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 8
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committee from Van Vorst to prepare a plan. The result of their labors was presented to the Jersey City council on February 7. 1851, along with a bill of expenses amounting to $163.45, one-half of which was assessed against each town. On February 11, 1851, after the voters of Jersey City had ratified the charter prepared, it was sent to the legislature and became a law, subject to acceptance at a special election. This election in Jersey City was held in the fire engine house at the corner of York and Gregory streets. The total vote was 495, of which 489 were for the charter, three were against it, and three were rejected.
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CHAPTER X.
THE STORY OF VAN VORST TOWNSHIP-THE DUKE'S FARM-JOHN B. COLES' PURCHASE-HOW THE NEIGHBORHOODS FORMED-EFFORTS TO BUILD A CITY-BUSINESS AND POPULATION ATTRACTED- A TOWNSHIP CHARTER-OFFICERS WHO GOVERNED THE TOWN-PUBLIC PUMPS AND WATER SUPPLY-HOW IMPROVEMENTS WERE MADE-CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS BUILT-PARKS DONATED- CONSOLIDATION WITH JERSEY CITY-THE CIVIL LIST.
HILE Jersey City was laboriously overcoming obstacles in its municipal progress, the settlements on the hills and npland between it and Bergen Hill had been growing slowly. When John B. Coles secured the "Duke's Farm" in 1804 there were but three roads in Harsimus. One was the causeway now Newark Avenue. The second was "the road to church and mill." This road followed what is now the line of Henderson Street, along the shore of Harsimus Cove to First Street, where a bend carried it to the corner of Grove and Newark Avenue. Thence it followed the present line of Newark Avenue to Monmouth Street along the foot of a sand hill, which was the site of an earthwork outpost erected by the British during the revolution. The last vestige of this hill was removed last year from the southwest corner of Mercer and Brunswick streets. From this hill, nearly on the line of Railroad Avenue, the road reached Prior's mill, where the earlier settlers had their grist ground. This mill and the stream that supplied its motive power were removed to make way for the railroad cut and embankment now used for the Pennsylvania Railroad. From the mill the road became what is now Academy Street. It was the road to the Old Dutch Church at Bergen Square. The third road began near Van Vorst's house on Henderson Street and extended northwesterly to a point near where Jersey Avenue and Twelfth Street now intersect; thence at an angle to the base of Bergen Hill, where Hoboken Avenne turned from an east and west direction to ascend the hillside. There was a small tavern at this junction which afforded a resting place for teams. This road was the only route by which residents of Harsimus could reach Hoboken without a boat.
The residents of Harsimus settled in neighborhoods. The southerly settlement was on the upland now embraced in the area bounded by Grove Street. Jersey Avenne, York Street and Railroad Avenue. The Newark turnpike made a settlement along Newark Avenue. The Van Vorst settlement on Henderson Street formed a nucleus for another neighborhood, and the Traphagen and other families formed a neighborhood north of Pavonia Avenue along the shore. When Coles bought the Duke's farm, he secured the greater part of the upland and meadow north of Newark Avenue. This he laid out in lots with right-angled streets. The sale of these lots created a new neighborhood. The older residents were few and were mainly interested in fishing and farming. Harsimns Cove was used for oyster and clam beds and for shad fishing, and there was quite a little fishing community settled on the shore near where Provost Street now crosses the Erie railway. The cove was divided hy a point of land which jutted ont at Pavonia Avenue and for a short distance above it. A wharf was built at the outer end of this point and a roadway, dry at low tide, was built ont to it. This was called the Long Dock. A ferry was anthorized at this point in 1753, by grant of George II., but it was not established. Attempts were made in 1765 and 1818 to revive this grant, but no ferry was established there until 1861, when the Pavonia ferry was started.
A peculiar clannishness was generated among the early residents. The first settlers, north and south of Newark Avenne, belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. Along the turnpike a good many Baptists were located ; while Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians came in the wake of the Coles movement. The Particular Baptists were a very exclusive set, and were the first in Van Vorst to organize a church. They erected a small brick building on
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Barrow Street. It has since been occupied by a number of denominations and is still standing. It was built in 1839, and is the oldest church in Van Vorst. The total population of the town- ship the year this church was built was 974.
The advent of Coles put an end to farming as the main means of support, though there were a good many small farms in Harsimus fifty years later. Manufacturers began to locate, and by the time Jersey City had emerged from its proprietary government there were quite a number of them-Olcott's and Maxwell's rope-walks, Mill's oakum factory, Savery's hollow- ware foundry, Soule's silverware factory, Mix's candle factory, a button factory, a large dis- tillery on the shore, a large brewery, starch and paper mills and several smaller places. The territory remained a part of the township of Bergen and the governmental wants of the resi- dents were so few that they were content. It was not until Hudson County was set off from Bergen County in 1840, and a county legislature was formed, that the residents of Harsimus began to feel the need of autonomy and representation. The county was created in February and a movement was begun at once to form a separate township in Harsimus. It was simply a section of Bergen township, a township which included all of the present county except Hoboken and Jersey City. The movement for a separate municipality was favorably received, and at the next session of the State legislature a bill providing for a new township was introduced. It received the gubernatorial signature on March 11, 1841. The new town was called Van Vorst. in honor of the family which had been so prominently associated with its history from its settlement in 1636 to that time.
The new town did not reach Bergen Hill at any point. It was bounded on the north by the Creek of the Woods, a considerable stream which separated it from Hoboken ; on the west and south Mill Creek formed a natural boundary to Jan de Lacher's Point near Jersey Avenue and Johnston Avenue ; thence the shore line of the bay was the boundary. This point had become a part of the Van Horn farm at that time and was known to the residents as "Mill Creek Johnnies." The eastern boundary was Grove Street, then called Kellogg Street, and Harsimus Cove.
The population of the new town when it was set off was 1,057. The first town meet- THE OLD STONE HOUSE. ing was held at David Bedford's inn, on the south side of Newark Avenue, between Grove and Barrow streets. The election under the charter was held in the same place on April 12, 1841. These officers were chosen : Township Committee, Cornelius Van Vorst, Thomas Kingsford, Matthew Erwin, Jeremiah O'Meara and Elias Whipple ; Freeholders, David Jones and Henry M. Traphagen ; Town Clerk, Stephen H. Lutkins ; Assessor, Robert Mclaughlin : Collector, Robert Sims; Judge of Elections, John Brill ; Overseer of the Poor, John McIver ; Overseer of the Highways, Patrick Corrigan ; Pound Keeper, Matthew Hole ; Constables, David Bedford and Patrick McKiernan ; School Committec, Timothy Edwards, George F. Hopkins, John Gilbert : Commissioners of Appeals, Hiram Gilbert, Andrew Casey, Andrew Anderson : Surveyors of Highways, Alexander Wilson and Michael Lynch. The appropriations voted were : for support of poor, Stoo ; for common school, $100, and for roads, $150. In spite of the limited tax levy the officials laid out considerable work in grading streets and sinking wells. This work was paid for by assessing the property benefited The people were fairly progressive, and the town soon showed signs of improvement.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
The following year the example of Van Vorst caused the other sections of Bergen town- ship to ask for separation, and a bill was introduced in the legislature of 1842 to separate the township of Bergen into four townships. The town committee of Van Vorst opposed this bill, because no provision was made for a distribution of the common funds, and township prop- erty, including a poor farm that had been acquired before Van Vorst township was set off. The main cause of contention was the money returned to the States by the United States gov- ernment under the law of March 10, 1837, when, on account of hard times, the surplus in the United States treasury was apportioned among the States. Bergen township had received as its quota $41,147.82 of this money, when the State divided it among the counties, and Van Vorst claimed its pro rata share. There was chronic trouble about the distribution of the school funds, which were collected from the State treasurer by the Bergen township collector.
On January 28, 1842, Cornelius Van Vorst was sent to Trenton to oppose the bill to sub- divide Bergen, unless the claims of Van Vorst township were recognized and provided for. Henry M. Traphagen was also appointed to wait on Jasper Wandel, the town collector, and demand the share of school money to which Van Vorst was entitled. The school money was secured, but no settlement was made about the surplus revenue fund. In 1843 the bill to divide Bergen, which had been defeated the year before, was revived, and the town of Van Vorst appointed a committee to co-operate with a similar committee from Jersey City to defeat the measure. In the meantime the new county of Hudson had decided to build a court house and jail. In order to avoid a direct tax and to settle disputes about the surplus revenue fund, it was proposed to expend the money in building. A town meeting was held on January 7, 1843, and the people of Van Vorst resolved to contribute their share of the fund to the cost of the court house. This ended a controversy which caused bad feeling for six years. More than half of the area of Van Vorst was still cultivated as farm land. The minutes of the town com- mittee record that $2 were appropriated on December 11, 1843, to pay for two sheep killed by dogs. The population was small, but it was too large for the charter. The little municipality was hampered by restrictions and a supplement to the charter was passed by the legislature on February 29, 1844. According to the custom of the time, this was submitted to the people for acceptance or rejection. A special election was held in Bedford's Inn on May 11, 1844. The total vote polled was sixty-seven, of which only two were against the charter.
By this supplement the town authorities obtained a little more power and more progress was made. The town committee arranged with Bedford for a regular meeting room at his inn, for which they paid $10 a year rental. A public pump was sunk at the corner of Bay Street and Newark Avenue ; the west side of Grove Street, from Newark Avenue to Pavonia Avenue, was laid with flag pavement and crosswalks; Newark Avenne on the south side received a flag sidewalk which was extended around the block bounded by Grove, Barrow and Railroad Avenue ; an appropriation of $1,000 was made to build a town hall, as soon as the Messrs. Coles and others would donate two suitable lots for a site. By the end of the year the effect of the new charter was plainly visible. There was a decided improvement.
Coles and others refused to donate the two lots, and Bedford's Inn was still the town hall when William Moore succeeded Bedford as the host, and Bedford became a justice of the peace, living long in the memory of the inhabitants as Judge Bedford.
One of the most interesting questions of the time was how to supply the growing town- ship with water. When streets were extended through the farm land a number of wells were left on the roadways. These were ceded to the town on condition that their efficiency should be maintained. One of the last that was ceded was a pump at the corner of Grove and Mont- gomery streets. When the town accepted it Samuel Cookson was appointed "Superintendent of the Pump." This was an unsalaried position, and the record of his appointment throws light on the nature of the public water supply. Some property-owner near each pump was appointed guardian because self-interest would cause him to guard the purity of the water. When a new pump was required it was petitioned for, and all the property within a radius of convenience was assessed for it. The radius was ascertained by drawing a circle around it extending half way to the next pump. The pump at South Fifth and Grove streets, for example, was built after a petition had been signed and approved. John P. Hill took the con- tract on May 15, 1845. The specifications provided that he should build a four-inch brick wall, and if he did not find water at fifteen feet he was to get six dollars a foot for each additional
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foot until water was reached. The residents could have an eight-inch wall built if they wished, but it was not to add more than twenty-five dollars to the cost. This well was completed in one month and cost $117, and the property one block each way was assessed.
The first street lamp was put np, on petition of Selah Hill, at the corner of Grove Street and Railroad Avenue on December 3, 1845, at a cost of twelve dollars. Petitions for lamps on Grove, Erie and South Eighth streets were presented to the town committee about the same time, but they were withdrawn because a majority of the property-owners had not petitioned for theni. The town did not feel wealthy enough to maintain the lights without a special tax on the property in the vicinity of each lamp. This was not the only point on which it was found that the town committee lacked power. The turnpike company owned Newark Avenue and had open ditches on each side to drain it. These hecame a nuisance. Many remonstrances, public and private, were made, but the company ignored them. Finally the town committee made a demand for the cession by the company of the roadway from Grove Street to the "Bull's Head," at Monmouth Street. On February 18, 1846, the legislature passed a supplement to the charter which gave power to settle the Newark road nuisance. This charter also gave police power and anthority to enact ordinances to protect streets, sidewalks and trees. Under this charter Robert C. Bacot was authorized to make a grade map of the township. He finished it on July 1, 1846, and fixed Grove Street and Pavonia Avenue as the summit of the grade. From there the grades were to fall in all directions ten inches in each hundred feet. This plan pro- vided for drainage easterly into Harsimus Cove, westerly into Mill Creek and northerly into the Creek of the Woods, which divided the township from Hoboken. It was a comprehensive scheme, and it would have been well if it had not been abandoned at a later date. The blunder made by changing this plan has entailed expense and annoyance to this day.
The charter did not contain adequate power to enforce the payment of assessments, and the town committee made another appeal to the legislature at the session of 1846-7. They asked for this power, and also for power to construct piers and docks, to create a lamp district. and to provide protection from fire. There was so much opposition that the bill was with- drawn, and the committee decided to do what was possible under a liberal construction of their general powers. In December, 1846, a committee was appointed to ascertain the cost of a fire engine, and their efforts resulted, on June 2, 1847, in a contract with James Smith, of New York, for an engine at $750, a hose carriage at $55, and four hundred feet of leather hose at $260. On the same day a town meeting was held to raise money for a school and to form Engine Com- pany No. 1. On June 23d Washington Fire Engine Company was organized with fifteen mem- bers and authority to increase the membership to forty. On September Ist this limit was increased to seventy-five, in order to have margin for absentees. Twenty-seven new members were elected at once, and the company petitioned for a new engine house. The town committee bought a lot on Bay Street from John Arbuckle for $450, and had an engine house built. The site has been used for fire purposes ever since, and is now occupied by fire headquarters. In the passage of time the neighborhoods were growing closer together, though they were not united in one community, except in name. The residents south of Railroad Avenne wanted a church. They were tired of going either to Jersey City or Bergen, and they felt strong enough to support a church nearer home. The result of this feeling was the organization of the First Reformed Church of Van Vorst, in March, 1846. A substantial brick church was built on Wayne Street, and it is still in use as the Second Reformed Church of Jersey City. The follow- ing year the Episcopalians felt strong enough to start a church north of Newark Avenue. The first meeting was held in the Barrow Street Baptist Church. A small frame church was erected on the west side of Grove Street, in Olcott's rope-walk yard, a little north of Newark Avenue, as a result of this preliminary meeting. Six years later the congregation built a fine brown stone church, and the old frame structure was moved into Morgan Street for a colored congre- gation. Later it became a carriage house and stable on the rear of a lot on Morgan Street, near Henderson, where it now stands. In July, 1848, the Methodists built a small frame church on Third Street. It was called officially the M. E. Church at Pavonia. It was enlarged some years later and became St. Paul's, which still remains and is a large church. These church organizations are noted to indicate the kind of people who laid the foundation for Van Vorst. At that time its population had increased to 3,601.
The town committee elected in 1848 decided that it would not meet in a tavern any longer.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
Organization was effected in the residence of Thomas A. Bridgewood, a jeweler, on Seventh Street near Jersey Avenue. He was a member of the committee. The people who had busi- ness with the committee objected to going to a private house, and the town committee appointed a sub-committee to find a suitable meeting place. They could not find a public hall and were forced to select another tavern. This was the Weaver's Arms, a saloon kept by William Hough, in a brick building that is still standing on the south side of Newark Avenue, near Jersey Ave- nue. Hough gave the use of a room for Si a night and fifty cents a night for special meetings. The town committee decided to follow the example set by Jersey City and procure improve- ments by the issue of bonds. They contracted for the pavement of the Grove Street roadway from Newark Avenue to Pavonia Avenue, and decided to make more liberal arrangements for public school service, even to build a new school-house, to be paid for in bonds. The school was maintained as a private enterprise by Isaac Corriell and he received public pupils for a certain sum allowed by the town committee. In the spring of 1848 the committee hired a frame building on Willow Street, now Third Street, between Grove and Erie streets for a school-house. It had been used as a factory. The owner made the necessary alterations and leased the building for five years at an annual rental of $250. That was the first public school in Van Vorst. The Catholic Institute now occupies the site. On March 30, 1849. the two dis- tricts into which the town was divided agreed to pay $547.13 toward the maintenance of the school, on condition that fifty pupils should be taught free of cost. The rates for other pupils were: Primary, SI a quarter ; intermediate, $1.50 a quarter, and higher branches, $2 a quarter. The teachers were Isaac manded free tuition for 100 pupils. Corriell, principal ; W. Sipples, A. S. Corriell The only parks owned by Jersey City were cre- ated in the town of Van Vorst, and the most in- teresting events in the history of the town dur- ing 1849 were connected with them. These parks are in a manner memo- rials of the Van Vorst and Coles families. John B. Coles had Hamilton and Miss A. M. Corriell, and Miss Fay, assistants. There were then eighty- twopupils of seven years or under, sixty-four in the female and ninety- four in the male depart- ments, making a total of 240. The following year the town raised the al- RESIDENCE OF CORNELIS VAN VORST. At Wayne St. and Jersey Ave. lowance to $950, and de- Park laid out in the northern centre of the town, but up to the time of his death it had not progressed beyond a park on the map. In the spring of 1848, twenty-one years after John B. Coles died, his heirs decided that they would take possession of the park. They claimed that the town had no deed for the land and had never accepted it. To remedy this, the town committee had four trees planted on the ground in March, and by advice of counsel took formal possession. For two years no further demonstration was made, but the land was increasing in value and the heirs did not want to lose it. They renewed their demands, and in 1850 the town committee had the park enclosed with a wooden fence. The town attorney was directed to have the statements of Henry Traphagen and Thomas J. Vermilyea taken in the presence of witnesses to preserve evidence that John B. Coles had not only caused a map showing the park to be made, but he had informed his contemporaries that he intended to dedicate it to the public use. These witnesses were old men, and the com- mittee feared they might die before the ejectment suit against the heirs could be tried. These old men testified that Coles told them in 1804 that he had dedicated the land for a park. The suit was won by the town, but before a decision was reached, the town had ceased to exist. At the time this question was agitating the town the Van Vorst family made a claim for the surplus carth in Van Vorst Square. This park was given to the town by Van Vorst in 1835. It was hilly ground, and had remained unimproved for fifteen years. The town committee and Cornelius Van Vorst agreed to settle the matter by concessions. Van Vorst had experts examine the land, and they reported that there were 7,029 cubic yards of surplus earth in the hill, and 3,147 cubic yards of deficiency to bring the low parts to grade. The surplus earth was valued at $1,500, and he offered to grade the park and ereet a fence for $2,000. His offer
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
was accepted, and he contracted with B. M. Woolsey and Wm. Sanders to build and paint the fence for $1,934.40, and with I. and P. Henderson, florists, to plant trees in the park. The work was done and the wooden fence remained until after the town of Van Vorst was almost forgotten. The trees were of various kinds, including a number of willows, which were planted on account of their quick growth. The willows are all gone now, but the other trees are still in existence, nearly half a century later.
In 1849 the assessor took a census of the town by order of the town committee and found that the population had grown to 4,166. In the spring of 1850 the town committee appropriated $100 to fit up a room in the fire engine house on Bay Street to be used as a meeting room. That was the nearest approach to a town hall the township ever had. The United States census of 1850 showed a population of 4,617, of whom twenty-four were colored persons. In July of that year the town committee contracted for the lighting of sixty street lamps, at $15 per lamp, the light to be supplied by camphene. In October of the same year the first police force was organized. It consisted of a night watch of ten men at monthly salaries of $18.
In the meantime the marsh between Jersey City and Van Vorst had been filled in. The creek that had divided them had long since disappeared and the streets were continuous except on Montgomery Street, which was not cut through. The outlet for Van Vorst was through Jersey City, and the interests of the two towns were so thoroughly identified that talk of con- solidation was frequent and the plan was popular. Meetings were held in both places to dis- cuss the matter, and early in 1851 it had reached a point where all that was required was action on the part of the legislature to produce the result. On February 12, 1851, the town committee held a special meeting to consider a bill which had been prepared by a joint committee con- sisting of sub-committees from the town committee and the Jersey City Board of Aldermen. This bill was a new charter for the united city. It had been thoroughly considered at town meetings held both in Jersey City and Van Vorst in the preceding September and had been amended by the people in both places. Jersey City had been more progressive in public im- provement, and as a result had created a bonded debt. Van Vorst had but little debt and the most serious question that arose was the equalization of this debt. Van Vorst accepted con- solidation on condition that the new city should provide schools, engine houses and fire apparatus to equalize the debt in the two sections. This matter disposed of, there was no need for further delay in accomplishing manifest destiny. The matter was submitted to the people on March 27, 1851. The election in Van Vorst was held in the engine house in Bay Street. The poll list contained 426 names, and the vote was : for charter, 377 ; no charter, 47 ; rejected, 2. The assessor's census that spring showed a total population of 4,725, of whom 2,264 were males and 2,461 were females. The last official action of the town committee was to order an election for officers of the new city. Van Vorst had become the Third and Fourth wards of Jersey City. The Third ward polling place was at the market, corner of Grove Street and Railroad Avenue, and the Fourth ward poll was at the engine house in Bay Street. With that election the old town disappeared. To-day even its boundaries cannot be located on the ground. The cove is filled in, the creeks have disappeared and scarcely any of its former residents are alive.
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