USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > From a forest to a city : personal reminiscences of Syracuse, N. Y. > Part 8
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Captain Myers, who built the Myers Block, was another
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of the self-made men of Syracuse ; his father was a New York merchant who met with reverses of fortune and died when Austin was but one year old. His mother cared for him until he was fifteen years old, when he left home for Albany where he learned the harness-maker's trade, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship of three years he married and took passage on a canal-boat, arriv- ing in the little village of Syracuse in 1833. When he landed here he had only two pieces of silver, one repre- senting 1212 cents, and the other one-half that amount. If Syracuse is noted for one thing more than another, it is that men who are willing and know how to work can always find employment. Within a few hours after his arrival, Mr. Myers found work in the harness-shop of Silas Ames, and during the year earned three hundred dollars; he then left Syracuse and commenced business in Jordan, where he remained and acquired several pieces of real estate which he sold during the campaign of 1840. Seldom in the history of Presidential campaigns did the excitement run so high as during the song-singing, hard- cider and log-cabin campaign of Gen. Harrison. Mr. Myers was a Whig and an ardent politician, and a neigh- bor who was on the opposite side, and an equally zealous Democrat, offered Mr. Myers about twice the value of his real estate with an agreement to pay for the same when Harrison was made President, which happened within a year. Mr. Myers then returned to Syracuse and located his house on the grounds now occupied by Sena- tor Hiscock on West Onondaga street. He established a line of packet-boats which he ran with success, acquir-
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ing the title of Captain; but this enterprise was affected by competition with the railroads. Through his rare business qualities and energy he never met with reverse .. He died several years ago, leaving an estate estimated 2: over half a million dollars.
SOUTH SIDE OF WASHINGTON STREET, BETWEEN WARREN AND MONTGOMERY STREETS.
At the junction of Montgomery, Washington and Gene- see streets stood a one and a half story building, erected in 1833, with the usual outside stairs leading from the side-walk to the second story. Dr. Glenn occupied it for his dwelling and dentist's office. Mr. L. H. Redfield bought this corner and lived in a brick house on the south part of the lot. He moved the old wooden struc- ture away and erected a one story brick building twelve by twenty feet in size, it being so sinall that it looked as if a strong man might carry it away. It was occupied by a German for his house and shop, and was of suffi- cient size to contain all his wealth which then comprised a few upholster's tools. . That same German to-day is the owner of a hundred thousand dollars' worth of real estate ; thus we see how fickle are the wheels of fortune. In 1847 the south side of Washington street, between Warren and Montgomery streets, presented a different appearance than it does to-day, as there were only a few two story dwellings. Mr. Colwell built a bowling alley. giving it the name of Gothic Hall, a little west of t! - centre of the block. He died soon after, when the Stuzzi- dard took possession of it, and that paper was printed
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there for many years. In the village days of Syracuse Timothy Teall's residence was about midway between the two streets. A Mrs. Morgan rented a small wooden building for a milliner's shop, standing near where the Journal building is now located. Mrs. Morgan's son Alonzo was then a school-boy, and afterwards he became a prominent homeopathic physician, and after a few years removed to New York for a wider field of practice. In the early days, when the village was yet small, Col. Phil- lips built a two story wooden building on the corner of Warren and Washington streets, now called the Vander- bilt corner, and lived there in the days when stage-coaches were the only means of travel for the public. In later years the building was rented to a German named Sigel, who fitted it up in a better style than usual for those days. His bar was made very attractive by placing mir- rors back of the numerous decanters of liquors, and to add to the attractions was a collection of birds, the cages being hung in such a manner that every movement of the inmates was reflected in the mirrors. Chief among these attractions was a parrot whose powers of speech were most remarkable. His owners claimed for him a great age, and that for fifty years he was in one of the beer gardens of Germany. This may have been true, as it is sometimes claimed that the parrot attains the age of one hundred years. This parrot seemed to be well informed in bar-room etiquette, and he would call in the most de- liberate manner for the different kinds of drinks; he was cunning and mischievous, but, unfortunately, a most pro- fane bird, and when giving utterance to his profanity the
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harshness of his voice was most remarkable. Mr. Si. made his place very attractive to his German friends, a before coming to this country he had kept a beer garde- and knew how to please his patrons. One of the greate -: riots that ever occurred in the village of Syracuse to. A place at his house, where there had been great prepara :- tions for a New Year's ball. At the same time there ha: been secret preparations among a class of Salt Point roughs who had some old grudges to settle with a few Germans who were to attend the ball. Accordingly. about ten o'clock,
" When music arose with its voluptuous swell Soft eyes looked love to eyes that spake again, And all went merry as a marriage bell,"
all at once fifteen or twenty roughs entered the house. proceeded to the bar and drank it dry, demanding the barkeeper to fill up, which he refused to do and ordered them again and again to leave the house, when they pro- ceeded to break the costly mirrors and fixtures in a thousand pieces. By this time the friends of Sigel had left the ball-room and come to his aid, and a pitched battle was the result. The ringleader was commanded to leave with his party, and he replied by throwing a de- canter at the head of the proprietor, which was answered by a pistol-shot, and then the fight was terrific. Pistols were freely used on both sides, everything breakable was smashed, one man was dangerously wounded, several hid received shots and the floor was slippery with the blood of the enraged parties. It was not safe for the feeble force of police to attempt to enter or make arrests. I:
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seemed most fortunate that Captain Teall's cadets were on drill that evening, and they were called out very un- expectedly and surrounded the house and the riot was soon quelled and the desperate characters marched up to the old jail. It was reported around town that one man had been shot dead and several others seriously wounded. There was great indignation felt against the Germans, but on understanding the case it was clear that but one side was in the wrong, and that side the attacking party of Salt Pointers. Mr. Sigel, however, soon left, and he was succeeded by Eliphalet Welch, who fitted up the place as Welch's Coffee House, and it was the most pop- ular restaurant in town for many years, he in turn being succeeded by Cook & Sons. In 1832 Mr. King, of Tully, bought the northeast corner of Warren and Fayette streets and built a two story wooden house which was occupied as a dwelling a few years and then sold to Mr. Partridge who kept it as a hotel until 1839, when he sold out his interest for one hundred acres of Lewis county land. Josiah Brintall & Brother were the pur- chasers. The Brintalls owned the property for many years and made many additions and alterations to the house. Josiah Brintall is one of our most respected citi- zens, was Loan Commissioner for a term of years, and also Assessor for several years. He was born in Mont- gomery county in 1866. On the next lot north of the Fayette street corner in 1834 stood a small one story House, where quite an amusing episode took place. On the evening of the great fire in 1834, when the streets were lined with goods from the burning buildings, a great
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opportunity was offered to appropriate the goods of the who suffered by the fire, and much stealing was done keeping the officers busy for several days afterwards look- ing for stolen goods. A call was made at the little yel. low house on Warren street, and as soon as the office: entered the house a smoky odor peculiar to smoked ham's was detected. They were sure there was no mistake, ye: nothing was visible and the search of every part of th: little shanty revealed nothing of the kind. There was but one woman in the house and she apparently very sick in bed. The officers were so impudent as to look under the bed, yet nothing was there, and they then caught hold of the straw-tick and with a knife made an opening which revealed a half dozen fine hams. The woman was instantly restored to health, and seizing a chair, ordered the intruders out of doors. They promptly complied, taking the woman with them.
This portion of Warren street midway between Fayette and Washington streets was purchased by Jason C. Wood- ruff in the days when he was running a line of stages, and he built here a sizable brick house where he lived for several years. On the back part of his large lot were the barns and sheds for his horses and stages. He sold this property to Giles Cleveland who kept a livery stable here. This part of Warren street at that time had a very untidy appearance, as the lot was filled with old worn-out vehicles of every description, from an old stage-coach to a wheel- barrow. The contrast between what it was then and the now spacious Vanderbilt can hardly be imagined.
The Granger Block was built in 1844 and was burned
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on a very cold night in the winter of '49. One of our fire engines would have extinguished the flames in a few minutes, but the facilities for extinguishing fires in those days were very different from what they are now. The city had but three old style machines, worked by hand and managed by volunteer companies. These companies would organize and disband to suit their own pleasure. There was generally some feud existing between the dif- ferent companies, which frequently at fires would end in a general fight. This happened to be the case on that evening. As I remember, some slight accident happened to one of the engines, and while the foreman was making repairs there were some taunting remarks from some one belonging to another company, which were quickly re- sented and a general row was the result, and two engines were abandoned by their companies. This left but one little feeble stream directed on the fire. In those days the officers of the city knew their duty and were always on hand. I happened to be standing by the side of Alderman Wm. H. Alexander, an old gray-headed man, who took in the situation at a glance, and, springing into the crowd, took one of the ringleaders by the collar with one hand and the other just below the small of the back, he propelled him in double-quick time to the machine, and at the same time with a voice heard above all others, said : "I am an Alderman of this city, and if you don't work that machine I will lock you up." Then in an instant he had another in his iron' grip; his hat was knocked off and his gray hairs were a prey to the fierce cutting winds, but his lion-like courage and energy
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seemed to awe the rebellious firemen, and with shan .. they all returned to their places and worked with re- doubled exertions. But the block was doomed. and within two hours from the time the alarm was given from the bells in the church spires, two men carried a dry goods box to the centre of the street, and Gen. Granger climbing upon it gained the attention of the great crowd of people by shouting, " Hello ! Hello? the walls of the burning building will fall in a few minutes. They are changing very fast and will reach farther into the street than you think for, so if you regard your safety clear the street to a safe distance." In a few minutes there was not a piece of wall ten feet high to be seen. This block was rebuilt and again burned in 1864, the present block being erected in 1866. If we follow the history of the lot where the Larned Block now stands, back to that period when wooden buildings occupied the central por- tion of the town, we should find the north-east corner of the lot on Genesee and Warren streets occupied by Van Husen's blacksmiths shop, which was an unusually old structure on such a corner, and stood out in broad con- trast to the southeast corner of the same lot on Washington and Warren streets. Mr. Durnford owned this corner, on which was a small story and a half house painted white, with green blinds, and surrounded by a picket fence also painted white. There was a plank walk from Washington street leading to the front door and also one from Warren street leading to the side door ; along the c walks were placed beds of flowers and shrubbery so neatly arranged that it gave the corner a very tasteful
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appearance. These two lots were purchased by Captain Larned and a very plain but substantial brick building was erected for a public house, part of the lower story being used for stores. While Capt. Larned occupied the house it was called the " Alhambra," when Mr. Durn- ford was proprietor it was called the Tremont House, and was last called the Sherman House. It was burned soon after the death of Capt. Larned, and the present Larned Block was built by his heirs, so the city is in- debted to Capt. Larned for this fine building. He was wealthy and spent his money in building up the city, and forty years ago there were few men in Syracuse bet- ter known than Capt. Larned. His early business life brought him in contact with the rougher elements of society. As soon as the Erie canal was completed, the banks were lined every few miles with little shanties, filled with supplies for boatmen. Captain Larned con- ceived the idea of building a light, easy running craft and loading it with a fine assortment of all the supplies needed by boatmen and running the whole length of the canal, being able to furnish every boat with whatever was needed, without stopping their crafts. He was so suc- cessful in this business that he retired with a fine fortune and the title of Captain. He was a bachelor until well advanced in life, when he married a daughter of Col. Johnson and thus found himself with a young family in his old age. His strong traits of character were best drawn out during the excitin, times of the rebellion, A's sympathies being so strong for the union cause that he would have been tempted to help fight the battles if his
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age had not debarred him from enlisting : but he did the next best thing by fighting the copperheads of the north whom he hated with all the intensity of his nature. I was his near neighbor during the time, and one Sunday morning as soon as it was light, every church bell in the city was rung furiously and kept the city in an uproar for half an hour. About all the people were soon in the street, but few were in full dress, Uncle Sam Larned with the rest, when, on inquiring the cause of the great tumult, he was told that Richmond was taken by the Union army. The old man was in the greatest ecstasy of delight at the news, and shouting to the people in the streets, " if the news is true I will make a bonfire to-night of that house " pointing to his home, but it was a false alarm and the bonfire was not lighted.
EARLY HISTORY OF THE SITE OF THE CITY HALL.
Soon after the completion of the Erie canal through Syracuse it was thought necessary to have a basin where boats could run in and be out of the way of navigation, and it was decided to locate the basin where the City Hall and square is now. An excavation from the canal south to the line of Washington street was completed and filled with water. As there was no current the water soon became offensive and one of the most intolerable nuisances that ever cursed a village existed here. Its proportions seemed so formidable that for a long time there was no attempt to abate it, as it was thought to be a necessary evil. In those days there was a large num- ber of scow-boats used to boat wood for the salt blocks. They were not in use more than half of the time, and
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this basin or frog pond, as it was called, was filled with these unsightly crafts. Many of them were neglected and sunk to the bottom, and when excavations are now made near the City Hall the workmen come in contact with these sunken crafts, and, unable to account for their existence there, think they have found the long-lost Noah's ark; but the only resemblance is, one was built of gopher wood and the other to-go-for wood. The vil- lage charter was altered in 1842 to enable the trustees to borrow money on the credit of the village for public im- provement. In those days, as in our own, there were men elected to hold office who were not practical. This class advocated the advantages of erecting a public build- ing for a market similar to the Fulton market, New York. The site of the present City Hall was selected (it having been filled up and graded), the building completed, and was our City Hall till June, 'S9, with the addition of twenty feet for an entrance and a belfry for the fire-alarm. The plan was to appropriate the lower floor for stalls for the sale of meats, and the upper floor for a public hall which was called Market Hall. After the building and stalls were completed there was much hesitation among the men whose meat-markets were situated in different parts of the village, to leave their established places of business and accept of the new quarters in a general market in the centre of the town. A paper was drawn up and the principal market men signed an agreement to try the experiment. Mr. Davis and Mr. Meldram headed the list, and the stalls of the new market were filled with the greatest display of meats that had ever been seen in town,
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and the public square in front was filled with the wagons of farmers, loaded with their produce. This copy of Fulton market had a very systematical appearance in our lively village and demonstrated the enterprise and pro- gressive spirit of the citizens, but the experiment was destined to be very short lived. To bring men together who had long been rivals in the same business, all on the same floor, was placing too high an estimate on human character. Before long it was found that their old cus- tomers would not follow them to their new quarters, and a general dissatisfaction resulted soon in leaving the new market empty. This was no loss to the village, however. Market Hall was much needed and well patronized, as it was suitable in size and altogether the best hall in the place, and the square was convenient for public out-of- door gatherings when distinguished visitors were in town, such as General Scott, in 1852, who was given a fine reception by our military companies. After being drawn up in review in front of the City Hall, and during an appropriate little speech, he complimented them on their good discipline, emphasizing the great importance of discipline in military movements; that he had seen the efficacy of this quality when his little army that was only a "priming" compared to that of Mexico, yet by disci- pline and courage they conquered the enemy. In the same year an elaborate stand was erected on this square for the reception of Louis Kossuth. The committee that constructed the stand had draped in front of the speaker the stars and stripes in a graceful manner, and placed on the centre a very fine specimen of the American eagle.
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During his speech, in referring to the admiration he had for our country, he stepped forward and, grasping the eagle and holding it over his head, he said : "While I am under the shadow of these wide extended wings, your country's emblem of liberty, I have nothing to fear from the despotism of the empires of the world." This part of his speech was ridiculed, by some of our daily papers, as a silly performance for effect.
CORNER OF LOCK AND WATER STREETS.
The corners of Lock street where the bridge crosses the canal, in the early days of Syracuse was the location of several industries which gave some life to business in that locality. It was then near the first lock, which was removed in 1840 farther east to where it is now. Joel Cody had the contract for its removal and the construc- tion of the new lock. On the southwest corner of Lock street bridge was the location of the first Pottery in the village, and at one time a large quantity of pottery of a rough quality was manufactured here and shipped to different points on the line of the canal. On the south- east side of the bridge was erected a two story building designed for manufacturing furniture, and soon after its construction it was destroyed by fire. Next east of this point on the line of Water street was situated Van Buren's tannery, where that trade was continued for many years. On the northwest corner of the bridge was a potash man- nfactury. This industry is usually among the first to be established in new places, as the forests are consumed the ashes are gathered for the purpose of concentration in potash, so essential in the manufacture of soap. Many
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times the poor people struggling with poverty in a ner country endeavoring to clear up their lands, rely to quite an extent upon the ashes collected from the wood they consume. Fifty or sixty years ago these manufactories were quite common, several teams were employed by them which visited every house once a month to collect the wood ashes, usually carrying with them a few grocer- ies, such as tea, coffee and sugar, to exchange for the ashes, which were worth about one shilling per bushel. The present generation know but little of the hardships and privations endured by the pioneers in a new coun- try, and how meagre were their resources for procuring the common necessities of life. The northeast corner of Lock street was the site of a large building erected by Mr. John R. Robertson about the year 1855, a part of it remained for a considerable time unfinished, as the city authorities claimed that it encroached upon the street, a party of men were sent to tear it down, but Mr. Robertson, aware of their intentions had an injunction ready, and thereby saved his building, and after a long litigation the question was decided in his favor. The Syracuse Medical College was located in the building in 1860. One day in the month of March of that year the street in front of the college was packed by two thousand people filled with the greatest excitement that was ever seen in Syracuse. Three coffins were resting on biers placed on the sidewalk which contained the remains of Peter Tinker and his two little daughters aged six and eight years. The father had taken the life of his children and then destroyed himself, having been driven to this course from trenzy and desperation caused by the in-
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fidelity of his wife. As the history of this shocking affair is now buried under the weight of more that a quarter of a century, I feel it a duty to pass the matter by saying as little as possible, and let the curtain fall upon one of the saddest events in my memory. The testimony brought out on the coroner's inquest showed Tinker to have been a hard working, temperate man, devoted to his family whom he provided for and loved most tenderly. The father and his children were buried in one grave at Rose Hill. The daily papers announced that the Rev. A. A. Thayer would deliver a discourse on the death of Peter Tinker and his two daughters, the following Sunday at Wieting Hall. The large hall was filled with attentive listeners, and the speaker was earnest and eloquent, and as nearly as can be remembered, prefaced his discourse as follows : "The circumstances of the horrible tragedy which has agitated the public mind for the past weck are too well known to need any circumstantial history on the present occasion. The apparent facts which have ap- peared before the public are briefly these : A gross libertine under the garb of a medical practitioner, entered the home of one of our peaceful citizens. He seduced a virtuous wife to leave her husband. He so corrupted the maternal affections that an indulgent mother spurned her own children. He so tainted a heart that had been quickened by grace, that she forsook religion and God, and children, and husband, and home, and Christian friends, to follow her seducer. It was a case of mere animal fascination-a weak bird magnetized by the eyes of a serpent. Though she have wings and the posses-
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