A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 65

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 65

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In recalling those citizens who presided over the destinies of Brooklyn in what was beyond a doubt the most critical period in her

history-the period of her development-the name of the fourth Mayor, Henry Cruse Mur- phy, has been reserved to the last for more special mention, as he was not only the most richly endowed, intellectually, of all his pred- ecessors and successors in that office, but because he became a figure of national im- portance, and much of the higher intellectual development that distinguishes Brooklyn at the present day is due to his initiative and example. A gifted man in every respect, a public-spirited citizen, an able and accomplished lawyer, a man of sterling honesty and purity of purpose, inflexible in his pursuit of the right, yet warm- hearted, generous and sometimes impulsive, he was the very type of man most Americans de- sire to see lifted up into high public station, but who seldom are ambitious for such honors, or care to be associated with active politics.

His grandfather, Timothy Murphy, emi- grated from Ireland in 1766 and settled in Monmouth county, New Jersey. Timothy prospered in his new abode and saw active service on the Patriotic side during the Revo- lution. He grew rich as his years advanced, married into a good family, and left four sons and four daughters. The second of these sons, John G. Murphy, settled in Brooklyn in 1808, engaged in business as a millwright, held sev- eral public offices, was the patentee and co- inventor of the "horse" ferryboat system, and acquired a comfortable competence. He died in 1853; leaving four daughters and two sons. The eldest of the latter, Henry C. Murphy, was born in Brooklyn, July 5, 1810, was ed- ucated for the legal profession and after he was graduated at Columbia College entered the office of Peter W. Radcliffe, in New York. In 1833 he was called to the bar and at once entered upon practice in Brooklyn. Success came to him quickly. He was even then well known in literary circles, and the local Demo- cratic leaders had found him a brilliant speaker, a quick debater and a zealous partisan, whose loyalty was beyond question ; one who pos- sessed, in fact, all the qualities that promised

414

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

future leadership. In 1834, within a year after he had "hung out his shingle," he was ap- pointed Assistant Corporation Council, and at the Democratic State Convention that year, to which he was a delegate, he received the honor of the Chairmanship of the Committee on Resolutions. In 1835 Mr. Murphy formed a professional partnership with John A. Lott, and not long afterward Judge Vanderbilt was added to the alliance, which as Lott, Murphy & Vanderbilt was for many years afterward not only the leading legal firm in Brooklyn but the heart of its political life, the local headquarters of the Democratic party, the abiding place of "the machine," as we would call it nowadays. Mr. Murphy devoted him- self mainly to the legal business of the firm, retaining his activity in politics, however, and seeking relaxation in literary work. In those days he was recognized as one of the busiest men in Brooklyn, and the calls upon his time were many and incessant, for his personal pop- ularity was unbounded.

In 1842 he was selected by his party as its candidate for the Mayoralty of Brooklyn and was elected. His platform was the old and well-worn one of "retrenchment and reform," and he started to make good his promises of an economical administration by reducing his own salary and by instituting many judicious changes which led to other economies. His administration was of rare value to the city, and was conducted on lines which advanced its present and future interests, for he had an abiding faith in the future of Brooklyn. As Mayor he added greatly to his personal popu- larity and this caused him to receive, in 1843, the Democratic nomination for congress from the Second District. He was elected and served one term, but was defeated when he presented himself for re-election, owing to dissensions in his party's ranks. In 1846, however, he was again returned, and on the expiration of that term he declined to be a candidate for re-elec- tion. His legal business then demanded his .entire attention and he devoted himself to it,

leaving politics for the time to take care of itself. In 1852, however, he came to the front again, in the public eye, for at the Democratic National Convention, held in Baltimore that year, he found himself a prominent candidate for the Presidential nomination. That honor fell, however, to Franklin Pierce and in the contest which ended in the latter's election Mr. Murphy took a prominent part and then returned to his law practice. In 1857 Presi- dent Buchanan appointed him Minister to The

HENRY C. MURPHY.

Hague. One of his biographers, Mr. L. B. Proctor, writes :

As he had long been identified in the work of rescuing from oblivion the early history of our State, particularly that part which relates to our first colonization by Holland, there was something in the opportunity which this ap- pointment offered eminently congenial to his historic and literary taste, and this was the par- amount reason for his accepting the position. Before leaving for this new sphere of action, a farewell banquet was given him at the Man- sion House, Brooklyn. It took place August 5, 1857. A large number of his fellow citizens of

415

THE FIRST CITY.

all parties were present to testify to their high respect for him. The occasion will long be re- membered as one of the happiest social events that ever took place in Brooklyn. In response to a sentiment he made a brief, touching, fare- well address, in the course of which he used the following prophetic language, which recent events have proved singuarly true : "It re- quires," he said, "no spirit of prophecy to fore- tell the union of the two cities, of New York and Brooklyn, at no distant day; the river which divides them will soon cease to be a line of separation, and, bestrode by the Colossus of Commerce, will form a link which will bind them together."

During his absence of three years at The Hague, he found time to communicate a series of thirty-five most interesting letters upon Hol- land and other parts of Europe, to The Brook- lyn Eagle, many of which were extensively copied in other papers. As happens in most cases of eminent jurists and statesmen occu- pying places of commanding influence, Mr. Murphy became a subject of invidious com- ment, by which dull or prejudiced men seek to disparage those gifts, and that influence, which is beyond their own reach; and there were those who sought to injure Mr. Murphy, in at- taching blame to certain acts of his while at The Hague, and even launching the arrows of detraction at him while at home. But these were of short life, and his fair fame emerged from them, and he continued to exercise great influence, much of which was exerted in be- half of his native city.

Recalled from The Hague by President Lincoln in accordance with political usage, Mr. Murphy strained every effort to aid in the preservation of the Union he loved and the Constitution he revered. He was zealous in promoting enlistments, used his purse freely in sending men to the front and was mainly in- strumental in equipping two regiments. Dur- ing the conflict between the States he was a member of the State Senate and every war measure in the Legislature found him an un- wavering and liberal supporter. In 1866, and again in 1868, he was prominently mentioned as a candidate for Governor, and in 1875 he entered the lists for a seat in the United States Senate, but after a long and somewhat acri-

monious contest he was defeated by Francis Kernan.

While, in a certain sense, Mr. Murphy failed of success in his aspirations for a place in National politics, there is no question of the eminent success of his position as one of the upbuilders of Brooklyn. As Mayor he care- fully watched over the entire interests of the city, safeguarded its treasury, and fostered im- provements. Such schemes as the improve- ments of the water-front, the Atlantic Docks, and the opening of great thoroughfares, like Myrtle avenue, were zealously promoted, and in later life he procured the appropriation which built the dry docks at the Navy Yard. He interested himself particularly in the de- velopment of Coney Island as a popular sum- mer resort, believing that Brooklyn itself would be benefited thereby, and he rendered practical assistance to this end as President of the Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Rail- road. In the advancement of the ferry system he was also an ardent worker, and the union of the cities of New York and Brooklyn by means of a bridge capable of carrying all sorts of traffic was one of the dreams of his early manhood which he lived to see fully realized. When the plans for such a scheme were first submitted he threw himself into the project with all the enthusiasm of his nature, and whether as President of the company which first launched the plans for spanning the East River, or afterward as one of the Trustees representing the City of Brooklyn in the work, he never wearied in rendering watchful assist- ance or practical direction and advice while the work progressed in the face of countless and unforeseen obstacles.

To a certain extent it may be said that Mod- ern Brooklyn is Senator Murphy's greatest and most enduring monument. But time brings about a strange forgetfulness of municipal achievement and there is no gainsaying the fact that his name will longer be recalled for his lit- erary work than for anything else. A man of scholarly attainments, he was all through his

416

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

life a diligent student, and history, especially local history, had a deep, unwearying fascina- tion for him. He gathered together in early life a valuable library of books relating to early American exploration and story of which in later years he was justly proud, and he was hardly settled in practice before he began an investigation of the carly history of Brooklyn, which finally placed him at the head of all local historians. He delighted also to study the rec- ords of the early Dutch settlements, and for this study he found ample scope during his official residence at The Hague. His work as a student of history, however, found its richest fruits in the aid he rendered in the organization of the Long Island Historical Society, and in the circular which first called that institution into life his name appeared as the leader. To its library and collection he proved a liberal contributor, and in all its work-publications, lectures, discussions, as well as building and collecting-he was from its institution in 1864 until his death an unwearied worker. All through his career he was a diligent contrib- utor to the local newspaper press and for a brief period was editor of The Brooklyn Advo- cate, the precursor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Of the latter paper he was at one time proprietor, and many of his most charming essays and interesting historical letters and monographs appeared in its columns from the dav it was first issued almost until he laid aside his pen forever.

A full list of the works printed by Mr. Murphy follows :

"A Catalogue of an American Library, Chronologically Arranged" (589 titles). (Pri- vately printed).

"The First Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in the United States." (Privately printed.) The Hague, 1857.

"Henry Hudson in Holland, an Enquiry into the Origin and Objects of the Voyage which led to the Discovery of the Hudson River." The Hague, 1859.

"Anthology of the New Netherlands, or Translations from the Early Dutch Poets of

New York." (Bradford Club. ) New York, 1865.

"Poetry of Nieuw Neder-Landt ; Compris- ing Translations of Early Dutch Poems Re- lating to New York, etc. 1866.

"The Voyage of Verrazano." ( Privately printed.) Albany, 1875.

"Journal of a Voyage to New York and a Tour in Several of the American Colonies in 1679-80. by Jaspar Dankers and Peter Sluy- ter." L. 1. Historical Society, 1867.

Many of Mr. Murphy's most valuable pa- pers, such as translations from the Dutch of early voyages to America, etc., are entombed and forgotten in the printed "Transactions" of the New York Historical Society, of which he was long a most active member. He died in 1882, leaving behind him a memory for a life of good deeds and noble aspirations which ought ever to keep his name at the very head of the long roll of distinguished citizens 01 which Brooklyn is so justly proud.

Having thus, as in duty bound, paid our respects to the Mayors, we may now consider the progress of the city under their respective reigns. As has been said, they all filled, and most of them filled well, their appointed places in the community; and. this much premised, we may proceed to speak of the community without much reference to the nominal lead- ers. The time has gone by when the history of a nation is considered as told in a series of biographies of its rulers; and Mayors, like even greater potentates, must be relegated to the background when we speak of The People.

With the inauguration of the new city, as was to be expected, an active era of public improvement set in. A movement to purchase some waste land at the Wallabout for a public park was instituted by the corporation and a survey of the entire territory under the charter was ordered and begun : but it was not until 1839 that the Commissioners completed their labors and were able to submit a report. Then a scheme for a permanent water line, from Jay street round to Red Hook, was prepared by General J. G. Swift, and adopted, although

417

THE FIRST CITY.

its suggestions were not fully put into effect for quite a number of years, and in fact were not carried out at any time in full details as the desire to encroach upon the river as much as possible by filling in the shore line neces- sitated constant change in the adopted plans.

But the glory of the new city, the outward and patent sign of the new order of things, was to be the projected City Hall, which be- fore a stone was laid was regarded as certain to prove an architectural wonder, the Taj Mahal of America. Building on the founda- tion work was begun in the fall of 1835 and on April 28, 1836, Mayor Trotter laid the corner-stone, with the usual ceremonies and amid much speech-making and rejoicing. An idea of the intended magnificence of the edi- fice may be gathered from the following con- temporary description, which is quoted from Prime's "History of Long Island :"

"Brooklyn City Hall, now erecting, is sit- uated at the intersection of Fulton, Court, and Joralemon streets, occupying an entire block, forming a scalene triangle of 269 feet on Ful- ton street, 250 on Court street and 222 on Joralemon street. The exterior of the build- ing is to be constructed of marble, and to have porticoes on the three fronts, with columns thirty-six feet 6 inches high, ornamented with capitals of the Grecian order from the design of the Tower of the Winds, resting on a pedestal base seventeen feet high, which when completed will be sixty-two feet from the ground to the top of the cornice. The angles are to be surrounded by domes, and rising from the centre of the building will be a tower of one hundred and twenty-five feet in height, which will be enriched with a cornice and en- tablature supported with caryatides standing on pedestals. The whole will have a most splendid and imposing appearance when fin- ished. The interior will be finished in the most chaste and durable style of architecture, calcu- lated to accommodate the different public offices, courts, etc."

For a time all seemed well; but the work 27

had not progressed very far when the Brook- lyn folks began to understand that they had not fully reckoned with the question of cost, and after beginning operations, as usual, "with a rush," the bills began to pour in upon the city with equal celerity. Contractors had to be paid almost as soon as the foundation work had been completed, and then almost every fresh course of stone called for a pay- ment to the builder. The public treasury was by no means very plethoric, so before the walls were on a level with the street payments be- gan to be intermittent, the work began to flag, the initiatory rush was over, interest in the possession of an architectural wonder weak- ened, and finally the financial panic of 1837 forced a cessation of all work. Little was said regarding a City Hall for several years, but during these years of reflection the Brooklyn authorities had a chance to abandon the hank- ering after architectural glory. While the building lay thus unfinished and neglected, Historian Prime endeavored to make the mel- ancholy situation useful by pointing a moral. He said: "This stupendous undertaking, al- though arrested in its commencement by un- controllable circumstances, not only consti- tutes an important item in the early history of the city, but is fraught with instruction to in- dividuals and communities. And as corpora- tions as well as individuals often learn wisdom by dear-bought experience, should these mass- ive walls never rise higher the expenditures may not be wholly in vain. They will stand as a friendly beacon to warn the future guard- ians of the city of the mistakes and errors of by-gone days."

But useful as the moral might have been, such a memorial of municipal miscalculation could hardly be permitted to endure indefinite- ly, no matter how many important lessons it might present. In 1845 the plans were revised and modified, all the Grecian porticos but one were cut out, the caryatides were left severely alone, the extent of the structure was abbrevi- ated and simplicity everywhere took the place

418

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

of ornament. After these changes work was resumed and by 1849 the City Hall was com- pleted as we have it to-day. Although shorn of its intended gorgeousness it is a beautiful structure, and its elegant proportions always delight the eye. Although, architecturally, it cannot compare with the beautiful edifice which is the headquarters of New York's Civic Government, there is much about it to admire,-perhaps more than if the original de- signs had been carried out in their entirety, for it seems to us these designs attempted to accomplish too much, and their completed re- sults would have given us an architectural atrocity which would have been laughed at in- stead of eliciting the anticipated praise.

The financial panic which finally sealed the fate of the original designs for the City Hall was felt all over the country. Into its general causes we have no need here to enter: its ori- gin and its story of disaster belong to the general history of the United States. So far as Brooklyn was concerned its results were mainly felt in a more rigorous safeguarding of financial resources than in any great excess of local business failures. Certainly the con- sequent dullness of trade was felt, and felt keenly, in Brooklyn; the prices of the neces- saries of life rose sharply and as usual in such crises the poor suffered severely, but the local stringency and depression were but the reflex of what the country was experiencing. On May 10 the banks in New York City suspend- ed specie payments, and on the following day, as the result of the advice of a hurriedly called public meeting of citizens, the Brooklyn banks adopted a similar course. It took exactly a year for matters to right themselves, and dur- ing the continuance of the commercial disturb- ances the people were taught two very valu- able lessons: First, that the administration in Washington was at the head of the financial interests of the nation, and that paper stamped or printed and circulated as money was not money.

But the disaster of 1837, having no local

foundation, soon lost its effect in Brooklyn and the march of improvement and develop- ment was again taken up. The most notable feature in this was the inauguration of the Atlantic Docks enterprise already referred to. In 1840 Daniel Richards organized a company with a capital of $1,000,000 and bought some forty acres of what was practically waste land along Buttermilk Channel from Red Hook northward-a tract of marsh, inlet, low, idle, washed flats and mud banks-with the view of turning the property into a gigantic basin with a series of warehouses, so that the largest merchant vessels might there discharge or re- ceive their cargoes. The project was pushed forward vigorously and many of the brightest business men of Brooklyn became connected with it. Work began on June 1, 1841; cribs of piles were built, ponds were deepened and a stone bulkhead outlined the water's front. The soil removed to make the main basin was used to fill in shallows and inlets behind the bulk- head and on the solid ground thus formed the first of the warehouses was commenced in May, 1844. Four years later the splendid line of warehouses half a mile long presented a magnificent unbroken front to the bay except in the centre, where a passage some 200 feet wide permitted vessels to enter the basin. All this work drew renewed attention to the sec- tion in which it was situated and so the pros- perity of South Brooklyn, as it came to be called, had its real beginning. In 1848 Mr. Richards petitioned the Common Council for permission to open thirty-five new streets in the vicinity. Other improvements followed and the commercial success of the enterprise made most of these improvements permanent. The Atlantic Docks have proved a great factor in Brooklyn's business life. The main basin has an area of forty acres and a depth of twenty-five feet, and can be entered at any state of the tide. The total wharfage is about two miles, and the pier head facing Butter- milk Channel is 3,000 feet long. The ware- houses are substantial two to five-story struc-

419

THE FIRST CITY.

tures of brick and granite, and now cover an area of twenty acres, while beside themn are nine steam grain elevators, one of which can raise 3,000 bushels an hour. Such facilities have caused the Atlantic Docks to become famous in shipping circles the world over and have made Brooklyn one of the leading grain depots of the world.

Another improvement, one of even more direct public utility, was the development of the system of public transit throughout the city. In 1840 a line of omnibuses was run be- tween Fulton Ferry and East Brooklyn, and in 1845 a similar service was established be- tween Fulton and South Ferries. In 1854 the Brooklyn City Railroad Company was incor- porated and by July of the following year several of its routes were opened, notably those of Fulton street, and Myrtle avenue and Flushing avenue, with the Ferry as their start- ing points. It was not long thereafter before omnibuses became a thing of the past ; even Montgomery Queen's stage line between the Ferry and Wallabout, splendid service though it rendered in its day, had to give way to the street car.

Several efforts to provide an adequate water supply for the city were made during the time covered by this section, but without avail. In 1853 several streams and ponds necessary to a supply of water were purchased by the authorities, at a cost of $44,000; but when the question of taking steps to bring about an ample and complete supply was sub- mitted to the taxpayers as the law demanded, the matter was invariably voted down. There is no doubt that in this as in some other things Brooklyn was decidedly slow, and slow in de- fiance of her own best interests. For instance, it was not until 1848 that gas was introduced into the city, over twenty years after it had been successfully introduced across the river, where its success as an illuminator could read- ily have been seen. Still gas was a luxury, and its introduction into the dwellings of the people was apt to be attended with so much

"muss" and discomfort that it is not to be wondered at that the citizens, unaccustomed to its comfort and convenience, were apathetic concerning it. But we cannot conceive why they were so strangely indifferent to the abso- lute necessity of a full and unfailing water supply, even were it for no more than the pro- tection of their own lives and property from fire. That scourge had several times asserted itself a sufficient number of times to have served as a significant assurance that addi- tional protection was absolutely needed.

The most memorable of these illustrations was that given on the night of September 7, 1848, when flames were seen to burst out of a frame building on Fulton street, near Sands street. The wind was high and with incredi- ble swiftness the flames spread until the whole block back to Henry street was a seething, hissing mass. Then the flames leaped across Middagh and Fulton streets. Sands street to Washington street was quickly doomed, and so was the territory between High street and Concord street on one side, and Middagh and Orange across Fulton street, as well as both sides of Fulton street from Poplar street to Pineapple. In fact between Henry and Wash- ington streets and Sands and Pineapple and Concord streets but little was left standing. Brooklyn's fire force could do nothing to stop the progress of the flames and twenty-five en- gines which went to the scene from New York were powerless to render much aid, if any, on account of the scarcity of water, and it was only by the seamen and marines from the Navy Yard blowing up the houses in the line of the fire that its progress was finally checked. The loss was estimated at $1,500,000, and among the buildings destroyed were three churches,-Sands street Methodist, the Bap- tist, and First Universalist,-as well as the Post Office and the offices of "The Star" and "The Freeman" newspapers. The details of this disaster should have proved a salutary lesson as to the immediate need of an abundant water supply, but it failed in this regard, al-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 65

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