USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 57
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The "Clermont " performed the voyage to Albany at the speed of about five miles an hour, making only one stop, at Chancellor Liv. ingston's seat on the upper river. The actual running time from New York to Al- bany was thirty-two hours, and from Albany to New York thirty hours. After this triumphant achievement of the purpose for which it was built the " Clermont " made regular trips to and from Al- bany as a packet boat. In these first days of steam navi- THE "CLERMONT." gation on the Hudson intense prejudice was harbored against the " Clermont " by the owners of trading sloops, who feared that the successful operation of steamboats would render their prop- erty worthless; and it is recorded that attempts were repeatedly made to sink or disable her, which caused the legislature to pass an act prohibiting such practices under serious penalties. It is not im- probable that some of the market sloops plying between New York and the Westchester villages were engaged in these reprehensible enterprises against Fulton's boat. Allison, in his History of
539
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842
Yonkers, says that as late as 1823 " no steamboat had ever slowed up to take Yonkers passengers aboard," but that some three years later one John Bashford began to row out intending passengers to put them on board the steamers for the consideration of eighteen pence per person.
In 1810, as determined by the federal census, the population of Westchester County was 30,272; but according to an enumeration made in 1814 it had declined in the latter year to 26,367, a shrinkage of nearly 4,000. This loss is easily accounted for. Our county re- sponded with especial alacrity to the calls of the national and State governments for troops to serve in the second war with England. The decline in population was indeed considerable in almost every Township. The figures are so interesting and present a record so honorable that it is very fitting to set them down in detail here.
TOWNS
POPULATION
Mount Pleasant (including Ossining)
3,119
2,802
Cortlandt
3,054
2,477
Bedford.
2,374
2,287
Westchester (including West Farms, Morrisania, and Fordham).
1,969
1,345
Yorktown .
1,924
1,175
Greenburgh
1,862
1,792
Somers. .
1,782
1,783
Lewisboro.
1,566
1,458
North Castle.
1,366
1,220
Yonkers
1,365
954
New Castle
1,291
1,243
Rye
1,278
1,185
Poundridge
1,249
913
North Salem
1,204
1,033
llarrison.
1,119
825
Eastchester.
1,039
942
New Rochelle
996
992
White Plains
693
670
Mamaroneck
496
797
Pelham
267
182
Scarsdale
259
292
Total.
.30,272
26,367
1810
1814
It is observable that during the twenty years from 1790 to 1810 there was, so far as can be discovered from the census figures, no change in the distinguishing aspect of population in Westchester County. Although the increases in several of the towns were con- siderable, clearly indicating the rise of hamlets, in no case was the growth large enough to promise any extensive development. Of the townships lying on the Hudson River, Mount Pleasant (then including Ossining), Cortlandt, and Greenburgh showed the largest
540
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
gains-1.195, 1,122, and 462 respectively, as against an advance of only 240 in Yonkers.
On the 2d of April, 1813, occurred the incorporation of Sing Sing, the first village of Westchester County organized under the State government. The wording of the act of incorporation is as follows:
The district of country in the Town of Mount Pleasant, contained within the following limits, that is to say : Beginning at the Hudson River, where a run of water, between the lands of Daniel Delavan and Albert Orser, empties into the said Hudson River, north of Sing Sing, from thenee eastwardly on a straight line to the house oceupied by Charles Yoe, and in- eluding the said house, thence sonthwardly on a straight line until it intersects the Highland Turnpike road on the south line of Samuel Rhodie's land, from thenee westwardly on the south line of William Street's land to the Hudson River, and thence northwardly along the said river to the place of beginning, shall hereafter be known and distinguished by the name of the Village of Sing Sing.
A curious provision contained in the charter of Sing Sing was a section empowering the trustees to enact a by-law " prohibiting any baker or other person within the aforesaid limits from selling any bread at any higher price or rate than bread of like quality at the time of such sale shall be assessed in and for the City of New York by the corporation of said city, under the penalty of one dollar for every offense." This was occasioned by the high price of breadstuffs then prevailing, which afforded temptations to bakers to charge ex- orbitant rates for their wares.
The first village election of Sing Sing was held on the first Tues- day of May, 1813, when " seven discreet freeholders " were elected trustees. Their names are not preserved, all the early records of the village having been destroyed by fire.
In 1813 the celebrated authorization was made to Robert Macomb, from which resulted the construction of " Macomb's Dam " and the consequent complete obstruction of the navigation of the Ilarlem River, a condition which was a sore grievance to property owners on the Westchester side. In early times the entire Harlem and Spuyten Duyvil waterway was navigable, at certain stages of the tide, for boats of light draught. " Prior to the Revolution," says a writer 1 who has given much attention to this subject, " the island [Manhattan] was circumnavigable in vessels of light draught. Gen- eral Cornwallis pased from the Hudson through Spuyten Duyvil Creek into Harlem River, and down to Sherman's Creek (end of Tenth Avenue), with his troops on board light draught boats, and scaled the heights at what is now Fort George, during the concerted move- ment on Fort Washington in the autumn of 1776." No public in- terest was felt, however, in preserving this navigable condition. At the end of the eighteenth century Alexander Macomb, a wealthy
1 Mr. Fordham Morris.
541
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842
merchant of New York, purchased a large amount of property at Kingsbridge and vicinity, and in December, 1800, he obtained from the city authorities a water grant extending across Spurten Duyvil Creek just east of the King's Bridge, although it was specified in the grant that a passageway fifteen feet wide should be preserved for small boats and craft. Thereupon he erected a four-story gristmill extending out over the creek, whose power was supplied by the alternate ebb and flow of the tide against its undershot wheels.1 Alexander was succeeded in his property rights by his son Robert, who, not satisfied with the supply of water for the mill, procured a grant to build a dam across the Harlem River from Bussing's Point, on the Harlem side, to Devoe's Point, on the Westchester side, " so as to hold the waters of the river for the benefit of the mill at Kings- bridge, thus practically making a tidal millpond between the present site of the Central Bridge at Seventh Avenue and old King's Bridge. This ere(- tion was known for years as Macomb's Damn. But it was required in the act that Macomb should so construct the dam as to permit boats to pass, and that he should always have a person in attendance to afford the de- sired passage. lle neglected. however, to conform to this di- rection, and not only erected his dam without the specified con- trivance, but converted the lip of the dam into a permanent bridge GENERAL ALEXANDER MACOMB. and collected tolls from everybody who crossed it. The utter obstrue- tion to the navigation of the river thus introduced continued until 1838, when, as we shall see, it was forcibly removed by the enterprise and courage of a number of citizens of Westchester, and the mischiey- ous and unwarranted interference with the natural function of the Harlem River as a public waterway was brought to an end.
Macomb's Dam was the only absolute barrier to the progress of vessels coming up the Harlem River. But it had a rival in Coles's Bridge, the site of the present Third Avenue Bridge-which indeed antedated it. In 1790 the legislature granted to Lewis Morris the right to construct a bridge from Harlem to Morrisania, which was
1 This mill remained standing unth 1856. It is shown in the ent on p. 145.
542
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
to be provided with a draw. This privilege Morris assigned to John B. Coles, who in 1795 procured a new legislative grant, authorizing him to build a dam across the Harlem River which was to serve the double purpose of a foundation for a bridge and a means for furnish- ing power to grist and other mills; but in this grant also it was stipulated that the free navigation of the river should be preserved through a suitable opening. Under the provisions of the act of 1795 and subsequent legislation, Coles not only built the Harlem Bridge, but constructed a road leading from it to West Farms and East- chester. Coles's Bridge was provided with a draw, which, however, was very narrow. This structure continued in nse until about 1855. when it was replaced by the (okl) Third Avenue Bridge.
Previously to the construction of Coles's Bridge there were two bridges connecting Manhattan Island with the main land, both being aeross Spusten Duyvil Creek-the King's Bridge, erected in 1694 by Frederick Philipse, who, with his successors, collected tolls from all using it, and the Farmers' or Dyckman's Bridge, built some years before the Revolution by publie subscription. No tolls were levied on the Farmers' Bridge, and hence it was popularly known as the " Free Bridge."
It will thus be seen that as early as the middle of the second dec- ade of the nineteenth century there were four bridges communi- eating with our county from Manhattan Island-one at the village of Kingsbridge, the second just below, the third at the termination of the present Seventh Avenue, and the fourth where Third Avenue now crosses.
The incorporation of the village of Peekskill was authorized by an act passed April 17, 1816. But no steps were taken at that time, or indeed until eleven years later, to carry the provisions of the measure into effect.
The loss of population by the county during the War of 1812 was speedily recovered. In 1820 the census returns showed a total popu- lation of 32,638-a gain of 2,366 over that of 1810. Mount Pleasant, with its village of Sing Sing, still led, having 3,684 inhabitants; Cortlandt was second, with 3,421; Bedford third, with 2,432; West- chester fourth. with 2.162; and Greenburgh fifth, with 2,064. The population of Yonkers was 1,586, being exceeded by that of York- town and Somers, in addition to the towns above named.
In the year 1824 this county was the seene of enthusiastic recep- tions to the immortal Lafayette on his route from New York to Boston. Lafayette arrived in New York Bay on the 15th of August, and, landing on Staten Island, was entertained there by our dis- tinguished son, ex-Governor and Vice-President Tompkins. The news
543
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842
of his arrival had been brought by express to General Philip Van Cortlandt, then living at the Manor House on the Croton, who at once set off for the city, " where he had the inexpressible satisfac- tion of embracing his old compatriot, and felt it one of the happiest moments of his life." On the 20th of August Lafayette was escorted by the mayor and corporation of the city to Kingsbridge, whence he continued his journey to Boston.
The principal event in Westchester County of the decade 1820-30 was the building of the State penitentiary at Sing Sing. By an aet passed March 7, 1824, the construction of a new State prison was authorized in the 1st and 20 senatorial districts, and the Sing Sing site was selected on account of its marble quarries-which afforded a means for the advantageous employment of convict labor. -its accessibility by water, and its salubrity. At that time there were only two State prisons in existence, one in New York City (called Newgate) and one in Auburn. "On the 14th of May, 1825," says Dr. Fisher, the historian of the Town of Ossining, " one hundred convicts from the Auburn prison, under the supervision of Captain Elam Lynds, were landed on the grounds from a canal boat in which they were brought. Operations were at once commenced, and in May, 1828,1 the prison buildings were completed. The main strile- ture, which was built of hewn stone from the marble quarries, con- tained six hundred cells. Before the roof was fairly finished it was ascertained that the accommodations were entirely inadequate, and therefore a fourth story was added, which increased the number of cells to eight hundred. In after years two additions were built, each of one story, so that at the present time there are six stories and an aggregate of twelve hundred cells. These cells are seven feet in depth, seven in height, and forty-two inches wide, which gives but one hundred and seventy-one cubic feet of space for each con- viet."
The institution was long officially known as the " Mount Pleasant State Prison." and the substitution of the style of the " Sing Sing Prison" was distasteful to the citizens of the village. in conso- quence various attempts were made to create local sentiment in favor of changing the village name, none of which, however, re- sulted in anything practical. It may be remarked in passing that residents on the outskirts of Sing Sing, in the direction of the highly reputable locality of Scarborough, usually manifest a decided pref- erence to be considered inhabitants of Scarborough and not of Sing Sing. This preference comes mainly, however, from a natural incli-
" The final construction work was not, however, finished until 1830.
544
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
nation to be identified with the more exclusive community. Any serious proposal to change the name of Sing Sing at the present day would doubtless be voted down overwhelmingly by the people.
In the same year that witnessed the completion of the main work on the Sing Sing prison buildings, the Westchester County abus- house was opened-also in the Town of Mount Pleasant, at a place called Knapp's Corners. This interesting event occurred on the 1st of April, 1828. Previously to that time the poor had been cared for by the several townships to which they belonged. Isaac Coutant was the first keeper of the almshouse, receiving a salary of $300 per anmum. The institution has always since been maintained at the original location.
The village of Peekskill, whose incorporation was authorized in 1816 but was not effected under the original act, received a new charter from the legislature on the 9th of April, 1827, and shortly afterward trustees wore elceted as follows: Samuel Strang, John Halstead, Philip Clapp, James Birdsall, Ezra Marshall, and Stephen Brown. Samuel Strang was the first village president.
This village, now so important for its iron-working industry, and known far and wide as the seat of the New York State Military Camp, was in early times the settlement of the so-called " Ryck's Patent." The name is said to be " due to Jans Peek, an early Dutch navigator, who, in following the track of Hendrick Hudson, mistook the broad estuary at Roa Hook for the proper passage to the north. Here, it is said, he built a house and remained during the winter. To the creek was given the name of Jans Peek's Creek, or Pock's Kill, and from the name of the creek the village received its designation. In a deed given by the Indians to Jacobus De Kay and others, June 25, 1685, the creek is referred to as being known to the Indians as John Peake's Creek." The original settlement of Peekskill is sup- posed to have been about a mile north of the center of the present village. A visitor to the present village in 1781 described it as con- sisting of some twenty houses, quite close together. This considera- ble growth in population of the Town of Cortlandt, as evidenced by the census returns, between 1790 and 1820, was largely contributed by Peekskill village.
According to the author of the article on the Town of Cortlandt in Scharf's History, iron industry of Peekskill dates from 1820, when Stephen Gregory " commenced the manufacture of plowshares. At first the manufacture was carried on in an exceedingly primitive style. The fire which melted the iron was brought to the proper degree of heat by an ordinary blacksmith's bellows, which was at first operated by his wife, and then, as the business expanded,
545
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842
by a horse. Pig iron was too large to be melted by this simple appa- ratus, and he used old stove-plates and old plow castings instead." Hle sold the business to his brother, and after several changes in proprietorship Mr. Renben R. Finch became the principal owner. ultimately founding an establishment devoted to the exclusive manu- facture of stoves.
On the 17th of May, 1829, Chief Justice John Jay died at his resi- dence in Bedford in the eighty-fourth year of his ago.' Here he had lived since his retirement from public life in 1801. An earnest laborer in the cause of freedom for the negroes, and the first presi- dent of the old New York society for the manumission of slaves, his closing years had been marked by much interest in the rising move- ment of the times, and two years before his death he had had the great satisfaction of witnessing the permanent abolition of slavery in the State of New York, accomplished on the 4th of July, 1827, agreeably to a legislative enactment which had been passed ten years previously by the recommendation of Governor Tompkins. He was buried in the Jay family cemetery in the Town of Rye. The following is the inscription on his tomb:
IN MEMORY OF JOIIN JAY, Eminent among those who asserted the liberty and established the Independence of his eountry, which he long served in the most important offices, Legislative, Executive. Judicial, and Diplomatic, and distinguished in them all, by his ability, firmness, patriotism and integrity. Ile was in his life and in his death an example of the virtues, the faith and the hopes of a Christian. Born Dec. 12th, 1745, Died May 17th, 1829.
Chief Justice Jay had two sons, Peter Augustus and William !. Peter Augustus Jay resided for most of his life in New York City. where he was a prominent lawyer and citizen. He tilled various im- portant publie positions, was a leading anti-slavery advocate, and was president of the New York Historical Society. In 1821 he was a delegate from Westchester County to the State constitutional con- vention.
William JJay (born JJune 16, 1789; died October 14. 1858) inherited
1 The following entry appears in the record of the Court of Common Pleas, of Westchester County, under date of May 25, 1829: "The court and members of this bar. entertaining the
highest respect for the pure and exalted char- arter of the late venerable John Jay, do resolve that we will wear erape upon the left arm for thirty days in token of our respeel."
546
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
from his father the homestead at Bedford. He was one of the most respected Westchester citizens of his times, and for three years (1820 to 1823) served as county judge. He also was a conspicuous cham- pion of the rights of the negroes. A portrait of Judge William Jay hangs in the court house at White Plains. He was the father of The very eminent Hon. John Jay of our own times (born June 23. 1817; died May 5, 1894), to whom he left the Bedford estate.
Neither the figures of the State consus of 1825 nor those of the federal consus of 1830 show any significant changes in the distribu-
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-THE JAY CEMETERY, RYE.
tion of population in the county. In 1855 the total inhabitants were 33,131, and in 1830, 36,456. Mount Pleasant and Cortlandt con- tinned far in the lead of all the other towns. Yonkers had a popu- lation of only 1,761.
No new village was incorporated between 1830 and 1840. This decade is memorable for the projection of the first railway enter- prise in which Westchester County was interested, and the inception and approximate completion of the grand Croton Aqueduct.
The New York and Harlem Railroad, which traverses the central section of our county on the route to the northern end of its line at Chatham, antedates all other railways of the county. But, as its
Department of Commerce U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Washington.
December 28,1926.
Dr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress, Washington D.C.
My dear Dr. Putnam:
I have been looking through a copy of "The History of Westchester County, New York" by Shonnard & Spooner, and I find .a rather serious mistake under an illustration on page 546. It reads "Jay Cemetery, Rye". Instead of it being what it says, it is the monument erected to Thomas Paine at Upper New Rochelle. I am positive of my statement as this monument was on my grandfather's estate and I spent many days there.
I thought you might like to have this correction and file it with the history so that those using the books in the Library may have the benefit of this informa- tion.
Faithfully yours,
E. Lester Jones.
547
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1812
name indicates, it was originally intended to be a line between New York City and Harlem only, terminating at the Harlem River. I was incorporated on the 25th of April, 1831, with a capital of $350,000, which in 1832 was increased to $500,000, it being stipulated that the road should be completed to the Harlem River in 1835. On the 17th of April. 1832, another company was incorporated, the New York and Albany, whose line was to start at a point on Manhattan Island where the present Fourth Avenne terminates, cross the Har- lem River, and proceed through the center of Westchester County. (At that period the Hudson River route was not seriously thought of,1 and indeed it was not chartered until 1846.) Owing to the great physical difficulties which had to be overcome in building the road on Manhattan Island, and the consequent heavy expenditures, the New York and Harlem line was not completed by the specified year (1835); 2 nevertheless, the legislature authorized further increases of capital. Meantime the New York and Albany Company found itself unable to carry out the provisions of its charter, and in 1838 sur- rendered its rights in Westchester County to the New York and Harlem Company, which assumed the construction of the bridge across the river and the building of the road as far as a point on the southern boundary of Putnam County. It was not, however, until May, 1840, that the compact between the two companies was ap- proved by the legislature. By that time " the capital had been swollen to $1,950,000, and still another increase of $1,000,000 was needed to carry the road through the county." The railway was constructed and in operation to Fordham by October. 1841, but had not been extended to White Plains until late in 1844, and it was not until June, 1847, that it was opened through to Croton Falls. Thus from the time when the first charter for a railroad to traverse West- chester County was granted, until the complete realization of the project, a period of fifteen years elapsed. The cost of construction
1 In 1842 a committee investigated a proposed railway ronte along the cast shore of the Hud- son River, and brought in a strongly adverse report. In this document it was alleged that the physical difficulties put the proposal be- yond consideration: but the chief argument presented was as to " the hupolicy of locating a great work of this sort upon a line Imme- diately adjacent to the Hudson River, where the novelty of the enterprise might seem to runstitute its chief value." 1800 Report, etc., to the New York board of aldermen, November 21. 1842.)
" The following, from Willlams's " New York Annual Register for 1835" (p. 190), is of curious historical interest:
" This road flarlem Railroad] was chartered in the winter of 1831, with a capital of $350.000.
The work was commenced in the spring of 1\32. The grade was required to correspond with the regulation of the streets, which had required much deep cutting and some high embankment. About four miles of the road are now in use, upon which pleasure cars are constantly run. for the accommodation of those who desire to get out of the city for a short time. When completed, there will be a tunnel of some length through a rock, at Yorkville, after which there will be a gradual descent to Harlem River. The wurk, thus far. has been very expensive, and will cost. when emuplefed. at least its whole capital, and probably more. . If present horse-power is used. A locomotive engine was provided and used for a short time but the boiler burst and the engine was laid aside."
548
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
from the south side of the Harlem River Bridge to Williams's Bridge was $38,475 per mile, and from Williams's Bridge to White Plains $11,277 per mile.
It is noteworthy that the first telegraph line through Westchester County was erected (1846) under the superintendence of Ezra Cornell (subsequently the founder of Cornell University), a descendant of Thomas Cornell, of Cornell's Neck. Ezra Cornell was, moreover, a native of this county, having been born at Westchester Landing. He was the father of Governor Alonzo B. Cornell.
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