USA > New York > Bronx County > History of Bronx borough, city of New York : compiled for the North side news > Part 35
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JOHN F. GHEE
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN MC QUAY
MARTIN L. HENRY
GEORGE PRICE
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
253
St. Lawrence University, receiving his B.R., and Member of Bar; also of Fordhan College, of whose alumni and Brooklyn Theta Phi fraternity he is a member. He is an active member of the Bedford Park Association and the Bronx Board of Real Estate Brokers, and Superintendent of Lectures for the Board of Education. He is a very busy, forceful and energetic young iran, in short. When Mr. J. L. O'Hara started in real estate business on the Southern Boulevard, near Webster Avenue, it was a one-story building and his determination was that he would either own or not own the 100X114 feet plot with three-story buildings on the same, and in which he has successfully captured his prize, overthrowing all obstacles. He then moved to 2971 Webster Avenue and 200th Street, which is his main office, and ae can always find his office open every day from 7:30 a. m. to lu p. m. ; also on Sundays for accommodation to prospective investors. As well as local interests in the Bronx, he has an office in 51 Chambers Street and for the benefit of Manhattan operators, which are extensive. He is heavily interested in insur- alice matters as well. One of his whole unbitions was to have 'n. Bedford Park one of the largest up-to-date halls for parties and assemblages of all descriptions and to be held under his watchful vye, so as to make it a grand success. This hall is centrally located on the south side of 200th Street and Webster Avenue Bedford Park. His main forethought was how can the public reach the same from Manhattan, Bronx or Westchester County ; for instance, from Manhattan by either subway to 149th Street and Third Avenue Elevated to Bronx Park in thirty-five inin- utes; also from Yonkers by trolley in thirty-five minutes and Mount Vernon or New Rochelle in thirty minutes, being able to accommodate a friend from Yonkers to meet at his hall, and a friend from Manhattan, having equal time for both to come and go to their homes. This hall will accommodate 1.500 people.
PETER STEPHEN O'HARA is the senior member of the firm of O'Hara Bros., live and busy real estate men of Bedford Park and vicinity. He is a lawyer, also, chiefly engaged in real estate practice. He is a graduate of Fordham Public School No. 04, of the Evening High School in Harlem, and of St. John's College, a member of the Fordham Club, Taxpayers' Alliance and the Bedford Park Taxpayers, the Bronx Real Estate Brokers Association, and Fordham College Alumni and member of Nortu Side Board of Trade. He is 30 years old, a native of Man- hattan, but a resident of the Bronx from boyhood, and is un- married. He is a Democrat in politics, a member of the Jeffer- son Club and of the Tammany Hall General Committee. His firin has made a great success of their business. They are ap- praisers and auctioneers and general sales and rental agents and brokers, handling acreage in Westchester and tracts, improved and unimproved, anywhere in the Bronx, though their business ! chiefly in the district north of Tremont. They have the man- agement of more than twenty estates, embracing interests of $1,- 500,000 01 more, most of it income property. They are modern and progressive and, realizing the influence of improvements on real estate values, are agitators steadily for schools, fire houses, street opening, rapid transit, publie pleasure grounds and all that. Vlivy have been foremost, in fact, in the development of their part of the city. They have two offices, a real estate and law office at 51 Chambers Street, Manhattan, established in 1894; an office at Webster Avenue and 200th Street, north of the elevated tation.
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CHARLES B. COULTER, one of the most prominent . lawyers and real estate agents of the Bronx, and the son of Ww late Alexander 11. Coulter, a well known and highly respected
citizen, and Lydia \. Coulter, a lady of high social standing. was born in New York City on March 23, 1863. He was edu- cated in the public schools of New York City and also by pri- vate tutors. Having been properly prepared, he entered the New York University Law School, where he graduated with honors and immediately thereafter commenced the practice of law, which he has successfully conducted and up to this period has been identified with a large number of important legal and real estate litigations, in which he has been remarkably success- ful. Always a close and industrious student, watchful and zealous of his clients' interests, with a keen, calculating and pene- trating mind, lucid, descriptive and characteristically eloquent in his pleadings, or briefs before the courts, he has secured the confidence of the judiciary and his fellow members of the bar. As a real estate lawyer and active agent for the sale and ex- change of properties he stand- pre-eminent among his colleagues
CHARLES B. COULTER
and his large clientage for his thorough legal acumen, his devo- tion to his clients and his uprightness, strict integrity and his great success in establishing the justice of his cause. Mr. Coulter is personally identified with the management and de- velopment of the widely known Arthur Manor home site tract. located at Scarsdale, Westchester County. Investors who pur- chase real estate from him have the advantage of his kcal attainments, which is of great advantage to them. He is by blood related to the well known Ferris, Lent and Seymour families of the upper Bronx and Westchester County, who have always taken rank as among the leading families of Westchester. Mr Coulter has no affiliations with political societies or organiza. tions, and has never aspired to political favors, having devote ! his whole life since his graduation to bis legal and real cette affairs, which he has conducted so successfully. He has a strong
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254
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
and striking personality, is genial and courteous in his manners, vigorous and eloquent in his pleadings, legal and correct in his diagnosis, a lawyer of unquestioned ability and an ornament to his profession. Mr. Coulter maintains offices both in the Bronx and Manhattan.
MARTIN L. HENRY, one of the most active and success- ful real estate operators of the Bronx, who came to New York City twenty-seven years ago with a capital of $250, has resided in this borough for the past twelve years; his capital when he removed here was about $1,000, He is now rated worth up- wards of $100,000, and has an exceedingly handsome business at 1948 Bathgate Avenue, in which vicinity he operates largely. Mr. Henry was born at Henryville, Monroe County, Pa., and is an example of the self-made man. His career illustrates also the success of the country boy in town. He attended the public schools where he was born, the usual four months' country term a year, and discontinued attendance at eighteen; yet he was able to pass the examinations held by the county superintendent, and taught the winter terms in Monroe County until he was twenty-six. Then he came to New York and was employed by the Second Avenue Railroad for two years; then was appointed to the postal service, and has remained in it, despite his large out- side interests, to this day, a matter of some twenty-five years. Mr. Henry is a Republican, a man of family, and identified with the Baptist Church. In the year 1880 Mr. Henry married Miss Mary E. Keller, of Mountain Home, Pa., who died in 1886 after a brief illness, being survived by two daughters, Katie E. and Laura F. On July 24, 1888, he married Miss Mary Catherine Long, of Priceburg, Monroe County, Pa., and daughter of the late Captain Long of that State. The union has been blessed with one son, Martin S. S. Long Henry, who is in his fifteenth year.
GEORGE PRICE, real estate agent, auctioneer, broker and appraiser, of 728 East 138th Street, was born in Birmingham, England, December 29, 1860, but was brought up and attended school in New York City. He was a pupil as a boy of Grammar School No. 37, at East Eighty-seventh Street and Fourth Avenue. He has been living in the borough and successfully engaged in business here about twelve years. Mr. Price has long been an active man in the Republican party. He was the first secretary and one of the organizers of the Hell Gate Republican Club. He has been in the postal service and has had also considerable journalistic experience. He was publisher of the New York "Leader," and for nearly two years edited the salt water depart- ment of the "Amateur Sportsman," under the nom de plume "Salt Water." He is a member of the North Side Board of Trade, the Association of Bronx Real Estate Brokers, and the Auctioneers' Association, and is a director of the North New York Cooperative Building & Loan Association. Also vestry- man of St. Ann's P. E. Church, director of the General Church Club of the Bronx, organizer and president for four years of the Men's Club of St. Ann's Church and past president of Ivy Lodge, Sons of St. George. Mr. Price married July 1, 1886, Miss Josephine Bond. They have four children, two girls and two boys.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN McQUAY, real estate agent and manager of estates, located in the Smith Building, 148th Street and Third Avenue, was born at Connicville, Va., July 25. 1873. Hle was educated at the public school of his native place and after graduating, entered mercantile life in Harrisonburg. Va. Ten years ago he came to this city, located in the Bronx and chose real estate as his future profession. During this period
he has managed a great number of important transactions for realty owners of Bronx and other properties, and has acted as manager of a large number of important estates. He is in active touch with a majority of the most influential property owners and enjoys the distinction of having one of the most active real estate offices in the Bronx. On March 2, 1901, Mr. McQuay married Miss Grace Bleecker Bache, of New York City. He is a member of the German Reformed Church, Rockingham Union No. 27, F. and A. M., Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor, also member of the North Side Board of Trade. Mr. McQuay was one of the original promoters of the Association of Bronx Real Estate Brokers and served as temporary chairman of that body. On December 20, 1904, the association was permanently organized and Mr. McQuay was unanimously elected secretary and chair- man of ways and means committee.
JOHN F. GHEE, one of the most active and prosperous contractors at Westchester, was born at Bronxdale, Westchester. N. Y., November 20, 1864, and was educated there. Entering into business life he chose the contracting as his future profession. and through his more than ordinary natural talents, has made himself a reputation of the highest order, for his genial quali- ties, his practical knowledge of the business, and the absolute performance of his agreements with his large and influential clientage. He is the largest and most active dealer of West- chester and vicinity in broken stone, building stone, ashes and sand, which he supplies to purchasers in any quantity and per- forms his agreements in a satisfactory manner to all whom may be concerned. Mr. Ghee is a gentleman of very striking personality and being a native to the manor born of Westchester he occcpies a position of high standing in his community and ranks as one of its first and most enterprising citizens. On September 16, 1885, Mr. Ghee married Carrie B. Rogers, an estimable and refined lady, the daughter of Abraham and Mary B. Rogers. The result of this happy union was two children, Ethel M. and George N. Ghee, both of whom are living. The son of George B. and Eleanor Ghee, John F. Ghee, was raised and educated by his parents up to that high stand- ard of moral worth that prevailed so universally among the older citizens of Westchester County years ago. He is a mem- ber of the Methodist Church, the Masonic Order, Wyoming Lodge, 492, F. & A. M., Westchester, the Chester Hill 1. O. O. F .. the Royal Arcanum, the Chippewa and the Merry Five Clubs. In politics he is a Democrat, but never aspired to political honors. He is essentially domestic in his habits and although one of the busiest contractors in Westchester, spends his leisure hours at his home on Poplar Street, Westchester, which is one of the most attractive properties in the old village, where he enjoys the society of his worthy and happy family.
AUGUST HOEBERMANN is one of the successful mason- builders of this borough. During the past eight years he has been a prominent figure in the building boom which has made the Bronx the cynosure of the United States. He has been largely identified with the construction of many of the noted structures of the borough, which bear evidence of conscientious construc- tion. Mr. Hoebermann was born in New York City in 1859. but his youth and part of his early manhood were spent in Germany. where he was educated. He returned to this country at the age of twenty-two years, and at once entered into building on his own account. On March 1, 1806, he married Miss Sophie Meyer, and from this union has resulted five children. Charles, Caroline, Louis, Elizabeth, and August, Jr. Notwithstanding his activity in building operations, Mr. Hoebermann, like a good citizen, has
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
255
found time to keep in touch with public matters and has played a conspicuous part in political affairs, and everything that would tend to the development of the borough has secured his hearty cooperation. In municipal matters he has been largely identified with every movement that had as its object in view purity in of- ficial management, and has made many sacrifices in the effort to obtain that desired end. In everything which he has undertaken he has shown a zeal that is highly commendable.
THE AMERICAN REAL ESTATE CO .- It requires rnagination to handle real estate successfully as well as to write stories, paint pictures or carve statues. The mind of the suc- cessful operator must not only know the past and master the present, but it must also be capable of projection into the future. It must deal not only with the realities of to-day, but with the possibilities of to-morrow; it must not only consider those things which are seen, but must weigh and measure the vaster potentialities of those things which are not seen. Six years ago far-seeing eyes in the management of the American Real Estate Company, the oldest and one of the most successful real estate
chase of land along the route of the new line, made even before the awarding of the contracts for construction. To-day with the new road in full operation, with the ever increasing de- mand for room by the rapidly growing population sweeping to the northward and crowding upon it, the convincing tribute of tre- mendously increased value is paid to the quality of imagination in real estate operation. There is much of sentiment as well as bankable value covering these two old estates, so soon to be swallowed up in the great city's relentless onward march. On these rolling hills and tree covered slopes the Indian tribes found favorite abiding place when the first white men raised the flag of New Amsterdam on the lower end of Manhattan Is- land, and by the chiefs of these friendly tribes the original deeds to the first owners were signed. There were many more years of peace for this beautiful, untamed wilderness, broken only by the lapping of the waves on the keel of a canoe in the placid Broux or the reverberations of a musket shot through the great trees as some hunter sought his prey. Then came another day, the day of the new republic and its eager activi- ties, of the growth of a great city on Manhattan Island and of
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Two-family Houses under Construction by the American Real Estate Company, on Faile Street, in the Hoe Tract
corporations in New York, found virgin soil for investment in the Hoe and Simpson estates, a tract of eighty-six acres on the south side of Westchester Avenue, the one east and the other west of Southern Boulevard, extending eastward to the Bronx River. The on rushing tides of population from the south were yet far from its boundaries. Transportation facilities were slow and inadequate, but the Rapid Transit Commissioners of New York were slowly bringing into finished form the stu- pendous plan of the great Subway, with an elevated branch bisecting the Borough of the Bronx and skirting these two estates along Westchester Avenue. The moment was at hand for the seeing eye and thinking mind to master the logic of the situation. First, the Subway must be built. Second, it must naturally be near to these properties. Third, rapid transit from these properties must vastly increase their value. It all seems souple enough now, and in the light of the events of the past . year the marvel is that more real estate operators did not see . Fr solve this plain equation. Yet this was the only notable pur-
busy, struggling pioneers in the great business growth of the new nation seeking respite from its storm and stress in the peace and beauty of untouched Nature. Here, among other :. came Richard Hoe, and out of his printing press fortune he built for himself a spacious mansion and surrounded it with a magnificent country estate. From the upper windows of his splendid home the owner could look across acres of hilly wood- land and grass-grown valley, up and down the winding Bronx. ont to the great Sound and the populous islands at the South. For many years this hospitable home was a center of socia! life and interest and the picturesque estate, beautiful as God had made it, became even more attractive under the arts of man. Around it were other great manorial estates, the cie- gant country homes of the new-rich New Yorker-, Thops' soon to be but a thirty minutes' run over the Subway to tre City Hall, the journey of the country gentleman from home to office was a matter of hours in those early days By car -. Fr or coach the trip was made across what is now the Borough
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SAMUEL MATTHEW PIPER
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E. B. O CONNELL
NATHAN F. VOUGHT
HENRY H. VOUGHT
257
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
of the Bronx to the village of Mott Haven on the Harlem River, where a peripatetic steamer borc him to the dock at the foot of Wall street. Then came the steam cars, and the skirmish line of the great army of people marshalled for the day's work in the busy city below; and the exclusive country gentleman sought regions more remote where the on-rush of men and things of the work-a-day world could not crowd or disturb him. To-day these once attractive acres are living in another of their seven ages. The great trees which were once their pride and crowning glory have been fclled; the whole surface of the rolling land stripped. Paved streets, sewers, water and gas mains have cut and scarred its once fair face, and the naked, unadorned rocks stare back at the spectator. The transition from suburban to urban property has come. As sub- divided, there are now in this tract about 1.000 building lots, in the direct line of building improvements and in the center of the greatest trading activity the real estate market has known in years. When one considers that the purchase price of this property by thic American Real Estate Company in 1899 was approximately $1,000,000, and then figures on lot values to-day in this vicinity, he can appreciate the value of that glimpse behind the curtain six years ago to the expert operators who direct this company. Within thirty days' time between this purchase and the signing of the contract for the Subway the character and value of this entire tract changed from coun- try to city property. To-day this region is especially favored from a transit standpoint. In addition to the Subway, there are two well equipped surface lines on Westchester Avenue and Southern Boulevard, and the rapid transit branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad skirts the American Real Estate Company's holdings on the cast and south, with a station at Hunt's Point, close at hand. This road is now be- ing rebuilt to a six-track line, with four tracks to be devoted to electric rapid transit. The physical features of this large tract make it an ideal location for residences and apartment houses. It is situated on an elevation above the Bronx River, thuis protected from the intrusion of such business as the river may bring, and favored with excellent sanitary conditions as well as attractive surroundings. What the next stage in its history is to be, the imagination can more easily conceive. Here will rise block after block of great apartment houses, some of them with stores on the street floor, long rows of five-story flat buildings, two-family houses and doubtless many private residences. . Already the marvelously growing population of the great city-200,000 a year-is crowding about its border eager for admission. The operator and the engineer have done their work. Now comes the builder, then the tenant; and every sug- gestion of the forest primeval, the Indian's haunts, the pioneer's trail, the suburban home will be buried under monuments of masonry, and all the memories and traditions of other, shall we say better, days, lost in the madding crowd.
SAMUEL MATTHEW PIPER, president O'Connell-Piper Co., the most prominent contractors in marble and tiling at present in the Borough of the Bronx, was born at Quincy, Illi- nois, March 26, 1866, and after finishing at the public school at Charleston, Illinois, lic was sent to the famous De Panw Uni- versity at Greencastle, Indiana, where he graduated with honors. Leaving the University, he entered into the wholesale lumber business at St. Louis and acted as purchasing agent, travelling all over the pineries of the Great Northwest and the Southern States, meeting with unprecedented success in all of his larger transactions. He then concluded to establish himself in business
on his own account, and purchased a coffin manufactory for $50,- 000, paying down $1,000 in cash, and assuming the payment of the balance, which he accomplished through his practical busi- ness methods, his enterprise and indefatigable energy. In 188 Mr. Piper organized the Piper Carriage Co. of St. Louis, in which they were specialty builders of surreys and spring wagons. and for a few years met with extraordinary success, having a large demand for his vehicles throughout the entire South and West; so firmly was his company intrenched and so general was the demand for their goods that a number of gentlemen formed a syndicate, to whom the Piper Co. sold out their ex- tensive plant to the above. In the spring of 1904 Mr. Piper came to New York City and immediately formed the present co- partnership with Mr. E. B. O'Connell, who for the past thirteen years has been identified with the marble and tile business in the Bronx. Immediately Mr. Piper made his strong personality and business push felt. The marble works were entirely recon- structed, an additional store building was erected, and machinery of the best and most modern manufacture was set up in the new building, and every other convenience necessary for shaping and finishing of marble was added to the plant, which places it in the front rank and at the head of this character of industry in the Bronx. These improvements permit his firm to take con- tracts for all kinds of interior marble work, as well as slate, tiling and mosaie. At present Mr. Piper has contracts for furnishing with marble and tiling many of the most important buildings in the City of New York. In politics Mr. Piper is a Republican; is a member of the Presbyterian Church and of Tuscan Lodge, No. 369, F. and A. M., of St. Louis, Mo. He was married Janu- ary 17, 1894, to Miss Ruby Shotwell, a highly cultivated lady, of St. Louis, Mo., and has two children, James and George. both living. Through Mr. Piper's advent into the Bronx the great and growing borough has received one of the most pro- gressive and enterprising men of the present day.
NATHAN F. VOUGHT, architect and builder, and a mem- ber of the firm of Vought Brothers, whose fine suite of offices are located at No. 112 West Forty-second Street, New York City, was born November 28, 1858, at Cornwall-on-Iludson. His education received its foundation in the public schools of his place of nativity, graduating from the high school. In 1874 he took up the study of architecture, as well as that of law. For the past eighteen years Mr. Vought has been a resident of Bronx Borough. In 1801 the present firm Vought Brothers, builders and architects, established a large mill in the Bronx, a plant which they still own and operate. For many years the firm have been active in buying and selling real estate throughout the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx and with each succeeding year their business has enjoyed a steady increase. Their build- ing operations have been extensive, among some of the more im- portant recent structures are the new French Hospital in West Thirty-fourth Street; Miss Osborne's new building. Nos. 24 and 26 East Forty-sixth Street; Schinasi Brothers' handsome stables in West Tooth Strect; Mr. Middleton Burrow's mansion at 35 East Thirty-eighth Street: Mr. Payne Whitney's country house at Manhassett, L. I .; Mr. Winthrop Rutherford's house at Allamnchey, N. J .; Ralph Preston's home at Jericho, L. I .; Arnold B. Hewes' residence at No. 20 West Seventy-second Street, and. many others of a similar class. The firm have made many influential friends, and stand at the pinnacle in their profession. They are progressive and public spirited and have always been foremost in adopting new and modern ideas in everything connected with architecture and building. Mr. Vought, the subject of this sketch, is a member of the Building
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