USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Jersey City > History of Jersey City, N.J. : a record of its early settlement and corporate progress, sketches of the towns and cities that were absorbed in the growth of the present municipality, its business, finance, manufactures and form of government, with some notice of the men who built the city > Part 11
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In 1865 there were 25 teachers and 1,729 pupils. A Normal school was established, in which the male principals alternated in giving instruction to the teachers and candidates for certifi- cates, and in the latter part of the year a High school was established with Mr. J. N. Flint as teacher. He resigned in 1866, and Miss Denton succeeded him until 1868, when she, too, resigned, and Mr. E. O. Chapman was made principal. In October, 1869, the school was dis- continued for lack of funds. In the following spring Mr. Chapman became superintendent of the schools of the consolidated city. The school census, after incorporation, showed these totals :
1856
766
1863 . 1864 .
1,967 2,722
1857
97 2
1858
573
1865
2,909
1859
1,204
1866 3,476
1860
1,339
1867 3,468
1861
1,539
1868
4,006
1862
1,539
1869 4,198
When Hudson City was consolidated with Jersey City it had an effective school depart- ment with five schools. There were but four when the city was chartered in 1855. Prior to that there had been a continuous improvement which was noted by Mayor Wright in his first message to the aldermen. He said : " Twenty years ago Sz a quarter and a Yankee school- master who boarded around, satisfied the public demand." In that sentence he gave a pano- ramic view of the starting point. The school property at consolidation was :
Value of Houses
Value of Furniture and Fixtures.
Total.
No. 1.
$40,000
$2,500
$42,500
No. 2.
30,000
1,500
31,500
No. 3.
1 2,000
1,200
13,200
No. 4.
10,000
800
10,800
No. 5.
28,000
1,800
29,800
$120,000
$7,800
$127,800
School.
and Lots.
During the fifteen years of Hudson City's corporate existence there was only one episode which attracted the attention of the outside world. That was the tunnel riot, or more properly riots, for there were several disturbances which reached that character. Very soon after the city was incorporated the Erie Railway Company organized a company known as the Long Dock Improvement Company, to build a tunnel and a new terminal station. The Eric's main ter- minal was at Piermont, on the Hudson, but by an extension in 1853. under the name of the Paterson and Hudson Railroad Company, the Erie got access to Jersey City by West End and the New Jersey Railroad cut. The Long Dock Company was incorporated in 1856, and began work filling in the upper part of Harsimus Cove and excavating the tunnel under Hudson City simultaneously. The tunnel was completed in 1861. and is 4.300 feet long. It cost St.cco.coo. exclusive of the land damage, and was, when finished, the most important work of its kind in the country. A large force of laborers were imported to carry on the work and they squatted on the land the company bought for a right of way, besides spreading over the adjoming va. cant property. The panic of 1857 caused a suspension of the work because the company could
70
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
not raise capital for its prosecution. This suspension was followed by riotous demonstrations on the part of the workmen, and the troops were called out. In 1859 work was resumed and things went along peaccably for a few months, but the company found difficulty in raising funds. On Thursday, September 15, 1859, the men quit work because they had not been paid. They built a barricade of stones across the Erie railway and refused to allow the trains to reach the city. Mayor Collerd, of Hudson City, and Receiver Marsh, of the Erie railway, went out on a special train from Jersey City to talk to the men and promise them payment for all ar- rears. The men would not be pacified. They had utilized their idle time in a large measure to get drunk, and the peacemakers were glad to make their escape.
On Friday the company called for help. The stock trains were blockaded on the meadow, and the live stock were dying for want of food and water. The milk trains were shut out, and the milk had spoiled. The damage on milk alone was abont $28,000 a day. Col. Gregory called out the Second Regiment. The companies responding were the Independence Guard, Captain Grain ; Washington Guard, Captain Speer ; Greenville Gnard, Captain C. Liliendahl ; Close Light Guard, Captain Van Buskirk, and a section of the Hudson Artillery with one field-piece. Col. Gregory established headquarters in the Hudson House, Jersey City. He held them in readiness to respond to a call from Sheriff Henry B. Beaty, but the call did not come. It sub- sequently transpired that the Erie Railroad Company had refused to pay the expenses incurred by the Sheriff in quelling a previous riot, and Beaty was not going to assume the cost of this much more alarming demonstration. On Saturday the rioters became more demonstrative. They chased the contractors away, broke into their stores and destroyed railroad property. Hudson City was terrorized, and Mayor Collerd appealed to Brig .- Gen. J. T. Hatfield. He issued an order late on Saturday, calling out the Second and Fourth regiments and the Hudson Artillery. They assembled at headquarters in Jersey City on Sunday morning. September 18th, and marched to the New Jersey Railroad depot, where flat cars were provided for the artillery and passenger coaches for the other troops. They were taken to West End, and there a barricade was found. It was a wall built of rocks and mortar. The troops removed this, and moved slowly, under a shower of stones and insults from the brutal mob, which contained a large percentage of women. The militia charged on the mob, and spent the whole day in arresting strikers who had been noted by detectives. Most of the prisoners were discharged after spending part of the day, tied hand and foot, in freight ears, but seventy of the ringleaders were arrested and taken to the county jail. During Sunday night the discomfited rioters attacked the house of Alfred Austin, who had done good service during the day in causing the arrest of strikers. They also made a demonstration at the house of Mayor Collerd, but were driven off. At the examination, subsequently, thirty-three of the prisoners were discharged and thirty-nine held for the grand jury. The business of the railroad was stopped four days, and a very serious loss inflicted in actual damage and loss of business.
The population increased rapidly after the city was incorporated. Each five years it doubled. There were 3,322 in 1855 and 7,229 in 1860. In 1865 it had grown to 13,151, and more than 20,000 at the time of consolidation. The growth of the eity will be more readily seen by looking at the tax levies made after the charter became operative. These were as follows :
1855
1863 1864 $21,260 40,200
1856
1857
1865
41,125
1858 13,923 17,181
1866
44,500
1859
1867 58,400
1860 18,575
1868 86.800
1861
16,000
1869 116,450
15,188 1862 18,300 $7,062 8,925
The Mayors were elected annually. The first was Gen. E. R. V. Wright, 1855 : Garret D. Van Reipen was elected in 1856 and again in 1861 and 1868. Edmund T Carpenter was elected in 1857, 1858, 1860 and 1861. He died in office and was succeeded by G. D. Van Reipen. Abraham Collerd was elected in 1850, and Benjamin F. Sawyer in 1869 The City Clerks were : Alexander Watson, in 1855 ; Thomas Harrison, 1855 to 1856 ; Charles J. Roe, 1356 to 1870.
71
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
' The members of the Board of Aldermen were :
Nathaniel Orr, 1855. J. M. Wilson, 1855-56-57- John H. Greschele, 1855-56. Henry B. Beatty, 1855. Garrett D. Van Reipen, 1855-58-60-61-62. Joseph Aldridge, 1855-57.
E. M. Eoff, 1855-56. Louis Dunham, 1855-56.
Jacob Newkirk, 1856. C. W. Allen, 1856.
George V. DeMotte, 1857-63-64-65-66.
Joseph Schoening, 1857-58.
J. F. Talson, 1857-58. James Cummings, 1857-58.
W. H. Scott, 1857.
James Monroe, 1857.
G. Van Houten, 1858. B. B. Brown, 1858. J. B. Gennocchio, 1858. Wortman, 1858.
James Montgomery, 1859.
F. Wetmore, 1859. G. A. Toffey, 1859.
George Glaubrecht, 1859-60.
Joseph Sturgis, 1859.
J. R. Elgar, 1859. N. Boyd, 1859. Alex. Franck, 1859-60-61-62-63.
G. Gedney, 1860-61-62-63. Sylvanus Judd, 1860-61-62. P. F. Wortendyke. 1860-61-62. Anton Schick, 1860-61-62. W. H. Dockstadter, 1860. John Leicht, 1861-62-63-64.
T. Deegan, 1861-62. J. D. Waugh, 1862. Seth Geer, 1862-63.
Wm. M. Green, 1862. Charles Luxton, 1863.
J. Leitz, 1863-64-67-68.
Patrick McNulty, 1863-64-65-66-67-68-69.
John R. McPherson, 1864-65-66-67-68-69.
Perry T. Cumberson, 1864-65.
James R. Tait, 1864-65-66.
Tobias Martini, 1864-65-66-67-68-69.
Charles Lockle, 1865-66.
William Maller, 1865-66.
J. B. Stanton, 1867-68. Henry Pattberg, 1867-68.
Wm. E. Benjamin, 1867.
Fred. A. Poetze, 1867.
Fred. A. Goetze, 1868.
George J. Ellwood, 1868-69.
C. P. Dakin, 1869.
John Hogan, 1869.
Patrick Harrington, 1869. John McFadden, 1869.
The members of the Board of Education were :
PRESIDENTS.
Jesse West, 1855.
Jacob Miller, 1856-7.
Chas. E. Newham, 1858-61.
G. VanHouten, 1862.
Geo. V. DeMotte, 1862.
P. F. Wortendyke, 1863-6.
T. M. Seward, 1867-8. Job Lippincott, 1869-70.
SUPERINTENDENTS.
Aaron Lloyd, 1854.
Horace M. Smith, 1855.
Jas. R. Dey, 1856.
N. W. Camp, 1857-8.
Isaac Emmons, 1859.
J. E. Culver, 1860-1, 64-5.
Wm. H. Dockstadter, 1862-3.
F. E. Noble, 1866, 69. A. H. Laidlaw, 1867-8.
Chas. E. Newham, 1855-7. Francis C. Sebring, 1858-9. S. N. Gaston, 1860-1.
CLERKS.
Wm. Clarkson, 1862. Jno. J. Ruete, 1863. E. M. Eoff, 1864-70.
72
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY. Board of Education-Continued.
MEMBERS.
Aldridge, Thos., 1856-7.
Andrews, Thos., 1864-6.
Brower, W. E., 1867-9.
Matthews, 1860.
Brown, B. B., 1857.
Magonigle, 1862.
Bellows, Theo., 1857-9.
Magce, Robert, 1864-5.
Cummings, Jas., 1855-6, 59, 60-1.
Metz, Albert, 1864-6.
Conklin, David, 1855-8.
Naugle, Wm., 1855-6.
Clarkson, Wm., 1861-2.
Newham, C. E., 1855-61.
Conger, C. W., 1865-7.
Newkirk, Jacob, 1856-7.
Dey, Jas. R., 1855-6.
Noble, F. E., 1863-4.
Dewint, S. H., 1859.
Orr, N., 1859-60. O'Neil, J. H., 1866.
Dockstadter, W. H., 1862.
DeMotte, Geo. W., 1862.
Platt, J. H., 1855, 64-5.
Eoff, E. M., 1863-9.
Roe, Chas. J., 1856.
Franck, Alex., 1864-5.
Ruete, J. J., 1863.
Gaston, S. N., 1858-61.
Rooney, C. J., 1869.
Gedney, G., 1858.
Smith, Justus, 1855-6.
Gantz, Geo. F., 1859-60.
Sebring, F. C., 1858-60.
Gennocchio, Louis, 1861.
Seward, T. M., 1866-8.
Glaubrecht, Geo., 1861-2, 66-9.
Sawyer, B. F., 1868.
Geer, Seth, 1862.
Schultze, C. F., 1869.
Gennocchio, J. B., 1862-9.
Goetze, F. A., 1866.
Haven, 1858. Higginbotham, B., 1867-8.
Van Houten, G., 1860-2.
Van Tassel, Jno. M., 1860-2.
Van Reipen, C. C., 1862.
Van Horne, 1863.
West, Jesse, 1855.
Wortendyke, P. F., 1858-9, 63-8.
Leicht, Andrew, 1862.
Toffey, Geo. A., 1856-8, 62-3. Tate, J. R., 1862-3, 69.
Haslam, E. P., 1867-9.
Jacobus, James, 1861-3.
Keenan, John, 1857-8.
Lippincott, Job, 1868-9. Miller, Jacob, 1855-8.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE STORY OF BERGEN-ITS VILLAGE DAYS-THE OLD ROADS-COMMUNIPAW-LAFAYETTE-CLARE- MONT-THE STAGE LINE-STREET RAILWAY BUILT-SCHOOL BUILDING-THE CITY HALLS-A CITY CHARTER-WHERE THE CONSOLIDATION IDEA ORIGINATED-CARRIED INTO EFFECT- PECULIAR CONTRACTS-THE CITY OFFICIALS.
ERGEN County was formed under an Act of Assembly in 1682, and the peninsula now known as Hudson County was a township of Bergen County, and was called Ber- gen. Its affairs were managed by trustees, who held office for life. When matters of more than ordinary importance required aetion town meetings were called to de- cidle them. The town clerk acted as clerk of these meetings, and a moderator was chosen for each occasion. The population was sparse during the first century and a half. In 1745 the whole area included in Hudson and Bergen counties contained but 3,006 persons. In 1830 it had only increased to 22,412, and nearly half of that increase was in the section that was set off ten years later as Hudson County. The hereditary trus- tees became unpopular and were supplanted by elective officials. After the county of Hudson had been formed out of the township of Bergen the residents objected to elections because of the time lost in go- ing to the polling place. After the revolution a custom grew up through which the election officers held neighborhood elections on different days in different places. In 1803 the polls were opened at the Widow Van Horn's, in Bergen REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, BERGEN. Erected 1773. Taken down 1841. Woods, North Bergen, and closed at Peter Stuyvesant's tavern in Bergen town. For half a century the election officers established the polling place at Stuyvesant's tavern. The last time it was used was at the November election in 1840. The old building is still standing on its original site at the south- west corner of Bergen and Glenwood avennes.
The separation of towns and cities from Bergen reduced it piecemeal until its northern boundary was the Pennsylvania Railroad cut. The railway made a boundary from the hill to the Hackensack. Eastward of the hill the boundary was Mill Creek. This began near Fremont Street and crossed Montgomery Street a short distance west of Brunswick Street. It crossed Grand nearly on the same line and reached the bay near the corner of Jersey and Johnston avenues. The two bays formed the eastern and western boundaries and the Kill- von-Kull made a natural boundary on the south. What is now Bayonne had a number of small settlements in it, known as Salterville, Bayonne, Centreville and Bergen Point. Bayonne was lopped off in 1861 and these settlements dropped out of Jersey City's reach for the time.
The township of Bergen was re-chartered as the Town of Bergen on March 24, 1855. The population then was 4,972, and the total tax levy, including the state, county, school and town taxes, $4,250. The town included a number of settlements or neighborhoods separated by broad stretches of farm land, common and meadows. Its total area was 7,007 aeres. First of these was
74
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
the original Bergen, the settlement around Bergen Square. It was but a small group of houses in 1855. They are nearly all standing yet-quaint old buildings, like the Sip house, at Bergen and Newkirk street : the old De Mott house, at the southeast corner of the square ; the old Gautier house, between Newkirk and Sip, on the west side of Bergen Avenue ; the residence of Mr. C. C. Van Reipen, at the corner of Idaho and Academy Street ; the house of the late Garrett Sip, aeross the street from the Van Reipen house ; the residence of H. N. Van Wagenen near by ; the Newkirk houses, on Newkirk and Church streets, and a few others. This settlement was separated generally from the next one by a series of ponds and fresh water swamps. The Newkirks, Welshs, Vreelands and others, too long a list to enumerate here, lived on the hill south of the swamp on the hilly land in the vicinity of Communipaw Avenue. Lafayette was a section of upland farm land which had been laid out in building plots by a land syndicate, in which the prime movers were OLD SIP MANSION. the contracting firm of Keeney & Halladay. It was for these pioneers that a road was built out West Grand Street. Prior to 1848 travel from Communipaw and all points south had to reach the ferry at Jersey City by way of Academy Street, or around by Five Corners and Newark Avenue. Before 1805 the Academy Street road was the only one leading from Paulus Hook to the hill. Mill Creek at that time was navigable for small sailing vessels.
Communipaw, the settlement of the Van Horns and the Garrabrants, was the eastern part of Bergen town. The story of its settlement in colonial times is given elsewhere. It was connected with the hill by an ordinary country wagon road, on the line of what is now Com- munipaw Avenue. Summit and Storm avenues were laid out to shorten the distance from Communipaw to Bergen. The old Van Horn house, with the four chimneys, so charmingly described by Washington Irving in his stories of Communipaw, is still standing on Phillips Street. Lafayette, which was originally the Garra- brant farm, with an African burying-ground on the line of Pacific Avenue, about halfway between the canal and Communipaw Avenue, was bought by William Keeney and John R. Halla- day, and mapped as a town in 1856. They divided it into town lots and put it on the market, but it did not sell well until after the war period. A roadway was built out West Grand Street, and a wooden bridge erected INTERIOR OF OLD SIP MANSION over Mill Creek in 1848. The original foundation for the roadway, near the creek, was formed by floating old canal boats up the ereek at high tide and loading them with stones until they sank in the mud. That part of the work was done under the direction of Andrew Clerk. The
75
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
road was beneficial to people living in Lafayette and Communipaw, but it sank so low that it was sometimes overflowed by high tides.
Claremont, another land speculation, was a small settlement on Ocean Avenue, south of the Newark and New York Railroad. It is still preserved on the map by the name of Clare- mont Avenue. Greenville, a small settlement of German families that bought land on what was once the Gantier tract, three miles below Jersey City, completed the settlements in the town of Bergen. Five councilmen, who met from time to time, transacted the public business under a charter that gave them but little power. The roads were narrow and unpaved. There were no sidewalks, and most of the roads were drained by open ditches.
The stages between Bergen and Jersey City were owned by Peter Merseles, and were changed to omnibuses when the town got a charter. They started from the ferry every half- hour, when they were on time and found passengers. Sometimes they waited for the next boat to prevent going out empty. An office and waiting room was maintained at the corner of Bay Street and Newark Avenue, in a frame building which is still standing, the central part of the stack of buildings on the triangle formed by Bay, Erie and Newark Avenne. These om- nibuses went by way of Five Corners and stopped at the Columbian Hotel, a building still
COMMUNIPAW SHORE IN 1857.
standing as Foye Hall, at Foye Place, then Park Street and Bergen Avenue. During the winter months large sleighs took the place of the omnibuses, and the roads were frequently impassable for wheeled vehicles on account of the snow. In 1859 Garrett Sip and others organized the Jersey City and Bergen Street Railway Company and laid a single track road on Newark, Summit, Sip and Bergen avenues. The beginning of the colony of car stables was built at that time. Peter Merseles having sold out to the railway company, in order to attract travel to the line, the Merseles orchard was turned into a pienic grove, and for several years it was a popular resort for Sunday-schools in the daytime and for summer nights' dances. Orchard Street still preserves the memory of the old place, gone a quarter of a century ago. The horse cars were of peculiar construction. The body was a counterpart of an omnibus. The driver sat on top and pulled the door at the rear shut with a strap. The fares were handed up through a small hole by the passengers. When the cars reached the end of their destination the driver turned the horses and the body of the ear turned, leaving the truck stationary on the track, thus saving turn-tables or switches. Poor as the traveling accommodations were. the beauty of the hill seetion attracted residents from Jersey City and New York, and bucolic Bergen had an awakening. In five years the population had increased nearly a third. The census of 1860 showed 7,429 inhabitants. This included Greenville and Bayonne.
76
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
When the war period arrived no section was more patriotic than Bergen The little plaza in front of Smith's hall, at the junction of Storm and Jewett avenues, was filled nightly with young men who were drilled by D. L. Holden, and all went to the front. Later, when drafts were ordered, the town committee paid $300 bounty to volunteers, besides paying to maintain the families of volunteers where required. Garrett Van Horn had charge of the enlistment, and expended $28,746.24 in securing 94 men. His account was audited by John Brinkerhoff and John C. Van Horn, in January, 1864. There was scarcely a family in the town that was
THE OLD GAUTIER MANSION, ON NEWARK BAY.
not represented at the front, by one or more members. The act separating Bayonne from Bergen was passed in 1862, and the southern boundary of Bergen was placed at the Morris Canal, in Currie's woods, an old time picnic resort. On March 11, 1862, the Bergen charter was amended and three wards created. These were named instead of being numbered. The old Bergen sec- tion was called the Columbian ward, the region east of the hill was the Communi- paw ward, and all south of Communipaw Avenue was the Franklin ward. Each ward had a school-house. The brick build- ing at the square was the principal school. There was another in the Franklin ward,
known as the Franklin School of District No. 2. It was built by Aaron V. P. Jones, a noted contractor in his day. He is still living, and in good health, at Cliffwood, N. J. He completed the building on May 1, 1855, and it was opened for pupils on May 10th. The building cost $1,158, the desks and seats added $180.40, making the total $1,338.40. James Welsh was the first principal, and Miss Smith was his assistant. School Trustee Myndert Van Horn gave the building his especial attention during its construction. An addition was built on the rear of the building in 1857 by P. Mersereau, who was an apprentice under Jones when the first struct- ure was erected. The Lafayette school in Pine Street was built in 1865. These schools were managed by a board of edu- cation appointed by the coun- cil. There was also a fire de- partment, well provided with apparatus. In 1863 the town of Greenville was cut off from Bergen. Bayonne had taken away 2,611 acres of Bergen's area, and Greenville took off 1,670 acres, leaving the town but 2,726 acres in 1863. In spite of these large losses in area and population, Bergen had increased its population in 1865 to 7,000, and was grow- ing with a rapidity that in- vited reckless real estate speculation. BERGEN SQUARE IN 1852.
In 1866 the charter was again amended, and the town got a mayor and other municipal officers. The town hall belonged to a man named Smith, and it was known as Smith's Hall. It was burned down, and Smith, while exploring the ruins, stepped on a nail, injured his foot, and died of lockjaw. The common council moved to Belmont Hall, on Monticello Avenue, until Library Hall was built by the library association. Library Hall served for a city hall until consolidation. In 1868 the town was incorporated as a city, and from that time until it was merged
77
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
with Jersey City the work of street improvement was rapid and continuous. When the town blossomed into a city in April, 1868, the total debt was $152,079.72. This included four items-a war debt of $121,500, a school-house debt of $15,Soo, a disputed assessinent debt of $4,779.72 and $10,000 for the Pacific Avenne bridge over the Morris Canal. The two first items were a general debt. The other two were a special debt on the Lafayette section. The assessment for the improvement of Pacific, then Washington Avenue, had been contested by Keeney & Halladay and others for several years. The total receipts of the town for the fiseal year preceding the election under the city charter were $179,453-97, and there was a balance in the treasury awaiting the new officers of $15,982.07, or more than the special debt. These receipts included the money received on assessments. There had been but little spent on street improvements by prior boards, for Mayor Hilton, in his first message to the aldermen, kdl : "The streets are miserable apologies, simply crooked lanes." He also called attention to the bad condition of Franklin school-house, to the bad sidewalks and to the necessity for appointing Sunday police. Prior to 1868 Bergen was only a straggiing village. During the two years of its city life it was a busy place. The population nearly doubled, and public work was carried on in every direction. It was provided with boards of aldermen, water commissioners, fire board and board of education. Passaie water was secured from the Jersey City reservoir and water mains were laid in many streets. The streets were widened, extended and paved. New streets were laid out through farm land, new school and engine houses were built, and there were signs of danger ahead when the plan for consolidation with Jersey City was proposed. It was a big scheme, and the Hudson City people thought it was proposed to help Bergen bear its load. Hudson City was much more conservative, though it, too, felt the forward movement which was changing farin land to city lots and attracting a cosmopolitan population.
On October 11, 1869, a convention was called by Mayor Harrison to consider the ques- tion of consolidation. The result was the appointment of John M. Cornelison, George Gif- ford, J. B. Cleveland and Thomas W. James as a committee of one from each of the four wards into which Bergen was then divided to consult with similar committees from Jersey City and Hudson City. Mayor Sawyer, of Hudson City, and Mayor Clark, with Fresident Clarke, of the Board of Aldermen in Jersey City, had been added to the committees from those cities, and on November 22, 1869, Mayor Harrison was added to the committee for Bergen. This joint committee considered the charter for the new city. It was somewhat crude when it was finished, and that crudity helped to secure the charter of reorganization. The last report made by the city board of assessors before consolidation showed this result :
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