A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 63

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

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mately the welfare of all the other sections. It was as if the sturdiest brother of a family assumed the care and responsibility of the in- terests of all the rest, and started out to win enough capital which, if wisely garnered, would in time benefit him and equally all the others. During these eighteen years, there- fore, while we speak of Brooklyn, we have to forget the other members of the family and think only of the old section close to the East River, which had come to the front and was making such a bid for position and wealth.

How the new departure aided in the pros- perity of the place may be understood from the fact that while in 1816 the population of Brooklyn was 4,402, by 1820 it had increased to 7,475, and most of this increase was count- ed within the limits of the incorporated vil- lage, for outside of it there was very little to attract new-comers. By 1825 the figures had increased to 10,791, and by 1830 to 15,295; but by that date the ferry district had really overflown its old limits and was making its own prosperity felt all over the old town.

In 1818 the incorporated village was sur-

400

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

veyed and sign-posts were erected on the vari- ous street corners. Sands street, which was thien a fashionable thoroughfare, was paved in 1822, and Fulton street was provided with a sidewalk, both of these being regarded as won- derful improvements. The year 1824, how- ever, witnessed the outbreak of a desire for public improvements, somewhat astonishing in its scope and intensity. Streets were graded and improved in all directions, a new market was built, the fire department was nearly doubled and new buildings began to rise all over the village, generally of a more preten- tious style, architecturally speaking, than those which had hitherto contented the citi- zens. The streets, too, were kept clean by dint of a series of local ordinances, and the night watch was strengthened and made more effective than ever. It is said that no fewer than 164 new buildings were erected within the village during that year. A Board of Health was also then organized. In 1825 a stone walk had been laid from the Ferry to Water street, and the confort of this caused a general desire for the introduction of such sidewalks on all the principal streets. The people had really begun to take a pride in their city and also had acquired wealth enough to pay for the improvements they desired with- out inciting any more than the average amount of grumbling which is the inherent right of every taxpayer.

Certainly trade was most prosperous dur- ing these years of the village regime. Every season seemed to find a new industry added, and all the while the old ones were strength- ened. The shipping industry made particu- larly rapid strides and an evidence of this is found in the fact that in 1823 the United, States customs authorities erected on the water-front near the foot of Cranberry street a three-story warehouse,-an immense struc- ture for those days. On July 1, 1824, there were moored to the village wharves. by the count of a local statistician, eight full-rigged ships, 16 brigs, 20 schooners and 12 sloops,

altogether representing a great amount of trade and commerce. In 1828 Dr. Stiles tells us the village contained "seven churches, eight rope-walks, seven distilleries, two chain-cable manufactories, two tanneries, two extensive white-lead manufactories, one glass factory, one floor-clotli ditto, one card ditto, one pock- et-book ditto, one comb ditto, one seal-skin ditto, seven tide and two wind-mills, an ex- tensive establishment for the preparation of drugs, and articles required for dyeing and manufacturing, conducted by Dr. Noyes, late professor of Hamilton College, seventy gro- cery and dry-goods stores, two printing estab- lishiments, lumber and wood-yards, master masons and carpenters. The rope-walks man- ufactured 1,130 tons of cordage, annually at an expenditure of $260,000, and employed 200 persons. The distilleries consumed, on an average, 780 bushels of grain per day, at an expense of $368,200 per annum. The seal- skin factory employed 60 men ; pocket-book factory, 40 persons ; comb factory, 20 ; the card factory, 300 persons ; and other branches in all 400 to 500 persons. Immense quantities of naval stores, hemp, cotton, India goods, hides, provisions and lumber, were stored at Brook- lyn.”

The reason for so much naval stores being in Brooklyn lay in the fact that the Govern- ment was beginning to make full use of its property at the Wallabout. In 1817 work was commenced on the line ship Ohio, and it was launched May 30, 1820. In 1820 the then Sec- retary of the Navy (Samuel L. Southard of New Jersey) recommended that a navy yard of the first class should be established on the Wallabout property, and as the recommenda- tion was adopted the work was begun of put- ting the place in serviceable condition. Capt. Isaac Chauncey was again placed in charge and so continued until 1833. Under him the property was enclosed and 'an earnest of its future importance was given in the order for the construction of the sloop of war Vincennes, which was launched April 25, 1826, .

401

THE VILLAGE OF BROOKLYN.

followed by the building of three other sloops, -the Lexington, the Fairfield and the Pea- cock, an armed schooner-the Enterprise- and the revenue cutter Morris. All these were constructed during the continuance of Brook- lyn's village charter, and incidentally helped considerably also in the upward movement of. the municipality. It should be mentioned that another vessel, the Fulton, the first steam war- ship, was built at the Wallabout by the Gov- ernment in 1815 from plans prepared by Rob- ert Fulton himself; but she never proved of any value and exploded while lying at anchor, in 1829, causing a loss of forty-eight lives. The Wallabout never returned to the jurisdic- tion of Brooklyn, and so when the time of re- organization came a certain amount of terri- tory, a town within itself in fact, was lost to the city ; but the benefit of the establishment of the navy yard to Brooklyn has been more than can easily be estimated.

The year 1824, besides being memorable for its internal improvements, is deserving of being prominently remembered in local annals for many other reasons, and the most notable of these was, perhaps, the establishment of the first bank,-The Long Island Bank, with Lef- fert Lefferts, Jehiel Jagger, John C. Freecke, John Vanderveer, Jordan Coles, Silas Butler, Fanning C. Tucker, Jacob Hicks, Henry War- ing, Nehemiah Denton, Elkanah Doolittle, Thomas Everitt, Jr., and George Little as its first directors. An insurance company, "The Brooklyn Fire," was also established in 1824. Before the city charter was issued several other banks were organized and the increase of such institutions amply demonstrates the steady rise of the local and general business interests.

But wealth does not obliterate misery and we are reminded that even in those prosper- ous times the poor in Brooklyn asserted them- selves. On March 30, 1824, there were in the almshouse 11 men, 16 women, 5 girls and 8 boys-a total of 40; and during the winter of that year ninety-three loads of wood were

distributed from the institution among the poor throughout the village. The need for en- larged facilities for poorhouse purposes were then so apparent that some nineteen acres of land near Fort Greene were purchased from Leffert Lefferts, for $3.750, on which to erect a new shelter for those who fell by the wayside, by poverty, disaster or disease, in the strug- gle for existence. This property was outside the village limits, but it was proposed to erect on it a building sufficient to meet the needs of the whole of the old town. The establish- ment of a poor farm in 1830 at Flatbush helped to lessen the extent of the village ex- penditure for the poor, as it removed from its care what might be called county cases, cases which should hardly have been thrown upon the people of the village at all.

While spending money lavishly for the de- velopment and improvement of the village, it is amusing to read in how simple and unpre- tentious a fashion the Trustees, the City Fa- thers of the day, conducted its business. They held their meetings in a room over a grocery store within a few yards of the entrance to "the Ferry," and while the meetings were on public business the Trustces declined to al- low a newspaper reporter to be present or even to permit the minutes of their meetings to be copied for publication. What was done, however, was readily learned, the refusal of the minutes being due more to a sense of of- ficial dignity than anything else. They seem to have been a jolly lot of mortals, these early trustees, and conducted their proceedings on a conversational rather than an oratorical basis, and so got through with the considera- tion of any knotty point more quickly than though formal speeches had been the rule. Probably, not being lost in rhetorical fogs, they appreciated each detail clearly. They also understood each other better, and to help this understanding it was their custom, as soon as the meeting was called to order, to send for a supply of bread or biscuits and cheese and a bottle or two of brandy or gin,

402

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

and then proceed to business. At the end of their official term they enjoyed an oyster sup- per and pledged each other heartily. All this, it should be noticed, was done at their own · expense, the modern official junketer had not been evolved.

Under such auspices the village flourished and even acquired a measure of fame. It was not forgetful in the higher things that make for the good of a community and give it char- acter. In 1823 what was known as the Ap-

LAFAYETTE IN 1825.

prentices` Library was organized with the view of supplying reading matter for apprentice mechanics and in fact working people of all classes. Within a year this library had a col- lection of some 1,200 volumes, all presented by citizens, and 100 regular readers. It proved such a success that in 1825 a new building was erected for it in Cranberry street, and there in 1826 the Board of Village Trustees removed their meetings, although whether the ·conveniences for crackers and cheese and drinkables were as accessible as at "the Ferry," history is silent. The cornerstone of the libra- ry was laid on July 4, 1825, by the Marquis de

Lafayette, then on his memorable tour through the country for which he had fought in the days when it was struggling for exist- ence. Up to Lafayette's visit, Brooklyn had not been much disturbed by the sojourn of great men in its midst. It had seen Washing- ton in war and welcomed him in peace. Presi- dent Monroe crossed to Brooklyn in June, 1817, and two years or so later Andrew Jack- son paid it a flying visit, although on what particular business the Hero of New Orleans crossed the East River we have no means of accurately knowing. Talleyrand lived in Brooklyn for some time, and so did Tom Paine, the agnostic. These were all the great men-the men of National fame-who had walked through Brooklyn since its famous battle until the appearance of Lafayette, an 1 that the illustrious veteran received an ova- tion goes without saying.

An admirable picture of how Brooklyn looked in 1820 has been preserved for us on the canvas painted in 1820 and representing a part of the city in its winter dress. The picture is now in the Brooklyn Institute. The painter, Francis Guy, was a native of Eng- land, who came here in 1796. After inany vicissitudes he settled in Brooklyn in 1817 and devoted himself to landscape painting. As might readily be understood, he did not prosper exceedingly, the taste of Brooklyn not having by that time reached such a stage as to care for art for art's sake. Guy was reckless in money matters and had other fail- ings, which prevented his gathering and keep- ing much of this world's goods, and he died in poverty in August, 1820. His widow sold sixty-two of his landscape paintings at public auction in New York and realized thereby $1,295.50. The bit of Brooklyn represented in the "snow scene" lay just before the win- dows of his house, II Front street, and the figures introduced were all drawn from life from among the artist's neighbors. The can- vas was exhibited in Brooklyn as soon as it was completed, and for the correctness of its

THE VILLAGE OF BROOKLYN.

403

drawing and its characteristic portraits was pronounced a masterpiece by the local con- noisseurs, who must be regarded as the best judges of the value of such a work as a re- production of a scene with which they were

familiar. The picture has been often en- graved, but gives so clear an idea of the place represented at the time that it is here repro- duced, along with a keyplate, which was print- ed in Dr. Stiles' "History of Brooklyn."

GUY'S SNOW SCENE, 1820.

/11

5 114

13 V

021

-22

KEY PLATE TO GUY'S SNOW SCENE.

1. Dwelling and store of Thos. W. Birdsall.

2. House of Abiel Titus.

3. Edward Coope's blacksmith-shop.

4. Geo. Fricke's carriage-shop.

5. Diana Rapelje's house.

6. Mrs. Middagh's house.

7. St. Ann's Church, corner of Sands and Washington streets.

8. Residence of Edward Coope.

9. Abiel Titus' barn and slaughter-house.

10. Benjamin Meeker's house and shop.

11. Mrs. Chester's "Coffee Room."

12. Robert Cunningbam's. 13. Jacob Hicks' wood-yard, corner Main St.

14. Josbua Sands' residence.

15. AugustusGraham's residence,cor. Dock st. 16. Burdet Stryker's house and butcher-shop. 17. Selah Smith's Tavern.

18. Morrison's on the Heights.

19. Dr. Ball's house, opposite Morrison's.

20. Augustus Graham, conversing with 21. Joshua Sands.

22. Mrs. Harmer and daughters.

23, Mrs. Guy (the artist's wife).

24. Jacob Patchen.

26. Mrs. Burnett.

27. Benjamin Meeker, talking with

28. Judge John Garrison.

29. Thos. W. Birdsall.

30. Jacob Hicks.

31. Abiel Titus.

32. Mrs. Gilbert Titus.

33. Abiel Titus' negro-servant "Jeff."

34. James (son of Abiel) Titus, on horse- back.

35. Samuel Foster (negro).

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

The church influence in Brooklyn was steadily extending itself during the period now under review and so far as educational facilities went there was no lack of oppor- tunities for the young American to grow up with all the advantages of a liberal training. There were, even before the village was or- ganized, private schools in abundance, and in 1813 a number of ladies organized what they called the Louisian Seminary, where, free of cost, poor children were to be instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic, and in addi- tion the girl pupils were to be taught such practical accomplishments as knitting and sew- ing. This establishment was really the be- ginning of the free educational system of Brooklyn. The Louisian school was a success much more emphatic than its projectors had anticipated and the claims upon its facilities soon threatened to swamp, by their very ex- tent, the well thought out scheme of the ladies. . In 1816, as a result of this experience, a pub- lic meeting was held with the view of bring- ing about a free public school. This was agreed to and the Louisian school was taken over under the new movement and the ladies were released from their embarrassing posi- tion with regard to it. A frame building was erected for the use of this free school on the corner of Concord and Adams .streets, and the cost was defrayed by a tax. Pupils whose parents or guardians could pay for their tu- ition were expected to contribute to the sup- port of the institution, but to others its ad- vantages were free. In 1829 a Collegiate In- stitute for young ladies was opened on Hicks street ; but it did not prove a success. It was a step in the right direction, but the stride was too long for the time. In 1816 a Sunday- school was opened in Brooklyn. It was main- ly for negroes and seems to have been secular as well as religious in its aim ; but bit by bit the secular features were eliminated and the movement grew so rapidly that when, in 1829, the Kings County Sabbath-school Union was formed, it had jurisdiction over no fewer than twenty-three schools.

Another movement for social betterment was inaugurated in 1829, when a temperance society was established. The old hard and deep drinking habits had by that time lost their hold upon the community, excessive in- dulgence was no longer fashionable, and drunkenness was not even regarded as ex- cusable. Yet in that year, with a population of some 12,000, Brooklyn had 160 places where intoxicating liquor was sold at retail. Little wonder that a temperance wave set in and an effort made at improvement, of which the Temperance Society was one of the weapons. The movement had markedly a suc- cessful result, for by 1835, when the popula- tion had increased to 24,310, the number of retail liquor establishments had decreased to fiftv.

While so much progress was going on it is disappointing to be obliged to chronicle the fact that Brooklyn lost a chance of one magnificent improvement in 1826, which, had it been carried out, would to-day have placed her in possession of a most valuable piece of property, almost unique for its beauty and usefulness. This was the rejection of the sug- gestion of H. B. Pierrepont and others that the lands on the heights overlooking the bay should be bought by the city and converted into a public park. The lands were then used for agricultural purposes, when they were used at all, and as it was not thought possible that they could ever be utilized for building purpos- es they might have been secured at a compara- tively trifling cost. But the opportunity was lost. The public took, apparently, no interest in the matter. The value of public parks was not then clearly understood, and even many who favored such a park thought that the land indicated was too difficult of access ever to become of much use to the people.

Another matter to be deplored is the ap- parent ease with which, in spite of the excel- lence of the local physicians, the watchfulness of the Board of Health and the evident effort at local cleanliness, imported diseases played sad havoc in the village. In 1822, as in 1803

405

THE VILLAGE OF BROOKLYN.

and 1809, there was an outbreak of yellow fever, when nineteen cases were reported, of which ten proved fatal. The disease, however, was confined to the neighborhood of Furman street, where it was first noticed. In 1832 cholera made its appearance and from June 20 until July 25, when it was reported as stamped out, there were ninety-five cases, thir- ty-five of which terminated fatally. The chol- era, however, at that time was on one of its apparently periodic rounds and New York and other cities suffered terribly. In these circum- stances it was thought unlikely that Brooklyn should escape. Indeed, but for the excellence of its medical service the mortality list would have shown sadder figures.

When the prosperity of the village seemed assured and everything bespoke a glowing future, it was inevitable that a great rise should take place in the value of its lands and that the inevitable speculator should take advantage of this to boom sales and create on the solid substratum of actual success and need a fic- titious value and speculative demand. In our favorite year of 1824 the real estate within the bounds of the village was assessed at $2,III,390; and building lots contiguous to the old Ferry, when they came into the mar- ket, brought fancy prices. In 1826 Dr. Evans successfully turned one of the heights, Mount Prospect, into a private residence reserve. Within it he erected several cottages and laid out the grounds around them with such taste that the place became one of the most attract- ive in Brooklyn. Although almost three miles from the ferry, lots around this improvement so quickly advanced in price as to be signifi- cant of the impending change. In 1833 a land mania, or something akin to it, set in and values advanced almost daily. The rise was by no means confined to the village : all parts of the old town felt the change. A piece of land used as a pleasure resort (The Parmen- tier Garden) at the junction of the Jamaica and Flatbush roads was purchased for $57,000 and at once surveyed, cut up into lots and sold

at auction for some $70,000. A farm at Go- wanus of twenty-six acres brought $25,000 at auction, and ten acres at Red Hook realized $47,000. A couple of speculators from New York bought a farm and laid out on it a wide avenue, intending to restrict it to private resi- dences of the best class. The lots were large (80x100 feet) and the venture seemed a dan- gerous one, but its complete success was as- sured when, in 1835, Trinity Church (now St. Luke's ) was erected upon it. Now, as Clinton avenue, it ranks as one of the most beautiful and fashionable of the residential sections of Brooklyn. Even some of the remote, outly- ing sections of the old town had begun to feel the prosperity of the village and to share it. A new settlement sprung up on the old Crip- plebush road, and along what is now Flush- ing avenue many houses were being erected, generally in small colonies convenient to rope- walks or other works, while the employes of the navy yard, at times, needed more house ac- commodation than could readily be found. On the other side of the Ferry improvements even began to assert themselves on the heights, -the territory deemed absolutely useless but a few years before,-while further away lay another settlement, for which in 1833 a new water route to New York was opened almost at the foot of the slope, and to this was given the name of South Ferry. In fact it was seen that the village had burst through its legal boundaries and was pressing out into the old township in every direction, and the conditions which resulted from all this expansion slow- ly but surely became the reverse of satisfac- tory in various important respects. It had early been seen in the history of the village that it was laboring under some of these dis- advantages ; it was apparent even then that its boundaries were too circumscribed and its municipal powers too limited, and in 1825 a public meeting was called to consider the ad- visability of applying to the legislature at Al- bany for a city charter. But matters were not then ready for that, and the meeting voted

406

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

against such an innovation, much to the cha- grin of the promoters, who thereupon duly ad- journed the meeting, and with it, as they thought, the project, for twenty-one years.

In the following year the legislature passed several acts amendatory of the government of villages and under the provisions of one of these Brooklyn elected ten trustees instead of five, without, however, any further real or supposed benefit to the community than the exaltation of five more citizens into places of honor ; but even this did not silence the move- ment which was making steadily for a change. In 1833 the movement for increased local powers had increased so far that a bill was introduced in the Legislature for the incorpora- tion of the City of Brooklyn, and though it passed the Assembly it was killed in the upper house. There seems to be no doubt that the influence of New York City was inflexibly directed against any attempt to create a strong municipality on the opposite shore of the East River from Manhattan Island. It is difficult to understand nowadays why such should have been the case, but unfortunately the sentiment of opposition existed. There is no room for doubt on that point. Possibly the idea that a city should have something more to say with regard to ferry rights and perquisites than was possible for a village, had much to do with it. But there were other and more valid reasons. The ease with which Brooklyn could be reached from the then heart of New York's business and manufacturing districts aroused the fear of the real-estate manipu- lators on Manhattan Island, and it was inev- itable even to the sodden brains of the New York Aldermen of the period, that if Brook- lyn should become the city of homes-homes of New Yorkers-another big drop in tax re- ceipts would be the inevitable result. New York could only grow in one direction-north- ward-and the journey thither was slow and uncertain, even in the best of weather, while a pleasant trip by ferry landed the dwellers in Brooklyn, within a short ride of pleasant,

semi-rural streets, where comfortable homes could await them. Then in all such matters as shore and river jurisdiction a city government might speak with greater emphasis than could the trustees of a village or the representatives of half a dozen sleepy and forgotten little com- munities, mainly agricultural. So bitter was the opposition, so pressing became the need for a change, that, despairing of bringing about the improvement in any other way, at one time a proposition was actually broached that instead of seeking a separate charter Brooklyn should ask for annexation to New York! That notion did not find much favor, however. It was not only humiliating to the local feeling of civic pride that had sprung up, but it was felt that the river itself furnished a barrier that could not be crossed even by an act of Legislature ; that nature's boundary line could not be obliterated.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 63

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