USA > New York > Queens County > History of Queens County, New York : with illustrations, portraits, and sketches of prominent families and individuals. > Part 58
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The citizens had frequently drafted charters and ap- plied to the Legislature in the hope of obtaining local legislation to remedy these difficulties, but without avail. In the spring of 1870 they made another attempt. The charter for the incorporation of Long Island City was introduced in the Assembly by Mr. Baldwin, April Ist 1870, but like similar ones it made but little pro- gress.
A meeting of the citizens of all political parties was
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HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.
held in Foster's Hall to consider the question of incor- poration and the passage of the charter. The hall was densely crowded. At this meeting a committee was appointed to wait on Father Crimmin, pastor of St. Mary's church, and request him to address the meet- ing in relation to the incorporation of the district and the passage of the act. Father Crimmin consented and went to the meeting. He spoke at length on the neces- sity and the advantages of the incorporation of the dis- trict. His views were indorsed by all present, and after he had withdrawn resolutions were adopted in favor of the passage of the bill and requesting Father Crimmin to go to Albany and to take in charge the advocacy of the act. Means were contributed to defray the necessary expenses and the engrossing of the bill. A petition was secured and signed by about 2,700 residents and free- holders. Father Crimmin went to Albany. He encoun- tered grave opposition at every step, but succeeded in passing the bill through the Assembly and the Senate. It was strongly opposed before the governor. A day was fixed for the hearing of both sides. Those opposed were present with a delegation and a remonstrance signed by 72 landed proprietors, and their case was argued before the governor by able counsel. Father Crimmin in reply presented the signatures of 2,700 freeholders, and had as a delegation present the gentleman who secured the names to the petition and who were ready to testify to the genuineness of the signatures. The argument in favor of the charter was made by ex-Governor Lowe, of Maryland. The result was that the bill was signed May 6th 1870 by Governor Hoffman. Although some advan- tages were gained by the passage of this charter its provisions were entirely inadequate, and the appropria- tions allowed were entirely insufficient for the thorough organization of a municipal government and the main- tenance of the public schools. Abram D. Ditmars, of Astoria, first mayor of Long Island City, and many other leading citizens desired that sufficient appropriations should be obtained for the support of the public schools . and the maintenance of a police force, and also that the powers conferred by the charter should be such as to enable the city to take measures for the introduction of a sufficient supply of good water, and to make a survey of the whole city. Accordingly about the beginning of 1871 the mayor appointed a committee of seventeen charged with the duty of drafting a revised charter which should secure more fully the advantages of local self-government and the much needed improvements. The bill was completed, and was introduced in the Senate by Senator Frost during the session of 1871, and became a law April 13th that year. This law, with some modifications which have since been made, con- stitutes the charter of Long Island City at the present time.
The development of Long Island City was but a part of a great plan which Father Crimmin had conceived not only for that locality but for the whole of Long Island, and to which he had intended to devote the ener- gies of his whole life. In an interview which our histo-
rian had with the reverend gentleman in relation to Long Island he stated that his plan was, after the improvement of Long Island City, to endeavor to have the law taxing bonds and mortgages repealed, if not for the whole State at least for Long Island City (for, he said, millions of dol- lars had left the State of New York and sought invest- ment in the State of New Jersey because of this tax); to urge the construction of the iron bridge across the East River at Blackwell's Island, and by means of railroads over this bridge to connect every city and hamlet on Long Island directly with the great west, and thus to give it every advantage held by the remainder of the State; to open Newtown Creek to Flushing Avenue and Dutch Kills Creek and Sunswick Creek to the upland; and to run a railroad from Blackwell's Island bridge to the head of Newtown Creek, thence to a grand central depot in the center of Brooklyn, connecting by freight trains with Gowanus Bay, Erie Basin, and other important and ac- cessible water fronts. Since the construction of the elevated roads in the city of New York he sees an ad- vantage in connecting these elevated railroads with the tracks over the Blackwell's Island bridge, and thence to the various watering places on the shores of Long Island.
CITY AND WARD BOUNDARIES.
The boundary line of Long Island City, "beginning at a point formed by the intersection of the easterly boundary line of the city and county of New York with the center line of Newtown Creek," runs " thence easterly along the center line of said Newtown Creek to the west- erly side of the Penny Bridge (so-called); thence north- erly along the westerly side of the Bushwick and New- town turnpike to the road on the southerly side of Cal- vary Cemetery, known as the road to Dutch Kills; thence along the center of said last named road to the southerly and westerly side of Calvary Cemetery as far as the boundaries of said cemetery extend; thence northerly along the said cemetery to the center of the road lead- ing to Green Point along the northerly side of said ceme- tery; thence easterly along said last mentioned road to the intersection of the same with the road leading from Calvary Cemetery to Astoria; thence northerly and north- easterly along the center of said road, Dutch Kills road, Woodside avenue, Bowery Bay road, to the easterly boundary line of land formerly of Isaac Rapelye, on the northerly side of said Bowery Bay road; thence along the line of said Rapelye land to the Bowery Bay; thence along Bowery Bay and the sound to the northerly bound- ary line of the town of Newtown; thence northwesterly and southwesterly along said boundary line to the east- erly boundary line of the city and county of New York; thence southwesterly along said last mentioned boundary line to the place of beginning."
The new city was divided into five wards, described as follows:
First Ward (Hunter's Point)-"All that portion of the city lying between the center of Newtown Creek on the south, the westerly boundary line of Long Island City on the west, the center of Nott avenue and Boundary
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THE ORGANIZATION OF LONG ISLAND CITY.
street on the north and the center of Dutch Kills Creek on the east."
Second Ward (Blissville) .- "Beginning at the junction of Newtown and Dutch Kills Creek, running thence easterly along the center of said Dutch Kills Creek to Boundary street; thence along the center of Boundary street to Jackson avenue; thence easterly along the cen- ter of said Jackson avenue to the easterly line of Long Island City; thence southerly along said boundary line to the southerly boundary line of said city and at the center of Newtown Creek; thence westerly along the southerly boundary line of said city to the place of be- ginning."
Third Ward (Ravenswood) .- " Beginning at a point on the westerly boundary of Long Island City, at its intersection with the center line of Nott avenue when extended on its present course to the said westerly boundary line of Long Island City; running thence northerly along said boundary line to its intersection with the center line of Sunswick Creek; running thence easterly and southerly along the center of said creek to the center of Pearce avenue; thence easterly along the center of said Pearce avenue to the center of First ave- nue; thence' southerly along the center of said First avenue to the center of Webster avenue; thence easterly along the center of Webster avenue to the center of Jackson avenue; thence southwesterly along the center of Jackson avenue and Nott avenue to the point or place of beginning."
Fourth Ward (Astoria) .- " Beginning at a point in the westerly boundary line of Long Island City, at its inter- section with the center line of Sunswick Creek, running thence northerly along said westerly boundary line to its intersection with the center line of Franklin street, when extended on its present course to the said westerly boundary line; thence easterly along the center of Franklin street to the intersection of Flushing avenue; thence easterly along the center of said Flushing avenue to the easterly boundary line of said city at the center line of the Bowery Bay road; thence southerly along the said casterly boundary line to the center of Jackson avenue; thence southwesterly along the center of said Jackson avenue to the center of Webster avenue; thence westerly along said Webster avenue to the center of First avenue; thence northerly along the center of First avenue to the center of Pearce avenue ; thence westerly along the center of Pearce avenue to the center of said Sunswick Creek; thence northerly and westerly along the center of said creek to the point of beginning."
Fifth Ward (Bowery Bay) .- " All that portion of the the city lying between the northerly boundary line of Long Island City on the north, the easterly boundary line of said city on the east, the westerly boundary line of the same on the west, and the Fourth ward on the south, together with all the islands opposite thereto and comprehended in the town of Newtown."
The islands belonging to Long Island City are known as North Brother, South Brother and Berrien's.
THE CITY GOVERNMENT.
The first charter election of Long Island City was held July 5th 1870. Abram D. Ditmars was elected mayor. The following named persons were elected al- dermen from their respective wards: First ward, Henry Rudolph, Patrick Lonergan; Second ward, Francis McNena, William E. Bragaw; Third ward, George H. Hunter, George H. Williams; Fourth ward, James R. Bennett, John Weigand; Fifth ward, Edward H. Harts- horne, William Carlin.
The board of aldermen organized July 18th 1870. Mayor Ditmars was chosen president and Egbert Con- with clerk. Robert T. Wild was appointed superinten- dent of streets, with James Dennen as deputy; Anthony S. Woods, city marshal; J. L. Francen, sealer of weights and measures; Thomas Dewey and John Fautry, police constables.
There were at first the departments of " finance," " law," "public works," " police and health," " educa- tion," " fire," "water " and "assessment." The "fire " and " water " departments have since been consolidated, reducing the number from eight to seven. The city officials in 1881 were as follows: Mayor, Henry S. De Bevoise; corporation counsel, J. Ralph Burnett; com- missioner of public works, Russell Wright; treasurer, John R. Morris; deputy treasurer, William H. Morris; city clerk, Alexander Moran; deputy city clerk, Henry Van Alst; sanitary inspector, Dr. R. W. Taylor; register of records and assistant sanitary inspector, Conrad Deistel; captain of police, Anthony S. Woods. The board of police and health is organized as follows : Richard Armstrong (president), Charles McNamara, Andrew Murray; the board of water and fire commissioners: Henry S. De Bevoise (president), Russell Wright, S. J. Kavanagh, Charles W. Hallett, F. H. Wolcott; the board of assessors: George H. Paynter (president), Charles B. Lathrop, James Gallagher; the board of education: Sylvester Gray (president), John Metz, James McBride, Henry C. Johnson, Henry P. Titus.
Under the provisions of the charter there were at first two aldermen elected from each ward. Under an amend- ment passed during the legislative session of 1871-72 three from each ward were elected until the passage of an act in 1879 reduced the number to one from each ward and two at large, the total since then being only seven. The aldermen in 1881 were: Patrick Lonergan, first ward; S. J. Kavanagh, second ward; Michael Don- nelly, third ward; John L. Morris, fourth ward; Nicho- las Nehrbauer, fifth ward. Aldermen-at-large: First district (first, second and third wards), Henry Rudolph; second district (fourth and fifth wards), August Rassiga. S. J. Kavanagh was president of the board.
Abram D. Ditmars was the first mayor of Long Island City. He was elected July 5th 1870. In April 1873 Henry S. De Bevoise was elected to succeed him. Mr. Ditmars was again elected in April 1876, but soon re- signed. John Quinn became acting mayor and served
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HISTORY OF QUEENS COUNTY.
until succceded by the present incumbent of the office.
IIENRY S. DE BEVOISE.
Hon. Henry S. De Bevoise, whose portrait is shown in the steel engraving on the opposite page, and whose early ancestry is more fully given in the De Bevoise family history on pages 317 and 318 of this work, is bet- ter known as Mayor De Bevoise of Long Island City. He was born February 14th 1841, at the old home- stead of his father, Andrew, in Long Island City. In this old place several generations of this illustrious family first saw the light, and for over 160 years the old roof has been their shelter. Many are the memories that cluster around this spot. and if we could interview the stately old trees as well as the mayor's young friends we might learn more of the generations that form the line of his descent from the original Carel De Beauvois, who settled in Brooklyn in 1659; for these venerable old lo- custs were here in a very early day. Under their branches the Hessians were camped in 1778, and one of them was used as a gibbet to hang the beeves which were killed for the use of the soldiers. The largest is literally filled with bullets and bullet holes which have been left by the knives of curiosity seekers.
On this farm the early days of young De Bevoise were spent, and in the common school of thirty years ago the foundation of his education was laid. So rapid are the mutations which time works that, although that is but a third of a century ago, there are scarcely any left of those who were boys when Harry, as they used to call him, was a schoolboy. At the age of 14 he was placed in an acad- emy in New York, and from this time he made rapid progress. When he was barely 21 he graduated with honors at the University of the City of New York, re- ceiving the degree of LL. B.
In the interim he had also completed a law clerkship in the office of the late Judge Ambrose L. Pinney, and after taking his degree he was admitted to the bar as at- torney and counsellor at law.
By business of a different character his attention was about this time diverted from the profession. He and his relatives were owners of a large tract of real estate which is now included in Long Island City. These lands were purchased by New York capitalists, and Mr. De Be- voise was selected by them as the proper person to rep- resent their interests in improving and developing the property. The duties connected with this important and ever increasing trust are still properly discharged by him.
It is useless here to elaborate upon the high esteem in which he is held by the best people of his city, for by repeatedly calling him to administer the greatest trust within their gift they have already made their approval of his course and their confidence in his ability and in- tegrity a matter of record.
THE FIRST WARD AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS.
At the incorporation of Long Island City that portion which is now known as the first ward had a large and enterprising population, which was rapidly increasing. There were no grades established by law, and buildings were erected according to what was supposed might be the future grades of the streets. There being no sewers there were but few cellars in the district which were not frequently flooded, either from surface drainage or from the action of the tide; and in many cases cellars were never without stagnant water. As a consequence the inhabitants suffered greatly from malarial, pulmonary, and rheumatic diseases, and notwithstanding that many had suffered and expended a great deal, and had lost many of their relatives from these causes, still the people bore these hardships, and suffered these privations ap- parently with resignation, and made no sufficient effort to remedy these evils.
Early in 1870 Father Crimmin matured plans for the improvement of a district formed of portions of the first, second and third wards of the city, which should benefit the largest area of upland and include the smallest amount of land subject to tidal overflow, and at the same time secure the drainage of those portions of marsh land having no sufficient outlets. The boundaries of the con- templated district were Harris avenue, Purves street, the Long Island Railroad and the East River. This plan would have continued the streets and avenues to the third ward, made travel and improvements uninterrupted between two large districts of upland, and would render available sufficient territory for building purposes to ac- commodate twenty thousand inhabitants. He proposed to raise the grade so that an efficient system of sewer- age might be had, and to afford well drained cellars to all the houses in the district. So great was the magnitude of this work, from the number of buildings to be raised, the cost of sewers, the transportation of dirt to fill the streets and avenues, paving, curbing, guttering, flagging, etc., that he did not venture to speak of the matter pub- licly, and for four years his plans remained unknown ex- cept to himself and one other person.
In 1871 an act was passed by the Legislature creating a commission commonly called the "survey commis- sion," to provide for the laying out of streets, avenues, roads and parks in Long Island City. To the passage of this act and its subsequent amendments Father Crim- min gave a strong support, feeling that they were so many steps toward the public improvements he desired. When this commission was about to fix the grades, the system of sewerage and of surface drainage, he revealed
Mr. De Bevoise came into politics as a Democrat, in 1871, being then appointed city clerk, and in the mayor- alty contest of the following year he was called to the head of the city government. Serving three years, he was defeated in 1875; but his competitor resigned in the follow- ing year and Mr. De Bevoise was elected to the vacancy. Again in 1878 he was elected . mayor, and in 1880, the tenure of the office having been changed, he was elected for the first time his plans. He consulted a number of for the term on which he is now serving.
civil engineers, principal among whom was Peter G. Van
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IMPROVEMENTS-CITY WATER SUPPLY.
Alst, as to the advisability and the probable cost of the project. He next consulted with the larger landed pro- prietors as to the advantages of such an improvement to the property in the district, and all agreed that it would not only be advisable but necessary and greatly advan- tageous to the property in the district. There remained but to consult the smaller property holders. This could not be done without drafting a document expressing the plan of improvement in detail, and the holding of a pub- lic meeting at which it should be publicly read and ex- plained and a vote taken upon its adoption. Accord- ingly a bill entitled " An Act to Provide for Improve- ments in and adjoining the First Ward of Long Island City " was prepared. The boundaries of the proposed district were altered: they include less upland and a much larger area of land subject to tidal overflow. Time has demonstrated the propriety of the change. A real estate call was issued requesting all the property owners of the district to assemble at Rosner's Hall for the pur- pose of considering the provisions of the proposed im- provement act. The hall was densely crowded, there being nearly five hundred persons present. The meet- ing having been called to order, William Bridge, who was elected secretary of the meeting read the document. On motion it was then unanimously resolved that Father Crimmin should address the meeting in relation to the provisions of the bill. He discussed the bill, section by section, in a discourse which lasted two hours and twen- ty minutes, after which the question was on the adop- tion of the proposed bill. A vote was taken and it was unanimously adopted.
The document was forwarded to Albany, was intro- duced in the Assembly by Hon. James M. Oakley on the 23d of March 1874, and soon became a law. The commissioners under the improvement act were Peter G. Van Alst, Henry S. Anable, Robert M. C. Graham, Wil- liam Bridge and James Dennen.
Contracts were entered into at exceedingly low prices for the performance of the various works specified in the act, and were carried on with the greatest satisfaction and dispatch, until what was once a sunken and forbid- ding locality was raised to a healthy, handsome and flourishing town, with its streets and avenues neatly paved with Belgian block, with a perfect system of sewerage, and an excellent supply of good spring water-advan- tages which in a few years greatly increased its popula- tion and doubled the value of property.
Other portions of the city, notably Steinways, have been improved by commissions duly appointed and em- powered. A portion of the city was appointed under the management of the Fulton and Main street commission. The work of none of the other commissions has been as important as that of the first ward commission, though that of some of them has been rewarded with flattering results.
THE CITY WATER SUPPLY.
The most important improvement which followed the passage of the revised charter was the introduction of water. Henry S. De Bevoise succeeded Abram Ditmars
as mayor of Long Island City. He lost no time in urg- ing upon the newly appointed water board the introduc- tion of a sufficient supply of water for those portions of the city which could not otherwise secure it. The Holly system of water-works was adopted, and a contract en- tered into by the water board for the necessary machin- ery. A well was sunk fifty feet in diameter, about forty feet in depth below high water mark, where a large sup- ply of excellent water was found. In addition to this four-inch pipes were driven thirty-four feet into the sand below the bottom of the well. These pipes became so many flowing wells and added greatly to the supply from veins of water far below those that flowed into the well. Thus it was that the supply of water was at once freed from all surface draining 'and vegetable matter, which could not be secured by any other system.
A large quantity of iron pipe was purchased for water mains and laid throughout the districts intended to be supplied. The machinery was delivered and an engine- house was erected near the well.
During all these preparations the water board and those who had favored the Holly system encountered great opposition from the people, not only from those who could not be expected to understand the nature of the system, but also from many of the most intelligent and influential men in the city. The system was almost universally condemned, the capacity of the well was en- tirely underrated, and it was often asserted that the sup- ply would not be sufficient for a few families. The qual- ity of the water was condemned, and it was generally be- lieved that the machinery would never be seen in opera- tion. Those who were willing to admit the efficiency of the Holly system under other circumstances, believed that in this case, it was not worth while to go to the expense of making water connections with the mains, as the well would be pumped dry in a few hours.
The machinery, however, was soon placed in position, the pumps connected with the water in the well began to draw upon its supplies, and it was demonstrated that the well yielded over one million gallons per day. This quantity soon increased to 1,200,000 per day. The water, having been analysed by eminent chemists, proved to be the best and coldest water introduced by mains into any of the cities of the United States. It is now admitted by all that the system has proved a marvelous success.
The water board of Long Island City, having but limited means, could not enter upon a plan of water- works sufficiently extensive to meet the future wants of a arge and populous city. With the greatest care they husbanded their means and gave to the people the best possible results from the funds placed at their disposal.
In order that an extra supply of water might be at hand in case of fires a series of 4-inch pipes were driven to a depth of fifty feet in the sand along the base of the hill near the edge of tide-water. These were connected above by a horizontal pipe leading to the engine house, to which in case of emergency the pumps might be at- tached, and thus a greatly increased supply of water might be secured.
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