USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 11
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N EW YORK is the gayest place in America; the ladies, in the richness and brilliancy of their dress, are not equaled in any city of the United States, not even in Charleston, South Carolina, which has heretofore been called the center of the beau monde. The ladies, how- ever, are not solely employed in attention to dress ; there are many who are studious to add to brilliant external accomplishments the more bril- liant and lasting accomplishments of the mind. Nor have they been unsuccessful, for New York can boast of great numbers of refined taste, whose minds are highly improved, and whose conversation is as inviting as their personal charms ; tinctured with a Dutch education, they manage their families with good economy and singular neatness. In point of sociability and hospitality New York is hardly exceeded by any town in the United States."
The above paragraph was penned by an English divine, who wrote a History of America in four volumes, which was published in 1797. The antiquity of the work, together with its contemporaneous descrip- tions, renders many of its pages exceptionally interesting. The writer appears to have been a keen and critical observer of men and manners as well as of general affairs, and a scholar of varied accomplishments.
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He described the city thus : "Its plan is not perfectly regular, but is laid out with reference to the situation of the ground. The principal streets run nearly parallel with the rivers; these are intersected, though not at right angles, by streets running from river to river. In the width of the streets there is great diversity, Broad Street, extending from the ex- change to the City Hall, is sufficiently wide, having been originally built on each side of the creek. This street is low, but pleasant."-Another writer of about the same date speaks of Broad Street as a fine, wide, well-built, and handsomely planted avenue, the leading quarter of the early aristoc- racy of the town. - " Wall Street is generally fifty feet wide and elevated, and the buildings elegant. Hanover Square and Dock Street are con- veniently situated for business, and the houses well-built. William Street is also elevated and convenient, and is the principal market for retailing dry goods. Some of the other' streets are pleasant, but most of them are irregular and narrow. The houses are generally built of brick and the roofs tiled ; there remain a few houses after the old Dutch manner, but the English taste has prevailed almost a century. The principal part of the city lies on the east side of the island, although the buildings extend from one river to the other. The length of the city on the east side is about two miles, but falls much short of that distance on the bank of the Hudson. Its breadth, on an average, is nearly three- fourths of a mile, and its circumference may be four miles. The most convenient and agreeable part of the city is the Broadway. It begins at a point formed by the junction of the Hudson and East Rivers, occupies the height of land between them upon a true meridional line, rises gently to the northward, is near seventy feet wide, and is adorned, where the fort formerly stood, with an elegant brick edifice for the accommodation of the governor of the State. The Broadway has also two Episcopal churches, and a number of elegant private buildings. It terminates to the northward, in a triangular area, fronting the Bridewell, and almshouse, and commands from any point a view of the bay and Narrows." 1
The portion of the city laid in ashes during the first years of the Rev- olution had been rapidly rebuilding since 1788, some of the streets widened, nearly all of them straightened, and raised in the middle under an angle sufficient to carry off the water to the side gutters ; footwalks of brick had also been made on each side. Our early historian adds to the picture by saying : "The part that was destroyed by fire is almost wholly covered with elegant brick houses. The most magnificent edifice in the city is Federal Hall, situated at the head of Broad Street, where
1 An Historical, Geographical, Commercial, and Philosophical View of the United States of America, by Rev. William Winterbotham. 1797.
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its front appears to great advantage. The marble used in chimneys is American, and for beauty of shades and polish equal to any of its kind in Europe."
John Lambert wrote : " The Broadway and Bowery Road are the two finest avenues in the city, and nearly of the same width as Oxford Street in London. The first is upwards of two miles in length, though the pavement does not extend above a mile and a quarter ; the remainder of the road consists of straggling houses, which are the commencements of new streets planned out. The houses in the Broadway are lofty and well- built. They are constructed in the English style, and differ but little from those of London at the west end of the town, except that they are universally built of red brick. In the vicinity of the Battery, and for some distance up the Broadway, they are nearly all private houses, and occupied by the principal merchants and gentry of New York."
The most elegant mansion in New York at the close of the century was the one erected on the site of the old fort opposite the Bowling Green, while Washington was a resident of the city as President of the United States, and which was intended for his occupancy, and that of all future heads of the nation. It was in process of completion when the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia, and was hence- forward appro- priated for a number of years to the uses of the governors of the State. It was the resi- dence of Gov- The Government House. [Opposite the Bowling Green, 1790 - 1815. ] ernor Clinton for three or four years, and Governor Jay took up his abode in it in 1795, making it his city home until he retired from pub- lic life. It was a stately edifice, constructed of red brick, with Ionic columns, a striking example of the tendency of the period toward the severely classical in domestic architecture. Soon after the beginning of the present century it was converted into offices for the customs, and in 1815 removed. The Bowling Green Block now stands upon its site.
After enumerating the various churches of the city, numbering at this date twenty-three, and making brief reference to Columbia College, the
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jail, house of correction, almshouse, exchange and several other build- ings of less note, one writer says: "The city is accommodated with five markets in different parts, which are furnished with a great plenty and variety of provisions." The principal of these, the Fly-Market, was lo- cated near the East River, in what was originally a salt meadow with a creek running through it from Maiden Lane. When first established it was called the "Valley Market ;" but the Dutch for valley being "V'lei," the term in common use was "V'lei-Market," hence the corruption into " Fly-Market." Every day, except Sunday, was a market day. Butchers were licensed by the mayor, who was the clerk of the market, receiving fees for all meats sold - as, for instance, six cents for every quarter of beef, and four cents for a calf, sheep, or lamb. Butter must be sold by the pound, and not by the roll or tub. The laws regulating the markets were rigidly enforced.
The Park Theater was built in 1797, and first opened in January, 1798. The ambitious proprietors petitioned for the privilege of erecting a por-
1798. tico over the sidewalk, which was not granted. It was a large, commodious building that would accommodate about twelve hun- dred persons. "The interior is handsomely decorated, and fitted up in as good style as the London theaters, upon a scale suitable to the popu- lation of New York," wrote Lambert. The performances consisted of all the new pieces that came out on the London boards, and several of Shakespeare's best plays. One of the newspaper critics of the time de- clared these plays too much curtailed, and said they often lost their effect through being over at half-past ten, while not commencing at an earlier hour than in London.
The drama was introduced into New York, and indeed into the Amer- ican colonies, a quarter of a century before the Revolution. On the 26th of February, 1750, Lewis Hallam, a favorite actor at Goodman's Fields Theater in England, made his début in the historical tragedy of Richard III., in a room of one of the buildings which belonged to the estate of Rip Van Dam, in Nassau Street.1 He had obtained permission from the British governor of New York, and commanded a most select and fashion- able audience. Two years later he appeared at Williamsburg in Virginia. His wife, known as Mrs. Douglass, was a favorite actress ; and his two sons, Lewis and Adam, figured upon the American stage during the re- mainder of the century. During the time the city was in the posses- sion of the British, theatrical entertainments were very fashionable ; and the characters were mostly supported by officers of the army and navy.
1 Parker's Post-Boy ; Drake's American Biography ; Old New York, by Dr. John W. Francis.
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PARK THEATER.
The English plays of Garrick, Foote, Cumberland, Colman, O'Keefe, Sheridan, and others were from time to time enacted. Aid was often furnished from private or social circles ; and a remarkable peculiarity of the times seems to have been that it was quite a common circumstance to appropriate or designate some leading or prominent individual among the inhabitants of the city as the character drawn by the dramatist abroad. Thus, when " Laugh and Grow Fat " appeared, the public said it well fitted the case of Abraham Mortier, the paymaster of the British army, and the projector of the Richmond Hill House. He was a cheerful old gen- tleman, but the leanest of all human beings - almost diaphanous.
Lewis Hallam, the younger, appeared in Lord Ogleby in 1767, and played the part for forty years, the last time being in the Park Theater in 1807. He was one of the best actors of his time. After the war terminated he organized the firm of Hallam and Henry, which after Mr. Henry's death became Hallam and Hodgkinson. William Dunlap, the painter and historian, subsequently became associated with the firm in the management of the John-Street Theater, and brought forward many pieces of his own composition. At the opening of the Park Theater he was its sole manager, and in March, 1798, his tragedy of " André " in blank verse was brought out with success.
" New York City appears to be the Tyre of the New World," said a London editor while describing its shipping. Winterbotham wrote : "This city is esteemed the most eligible situation for commerce in the United States, and in time of peace will do more business than any other town. It almost necessarily commands the trade of one half of New Jersey, most of that of Connecticut and of Vermont, and a part of that of Massachusetts, besides the whole fertile interior country, which is penetrated by one of the largest rivers in America. Its conveniences for internal commerce are singularly great ; the produce of the remotest farms is easily and speedily conveyed to a certain and profitable market. The produce of Pennsylvania must be carried to market in wagons, over a great extent of country, some of which is very rough; hence Philadel- phia is crowded with wagons, carts, horses, and their drivers, to do the same business that is done in New York, where all the produce of the country is brought to market by water, with much less show and parade. This city imports most of the goods consumed in the best-peopled area of the whole country, which contains at least eight hundred thousand persons, or one fifth of the inhabitants of the Union. In time of war New York will be insecure without a marine force ; but a small number of ships will be able to defend it from the most formidable attacks by sea. The situation is both healthy and pleasant; surrounded on all sides
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by water, it is refreshed with cool breezes in summer, and the air in winter is more temperate than in other places under the same parallel. The want of good water is at present a great inconvenience to the citizens, there being few wells in the city ; most of the people are sup- plied every day with fresh water, conveyed to their doors in casks, from a pump near the head of Pearl Street, which receives it from a spring almost a mile from the center of the city. The average quantity drawn daily from this remarkable well, about twenty feet deep and four feet in diameter, is one hundred and ten hogsheads of one hundred and thirty gallons each. In some hot summer days two hundred and sixteen hogs- heads have been drawn from it, and, what is very singular, there are never more or less than three feet of water in the well. Several pro- posals have been made by individuals to supply the citizens by pipes, but none have yet been accepted."
A graphic description of the Hudson River and the physical pecu- liarities of the country between it and the lakes, by the same writer, is replete with comprehensive intelligence. Saratoga Springs are mentioned as eight or nine in number, the water, in the writer's opinion, derived from one common source. Roads and bridges throughout the State were attracting legislative notice. A post rode regularly from Albany to the Genesee River once a fortnight. An enterprise by which a "grand road was opened in 1790 through Clinton County," on the borders of Canada, is commended in strong terms. Albany is pronounced unrivaled in its situation, and said to contain about four thousand inhabitants, speaking every variety of language. "It stands on the bank of one of the finest rivers in the world, at the head of sloop navigation ; and adventurers in pursuit of wealth are led here by the advantages for trade which the place affords." The city of Hudson was a marvel because of its rapid growth. The writer says : "No longer ago than the autumn of 1783, Seth and Thomas Jenkins, from Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, having first reconnoitered all the way up the river, fixed on the unsettled spot where Hudson now stands, for a town. They purchased a tract about a mile square, bordering on the river, with a large bay to the southward, and divided it into thirty parcels or shares. Other parties were admitted to proportions, and the town was laid out in squares, formed by spacious streets, crossing each other at right angles; each square containing thirty lots, two deep divided by a twenty-feet alley, each lot fifty feet front and one hundred and twenty deep. The original proprietors of Hudson offered to purchase a tract of land adjoining the south part of the city of Albany, and were constrained, by a refusal of the proposition, to become competitors for the commerce of the northern
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THE CITY OF HUDSON.
country, when otherwise they would have added great wealth and con- sequence to Albany." 1
Such was the wonderful growth of Hudson that, although the first dwellings were not erected until 1784, the city was incorporated in 1785, and one hundred and fifty homes had been securely planted prior to the spring of 1786, besides barns, shops, stores, ware-houses, and other build- ings, with several wharves for commercial convenience. During Febru- ary of the last named year upwards of twelve hundred sleighs entered the city daily for several weeks in succession, laden with produce and articles of merchandise. Thus an idea may be formed of the advantage of the situation with respect to the rich and fertile adjacent country ; and, built upon an eminence, the city presented a highly picturesque appearance as seen from the river. It was made a port of entry in 1795, and is said at one time to have possessed a larger amount of shipping than even New York City, its commerce being chiefly with the West Indies and Europe. Seth Jenkins was mayor of the new city for many years, and was succeeded by his brother Robert, who occupied that posi- tion until his sudden death in 1819.
"In New York there appears to be a great thirst after knowledge," writes Lambert. "The riches that have flowed into that city have brought with them a taste for reading and the refinements of polished society ; and though the inhabitants cannot yet boast of having reached the standard of European perfection, they are not wanting in the solid and rational parts of education, nor in many of those accomplishments which ornament and embellish private life. It has become the fashion in New York to attend lectures on moral philosophy, chemistry, mineral- ogy, botany, mechanics, etc., and the ladies in particular have made con- siderable progress in those studies ; several young ladies have displayed their abilities in writing, and some of their novels and fugitive pieces of poetry and prose evince much taste and judgment, and two or three have distinguished themselves. The desire for instruction and informa- tion, however, is not confined to the youthful part of the community ; many married ladies and their families may be seen at philosophical and
1 The Jenkins brothers came from Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard instead of Providence, Rhode Island, as stated by Winterbotham. They were shipping merchants of great wealth, but the islands had become too circumscribed for them, and thus they came to New York, bringing their commerce with them to the city they founded upon the Hudson. When they first arrived in New York City on their way up the river, they visited Colonel Rutgers, an old and valued friend, to whom they unfolded their plans ; and he was so much pleased with the enterprising spirit manifested, that he offered to sell them his own broad acres on the East River between Catharine Street and Corlear's Hook. (See Ratzer's Map, Vol. I. p. 760-761.) They differed, however, in price to the amount of $500, and the trade in the end fell through. - Family Archives.
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chemical lectures, and the spirit of inquiry is becoming general among the gentlemen. The immense property which has been introduced into the city by commerce has hardly had time to circulate and diffuse itself through the community. It is yet too much in the hands of a few indi- viduals to enable men to devote the whole of their lives to the study of the arts and science. Farmers, merchants, physicians, lawyers, and divines are all that America can produce for many years to come ; and if authors, artists, or philosophers make their appearance at any time, they must, as they have hitherto done, spring from one of the above professions."
Foreign travelers were numerous and observant. Their note-books furnish many vivid glimpses of the city at that epoch. Characteristics were not infrequently overdrawn and general conclusions reached with- out opportunity of exercising correct judgment. But it is always well and useful to see ourselves as others see us. We quote the following :
" The society of New York consists of three distinct classes. The first is composed of the constituted authorities, government officers, divines, lawyers, and physicians of eminence, with the principal merchants and people of independent property. The second comprises the small mer- chants, retail dealers, clerks, subordinate officers of the government, and members of the three professions. The third consists of the inferior orders of the people. The first of these associate together in a style of elegance and splendor little inferior to Europeans. Their houses are furnished with everything that is useful, agreeable, or ornamental ; and many of them are fitted up in the tasteful magnificence of modern luxury. Many have elegant equipages, and those who have none of their own may be accommodated with handsome carriages at the livery stables ; for there are no coach stands. The dress of the gentlemen is plain, elegant, and fashionable, and corresponds in every respect with the English costume. The ladies in general seem more partial to the light, various, and dashing drapery of the Parisian belles than to the elegant and becoming attire of our London beauties, who improve upon the French fashions. But there are many who prefer the English costume, or at least a medium between that and the French.
" The winter is passed in a round of entertainments and amusements ; at the theater, public dancing assemblies, lectures, concerts, balls, tea and card-parties, cariole excursions out of town, etc. The American cariole. or sleigh, is much larger than that of Canada, and will hold several people. It is fixed on high runners, and drawn by two horses.
. Parties to dinner and dances are frequently made in the winter season when the snow is upon the ground. They proceed in carioles a few miles
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MARRIAGES IN HIGH LIFE.
into the country to some hotel or tavern, where they remain to a late hour and return home by torchlight. The inhabitants of New York are not remarkable for early rising, and little business seems to be done be- fore nine or ten o'clock. Most of the merchants and people in business dine about two o'clock; others who are less engaged, about three ; but four o'clock is usually the fashionable hour for dining. The gentlemen are partial to the bottle, but not to excess ; and at private dinner-parties they seldom sit more than two hours drinking wine. They leave the table one after the other, and walk away to some tea-party without bidding their host good-afternoon. The servants are mostly negroes or mulattoes ; some free, and others slaves. Marriages are conducted in the most splen- did style, and form an important part of the winter's entertainments. For some years it was the fashion to keep them only among a select circle of friends ; but of late the opulent parents of the newly-married lady have thrown open their doors and invited the town to partake of their felicity. The young couple, attended by their nearest connections and friends, are married at home in a magnificent style ; and if the parties are Episco- palians, the Bishop of New York is always procured, if possible, as his presence gives a greater zest to the nuptials. For three days after the marriage ceremony the newly-married couple see company in great state, and every genteel person who can procure an introduction may pay his respects to the bride and bridegroom. It is a sort of levee; and the visitors, after their introduction, partake of a cup of coffee or other re- freshment, and walk away. Sometimes the night concludes with a con cert and ball, or cards among those friends who are invited to remain."
The newspapers of the period chronicle a reception of this character at the gubernatorial mansion opposite the Bowling Green in November, 1796 : " Married on the 3d, at his Excellency's John Jay, Governor, Government House, John Livingston, of the manor of Livingston, to Mrs. Catharine Ridley, daughter of the late Governor William Livingston." 1
1 Robert Livingston, third lord of the manor, had five sons -Walter, John, Henry, Philip, who died unmarried before his father, and Peter R. ; also three daughters - Mary, married Hon. James Duane, Alida, married Valentine Gardiner, and Catharine, married John Patterson. Schuyler, one of the sons of Walter and Cornelia Schuyler Livingston, married Eliza, daugh- ter of Colonel Thomas and Susan De Lancey Barclay ; and their children were Thomas Barclay Livingston, American Consul at Halifax, married Mary Kearny, Anne, married James Reyburn of New York, and Schuyler Livingston of New York, married Margaret Livingston of Clermont. The Barclays, often mentioned in preceding pages, and for whom Barclay Street was named, were of the eminent Scotch race known in the annals of Great Britain as Berkeley. The orthography of the name was first changed by the English scholar and poet Alexander Barclay. Colonel David Barclay, of Urie, born 1610, married Catharine, daughter of Sir Robert Gordon, of Gordonstown. His children were : 1. Robert, one of the original lords proprietors of East New Jersey, and their elected governor, to whom the govern-
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The reader will quickly recognize the piquant and accomplished sister of Mrs. Jay, who figured in former pages as Miss Kitty Livingston, and who became the wife of Matthew Ridley of Baltimore in 1787, and, after brief wedded happiness, a widow. In May, 1798, a round of festivities are recorded in connection with the marriage of Margaret, only daughter of Morgan Lewis, to Maturin Livingston, although the ceremony was per- formed at the country-seat of the family. And not far from the same date we read from the quaint old files that "David L. Haight was married by the Rev. Dr. Livingston to the amiable Miss Ann Kip."
One of the great social events of 1797 was the marriage of the cele- brated Josiah Quincy to Miss Eliza Susan Morton of New York. The ceremony was performed on the 6th of June by Rev. Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith, President of Princeton College, who made the journey to New York for the purpose, the lady having always been a favorite with him, and par- tially educated in his family where she was greatly beloved. She was also specially intimate with Secretary and Mrs. Oliver Wolcott, and with the family of Theodore Sedgwick usually spending some months every sum- mer at their home in Stockbridge. The next day the bridal pair set forth in a coach-and-four, and were five days in traveling to the vicinity of the capital of Massachusetts. Quincy had made the journey to New York in 1795, leaving the following graphic picture : "The stage coaches were old and shackling, and much of the harness made of ropes. One pair of horses carried the stage eighteen miles. We generally reached our resting-place for the night, if no accident intervened, at ten o'clock, and after a frugal supper went to bed with a notice that we should be called
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