USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Hudson County to-day; its history, people, trades, commerce, institutions and industries > Part 2
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CARTERET CLUB HOUSE, JERSEY CITY. N. J.
The associates had shade trees planted in the streets, reserved land for a shipyard, for churches, a school and a public market, and to encourage the increase of the supply of pure water, contributed toward the cost of digging wells. In 1805 they negotiated for the erection of a hotel which was after- wards known as the Hudson House and now forms part of Colgate's soap factory.
Jersey City Incorporated.
But in spite of all these inducements the colony did not prosper and we read that at the end of 30 years after the beginning of the enterprise the population showed an increase of less than fifty a year. The three main elements in the retardation of its growth were the old Van Vorst mortgage,
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for the payment of which the associates had to use the revenues from the ferry and the ground rent from some of the lots which were sold under that condition : also from time to time the bugaboo of New York's claim to Jersey land under water kept reasserting itself, and thirdly the form of government was unpopular since it conferred on the associates too much power, allowing them through their board of trustees to levy taxes and inflict penalties when the land owners refused to abide by their laws.
Finding themselves unable, under these conditions to carry out their ambitious plans the trustees applied to the legislature in 1819 for a law in- corporating the town. Such an enactment was passed on January 20 of that vear, entitled " An act to incorporate the city of Jersey in Bergen County." In the body of the act the name was changed to Jersey City. Even under this act, however, the associates still held the balance of power and were able to dictate concerning tax levies. The "Board of Selectmen of Jersey
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HUDSON COUNTY BOULEVARD, JERSEY CITY, N. J.
City." consisting of five freeholders or inhabitants were more or less figure- heads. Consequently this form of municipal government was also unpopular and on January 23, 1829, an amendation act was passed. under which the Board of Selectmen, consisting of seven members, were allowed to raise money by tax not exceeding $300 in any one year unless by consent of the freeholders and other taxable inhabitants. Although this sum sounds ridiculously small it was opulent compared with the amounts obtained by the old board when the associates had the say.
Things began to improve perceptibly after that, especially when in 1834 the rights of Jersey to land under water were established in a treaty with New York. Then transportation facilities, such as they were then, began to increase. The New Jersey Railroad with its "passenger car Washington" established its terminus in Jersey City, carrying passengers to Newark and then extending in the direction of Philadelphia. Then there was the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad, with three cars having a capacity of thirty passengers each and drawn by "fleet and gentle horses." In 1836 the Morris Canal was opened for traffic from Newark.
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Thirty-four years to a day from the time Dey contracted with Van Vorst for the purchase of Paulus Hook. Jersey City was incorporated. This was on February 22. 1838. Henceforth the powers of government were to be vested in a mayor and a common council. This new charter established the community as a unit, separate from the Township of Bergen of which it had always been a part.
Consolidation.
But all this story so far concerns only the acorn from which the oak of the city. as it stands today, sprang. The best description of the territorial growth of Paulus Hook. or the original Jersey City is afforded in the follow- ing passage from Charles H. Winfield's "Monograph on the Founding of Jersey City."
The first addition of territory to the original bounds of Powles Hook brought within the jurisdiction of Jersey City, was made March 8th. 1839. Then the westerly boundary of the city was extended to the centre line of Grove street.
*AMERICAN- FOUNDERS COMPANY
AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDRY, JERSEY CITY, N. J.
The second enlargement was made March 27th, 1851. when Jersey City and the Township of Van Vorst were consolidated. This Township was on the Island of Ahasimus, and with Powles Hook and the territory annexed thereto in 1839. covered the whole island. This island was surrounded on the east by Hudson's River, and on the other three sides by Mill Creek, from lan de Lacher's Hook on the south around by Point of Rocks and the foot of the Hill at Newark Avenue, thence winding through the meadows to the Hudson at the boundary line between Jersey City and Hoboken on the north. The northerly part of this stream was generally called Harsimus Creek.
In 1870, the cities of Hudson. Bergen and Jersey City were consolidated under the last name.
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The City of Hudson was incorporated April 11th, 1855, and covered all the territory lying on the Heights, and extending to the Hackensack River on the west, between the Pennsylvania Railroad on the south, and the Town of West Hoboken on the north.
The City of Bergen was incorporated March 11th, 1868, and covered all the territory between the Pennsylvania Railroad on the north, the Township of Greenville on the south, the Hackensack River on the west, and Mill Creek and Hudson's River on the east. Within these bounds were the once fortified villages of Communipaw and "het dorp Bergen in t'nieuw maislandt."
In 1873. the Township of Greenville, covering all the territory between the Cities of Bergen and Bayonne, and the New York and Hackensack Bays was added to Jersey City. To-day all of these smaller cities make up the present city of Jersey City.
Prosperous Up-to-Date Community.
On the western slope of the Bergen section in the Jersey City of today is laid out the beautiful West Side Park covering 208 acres, Its construc- tion by the Hudson County Park Commission cost $1.250.000. There are rine city parks with an area of 39.10. They are River View, Bay View. Leonard J. Gordon. Hamilton, Columbia, Mary Benson, Lafayette, Van Vorst and Washington.
In handsome public buildings Jersey City is not lacking. It boasts a City Hall that cost $goo,oco; the Free Public Library, $360,000; the new City Hospital, $350.cco, including the price of the site: the new High School, $400,000; the People's Palace, donated by Joseph Milbank to the First Con- gregational Church, $400,000, and a number of other structures of modern design.
In the way of educational facilities there are thirty-one public schools. ten Roman Catholic Parochial Schools, the High School, Hasbrouck Institute. now part of the High School system), St. Peter's College, St. Moysius Academy and the German-American School.
For every 2,079 people in Jersey City there is one church making a total of 122 houses of worship.
These facts when correlated present a picture of a thriving, up-to-date city which contrasts oddly with the scenes that must have prevailed less than a century ago when the associates prevailed on the legislature to pass a law keeping the streets clear of pigs, sheep, ducks and dogs.
Jersey City is the only city in Hudson County ( 1914) operating under the Commission Form of Government, it having adopted the Walsh Act in 1013. Great things have been predicted for Jersey City under this new form of government, and while it is hardly possible at this early day to claim that tangible benefits have been derived, there has been a marked increase in the interest displayed by all classes of citizens, in the city's welfare. The try-out of this new method of government will, however, be watched with great interest by the entire county.
JERSEY CITY POST OFFICE
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Trust Company of New Jersey Hoboken N. J.
First National Bank of Hoboken N. J.
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Tinhmaken
A LTHOUGH Castle Point may have been seen by some of the early navigators who, it is claimed, entered the Hudson River during the sixteenth century, no record of it appears until the memorable voyage of Henry Hudson. After this daring navigator had ascended his river for one hundred and fifty miles, he returned toward its mouth, and, in consequence of an encounter with the Indians on Manhattan Island, anchored the Half Moon in Weehawken Cove, on October 2, 1609, where the serpentine rocks of the neighboring point made such an impression upon Robert Juet. the mate, that he says in his log : "Within a while after. we got downe two leagues beyond that place. and anchored in a Bay, cheere from all danger of them on the other side of the river, where we saw a good piece of ground ; and hard by it there was a Cliffe, that looked of the colour of white greene, as though it were either Copper, or Silver Myne; and I think it to be one of them, by the trees that grow upon it. For they are all burned, and the other places are greene as grasse.
From that date Castle Point has occupied a place in history.
HAMBU
ENTRANCE TO STEAMSHIP PIERS, HOBOKEN, N. J.
Origin of the Name " Hoboken."
But long before Hudson's day, the island of which it formed a part, and which is now the city of Hoboken, was known to the aboriginal inhabitants of the country who, even if they had no permanent settlement there, must have visited it frequently, for there they procured the stone from which they fashioned their pipe bowls. On this account they called the place " Hopoghan Hackingh," or " Land of the Tobacco Pipe."
First Recorded Deed of the City.
In the first recorded deed in the annals of New Netherland, "the land called Hobocan Hackingh" is conveved by its Indian owners, on July 12, 1630, to the Director and Council of New Netherland, who were acting on behalf of Michael Pauw, Burgomaster of Amsterdam, Lord of Achtienhoven. and one of the members of the Dutch West India Company. Pauw also
acquired the other land on the west shore of the Hudson River and New York Bay from Weehawken to, and including, Staten Island, and became the "patroon" of this region, which he named " Pavonia." As far as known. Pauw never came to America, and as the other members of the West India Company objected to his monopoly of the lands across the Hudson from Manhattan Island, he finally sold out his interest in Pavonia to the company in 1634 or 1635.
Early Settlement.
An agent of Pauw, named Cornelius Van Vorst, settled at Ahasimus, in what is now Jersey City ( where his descendants live to this day), and his son, Hendrick Van Vorst, was probably the first white occupant of Hoboken. although he appears to have had only a farm there and no house, as he probably lived at his father's in Ahasimus. He returned to Holland in the summer of 1639 and there he died, and the next year Director-General Kieft. the governor of New Netherland, leased lloboken to Aert Teunissen Van Putten and agreed to build a small house there. Van Putten improved the place, started farming, and erected a brew-house, but on the outbreak of war with the Indians in 1643 he was killed while on a trading expedition to Sandy Hook, and his farm was laid desolate and all his buildings burned. except the brewery, which was still standing in 1649.
UPPER HUDSON STREET, HOBOKEN, N. J.
In 1645. Van Putten's widow married Sybout Claesen, a carpenter in New Amsterdam, and they laid claim to Hoboken, but Governor Kieft did not allow their claim and leased the island to Dierck Claesen, from Bremen, who afterwards abandoned the place; so that at the end of the year 1649 it lay unoccupied. Nicholas Varleth acquired an interest in Hoboken a few years later, and in 1663 he received a formal grant of the land from Governor Peter Stuyvesant, which was confirmed to him by Governor Carteret in 1668, after the English conquest.
The Bayards Come Into Possession.
Varleth, in 1665, had married Anna, the sister of Governor Stuyvesant and the widow of Samuel Bayard. On Varleth's death, in 1675, his heirs succeeded to his estate, and from them the Hoboken property was acquired
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by his step-son, Samuel Bayard, Jr., in 1711. The latter's descendants con- tinned in possession of Hoboken until the Revolutionary War, and improved the estate. In the time of William Bayard the last of his immediate family to own Hoboken, his mansion stood on Castle Point, and near it were many farm buildings, while around were beautiful gardens, fine orchards, meadows and other farm lands. It was said, "a better fishing place for catching shad, etc., there is not on the North River, with plenty of oysters in the creek and before the door." In such a paradise Mr. Bayard spent his summers and entertained with large hospitality. Among his guests were Mr. Quincy, of Massachusetts, in 1773, and the delegates from that State to the Continental Congress, in 1775.
Hoboken During the Revolutionary War.
At the beginning of the Revolution, William Bavard was on the side of the colonies, and even served on a Committee of Fifty Whig sympathizers with Jay. Lewis and other patriots. But when the British captured New York, in 1776, he thought that the American cause was a lost one, and went over to the British sile, even joining the King's army, in which he had the rank of colonel. His farm at "Hoebuck" was a prey to both sides during the
VIEW OF HUDSON STREET AND PORTION OF STEVENS CAMPUS
war. In 1778 some of the Light Horse of Washington's army raided the place and carried off a great number of cattle, and in August, 1780, it was completely laid waste and all the buildings burned, except a small one near the ferry, by a party of Americans.
Hoboken came near seeing the capture of Benedict Arnold, for "Light Horse Harry" Lee, with three dragoons and three led horses, waited there many hours one autumn night in 1780, hoping that Sergeant John Champe would succeed in his bold plan of kidnapping the traitor in New York, and bringing him across the river, but owing to a sudden change of Arnold's headquarters the plan miscarried.
As he had taken up arms against his country Bayard's Hoboken estate was confiscated by the State of New Jersey, and at the close of the Revolution was ordered to be sold at public auction. Hearing of the proposed sale. General von Steuben, who did so much to drill the Revolutionary Army into shape and make it an effective fighting machine, wrote to Governor William
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Livingston, of New Jersey, and asked if he might not buy the estate before it was auctioned off, for he had evidently taken a great fancy to it. In reply Livingston wrote him that, although he " scarcely knew a gentleman on the whole Continent whom our Assembly would take a greater pleasure in oblig- ing than Baron Steuben." yet the Assembly could not, without passing a new special law in his favor, withdraw the estate from public sale. and that this would establish a bad precedent and give rise to much jealousy. Baron Steuben's only course, then, would be to buy the property at the auction through an agent, if unable to attend himself. Governor Livingston then added this piece of friendly advice, which will be appreciated by all summer sojourners in Hoboken: "But if you never were on the spot yourself in the months of July. August and September. and I thought myself at liberty to obtrude my advice upon you, Iwould say that considering how often you
VIEW OF HUDSON COUNTY PARK, HOBOKEN. N. J.
are exposed to loss of blood in the way of your profession as a Soldier, 1 would dissuade you from putting it in the power of the Mosquitoes at Floc- buck to augment the effusion, for never did I set foot on a place where that troublesome and venomous little volatile, during those months. swarmed in greater abundance."
In General von Steuben's answer to this epistle, he seems to feel hurt at the refusal of his request, and perhaps at the rather trifling tone of the Governor's letter, and. at any rate. he withdraws his application and appears to have made no further attempt to acquire Hoboken.
Purchased by Colonel John Stevens.
The auction sale was held on March 16, 1784, and the Bayard estate was bought by Colonel John Stevens for about $90,000. Colonel Stevens was born in 1749 and belonged to a family already distinguished in New Jersey. His grandfather had come to New York in the early part of the eighteenth century as a law officer of the Crown and had afterwards resided in Perth Amboy, at one time the leading town of East Jersey. His father became vice-president of the Council of New Jersey, president of the Council of East Jersey Properties, president of the New Jersey State Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States, and held various other positions of honor and dignity, and he married Elizabeth Alexander. a sister of William
Alexander, who laid claim to the Earldom of Sterling and was a famous general in the Revolutionary Army. Colonel John himself was an officer in the same army, and was also treasurer of the State of New Jersey during the greater part of the war.
The engineering achievements of Colonel John Stevens and his sons have been so often recounted that it is not necessary to enlarge upon them here.
Hoboken As a Pleasure Resort.
As many as twenty thousand people from New York would cross the ferry in a single day to spend a few hours on the Green, along the River Walk, and in the Elysian Fields. There were delightful occupations and entertain- ments for all ages and classes. Among the popular attractions were "aeria! ways." a circular railway, and a primitive form of Ferris wheel. Refresh- ments of all kinds were to be had at the "76 House." near the ferry, (part of which was the only one of Colonel Bayard's buildings left after the confla- gration of 1780), at the "Colonade," a pavilion erected by Colonel Stevens in the Elysian Fields in 1830, and at many other places.
The visitor, on arriving by the ferry, would be landed at the foot of a little hill, on which stood the " 76 House," a little to the south of what is now
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KEUFFEL & ESSER COMPANY, HOBOKEN, N. J.
Newark street, between Hudson and Washington streets. North of the "76 House" was the beautiful lawn known as " The Green," which sloped from Washington street down to the river and was bounded on the north by First street. Here the visitor might spend his hours enjoying the pleasant scene or indulging in some of the many amusements which were all around for his entertainment, but if he desired to find a quieter spot or explore the natural beauties of the place, there was a path, lined with fine old elms, which led toward Castle Point and then turned off to the shore, where it ran between the cliffs and the river's edge, and was known as the River Walk. Until north of the Point, it led into the Elysian Fields, where tall trees stood in a fine. park-like expanse which extended from the present location of Tenth street to the Cove at Fifteenth street, and from Willow avenue to the river. In the early part of the nineteenth century this part of Hoboken was known by
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the less classical name of " Turtle Grove," for here the epicurean members of the "Hoboken Turtle Club" assembled to enjoy their succulent dinners.
Just north of the spot where Castle Point projects farthest into the river is a hollow in the cliff, called Sybil's Cave, in which is a spring of water and which was one of the most popular resorts. This place gained great notoriety at the time of the mysterious death of Mary Rogers, the " beautiful cigar girl." whose body was found in the river near by. She had left her home in New York, where she was widely known and greatly admired, on a Sunday morn- ing and was not seen again by her family until her body was found days afterwards. The mystery of her murder, which caused the greatest sensation of the day, was never completely solved, but her fate led Edgar Allan Poe to write the story of "The Mystery of Marie Roget." in which all the circumstances of Mary Rogers' death are minutely recounted, with the exception that the scenes are laid in Paris instead of in New York and Hoboken, and the case is analyzed with a mastery unequaled by any of the modern writers of detective stories.
A Proposed Public Park.
Colonel Stevens did all in his power to preserve the natural beauty of Hoboken and to add to its attractiveness, but he realized that with its near- ness to New York and its convenience for commerce. the inroads of business would, sooner or later, destroy its charms, unless the place could be reserved
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HUDSON COUNTY PARK, HOBOKEN, N. J.
as a public park. He therefore drew up a scheme by which the City of New York was to acquire the shore front of Hoboken as well as the ferry. It is doubtful if this plan was published at the time, but it is of interest in giving an insight to the character and amazing foresight of Colonel Stevens.
Suggested as a Part of New York City.
He proposed that a number of pavilions should be erected, and that " every effort should be resorted to, to render them the most finished speci- mens of architectural beauty and elegance." He thought that nothing could have a more powerful tendency to elevate the mass of the people than the free intercourse of all classes amid such beautiful surroundings. He believed that the revenue from the ferries would increase enormously with the growth of New York, and make their acquisition a most profitable one for the city.
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In case, however, the Corporation of New York is unable to supply the requisite capital at once, he said that "two gentlemen of undoubted credit" (John Jacob Astor and Dr. David Hosack ) offer to finance the scheme. And he himself was willing to " superintend gratis all operations necessary for carrying the contemplated improvements into effect."
A Scheme Which Almost Altered Our History.
One more instance of Colonel John Stevens's far-sighted genius must be cited : He drew up a project for an elevated railway, to start from the Battery in New York, pass up Greenwich or Washington street until opposite Hobo- ken, when it was to turn and cross the Hudson river to Hoboken, and continue over Bergen Hill to Little Falls on the Passaic river. Another account of this project says that the railway was to go all the way to Philadelphia and Washington. The Hudson river bridge was to carry passengers and teams. as well as the railway, and was to serve also as an aqueduct to convey pure Jersey water to New York.
Development of the Ferry.
A history of Hoboken can scarcely be completely disassociated from the name of Stevens-to this family the city owes much. It was here on this ferry in 1811, that John Stevens ran the first steam ferryboat, the Julianna, his own invention, and the first steam ferryboat in the world.
In Blunt's Strangers' Guide to New York, 1817, we find this notice :
TO HOBOKEN.
"A steam ferry boat sails from the bottom of Murray street every hali hour from sunrise to sunset. Fare i shilling.
"Carriages from $1.oo to $1.50.
"AA sail boat for the same place starts from the bottom of Spring Street. Fare 1212c."
It is interesting to know that for some time these boats were run by the clock in the steeple of St. Paul's Church. In those days the ferry landing was at Vesey street. In 1817 it was moved to Murray street, and in 1818 to Barclay street, its present site.
John Stevens died in 1838 and was succeeded by his son, Robert L. Stevens, who was considered one of the greatest American engineers of his day. Hle not only built machinery for steamboats, but modeled their hulls as well, and he succeeded in attaining unheard of speeds with them. He did not confine his attention to steamboats alone, but was most successful as a designer of yachts, and his masterpiece, the Maria, launched in 1845, at Hoboken, was the fastest sailing craft afloat and could more than hold her own with most of the steam vessels of her time.
A Resort for Notable New Yorkers.
John Jacob Astor, known as the richest American of his time, became a resident of Hoboken, taking up his abode in the Astor Villa, a building which still stands (though greatly altered ) on the southwest corner of Washington and Second streets. He mingled freely with the throngs of pleasure seekers who frequented the "Green" and " River Walk."
William Cullen Bryant referred to this "River Walk" as one of the most beautiful in America. Here, too, came Madam Jumel, a noted figure of the early history of New York. Fitz-Greene Halleck, the poet and wit, also spent much of his time here. Washington Irving and Martin Van Buren.
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too, often crossed on the ferry to visit their friend, Astor, at his palatial mansion on the " Green."
The millionaire and his literary friend were often seen driving or walking in Hoboken, and they were both very popular in a score of Dutch homesteads about town.
Not only to Halleck, Irving and Bryant have the woods of Castle Point and the Elysian Fields furnished inspiration; but many of the actors and authors familiar to Old New York, could be seen daily strolling along the river bank or in the sylvan solitudes of Hoboken's forest glades.
The March of Commerce.
But the perfection of the steam ferryboat. and the advent of the steamship decided the future of Hoboken and slowly but surely its rural beauties disap- peared before the march of commerce. All that remains to us now of its former beauty are the present grounds at Castle Point, most of which have been recently acquired by Stevens Institute and thus fortunately preserved to the generations of the future. On the "River Walk" if one cares to in- vestigate Sybil's Cave may still be seen, but access to it can be gained only by courtesy of the proprietor of the cafe which is built at the foot of the bluff -as the cave itself is entirely hidden by the building. It is used as a sort of wine cellar at present.
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