Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 32

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374

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City Hall, and from thence proceed in procession to the hill westward of the city, attended by such citizens as shall choose; that, during the procession, all the bells of the several churches in this city shall ring; and at the arrival at the place assigned for the purpose, on the hill, thirteen toasts, and one for the charter, under the dis- charge of fourteen cannon; and that a barrel of good spirits be purchased for the occasion.

This report was accepted and another committee was appointed to have entire charge of the celebration. When the day arrived an im- posing procession for that time was formed, which marched up State street to the grounds formerly occupied by the Old Capitol, where the ceremonies took place. Later in the day the mayor, alderman and commonalty of the city partook of a supper served at Lewis's tavern, where it may be presumed some of that "barrel of good spirits " lent its inspiring influence to the flow of reason. The expenses of this celebration were ordered paid by the chamberlain.

The year 1797 saw Albany made definitely and permanently the State capital. Previous to this time the Legislature had met here on several occasions, the first being one of the three sessions of the third Legislature in 1780, the next being a session of the Fourth Legislature, which also held three sessions, in 1781. Aside from these, however, the Legislatures up to 1788-89 were held in Poughkeepsie and New York. The twelfth session was held in Albany; from 1789 to 1793 the meet- ings were in New York; the seventeenth session was held in Albany in 1794, the eighteenth at Poughkeepsie and in New York, the nine- teenth in New York, 1796, and the twentieth, 1796-7, in New York and Albany. At this session the question of permanently locating the State capital was finally settled in favor of Albany. While political influence and the power of wealth had something to do with this choice, the chief factors determining the selection were the situation of the city with reference to the remainder of the State and the natural ad- vantages of the place. Albany became the capital in the same year that the United States Constitution was transmitted to Congress for ratification or rejection. The constitution received bitter opposition from the Anti Federalists of New York State, with George Clinton at their head, and of course Albany was the center of the local strife; but the old governor and his political adherents were destined to defeat. From the adoption of that constitution down to the present time Al- bany has been the center of great political influence and power. From this ancient city into every part of the State have ramified the various

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parts of the vast and intricate system of political machinery which has controlled public affairs.

The beginning of the century found Albany city with a population of 5,289, which increased to 9,356 in 1810, these figures being according to the United States census. The State census in 1814 gave Albany 10,083 inhabitants. This shows the remarkable growth during the first twenty years succeeding the Revolution. "About 1781," wrote a local editor, "not more than seventy, at the utmost calculation, shops and stores were kept in this city, nor had we manufactories of any kind, but depended on importation for every manufactured article. Now [seven or eight years, later] we behold Market and State streets crowded with stores, and rents in those streets enhanced to such a degree as to put houses out of the reach of inconsiderable traders." In alluding to the business of one day (February 8, 1794), the Gazette said :

On a moderate estimate, it is presumed the purchases and sales of produce and merchandise exceeded $50,000. Of the article of wheat, between 25 and 30,000 bushels were brought to this market; a quantity far exceeding the receipts of any one day since the settlement of this country. The price of wheat rose during the the day from 7s. 6d. to 8s., or the highest price between this and the first of March. The last mode of purchase is truly novel and must be convincing to the farmer that the merchants of this city are too independent to form combinations.

Count Liancourt visited Albany in 1795, and has left the following regarding business interests at that time:

The trade of Albany is chiefly carried on with the produce of the Mohawk country, and extends eastward as far as agriculture and cultivated lands expand. The State of Vermont and a part of New Hampshire furnish many articles of trade, and the exports chiefly consist in timber and lumber of every sort and description, potatoes, potash and pearl ashes, all species of grain, lastly, in manufactured articles. These articles are most of them transported to Albany in winter on sledges, housed by the merchants, and by them successively transmitted to New York, where they are either sold for bills on England or exchanged for English goods, which are in return sent from Albany to the provinces, whence the articles for transportation were drawn. . . The trade of Albany is carried on in ninety vessels, forty-five of which belong to the inhabitants of the town, and the rest to New York or other places.

This French nobleman was surprised that no vessels had yet sailed direct from Albany to England, causing a loss to the local merchants and a gain to the shippers in New York. At the beginning of the cen- tury the great tide of migration westward, a large part of which passed through Albany, had begun its flow, and within a few years reached enormous proportions. In one day in 1795 a citizen counted five hun-

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dred sleighs laden with emigrants. All of this travel through the city left a constantly increasing profit to tradesmen, and stores multiplied rapidly. In 1796 there were one hundred and thirty-one stores, almost double the number of sixteen years earlier, and sixty-eight storehouses. During the war of 1812, as the reader has already been informed, the city was one of the principal places for accumulating and transporting government supplies, for the armies in the West and North. It then cost from $20 to $30 a ton to transport goods from Albany to Buffalo, and it was estimated that 9,000 tons were shipped from this port. This account of trade conditions early in the century may be closed with the following from the Spafford Gazetteer of 1813:

Situated on one of the finest rivers in the world, at a distance of 200 miles from the ocean, whose tide it enjoys; with an uninterrupted sloop navigation; and in the the center of an extensive and fertile country, of which it becomes the natural mart, Albany carries on an immense trade already, and seems destined to become one of the greatest inland towns in America. . . Of the shipping belonging to Albany I am not precisely informed, but, agreeable to information derived from the dock- master, there are fifty Albany sloops that pay wharfage by the year; sixty belonging to Troy, Lansingburgh and Waterford; twenty-six from Tarrytown and New York ; seventy from New Jersey and the eastern States, including twenty schooners, in all two hundred and six ; and about one hundred and fifty from different places have paid wharfage by the day, being engaged in different kinds of trade, during the season of 1812, making a total of 356. The quantity of wheat purchased annually in Albany is immensely great ; and good judges have estimated it at nearly a million bushels. Other grain, and every article of the agricultural and other common pro- ducts, nearly in the same proportion, swell the aggregate exports from this city to an enormous amount.

This growing business interests in Albany gave rise to the need of banking facilities. Prior to 1792 the project of establishing a bank in the northern part of the State was much discussed, some favoring it and many violently opposing it. On the 3d of February of that year a meeting was called at Lewis's tavern in Albany, at which many leading capitalists attended for discussion. There was at that time only one bank in the State, the Bank of New York, the stock of which was fifty per cent. above par. It was announced in the newspapers that $100,000 in subscriptions could be taken for stock in a new bank. At a later meeting the project assumed definite form and it was determined to found a financial institution here with the name of the Albany Bank and a capital of $75,000, to be divided into five hundred shares of $150 each, $15 to be paid on each share at the time of subscribing and the remainder in three installments. Thirteen directors were to be

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chosen, nine of whom should be residents of Albany. Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Jacob Van Derheyden and Barent Bleecker were appointed to open the subscription books and close them as soon as five hundred shares were taken. The books were opened February 17 and in less than three hours the amount of stock was over-subscribed. As soon as the books were closed the stock advanced ten per cent. and on the Saturday following it rose to 100 per cent. advance. A char- ter was applied for and obtained towards the close of the session of the Legislature. Further description of this and other banks is given in later pages. A second bank was established in 1803 and the third in 1811.

While deeply engrossed in promoting the various business interests and public affairs of the city, the people very properly sought some means of amusement and recreation. A theatrical company under management of Hallam Brothers played a season in New York in 1769, and obtained permission to appear in Albany three times a week for one month, opening July 3, in "Venice Preserved." Mrs. Grant has recorded that the officers of an English regiment stationed here, played the "Beau's Stratagem " in a barn in 1760; but the Hallam company were the first to open a regular season. In 1785 a company came up from New York and in the Gazette of December 5, announced performan- ces of "Cross Purposes," and "Catharine and Petruchio." Permission had been obtained from the authorities, but before the performances, a storm of opposition arose against the theatre, and a petition signed by seventy persons was presented to the officials asking withdrawal of their consent to the company. But the mayor, recorder and council, by a vote of nine to four decided that as consent had been given, and expense incurred by the company in fitting up rooms, it would not be just to turn them away. The performances were given twice a week until the latter part of February. In 1803 a company managed by William Dunlap and Lewis Hallam played in Albany three nights a week from August 22 to October 27, in a dancing room on North Pearl street, in the company being the grandparents of Joseph Jefferson, the comedian. In the spring of 1811 John Howard Payne, then twenty years old, who is better known as the author of " Home, Sweet Home," than as an actor, played an engagement there. In November of that year an actor named John Bernard came from Boston with the avowed intention of establishing a permanent theatre in a building to be erected for the purpose. At that time there was much opposition among some

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classes to the theatre as an institution; the theatre in Richmond, Va., had recently burned with the loss of seventy-one lives, and the Boston manager was not warmly welcomed in Albany. The feeling against his project was intense, and a motion was made in the council to abolish all theatrical performances as a nuisance. The matter was referred to the committee on law, who made a long report dated Janu- ary 12, 1812. In the report the opinion was expressed that "a well- regulated theatre, supported by the respectable portion of society, so far from being contrary to good order and morality, must essentially contribute to correct the language, refine the taste, ameliorate the heart, and enlighten the understanding." The report closed with an opinion that the council could not interfere with the projected building. During its erection, which was begun at once, Bernard's company played in the Thespian Hotel, which was the name of a hall near Clin- ton avenue. The theatre was situated on the west side of Green street, south of Hamilton, and was formally opened to the public January 18, 1813, with the plays, "West Indian," and "Fortune's Frolic," the ad- mission being about the same as commonly demanded now-$1, 75 and 50 cents, and the opening address being written by Solomon Southwick. Mr. Bernard managed the theatre for four years, and though he had a good company met with but indifferent financial success, and in 1818 sold it to the Baptist Society who used it for many years for a church. In 1824-5 a theatre was built on the site of the Leland Opera House, a portion of which is incorporated in the present building, being opened May 13, 1825, and here many of the great actors of their times have played. There was also an Albany Museum, established in a small way as early as 1797, which was continued from 1826 by Harry Meech, and was removed in 1831 from the corner of Hudson avenue and Broad- way to the corner of State and Broadway, where in later years theatri- cal performances were given in connection with the museum.

Between the beginning of the present century and the war of 1812 the administration of the city government moved quietly along, the proceedings involving little of importance. The public revenue for the fiscal year 1799 was £146 14s. 4d. and the city was in debt £479 1s. 8d.

At this time the yellow fever was raging in New York, and collec- tions were taken up in the Albany churches for the relief of sufferers, the total contributions amounting to $555.87. For a number of years

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there was more or less of this dreaded disease in New York, causing grave fears that it would be brought up the river to Albany. In 1803 the Common Council, acting as a Board of Health, passed an ordinance requiring all vessels from New York city to be quarantined for a short time at a point some miles down the river. There was one death from the disease in Troy that year, but none in Albany.

When the news of the death of Washington reached Albany, Decem- ber 23, 1799, the Common Council immediately assembled and recom- mended the closing of all places of business, directed the tolling of bells from three to five o'clock, and that the members of the board wear crape during six weeks. The 9th of the following January was designated as a day for the observance of public funeral ceremonies, which were most solemn and impressive. Many of the citizens were then living who had been present at the reception given to Washington in the city at the close of the Revolutionary war, and the loss of the great statesman and general was deeply felt.

In the early years a part of the duty of the Common Council was to fix the weight and price of a loaf of bread, this being known as "the assize of bread," and any baker who was detected in selling a loaf that was below the prescribed weight was subject to a fine of one dollar. For example in 1799 a loaf weighing two pounds and five ounces, made from inspected wheat, sold for 8d., and other weights in proportion. In 1813, during and on account of the war, flour rose to $11 a barrel, and the Council adopted an ordinance requiring the flour merchants so to assize the bread that it would correspond to $9 a barrel. The bakers complained bitterly at this and called a meeting, at which a resolution was adopted to the effect that it was inexpedient to longer interfere with the baking and sale of bread.

It will surprise some readers of to-day to learn that prior to 1818 all meetings of the council were held behind closed doors. On November 16 of that year the board adopted a resolution that thereafter the meet- ings should be open to the public. The council at that time occupied the northeast corner of the first floor of the Old Capitol, all the other rooms on the first floor being used by the State. It will be remembered that the city had paid about $34,000 towards the expense of erect- ing the Capitol. At this time several efforts were made in the council to pass a resolution ordering the sale of the city's interest in that build- ing and the Board of Supervisors also discussed the policy of disposing of the interest of the county to the State. These measures were destined

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to be postponed for many years, and meanwhile the Council and the supervisors met in the Old Capitol until the erection of the first city hall.

With the passing years the city became deeper and deeper involved in debt, that being the history of most cities in that respect. On September 30, 1822, the council directed a tax to raise $3,000 with which to pay the interest on the city debt, and at the same time $6,000 was ordered raised for lighting the streets and for the night watch, and $8,000 for caring for the poor. The following table shows the condi- tion of the city's finances at the close of the first quarter of this cen- tury :

SINKING FUND.

City Stock held by Commissioners

$6,000 00

Albany Insurance Stock

2,500 00

Bonds, notes and interest due for lands sold

2,879 67

Cash loaned 4,535 00

on hand

3,130 88

359 Shares in Great Western Turnpike

8,975 00

46 Shares in Bethlehem Turnpike

1,150 00

Total $29,170 55

Mayor

$400 00

Chamberlain

500 00

City Superintendent

450 00

Superintendent of Alms-house

400 00

Overseers of the Poor

200 00

Police Justice

450 00

Constables (2)

400 00

Deputy Excise Officer

200 00

City Physician

550 00

Clerk of Common Council

150 00

Deputy Clerk of Market

100 00

Bellringers

40 00

Total

$3,840 00

CITY DEBT.

Funded

$205,000 00

Due on bonds to individuals

40,100 00

Small notes unredeemed

10,300 18

Total

$255,400 18

Returning for a moment to the year 1818, we find that the Common

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Council had been authorized by law to fund the city debt, to the amount of $205,000. On the 14th of April, 1820, a law was passed by the Leg- islature authorizing the council to sell certain lands belonging to the city to an amount not exceeding $250,000, on a lottery basis, valuation being placed on the various lots which were to be the prizes, but the scheme under this arrangement did not succeed. The council there- fore, in 1825, applied to the Legislature for permission to sell the lands. and at the same time for the privilege of raising the remainder of the fund necessary by selling tickets in a lottery created under the act of 1820, the prizes to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale. This plan was carried out and called forth much denunciation from individuals and from the press The New York Evening Post said : "The capital of the State, with the aid of the Legislature, has become an immense gam- bling establishment." It is well known that lotteries were favorite insti- tions in early years for raising money for all sorts of public purposes. In January, 1814, a law authorized a lottery to raise $200,000 for Union College, and was favored by Dr. Nott, the distinguished president of the institution. In May, 1825, the council appointed a committee to negotiate with Yates & McIntyre, who had made a proposition to pur- chase the Albany City Lottery, as the institution was called, for $200,- 000, which arrangement was subsequently carried out, though the pur- chase price was $240,795, to be paid in five years. The total valua- tion of the city lands which constituted the basis of this lottery was $254,385.

For the year ending in October, 1826, the receipts by the chamberlain were $60,060.19, the expenses $62,004.98. The chamberlain's report for 1829 showed the gross receipts of the city treasury to be $320,- 878.52, the disbursements, $317,126.15. The heavy expenses of the year were due in part to the erection of two markets, the beginning of the City Hall, and large cost of keeping the poor. The population of the city had now (1830) reached 24,209, having increased to that number from 12,630 in 1820, and progress was everywhere manifest.

In 1835 the county clerk reported to the Common Council that the population of the city according to a recent canvass was 13,712 males and 14,373 females, a total of 28,085, of whom 4,489 were voters. Erastus Corning was inaugurated mayor of the city on January 1, 1836. in which year the election of members of the Board of Aldermen took place in the spring for the first time. Improvements were made that year in the basin, and the government improved navigation in the river.

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Of the city debt of more than $250,000 in 1817, there remained now due only $95,000. The Utica and Schenectady Railroad was nearing com- pletion and the early opening of an uninterrupted line to Buffalo was in sight. At this time the Common Council adopted measures to open a space in the pier between the Columbia and the State street bridges, and a resolution was also adopted, to allow the Hudson and Mohawk Railroad to continue its track from Gansevoort street to North Ferry street.

In 1840 the canvassers reported to the Common Council that the pop- ulation of the city was 33,627, which number was increased in 1850 to a little more than 50,000. Previous to 1848 the money raised annually by tax for the expenses of the city government was usually nearly or quite exhausted by the 1st of May, in the temporary loans made in an- ticipation of the tax levy, a practice which has prevailed in most cities, but in that year a law was passed by the Legislature doing away with this method, greatly to the benefit of the city. The reports from 1844 to 1850 inclusive show the following sums of money applicable to the support of the city government in the years named:

1844 $19,464.67

1845 10,677.81

1846 6,797.98

1847 793.70

1848

662.35

1849

41,668.78

1850

67,731.34

These figures indicate the great increase in the amounts immediately available in the last two years, under the operation of the law just mentioned. The chamberlain's report for 1850 gives the amount of money received from all sources, inclusive of $41, 668. 78 which was the balance on hand, as $695,366.67, and the expenditures, as $627,635.42, leaving a balance of $67,731.34. The mayor's statement of that year upon the financial condition of the city has the following :

On the first of May, 1848, debt of the city (exclusive of certain loans so amply secured that they cannot be considered absolute liabilities of the city) amounted to $752,896.93. Since that date this debt has been reduced $211,764.90; and the exact amount of the same at this time is $541,132.03.

The assessment rolls in 1849 give the valuation of the taxable prop- erty of the city as $11,971,263. Such was the condition of the city's financial affairs in the middle of this century.

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During this period of growth in municipal affairs, vast changes took place in other directions. The steamboat came in 1807, to be followed ere long by the canals and the railroads, all of which were of great importance to Albany, revolutionizing methods of transportation and travel, and river commerce was greatly extending, with the greatest benefit to all industries and trades of the city. Fulton's first steam- boat, the Clermont, was thus noticed in the Albany Gazette of Sep- tember 2, 1807 :

The north river steamboat will leave Paulus' Hook Ferry on Friday, the 4th of September, at nine in the morning, and arrive in Albany on Saturday, at nine in the afternoon. Provisions, good berths and accommodation are provided.

The through fare was $7. In the Gazette supplement of September 7 appeared the following notice of the first trip of the steamboat to Albany :

This morning at six o'clock, Mr. Fulton's steamboat left the ferry stairs at Court- land street dock for Albany. She is to make her passage in 36 hours from the time of her departure, touching at Newburg, Poughkeepsie, Esopus, and Hudson on the way. The steamboat arrived at Albany on Saturday afternoon, and this morning at nine o'clock again departed for New York, with about forty ladies and gentlemen.

The first steamer continued her regular trips, gradually reducing the time of passage to twenty-eight hours, receiving constantly in- creasing patronage. Other boats soon followed. The Hudson River Line was established in 1825, with three boats, and within four years added three more. The North River Line was established in 1826 and the Troy Line in 1832. In the next year these three lines were con- solidated as the Hudson River Association Line, which sailed three day and three night boats. The People's Line was established in 1834 in opposition to the day boats of the Hudson River Association, but was sold in 1835 to the association for $100,000 cash and $10,000 a year for ten years. The People's Line was revived in 1836 by Daniel Drew, and within the next twenty-five years bought or built seven or eight splendid boats, among them the Dean Richmond and the Drew, and ending with the superb Adirondack of to-day.

By the year 1848 the fleet of sailing vessels on the river had in- creased to 331 sloops and 284 schooners, and at the end of the suc- ceeding thirty-seven years (1885) the character and numbers had changed to to 53 sailing vessels, 113 steam vessels, 175 canal boats, and 86 barges, with a total tonnage of 61,261. The number of canal boats indicates the importance of the great artificial waterways,

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Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 32

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374