A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 66

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 66

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420

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

though the widening of Fulton street along the line of destruction was one beneficial result that came from the calamity. Two years later another serious warning came, when several warehouses in Furman street went up in smoke and involved a loss of some $400,000. Then it began to be apparent, even to the most close-fisted taxpayer, that a water supply was a prime necessity, as it had long been evi- dent to the thinking part of the population, and serious efforts were made to hit upon a scheme that could meet with popular favor. But when the question of cost presented itself, the desire again died out, and plan after plan was suggested without the slightest success. Even the spectacular effect of the destruction of Colonnade Row, on the Heights, on Dec. 20, 1853, did not arouse the people anew to a sense of their danger, for when on June I, the following year, a plan was submitted for a full water system with a reservoir at Cypress Hills, it was rejected by 6,402 votes out of a total of 9,015 cast. Still it was only too evident that some complete system was bound to come, and those who most keenly realized the danger did not lose sight of the project until, as we will see in a subsequent chapter, it was success- fully accomplished. One result of the confla- grations named, and many less conspicuous or disastrous ones, however, was the organiza- tion of the various hose companies into a Fire Department, in 1855, under a central board. Up to that time and indeed for some years afterward a fire company was more of a polit- ical machine than anything else.

There was another direction in which the pressing need of a plentiful water supply was indicated, although at that time the need was not so well understood as it is in our more en- lightened days. That was its great helpful- ness in fighting zymotic diseases. Of visita- tion from such diseases Brooklyn had its full share in the past, and even under the enlarged powers of city government the visits contin- ued. In May, 1849, it was announced that cholera had broken out, a case being reported

from a house in Court street ; but as the dis- ease had been raging in New York for some time its appearance in Brooklyn did not occa- sion much surprise. It continued its ravages until near the close of September, causing 642 deaths. Most of these fatal cases were from overcrowded neighborhoods, where filth, pov- erty and drunkenness abounded, or from houses on low ground where stagnant water filled the cellars or lay in deep pools in front on the highways, or in the rear yards. Many fatal cases came from dwellings on the river front; and could the story of the visitation have been rightly interpreted it would have been perceived that a plentiful supply of water and a proper regard for sanitary conditions would have lessened the death rate by a half or even more. Another visit of the same dread scourge in the summer of 1854 swelled the or- dinary death figure for the year by 656.

Such outbreaks undoubtedly represented either a lack of knowledge on the subject, or popular disregard, or both, as to the means by which they might be prevented or their conse- quence mitigated; and such remarks might also be made of another episode in the history of the time now under consideration, which was not creditable to the city government or to the mass of its citizens.

This was the riot of April 4, 1844, between native American citizens and citizens or resi- dents of Irish birth in the vicinity of Dean and' Wyckoff streets, and which was only ended by calling out the militia. It was a part, in fact, of a long series of irrepressible conflicts caused by the bitterness engendered by the Know-Nothing movement and which then. raged all over almost all States. But the pres- ence in Brooklyn of a large Irish contingent and of such a big majority of native-born citi- zens ought to have kept the authorities on the alert to prevent any outbreak such as that which did occur. So excited was popular feel- ing in this instance that the militia had to re- main under arms all night patrolling the dis- trict.

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

There were many companies of militia then in Brooklyn,-the Light Guards, City Guard, Continental Guard and others. In fact there had been no lack of martial spirit since the days of the War of 1812, but in most cases we fear it was the uniform that attracted the recruits rather than any burning desire to aid in the maintenance of harmony or the preservation of the State. Each company was a separate organization, each had its own uni- form, and considerable rivalry was shown as to which would secure the most gorgeous. Discipline in all of them was lax, drill was confined mainly to marching so as to be ready for a parade, and rifle shooting was rather re- garded as a pastime than a serious business. It was seen that all these conditions should be improved, and that the city ought to have a military arm which should at once be worthy of it and prove of practical use should the oc- casion arise. The riot of 1846 and the various lesser conflicts between the civil authority and the citizens showed how useful an efficient mil- itary force could be. In 1844 several of the separate companies were organized into a regiment-the Fourteenth-but as each com- pany wore its own uniform and made and in- terpreted, to a great extent, its own laws, the regimental institution was mainly a paper one. In 1856 the Thirteenth Regiment was similar- ly formed out of separate companies, the first of which had an existence since 1827. It was not until the outbreak of the Civil war that Brooklyn really had a trained military force among her resources.

The police force was a semi-political ma- chine, and, while it is not to be inferred from that that it did not do its full duty to the best of its ability, still its political complexion pre- vented it from acquiring a full measure of efficiency. Then it should be remembered that the force was small and the extent of territory under its care was wide and the population somewhat scattered. When the city came into existence J. S. Folk was at the head of the force, which consisted of 247 men, some of the

outlying districts retaining small forces of their own. In 1850 a fully equipped police de- partment for the entire city was formed and this continued to preserve the peace until as the result of a villainous act of political chi- canery, Brooklyn in 1857 was merged into the Metropolitan Police District, and the police control virtually fell into the hands of New York City politicians. It got rid of that iniqui- tous political scheme in 1870, passed again under local control and continued as a separate institution until the final stage of consolidation -when Brooklyn as a city ceased to exist.

But enough has been said of fires and chol- cra and the police, and attention may now be turned to the directions in which the city was making real progress to metropolitan great- ness. In 1844 the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor was organized, mainly through the efforts of Senator Mur- phy. In 1848 the City Hospital, by a gift of $25,000 from Mr. Augustus Graham, was put in possession of an endowment fund, while a few years later Mr. John B. Graham provided the city with an Old Ladies' Home. The Brooklyn Athenaeum was started i 1 1852 and the Packer Collegiate Institute for Girls, or- ganized in 1854, carried on the work of the Brooklyn Female Academy. The value of real estate steadily advanced year after year and the city continued to spread out in all direc- tions. In 1835 its population was 24,310; in 1840 it had increased to 36,233; in 1845 the figures were 59,574, and in 1853 they had swelled to almost 120,000. Brooklyn then had all the elements of trade to insure its contin- ued prosperity. Its docks were, in 1853, the wonder of America, and some of its indus- tries, notably that of white lead, in which the philanthropic brokers, Augustus & J. B. Gra- ham, were leading factors, far exceeded in the value of their annual output that of any other place in the world. In 1853 taxable property amounted to $12,000,000, it had fifteen public schools, and libraries in abundance. Nine car- riers, however, sufficed to deliver the mail

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THE FIRST CITY.

from the postoffice at 337 Fulton street,-a small number indeed; but it must be remem- bered that people wrote less frequently then than now, that the age of the advertising cir- cular had not arrived and that people were more in the habit of calling for their mail than in these later days.

That Brooklyn was extending and grow- ing there was no question. Hardly a month passed that some farm did not find itself transformed from bearing crops into city property bearing houses, and it was then that Brooklyn first applied to itself the title of City of Homes, the right to which it disputed with Philadelphia until it assumed the more digni- fied epithet of the "City of Churches." In connection with the steady increase in the pop- ulation it was even then admitted that the cause of this was the steady migration of men doing business in New York to homes in Brooklyn. Even Mr. Prime noticed this fact and expressed some fear lest such citizens should neglect the duties which they owed as citizens to their place of residence. But the very opposite proved to be the case. A man's heart is generally in his home, and while for a time such new-comers might regard them- selves as New Yorkers they soon came to look upon themselves as Brooklynites pure and simple and to become among the most devoted of its citizens. The old gibe that Brooklyn was New York's bedroom was never used by a resident of Brooklyn but by some disap- pointed inhabitant of Gotham who was unable to change his environment from circumstances which very likely in his heart of hearts he re- gretted. In Brooklyn a man could own a home, could live amid all the influences of wholesome surroundings and pleasant society and at the same time be within as easy reach of his office, or store or factory as though he had no ferry to cross. At that time, 1853, Brooklyn's means of transit, poor as they were in comparison with those now existing, were far superior to those in its twin city.

No better test of the progress of a city can

be found than in its newspaper press, and it is fitting that some reference should here be made to that of Brooklyn. Mention has al- ready been made of Printer Kirk's journalistic ventures and the connection of Alden Spooner with the "Long Island Star" beginning with 18II. "The Long Island Patriot," issued in 1821 by George L. Birch, an Irishman, was carried on under that title until 1833, when it was changed to "The Brooklyn Advocate" and published by James A. Bennett. Under his regime Senator Murphy was its principal editorial writer, finding in the opportunity thus afforded (there was no money in it) an excellent sphere of practice for his pen. In 1835 its title was again changed and it became "The Brooklyn Advocate and Nassau Ga- zette," which lengthy cognomen it retained until its suspension in 1839. In 1834 a new candidate for public favor appeared in the "Brooklyn Daily Advertiser." It became an evening paper within a few months, then sought support as a morning issue and finally resumed its position as an evening paper, and as the "Native American Citizen and Brook- lyn Evening Advertiser" became the organ of the Know-Nothings. It fell into the news- paper morgue with the decline of that political sentiment. "The Brooklyn Daily News" was commenced in 1840 and after a brief career was merged with the "Long Island Daily Times," but the combination failed to win pop- ular support and the effort ceased in 1843. "The Brooklyn Evening Star" was issued by Col. Spooner in 1841 (after two previous un- successful efforts, in 1827 and 1834) and con- tinued to figure in Brooklyn journalism until 1862, when it was compelled to suspend, the following year, 1863, witnessing the suspen- sion of Spooner's once popular sheet, the "Long Island Star." Long before that hap- pened, however, Alden Spooner had ceased from his labors, having passed away Nov. 24, 1848. The other journalistic ventures in Brooklyn of this period are hardly worthy of being even mentioned ; they were merely "poor

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HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

sons of a day" and retain an interest only for the local antiquary, and but a passing degree of interest even for the most enthusiastic of these. The literary merit of those fleeting sheets was most conspicuous by its absence.

To all this, however, an exception must be made in favor of what is now, and has been almost since its first issue, the most successful and influential paper published on Long Island,-the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Lately indeed it has boldly wandered forth from its insular domain and demanded a place among the great metropolitan dailies, and its demand in that respect has been very generally allowed. Indeed it is difficult to see how it could be de- nied. A perfect and complete epitome of the news of the world its· matter well edited, its news stories clear and logical, and its editorial page bristling with clear cut comment on events of the day,-comments which carry a vast amount of weight into the political and' social life, not alone of Long Island but of Greater New York and the nation; a news- paper that is at once literary, scientific, re- ligious and social, every issue of which is a reflex of all that is going on at home or abroad, of all that interests a farmer, a preacher, a professional man, a merchant, a mechanic, which appeals with equal force and renders equal service to the teacher in his sanctum and the man about town,-it renders a faultless service and fully deserves the honorable posi- tion it has won and holds. Its origin was very humble. The first number was issued Octo- ber 26, 1841, with the primal purpose of serv- ing as a campaign sheet for the local Democ- racy, and, secondly, with the view of testing public opinion and sentiment as to the pros- pects for a daily newspaper devoted to that party. Senator Henry C. Murphy was its real proprietor and editor, although in the latter capacity he shared the work with the once cele- brated author of the "Moon Hoax," Richard A. Locke. Its success was immediate, and this, coupled with the triumph at the polls of

the policy it had espoused, seemed to warrant its continuance as a daily institution.

Throwing off its campaign features, it commenced its career as a daily newspaper Dec. 27, 1842, under the editorial care of Will- iam B. Marslı, who won for it an enduring measure of success prior to his death, in 1846. Before that, the paper had been purchased by Isaac Van Anden, who continued to publish it until 1870, when he sold the property to an association of leading Brooklyn citizens, who turned its proprietorship into a joint stock company, and so it remains. Under such editorship as that of Henry McCloskey, Walt Whitman, Thomas Kinsella, William Wood and its present head, St. Clair McKelway, its course has been one of uniform success; and its policy, while honestly and purely Demo- cratic, has ever been maintained free from party dictation o the influence of any political machine, National, State or Municipal. For many years its office on lower Fulton street near the old ferry was one of the landmarks of Brooklyn, but the changes caused by the opening of the bridge rendered that location undesirable, and since 1892 it has occupied a magnificent building crected for its own use on a site which for half a century prior to 1868 was that of the St. John's Episcopal Church, and in 1871 was occupied by the ill- fated Brooklyn Theatre, which was destroyed by fire, Dec. 5, 1876, under most appalling cir- cumstances.

Although, as we have seen, bountifully supplied during the period covered by this sec- tion of its history. with newspapers, Brooklyn could not be described as having much literary distinction. Most of her best work in that de- partment belongs to a later period, and such literary souls as she did produce had to search elsewhere for their bread and butter, which things are as essential to literature as to me- chanics. Oliver Bell Bunce, once known as a novelist whose most popular book was a little work entitled "Don't," pointing out mistakes

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THE FIRST CITY.

in the use of the English language, is some- times regarded as belonging to Brooklyn; but on what ground, beyond that of temporary residence in it, seems difficult to point out. So, too, with John G. Saxe, the poet, who certain- ly resided in Brooklyn for a time and wrote much of his verse there, but never somehow became identified with it. For a time it might be said he was in Brooklyn, but not of it.

It seems hard to have to put a native Long Islander and a poet of world-wide renown in the same category, but it seems to be that which fits Walt Whitman the most truly. Born in West Hills, Suffolk county, May 31, 1819, he was educated mainly in Brooklyn. After a time of wandering, during which he learned the trade of printer, he returned to that city where he for a time was editor of the "Eagle," and engaged in business as a printer. It can hardly be said that he was a success either as an editor or as a business man, or that he iden- tified himself much with Brooklyn. He speaks of its "beautiful hills," but its central point of attraction for him was the ferry, and his heart was more in the Manhattan than on the Long Island shore. Still there seems no doubt that it was in Brooklyn he wrote the twelve poems which in 1855, in a small quarto of ninety-five pages, made up the first edition of "Leaves of Grass ;" and it was in Brooklyn also that much of the additional verses under that head that were contained in the second edition, which appeared in the following year. Both editions were published in New York, and soon after their publication Whitman ranked only as a visitor to the island of his birth,-"Pauman- ok," as he liked to call it.

Gabriel Furnam, to whom every writer on Brooklyn's history is under a deep debt of gratitude, might have attained a considerable position in the world of literature had he so applied himself. He was a man who natur-

ally possessed vast industry, wonderful capac- ity for research, a keen and critical judgment, and no one can read the manuscripts he has left without admitting that he was a most zealous worker. His literary style was clear, nervous, and sometimes exceedingly graphic, and as a public speaker and lecturer he never failed to charm his audiences. On the history and the antiquities of Brooklyn and Long Island he was a perfect encyclopædia, and his vast stores of what might be called "local learning" were at anyone's service. He was born in Brooklyn in 1800 and died in that city in 1853. In early life he studied law and in 1827 was appointed a Justice in the Municipal Court, serving for three years. In 1837 he was chosen to the State Senate and remained a member of that body until 1842, when he ran for the office of Lieutenant Governor on the Whig ticket and was defeated. Then he retired from public life and devoted himself to his books. He had, however, in some way, acquired the opium habit, and indulgence in that cursed weakness crushed out whatever ambition he originally had and gradually left him physically and financially a wreck, and that result was only too evident at the very time when he ought to have been in the zenith of his powers. It deadened his brain, exhaust- ed his power of initiative and capacity for work, even for thought; and his death, in the Brooklyn City Hospital, was a sad end to a career that was for a time so useful, and seemed so full of promise. In 1824 Furman is- sued his only book,-"Notes, Geographical and Historical, Relative to the Town of Brook- lyn." It was reprinted in 1875, along with the contents of a manuscript volume, "Long Island Antiquities and Early History," which was picked up in a bookstore by Frank Moore, a well-known historical student, who edited the volume and gave it to the world.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

CHURCH DEVELOPMENT.

BISHOP LOUGIILIN, DR. BETHUNE, ST. ANN'S HOLY TRINITY-DR. STORRS, HENRY WARD BEECHER-LAND OPERATIONS-GREENWOOD AND OTHER CEME- TERIES-THE FERRIES-WORK AT THE NAVY YARD.

AKING it all in all, the purely liter- ary life of Brooklyn in this epochi is hardly worth recalling. But its intellectual development then cen- tred in the church and in its hands nothing was neglected of those very influences which have led to lasting results in literature, in art, in science, and in all the amenities which call out the higher and richer phases of intellect and character and which makes society nobler and purer and life better worth living. The era covered by this section was one of rapid development and growth among the churches of all creeds or denominations. It saw the Roman Catholic body so increased as in 1853 to entitle Long Island to be constituted into a diocese with the late Bishop Loughlin at its head, antedating by several years the advent of a Protestant Episcopal bishop; for it was not until 1869 that that body attained that dig- nity.

As might be expected, the old Dutch Re- formed Church was the strongest religious organization in Brooklyn, and it maintained its hold even in the midst of what men then called "Liberal discussion" and "modern thought." To the old First Church, which in 1835 was settled in its third building, on Joral- emon street, there was added in 1837 the Sec- ond, or "Reformed Dutch Church on the Heights." Two years later that congregation

built a church on Henry street, near Clark street ; but in 1850 a more imposing structure was erected on Pierrepont street and over that society, from 1847 until 1859, the Rev. George W. Bethune presided as pastor, and by his elo- quence in the pulpit, his activity in passing affairs, his eminence as a scholar and his orig- inality as a thinker, writer and poet, made it become the first of Brooklyn's churches to ac- quire a measure of national fame. Dr. Beth- une, more than any man in that era, could have invested Brooklyn with a literary repu- tation, or raised up within it a literary cult ; but such of his writings as were given to the public while one of Brooklyn's pastors, he published elsewhere, sought as it were a differ- ent public for the fruits of his pen, while the work of the church itself engrossed his daily life in the city in which for so many years his lot was cast and which yet holds his memory in reverence. His later years were clouded by ill health, and he died at Florence, in 1862. His remains, however, were brought across the Atlantic and laid in Greenwood beside those of his father, Divie Bethune, the first of New York's merchant philanthropists, and his famous grandmother, the sainted Isabella Graham.

The Dutch Reformed Church steadily reached out all over the city limits during the period now under notice, engaged as it were,

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CHURCH DEVELOPMENT.

in active missionary work, in marked distinc- tion to its old centralizing and conservative spirit. In rapid succession it had more or less flourishing congregations at Gowanus, the Wallabout, East New York, as well as in other points where the population was growing.

But in missionary work the Episcopal Church showed equal strength and energy with the pioneer Dutch body. When this period now being reviewed opened in reality Protestant Episcopalianism regarded Brooklyn as but one parish, with two churches, St. Ann's and St. John's. By the time the period closed it had organized and housed-generally in splendid temples-no fewer than fifteen new congrega- tions, including the palatial Trinity. Into the story of these congregations we cannot here enter into detail; but three may be selected for brief mention, mainly because they illustrate, in more or less degree, the progress of all the others. The early history of St. Ann's Church has already been referred to. In 1835 it was tinder the rectorship of the Rev. Benjamin Clarke Cutler, and gradually gathering around it all the usual agencies for active church work, a Sunday-school, library, orphan asylum, etc. Dr. Cutler's pastorate continued until his death, in 1863. The Rev. Lawrence H. Mills was chosen as his successor and under him the church left its old house of worship on Washı- ington street (the terminus of the Brooklyn bridge now runs across the site) and wor- shipped in its chapel at Clinton and Livingston streets. The Rev. Dr. Noah H. Schenck suc- ceeded Mr. Mills in 1867, and in 1869 the present magnificent building used by the con- gregation was completed. The old burial ground of the church on Fulton street, near Clinton street, after being unused for many years, was abandoned altogether in 1860, the human remains in it were disinterred and a suite of business premises-St. Ann's Build- ings-was erected on the site. Dr. Schenck died in 1886, and the present rector, the Rev. B. F. Alsop, was called. As a condition of a gift of $70,000, made in 1878 by Mr. R. Fulton

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 66

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