USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Jersey City > Memorial of the centennial celebration of the battle of Paulus Hook, August 19th, 1879 : with a history of the early settlement and present condition of Jersey City, N.J. > Part 13
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[Evening Journal (Jersey City), August 20, 1879.]
A PRESENTATION.
A pleasing incident of the parade was a presentation to Wilson Post, G. A. R., of a handsome pair of silk guidons. Just before the parade moved, the Post was drawn up in front of Mr. A. Hausbeck's residence on. Grand street. The stoop was crowded with the wives and sisters of the com- rades of the Post. Captain R. B. Seymour, in their behalf, presented the colors, which were received by 'Commander Kent, with a fitting speech. Mesdames Hausbeck and Kent were the prime movers in this pleasant incident. The G. A. R. and the Veteran Batallion were literally applauded all along the line by everybody.
After the parade was dismissed, the officers and men of the visiting commands were taken in charge by citizens and home commands, and were made to eat, drink and be, merry. The officers of the regular troops were entertained at the New Jersey Club House by Messrs. D. Van Winkle, William F. Taylor, and Andrew: Barricklo.
[Evening Journal (Jersey City), September 5, 1879.]
The Paulus Hook Committee of Arrangements met last night to close the business of the centennial celebration. Mayor Hopper, as treasurer, reported that he had received $1,585.75, and paid $1,449.45. There will be a balance of about $100, to be used by the Committee in publishing a history of the celebration. This is a very comfortable outlook, and is creditable to the Committee, whose care in the expenditure of the money is to be comnended.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF
JERSEY CITY, N. J.,
JERSEY
LET
ROSPER
SEAL OF THE CITY.
WITH A DESCRIPTION
OF SOME OF ITS
MOST IMPORTANT INDUSTRIES,
STATISTICS, &c.
-
- 1879
١
JERSEY CITY.
The first mention in history of the place known to-day as Jersey City was in 1638, one Abraham Isaacson Planck pur- chasing the land from the " West India Company," on May first, in that year. Its original Indian name was Aressick, but after its settlement by the Hollanders it received the name of Paulus Hoeck, and it was subsequently called Powless's, Pow- ley's and Powles Hook.
" Hoeck," in the Dutch language, signifies a spur, or bluff of land stretching into water; thus, for instance, Sandy and Kinder Hoecks, or Hooks, in our modern style. Paulus was the first Dutch owner, it being the fashion of well-to-do people of that nationality at that time to latinize their family names. The land purchased by Paulus was a collection of sand hills, some sixty acres in extent, reaching from about midway be- tween Hudson and Greene streets of our time, to Warren, and from Essex street to a small portion of Montgomery. This patch of ground was surrounded on the east and north by Hudson river and Harsimus cove, and on the west and south by swamps and Communipaw bay, the swamps being covered by water at high tide, thus making the place for the nonce an island.
The next mention we find of the Hook is in connection with the ferry across the Hudson river to New York. This was established in June, 1764, for the convenience of travellers be- tween that city and Newark and Philadelphia. The stage road ran along what is now Bergen avenue to Prior's Mill at Point of Rocks ; thence by a road across the marsh to Paulus Hook,
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continuing over the latter to the river at what is to-day Grand street. For full particulars relating to this ferry, the reader will do well to consult the " History of the County of Hudson," by Hon. Charles H. Winfield.
In March, 1776, Lord Stirling, with a small Federal force, took possession of Paulus Hook and partially fortified it. The occu- pation was of short duration, for in September following the British crossed over from New York in force, and, with the assistance of three heavily-armed ships drove out the patriot garrison, took possession and subsequently strengthened the for- tifications and held the place until 1783.
For many years after its evacuation by the British, Paulus Hook was almost a forgotten point in history, and there was nothing to attract notice, unless it was the passengers between New York and Philadelphia who frequented the ferry. For their convenience a small frame building had been constructed, and this so-called " hotel " with stables were in close proximity to the dock. No further addition was made to the settlement until the commencement of the present century, when a man by the name of John Murphy put up a rival shanty and vended oysters and apple jack, for which the State was as famous then as now.
A carefully taken census of the inhabitants of the place in 1802 disclosed the fact that the entire resident population num- bered thirteen souls, Major David Hunt, of the hotel, Murphy, of the shanty, with their families, and an unplaced individual named Joseph Bryant. The Hook had at an early date (1699) been purchased by the Van Vorst family, and it remained in their possession until 1804, when it and the ferry rights became the property of Anthony Dey in return for an annuity of six thousand Spanish milled dollars. The new owner shortly after- wards transferred his purchase to Abraham Varick, who the same month conveyed it to Richard Varick, Jacob Radcliff and Anthony Dey. By the courtesy of Hon. C. II. Winfield we are enabled to give a sketch of the lives and the portraits of these, whom he very properly styles the " Founders of Jersey City."
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Anthony Dey was born at Preakness, Bergen county, in this State, in February, 1776. Both his father and grandfather served in the Revolutionary Army, the former rising to the rank of General and the latter to that of Colonel. He studied law in New York and amassed a large fortune in the practice of his profession, most of which he invested in New Jersey real estate, particularly along the Hackensack and Passaic rivers. He was a very energetic, industrious and persevering man. He made it a rule through life to ignore political preferment, and never held any office, but was, nevertheless, foremost in everything that could be called a public improvement, especially in Bergen county, or that part of it now called Hudson county. He was also a Director of the New Jersey Railroad and a large importer of blooded stock from Europe. Ile died in this city in 1859.
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Richard Varick was born in 1752 and commenced practicing law in New York City in. 1774. In the following year he was appointed Military Secretary-General with the rank of Captain ... In 1776 Congress appointed him Depu- ty Commissary-General with the grade of Lieutenant-Col- onel. Ile was in active service at the battles of Stillwater and Saratoga, and served on Ar- nold's staff at West Point, sub- sequently becoming Washing- ton's Recording Secretary. Sun, larik After the war he held succes- sively the offices of Recorder of New York City,, Attorney- General of the State, and fin- ally Mayor of New York City, holding the latter office twelve years. He died in Jersey City in 1831.
Jacob Radcliff was a native of New York, and the son of
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a Revolutionary Gene- ral. . He also -was a lawyer, practicing 'mainly in Poughkeep- sie. He rose to the dignity of Judge of the Supreme Court, on vacating which po- sition he removed to . New York and became Mayor of that city in 1810, and again in 1815, 1816 and 1817. History does not re- cord the place and date of his death.
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These three eminent citizens engaged Joseph F. Mangin to make a map of Paulus Hook, and dividing their purchase into one thousand shares, offered them for sale. A corporation was the result, which was called the "Associates of the Jersey Com- pany," and as such it was incorporated by act of the Legislature in November of 1804, by an act entitled "An act to incorporate the city of Jersey, in the county of Bergen." It was incorpo- rated under the name of Jersey City, January 28th, 1820, but remained a part of Bergen township.
Thus passed away Paulus Hook, leaving a name in mnuisty records and renowned only for Lee's gallant attack in 1779, which gave it a bright page in our country's history. With its English name began an era of enterprize, and its rapid progress would be astonishing in any other country than this, and even here it is almost unrivalled. In 1838 it became a distinct municipality with Mayor and Common Council; in 1851 it received the adjoining township of Van Vorst ; Bergen and Hudson cities were annexed in 1869, and the township of Green- ville in 1873. The streets were first lighted in 1843. Gas was introduced in 1852, and water from the Passaic river in 1854. In 1841 there were less than 400 houses ; there are now about 15,000 ; in the same year there was bnt one public school with 253 pupils. We now have 38 schools (including Annexes) with an average attendance of over 13,000 children. Everything connected with the city has grown in like proportion. It is now less than 50 years old and has become the seventeenth city in the Union. What may it be at its first centennial ?
There is probably no great centre of population in the vast area of the United States which labors under so many disabilities as Jersey City. While it is the terminns and depot of the greatest and wealthiest railroads in the world, it receives very little from them toward defraying the expenses of the munici- pality. Most of their property is exempt from municipal taxa- tion. They pay heavily to the State, which has grown rich by taking that which properly belongs to the city ; for those cor- porations help largely to increase the burdens of, and receive many benefits and privileges from, the city, for which, accord-
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ing to all laws of justice and equity, they ought to pay. We have more than six miles of water frontage, and yet the city owns but a single dock, and to obtain that it was compelled to pay $124,000; all the rest is claimed by the State, and corpora- tions which have purchased or leased from it, and the revenue which is derived from this source goes into the State treasury, but a small share of which comes to us. This invaluable pos- session belongs to ns, and should benefit us principally. Would New York City be the grand emporium of the western world if her water frontage was owned at Albany, and legislated for their own benefit by the farmers of Lawrence, Schoharie and Herkimer ? We believe these wrongs under which we suffer can and will be corrected ; all we ask of the State is justice, and it must, in the near future, listen to and heed our demand ; all property must bear an equal share of taxation, and our city must ultimately control its water front ..
Jerseymen everywhere should recognize the fact that what- ever builds up the prosperity of a port which soon will be the metropolis of their State, must of necessity increase their own ; and they ought to be too proud and too patriotic to allow a city like this, with natural advantages equal, if not superior, to any in the Union, to remain the Cinderella of her imperious sisters, New York and Philadelphia.
POPULATION, VOTE, &O.
The population of Jersey City, according to the State census of 1875, was 109,229, and it ranked as the seventeenth city in the Union ; it now contains probably 130,000 inhabitants.
In the presidential election of 1876 the vote of the city was 19,776. The number of voters registered was 21,156.
The number of houses, as reported by the Assessors in 1877, was 14,270, There are 66,313 lots, 200 miles of streets, and 3,808 street. lamps.
There is laid 654,080 feet of water pipe. Daily consumption of Passaic water, 1,742,726 cubic feet; annual consumption, 636,094,990 cubic feet.
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The valuation of property for taxation for the year ending. November 30, 1879, was: real estate, $54,505,470 ; personals, $5,790,119; total, $60,295,589. The taxes levied for the same year were: City, $1,071,443.60; County, 192,902.67; State school tax, $121,449.65; State general, $60,749.53. Total, $1,446,545 45.
The tax rate was : on $1,000, City, $17.00; County, $4.00; State school tax, $2.00; State general, 60 cents. Aggregate, $23.60.
CHURCHES.
There are seventy-nine churches in the city, viz. : Methodist Episcopal, nineteen ; Episcopal, eleven ; Reformed, cleven ; Baptist, eight; Roman Catholic, eight; Presbyterian, six ; Evangelical Lutheran, four ; Congregational, two; Universalist, two; Reformed Episcopal, two; United Presbyterian, two; United Brethren, one; Free Church, one; Evangelical Associ- ation, one; Isaac Ephraim Congregation (Hebrew), one.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Jersey City has, including annexes, thirty-eight schools.
Number of children of school age (5 to 18). 39,203
Number of children enrolled 21,193
Number on register 13,246
* Average attendance. 13,000
Number of teachers. 314
Number of books in Public Library 4,800
Amount appropriated for support of schools, which includes $1,000 for Library, $222,550.
The school accommodation is inadequate for the number of children in the city ; the same complaint is heard from most of the large cities in this country, and also in Great Britain.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
The Police Department consists of 1 Chief, 1 Inspector, 4 Captains, 21 Sergeants, 132 Patrolmen, and 6 Roundsmen-
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making a total of 165 men. Number of arrests made in 1878, 6,289. The appropriation for the year ending November 30, 1879, was $288,250, which sum includes election expenses, cost of lighting streets, and support of City Hospital.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
In the Fire Department there are 102 permanent men, and 160 men at call; 13 engine companies, 6 hook and ladder companies, 2 tenders, 2 coal wagons, 1 company supply wagon, 51 horses, 21 houses, and 19,000 feet of hose. The loss by fire 4 in 1878 was $220,000, which was covered by insurance. of $325,835. There was appropriated for the support of the de- partment for the year ending November 30, 1879, $109,000.
POST OFFICE.
The average weekly business of the Post Office in this city is : Number of letters mailed, 42,126; number of postal"cards mailed, 8,610 ; number of papers and books, 4,848; newspapers mailed to subscribers, 4,168; merchandise, 679 packages.
Received and delivered : Letters, 63,282; postal cards, 9,722 ; papers, 15,55S ; money orders issued, $2,627.71 ; paid, $2,582.11.
MILITIA.
The Militia force is composed of one Regiment (Fourth) of National Guard, and one Battery of Artillery, equipped and uniformed by the State, and three independent companies, self- supporting.
The Fourth Regiment, N. G. S. N. J., is composed of six companies, numbering 400 rank and file. With them originated the system of rifle practice, which has since become so popular with the National Guards of most of the States, and it has also been adopted in the Regular Army. .
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SAVINGS BANKS.
The amounts due depositors by the Savings Banks of Jersey City was in January, 1879 :
Bergen Savings Bank . $77,194 93
Germania Savings Bank 143,649 24
Hudson City Savings Bank. 238,371 84
The Fifth Ward Savings Bank 405,177 99
The Provident Institution. 4,242,352 50
$5,206,746 50
And there is probably an equal amount deposited by the peo- ple of this city in the savings institutions of New York and Newark.
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DUDLEY S. GREGORY,
FIRST MAYOR OF JERSEY CITY.
The subject of the present memoir was born in Reading, Fairfield county, Conn., February 5th, 1800. His ancestors, who took an active part in the Revolutionary War, removed to Albany, N. Y., in 1808, and five years subsequently he was appointed clerk in the Comptroller's Office, filling the position nearly fourteen years, and declining the Deputy Comptroller- ship. Mr. Gregory held several important commands during that period in the New York Militia, and was one of the guard-of- honor that received the Marquis de Lafayette on his. second visit to this country.
Mr. Gregory removed to Jersey City in 1834, and soon be- came conspicuous in public life. He represented Bergen town- ship, as Hudson county was then called, three successive terms in the Board of Freeholders; was twice elected to the Board of Selectmen of Jersey City, and became the first Mayor under the charter, being elected three times, and feeling compelled to decline, positively, when nominated for a fourth term. In 1846, he was elected to Congress from the Fifth District-comprising Bergen, Essex, Passaic and Hudson counties-by a majority of 2,560, receiving 1,142 votes out of the 1,671 polled in his own connty. He peremptorily declined a renomination.
Mr. Gregory was largely identified with many of our mann- factories and public institutions. He organized the Provident Institution for Savings (the first savings bank in our State); as also the first bank of discount established in Jersey City, namely, the Hudson County Bank; and he was likewise one of the Commissioners to introduce water into our city.
There was, in fine, scarcely any enterprise or industry calcu-
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lated to increase the wealth and prosperity of this community, in which he was not prominent; and he was equally well noted for his acts of public and private benevolence. After an active and successful life, his demise took place in this city on Decemn- ber 8th, 1874.
HENRY J. HOPPER,
PRESENT MAYOR OF JERSEY CITY.
Henry J. Hopper was born in the village of Acquackanonck (now called Passaic), Passaic county, New Jersey, March 10th, 1830. His father was a farmer and miller, and the son re- mained with him until fourteen years of age, attending the town school, when he was sent to New York, and finished his education at the Crosby-street High School.
At sixteen years of age, he was engaged as clerk, and subse- quently as salesman, in the wholesale hardware and steel busi- ness in New York City, where he remained until 1862; he then became traveling salesman for the Adirondac Steel Company, in Jersey City, and was soon made manager of the works, with an interest in the business, which under him has been largely extended. While engaged in business in New York, Mr. Hopper resided in Hoboken, and was elected, and served two successive terms, as Collector of that city. IIe removed to Jersey City in 1864, and was, in 1878, elected its Mayor for two years.
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شرف
020
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J.R. THOMPSON & CO. JERSEY CITY STEEL WORKS.
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THE STEEL MANUFACTURES OF JERSEY CITY.
The manufacture of steel in this country is of comparatively recent date; and it was not until 1848 that the industry made any mark whatever. Its progress was slow, onr citizens being blindly prejudiced in favor of English and other European . steel, until the enormous duties on all foreign imports, during and subsequent to our civil war, compelled them to purchase the home manufacture. They then began to recognize the fact that in this department of industry, as in so many others, America was, at all events, the peer of her rivals; but so ingrained was the prejudice, that our manufacturers of all de- scriptions of steel goods found it necessary, during a long period, to represent them as of English production.
This condition of affairs is rapidly changing, as the following statistics from United States Treasury Reports satisfactorily. prove :
VALUE OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS-AMERICAN AND FOREIGN IRON AND STEEL.
Year
Foreign Imports.
Exports of Foreign. $1,037,087
American Exports. $12,049,402
Balance Exports.
1875
$18,475,733
$5,389,244 For.
1876.
13,191,618
1,019,912
9,962,249
2,209,457 "
1877
9,570,600
304,575
9,428.993
162,968 Am.
1878
9,057,632
455,180
13,969,275
5,366,823 "
It is evident from the above figures that American iron and steel are beginning to be recognized in the markets of the world as equal, if not superior, to those of Europe.
The present remarkable development of the steel manufac- ture of the United States is due to a small number of far-seeing, energetic men ; and notably to three of our own citizens-Mr. James L. Thompson and the late David Henderson, and Dudley S. Gregory. The two establishments founded by these gentle- men are among the most important of our city's industries, as the following record will prove ;
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THE JERSEY CITY STEEL WORKS.
(JAMES R. THOMPSON & Co.)
Mr. James R. Thompson, senior member of the above firm, and one of the pioneers in American steel manufacture, has made this industry the study of his life. The present works of the company, facing the water front, at the . foot of. Warren street, Jersey City, were erected fourteen years ago; bnt extensive additions have been made since, and they now occupy an area of fifty city lots, thirty-five of which are covered with buildings.
The raw material used by the company is composed of the best quality of American iron, from the Lake Champlain region, together with Norwegian and Swedish iron; a considerable portion of the stock being puddled from cold-blast-pig, for which Jeffersonville, Jefferson county, N. Y., is noted. The " crucible process " is used in this factory, the iron being thoroughly car- ' bonized, and becoming what is known as " blistered," or " Ger- man " steel. Machinery of the most improved description is worked by five steam engines aggregating 565 horse power ; and there are three puddling and six heating furnaces, with fifty-four melting holes. Five vertical and two trip steam- hammers, together with numerous powerful cranes, shears, etc., + complete the equipment of this establishment.
The manufactures of the firm comprise every shape and size of bar steel, hammered and rolled, besides all descriptions of steel forgings for machinery ; and special attention is given to the production of material for agricultural implements, railroad springs and axles, machinists' tools, and bars for wire drawing. The annual consumption of coal in these works is 10,000 tons. One hundred hands are at present employed ; and last year's production was 2,500 tons of the finest manufactured steel.
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GREGORY & COMPANY GES ADIRONDAC STEEL WORKS
SGREGORY & COMPANY.
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THE ADIRONDAC STEEL WORKS. (GREGORY & Co.)
These old established works, dating back to 1848, cover an area of 98,000 square feet, and are located at foot of Warren street, facing those of J. R. Thompson & Co. The original factory was burned down in 1854, but immediately rebuilt ; being considerably enlarged in 1864, and again in 1866 and 1874. The company was reorganized under its present style and title in December of the latter year.
The principal manufacture of this firm is crucible cast steel, the iron used being the best American mixed with Swedish. There are six heating furnaces, and forty four-pot melting holes ; every modern appliance being provided in the works which can be found in similar establishments elsewhere. Three steam engines, with an aggregate of 260 horse power, drive the heavy machinery of the factory, among which are four steam hammers.
The steel produced by Messrs. Gregory & Co. is especially adapted for many divers purposes, such, for instance, as ma- chinists' tools, drills, chisels, hammers, axes, dies, cutlery, and edge tools. Cast spring and machinery steel form another branch, including spindles and rollers, valve, pump, piston, lathe and connecting rods, and steel forgings. Cast steel is also prepared for railroad purposes, such as springs for engines and carriages, frog-points and plates, tapered and plain slide-bars for locomotives, together with spiral, taper, and bevel-edge springs. Steel for war purposes is a branch by itself, including decarbonized, or gun metal ; besides that for swords, bayonets, gun and pistol springs, with other appendages of the gunsmith's art. Every variety of steel agricultural implements is manufac- tured by this firm, for forks, rakes, hoes, scythes, sickles, mnow- ing-machine cutters, and planters' hoe and finger-steel ; while many other articles might be mentioned under the suggestive. heading of " miscellaneous."
The annual consumption of iron, including " scrap," in these works is 2,800 tons, for which 8,000 tons of coal are required in the manufacturing process. 2,600 tons of crucible steel were pro- duced by the firm during the past year ; and the present number of hands employed is 90.
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THE JOSEPH DIXON CRUCIBLE COMPANY.
Our city feels a laudable pride in possessing such an evidence of energy and enterprise as the above company afford, not merely on account of the area occupied by the firm, but still more be- cause the company in question stands alone, both in this country and Europe, in operating every branch of the graphite business. They own their own mines, mine their own ore, sell the raw stock as well as the. manufactured article, and in fine, are admittedly ahead of other houses in the exploitation of plum- bago.
This widely-known'firm was established by the late Mr. Joseph Dixon in 1827. Its immense premises in this city, occupying . no less than 50,000 square feet, are covered with four-story brick buildings, the principal items of manufacture being crucibles for all purposes, stove polish, graphite axle-grease, lead-pencils, &c. The mines of the Dixon Company at Ticonderoga, N. Y., cover 1,500 acres, their mill there for preparing the ore being sixty feet square and four stories high. Another portion of their property is at Tampa, Florida, whence they obtain the beautiful cedar-wood for their celebrated pencils. Their steam mill at , at Tainpa is 100 feet square, and they also possess there excel- lent dock and river frontage.
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