USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 49
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Work was carried ou quite simultaneously on both sides of the city. On June 5, 1878, the Sixth Avenue road was opened from Rector Street to Central Park; on August 26. 1878. the Third Avenue road,
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from the Battery to Forty-second Street. In the summer of 1879, one arriving in the city by one of the Jersey ferries, still had to walk all the way to Chatham Square, or cross Broadway to Fulton Street and Pearl, to get the East side elevated train; and at Eighty-ninth Street he would have to descend to the street and take a horse-car further to Harlem. In 1880 the roads were completed and trains ran to Harlem along all the avenues. Second, Third, Sixth, and Ninth. Thus the Rapid Transit problem seemed to be solved; Harlem was brought near; a city extending over Manhattan Island made compact as in the days of small distances. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were daily carried back and forth from home to business. But the problem thus working raised a still larger one for itself. In later years the cable-cars and electric trolly- cars have come to aid in the increas- ing need for rapid transportation. Still heads are E St bent in anxious study to determine what shall be done to keep the transit once rapid from becoming too slow ; what new methods shall be applied to reduce the strain upon the older.
It was now that a change came over the appear- ance of Harlem.
ELEVATED ROAD-IN THE BOWERY.
Some years before the "L" Roads, a new method of domestic existence had been introduced into the city. The Parisian flat had caught the fancy of the people and met at once the necessities created by the excessive rents of houses. In 1865 the system had already been put into operation down town, by dividing the older style of houses in an extempore and often inconvenient manner into " floors," for the separate occu- pancy of different families. But Harlem, where new houses could be put up adapted from the beginning to this new style of liv- ing, became very soon the paradise of " flats." When, therefore, the " L " Roads were making this section so convenient to business. these " flat " houses filled up the vacant spaces every where visible before, until soon they were no more. Traveling on the east side we perceive
i
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now no break between New York proper and Yorkville, or between Yorkville and Harlem. One solid succession of cheap apartment- houses greets the eye on Third, and Second, and even First Avenues. And on the west side, from Fifty-ninth Street, along Cohmbns (or Ninth) Avenne, to One Hundred and Tenth Street and along Eighth Avenue nearly to One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street, we see one series of the same inevitable, nninteresting apartment-houses. Two immense caravanseries usually occupy a whole block, on either side, with perhaps a little alleyway between. At the same time one gets glimpses of rows of dwellings in the side streets, intended for single families, and with some pretensions to elegance, but again monoto- nonsly alike, or with attempts at variety even more painful, sometimes effected by placing houses of dark and light stone by the side of each other in regular alternation. so that a rapid passage in the elevated trains gives one the impression that the fronts of the buildings are striped.
While Harlem still had a semblance of its earlier rural self. and was not yet closely artienlated by bricks and blocks and elevated trains to the rest of the city, it is somewhat surprising that even then the city felt the confinement of its insular position and aspired to larger things. It was as early as 1873 that. by an act of the Legisla- ture as usual, New York was permitted to cross the Harlem River, and plant its banners over a large slice of Westchester County. We cannot but regard this as an event worthy of special note. It is al- most incredible that from the earliest days, even when New Amster- dam received incorporation as a city in 1653, the whole of Manhattan Island should have been regarded as embraced in it. We can never sufficiently appreciate the andacity of the Commission which, in 1807, coolly laid out a system of streets, covering nearly the entire surface of the island. But the dream that was not expected in 1807 to be re- alized for centuries, was already nearing that realization at the end of six and a half decades. Therefore room must be songht off the island. long before all the room upon it was fully occupied. And it is again deserving of remark that as much territory was added to the former area as had been from time immemorial considered the proper modieum for the expansion of the infant town. Manhattan Island was estimated to contain fourteen thousand acres of land ; the part of Westchester now annexed amounted to thirteen thousand acres. This territory was now divided into the Twenty-third and Twenty- fourth Wards, which, like the Western States as compared with the Eastern, thus became, in comparison with the twenty-two down-town wards covering only a thousand more acres, the wards of " magnifi- cent distances."
The city by its passage across the Harlem River embraced within its territory some choice bits of rural scenery not only, but many places with " a local habitation and a name " full of historic and other
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interest. There was Kingsbridge with its Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and its lofty Spnyten Duyvil Bluff, looking far down the river, and mak- ing a half-successful attempt to iival the height of the Palisades. What stories of romantic adventure chster about the settlement here! The trumpet of Anthony van Corlaer is heard with despairing blast sounding above the roar of the rushing tide, as the devil he was bound to spite got hold of him amid the seething waters. Here Governor Clinton held post with his brigade, to keep English and cow- boys from crossing to Manhattan. Here a bold dash was made against the British defenders abont the same time that Light Horse Harry Lee surprised Pauls Hook. Through Kingsbridge clattered the little cavalcade of six, in 1756, when Washington rode forth from New York to Boston. Here Adams was met when he came to the city as Vice-President, and to Kingsbridge was Lafayette escorted and here cordial adieus spoken by him to the dignitaries of the city who had so handsomely entertained him in 1824. Next to Kingsbridge lay the village or manor of Fordham, where the Huguenots settled and founded a church even before 1700. And up and down its steep and winding roads poor Poe was wont to wander, perhaps not always with steady feet, at his wits' end how to provide the necessaries of life for his sick wife, lying up there in that miserable little cottage by the side of the Kingsbridge Road, where it stood until lately. There it stands yet, a little distance removed from its original position, pre- served for the sake of the weird genius that wrote the " Raven." Was it as early as this, or some years later, that the horse-cars of the " huckleberry road " pursned their devious and deliberate way to Fordham from the old wooden Harlem toll-bridge? But this brings ns to Morrisania, named after the famous Morris family, which gave a Chief Justice to New York Province, and a Mayor to New York City. and to the whole country in the days when patriotism cost something. the many-sided Gouvernent Morris, statesman, orator, financier, dip- lomat, engineer, and finally a dignified and retired country gentle- man. A delicious story is told of him by " Felix Oldboy " in conec- tion with the founding of Mott Haven, now also become a part of the growing city. When the elder Jordan L. Mott had purchased the ground for his great foundry plant. as he received the deeds from the hands of the venerable Gouvernent Morris, he asked whether he might call that portion of the " Patroonship " after himself. " Mott Haven." Morris was blunt in his older days as he was outspoken and fearless in his younger, and replied, " Yes, and for anght I care you may change the name of the Harlem River to the Jordan, and dip into it as often as you want to." As Mott was not afflicted with the Syrian chieftain's leprosy he did not follow the latter part of this recommen- dation, nor change the name of the Harlem. But he dng a canal which has become a sad nuisance since, extending a good way up be- vond One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street. The same authority
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informs us that Morris even at his great age was vigorous at handling a scythe or sickle, and gave his men a hard tussle to keep up with him at harvesting, in which bucolic occupation the retired statesman would regularly engage in spite of the remonstrances of aristocratic relatives. The noble old mansion of the Morrises stood near the water's edge, about where the Harlem and East Rivers joined their waters. The first house erected in what was the village of Morrisania proper, was that of a Mr. Canldwell, in 1848, and a " Union " Church was organized the next year. Mott Haven was soon populated by Mr. Mott's prosperous operatives who built scores of cosy little homes in
HAARLEM RIVER IMPROVEMENTS-LOOKING WEST FROM KINGSBRIDGE ROAD.
the vicinity of the " works "; and to be sure that the name might stick to his manorial and industrial possessions Mr. Mott put up a sign- board that could be seen across the river with the legend " Mott Haven " inscribed thereon, and secured for it also Government recog- nition as a postoffice station. It will make the denizens of Morris- ania weep or smile according to their predilections to be reminded of the fact that the place was intended to be a strictly temperance vil- lage: not only gin and whisky and all that ilk to be banished there- from, but also the milder intoxicants, beer and ale. The towering and miltitudinous breweries of the district at the present time are a sad
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or an amusing commentary upon these laudable designs. Man pro- poses, and some other power disposes: what the power in this case can have been, we leave to the decision of the reader. Port Morris at the extreme boundary line toward the Sound or East River, then had its foundry, as to-day it has that and several other imposing indus- trial hives, to be seen far and wide along the shores of the broad waters whereon it abuts. Little was it thought in 1873, that the vil- lages of College Point, and Flushing, and Astoria, all within view at Port Morris, with Riker's, and Berrian, and North and South Brother Islands, would all one day be embraced within the sweep of those city limits which had just brought this then remote territory into New York. But further than Port Morris lay the village of West Farms, and that too with all its memories of the past became a legiti- mate part of New York City and its history. Here the De Lancey's had their country seat; and hot were the controversies on election day in Westchester County between the Morrises and the De Lanceys, made irreconcilable antagonists and rivals by the arbitrary favors or disfavors of Governor Cosby, who put down one (Lewis Morris from the bench of the Chief Justice) and lifted up another (James De Lan- cey) without consulting anybody but his own will and his own pocket, as by this means he hoped to get away a few thousand pounds of back salary from stanch old Councillor Rip Van Dam, who had been Acting-Governor for over a year. Here at West Farms too a deed was done reflecting honor upon a name that needs the mention of all the honorable acts ever performed by its bearer to counterbalance the one dark deed that ruined him. Aaron Burr led a daring assault on a block-house-built here by Oliver De Lancey, the brother of the Chief Justice and a rabid Tory; the very audacity and rapidity of the maneuver causing the garrison to surrender without a shot in its own defense. After 1873, and in the process of making this rustic historie retreat a part of the city, sad havoc was made of roads and houses, great or small. The horse-car, soon after the annexation, and the trolley now, have brought it into communication with Harlem Bridge. and the elevated road thunders past at no great distance. Ten years ago hills half cut away, honses left absurdly high and dry that were once even with the road, or placed on piles with the very ground gone from under, gave evidence of the transition still incom- plete. But even then, or even now, nooks may be found where pris- tine nature still revels in her unsullied beauty, and human beings dwell in rustic retirement, all unconscious of the fact that they are part of a rumbling. rattling, thunderous mart of industry and com- merce. Thus did New York take part of Westchester; and will she let die these names that are dear to the antiquarian, and to the original villagers? The railroads have partly taken care that she will not. For Mott Haven and Melrose, and Fordham and Morrisania. and Kings- bridge and Spurten Duyvil and all. look kindly down upon ns at every
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stage, and it is not likely that these will soon depart from their time tables or their stations.
The city having crossed the Harlem River, was bound to keep bridges in its rear. It was not doing anything like crossing the Rubicon, but on the other hand was greatly interested in keeping up the means of crossing back and forth to the fullest measure. The oldest bridge by far of course is Kingsbridge, which superseded the ferry there in the days of the earliest Van Cortlandts. For a long time this remained the only means of crossing to the mainland, and Washington in 1756, as well as Lafayette in 1824, on their way to Boston, had to make their journey around to this extremity of the island. Before the middle of the century, however, a toll bridge had been built across to Morrisania or Mott Haven from the end of Third Avenne. It was a wooden affair, none of the strongest or safest. It could not have been very old in 1846, yet even then people shivered a little in going across, and eyewitnesses describe it as something of " a ruin. moss-grown and shaky." Some years before the annexation this bridge was replaced by a fine iron drawbridge, turned by a steam engine, and presenting three great arches to the view as one came up or down the river, one on either side supporting the approach, and the larger central one revolving on a pier to allow the passage of ships. But this has had a shorter life than its wooden predecessor. for at the present day it is no more and for a year or two a splen- did structure has been under way, allowing a greater distance be- tween its bottom and tide water. For the same reason the Fourth Avenne Railroad Bridge has been greatly raised. At Second Avenue a lofty bridge carries the trains of the elevated roads across the river. At Madison Avenue foot passengers and horse-cars cross over by a bridge which has curved approaches, and leads directly from the ave- me running south and north into One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street running east and west. For many years Macomb's Dam Bridge has been a familiar object. It was erected in 1861. high above the river, with wooden trestle-work, and wooden supports for the ap- proaches. Often has its name led the innocent into dangerous sem- blance to profanity; but the designation arose simply enough. General Macomb once undertook to throw a dam across the Harlem at this point; but the dwellers along the lower shores of the river could not endure this desecration, which made a mere mud creek of the stream by their doors. So they came up in a body and smashed the dam, but could not break the name away from the locality. In deference to delicato ears, however, the city fathers have tried dargely in vain) to christen the bridge with the name " Central." Struck with the fever for improvement, the wooden structure was replaced only recently by a splendid bridge of iron, graceful and strong, having a length of 1,920 feet and width of 50 feet. It was begun in 1892 and opened to the public on May 1. 1895. Its cost was two millions of dol-
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lars. It serves to connect Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Avenues, at their termini, with the annexed district; while from Amsterdam (Tenth) and St. Nicholas Avennes comes down a tremendous viadnet the full width of One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Street, directly to the bridge, high over the tracks of the Eighth Avenue Elevated Railway. A bridge conveys trains from the latter structure over the river, run- ning there on the surface to various points in the annexed parts, and up to Yonkers and beyond Tarrytown. Next in the series comes the noble old aqnednet long known as High Bridge, erected at the first con- struction of the Croton Water system in 1842. And still above, at but
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THE CANAL THROUGH DYCKMAN MEADOWS AND THE ROCKS.
a short distance, is seen the last and noblest structure of all, the wonderful Washington Bridge. Its lofty roadway, 150 feet above tide water, leads from One Hundred and Eighty-first Street and Amster- dam (Tenth) Avenue straight across to Fordham Heights. It is 2,400 feet long and 80 feet wide, and built of iron, steel, and stone. It rests mainly upon two immense arches of steel, each with a span of 510 feet, and rising 135 feet above high water mark at their center. The approach on the west side rests on four arches of granite faced with dressed stone, and that on the Fordham side on three similar arches. It was completed in 1889, but not formally opened to the public till the next year.
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The Harlem having thus become a stream passing through the heart of New York, it was but natural that something more should be made of it than it was in its previous condition. It is of course called a river only by courtesy, the tides rising and falling in it like an arın of the sea. It is simply a depression separating, with Spuyten Duy- vil Creek, Manhattan Island from the mainland, and into this depres- sion the waters of the Hudson River and of the Long Island Sound (here also called by courtesy East River) were bound to flow. A chan- nel of good depth ran through the center, but at low tide a consider- able portion of the " River " was converted into mud flats. This must now all be touched and altered into better shape by the hand of im- provement. The shores were not to be allowed to remain in their pris- tine condition, with the waters alternately within reach and inac- cessible with the changes of the tide. Docks and wharves were built out upon the mud foundations so that deep water might always be at hand for traffic. The rustic stream principally used for pleasure boating was dignified with the character of a waterway of commerce, and therefore the bridges that were obstructing navigation must be reared upon loftier piers, cost what it may. There has even been some talk of removing the fine High Bridge, if its solid piers should interfere too much with shipping. Thus the deepening and the dock- ing of the Harlem River and its shores has been going on for some time. But to complete its service as a highway to commerce, other work needed to be done. In 1876 the Legislature of the State pre- pared the way for the improvements by passing an act giving permis- sion to the United States Government to acquire the right of way necessary to enable it to carry out the plan of making a ship canal of the River, reaching from Long Island Sound to the Hudson. The course of this canal is from the East, through the Harlem River, to a point near Two Hundred and Twentieth Street. Here are the Dyck- man Meadows, a depression of the land immediately north of the lofty heights which make necessary and possible the exalted roadway of Washington Bridge. Striking into this at first easy pathway, the canal was to be cut subsequently through a barrier of white rock in a curved line until it reached Spurten Duyvil Creek. The whole canal is seven miles long, and from eight to nine feet deep throughont its entire extent. A year or two ago the connection between the Harlem and Spuyten Duyvil was completed, and the opening celebrated with appropriate ceremonies, but the entire work of " the Harlem River Improvements," will yet require some years for its accomplishment.
July 4, 1876, the Centennial Fourth, was a day not to be lightly passed over by the citizens of New York. The celebration was among the most notable of all those that took place in the variouscities of the land. On the evening of the 3d the city was made brilliant with illumi- nations, repeated on the next evening with the addition of fireworks. Union Square was made the center of attraction. Broadway was a sea
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of fire from the Square all the way down to Dey Street. An electric apparatus on one of the great telegraph buildings was made to pour a flood of light over the whole length of the thoroughfare, while hotels, stores, banks, and such private residences as were then still upon it, vied with each other in the splendor of decorations and illuminations. The City Hall, the newspaper offices in its vicinity, the banks and other business concerns, were ablaze with devices in lights and colors. All through the day church bells rang, chimes played National airs, and Castle William fired a hundred guns. A monster procession marched through the streets, and gathered upon the plaza at Union
UNION SQUARE ON THE EVENING OF JULY 4, 1876.
Square. Festoons of bright lamps were strung all around the great space, making the scene one of unparalleled beauty and brilliancy. 1 platform had been erected whereupon were placed one thousand singers, members of German Saenger Bunds. The bands that had marched with the procession assembled, and took up a position be- tween the grand stand and the singers' stand. An incalculable mul- titude surrounded in irregular mass these more regular preparations, while thousands of lights and flashing fireworks constantly illumi- nated the whole immense and inspiring group. Enthusiasm was raised repeatedly to the highest pitch by the splendid effect of such a great chorus of voices, rendering patriotic National airs, or stirring
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passages from the great operas. At the same time the unprecedented number of pieces playing together. made the music of the bands vastly more exciting than usual. Above the crowds could be seen the director of the bands and of the singers swinging his baton from a small inclosure adorned with tags, and putting life and spirit into the extraordinary performance. Before and after the musical exer- cises the sky was made lurid with bombs and rockets, and set pieces of wonderful design and still more startling operation.
During that same summer New York was interested in the presi- dential canvass, because one of the candidates was Samuel J. Tilden, Governor of the State, and recently identified with the snecessful as- sault upon the Tweed Ring. The result of the election in the autumn was long doubtful. At first the Tribune came out conceding the elec- tion of Tilden over Hayes. Of all the papers the Times alone con- tended that Tilden was not elected, and gradually figures began to confirm its rather unique position. By its publications and figures posted in front of the old building on Printing House Square. it gathered from night to night an excited crowd. In the next Presi- dential campaign, in 1880, there was again a personal interest for the city. since the nominee for Vice-President on the Republican side, was Chester A. Arthur, one of her residents. Mr. Arthur had received the nomination not so much as a reward of merit. although he proved his merit to be of the highest quality in the time of trial soon to come. It was rather as an act of vengeance against President Hayes, and as a sort of compensation to a disappointed politician of New York. In 1880 Senator Conkling was the champion of Grant for a third term. He could not carry the Convention with him, however, and James 1. Garfield was taken as a " dark horse " from among a number of more prominent candidates neither of whom could unite the Convention. as had happened in the case of Mr. Hayes four years before. Senator Conkling's wrath was then appeased by making Arthur of New York the nominee for Vice-President, which was the more calenlated to gratify Conkling, because in the face of his remonstrances Mr. Hayes had removed Mr. Arthur from the position of Collector of the Port of New York, in 1877. Garfield when President also had occasion to antagonize the exacting and overbearing Senator from New York, and sad quarrels were rending asunder the Ro- publican party, when, on July 2. 1881. the assassin's pistol struck down the President. Every thought was now bent on but one hope and desire, that his life might be spared, burying all feelings of politi- cal or party antagonism. On September 19 the country knew that its prayers could not be granted, and that the bullet fired on July 2 had finally accomplished its fatal errand. Garfield breathed his last late in the day. and in the small hours of September 20, 1881, a committee of gentlemen were at a honse in Lexington Avenue, administering the oath as President of the United States to Chester A. Arthur. His
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