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 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
The Aldermen elected that spring were : Robert Bumsted, George H. Farrier, David C. Joyce, Dennis Reardon, James M. Savage, Charles Stier, John S. Edwards, Arend Steenken, D. L. Holden, Jasper Wandel, H. V. Mandeville and Simeon H. Smith. Joyce was ousted on December 26, 1871, because he was not a citizen. He was a Horseshoe member.
The Board of Education is given elsewhere. It had little to do with the political persecu- tion that followed, though it had financial troubles with the rest of the city government during these trying times.
The claims for payment on back jobs and contracts kept coming in. The reservoir job called for a total of $616,637.85 by October, within six months after the new government took office. Old floating debt amounting to $159,298 was paid, and $322,500 in improvement certifi- cates were issued on the old contracts, with $337,000 still outstanding. There were $1,677,806.81 of bonds issued, and $1,655,000 of the bonds were issued on account of the deeds of the old city government. In spite of this drain the new government reduced the tax levy for 1871 a trifle below the levy of 1870. It was $1, 103,456.65. This was still over thirty per cent. more than the last levy before consolidation, and the taxpayers paid with much complaint when they paid at all. The democratic politicians made great use of the extravagance of the new government and the high rate of taxation when addressing their political meetings. They neglected to state that this extravagance was due to prior administrations. It was this oversight which caused a balance sheet to be made at the end of the first six months under the commissions showing the foregoing results.
The city government had accomplished a great deal of work in a short time. The police force was cleared of incompetents and reorganized, the school system was also reorganized, and a high school provided to finish the course of study begun in the lower schools. The fire de- partment was changed from the volunteer system, in which men drew the engines, to a paid system with horses as the motive power. The numerous contracts for street improvements caused many miles of grading, paving and sewering. The people were getting something for their money, but not enough. They were getting more than they could afford, but that was not wholly the fault of the officials who were called upon to raise the money to pay the contract- ors. One of the notable events of the fall of 1872 was the appearance of eight-page supple- ments in the local papers containing the names of delinquent taxpayers, whose property was advertised to be sold because they had not kept pace with the demands made upon them.
CHAPTER XVI.
" THE BUMSTED RING "-POLITICAL PERSECUTION THROUGH THE COURTS-ALLEGED EXTRAVAGANCE OF THE COMMISSIONERS-WHAT CAUSED THE EXTRAVAGANCE, AND WHO WAS REALLY RESPONSI- BLE FOR IT-THE CITY OUT OF FUNDS-RAPID GROWTH OF THE INTEREST-BEARING DEBT- WHERE THE MONEY WENT.
HE most prominent advocate of the new charter was William H. Bumsted. He was the man who, as a member of the first board of aldermen in the consolidated city, pre- cipitated the bank war. He was a builder. and a practical, aggressive man. His activity made him a target for political attack, though he was but one of the group of city officials created by the charter. He was chairman of the committee that went to Trenton to engineer the passage of the charter, a law which was much maligned, but which provided the framework of the city government from that time to the present, notwithstanding the abuse heaped upon it and the changes wrought by partisan legislation. On account of his efforts the charter became known as the Bumsted Charter. The commissioners appointed under its pro- visions were called by their political opponents the Bumsted Ring. He has been dead more than a score of years. The population that knew him was not half the size of the present city. Fully a hundred thousand persons now in the city have come since his death and know of him only by hearsay. Yet thousands talk glibly about the Bunisted Ring. They know nothing of the political persecution which was carried on against the city officials of 1872 which made him the target for the attack. There were wrong's committed, and he may have been to blame, in part, for some of them, but there is no doubt that he suffered vicariously. The board of public works was authorized by an act that became operative in April, 1871.
The political persecution was begun in January, 1872. A democratic sheriff and a demo- cratic grand jury were the instruments used to make it effective. The fire commissioners, among whom was Col. D. S. Gregory, were indicted for buying horses for the fire department without advertising for and making contracts for the purchases. The police commissioners were indicted for levying political assessments and for increasing the pay of the police captains. J. W. Soper, city engineer, was indicted for certifying that a contractor had excavated 647 yards of a sewer trench at a time when he had dug but 500 yards. The two police justices were in- dicted for committing prisoners for trial. A number of the commissioners were indicted for owning stock in a German newspaper which they had helped financially, and that had been authorized to print official advertisements. Several persons were indicted for conspiracy in purchasing the site for reservoir No. 3. One of these was Commissioner Bumsted. It was he they were after. It was charged that he informed a real estate dealer which lots were to be bought, and thus allowed him to buy them in and make a big profit in re-selling to the city. Bumsted stated that he had loaned money to the real estate dealer, and it was proven that the money was borrowed by the real estate dealer to pay for the land. Bumsted was carrying on a large business and was in the habit of borrowing from and lending considerable sums to his business associates. Most of the charges made were too trivial to stand judicial scrutiny. Judge Bedle allowed most of the indictments to be quashed on May 13th, but the case against Bumsted was pushed and he became the only victim. He was sentenced to imprisonment for a few months and the disgrace resulted in his death.
In looking back over a score of years, after most of the participants are dead, it seems that much injustice was done to the city officials, and the disgrace that was brought upon them has lasted beyond the object that was sought by the partisans who were concerned. Even ex- Mayor Charles H. O'Neill, a man who then and now has the confidence and respect of all who know him, was besmirched by an indictment which was as great an injustice as could have been perpetrated against him. It failed to do him any harm, but that was because he was
85
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
blameless. The people took but little stock in the indictments. A republican majority was the result of the elections in 1872, in spite of the elaborate campaign in the courts. The board of works made a mistake in failing to limit the public improvements when it was found that the oldl contracts were becoming burdensome. The city financiers were severely tried in their efforts to meet the claims. They found that the Board of Thirty-two had left them with a deficiency account for 1871 of $217,000, made by keeping the tax levy below the amount of the budget. They also found a legacy of $400,000 of floating debt. The claims on the old con- tracts had called for $348,000 in eleven months under the board of works, and the water- works had required an expenditure of $550,000. The balance of February 10, 1872, showed $902,518.41 paid on old contracts, besides $398,500 of improvement certificates. Thus, in less than a year, the board of works had paid $1,361,018.41 of debt it did not create. Besides this, more than one-third of the tax of 1871 was not paid, and there was as large a deficiency in the tax of 1872.
In the face of these facts the board decided to buy the Harrison estate at the corner of Newark and Palisade avenues for a city hall site. It would have been a fine location if the city had been in a position to buy it, but it was not, and especially at the price it was offered. There was a job behind the apparently innocent purchase. The resolution to buy the place specified the area as 306,764 square feet, for which $2,000 was to be paid for each 2,500 square feet. The price subsequently appeared to be $320,000, or more than twice what the land was worth. The general government owned a tract of land on the west side of Palisade Avenue, fronting also on Hoboken Avenue. It had an old brick building on it, once used as an arsenal. The plot was sold in May, 1871, for $71.000, or about $10,000 an acre. The price paid by the board of works for the Harrison property was over $30,000 an acre, and a considerable part of the estate was in the meadow below the hill. Ex-Mayor Orestes Cleveland did not appear in the transaction, but it was generally understood that he was concerned in it. Mayor O'Neill promptly vetoed the resolution, but the fact that the board of works would pass such a resolu- tion militated against them.
The new city government did a great deal of good work. The main arteries of travel were rebuilt and improved. There was not a decent road between Jersey City and its two neighbors when the board of works began. It soon had Newark Avenue, Academy Street, Montgomery Street and Grand Street rebuilt, and with the exception of Montgomery Street all were in good condition, and all were very expensive undertakings. New school-houses were built, new fire apparatus procured, new streets were opened, new sewers built and many miles of streets were paved. J. B. Cleveland secured contraets at exorbitant figures to lay wooden pavements on Jersey Avenue, Grand Street, Monticello Avenue, Bergen Avenue and Montgomery Street. Nearly all of the cost went into bonds and became a part of the permanent debt. The wood soon rotted away, but the bonds are still sound and bear interest.
The legislature of 1873 continued the government by commission, and the commissioners appointed were: Board of Works, J. M. Cornelison, Wm. Startup, M. H. Gillett, Asa W. Fry. Rudolph Surber, F. T. Farrier and J. C. De la Vergne ; Board of Police, F. A. Goetze, Thomas Edmondson, J. Z. Marinus. Walter Neilson and Wm. Van Kenren; Board of Fire, John B. Drayton, John Boyd, A. B. Dean, S. W. Stilsing and F. C. Speers. The clerks of the boards remained the same. A financial panie spread over the country during 1873, and the overloaded city government felt it severely. The Board of Finance found great difficulty in securing money for current expenses. The taxes were not paid promptly, bonds could not be sold, and when they were sold the rate was ruinous. Six per cent. bonds were sold as low as eighty-six during the year. The people complained of the burdens and a commission was appointed to scale down the assessments in order to raise money. To add to the difficulty the city treasurer absconded with $87,000 in city bonds. City employes could not get their salaries and the out- look was discouraging. Still the improvements went on, and the final payments on the old con- tracts came due. The exact amount that was added to the city debt by these old contract- cannot at this time be readily ascertained because of the manner in which they were changed from assessments to temporary and permanent interest-bearing debt, through setting aside a.l or part of many assessments and the issue of bonds in anticipation of payment, which, by sub- sequent consolidations and payments, have come to stand upon the city books in large blocks. which could only be traced to the ultimate items by months of research that would produce
86
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
comparatively valucless results. When City Clerk John E. Scott was asked in 1894 how much the debt had been increased by the old contracts he said, "About six million dollars."
The rapid growth of the city during that period involved a large expenditure legitimately for street extension, water main extensions and sewer construction. The sudden change in the hill section from farm land to building lots invited speculation in land, much of which was on a margin, and the panic of 1873 caused many persons to fail. Many of these victims of over- speculation associated the loss and misery they suffered with the city government. Others whose bad judgment needed scapegoats, blamed the " Bumsted ring," and thus helped interested partisans in the largely undeserved denunciation of the city officials, who were collectively known as the "Bumsted ring" long after Bumsted was dead.
The panic of 1873 bore so heavily on the city that it could not raise money for current ex- penses. The result of much consultation was a decision to change the fiscal year from July Ist to November 30th. This would enable the board of finance to issue bonds to meet the current expenses of the city. The bonds were issued, and through the assistance of Frederick Lock- wood, of Greenville, who was a member of the board of finance, the whole amount of $366,000 was hypothecated with his firm, and the money advanced. The bonds were subsequently sold in the ordinary way, and now form an unidentifiable part of the consolidated city debt.
On April 1, 1874, the city debt had grown to $13,082.775. It was only $5,130,584.83 in 1870, when the three cities were consolidated. This increase of $7.952,190.17 has formed the staple of the charges against the " Bumsted ring" for the score of years that have since elapsed, and has been magnified by partisan opponents of Bumsted's party to figures that account for the whole debt brought on by subsequent mismanagement. It is worth while to examine the items which constituted this large bonded indebtedness. In the city's books the debt is divided under three heads : the general, assessment and water. The general debt was represented by tangi- ble assets and total losses ; the assessment debt was for interest-bearing paper issued to raise money with which to pay contractors for labor and material in advance of payment by prop- erty-owners on assessments for benefits ; the water debt was self-sustaining. The water rents paid the interest, and the people had something for their money. The general debt statement on April 1, 1874, showed these figures : At consolidation : Bergen, $257,000 ; City of Hudson, $259,650 ; Jersey City, $928,825.
At the end of 1870, under the board of Thirty-two: Morgan Street dock bonds, $125,000 ; sundry bonds, $49,000.
Under the charter of 1871 : Funded debt, $400,000 ; for public buildings, $100,000 ; recon- struction of streets and sewers, Nicholson pavements, etc., $400.000 ; Newark Avenue im- provement, $10,000 ; for city expenses, July 1 to November 30, 1873, $366,000 ; for Greenville's debt, $270,500 ; total, $3,265,975.
The assessment debt for Bergen was $550,000, issued under the board of Thirty-two, in an- ticipation of assessment collections under old contracts, S1.000,000, and $3.736,500 of twenty- year improvement bonds, largely on account of old contracts, making a total of $5.286,500.
The water debt included these items : City of Bergen before consolidation, $102,000 ; City of Hudson before consolidation, $15,300 ; Jersey City before consolidation, $1,893,000. Under the charter of 1871 : water scrip, $1,884,000, and water bonds for $636.000 ; total, $4,530,300. Thus, under the three heads the debt was : General, $3.265,975 ; assessment, $5,286,500 ; water, $4,530,300 ; total, $13,082,775, of which nearly one-half was on account of the old contracts for which the " Bumsted ring " was not responsible. If this is deducted and the total debt at consolidation is added to the sum the remainder, or about $1,952,190.17, represents the actual sum added to the bonded debt of the city by the " Bumsted ring " during its first four years. This was spent for the water department and returned an income to the city.
CHAPTER XVII.
I.KTENVILLE-ITS SLOW GROWTH-A TOWN FORMED THE EARLY RESIDENTS-A SCHOOL BOARD ( KI LIED-THE DEMAND FOR IMPROVEMENTS PRODUCED THE STREET COMMISSIONERS AND THE COMMISSIONERS KILLED THE TOWN-CONSOLIDATION-WHAT THE TOWN CONTAINED-A I.IST 1) IT'S OFFICERS.
IWAY back in the time when history was written on the face of the earth by the Creator, a trap-rock bench was shot up from among the roots of things and formed what is now known as Bergen Hill. On the southern end of this hill a peninsula was formed by glacial morains. The tides eat into the eastern side and formed marshes. The western side was bounded by a lake, and laenstrine sands blown by centuries of west winds piled dunes along the shore. The eddying currents of the Hackensack formed land which became Doyer's Point, the difference in the tides between the East River and the Hudson made a current which formed Cavan's Point. Thus, on the southern boundary of Jersey City as it was in 1872, there were two points jutting out into the adjacent bays. Southerly from these the peninsula narrows rapidly. From this broad point to the narrowest part was old Washington School District No. 3. It was first recognized as a separate entity in May, 1668. when it was awarded to Jan Cornelison Buys, known to his generation as " Jan the Soldier." It was too far from the settlements of his time to attract residents. For centuries it remained as woodland with a few small farms and small fishing settlements. Among the early visitors in this century who saw beauty in the wooded hills and broad bays was Robert Thompson, who bought a large section in 1823, which is now partly in Jersey City and partly in Bayonne. When the Morris Canal was extended to Jersey City in 1835 this narrow neck of land attracted the en- gineers. The trap rock appeared to end there in bluffs which overlooked a valley. A marsh on the east, south of the line of trap outcrop still farther reduced the cost of construction and the canal was located there. The woods were a favorite picnic ground, and when Thompson passed away and James Currie, his nephew, obtained the property in 1841, it was still a place for Sun- day-school and other picnics and was known as Currie's woods. It was a natural park and the owners allowed all comers to use it. Later, Mr. Matthew Armstrong built a handsome resi- dence on the Bergen Point road and others were attracted by the natural beauty of the place. In 1848 a tract of land was laid out for a cemetery under the name of the Newark Bay Ceme- tery, and a small settlement, known as Saltersville, was formed on the Newark Bay shore. Salter's grove at this settlement also acquired popularity as a pienic resort.
A settlement was formed along an old road which later became Bergen Avenue, and by 1850 the place was comparatively populous. It was still known more on account of its small market gardens and the picnic woods than for any other cause. It was a part of the township of Bergen, but the residents thought it was too far away from that town, and they felt strong enough to stand alone. The earliest residents attended church at the old Bergen Reformed. but this was too far for them to go. The first church organized in the section was the Green- ville Methodist, which was incorporated July 20, 1845. The next one was Grace Episcopal. which met first in an old whalebone factory on the old Bergen road near Danforth Avenue. Others followed, but the chapter on churches tells their story. A considerable industry in the manufacture of fireworks was started by Messrs. Detwiller & Lillienthal during the fifties, and Greenville was selected as the place for the factories because of its sparse population. There was one small school-house with two teachers, and it had sufficed for a generation, when the town felt the impetus of a new life after the war broke out. On March 18, 1863, an act was signed by the governor which set Greenville off from Bergen as an independent municipality.
-
88
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
The area of the new town was 1,670 acres, of which 442 acres were marsh land and 1, 228 acres upland.
The powers conferred upon the town committee were inadequate and soon caused diffi- culty. Almost the first business that offered for the new officials was to provide against a draft. The town officers of Bergen had been struggling with that problem for many months before, and had assessed the Washington School district for its share of the expenses. The account was adjusted and settled between the two towns in a speedy and amicable manner. On August 4, 1863, the town clerk, Jacob J. Detwiller, was directed to open a recruiting station in the armory of the Greenville Guards, and a town meeting was called to raise money to pay for volunteers or substitutes. The size of the population can be imagined when it is known that the quota for Greenville was only sixteen men. The town meeting appointed Matthew Arm- strong, James Gibson, Andrew Van Horn, Charles Hermann and Frederick Bishop as a com- mittee to attend to the relief of the families of volunteers, and the quota was soon filled. The subsequent calls for troops came often, and Greenville had some trouble in providing its quota. The trouble was largely borne by Matthew Armstrong, and the people had a torchlight pro- cession one night in the early fall of 1864 to express their thanks for his assistance. At the last draft there were but 203 men in Greenville between the ages of 18 and 45 years. There were 340 children between the ages of 5 and 18 years.
The town committee met in the school-house and knew that it was in a poor condition, but did not feel able to repair it nor to build a new one until 1866, when the town meeting au- thorized the issue of $15,000 in bonds for a new school-house. It was several years before it was built, and then it was due to the efforts of Michael Schultz, Thomas Carey, James R. Williams, Charles Herig and Norman L. Rowe, who constituted the school board of 1870. The New Jersey Central Railroad had been opened in 1863, and the trains offered frequent com- munication with New York. Prior to that the Jersey City and Bergen Railroad Company placed "dummy cars " on their line from Ocean and Bramhall avenues to Bergen Point, and these means of communication were rapidly adding to the population. It was felt that better streets would make the place more comfortable and attractive, and by the fall of 1865 every- one was in favor of securing legislation that would enable Greenville to compete for the population that was flocking to other suburban towns.
The legislature in both houses was republican that year, and the creation of commissions was popular. These bodies were rapidly superseding elective bodies, and it was natural that the work should have been confided to a legislative commission. The legislature being repub- lican, it was also natural that the majority of the commissioners were republicans. The new official board was entitled "The Greenville Street Commission." Its members were : James Currie, Matthew Armstrong, Jacob O. Seymour and Michael S. Vreeland. Under their direc- tion a map was made, streets were laid out and grades established. But little work was done on the roadways. Only one street was improved to any extent, and that was Bergen Avenue. There was an impression that the streets, as laid on the map, favored the property of some owners at the expense of others and criticism developed complaint. The merits of the case became obscured in a political controversy, and thenceforth the residents were divided into hostile factions. The legislature became democratic in both branches in 1868, and the democratic faction had a new street commission act passed. The main feature of the new law was the appointment of new commissioners to supersede the first board. These were : Jacob O. Seymour, the democratic member of the first board ; Peter Rowe, a well-known conserv- ative old resident ; John H. Midmer, the owner of a mineral water factory ; John Taylor and Robert Drake. They made a new map and attempted to rectify errors alleged to have been made in the first one. In 1869 a supplement to the act was passed by the legislature, which added to the power of the commissioners. It also compelled the township committee to issue bonds to the extent of $5,000 on requisitions from the street commissioners.
In the fall of 1869 the special election was held with intent to consolidate all of Hudson, east of the Hackensack River and Newark Bay, into one city, to be known as Jersey City. The Greenville people, by a vote of about seven to one, rejected the consolidation scheme. In the meantime the street commissioners awarded several contracts for street improvements, the principal contract being for the improvement of Bergen Avenue at figures which would have aggregated about $104,000, and certificates for that sum had been issued when an injunction
89
HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
was obtained in one of the numerous lawsuits that were instituted against the acts of the com- mission. The injunction stopped work and forbade the payment of interest. Hon. Leon AAbbett, counsel for the commission, tried to get a modification of the injunction to allow in- terest to be paid, but the court would not grant it. Then an arrangement was made between S. C Mount, counsel for the complainants, and Mr. Abbett, by which the interest on other bonds was paid. A special tax levy was removed by certiorari through the efforts of James Flem- ming, counsel for other complainants, and there was a hopeless muddle. The property-owners would not pay their taxes, the contractors could not finish their work, and the people did not know how to escape from their burdens. In 1872 an act was procured by which the street commissioners should be elected by the people. It was thought that all interests could be harmonized by allowing the people to choose their own representatives. The election was held on April 9, 1872. Feeling ran high and it was evident that the republicans would win. To prevent this a gang of hoodlums was borrowed from Jersey City, and barefaced repeating and fraudulent voting decided the election against the wishes of a majority. The names on the successful ticket were: Jacob O. Seymour, John H. Midmer, Peter Rowe, Frederick Thau and Samuel Bostwick. The act of 1872 conferred very great powers upon the street commissioners and the people became alarmed. The result of the election was contested in an ineffective manner and numerous lawsuits prevented improvements. The time of the people was largely taken up in trying to overreach each other in the factional struggle. After a few months of strife everyone was disgusted, and the only way out of the difficulty that offered any hope of relief was consolidation with Jersey City. A petition was sent to the board of chosen free- holders asking for a special election to give the people an opportunity to get rid of their street commission and all of its entanglements. The freeholders appointed December 10th as the time for the election. A town meeting was held on the evening of December 9th, in Charles Schreiner's hall, at which all the speeches made were in favor of consolidation. The election was held in Augustus Than's saloon, and 306 votes were cast, of which 261 were for consolida- tion and 45 against it. More than half of the voters refrained from voting. The total popula- tion in 1870 was 2,790, and the total vote at the presidential election was 681. There was some doubt about the legality of the election because the new charter for Jersey City, passed in the early part of the year, had no provision for annexation, but the legal difficulties were removed and Greenville was added to the city.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.