaper has ever been in New Ilaven. Something of its quality is indicated by mention of such names of its editors as James F. Babcock, Cyrus Northrop, A. IT. Byington, later consul at Naples, Colonel William M. Grosvenor, Abner L. Train and Amos P. Wilder, afterward consul-general at Ilongkong.
The Union, New Haven's original one-eent newspaper, was founded by Alexander Troup in 1871. Originally appealing to the class called the work- ingmen, at times in its career reputed sensational, it has lived down all its false reputation, and taken its place in even rank with other newspapers of New Haven. Alexander Troup, long one of New Haven's valuable citizens, made it a power in his time, and his sons have still further advanced it. It has been Democratie for the most part, and its editor was a close friend of William Jen- nings Bryan.
The Morning News was born of a composing room strike in 1882, and for sixteen years lived a somewhat precarious existenee. It had, however, a high standing at one time, under the ownership of Professors Baldwin and Henry W. Farnham, who made it the high expositor of political reform. But for six years a city of 90,000 people had six newspapers, and it was too many. The Morning News met the inevitable fate of the overcrowded.
About 1891 the Republicans of New Haven felt that they needed a party newspaper in the evening field, and founded the Evening Leader. Colonel Charles W. Pickett was made its editor, and continues in that position until now, though there have been various changes in ownership. It continues to be a Republican newspaper. About 1910 its name was changed to the Times-Leader.
The Saturday Chroniele was founded in 1902 as a weekly review of New IFaven polities, society and special events. It has been a well published, well conducted journal in many ways, but it has not been especially prosperous. For several years Clarence II. Ryder published it, but in 1912 Leo R. Hammond, who had just resigned the Palladium to its fate, took over its management. It is now the official organ of the Civic Federation.
New Haven has five scientific or technical journals, two each of Italian,
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German and labor newspapers, and nine Yale publications. Not all of these are exclusively of interest to the college. The Yale News, for instance, the oldest college daily, is a newspaper of value to the whole community. It was first issued as a four-page, nine-by-twelve sheet in January of 1878. No names ac- companied the publication as a guarantee of good faith, but it is known to have been projected by Frank V. MeDonald and Herbert W. Bowen, '78. The former was a man of independent means and independent spirit, disapproving of certain college secret societies, and it was pretty well understood at the time that he started the News for the purpose of guying the senior societies Skull and Bones and Seroll and Keys. The position of the News was stated in a two-column article published in March of its first year, which began: "We have been asked what motive we could have for such a relentless persecution of senior societies. What is the use of grinding them so unceasingly ?" The artiele then proceeded to give emphasis to what was conceived to be the undemocratic characteristies of the society system and the consequent injury to the great body of students. But this was a passing phase of the News, interesting as it is in connection with its foundation. Within two months the founders had turned the paper over to S. M. Moores, now the Hon. Morrill Moores, member of congress from Indiana, who ran it under his own name. In the forty years since it has had a sometimes strenuous but always progressive existence, and today it is not only the oldest but the best college daily published, a newspaper model for those who would publish most in least spaee.
The Yale Alumni Weekly was founded in 1891, and Pierre Jay of '92 had as much to do with its founding as anybody. It was intended, as a weekly edition of the News, to gather up especially good bits of college information and pass them on to busy graduates. Lewis S. Welch took the management in 1896, and published the Weekly for the following ten years, shaping it gradually to its present useful form. The Yale Publishing Association, which then took it over, has with Edwin Oviatt as editor and George E. Thompson as business man- ager developed the publication into most admirable form, in which it finds increasing favor with Yale graduates and many others. Both are sons of New Haven, and among its most useful citizens. Mr. Oviatt performed in 1916 a historieal and literary service for which Yale and New Haven must increasingly praise him, in his book "The Beginnings of Yale," a work of immense value and a well told story. Mr. Thompson, who has shown himself a manager of high ability, is unsparing of himself and his time in many forms of publie service, having recently been made treasurer of the Young Men's Christian Association.
The Yale Review, a quarterly now published by the same association, is a survival in name only of an earlier magazine, and is now in its eighth year under the new management. It has in that time taken a high place as a maga- zine of international importance, of whose production New Haven is justly proud.
The "art preservative" in New Haven antedates the newspaper only by a year. It has a long and detailed history, full of ups and downs, but the fittest of those who have made it have survived. Early newspapers, and demands
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of the college for printing, furnished the business for a score of concerns which in the century following 1754 had their day and ceased to be. The oldest present firm is Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, which dates substantially from 1851. The men who have made it a great institution in our time are Cornelius S. More- house, a printer of the highest skill and finest ideals, a contemporary and friend of Theodore L. DeVinne, and George II. Tuttle, son of the original Tuttle of the firm, now its head and manager. This firm, with a wonderful record of achievement, ranks high among the printers of America.
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