USA > New York > New York City > History of New York City : embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830, and a full account of its development from 1830 to 1884 Volume II > Part 42
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It was not until about 1840 that commercial horticulture had come to be liberally patronized, and nurseries, greenhouses, and market gardens appeared in numbers in the vicinity of New York. Floricult. ure then began to have a commercial value, but designs made by cut flowers were unknown. It is estimated that the value of the annual sales in the city of New York of cut flowers at the time the Croton water was introduced did not exceed $1000 ; now (1883) it probably exceeds $50,000 for decorations on New Year's day.
Of the members of the New York Horticultural Society, the owner of the most extensive and costly establishment devoted to horticulture in connection with stock-raising is that of William B. Dinsmore. president of the Adams Express Company, at Staatsburg. Duchess County, N. Y., and the largest establishment devoted to gardening for profit and to floriculture is that of Peter Henderson, " the correspond- ing secretary of the society, at Jersey City Heights and New York.
* Peter Henderson was born at Path Head, twelve miles from Edinburgh, Scotland. in 1823. His father was land steward of a gentleman in the neighborhood. Peter was edu cated at the parish school, where he was a foremost scholar, winning more prizes than any of his fellows of the same age. At the age of fourteen he became the clerk of a liquor dealer-really a bartender-in Edinburgh, and was there subjected to great tempt .- tions ; but his moral stamina was proof against these temptations. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to a gardener, when temptations again assailed him. It was the practice of the lads of the establishment to go to a tavern every Saturday night. Again -: this practice he set his face so firmly that he nearly abolished it. From that time he has been an uncompromising and ontspoken champion of temperance. So well did !... acquit himself as an apprentice and careful student of botany that at the age of eight :
Feber Henderson
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FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870.
The house of Tiffany & Co., gold and silver smiths and dealers in precious stones, undoubtedly the representative house in its line of busi- ness not only in America but in the world, and pre-eminently the most striking example of the growth of this country in wealth, taste for luxury, and artistic surroundings, like most other great successes, had a very humble origin. The business was begun in the autumn of 1837 by Mr. Charles L. Tiffany, the present head of the house, and his brother-in-law, the late John B. Young, who, from the townships of Brooklyn and Killingly, in Windham County, Connecticut, had little besides their health, energy, and ambition, to assist them to success.
At the date of the opening of the store, Mr. Young alone had had any experience, and that of but six months, in the business they pro- posed to follow. The stock of Tiffany & Young at the start was a miscellaneous collection of fancy wares, stationery, cutlery, Chinese goods, Berlin iron, fans, walking-sticks, etc. The capital of the firm was only one thousand dollars, and from the little cash-book, still pre- served by the house, we learn that the amount of their sales for the
he was awarded the gold medal offered by the Botanical Society of Edinburgh for the best scientifically arranged herbarium. At about that time he became a member of a society for the advancement of horticultural seience, and was selected to prepare a paper for the London Gardener's Gazette, denouncing the common practice of holding as secrets many horticultural operations of the day. It drew from the editor a two-colunin reply. This was Henderson's first appearance in print. Since then the American people have heard much through the press about what he knows of gardening.
Young Henderson arrived in New York when he was twenty years of age, with no capital but virtue, indomitable energy, and pluck. He worked for gardeners and florists until he had saved money enough to start the business of a market gardener on his own account near Jersey City, in 1847. He worked on an average sixteen hours a day. He gradually added the florist branch to his establishment, and that is now his principal business. His is thought to be the largest establishment of the kind in the world. His greenhouse on Jersey City Heights presents a covering of more than four acres of glass, which, with his seed warehouse in Cortlandt Street, New York, gives employment to about one hundred men. One peculiarity of Mr. Henderson's establishment is the quick acknowledgment and reward of merit among his employes.
It is generally acknowledged that the rapid strides which horticulture has made in America, particularly in the vicinity of New York, are in no small degree due to Mr. Henderson's writings and example. He has written much and well on the subject. His first work, " Gardening for Profit." appeared in 1866, and down to 1883 nearly 100,000 copies had been sold. In 1868 his " Practical Floriculture" appeared, of which about 50,000 copies have been sold. In 1875 his " Gardening for Pleasure" was published, and more than 20,000 copies have been sold. His last work is " A Hand-Book of Plants" -- a condensed cyclopedia-published in 1881. The popularity of his writings is due to their being eminently practical.
Although Mr. Henderson is approaching the age of threescore years, his mental and physical vigor seem unsurpassed. He has never been sick a day in his life. He super- intends his vast business with ease, and desires to " die in the harness."
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first three days in September, 1837, was $4.98, and for the next two months correspondingly small. On the 23d of December the sales were 8236, and for the few days before New Year's day (which at the; time was the principal gift-day) they amounted to $675. To mark the growth of the business we may add that for some years past the sales for the corresponding days reach hundreds of thousands per day.
In 1840 the firm enlarged their premises to meet the requirements of increasing business. In 1541 Mr. J. L. Ellis became a partner, and the style of the firm was changed to Tiffany, Young & Ellis. In 1815 they opened the first stock of standard gold and gem jewelry, and for beauty of styles and quality of workmanship and of the gems offered. the firm speedily became known as the representative jewellers of the country-a position they have ever since maintained. , In 1851 Mr. G. F. T. Reed, of Boston, entered the firm.
In 1854 their increased business demanded larger and better accom- modations, and, foreseeing the growth of the city, they erected an elegant building at No. 550 Broadway, then considered far up town. Again, under similar pressure in 1570, they became the pioneers of the retail business in advancing up town, and erected the building they now occupy, on the south-west corner of Fifteenth Street and Union Square, which has since been enlarged. and now has a frontage of feet on Union Square, 165 feet on Fifteenth Street, five stories in height, while additions for their increasing works are now in progress.
In 1868 Tiffany & Co. reorganized the business under the corporate laws of the State of New York. That this was a wise move may be seen from the fact that since then the business has increased so rapidly that it is now the largest of its kind in the world.
Prior to the entry of Mr. Reed to the firm, the European purchases had been made by Mr. Tiffany and Mr. Young during visits made once or twice each year, but the constant demand for European novelties made necessary a partner resident in Europe, and it was for this pur- pose that Mr. Reed joined them. He took up his residence in Pari -. and the advantages of having a representative constantly in the market was soon apparent. In a short time the same necessity arose in regard to English goods, and a branch purchasing depot was opened in London. The constantly increasing travel of Americans to Europe and the frequent calls of New York customers at the office in Paris for information or in search of gifts to take home as souvenirs, led to the opening of a salesroom, which was gradually enlarged until their ware- rooms now in the Avenue de l'Opera are as well known as any in Paris.
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FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870.
The business of Tiffany & Co. is perhaps unique, as the various branches of their manufactures require the highest class of skilled labor and a technical knowledge for its direction that can be had only under such an organization. Their manufacture of sterling silverware com- menced'in 1851, and is now doubtless the most extensive in the world. Four hundred workmen are employed, and about one thousand ounces of silver used per day. In the manufacture of jewelry, diamond and gem cutting, about two hundred persons are employed, and five hundred more in making fine stationery, leather goods, and silver-plated ware ; and when to this is added the number of painters, engravers, and deco- rators, clerks, accountants, and others engaged in the salesrooms, the aggregate is nearly fifteen hundred persons.
Their manufactures of gold and silver ware have invariably received the highest commendation, and at the Paris Exhibition of ISTS they were awarded the Grand Prix, one gold. one silver, and four bronze medals, and the decoration of the Legion of Honor to Mr. Tiffany, who has also sinee received from the Emperor of Russia the gold medal, Præmia Digno.
Since the Exhibition their wares have attracted so much attention abroad that they have received letters of appointment as jewellers and silversmiths to Her Majesty the Queen of England, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Emperor and Empress of Russia, the Grand Dukes Vladimir, Alexis, Paul, and Sergius, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Brazil, the Kings of Prussia, Italy. Belgium, Greece, Spain, and Portugal, and the Khedive of Egypt.
One of the very large and important industries of the city of New York is the business of fish merchandise. It began to assume large relative proportions during the third and fourth decades. It has con- stantly increased in volume until at the close of the fifth decade (1880) it had become an immense, important, and profitable business. In the vear 1880 . there were sold in the markets of New York City nearly fifty kinds of fish, besides shellfish and crustacca -- oysters, " clams, lobsters, crabs, crawfish, scallops, terrapins, and green turtles. There were about forty-three million pounds of fish sold, exclusive of (in
# The oyster business in New York is enormous in its extent, and has increased 300 per cent in five years. During the year ending September 1, 18-3, there were consumed in New York City alone 8, 000,000 baskets of oysters. At two important points of oyster cultivation-Prince's Bay and Great South Bay -- there are about eleven thousand per- sons employed. The estimated amount of capital invested in the oyster business in the city is $25,000,000. Old and extensive dealers are beginning to employ steam vessels instead of sailing vessels in carrying oysters to the city. It is estimated that 30,000 per- sons in the State of New York carn a living by handling oysters.
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numbers) { 1,333,000 shad. 5,000,000 mackerel, 6,300,000 herrings. 75.000 crawfish, and 6750 terrapin ; also 163,000 pounds of green turtle, 2,000,000 pounds of lobsters, and 55,000 gallons of scallops.
The most extensive fish merchant in New York City and perhaps in the world is Eugene G. Blackford, who is also one of the most active and efficient of the four fish commissioners of the State of New York, having been appointed by the governor in 1879. He occupies in his business Nos. 72 to 86 inclusive of the " stands" in Fulton Market. In his ice-vaults may be seen tons upon tons of frozen fish kept perfectly fresh. He has a freezing station in Canada, where salmon are frozen as soon as caught, packed in refrigerators, and sent to the city. Mr. Blackford is also connected with others in the fish business in other parts of the city. Blackford & Co. are agents for the Connecticut River shad companies. The Blackford Fish Company, of which he is chief proprietor and treasurer, leases five miles of the shore at Montauk, L. I., whence fish are sent daily to Fulton Market," where ninety per cent of all the fish sold in New York City is disposed of. +
* The Fulton Market house has recently been rebuilt at a cost, including the stalls and · other fixtures, of about $290,000. It is in the form of a quadrangle, with five towers, three of which are used for refrigerating purposes ; one is occupied by Mr. Blackford as a museum and biological laboratory, in charge of a competent professor of Natural His- tory, who is employed by Mr. Blackford. Here the oyster has been artificially propagated. and experiments in fish culture, with investigations into the food and breeding habits of
all fish, are carried on. The fifth is a telegraph station. The building is of red brick with terra-cotta trimmings, and occupies a whole block of ground between Beekman and Fulton and Water and South streets. It was formally opened in April, 1883, at a hotel near by, where the persons present had a Juncheon, and speeches were made by Colonel Devoe, the superintendent of the markets, Mayor Edson, and others. The rebuilding of Fulton Market was entirely through the efforts of Mr. Blackford. The Washington Market house, on the Hudson River side of the city, has also been rebuilt recently.
+ Eugene G. Blackford was born at Morristown, N. J., Angust 8, 1839. His father was a carriage-maker there, and removed to New York City when Engene was an infant, and engaged in other business. At the age of fourteen years this son became a clerk to a ship broker in South Street. Already exhibiting a taste and love for science, especially for chemistry, and devoting as much thne as he could to study, his employer came to the conclusion that he was not fitted for a merchant, and at the end of three and a half years' service he discharged him. Meanwhile the lad had taken some lessons in water-color painting, and had aspirations to become an artist ; but his common-sense and his cirenmi- stances taught him that he must make his tastes yield to the necessity of some business pursuit.
Young Blackford now became a freight clerk in the employ of the Hartford steamboats. In the course of a few years he was with the Camden and Amboy Railroad in the same capacity, and then served ten years as a merchant's clerk in the store of A. T. Stewart & Co. To his training there Mr. Blackford attributes his business success in life. On leaving Stewart he became bookkeeper to a firm of extensive fish dealers in Fult i Market. He was unexpectedly offered a fish-stand in that market. He accepted it, fot
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FOURTH DECADE, 1860-1870.
began the fish business on his own account with a cash capital of $110 and an abnu- dance of pluck, energy, and sterling virtues. That one stand has grown to thirteen, elegantly fitted up at a cost of about $22,000, with aquariums built of marble, hard woods, and glass, and filled with live fishes ; and adorned with works of art indicative of taste and refinement.
In 1872 Mr. Blackford began to give attention to the history and propagation of fishes, and now he stands foremost among practical philosophers in that line of applied science. He early made the acquaintance of Professor Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, who was then United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. When the American Fish Culturists' Association was organized he became a prominent member, and has been their only treasurer. At their annual dinner in 1876 he procured and prepared for the banquet no less than fifty-eight kinds of fish. He was in charge of the fish exhibit at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876. The year before he began an annual trout exhibition in April, at his establishment in New York, which attracts admiring crowds, coming from all parts of the Union. He collected and shipped 130 tons of exhibits to the International Fishery Exhibition held in Berlin in 1880. In 1878 a species of fish from Florida, which was first described scientifically by Professor Good and Dr. Bears of the Smithsonian Institution, and named the Lufjanus Blackfordii, in honor of Mr. Blackford, for his services in ichthyology. He was the first to discover that we have, in American waters, a fish identical with the English whitebait. In 1879 Mr. Blackford was appointed one of the four fish commissioners of the State of New York. His contributions to the Smithsonian Institution have been many and important.
Mr. Blackford was married in 1800, to Miss Frances L. Green. He is a member of the Washington Avenue Baptist Church, in Brooklyn, and is very active and liberal in church and benevolent work.
FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880.
I
CHAPTER I.
T THE population of the city of New York at the beginning of this decade (1870) was 942,292, of whom 13,072 were colored persons, 12 Chinese, and 9 Indians. Of the whole number, 523,198 were native-born, and 419,094 were foreign-born. Over 43,000 could not read, while 156,000 attended school during that year. The inhabited city had spread over the whole island, sparsely in the upper wards. There were 789 families living in 64,044 dwellings, averaging 5.07 to a family, and nearly 15 to a dwelling.
The foreign commerce of the district, imports and exports, amounted in value in 1870 to 8569,337,000. The census of that year showed that New York had then become the most extensive manufacturing city in the Union. It had 56 national banks, with a capital of $78,000,000, a surplus fund of 819.000,000, and undivided profits of over 89,000,000. It had 32 savings banks, with deposits from 316,000 depositors of nearly $106,000,000.
The assessed value of real estate in the city in 1870 was 8762, 134,350, and of personal $305.292,699, making a total of $1,047.427,049. The total amount of the funded debt was nearly $19,000,000. This enor- mous debt was largely the result of misrule and extravagant and dishonest expenditure of the public money. It was soon enormously increased.
This brings us to a consideration of one of the most unpleasant episodes in the history of New York City-namely, the operations of a band of plunderers of the city treasury, popularly known as the " Tweed Ring, " or the " Tammany Ring." These operations are of so recent occurrence that it is too early to attempt to give a truthful and impartial narrative of them ; and there are too many innocent persons who would be pained by a recital of them, in connection with the names of the chief actors in the dismal drama, to render hore a detailed account of the affair desirable. This dark chapter in the history of the city will therefore be passed over with brief notice.
For several years the metropolis was virtually ruled by William M. Tweed, a chairmaker by trade, and a politician of the baser sort by
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
profession. Active, pushing, and unscrupulous, he had worked his way up through petty municipal offices to the position of supervisor, chair- man of the board of supervisors, and deputy street commissioner in 1863. The latter office placed him virtually at the head of the public works of the city and of almost unlimited control of the public expendi. tures. At about the same time he was chosen grand sachem of the Tammany Society, which position endowed him with immense political power. This power, by means of his offices in the municipal govern- ment and the patronage at his command, he was able to wield with mighty force. He took advantage of this power to procure for himself his election to the State Senate for three successive terms --- 1867 to 1571. Corrupt officials and hungry politicians swarmed around him. With three or four shrewd confidants-men who before had enjoyed a fair reputation for honor and honesty-he organized a system for plundering the public treasury unprecedented in boldness and extent, comprising the expenditures for streets, boulevards, parks, armories, public buildings, and improvements of every kind, in which the spoils were divided pro rata among the conspirators.
These spoils consisted of 65 to $5 per cent of the public money paid to contractors and others, who were encouraged to add enormous amounts to their bills, often ten times the amount of an honest charge. For example : on one occasion the sum of $1,500,000 was granted for pretended labor and expense of material, when a fair and liberal allow- ance would have been only 8264.000. The sum authorized by the Legislature to be expended in the erection of the new county Court- House was 8250,000 ; in 1871, when it was yet unfinished, $8,000,000 had ostensibly been spent upon it. Whenever any contractor or mechanic ventured to remonstrate, he was silenced by a threat of losing; the city patronage, or of non-payment for work already done, and so conscientious meu were often forced to become the confederates of thieves. A secret record of these fraudulent transactions was kept in the auditor's office under the title of " county liabilities." The incum- bent of that office was a supple instrument of the plunderers, and did their billing.
To render the plundering more secure from detection, Tweed pro- cured from the Legislature amendments to the city charter in 1570, by which the State control over the municipality was withdrawn, and the executive power was vested in the mayor and the heads of the several departments who were appointed by the mayor. The powers of the street commissioner and of the Croton Aqueduct board were vested in a commissioner of public works, to which important office the mayo ..
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FIFTH DECADE, 1870-1880.
who was one of the " ring. " appointed Tweed, who was to hold the office four years. His confederates were placed at the head of other important departments connected with the city finances. The power of auditing accounts was taken from the supervisors and given to a board of audit, composed of the mayor, comptroller, and commissioner of public works, who were then the chief conspirators.
The scheme for plundering the public treasury was now complete. and it was used with a lavish hand for the next fifteen months .* In order to evade joint responsibility the board of audit delegated their power to the auditor of the city, who was one of their willing tools. He signed all the fraudulent bills, often without examining them, and paid over to the chief conspirators their commission of 65 to 85 per cent on the amount so audited. Within the space of less than four months the sum of $8,312.000 was paid from the city treasury, of which $5. 710,000 was ostensibly on account of the news county Court- House. At least $5,000,000 of the $6,312,000 went into the pocket; of the chief conspirators and their associates.
. The waste of the public money at length became so apparent that the most respectable of the daily newspapers constantly called public attention to the evil, with very little effect. Fortunately an honest man named Copeland was placed as clerk in the office of the auditor by Sheriff James O'Brien. Ile stumbled upon the record of " county liabilities." and making an exact copy of it. he handed the transcript to O'Brien. The latter resolved to use it for his personal advantage in an attempt to force the ring to pay a claim he held against the city. The conspirators refused compliance, and O'Brien threatened to pub- lish the document in the New York Times. A little alarmed by the threat, they sent the auditor, in the afternoon, to negotiate with the sheriff, who was supposed to be at a sporting tavern in a remote part of the city. Failing to find him, the auditor was returning when he
* A strange social phenomenon appeared when Tweed was at the height of his disropn- table career. Dazzled by the magnitude of city " improvements." and withont inquiring whence he procured the means for dispensing charities on a munificent scale, some of the most reputable citizens of New York publicly proposed to ereet a statue to him as a public benefactor. And when his daughter was married, sixty-two citizens, some of them of high position in society, bestowed upon her wedding presents to the aggregate value ` of $70,000. Only one present was as low as $100 in value. Twenty-one persons each gave presents valued at $1000, ten persons gave $2000 presents, two $2500, and five gave presents to the value of $5000 each. One of the donors of the latter amount was a woman. Some of the most munificent gifts were from persons connected with the ring, but then accounted respectable members of society, while others ever maintained the ir high sowie position.
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was thrown from his carriage and mortally hurt. The conspirators surrounded his death-bed to prevent damaging confessions, and to effect the transfer of an enormous amount of property which he held in his name, but the auditor never regained consciousness.
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