USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V. 2 > Part 17
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
The voluntary system was, upon its introduction, a most desirable one, and continued to be so for more than three quarters of a century. For alacrity, intrepidity, skill, and courage, the men who composed it would com- pare with any body of firemen in the world. At its insti- tution and for many years it consisted almost exclusively of the most influential and prominent citizens, who dis- charged their arduous labors at a great sacrifice of time, and frequently of health, from a high sense of public duty; and the example they set infused into the whole commu- .nity a zeal and willingness to lend their aid and assistance · upon the breaking-out of a fire, almost without precedent ,in the history of cities. The effect upon the rising genera- tion was especially marked, and the young were made to feel that to be a fireman was an honorable and enviable distinction. For a long while, "No. 5," on Fulton Street, and "14," near St. Paul's Church, were considered the " crack companies" of the city,-the first to reach a fire and among the last to leave it; and many a race they . " had. But in course of time this was changed, and the effect of the institution upon the young was as injurious as it had been formerly beneficial. The body grew large . and formidable. It became a power, and resisted for many years every attempt to introduce new and im- proved methods for the extinguishment of fires. Steam fire-engines were introduced in London in 1832, with a marked increase of efficiency and economy; but it- took nearly thirty years before they could be introduced in New York. Horses had long been used in London to transport the engines more quickly ; but the voluntary fire- men of New York persisted in the habit of dragging their engines to the fire by hand to the last, thereby diminish- ing their alacrity and lessening their physical strength. When the city was embraced within moderate limits, the occasional duty of acting as a fireman. was not a very
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
onerous one; but, when the city was expanded miles in extent, it exacted an amount of time which few were able to give who had their own business to attend to; and, con- sequently, this class was gradually withdrawn from the department, which was filled by those who could give more time to it. The increasing extension of the city demanded, moreover, a constant augmentation of the force of the department; and, as it increased in numbers, it degenerated in quality. The engine-houses became loiter- ing-places for the idle and the young, and at which the latter learned little except to become rude in speech and imperious in manner. Thus was brought forth and foster- ed a character very closely resembling the gamin of Paris, familiarly known as the "b'hoy," who seems now to be disappearing with the causes that produced him. The rivalry between companies engendered animosities ; and street brawls among the firemen at a fire, occasionally expanding into street riots, in which free use was made of the brickbat and the paving-stone, were not of unusual occurrence until the system had reached the point when grave men propounded the inquiry of how to get rid of it. The remedy was found in substituting for it a body of picked men, permanently engaged and regularly paid for their scavices, and by the general introduction of steam fire-engines, or, as they are called, " steamers." This was effected in 1865, by the creation and chartering by 1863. the Legislature of the present Metropolitan Fire
Department, with Charles E. Pinckney president, and that fine old fireman, Philip W. Engs, treasurer. The conse- quence of it has been increased efficiency in the extin- guishment of fires, a large diminution in the number of men requisite for that purpose, and an entire cessation of the. demoralizing influences to which reference has been already made. In 1863, the voluntary department con- sisted of 4,122 men. The present department (1871)
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
consists of 599 men, or about one seventh of the former force.
The new act allows twelve steam fire-engines and hook-and-ladder companies,-the engines to have one foreman, one assistant, an engineer, stoker, driver, with seven firemen. Of the hook-and-ladders, each one has a foreman, one assistant, a driver, and nine firemen. Their pay is fixed at $3,000 per annum to the chief- engineer ; assistant, $2,000; district engineer, $1,500; foreman, $1,100; assistant, $900; engineer of steam- engine, $1,080 ; stokers, drivers, and firemen, $840 each, superintendent of telegraph, $1,800; telegraph-operators, '$1,000 each; battery boy, $500; line-man, $1,000; and bell-ringers, each $800. The department are uniformed, and the number of their engines has increased to fifty- six, and the hook-and-ladders to twenty-five.
How different the Fire Department now from the one of former years, when men were the horses to drag the ropes of the machine, and their strong arms the motive > power to work them ! Now we have in their places horses to pull the engines, and the mighty giant, steam, to force the water upon the raging fiery element. Still, the little old-fashioned hand fire-engines did wonderful service in their day; and, indeed, the noble bearing, bravery, endur- ance, and success of our New York firemen had a world- wide fame .*
* In Appendix No. VIII. will be found an interesting letter from Colonel T. Bailey Myers to the author, giving an account of the Firemen's Lyceum, organ ized by him, as Trustee, for the use of the Department, and as a means for the improvement of the men.
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CHAPTER XIII.
PREVIOUS to the year 1802 no special effort had been made to establish an institution for art in the city. In that year, however, the idea of a " New York Academy of Fine Arts" was first mooted, which, in 1808, cul- 1865. minated in one being chartered under the name of the " American Academy of Arts;" Robert R. Livingston, president ; John Trumbull, vice-president; and De Witt Clinton, secretary-Trumbull being the only artist. "The first exhibition was held in Greenwich Street, near Morris, in a building formerly used as a circus. In 1825, an asso- ciation was formed by the artists of the city under the name of the New York Drawing Association, which was afterward organized under the name of the National Acad ;my of the Arts of Design, with S. F. B. Morse as the first president. The first public exhibition of the new Academy took place in May, 1826, in the house on the south- west corner of Broadway and Reade Street. The room in which the first exhibition was held was in the second story, and was lighted with gas-six burners in all for the whole exhibition-which consisted of one hundred and seventy pictures."* Let the reader contrast these humble beginnings with the present delightful receptions,
* Mary L. Booth.
For a detailed history of the National Academy of Design from the finished pen of T. Addison Richards, see Appendix No. X.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
which are attended by all of the wit, culture, and beauty of the city, and which are held in the elegant building on the north-west corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street.
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NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN.
The building itself has a front of eighty feet on Twenty- third Street, and of ninety-eight feet and nine inches on Fourth Avenue. "The main entrance is on the former front, level with the second story, and reached by a double flight of steps. This second and principal story is thus divided : A wide hall extends from the entrance nearly the whole length of the building. In this are the stairs leading to the third story. To the right hand, on enter- ing, is a range of four large rooms, which occupy all of the Fourth Avenue side. These rooms are lighted by the eight windows shown in the engraving-forming an arcade . which extends from the entire depth of the longer facade -and by the three windows of similar design on Twenty-
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third Street. The grand staircase leading to the upper galleries is a feature of the building. They are wide, massive, and imposing in effect. Exhibition galleries occupy the whole of the third story, which is lighted from the roof. The interior of the building has been hand- somely fitted up at great expense. Most of the woodwork is of oak, walnut, ash, and other hard woods, oiled and polished, so as to show the natural color and grain. The rooms of the second floor, except the lecture-room, are finished like the parlors of a first-class house. Each of the four large rooms on Fourth Avenue has an open fire-place, with a hearth of ornamental encaustic tiles, and rich mantel-piece of oak. The windows are fitted with plate-glass sliding sashes, and the rooms communicate through a series of plate-glass sliding-doors. The vesti- bule at the main entrance has an ornamental pavement of variegated marbles, and the floor of the great hall is walnut and maple in patterns. The design of the exterior was copied from a famous palace in Venice ; and, being the only instance of this style of architecture in the city, or we believe in the country, it possesses a peculiar in- terest. . It is one of the most brilliantly decorated edifices in the country. The double flight of steps leading to the main entrance-rendered necessary by the circumscribed limits of the lot on which the building stands-has been skillfully made an ornament rather than a defect. It is beautifully carved, and underneath it is an elegant drink- ing fountain, radiant in color and other exquisite embel- lishments. The walls of the lower story are of gray marble, marked with intervening lines of North River blue-stone, and the entire elevation is thus variegated in blue and gray and white. The cost of the building was one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars." *
* New York Illustrated.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
In August, 1865, the OLD WARREN MANSION Was torn down, its beautiful lawns covered with brick, and its massive locusts cut up and given to the winds." This mansion, which stood near the intersection of 1865.
Charles and Bleecker Streets, was built by Sir Peter Warren about 1740. Although, when demolished, in the heart of the city, yet at that time it stood in the open country with its lawns reaching down to the North River -long before even the first cottage had been built in the village of Greenwich. It is indeed safe to say that around no other house did there cluster so many associations which to New Yorkers should be especially dear. Admi- . ral, afterward Sir Peter Warren, K. B., the hero of Lewis- burg, is scarcely known to the present generation; and yet aside from his being so long identified with the naval glory of England, he was in our colonial history the great man of an era, and at one time, during the administration of Clinton, exercised more influence in the Colonial Gov- ernment than even the Governor himself. At that time, when the extreme limit of our city was Wall Street, the house No. 1 Broadway, by the Bowling Green-now the Washington Hotel-was built by Sir Peter as his town ·house, in distinction from his country seat-the house of which we are now speaking. In 1748, when the small- pox was raging in this city, the Colonial Assembly, to get out of reach of the contagion, accepted Sir Peter's tender of his country seat and adjourned thither to escape the plague by being in the country! It indeed seemed
* Other landmarks, it is true, had previously been demolished. The OLD BRICK CHURCH, erected in 1768 on the triangular piece of ground between Park Row, Beekman, and Nassau Streets, and used in the Revolution, first as a prison and then as a hospital for prisoners, had given place, in 1856, to the " Times Building," and the ATLANTIC GARDEN, formerly "Burns' Coffee House," and the " Faneuil Hall" of New York, had been also purchased and destroyed by the Hudson River Railroad Company ; but neither of these ever possessed the personal reminiscences of the Old Warren Mansion.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
really cruel to cut down those ancient trees, planted by the Admiral's own hand. A tree, like a tooth, is very easily removed, but is a long time in growing; and it is thus that a Spanish peasant feels when, with religious
THE OLD BRICK CHURCH.
·feeling, he stoops down by the wayside and plants the pit or seed of the fruit which he has been eating. It were · to be wished that Americans had more veneration for the ancient traditions of their own country and for the ves-
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tiges of the past. A few individuals occasionally have this feeling, and in a large measure; but as a nation we have no love for the past, and hence old landmarks, preg- nant with hallowed associations, are continually being removed to make room for " modern improvements," until it is to be feared that soon oral tradition will be all that will be left to inform the rising generation of what once was. It is true that more attention is now paid to our past history than formerly by historical societies ; but they are powerless in very many instances to arrest the hand of vandalism. The practice of the old country in this respect is far different. An old abbey or castle, or even an old tavern, is guarded with zealous care; the government-if private liberality is in fault-pays out large sums to keep them intact ; and the people, even the lowest, feel a personal interest in the preservation of some relic which their village may perchance boast of. Es- pecially is this difference in feeling between the old world and the new seen in the care with which all the memen- toes of a battle-field are preserved. In Germany, for example, while the most ignorant peasant residing in the vicinity of any of the battle-fields of the thirty years' war will tell you accurately and truthfully where this and that point of interest is; where the battle raged the hot- test and where the turning point was reached ; a well-to- do farmer in America, residing on the battle-field itself, will be unable to point out a single place of interest-and he will do very well if he knows that there was a battle fought on his farm at all. Even at this very time two farmers, living in the vicinity of the scene of the famous battle of Saratoga, are busily advocating their claims to living upon the particular spot upon which the famous charge of the British Highlanders was made-and vet the farms lie a mile distant from each other ! Chancing, moreover, to visit, a year or two since, the ruins of Fort
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, the writer was pained to find that the farmers in the vicinity had for several years past been in the habit of pulling down the ruins and drawing them off for the purpose of building fences. But it is not too late to prevent the removal of the few old landmarks that yet remain among us. In the densely settled parts of the city where they stand there is great need of breathing-places, and why, therefore, cannot our city government buy the spots and let them remain as little parks ? The public certainly would feel much better satisfied with this expenditure of the public funds by the City Council than voting silver services or costly badges.
In the same spirit of vandalism the crumbling remains of those who-some of them for nearly a century-had slept beneath the tower of the OLD NORTH DUTCH CHURCH, *
* This edifice, standing at the north-west corner of Fulton and William Streets, New York, is one of the antiquities of the city, being now over a century old. In 1:67 the two churches then used by the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church (since known as the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church) were found insufficient to accommodate the increasing congregations, and the Con- sistory decided to erect a third place of worship. They resolved that "the church should be erected on the grounds of Mr. Harpending ; that it should be one hundred feet in length and seventy in breadth; that it should front Horse and Cart Lane, and be placed in the middle of the lot." The grounds thus referred to were given by John Harpending, an influential member of the church, who had died at an advanced age in 1722. His coat of arms can still be seen suspended over the pulpit ; it has on it implements belonging to the currying business, his trade having been that of a tanner and currier. The motto which it bears, " Dando Conservat," is significant of the spirit which actuated the donor in the distribution of his wealth. The part of William Street on which this church stands was then called "Horse and Cart Lane," from a tavern near by, which had for a sign the picture of a horse and cart.
The corner-stone of the North Dutch Church was laid July 2d, 1767, by Isaac Roosevelt, one of its elders, and the dedication was preached by the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, on the 25th of May, 1769. The cost of the building was £12,000.
The main walls are constructed of uncut stone, stuccoed and painted. The door and window dressings and molding are of freestone, now badly damaged by the rough usage through which the building has passed. On the columns "' in the interior of the church can be seen the initials of the generous contrib- utors toward the erection of the church. The original pulpit was removed during the Revolution by the British. Some time after the war an American gentleman, attending service in a country church in England, was astonished 75
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
were removed in 1866 to Greenwood Cemetery. In the majority of cases, however, the silver plates once attached to the coffins (mingled with fine dust) were the only remains. The dust was separated as carefully 1866. as possible, placed in boxes, and conveyed to Green- wood. Still, in the chaotic state in which the ashes of the dead lay complete accuracy was impossible ; and per- haps the dust of persons who, while on earth, cherished bitter animosity toward each other, is destined hereafter to repose in the closest commingling in the same casket.
The Consistory at the time expressed the intention (which has since been carried out) to dispose of only a part of the land upon which the building stands; and should that edifice be torn down, they wish the community to be assured that it is their present intention to erect on part of its site a spacious and elegant chapel, in which preaching will be continued each Sabbath, and the regular noon prayer-meeting upon every day of the week-so long as they have control.
Thus much to explain the intentions of the Consistory. We add our unqualified condemnation of the movement. It is a disgrace to the age and to the city that old church- yards are thus invaded by the demands of commerce, and the repose of the dead violated, because the city has grown. Old grave-yards ought to be venerated as holy ground. Men should no more consent to such changes than they would consent to sell the bones of their own fathers and mothers for knife-handles. If the church is deserted and congregations cannot be maintained, then let
to recognize in it the pulpit of the North Dutch Church. During the Revolu- tion this church was used as a place for storage, and as a hospital by the Eng- lish. It was also used by the latter as a prison, and at one time contained eight hundred American prisoners. The lower part was stripped of the pews, pulpit, etc., and the marks of ill-usage can still be seen on the pillars. The engraving shows the church as it appeared before its wooden steeple was destroyed by fire, which occurred about two years ago.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
it stand as a memorial, or in its place build a durable monument to the old and good men of New York who sleep beneath it. But let them sleep! Our condemnation applies to all the removals of down-town churches and
OLD NORTH DUTCH CHURCH.
church-yards which have taken place or are now going forward. There is no excuse for it, nor any palliation of the offense against propriety. If the Consistory intend to build a chapel in place of the North Dutch Church, let
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
them build it; but let not a spade-full of the dust of the fathers be sold for gold.
In the spring of 1867 the STUYVESANT PEAR-TREE, then
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THE STUYVESANT PEAR-TREE.
1867. in its two hundred and twentieth year, put forth blossoms for the last time. This tree was planted on Governor Stuyvesant's farm in 1647, and stood at the
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
corner of Third Avenue and Thirteenth Street, where it was cherished by all familiar with its history as the last visible link which connected the present generation di- rectly with the time of the Dutch dynasty .*
In 1868 the widening of the Bloomingdale road into the new Boulevard, by the Park Commissioners, caused the removal of still another venerable landmark. This was an old house on Broadway, between 1868.
Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixth Streets, which possessed greater historical interest than was generally known even to those living in its immediate vicinity. It was here that Louis Philippe, of France, taught school during his residence in America, and the room in which his classes were held remained until the building was torn down, in nearly the same condition as during his occupancy of it. This quaint old house was erected some time previous to the Revolution, although no accurate record of its age can be found. The original deed of transfer was executed in 1796, but the house is known to have been considera- bly older than this, as it was standing several years pre- vious to the sale of the farm.
It was a low two-story frame house with brick ends, covering a space fifty by eighty feet square, substantially built and habitable, though it had not been occupied for the past thirteen years. A steep, sloping, shingle roof extended from the eaves of the porch in front to the extreme rear kitchen, with dormer windows to light the upper rooms. In the interior, on either side of the central hall, were parlors and sitting-rooms, with low ceilings and narrow doorways. The wood-work in the rooms was fin- ished with an elaborate care not seen in the houses of this class at the present day. There were corner cupboards with
* Since the fall of the tree, however, a promising shoot from the ancient stock has taken its place, and shows a hardy vigor which may yet enable it to rival its progenitor in age.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
carved and paneled doors, quaintly ornamented window casings, immense fire-places, surbases finished with a pro- fusion of molding, and doors that seemed to have been put together like a Chinese puzzle. The stairs were narrow and steep, turning squarely at each platform, instead of winding, as in more modern houses. Around the fire- place in the school-room of the exiled King was a row of blue and white Antwerp tiles, ornamented with pictures from the New Testament, with the chapter and verse to which they referred indicated in large characters beneath. These were probably the last that remained in New York of the historical Dutch tiles that were once so fashionable. This venerable mansion, which was probably the oldest in the city, was formerly the homestead of the Somerin- dike family, who once owned nearly all the surrounding part of the island not included in the extensive Harsen estate.
The beginning of 1869 was marked by the occurrence of five separate events: These are, first, the removal of 1869. yet another landmark- the old NEW YORK HOSPI-
TAL ;* second, the blotting out of the beautiful St. John's Park, by the erection of the huge and unsightly
* The New York Hospital was founded, as stated in a former chapter, in 1770, during the administration of Governor Dunmore, and was then a mile in the open country. It is a question whether the authorities of New York, in consenting to the removal, have not made a very serious: mistake ; and also, whether the number of elegant iron stores erected on its site at all compensate for its loss. Aside from any sentimental reasons why it should have been allowed to remain, there is one which should have been conclusive against it, viz .: that the lower part of the city is thus left destitute of any place to which injured persons can be brought for relief. Situated, as it was, in the most bustling portion of the city, this Hospital received more casual patients than any other. Women and children run over in the press of the street ; laborers injured while employed in the new buildings constantly going up in the vicin- ity ; warehouse porters bruised or sprained while handling packages and casks ; -all invariably found in it a comfortable asylum, and received the best of medical and surgical attendance. Now, however, the nearest hospital is Belle- vue, more than three miles distant from the Battery-a long way to carry a patient prostrated, it may be, with sun-stroke or broken bones. We do not
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
freight depot of the Hudson River Railroad; third, the extension of Church Street from Fulton to Morris Streets, and the opening of Pearl Street through the Hospital grounds; fourth, the tearing down of numerous old and dilapidated buildings, and the erection in their places of costly and imposing business and private structures; and
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