History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 94

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 94
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 94

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THE PAVONIA FERRY was an enterprise projected in 1733, when a royal patent was granted to Archibald Kennedy ; but Kennedy failed to fulfill the conditions, and, consequently, all the extensive franchises of the graut were forfeited. Frequent projects were set afoot, but nothing was accomplished until the Erie Railroad, as the lessees of the Long Dock Company,

created their present ferry, in 1961, on the completion of the Bergen tunnel.

STATEN ISLAND FERRY .- A ferry between staten Island and Bergen Point was legally established in 1750, but had been previously operated by Jacob L'orsen. It was an important landing-place for pas- sengers between New York and Philadelphia, going by way of Perth Amboy; but, on the completion of the new road over the meadows from Newark, the ferry fell into disuse and operations were entirely suspended. Several ineffectual attempts have been madle to revive this ferry.

CHAPTER XXVI.

STREET RAILROADS, HUDSON COUNTY.1

The Jersey City and Bergen Railroad Com- pany owns the several lines of horse-cars traver -- ing Jersey City and all the southern portion of Hudson County, The company was incorporate | March 15. 1859. A majority of the stock is owned by the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company, of which the Pennsylvania Railroad Company is the lessee. The officers are Charles B. Thurston, presi- dent ; W. E. Dennis, secretary , Thomas N. Sayre, superintendent.

The several routes of the company, covering a di -- tance of about twenty-two miles, are as follows :

NEWARK AVENCE OR BLUE LINE .- Route, from depot at Bergen Avenue, through Bergen Avenue to Sipp, to Summit, Hudson City, to Newark Avenue, to Grove Street, to Gregory, to York, to depot at Jersey City. Returning through Montgomery to New- ark Avenue,

MONTH ELLO OR PLANK-ROAD LINE. - Route, from Jersey City ferry, through Montgomery to Vanvorst. to Girand, to Pacific, to Communipaw, to Harrison, to Monticello, to Fairmont, tu Bergen, to Montgomery, to depot, on Montgomery Street, Jersey City Heights. Returns same to Grand, to Jerey Avenue, to York and to Ferry Streets ; passes through Lafayette Dis- triet.

MONTGOMERY STREET AND JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS LINE .- Route, from Jersey t'ity ferry to Bergen car stables, through Montgomery Street. Returns by Montgomery, Grove and York to Jersey City ferry.

GREENVILLE AND OCEAN AVENUE LINE. Route, from Jersey t'ity ferry, through Montgomery, to Van- sort, to Grand and Ocean Avenues, to Greenville. passing New York Bay Cemetery. Returns by same route to Grand, to Jersey Avenue, to York Street and to ferry.

ERIE STREET AND PAVONIA FERRY LINE .- Route,

1 By Ileury Farmer.

1046

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

from Jersey City ferry, through Montgomery, to New- ark Avenue, to Erie Street, and Pavonia Avenue to Pavonia Ferry. Returning through Pavonia Avenue, u Erie, to Eighth, to Jersey Avenne, to Newark Avenue, to Grove Street, to Wayne, to Gregory and York, to Jersey City ferry.

The company have the privilege of extending their line to the Kill von KuHl, under a supplement passed by the State Legislature in 1873, authorizing a ferry to Staten Island.

New stables were built in 1883 at the head of Mont- gomery Street, with accomodations for four hundred horses. The building is of brick, with slate roof, and is furnished with all necessary appliances to insure cleanliness and a healthy condition of the stork. Complete double tracks have been laid in the down- town streets. In track-laying the company have greatly benefited the city, especially on the hill, where Ocean Avenue, from Communipaw to Myrtle Avenue, was entirely repaved with Belgian blocks by the company, while two thousand loads of cinders were used to ballast the roadway of Pacific Avenue. In other streets the property-owners have improved the opportunity of dispensing with the old cobble stones by having the roadway paved from curb to curb with Belgian blocks in places where the company have delivered and laid the stone at its own expense. The report made to the State comptroller for the yeur ending Dec. 31, 1883, is as follows :

Capital stock authorized "'apital stock paid in

Bon Ind debt .

250,000 00 375,000 00

$25,000 (K)

Cost of road and equipmenty

Dividenda paid during the year lass in ash

Receipts Hud rxpenses for INN ;,-

Income from passengers.

31%,909 39

Income from other sources.

,601 G3

Expenditures during the year for working the road, In- eluding repairs, maintenance of way, motive power, and contingencies .

Interest un funded debt

26,250 00

sinking fund .

22,0000 00

The North Hudson Railway Company are the owners of all the lines of horse-cars not included in the list of lines operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, with but one exception. It was chartered in 1859, and since that time the president, Mr. John Il. Bonn, has continuously filled that office, which is sufficient evidence of the efficiency he has displayed in managing the affairs of the company.

Jons H. Boxs was born on Sept. 14, 1829, in the city of Norden, East Friesland, in the extreme north- went of Germany. He received a good education first at the city schools, then at a classical high-school, and in later years under private teachers. After having made n voyage to the Isle of Java, East Indies, with his father, who for many years had been master of vessels in the East India trade, he attended a nauti- cal school near Rotterdam, Holland, and passed an examination before the Royal Commission in Am- sterdam, obtaining the first degree. In the fall of 1845 he entered a shipping, banking and commercial

house in Emden, a city in hi- native province. Here he remained five years, having received a thorough commercial education. In October, 1850, he came to the United States with a view to gain more experience in commercial affairs, and he soon found employment as book-keeper and English and French correspondent in a large Greek shipping-house. Visiting North Hudson County accidentally in the summer of 1852, he was favorably impressed by its advantageous posi- tion as also by its beautiful scenery, and having re- ceived means from his father, invested in real estate, part of which he laid out into town lots. These in. vestments prolonged his stay, and finally influenced him to make this country his home, of which he be- came a citizen. In the spring of 1856, after having made an extensive tour of eight months through the greater part of the United States and Canada, he visited his relatives in Europe (his parents were then dead), and there, in October, Isso, married Miss Ange- lina Boujer, of Emden, East Friesland. In April, 1857, they came to America, and lived first in Wee- hawken, then in Hoboken, and since 1867 have resided at their present home in Weehawken township, which had once been owned by Daniel Webster, the great Massachusetts statesman. They had eleven children, four of whom died young and seven of whom are liv- ing. - four sons and three daughters. Both Mr. Bonn and his wife and their ancestors belonged to the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Bonn is not a member of any Masonic or kin- dred society. He was a member of the first board of regents of the Hudson County Hospital. The " Ger- man-American Cyclopedia," a work of eleven volumes, and the first of that character in the United States in the German language, was brought out chiefly by his aid. under the editorship of his old friend, the late Professor A. J. Schem. Many thousand copies of the work were sold in the United States. Mr. Bonn had no inclination for and never held a political office, except in 1857, when he was elected on both tickets as superintendent of public schools in old North Bergen township, which then contained five schools. In 1868 he was appointed, under a legisla- tive art. by Judge (later tiovernor-Bedle,) one of seven commissioners, to lay out and improve public avenues on the elevatel part of Hudson County, and made chairman of the board. A printed report and maps were presented proposing a system of avenues by straightening, widening and connecting existing roads and providing for their improvement. The plan, although very favorably received by the public and approved by the Board of Freeholdersand by the Legislature of theState of 1869, was, however, not carried out, owing to a variety of causes. Much regret was afterwards expressed that the project was not accomplished, as the growth in population and wealth in Hudson County has been and continues to be hindered by the want of good roads throughout its length. Its proximity to New York and its beau-

604,613 99

25.000 00

1047

STREET RAILROADS IN HUDSON COUNTY

tiful and healthy location offer superior advantages as a place of residence and business, but it has no roads worthy of the name. In 1572, Mr. Bonn was appointed by the Legislature one of the three commis- sioners to widen and improve the Bulls Ferry road from Nineteenth Street in Hoboken, northerly, and to build a main sewer to the Hudson River, and was made chairman of the board. The improvement was com- pleted in 1574 and 1875.

Outside of his real estate business, Mr. Bonn was principally occupied in building and operating street railroads in the northern half of Indsou County. The enterprise commenced in 1859 finally resulted in an entire system of roads radiating from the Hoboken ferry in all directions. As early as 1864 cars were run by steam on oneof the lines ; but this was uf necessity abandoned, ou account of the steepne-s of the hill and for other reasons. In 1574 a steam elevator was built, the first one in this country, by which the cars, with horses attached, were taken up the hill in one minute. This formerly consumed seven or eight minutes, with four horses along the side of the hill. In 1884 an elevated road was built from the Hoboken ferry to Jersey City Heights, for the foundation ot which piles had to be driven all along to a depth o! from forty to ninety feet. The structure itself is a iron, from fifteen to ninety-five feet high. The cars are to be drawn by means of an endless steel cable which itself is put and kept in motion by powerful stationary steam-engines on top of the hill. It is the first elevated cable railway in this country. Mr. Bonn was the first and only president of the old companies, and is thus far also president of the North Hudson County Railway Company, into which the old com- panies were consolidated in 1865.

It is proper to add that the establishment and development of the North Hudson County Railway system has been Mr. Bonn's life-work. From early manhood he has given to it his undivided attention. At the outset the obstacles to be overcome were great. The city of Hoboken was then little more than a country village, and the same may be said of Hudson City, now known as Jersey tity Heights. North of this the country was only sparsely settled. The rail- roads were built over a deep swamp surrounding Iloboken, up steep hill-sides and along rough and very uneven country roads, neither macadamized nor paved, which the company had to supply themselves. besides spending very large sums of money for grad- ing and blasting to secure a proper rond-bed. In course of time the tracks were removed frequently to permit public improvements under and un the streets, and replaced again. Most of the tracks had thus to be laid three times. But Mr. Bonn foresaw that this was the site for a great and prosperous city, and this encouraged him to undertake the long and laborious task. He, however, did not foreser the nar- row-minded and short-sighted policy of the large landed proprictors, which seriously retarded the

justly expected increase of population. In building up his system of railways he has acted on the princi- ple that a new line should be built slightly in advance of an a toal nece ity for it, that the con- venience, comfort and safety of passenger- should in duly considered and promptly provided for, and that iog rovements In the made of transportation should be made whenever possible. A natural desire and an earnest effort to please and accommodate the traveling public have been the controlling the- ments of his management. While ever watchful of the interests of his company, he never demands from the State favor- or privilezes, which, in his own judgment, ought not to be granted, and always has due regard to the interest and wishes of the public. He has not only designed and studied the general plan of the work, but is equally familiar with all its details. He has the letenjoined will, quick perception, the courage and perseverance which characterize the man of executive ability. These qualities, coupled with an active and well- trained mind and a strong sense of justice, have enabled him to overcome great ditheulties, and to lead his company safely through trying, and often very discouraging, circumstances, until it has become a prosperous institution, which commands general respect and is freely acknowleged to have done more to develop the growth and prosperity of the northern half of Hudson County than any other.

The routes of the North Hudson Railway lines are as follows:

JERSEY CITY AND HOBOKEN LINE .- Route, from Jersey City terry, through Montgomery, to Newark Avenue, to Grove Street, to Ferry Street, to Hoboken ferry. Return by same route.

UNION THILL AND WEEHAWKEN LINE .- Route, from Hoboken ferry, through Ferry Street, to Willow, t, Bull's Ferry road (at Weehawken), to New, to Ber- gen Line Avenue, to Union Ilill. Returning from Union Hill, through Union Street, to Bull's Ferry road, to Willow Street, to Washington, to Furry Street, to the ferry.

UNION IHIL. AND GUTTENBERG LINE .- Route, from Union Hill, through Bergen Line AAvenue and Hermance Avenue, to Guttenberg. Returning by same route.

WEST HOBOKEN AND JERSEY CITY HEIGHTS LINE. -Route, from Hoboken ferry, through Ferry Street, to Central Avenue, to Clinton Avenue, to New York Avenue, to Palisade Avenue, to Jersey t'ity Heights, Returning by same route.

CENTRAL AVENUE LINE,-Route, from Hoboken ferry, through Ferry Street and Central Avenue, to turn-table at Central Avenue, to Paterson Plank-Road Returning through Central Avenue to Franklin Avenue, to Palisade Avenue and Ferry Streets, to Hohoken ferry.

COURT HOUSE AND OAKLAND AVENUE LINE .- Route, from Iloboken ferry, through Ferry Street, to

1048

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

I'alisade Avenue, to Prospect Street, to Oakland Avenue, to turn-table. Returning by same route.

WASHINGTON STREET AND ELEVENTH STREET LINE .- Route, from Hoboken ferry, through Ferry Street, to Washington, to Eleventh, to Park Avenue, to turn-table. Returning by same route.

The whole distance operated is about twenty-five miles.

In 1884 the company built an elevated road, a sub- stantial iron structure, from Hoboken ferry to Jersey City Heights, thus dispensing with the inclined plane and stationary engine formerly employed at the head of Ferry Street for elevating cars and horses from the base to the summit of the Heights.

A single line of horse-cars is run from the Long Dock to the West End, on the Heights, a distance of about three miles. It is owned and operated by the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Com- pany, whose ferry superintendent, Mr. Brown, superintends the horse cur line.

CHAPTER XXVII.

BENCH AND BAR. OF HUDSON COUNTY.'

THE BENCH OF HUDSON COUNTY has ever been occupied by very distinguished men, who have been assigned by the Supreme Court to hold the courts of the county, and the local judges have been selected from among the best men of the county, and as a re- sult the judicial ermine has been worn without a spot to stain it or a single thing to cast dishonor upon its fair fame.

If you can keep the fountain of justice pure and honest meu sitting upon the bench in our court- house, the lives and property of the people of the county will be safe and their liberties preserved.

The first courts of the county were opened at the Lyceum Hall in Jersey City, AApril 14, 1840, Joseph C. Hornblower, chief justice presiding, and the courts continued to be held at the Lyceum Hall until Sept. 19, 1843, when they were removed to the " New- kirk House," at the Five Corners. Here the courts continued to be held until the new court-house was finished and opened, March 11, 1545, when the first session of the court was held there.

The session of the court was opened with prayer by Rev. B. C. Taylor, D.D., and Chief JJustice Ilorn- blower delivered a very able and impressive address, which is given in Chapter XHI of this work.

The court-house was a very imposing buikling for the time, considering the small population of the county, and was at the time probably the largest and .

best court-room in the State, and it is not now ex- celled by many, although the rapid growth of the county from a population of 9451 in 1840 to 187,944 in 1880, has required an addition and considerable changes to adapt the same to the wants of the present times.

THE BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY can properly start its history from the time of the creation of the county by act of the Legislature, passed Feb. 22, 1840. Prior to that time the territory now embraced in the county of Iludson was embraced in the county of Bergen, with the county seat at Hackensack, and although there was at the time only a very small population in Hudson County-only 9451 persons at the census of 1840-to set up and bear the expense of a county government, still these people did it.

Imprisonment for debt existed at that time, and it was the common practice for creditors to watch for New York merchants who were debtors at the Jersey City side of the ferry and arrest them, and carry them to the Hackensack jail; and Jersey City being largely interested in New York City, and dependent on it for it- prosperity, took offense at this procedure, and this and other causes led to the formation of the county aud also to the abolishment of imprisonment for debt in the State, except in causes of fraud. In the movement for the abolition of imprisonment for debt the llon. Dudley S. Gregory took a very active part, being the leading spirit in Jersey t'ity at that time.

At the formation of the county the bar consisted of eight persons,-Samuel Cassidy, J. Dickinson Miller, Peter Bentley, Edwin R. V. Wright, Thomas W. James, William S. Cassidy, Benjamin F. Van Cleve and Lewis D. Hardenberg. Of this number all are deceased except Thomas W. James, who is now the the Nestor of the bar of the county.

The first lawyer to settle in the territory now known as Hudson County was James Williams, licensed at May term, 1812, but little is known of him except he had his office in Jersey City, and the second lawyer who settled in Jersey City was Samuel Cassidy, who took Mr. Williams' office and practice; and Mr. Williams left the State.

The first lawyer to settle in the city of Hoboken was J. Dun Little, and it is a historical fact that Samuel Cassidy, in Jersey City, and J. Dunn Little, in Hoboken, started the legal business in these two cities; both of them had a large practice and wide influence, and proper sketches of them will appear in this chapter. Of the eight persons in Hudson at the formation of the county, six of them were quite dis- tinguished persons, and filled large fields of useful- ness in their profession ; of the other two, Benjamin F. Van Cleve and William S. Cassidy, but little is known, as they both died very young in life. Mr. Van Cleve came from Hunterdon County, and is remembered as a man of much promise, but cut off early in life.

1 By Hou. Jurob Woart.

1049

BENCH AND BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY.

JOSEPH C. HORNBLOWER,' chief justice of the Su- preme Court, opened the first courts in Hudson County April 14, 1840. When the corner-stone was laid for the new court-house, Oct. 17, 1544, very im- posing ceremonies took place, in which the chief justice participated and made an address, and again, when the courts were opened in the new house, March 11, 15:45, be delivered a formal address, dedicated " To the members of the Board of Chosen Frecholders, af the Grand Jury, and my fellow-citizens : t large of the county of Iludson."?

These services greatly endeared the chief justice to the people of this county.

He was a great lawyer, an upright judge, and a citizen worthy of the highest commendation.

HENRY WOODHULL. GREEN, chief justice of the Su- preme Court, was regularly assigned to the Hudson Circuit, following Chief Justice Hornblower, and held his first circuit on Hudson, at November terus, 1846, and his last, at April term, 1853, when he was succeeded by Judge Haines.

Chief Justice Green was born at Lawrence, in Hun- terdon County (afterwards Mercer,) Sept. 20, 1804 ; he graduated at Princeton College in the class of rested his opinions mainly on these, and never at- 1820, at the age of sixteen. He studied law with tempted, to any great extent, to formulate new prin- ciples and start new doctrines of law to meet the con- stant changing and advancing civilization of the pre- sent times. Charles Ewing, afterwards chief justice, and was ad- mitted to the bar at November term, 1825, and took up the practice at Trenton ; was recorder of the city ; re- presented Mercer County in the Legislature in 1542; was a delegate to the Whip National Convention in 1844; appointed chief justice by Governor Stratton in 1846; reappointed by Governor Fort in 1853; re- sigued to accept the office of chancellor, which was conferred upon him in 18GO by Governor Older, which office he held until May 1, 1866, when he re- signed in consequence of failing health, and was succeeded by Chancellor Zabriskie.

Ile was a trustee in the College of New Jersey, and devoted much of his time to its interests after his resignation as chancellor, and he was also a trustee of the Theological Seminary at Princeton.

As he never resided in this county, our special interest in him is as chief justice, circuit judge and chancellor, and in all these positions he had hut few peers.

Probably no man ever sat upon the bench in New Jersey who gave it more dignity than he. In man- ners he was very dignified, in demeanor on the bench he impressed every one with the importance and uignity of the court, and when the court opened, you felt that a part of the sovereignty of the State was present, and everything proceeded as though his court was the very fountain of justice, and that no error could be committed there which industry,

learning and a con cientious desire to do his whole duty could detect, and if one was beaten in a cause, the vanquished party never felt that defeat came to hun through failure to attempt to grasp and under- stand the cause, but because the judge had him- self mistaken the facts, and made an erroneous application of the law to the same. Governor William l'ennington once said, "that he always liked to try a cause before Chief Justice Green, as he then felt that there was a God in Israel."

He gave to the causes he investigated both at law and in equity the most thorough investigation, and examined the authorities bearing upon the question with the greatest care; and when he prepared his opiniona, they were in the best style of English liter- ature, their diction faultless, the arrangement of authority such that the opinion itselfshowed that the deepest recess of search hnd been exhausted and every authority which bore on the question found; and questions which bore on the policy of the law were always illustrated by the views of great statesmen, which developed bis general reading ; in fact, he followed precedent and example very chely, and

His opinions, as reported in the law and equity re- porta, are high authority, and have been eited with great approbation in England. Chief Justice Green impressed every one with the importance and dignity of the court and of the duty of faithfulness which the bar owed to the court and their clients; and one of those duties to be practiced by the bar was thorough devotion to their client's cause, and that nothing should be left undone by the lawyer which industry and a faithful discharge of duty could bring out in both obtaining the facts and research for the law bearing on the facts. Such a man elevated him- self, the court, the bar, and society in general, and his impress on the State will last even after the men with whom he associated have all passed away.

Hle did a great service to the people of this county. It was the custom for target companies to come over from New York City and make great disturbances here.

The Kelly Guards came over and got on a regular spree, discharged their fire-arms in Montgomery Street, and spread consternation everywhere; many of them were arrested, and Chief Justice Green sent every man to the State's prison for a long term ; he broke up the outrages, and they have never been again repeated.

He died Dec. 19, 1876, at the age of seventy-two.

EX-GOVERNOR DANIEL HMINES Was the third jus- tice of the Supreme Court regularly assigned to hold the Hudson Circuit ; he succeeded Chief Justice Henry W. Green at the September term, 1853, and presided in this county until the end of the year Is55,

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 94

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830