History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 21

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 21

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SECTION XIII. The City Newspapers.

We have seen that population did not begin to gather with much strength on Yonkers ground till within about thirty-seven years. The comparative recency of the settlement makes the history of Yon- kers newspapers a brief onc. The papers of the place which date from furthest back, and have a really cs-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

tablished foothold, are two only,-" The Yonkers Ga- ' out the balance. Since that he has been sole owner zette," the older of the two, published weekly, and " The Yonkers Statesman," which issues both a weekly and a daily edition. The Gazette is published on Saturday and the Weelily Statesman on Friday. We give a brief history of each of these papers.

THE YONKERS GAZETTE .- In 1852, three years before the date of the village incorporation, Thomas Towndrow, a collector of Westehester County news for the New York papers, came to Yonkers one day in search of items. Mr. Thomas C. Cornell, on whom he called, asked him why a newspaper could not be started in Yonkers. He caught at the question and the result was that in a few days thereafter he himself came to the place, bringing Thomas Smith with him as his printer and associate, and began a paper under the name of The Yonkers Herald. The two soon dis- agreeing over business questions, Mr. Towndrow withdrew and left the paper to Mr. Smith, who pub- lished it alone for some years as editor and proprietor. In the spring of 1864 it was purchased from him by the "Yonkers Democratie Publishing Association," and was for a short time edited by E. K. Olnisted and J. G. P. Holden together. Mr. Olmsted soon leaving it to assume an editorial position on the New York Journal of Commerce, Mr. Holden after his departure became the responsible editor.

Mr. Holden's connection with the paper dates from its first number under the Democratie Publishing Association, which was issued May 7, 1864.

With the paper of June 4, 1864, the name was changed to The Gazette.

From and including the issue of March 4, 1865, to and inehiding that of March 31, 1866, Henry B. Dawson of Morrisania, the historian, was editor of the paper, Mr. Hoklen being associate editor and business manager. During this period the historical genius of Mr. Dawson was strongly impressed upon the paper, and it became especially useful to histo- rians through its publication of the famous "Gazette Series," afterwards collected and published in a limited number of copies, which were sold at a hun- ‹Ired dollar- each and have since been noted for their value as volumes for reference. This value will probably increase as years go on.

With the issue of May 6, 1866, Mr. Hoklen assumed the sole editorial control of the Gazette, which he has since maintained withont interruption. On the 15th of the same month its title was lengthened to The Youliers Gazette, and by this name it has become widely known. During 1866, Mr. Hoklen svenred a controlling interest in the stock, and soon after bought

as well as editor, and in his hands the paper has ob- tained a national reputation as one of the brightest and most readable of the local weeklies published in the country. The paper has been enlarged four times sinee May, 1864, and is now a folio of nine columns to the page. Politieally it is Democratic, but has been independent in its treatment of all general sub- jects arising from time to time before the press.

Mr. J. G. P. Hoklen, the genial editor and pro- prietor of the Yonkers Gazette, was born at Pough- keepsie, Dutchess County, N. Y., August 22, 1834, being the ekdest son of Thomas and Sarah Parker Holden. After a good common-school education he was graduated at the Quintilian Seminary, Pough- keepsie, then under the directorship of Rev. Eliphaz Fay. From school-life he at once entered upon a thorough preparation for that voeation in life which he has sinee so highly honored, taking a position as " devil " in the office of the Poughkeepsie Telegraph, September 2, 1850, and, through six years of faithful application, working his way step by step to a mas- tery not only of the practical requirements of newspaper work, but to editorial fitness as well. During this time he also served two years as assistant postmaster of Poughkeepsie (under the administra- tion of Franklin Pierce), and in the summer of 1858 went to New York City for a brief season of work on the Journal of Commerce. Returning to Ponghkeepsie in November of the same year, he connected himself with the Daily Press as loeal editor and eashier, and in April, 1859, bought a fourth interest in the same, his associate publishers being A. S. Pease and J. W. Spaight. From this time until the spring of 1863 Mr. Hoklen continued (barring a short service as reporter and proof-reader on the New York Sun) his associa- tion with the Poughkeepsie Press, but, in May of this year, formed a copartnership with J. H. Hager for the establishment of the Daily Poughkeepsian. With this venture his interests were allied until the elose of 1863, and in the following spring, having disposed of his interest in the Poughkeepsian, he responded to a telegram from Elon Comstock, Esq., at that time one of the proprietors of the New York World, re- questing his coming to Yonkers to take charge of the Yonkers Herald, as business manager and local editor. With this paper-the name of which was shortly after changed to the Yonkers Gazette-Mr. Holden has ever since been connected, having been its editor since March, 1866, and, during most of the time, its sole proprietor. It is his conduct of this paper which has proven his eminent fitness for his calling, the fame of the Gazette being world-wide, not only for its elevated tone, versatility and humor, but for its splen- did make-up and typographical beauty. To every element of this success Mr. Hollen has contributed his genius, personally overlooking the weekly arange- ment of its forms, and imparting to its letter-press not only much of editorial force and effectiveness, but no

1 Thus, in 1861, the original Yonkers Herold passed from the hands of Thomas Smith, Mr. Smith, however, remained in Yonkers and followed the business of printing. In May. 1566, he began a publication under the name of The Yankees Herull, Jr., and later he again for a long time publishe la paper called The Youker. Herald, Mr. Smith was widely known and exercised a considerable influence for many years among politicians, Ile died In Yonkers In August, 1571.

YONKERS.

little of that pungency which has given the Gazette place in the front rank of entertaining journals. As a writer of political editorials, he excels in that power of concentration which is especially effective, and as one of the original paragraphers (in which sphere his nom de plume of Nonpareil Quadrat, X. P. D., is so well known) he yet gives the sparkle of wit to many brief comments on the news and foi- bles of the day. His quick conception, too, of humor and sentiment in others has been of rare service in brightening the weekly issues of his paper, and, as " Ralph Redwood," he has for a long time demon- strated this by " Diamonds of Thought," mined from the best current literature. His interest in New York journalism is attested by his many years' member- ship in the New York Press Association, to the promotion of whose success he has given much time and labor, and by which he has been consecu- tively honored as secretary, vice-president and presi- dent.

Mr. Holden's public-spiritedness has been mani- fest throughout his career. At Poughkeepsie he was for eight years an active member of the Fire Depart- ment and one of the organizers of the Ellsworth Greys, an independent military company formed on receipt of the news of the tragic death of Colonel El- mer Ellsworth, which company (attached to the Twenty-first Regiment New York National Guards) served three months during the War of the Rebel- lion. In Yonkers he was an original member of the Palisade Boat Club; trustec, eleven years secretary and now vice-president of the People's Savings- Bank; allied himself with Nepperhan Lodge, No. 736, F. and A. M. ; and became member of the board of directors of the Free Reading-Room. Although he has never been an office-seeker, the Democratic party (of which he has always been a consistent supporter) has made repeated recognition of his valu- able services, he being, in turn, chosen as town clerk, village clerk and city treasurer, having been ap- pointed to the last office by Mayor William G. Stahl- necker, and duly confirmed and installed March 11, 1885, and reappointed by Mayor Bell, May 24, 1886.

Although not a professor of religion, Mr. Holden has been for thirty years a pew-holder in the Baptist Church and a firm believer in its doctrines, this be- lief being, perhaps, an inheritance from his maternal grandfather, George Parker, of Lancashire, England, who left his country because of religious persecution, and established at Poughkeepsie the first Baptist So- ciety in that part of this country. In November, 1864, Mr. Holden was married to Miss Maria E. Le Count, of Brooklyn, who, with the three children born to them,-Edwin R., George P. and Mary,- shares with him the comforts of their charming Yonkers home. This happy alliance has added not a little to the elements of Mr. Holden's success, stead- fast encouragement and wisc counsel having empha- sized the industry, business alertness, intelligence

and sound judgment that have contributed to win for him the fair fame which is now his popular award.

THE YONKERS STATESMAN .- In 1856, one year after the incorporation of the village, and four years after the beginning of The Yonkers Herald, Mr. Thom- as C. Cornell, whose passing question had been the means of bringing that paper into existence, not be- ing in sympathy with the political direction given to it by Mr. Smith, united with others in the effort to start a Whig journal. At the time the new law-firm of Stedwell & Mann, had just been formed in the vil- lage. Mr. Jeremiah H. Stedwell, one of the gentle- men interested in the project, brought to Yonkers to edit such a journal, his friend Mr. Matthew F. Rowe, who was publishing a paper at the time in Peekskill. On the 23d of February, 1856, Mr. Rowe issued the first number of a weekly paper under the name of 'the Examiner. The population of the town at the time was seven thousand five hundred and fifty-four. Mr. Rowe ran the paper as a personal enterprise till 1863. About 1861, however, another weekly, called The Clarion, had been started. In 1863 the Exam- iner and the Clarion were both purchased by Everett Clapp, Justus Lawrence, G. Hilton Scribner and others. Both names were dropped, and a paper was started with Mr. Rowe as the editor, and The Yonkers Statesman as the name. This arrangement continued until October, 1864, when Justus Lawrence and Matthew F. Rowe became the proprietors. In 1869 Mr. Rowe became the sole owner. In 1872 John W. Oliver was engaged as associate editor, and in that capacity first and as editor afterwards, he continued till April, 1881, when the paper was purchased by the " Yonkers Publishing Company," a corporation or- ganized under the laws of the State with a cash cap- ital of ten thousand dollars. By this company Mr. Oliver was engaged and continues to be employed as editor and publisher. He was for many years a printer in the city of New York, and, of course, is thoroughly familiar with the working details of the printing department. He has been prominent in pol- itics, is a kecn observer of passing events, municipal, State and national, and though now over seventy years of age, maintains a physical and mental vitality and vivacity which insure a wide-awake paper with every issue. It is worthy of note that hic was the original founder of the order known as the "Sons of Temperance " in this country.

On the 10th of November, 1883, the first number of The Yonkers Daily Statesman was issued. It is now in its third year. It contains the telegraphic des- 'patches of the New York Associated Press, reports of the markets, and full county and local news. From the beginning it has been a marked success. It is the only daily paper published in Westchester County.

Though Republican in politics, the Statesman is outspoken in the interests of the people, and so speaks on all subjects as to maintain a due independ-

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

ence and command the general popular confidence and respect.

John W. Oliver, the editor of the Yonkers Statex- man, was born April 30, 1815. His father was a far- mer in Baltimore County, Md., and died in 1823, 1 leaving a widow and four children, three of whou still survive, John being the eldest. In histwelfth year he was bound by the Orphans' Court of Balti- more to Benjamin Edes, to learn the printing busi- ness. Mr. Edes died of cholera in 1832, and John's unexpired term of apprenticeship was sold by the widow, according to the laws of Maryland, to Thomas Bootliby, with whom he served out his time, which expired April 30, 1835. Such education as he has was picked up in the printing-office.

Seeing little prospect of advancement in Baltimore, on the 5th of May follow- ing, with bundle in hand and less than five dollars in poeket, he started on foot for York, Pa. Finding no encouragement there he, pushed on to Philadelphia, and then to New York. He arrived in the metrop- olis about noou, May 15th, an entire stranger, and with just six cents in his pocket. In less than an hour he was at work; in less than a month he was foreman of the office, and in less than two years he had an office of his own.

idea was entirely practicable, and that he would make such a press, and guarantee it to work, for six hundred dollars. But the trouble was to raise the money. Mr. Oliver called on George Bruce, the wealthy type-founder, who had furnished nearly all his material, explained his object and asked that gentleman to furnish the press and give the young beginner an opportunity to pay for it by in- stalments with interest, taking a mortgage on his whole establishment as security. After a little re- flection Mr. Bruce replied, with characteristic deliber- ation,-" Well, Mr. Oliver, in the first place, I con- sider your theories in regard to the cylinder-press, entirely visionary; and, in the second place, it is a rule with me not to allow my capital to be used by

those who have no capital, to bring them into compe- tition with my customers who have capital." "Good day, Mr. Bruce !" was the only reply of the young man as he retired.

In the spring of 1840 Mr. Oliver helped to organize the Washingtonian movement in New York. In 1842 he and his brother Isaac organized the Order of the Sons of Temperance. Under the firm-name of Oliver & Brother they conducted the printing busi- ness and published The New York Organ, a weekly paper of large circulation, and perhaps the only tem- perance paper in this country ever made remunerative. In 1844 the brothers were doing a large and growing business at the southeast corner of Nassau and Fulton Streets, then known as the Sun Building. MIr. Hoe made for them the long-coveted job cylinder-press, and it proved a complete success. Its introduction largely increased their business, so that several others were successively procured. When Oliver & Brother were in the height of their prosperity, one day, as John was seated at his desk, the door opened and in walked George Bruce. A busy scene met his view. "Well, friend Oliver," he said pleasantly, shaking hands, " I am seventy to- day, and I thought I could not pass the time more agreeably than to call upon some of my old friends, and I inelude you among the uumber. I have kept an eye upon you, and have rejoiced at your success. I remember very well our in- terview about the little cylinder-press, and now I have come to confess to you

Like all young men without capital, he had a severe struggle to main- tain a business existenee. Early in the winter of 1840 he conceived the idea that a small cylinder-press for job-printing would be a JOHN W. OLIVER. great improvement. Ile consulted Colonel Richard M. Hoe, who said the , that I was wrong and you were right." The interview was exceedingly pleasant.

The business of Oliver & Brother became so exten- sive as to require their whole attention. So they dis- posed of The Organ, bought the lot No. 32 Beekman Street, erected upon it a five-story white marble build- ing, with basement and under-cellar, and fitted it up with all modern appliances for steam-printing. Some years after John W. Oliver sold out to his brother, with a view of retiring. But an idle life did not suit him and he was soon in business again.

In Angust. 1866, he purchased a home in Yonkers, but continued business in New York. In the sum- mer of 1872 he soll out his printing business, again intending to retire, but becoming uneasy, the very next day after he quit his New York business he

YONKERS.

made an arrangement with M. F. Rowe, proprietor of The Yonkers Statesman, as editor, and, with a slight intermission of two months, he has conducted that paper, first as a weekly, and, for more than two years past, as daily and weekly, down to the present time.

His present commanding relations to the Statesman are shown in the general account of the paper.

He is in the seventy-first year of his age; has been happily married twice ; has four living children-three daughters, all married, and one son, now engaged with him on The Statesman ; has buried two sons and one daughter, and has been a communicant of the Methodist Episcopal Church since 1842. In politics he was an old line Whig, and has been a Republican since the formation of that party. ·

In reference to both the Gazette and the Statesman, we feel called to add that they have been potent fac- tors in the prosperity of Yonkers. One now thirty- three and the other twenty-nine years old, they have both been identified with the entire history of the village and the city. They have shared with the pulpits and the sehools as educators of the popular thought and will, and have gained a very solid foothold and an influence wide and strong. Respec- tively, they have fairly represented their own partisan politics, and have often come into sharp collision. But when local questions of clear bearing have arisen, they have co-operated heartily in the advocacy of the people's and the city's best interests, and Yonkers has felt and owned their power. They now occupy posi- tions of great responsibility, and in view of the rapidly-growing tendency of Yonkers in every direc- tion of development and activity, this responsibility is certain to increase every year.

Other newspapers have been started from time to time, but no one of them has fought its way to perma- nence. We have already named the second Yonkers Herald, published by Mr. Thomas Smith. It was continued by his son, Henry T. Smith, for a time after his father's death, but finally suspended .- In 1881 the Plaindealer was started by Thomas L. Mottram, and in 1882 William Shrive began to publish the Free Press. In 1882 also, E. C. Bruce began the publi- cation of The Yonkers Democrat. The same paper was afterwards published by MI. H. Clark, as .The Democrat News. Besides all these, we had a paper published every Wednesday, called The Yonkers Journal. It was a German paper. Its third page was confined to news from Germany. All these papers are now dis- continued. The only paper, besides the Gazette and the Statesman, still published, is The Yonkers Herald.

SECTION XIV. The City Industries.

The manufactures of Yonkers are varied and ex- tensive. They embrace carpets, hats, plows, elevators and hat machinery. In these lines they are the most

extensive in the country. There are also manufacto- ries of morocco, mowing-machines, gas, ale, mineral waters, wool and yarn, wool extract, pickles, glue, sugar, plumbers' tools, general machinery, shirts, neckties and bows, carriages, rubber goods and iron castings. The Nepperhan, below Warburton Avenue, furnishes power to a number of small shops and mills. Upon it are located two manufactories of sashes, blinds and doors, four stair-builders' shops, three wood- turning factories, a pattern-factory, a veneer-shop, grist-mill and ten shops of carpenters and builders.

The industries mentioned above have grown up with the rapid growth of the village and city. Going back forty years, we find the Nepperhan occupied by two saw-mills and a grist-mill and plaster-mill (manu- facturing plaster for the neighboring farms) below the crossing of Broadway, and above that point two sites upon it occupied by mahogany or veneer-mills and two others occupied by hat-factories. The mills and factories will now be noticed separately and their history given. This history was largely collected and written for us by Mr. Richard M. Bayles, of Long Island, who devoted himself industriously to this work in Angust, 1885. We have, however, arranged it for ourselves, and made many additions from our own personal knowledge and from conversation with the various proprietors. As we have done in the case of the churches, so here we give first a chronological list, and then a detailed description of all these in- dustries of our city.

ORDER OF DATES OF THE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES.

Yonkers Flour Mill

The Hat Industry 1828

John Copentt's Veneer Mill 1845

Kitteringham's Morocco Factory 1850-69

Osterheld & Eickemeyer 1854

Otis Bros. & Co. (Elevator Works) 1854

The Yonkers Gas Light Company 1854

The Silk Works 1855

D. Saunders' Sons 1857

Underhill's Brewery 1858

Howell's Sugar Refinery 1862

Arms and Mowing Machines 1862-63

Alexander Smith & Son's Carpet Company 1865

Smith's Soda Water Factory 186-

Westchester Gas Light ('o., Yonkers Fnel Gas Co., and Yon- kers Fuel, Light and Power Co 1875-84

Fleming's Wool Extract Factory 1876

The New York Plow Co 1878

Rose, McAlpin & Co. (Nepperhan Leather Works) 1879

The Municipal Gas Co 1879

The Westchester Telephone Co 1880

Medicinal Mannfactures . 1881

The Fern Brook Carpet to 1881

The Washburn & Moore Manufacturing Co 1882

llepworth & Co.'s Sugar Machinery 1883

Yonkers District Telegraph Co 1884

The American Gear Co 1885

YONKERS FLOUR-MILL .- We put this first in or- der, not because this particular mill is the oldest in Yonkers,-it dates from 1851-52 only,-but because the flour-milling and the saw-milling industries are in general the oldest of our industries, both of them dating even from the days of Adriaen Van Der Donck, who died in 1655. Examination of our map of 1847 will show that at that date what is

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

now Main Street was a mere lane running down only to a "Pine saw-mill " run by O. S. & P. W. Paddock, and that at about its half-way point, where the You- kers Statesman building now stands, it branched off, passing a grist-mill and a saw-mill, both run by Levi P. Rose, to a bold projection in a turn of the Saw- Mill River, on which stood a carpet-factory, operated by Hutchinson & Mitchell. Of the last firm we shall speak again, under the head of Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Co. Onr object now is to retain for his- tory's sake the fact that the grist-milling and saw- milling are the oldest industries of Yonkers. The saw-milling started when the place was a forest, and the grist-milling is as old as the needs of the inhabit- ants for the bread used by civilized people. The site of John Copcutt's saw-mill is also indicated on our map of 1847. This mill was built in 1845, on the foundation of a pre-occupying grist-mill, which had been bnrned. The said grist-mill may have been the very original mill of Van Der Donck. But more probably it was a larger one built before 1700, by Frederick Philipse.

The present " Yonkers Flour-Mill," standing on the site of the former Hutchinson & Mitchell's factory, was built in 1851 or 1852, not long after that factory had been burned. It is devoted to grist work and the general grinding of grains. It has been successively run by F. S. Miles, Miles & Peek, Pcek & Wolf, Peter F. Peek and Cornelius W. Peek, who is its proprietor now.

THE HAT INDUSTRY .- The making of bodies for silk hats began in Yonkers as early as 1828. Its general his- tory for several years thereafter is given in a sketch of Mr. John T. Waring. It is enough here to say that the business took prominent form in 1838, when William C. Waring and Anson F. Baldwin formed a partnership under the firm-name of Wm. C. Waring & Co. and began business on the site now occupied by the silk- factory of the W. H. Copcutt Manufacturing Co., at the sixth fall of the Saw-Mill River. Even this firm at first made hat bodies only. But later they began the manufacture of wool hats, thns inaugurating the business for which Yonkers has long been so noted. Their factory was burned in 1844 and they then moved to the fifth fall, next below their old site, and the site on which the Elm Street factory of the Alexander Smith & Sons Carpet Co. now stands. Here a dam had been built by Lemuel Wells and Obed and Frince W. Paddock in 1837, the former owning the land on the west and the two latter that on the east side of the dam. Waring & Baldwin purchased the privilege of Mr. Wells and erected a frame building, in which they established the manufacture of wool hats. This building, creeted in 1844, is still standing and is part of the equipment of the carpet-factory.

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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 21

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