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 7
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The opponents of the bill were as active as they had been during the two preceding legis- lative sessions and had counter-petitions showing that the measure was not needed : that it would leave the county a misshapen remnant with its court house within two miles of its boundary, and that it would involve the people of Bergen and Lodi in heavy expenses for a new court house and for a special election to provide county officers.
The Jersey City petitioners convineed the Bergen County people that no one in that section of the county would have to go any further to reach Hackensack, and that the property owners in the new county were willing to pay for a new court house. They were willing to do without
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a special election, and would let the legislature appoint the first set of officers ; Bergen County could keep its officers and would not require a special election.
There was abundant political opposition, but the movement for the new county was so strong and was asked for by both parties so unanimously that the bill went through the assembly on February 20, 1840, by a vote of twenty-seven to twenty-three. It was rushed over to the senate, then called the council, and put through as rapidly as the rules would permit. It passed the council on February 22d, by a vote of nine to seven. Thus the new county had the same birthday as the Father of the Country and it was called Hudson after the advent- urous mariner who introduced it to the civilized world. Five days after the bill passed a joint meeting of the legislature was held, at which Robert Gilchrist was appointed county clerk, Edmund W. Kingsland, surrogate, and Lewis D. Hardenberg, prosecutor of the pleas. The other county officials were elected in April, and the county was in full operation within two months. The first board of chosen freeholders consisted of Garret Sip and Abel I. Smith, of Bergen ; John Griffith and Abraham Santvoord, of Jersey City, and Joseph Budd and William C. Kingsland, of Harrison. At that time Harrison included the present township of Kearny and the township of Union, then Lodi, now in Bergen County. Union was set back into Bergen County on February 19, 1852.
The first term of the Hudson County Court began on April 14, 1840, and the court was held in the Lyceum Hall on Grand Street, Jersey City. Chief Justice Joseph C. Hornblower presided, and Cornelius Van Winkle, Henry Southmayd, Stephen Garretson and George C. DeKay sat as judges. George H. Brinkerhoff was sheriff ; Archer G. Welsh, Abraham Van Winkle, Oliver H. P. Kilburne and Thomas Marinus, consta- bles, and Nathaniel Ellis, mar- shal. Welsh was made crier of the court and held the posi- tion until he died, on Novem- ber 7, 1870. He was suc- ceeded by his nephew, John Wesley Welsh, who died in 1894, after holding the posi- tion twenty-four years. The courts were held in the Ly- ceum Hall until September 19, 1843, when the board of HUDSON COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND PRISON, 1845. chosen freeholders provided a hall in the Newkirk House, at the Five Corners, and the courts were held there until March 11, 1845, when a court house was built.
There was sharp rivalry between the towns for the location of the new court house. Fif- teen sites were offered. Jersey City offered the public square at the corner of Grand and Washington streets, then valued at $10,000, and as an additional inducement offered $8,000 in cash to aid in erecting the building. The other sites within the present limits of Jersey City were : Hamilton Square, in Van Vorst ; Bergen Square, in Bergen; a plot at Five Corners, Com- munipaw, and any point on the hill from Communipaw Avenue to the West Hoboken line. The matter was finally submitted to a vote on June 2, 1840. The Bergen people took the live- liest interest in the matter, and got ont 506 votes, all of which were for Bergen. There were twenty votes for Bergen cast in Jersey City and fifty-four in Harrison, making 580 out of a total vote of 868. Jersey City had 283 votes. Among the sites offered to the chosen freeholders the most eligible was that on which the court house and jail were erected and still stand.
This plot was originally owned by Arent Toers. It descended through several owners to J. C. F. Rummel, who died seized in 1840. It was sold at auction in parcels by a commissioner, and James Harrison, who bought one parcel, induced the other purchasers to sell to him so he could offer it to the county. The frecholders bought the land on April 7, 1841, after a good deal of haggling. The contract for the court house was given on December 5, 1843, to Thomas Thomas, carpenter, and William Brown, mason, for $14,000, which was the lowest bid. Ground was not broken until May 1, 1844, and the corner-stone was laid October 17, 1844. The event
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was celebrated with great ceremony. All the local officials joined in a procession, and a band was supplied by the U. S. ship North Carolina. The corner-stone was laid by John Tonele, Jr., director of the board of freeholders. The latitude and longitude was taken by W. C. Wetmore, U. S. N., and the record was 40 deg. 43 min. 50 sec., north latitude; 74 deg. 03 min. 40 sec., 5ยช west longitude, Greenwich time; compass variation, 5 deg. 52 min.
The roads between Jersey City and the hill were in a very bad condition. They were so steep that horses could not draw half a load. Brown had contracted to build the court house of brick, but he found the price high and the cost of hauling so great that he would have lost money at the contract price. He induced the freeholders to allow him to substitute trap-rock for the brick. He quarried it on the site of the building and made a profit.
The court house was finished and first used on Tuesday, March 11, 1845. It included only that part of the present court house occupied by the front court room and the offices under it. The jail was not quite finished when the court house was opened. It was but three stories high then. It contained "eight close cells and three day cells, with suitable apartments for the jailer."
CHAPTER IX.
A SCORE OF YEARS UNDER THE CITY CHARTER-MORAL, SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY- SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED-STREET OPENING CARRIED ON-THE EXCITING ELECTION-TROUBLE ABOUT SALOONS-ACTIVE TEMPERANCE PEOPLE-THE RAILROAD COMPANY ABSORBS THE FERRY-NEW TOWNS DESIRED-TRYING TO DIVIDE THE SCHOOL FUND-FIRST PROPOSAL FOR A WATER SUPPLY-THE FIRST CUNARDER.
HE impetuous activity that characterized the action of the city government during the first year under the new charter could not be maintained. Time was required to complete the extensive public work that had been ordered, and the more tedious task of paying for it gave pause to eity officials, but the forward movement begun during that eventful year has never ceased. The whole population was in line, and though the cadence of their onward march fell sometimes even to marking time, they were facing front and ready to move, each person imbued with the spirit which breathed in Paul when he said, " I am a citi- zen of no mean city."
While the city government was exerting all its power in the material development of the little city, the moral, social and commercial activity of the people was operating in many direc- tions on convergent lines, all tending to aid the forward movement.
The religious movement was perhaps the most distinctive and occupied more attention than any other. Away back in 1808 the Dutch Reformed Classis tried to establish a church at Paulus Hook, but could not find church members enough to form a consistory. Later, Rev. Edmund Dean Barry had a town meeting called to consider the organization of a church. The majority of the three hundred population, probably owing to his persuasive eloquence, deeided to have an Episcopal church established, and it was organized at a service held in the town hall, August 21, 1808. The history of the church will be found elsewhere, but the devoted service rendered by Dr. Barry deserves special mention. He lived in New York and main- tained himself by teaching sehool in order that he might not be burdensome to his charge. He crossed the river in a rowboat, many times having to take an oar to help the boatman, and in the winter working his passage with a boat hook to open a way for the boat in the ice. His labors were heroic, and have never been properly acknowledged. The Methodists of the Phila- delphia Conference created the Bergen Neck mission in 1829, and sent local preachers to hold meetings in private houses, one house on Morris Street, between Greene and Washington, serving as the meeting place for several years.
In 1829 the Associates, moved by a desire to forward their own interests as much as by public spirit, decided to give land for churches and schools. They rightly believed that the congregations would erect buildings that would add to the beauty of the city, enhance the value of adjacent property and improve the moral tone of the community. The land dedicated was a tier of lots fronting on Sussex, Grand and York streets. These lots were on the edge of the swamp and the character of the land gave church trustees some trouble, but the good work went on. The Episcopal Church was built on the Sussex Street site, the Dutch Reformed on the south side of Grand Street, the Catholic Church on the north side of Grand, and the Meth- odist Church on the south side of York. The Methodists were the first to build on the land, their small wooden structure being raised in 1829 on the site now occupied by Trinity Church. It was a mission church until 1835, when it was made a separate station and Rev. John McClin- tock placed in charge. The land at that time was at the foot of a hill that had a sharp slope from Washington Street, and one of the annoyances was caused by the tide, which rose so high at times that there was difficulty in approaching the church door. The Roman Catholics in the community were in the habit of attending service in a church at the corner of Mott and Mul-
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berry streets, New York. A mission parish was formed in 1831 and Father Burns accepted the gift of land from the Associates. It was coupled with a condition that the church to be built should have stone walls of a specified thickness and height, and that the church should have a gallery. The Catholics were few in numbers and poor in purse, but they, like the other citizens of that time, were imbued with the spirit of progress and undertook the work cheerfully. John McKeever, a mason, took the contract to erect the building and began work in the sum- mer of 1837. The site of the church was on the margin of the morain and the inorass and the weight of the western wall was too great for the piling. It fell, and the handful of the faithful who had been saving and scrimping to raise the money to build the church thought they were going to lose both land and building on account of the covenant that ran with the deed. Their trouble enlisted the sympathy of the community and secured from the Associates a modification of the terms of the deed of gift, by which a lower wall was allowed. The congregation was small and had difficulty in sustaining itself. Pastors succeeded each other with rapidity. Father Burns was succeeded by Fathers Mohan, Burns, Quarter, Rogers, Benny and Reilly. Each contributed to the work, and in 1837 the church was opened for service, though it was not con- secrated until 1839. It was not until November, 1844, that it began to prosper. At that time Father John Kelly, a returned missionary from Liberia, was assigned to the pastorate. He was an enthusiast and became endeared to the whole population irrespective of church affilia- tion. The trials of this congregation were only a sample of what was undergone by other congregations. It was a tion that built the church numbered just 100 persons. period of earnest effort among the people. Half a dozen churches were built, and some of them still remain as monuments to that generation.
The First Presbyterian Church was organized in February, 1844, and a church edifice that stood in Wall Street, New York, was taken down and rebuilt at the corner of Sussex and Washington streets. The work on it was pushed with such energy that it was fin- ished and dedicated in less than a year. Rev. John Johnston was pastor and Rev. L. Hersey Lee assist- FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ant pastor. The congrega- In 1840 the mayor and council continned the advance movement. The fire department was reorganized-a chief and assistant appointed ; a stone bulkhead was built along the east side of Hudson Street ; the old boundary ditch west of Warren Street was cleaned out to afford drainage to the southward, and the work of street improvement was resumed, but the exciting political events for a time prevented concentration of effort in that direction. The early part of the year was devoted to the scheme for separating from Bergen County. When that was accomplished and Hudson County was created, the spring election engaged attention, and the event was not over when the presidential campaign began-the most exciting the country has witnessed. A log cabin was built on the plot now occupied by the First National Bank build- ings, and meetings were held every evening. A Tippecanoe Club was organized and business was largely neglected in the ardor of politics. The story of the campaign is national history, but the result in Jersey City was a Whig majority of 231. This was celebrated on Monday evening, November 16, 1840, with booming cannon, a torchlight procession and every demon- stration of pleasure the people could devise. The death of President Wm. Henry flarrison in the spring following his triumphant election was a great blow to the residents of the city. The
The public school, at the time the new charter passed, was a small private school under the charge of Charles Gardner and Will- iam Meigs. Miss A. Betts had charge of the smaller pupils. The school funds were used to pay for those who could not afford to pay the rates of tuition. In 1839 William L. Dickinson opened a classical school in the Lyceum building on Grand Street. The Catho- lics opened a school in their church, and thus the begin- ning of the educational work was established.
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houses were draped in mourning, and on Wednesday, April 7, 1841, the bells of the city were tolled from noon until 2 o'clock, the flags were placed at half-mast, and, beginning at noon, sixty-eight minute guns were fired, one shot for each year of the dead President's life. Every place of business was closed from noon until 6 o'clock, and services were held in the churches. On April 10th, the mayor, common council, city officers and a large percentage of the citizens assembled in front of the American Hotel and formed a procession which went to New York and took part in the demonstration made in that city at the funeral.
In the fall of 1840, when the new county officers were looking for a meeting place, the city council tendered the use of the Town Hall for freeholders' meeting room, court house and jail. The offer was accepted, and in May, 1841, the council moved to the Lyceum, where they had secured the main room for $100 a year. There was a lively campaign against the liquor saloons carried on during the spring of 1841. The saloons had always been numerous, and some em- ployers who had a large number of workmen had established drinking places in their factories as a part of their business. A temperance movement was spreading over the country, and many meetings were held. The effort of the moral element was directed to the extermination of the saloons in the factories, and in that there was a fair measure of success. A petition signed by 142 property owners out of a total vote of 385, was presented to the council asking to have the number of saloons reduced to four, but the council, moved by sympathy for the saloon keepers, fear of the political effeet and a desire to retain the income from license fees, tabled the petition, much to the disgust of the church element. The temperance people were organ- ized at that time under the name of the Washingtonians, and in Jersey City they were led by James Flemming, a well-to-do builder, with strong convictions and great tenacity of purpose. He was popular, and was frequently elected to office. He presided over the temperance society, for which Temperance Hall was built, at the corner of Gregory Street and City Hall Place. It numbered 1,000 members at one time. The branch of the society that met in the Van Vorst section gave the name to "Washington Hall," at the corner of Newark and Jersey avenues, and the two societies were very strong, but not strong enough to banish strong drink.
In June, 1841, the New York Common Council raised the lease for the ferry right to $4,000. This was considered exorbitant, and meetings were held to protest against it. On June 25th the council appointed Aldermen Hemingway, Alexander and Wakeman as a committee to ac- company the mayor to make a formal protest to the New York Common Council. The New Jersey Railroad Company was operating the ferry at that time, having leased the franchise from the Associates in 1831, and bought the four boats, the Essex, Sussex, New Jersey and Washington, which constituted the ferry fleet in 1839. The railroad company paid $70,000 for the boats and $18,224.99 for the ferry buildings, and a nominal rental for the franchise.
The danger from fires caused much attention to be paid to the fire department, and the erection by the New Jersey Railroad Company of a new depot on the west side of Hudson Street, north of Montgomery, made them anxious to have additional protection. In order to secure this the company gave a site for an engine house on Greene Street, just north of Mont- gomery Street, and Liberty Engine Company No. I was located there.
In trying to secure drainage the council found difficulty in many places on account of the grades, and would have extended sewers across private lots if there had been authority in their charter. They also found that the power to tax corporations had been omitted from their grant. They found some difficulty in borrowing money at the legal rate of six per cent. and believed a great impetus would be given to the city if the people were allowed to pay seven per cent. They also wanted to borrow money for the erection of public buildings and had not the author- ity. A supplement to the charter was proposed covering these points, and it was sent to the legislature in February, 1842.
In the meantime ineetings had been held in various seetions of Hudson County to devise a plan for sub-dividing it into townships. The success which had attended the efforts of the people of Harsimus during the preceding year, when they had their settlement erected into the township of Van Vorst, had stimulated the other villages. The township of Bergen was four- teen miles long and from two to three miles wide, and had a number of villages and towns, whose interests would be better secured by representation in the board of chosen freeholders. A mass meeting was called at the house of Rachel Riker in Bergen on Saturday, June 15, 1842, to arrange for the sub-division. Jacob D. Van Winkle was chairman and E. R. V. Wright see-
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retary. After a liberal discussion it was decided to prepare a bill, and the chair appointed a committee to do it, consisting of William C. Vreeland. Myndert Vreeland, John E. Post, John Van Buskirk, Garrett Vreeland, Asa Wright, Abel I. Smith, Michael Fisher, George De Mott, Garrett Waters, Henry Brinkerhoff, Cornelius Van Winkle, Hartman Van Wagenen, E. R. V. Wright, Peter Riker, John Tisc, John Sturges, Jasper Wandel, Jr., Daniel Walsh and John Lovett.
This committee reported at another meeting on January 21st. Their report included a bill providing for four townships, to be known as Washington, Hudson, Hoboken and New Durham. It provided that the poor farm should be maintained by the four jointly and that the funds of the existing township of Bergen should be divided among them. The bill was approved, and Jacob H. Van Winkle, Wm. C. Vreeland, Michael Saunier and E. R. V. Wright were appointed as a committee to go to Trenton with it and a petition to the legislature for its passage.
This bill made no provision for the interest of Jersey City and Van Vorst in the funds, and it stirred up active protests. The old residents also found fault because the historic name of Bergen was omitted. The Jersey City Council had a protest prepared at a meeting held on January 24th, and with the aid of the town committee from Van Vorst the bill was defeated. Bergen township was divided the following year by an act passed February 10, 1843. The dividing line was the New Jersey Railroad Company's cut, now used for the Pennsylvania Rail- road. All north of that was called North Bergen. This township included Hoboken and all the northern part of the county between the Hudson and the Hackensack rivers. The remain- der of the old township retained its name of Bergen, and included the rest of the county south of the railway cut, and Jersey City to the Kill von Kull.
On April 1, 1842, the trustees of St. Peter's Roman Catholic School sent a request to the common council, asking for a division of the public school funds. This was referred to the school committee and quietly laid away for a time. The presentation of the request caused a great deal of warm feeling in the community, and the committee did not feel like reporting the matter at once. There was a sentiment in the public mind against the Catholic priesthood at that time, which a few years later burst out in what was known as the Know Nothing move- ment, and was directed against foreigners indiscriminately. It was August 5th before the com- mittee reported that it had no power to grant the request. It recommended that the trustees of St. Peter's could surrender their school to the aldermen, and then it would become Publie School No. 2, and would be cared for without further expense to the church. This report was referred to a special committee and it remained among unfinished business. Several attempts were made to secure a division of the school funds at subsequent periods down to 1847, when Father Kelly, finding the plan to be very unpopular, withdrew his last petition.
On October 4, 1844, John D. Ward, an engineer with a national reputation, sent a communi- cation to the council urging the city to procure a water supply. The matter was referred to a committee, and a month later the committee reported that the legislature had chartered a water company, but the people were opposed to having a supply in the hands of a private corporation, and nothing was done. In July, 1845, a committee was appointed to consider a plan for getting water, but the water committee was discharged in March, 1846, without having accomplished any practical result. In May following another committee was appointed, and Hoboken was invited to join, but this, too, failed and the question remained in abeyance for a time.
The city was growing all the time. Manufactures and commerce were developing. In 1845 the Atlas foundry was built ; the following year the Slater & Steele foundry was put up. In 1847 the Cunard steamship piers were built. In 1848 Cobb & Field's foundry was built ; the Paterson and Hudson railroad was extended to Suffern and connected with the Erie railway, then having its terminus at Piermont. The Paterson dock was built to accommodate this rail- road line. The ferry boats reduced their time to fifteen-minute trips, and half-hourly boats were run at night. In 1849 a pest-house was established on Washington Street, south of the Morris Canal, for cholera patients. The Adirondack steel works were built at the foot of War- ren Street, the Colgate soap works were built on York Street, and many smaller manufacturing plants were erected. The city continued street improvements, and many private houses were put up.
New Year's Day, 1850, was celebrated with great rejoicing because the Hibernia sailed that day, the pioneer vessel on the Cunard line. A salute of one hundred guns was fired by Joseph
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G. Edge on behalf of the city. The railway service by the Newark route to the south and the Paterson line to the west had been very much improved. More than a million passengers were brought in by the New Jersey and Morris and Essex railroads, and half a million tons of freight. This state of affairs made Van Vorst township anxious to join forees with Jersey City, and the residents of Jersey City were willing to extend the area of the city.
During the fall of 1850 a number of popular meetings were held to consider plans for con- solidation, and the result was the appointment of a committee of the council to meet a similar
THE PATERSON DOCK. NORTH OF THE RAILROAD' DEPOT.
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