USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > A history of the city of Brooklyn and Kings county, Volume II > Part 11
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In December, 1892, the national govern- ment authorized the sale to Brooklyn of addi- tional lands of the Navy Yard reservation, abutting upon the west side of Washington Avenue, and embraced between that avenue and a line on a continuation of Clinton Ave- nue, Flushing Avenue, and the East River, - a tract which would more than double in ex- tent the area of the market possessions.
Brooklyn's boundaries on the east and south touch a number of large cemeteries, most noted of which is Greenwood, which holds many distinguished dead, and many notable monuments. In 1893 there were 5519 inter- ments at the cemetery of the Evergeens, and during the same year 3000 at Cypress Hills, and 18,000 at Calvary Cemetery. There are
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not less than thirty cemeteries within the county, a fact that presents a serious problem in the extension of the city's lines.
The development of Prospect Park has been a matter of great pride and gratification to the city. In recent years the park has been adorned by a number of statues. J. S. T. Stranahan has received the unique honor of a public statue in his lifetime. In the plaza is the statue of Lincoln already mentioned. Within the park are busts of Thomas Moore, Washington Irving, and of John Howard Payne, one of Long Island's sons.
The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch in the Park Plaza was proposed by Seth Low in a speech at Greenwood, on Decoration Day. The Legislature voted $250,000, subscriptions were raised, the competition for a suitable de- sign was won by John H. Duncan, the corner- stone was laid in 1889, and the monument was finished in 1892.
The Municipal Building was finished in 1878, at a cost of $200,000, and the Hall of Records adjoining the county Court House in 1886, at a cost of $275,000. The most imposing public building in the city is the Federal Building, bounded by Washington, Johnson, and Adams streets. This massive
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
structure of Maine granite contains the central post-office quarters, and the federal courts and offices. The site cost $413,594.12, and the building $1,258,057.06.
Some of the most important building opera- tions in recent years have expressed the enter- prises of the great bazaars, gathered most thickly on Fulton Street, but appearing also on other leading thoroughfares.
A glance at the buildings of the city quickly suggests the remarkable increase in the num- ber of theatres.
According to Gabriel Harrison's " History of the Drama in Brooklyn " the first dramatic performance in the city took place in a stone building on the north side of " the old road " (Fulton Street), near the corner of Front Street. This building had been known for thirty years or more as Corporation House, belonging to the corporation of the city of New York. It contained a tavern and a ferry room on its ground floor and a hall on the second. When the British gained possession of Brooklyn the house changed hands, and was known while they remained as the King's Head. It was fitted as a resort for officers and men, and all sorts of amusements were offered, from bull-baiting to games of chance.
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THE MODERN CITY
George III.'s birthday was celebrated by illu- minations and fish dinners, to which the Tories of New York came over in rowboats. At the first dramatic performances here an original farce was acted, of which General John Burgoyne was the alleged author. It was called " The Battle of Brooklyn." The title-page reads: " The Battle of Brooklyn ; a farce in two acts, as it was performed in Long Island on Tuesday, 27th day of August, 1776, by the representatives of the Tyrants of America, assembled in Philadelphia."
There were also dramatic performances in Greene's Military Garden in 1810, and later. An amphitheatre was built on Fulton Street in 1828. The assembly rooms of Military Gar- den were converted into a theatre in 1848. Chanfrau and Burke opened the Brooklyn . Museum in 1850. The Odeon was built on the site of the present Novelty or Proctor's Theatre on Driggs Street, in 1852. It was afterward known as Apollo Hall. Washing- ton Hall, afterward called the Comique, was built at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street (now Bedford Avenue); Hooley's Opera House, at Court and Remsen streets, in 1862, and the Park Theatre was built a year later. The Brooklyn Theatre was opened in
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
1871, and rebuilt after the fire.1 Hyde & Behman's Theatre was built in 1877, the Grand Opera House in 1881, the Criterion in 1885, the Amphion in 1888. The completion of the fine Columbia Theatre on Washington Street was due to the enterprise of Edwin Knowles, who had been a successful manager of the Grand Opera House, and subsequently of the Amphion.
The newer city armories are further im- portant additions to the city architecture.
On the first day of January, 1894, the mili- tary organizations of Brooklyn, comprising, with the Seventeenth Separate Company of Flushing, the entire Second Brigade of the New York National Guard, numbered about 3000 men. The strength of the brigade in 1892, as shown at inspection, was 3084. In this number were included the 403 officers and men of the Thirty-second Regiment, shortly afterward disbanded. Very few members of that organization are now in the service. In 1893, inspections of the several commands were held, as follows: Seventeenth Separate Com- pany, April 3; Signal Corps, October 10; Third Battery, October 11 ; Forty-seventh Regiment, October 18; Fourteenth Regiment, October 1 See p. 166.
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THE MODERN CITY
19; Thirteenth Regiment, October 21; Twenty-third Regiment, October 26. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth regiments, which did not go to state camp last year, were in- spected in the afternoon at Prospect Park. Below is shown the attendance of each organi- zation : -
MUSTER ROLL FOR 1893.
Organization.
Present.
Absent.
Total.
Percentage Present.
Brigade Commander and Staff
II
-
II
-
Thirteenth Regt. .
529
I18
647
81.61
Fourteenth Regt. .
532
149
681
78.11
Twenty-third Regt.
770
35
805
95.65
Forty-seventh Regt.
521
48
569
91.56
Third Battery
68
8
76
89.47
Seventeenth Sep. Co.
5I
9
· 60
85.00
Signal Corps
40
I
41
97.56
Total
2,522
368
2,890
The difficulties arising from inadequate school accommodations, to meet which Mayor Low and other mayors had urged broad and sufficient action, continued to hamper the action of the department of public instruction. The development of the department under the superintendency of William H. Maxwell has been along thoroughly modern lines. Recent
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
reforms have had a tendency to improve the quality of teachers by placing obstacles in the path of the incompetent. To a considerable extent these reforms have diminished the chances of political interference in the work- ing of the school system.
The successful establishment, in 1878, of a Central Grammar School, admitting graduates from the public schools, was followed by the organization of separate high schools for boys and girls, and afterward by a manual training school, and a movement for the establishment of kindergarten classes and definite means of physical culture. On October 31, 1893, there were on register in the public schools of the city 102,468 pupils, - more than 2000 in ex- cess of the sittings. For many years preced- ing this date a large number of classes had provided a half day's schooling only for the registered pupils, forcing the teachers of these classes to assume responsibility for two large classes of children on each school day.
In his report for the year ending December 31, 1892, Superintendent Maxwell said :-
" The child that begins the school course at six ought to complete it easily, and be ready to enter the high school, at the age of fourteen. In every grade, however, the average age is
STATUE OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON IN FRONT OF THE HAMILTON CLUB HOUSE
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THE MODERN CITY
about one year higher than it ought to be. There is now a well ascertained consensus of opinion among educational authorities that this delay in reaching the high school - in getting at such disciplinary studies as lan- guages, geometry, and natural science - is detrimental not only to the individual child but to the public welfare. In some cases this delay is doubtless caused by protracted illness or general physical weakness; in some, by the mania - I can call it by no other name - which some principals and teachers have for holding back pupils from promotion ; in some, by positive dullness or slowness of wit; but in the majority of cases it arises from the crowded condition of the lower primary classes. In- stead of accommodating more children by swelling the registers of these classes, we are accommodating fewer. The teachers in these classes, work as hard as they may, are able to prepare but a small proportion of their classes for promotion ; while by reason of lack of proper teaching in the introductory classes - a lack which is not chargeable to the teachers - the pupils are less able than they otherwise would be to do the work of the higher grades as they advance. The consequence is that pupils are put through our schools more slowly and in smaller numbers than they ought to be. If in a piece of machinery or in a living organism a greater strain is put on any one
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
part than it is able to bear, the strength and efficiency of the whole are proportionately diminished. Just so it is with our school sys- tem. The strain put upon the seventh pri- mary teachers by choking up their classes impairs the efficiency of the entire system. The only rational conclusion is that the num- ber of pupils to a class must be limited."
The movement toward centralizing respon- sibility in the school principals began at this time to gather force. It was warmly supported by the superintendent.
In the Girls' High School, in 1893, the number of registered pupils was 1626; in the Boys' High School, 692. The annual appro- priation for schools in 1893 was $2,449,735.33; from the city, $1,996,500.00; from the State, $394,414.82; other sources, $58,820.51.
A training school for teachers was estab- lished in 1885. From this admirable institu- tion the graduates increased in number from 48 in 1886 to 70 in 1892.
With the educational interests of Brooklyn the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences is closely associated. In the summer of 1823 several gentlemen, among whom was Augus- tus Graham, met at Stevenson's Tavern for the purpose of establishing for the apprentices
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THE MODERN CITY
of Brooklyn a free library.1 They adopted a constitution, and issued to the citizens of Brooklyn a circular, in which they solicited donations of books and money with which to effect their purpose. On November 20, 1824, they were .incorporated by the Legislature of the State under the name of " The Brooklyn Apprentices' Library Association," and on July 4, 1825, the corner-stone of the first building owned by the association was laid by General Lafayette, at the junction of Henry and Cran- berry streets. As early as 1835 the associa- tion had outgrown its original quarters, and the property having been sold to the city the institution was removed to a new building in Washington Street, then the centre of the wealth and culture of our young city. The first lecture delivered in the newly completed structure was by Prof. James D. Dana.
In order to broaden the scope of the asso- ciation, an amended charter was granted by the Legislature in 1843, and the name therein changed to " The Brooklyn Institute." For many years thereafter the Institute was a most important factor in the social, literary, scien- tific, and educational life of Brooklyn. Its
1 The history of the Institute is taken from the fifth Year Book, 1893.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
library had a large circulation; in its public hall took place many social and historic gath- erings, and from its platform were heard such eminent scientific men as Agassiz, Dana, Gray, Henry, Morse, Mitchell, Torrey, Guyot, and Cooke ; such learned divines as Drs. McCosh, Hitchcock, Storrs, and Buddington, and such defenders of the liberties of the people as Phillips, Sumner, Garrison, Emerson, Everett, Curtis, King, Bellows, Chapin, and Beecher.
During this brilliant period of its history (1843-1867), the Institute received from Mr. Graham two very important donations. On July 4, 1848, the building, which had been heavily mortgaged, he presented to the trus- tees free from all incumbrance, and through his will, made known to the board of directors on November 28, 1851, shortly after his de- cease, he bequeathed to the Institute the sum of $27,000, as a permanent endowment fund. The will directs that the interest of $10,000 of this sum shall be used in the support of lec- tures on scientific subjects and in the purchase of apparatus and collections illustrating the sciences ; that the interest of $12,000 shall be used in the support of Sunday evening lectures on " The Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God as manifested in His Works," and that
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THE MODERN CITY
the balance of $5,000 shall be used in the sup- port of a school of design and in forming a gallery of fine arts.
For several years, however, prior to 1867, owing to the erection of the Academy of Mu- sic and other public buildings, the Institute building was regarded as behind the times. The income from rental of portions of the building was dwindling to a low figure, and the financial support of the free library was becoming inadequate. Under these circum- stances the directors remodeled the building in 1867, at an expense of about $3,000, a part of which was raised by life-membership sub- scriptions of $50 and $100, and the balance by a mortgage on the building. For twenty years (1867-87) this indebtedness necessitated the application of a portion of the income from the rent of the building and from the Graham endowment fund to the payment of the inter- est and the principal of the debt. Final pay- ment on the mortgage was made early in 1887.
The causes of the partial inactivity of the Institute during the twenty years (1867-87) are therefore apparent. The most that it was able to do was to circulate its library, keep up its classes in drawing, and provide for the annual addresses on the 22d of February.
.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Freed from debt in 1887, the Institute was enabled once more to use the whole income from its funds and building for educational purposes, and again to become an important agent in the work of education in the city.
The property of the Institute in 1887 con- sisted of the Institute building and land, val- ued at $90,000, a library of 12,000 volumes, a collection of paintings valued at $10,000, and endowment funds of $46,000. These last comprise the $27,000 bequeathed by Mr. Gra- ham, the William H. Cary fund of $10,000 for the support of the library, and an incre- ment of $9,000 realized through premiums on the sale of bonds.
During the year 1887-88 a new era in the history of the Institute was inaugurated. The board of trustees determined to make the property of the Institute the nucleus of a broad and comprehensive institution for the advance- ment of science and art, and its membership a large and active association, laboring not only for the advancement of knowledge, but also for the education of the people, through lec- tures and collections, in art and science. It was observed that while Boston had the Lowell Institute, a society of natural history, and an art museum; while Philadelphia had the
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THE MODERN CITY
Franklin Institute, an academy of sciences, and a gallery of fine arts; and while New York had the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum, yet that Brooklyn had nothing corresponding to these institutions. It was felt that Brooklyn should have an in- stitute of arts and sciences worthy of her wealth, her position, her culture, and her peo- ple; that it was her duty to do more than she was then doing for the education and enjoy- ment of her people, and that some step should be taken looking towards the future growth and needs of the city in matters of art and science.
Accordingly, a form of organization was adopted which contemplated the formation of a large association of members, and a contin- ual increase of the endowment funds and the collections of the Institute. Provision was made for a subdivision of the membership into departments, representing various branches of art and science, each department forming a society by itself and yet enjoying all the privi- leges of the general association. A general invitation was extended to citizens specially interested in science and art to become mem- bers of the Institute. Courses of lectures on science and art were provided. The direc-
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
tors' room of the Institute was enlarged to accommodate the meetings of some of the departments contemplated, and a large lecture- room on the third floor of the Institute build- ing was fitted up at an expense of $2600 for the occupancy of those departments that would make use of apparatus and collections at their meetings.
During the first fifteen months after the reorganization of the Institute a membership of three hundred and fifty persons was re- corded. The Brooklyn Microscopical Society joined the Institute in a body, with sixty-four members, and became the Department of Microscopy. The American Astronomical Society, whose members resided mostly in New York and Brooklyn, became the Depart- ment of Astronomy, with thirty-two members. The Brooklyn Entomological Society united with the Institute, and became the Entomo- logical Department, with forty-one members. The Linden Camera Club of Brooklyn became the Department of Photography, with twenty- six members. Departments of physics, chem- istry, botany, mineralogy, geology, zoölogy, and archaeology were successively formed. Each of the above twelve departments began to hold monthly meetings. The permanent
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THE MODERN CITY
funds and property of the Institute were in- creased $3000. Additions were made to the library, and its circulation increased from 12,000 to 36,000 volumes per year. The lec- ture courses were fully attended. The classes in drawing were enlarged, and a general citi- zens' movement to secure a museum of arts and sciences for Brooklyn was inaugurated.
The subsequent growth of the Institute has been remarkable. The old building on Wash- ington Street was burned in 1890, and the work was continued in temporary quarters, chiefly in the building of the Young Men's Christian Association on Fulton Street. Dur- ing the fourth year of active work after the reorganization 632 new members were re- corded. The real estate belonging to the old Brooklyn Institute on Washington Street was sold to the trustees of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, and the old Institute was formally consolidated with the new Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. By an act of the Legislature the city was authorized to expend $300,000 in the erection of a Museum of Arts and Sciences on Prospect Hill, on a favorable site bounded by the Eastern Park- way, Washington Avenue, old President Street, and the Prospect Hill reservoir. In the year
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
1892, 940 new members were added, bringing the total up to 2622; the number of lectures and class exercises open to members and others, by the payment of a moderate fee, was 1397, as against 1134 the previous year; the number of concerts was increased from eight to fifteen; the average daily attendance on all the exercises of the Institute for the eight months of active work was 936, and the total attendance for the year, 190,900; the annual income was increased from $18,934.20 in the previous year to $31,641.58 ; special courses of lectures were delivered on American history from the time of Columbus to the beginning of this century, and a special course of addresses was given by college presidents on educational problems; Institute extension courses of lec- tures were given in the eastern section of the city; the school of political science was estab- lished, with four classes and ninety-six pupils; the Brooklyn art school was transferred to new and larger quarters in the Ovington Studio Building, and the number of pupils was increased from ninety-four to one hundred and twenty-eight; the department of archi- tecture, acting through its advisory board, devised a scheme of competition for the best plan and design for the proposed Museum of
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THE MODERN CITY
Arts and Sciences, which was accepted by the board of trustees, and adopted by the Mayor and park commissioner, and the competition so arranged resulted in the award to the dis- tinguished New York architects, McKim, Mead & White.
Foremost among those who have brought the Institute to its present influential position in the city have been Gen. John B. Wood- ward and Prof. Franklin W. Hooper. Pro- fessor Hooper, who had been elected curator of the Institute in 1889, became director of the new Institute of Arts and Sciences in 1891.
Mention has already been made of the establishment of Packer Institute and the Polytechnic Institute. The handsome gift of Mrs. Wm. S. Packer resulted in the opening of an academy for the education of young women. Since the time of the opening in 1854, under the presidency of Dr. Alonzo Crittenden, the Packer Collegiate Institute has enjoyed a peculiar prominence in the educational work of the city, and has won a high, if not a foremost, place among academies of the kind in the United States. Dr. Crit- tenden was succeeded in 1883 by Dr. Tru- man G. Backus, who had filled the professor- ship of English language and literature at
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
Vassar, and whose brilliant attainments as a scholar and director have given new distinc- tion to the institute.
A commanding position likewise has been gained by the Polytechnic Institute, whose establishment as an academy for young men resulted from the successful movement, aided by the gift of Mrs. Packer, for the establish- ment of a young women's school. A build- ing on Livingston Street was completed and opened in 1855, Dr. John H. Raymond then being president of the faculty. Dr. Raymond was succeeded by Dr. David Henry Cochran, who had for ten years been principal of the State Normal School at Albany. Under a new charter, secured in 1890, the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute received " all the rights, powers, and dignities given by the law and the ordinances of the regents 1 to a college, including membership in the University of the State of New York." Dr. Henry Sanger Snow, an alumnus and a trus- tee of the institute, took a leading part in the negotiations which resulted in the significant change. The new building adjoining the old was first occupied in September, 1891.
1 The Regents of the University of the State of New York, who had granted a provisional charter in 1889.
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THE MODERN CITY
The Adelphi Academy began its life in 1869 as a private school for both sexes. In 1886 Charles Pratt, then president of the board of trustees, made gifts to the Institute, by means of which it secured a new building that was opened in 1888. The since extended buildings now occupy a large part of the block bounded by Lafayette Avenue, St. James Place, Clifton Place, and Grand Avenue. The preparatory, academic, and collegiate depart- ments are supplemented by a kindergarten and a physical-training school. Art education has always occupied an important place in the Adelphi Academy. Many well-known artists have graduated from the art school superin- tended by Prof. J. B. Whittaker. The princi- pals of the Adelphi since its establishment have been John Lockwood, Homer B. Sprague, Stephen G. Taylor, Albert C. Perkins, John S. Crombie, and Charles H. Levermore.
It is to Charles Pratt, who took so impor- tant a part in bringing Adelphi Academy to its present position, that Brooklyn is indebted for the school which, more than any other educational institution within its borders, is distinctively original and of a national fame. Pratt Institute is frequently compared with Cooper Institute in New York. The compar-
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
ison between the wise beneficence of Cooper and that of Pratt is, indeed, interestingly close; but the likeness between the two great schools is less perfect. Pratt Institute's remarkable characteristics are the result of a wise idea logically worked out. The buildings on Ryer- son Street and Grand Avenue contain a unique combination of departments under a form of management that has proved to be eminently practical and progressive. Its educational plan illustrates manual and industrial training, as well as education in high-school and artistic branches. The methods of teaching domestic art, as well as political, economic, and natural science, have excited the admiration of stu- dents of education throughout the country. The large free library is one of many features of the institution.
The kindergarten idea in Brooklyn has had its leading exponent in Froebel Academy on Tompkins Square. Among other private educational institutions are St. John's College, the most prominent of the Roman Catholic schools, situated on Lewis Avenue, between Willoughby Avenue and Hart Street; St. Francis College, Bedford Academy, St. Jo- seph's Institute, Brooklyn Heights Seminary, Long Island Business College, Brooklyn Latin
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