USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 1900 > Part 59
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The " High Bridge " was contracted for in Angust, 1839. Soon afterward the works on Manhattan Istand were placed under con- traci.
The original water commissioners appointed in 18331 retired in March, 1840, and were succeeded by Samuel Stevens, Benjamin Bird- sall, John D. Ward, and Sanmel B. Childs.
The dam across the Croton River was commenced in JJanuary, 1838, and was completed about the end of ISI0. This dam was formed of
' All the original commissioners except B. now board, Mr. Brown was succeeded by Thomas T. Woodruff.
M Brown served until the appointment of the
558
IHISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
" hydraulic stone masonry, connected with an earthen embankment," the embankment being two hundred and fifty feet long, sixty-five feet high at its extreme height, two hundred and fifty feet wide at the base, and fifty-five feet wide at the top, " protected on its lower side by a heavy protection wall twenty feet wide at base." On the night of the 7th of January, 1841, in consequence of a sudden and great rise in the water of the Croton, the portion of the dam com- prised in the earthen embankment gave way, and the whole country below was flooded. Three bridges-Tompkins's Bridge, the bridge at the Wire Mill, and Quaker's Bridge-were swept away, and several mills and dwelling houses were destroyed ; but, so far as was known, only two residents lost their lives. This was the only serious casualty that occurred in connection with the building of the Croton Aque- duct.
It had been earnestly desired by the people of New York that the water should be introduced into the city by the 4th of July, 1842, and this wish was realized. At five o'clock on the morning of the 22d of June, water to the depth of eighteen inches was admitted into the aqueduct from Croton Lake. A boat called the " Croton Maid," carrying four persons, was placed in the aqueduct, to be floated down by the stream. The water, with the boat, arrived at the Harlem River during the night of the 23d. On the 27th it was allowed to enter the receiving reservoir at Yorkville, and on the 4th of July the distributing reservoir on Murray Hill,1 both events being observed with great ceremony. The public celebration-the grandest demon- stration in the history of the city up to that time-was held on the 14th of October. Near the head of the line, as one of the guards of honor, marched the Sing Sing Gnards.
The total cost of the Croton Aqueduet enterprise (reckoning every item of expense) was nearly $12,500,000. Tligh Bridge, as it is at present, was not completed until 1848. The quantity of water at first transmitted through the aqueduct did not exceed 12,000,000 gal- lons daily. The aqueduct was constructed to afford a maximum dis- charge of 72,000,000 United States gallons every twenty-four hours, and it was thought utterly impossible that such a supply would be required for generations to come. But within thirty years even this amount was found inadequate; and by permitting the water to rise in the aqueduct to within twelve and one-half inches of the crown of the arch-thirty-two inches higher than had been originally in- tended-a daily supply of 95,000,000 gallons was forced, which, in turn, was found so far from meeting requirements that two new sup-
1 This was the old Forty-second Street reservoir, long since disused, whose site is to be occupied by the New York Public Library,
559
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1812
plies had to be procured-through the Bronx River conduit (1880-85) and the New Croton Aqueduct (1884-93).
In this chapter we have undertaken to follow the successive events of principal importance from the close of the Revolution to the com- pletion of the Croton Aqueduct. A glance at various particulars and aspects of incidental consequence and interest during this period of sixty years is necessary before continuing our narrative.
We have seen that the Villages of Sing Sing and Peekskill were incorporated, respectively, in 1813 and 1827. No new village incor- poration was effected after that of Peekskill until 1853, when Mount Vernon was organized. It is a curious fact that our large City of Yonkers, which now is nnapproached by any other municipality of the county, did not have its beginning as an organized village until 1855, and in that respect was preceded by three other communities.
At the termination of the Revolution what is now the City of Yonkers at the mouth of the Nepperhan was represented by a very few buildings, most of them widely separated. There were the Manor House of the Philipses, Saint John's Episcopal Church and parsonage, the immemorial mill, and some scattered farmhouses. The Manor House, with three hundred and twenty acres of land adjacent to it, as has been noted in the first part of this chapter, was purchased from the commissioners of forfeiture in 1785 by C. P. Low, a New York merchant, for £14,520. Mr. Low conveyed it in 1786 to William Constable, also a merchant of New York, who in 1796 sold it to Jacob Stout, of New York, for £13,500. Mr. Stont sold it in 1802 for $60,000 to Joseph Howland, of Norwich, Conn. In 1813 the property was bought at anetion by Lemuel Wells, of New York, for $56,000. The estate as owned by Mr. Wells fronted on the Hudson both above and below the mouth of the Nepperhan, and the Albany Post Road ran through it. The accompanying map of the Wells estate gives a fair understanding of the condition, at the time of Lemuel Wells's purchase, and indeed throughoni his proprietorship, of that portion of Yonkers where later the early village began to be built up. Ile was a man of abundant wealth and conservative ideas. " lle did not buy," says Allison, " with the intention of selling his tract either in large or small plots. He was seldom induced to sell or even to lease any of it, but he was not particularly averse to settlers and would offer now and then to build a house on his property for them as tenants." " Of the twenty-six buildings of all kinds," he adds, "including barns, sheds, and little shops, then [1813] on the three hundred and twenty acres of land, abont twelve could have been utilized as dwellings, five were mill buildings for grinding grain and plaster and for sawing and fulling, five were barns and sheds, and
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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
one is represented as containing . shops.'" On the outskirts of the Wells property there were various farmhouses.
Lemmel Wells died on the 11th of February, 1842. During the nearly thirty years of his proprietorship of the representative portion of Yonkers the improvements which he made on his estate were only of an incidental nature. It was not until 1831 that he built a wharf permitting steamboats to land, although for some years previously
NEPPERHAN OR SAW MILL RIVER.
ESTATE OF
LEMUEL WELLS.
GUION'S MILLS
PURCHASED IN 1813.
BOUNDARY OF ESTATE
· LANE
LEADING @_SI
PASTURE
FULLING MILL
CUION'S MILLT
POST ROAD FROM
ALBANY
MILL PONO
SAW MILL
HORSE SHEGS
CHURCH
SHOPS
2
MANSION HOUSE
STABLE
MERCHANT MILL.
ORCHARD
CRAB APPLE
ORCHARD.
HUDSON
RIVER
THE REPRESENTATIVE PORTION OF YONKERS UNDER THE PROPRIETORSHIP OF LEMUEL WELLS.
these vessels had been making landings at Closter (now Alpine) on the opposite side of the river. Indeed, it was a frequent occurrence for Yonkers people desiring to board the steamers to cross over to Alpine. At the time of the death of Mr. Wells, says Allison, Yonkers was " a hamlet of one hundred people-more or less-and a little more than a score of houses."
Meanwhile, however, there had been a gradual accession of vala- ble citizens in the sections bordering the manor property-some of them land purchasers of substantial means, and others men of en- ferprising traits, all realizing the natural advantages of the locality and standing ready to promote its development. As early as 1804 Ebenezer Baldwin became a resident, coming from Norwich. Conn., at the solicitation of Mr. Howland, then the owner of the manor
OF ESTATE.
TO NEW YORK
RIVER
STONY HILL
BARNS
ORCHARD.
MILL POND
AYVONN08
561
GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842
estate, for the purpose of rebuilding the steeple of the church. Mr. Baldwin liked the place and remained, subsequently taking an active part in stimulating its growth and business activity. Many of the most conspienous Yonkers people of this day are numbered among his descendants, or among those connected with his family by mar- riage. In 1820 some two hundred and twenty acres about one mile north of the Manor House were purchased by Frederic Shonnard, son of a French officer, who had served in the body guard of Frederick the Great. At that time Judge Aaron Vark, who united the functions of magistrate, country storekeeper, and postmaster, was the prin- cipal man in the little community. In 1828 William C. Waring and Hezekiah Nichols began to manufacture bodies for wool hats. This was the first introduction of the hat industry-now so important --- in Yonkers, and it was also the first appearance of the name of Waring. The Warings were from Putnam County. John T. War- ing came some years later. But our space does not admit of any attempt to recapitulate the names of the founders of the early Yonkers.
The Nepperhan River, with its long descent from a high eleva- tion, and its considerable volume of water even in the dryest sea- sons, must have been appreciated from the earliest times by men of discreet perceptions as a stream affording ideal conditions for the inauguration of extensive manufacturing industries. But through practically all of its course suitable for mill sites the Nepperhan was embodied in the Manor House estate, and it was not the policy of Lemuel Wells to encourage private manufacturing enterprise on its banks. In 1837 he co-operated with Prince W. and Obed Paddock in the construction of a dam near the present Elin Street Bridge, which later came to be known as the " fifth water power." But this did not immediately lead to any important utilization of the water power. Meanwhile the abundant power of the lower stream was used exclusively for grist and sawmills.
Lemuel Wells left no children. His heirs were numerous, including his widow, three brothers, and their children. The estate was par- titioned in 1843, the principal representative of the heirs being Lem- uel W. Wells, familiarly known in Yonkers (where he lived until his death in 1861) as " Farmer" Wells. From this event dates the beginning of the serions development of Yonkers. "Released from the hand that had so long kept it out of the market, and catching the spirit of enterprise," says Dr. Cole, " the land so long unused. or, where used, devoted to farm purposes only, was quickly laid out in streets and lots, became the scene of busy activity, and was soon dotted with beautiful residences." This change did not transpire at
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IHISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
once, but a new local spirit began to obtain. One of Farmer Wells's earliest transactions was the sale to John Copeutt, for $17,500, of the " first water power "-that is, the first mill-site above the month of the Nepperhan. Mr. Copeutt had previously operated a vencer mill at West Farms, but he was quick to see the promise of superior opportunities at Yonkers. In 1845 he turned his purchase to prac- tical use by converting the Nepperhan mill into an establishment for sawing mahogany wood. Mr. Wells sold the second water power, with its mill buildings, for $11,250, to Messrs. Mitchell and Hutchin- son. Among the new citizens acquired by Yonkers through the parti- tion of the Welly estate was Ethan Flagg, one of the heirs, who bore an exceedingly impor- tant part in the building up of the place.
Thus at the period at which we have arrived in our general narra- tive, Yonkers, destined to a posi- tion of unquestioned supremacy among the municipalities of West- chester County, was just prepar- ing to emerge from a primitive condition of absolute insigniti- cance.
Mount Vernon was still un- thought of. The representative villages For local enterprise were Sing Sing and Peekskill on the CORNELIUS VANDERBILT. Hudson, and West Farms in the southern section of the county. West Farms had by this time become the most progressive locality within the ancient Township of Westchester. To its prominence in this regard it was indebted for the employment of the water power of the Bronx River for manufacturing uses.
In 1836 an ambitious attempt was made by a syndicate of New York capitalists to create a new community in Westchester County, which it was fondly hoped would spring at once into a flourishing condition. Allen W. Hardy and nine associates, attracted by the beautiful situation of Verplanck's Point, and believing that a village founded there would speedily rival Peekskill, bought the property for $300,000 from its proprietor, Philip Verplanck, to whom it had descended from the original Philip Verplanek, grandson of Stephanns Van Cortlandt. These gentlemen laid off the Point into streets and
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GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 18122
avenues, reserving portions of it for parks; but lot purchasers did not appear, and after a year or two the undertaking was abandoned with heavy loss. Thereupon John Henry, one of the chief members of the syndicate, acquired substantially the whole of the Point, and proceeded to organize the brick-making industry which has since become so extensive at Verplanck's. He was tolerably successful from the start, and within a few years the brick yards of Verplanck's Point were yielding a large output and giving employment to numer- ons workmen.
After the introduction of steamboats the river traffic between New York City and the villages of our county (in common with others along the Hudson) gradually became very animated, resulting in con- ditions of keen competition. " Before the construction of the rail- roads," says one of the contributors to Scharf's History,1 " Peek- skill was the depot from which from Westchester County for miles around, from a large portion of Putnam County, and even from Con- nectient, the farmers shipped their produce to New York City. Apples and other fruit, butter, potatoes, cattle, sheep, calves, live pigs, and dressed pork were the principal articles of shipment, and were re- ceived in such quantities as to give employment at one time, when this commerce was at its height, to six market-sloops, while three pas- senger steamboats also shared in the business."
The early days on the river, when it furnished almost the only avenue of commerce, were full of life and bustle. Cornelius Vanderbilt for some years ran a boat between Peekskill and New York, and had quite a struggle for the mastery of the route. In 1832 he began operations with the steamboat " Westchester." having, as he avers in a card to the public some time later, no interest in any other boat in the North River. He met with a rival in the " Water-Witch," a steamboat which was owned by an association of the people all along the river, and farmers back in the country, and which was designed to enable them to resist the extravagant charges of steamboat-owners. The rivalry between the " Water-Witch " and the Commodore's craft waxed so hot that the former finally began to charge only one shilling (twelve and a half cents) for passage from New York to Peekskill. The losses occasioned by the eutting of rates resulted in some of the stockholders in the " Water-Witch" losing courage, and the wily Commodore was enabled to buy a controlling interest in her. After that the rivalry eeased. The " Water-Witch " was but one of several boats owned at ditfer- ent times by similar associations, all of which brought loss to the stockholders.
June 6, 1831. the " General Jackson," plying between Peekskill and New York, exploded on her down trip off Grassy Point, and all the front portion of the cabin was torn away. Three persons were killed outright,-the fireman, a little girl of twelve years of age, who had just tripped on board laughing and talking gayly, and William Mitchell, a resident of Peek- skill. Beverly Rathbone, of Peekskill, was injured so severely that he died some time after the aceident. Jacob Vanderbilt, brother of Cornelius, was captain of the boat, and escaped without injury.
Many other interesting partienlars of the Hudson River traffic be- fore the era of railways might be added. Peekskill had no monopoly of sloop proprietorship. From various points all the way down to
1 W. J. Cumming. IL., 406.
564
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
Yonkers vessels, largely or wholly owned by the farmers and promi- nent citizens, were sailed to and from New York. The present well- known Ben Franklin Transportation Line of Yonkers took its name from a sloop of fifty-seven tons, launched July 4, 1831, which was for the exclusive service of the people of Yonkers and vicinity; and even the original " Ben Franklin " had several predecessors devoted to the local interests of Yonkers.
The organic law of the State of New York, as established by the constitution of 1777, underwent two radical alterations during the period of sixty years now under consideration. Constitutional con- ventions were held in 1801 and 1821, the delegates from Westchester County to the convention of 1801 being Thomas Ferris, Israel Honey- well, Jonathan G. Tompkins, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Jr., and Ebenezer White, and to that of 1821 Peier A. Jay, Jonathan Ward, and Peter J. Munro. Both conventions made revisions in the constitution de- signed to render it more acceptable to the democratic masses- changes which had the hearty support of the majority of the people of our county. The old property qualification for the suffrage was practically abolished in 1821.
For the purpose of representation in the State senate. Westchester County was from 1777 to 1815 associated with New York, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, and Richmond, in the so-called Southern district. From 1815 to 1821 the Counties of Dutchess, Putnam, and Rockland were added to the district, whose name was changed to the 1st. From 1821 to 1846 this county belonged to the 20 senatorial district, em- bracing also Dutchess, Putnam, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Ulster, Queens, and Suffolk.
Westchester County's representatives in the assembly, at first six in number, were reduced successively to five, four, three, and finally (May 23, 1836) to two. The number was again increased, in 1857, to three, at which figure it has since remained. The assemblymen were elected on a general ticket until 1847, when the county was first divided into assembly districts.
The county judges, district attorney, treasurer, clerk, and sheriff hold their offices by appointment until the constitution of 1846 came into effect. Since then they have been elected by popular vote.
The presidential vote of the county from 1828 to 1840, inclusive, was as follows:
1828 .- Andrew Jackson, 3,788 ; John Quincy Adams, 3,153.
1832 .- Andrew Jackson, 3,133 ; Henry Clay, 2,293.
1836 .- Martin Van Buren, 3,009 ; William II. Harrison, 1,749 ; scattering, 287.
1840 -Martin Van Buren, 4,354 ; William H. Harrison, 4,083.
The foundations of the common school system were laid, after an
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GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1812
elementary fashion, toward the beginning of the nineteenth con- tury. In 1795 the legislature passed an act giving annually for tive years the sum of $1,192 of State money for school purposes in West- chester County, to which the people of each town added an amount equal to one-half that received from the State. Later the towns each contributed a sum equal to the State appropriation. The moneys were distributed by school commissioners specially selected. But the present system of school commissioners dates from the legis- lative act of 1849.
Ever since colonial times, the people of this county had always been rated as exceptionally intelligent, with but a small percentage of illiteracy. The New York news- papers enjoyed a very considerable patronage among our citizens before the Revolution, and after the begin- ning of the present century there was scarcely a farmhouse that did not receive some newspaper from New York. There were several early enter- prises in the line of local newspaper publication in the Westchester vil- lages. According to a generally re- liable chronicler, a journal called the Somers Museum was published by Milton F. Cushing in 1810. and in the same year Robert Crombie started at Peekskill the Westchester Gasette, which, after various changes of name, finally became the Peekskill Republi- ran. Other early newspaper ventures in West Farms, Sing Sing. White .I. Fenimon more Cooper Plains, Port Chester, Morrisania, etc., are recorded by this authority.1 The Eastern State Journal, of White Plains, appears to be the oldest present newspaper of the county retaining its original name. It was begun in 1845 by Edmund G. Southerland.
In 1840 the population of Westchester County was just about double that attained in 1790. During the half century there had been an average growth every ten years of slightly more than 4,000. The original character of the population had not yet been materially modified. Men engaged in active daily business in New York had not become regular inhabitants, although there was an increasing tendency to build country residences in which to spend portions of
1 French's " Gazetteer of the State of New York " (1860), p. 697.
1
566
HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY
the year or to lead lives of retirement after the termination of emi- nent or otherwise successful careers.
The most distinguished citizen of our county during the period whose history has been traced in the present chapter was inques- tionably the noble statesman, JJohn Jay. His death in 1829 at his home in Bedford, where he spent the last twenty-eight years of his life, has already been noticed. Another of the great Revolutionary fathers, Gouverneur Morris, retired to his ancestral estate in this county in the fullness of his honors and fame, and was buried in our soil.
Throughout the Revolution Gouverneur Morris was a resident of Philadelphia, serving the government for a portion of the time as a member of congress, and later as assistant superintendent of the finances. His mother meantime had continued to live at Morrisania, where Gouverneur visited her at the conclusion of the war, after an absence of seven years. By purchasing the rights of his brother, General Staats Long Morris, of the British army, he became possessed of all the Morrisania estate east of Mill Brook. He did not, however, abandon his residence in Philadelphia, and in 1787 he was elected a delegate from Pennsylvania to the federal constitutional conven- tion. lle spent the next ten years in Europe, and during the most violent period of the French Revolution was the American minister at Paris. While abroad he was employed in other important diplo- matie connections. Returning to this country in 1798, he established his residence at Morrisania, where he built a new house. From 1800 to 1803 he served as United States senator from New York. " A change in parties prevented his re-election, and with the expiration of his term his political life ended. He passed the remainder of his life at Morrisania. ' An ample fortune, numerous friends, a charm- ing retreat, and a tranquil home were the elements of his happiness and filled up the measure of his hopes.'"1 The leisure of his closing years was devoted to study, literary pursuits, and the advocacy of
1 This ritation well indicates the tastes and temperament of the man. He possessed a very lovable nature, thongh marked by great dignity of character. Asked to give his description of a gentleman, Gouverneur Morris wrote the following lines:
'Tis ho whose every thought and deed By rulo of virtue moves, Whose generous tongne disdains to speak The thing his heart disproves.
Who never did a slander forge, llis neighbor's fame to wound; Nor hearken to a false report
By malice whispered 'round.
Who vice, in all its pomp and power. l'an treat with just neglect ; And piety, though cloth'd in rags, Religiously respect.
Who to his plighted words and trust Has ever firmly stood; And, though he promised to his loss, lle makes his promise good.
Whose soul in nsury disdains llis treasures to employ, Whom no reward ean over bribe The guiltless to destroy.
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GENERAL COUNTY HISTORY TO 1842
useful schemes of pubNe policy, especially internal improvements. He was one of the projectors and earnest promoters of the Erie Canal. He died at Morrisania on the 6th of November, 1816, in the sixty- fifth year of his age. " His remains were buried where Saint Anne's Church now stands, the east aisle covering their original resting place. They were afterward transferred to the family vault, which is the first one east of the church. His wife cansed a marble slab to be placed over the temporary tomb, and that still remains."
Several of the most notable literary characters of the first half century of the republic were identified with Westchester County by residence.
James Fenimore Cooper, born in New Jersey and reared on the frontiers of New York, married, on the 1st of January, 1811, Susan Angusta, daughter of John Peter de Lancey, of Mamaroneck, and great-granddaughter of Colonel Caleb Heathcote. Cooper was at that time in his twenty-second year. The young couple made their home in Mamaroneck, where Cooper wrote his first novel, " Precantion." Contracting the acquaintance of John Jay, he obtained from him the sugges- tion for his second work, " The Spy." or " Tale of the Neutral Ground," which formed the basis of his literary reputation. Thus the beginnings of Cooper's fame were incidental exclu- sively to his residence in Westchester J. RODMAN DRAKE. County.
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