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 9
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The members of the Township Committee during its brief life of ten years were :
Cornelius Van Vorst, 1841-42. Cornelius V. Traphagen, 1844-45-46-47.
Thomas Kingsford, 1841-42.
John Brill, 1844-45-46-49.
Matthew Quinn, 1841-42.
William R. Drayton, 1845-46-47-48.
Jeremiah O'Meara, 1841-42.
Selah Hill, 1846.
Elias Whipple, 1841-42.
Barzilla W. Ryder, 1847-48.
Alexander Hamilton, 1843.
Thomas D. Jordan, 1847.
Stephen Garretson, 1843.
Cornelius Van Vorst, Jr., 1848-49-50.
Hiramı Gilbert, 1843. Henry A. Booraem, 1843.
Thomas A. Bridgewood, 1848-50.
Louis B. Cobb, 1849.
Andrew Anderson, 1844-45-46-47-49. Joseph Kissam, 1850.
John Van Vorst, 1844-45-48-49. Robert Mclaughlin, 1844.
Richard R. Rappleyea, 1850.
Charles Fink, 1850.
The Town Clerks were : Stephen 11. Lutkins, 1841-42; Andrew Anderson, 1843 ; Earle B. Sippell, 1844; E. W. Kingsland, 1845-50.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ENLARGED CITY-BOUND TO HAVE A WATER SUPPLY-PLANS PROPOSED-THE SITE FOR PUMPING STATION AND RESERVOIRS CHOSEN-GREAT REJOICING OVER THE INTRODUCTION OF WATER- SUDDEN GROWTH IN POPULATION-THE VISIT BV ABRAHAM LINCOLN-AN OFFICIAL RECEPTION.
HEN the census was taken in the summer of 1850 Jersey City had 6,856 population, and Van Vorst had 4,617. The increase by the time the new city government was organized in the spring of 1851 gave the city about 12,000 population, or nearly as mueh as there was in the rest of Hudson County. The city government obtained fresh vigor and extended powers. The fire department was reorganized and strengthened, a board of education was organized, and a financial department was created with a comptroller and a city collector. The records show continual work in extending and improving streets, the greatest activity being in the Van Vorst section, where large gravel hills afforded ma- terial for grading.
On July 13, 1852, the city debt was $52,116.07; the arrears of taxes, $17,616.62 ; leaving a net debt of $34,499.45. The real estate bought for schools, engine houses and other purposes represented $33,730 of this amount, and 159 street lamps covered almost the balance; every dollar up to that time was accounted for. The area of the city was then about nine hundred acres, and the increase of population had a growing tendency to damage the water in the public wells. In many sections there were no wells and pipes were laid to connect flowing wells with cisterns to save the carriage of water. The filled-in meadow sections could not have wells because of the salt water, and residents were compelled to buy water. This was hauled in barrels and sold by the gallon from door to door. The trouble caused by wells running dry was very serious, and there was much eomplaint. On October 4, 1844, John D. Ward sent a communication to the common couneil asking them to apply to the legislature for authority to build a city water-works. His communication was referred to a committee. The committee reported back that a company had already been chartered to supply the city with water. That was the era of special legislation, and the charter was probably a salable commodity. The company did not materialize. Mr. Ward again brought the matter before the common council on July 14, 1845, and another committee considered it until March 20, 1846, when it was relieved by order of the common council.
On May 14, 1846, a new committee was appointed. It consisted of Oliver S. Strong, Robt. Gilchrist and Peter D. Vroom. They took counsel with Andrew Clerk and Robert C. Bacot and made a thorough examination of possible sources of supply. They paid their own expenses, and could not be deterred by insinuations about a job. Several plans were proposed for obtain- ing a supply : artesian wells, eatehment basins on the west slope of Bergen Hill, tapping Rock- land Lake, taking it from the Passaic River above the falls or at Dundce Dam, or taking it from the Morris Canal on the Bloomfield level, but none of these were satisfactory. The committee favored the Passaic at Belleville, and authorized Messrs. Bacot and Clerk to prepare plans and estimates. Finally a temporary commission was appointed to provide a feasible plan. The commissioners were : Edwin A. Stevens, of Hoboken ; Edward Coles, of Van Vorst ; Abrahan J. Van Boskerk and John Dod Ward, of Jersey City. Stevens and Ward were engineers, and all were men in whom every citizen had confidence. The commissioners employed William S. Whitwell as engineer. He had made a reputation in eonneetion with the Boston water-works, and was highly thought of as an hydraulic engineer. He began a survey on August 26, 1851, and on December 5th a public meeting was held in the Lyceum Hall, on Grand Street, to hear his report. The council invited the town committee of Hoboken to attend the meeting. His plan was to pump the water from the Passaic River above Belleville to a settling reservoir on Schuyler's Hill, 157 feet above tide. Thence the water was to flow by gravity to a distributing
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
reservoir on Bergen Hill, 128 feet above the tide level. The water of the Passaic River at that time was so clear that the stones in the bottom could be seen from a boat in midstream. It was protected from the salt water tides by a rocky reef below Belleville, which kept most of the salt water from flowing up to the intake. The water was good and abundant. The estimated cost was about $600,000. The people were satisfied with the plan, and on March 25, 1852, the legisla- اناس ture passed an act author- izing the work. The con- struction was prosecuted with vigor, and on June 30, 1854, water was turned on at the Belleville reservoir. On August 15th the service mains in the city were sup- THE BERGEN HILL RESERVOIR. D == plied. The plant at that time consisted of a rising main at Belleville, with one Cornish pump, one main across the meadows and the service mains, with the two reservoirs. The total cost of the works up to the time the water was turned on was $652,995.73. On October 3, 1854, the introduction of water was celebrated by a parade and a general holiday. The council made an appropriation of $2,500 to defray the cost of the celebration, but Mayor Manners vetoed the resolution, and · the expense was borne by the water commissioners. It was $2,414.55.
The introduction of water made a general sewer plan necessary, and this work was placed under the control of the water commission. The sewers previously constructed were utilized, and the old plan of draining from the high central ground, both east and west, was con- tinned. An extensive plan was adopted by which Mill Creek and the Creek of the Woods, on the Hoboken boundary, were to be connected by a tidal canal. The engineer's estimate of the cost of the canal was $75,000, with $100,000 for right of way. This plan was urged for a number of years and modified in various ways. George H. Bailey proposed that the flow of water in the main from Bergen Hill should be utilized to operate a pump in passing down the hillside. This pump would raise 2,000,000 gallons of salt water from the canal ten feet and give a head that could be used to flush the sewers. This would have reduced the pressure in the city, but it would still have had the force of over eighty feet of head. Another plan was to buy a right of way, including the creek, of 300 feet in width, extending from Mill Creek in Communipaw to the river at the foot of the Weehawken bluff. This space was to be used for a canal and a tree- shaded driveway, with paths something on the plan of Central Park, in New York. R. C. Bacot proposed a more economic plan, by which auto- matic gates would close at the turn of the tide and force the six feet of rise to escape through the sewers.
The canal was THE CITY IN 1855. (From an old picture.) never built. The lo- cation of the creeks is now a matter of guesswork. Instead of utilizing this natural advantage the creeks have been filled up and the sewers of the lower portion of the city are a source of annoyance and expense. Some time they will have to be entirely reconstructed at an enormous cost.
The completion of the water-works marked another epoch in the life of the city. By the
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
spring of 1855, but little more than half a year later, the population had advanced to 21,715, Or about 100 per cent. in five years. About this time the Long Dock Improvement Company was organized to construct a terminal for the Erie Railway Company, and a large force of men were employed in building piers at the foot of Pavonia Avenne and north of it. Another large force were busy at the same time in constructing a tunnel through Bergen Hill for the railway. The work dragged on account of lack of funds, and the unpaid tunnel laborers created trouble by riots which required military force to suppress, but the enterprise was not abandoned. In 1861 the tunnel was completed and the piers were ready for business. The Pavonia ferry was started on May 1, 1861, with three boats, the Niagara, Onalaska and Onala. The completion of this large undertaking gave the Erie Railway an independent terminal, and its trains were no longer run over the New Jersey Railroad from West End. The New Jersey Company's busi- ness had increased to such an extent that it required all the terminal facilities it owned in Jersey City. The opening of the tunnel was speedily followed by the abandonment of the Piermont terminns, and the removal of the Erie's repair shops from the river town to the meadows near the eastern end of the tunnel. This made a large addition to the city's popula- tion, and was the most important local event of the year. The census of 1860 showed a popu- lation of 29,226. The demand for dwellings kept the artisans busy, and almost every street re- sounded with busy saws and hammers. The hard times of 1857 caused a great deal of suffer- ing in the city, and the relief of the poor was one of the most serious items of ex- pense. In 1860 the city was financially 1. 8 comfortable, and the erection of a new city hall and a police sta- tion with a bell tower bore evidence of the fact. Street improve- ments had been car- ried on in a desultory manner during the hard times, but the work was prosecuted more vigorously after 1860.
MONTGOMERY STREET WEST FROM HUDSON, 1857.
dential election of 1860 had filled the streets with marching men, and the excite- inent of the campaign had scarcely died away when the atti- tude of the South be- gan to absorb atten- tion. As the winter of 1860 melted into the spring of 1861 the tone of the South be- gan to indicate trouble, but no one in Jersey City believed that the trouble would assume the proportions to which it developed. When
The exciting presi- it was known that President Lincoln would pass through Jersey City on his way to be inaugu- rated, a citizens' meeting was called to devise means of honoring the nation's executive. The common council also held a special meeting to do honor to the President. The ferry company prepared the John P. Jackson, its newest boat, to make a special trip. It was prettily decorated with flags and started for New York at 8 A. M. on Thursday, Feb. 21, 1861. On board was Mayor Cornelius Van Vorst and Atty .- Gen. Dayton, representing Gov. Olden ; the senatorial committee, consisting of Senators Jonathan Cook, Samuel Westcott and Wm. F. Brown ; the assembly com- mittee, consisting of Socrates Tuttle, James Wheeler, T. F. Randolph, John G. Schenck and David Mulford ; the common council committee, consisting of President A. A. Hardenbergh and Aldermen Warner, Decker, McBride and Romar ; the citizens' committee, consisting of S. A. Hopkins, A. O. Zabriskie, Ephraim Marsh, D. S. Gregory, Magnus Traphagen, and a number of aldermen, citizens and ladies. When the Presidential party was received on board the boat a speech of welcome was made by A. A. Hardenbergh. The boat was not heated and the cabins were cold. Honest Old Abe towered above the heads of all and was introduced to all. He was in good humor and produced a good impression on all who were on board. As the boat neared the Jersey City slip the Hudson County Artillery fired a salute of thirty-four guns from the Pat- erson picr, and the Cunard steamers, that were docked at the foot of Grand Street, joined in the salute, making quite a cannonade for half an hour. In the railroad depot a carpeted flat car had
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
been arranged for a platform, and Atty .- Gen. Dayton made an address of welcome to the Presi- dent. Lincoln replied briefly. The crowd pressed forward to shake hands with Lincoln, with many words of congratulation. The police tried to force the crowd back, but Mickey Free, a noted local character of the time, made such a noisy protest that Lincoln forbade the police to interfere, and all who could shook hands with the President. A decorated car, drawn by the
NEW JERSEY RAILROAD DEPOT AS IT WAS IN THE WAR TIME.
locomotive Gov. Pennington, was waiting for the Presidential party, and it drew ont of the depot at 9 o'clock, amid the cheers of the largest concourse of people that Jersey City had scen up to that time. Less than a month later the flags that flew out in welcome to the President were raised for more serious purpose.
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CHAPTER XII.
THE CITY DURING THE WAR PERIOD-THE FLAG FIRED ON-A BURST OF PATRIOTISM-RECRUITING STATIONS OPENED-PUBLIC MEETINGS HELD-THE DRAFTS-STREET SCENES.
HE story of the war is the history of the nation. Local faets and ineidents of the period as they are recalled raise pleasant recollections for some, but for many they toneh old wounds that throb anew. Survivors of broken family circles are linked in memory with many grassy mounds. Many can close their eyes and see mental visions of enthusiastie fathers, brothers and sweethearts whose place knows them no more, while thousands only know that their loved ones marched away. Jersey City in those days was a small place. The eensus of 1860 showed a total of 29,226 men, women and children. Hudson City had 7,229, Bergen, 7,429, of which about 1,000 were in Greenville, making a total of 43,884 in the territory now embraced in Jersey City. To these the daily papers brought news of the
JERSEY CITY AT THE BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR.
Southern discontent, but to the majority it conveyed no idea of actual war. Even when it was announced that an army was assembling at Charleston, and that threats were made against Maj. Anderson and his little band in Fort Sumpter, the people did not believe that the government troops would be attacked. When Gen. Beauregard had fixed upon an hour for a surrender or an attack, it was looked upon as a kind of a bluff.
On the morning of Friday, April 12, 1861, before daylight, the streets seemed to be filled with hoarse-voieed men and boys, shouting extras. Men and women appeared at the doors wondering at the tumult. The extras were eagerly bought and read. The people were dumb- founded. The flag had been fired upon at 4 o'clock that morning. Surprise gave way to indignation as the news spread. It seemed as if everyone was ready to go to war in a moment. All day Saturday and Sunday the war feeling grew as the insult to the flag was discussed. On Monday, the 15th, the President's eall for 75,000 men was published. New Jersey's quota was four regiments of 780 men each, a total of 3,120. The commandants of the city militia com- panies did not wait for Governor Olden's proclamation. Monday's daily papers contained ealls for the companies to assemble at their meeting places that evening. The Union Minute Men's call was signed by President F. G. Wolbert and Secretary J. D. Van Dyke. They met in Cooper's Hall. Captain John Ramsey summoned the Hudson Guard ; Benjamin F. Champney called the Jersey City Ferry Guards ; W. A. Fisher, Captain, and Frederick T. Farrier, of the other company of the Hudson Guards, signed the call for a meeting and the ranks were filled
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
at once. On Tuesday evening a mass meeting was held in the Hudson House on Grand Street. I. W. Scudder was made chairman and C. H. Dummer secretary. Stirring patriotic speeches were made, and on motion of Thomas Potter a roll was opened for volunteers. The first man to sign the roll was James M. Weart. He was a young lawyer, in his 23d year. He served with distinction in two regiments, having re-enlisted at the end of his first term, and lived through the perils of war to die an accidental death seven years after the war closed. He was a brother of Hon. Jacob Weart. His was the first name actually enrolled as a volunteer in New Jersey. Thirty men signed the roll at this meeting and all were moved by the addresses delivered by Nathaniel C. Slaight, Benjamin Van Riper, John H. Low and others. The crowd was carried away by their enthusiasm and sang patriotic songs as they left the hotel. The recruiting be- came brisk after that. The signs on the fronts of the stores where recruiting offices were estab- lished gave much information about the terms of enlistment, some of which was from the articles of war and some that was evolved from the inner consciousness of the recruiting agents. For example, one flaring sign on an office near the city hall offered free tickets to the Southern excursion. Beautiful picnic groves in the sunny South, free fireworks and refresh- ments were among the attractions.
The two companies of the Hudson Guards were consolidated, and became Company G of the Second Regiment, New Jersey Militia. The Communipaw Zouaves were recruited in Park Hall, an old frame church Gov. Olden was published on Wednesday, the 17th. In it he ordered all organi- zations or individuals, willing to volunteer, to report within twenty days. On Friday, the 19th, the first detachment of the Massachusetts - troops arrived at the New ,4 Jersey Railroad depot. The fact that they were coming was known, but the hour had not been an- nounced, and the depot was crowded from early morning until noon when they came. They were received with an ovation. Thousands cheered them as they marched into the depot. Addresses were building, which had been removed from the south side of Grand Street to a plot adjoining the north- west square at Grand and Washington streets. No commissary department had been organized, and the men would have suf- fered if it had not been for the kindness of neigh- bors, and especially of Mrs. D. E. Culver, who provided coffee and sand- wiches for them. Sev- eral camps were formed, and the recruits were hastily drilled in vacant lots, frequently practising in marching far into the night. The call issued by JAMES M. WEART, FIRST_NEW JERSEY SOLDIER. made by Col. Hoxie, Benjamin Van Riper and others, and the soldiers and the crowd joined in singing. The whole population seemed to have turned out to see them, and the railroad tracks were lined with people all the way across the city. On Saturday, April 20th, the Eighth Regi- ment Massachusetts Militia arrived, and there was another popular demonstration. Mr. Griswold of New York presented a flag to the regiment, and Gen. Butler accepted it. The same after- noon the New York Seventh passed through at 5 o'clock. On the following Monday, April 22d, Mayor Van Vorst called a meeting at the council chamber, and a war committee of five was appointed. It consisted of Mayor Van Vorst, Henry Traphagen, John Griffith, Benjamin G. Clarke and David Smith. To their energy, and the liberality of Messrs. Griffith and Clarke, was due the preparation of the Second Regiment. The men were abundant, but there was no money provided to pay for equipments. Messrs. Griffith and Clarke advanced $30,000 to pro- cure all that was required. They were subsequently reimbursed for their outlay, but no one at that time knew where the money was to come from. The Mechanics and Traders Bank pledged itself for $25,000 and the Bank of Jersey City for $to,ooo, and thus the funds for equipment were provided. On Friday of that week the regiment left the city. The fire companies turned out to escort them to the depot. The streets were filled with cheering people, and flags hung from
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
every possible point. The regiment was sent to Trenton, and brigaded under the command of Gen Runyon. The command went to Annapolis by way of the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal, at the suggestion of John G. Stevens of Hoboken, because the "plug-uglies " in Baltimore had torn up the tracks of the railroad. The fleet of boats left Trenton on May 3d.
The first regiment was not ready to leave for the front until May 20th. It was the first under the three years eall of May 4th. The ladies of Hoboken, under the lead of Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Hatfield, made a handsome flag for this regiment, and it was presented by Mrs. Hat- field before the regiment started. From this time forward every day troops were being hurried through the city, and the people never tired of cheering them as they passed. On Saturday, July 27th, a part of the Second Regiment returned. They came in at night, but the whole city was out to receive them. There was a grand parade, fireworks and a salute by cannons as they passed Van Vorst Park, Joseph A. Dixon, whose residence faced the park, having charge of the salute. On Sunday the balance of the regiment arrived, and there was another demonstration at Washington Square. Most of the men re-enlisted again in the three years regiments.
On May 26th the government ordered nine boats of the Monitor model and six of them were contracted for in Jersey City. The shipyard in which they were built was not idle again during the war. On Friday, July 11, 1862, Mayor Romar presided at a meeting in the Washing- ton House to consider what should be done under the President's new call. A. J. Bixby was secretary and A. A. Hardenbergh, Ephraim Marsh and S. A. French were appointed a com- mittee to prepare an appeal for more men. The city had been drained of volunteers. A great many men had been attracted to New York regiments and were not eredited to New Jersey's quota. This fact caused Governor Olden to issue a proclamation on August 7, 1862, forbidding recruiting in New Jersey for other States. This caused a large number of recruiting offices to close. By that time the recruiting business had become a profitable industry. The drafts for unfilled quotas had produced bounties. Every numerous family was already represented at the front, and news of battle was followed by crape on many doors. A special instance which fol- lowed the receipt of news from the battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862, may serve as an example. Eleven houses on the block west of Jersey Avenue, in Fifth Street, bore sable emblems of grief. The women were busy preparing lint for hospitals and holding fairs for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission. It was not strange that there was a scarcity of volunteers.
On August 21, 1862, a meeting of the common council was called to devise means of avoid- ing a draft. Mayor Romar presided, and Hosea F. Clark was secretary. On motion of A. H. Wallis it was decided to offer a bounty of $150 for recruits. On August 29th an official list of the men subject to draft was published in the newspapers. Fortunately no draft was required, as volunteers enough came forward. On June 19, 1863, the Twenty-first Regiment came home and was received with every demonstration of pleasure. In July, 1863, the victory at Vieks- burg was celebrated by a general illumination. A mass meeting was held in the Tabernacle, and Peter Bentley presided. During that month there was another call for troops, and the common council raised the bounty to $200. On November 6th there was another call and the bounty was raised to $300. On March 23, 1864, a draft was begun. "Blind Billy," a well-known newsdealer, was selected to draw the names from the wheel. Two more drafts were ordered that year, and they created consternation among the men with dependent families who were liable to the draft. The common eouneil appointed Aldermen Gaffney and Decker as a com- mittee on enlistment. Stephen Quaife was enrollment officer, and the council, aided by Mayor Cleveland, succeeded in getting the quota filled at an expense of $347,691.43. These were among the trials that befel those who were left at home. Almost everyone had relatives in the army, and each daily paper brought grief to someone. When any of the regiments with Jersey City companies were in action the vicinity of the telegraph office on Exchange Place was haunted by anxious wives, sisters and sweethearts, whose treasures were at the front. No one will ever know the suffering that was borne in the homes of the men who answered their country's call. Fathers and mothers had their war maps pricked full of pinholes to indicate the points from which the last words had come. The joys and sorrows when regiments returned were familiar sights. Some met their soldier boys, others who came in joyful expectation found their fears realized. Exchange Place was a busy place during the war, and the walls that still shut it in have resounded with cheers and shaded sorrows that are enshrined as sacred in mem-
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