USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 31
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guenot Church went in 1834 from Pine to Franklin and Church streets, and is at present L'Eglise dn Saint Esprit in 22d Street, half- way between 5th and 6th avenues, crowded with stores on all sides. So Wall Street Presbyterian Church finds itself at 12th Street and 5th Avenue. The Brick Presbyterian vanished from Beekman and Park Row, and is now on 5th Avenue and 37th Street. The first Baptist Church was built of bluestone, in 1790, in Gold Street, near Fulton; five years later a second stone church was built on Oliver Street, and a third in Rose Street, in 1799.
The ravages done to Trinity in 1776 by the great fire were of such a serious nature that it needed to be entirely rebuilt. This work, be- gun in 1788, was not completed till 1790, when, on March 25, the new building was consecrated, standing until the present splendid edifice was reared in its place a half-century later. A pew was set apart in it for the President, who then resided in the Macomb house nearby, and had before that worshiped in St. Paul's, where his pew is still pre- served. On the site of the ruined Lutheran Church, corner of Rec- tor Street, Grace Episco- pal Church was built be- fore 1808. having since emigrated northward to the corner of 10th Street. at the turn in Broadway. which gives it the appear- ance of standing at the head of that great thor- oughfare. But of special interest is the enterprise undertaken by Trinity Corporation in 1807. Its property extended west- ward of Broadway far up toward Greenwich. At a distant part of its land it built the St. John's Church on Varick Street. which enjoys the distinc- WASHINGTON IRVING. tion with St. Paul's of being still where, and in the shape in which. it was put up. Its cost was $200.000. It seemed a sinful extravagance to erect so costly a building ont among the swamps and outskirts where nobody would ever want to live. The Lispenard salt-meadows were all around it. not yet drained by the canal in Canal Street north of it; and frogs and snakes held high and undisturbed revelry in front of the structure. where afterward was laid ont St. John's Park, and where now is heard the clang and clamor of the Hudson River Railroad freight
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depot. One more down-town Episcopal Church, not now to be found, and also not under Trinity's care, was Christ Church in Ann Street, with a substantial stone building erected in 1794. St. Mark's. on Stuyvesant Street, generally known as St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery. be- cause within the limits of the old Director's farm or " bouwery." was built in 1795.
It was not till after the Evacuation in 1783 that the Catholics be- gan to enjoy the unmolested exercise of their religion. In 1784 there were eighteen communicants served by Father Farmer. Under this assumed name, and in disguise, the JJesuit Father Steinmeyer had ven- tured to enter New York before the Revolution, and ministered to a little congregation worshiping in the house of a German co-religion- ist in Wall street. Father Farmer left after the fire of 1776. and now on his return his flock held services in a carpenter-shop on Bar- clay Street. Feeling emboldened by their growth in numbers as the city grew, and by the countenance lent by the presence in the city of the legations of Spain. France, and other Catholic powers, this small congregation purchased lots on the corner of Barclay and Church streets, and the cornerstone of a church was laid with appropriate ceremonies on October 5. 1785. It was dedicated on November 4, 1786, and is the St. Peter's Church which we may still see on the same spot. New York City was made the see of a Catholic diocese in 1808. There was still some violence of prejudice against Catholics in the hearts of their fellow-citizens, and a mob of " Highbinders " attempt- ed to do injury to St. Peter's and the Irish settlement in City Hall Place (then Augustin Street), in 1806. A second church for Catho- lies was thought necessary in 1809, and on June & the cornerstone of St. Patrick's was laid on the corner of Mott and Mulberry streets. but it was not consecrated till 1815. In 1827 Christ Church in Ann Street was purchased, and rededicated as a Catholic Church. Abont this time a moderate estimate by one of their own bishops put the Catho- lic population of New York at about twenty-five thousand. Their great number was mainly composed of persons who had emigrated from Ireland. But there were enough of German extraction to re- quire services in the German language, though the prevailing tongne was the English, thus keeping the church as a whole more in tonchi with the Americanizing influences around it.
New York takes a just pride in her public school system. The history of education, as we have seen all along, is very nearly coter- minous with the history of the city's settlement itself. It began in 1633. In 1748 two school buildings were put up. one in Rector Street by Trinity Church, one in Garden Street (Exchange Place) by the Dutch Reformed people. And thus from the beginning it was church and school that went hand in hand. but only for the benefit of the families of the church. A few pupils in the Dutch school, and pos- sibly in the Episcopalian, received an education free of expense. but
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the officers of the church paid the price for their tuition to the teach- ers. Since, therefore, secular education was compelled to be so closely dependent upon religious affiliation, the children of the outly- ing " masses "-churchless even then, as it seems-grew up without the advantages of schooling. As the historian of the Public School Society remarks: " By that social gravitation which seems to have al- ways been inseparable from compacted communities, the metropolis was not exempt from the characteristic feature of a substratum of wretched, ignorant, and friendless children, who, even though they had parents, grew up in a condition of moral and religious orphan- age, alike fatal to their temporal and spiritual advancement and ele- vation." To counteract this fearful tendency the best citizens of the town felt they must bestir themselves. The initiatory step had been taken by a number of Quaker ladies of means, who, by their own con- tributions, had organized a school for girls, who received tuition in the common branches, entirely without cost to the parents. Early in the year 1805 two gentlemen-their names deserve mention and re- membrance-Thomas Eddy and John Murray, issued a call for a meet- ing at Mr. Murray's house in Pearl Street, to consider the subject of providing means for the education of neglected children. The meet- ing was called for February 19, 1805, and on that date twelve gentle- men responded. Some of the names have already become familiar to us in the course of this history; they were: Samuel Osgood, Brock- holst Livingston, Samuel Miller, Joseph Constant, Thomas Pearsall, Thomas Franklin, Matthew Clarkson, Leonard Bleecker, Samuel Rus- sell, and William Edgar. At a second meeting, less than a week later, a report was adopted recommending application to the Legislature for an act incorporating an educational society. A memorial having been drawn up, it was signed by one hundred prominent citizens, and sent to the Legislature on February 25. On April 9 it passed the bill desired, entitled " An Act to incorporate the Society instituted in the City of New York for the Establishment of a Free School for the Education of Poor Children who do not belong to, or are not pro- vided for by, any religious Society." Thirty-seven incorporating members were mentioned in the bill, the name of Mayor De Witt Clin- ton being first. De Witt Clinton and the twelve gentlemen present at the original meeting at Mr. Murray's house were constituted the trustees. Of this board the Mayor was chosen President; John Mur- ray, Vice-President; Leonard Bleecker, Treasurer; and Benjamin D. Perkins, Secretary. It will be noticed that even yet the whole move- ment was a benevolent one, the schools to be established being really " charity schools," or for poor children only. Hence the appeal was to private generosity. It took a year to collect sufficient funds even to make a beginning. Clinton again led the list of subscribers (still pre- served) with a donation of $200. A teacher was engaged and apart- ments rented, William Smith being the pioneer instructor, and the
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place a house in Madison (then Bancker) Street. On May 19, 1806. exercises were begun; few children were present; after a few days there were forty-two. Then the numbers grew so rapidly that better accommodations became necessary. In April, 1806, Colonel Henry Rutgers (after whom Rutgers College at New Brunswick, N. J., is named, by reason of his munificence to that institution) had given a lot for a building in Henry Street, and soon gave the adjoining lot also. But funds were scarce. A second appeal to the Legislature re- sulted in the setting apart of a portion of the excise for the use of the Society. The city corporation presented a building on Chambers Street adjoining the Almshouse, besides $500 to put it into a state of repair, thus furnishing the means to construct rooms for classes and also living apartments for the teacher, and here Mr. Smith began his instructions on April 28, 1807. In 1808 the charter was altered and the Society's title changed to that of the " Free School Society of the City of New York." In 1809 the school next to the Almshouse became too small, and now was erected the first real school building on a large lot in Chatham Street given by the city. On December 11 it was dedi- eated. This was the old school No. 1. It was was not long before No. 2 was erected. Thirteen thousand dollars had been raised by the citizens to meet Colonel Rutgers's condition that a school be erected on the two lots in Henry Street before June, 1811. The corner-stone was laid in November. 1810, by the Colonel himself in the presence of a large andience. In 1811 Trinity Church gave two lots on the corner of Hudson and Grove streets, whereupon the third school was erected, and where to-day still stands one of the ward schools of the city. In 1825 the name of the society was changed again. becoming now the " Public School Society." thus eliminating more and more the idea of " charity." and approaching the principle that education is a right which can be FIRST HOUSE LIGHTED BY GAS, 1825. . claimed from the State by every citizen. After a while the special, even yet some- what benevolent and certainly private association, was merged into the educational system of the State on the broader lines. In 1828 there were six schools in active operation in various parts of the city.
The commerce of the city suffered a hard blow from the premoni- tions of the War of 1812. as already intimated. In the years 1805. 1806. and 1807 the exports booked at this harbor were of the value of $23.869.250 per year on the average. From this there was a great falling off during the years 1809. 1810. and 1811, the three immedi-
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ately preceding the declaration of war, when the embargo act had been put into force. Then the average exports amounted to only $14,- 030,035. In the year 1825, ten years after the close of the war, the value of imports reached the figure $50,024,973, and the exports had risen to an average of $26,000,000 during the three years 1825, 1826, and 1827. But as a penalty for too great confidence in prosperity the panic of 1819 was followed by another in 1826. The banks of the city had nobly borne the strain of war and the erippling of business by the embargo. The capital in their charge in 1815 amounted to $13,515,- 000. In the matter of chartering banks politics still kept meddling. When the Legislature, in 1812, was about to pass an act chartering the Bank of North America, which would possibly benefit or be con- ducted by persons of an opposite party to that of Governor Tomp- kins, the latter took the extreme measure of proroguing the body, causing intense excitement. On reconvening after sixty days the charter for the bank was promptly passed. "For this result," ob- serves Mr. Ellis H. Roberts, " De Witt Clinton was in large degree responsible, for he was to have and did get the support of the bank ring in his candidacy then pending for President. These graspings for bank charters as political prizes, or as conditions of bargains in politics, continued until the free banking law was enacted, allowing equal privileges to all under statutory regulations." In 1819 the first savings bank was instituted. Its title was the " Bank of Savings of the City of New York." For many years it was located in Bleecker Street, east of Broadway, and within a year or two has moved into its present beautiful marble home on the corner of Fourth Avenue and Twenty-second Street-a happy contrast in its elegant proportions to the unsightly monsters called " sky-scrapers " which offend the eye by their excesses in height and disproportion in other dimensions. Of the fifty millions of dollars' worth of imports brought to New York in 1825, forty-eight millions were carried in American vessels, a matter that is worth pondering in these days. American shipping was an industry of considerable magnitude, but when it was put on the list of " infants " it seems to have grieved and died. Shipyards abounded then along the East River shore, of which the largest and most fa- mous were that of the Brown Brothers (Adam and Noah), at the foot of East Houston Street; that of Christian Bergh, near Gouverneur's Slip; and that of Henry Eckford, near Bergh's. In 1817 regular packet lines were established between New York and Liverpool. The " Black Ball Line " consisted of four ships of about five hundred tons, which sailed regularly on the first of every month, but business was so good that after six months four more packets were added to the fleet, and the vessels left for Liverpool twice a month, on the 1st and on the 16th. The " Red Star Line " of packets, also four in number, made the 24th of each month their sailing day. Messrs. Fish, Grinnell & Co. (we want to note that second name) established the "Swallow Tail
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Line " again with four ships, sailing on the 8th of every month. Thus citizens of wealth and leisure had a chance of going upon the grand tonr of Europe every week in the month.
We have been made aware by more than one circumstance in the city's life that De Witt Clinton was Mayor at various times. It was an office of such importance in those days that in 1803 Clinton re- signed as United States Senator in order to accept it. Yet Mayor John Ferguson did the reverse. A Federalist victory in 1815 calling for the removal of Clinton, he was appointed to the office, but he held the position of naval officer of the customs. Edward Livingston in 1803 had been Mayor and United States District Attorney at the same time. But now it was decided by the courts that the Mayor could not hold a federal office at the same time, and Ferguson, after presiding over the affairs of the city from March to June, resigned the chair and clung to his customs duties. Jacob Radcliffe, who had succeeded Ma- rinus Willett in 1808, now received the appointment, and held it for three years. An interesting personage then (1818) came forward, the grandson of the old Lieutenant-Governor and stanch unbending Tory, Cadwallader Colden. He was the son of David Colden, and his name combined those of the two forefathers. Cadwalla- der D. Colden must have inherited some of the scientific tastes of his forbear, for at the Canal Celebration he offered a treatise for preservation among the archives of the occasion on the sub- jeet of canals and inland navigation in general. In 1821 he was succeeded by Mr. Stephen Allen, a self-made man beginning life as a sailmaker, and later acquiring great wealth in mercantile and finan- cial undertakings by the sheer force of a remarkable intellect. He became State Senator later, and served with distinction as a member of the Court of Errors, where he dealt in a masterly way with the most subtle questions of law, although quite withont legal training. During his term, in 1822, there occurred a considerable modification of the City Charter. Only one strictly appointive office now remained, that of the Recorder; the Sheriff and the Clerk of the Common Conn- cil were made elective by the citizens, while the Mayor was to be elected by the Council. This change of method was the result of the abolition of the Council of Appointment by the State Constitution of 1822. which gave part of its functions to the Governor and Senate. Mayor William Panlding was the first to be appointed under the new rule. He was a nephew of one of those " incorruptible patriots " who declined André's bribe when they arrested him with Arnold's papers on his person. He was born at Tarrytown, the scene of John Paul- ding's exploit, came to New York in 1795, and engaged in the practice of law. In 1825 Philip Hone, the celebrated and wealthy auctioneer, became Mayor, holding the place for one year, when Paulding was re-appointed, and held it again for two years. Among the fortunate happenings in De Witt Clinton's life must be reckoned that during his
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incumbeney of the Mayor's office occurred the completion of our pres- ent City Hall. It is a well-founded boast that there is no finer public edifice in the United States, for the grace of its outline, and for adapt- edness to its uses. A premium had been offered for the best plan. which was awarded to Messrs. Macomb and Mangin. The front and sides are of Stockbridge marble, the rear until recently showed a red sandstone surface, but it has been veined and whitened to look like marble. It cost $500,000. The pity of it is that the characterless monstrosities which men are putting up in these days for newspaper or business purposes, and which invade the sky with fine disregard for architectural principles or proportions, completely destroy the pleas- ing and noble effect of this building. An event in municipal affairs was the first introduction of gas for use in streets and houses in the
CITY HALL IN THE PARK, 1812.
year 1825. The company furnishing it had been incorporated two years before, but not till May of 1825 did they begin to lay the pipes. A line of lamps was placed on both sides of Broadway, from Canal Street to the Battery. The first company chartered was the New York Gaslight Company, and its field was assigned to it south of Canal Street. In 1830 the Manhattan Gas Company was incorpor- ated, and took care of the upper parts of the city. No. 7 Cherry Street, the home of Mr. Samuel Leggett, President of the New York Gaslight Company, was the first private residence to be lighted with the new illuminator.
In 1809 the second centennial anniversary of the discovery of the Hudson was celebrated by the Historical Society. They had no hall
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of their own as yet, but ocenpied rooms in the Government Honse on the site of the old fort, which was now the Custom House. The exer- cises were held in the Court Room of the City Hall on Wall Street. on September 4, Governor Tompkins, Mayor Clinton, the City Corpora- tion, and a number of other distinguished guests being present. An address was delivered, able, and interesting. The company next re- paired to the City Hotel on Broadway, where a banquet was spread. the dishes being mainly, if not exclusively, American, of an ancient and homely kind, including succotash and some other Indian delica- cies. A great number of toasts were given, Verrazano being remem- bered, but not Gomez. Another omission was Peter Minuit, which was emphasized by the erroneous sentiment: " Walter van Twiller. the first Governor of New Netherland." Engineer Simeon De Witt gave a toast worth keeping in mind by a generation soon to take- their place in the world's activities: " May our successors a century hence celebrate the same event which we this day commemorate."
It is certainly a coincidence that the year 1809, two hundred years after the discovery of the site of our city, should have been signalized by the publication of Washington Irving's immortal burlesque his- tory of that city, ascribed to the pen of the worthy Diedrich Knick- erbocker. It was this book, while setting all the world a-langhing. which turned the attention of the citizens to the origins of their own town, of which they were almost totally ignorant. Irving was aston- ished to discover how few even knew that New York had ever been called New Amsterdam. The book was published in November. so that the Historical Society's celebration cannot have been the result of the interest awakened by its perusal. Yet it is curious to observe that both they, by their toasts, and the author, by his annals, dis- cover no acquaintance with any Director of New Netherland before van Twiller. This was because their only source of information then was William Smith's history. The burlesque was not altogether rel- ished, especially not by descendants of the Dutch, who at that time ocenpied high social position. But pretty soon the royal fun of the book triumphed over everything else. Long afterward Irving wrote about the work: " If it has taken an unwarrantable liberty with on early provincial history, it has at least turned attention to that his- tory and provoked research." It is perfectly true that from that day to this, as a result of the amusement or the indignation which the book has awakened in different minds, " the forgotten archives of the province have been rummaged. and the facts and personages of the olden time resened from the dust of oblivion." But what is especially significant is the effect the book has had upon nomenclature in the city. In fact the name of its supposed author has been appropriated as a convenient sonbriquet. Even as the United States has its Uncle Jonathan. so New York City has its Father Knickerbocker to typify it. and in raillery or caricature to picture forth the image of
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the city. We may be inclined to scold at times, and with James Rus- sell Lowell or James Graham deplore that forefathers of such excel- lent brains and world-famous achievements should have been so sadly robbed of their good name, being held up to ridicule as misshapen in body, and hopelessly stupid; yet do we agree with Irving's own con- clusion when he says: " When I find, after a lapse of nearly forty years, this haphazard production of my youth still cherished among them, when I find its very name a . household word,' and used to give the home stamp to everything recommended for popular acceptation. such as Knickerbocker societies, Knickerbocker insurance companies, Knickerbocker steamboats, Knickerbocker omnibuses, Knicker- bocker bread, and Knickerbocker ice, and when I find New Yorkers of Dutch descent priding themselves upon being · genuine Knicker- bockers,' I please myself with the persuasion that I have struck the right chord . that I have opened a vein of pleasant associa- tions and quaint characteristics peculiar to my native place, and which its inhabitants will not willingly suffer to pass away."
The year 1809 was again made memorable by the death in this city of the famous or notorious Thomas Paine, as people may choose to call him. He had been a sincere friend of America, and his " Rights of Man " had roused the world to a sense of what was due to the peo- ple in the matter of government. He had been rescued from the fickle guillotine, which decapitated friends and foes of human liberty as the whim took it, by the earnest intercession of the United States, through Gouverneur Morris, then its representative in Paris. About the year 1801 he came to this country, while his friend and admirer (and perhaps disciple), Jefferson, was Chief Magistrate of the Repub- lic. Grant Thorburn, the seedsman, called upon him at the City Hotel soon after his arrival, to satisfy a curiosity he had to see the much- talked-of man, and in spite of his horror of atheism, was led in a mo- ment of human sympathy to grasp his proffered hand. But the worthy Grant was precentor and clerk in the Scotch Presbyterian Church on Cedar Street, where no profane artificial musical instru- ment was permitted to assist the congregation in singing the Psalms of David. For this act of friendliness toward an infidel he was sus- pended from office for three months. When Paine's health began to fail he was taken out into the country in Greenwich Village, and lived in a house midway between Grove and Barrow in Bleecker Street, until May 29. 1809. He was then removed for greater privacy or com- fort (the other was a boarding-house) to a house in Grove Street, half- way between Bleecker (then Herring) Street and Fourth, about where No. 59 would now be. Here he died on June 8, 1809.
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