History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 136

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 136
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 136

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The present ofers are : S. K. C., George W. Povey : S. K. L. C., F. A. Sterling , S. K. Herall, II J. Thein ; S. K. R., Rudolph Levi ; S. K. T., E. H. Johnson ; S. K. G., John A. Long: S. K. S. Thomas M. Hyde.

The division has ninety-three members and meets every second and fourth Wednesday at Black Prince Armory, 415 Broad Street.

There are also three German Lodges of Knights of Pythias in Newark, the secretaries of which failed to respond to the inquiries made, mimely,-Germania Lodge, No. 50, meeting at 195 Market Street, on the second and fourth Fridays; Schiller Lodge, No. 77, on the second and fourth Thursdays at 124 Market Street ; and Teutonia Lodge, No. 104, at No. 1 Spring- field Avenue, on the second and fourth Wednesdays.

The Board of Trade .- This body of public-spirited citizens originated from a gathering of prominent men of the city in a room in Library Hall building, on the i liam H. MeClave, Henry W. Duryce, David Camp- 24th of February, 1868, at which the late tien. N. bell, John C. Johnson, Thomas B. P'eddie, Charles E. Young, Edmund L. Joy, David C. Dodd, Jr., George B. Swain, George B. Jenkinson, Samuel S. Sargeant and James W. Miller. Norris Halsted presided, and the late tiustavus N. Abeel was chosen secretary. After discussing the preliminaries necessary to establish a Board of Trade, a committee on organization was appointed, consist- At the last annual election, in December, 1883, the following officers were elected; James W. Miller. president ; Franklin Murphy, William A. Righter, Dr. Charles S. Stockton, vice-presidente ; Edmund I. doy, treasurer ; P. T. Quinn, secretary ; John Me- Gregor, Wilbam Selby, William Clark, William O. McDowell, Allan L. Bassett, Edward Schickhaus, Edward Q. Keasbey, Edward L. Phillips, James N. Arbuckle, directors. ing of N. N. Halstead, Henry Hill, S. R. W. Heath, Henry W. Duryce, Osear Wilson, Andrew A. Smalley and Isaac Gaston. This committee, on March 21st, reported in favor of the following officers, who were unanimously elected : Thomas W. Dawson, pres- ident ; N. N. Halsted, Moses Bigelow, Theo. P. How- ell, vice-presidente : Gustavus N. Abeel, secretary; George Peters, S. R. W. Heath, Orson Wilson, Peter HI. Ballantine, William H. Camp, William H. Met'lave, Thomas Sealy, William M. Force, Herman Schalk, directors. The objects of the association, as defined by the by-laws, are the promotion of trade, the giving a proper direction and impetus to all com- mercial movements, the encouragement of intercourse

between business men, the improvement of facilities for transportation, the diffusion of information con- verning the trade, manufactures and other interests of the city of Newark, the co-operation of this with similar societies in other cities, and the promotion and development of the commercial, industrial and other interests of the city. With these landable ob- jects in view, the association rapidly grew into a vigorous and healthy condition.

In the session of 1869 the board was incorporated by legislative enactments, and from that time its un- tiring etforts have been directed toward home develop- ment, its members, with williog hearts and thought- ful minds, working together to advance the public welfare. Th > Loard has well considered and diseu-sed

water supply, the paving of public thoroughfares, cheap transit between Newark and New York, the laws respecting taxation and the government of cities. the improvement of navigation of the Passaic, and kindred matters of public policy, and has especially directed its energies of late to securing sufficient means to insure the establishment of a Technical School, in accordance with the provisions of a law passed by the Legislature in last, which authorizes an appropriation of five thousand dollars a year to- wards the support of such an institution when the citizens shall have raised a like sum. This amount has now been subscribed, and the autumn of Ixx4 witnessed the institution of an Industrial School in Newark for the theoretical and practical training of youth in the mechanical arts.

The Board of Trade now numbers about one hun- dred and sixty members, embracing a large proportion of the leading business men of Newark. The regular stated meetings of the association are held on the evening of the second Monday of each month at its rooms, No. 764 Broad Street. The presidents since its organization have been Thomas W. Dawson, Wił-

Newark's Industrial Exhibition .- The year 1872 is memorable in the industrial annals of the city. It witnessed the inauguration of an Industrial Exhi- bition, the most remarkable, probably, in the world's history of the mechanical arts. This was an exhi- bition exclusively of articles manufactured in Newark, and is believed to have been the first of the kind ever established at any industrial centre in either the Old or the New World. The scheme had long been dis- cussed among a few far-sighted business men, who realized in advance that the city had in its own varied handiwork ample material for an exhibition which would surprise none more completely than the mass of her own inhabitants, including a large number of her manufacturers. But the majority were skepti- cal of any good results accruing from it, and so several years passed before the idea was crystallized into even an initial act. In the month of January, 1872, the project was revived, and this time it was not dis- cussed " in a bole and corner," but in the columns of the local press. Despite the determined opposition

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

of a few leading manufacturers who regarded the scheme as quixotie, and who thought it would be sure to result in loss of time and money, likewise in mor- tifying humiliation to all taking part in it, the agita- tion went on, and gathered favor with the people at large and the most enterprising of the manufacturers and business men; a leading and most active spirit in the furtherance of the enterprise being Albert MI. Holbrook, whose signal services were subsequently substantially recognized. At length, on April 3d, "a meeting of manufacturers and citizens in general " was held, and the subject was "more fully brought before them." The meeting was largely attended, and presided over by Mayor F. W. Ricord, and resulted in " the adoption of a resolution unanimously indorsing the proposition."

Soon after a regular organization was effected with the following board of managers: Hon. Marcus L. Ward, Hon. Thomas B. Peddie, Edgar Farmer, Noah F .. Blanchard, Leopold Graf, Theodore P. Howell, James M. Durand. Daniel T. Campbell, William Johnson, Horace Alling, David Campbell, Martiu R. Dennis, Nicholas J. Demarest. Walter L. Starr, Joseph 1. Meeker, Walter M. Conger, John M. Phillips, Frederick Reynold, Philetus W. Vail, Ferdinand B. Kuehnhold, Oscar Barnet, John T. Leverich, Samuel Lagowitz, John C. Johnson, John C. Beardsley, Eli II. Reynolds, Christopher Nugent, David M. Meeker, Stephen B. Sanders, John D. Harrison, W. Foster Dodge, Albert M. Holbrook, Isaac Gaston, Edward Simon, Hon. tieorge A. Halsey, Hon. Phineas Jones, Hon. Henry J. Yates, George Peters, Charles N. Lockwood, James W. Corey, James C. Ludlow, Charles E. Young. Lorenzo Boyden, Cyrus Currier, Henry H. Miller. Thenceforward the plan gradually

that time it was visited by a hundred and thirty thousand persons. These included people from every walk in life, from the President of the United States down to the humblest bread-winner. The attendance included not alone tens of thousands of Newark people, but visitors from every part of the State, from most parts of the United States and from many parts of Europe. On Monday evening, September I7th, the exhibition was visited by the great American journalist, Horace Greeley, then a candidate for the Presidency. In the course of an interesting address delivered be- fore the vast audience present, Mr. Grecley recurred to the first time he visited Newark, forty years before, the place being then "a smart, rather straggling but busy village (on week-days) of about ten thousand in- habitants,-one-fifteenth of its present population,- and bearing about the same characteristics it does now." The distinguished publicist marveled at the variety, extent and beauty of what he saw.

A few evenings later, ex-President Ulysses S. Grant, then Mr. Greeley's rival for the Presidency, visited the exhibition, and was equally emphatic with his distinguished political rival in expressing the pleas- ure he experienced at the magnificent display. The renowned soldier-statesman, Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, said, upon visiting the exhibition, that he did not "believe any other city in the United States could do what Newark had done in the way of an Industrial Exhibition." Right Rev. William Henry Odenheimer, Episcopal bishop of New Jersey, likewise visited the Rink, and, in the course of a written tribute to the success and worth of the exhi- bition, said : " The superb specimens of skilled hand- icraft, ranging from the most delicate to the most ponderous, all displayed with remarkable taste, must matured, until on the 20th of August the exhibition , place Newark workmen and workwomen in the first was opened at the Rink, on Washington Street, with rank of inventive and operative genius. Considered simply as a sample-room this Industrial Exhibition will make its permanent mark on the commercial interests of Newark, and, in the best sense of the phrase, will prove itself to be a 'mammoth advertiser' of its gifted mechanics and the attractive productions of their rare skill." Altogether, the exhibition more than fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of its most enthusiastie projectors. The experiment was tried again during three succeeding years, but, owing to the setting in of the period of hard times following the panic of 1873, and the demands upon Newark for suitable representation at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia during the summer of 1876, the Industrial Exhibition was not as great a success as at first. formal and interesting ceremonies, in presence of a large and thoroughly representative assemblage of citizens. Addresses suited to the occasion were de- livered by the president of the board of managers, the late Ex-Governor Marcus L. Ward, and Gen. Theodore Runyon, both of whom referred in terms of pride to the very decided success of the enterprise. Of all sorts, nearly a thousand exhibitors were repre- sented, and the display of workmanship, both in the finer and the coarser branches of mechanical art, from a piece of rare and delicately-wrought Etruscan jewelry to a giant steam-engine, was as rich and varied as it was interesting, instructive and unexpectedly flatter- ing to the community. Citizens who considered them- selves entirely familiar with Newark products con- fessed utter amazement at the splendid character of

Knights of Honor .- Few orders of a mutual he- the general exhibit spread before them " in a thousand , nevolent character have met with such a remarkable forms of beauty and taste." The press, both of Newark and it was difficult to find any one who had not always believed it would be as it proved, a grand success. The exhibition remained open for fifty-two days. During degree of success as the Knights of llonor. It was and New York, termed with praises of the exhibition, , organized in May, 1873, and the Supreme Lodge was incorporated by the laws of the State of Kentucky, March 20, 1876. The order has spread with wonder- ful rapidity throughout the country, and is now the

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SOCIETIES OF NEWARK.

most popular association conducted on the assessment plan. In Newark, lodges have grown up with sur- prising rapidity, and now number eighteen or twenty, the most of which have large rolls of membership, and are conducted acceptably to the brethren.

Young Men's Hebrew Association .- From the humblest beginning seven years ago this association has risen to an organization possessed of considerable influence in the cause of knowledge and enlighten- ment.

Step by step it has ascended until now it is a structure of considerable magnitude, supported by most of the leading Israelities of Newark.

On Dec. 16, 1877, a meeting was held in the vestry- room of the Temple in Washington Street, of which Rev. Joseph Leucht was chairman and Jacob Holzner was secretary. Among those present were Jacob Spiro, William Utiz. David Stran s, H. Hirstberg, Moses Strauss, Simon Scheuer, Joseph Goetz, S Rememan, Joseph Stern, A. Bornstein and Louis

dirotta. The question of organizing a society to promote intelligence among the Jews was freely dis- cussed and decided upon, and on the 30th of Decem- ber the Young Men's Hebrew Association was duly formed at a meeting held in the room of Ezekiel Lodge, No. 90, 1. O. B., at the corner of Broad and Clinton Streets. The officers chosen were Frank Marx, president ; Isidor Lehman, vice-president ; L. Fox, secretary; Meier Newman and S. Seligman, assistant secretaries ; Joseph Goetz, treasurer.

Young Men's Christian Association .- During the fall and winter of 1880-81 this association was formed of young men where aim is the welfare of themselves and their fellows. To the persistent faith and work of Rev. Dr. J. Clement French, Mr. J. R. Mulliken and a few others belong the credit of organization, after two or three previous attempts to maintain such an association had failed. It has now over one thou- sand members, and is in an exceptionally fine condi- tion. Mr. Franklin Murphy was president for a short time, but resigned in favor of Mr. Theodore Macknet, who occupied the chair at the first publie opening service held in their hall, in October, ISSI, with Mr. William E. Dodge, Jr., and Robert R. MeBurney, of New York, as speakers. The association bought the old t'linton Street Methodist t'hurch, and converted the basement into a reading-room, parlor and offices, while the main auditorium was refitted, chairs substi- tuted for the pews, a stage erected and a general re- habilitation effected by which a fine room for concerts, lectures or other entertainments was secured, and now known as Association Hall.

During the year ending October, Iss3, twenty-four thousand eight hundred and twenty dollars were col- lected and applied to the purchase of the building, to make it free from any debt whatsoever, and it was so deeded as never to be mortgaged, but always to be held for the work of the Young Men's Christian Association A sound financial policy, allowing no bills to be con-

tracted which cannot be promptly paid, has put the association upon a firm and established basis. In the winter of 1883-4, a very fine gymnasium was built, the cost of which was nearly twenty-five thousand dollars. the two buildings being valued at sixty thousand dol- Jars. To raise money for this addition an ingenious plan was pursued of selling block- at the rate of $2.50 per foot. A purchaser of twenty square feet, in reality a subscriber of fifty dollars, obtained a life membership entitling him to all the privileges of the association. The scheme was eminently successful, and the neves- -ary amount raised at the jubilee held in June, 1 -84, relieving the association from all debt.

The gymnasium is complete in its apparatus, and includes a pedestrian track in a gallery around the main building. Besides the gymnasium there are four bowling-alleys made with great care for the use of the members of the association and the auxiliary, bath and toilet-rooms, and other conveniences and ac- rommodations which make the establishment very complete. Every winter, a course of lectures and en- tertainments is given, and educational classes, free to members, are maintained during that season.

The officer- of the association for 1884 were : Presi- dent, Theodore Macknet ; Vice-President, S. S. Sar- geant; Secretary, Robert B. Elder: Treasurer, J. S. Higbie; Asst. Secretaries, Rev. C. Il. Yatman, Hild- ing Stevenius, Janeway Gordon ; Trustees, Theodore Macknet, George A. Halsey, Jr., William t'larke. The following constitute the board of directors: Theodore Macknet, S. S. Sargeant, Franklin Murphy, J. M. Gwinnell, James S. Highie, George t . Miller, J. R. Van Valen, James W. Miller, Albert E. Hopping, Frederick S. Fish, A. B. Twitchell, George R. Howe, Dr. C. S. Stockton, W. S. Hartshorne, Theodore F. Bai- ley, Jay F. Treat, Robert B. Elder and Elkanah Drake.

The Ladies' Auxiliary was organized in April, 1882, with Mrs. J. Il. Knowles as president and Miss L'arrie E. Voit secretary. About four hundred have joined the auxiliary.

There are also in Newark eleven organizations of the Golden Star Fraternity, three of the Chosen Friends, one of the I'nited Ancient Order of Druids, one of the Order of United Friends, nine temper- ance organizations, three gentlemen's driving as- sociations, twelve amateur rowing associations, four- teen athletic and rifle clubs, two lodges of the Ancient Order of Foresters, Order of Elks, three lawn tennis and cricket clubs, Newark Press ('lub, two railroad employes' organizations, St. John's Union, Newark Turn Verein, Domestic Foot-Ball, Eureka Bowling Club, Children's Aid and Success Lodge, A.O. U. W. Of the Royal Arcanum there are in Newark two councils, -Newark City, No. 494, and Corinthian, No. 644,-and of the Order of the Bell Cross there is Crescent Commandery, No. 1, Newark Commandery, No. 2, and Lincoln Commandery ; of the American Legion of Honor, there are seven Couneils in Newark.

550

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY. NEW JERSEY.

CHAPTER XLIII.

PIONEER MERCHANTS OF NEWARK.

Pioneer Merchants in Newark .- Facts coneern- ing the merchants prior to the Revolution are not obtainable, and, indeed, there were none but very small dealers in Newark prior to that time. The era of business push and progressiveness may be said to have begun with the present century, and this chapter is principally made up of facts concerning the men of the period which have since elapsed, though a few of their predecessors are mentioned.

William Camp kept store and did a thriving busi- ness here before the Revolution. llis store was located at the junction of Broad Street with Quarry, (now Eighth Avenue), near the quaint and antiquated house of t'ol. Samuel Ogden. Ile and Joseph Hed- den were probably the most prominent carly-time merchants in Newark. In front of Col. Ogden's house a stream of water crossed the road under a stone bridge, and this stream drove a grist mill and two saw mills in the immediate neighborhood. Naturally the store was well patronized by people who came to these mills and by the general population to the northward. Mr. ('amp's enterprize found exercise in foreign com- merre as well as home merchandizing. He built ves- sels and engaged in the West India trade. The last sent out was the "Black Prince," which was never heard of after leaving port. His wharf was at the upper end of town, near the mouth of Mill Brook, and in comparatively recent years was known as the oldl Camp dock. William Camp was a pronounced patriot, and took part in the war of the Revolution. In the fall of 1776 he was taken prisoner by the British, and perished in the New York prison. He was mainly in- strumental in getting up the old ferry and also the academy which stood on Washington Square. He was a great-grandson of William t'amp, one of the settlers of 1667, and had two sons, Isaac and David, and a daughter Mary, who married John P. ('rane.

Some other members of the Camp family kept store at his stand as late as 1800. The only prominent competitor of William Camp in the years before the Revolution appears to have been Joseph Hedden, who died in 1780.

Just who were the other merchants or shop-keeper- of Newark during the past century it is impossible to state, hut about the beginning of the present century the merchants became more prominent personages in the life of the community than they had been, and facts concerning them have thus been preserved for the historian.

The block on Broad Street, between Bank and Market Streets, was, about 1800, the business centre of the town, and there as early as 1796 and for a number of years later, several stores were kept by Pennington

& Bruen, Rodney Wilbur, Pruden Alling and John Young.

On Broad, at Bank Street, Jasper Ten-Brook kept, at the period of which we have been speaking (about 100), which has been pronounced by a writer of reminiscences' " the best and neatest store in town."

At Broad and Market, about 1800, John Y. Bakl- win was selling general merchandise and hardware. lle had a long, low building on the southwest corner. It subsequently became known as Jesse Baldwin's corner, he superseding John Y. Baldwin & Co.

Jonathan Corey soon after opened a store on the southeast corner, and Rodney Wilbur, on the north- west, while the northeast corner was occupied by the Gifford tavern, with the sign of "Hunter and Hounds."

Below Baldwin's corner there were dwellings, and near by Josiah Conger had a hat-shop. At a little later than the period of which we write, say about 1803, Smith Burnett had a jewelry-store. to which he afterwards added the silver-plating business; and Aaron foff, Luther Goble and Calvin Goble had shoe- shops.

The bridge on the street bearing that name was built in 1792, and the same year, on the northeast corner of Broad and Bridge, was erceted a building for a hotel, which at that time was considered a very extensive establishment.

On the southeast corner of the same street .lacob Plum kept what was regarded as a large store, below which was the Davis mansion.

WILLIAM WALLACE .- The circumstances con- nected with the settlement of this worthy man in the town of Newark, some eighty years ago, form an inei- dent so creditable to its founders that it is worthy of mention in this history.

Mr. Wallace was a native of Glasgow, where he was born Oct. 29, 1757. When a youth of only eighteen years he emigrated to the American colonies, and settled in Savannah, Georgia. Here he had fine pros- peets of success in an enterprise which he had con- templated, and was about to execute, when, unex- peetedly, a call to arms flew rapidly from North to South along the sea-coast, putting to flight his pleas- ing dream. The war of the Revolution had broken out, and stout-hearted Scotchman as he was, fresh from the free air of the Highlands, he could not fail to take a stand in defense of the land of his adoption, and so a Revolutionist he became. Entering one of Georgia's brave regiments of cavalry he sallied forth to fight with no desire to become a general, a colonel or a captain, but simply to do his duty and to keep on fighting till that cruel war was ended. His brave career was, however, suddenly and grievously inter- rupted. He was taken captive in the midst of battle, and locked up in a prison-ship on the Savannah

1 Daniel Broen " More Soon"'s in Daily Advertiser, IMA.

Aml Wallace

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PIONEER MERCHANTS OF NEWARK

River. Many months of confinement had rolled over his head before he was released, and permitted, the war having ended, to return to his new home and to his former pleasant anticipation -.

Possessed of rare sagacity and great energy he was not long in establishing himself' as a commission mer- chant, active in the exportation of produce fr nn Savannah and Augusta to England, receiving in exchange goods which at home he disposed of to great advantage. Prosperous now in his business, he married Miss Sarah Clay, a daughter of Col. Joseph Clay, an officer of the Continental army, and from 1778 to 1780 a member of the Continental C'ongress. Not long after this event Mr. Wallace determined to carry into effect the resolution, formed many years before, to retire from business when he had secured a competency. Accordingly, in the year 1805, having brought to a close his extensive business at the South. he left theorgia with his family for the North. In his search for a suitable dwelling-place, he visited most of the towns of New England, as well as many thrifty settlements along the Hudson River and throughout New Jersey, and after careful consideration selected Newark as the spot most desirable, as well for the beauty of its situation as for the superiority of its schools and the character of its people. Be- lieving that he could here create a home, he purchased the plot of ground at present owned by Hon. Cort- landt Parker, and immediately erected thereupon, as his residence, the commodious mansion now occupied by that gentleman. He also built the house in which Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen at present resides, and made considerable purchases of property in the vicinity of Newark. In a very short ume after his arrival he was made a director in the Newark Banking and Insurance Company, the only office which he held after he left Georgia. He was pre-eminently a t'hris- tian gentleman, studying the example and instructions of his Master, Jesus, and exercising himself "to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward man."

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 136

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840