USA > New York > Columbia County > History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 41
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## The land of Colonel Van Alen not being embraced in the origi- nal purchase, and the proprietors being desirous of securing it, they, on the 23d of November, 1784, appointed Thomas Jenkins, Gideon Gardner, and David Lawrence a committee "to wait on Colonel John Van Alen, impowered to purchase his real estate for £2500, and a one-thirtieth interest in the first purchase made." The offer was accepted; but Colonel Van Alen died (Dec. 15, 1784) hcfore the sale was consummated. The same committee were then directed " to ascertain from the widow Van Alen whether her late husband left her power to ratify the bargain, and if so, to get writings drawn and exeented immediately." This resulted in the conveyance of the property in question by Catharine Van Alen to Thomas Jenkins, Feb. 8, 1785. This purchase embraced all the land south of Ferry street, and between Front street and the river, and included the " store and wharf lot."
The lands lying east of Front street and below the old " Waggon- Way" (Partition street), owned by Hendrick Van Hoesen and Gerrit Van Hocsen, were sold by them to the proprietors about the same time, but the date of the conveyance cannot be given.
Tu Iho eastward of these were the lands of Casper Huyck, who alsu suld to the proprietors.
# From Providence. " Edgartown.
f From Nantneket. & " Newport, R. F.
1] Marks Barker was born in Northamptonshire, England, in 1764, and came to America in the winter of 1778. Hle was for some time a student with the celebrated Dr. Pfeifer, of Philadelphia, and was his assistant during the season of great mortality produced by the ravages of the yellow fever in that city. He was a member of the Suciety of Friends, and a resident of Hudson and vicinity for more than half a century. He died January 24, 1839, in the seventy- sixth year of his age.
" It is a little remarkable that of the vessels which brought the settlers in 1784, the name of only one is now known,-the schooner " Joseph," on which came the family of Jared Coffin, and on board which they lived while a bonse was being prepared for their recep- tion.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
was chosen moderator, and Reuben Folger clerk. At this meeting Seth Jenkins, John Thurston, Daniel Paddock, Joseph Barnard, Thomas Jenkins, Gideon Gardner, and David Lawrence were appointed a committee "to regulate streets, and attend in a particular manner to fixing the buildings uniformly." It was also voted, " that no person shall fix his house without such direction from a majority of the committee as they may think proper ;" and, "that no person shall extend his steps more than four feet from his door or seller ways."
The committee proceeded to the work assigned them, and laid ont Front, Main, State, Diamond, Union, Second, and Third streets, though they were not immediately so named. It is not probable, however, that at this time the " laying out" inelnded an accurate survey and marking of street boundaries,* except at places where it was necessary to locate buildings that were to be immediately erected. Excavating and blasting were at once commeneed in Front street, to open a passage to the river, and also to furnish stone for building purposes, but, beyond this, very little was done towards the grading of streets until the succeeding autumn.
The main street of the city was judiciously located along a ridge of land, commencing in a bold promontory at the river, and running thenee eastwardly to the foot of a lofty eminence, now named Prospeet hill. The peculiarity of this location was very favorable for the securing of a dry and
* A committee of proprietors was appointed, June 9, 1785, "to sar- vey and plot the city." The work was performed hy or under the direction of Cotton Gelston, who received from the proprietors "one house lot for his trouble in laying out and making a plot of the city." This plot embraced the streets laid out by the committee in 1784, viz., Front and Main streets, each sixty-six feet wide; State street, sixty feet ; Union and Diamond streets, caeh fifty feet; and Second and Third, each fifty feet. The first laying out had not in- cluded Foorth and Fifth streets, but these were now added, each fifty feet wide.
Between the long streets running eastward from Front street were laid out lanes or "gangways" twenty feet in width, forming the rear lines of the town lots. These lots were laid out fifty hy one hundred and twenty feet in size, and a block of thirty lots was, in Quaker language, termed a " square." The plot extended southwardly to the old country road, and in the opposite direction to the alley next north of State street. The streets were named by Thomas Jenkins and David Lawronce, who were appointed a committee for that purpose.
This plot was presented by the proprietors to the eity, and there- upon (July 13, 1786) the council resolved "that this comoeil do ap- prove of, order, and establish a plot presented by Benjamin Folger, Esquire, proprietor's elerk, of all the Roads, Lanes, Alleys, and Gang- ways therein specified." In September, 1785, leave was obtained from Peter Van Hoesen " to lay out a road to the South Bay," and the road so laid out is now South Third street. In the same autumn the road from Claveraek bridge to lhe Hudson river was widened to the width of sixty-six feet, and a similar widening was made of the road from the manor of Livingston " until it intersects the Claverack road near the house of John Mandeville." Partition street was laid out forty feet wide from Front to Third street, May 16, 1794. Long alley was wideoed and named Chapel street in May, 1796. The road up tho Academy hill was opened by the Columbia Turnpike Company in 1800. This was the third turnpike company in the State, char- tered in 1799. Seventh street was laid ont in 1801, and Union street and Cherry alley extended at the same time. It was not until forty years after the survey of the original plot that First street was laid out, on the burnt distriet of the great fire of 1825. The permanent grading of the streets, and the construction of sidewalks and sewers, was not actively and systematically entered on until about 1792.
solid road-bed, and also for giving excellent drainage to the future business portion of the city.
On the north side of this street the ground descended to the wooded shores of the North bay, and on the other side it sloped to the South bay through the orchards and other farm-lands of the Van Hoesens. A ravine of eonsid- erable depth crossed the street just above the intersection of Third, and another and deeper one at Fourth street. This last mentioned was more than thirty feet in depth, and was known as " the great hollow." On the 24th of October following their arrival, the proprietors voted " that a bridge be built over the great hollow in Main street, with stone bnttments," and Seth Jenkins was charged with the exeen- tion of the work. The lesser hollow was also spanned by a bridge, but a few years later both ravines were filled with earth.
This street, which was laid out and intended as the prin- cipal east and west thoroughfare of the city, retained the name of Main street until Oet. 10, 1799, when, by an ordi- nance of the common council, it was changed to Warren street, as at present. The old country road, so often men- tioned in the early annals, erossed it diagonally about the present intersection of Sixth street.
The first dwellings were those of Seth Jenkins, John Alsop, and Joseph Barnard, built in 1783, before the ar- rival of the main body of the proprietors. The two first named stood on the north side of what is now Franklin square. It was in Jenkins' house that the first business meeting of the proprietors was held. It stood until the great fire of 1838, and was for many years known as the " Swain house."
The portable house of Stephen Paddock was ereeted on Front street, and the old frame is still standing, but has lost its identity, being now a part of a later structure. It was used by Mr. Paddock as a residence only until he could complete a more commodious one; this next being the Robert A. Barnard house, on the northeast corner of First and Warren streets. Originally it might have been termed a wooden house with brick ends ; but in later years it was remodeled and materially changed in appearance.
Jared Coffin built on the south side of Union street the house now owned and occupied by Henry Hubbell, directly opposite First street. The first house on Main street was built by Peter Barnard, who was not one of the proprietors, but was a most worthy and respected man. His house was on the south side of the street, midway between First and Second streets. Its frame is said to form a part of the present residence of Mr. Van Bergen.
Several of the first buildings of the proprietors were constructed of bricks, which were not diffienlt to be ob- tained at Claverack Landing, even at that early day. They had been burnt in the vicinity long before the arrival of the New England colonists, as was proved by the existence of several brick houses in the neighborhood, among which was the residence of Colonel Van Alen, a Dutch-built structure with peaked gables, that stood where is now the store of Guernsey & Terry, at the southeast corner of Ferry and Water streets. The settlers opened elay-pits and made brieks at a place on the north side of the old wagon-road, near Third street, and also on or near the present site of Traver's planing-mill on Diamond street.
157
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
One of the first matters to receive the proprietors' atten- tion was the extension and improvement of the wharf which they had purchased of Peter Hogeboom .* It was trans- formed into a substantial and commodious landing-place, and was named " Hudson wharf," when, a few months later, the present name of the city was given to the settle- ment ; and it was at this wharf that Hudson's first sea-going vessels received and discharged their cargoes. Among the first of the river craft which made regular trips from Hud- son wharf was John and Peter Ten Broeck's fast-sailing sloop " Free Love," which traded hence to New York in 1784. If the time had been three-fourths of a century later, the name of the little vessel would have caused moral people to look askance at the community which was settling here ; but in those early days it carried no evil significance and produced no unjust suspicions.
The ferry was still run by Conrad Flock, but the canoe had given place to a gunwaled scow, presumably more safe and capacious than its predecessor.
Merchandising was commenced early in 1784, by Cotton Gelston, in the same building which was also his residence, on the south side of Main street, above Second, where now is J. T. Burdwin's paint-shop. This was the first store opened in the new settlement, but it was a very short time that it remained the only one, for the settlers who were flocking to Claverack Landing were an enterprising people, and eligible locations for trade were eagerly sought for then as now.
At a meeting held June 28, it was " voted that a house be immediately built, at the expense of the . proprietors, twenty feet by thirty, to be appropriated for a Market- House," and the superintendency of the work was placed in the hands of Daniel Paddock. This building was erected on the northwest corner of Front and Main streets, the site where its successor, the present brick market-house, was built in 1807. The space adjoining the old market was named Market Square, and here soon after Thomas Jen- kins erected a hay-scale, which the proprietors voted him permission to do " at his own cost, . . . he promising not to exact more than 1s. 6d. per load for weighing."
On the 2d of September, Gideon Gardner, Cotton Gels- ton, and Daniel Paddock were appointed a committee to carry into effect the proprietors' vote " that the three wells be stoned and masoued up." It has been supposed by some that these wells should more properly have been termed reservoirs. S. B. Miller, Esq., in his " Historical Sketches of Hudson," says, "They were probably three reservoirs then commenced, one of which is afterwards spoken of as the well in Third street, another in the vicinity of Second street, and the third near the market- house." But as the time of their construction was about one and a half years prior to the introduction of aqueduct water, and as there seems to have been no other means of filling them except by gathering the rainfall from roofs im- mediately contiguous (which last-named source would be so precarious and insufficient as not to be thought of for pub-
lic supply), we are compelled to believe that the three ex- cavations were not merely cisterns or reservoirs, but, in reality, wells, as spoken of. And (as it is well known that the few wells which have since been sunk in Hudson have invariably failed to supply good water) it is reasonable to suppose that the proprietors, being disappointed at the in- ferior quality of the water found in these wells, moved more quickly than they would otherwise have done towards the construction of the aqueduct, which they commenced in the following spring, and had completed in January, 1786; an instance probably as remarkable as any on record of prompt and energetic action in furnishing a new settlement with an abundant supply of pure water from distant sourees.
HUDSON.
On the 14th of November, 1784, at a meeting of the proprietors, it was resolved, without debate or dissent, that in future the name of Claveraek Landing should be dis- continued, and the settlement known by the name of Hud- son. It was understood to be Governor George Clinton's desire that the place should receive the name of Clinton in his own honor; and indeed it is said that he made such suggestions to the proprietors, and was much displeased at. their disregard of his wishes. The name adopted was sug. gested by the supposed fact that Henry Hudson's first landing upon the shores of the upper river was made near this place.
The opening of the year 1785 found the " commercial settlement" in a far more advanced and prosperous condi -. tion than had been anticipated by even the most hopeful of its projectors. In its shipping it already stood the second port in the State, and its vessels were profitably employed. Ship-building, too, was promising, two yards having been established,; and one large ship was nearly ready for launching. Ship-carpenters and caulkers, rig- gers, shipsmiths, and sail-makers were numerous and busy. But it was not alone navigation and ship-building and the trades connected therewith which prospered in Hudson, nor was it the case that all, or nearly all, its business was in the hands of the proprietors. A few of these were largely engaged in it, but there were some of them who, instead of entering into active business here, became farmers, and retired upon lands purchased in the vicinity, and still others were upon the ocean in command of their ships. But the story of Iludson's remarkable progress had spread far and wide, and attracted hither throngs of settlers,-largely artisans and tradesmen from New Eng- land,-who, a year before, had never heard of Claverack Landing, and scarcely of the Hudson river,
Among the persons and firms engaged in business here in 1785 were Thomas Jenkins, merchant, advertising for sale, "at his store opposite the house of Ezra Reed, the best West India and New England Rum, Iron, Salt, and · Dry Goods ;" Green & Mansfield, merchants, in a similar line of trade ; Cotton Gelston, merchant, on Main street; Shubael Worth, merchant, northwest corner Main and
# This old wharf (a "coh-house" structure of logs) was found be- neath the surface of the ground, yet undceayed, iu digging the chan- nel for the inlet-pipe of the Hudson water-works in 1874, and it is said to have oost nearly one thousand dollars extra to remove it.
+ Titus Morgan commenced a ship-yard immediately after his arrival, in 1784, and Jenkins and Gelston followed with a second one very soon after.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
Second streets ; David Lawrence, merchant ; T. R. Bowles, general store, "also Dilworth's spelling-books, by the Dozen or single ;" Bunker and Easton, tanners ; Latham Bunker, blacksmith ; Jenkins and Gelston, ship-builders ; Titus Morgan, ship-builder; Tristam & Barzillai Bunker, sail- makers ; John R. Bolles, " saddler, next door to Thomas Jenkins' store ;" Richard Bowles, saddler ; Phineas June, tailor ; Dennis Macnemara, " Taylor for Ladies and Gentle- men ;" J. Pritchard, " Taylor and Lady's Habit-Maker, from London ;" Peter Field, watchmaker and jeweler; Thomas Worth, who notified the ladies that he had " Silk and Stuff Shoes for sale at his Shop near the Market;" Gideon Taber, boot and shoe maker ; Walter Johnson, " from New- port, Baker" (at the corner of Front and Ferry streets) ; Lot Tripp, drugs and medicines ; Dr. Levi Wheaton,* drugs and medicines; Ezekiel Gilbert, lawyer (the first of Hudson's attorneys) ; Webster & Stoddard, printers and publishers of Hudson's pioneer newspaper (the Gu- zette, first issued March 31, 1785); James Robardet, "instructor in the polite accomplishment of dancing."
The above list, embracing but a small part of the busi- ness of the settlement, shows that the tastes and require- ments of the people of quakerly Hudson, in the year 1785, were not wholly utilitarian.
CITY CHARTER AND ORGANIZATION-FIRST PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
So great had been the change wrought in the place in the short period of eighteen months from the time when, as Claverack Landing, its population was comprised in less than ten families, that its people had now begun to cherish aspirations to city dignity. At that time, with the pro- prietors of Hudson, to plan was to execute ; and at a meet- ing of their association, held Feb. 17, 1785, it was voted " that a petition be drafted to be laid before the Legis- lative authority of the State, for the purpose of getting ourselves incorporated, with city privileges." Seth Jenkins, Ezekiel Gilbert, Henry Van Rensselaer, and John Thur- ston were appointed a committee to present the same before the Assembly, and to use all their influence to secure favor- able action.
The act was passed April 22, 1785, incorporating the city, with limits described as " Beginning at the channel of the Hudson's River, in the County of Albany, directly op- posite the Mouth of the Creek commonly called Major Abram's Creek ; thence to and up the middle of said Creek to the place where the Claverack Creek empties into the said Major Abram's Creek; thence up along the middle of said Claverack Creek until the said Claverack Creek strikes the line of the Manor of Livingston to the East side of Hudson's River; thence into the said River One Hundred and Eighty feet below High-Water Mark, and thence to the place of Beginning ; keeping the same distance of One Hundred and Eighty feet all along from High-Water Mark aforesaid."+ And all the freemen of this State within the
limits mentioned were by the act " ordained, constituted, and declared to be, from Time to Time and forever here- after, one Body corporate and politic, in Fact and in Name, by the Name of the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, and Com- monalty of the City of Hudson."
Appended to, and contained in, the charter of the city was a grant of land below high-water mark in the Hudson river, in the following words :
" Be it therefore enacted hy the authority aforesaid, that Thomas Jenkins, Seth Jenkins, David Lawrence, Hezekiah Dayton, Shubact Worth, Joseph Barnard, Ezra Reed, Charles Jenkins, Benjamin Fol- ger, Reuben Folger, William Wall, Nathaniel Greene, Samnel Mans- field, Cotton Gelston, John Thurston, William Minturn, Peleg Clark, and Titus Morgan, and each and every one of them, shall have, hold, nse, occupy, possess, and enjoy alt and all manner of right, title, in- terest, property, claim, and demand whatsoever, of, in, and to all land lying under the water and directly opposite to the tract of land so purchased by them as aforcsaid from high-water mark one hundred and eighty fect to the channel of the said River, in a course north fifty-seven degrees west, to the sole use, benefit, and behouf of them, the said Thomas Jenkins [naming them severally as above], and to their heirs and assigns forever in severalty."
A proviso was added, that nothing contained in the aet should extend to impede or interrupt the free navigation of the river or any public or private right. The submerged land thus granted was divided into lots called water-lots, and these were amicably allotted among the grantees.
The people of the newly-made city received the announce- ment of its incorporation with great demonstrations of re- joicing, which were thus mentioned in the Hudson Gazette of May 5: "On Tuesday last (May 3) arrived from New York Ezekiel Gilbert, Esq.,¿ who brought with him an Act for incorporating this part of the District of Clav- erack, agreeable to a Petition preferred by the Inhabitants, under the Name of the City of Hudson. This pleasing and interesting Intelligence was announced by a Discharge of Thirteen Cannon, and a Display of Colors from the Shipping at the Wharves and on the adjacent Eminences."
On the 5th of May, Seth Jenkins, Esq., issued his procla- mation announcing the incorporation of the city and his own appointment as mayor, and calling an election, to be held on Monday, the 9th of May, at the school-house, which stood on the old road near the present corner of Ferry and Partition streets. This was Hudson's first charter election, and resulted in the choice of the following officers: Seth Jenkins, mayor; Nathaniel Greene, recorder ; John Bay, clerk ; Stephen Paddock, Ezra Reed, Benjamin Folger, William Mayhew, aldermen ; Direk Delamater, John Ten Broeck, Marshall Jenkins, Peter Hogeboom, Jr., assistants ; Thomas Jenkins, supervisor ; Daniel Paddock, William Van Alstyne, Jeremiah Ten Broeck, assessors; John Gifford, Nicholas Harder, Jolın Herrick, Abraham Elting, and John Van Hoesen, constables ; Nicholas Harder, collector. On the same day the first meeting of the council was held, at which John Alsop was appointed chamberlain, and the organization of the city government completed.§
* One of the first two physicians in Hudson, Dr. Joseph Hamilton having hoen the other. Dr. Wheaton's office and storo were on tho south side of Main strect, near Front.
+ That territory was diminished hy the formation of the town of Stockport, in 1833, and the city was reduced to its present limits by tha erection of the town of Greenport, in 1837.
# Mr. Gilbert was soon after presented by the proprietors with "one house lot on Main street, as a free donation for his essential services done the proprietors in bringing about the incorporation uf the city."
¿ The city seal-still in use-was purchased svou after by personal contributions from Nathaniel Greene, Seth Jenkins, Thomas Jenkins,
159
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
A prison being a necessary appendage to a city govern- ment, the council (June 7, 1785) appointed Nathaniel Greene, William Wall, and Marshall Jenkins a committee to erect within the city limits "a Gaol thirty feet long, twenty feet wide, and one story high ;" and on the 9th of the same month the proprietors granted to the corporation a lot of land for the purpose, " on the Northeast corner of the northernmost square on Fourth street." It was located nearly in the northeasterly angle of Fourth street and Prison alley ; but as Fourth street had not then been opened (though laid out by the committee in 1784), the jail was reached from Main street by a foot-path across the inter- vening lots. It was a rude log structure, and, although a show was made of grates and bars at the windows and door, it is said to have been so insecure a place of confinement that one of its first prisoners, having by some means obtained an auger, found little difficulty in boring his way through its walls to freedom. Of this institution Abimelech Riggs was appointed the first keeper.
The council also resolved (July 5), " that a Stocks and Whipping-Post be made and erected nigh the market in this city, and that William Wall, Esq., cause the same to be completed, and that he lay an account of the expenses thereof before this Board, who engage to provide for the payment of the same." The cost of this apparatus was £3 4s. Ild .= $8.11. It was not then considered a barba- rous mode of punishment, and, as a preventive to petty crime, it was without doubt more effectual than imprisonment. After the lapse of eight years the stocks were removed from their first location and erected, by order of the council, " at or near the common Gaol, to be under the care and inspec- tion of the Gaoler."
The erection of a city hall was commenced in 1786, but was not completed during that year, nor indeed until after 1804. Its location was on the southwest corner of Fourth and Main streets, the present site of the Presbyterian church. It was a plain rectangular building of brick, two stories high, of which the lower was used for meetings, and was of sufficient capacity to accommodate a gathering of four hundred people. The upper part was used for offices and also for school purposes, two schools having been taught there at the same time for some years .*
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