USA > New York > Kings County > Williamsburgh > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 39
USA > New York > Kings County > Bushwick > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 39
USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 39
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? The history of the Department will be found in the second volume.
378
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
1788. On the 7th of March of this year, Brooklyn was recognized as a town under the State Government.
1794. It may amuse our readers to learn, that at a regular town- meeting, held in April of this year, it was " Resolved, That the Su- pervisors raise the sum of £19, 13s., 6d., which money has been expended for the purpose of building a cage and stocks." 1
1795. In the summer of this year the "New," or Catherine street ferry, was established by William Furman and Theodosius Hunt- the former of whom was interested in a rope-walk, the head of which was in Main street, near the ferry, and extended northeasterly, over the shoals and water.
1796. In the library of the Long Island Historical Society is a curious little duodecimo volume, entitled "The New York and Brooklyn Directory and Register, for the Year 1796," printed at New York, "by John Buel, corner of Water street and Fly Market, and John Bull, 115 Cherry st." This work, compiled by John Low, comprises within the last three pages a " Brooklyn Directory, con- taining the names of the inhabitants, alphabetically arranged, never before published," for that year, which our readers will find repro- duced in Appendix, No. 10.ª It is, apparently, the work of a can- vasser, who went up. the " Old Road" (Fulton street) and down "New Ferry street" (Main street), gathering the names only of those persons living on or between the two streets, and does not seem to contain the names of any persons who lived further back from the ferry. It possesses peculiar interest, from the fact that it antedates, by twenty-five years, the earliest village directory- that published by Alden Spooner, in 1822.
The sum of £49 4s. was this year raised by subscription for pur- chasing " a suitable bell for the use of the town of Brooklyn." This bell was hung in a small cupola on the top of Buckbee's Hay Scales, which stood on the southerly side of Fulton street, close by "Buck- bee's Alley."3
1 Town Records. See, also, page 387.
2 This Directory, with notes by the author of this history, was published in the Brooklyn Corporation Manual for 1864, pp. 139-143.
3 Now "Poplar Place," a crooked alley running from Poplar to Fulton street, be- tween Henry and Hicks streets. Its original name was derived from one Buckbee, who, with his son Palmer, kept a small grocery on the corner of the alley and Fulton street.
379
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
In the spring of this year, the Rev. Dr. John Henry Livingston, a distinguished scholar and member of the Reformed Dutch Church, established a theological school at the then village of Bedford, now embraced with the limits of Brooklyn. A Mr. Freligh, the first student licensed in Kings County, studied under him at the Cowen- hoven house, west of Mr. Brevoort's present dwelling, and boarded around among the neighbors. The school, however, was broken up in 1797.
1798. Rev. Dr. Jedediah Morse's " American Gazetteer," issued this year, thus briefly disposes of Brooklyn : " A township in Kings County, N. Y., on the west end of Long Island, having 1,603 inhabi- tants, and 224 are electors, by the State census of 1796. There are a Presbyterian church, a Dutch Reformed church, a powder maga- zine, and some elegant houses, which lie chiefly on one street. East River, near a mile broad, separates the town from New York."
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VIEW OF BROOKLYN IN 1798-(As seen from the North).
We take pleasure in presenting our readers with an interesting view, never before published, of the village of Brooklyn, as seen from a northerly point on New York Island, copied from a remarkably careful and evidently accurate sketch of New York City and Bay,
The family was a very disreputable one-the old man finally dying of wounds received in attempting, with his son Palmer, to commit a burglary upon the house of James W. Smith. Palmer, a giant in stature, and possessing great courage and strengtli, was the terror of the slender police force of the village at that day, and many anecdotes are told of his exploits. He was subsequently hung, in San Francisco, by the Vigilance Committee.
380
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
made by Mons. Jules Févret de Saint Memin, a French artist, of some celebrity, who resided in this country between the years 1796 and 1810.
1799. On the 6th of June, 1799, the "Courier and New York and Long Island Advertiser," the second paper ever published on Long Island, was commenced at Brooklyn, by Thomas Kirk. A stray "No. 87, vol. 2," dated Feb. 25, 1801, has come to our notice. It is a small, dingy sheet, purporting to be published " every Wednesday morning," and possesses little or nothing of interest to us of the present day. Its columns are mostly filled with New York adver- tisements. A few Brooklynites, however, seem to have possessed a spirit of enterprise, inasmuch as John Van Brunt advertises his house, situated about one hundred yards from the old (Fulton) ferry, as being an excellent stand for a tavern. John Harmer, painter and glazier, advertises his patent floor-cloth manufactory ; William Carpenter, his tobacco and snuff factory; Furman and Sands, their store at New (Catherine street) Ferry ; and Derick Amerman, his groceries.
During this year, land, not exceeding an acre, was appropriated by the town for a public burial-place ; but the records bear evidence that, in 1800, the object had not been effected.
1800. In an old scrap-book of this date, in the possession of the family of General JEREMIAH JOHNSON, is preserved what may prop- erly be called the first written history of Brooklyn. It consists of newspaper slips, undoubtedly cut from the columns of Thomas Kirk's paper, "The Long Island Courier," to which are added numerous manuscript corrections, notes, and even whole pages of new matter, in the well-known handwriting of General Johnson, to whom we probably do not err in attributing their authorship. That this careful arrangement and revision of these papers was made with a view to their republication in pamphlet form, is apparent from the fact that they are preceded by a title-page in MS., " A Topographical View of the Township of Brooklyn in Kings County, State of New York (motto), Brooklyn : Printed by Thomas Kirk. 1800." The series consist of about six papers, which form an interesting, though diffuse, pot-pourri of historical facts, speculations, etc., from which we select a few samples for the amusement of our readers.
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381
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
"Kings County," says the author, "contains 4,495 inhabitants, including 621 electors : 930 of these are free white males, of ten and upwards ; 700 free white male under that age ; 1,449 free white females ; 1,432 slaves, and 46 free persons not enumerated. The inhabitants are chiefly of Dutch extraction. Some are attached to their old prejudices ; but, within a few years past, liberality and a taste for the fine arts have made considerable progress. The slaves are treated well, but the opinion relative to their freedom is yet too much influenced by pecuniary motives. It would certainly redound to the honor of humanity, could that blessing be effected here."
After defining the boundaries of the township of Brooklyn, and enumerating the different settlements therein,1 he mentions "OLYM- PIA," a tract of land which, he says, "was surveyed and laid out in streets as long ago as the year 1787, and then intended as a city ; its progress has been arranged according to the plan, and begins to
1 The town of Brooklyn at this period-and, indeed, until the incorporation of the village of Brooklyn-was divided, for ecclesiastical, school, and other purposes, into seven districts, retaining the same names which had descended from the "neighborhoods" or hamlets of the earlier settlements, viz. : "The Ferry" (het Veer) ; the " Red Hook" (de Roede Hoek) ; " Brooklyn" (Breuckelen) ; "Bedford" (Betfort) ; "Gowanus" (Goujanes or Gouanes) ; " Cripplebushi" (het Creupelbosch) ; and " the Wallabout" (de Waal-boght). (1) The Ferry District included all the lands and dwellings between the Wallabout Mill-pond and Joralemon street; and, afterwards, along Red Hook lane to District street, crossing from Brouwer's (afterwards Freeke's) mill-pond to Red Hook lane ; com- prising the first five of the subsequent city wards. (2) The Red Hook District included the lands lying west of District street, and a line extending from the head of Brouwer's mill-pond to the corner of Red Hook road, and including Red Hook Point. (3) Brook- lyn District comprised the land south of the Ferry to Flatbush, between the estate formerly of N. R. Cowenhoven and the Post Road. (4) Bedford District included all the land east of Brooklyn line, including the north farm of Rem Lefferts, to the third division of woodlands, and along the line of Lot. No. 1 to the town of Bushwick. (5) The Gowa- nus District comprised that part of Brooklyn lying west of Brooklyn, Bedford, and Red Hook, and bounded southerly by the town of Flatbush and westerly by the town of New Utrecht. (6) Cripplebush District was bounded southerly by Bedford, easterly by the town of Bushwick, northerly by Wallabout Creek, and westerly by the easterly line of Garret Nostrand. (7) The Wallabout District was bounded westerly by the District of Brooklyn, easterly and southerly by Bedford, easterly and northerly by the town of Bushwick, and southwesterly, northerly, and westerly by the Wallabout Bay and the Ferry District .*
* Gowanus, Red Hook, The Ferry, and Wallabout Districts are bounded northerly by the North and East rivers.
3S2
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
have the appearance of regularity. It lies to the east of Brooklyn Ferry, and is bounded by the Wallabout and the East River."
This was evidently the Comfort and Joshua Sands estate, pur- chased by them, in 1784, from the Commissioners of Forfeiture-it having been the property of John Rapalje, the loyalist.1 The sur- vey, to which reference is made, was by Casimer Theodore Goerck, in 1788, and a copy of his map is still in existence .? John Jackson's Remsen estate was also included within the bounds of the prospec- tive village. Our author then proceeds to say that
"The holders of this tract (i. e., Messrs. Sands and John Jackson-Ed.) appear to be desirous to encourage the undertaking, by their willingness to dispose of lots at a reasonable price. * * This village, contemplatively a city, comprehends at present an extent of land within the following boundaries, viz .: Beginning at two rocks called 'The Brothers,' situated in the East River, from those to Brooklyn Square,3 through James street to Main and Road streets, to the seat formerly the residence of the Rev. Mr. Johnson, now Red Hook road,4 from thence across the Wallabout, then to the East River to the place of beginning. This tract of land is better situated than any other near New York for the counterpart of that city. It is certain that, on the southern side of Brooklyn Ferry ("the Heights."-Ed.), the hills are so high, and such astonishing exertion is neces- sary to remove them, that Brooklyn Ferry can never extend any great distance upon that quarter, and all improvements must necessarily be made in Olympia. Add to this the want of disposition in the proprietors of that soil to sell any part of it.5 And, moreover, Olympia and Brooklyn Ferry must always continue to increase in a ratio with New York, unless some exertion of their own is made. But as that city can never extend further southward, but is continually progressing a contrary way, it is evident, if the former position be true, that Olympia must receive the whole progress which otherwise would be given to Brooklyn Ferry.
"Olympia is extremely well calculated for a city, on a point of land
1 Ante, pp. 78, 79, 312. 2 Ante, p. 79, note 2.
3 The neighborhood of the old Dutch village of Breuckelen, ante, pp. 45, 96, etc.
4 Corner of Fulton avenue and Red Hook lane.
5 The owners of these lands on the Heights were mostly of old Dutch stock, the Hicks, Middaghs, Joralemon, Patchen, Bamper, Golden, and others, and were averse to change or improvement. The Hicks and Middagh estates were the first to follow the example of their Yankee neighbors on the other side of the Old Ferry road.
383
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
which presents its front up the East River, surrounded almost with water; the conveniences are almost manifest. A considerable country in the rear affords the easy attainment of produce. A pure and salubrious atmosphere, excellent spring water, and good society, are among a host of other desir- able advantages. As regards health in particular, it is situated on the natural soil-no noxious vapors, generated by exhalations, from dock-logs, water, and filth sunk a century under its foundation, are raised here. Sand and clay for building are in the village. Stone is brought from a short dis- tance. Timber, lath, and boards are to be had on the spot. In fact, almost every article for building is afforded here as cheap as in New York. Could the inhabitants once divest themselves of their dependence upon that city, and with unanimous consent resolve that their own village should prosper, there requires no supernatural agent to inform us of the consequence.
" Want of good title has been alleged by some against building here; but it is ascertained, and from undoubted authority, that none was ever clearer or less entangled, and that reports here circulated what truth is obliged to deny.1
" The principal streets in this village are sixty feet, but the cross-streets are not so wide. They are not yet paved, though a vast number of peb- bles may be had here. Latterly, it appears to have had the appearance of a regular town. Edifices are erecting, and other improvements constantly making. When we observe the elevated situations, the agreeable pros- pects, the salubrity of the atmosphere, and the contiguousness to New York, with many other interesting advantages, it may claim, perhaps, more consideration than any part of the township."
The following remarks cannot fail to give comfort to the would-be bridge-builders of the present day :
" It has been suggested that a bridge should be constructed from this village across the East River to New York. This idea has been treated as chimerical, from the magnitude of the design; but whosoever takes it into their serious consideration, will find more weight in the practicability of the scheme than at first view is imagined. This would be the means of raising the value of the lands on the east side of the river. It has been
1 The allusion to doubtful titles evidently refers to the Rapalje estate.
384
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
observed that every objection to the building of this bridge could be re- futed, and that it only wanted a combination of opinion to favor the attempt. A plan has already been laid down on paper, and a gentleman of acknowledged abilities and good sense has observed that he would en- gage to erect it in two years' time."
" It has also been observed that the Wallabout would form an excellent navy-yard.1 Should such a plan be carried into execution, it would con- siderably increase the importance of this place. As a retreat from New York in summer, Olympia would furnish many superior excellences over other places-such as its vicinity to that city, the opportunity of freight- ing and unloading vessels during the period of fever, the sale of goods to the yeomanry who are fearful of entering the city, etc. (Here a mutila- tion breaks the narrative.) often the resort of the inhabitants of New York in their pedestrian excursions. This village has no peculiar privileges of its own. Joined with the several townships, it supports two ministers."
In speaking of manufactures, he says : "With respect to 'Olympia' and Brooklyn Ferry, which are the principal villages in this town- ship, they produce scarcely any thing of the manufacturing kind but what is useful in common life. There are eight grist-mills in this township, which grind by means of the tide of the East River. Some of these mills are employed to grind grain for exportation, others to supply the neighboring farmers. Cables, cordage, lines, and twine are spun and laid to considerable profit. A new patent floor-cloth manufactory is about to be introduced. * * * Brewing and distilling, with a capital, might be carried on to advantage. Nails are afforded very cheap. Chair-making, too, answers extremely well. Besides these, there are all the different mechanical trades peculiar to settlements of this kind."
In regard to literature and education, he says, "There are three schools in this township-one at Bedford, one at Gowanus, and the other at the Brooklyn Ferry. This last claims the preference, hav- ing been established a considerable length of time, under the super-
1 It is probable that negotiations were already in progress for the realization of this plan, as the purchase, by the United States Government, of a portion of the Wallabout was concluded in the following year.
385
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
intendence of trustees. There are about sixty scholars, who are taught the common rudiments of education, with English grammar, geography, and astronomy. Two preceptors have the immediate direction. A beautiful eminence to the east of Brooklyn Ferry will afford an eligible situation for an academy." Thomas Kirk's news- paper, The Courier, then in its first year, is favorably mentioned, and the fact is furthermore stated that there are "no libraries, or places for the sale of books in the town." "There is but one society, properly speaking, in this township, and that is the Masonic. This, which is the first and only Lodge in the county, was erected in 1798 in Olympia, at the corner of Main and James streets."
A brief outline of some of the main points of early Brooklyn his- tory is given, and reference is made to two volunteer companies, "whose uniform is as handsome as their conduct is patriotic.".1 A powder-house and arsenal are said to be " already established." In the Appendix to this compilation, General Johnson strongly advo- cates the establishment of a village corporation, concerning the ad- vantages of which he discusses fully and eloquently, considering it "now proper time that a corporation for Olympia should commence its operations, and particular appropriations be made for extensive market-places, a square for an academy, another for a promenade, others for public buildings of different sorts, as churches, court- houses, alms-houses, etc., and not to sleep on an ideal prospect." And long before the venerable author was gathered to his fathers, he had seen the more than realization of his "ideal prospect."
The spirit of speculation, as will be seen from the above glowing account of " Olympia," had begun to agitate the minds of the Brook- lynites, and it received no inconsiderable impulse, in 1801, from Mr. John Jackson's sale to the United States (through Francis Child, a middle-man) of forty acres of the Wallabout, including the old mill- pond, for the handsome sum of $40,000. Shortly after this, a por- tion of the estate of Comfort Sands, contiguous to the lands of Mr.
1 These were the "Washington Fusileers," a very handsome uniformed company, commanded by Mr. William Furman, father of the historian of Brooklyn, Hon. Gabriel Furman, and the " Republican Rifles," dressed in green hunting-shirts and pants, and commanded by Captain Burdett Stryker. These latter, from the color of their uniform, were sometimes called "The Katydids."
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386
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
Jackson, was sold, and Jackson street was opened to Jackson Ferry. About this time, also, the suppression of the rebellion in Ireland caused the emigration to this country of many persons who had been engaged in that unfortunate struggle, some of whom came to New York. A portion of these refugees, who had a little property, were induced to purchase lots on Jackson's land, at a spot to which- cleverly appealing to their patriotism-he had given the name of " Vinegar Hill,"1 in honor of the scene of the last conflict of that memorable rebellion.
On the 2d of April, 1801, the village of Brooklyn was incorporated as a fire district, by an act entitled "An Act to vest certain powers in the Freeholders and Inhabitants of part of the Town of Brook- lyn, in Kings County," etc., the 6th section of which is of much importance, inasmuch as it authenticated the copies of Old Road Records, then recently transferred from the County Clerk's office to the office of the Clerk of the Town.
" And be it further enacted, that all copies and abstracts of records in the said County relative to roads and highways in the said Town of Brook- lyn, examined and certified to be true copies by the Clerk of the said County, and registered by the Clerk of the said Town, in a book to be pro- vided by him for that purpose, shall be deemed to be the records of the said Town, and of the same validity as the original records remaining in the office of the Clerk of the said County." 2
Crime and vice seem to have made fresh and increasing inroads upon the primitive simplicity of this old Dutch town; for, in 1802, the town took measures to determine the location and ascertain the expense of erecting a "cage, or watch-house." Whether this was a rebuilding of the old one, or an additional one, is somewhat uncer- tain.3 At the same meeting, the foremen of the fire-engines were
1 Near the Navy Yard.
2 A similar act had been passed, Feb. 9th, 1798, whereby, in consideration of the loss or destruction of the original records of the Town, during the Revolutionary War, such copies and abstracts of the County Records as related to the Town of Brooklyn, were considered as records of the said Town.
3 This was a movable structure, made of joists strongly put together, and capable of holding four persons, one only of whom could sit down. When it was deemed desira-
387
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
authorized to establish and regulate a "Guard, or Night-Watch within the Fire District, by and with the consent of the majority of the inhabitants."
Previous to this time the stages from Flushing came to Brooklyn, via Jamaica, a distance of seventeen miles, and the people of New- town and Bushwick came here by the roundabout way of Bedford. About 1802, a Mr. William Prince, of Flushing, procured the incor- poration of the "Flushing Bridge and Road Company," by which route the distance from that town to Brooklyn was shortened about four miles. Seeing the practicability of lessening the distance to Brook- lyn Ferry about three miles more, Mr. Prince, in the year 1805, pro- cured the incorporation of the " Wallabout and Brooklyn Toll-bridge Company." The road was laid out from the Cripplebush road to the easterly side of the Wallabout Mill-Pond, over which a bridge was built to Sands street in Brooklyn.1 Through Mr. Prince's exer- tions, therefore, the travelling distance between the two towns was lessened by seven miles ; an improvement, in those days of hard roads and rough travelling, fully entitling him to the gratitude of Kings and Queens Counties, and undoubtedly contributing in many respects to the material interests of Brooklyn.
1806. In the columns of The Long Island Weekly Intelligencer, pub- lished by Robinson & Little, Booksellers and Stationers, corner of Old Ferry and Front streets, October 9th, vol. i., No. 15, we find the advertisements of Thomas Langdon, dealer in boots and shoes ; Henry Hewlet, general merchandise, near the Old Ferry ; John Cole,
ble, for the "moral effect" of the thing, to expose the prisoners, the cage was moved to the corner of Fulton and Front street, where it undoubtedly attracted the attention of those passing to and from the ferries, very much as the bulletin-board of the " Union" office now does. Its usual stand, however, was on the shore (now Water street) near Birbeck's foundry, and its most frequent use latterly-for it existed within the recollec- tion of some now living-was to confine Sabbath-breaking sailors. It was finally tum- bled off into the river.
1 Act of Incorporation dated April 6, 1805. The following gentlemen composed the first Board of Directors, viz. : John Jackson, Pres. ; John Hicks, Treas .; Peter Sharpe, Sec. ; Jeremiah Johnson, William Prince, Richard M. Malcolm, and Samuel Sackett. The bridge was originally designed to be 1,400 feet long and 24 feet broad ; but Furman says, in 1823 (MSS., iii. 41), that it was only 768 feet in length, the remaining part being made into solid causeway. The causeway at the easterly end of the bridge was about 340 feet long ; in addition to which there was another at the westerly end, of considerable length.
388
HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
coach-maker ; Doctor Lowe " at the Rev. Mr. Lowe's, corner of Red Hook Road" (present corner of Fulton street and Red Hook Lane) ; and William Cornwall, merchant tailor, corner of Front and Main streets, near the New Ferry. Five apprentices are wanted at Amos Cheney's Ship-yard; William Milward, Block and Pump Maker, is located "at the Yellow Store, on Joshua Sands', Esq., wharf, be- tween the Old and New Ferries ;" while Benjamin Hilton sells China, glass, and earthenware, "at New York prices," in Old Ferry street, in the house formerly occupied by Mr. Derick Amerman. Land and property is advertised by Henry Stanton, corner of Front and Main streets ; by Robert M. Malcolm, corner of Washington and Sands streets, and by Thomas Lalliet. Joel Bunce, Postmaster, adver- tises the address of 53 letters uncalled for in his office.
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