USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V.1 > Part 8
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in the seventeenth century, soon provoked the envy of New Amsterdam's neighbors, and in the end made our city the emporium of the Western World. Our ancestors left children and children's children, who were well fitted to act important parts in the great work of opening the American continent to European Christian civilization. They brought with them honest maxims, industry, and the liberal ideas of their Fatherland-their school-masters, their dominies, and their BIBLES. In the course of events, however, New Netherland passed over to British rule, when new customs, new relationships, and new habits of thought, were introduced .*
* It may be amusing to many of the present generation, so little accustomed to the old Dutch names, to read some titles once very familiar in New Amster- dam and New York, but now so seldom thought of or understood :
De Herr-Officer ; or Hoofdt-Schout, High-Sheriff.
De Fiscoll-Attorney-General.
Groot Bingenecht, and Klein Bingenecht, the Great and Small Citizenship, early marking the two orders of society.
The Schout (Sheriff), Burgomeesters, and Schepens, then ruled the city, "as in all cities of the Fatherland."
Geheim Schuyner-Recorder of Secrets.
Wees-Mcesters-Guardians of Orphans. Roy-Meester-Regulator of Fences. Eyck-Meester-The Weigh-Master.
The word Boss, still in use, a century ago was written " Baas," and literally means " master."
SECOND PERIOD. 1
1674-1783.
From the English Conquest to the Revolutionary War and the Termination of British Rule.
CHAPTER I.
BEFORE entering upon the history of this period, it seems desirable to take a ramble about the limits of New Amsterdam, and see for ourselves how it appeared at the time that the Dutch surrendered it to the English. In our walk we will take as our guide a map of the " Towne of Wambados, or New Amsterdam, as it was in Sep- 1661. tember, 1661," a copy of which now lies before us. This is, so far as known, the only plan of the city executed in the early Dutch times, and was found a few years since in the British Museum.
The town wind-mill stood on a bluff, within our pres- ent Battery, opposite Greenwich Street. On Water, be- tween Whitehall and Moore Streets, was the "Government House," built, by Stuyvesant, of stone, and the best edifice in the town. When Governor Dongan became its owner he changed its name from the "Government House" to " Whitehall," and hence the name of the street. It was surrounded by a large inclosure, one side of which, with
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
the garden, was washed by the river. A little dock for pleasure-boats ran into the stream at this point. Here, also, was located the Governor's house, between which and the canal in Broad street was the present Pearl Street, then the great center of trade-known as the " Water- side," and sometimes as the "Strand." Near the Gor- ernor's house was the " Way-house," or Weigh-house, at the head of the public wharf at the foot of the present Moore Street. A very short distance off, and parallel with Pearl, ran the Brugh Straat the present Bridge Street), so named from the fact of its leading to the bridge across the canal in Broad. There was a small passage-way run- ning through this block and along the side of the "Old Church," for convenient access to a row of houses laid down on the map. These, five in number, belonged to the Company, and were built of stone. In front of them was a beautiful sloping green. The canal in Broad Street was, in truth, but a narrow stream, running toward Wall Street for a quarter of a mile. Both sides were dyked with posts, in the fashion of Fatherland, at the distance of twelve feet from the houses. On each side, as houses line a canal in Holland, stood a row of buildings in the ultra- Dutch style, low, high-peaked, and very neat, with their gables toward the street. Each had its stoop, a vane or weather-cock, and its dormer-window. From the roof of one, a little iron crane projected, with a small boat at its end, as a sign of this being the "Ferry-house." The landing was at the head of the canal, in Broad Street. at the point where Garden united with it. This canal or lit- tle stream originally went up to " Verlettenberg Hill" (Exchange Place), afterward corrupted into “ Flotten- banck." This was the head of tide-water; and here the country people from Brooklyn, Gowanus, and Bergen brought their marketing to the center of the city. Many of the market-boats were rowed by stout women, without
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY. 89
hats or bonnets, but wearing in their place close caps, There were generally two rowers to each craft.
Further along the East River, or " water-side," a build- ing of considerable pretension appeared-the Stadt Huys, or City Hall, first erected as a tavern, but afterward taken by the municipal government. In front of the Stadt Huys was placed a battery of three guns. Proceeding along the river-shore, we pass Hanover Square, where two boats are lying, and approach the "City Gate," at the foot of Wall Street, sometimes called the " Water Gate," to distinguish it from the " Land Gate " at the end of the road on the Sheera Straat (Broadway). The Water Gate seems to have been quite an imposing structure, doubtless because Pearl Street was the great thoroughfare and main entrance to the town. Most of the strangers or visitors to New Amsterdam came from Long Island.
Continuing our walk toward Long Island Ferry, or " Passage Place," and passing by Maagde Paatje (Maiden Lane), we come to another public way leading to " Shoe- makers' Land " and " Vandercliff's Orchard," both places of noted resort. This was the present John Street, from Pearl to Cliff.
At a very early day the tanneries in Broad Street were declared a nuisance, and their owners ordered to remove beyond the city limits. This they did, and established themselves along Maiden Lane, then a marshy valley .*
* When the Maagde Paatje, or Maiden Lane, was continued through to the river, and widened below Pearl Street for the slip called " Countess's Slip," in compliment (for some " slip " of hers ?) to the lady of the Governor, Lord Bella- mont, a market was built there, known as the Fly Market, the " Market in the Marsh," corrupted to the Fly Market. Hence, when in subsequent years there arose a sharp contest between a New-Yorker and a Philadelphian on the all-im- portant question, in which of their cities was the best fare, the New-Yorker would boast of his fish, their variety, scores of kinds, their freshness, some even alive and gasping in the market. This fact was not to be denied ; but to avoid the effect of a triumph, the Philadelphian would only, significantly, remind him, that however fresh his fish might be, the flesh he ate during the summer months
12
2UGET
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Four of the number, shoemakers by trade, purchased a tract of land bounded by Broadway, Ann, William, and Gold Streets, and here commenced their business. This region was thenceforth known as the Shoemakers' Land, a name which it retained so late as 1696, when it was divided into town-lots. The tanners were next driven from this locality into what is even now known as the " Swamp." The Vandercliff's Orchard was bounded by the East River, Shoe- makers' Land, and Maiden Lane. Its original owner was Hendrick Ryker, who sold it in 1680 to Dirck Vandercliff. During the Revolution this tract received the more pleas- ant-sounding name of Golden Hill, so named, it is said, from the fine wheat grown on it. Cliff Street yet pre- serves a part of the old title. Proceeding past Golden Hill we come to a large edifice, close to the present site of Fulton Market, and marked on the map as " Alderton's Buildings," surrounded by a fence. This is supposed to be the store-house of Isaac Allerton, who resided at New Amsterdam and carried on an extensive trade with the New-England colonies. He was one of the emigrants in the May Flower, and a notable character in our early his- tory. His business was the importation of tobacco from Virginia, and this edifice was probably his great tobacco depot.
Continuing our tour, we reach the " Passage Place," the . present Peck Slip, known for a long time as the "Old Ferry." This was the earliest Brooklyn ferry; and its . rates were regulated by the city authorities, in 1654, at three stivers for foot passengers, except Indians, who paid six, unless there were two or more. Here Cornelis Dirck-
was not quite free from taint. Since, from the swarms of the insect in the prin- cipal market, it was called emphatically the Fly Market. The poor New- Yorker, ignorant of the Dutch language and of the etymologies from it, and hence knowing no better than that it was the true name of the market, left without a reply ; left to experience what no one can know who has not expe- rienced how provoking it is to be obliged in a disputation to give up the point.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY
sen, the ferryman, who owned a farm near by, at the sound of a horn hanging on the tree ferried the passengers over in his little skiff. Still further on there was a little stream, on the bank of which stood a water-mill. This brook ran into Walphat's Meadow, which covered the present Roose- velt street and vicinity. This stream, known as "Old Wreck Brook," ran from the meadow into the Kolck (Collect), a bridge crossing it on the highway in Chatham near Pearl.
The " Commons " (the present Park) was a well-known spot in,early New York. Through it passed the post-road to Boston, the present Chatham Street, and for many years this was the place for public executions. North of the Commons or the Vlackte (the " Flat "), lay the Fresh-Water Pond (to which allusion has already been made) with its neighboring district Kolek Hook, or Collect, below the Com- mons .* Near the Collect rose Potter's Hill. At its foot followed the " Owl's Kill," leading the waters of that pond through the marshes of " Wolfert's Valley " to the East River. Toward the river was the Swamp, the present Ferry Street and neighborhood, a low marshy place, cov- ered with bushes and briars.t 1
As the city gradually extended its limits, the powder-house, at first built on the Commons, was considered unsafe and a new magazine was built in 1728 upon a secluded little island in the Fresh-Water Pond. Not far from this place, in the course of the following year, Noe Willey, of London, gave to his three sons in New York the ground for a Jewish cemetery. It was bounded by Chatham, Catharine and Oliver Streets, and was to be held forever as a burial place for the Israelites. But the wishes of the old Hebrew have been violated long since, for Chatham Street now runs through the sacred inclosure, and Mammon has erected a bank and stores upon the spot. Some tomb-stones, however, still stand. like grim sentinels, to keep guard over this once hallowed and venerable grave-yard.
+ In 1744, this tract was sold for £200 to Jacobus Roosevelt, who divided it into fifty lots and established on them several tanneries. This indicated its future destiny, and ever since it has been the center of the large leather trade of the city. More immense tortunes have been made about that region than any other of the same extent in the city. It was originally called Beekman's Swamp, and leased to Rip Van Dam, a member of the Council, for twenty-one years, at a yearly rent of twenty shillings.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
The city-wall, called the " Lingel," or ramparts, was a row of palisades, with embankments nine feet high and four wide, on which several canon were mounted on bas- tions. Two large stone points were afterward added- one on the corner of Broadway and Wall, called " Hollan- dia," and the other on the north-west corner of Wall and William, known as " Zealandia." These completely com- manded the whole front of the city-wall.
Retracing our steps into town, we have now leisure to examine more carefully the canal, which is laid down as running through the entire length of Broad Street. Thirty years later this canal was filled up. It had a little branch running toward the west through Beaver Street. The Steeregraft, or main canal, appears to have been crossed by two principal bridges, one at Bridge and the other at Stone Street, with smaller ones, evidently de- signed for foot-passengers. Near Beaver Street, small boats or canoes lay moored in the canal.
Pearl Street then, and many years afterward, formed the river bank. Water and South Streets have both been reclaimed from the water. On the west side of Broad- way, above the grave-yard, at the present Morris Street, were the country-seats of Messrs. Vandergrist and Van Dyck. On Whitehall Street stood the parsonage of the Dutch Dominie, with its garden of beautiful tulips and hyacinths, and its paths of cedar and clipped box. Close at hand stood the bakery, brewery, and warehouse of the Company. In William, near Pearl, was the old horse- mill, erected, it will be remembered, by Director Minuit, and which did good service until superseded by the three wind-mills of Van Twiller. One of these stood on State Street, and was the most prominent object seen on ap- proaching the city from the bay. The old fort itself was bounded by Bridge, Whitehall, and State Streets, and the Bowling Green.
de bau
2
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Two main roads led from the fort at the Battery toward the northern part of the island. One of these, afterward the "Boston, or the old Past Road," followed Broadway to the Park, and then extended through Chat- ham, Duane, William, and Pearl Streets to the Bowery .* Along the Bowery road lay "Steenwyck's" and " Heer- man's" orchards, with the well-known Stuyvesant's " Bowerie " (farm), whence the name. Near the last, and in the neighborhood of Gramercy Park, came " Crummashie Hill," while beyond were the " Zantberg " hills, with "Minetta" brook, which found its way through a marshy valley into the North River. Still further toward the north, near Thirty-Sixth street and Fourth Avenue, rose the " Incleberg" or " Beacon Hill," the Mur- ray Hill of later times. From this latter point there was a commanding view of the whole island. The other main road also started from the fort, and passing through Stone Street to Hanover Square, led along the East River to the Brooklyn ferry.
Thus much for the outward appearance of New York at this time. In regard to its manners and interior life we are enabled-thanks to the late researches of the Hon. Henry C. Murphy, the Foreign Corresponding Sec- retary of the Long Island Historical Society-to speak even more definitely. Toward the middle of the seven- teenth century a peculiar religious sect existed in West- phalia. They were known as Labadists, and professed a kind of mysticism, holding, nevertheless, to the tenets of the Dutch Reformed Church. In the summer of
1679. 1679 two of their number were sent over to America, with the view of ascertaining the nature of the
* In the year 1696 the first hackney-coach was introduced upon the Bowery road. Previous to this time, with the exception of the Governor's, private coaches were unknown.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
country and government, and selecting a suitable place for the establishment of a colony of the religious com- munity to which they belonged. The journal which they kept during their stay in America is of great in- terest, particularly that portion having reference to their visit to New York; for, aside from the quaintness and originality of the narrative, it is of peculiar value, as giving an inside view of the people of New Amsterdam at this time. As there were but a very small number of copies printed, and the circulation is therefore extremely limited, we shall take the liberty of quoting somewhat extensively from the work itself.
" Having then fortunately arrived, by the blessing of the Lord, before the City of New York, on Saturday, the 23d day of September, we stepped ashore about four o'clock in the afternoon, in company with Gerrit, our fellow-passen- ger, who would conduct us in this strange place. He had lived here a long time, and had married his wife here, although she and his children were living at present at Zwolle. We went along with him, but as he met many of his old . acquaintances on the way, we were constantly stopped. He first took us to the house of one of his friends, who welcomed him and us, and offered us some of the fruit of the country, very fine peaches and full-grown apples, which filled our hearts with thankfulness to God. This fruit was exceedingly fair and good, and pleasant to the taste ; much better than that in Holland or elsewhere, though I believe our long fasting and craving of food made it so agreeable. After taking a glass of Madeira. we proceeded on to Gerrit's father-in-law's. & very old man, half lame, and unable either to walk or stand, who fell upon the neck of his son-in-law, welcoming him with tears of joy. The old woman was also very glad. This good man was born in Vlissingen, and was named Jaces Swart. He had been formerly a master carpenter at Amsterdam, but had lived in this country upwards of forty-five years. After we had been here a little while, we left our traveling-bag, and went out to take a walk in the fields. I: was strange to us to feel such stability under us, although it seemed as if the earth itself moved under our feet like the ship had done for three months pas:, and our. body also still swayed after the manner of the rolling of the sea ; b .: this sensation gradually passed off in the course of a few days. As we walked along we saw in different gardens trees full of apples of various kinds, and &) laden with peaches and other fruit that one might doubt whether there were more leaves or fruit on them. I have never seen in Europe, in the best ses- sons, such an overflowing abundance. When we had finished our tour and
* This journal was found in manuscript, a few years since, in Holland, by Mr. Murphy, who, perceiving its value, presented it to the Long Island Histori- cal Society, by whom a few copies were printed for the members in 1867.
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given our guide several letters to deliver, we returned to his father-in-law's, who regaled us in the evening with milk, which refreshed us much. We had so many peaches set before us that we were timid about eating them, though we experienced no ill effects from them. We remained there to sleep, which was the first time in nine or ten weeks that we had lain down upon a bed un- dressed, and able to yield ourselves to sleep without apprehension of danger.
"24th, Sunday. We rested well through the night. I was surprised on waking up to find my comrade had already dressed himself and breakfasted upon peaches. We walked out awhile in the fine, pure morning air, along the mar- gin of the clear running water of the sea, which is driven up this river at every tide. As it was Sunday, in order to avoid scandal and for other reasons, we did not wish to absent ourselves from church. We therefore went, and found there truly a wild, worldly world. I say wild, not only because the people are wild, as they call it in Europe, but because most all the people who go there to live, or who are born there, partake somewhat of the nature of the coun- try, thatvis, peculiar to the land where they live. We heard a minister preach who had come from the up-river country, from Fort Orange, where his residence is, an old man named Domine Schaats, of Amsterdam. * * * "This Schaats then preached. He had a defect in the left eye, and used such strange gestures and language that I think I never in all my life heard anything more miser- able ; indeed, I can compare him with no one better than with one Do. Van Ecke, lately the minister at Armuyden, in Zeeland, more in life, conversation, and ges. tures than in person. As it is not strange in these countries to have men as min- isters who drink, we could imagine nothing else than that he had been drinking a little this morning. His text was, Come unto me all ye, &c., but he was so rough that even the roughest and most godless of our sailors were astonished.
" The church being in the fort, we had an opportunity to look through the latter, as we had come too early for preaching. It is not large; it has four points or batteries ; it has no moat outside, but is inclosed with a double row of palisades. It Is built from the foundation with quarry stone. The parapet is of earth. It is well provided with cannon, for the most part of iron, though there were some small brass pieces, all bearing the mark or arms of the Neth- erlanders. The garrison is small. There is a well of fine water dug in the fort by the English, contrary to the opinion of the Dutch, who supposed the fort was built upon rock, and had, therefore, never attempted any such thing. There is, indeed, some indication of stone there, for along the edge of the water below the fort there is a very large rock extending apparently under the fort, which is built upon the point formed by the two rivers, namely, the East River, which is the water running between the Manhattans and Long Island, and the North River, which runs straight up to Fort Orange. In front of the fort, on the Long Island side, there is a small island called Noten Island (Nut Island), around the point of which vessels must go in sailing out or in, whereby they are compelled to pass close by the point of the fort, where they can be flanked by several of the batteries. It has only one gate, and that is on the land side, opening upon a broad plane or street, called the Broadway or Beaverway. Over this gate are the arms of the Duke of York. During the time of the Dutch there were two gates, namely, another on the water side ; but the English have closed it and made a battery there, with a false gate. In front of the church is inscribed the name of Governor Kyft, who caused the same to be built in the
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year 1642. It has a shingled roof, and upon the gable towards the water there is a small wooden tower with a bell in it, but no clock. There is a sun-dial on three sides. The front of the fort stretches east and west, and consequently the sides run north and south. .
" After we had returned to the house and dined, my companion, not wishing to go to.church, set about writing letters, as there was a ship, of which André Bon was master, about to leave in a few days for London; but in order we should not be both absent from church, and as the usual minister was to preach in the afternoon, I went alone to hear him. He was a thick, corpulent person, with a red and bloated face, and of very slabbering speech .* His text was 'The elders who serve well,' &c., because the elders and deacons were that day renewed, and I saw them admitted. After preaching, the good old people with whom we lodged, who, indeed, if they were not the best on all the Manhattan, were at least among the best, especially the wife, begged we would go with their son Gerrit to one of their daughters, who lived in a delightful place, and Rept a tavern, where we would be able to taste the beer of New Netherland, inasmuch as it was also a brewery. Some of their friends passing by requested Gerrit and us to accompany them, and so we went for the purpose of seeing what was to be seen ; but when we arrived there, we found ourselves much deceived. On account of its being to some extent. a pleasant spot, it was resorted on Sundays by all sorts of revelers, and was a low pot-house. Our company immediately found acquaintances there and joined them, but it being repugnant to our feelings to be there, we walked into the orchard to seek pleasure in contemplating the innocent objects of nature. Among other trees we observed a mulberry-tree, the leaves of which were as large as a plate. The wife showed us pears larger than the fist, picked from a three years' graft which had borne forty of them. A great storm of rain coming up in the eve. ning compelled us to go into the house, where we did not remain long with the others, but took our leave of them against their wishes. We retraced our steps in the dark, exploring a way over which we had gone only once in our life, through a raley (salt meadow) and over water upon the trunk of a tree. We nevertheless reached home, having left the others in their revels. While in their company we conversed with the first male born of Europeans in New Netherland, named Jean Vigne. His parents were from Valenciennes, and he was now about sixty-five years of age. He was a brewer and a neighbor of our old people." * * * *
"25th, Monday. We went on board the ship this morning in order to obtain our traveling bag and clothes for the purpose of having them washed, but when we came on board we could not get ashore again before the after- noon, when the passengers' goods were to be delivered. All our goods which were between-decks were taken ashore and carried to the public store-house, where they had to be examined, but some time elapsed before it was done, in consequence of the examiners being elsewhere. At length, however, one Abraham Lennoy, a good fellow apparently, befriended us. He examined our chest only, without touching our bedding or any thing else. I showed him a list of the tin which we had in the upper part of our chest, and he examined it and
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