USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 43
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On the 19th of July, 1845, another great fire, second only in its ravages to that of 1835, broke out in New street in the vicinity of Wall, and burned in a southerly direction to Stone street, laying waste the entire district between Broadway and the eastern side of Broad street, and consuming several million dollars' worth of pro- perty. The explosion of a saltpetre warehouse in Broad street during this conflagration, gave rise to the vexed question, " Will saltpetre explode ?" which furnished food for some research and much merriment to the savans of the day.
In 1844, James Harper was elected mayor of the city by the native American party, aided by the support of a large number of whigs. In the elections of the two fol- lowing years, the democrats were triumphant, electing William F. Havemeyer and A. H. Mickle to the mayor- alty. In 1847, the whigs regained the ascendency, elect-
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ing their candidate, William V. Brady. The following year, William F. Havemeyer was reëlected by his party. In the April election of 1849, the whigs were again suc- cessful, electing Caleb S. Woodhull as mayor, and gain- ing a majority in both boards of the Common Council. In 1849, an amended charter was granted to the city, by which the day of the charter election was changed from the second Tuesday in April to the day of the general State election in November, the term of office to com- mence on the first Monday of the ensuing January. By the provisions of this charter, which was to take effect on the first of June, 1849, the Mayor and Aldermen were to hold their offices for two years, while the Assist- ant Aldermen were to be elected annually as before. The city at this time consisted of eighteen wards, an additional one having been erected in 1845. Another was added in 1851, and the number was increased to twenty during the course of the following year.
The mayoralty of Caleb S. Woodhull was marked by the occurrence of the Astor Place Opera riot, an event which created as much excitement as did the notorious Doctors' Mob in its day. The native American party was at this time powerful in the city, and a strong pre- judice existed among the populace against every one branded with the stamp of foreign birth. To enter into a discussion of the causes or the justice of this hostility, would transcend the limits of the present work ; it suf- fices to say that, at this crisis, the open rivalry between Edwin Forrest, the favorite American tragedian, and the English actor, Macready, was made the occasion for a popular outbreak, and that, on the night of the 10th of
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May, 1849, while the latter was performing Macbeth, in compliance with an invitation, at the newly-erected Astor Place Opera-house, the mob surrounded the building and attempted to hinder the performance of the play. A scene of violence ensued ; the mob, incensed by opposition, threatened to burn the building, and the mayor was finally compelled, as a last resort, to call out the military and order them to fire upon the rioters. The volley was succeeded by a sharp encounter, in which the mob assailed the soldiers in turn, wounding nearly one hundred and fifty of their number, and the contest
C. E.D
Interior of Castle Garden in former times.
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did not end until several valuable lives had been sacri- ficed and a host of bitter feelings engendered which time has not yet been able to efface.
On the expiration of his term of office, Mayor Wood- hull was succeeded by Ambrose C. Kingsland, the candi- date of the whig party. Many local events and changes occurred about the same time, which are of too recent a date to require more than a brief notice at our hands. Among these were the visit of Jenny Lind to the United States, and her first appearance in Castle Garden on the 7th of September, 1850, the subsequent visits of Parodi, Catherine Hayes, Sontag, Grisi and many other Euro- pean celebrities ; the new municipal regulations imposed by the amended city charter of 1849, the trial of the caloric ship Ericsson, the Grinnell expedition to the Arctic regions, and the arrival of the Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, on the 5th of December, 1851.
At the November election of 1852, Jacob A. Wester- velt was elected mayor by the democratic party. During the ensuing session of the Legislature, the city charter was again amended in some important particulars, among which was the institution of a Board of Councilmen, composed of sixty members, to be chosen respectively from the sixty districts into which the Common Council was directed to apportion the city, in the place of the long-standing Board of Assistant Aldermen.
The chief event which characterized the administration of Mayor Westervelt, was the opening of the World's Fair for the Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, on the 14th of July, 1853, at the Crystal Palace in Reser- voir Square, near the Distributing Reservoir of the
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ARVIENVE
CARSTENSEN & GILDEMEISTER. ARGTS
Crystal Palace.
Croton Aqueduct. The fairy-like Greek cross of glass,
dome, its arched naves, and its broad aisles and gal- bound together with withes of iron, with its graceful
leries, filled with choice productions of art and manu-
jewelry, musical instruments, carriages and machinery china, Gobelin tapestry, Indian curiosities, stuffs, gossamer fabrics from the looms of Cashmere, Sèvres earth-quaint old armor from the Tower of London, factures gathered from the most distant parts of the
of home and foreign manufacture, Marochetti's colossal
waldsen's Christ and the Apostles, Powers' Greek slave, equestrian statue of Washington, Kiss's Amazon, Thor-
and a host of other works of art beside-will long be
remembered as the most tasteful ornament that ever
graced the metropolis. Contemporary with this, was
Franconi's Hippodrome on Madison Square, covering an
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area of two acres of ground, an exotic from France, which flourished. for a few months, then disappeared from the city. Scarcely more lasting was the existence of the beautiful Palace, which vanished in the short space of half an hour before the touch of the fiery ele- ment on the 5th of October, 1858, and fell, burying the rich collection of the Fair of the American Institute, then on exhibition within its walls, in a molten mass of ruins.
This epoch was also marked by a strongly-increasing appreciation of literature and art, by the advent of many well known authors and artists from the shores of the Old World, among others, Thackeray, Rachel and La Grange ; by activity in business in all directions, and by every appearance of national prosperity. But these appearances were but empty show ; the credit system had been expanded to its utmost limits, the country was ripe for a commercial crisis, and the unbounded con- fidence of 1855 was but the deceitful calm which preceded the tempest of '57.
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CHAPTER XXII.
1855-1859.
Mayor Wood's Administration-The Central Park-Financial Crisis of 1857-1858-New York in 1859.
ON the 1st of January, 1855, Mayor Westervelt was superseded in office by Fernando Wood, the newly- elected candidate of the democratic party. Of the political events of Mayor Wood's administration, the reformatory measures suggested by him on his accession to the mayoralty, the subsequent culmination of these schemes, and his contest with the State Legislature in respect to the proposed change in the police system of the city, we do not purpose to speak here-these stormy times are still too near our own to belong to the domain of history, and a discussion of the vexed questions involved therein, and not yet definitely settled, would involve us in a labyrinth of details that would far trans- cend the limits of our work.
The most important local event of this epoch, was the purchase by the city of the lands of the new Central Park ; though the origin of this movement dates much further back. The scheme of securing a public park from the
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unappropriated grounds of the island, was first broached in 1851 by A. J. Downing, and, seconded by the earnest recommendation of Mayor Kingsland, was adopted by the Common Council and referred to the Legislature, which authorized the purchase of Jones' Wood -- a tract of one hundred and fifty acres of woodland, bounded by the Third Avenue, Seventy-fifth street, the East River and Sixty-sixth street ; though, owing to the presence of some technical flaw, this act was never carried into effect. The site selected was opposed by many on account of its remoteness from the centre of the city, together with the natural disadvantages of the ground ; and a sharp contest arose between the friends of Jones' Wood and the advocates of a more central location, both of whom obtained the passage by the Legislature on the same day (July 21st, 1853) of acts authorizing the pur- chase of their favorite localities, and thus the matter stood until the following spring, when the Jones' Wood Act was repealed.
On the 2d of July, 1855, the commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court announced their selection of a tract of rocky ground, two and a half miles long by half a mile wide, bounded by Eighth Avenue, One Hun- dred and Sixth street, Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth street, and comprising 776 16 acres. This site was approved by the Common Council, and the purchase consummated on the 5th of February, 1856, at a cost of $5,444,369 90 ; the largest sum ever expended in the purchase of a public park. The selection was a judicious one. Lying in the precise geographical centre of New York Island, at an equal distance from the rivers on.
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either side, and from the Battery and Kingsbridge, the new park embraced ground rich in historical asso- ciations-McGowan's Pass, the scene of the battle of Harlem Plains ; the old Boston Road of the early Dutch settlers ; and the fortifications of the war of 1812. The land was as wild and uncultured as in the days of the aborigines of Manhattan. The surface was a succession of rocky hills and marshy plains, covered with tangled vines and shrubs, with a sprinkling of fine trees, and a few little rivulets that, taking their rise in the marshes at the west of the grounds, flowed eastward in their course to the river.
The ground purchased, preliminary surveys were at once made under the direction of commissioners appointed by the city government, and a plan offered by Lieuten- ant Viele, under whose superintendence the survey had been made, was adopted for the laying out of the grounds, though nothing further was done for the want of the necessary appropriations. To meet this exigency, on the 17th of April, 1857, the control of the park was placed by the Legislature in the hands of eleven commis- sioners, who were to hold office for five years, and were empowered to expend a sum of money, the interest of which should not exceed thirty thousand dollars, to be raised by the issue, by the Common Council, of stock having thirty years to run. Upon consideration, the plan already adopted was abandoned by the new com- missioners, who advertised for fresh designs, and in April, 1858, adopted the plan of Messrs. Olmsted and Vaux as the basis of operations, and at once commenced the execution of the design. During the session of
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
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View in the Central Park.
T
N. ORR-CO So.
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
1858-9, the northern boundary of the park was extended by the Legislature to One Hundred and Tenth street, its natural termination, thus including a high hill to the west of McGowan's Pass, and increasing the total area of the grounds to 843 74 acres.
Although the new Central Park is as yet almost in embryo, the execution, of the plan has proceeded far enough to prove that, if the completion be equal to the beginning, the pleasure-grounds of New York will stand almost without a rival among the cities of the world. Subject as it is to constant modifications, a detailed description at the present time would necessarily be incomplete, and we can but glance at the general features of the plan, which are too firmly established to admit of a change. Foremost in the minds of the pro- jectors of the park, has been the idea of public recre- ation, and for this the grounds are admirably designed. Drives, bridle-roads, promenades and footpaths traverse the park in every direction, winding among the hills in graceful curves, and intersecting each other here and there ; four large fields are devoted to the use of ball and cricket clubs and to military companies for parade ; and three extensive lakes ornament the grounds and are enlivened in winter by thousands of merry skaters. Gymnasiums, museums, music-halls and an observatory are also in contemplation, and the provision made and designed for out-door amusement promises to do more to recruit the health and the energies of the people of New York than all the sanitary institutions ever erected in the city. Nor must we forget the Mall, a broad avenue, two hundred and eight feet in width and a
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quarter of a mile in length, shaded by four rows of American elms and carpeted with closely-cut grass, upon which all may walk at ease without fear of being warned off by threatening placards, which, proceed- ing at its southern extremity from an ornamented lawn, terminates in a water terrace, with a fountain and mosaic pavement, and offers a tempting resort to loungers.
On the north side of the park is the deep McGowan's Pass, with a high hill at the west, commanding a fine view of New York Bay and the neighboring shores, and looking down upon the new Croton Reservoir, which forms one of the principal features of the grounds. The Old Reservoir is nearly in the centre of the park. Between this and the large lake is a rocky, uneven tract of about forty acres, covered with vines and shrubs, and remarkable for a natural cave of considerable size, which is styled the "Ramble," and is especially designed for picnics and pleasure parties .. A corps of three thousand workmen in different capacities has been constantly employed since the adoption of the plan ; and it is estimated that, in two years, their labors will be finished, and the whole park thrown open to the public, though many years must of course elapse ere the design can be fully elaborated by the hand of Nature.
In 1857, Mayor Wood commenced his second term of office, having been reëlected by his party after a sharp contest at the previous election. The winter that fol- lowed will long be remembered as an era of suffering. For several years, the country had seemed in the full tide of prosperity. Business was flourishing, commerce pros-
CITY OF NEW YORK.
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Skating Scene in the Central Park.
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
perous, and credit undisputed both at home and abroad ; the granaries of the country were overflowing with the yield of a luxuriant harvest, and everything seemed pro- phetic of plenty. In the midst of the sunshine, a thun- derbolt fell upon the city. The credit system had been expanded to its utmost limits, and the slightest contrac- tion was sufficient to cause the commercial ruin of the whole country. This came in the sudden failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company, an institution hitherto regarded as safe beyond suspicion, for the enormous sum of seven million dollars. This unexpected bankruptcy awakened the mercantile world to a sense of the insecurity of its position, and a universal panic was the result. The whole community seemed paralyzed by an utter want of confidence, the credit system fell to the ground, carrying with it the fortunes of half the merchants ; busi- ness was prostrated, failure followed failure in quick suc- cession, and, ere long, a run upon the banks forced an act from the State legislature for a general suspension of specie payments for one year. Nor was this confined to . New York alone ; the panic, originating almost simulta- neously in the other States, spread through the whole country, and thence extended across the ocean, involving the European nations in the general ruin. The manu- factories stopped work throughout the country, thus throwing thousands out of employment and reducing them to a state of utter destitution. A state of terrible suffering ensued. Crowds of the unemployed workmen gathered in the Park, clamoring for bread and threaten- ing to procure it at all hazards, while many more, as needy and less demonstrative, perished in silence of cold
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and starvation. For some time, serious danger was apprehended from the rioters, who accused the specu- lators of being at the root of the evil and threatened to break open the flour and provision stores and distribute the contents among the starving people, and prompt measures were taken by the corporation to alleviate the suffering and provide for the public safety. Many of the unemployed were set to work on the Central Park and other public works, soup-houses were opened throughout the city, and private associations were formed for the relief of the suffering ; but this aid failed to reach all, and many perished from sheer starvation, almost within sight of the plentiful harvests at the West, which lay moldering in the granaries for the want of money wherewith to pay the cost of their transportation. Money abounded, yet those who had it dared neither to trust it with their neighbor or to risk it themselves in any speculative adventure ; but, falling into the opposite extreme of dis- trust, kept their treasure locked up in hard dollars in their cash-boxes as the only safe place of deposit. As spring advanced, business gradually revived, the manufactories slowly commenced work on a diminished scale, the banks resumed payment one by one, and a moderate degree of confidence was restored ; yet it was long before business warmed into full life, nor has it yet recovered its wonted vitality ; though it may be that it rests on a sounder basis than before.
In August, 1858, news reached the city of the suc- cessful laying down of the Atlantic telegraphic cable under the supervision of the well-known citizen-merchant, Cyrus W. Field, and measures were immediately taken
CITY OF NEW YORK.
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OH
LLEZZEL,
RICHAR
Church of the Annunciation.
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
to celebrate the event in a manner befitting the occa- sion. The splendid pageant of the 1st of September, with its procession, decorations, and brilliant display of fire-works, following the pyrotechnic triumph achieved in honor of the reception of the first message-the confla- gration of the City Hall-will not soon beforgotten by the spectators of the scene. Nor was the suburban celebra- tion of the next day less imposing, beginning with a tri- umphal procession in Brooklyn and ending with the burning of the Quarantine buildings by the turbulent population of Staten Island-an act which well-nigh occa- sioned a civil war, and gave rise to a controversy which has finally been put to rest by the removal of the quar- antine from Staten Island, decreed during the recent session of the Legislature.
In 1857, the city received an amended charter, by which important changes were made in the election of the boards of Aldermen and Councilmen, and in other municipal regulations. By the provisions of this charter, the city was divided into seventeen aldermanic districts, from each of which an alderman was elected by the peo- ple once in two years. The Board of Councilmen was composed of six members elected annually from each of the senatorial districts of the city. The mayor, comp- troller and counsel to the corporation were elected by the electors of the city ; the mayor for the term of two years, the counsel to the corporation for the term of three years, and the comptroller for the term of four years. The other heads of departments were appointed by the mayor, with the advice and consent of the Board of Aldermen, and were to hold their office for two years
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with the exception of the officers of the Croton Aqueduct Department, whose term of office was fixed at five years.
These departments consisted of the Finance Depart- ment, under the charge of the comptroller ; the Street Department, presided over by the street commissioner ; the Croton Aqueduct Board, with a president, engineer and assistant, as its chief officers ; the Alms House Department, under the charge of the " Ten Governors," elected by the people in classes, two every year ; the Law Department, at the head of which was the counsel to the corporation ; and the City Inspector's Department, the chief officer of which was the city inspector. The heads of departments were empowered to appoint and remove the heads of bureaux and clerks in their respec- tive departments, with the exception of the chamber- lain, who was appointed by the mayor with the concur- rence of the Board of Aldermen, and the chief engineer of the Fire Department, who had a bureau under the Street Department, and continued to be elected by the members as before. The Board of Health was composed of the mayor and Common Council, with the city inspec- tor as their executive officer. The Board of Education was tomposed of two commissioners from each ward, elected by the people. By the provisions of the new charter, the first annual election for charter officers, school officers, and Governors of the Alms House, was fixed on the first Tuesday in December, 1857. At this election, Fernando Wood was defeated by the republican candidate, Daniel F. Tiemann, the present mayor of the city of New York.
Beside the municipal government here described, and
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
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Roman Catholic Cathedral, Third Street.
49
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
which is now in force, the city has also a distinct county government, as an organic part of the State. This com- prises the Fiscal Department, consisting of the Board of Supervisors and their auxiliaries ; the Judiciary Depart- ment, composed of the Courts with their executive offi- cers, and the Recording Department under the charge of the register and his subordinates.
Far different, indeed, is the New York Island of the pre- sent day, with its forests of shipping, its costly palaces, and its seven hundred and fifty thousand bustling inhabi- tants, from the grassy hills which first met the eyes of Hudson two hundred and fifty years ago, seeming to point to the broad river above them as the long-coveted northwest passage to China and Japan. Then the island belonged to Nature ; now it has become the property of Art. The marshes are drained, the forests hewn down, the fair, broad farms laid out into building lots, veined by paved streets, and traversed with huge iron pipes, conveying fire and water side by side through the earth. Scarce a vestige is left of the primitive island of Manhat- tan. Within the last few years, the hand of civilization has attacked Jones' Wood, the last fastness of the former wilderness, and transformed it from its savage wildness into a tamed forest-the favorite locality of pic-nics and musical festivals. The city is fast creeping toward the northern part of the island ; already it has reached Yorkville, and, ere long, the villages of Harlem, Bloom- ingdale and Manhattanville will also be imprisoned in its insatiable grasp, and the whole island transformed into a compact block of buildings.
Nor have the opposite shores and the islands in the
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river failed to keep pace with the progress of the city. On the opposite of the East River lies Brooklyn, the fourth city in the Union, somewhat overshadowed, it is true, by the greatness of her mammoth neighbor, with the thriving villages of Green Point, Hunter's Point, Ravenswood and Astoria stretching to the northward along the Sound shore ; and, on the west shore of the Hudson are Jersey City, the Paulus Hook of the early settlers, the village of Hoboken with its ver- dant Elysian Fields, and the picturesque heights of Weehawken.
On Blackwell's Island, in the East River opposite Yorkville, are the Penitentiary, Lunatic Asylum, Alms Houses, Hospital and Workhouse. Above this are Ward's Island, the location of the Emigrant Hospital, and Randall's Island, the site of the pauper nurseries and the House of Refuge. In New York Bay, south- west of the Battery, are Ellis and Bedlow's Islands, both strongly fortified for the protection of the inner harbor. A little to the southeast of the Battery lies Governor's Island, the site of Fort Columbus and Castle William ; and below this, in the heart of the bay, is the beautiful Staten Island, the villa of the merchant princes of New York, commanding the Narrows by Forts Tompkins and Richmond, with numerous batteries. Here, too, is the Quarantine Hospital, established by the Legislature in 1821, and ordered to be removed by the same authority during the session of 1858-59. The opposite shore of the Narrows is protected by Fort Hamilton on Long Island, and Fort Lafayette on Hendrick's Reef, about two hundred yards from the shore. On a mole, con-
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