USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913, Volume II > Part 4
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all the above facts into consideration, one of two things will have to be done; either seek new supply, or purify the present supply by mechanical means, each having its advocates. **
** The water at the intake is raised by steam pumps and forced into reservoirs in the city, whence it is distributed throughout the city through 146 miles of cast-iron pipes, ranging in size from four inches to twenty-four in diameter."
SEWER DEVELOPMENT.
There were in 1885, with a population of about 152,000, forty- five miles of brick sewers and nine miles of pipe sewers, and the city was divided into nine drainage districts. Previous to 1883 the sewage in the eighth district (bounded by Kinney street, Pennsyl- vania Railroad avenue, Lafayette, Elm, Walnut, Oliver and Houston streets, on the north; by Orchard street on the west; by Thomas street on the south, and by the Elizabeth branch of the New Jersey Central Railroad) ; and in the ninth (which was in three sections and ran as far north as South Orange avenue, south to the then Clinton Township, west as far as Morton street and east as far as Orchard street and avenue B) was discharged into creeks, "which," says the report, "had the effect of gradually filling them up and over- flowing on the meadow land. This finally assumed such proportions that the members of the Common Council from the eastern and southern sections of the city brought the matter before that body, and after considerable discussion and with no small opposition, had a measure passed whereby a ditch was dug twenty-five feet wide and six feet deep, a distance of three miles, on a line corresponding with Peddie street, from the Pennsylvania Railroad to Newark Bay; also a parallel ditch four thousand feet long, and of the same dimensions, from Maple Island Creek to the Pennsylvania Railroad, where it connected with the first, this to act as a flusher." But while some of the sewers were connected with these ditches, others were not, and thus began a general overhauling of the sewer and drainage system, and the creation of a series of intercepting sewers.
The Board of Health did not begin the compilation of vital sta- tistics until October 21, 1890, when the present health officer set
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down, in a large new book produced for the purpose, a death recorded on that day.
The Board of Health was first located in Centre Market, as already told. Later it removed to the old City Hall, at Broad and William streets. From there it went to quarters on the same side of Broad street, opposite the Broad street station of the Newark and New York Railroad. It was after a time transferred to the east side of Broad street, midway between Lafayette and Green streets, this building being occupied by the Prudential Insurance Company previous to the erection of the first of its buildings at Broad and Bank streets. The Board of Health now (1913) has new quarters at Arlington and William streets.
The Newark City Hospital was opened in 1882. The present (1913) City Hospital was completed in 1901. St. Barnabas' Hospital and St. Michael's Hospital were incorporated in 1867, and the Ger- man Hospital in the following year. The Essex County Hospital for the Insane on South Orange avenue was organized in 1872. St. James' Hospital was incorporated in 1900; Newark Beth Israel Hos- pital and Dispensary in 1900. The Women's and Children's Hospital was organized in 1881; the Babies' Hospital in 1896. The Eye and Ear Infirmary was incorporated in 1880.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
" The year before Newark became a city it had five fire com- panies. A year after the city began, in 1837, there were seven engine companies, all with the clumsy machines of the type intro- duced at the close of the eighteenth century. There was also one hook and ladder company and a hose company in 1837. Their loca- tions are interesting since they indicate the actual size of the city : Engine No. 1, near the First Presbyterian Church; No. 2, 4 New street; No. 3, Hill street; No. 4, 4 New street; No. 5, 106 Market street; No. 6, Mulberry street opposite Clinton street; No. 7, 9 Bridge street; Hook and Ladder No. 1, 108 Market street; Hose Company No. 1, 106 Market street. The number of engines was gradually increased.
" For early efforts at protection against fire see Chapter XVIII.
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A DISASTROUS FIRE, 1836.
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There were several fires at the time of the War of 1812, and the impression was strong in the town that they were of incendiary origin and due to British influence. This rumor, however, seems to have received no confirmation whatsoever. In 1815 the first suction hose was procured. In 1819 the first engine built in Newark was put in commission. The growth of the industries rapidly multiplied the danger of fire. The centre of the town was thickly settled, and there were many tenements occupied by the workingmen and their families.
In 1836 Newark had its first really disastrous fire, one that for a time threatened to destroy a large portion of the newly-created city, because of the inadequate supply of water. It started in a two- story frame boarding house on the south side of Market street, a few doors east of Broad street, on the afternoon of Friday, October 27. Nearly the entire block bounded by Market, Mulberry, Mechanic and Broad streets was destroyed. The State Bank building, on the south corner of Broad and Mechanic streets, and the First Pres- byterian Church were saved through the efforts of the firemen. Fire companies were summoned from New York, Rahway, Eliza- bethtown and Belleville. Two lieutenants of the navy, who were in Elizabeth, came to the scene and tried to stop the flames by blowing up several buildings, but this was of no avail. The fire was not under control until five hours had elapsed. The total loss was $125,000, which, while it represents but a small fraction of the block's valua- tion to-day, was a large sum for that time. The Daily Advertiser said: "Great apprehensions were excited at one time that the whole eastern part of the city would be destroyed. But it was preserved, and great as the calamity is, there is still great cause for thankfulness for the protecting care of a merciful Providence."
Alexander Kirkpatrick, a journeyman mechanic, saved one dwell- ing from destruction by remaining on the roof at the risk of his life, emptying buckets of water on the flames as handed up to him through a scuttle. He was offered a money reward; and refused it.
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Later the formal thanks of the Mayor and Common Council were extended to him.
SHOVELING PATHS FOR ENGINES, 1845.
On the morning of February 5, 1845, five dwellings on the west side of Broad street, opposite Trinity Church, were destroyed by fire, one of them being the residence of John H. Stephens, the city's leading merchant. There were two feet of snow in the streets and paths had to be shoveled from some of the engine houses to the scene of the fire before they could be hauled there. General Joseph Plume told the writer, in 1913, how he well remembered this fire. His father was captain of one of the local fire companies, and kept a hardware store on the west side of Broad street a little north of where the Free Public Library now stands. He took fifty shovels from his store and by means of these the firemen dug a path to Trinity Church. "We have ourselves," remarked the Sentinel of Freedom in its next issue, "witnessed no such examples of true prowess at a fire anywhere."
FIRST FIREMAN TO PERISH ON DUTY, 1857.
On May 28, 1857, one of the factories of the Newark India Rubber Company was destroyed by fire. Jacob Allen, foreman of Engine No. 4, was killed by a falling wall, and John P. Thorn severely injured. (The dates of other serious fires since the one just described will be found in the chronological table, Appendix A.) 1
CITY'S HYDRANTS, 1846.
Agitations in favor of fire plugs were carried on for many years, beginning as early as 1828, but the first fire hydrants were not supplied until May 14, 1846. On the following day the Daily Advertiser announced: "The experiments made by the Fire Depart- ment yesterday to test the capacity of the Hydrants recently put up by the city authorities for the supply of water for extinguishing fires proved entirely satisfactory, as we learn from the Mayor (Mr. Vanderpool), at whose request they were made. Various trials were
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made with Hydrants in both Broad and Market streets. *
* The sufficiency and value of this admirable arrangement for the supply of water may therefore be considered as placed beyond a peradventure-which is a subject for general congratulation."
It was indeed a most important step forward. For half a cen- tury there had been no adequate means for supplying water in case of fire, and previous to that time there was little need, as the community was small and the fires but few.
Some of the Newark factories had provided fire plugs of their own as early as 1833, as appears from the following newspaper notice of September 21, 1833, telling of a fire in Campfield, Mitchell & Co.'s blacksmith shop, connected with the firm's carriage factory :
"It is worthy of notice that one of the engines was entirely sup- plied with water by the fire plug which had been placed in the yard expressly for the use of the establishment, at the expense of the proprietor, about a year ago. Without this it is believed the supply of water would have been deficient, and in all probability the entire factory, with its whole stock and all the adjacent buildings, would have been consumed. The plug, we understand, cost only $40; and the occasion suggests to other similar establishments the importance of providing a similar source against emergencies. In a manufac- turing town, so compactly built, principally of combustible materials, in the midst of which so many fires are constantly burning, every possible precaution and provision should be adopted."
REORGANIZATION IN 1854.
In the early 1850's the fire companies were badly demoralized and their engine houses had become rendezvous for many of the city's rough characters. The Common Council seized the houses and locked them up, and thus virtually disbanded the companies. This was done on June 13, 1854. The department was then entirely reorganized and the disorderly elements eliminated. A new sys- tem, part paid and volunteer, was put in operation and the efficiency greatly increased.
SUBSEQUENT ADVANCEMENT.
In 1860 two steam fire engines were procured. In 1870 the electric fire alarm system was installed, but this has been greatly
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NEPTUNE HOSE, NEWARK FIRE DEPARTMENT, LEAVING ENGINE HOUSE AT MARKET AND HALSEY STS. From a drawing made by Edwin S. Fancher from a photograph which was taken in 1860
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improved upon since. The first relief valve was placed on a Newark engine in 1877. The Salvage Corps was organized in June, 1879. Swinging harness was introduced in 1880, the first set being used by Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, then located at Broad street and Branford place. In 1882 relief valves were on all engines. The shut-off nozzle. was adopted. A little later the engine houses were equipped with circulating heaters so that steam could be kept up in the boilers of the engines. All fire stations were equipped with electric "trip" to open the stall doors and release the horses, and appliances adopted to turn up the lights and stop the clocks on receipt of an alarm. In 1886 the Board of Fire Commission was formed, consisting of two Republicans and two Democrats, appointed by the Mayor for four years. In 1887 hose wagons were introduced to replace the hose reels, and chemical engines added to the department. In 1889 the full-paid department was established, all officers and men giving their full time to the work of fire-fighting. In 1894 a modern central-office fire alarm system was placed in service, replacing the automatic one in use since 1870. Combination chemical engines and hose wagons were introduced the same year. In 1897 three-horse hitches were adopted. Steam engines, hook and ladder trucks and water towers were thus equipped. In 1901 rubber tires were adopted for the heavy apparatus, the chiefs' wagons being equipped some years earlier. In 1903 a water tower was purchased and placed in service. In 1905 the high-pressure water supply was completed and placed in service. By means of it water may be had in large quantities at a pressure of 157 pounds, without the use of pumps or engines. In 1906 the first auto engine was placed in commission. In 1907 a new central office system for the fire alarm telegraph, located on the fourth floor of the City Hall, was placed in service in November of this year at a total cost of $55,000, and then pronounced by experts to be the finest fire alarm central office in the world.
The Newark Fire Department was incorporated in 1837, in March, by act of the Legislature. This act expired in 1857, but its
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powers were renewed for another twenty-year period, and consid- erably enlarged, by a supplementary act. The department was re-incorporated in 1877, and that act revised in 1884.
The first Board of Fire Commissioners was organized in 1886, as follows: President, Edward Schickhaus ; Marcus L. De Voursney, Martin B. Provost and Charles W. Bannen; secretary, J. Frank Hewson.
The Newark Fire Department Pension Fund was created under an act of the Legislature in 1902, to which several amendments have since been made. The fund is administered by a board of trustees, of which the chief is chairman, ex-officio. There are four other members, appointed by the Board of Fire Commissioners. The trustees are required to make a semi-annual report and to submit their books for the examination of the commissioners. The pension fund derives its resources from the following: Ten per cent. of all premiums paid within the State, by fire insurance companies from without the State; the license fees received from theatres, motion picture houses, and by the Bureau of Combustibles; the fines imposed upon firemen; income derived from the sale of old fire department materials, horses, etc., and the income accruing from bonds, mortgages and other securities held by the trustees of the pension fund. Upon retirement, a fireman receives half the annual salary to which he was entitled upon retirement. (See Appendix G for list of Fire Chiefs.)
EXEMPT FIREMEN'S ASSOCIATION.
The Newark Exempt Firemen's Association was organized December 17, 1857, its object being "to provide means for the distressed, sick or disabled members thereof and their immediate families, and in case of fire to render such assistance as the officers of this association may deem proper to direct, by the advice and consent of the constituted authorities of the city." But it did more than this, at its very beginning. It raised the money to buy as fine a steam fire engine as could be found the country over. It was known as "Minnehaha, Exempt, No. 1," and was long stationed
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at Broad street and Branford place. It took the place of three hand engines and four hose wagons. The care of the engine and of the horses was provided by the association for two years. At the end of that period the apparatus was given to the city. This was a fine evidence of the public spiritedness of the firemen of the fifties, and recalls the patriotism of the founders of Newark's first fire-fighting forces, in the 1790's.
THE DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS.
Little attempt was made to regulate or control the erection, alteration and extension of buildings until 1881, when Common Council appointed the first building inspector. He and his suc- cessors remained classified under the head of "miscellaneous offices" until 1904, when the Building Department was put in operation. Late in his first term Inspector Townsend was dignified with the title of superintendent. The superintendents from the beginning up to and including 1913 have been: Isaac W. Townsend, 1881- 1892; Dennis H. Boughner, 1892-1894; Isaac W. Townsend, 1894- 1896; Edward M. Van Duzer, 1896-1897; John H. Peal, 1897-1900; Leslie B. Miller, 1900-1905; John Austin, 1905-1907; William P. O'Rourke, 1907.
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS, 1891.
We have now to touch upon the most important of the later changes in the administration of Newark's public affairs. In 1891 an act was adopted by the Legislature authorizing the combining of various departments in cities of the first class in the Board of Street and Water Commissioners, commonly called the Board of Public Works. It was in part a political move. The Republicans were in control of the Common Council, and by this act it became possible for the Democrats to obtain supremacy over several important departments of city government. The act became a law on March 28, 1891, and it was mandatory that the new board be organized within ten days. The new board was given control of streets, water supply, lighting, bridges, docks, sewers, city parks and a few other branches.
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The first board was made up as follows: President, James Smith, Jr .; Ferdinand Hahn, Dr. Hugh C. Hendry, Thomas Harlan and Reuben Trier; Colonel E. Livingston Price, counsel; Charles Marsh, general superintendent; Enos Runyon, secretary. The old Aqueduct Board was thus absorbed by the new body, and the duties of several committees of Common Council were taken away. The change, however, has proven of immense benefit to the city, whatever may be said of the causes that brought it into being. The present water supply, one of the finest in all the United States; better street paving, more adequate street lighting and a sewer system more nearly adequate to the city's needs are among a few of the results. In later years the Board of Street and Water Com- missioners has been shorn of a little of its authority, the Shade Tree Commission now having charge of the city parks, while the City Planning Commission must hereafter (1913) be reckoned with in the inauguration of any important public works affecting the city's physical development.
The Street and Water Commissioners and their predecessor, the Street Committee, had materially improved the condition of the city, and had prepared the way for the Shade Tree Commission. When Newark became a city, Military Park was in a sad state of neglect, due largely to the inability of the Town Meeting and the Township Committee to cope with the strenuous tide of apprentices and mechanics flowing into the town to fill the shops and mills.
ABUSE OF MILITARY PARK.
On festival days this park was a centre for rude merrymaking. "A Citizen," in a letter to the Daily Advertiser for June 7, 1833, protests against drunkenness on holidays, in Military Park. He says that on such occasions there were from twenty to thirty booths in the park "where liquor was openly sold in flagrant viola- tion of the law." Another writer to the Daily of November 9, 1834, gives the following interesting statement of conditions:
"In your paper of Monday, when mentioning the improvement of Washington Square, you ask, 'Is not some similar disposition of the other common [Military Park ] practicable?' No question can
LOWER GREEN, OR MILITARY COMMON, NEWARK, N. J.
This beautiful Public Ground is situated in the northern part of Broad street. The Episcopal Church Is seen on the left of the engraving. From Barber and. Howe's Historical Collections of New Jersey, 1844
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VIEW IN BROAD STREET, NEWARK, N. J.
This view was taken near the intersection of Market with Broad street, looking southward. The First Presbyterian Church appears on the left; other public buildings are seen on the right. From Barber and Howe's Historical Collections of New Jersey, 1844.
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be more easily answered in the affirmative. I remember Newark forty years ago, when it was admired by travelers as one of the most beautiful villages in the United States. With all its loveliness it was a place of no importance from a commercial point of view.
"The case is now completely reversed. The industry and integ- rity of its mechanics and merchants do honor to it; but its streets and at least one of the commons are its disgrace. The Park is in a shameful condition. Many of the posts of the inclosure are destroyed and it is rapidly becoming a highway for equestrians, for carriages and even for wagons. Is its case the business of no one ? Are there no funds which can be applied to the repair of the enclosure, at least ? If none exist, let the inhabitants of the vicinity contribute towards so desirable a purpose. I, a stranger, will cheerfully furnish my mite.
"I learn that the keepers of the Menagerie (which had been set up on Halsey street, near the old Methodist Church-Purdy & Welch's show) offered $50 for the use of it. Even this small sum might have replaced the missing posts; and surely the trampling of the grass for two or three days would not have done it so much injury as it will receive through the winter by the passing through of horses, carriages and wagons, which will continue to increase while it remains imperfectly inclosed.
"I remember when the cows used to roam over the lawn out there," said a venerable Newarker, speaking of Military Park, in 1913, "and the city didn't seem to care whether it was kept in any kind of shape or not. Then the people living in the neighborhood got together and raised $10,000 for an iron fence to keep the cows out. If you'll look along the coping just inside the sidewalk you'll find traces of the holes in which the supports of the fence were set. There were a great many trees there in the old days, and a venerable showing they made; but, after all, the park looks prettier now than it ever did before, thanks to the wisdom of the city authorities in putting it under the control of the Shade Tree Commission."
FROM CANDLES TO ELECTRIC LIGHT.
The Township Committee had been utterly unable to provide proper lighting of the streets. The "Night Watch" went about with clumsy old lanterns containing candles and usually made of tin with holes punched in the sides. When the few shopkeepers who did business in the evening closed their doors and hooked on
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their wooden shutters the community was left in almost complete darkness, save for the lights in the homes and an occasional lamp on a post set up in front of his door by some citizen. Lamps seem to have been unknown, and candles were the only means of lighting until the last decade of the eighteenth century. The lodge room of St. John's Lodge on the top floor of the Academy building was noted the country round for its "magnificent" chandelier, in which some sort of oil lamps were used. This was in the 1790's.
FIRST GASLIGHT, 1846.
? "In a few months after the organization of the city govern- ment," wrote the late Henry Farmer, "oil lamps were put very sparingly in the principal streets near the centre of the city." He continues :
"Several years passed with this insufficient means of street lighting, until, in 1846, the Newark Gas-Light Company was char- tered, and the people of the city were interested in the subject to a high degree. Nevertheless, when the books of subscription to the capital stock were opened, on April 14, it was looked upon by many as a chimerical scheme, and they not only stood aloof from the enterprise, but dissuaded others from embarking in it. The requi- site number of shares, however, was subscribed, and as the work progressed steadily and uninterruptedly, its practicability became more and more apparent, and immediately after the completion of the works a premium on the shares was offered and refused.
"A contract was made with Joseph Battin for the erection of gas works to supply forty thousand cubic feet of gas per day, and lay four miles of main pipes for the distribution of the same, at a total cost of $100,000. Mr. Battin was one of the foremost gas engineers and contractors of the day and built the works in Albany, Paterson and other large cities. He pushed the work so vigorously that by December 25, 1846, the manufacture of gas was commenced, and it was supplied to a few of the stores and other business houses. On January 5, 1847, the pipes were filled and a general distribution made throughout the whole four miles of mains, the entire work having been accomplished in eight months. The first officers of the company were: Samuel Meeker, president; James Keene, secretary and assistant superintendent ; John Van Wagenen, treasurer; Joseph Battin, superintendent; directors, James Keene, Joseph Battin, Beach Vanderpool, Isaac Baldwin, Jeremiah C. Garthwaite, Reuben D. Baldwin, Samuel Meeker, William Shugard and C. B. Duncan.
' See Shaw's History of Essex and Hudson Countles, vol. 1, pp. 638, 640.
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"The city was then supplied at the same rates as charged private consumers. The first contract with the municipal govern- ment was made in April, 1851, and in 1853 there were 337 lamps supplied at a rate of $28.50 a lamp for two thousand, two hundred hours. Stc
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