History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. II, Part 30

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 30

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to be a member of the association. To this arrange- ment the society itself, in its by-laws, added a further plan for income by offering to outsiders, for fixed amounts, the use of the library for one, two, three or six months, or for a year, according as each one night be able or willing to pay.

This library, during its existence of twelve years, ending with 1866, accumulated books, including a small number of pamphlets, to the number of more than nine thousand. Its room was in the sec- ond story of the south end of the Getty House. At last publie interest in it declined. It fell behind in its finances. Great effort was made by a few to revive it, but without success. To the great regret of a con- siderable number who had fully appreciated it, but did not have the means to save it, it had to be sacri- ficed for debt. Its volumes were put up at auction and mostly sold. What books were left unsokt were sent up to the public library of Public School No. 2, where they were added to its then small library foun- dation. They now form part of a general publie library under the care of the City Board of Educa- tion, and will be referred to again in connection with that library.

THE YONKERS DEBATING SOCIETY was part of the same movement. The first annual report mentioned includes also part of its story. It was formed among the members of the Library Association, and held its first meeting on Thursday evening, May 25, 1854. It held thirty-four regular meetings the first year, had about forty active members on its roll and many visi- tors always at its meetings. It held its public debates and other exercises in Flagg's Hall, at the corner of the streets now known as Palisade Avenue aud New Main Street. Its presidents were, in succession, Wil- liam L. Cowdrey, Samuel B. Cowdrey, E. P'. Robbins, Alonzo Bell and T. S. Finnin. Its vice-presidents were S. Emmet Getty, Edward P. Baird, T. S. Finmin, William Beal, and its secretaries were Edward P. Baird, Hall F. Baldwin, Alonzo Bell, J. B. Farrington, T. S. Finnin and Lyman Cobb, Jr. The questions debated the first year are all given, and show that the society kept itself steadily abreast with the times. On the 20th of March, 1855, the first anniversary exer- eises were publicly held. There was music by Dods- worth's band ; there were orations by W. L. Cowdrey. president, and Edward P. Baird ; recitations by C. Cowdrey, J. C. Olmstead, Hall F. Baldwin and J. Rich, Jr .; and essays by J. Webb and S. Emmet Getty. The report says : "The celebration of the anniversary was attended by one of the largest andiences ever as- sembled in Yonkers, and passed off with great eclat."

THE LECTURE COMMITTEE AND THE LECTURES Were the third and last outgrowth of the same association's life. The first winter was enlivened with the deliv- ery of a fine series of lectures. The report states that the lectures were given in the Lyceum of the Getty House, of which we shall speak presently. The first lecture committee were Josiah Rich, A. N. Smith and

George Macadam. The lecturers and their subjects are given. On the 27th of November, George W. Curtis made his first appearance here as a lecturer before an American audience, his subject being " The Gold and Gilt of Young America." His successors and their subjects were Henry Ward Beecher on "The Ministry of the Beautiful;" Parke Godwin on " The Future of the Republic;" Prof. (). Doremus (two lectures) on "The Chemistry of the Air" and " The Chemistry of the Ocean ; " Rev. Dr. John Lord (two lectures) on " Richelieu " and " Napoleou Bona- parte ; " Prof. Doremus again (two lectures) ou "Geology " and " Physical Geography ; " Prof. Steph- en Alexander, of Princeton, N. J. (two lectures) on " The Vastness of the Visible Creation" and "The Primordial AArrangement of the Existing Systems ;" and Rev. Henry Giles on " Spheres of Temper."

Such was the first year's course. Fifty gentlemen gave ten dollars each in advance to secure it, and this, with the receipts at the door, resulted in a total in- bringing of seven hundred and nineteen dollars, and a netting of $113.50 to the treasury.

The lectures were subsequently kept up till the winter of 1859-60. We have before us, as we write, the files of the Yonkers Herald, giving the regularly advertised programme of the successive winters' lec- tures. The regular lecturers of the remaining four win- ters were, first, four pastors of the village itself,-Rev. 1. A. Livermore, I). I)., Rev. Victor MI. Hulbert, Rev. J. B. Hagany (two lectures) and Rev. Henry D. Mil- ler,-and besides these, the following gentlemen, all of them of national, and many of them of world-wide reputation : Rev. W. A. Bartlett (2), Rev. George W. Bethune, D.D., Park Benjamin, J. B. Brown, Henry Ward Beccher, W. II. Burleigh, Rev. Henry W. Bellows, D.D., George W. Curtis (3), Rev. E. Il. Chapin, D.D. (3), Prof. I. W. Fowler, Rev. Roswell D). Hitchcock, D. D. (2), Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D. (2), Rev. Thomas Starr King (2), Herman Melville, Wendell Phillips, J. C. Richmond, George Sumner (3), Prof. B. Silliman, Jr., John G. Saxe, Hon. John Thompson, Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, D.D., F. II. Underwood, George Vanderhoef, Rev. . A. A. Willets, D.D., Rev. A. Woodbury and E. II. Whipple.

Beside these regular lecturers and their lectures, the lecture committee afforded to the community a few memorable extras. Many Yonkers people delight to speak of having heard William M. Thackeray deliver his famous lecture on " Charity and Immor" in the Lyceum, on the 30th of November, 1855. We have the printed hand-bill of the lecture before us as we write. The interest felt in it is shown by the print- ing on this bill of a time-table of the railroad, an- nouncing that extra trains will be run northward and southward to carry the people to and from the lecture, and also giving places for the sale of the tickets in New York City. The lecture committee named on this hand-bill are Robert P. Getty, George P. Putnam, George Macadam and Josiah Rich. Nor is it forgotten

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in Yonkers that Edwin Forrest gave here, in the Ly- ceum, on the 1st of March, 1853, the only public read- ing he ever gave in his life. It is said that he gave it in the interest of one of the Yonkers churches, and that its proceeds went to the building or completing of the church's steeple. Notwithstanding Mr. Forrest's long practice as an actor, the appearing before an im- posing lecture audience alone, unsupported by any of the stage arrangements to which he had been accus- tomed, caused him such distress that he positively re- fused to repeat the effort in any place. Committees from different localities met him at the platform after his reading, and entreated him to make other engage- ments, but without avail. So he gave but one public reading in his life, and this was in the Getty Lyceum.

In the last winter of the association's work as a debating society and a lecture association (1859-60) it met with a powerful competition, which, probably, caused its final abandonment of these departments of its work. Another course of lectures, with distin- guished lecturers, was projected in the interest of the Westminster Presbyterian Church, which had just been organized and wished to raise money. The lec- turers were Rev. T. L. Cuyler, D.D., Rev. Samuel D. Burchard, D.I)., William W. Howe, Rev. W. H. Milburn, Rev. Henry M. Scudder, D.D., Rev. Abra- ham Beach Carter, D.D., (rector of St. John's), Rev. Rollin A. Sawyer (pastor of the church), Rev. Sam- uel H. Cox, D.D., Rev. W. A. Bartlett, Rev. Walter F. Clark, D.D., and Rev. William Adams, D.D.

In this way, during that winter, was run a double course of lectures, all of which must have been lec- turcs of great attractiveness. We notice that the chairman of this second lecture committee was Mr. Josiah Rich, who had been the first president of the Yonkers Association. His interest in the success of the Westminster Church, of which he was a member, of course drew him into this enterprise. The result of the winter's effort, however, was the discontinuance of the earlier lecture work.

Such was the interest of the leading men of Yon- kers, at the period named, in the intellectual enjoy- ment and culture of the community and especially of its young men. It was a period in which all over the country the passion for public debates and lec- tures was at its height. The strength of Yonkers society was in these movements, and the names of the lecturers, together with the fact that the lectures ran on for five successive winters, must be taken as proof of the hold they must have had upon the place. There has been no subsequent movement of the kind to compare with this. Other attractions have since superseded debates and lectures' to a very great. ex- tent. To their history and progress we must next give our thought.

YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS.

The city has a number of these, some of them for both sexes and others for but one. Some of them are

within the church circles, though not organically part of them, like St. Joseph's Young Men's Catholic Ax- sociation, which is incorporated and funded, and which we therefore thought proper to place under the heading of "Christian Unions." But we have had many and have now some exceedingly important and valuable Young People's Associations for literary culture within our churches. The Westminster Church has one as old as the church itself, and the Dayspring Presbyterian another, of whose age nearly the same is true. The Warburton Avenue Baptist Church also has one. Others have had such associations and some of them may have them still, more or less thriving. And some of these Young People's Asso- ciations have told with great power again and again upon the activity and spiritual life of their churches. Nor do we forget that outside of the churches there have been and are circles for culture. We have a Chautauqua Circle, which has been very active. To each of three associations outside the churches we give a few lines.

THE VIEWVILLE LITERARY ASSOCIATION .- This association, having for its object the improvement of its members in literature and seience, and having the adjuncts of a reading-room and library, was incorpor- ated in the latter part of 1879. On the 9th of Janu- ary, 1880, Mr. Charles Lockwood, of Yonkers, pre- sented it with a lot and a building he had erected on it, for the accommodation of its meetings and reading- room, with the expression of a wish that their insti- tution might promote growth in Christian manhood, and counteract those influences which wreck charac- ter. The building, substantial, neat and vell adapted to its objects, stands on Oliver Avenne, Nodine Hill, in a part of the city which, from its high elevation and the extensive views it affords, is known as View- ville. The members frequently hold public literary and musical entertainments and debates on the ques- tions of the day. The room is open to the public on all evenings except those of Sabbaths. The society has had the following officers: Presidents, Rev. Charles E. Allison, H. H. Ferguson, William Webb, Samuel Granger, Thomas L. Mottram ; Secretaries, Wil- liam Smith, Rev. Charles E. Allison, William Bates and Rev. Charles E. Allison again ; Treasurers, William Smith, Rev. Charles E. Allison, William Bates, Wil- liam Webb. The trustees have included all the gen- tlemen named, and also Messrs. P. . Kelly, Robert Harper, William Wharmby, James McKittrich, Joshua Smith, Thomas Iles and John B. Lees.

ATHENA .- This Association was also formed in 1879, with Isaac N. Cook as president, Edwin A. Oli- ver as secretary, Charles E. Finkel as treasurer, and a membership of fourteen. Its object was mutual im- provement and enjoyment. The meetings were first held in Reevs' Building, at the corner of Warburton Avenue and Dock Street, the apartment used being now known as the Hall of the Knights of Pythias. The membership has increased to sixty, and the later

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place of meeting has been in the Warburton Build- ing. Two successful courses of lectures have been given to the publie under the management of Athena, one in the winter of 1882-83, and one in that of 1883- 84. The lecturers were Daniel Dougherty of Phila- delphia ; Robert J. Burdette of the Burlington Hawk- oye; Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D.D., George M. Towle, Prof. Ralph G. Hibbard of Brown Univer- sity ; Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Col. L. W. Cope- land of Chicago; and R. J. De Cordova of New York City. The officers of the society for 1844 were Prof. George H. Hooper, president ; Arthur G. Bal- lard, secretary ; and Charles E. Finkel, treasurer. The meetings of the society are now temporarily sus- pended.

More than for its lecture courses, Athena has been distinguished in Yonkers for its own oeeasional ap- pearances before the public in programmes wholly peculiar to itself. These programmes have presented, through papers, debates, orations and mock trials, a rôle of wit and humor and of thought and skill which it would be hard to excel. Their censorship of per- sons, social usages and daily ineidents, and even of the members themselves, especially through their pa- per, known as Athena Argus, has been so keen as to leave very few persons or things nntouched. The paper carried fun to a rollicking extent, yet, as far as we know, the members have always maintained good humor among themselves, and always had pleasant times.

THE KNICKERBOCKER SOCIETY .- The design of this body of young men, like that of the last two named, is to promote the literary culture of its mem- bers. It was organized Sept. 26, 1884, by seven young men, viz. : Edwin 1. Harrington, M.D., Wil- liam C. Kellogg, Joseph Hover, Robert P'. Getty, Jr., H. Beattie Brown, Henry S. Hathaway and Robert M. Reevs. At the organization the first four of these gentlemen, in the order named, were respectively chosen president, vice-president, seeretary and treas- urer for the first year.

Since the organization Gabriel Reevs, Everett Masten, George E. Adams, Frank Howard Cole, Thomas Ewing, Jr., Merritt H. Smith, Jr., Moses D. Getty and Willard Carpenter have been added to the membership, and the following are now, in the second year, the officers: Joseph Hover, president ; Henry S. Hathaway, vice-president ; Frank Howard Cole, secretary ; Edwin 1. Harrington, treasurer; and H. Beattie Brown, enrator.

The reading of a paper and its discussion, with fre- quent poetical and prose contributions, and debates have formed the programme at each meeting. The meetings for the first year were held every second week at the offices of the members, the club having as yet no permanent room. They are now held in rented rooms in the Warburton Building.

To the statement thus furnished to us by the first President, we add, as matter of personal observation,

that the aim of the society is not culture of the intellect only, but also of kindly personal feeling, of pleasant manner, and of all characteristics that make young men a power for good. It has opened auspicionsly, and, in view of the high stand it has taken at the outset upon all matters that look to the development of a strong and noble manhood, we can not doubt that it will be- come, if it remains true to its promise, growingly a Society to which it will be an honor and a profit to belong.

GENERAL PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND READING-ROOMS.

The oldest foundation of books for public use in Yonkers continuously built upon to the present time, is that which till recently has been in the keeping of the various public schools. Each of the schools had its own library. Recently the City Board of Educa- tion has brought all their libraries to its own head- quarters within the High School grounds on Hudson Street, and with them begun the formation of one central collection under the name of the "Yonker- Public Library," designed not only for the pupils of the schools, but for the citizens at large, who may de- sire to avail themselves of it. When this step was taken, in 1884, it was found that the number of col- lected volumes was three thousand three hundred and seventy-one. As stated in our article on the " Yonkers Circulating Library " formed in 1854, a considerable number of these books, originally be- longing to that library, had been sent up to the lib- rary of Public School No. 2, after the auction sale of 1866. So the sources from which the three thousand three hundred and seventy-one volmmes just men- tioned originally came are understood, They were, of course, partly from books donated to the public schools by individuals or purchased with regular library money. But part of them were from the old Yonkers Library, and no doubt some of them even eame from the collection spoken of as lying before 1854 in the tower of St. John's Church. The City Board, when collecting these books, found that they had at their disposal, with which at once to build up a library, four years' accumulation of State Library money, amounting to seven hundred and for- ty dollars, and five years' accumulation of City Li- brary money, raised by tax, amounting to oue thon- sand two hundred and fifty dollars,-total, one thou- sand nine hundred and ninety dollars. From this fund they have already added to the library one thousand two hundred and twenty-nine volumes at a cost of $1628.47. It now contains four thousand six hundred volumes. It will continue to receive its annual apportionment from the State, based on the number of teachers and pupils in attendance on the schools, and also its annual income from city tax. Probably neither will fall below the amount at which it has stood for the last few years. The State ap- portionment has been one hundred and eighty-five dollars per year, and the city apportionment two

"MAPLE TERRACE." RESIDENCE OF R. A. ROBERTS, YONKERS, N. Y.

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hundred and fifty dollars. With this steady income at its disposal, the library will be a steadily growing institution. The board manifests deep interest in it now, and will seek to give it a character adapted to the publie need. It is said to be faithfully used by many persons, both the young people in the schools and older and younger people in the outside eity. It is certain that, with its steady ineome, its certainty of good management and of good judgment in the selec- tion of its books, Yonkers has better hope for a per- manent and noble library than it ever had, or ever could have, in any public library depending on mere voluntary contributions, or even on stock and rate subscriptions for its support. We cannot see how this library can fail to be a sueeess.

YONKERS FREE READING-ROOM .- This has just been given up, and we speak of it only as a matter of history. During the Grant and Colfax campaign of 1868 a Republican Club occupied a room in the Rad- ford building, in which Republican campaign news- papers and literature were kept for reading, circula- tion and reference. The temporary experience and advantages of this room suggested to thoughtful men the opening, after the election, of a more permanent reading-room for the city. A card, dated November 14, 1868, and signed by Messrs. William Allen Butler, D. R. Jaques, William T. Coleman and James B. Col- gate, was sent to several prominent citizens of Yonk- ers, inviting them to an informal meeting to eon- fer and aet upon the subjeet. The meeting was held in the elub-room on Wednesday evening, No- vember 18th, and a committee of seventeen leading gentlemen was appointed to raise money and prose- eute the work. They did so with a zeal which indi- cated their great interest in the trust reposed in them, and the late club-room having been seenred at a rental of five hundred dollars per annum, the read- ing-room was opened on the 29th of December follow- ing. All classes of people took active interest in the project, and the opening exereises, consisting of ad- dresses, singing and recitations, were attended by a large and enthusiastic audience. The room was sup- plied with a library, and the Yonkers and New York newspapers and the leading religious and literary weeklies and magazines were kept on file. The read- ing-room was for many years well sustained. The cost of maintaining it was about fifteen hundred dol- lars a year, and was met by contributions from public- spirited people. Among the leading contributors were William Allen Butler, James B. Colgate, John B. Trevor, E. A. Niehols, Rudolf Eickemeyer and Stephen Thayer, Jr. Mr. Butler was president for a number of years, and the librarians, in order of suc- cession, were J. W. Alexander, Allen Taylor, Eben- ezer Curtice and S. C. Van Tassel. In 1880 the libra- ry was removed to No. 20 Main Street. Upon the springing up of the Young Men's Christian Association, with its free reading-room, a number of the support- ers of the Yonkers Free Reading-Room turned their

support to it, and proposed the abandonment of the former. Mr. E. A. Nichols, however, volunteered to maintain the old reading-room at his own expense, and did so for a time. In the spring of 1884 Mr. Cy- rus Cleveland offered to bear the expense of keeping it open on Sundays, which had not been done before. Its ordinary daily hours were from four to ten P.M. and its Sabbath hours from two to ten. Under these conditions it continued in operation for a time, but still gradually declined, and before 1885 it was judged best to give it up. It is said that the library contained four hundred and seventy-five bound volimes, on a very considerable variety of subjects. These were, or became, the property of Mr. E. A. Nichols, who final- ly removed them from the rooms. So the Yonkers Free Reading-Room, after having been in existence about sixteen years, and having served during much of that time a very useful, practical purpose, came at last to an end, being superseded by the arrangements of the Young Men's Christian Association.

YONKERS FREE LIBRARY FOR SELF-SUPPORTING WOMEN .- We separate this from "General Public Libraries and Reading Rooms " because, as its name indicates, it has the need of a special class of persons in view. It was instituted May 1, 1880, under the direction and management of several young ladies, who wished to provide wholesome literature of an entertaining and instructive character for the many working-women of Yonkers, to whom no other means of procuring it seemed at hand. It was started in two small, plainly-furnished rooms at No. 49 Palisade Avenue, near the factories. Five hundred books, mostly second-handed, donated by friend , composed it, and all necessary expenses connceted with the move- ment were defrayed by voluntary contributions. Dur- ing the first summer it was open on Saturdays from five to six P.M. But so marked was its success that in the fall a regular librarian-Miss Mary B. Daniels- was engaged, and the library, in addition to its Satur- day opening as before, was opened also on Mondays and Wednesdays from half-past eleven to one o'clock. The first year there were six hundred applicants for books, and from sixty-five to eighty-five volumes were drawn weekly, the circulation for the year amonnting to over three thousand. Since then the library has been inereased by donations and purchases till now it numbers twelve hundred books.

In May, 1883, the use of the brick house No. 48 Palisade Avenue, was, by the owner, Mr. Samuel Shethar, given to the library for a term of years, and the house was fitted up by him to suit the needs of the institution. Through the liberality of other friends also, earpets and furniture were provided, and on the Ist of September the library was moved into this new and attractive place. The young ladies, who had previously acted simply as a committee, now organ- ized themselves into a society under the name of the " Yonkers Free Circulating Library for Self-sup- porting Women." The officers were Miss Butler presi-

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dent and treasurer, and Miss Mary B. Daniels secre- tary. The executive committee were Miss Butler, Miss Uhl, Mrs. Walter Graves and Miss Baird.

Besides the library there is also a free reading- room, open certain evenings in the week. And fur- ther, there is a parlor and class-room tastefully and conveniently fitted up, and especially devoted to the meetings of the Library Association, an organization under the charge of the exeentive committee and de- signed for the improvement and enjoyment of its members. Self-supporting women, over sixteen years of age, may become members of the association by the payment of a small membership fee and faith- ful adherence to the rules prescribed by the execu- tive committee. And all members are entitled to at- tendance on the evening classes in choral music, needle-work and penmanship, and the lectures and entertainments, and to participate in any other privileges that may from time to time be added. There are, at the present time, about seventy five members in the association.

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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 30

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