History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 67

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1336

USA > New York > Orange County > History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 67

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+ Gazette, Sept. 18, 1824.

# Communication in Telegraph, January, 1832.

¿ The opposition to the Democratic party assumed the name of " Whigs" in 1836.

| Hammond's " Political History of New York," il. 435.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

later days, Fowler made the granting of the charter a political privilege. Opposition thus became hope- less; the Bank of Newburgh quietly withdrew an application which it had made for an increase of capital, and the charter passed the Assembly by a vote of 109 to 4, and the Senate by 27 to 3. The institution was soon successfully organized, and proved the necessity for its creation in the demands for ae- commodation which it was enabled to supply to the business of the place.

The expansions and speculations which swept over the country in 1835-37, and in the origin of which, viewed from one stand-point, the organization of the Highland Bank was an element, were not without their influence on the village; real estate advanced to prices which, in many instances, have not since that time been realized, and hundreds of citizens found themselves suddenly comparatively rich by a process which they did not understand; but neither the business of the banks nor of the village was ma- terially speculative, and when the suspensions of 1837 came on they were little felt, except, of course, in the immediate channels of association with the uni- versally depressed trade and commerce of the nation, and in the locking up of banking capital in suspended paper and extensions. In another form, the history of 1786 repeated itself: instead of loaning bills of credit, the free banking law gave to individuals the power to convert their real estate into active capital by its mortgage for bills of circulation, and Mr. Thomas Powell and others associated under it and established, in 1838, the Powell Bank, which afforded relief to trade.

It was during this period that the construction of the New York and Erie Railroad was commenced, and the Legislature was asked to aid the project by a loan of the credit of the State. Previous to this appli- cation, the citizens of Newburgh had secured a charter for a road from the Hudson to the Delaware River, with a view to reach the coal-beds of Pennsylvania ; but this charter had been permitted to become void. When the loan was proposed, an effort was made to connect the Delaware and Hudson road with the Erie, and thus give to Newburgh the eastern ter- minus. Through local jealousies and bickerings between the leading capitalists of Newburgh and of Goshen, in regard to the route which should be given to the road, Newburgh lost the prize which her people hoped to grasp. The road to the Delaware, however, was rechartered, and a portion of the route was graded.

Under the financial revulsious of 1837, work was suspended on both the Erie and the Delaware; hut on the former it was soon resumed and the road com- pleted from Piermont to Goshen. The effect of the opening of this section was even more disastrous to Newburgh than had been anticipated. The census returns, which, for the decade ending with the year 1840, had exhibited an increase in population of 2509, gave only 68 as the increase.

At this time difficulties arose in the prosecution of the work on the Erie road, and fresh efforts were made to secure to Newburgh some of the advantages of its constructiou. This was accomplished by an agree- ment on the part of the Erie Company-confirmed by an act of the Legislature releasing the company from its liabilities to the State-to construct a branch road to Newburgh. This road was completed in 1849, and, with the Erie, was the beginning of the railroad sys- tem which now so completely bisects and intersects the county,-literally covering it with a net-work of iron rails.

Without the financial ability to so control the enterprise of other communities as to render the modern avenues of communication which they have i constructed tributary to the interests of Newburgh, the capitalists and business men of the place have made a bold struggle for years against the combina- tions which have threatened its overthrow. At each successive stage of the changes growing out of the general development of the country, successive gen- erations have met the requirements which have been laid upon them. The labor, the liberality, and the capital which was necessary in 1801 to carry the Co- checton turnpike to completion was, considering the comparative value of capital and labor, equal to that involved in the construction of any railroad in the county. But it was not the only undertaking of that character : its capital of $126,000 was followed by a capital of 85000 in the New Windsor turnpike, $90,000 in the Newburgh and Ulster turnpike, $35,000 in the Newburgh and Sullivan turnpike, $14,000 in the Newburgh and Plattekill turnpike, and $14,000 in the Snake Hill turnpike,-making a total of 8284,000 expended for roads prior to 1820. This sum was, of course, shared to some extent by residents along the lines of the roads, but the greater part was drawn from Newburgh. The expenditure on the abandoned Delaware Railroad was undertaken single-handed, and was followed by a subscription to the construc- tion of the Erie Branch of one-third its cost, and an additional sum of $145,000 by Joan or indorsements. Scarce had this requirement been met when the con- struction of plank-roads to Ellenville and to Shawan- gunk were undertaken, involving an expenditure of about $150,000; and further capital was drawn out for the Warwick Branch and for the Duchess and Columbia Railroad. On all this expenditure but a single bonded debt ($10,000) was incurred. The' wonder is not that so little, but that so much has been done; that iu the struggles of half a century the place has not been remanded to the comparative desolation which has overtaken other communities, rather than to have maintained a certain and sub- stantial growth.

Sharing to some extent in the ventures which were followed by the panic of 1857, the business of the vil- lage was more or less affected by the revulsions of that period ; but this was due to outside associations

275

NEW BURGH.

every church-spire became a staff from which floated the national flag, and every pulpit its forum; the luties, the anxieties which the conflict imposed en- ered into the daily life of the community. In their contributions to the prosecution of the war, it cannot be said that the people of Newburgh faltered in sus- taining the constitutional government. Growing out of political issues which had divided parties in some degree for half a century, the discussion of the ques- tions which the war evolved was more or less tinged with political associations during its entire progress, and many men were prejudiced or exalted at the be- hest of factions ; but the underlying sentiment of the great mass of the community was with the govern- ment. Before the drums of the conflict had begun the call for volunteers, the first company of men in the subsequent forces of the State was in organization,* and in rapid succession other organizations followed, anticipating or redeeming the fullest requirement of the national and State authorities. Briefly recapitu- lated,t these organizations were: 1. Company B, Third Regiment, recruited in March and April, 1861 ; 2. Company B, Thirty-sixth Regiment, recruited in May and June, 1861; 3. Company I, Seventy-first Regiment militia, recruited principally from Company L, Nineteenth Regiment ; 4. Companies A and B, and parts of C, D, and G, Fifty-sixth Regiment, recruited

* The following is a copy of the first recruiting handbill issued in New- burgh. The volunteers enlisted under it were included in Co. B, Third Regiment, Capt. S. W. Fullerton, Jr .:

"To ARMS! TO ARMS! A recruiting office has been opened at the of- fice of Fullerton & Van Wyck, corner Second and Water Streets, New- burgh, for the purpose of enlisting a company of volunteers, in pursu- ance of the provisions of the act passed April 16, 1861, entitled ' An act to authorize the equipment of a volunteer militia, and to provide for the public defense.' Two hundred able-bodied men wanted, who will be armed, equipped, and paid by the Slate.

"JAMES A. RANEY, Recruiting Officer."

Dated April 17, 1861.

+ Details are reserved for a subsequent chapter, including list of vol- unteers, etc.

between July and October, 1861; 5. The Seventh In-

rather than to local causes, and though for a time he embarrassment of a single firm, largely interested | dependent Battery, in part, recruited with Fifty-sixth in several commercial and mechanical enterprises, threatened general disaster, that result was happily averted. A single wreck, if such it may be called, of any considerable magnitude was thrown upon the shore,-the Powell Bank; not because of its insolv- ney, but through the necessity of employing its capi- al in other channels, a change which was effected with- ont loss to the public. The business of the village soon resumed its activity, and the decade closed with prosperity. Regiment ; 6. Companies D, E, F, I, and L, Nine- teenth Regiment militia; miscellaneous enlistments, prior to July, 1862, 111. Under the calls of July and August, 1862, 470 men were required from the town, and 501 furnished, 217 of whom were enrolled in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth, and 166 in the One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Regiment. The call of July, 1863, required 443 men, of whom 90 were fur- nished ; but it was merged in the calls of October, 1863, and of February, March, and July, 1864, re- WAR OF THE REBELLION. quiring 756-number furnished, 827, of whom 71 were The local incidents of the succeeding decade, em- bracing principally the war of the Rebellion, have their record in the publications of the times, and need not be repeated. For over four years, in the going hence and in the return of volunteers, not credited. The total of enlistments (including re- enlistments) was 2250-the total of men required 1226. The public subscriptions and loans of the town (including at that time the village), for the promotion of enlistments and for bounties, were : 1861, by indi- vidual subscriptions $7385, bonds of the village $5000 ; " In the town-through every street- Tramp, tramp, went the feet ;" 1862, individual subscriptions 817,512; 1864, town bonds $175,100,-total, $204,997. In addition to this sum, the town expended for special relief (1863-64) $1075.50; expended by aid society and in contri- butions to the Christian Commission, $12,387.31, rais- ing the total to $218,459.81, and the further sum of $321,320± for special income and internal revenue taxes to Jan. 1, 1865,-a grand total of $539,779.81.

CITY OF NEWBURGIt.

The sacrifices imposed on the town by the war were not without their compensations. The depressions in business incident to the suspensions of trade and the derangements of mechanical and commercial enter- prise were succeeded by activity in the channels which the war developed ; speculation became rife ; the prices of real estate and the compensation of labor were greatly enhanced ; the expansions or inflations of the times, illegitimate and unsubstantial though they may have been, marked their career in monu- ments of substantial progress. Born of the impulses of the new era, the village passed (April 22, 1865) to incorporation as the CITY OF NEWBURGH, and elected its first mayor and a Common Council ; a visible police was established ; the streets were given location and bounds by commissioners for that purpose; the facili- ties for public education were multiplied ; the abodes of mechanics and artisans were made to vie with those of the wealthy of preceding generations; the homes of the wealthy to emulate the palaces of Europe. Perhaps many of these results were in advance of the necessities of the day, and inflicted subsequent detri- mental burdens on the community ; nevertheless were they the outgrowth of the war.

REVIEW.

Having traced the founding and the development of the town and city of Newburgh through its salient

# This sum is partly estimated. The totals in some other instances are only those ou record, and are believed to be less than the actual amounts.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

points, it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that " things are not now as they onee were" either in town or city. The prosperous hamlet of seventeen houses in 1765, the poor hamlet of the Palatines of 1709, are not alone among the changes of the past. The old Bank of Newburgh, and the building imme- diately opposite, are the only structures that remain of those which graced Water Street half a century ago. One by one, by removal or by fire, the wooden buildings of the Orange Hotel block, and those on the same side of the street as far as the old stand of Joseph Hoffman, which was the last to fall before the march of improvement,* gave place to those of the present ; while fire swept off the stores on the east side from Third Street south to the middle of the block, and from First Street north to the brick building south of the Highland Bank.+ Reviewing these changes in general terms, it may be remarked that the vieinity of Colden's Gore was the original business centre of the city ; and when the Bank of Newburgh was char- tered, an effort to locate the bauking-house there was only defeated by a majority of one vote in the board of directors. In 1812 the stores on the west side of the Gore were erected, and were occupied-counting from First Street north-the first by James Denniston, the second by Selah Reeve, the third by Lott & Cham- bers, the fourth by John Anderson, Jr., the fifth by Samuel Williams, # and the sixth by William H. Smith, beyond which came the old stand of James W. Miller. On the opposite side of the street was the briek store of Jacob Carpenter, then occupied by A. Gourlay & Co.,2 now the corner of Water and Carpenter Streets, and beyond this, on the corner of the old road to Gardner's Dock, was the brick store of Chauncey Griswold, while at the head of the Gore stood the old Colden house. Water Street was then extended south, and the Colden house, falling partly within its line, was removed ; and about the same time the old road to Colden's Dock was closed and First Street opened.

Soon after, John D. Lawson erected, on the northeast corner of First Street, a block of wooden buildings, which were destroyed by fire, and were succeeded by the warehouse of Daniel Farrington and other stores. These buildings were also destroyed by fire, and the present block took their place. About 1835, the Col- onnade Row was erected by Col. James Denniston, and the banking-house of the Highland Bank by John Ledyard. The fine building adjoining the Highland Bank on the south was erected by John Flanagan. The buildings on the east side of Water Street, south of Third, were erected by Messrs. Reeve & Falls, John Lawson, John Jamison, John Clugston, and Samuel G. Sneden, and the block was completed in its present form by Benjamin Tyler. On the west side of Water Street, between Second and Third, the first brick house was built by John Brown, an Irish refugee of the re- bellion of 1798, and was subsequently occupied by his sons, John and James S. Brown ; the buildings from thence north to Third Street, including the old store of John McAuley, gave place to the present structures, erected by William Walsh, C. A. Jones, and others. On the east side of the street, the Messrs. Crawford erected, in 1827, the buildings now standing on the northeast corner of Third Street, the upper part of the second of which was occupied as part of the Mansion House adjoining on the north; the brownstone front was erected by A. K. Chandler on the site of a por- tion of the original Mansion House. || The succeed- ing brick stores were erected by Eli Hasbrouck, John Farnam (1832), and William L. Smith; John P'. De Wint filled up the street leading to his wharf with the building now 102 Water Street; the old Farmers' Hotel of Benjamin Case, corner of Water and Fourth, gave place to the present structure, erected by Corne- lius C. Smith. On the opposite side of the street, the Orange Hotel was erected in 1816; the buildings be- tween the Orange Hotel and the Bank of Newburgh were ereeted by John P. DeWint in place of the wooden block destroyed by fire in 1837; Jacob and Sebring Fowler erected the Fowler drug-store, and Gardiner's old Newburgh Coffee-House" gave place

$$ "That venerable old wooden Imilding, on the corner of Water and Second Streets, with its humble front and moss-covered roof,-its sign of a sheaf of wheat, denoting its occupant as one who furnishes the staff of life,-bas been knocked into rubbish under the impulse of improve- ment. After having served nearly half a century as a place of business to that patriarch among our citizens, Joseph Hoffman, it has had to move the way of many sublunary things, to make room for a more costly and elegant specimen of art. Workmen are now employed in laying the foundation of a substantial brick edifice on a spot which so long sus- tained the old yellow wooden building, and around which were clustered so many associations connected with the history of Newburgh."-Tele- graph, July 15, 1841.

+ The account of these and other fires will be given hereafter.

* " AMERICAN MANUFACTURED GOODS -The subscriber respectfully informs the public that he has opened a store in Colden Street, where he has a general assortment of Cotton Goods, which be will sell at the fac- tory prices for cash or approved credit-among which are Bed-ticking, Ginghamis, Stripes of different kinds, etc. Nitting, twist and colored Yarn from No. 5 to 40, a general assortment of European, East and West India goods, which he will sell on advantageous terms to the purchaser. "S. WILLIAMS.

" Newburgh, June, 1812."-Advertisement in Political Inder.

2 " A. GOURLAY & Co. have removed to Capt. Jacob Carpenter's brick store, in Water Street, where they are now opening a very general as- sortment of Dry Goods."-Adr.

| The Mansion House was erected by Ingh Walsh about 1798. It was one of four buildings erected by him, the second being now No. 100 Water Street, the third that on the northwest corner of Water and Fifth Street, and one on Western Avenue. They were all of the hipped-roof style of architecture. The Mansion House is now represented by Nos. 86 and 88 Water Street. Its original bar-room is now No. 84. Its use as a hotel was discontinued in 1834, when it was offered at auction sale, as appears from the following notice in the Telegraph in March of that year: "Col. David Crawford offered at auction sale, Jan. 29, 1834, three Jots on Water Street, 17 by 75 feet (the old Mansion House property). The north let brought $4900, the next $4525; the sale of the third was stopped, the owner regarding the price too Jew."

" An advertisement in the Rights of Mun, Jan. 6, 1800, offering this property for sale, supplies the following description of it and its sur- roundings at that time : " An elegant, well-built, three-story house, and another adjoining it, known by the name of the Newburgh Coffee-room and Coffee-house ; also a commodious kitchen round the corner, a good well of water with a pump before the front door. "Said houses are situ- ated on the corner of Water Street and Fourth Street, opposite to the public ferry." There were no buildings on the opposite side of the street, and the river flowed over Front Street.

277

NEWBURGH.

o the more substantial structure on the corner. Be- ween Fourth and South Streets, on the west side, here was but one brick house as late as 1837; that vas owned and occupied by John D. Lawson. A lacksmith-shop succeeded; a stoneyard, and the esidences of Uriah Lockwood and Mr. Purdy, the atter on the corner of Water and Fifth; two or three rame buildings came next, and the barn of David M. DuBois, and a high garden wall filled out the corner f Water and South. The present structures were laced there by Jacob Brown, who also erected the lock on the opposite side of the street; from whence outh to Fifth no material change has been made for ears. The building on the southeast corner of Fifth nd Water is a modern structure, and soon after its rection the upper part was finished for a lodge-room, t very considerable expense, by Orange County odge, I. O. O. F. An old wagon-wright's shop ad- ining was removed soon after by Edward Wait ; ames McCann's hotel is now a store ; Robert Gardi- er's confectionery remains; the northwest corner of Fourth and Water was the residence of William Seymour.

Front Street was opened in 1833, and was mainly he river-front, filled in except where covered by oeks, which, by its construction, were extended to he east side. Prior to that time the extensive brew- ry of Law, Beveridge & Co. had been erected on the | pied by the Cochecton Turnpike Company, who eut a

iver-side ; the Messrs. Crawford erected their large tore-house in 1828,* and a similar building was put p by Benjamin Carpenter in 1829. The latter is ow included in the store-house of Homer Ramsdell Co., and the former was destroyed by fire in 1873. n 1833, Isaac R. Carpenter commenced the erection f the United States Hotel and the construction of he long wharf;t the latter was graced with a pas- enger house and the most famous bell on the river. Previous to that time the landing was near the cast ine of Front Street; it was here that the "Chief ustice Marshall" horrified the town by the explosion f her steam-chest. South of First Street was the Id Colden,-Denton,-Gardner,-Powell store-house and harf, the birthplace of the steamers "Highlander" nd " Thomas Powell," whose reputations have been reserved, while those of the "Baltimore," the

* " Among the improvements of the present season, we ought not to orget the substantial and commodious warehouse erected by the Messrs. rawford, as it seems to indicate that the increase of business in the illage requires extended accommodations."-Index, Oct. 18, 1828.

+ " The improvements on the Ferry Wharf are on the most extensive nd, we might almost term it, magnificent scale. This wharf ju being onstructed by Col. I. R. Carpenter, and is to be extended to the utmost mita warranted by the State grant of the land under water, that is to y, five hundred feet from high-water mark. Its increased breadth at e outer extremity, one humired feet, will add much to the convenience nd safety of passengers going on board or landing from the steamboats; hile the splendid new hotel which Col. Carpenter is also erecting at Je junction of the wharf with the mainland will not only offer a noble bject to all who pass the village on the river, but will be of essential omfort to persons waiting for steamboats, or whose business confines em to the water's side."

"Legislator," the "Providence," the "William Young," the " James Madison," the "Superior," and the "Washington" have passed away with the purpose which they filled. The original store-house was destroyed by fire ; its successor was removed and incorporated with that of Carpenter's in the establish- ment now of Homer Ramsdell & Co. South of the Powell wharf was that of the Newburgh Whaling Company, whose massive store-house remains. Ad- joining the latter the river-front was unoccupied ex- cept by a single fisherman's dwelling and reels ; then came the docking venture of John W. Wells; then the large brick house (destroyed by fire a few years ago) known as the Bath Hotel, built by Thomas Col- den as a resort for invalids in quest of the pure air north of the Highlands; then the old "Red Store- house," on a wharf in part constructed by Jonathan Hasbrouck prior to the war of the Revolution, and at which the barges of Gen. Washington were moored while he occupied the Hasbrouck house ; and finally the brewery of James Renwiek, on the Bigler wharf, whose proprietor founded there a small city, with a church and a few dwellings, and an innumerable number of lots and streets now mainly traced in legal records. Neither Western Avenue nor Colden Street were opened through until after the commencement of the present century. The former was first occu-

road-bed four rods wide through the bluff west of Colden Street. This cut was long known as the "dng-way," and the plateau on either side was un- occupied until the Carpenter foundry was erected on the corner of Grand Street. A frame hotel and stable occupied the corner on Colden Street for nearly half a century, and on the opposite side of the avenue was a steam grist-mill and a blacksmith-shop. Near the north end of Colden Street was the rude stone tavern kept by Thomas Gardner, a building said to have been as old as headquarters, and the birthplace of Gen. Gardner of the Confederate service, in command at Port Hudson in the war of the Rebellion. None of the business streets of the city have been more improved during the past twenty-five years, unless it be Front Street.

But without further specification, the assertion is justified that the resident of even forty years ago would now fail to recognize Front Street, Water Street, or Colden Street, except by a few ancient landmarks whose proprietors have not responded to the spirit of change; the plain old farmer with his Jersey wagon loaded with pork or butter, long since lost to trade, would himself be lost in the magnitude of the single freighting establishment which has taken the place of its progenitors; the lad who cast his fortunes on the Pacific in 1847, and carried with him visions of the orchards and open lands west of Liberty Street, would find, in the new streets and the many dwellings which to-day sweep from north to south, and shut out the sun from his old play-ground,

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History of Orange County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 67

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1336

Author: Ruttenber, Edward Manning, 1825-1907, comp; Clark, L. H. (Lewis H.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1336