USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > A history of the city of Brooklyn and Kings county, Volume II > Part 5
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During those early days prisoners were also confined in cells in the almshouse, then sit- uated on the south side of Nassau Street, be- tween Bridge and Jay streets. The building is still standing, and has been converted into dwellings.
The agitation relative to the removal of the
74
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
court house still continued. The Supervisors took the matter in hand. They were empow- ered in 1829 to raise by tax a sum of money for the purchase of lots, and the erection of a suitable building in Brooklyn to accommodate the courts and jail when completed. It may well be supposed that Flatbush did not relish the idea of the removal, and, being anxious to retain her precedence among the towns, her representatives strenuously opposed the change, and their votes for a short time de- layed the inevitable. The elements, however, aided those who urged the removal, by the burning of the jail and court house, as hereto- fore stated, and the way was opened for a new building. The next year an act was passed by the Legislature providing for the building of a jail and court house in Brooklyn.
Under the provisions of this law three com- missioners were chosen to purchase a suitable site for the buildings. The act also provided that when the court house was finished and ready for occupancy, a certificate to that effect should be obtained from the first judge of the county, and that thereafter all terms of the court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace should be held in the new build- ing, and that all processes and writs should be
75
BROOKLYN VILLAGE
made returnable thereat. It might be stated that subsequent to the fire at Flatbush, and prior to the occupation of the new building, the courts were temporarily held at the Ap- prentices' Library, and were removed to Hall's Exchange Building. Baily, writing in 1840, says : " The Kings County courts are held in the large building called the Exchange, situ- ated on the corner of Cranberry and Fulton streets. It is a plain brick building without any extraordinary architectural beauty." The court-room was on the second floor. On the first floor of the building was Bokee & Clem's hardware store. David A. Bokee was an in- fluential politician of the Whig school. His store for a time was the headquarters of the Whigs, who would assemble almost daily for consultation. Bokee ran for Mayor in 1843 against Joseph Sprague, the latter being elected by 311 majority. The Whigs elected him an Alderman, and he served during the years 1840-43, 1845-48. He was state sen- ator in 1848 and 1849, congressman from 1849 to 1851, and naval officer from 1851 to 1853. Mr. Bokee was one of the leading members of the First Baptist Church.
The Apprentices' Library Building, where the courts were held, was a notable structure.
76
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
One of the principal sources of its fame arose from the fact that its corner-stone was laid on the 4th of July, 1825, by that earnest and zeal- ous friend of American institutions, Lafayette. It was taken down in 1858 to make room for the Armory, which was afterward sold. Previous to the erection of the City Hall it served as the municipal building. The Com- mon Council and Board of Education met there. The municipal court also held its ses- sions in the building, and it afforded room for the post office and county clerk's office. On the Ist of May, 1828, an act was passed by the Legislature providing for the erection of a fire-proof county clerk's office in Brooklyn. The Legislature, on the 25th of April, 1833, passed an act for the erection of a court house and jail in Kings County. By this act Losee Van Nostrand, Joseph Moser, and Peter Can- aver were appointed commissioners to pur- chase a suitable site or sites in the village of Brooklyn for the same. To defray the ex- penses to be incurred in erecting the buildings, the supervisors were authorized to create a public stock to the amount of $25,000. A building committee of five persons was directed to be appointed by the Supervisors of the county, and the president and Trustees of the
77
BROOKLYN VILLAGE
village, within sixty days after the passage of the act. The act also provided that when the court house and jail, or either of them, should be so far completed as to permit either of them being used for the purpose intended, that the first judge of the county should sign a declaration to that effect, and file the same in the office of the clerk of said county. The clerk thereupon was to publish the notice in the papers printed in the county, and from and after this publication the terms of the court of common pleas and general sessions should be held in the court-room, and from and after such declaration relating to the jail it should become the common jail of the county. This act was amended February 17, 1834, so as to declare that the second section of the act of 1833 authorized the Supervisors to create stock, not only for the purchase of a site, but also for erecting buildings.
Meanwhile the village had been flourishing in other directions. Its general growth was marked not only by the increase in popula- tion, but by the increase in the number of commercial institutions, churches, and schools. A second bank was chartered. A " night boat" began running on the ferry. There was an effort to establish a theatre; and a building for
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
this purpose, subsequently abandoned, was erected, in 1828, on Fulton Street, between Nassau and Concord. The Brooklyn " Even- ing Star" began daily publication, and con- tinued to be a daily paper for six months, when insufficient patronage made it necessary to suspend daily issue. Stone walks were laid. The movement resulting in the formation of the Brooklyn Gaslight Company was begun. A second bank was chartered. A temperance society, a dispensary, a tract society, and a literary association (the Hamilton) were organ- ized. There began to be talk of water-works and of railroads. Fulton Street was widened, boats appeared on the South Ferry, and the boom in real estate indicated the growing pop- ularity of the village.
The movement for the incorporation of Brooklyn as a city met the determined opposi- tion of a large proportion of New York's inhabitants, who maintained that the propriety of natural growth demanded that Brooklyn and New York should become one city. From the earliest days of their common existence New York had grudged Brooklyn an indepen- dent life. The "water-rights" quarrels occupy much space in the early records. Under the early charter New York claimed ownership in
79
BROOKLYN VILLAGE
the East River, and of Brooklyn land to low- water mark, and afterward to high-water mark. This brought many disputes in the matter of ferry rights,1 and the spirit of this early dispute survived in the later attitude of New York. In the year 1824 the town on Manhattan Island received an income of over eight thousand dollars from the East River ferries. The legislative provision for Brook- lyn's harbor-master had been declared to be an encroachment on the rights of New York.2
Despite strong opposition, Brooklyn tri- umphed at Albany, and in April, 1834, became a full-fledged city.
1 The Corporation of New York at one time even questioned the right of Brooklyn's inhabitants to cross the river, ferriage free, in their own boats.
2 See Appendix III.
CHAPTER XI
THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
1834-1860
Government of the City. George Hall, first Mayor. Plans for a City Hall. Contention among the Alder- men. Albert G. Stevens and the Clerkship. The Jamaica Railroad. Real Estate. The "Brooklyn Eagle." Walt Whitman. Henry C. Murphy. Brook- lyn City Railroad. The City Court established. County Institutions. The Penitentiary. Packer In- stitute and the Polytechnic. Williamsburgh becomes a City. Progress of Williamsburgh. Mayor Wall and the Aldermen. Discussion of Annexation with Brook- lyn. The " Brooklyn Times." Consolidation of the Two Cities. Mayor Hall's Address. Nassau Water Company and the Introduction of Ridgewood Water. Plans for New Court House. Proposal to use Wash- ington Park. County Cares and Expenditures. Met- ropolitan Police.
THE act of incorporation erected the city of Brooklyn from the village and town of Brook- lyn, dividing the city into nine wards. By Section 50 of this act, provision is made against closing or altering streets " within the first seven wards, or fire and watch district, set apart as such by the owners thereof, etc.,
81
THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
and graded, leveled, paved, or macadamized, and against closing or altering streets in said city laid out and opened and used as such for ten years from the passage of this act, with- out the consent of the Common Council." The act was otherwise conservative in adjust- ing the new plans to existing conditions.
The government of the city was vested in a mayor and a board of aldermen, the latter, to the number of two from each ward, to be elected annually. The selection of a mayor was conferred upon the Aldermen, whose first choice was George Hall.
Hall was born in New York, in 1795, in the year preceding his father's purchase of the Valley Grove Farm at Flatbush. He was educated at Erasmus Hall, and chose to follow his father's trade of painter and glazier. He made friends, and established a good business position. In 1826 he became a Trustee in the third district of the city. He became presi- dent of the village, and in 1833 was reelected after a hot contest, the bitterness of which resulted from Hall's support of the movement to exclude hogs from the public streets, and to prevent the unlicensed selling of liquor in groceries and elsewhere. The defeat of what
-
82
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
was called the "Whig-Hog-Rum " party was announced amid much excitement.
In the July following the choice of Hall as Mayor of the new city, it was resolved to raise $50,000 for the purchase of ground for a city hall. General agreement fixed upon the junction of Fulton and Joralemon streets as sufficiently central. In January of the follow- ing year (1835) a committee of the corpora- tion reported favorably on low lands of the Wallabout for a city park, and before the close of the year ground was selling for $1000 an acre.
In May the Aldermen chose Jonathan Trotter for Mayor. Trotter was an English- man who had been in this country since 1818, and who in 1828 had opened a leather-dress- ing factory in Brooklyn. He became an Alderman, representing the fourth ward, in 1834.
In 1834 the total valuation was $15,642,290; in 1835 it was $26,390,151; in 1836 it was $32,428,942; and in 1837, $26,895,074. Pre- vious to 1838, the assessments were made by wards, and it is impossible to give the aggre- gates. The valuation and total taxation for subsequent years, up to 1860, are as follows : -
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THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
YEAR.
VALUATION.
TAXATION.
1838
$25,198,956
$112,817.94
1839
26,440,634
145,331.39
1840
25,447, 146
134,139.66
1841
25,596,862
151,038.24
1842
24,715,380
159,205.84
1843
21,812,941
159, 189.64
1844
23,260,385 176,271.21
1845
24,788,886
163,726.24
1846
26,918,613
227,433.94
1847
29,927,029
250,244.13
1848
31,246,305
306, 138.16
1849
32,446,330
404,332.90
1850
36,665,399
411,044.78
1851
45,005,518 572,776.63
1852
58,058,485 617,855.64
1853
68,328,546
772,915.81
1854
72,849,503
959,209.18
1855
94,791,215
1,532,692.68
1856
95,859,735
1,381, 114.39
1857
99,016,598
1,783,834.19
1858
· 104,475,275
1,567,948.39
1859
101,052,666
1,256,820.94
1860
· 103,680,566
1,969,794.00
In 1835 there were thirteen churches in Brooklyn, as follows: St. Ann's, St. John's, and Christ Church, Episcopalian; Sands Street, York Street, and Washington Street, Methodist, and the African Methodist; First, Second, and Third Presbyterian ; St. James', Roman Catholic; Nassau Street, Baptist ; and Joralemon Street, Dutch Reformed. St. Luke's (then Trinity) Church, in Clinton Ave- nue, was organized in this year. The popu-
84
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
lation was 24,310, making a church for each 1807 persons. In 1847 there were fifty-two churches in the city, or one to each 1442 inhabitants.
On the roth of September, the plan of the City Hall was submitted to the Common Coun- cil and approved. The corner-stone, as origi- nally planned, was laid April 28, 1836, by the Mayor. The building, if it had been completed in accordance with first intentions, would have rendered unnecessary the building of the new Court House and municipal buildings. It was started during the inflation times of 1836. The era of wild speculation came to an end. The bubble burst, and work upon the city building was suspended on August 7, 1837. The walls, which had risen above the basement, stood for many years, when the work was re- sumed and carried to completion on a much smaller scale. The City Hall, as originally planned, was intended to cover the entire square in front of the present edifice.
On the 4th of August, 1836, the Appren- tices' Library, having been purchased by the corporation of. the city for $11,000, was offi- cially named the City Buildings.
During the time the Common Council met in the City Buildings, Whigs and Democrats
85
THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
were very belligerent. The cause of the trou- ble grew out of the election for Alderman of the seventh ward. That ward then em- braced the area of the present seventh, eleventh, nineteenth, and twentieth wards. The charter election was held in the public schoolhouse on Classen Avenue, between Flushing and Park avenues, on the 11th of March, 1843, and resulted in a tie between John A. Cross and Zebulon Chadbourne, the former being a Whig and the latter a Democrat. A protracted law- suit followed. Albert H. Osborn, whose seat was to be filled, held over, and ever after the people declared that his initials, A. H. O., stood for Alderman Hold Over.
The contention ran high, and bitterness and rancor marked the deliberations of the Alder- men. At a regular meeting of the Board, held at the City Buildings May 8, a separation took place between the Whig and Democratic mem- bers, occasioned by the fight between Cross and Chadbourne for the seat from the seventh ward. The Whig members retired to Hull's Exchange Buildings, whilst the Democrats remained in possession of the City Buildings, and made their appointments. The Whigs did the same.
On the 15th of May a writ of mandamus
86
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
was served on Alfred G. Stevens, who had been appointed clerk of the Common Council by the Democrats May 8. His election was secured by the vote of A. H. Osborne, without whose holding over the Board would have been a tie.
On the 23d of May the mandamus which had been obtained by Worthington Hodgkin- son, the clerk appointed by the Whigs, was argued before the Supreme Court. On the 9th of July, 1843, the motion to displace Ste- vens and substitute Hodgkinson was decided and denied by the Supreme Court, Chief Jus- tice Nelson and Greene C. Bronson presiding. The decision did not suit the Whigs, and was carried to the Supreme Court at Albany, and argued October 21, 1843. Abraham Crist appeared for the relator, and John Greenwood for the defendant. Shortly afterwards the court decided in favor of the defendant.
The matter was again argued November 24 before Judge Kent in New York, on a motion to obtain the books and papers of the Com- mon Council in the hands of Mr. Stevens. On the 27th Judge Kent again decided in favor of Mr. Stevens.
On the Ist of December the Whig Aldermen were arrested for misdemeanor in neglecting
87
THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
to perform their duty. The complaint was abandoned. On the 5th of December the grand jury found bills of indictment against the several Whig Aldermen for neglecting to serve as members of the Common Council. At this time Seth Low (grandfather of the president of Columbia College) represented the fourth ward in the Common Council. The indictment against the Whig Aldermen grew out of an effort on their part to indict Mayor Sprague. It was a case of the biter being bitten. The grand jury refused to in- dict the Mayor, and indicted his accusers. The indictment was, however, not pressed to trial.
Meanwhile the Jamaica Railroad had ob- tained permission to occupy Atlantic Street, and other projects matured. The population of the city had, in 1835, reached 24,310, show- ing a gain of 9013 in fifteen years.
Trotter was reelected Mayor, and was suc- ceeded by Jeremiah Johnson, a man whose contemporaries revered him, and whose name occupies, and must always occupy, a high place in the annals of the city. General John- son was reelected, and was succeeded by Cyrus P. Smith, who was elected by vote of the peo- ple, and who also was reelected.
88
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
The fluster in the real-estate market was paralleled by the financial excitement, which resulted in the suspension of specie payments by the three banks of the city. The year of General Johnson's reelection was one of gen- eral business depression, but the community rallied quickly from the blow inflicted by dis- ordered markets.
In 1841 the Democrats of the county re- ceived representation in a new newspaper, the " Brooklyn Eagle and Kings County Demo- crat." The movement for the establishment of the " Eagle " was led by Henry C. Mur- phy, with whom Richard Adams Locke was associated in the editorship. The first num- ber appeared in October, and the Demo- crats were not loth to give the lusty young journal full credit for the success of the cam- paign, in which its voice gave no uncertain sound.
Directing the helm of the " Eagle " enter- prise was the clear-sighted, practical genius of Isaac Van Anden, who soon came into com- plete control of the paper, and remained sole proprietor until the year 1872. The " Eagle " had its days of adversity; but it had a field, and it had vitality, and its growth was sure and steady. Following Murphy in its early
89
THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
editorship were William B. Marsh, Walt Whitman,1 S. G. Arnold (under whose edito- rial leadership the name of the paper was abbreviated to " Brooklyn Daily Eagle "), and Henry McCloskey. In 1861 McCloskey was
1 Walt Whitman was born at West Hills, Long Island, in 1819. During the time of his residence in Brooklyn he did editorial writing for both the Times and the Eagle. In the following letter to Mr. Charles M. Skinner, of Brooklyn, he describes his newspaper work in this city :-
328 MICKLE STREET, CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, January 19, '85.
DEAR SIR, - In hasty answer to your request asking me to specify over my own signature what year I worked as an edi- torial writer in the Brooklyn Times office, I would say that if I remember right it was along in 1856, or just before. I recol- lect (doubtless I am now going to be egotistical about it) the question of the new Water Works (magnificently outlined by McAlpine, and duly carried out and improved by Kirkwood, first-class engineers both) was still pending, and the works, though well under way, continued to be strongly opposed by many. With the consent of the proprietor, I bent the whole weight of the paper steadily in favor of the McAlpine plan, as against a flimsy, cheap, and temporary series of works that would have long since broken down, and disgraced the city.
This, with my course on another matter, - the securing to public use of Washington Park (old Fort Greene), stoutly cham- pioned by me some thirty-five years ago, against heavy odds, during an editorship of the Brooklyn Eagle, - are "feathers in my wings " that I would wish to preserve.
I heard lately with genuine sorrow of the death of George C. Bennett. I remember him well as a good, generous, honor- able man.
I send best greetings to your staff, and, indeed, to all the Brooklyn journalists.
WALT WHITMAN.
Whitman's poem "Crossing the Williamsburgh Ferry" is familiar to readers of his Leaves of Grass.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
succeeded by Thomas Kinsella, who gave force and distinction to the editorial page of the flourishing paper. Kinsella died in 1884, after having made himself a power in the com- munity. He was succeeded by his first lieu- tenant on the "Eagle " staff, that graceful writer and orator, Andrew McLean, who after- ward took the editorship of the Brooklyn " Citi- zen." That the " Eagle " was destined to be lucky with its editors, received further indica- tion in the appearance of St. Clair McKelway at the post of command. Mr. McKelway's brilliant gifts as a speaker and as a writer have given to him peculiar prominence in the social, artistic, and political life of the city and the State.
The policy of the " Eagle " has been inde- pendently Democratic from the outset, a policy which has fostered, as it has been favored by, a singularly representative constituency. The paper is now controlled by the Eagle Associa- tion, of which Colonel William Hester is the president, William Van Anden Hester is sec- retary, and Harry S. Kingsley is treasurer. Its business management, like its editorial management, -if these may consistently be separated, - has been aggressive and liberal, and goes far toward explaining the present national reputation of the paper.
328 Michle Street
New Jersey Jan: 19185
Dear Sir In harry answer to your specify over my as
request writing. me
own signatures what year? worked an editorial writer in the Brooklyn
Times office would say That - 18 right before rement
sight was along Doubtless it. I &nullet
am now going to be egotistical
about it
The
questione
The
Water Works
nificenth & outlined & Mc Alfine, Carrião out and improved by
Lunch class engineers both
Kirk still
way,
courent of the proprietor. j ven The whole
weight of the paper steadily the Me Alpine plan as against a flimsy und Temporary series of work, that would have Con with any course on broken Down and disgraced the City another matter
This, Topube
of Washington Park
Fort
The securing
Greene;) starte, championed buy against hearty as during
me some thirty
five years ago.
Editorshape of the Eagle une "feathers
"That I would wish to preserve 2my , woning? I heard Catch with genere sorrow of the death George @ Bennett, I remember him well as a honorably man.
generous I saw best greetings to your staff and indeed the Brookly in Journalist. Walt Whitman
in favor Ofcheap
to
FACSIMILE (same size) OF LETTER BY WALT WHITMAN IN POSSESSION OF CHARLES M. SKINNER, ESQ., BROOKLYN
91
THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
Henry C. Murphy, who had, as we have seen, taken so important a part in the starting of the " Eagle," was a young Democrat of prominence in the county. Born in the vil- lage of Brooklyn, Murphy had been educated at Columbia College, where he distinguished himself as a writer as well as in general schol- arship, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. During his student years, he had taken part in debates in the Young Men's Literary Association, which afterward became the Ham- ilton Literary Association, with Murphy as president. To this association belongs the honor of popularizing the lyceum lecture sys- tem, which afterward became so potent a factor in American civilization, and which in this city represented the beginning of the Brook- lyn Lyceum and the Brooklyn Institute. In 1834 he was appointed assistant corporation counsel of the city, and in the following year he formed a legal partnership with the leading lawyer of the city, John A. Lott. This firm, which Judge Vanderbilt afterward joined, won great influence in the city, with whose early politics it was so closely connected.
In 1842 Murphy was chosen Mayor of Brooklyn. He was then but thirty years of age. His administration was forcible through-
92
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN
out, and consistently resulted in his election to Congress, of which he was one of the youngest members. He was a candidate for reëlection, but was defeated by Henry L. Sea- man. In the State Constitutional Conven- tion of 1846, he was a delegate from Kings County, with Tunis G. Bergen and Conrad Schwackhammer, and in the autumn of the same year he was again elected to Congress by a large vote.
Upon the election of Buchanan, Murphy was appointed Minister to the Hague. On his return to this country he was elected to the state Senate as an avowed champion of the Union cause. In the later political life of Brooklyn, Murphy took an active interest; and local enterprises, such as the bridge and vari- ous railroads, claimed his attention and sup- port. He made important historical collec- tions, wrote valuable contributions to local history, edited the " Journal " of Dankers and Sluyter, and was a leader in the establishment of the Long Island Historical Society.
Murphy was succeeded as Mayor of Brook- lyn by Joseph Sprague. The city had now 30,000 population, and thirty-five miles of paved and lighted streets. The Atlantic Dock Company had been incorporated. Thirty-five
93
THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
churches opened their doors on Sunday. A line of stages ran from the ferry to East Brooklyn, and soon afterward a line was estab- lished between Fulton and South ferries. In the year of Sprague's election 570 new build- ings were finished or in course of erection. During Sprague's second term the Brooklyn City Hospital was incorporated.
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