A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 59

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 59

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The Labadist Fathers, who visited Coney Island in 1679, have left the following record : "It is oblong in shape and is grown over with bushes. Nobody lives upon it, but it is used in winter for keeping cattle, horses, oxen,

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hogs and others, which are able to obtain there sufficient to eat the whole winter and to shelter themselves from the cold in the thickets." It continued to be used mainly for feeding cattle either in common or by lease down to about 1840, when its modern history may be said to begin. The people of Gravesend, however, seem to have been careful to retain in their own hands and for their common use many of the privileges of ownership, such as fishing, hunting, the use of timber and common rights of pasturage to unenclosed places.

The history of Gravesend from the time of Washington's visit until about 1870 might be characterized by the term "reposefulness." In fact, its people might be said to have dwelt by themselves and for themselves and to have let the world roll along, unmindful of how it rolled so long as its commotions did not shake them off. Human nature now and again as- serted itself around election times, when the citizens shouted their preferences, but when the election was over the men, then as now, wondered what they really had been shouting for, and what difference the result made to them. There was marrying and giving in marriage, children were born, educated at the village school to the best of its ability, and then stepped into their fathers' shoes; or if there were many sons in a household each managed to secure a bit of farm land in the township and settled down to start a new branch of the family, and the little cemetery, even with Tilton's pious addition, was steadily being filled up. So far as we have been able to judge, few Gravesend boys, compara- tively, left the township to seek their fortunes in the outer world. Within it there was at least an abundance, and if it had no million- aires it had no paupers, and by paupers I mean men or women who have fallen by the way- side in the struggle of life as a result of their own waywardness or worse. Early in the nineteenth century we read of a new road being occasionally opened, making transit to the beach or to the other townships easy, and

now and again we come across stories of amateur fishermen from the outside world who discovered its shore and spent a few days now and again, to return to their homes with stories of wonderful success, generally justi- fied in their cases by truth. The court records show an intricate bit of litigation now and again over some boundary question, of little or no interest now that boundaries have been swept away; while the church continued a matter of prime interest in the community and the real center of its civil and social as well as its religious life. These brief sentences really sum up the history of Gravesend for the half century or so that passed from the time the last British troopship sailed out of the Narrows until what might be called the mod- ern awakening set in. A glance at the popu- lation returns helps to emphasize all this. In 1800 its figures were 517, and ten years later 520, a gain of 3. By 1835 it had increased to 695, and to 951 according to the State census of 1845.

Some might begin the modern story of Gravesend from around the last date on ac- count of the religious activity which then sprang up. The Third Reformed Church edi- fice was dedicated in January, 1834, a parson- age was built in connection with it in 1844, and a chapel and meeting house was erected in 1854, covering the site of the pioneer church. In 1840 a Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at Sheepshead Bay, 1111- der the name of the Methodist Protestant Church, and although that peculiar designa- tion has long been abandoned it still carries on its work. In 1844 another Methodist Epis- copal Church was organized at Unionville.

From the church to the school is an easy transition, for in most of our early records the two almost followed each other so closely that their beginnings might be said to be con- temporaneous. In Gravesend, however, it is not until 1728 that we find evidence of a school-house, when a deed shows that on April &' of that year "one house and two gar-

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den spots" were sold for fig by Jacobus Emans to the freeholders for the use of a school "and for no other use or employment whatsoever." This purpose, however, was not carried cut to the letter, for the site thus laid apart for educational purposes was that on which, in 1873, the town hall was erected. It is hardly to be imagined, however, that 10 provision for education existed in Gravesend prior to 1728, and it is likely that as soon as the need appeared a teacher found employment and a place for teaching, even although, as elsewhere on Long Island, he migrated from house to house. The building erected on the Emans "lots" served as school-house until 1788, when a larger structure was erected on the same site. This continued to be the local school-house until 1838, when another site, singular to say, from another representative of the Emans family (Cornelius), was purchased and a commodious building erected which af- terward was known as District School No. I, and so continued until annexation. Gravesend is now as well equipped with educational facil- ities as any section of Greater New York, while its private schools have won many tributes of praise for their high standing and efficiency.

The modern progress of Gravesend may be traced as clearly by the extension of its roads as by any other basis, for its progress in this regard was slow and gradual and strict- ly in keeping with absolute necessity. It is only within recent years that the construction of public thoroughfares began to be under- taken before there was developed a crying de- mand for them. In 1824 what was known as "Coney Island Causeway" was laid out from Gravesend to the ocean front, virtually a con- tinuation of an old road through the village, and although somewhat primitive it contin- ued to be a toll road, paying a dividend to its stockholders until 1876, when it was sold to the Prospect Park & Coney Island Railroad. In 1838 a free road was begun from Grave- send to Flatbush, a continuation inland of the

road to the sea. In 1875 the road was widened to 100 feet and extended to the Brooklyn city line, receiving the name of Gravesend avenue. It proved from the first the main artery of trade and travel. The Coney Island Plank Road, laid out and partly opened for traffic in 1850, which extended from Fifteenth street, Brooklyn, to Coney Island, was long the prin- cipal carriage road to the shore. The planks. were removed after ten years' service. In 1871 an effort was made to improve this road, but while the story is one of the most disgrace- ful in local politics, it is hardly worth while to enlarge upon it now. Many other roads were surveyed and several were opened up be- tween 1865 and 1876, but in not a few cases they are still roads only on the map. Ocean avenue, from Prospect Park to the ocean, five miles long and in places 100 feet wide, was opened for traffic in 1876, and was a popu- lar thoroughfare from the beginning. It was an honest piece of work throughout, and showed the citizens how economically an im- provement could be effected when undertaken by business men and carried out on business principles.

But all these roads fade into insignificance when compared with that magnificent accom- plishment, the Ocean Parkway, which was begun in 1874 and completed in 1880. It is five and one-half miles long, with a width of some 210 feet, and is one of the most per- fectly appointed and best equipped roads in the world. Its main purpose is pleasure, and its appearance on a spring or autumn after- noon, crowded with richly appointed vehicles and pleasure carriages of all sorts, bicycles, automobiles, as well as pedestrians, is not to be found surpassed, if equalled in all desira- ble respects, by the boulevards of Paris. It is one of the many enduring monuments to the late J. S. T. Stranahan, who is generally con- ceded to be the originator of the idea of constructing such a magnificent parkway.

One feature which added to the material progress of Gravesend was the introduction:

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of horse-racing, which may be said to have commenced in 1868 with the incorporation of the Prospect Park Fair Grounds Association. This body of "horse-lovers" bought a tract of some sixty acres near Gravesend avenue, built a club house and laid out a track. The association afterward removed to Ocean Park- way. Another track was laid out at Parkville. These were comparatively private affairs and did not prove profitable to those who find profit in horse-racing. In 1880, however, a bold bid for public favor was made by the Coney Island Jockey Club, which secured about one hundred and twenty-five acres of land near Sheepshead Bay, laid out a splendid track, adapted the grounds thoroughly to meet the wants of large gatherings of people, built a commodious grand-stand, stables, out-houses, etc., and the enterprise at once sprang into popular favor. It was not long before the "race days" became events, and attracted crowds of all classes from New York, Brook- lyn and even more distant places. Since then the Brooklyn Jockey Club has established a course at Gravesend and the Brighton Beach Racing Association another at Coney Island. These have their ups and downs, it seems to us, in public favor, but all manage to secure more or less patronage and more than meet the demand for the "sport of kings," as it is called, in the section of Long Island in which they are located. All these institutions have helped to build up Gravesend and to aid in its financial prosperity. Whether they have aided . but most of them of more recent importation, in moral progress, whether they have brought within its precincts a class of residents such as the fathers of the settlement would have wished, are questions which others may at- tempt to solve. A historian only at times be- comes a moral philosopher.

The introduction of the horse car and the steam railroad, passing through Gravesend and yearly conveying increasing crowds to the seashore, finally brought the quiet settle- ment to the notice of the outside world and aroused it from its sleep of over 200 years.

Brooklyn, too, was steadily filling up the gaps in its own domain and was annually extend- ing its suburban lines, and so the land-boom- ers got an eye on Gravesend and began to menace its rural life. All that was needed to inaugurate a new condition of things was a rapid and cheap mode of transit, and that was furnished in time by the trolley,-the "ubiqui- tous trolley," as the newspaper reporters used to call it in its early days. The population began to grow with amazing rapidity and new streets were steadily opened in reality or on paper. Old farms were abandoned to the builders, while new settlements, some of them with exceedingly fancy names, sprung into ex- istence that put the older settlements like Unionville for a time far in the background, while Sheepshead Bay, which once might have been called Gravesend's suburb, became in reality the center of its life. The popularity of Coney Island reflected itself on Gravesend. It was the attraction which the land-boomers made most use of to invite settlers, and the closer and more accessible an old farm was to the water front the more quickly was it staked out, .its old glory wrecked, and its ancient story wiped out. The new settlers who poured in did not understand the old days, the old methods, and while the shadow of annexation was steadily gathering over the old English town it became the prey of local politicians, some, it is sad to think, claiming, and claim- ing rightly, descent from original settlers;

and all of them developing traits of patriotism for "what there is in it." There is no doubt that in its latter days Gravesend, like Flat- lands, became the prey of a gang of political spoilsmen, and their acts, as much as any- thing else, forced the annexation movement to culminate on July 1, 1894, when Gravesend became a thing of the past and its territory quickly took a place as Brooklyn's Thirty-first Ward.

It is a pity that the last scene in the sep- arate history of Gravesend should be one of

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riot, bloodshed, contempt for law, and stern retribution. For several years the leading figure in Gravesend was John Y. McKane. The history and character of that man are deserving of critical study. He was purely a product of modern American life, and we question if his type, although plentiful enough here, could be produced anywhere else in the wide world. He was born in county Antrim, Ireland, August 10, 1841, and was brought to this country when a few months old by his mother, his father having preceded them. The family settled at Gravesend, and when sixteen years of age McKane was sent to learn the trade of carpenter. In 1865 he married Fanny, daughter of Captain C. B. Nostrand, of Grave- send, and in 1866 commenced business on his own account as a builder and carpenter at Sheepshead Bay. From his twenty-first year he was active in local politics, quickly gathered around him a number of other local workers whose leadership, by making him master of many votes, not only gave him power and in- fluence, but enabled him to extend his busi- ness on all sides so as to make him really independent of political emolument. But he believed in holding office, for that in turn gave him political power, and as Supervisor of the town he had often an opportunity of reward- ing politically those who were faithful to his fortunes. His influence was made still greater in 1883, for then he was elected President of the Board of Supervisors for Kings county. At one time he was Gravesend's "Poo Balı," holding the office of Police Commissioner, Chief of Police, President of the Town Board, the Board of Health and the Water Board, --- and it is difficult to recall what. His busi- ness as a builder continued to flourish, and one could not stand at any point in the old village of Gravesend, at Sheepshead Bay, or along Coney Island without being able, in the new cottages and hotels, to point out his handi- work, and good, honest work he did, -- of that there is no doubt. His popularity was un- bounded. Everyone spoke well of him, and

although most people knew him as a politician, and one who was as well versed in the ways and wiles of local politicians as any man liv- ing, it was believed that his own hands were clean. He would stand by a supporter through thick and thin, he never repudiated a bargain, broke faith with a friend, or forgot a service. A stanch Democrat, he professed to have the welfare of Gravesend at heart more than the fortunes of his local ticket; but that ticket he always worked for with all his heart. His private life was pure and happy. He had a pleasant home, and there he spent his pleasant- est hours. For years he was an active member of the local Methodist Church and the super- intendent of its Sabbath-school. Up to a cer- tain point in his career never a word was spoken against him. He was the "boss;" he ruled with a rod of iron ; he was in all sorts of deals, and it was believed he was thor- oughly honest personally and that whatever underhand and shady work he did was done simply in the line of business of the political boss. Most people felt that with all his faults things were safer with him than with any boss who would surely be raised to reign in his stead,-seeing that a boss was necessary. As Gravesend grew in population, as Coney Island year after year added to its visitors by thousands, McKane's position grew in impor- tance, and he had to use all the customary accomplishments of the professional politician to maintain his footing.

The key to his power lay in the ballot-box, and for years it was known that the returns from Gravesend at any election were just as McKane wanted them. There were loud com- plaints at times of irregularity, but nothing was done, for as usual political excitement and indignation generally subsided after each elec- tion. Then, too, as election after election passed over, McKane became more reckless and defiant of all law. Respect for the law governing elections was especially forgotten by him and cut no figure in his calculations. There is no doubt that for years the ballots

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cast in Gravesend were manipulated to suit McKane and his coterie. This in time became so glaring that little more was needed to ex- pose the whole sham and bring it to an end than the zealous protest of some men of deter- mination, and that man came to the front in William J. Gaynor. In 1893 he was nomi- nated for Justice of the. Supreme Court, and when the campaign was on he determined to pay attention to Gravesend, being well aware that McKane was bitterly opposed to him and would stoop to even the most desperate act to accomplish his defeat. He determined to have at least an honest vote in Gravesend, and to that end obtained an order from the Supreme Court compelling the Registrars of Elections to produce the registry books; but the books could not be found. On election day twelve watchers sent by Gaynor went to Gravesend armed with an injunction from the Supreme Court forbidding McKane or any one else from interfering with them; but Mc- Kane, folding his arms behind his back, re- fused to touch the document, uttering the mem- orable words, "Injunctions don't go here." Colonel Alexander S. Bacon and the other watchers were arrested, some were maltreated brutally, and all were glad to get back to Brooklyn. Gravesend had 6,000 votes regis- tered, while her population should only have shown some 2,000. The votes cast were 3,500, proving that in spite of all the excitement, fraudulent methods had been at work. Ameri- can citizens can stand a good deal; they can be plundered, imposed upon and deluded by politicians year out and year in with impunity. Every now and then they arise in their might and "turn the rascals out," but they soon for- · get their indignation, the rascals return to their plunder, and things go on as before. But there is one thing the people will neither condone nor forget, and that is tampering with the ballot-box, the foundation of all their liberties, and the united voice of a free people. Of the · 3.500 votes cast, Gaynor received an insignifi- cant number, but the general returns showed

that he was elected to the bench by a large majority. Public attention as to affairs in Gravesend had been aroused, the flagrant tink- ering with the ballot-box and the insults and in- dignities and maltreatment of those who rep- resented the law created a deep feeling of re- sentment in the community, and a demand arose for the prosecution of the offenders. A fund was raised to bring the matter to an issue, and McKane and several of lis promin- ent associates were indicted. As a result of his trial McKane was convicted of violating the election law, and on February 19, 1894, sen- tenced by Justice Bartlett to six years in state prison. After a few delays, trying to evade the sentence by legal quibbles, he began his term in Sing Sing on March 2, following, and was there incarcerated, "a model prisoner," the keepers said, until April 30, 1898, having then finished his term less the deduction al- lowed to all prisoners who behave themselves as behavior is understood in penal institutions. He emerged from prison a broken-down man in every way, and did not even attempt to regain his old-time grip. His once indomitable spirit was crushed beneath the terrible blow which had transformed him from "a useful citizen" into a convict, and he died, broken- hearted, September 5, 1899.

McKane was not the only one who suffered for the "crime of Gravesend," as the reporters put it. Many of his supporters suffered im- prisonment and fine, the most noted being Kenneth F. Sutherland. sent to prison for one year and fined $500 on one count and sentenced to another year's imprisonment on a fresh charge; R. V. B. Newton, sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and $750 fine; A. S. Jameson, eighteen months; M. P. Ryan, four months and $500; F. Bader, five months and $500; B. Cohen, four months and $500; and so on down to comparatively petty sentences, for the less conspicuous workers of the gang. Possibly the full extent of the frauds at the ballot-boxes was not realized by the public until the election at Gravesend in April, 1894,

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when, under honest auspices, only 1,928 votes were cast.

Thus closed in turmoil and gloom the story of a town founded in righteousness and hon- esty, and distinguished for its uprightness and the even tenor of its ways. It demon- strated the unscrupulousness of politics and che rottenness which can be introduced into our municipal government by a few men who are zealous for power. No one pitied McKane and his fellows, and their fate has been held to be a significant and much-needed lesson

to others who might be induced to drift into such methods; and drift is the right word. McKane and his associates were not bad men; in private life most of them were above re- proach; but they drifted along the current of low political intrigue until, blind to the results, they "shot Niagara," went beyond the safe- guards of law and order, defied these in fact, and landed in prison cells. Their story is a blot on American politics, and it is a pity that the records of Gravesend should close with the details of a political crime and its salutary punishment.

CHAPTER XXXI.

CONEY ISLAND.

RISE OF THE FAMOUS RESORT -- THE DEMOCRATIC WATERING PLACE OF NEW YORK- A REVOLUTIONARY REMINISCENCE-PIRACY AND PLUNDER.

OR many years after the Revolution Coney Island lay practically dor- mant. The heirs of the thirty-nine persons referred to in the preceding chapter, among whom most of Guisbert's Island was divided in 1677, held their right for many years in that apportionment, but the property was unproductive. By 1734 most of their claims had been bought by Thomas Stillwell, who in that year started the march of modern improvement by digging a ditch which enabled farmers' and gardeners' boats to reach the market on Manhattan Island muclı more quickly than formerly. All the arable land was practically on the division known as Gutisbert's Island. Pine Island and the orig- inal bit of sand known as Coney Island, or Narrioch, made up the rest of the territory, all of which is now known under the one popu- lar name. The sea, then as now, played sad havoc with this stretch of sand. Sometimes the three islands were quite distinct, at other times they were, as now, practically one. The whole territory at one time was little more than the backyard of Gravesend, and at inter- vals that town enjoyed a little income by letting the privileges not covered by the rights of the original thirty-nine. From time to time other divisions were made of the territory, always in thirty-nine lots, as fresh demands were made by the slowly increasing population, and the last of these divisions was that of

1821. By that time the utility of Coney Island as a "resort" was beginning to be understood, and before the end of that decade the place boasted its first hotel,-the Coney Island House. Wyckoff's Hotel followed, and these two establishments divided the patronage of the place. In 1844 a bathing pavilion, with attachments, was erected at what is now known as Norton's Point, and in 1847 another hotel was built on the island,-the Oceanic. It was burned down at the end of its first season, and afterward rebuilt.

This was the beginning. But it is difficult to say exactly when the modern movement which resulted in making Coney Island fa- mous fairly set in. In one sense, no date can be definitely fixed, for, like Topsey in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," it "just growed." Every year from 1847 witnessed some improvement, some new bathing-houses run up with unplaned lumber and primitive appointments, some roughly constructed hotel or restaurant, cheap saloon, democratic eating-houses where you could bring your own luncheon or eat what was produced on the premises, lager-beer bars, and a show or two, generally of a startling character, such as newly-caught wild Indians, educated pigs, museums, special exhibits of . "sole remnants of the ancient Aztec sovereigns of Central America," and the like. Each year more and more of these things seemed to litter the beach, and each year the crowds of visitors

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increased. It was a democratic resort, and there was plenty of room for all sorts of tastes. If the visitors wanted to be in a throng, the throng was there; if they desired quiet, a short walk among the dunes gave them all the quiet- ness that Lady Moody could have enjoyed in her "bouwerie." Then the crowds became too great and people began to complain that the place was a resort for roughs, and the de- scendants of the good old settlers of Gravesend held up their hands in horror at the scenes of Sabbath desecration and midsummer riot which had grown up in their midst. The steamboats were carrying thousands of visit- ors, the railroad had begun its work of trans- porting people from the outskirts of Brooklyn and from Bay Ridge to the ocean, and even one lumbering horse-car line was established, which was taxed to its capacity during the season. The crowds, however, gave rise to trouble of all sorts; Sundays were seldom passed without exhibiting scenes of riot and debauchery, and by 1875 respectable New Yorkers and Brooklynites began to shun Coney Island and talked of it as having been given over to the mob, the rough element, in their midst, and predicted its early doom to silence and decay. But the mob held on, and recalci- trants were won back to some part of the island at least. By 1876 its fame had spread over the whole country, and in that centennial year it was regarded as one of the sights of New York and one to which all visitors to the commercial metropolis had to be conducted.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 59

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188