USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 50
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position had been a delicate one all through that trying summer. but he had borne himself with taet and prudence and a noble self- restraint. And now he entered upon a career as Chief Magistrate of the nation which has reflected the greatest credit upon himself, and may rightly be regarded as a source of honest pride to the city that owned him as one of her sons.
Centennial celebrations of events occurring during the Revolution had become pretty nearly exhausted; but there was a last one which it became New York particularly and alone to remember and signal- ize. November 25, 1883, would be the one hundreth anniversary of the evacuation of the city by the British. From year to year Evaena- tion Day had been honored as a holiday, when the militia marched through the streets, to the unfailing delight of the schoolboys, who were not required on that day to pursue the thorny road to learning. Patriotic societies had their banquets. and orators set forth the lessons of the memorial. It was not to be supposed that the centennial of such a day would be passed by without special celebra- tion. The 25th of November failing on a Sunday, Monday, the 26th, was set apart for the great event. President Arthur came from Washington, and Governor Cleveland from Albany, and the Governors of the thirteen original States were also invited, many of whom accepted. A feature of the occasion was a parade of steamers on the sur- rounding waters, which was a success as to miles of length, but not as to regu- larity or beauty of movements, the tug- Pascoe Ponkling boats especially acting like young, un- broken colts, continually escaping from the bonnds. Trinity chimes rang ont patriotic tunes at sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. The New York Tribune published a rude, but clear, map of New York as it was in 1783. and all the morning papers contained long and careful accounts of the event commemorated. At ten o'clock the land parade began the march at Fifty-seventh Street, down Fifth Avenue to Fourteenth Street, to Broadway, and so down to Bowling Green, where it was dis- banded. Forty thonsand men were in line, detachments of troops from other States having accompanied the Governors on their visit to the city to participate in the parade. About the time the march began the rain commenced to pour down and kept up the process until midnight, discouraging many of the spectators and dimming the glory of the soldiery to a serious extent. In the
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evening banquets and illuminations continued the celebration. The Chamber of Commerce gave a banquet in honor of the day and of the President, who made a speech, as did also Henry Ward Beecher and Joseph H. Choate .. At the Seventh Regiment armory a reception was given to the visiting military. A permanent memorial of the occasion was the colossal bronze statue of Washington erected on the grand stone staircase in front of the sub-treasury in Wall Street. As early as 1880 the Chamber of Commerce made arrangements to place such a statue there, and J. Q. A. Ward was engaged to cast it. It cost $35,000, and represented Washington in the act of taking the oath as President, his right hand extended as if touching the Bible, his left resting upon his sword hilt, just as he stood at that crucial moment in 1789. The position selected for the statue was as near as possi- ble to the actual spot where the first President then stood, and a slab of the pavement of the balcony of the old Federal Hall was happily secured, and supports the bronze figure. In the pouring rain a goodly company assembled in the vicinity of the sub-treasury in the after- moon of that same centennial celebration. The statue was unveiled by Governor Cleveland, and accepted on behalf of the United States by President Arthur, the oration being delivered by George William Curtis.
The great event of the year 1883 was the completion and opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, on May 24. A ridiculous fanaticism raised the objection, and some timid spirits were inclined to heed it and change the date, because this happened to be Queen Victoria's birthday. the thought of which had not come to the remotest degree into the minds of those who selected the day for the formalities. It was a source of immense satisfaction and pride to the citizens of both cities that this great piece of engineering was at last done, and that its ntility would now have an opportunity of vindicating the enormous expense, rising to $15,000,000. In 1867 the first legislative steps were taken looking to its construction, and in March, 1870. the first caisson to serve as a foundation for the Brooklyn tower was sunk into place. John A. Roebling, the constructor of the famous suspension bridge across the Niagara River, was selected as engineer, but he soon lost his life by an accident, and his son. Washington A. Roebling, was appointed to carry ont the plans. Steadily the work went on, the people eagerly watching as the towers rose to their height of over two hundred feet above the water, and as the first wire was strung across, upon which the five thousand or more for each of the fonr cables were passed over. For a long time a footbridge hung from tower to tower daring the venturous to test the strength of their heads. Then the supporting beams and trusses of the bridgeway proper began to ap- pear. At last it hung complete, a span of 1,595 feet directly over the river, the arch being 135 feet above high water; spans of 930 feet hanging between each tower and the solid approaches; the latter
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measuring a straight 1,526 feet on the New York side, and at first enrving a distance of 971 feet on the Brook- lyn side, but recently made considerably longer. Thus a length of over a mile, or 5,989 feet, is covered by this gigantic structure, a marvel and a triumph of engineering skill in a hundred branches. Worthy was the occa- sion of its opening of the most enthusiastic and elaborate celebra- tion. The Brooklyn people gave up the day to it, as peculiarly their own, for high festivity. President Arthur and
Governor Cleveland were taken in carriages from the Fifth Avenue Hotel to the bridge, preceded by a large force of police on foot and on horseback, and escorted by the Seventh Regiment, which formed in front of the hotel at half past eleven o'clock. Ar- rived at the bridge the gallant Seventh took position on the south roadway, facing north. the right wing resting on the New York tow- er. East of this tower the United States troops and Brooklyn's Twenty-third Regi - ment received the dis-
THE BROOKLYN AND NEW YORK BRIDGE.
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tingnished guests in military fashion. At noon all business was suspended in New York. Public buildings were hid in bright bunting. The main exercises, literary and otherwise. were held in the Brooklyn , terminal, and therefore belong to the history of Brooklyn, to be related subsequently. They were worthily pre- sided over by the then youthful Mayor of that city, Seth Low, and the celebrated Brooklyn divine, Dr. Richard S. Storrs, was the orator of the day, delivering one of his most splendid and scholarly addresses. At night both cities poured forth their mnl- titudes upon streets and roofs to see the display of fireworks from the center of the bridge. It lasted exactly one hour. At eight o'clock a splendid bouquet of rockets was sent up from the center, and at the same time fountains of gold and silver rain began to play from the tops of the towers. Then came volleys of shells, stars, meteors, fiery serpents, and rockets galore. Set pieces of an allegorical nature were also set off.
A curious reminiscence of the controversy started by some small minds as to the date of the opening may be preserved. It is a hunor- ons protest sent to one of the daily papers on May 24 by an " Alarmed Protestant ": " Have the trustees of the Brooklyn Bridge." he wrote. " offended the Irish by designating the Queen's birthday for the open- ing exercises? Have they offended the Grand Army of the Republic by not opening it on Decoration Day? Yes. But have they not much more offended all Protestants by putting it on Corpus Christi Day. which this year falls on May 24, the Thursday of Trinity Week? Yes. This is the true secret of the matter. Of all the days in the year to have selected that day, the feast of Transubstantiation and the Sacri- fice of the Mass; this is the crowning offense. Suppose some of them say they didn't know it was Corpus Christi Day? Tell that to the marines. Do the Irish say the trustees are sycophants of the throne? Does the Grand Army say they are rebels at heart? Let us rather say they are minions of the papacy, emissaries of Rome. Jesuits in dis- gnise! Now we know why they imposed a tax on foot passengers. It is for Peter's pence. Now we know what those gloomy crypts are for under the arches of the approaches. They are for dungeons of the Inquisition." Decoration Day on the bridge was signalized in a rather sad manner. This holiday gave a good opportunity for people from far and near to take their first look at the bridge and to pass over it for the first time, and vast crowds went back and forth over the promenade all day. Late in the afternoon a woman stumbled in going down the steps leading from the elevated promenade on the New York side, and a few others were carried down as she fell. Some excitable or foolish or reckless person cried out that the bridge was giving way. and at once a panic was created and a wild rush was made toward the New York approach. People tumbled pell mell down the steps. twelve persons being crushed or suffocated to death. and thirty-five
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badly hurt. On September 24, 1883, the railroad was put in operation. and the average number of persons crossing the bridge per cars or on foot, is now 115,000 per day. In 1891 the promenade was made free to foot passengers, and the fare charged on the ears is now only five cents for two tickets. A special bridge police force was organized. consist- ing at present of a captain, two sergeants, and ninety-three police- men. They have acquired great skill in handling the immense crowds, and their quickness and promptness have stopped many a runaway on the carriage ways from making havoc in the streets at either termi- mus. From the first the bridge was lighted by electric are lamps, set at frequent intervals, and one of the finest sights in all the vicinity of New York is to behold at night this crown of sparkling lights, visible for miles around, hung over the dark waters beneath. Utility, science. art. strength, elegance, and beauty, combine to render this great bridge the pride and glory of two cities. It bound them into one by strands of steel, and has led logically to the result realized in a later decade, which makes them one in corporate existence.
When the Grand Central depot arose in 1870, it was meant to con- centrate there all the roads of the Vanderbilt system running into New York. The Harlem and New Haven trains had always come into the city along Fourth Avenue; but the Hudson River trains followed the shore and Eleventh Avenue down to its depot on Thirtieth Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. The latter road was now de- flected under the bluff at Spurten Duyvil, carried through deep cuts in the rocks there and near Mott Haven, and along the creek and the Harlem River bank till it joined the Harlem and New Haven tracks a little distance before they crossed the Harlem River into Fourth Avenne. Accidents had been plentiful enough when two busy roads ran their trains to a great extent along the level of the streets in Har- Iem: it would not do to add a still busier road to the number. Hence an engineering enterprise of great magnitude was undertaken and finished in 1875. Four tracks started out from the Grand Central depot, and were conducted in their full width partly through a sunken viaduct, open to the sky between street crossings, partly through a tunnel piercing the solid rocks for over half a mile, until suddenly they emerged upon the lowlands of Harlem plain where, from about Ninety-fifth Street to about One Hundred and Fourteenth Street, they lay on the top of a lofty viadnet, pierced by arches at street crossings. Just below One Hundred and Sixteenth Street they entered once more a sunken viaduct open to the sky, growing deeper and deeper as it approached the river, and with walls of brick. In the tunnel there were three passages: a wide one in the center with two tracks for express trains, and one on either side with one track each for local trains. The entire viaduct, thus variously constructed, cost six millions of dollars, shared half and half by the city and the com- pany. Some eight or more years ago the sunken viaduct was con-
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tinued through the annexed district, with walls of granite instead of brick. But within a few years the requirements of the Harlem ship canal have compelled very serious alterations in these originally costly arrangements. Instead of the low bridge over the Harlem, one far above tide water had to be constructed, and to meet the elevation of the bridge, the sunken viaduct from One Hundred and Sixteenth Street to the river has had to be converted into an elevated one, rest- ing on heavy iron supports. The handsome brick station at Mott Haven, on the other side of the river, had to be removed bodily from its site. With hundreds of trains passing up and down all through the twenty-four hours, this great change has been effected without the least interference with traffic, and before the present year closes the last vestiges of the temporary tracks will be gone, and the altered road be in opera- tion as if it never had run in any dif- ferent manner through Harlem.
PARK AVENUE-TUNNEL BENEATII.
In the centen- nial year. 1876. the French Govern- ment presented New York with a statne of Lafay- ette by Bartholdi. whose name has been connecied since with a still more famons con- tribution. This was done in grate-
ful consideration of the sympathy expressed in America with the movements which resulted in the establishment of the latest French Republic. The French patriot is represented clasping his sword with foot advanced and resting upon the prow of a boat, about to leap ashore upon the soil he came to liberate. It stands in Union Square, facing directly down Broadway. about half way between the statnes of Washington and Lincoln. At the unveiling exercises, Fred- erick R. Coudert, the orator of the day, referring to this position, said : " If we could say to Lafayette, . Where do you wish your image to rest for ages, in order that our descendants may look upon it and love you?' would he not have chosen just the spot we have, and have said: . I wish to be near the man who called me son, and whom I loved as a father? '" The statue of Lincoln had been set up in the year 1870; it was by the same senlptor, H. K. Browne, who had designed the eques- trian statue of Washington on the other side of the Square.
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On July 21, 1880, the public of New York was startled by the oc- currence of an accident involving severe loss of life, and calling atten- tion to a piece of engineering peculiarly hazardous, yet which but few knew was going on. In 1877 a company with a capital of ten millions of dollars began the construction of a tunnel under the Hudson River, intended to convey trains from Jersey City to New York, to emerge somewhere near Washington Square. It was to be twelve thousand feet long, and its extent under the river bed just one mile. Two par- allel shafts were sunk, each twenty-five feet in diameter and thirty feet deep, these to be connected by an airlock with a horizontal iron tube or shaft, to be pushed into the silt and mud, the materials being blown out by the force of compressed air. As fast as the iron tube made a way for the workmen, a brick wall secured the space cleared. Several hundred feet had already been gained on the Jersey side, and work had just begun on the New York bank, when a portion of the Jersey section caved in, shortly after the men had commenced work on the morning of the fatal day, engulfing twenty laborers, whom it was impossible to rescue. It took several weeks to recover the bodies and to remove the debris. Work may still be going on, but not much of it has come to public notice.
A remarkable advance in street lighting was made possible during this period by the perfection of the arc electric lamp. In the early seventies lighting by electricity was still only a dream or a prophecy. indulged in by sanguine scientists alone. In 1876, during the Cen- tennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, are lights were still shown as curiosities. But we have seen that the Brooklyn bridge was lighted by electricity as a matter of course, and at that time streets and parks were made as bright as noonday. The wise policy was pursued of placing the electric lights, first of all, and most abundantly, in the downtown streets of the worst reputation for crime and vice. They served as a material aid to the police in tracking criminals, as well as preventives of evil doing. At first many public halls and libraries or reading-rooms took advantage of the brilliant illumination. But the inevitable flickering made the light intolerable for such uses. Electricity, as an indoor illuminating agent, was only made possible when Edison, after incredible labor and patient experiment with all kinds of material, hit at last upon the vacmim bulb with its delicate incandescent thread, in 1878. It need not be told what delightful re- sults have since been realized by this great invention.
In the matter of the city's church life during this period, three nota- ble occurrences deserve special record. He who has an eye for the beautiful in architecture, and cherishes a loyal desire that New York may be on a par with other great cities in the world in this respect, cannot look with indifference upon the chaste, beautiful, and impos- ing Cathedral that adorns Fifth Avenue at Fiftieth Street. We have noticed that the cornerstone of St. Patrick's Cathedral was laid on
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August 15, 1858. It was consecrated on May 25. 1879. The church is a pure specimen of the noblest Gothic style of the decorated order, in the form of the Latin eross, nave rising high above aisles, and two lofty steeples with delicate marble tracery at the front, facing to the West. It is of the 13th century style of architecture, the cathedrals of Rheims and Cologne being of the same class. The length of the inte- rior is 306 feet, that of Cologne Dom being 511 feet; the spires attain a height of 330 feet; those at Cologne being 511 feet, or equal to the ground length. It shares with the Cologne Cathedral the rare fea- ture of complete towers and spires, those of Antwerp and Strasburg having only one completed, while St. Gudule at Brussels and Notre Dame at Paris have the towers without the spires.
In 1876 there was an echo of the " Great Awakening " of 1740, and of the revival of 1857. At that time Moody and Sankey were names already famous, and they had made the tour of England and Scotland with astonishing results. In October, 1875, they began evangelistic labors in Brooklyn, and after visiting Philadelphia during December and January, they commenced a series of meetings in New York on February, 1876, at the Hippodrome, the site of the present Madison Square Garden, covering the entire block between Fourth and Madi- son Avenues and Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Streets. The Hippodrome was divided into two auditoriums, one capable of accom- modating seven thousand persons, the other four thousand. Both were filled at every meeting, and thousands more stood outside. Dis- tinguished clergymen assisted Mr. Moody, and a choir of twelve hill- dred voices led the singing under Mr. Sankey's direction. But the simple preaching of the one and the impressive singing of the other were the great attractions, and won the great bulk of the results. Mr. Moody constantly insisted : " I want no false excitement." and his dis- eretion and prudence in managing such vast audiences were a marvel. Apart from all statistics as to the number of conversions, perhaps no better evidence can be given of the excellent impression these men made upon the community than the following testimonies from en- tirely unexpected quarters. The Tablet, the organ of the Roman Catholic Church, published in New York, referred to Mr. Moody as furnishing " in the midst of an age of mocking and unbelieving, a kind of earnest testimony to Jesus, and we can not find it in our heart to say it is not of God." Again, the Jewish Messenger, also published here, expressed hearty approval of services, ministering to no spas- modic, emotional religion, and bound to produce substantial good. Equally appreciative were the utterances from Unitarian and " liber- al " pulpits of all sorts. In 1890 Messrs. Moody and Sankey paid an- other brief visit to New York City, and again in the winter of 1896 to 1897. But nothing in these later years approached in the remotest degree the immense enthusiasm they awakened in the year 1876.
Just before the centennial of Evacuation Day, or on November 13.
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1883, was celebrated the quadri-centennial of the Birthday of Luther, born at Eisleben, Germany, November 10, 1483. The tenth fell on a Saturday, and hence the following Tuesday was deemed a better day for the anniversary. On Sunday, the 11th, at the request of the Evau- gelical Alliance, the birthday of the great Reformer was made the theme of countless sermons all over the country and the world. Un- der the anspices of the American branch, popular meetings were held in various cities of the land. In New York one was called at the Academy of Music on Fourteenth Street, on Tuesday evening, Novem. ber 13. Four hundred singers, under the leadership of Leopold Damrosch, furnished the €
music. As early as six o'clock the street in front of the Academy was crowded with people waiting for the doors to be opened. The colors of the United States and Germany were blended in the decorations, and across the stage was strung in huge ornamented letter- ing Luther's famous utter- ance at the Diet of Worms, where Protestantism joined issue deliberately with the Ancient Church : "Ilier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. So hilf mir Gott. Amen." A marble bust of the Reformer adorned the speakers' desk. The Hon. John Jay, President of the American Branch of the Alliance, presided over the meeting. In his opening ST. PATRICK CATHEDRAL. address he said: " The four centuries passed afford ample and convenient opportunity of comparing the effects of reformed and unreformed Christianity. upon the intelligence, the morality, the liberty, the prosperity of na- tions." lle introduced as the first speaker the Rev. Dr. William M. Taylor of the Broadway Tabernacle. After an address of characteris- tie power and eloquence, Luther's stirring hymn " Ein Feste Burg." was sung with splendid effect by the immense choir under the leader- ship of Damrosch; whereupon an address was made by the Rev. Phil- lips Brooks of Boston, later Bishop of Massachusetts. The occasion was one long to be remembered by those present.
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Complaints were still in order in the year 1882 that the carrying trade in the world's commerce was steadily departing from the United States. A more extensive record than the one cited in the preceding chapter painfully shows how the percentages decreased. In 1856 American ships bore of all the goods we imported and exported. 75 per cent. In 1878 this item had dwindled to 25 per cent .; in 1882. to 15 per cent. In 1856 the foreign vessels entering our ports registered an aggregate tonnage of 3,117,034. In 1881 this foreign tonnage had increased 308 per cent. During the same interval American tonnage had grown only 54 per cent. Trade and commerce were very nearly paralyzed in 1877 by the great railway strike organized simultane- ously all over the country. The employees of the Baltimore & Ohio. the Pennsylvania, the Erie, and the New York Central with their Western connections, were reduced 10 per cent. in their wages, a hard- ship that seemed especially unnecessary after the heavy earnings of these roads during the centennial year. At one and the same time prominent railway centers were seized, and the movement of trains blocked, so that freight traffic was entirely suspended, and passenger and mail service were badly interfered with. Acts of violence soon be- gan to occur. Pittsburg especially was afflicted with sanguinary riots and serious injury to property, and President Hayes had to send United States troops into Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Vir- ginia to aid the militia. Near New York the worst that occurred were partially successful attempts to burn the Erie Railway bridges on the Hackensack Meadows. In 1876 an experiment was tried by the United States Government to furnish the fastest possible mail service between New York and Chicago; and on the Pennsylvania and New York Central were seen flying the handsome white mail cars, with their lettering and other devices in glittering gilt. But the service proved too costly and was abandoned. Business of all kinds was very much affected, and in the end uniformly for the better. by the resump- tion of specie payment on Jannary 1. 1879, of which warning had been given four years before by the Resumption Act passed by Congress on January 14, 1875. For several years in succession exceedingly abundant harvests had blessed the country, sending a stream of gold on its way from Europe to om shores, and this made resumption of payments on a gold basis much easier than had been anticipated. greenbacks rising to par several days before the date set for resuming. It was for news from New York that the authorities at Washington waited, for unquestionably this city was recognized as the financial center and capital of the Nation. When the message arrived at the Treasury in Washington: " A large proportion of gold checks paid in U. S. notes at request of holders."-resumption was known to be a snecess. The financial transactions at New York were assuming pro- portions of the most gigantic sort. The year 1881 was especially phe- nomenal. The transactions at the Stock Exchange that year amount-
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