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 5
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
as the Union Bank of 17 Wall Street, on April 11, 1811. The old bank building still remains and is the club house of the New Jersey Club to-day. The Associates were active in devising plans for the advancement of their little city and made many efforts to increase its business. John Stevens had incorporated a company to build a road to Hackensack to divert travel to his ferry at Hoboken and had improved the road from Five Corners to Hoboken to catch the travel from Bergen and Dow's ferry and the Belleville turnpike.
The Associates, recognizing the injury this would do to their ferry, aided in forming the Newark Turnpike Company. This company was incorporated December 1, 1804, and completed the road now known as Newark Avenue from Warren Street to the Hackensack River during 1805. John B. Coles had a clause inserted in the charter requiring the company to make their road conform to the street lines laid down on his map, but the company ignored this provision and built their road nearly on a straight line from the old causeway to the hill, and thus formed the diagonal bloeks which have since disfigured a large section of the city. The Associates ordered 600 trees to be planted along the streets that were laid out at Paulus Hook, and in order to secure variety selected a number of Lombardy poplar trees, then looked upon as rare and ornamental. These trees were introduced into the country by Andre Michaux, a French botan- ist, who was authorized to establish a botanical garden near Bergen. He came to this country in 1786 and bore letters to Washington written at Vienna by La Fayette. Michaux brought Paul Saunier, his gar- dener, with him and the legislature granted permission to him as an alien to take title to 200 acres of land. The land is now included in the Macpeiah Cemetery. This nursery was known as the "Frenchman's Gar- den," and from it the Lombardy poplars were spread all over the country. served land for a ship- yard, for churches, a school and a public market. In order to encourage purchasers to provide water, the Associates in 1807 de- cided to allow a boun- ty of $1.00 a foot to- ward the cost of wells. The only condition made was that the well should be five feet in the clear and have a pump with OLD TAVERN AT FOOT OF HOBOKEN AVENUE HILL. (From a sketch by A. McLean. made in 1857.) The Associates re- a brass chamber. Amasa Jackson ob- tained the first award under this rule. He dug a well at the lower end of Sussex Street, five feet wide and seventeen feet deep. He received $17 from the Associates as their contribution.
The increase during the ensuing ten years was not very encouraging. The Associates had built several modest little piers. They had partly graded several streets and had extended a retaining wall along the east side of Hudson Street from Grand to Essex, which served as a wharf for light draft vessels. These improvements involved expense, and the income was in- adequate to meet it. Comparatively few investments were made by residents. The most notable were the erection of a distillery, a saw mill and a grist mill. The distillery was on the corner of Hudson and Essex streets, and was owned by John B. Murray. He did a large busi- ness and maintained a swill dairy. His output in 1829, when he was complained of for inain- taining a nuisance, was 365,000 gallons annually. The saw mill was on four lots at North Point near the foot of First Street. It was built by Adam Bell and had steam power.
The grist mill was near the corner of Greene and Montgomery streets. It was a land- mark for many years and is worthy of special mention. This mill was an octagonal stone tower seven stories high, and its motive power was a windmill. It was situated seventy-five feet north of Montgomery Street and fifty feet east of Greene Street, on a pier about 100 feet in length. It was built by Isaac Edge, and was a duplicate of a mill in Dorsettshire, England, owned by Mr. Edge's father.
It was erected in 1815, and stood until 1839, when the track of the New Jersey Railroad was changed from the south side of Montgomery Street to the north. Then the mill was taken down and removed to Town Harbor, Long Island. From there it was taken to the town of
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
Southold, where it was destroyed by fire on June 25, 1870. The brown stone wall of the old pier was buried in grading the railroad track. A portion of it was uncovered by workmen who drove piles in 1890 for the elevated tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In connection with the grist inill, Mr. Edge established a bakery on the southwest corner of York and Greene streets, and sup- plied the residents with bread, besides doing a business with the shipping. It was burned down in 1811, but he rebuilt it, and the building is still standing.
sloping to the water edge. Col. Varick lived in the house until he died in 1831, and the building is still standing, though the pitched roof has been removed to make way for an additional story, and the handsome circular stone steps have been removed.
On August 10, 1816, Col. Richard Varick bought the lots now known as 46, 48 and The Associates were very much discouraged as time rolled on and assessments were made instead of declar- ing dividends. They had the little city made a port of de- livery in 1806. It was then a part of the district of Perth Amboy, but that did not save them from New York 50 Essex Street, which then fronted on the bay, and on them he built a double briek house, the first on that street. That section was known as Prospect Point, because of the view of the .bay that it afforded. It had a grassy bank, shaded with trees, and THE MILL. annoyance. New York was still so small that possible rivalry on the Jersey side of the river was looked upon as dangerous. The income from the ferry had not proved of value to the
.
FULTON'S BOAT ON THE PAULUS HOOK FERRY.
They did not get a lease until March, 1811. They incorporated on February 7, 1818, as the York and Jersey Steam Boat Ferry Company. Their first boat was not built until 1812. It was called the Jersey, and was a double-ender. Regular trips were begun on Friday, July 17, 1812. The ferry company celebrated this event by. giving a free sail and a dinner to the Mayor
OLIVE BRANCH!
shareowners. The Hoboken ferry divided the business and neither of them were profit- able. In 1809 several of the Associates were convinced that a steamboat such as Fulton offered to build would be profitable. They subscribed $50,000 to form a company, but they had a shoal of opponents in New York.
FULTON FERRYBOAT, 1827.
and Common Council of New York at Joseph Lyon's Hotel on Grand Street. In the mean- time Stevens had built a steamboat for his ferry, and got it out for a trial trip on October 11, 1811. This was the first steam ferryhoat. It was subsequently withdrawn, and horse boats were used on the Hoboken ferries for eleven years thereafter.
Fulton's boat, on the Paulus Hook ferry, continued to make trips "every hour by St. Paul's clock," and ran for many years. Ful- FULTON FERRYBOAT. 1836. ton's description of the Jersey fully explains its build and appearance. He wrote : "She is built of two boats, each ten feet beam, eighty feet
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
long and five feet deep in the hold ; which boats are distant from each other ten feet, confined by strong transverse beam knees and diagonal braces, forming a deck thirty feet wide and eighty feet long. The propelling water wheel is placed between the boats to prevent it from injury from ice and shocks on entering or approaching the dock. The whole of the machinery being placed between the two boats, leaves ten feet on the deck of each boat for carriages, horses and cattle, the other, having neat benches and covered with an awning, is for passengers, and there is also a passage and stairway to a neat cabin, which is fifty feet long and five feet clear from the floor to the beams, furnished with benches and provided with a stove in winter. Although the two boats and the space between them give thirty feet beam, yet they present sharp bows to the water and have only the resistance in the water of one boat of twenty feet beam. Both ends being alike, and each having a rudder, she never puts about."
In describing the dock built for the steamers Fulton says : "It is one hundred feet long, seventy wide ; the bridge is fastened to the iniddle of the bulkhead. The boat being only thirty feet wide and the dock seventy, leaves twenty feet vacant on each of her sides ; in each of these twenty feet spans and in the water are floating stages, made of pine logs, which lie favorably to the boat for thirty feet, and these run diagonally to the extreme end of the wharves, so that the boat when coming in hits within the seventy feet, and the stages guide her direct to the bridge."
The ferryboat Jersey was in service many years, and when broken up supplied material for a stable on Greene Street, built for Isaac Edge. When the Jersey was built a sister boat was contracted for, and in 1813 the " York " was added to the line. This increase in equipment enabled the company to have trips made every half hour by "St. Paul's Church clock." This clock was visible from the river front in those days of low buildings, and the spire was a con- spicuous landmark. Greenwich Street was the leading business street in New York and was considered of more importance than Broadway. For this reason the spire of St. Paul's was placed on the end of the church nearest to Greenwich Street. To this day it so stands, and the front door is in the rear or Broadway end of the church. This impression about Broadway was entertained many years later, when the City Hall was built. The front was made of marble and the back of brown stone because "its outlook was upon the fields and swamps."
In spite of the increased equipment the ferry did not pay. Up to May 27, 1816, only one dividend of five per cent. had been declared. The company was forced to appeal to New York for a reduction of the rental or for permission to increase the tariff. The Associates were obliged to ask Van Vorst to reduce the annuity. These were the only means of reducing expenses. New York refused to reduce the rental, but agreed to raise the tariff to 12 1-2 cents per passenger. This laid a daily tax of 25 cents on men who would live in Jersey and do business in New York. Van Vorst consented to reduce his annuity temporarily, but the relief was only partial. The financial strain on the Associates was a burden. The new city failed to attract residents or business. Few lots were sold and many who had purchased were unable to make their payments, even for the ground rent. The little town was oppressed by lawlessness. The stage passengers who remained over night for want of a night ferry were away from their homes and the restraints imposed by family and business environment. Boatmen and others were attracted by the fact that there were neither police nor prisons in Paulus Hook. The popular amusements were dog fights, bull baits and drunken brawls. The evil reputation of the place and the high rate of ferriage conspired to prevent an increase of population. The Associates recognized some of the drawbacks and made a number of ineffectual attempts to obtain police power from the legislature. It was not thought wise to add to the feudal powers of the company. The Associates made some effort to cure the evils without distinct power. They set apart the little park at the foot of Grand Street for the public stocks in which to pillory offenders, and designated a certain willow tree as the whipping post, but this was not sufficient to secure the desired improvement.
The claims of New York to ownership and jurisdiction over land and water to low water mark were continuously asserted ; the irredeemable mortgage which entailed liens on the prop- erty and made purchasers feel that their lots might be taken from them by the default of the trustees under the mortgage, and the municipal powers conferred by their charter upon the As- sociates, formed a combination of evils that came near wrecking the Associates and their plans. The Associates were loath to relinquish any of the authority they had, and the residents were
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
anxious to get control in order to secure competent government. The troubles increased until it became evident to the Associates that something would have to be done to save their invest- ment. On November 15, 1819, the trustees of the Associates decided to apply to the legislature for a law to create a corporation for the town of Jersey. They appointed a committee to draw up a bill and a petition. The petition was signed by most of the residents and the act asked for was passed January 28, 1820. It was entitled: An Act to Incorporate the City of Jersey, in tbe County of Bergen. It was originally intended to give the city this name to make it anal- ogous to the City of New York, but the assemblymen from Bergen County thought the name was too pretentious and had it changed in the body of the bill to Jersey City.
Under this act, five freeholders were to be elected annually, to be known as " The Board of Selectmen of Jersey City." Dr. Jolin Condict, Samuel Cassidy, Joseph Lyon, John K. Goodman and John Seaman were named in the act as the first board.
This board was empowered "To pass and enforce ordinances relative to streets; public grounds; public markets; weights and measures; the inspection and measurement of fire- wood; the weight and price of bread : to prevent horses, cattle and swine, or other beasts or fowl running at large ; lighting streets ; night watch ; fire engines ; engine houses; and what- ever may concern the good government of the corporation and the orderly condnet of the inhabitants and others within the same, so far as regards the public peace and tranquility of the same."
The restrictions in the charter made it useless. No tax could be imposed unless the property owners consented beforehand in town meeting, and the powers of the Associates were left intact. The Associates owned almost all of the property. They had already been taxed enough by their own assessments. Naturally the selectmen did next to nothing. The annual tax levy was limited to $1oo, from 1820 to 1828. In 1825 the tax collector, Joseph Kissam, received a total tax of $18.45. The balance of the Stoo was tax arrears. In 1828, the col- lector received $39.87 out of the Stoo limit. The selectmen met at Freeman Anderson's hotel on Grand Street and paid one dollar for each meeting, which included room rent, fire, light, pens, ink and paper. The board licensed everyone who wanted to sell liquor, and in 1828 there were twenty-three licensed places for a total population of 1,357. What little income the board had must have come from this source and from fines imposed upon themselves; for lateness at a meeting involved a fine of twenty-five cents, and absence, a fine of fifty cents. The board could do nothing in the way of improvement.
CHAPTER VI.
THE NEW CITY GOVERNMENT FAILS-THE VAN VORST MORTGAGE EXTINGUISHED-THE FIRST CEME- TERY-EFFORTS TO MAINTAIN A BANK-A NEW TOWN CHARTER-THE WATER FRONT CON- TROVERSY-FIRST RAILWAYS BUILT-DUDLEY S. GREGORY SETTLES IN THE LITTLE CITY- NIGHT FERRYBOATS-LAND VALUES INCREASING-STREET IMPROVEMENTS MADE-ANOTHER NEW CHARTER-FACTORIES ESTABLISHED-END OF THE ASSOCIATES' GOVERNMENT.
HE failure of the new government was apparent to everybody. The streets were un- graded, the sidewalks unpaved and the buildings few and inconsequential. Hudson Street had washed away with the tide. Morris Street was the only one extended to the meadow on the west, and it was more of an open common than a street. The main road was still the Newark turnpike. The second in importance was the old race track which followed the river bank and the pathways around the sand hills. Sussex Street was known as Dishwater Alley, be- cause of the drain in the middle of it that served for an open sewer. The vicinity of Grand and Wash- ington streets was a common known as the Sand Lots. This sec- tion had been a hill more than fifty feet above the tide. The hill was used by the Indians as a burying place, and they called it Aresick, a burying place. This hill was the site of the round PAULUS HOOK FROM HARSIMUS IN 1823. redoubt built by Lord Stirling, and was the place to which Maj. Sutherland fled for safety when Lee captured Paulus Hook. The excavation for earth filling had removed the earthworks and all of the original surface, and left the sand which gave it the name of the Sand Lots. The enterprise was in bad shape for a number of years, and the forlorn appearance helped to give it a bad name. The first relief came from an unexpected souree.
Cornelius Van Vorst died on September 30, 1818, laeking but a couple of months of com- pleting his ninetieth ycar. By his will the mortgage to secure the annuity on Paulus Hook was devised to his son, John. He assigned it to Col. Varick on March 12, 1824, and Varick as- signed to the Associates on November 18. 1830. This rer oved one impending danger from lot purchasers, but the land was still subject to ground rent, which savored of feudalism.
This picture of Paulus Hook, taken from the vicinity of Provost Street and Pavonia Avenue, will convey a vivid impression of the progress that had been made up to 1823, both in Jersey City and beyond the causeway where John B. Coles was furthering a settlement. The ferry house shown on the next page, was the most prominent point in the river front then.
The most prominent house on the sky line was the bank building. The Lombardy poplars from the "Frenchman's garden " were the most conspicuous features in the view. Almost the
.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
only survivor of the poplar trees is now standing near the Mills oakum works on Wayne Street. An incident which occurred in front of the cornfield shown in the illustration is of interest because it throws a flash light into the community at that time. One day, in the fall of 1820, the body of a drowned man drifted ashore beyond the fence shown on the left hand of the picture. The receding tide left it, and it was seen by a passer. Soon a group of nine men con- gregated, and the body was drawn up on the grass by the fence. They speculated on the respectable appearance of the man and wondered who he was. Finally, they decided that he should have decent burial, and they contributed until they thought they had the price of a grave and a headstone that would identify the stranger's resting place in case his friends made inquiries for him. A committee was appointed to attend to the funeral, and they went to the sexton of the Old Dutch Church in Bergen to secure a grave. The sexton charged them twelve dollars for opening a grave, and the price was deemed so extravagant that it caused a scandal in the community. The talk about the price charged developed into a sentiment, and the resi- dents of Jersey City and Harsimus decided that they would no longer be dependent on the Dutch Church for a burying ground. A public meeting was called in Hugh Mccutcheon's hotel, on York Street, and a subscription list was started to raise money to buy ground for a cemetery.
Mccutcheon's hotel had become one of the institutions of the eity. The ferry had been moved to the foot of York Street, and many of the stages stopped at "Hughey's" hotel. His stables and yard extended to Montgomery Street, and covered a number of lots now known as 47, 49 and others be- At this meeting f David C. Colden, one of the Associates and Mayor of New York t at the time, was elect- ed president, Robert Gilehrist treasurer and J. D. Miller secre- tary. A committee appointed to secure a site reported two eli- gible locations and favored Olcott's rope- walk. This occupied THE FIRST FERRY HOUSE. the irregular block bounded by the New- tween Greene and Washington streets. As a result of the in- dignation meeting and subsequent sub- scriptions, a special charter was obtained at the session of the legislature that win- ter, and on April 21, 1830, a meeting of the subscribers was called at the hotel to organize a cemetery company. ark turnpike, now Newark Avenue ; Kellogg, now Grove Street, and Michigan Street, now Bay Street. Erie Street was not then extended to Newark Avenne. This, the committee believed, was the most central point for Jersey City and Harsimus. The majority of the subscribers favored a site on the hillside, south of Newark Avenue, and it was chosen. Five and a half acres were purchased and dedicated under the nanie of The Jersey City Cemetery. There many of the old families of Jersey City lie in ranks waiting for the resurrection.
The residents of Jersey City were not discouraged by failures or disadvantages. They were active in efforts to promote their own prosperity and that of their little city, in which most of them had implicit faith. The need of a bank was severely felt after the failure of the Jersey Bank, and a second Jersey Bank was organized on February 6, 1818. It had a capital of $100,000 and did business in the old banking house at Greene and Grand streets. It failed during a " run " on July 6, 1826.
The New Jersey Manufacturing and Banking Company, incorporated with a capital of $150,000 on December 9, 1823, suspended in March, 1829. The Franklin Bank of New Jersey, in- corporated December 28, 1824, with $300,000 capital, suspended in 1826, resumed again and was enjoined May 29, 1828, and its charter repealed February 22, 1843. The New Jersey Protective and Lombard Bank, incorporated December 29, 1824, with $400,000 capital, suspended during a "run" on November 17, 1825. 1ts bills went down to thirty-seven cents on the dollar. These untoward events were calculated to discourage enterprise, but the people were beginning to comprehend that Jersey City had a future and were not daunted by failures.
In 1824 the opening of Dummer's glass works gave an impetus to business. It occupied a
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
considerable tract on Communipaw Cove west of Washington Street and south of the Morris Canal. The site is now occupied by the sugar house. The following year the Rouse & Turner pottery was established on Warren Street. These factories gave employment to a large num- ber of men and contributed effectively to the growth of the town.
The lack of an efficient municipal government was still an incubus. The people and the Associates endured for eight years the travesty upon a government which was provided by the charter of 1829. There was much complaint after the people saw that it failed to afford relief, and on September 15, 1828, the Board of Selectmen appointed a committee to draw up charter amendments that would meet the wants of the city. Their bill was approved and petitions were circulated among the residents to secure signatures. On January 23, 1829, the legislature passed an " Act to incorporate the city of Jersey City in the county of Bergen and to repeal the former. Act." Under this act the corporate name became "The Board of Selectmen and In- habitants of Jersey City," though in the title of the law it still remained "the city of Jersey." The number of selectmen under this charter was increased to seven and they were authorized to raise $300 annually by taxation. There was no power under this charter to raise money for improvement by assessing property benefited, and but little good was accomplished by the change. The efforts of twenty-five years had only brought the population up to a total of 1,357. New York's claims to jurisdiction over the water and land under water was such an annoyance that New Jersey took the question into the United States Supreme Court in 1829. The suit was not pressed, but it resulted in the appointment by each State of three commis- sioners to negotiate and agree respecting the territorial limits and jurisdiction of the two states. These commissioners formulated a treaty which was ratified in 1834, by which New York gave up its claim to ownership, but was allowed jurisdiction over the waters of the bay and river. This treaty was contradictory and questions still rose under it, but it lifted a cloud which had prevented shore improvements for thirty years. This was one of the most important events of that year, but there were three other events which contributed to make 1834 memorable in the history of the little city. These were the opening of the New Jersey and the Paterson and Hudson River railroads and the location of Dudley Sandford Gregory as a resident citizen.
The New Jersey Railroad had but one car, "the passenger car Washington, a splendid and beautiful specimen of workmanship containing three apartments, besides seats on top," ac- cording to the company's announcement. This railroad extended to Newark, and work was in progress towards Philadelphia. The Paterson and Hudson River Railroad Company advertised its " three splendid and commodious cars, each capable of accommodating thirty passengers," drawn by " fleet and gentle horses." The iron horse had not then appeared. The pioneer loco- motive, known as the John Bull, had been built in England in 1830, and was fitted up at Borden- town for the Camden and Amboy Railroad in 1831, but there were no engines ready for these new enterprises until later.
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