History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 174

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II > Part 174

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REID'S MILL .- This structure, which, as we have seen, was built by Shute & Stanton in 1739, after a career of little less than a century and a half, stands yet in mueh strength, seemingly indifferent of the future, as if conscious of the good work upon which its frame rests. In its earlier history this mill merely met the demands of the farming population around it,2 but after the Revolution an extensive grinding of Western grain was for years carried on in it. The miller of those latter years, Robert Reid, was a prompt and thoroughly honest man, and notwithstanding his tartness of man- ner, mueh respected. Those were times of mueh activity upon Mill Creek, and of amazing aceom- plishments of haste on the part of Reid, and the trim craft that sailed these waters. The quiet which now pervades this locality is a commentary on the un- certainty of everything human, for here, if anywhere, was the promise of unfailing prosperity.

FIRE COMPANIES AND LARGE CONFLAGRATIONS.

The town of East Chester seems to have been with- out any public provision for the extinguishing of fire until about thirty years ago, when, in the new village of Mt. Vernon,

CLINTON HOOK-AND-LADDER COMPANY, NO. 1, was organized. This was effected on the 24th of November, 1855. In 1871 a reorganization took place under the amended charter of the village.

The following gentlemen have held the office of Foreman successively to the present date :

1. Drake P. Todd.

7. George Howard.

2. Chas. E. Raymond.

8. William J. Collins.

3. Charles H. Weiss. 9. Charles W. Ilick.

4. David Quaekenbush. 10. Minot C. Kellogg.

5. Mathew Morrison. 11. Edson Lewis.

6. Geo. R. Crawford.

12. W. H. Van Arsdale. The number of members is thirty-five.

WASHINGTON ENGINE COMPANY, NO. 1, of the town of East Chester, was organized June 4, 1860, incorporated March 30, 1867, and accepted by Town Board November 10, 1867.

The following persons have been Foremen of this company :

1. B. F. Durkee.

2. A. C. Beardsley.

7. Jolîn Lang.

8. Frederick Swift.

REID'S MILL, BUILT IN 1739. East Chester.

3. C. T. Hathaway.

9. Frank Butler.

4. Philip Lucas, Jr. 10. E. B. Howland.

5. B. F. Wallace. 11. Joseph A. Smith.

6. William White. 12. Peter Walker.

The present Foreman is Frederick Earle. The present number of members is thirty.

PROTECTION ENGINE COMPANY, No. 1, was organ- ized June 2, 1874, and at the same date accepted by the Trustees of the Village of West Mount Vernon. The present number of members is thirty, and the following members have filled the position of Fore- man :

1. John Lang, Jr. 4. Emil J. Volmer.

2. Ferdinand Johnson. 5. Frederick Swift, the

3. J. A. Lawrence. present Foreman.

The two companies of Mt. Vernon are under the direction and control of the Board of Trustees, whose approval is necessary in the admission of members, the election of officers and other important matters. The two companies form a Department and annually elect a Chief Engineer. The following gentlemen

1 " Life and Writings of John Adams," vol. x. p. 156.

2 In 1762 a town committee charged with other duties are, besides en- joined " to regulate Mr. Woldron's Toll Dish." Mr. Woldron owned this mill from 1759 to 1766.

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

have held the position : George R. Crawford, Wil- liam J. Collins, James Wilkinson, William Ander- son, Charles W. Hick and Emil J. Vollmer, now in command.

In the earlier history of this town an extensive contlagration was not possible, because of the remote- ness from each other of the houses. The peril, how- ever, was realized after the multiplieation of buildings in the vicinity of Mount Vernon depot. At the burn- ing of Peter Shute's store, in October, 1856, replaced by what has since been called "Van Court's," the danger was alarmingly apparent. The building, in which inflammable material was stored, had to be abandoned to its fate, but the hotel opposite was saved through the instrumentality of the members of Clinton Hook-and-Ladder Company, which was early on the ground. The firemen were congratulated on all sides for their noble exertions.

Seventeen years afterward, with a difference only of two days (October 8, 1873), in this very neighbor- hood, occurred the conflagration which had thus been averted. It originated on the corner of First Street and Fourth Avenue, and a high wind blowing, the Hames swept along both the avenue aud street, eon- suming sixteen houses, including three hotels. The loss was estimated at one hundred and twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars, and not more than sixty-eight thousand two hundred dollars was covered by insurance. The portion of the village over which this fire spread was at the time, as now, the business centre, but as without delay the lost edi- fices were replaced by others of brick, a very great improvement in the appearance of the locality was soon manifest.

In addition to the legal organizations detailed, the society known as The Exempt Firemen's Association is named, which, though formed so lately as 1885, will in all likelihood, as it increases year by year in num- bers, become an instrument of influence as well as source of pride.

BANKS AND BANKING INSTITUTIONS.

With the growth of the population and of the varied business interests of the town the necessity for banking facilities became more and more pressing. In 1868, through the instumentality of Mr. Cornelius Corson,

THE EAST CHESTER NATIONAL BANK was char- near Union Corners. The present number of inmates tered, with William M. Tweed, of New York, as is sixty-two. The institution was incorporated in 1869, but the act of incorporation was much altered in 1884. The children receive instruction iu the ele- mentary branches, in both the English and German languages, and also in farm work and domestic duties and in their religion. The Rev. W. A. Passa- vant is the president of the Board of Managers, and the Rev. G. C. Holls the corresponding secretary and director of the Home. The buildings are commodi- ous and well arranged. President, Mr. Corson as Vice-President, and Mr. Henry S. Murray as Cashier. The eapital invested was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The bank had its office in Mt. Vernon, under Washington Hotel, Fourth Avenue. It continued affording ad- vantages to this and the neighboring towns until the Tweed troubles came on, in 1874, when the stock was sold out to Mason, Cox & Smith, bankers, of New York, who, in the course of a year, wound up its affairs and transferred it to the West.

A short time afterward John M. Masterton, who had been one of its directors, with Philip Lucas, Jr.,

and William II. Pemberton, organized a private banking house, under the name of

JOIN M. MASTERTON & Co .- The business was conducted at first in "Van Court's office," and fromn April 1, 1874, in more ample rooms in Berry's Build- ing, in Fourth Avenue, Mt. Vernon. Mr. Pemberton, after a few years, withdrew his interest. In Novem- ber, 1884, the firm was compelled to make an assigu- ment, and its business was closed.

EAST CHESTER SAVINGS BANK was established in 1871 by Act of the Legislature. Its first president was John M. Masterton, who occupied the position until November, 1884. The Bank was opened at Washington Hall, Fourth Avenue, whenee, being burnt out in the large fire of 1873, it was removed to Van Court's Building, and afterwards, in 1874, to Berry's Building, where its business is transacted. Its present trustees are Messrs. Joseph S. Clark (who is also President), William H. Pemberton, David Crom- well, John Berry, Ferdinand Holm, Gerard Martens, James S. Van Court, Joseph S. Wood, Azro Fowler, George D. Roekwell. George H. Browu, J. H. Zabriskie, E. P. Fuller.

BANK OF MOUNT VERNON, N. Y .- This bank was started in 1885, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars, and has been conducted with marked success. It has deposits to the amount of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. Its president is Mr. Gouverneur Rogers; vice-president, Mr. Henry C. Siuith ; and cashier, Mr. Jesse Lantz. The following gentlemen are directors: Messrs. Jolm Berry, James L. Reynolds, Joseph S. Clark, James S. Van Court, Johu Van Santvoord, Gouverneur Rogers, Minot C. Kellogg, Archibald M. Campbell.

This bank has its place of business also in Berry's Building.

CHARITABLE AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS.

WARTBURG ORPHAN FARM SCHOOL, of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church, was established in 1866. The object of this institution is to rear and educate fatherless and motherless children, who are admitted from six to ten years of age. The institution is sup- ported solely by voluntary contributions. The prop- erty consists of one hundred acres, with the necessary buildings, and is entirely free from debt. It is located

NEW YORK INFANT ASYLUK .- This institution, which, according to its charter, has for its object the " charge of foundlings and other infant ehildren of

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EAST CHESTER.

the age of two years and under, to prevent the maternal abandonment of homeless iufants, and to di- minish the moral dangers aud personal sufferings to which homeless mothers are exposed," in 1878 cstab- lished a branch iu this town, on the White Plains road, about a mile distant from the Bronxville depot, on the Harlem Railroad. In addition to the dwell- ing found on the place, formerly the residence of Sheriff Townsend, a number of houses have been erected, conspicuous among which are the main building, of brick, another called after the first president of the institution, the Foster Cottage, the Bates Cottage and another after the treasurer. There are at this writing two hundred aud eighty-five in- fants, one hundred and forty-five women and seven officers at the institution.

INNS, HOTELS AND TAVERNS.

In the agreement of 1665 the twentieth point is " that one man, either of himself or by consent, may give entertainment to strangers for mon- ey."

It was in accordance with this under- standing that, on January 24, 1679, Mo- ses Hoit was "chosen to keep ordenary and entertayn strangers for the year inshuing, for pay." This resolution was passed again in 1683.

In the account of the election on the Green, in 1733, the houses of " Jo- seph Fowler " and of " Mr. Baker." and, little doubt, of " Mr. Child," whither the contestants betook themselves before the election, were houses of refreshment. And so also it must be supposed that a tavern of a later date is indicated, at which assembled, in 1775, at " Forbes'," the officers of Colonel Drake's new levy.

CRAWFORD'S .- How long before the Revolution this house, to the north of the Green, had been a place of public entertainment is not known. During the occupation of the neighborhood by the English forces it was a favorite resort for officers. On the sign-post in front of this tavern a British deserter was summarily hung. Mr. Crawford, familiarly known as "Billy Crawford," continued the obliging and popu- lar host for many years after the war.

GUION'S .- This inn, situated in the village of East Chester, on the road to Boston, not far from its junc- tion with the road to Westchester, was kept by Wil- liam Baker as early as 1728, but during the Revolu- tion by Charles Guion.

There is a tradition in his family that in this house General Washington was ill for several days, and that in leaving it he asked of the hostess, in recognition of her kindness to him, permission to kiss her check, which her husband insisted should never after be washed. It was at this tavern that Governor George

Clinton, in 1783, at the evacuation of New York, as- sembled the members of the State Council, in pursu- ance of the act passed October 23, 1779, and entitled " an act to provide for the temporary government of the southern part of this State whenever the enemy shall abandon or be dispossessed of the same, and until the Legislature can be convened."

This inn held its own as a popular stopping-place for a number of years. In the "Journal of a tourist through the Eastern States, 1776," we find the follow- ing item : "Thence proceeded on to East Chester, where I slept all night in a good bed at Mr. Guion's." 1

This public-house was still later kept by one Frederick Friend. It was at this time that it be- came extensively known by the exhibition in it of the strange spectacle of the petrified body of Mr. Friend's mother, discovered in this condition on its removal from a city cemetery to St. Paul's Church- yard directly opposite. Thousands, it is said, visited this house during this excitement. For the last

CHARLES GUION'S TAVERN, East Chester.

forty years it has been a private residence, and is now sadly out of repair.

FOWLER'S .- This inn, originally described as on the southerly corner of the old road to Boston and the road 1 to Mile Square, and which in 1733 was kept by Joseph Fowler, passed to his son, William Fowler, whose private residence it became and continued until the Revolution, when it was known as the head- quarters of the Hessian officer, Colonel Emmerick. Several years before the close of the last century Mr. Philemon H. Fowler, son of William, reopened it as a tavern, which soon became a favorite stopping-place for travelers on the way to Boston, also to White Plains, Danbury and beyond.

Mr. Fowler obtained a high reputation for his hos- pitality and integrity, and this confidence brought to him many responsible trusts. In 1797 and thereafter for seventeen successive years, and in 1823 and 1824, the town-meetings were here held. In 1798 an addi-

1 Sometimes nowy called the extension of Third Avenue, Mt. Vernon

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HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

tion was made to the old house, and a spacious room was fitted up in it for the neighboring Lodge of Masons, of which order Mr. Fowler was then an en. thusiastic member. The Lodge occupied it until 1815. Mr. Fowler after retiring from business continued his residence in it until his death, in 1861. On occasion of his funeral the Free Masons of Hia- watha and other lodges assembled in the old Lodge- room, and thence procceded to pay the proper honors to the memory of their valned associate.

ELISHA SHUTE'S .- This tavern was on the casterly side of the White Plains Road, directly opposite where it is joined by the Road styled "to Bedford and Ver- mont." The house was taken down when this last named road was extended over to Pelhamville. The town-meeting was held herc in 1794.

ODELL'S .- This hotel, built in 1875, occupies the site where Dr. John G. Wright lived immediately after the Revolution. The mill on Rattlesnake Creek built by John Jackson in 1670, was in the rear, if not part, of the property " home lot" to which the site of this house belonged. One Vredenburg is supposed to have been the first who here kept public accommo- dations in this century. He was succeeded by James Arınstrong, an Englishman, who was noted in his day as spreading the best table between New York and Boston. After his death the house was kept by his widow, a daughter of Charles Guion. Mrs. Arm- strong's management still further contributed to its excellent reputation.

In 1820 it passed into the hands of David Smith, who, in 1824, entertained General Lafayette on his way east- ward during his celebrated tour. Mr. Smith was succeed- ed by Mr. James Townsend and Eden Edwards. The fame thus obtained for an excellent inn has been more than illustrated for the last forty years by the present host, Stephen Odell. The new hotel erected by him in 1876 affords the ample accommodations with which the traveler is glad to meet. A pass was found be- tween two shingles of the old house at the time of its removal. It is likely that an inn may have been here at avery early date, for the "ordinary " of Moses lloit was in this neighborhood. The pass reads as fol- lows :

"Permit the bearer hereof William Thompson a private Soldier Independent Company of British Fusileers posted at Fort York, to pass and repass about his lawful occasions to

from the date hereof until the twenty third day of April

lle beheaving himself ns becometh. And then to return to his Comm to the aforesaid Fort or Garrison. I'nder my hand in New York this twenty fifth Day of October 173

" HUBERT MARSHALL.

"" To the officers, Civil and Military whom these may Concern."

HANNAH FISHER'S .- No public house on the road to Boston, after the building of the turnpike, was better remembered by travelers than Hannah Fish- er's, and was patronized as much from curiosity to see her as to partake of the always-good fare provided. The hostess is represented as a woman of large frame and immense strength, and had a beard. She would

readily take up a barrel of cider and drink out of the bung-hole. Stories of Aunt Hannah, her good na- turc, her strength, her sex, shortened many a mile on the Post Road. Although everything was scrupu- lously neat and the hostess insisted and maintained propriety and order, the largest number of the rattles and other such lower amusements of the town oc- curred at her house.

WIDOW MORRILL'S .- For nearly forty years, be- ginning with the closing years of the last century, Robert Morrill, then his widow, and then Lancaster U. Tompkins kept the tavern on the road to White Plains, not far from the old school-house of the sec- ond distriet,-indced, immediately adjoining the lot where the new school-house has just been crected. Here the town, after leaving Philemon Fowler's, in 1816, held, for nearly a score of years, its annual meetings and elections.

MARBLE HALL .- This was the name given to the tavern started at the opening of the work in the quarries by Kain & Morgan. It was kept by John R. Hayward, and was the house which Jonathan Ward built on the site of the Ward House, destroyed in the Revolution. The new house is said to have been the exact counterpart of the old. Here the Judge had lived many years, and had reared an inter- csting family. It was at this tavern that President Van Buren, in his tour of 1839, was entertained by the citizens of East Chester.

GOULD'S HOTEL .- This House, which is directly opposite where stood the original depot of the New Haven Railroad at Mt. Vernon, was built, in 1852, by Mr. George Gould, and flourished under his pro- prietorship until his death, in 1870. Mrs. Gould and son continued it successfully until 1878, when Mr. Josiah Roc leased the premises, and is now conduct- ing this inn with much satisfaction to wayfarers and permanent guests. There is a large hall in this hotel, which has been, from the first, a favorite place of assemblage for town-meetings, celebrations, polit- ical harangues, balls and the like publie uscs.

WASHINGTON HOTEL -- This was a frame building. sixty by forty feet, and three stories high, on Fourth Avenue, near First Street, Mt. Vernon. It was erected by Andrew Todd, in 1853, and combined in its uses tavern, boarding-house and a large room for public meetings, fairs, balls, exhibitions and other entertainments. In 1866, Mr. Todd leased it to Mr. Benjamin Wallace, who conducted the business with energy and success. The structure was, however, burnt to the ground in the conflagration of 1873. It was in front of this hotel that the first meeting was held in East Chester to sustain the Government in the suppression of the Rebellion, and from the pi- azza the leading men of the town, the elergy and others addressed the assembled citizens.

Other hotels of less moment are here recorded,- Bishop Underhill's (ncar Scarsdale) ; Elijah Rich's, Rock Cottage, Bock's (near Hunt's Bridge), Pugmire's

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EAST CHESTER.

(at Tuckahoe), Wood's, Gebman's, Scheuerman's, Diee- man's, Oster's, Kapp's.

PUBLIC HALLS.

Beside the audience chambers in some of the Hotels which have been named, several large rooms have been popular for larger assemblages, and are here loted :

JOURNEAU'S HALL was on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fourth Street, Mt. Vernon, and early in the history of that village was the room most used for public occasions. Meetings for municipal, literary, social and religious purposes were continually held in it. Several religious bodies conducted their ineip- ient services in these humble quarters.

CENTRAL HALL was on the corner of Third Avenue and Fourth Street, Mt. Vernon, and was also frequently in demand for meetings of the stirring settlers of that locality.

UNION HALL, on the corner of First Street and Sixth Avenue, in the same village, was, however, for more than twenty-five years the most popular of these publie places. Here political meetings, church fairs, lectures, concerts, balls, brought out and displayed the various phases of town life. Here a large number of Sunday-school children were for years instructed, and here its walls were made to resound annually with the sweets carols and unrestrained rejoicings of the children of old St. Paul's around their Christmas trees.

This building is at the present time undergoing extensive repairs and alterations, and will probably regain its old usefuluess.

FOURTH AVENUE HALL, which is in Mt. Vernon, near First Street, has an audience-room of eighty by fifty feet. It is frequently used for fairs, concerts, lectures and the like. For a year or two a skating rink has been kept in this room.

FIFTH AVENUE HALL .- This is a new hall, seven- ty-five feet by fifty feet, with seating capacity for seven hundred persons. It has been the popular place for the opera, for concerts and for fairs. Mr. Charles Hendricks is the proprietor.

TEMPERANCE HALL is in the village of Waverley, and has been found of occasional value for a number of years.

LIBRARIES .- The earliest public library in the town, of which we have any account, is that of the old Westchester Lodge of Masons. At its meeting on September 22, 1806, the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted :

In a short time a library of six hundred and thirty- eight volumes was accumulated, of Masonic and Relig- ious works, histories, biographies, novels and romances, and the privilege of their use was extended to others than members of the Fraternity on the yearly pay- inent of four dollars. It is said that a great many persons, especially the ladies, availed themselves of this opportunity of self-improvement. This library was removed to New Rochelle in 1815.

In each of the five school districts of the town there are libraries from which books are distributed. The number of volumes in the First District School is four hundred and sixty-five, in the Second, twelve hundred and forty-five ; in the Third, (number not at hand); in the Fourthi, twenty-eight hundred and fifty ; and in the Fifth, seven hundred.

PRESS.

The first paper published in the town was estab- lished September 30, 1854, under the name of The Mount Vernon Gazette. Mr. Henry S. Hill was the senior editor, and Mr. Egbert A. S. Manning his assistant. After six months Mr. Hill surrendered to Mr. Manning who received the fullest co-operation of the people in his desire to make his journal an ae- ceptable and useful instrumentality. Mr. Manning, however, whose health had been for a long time fail- ing him, was called to his rest in February, 1857, and the paper survived him but a few months. A refer- enee to the editorials of Mr. Manning show that the progress of Mount Vernon has not exceeded his ardent anticipations. The following is an extract from the Carriers' Annual Address of January 1, 1857:

" Your news-boy will venture to say There's no pleasanter spot upon earth, Our health is a treasure ; then we've parties of pleasure That abound in innocent mirth,

Making each winter's night pass off with delight, Whilst the summer's new pleasures do bring.

When pic-nics of glee from our hills to the sea Make the valleys of East Chester ring. Oh, could the pale city belles know Of our health and our honest good cheer, I am sure they would not long forego The pleasure to dwell with us here."

After the discontinuance of the Gazette, a limited supply of the news of East Chester might be obtained from the columns of the Yonkers Examiner and The Suburban News, On the first of these journals MIr. Charles E. Manning, of Mount Vernon, was employed. The Suburban was started in 1862 in New York City by Thomas E. Towndrow, and lasted for several years. Mr. Towndrow's valuable services to Westchester County, and especially to this town, through his rela- tions to the metropolitan press deserves to be noticed. From the year 1851, in which he started the Yonkers Herald, until the present time, twenty years of which he has resided in this town, he has been the unfalter- ing friend and promoter of all its advance, as he has been the means of communicating for extensive in- formation many things of interest in its passing

" It being the fervent wish of the members of this Lodge to improve their minds in knowledge, morality and virtue, and believing this end better promoted by reading the writings of good and wise men, do there- fore

" Resolve, That in future all moneys remaining in the Treasury, after all expenses have been paid and charitable purposes answered, shall be applied to the purchase of books for the use of this Lodge ; and that they may be done according to law, whereby the property will be secured, each member shall subscribe the sum of fifteen dollars and pay three dollars and fifty cents annually."

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 174

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898,
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1286