USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 12
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
organizations began to spring up, both in Europe and Amer- 'ica, for the education of the poor and the neglected. The " Manumission Society," to improve the condition of the colored race, organized in 1785, was the first in our country, and two years later it established a school in Cliff street, and soon gathered one hundred pupils. This society continued its work for forty years, firmly established several schools, but in 1834, voluntarily surrendered its charge with consid- erable valuable school property to the State government. These are now the Colored Schools, under control of the Board of Education. A " Female Association for the Relief of the Poor," was organized, and in 1802 opened a school for white girls. This society existed about half a century, proved the feasibility of such undertakings, and led to the organization of the " Free School Society," which afterwards became the "Public School Society of the City of New York." The " Lancaster system," viz. : that five hundred or a thousand children could be properly instructed by a single teacher, then very popular in England, was introduced into this city, and in due time failed. In 1827, a number of ladies organized the " Infant School Society," and the next year the same was introduced into Boston, Charleston, and other places. The movement now looks to. us supremely silly. Children were received into these schools in New York at from two to six years of age, and in Boston, always in the advance, at from eighteen months to four years. The system of instruction adopted was the "Pestalozzian," and does not differ materially from the course pursued at present, by most infant-class teachers, in our Sunday schools.
The " Free School Society," afterwards the " Public School Society," incorporated in 1805, managed by many of the wisest and purest men of the State, was for nearly half a century the great educational power of the city, if not of the country as well, and its managers deserve the lasting praise of posterity. Singularly wise in counsel, and economic in management, collecting vast sums among its friends, employ-
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THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK.
ing millions from the public treasury without ever inten- tionally squandering a dollar, it ran the most unselfish and
NEW YORK FREE SCHOOL
NEW YORK FREE SCHOOL BUILDING, OPENED IN 1809 IN TRYON ROW.
brilliant career in the annals of popular education. Still, it came to be questioned whether the work of a whole com- munity should be surrendered to the few, and whether the State did wisely in committing the funds for the education of the children, and the erection of suitable buildings, into the hands of a private corporation, whose affairs might not always be managed by men as wise and good; and after considerable agitation, in April, 1842, the Legislature passed an act, by which the Board of Education, whose members were, until recently, elected by the people, was organized. During the next eleven years, the two organizations continued their independent operations, but the Public School Society. shorn of its former income from the State treasury, found its embarrassments continually multiplying, until it finally accepted a proposition from the Board of Education, to con- solidate the two interests, which was practically accomplished
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
in 1853. The property transferred by this society to the Board of Education, though somewhat encumbered, amounted to $600,000, but the fruit of their toil, evinced in the intel- ligence and virtue of the generations they instructed, was their noblest monument. At the close of the first eighteen years of their operations, they asserted that of the 20,000 poor children instructed in their schools, but one had been traced to a criminal court. During the forty-eight years of its continuance, it had under instruction no less than 600,000 children, of whom over twelve hundred became trained teach- ers, and one acquainted with its workings declares, that of a class of thirty-two boys in 1835, two have since been judges of the Supreme Court, one a member of the Legislature, one a City Register, several Principals and Assistants in the schools, one an Assistant Superintendent, one a clergyman, and several distinguished merchants. A very remarkable record indeed !
The advantage of thus uniting these great educational interests, and of combining the wisdom and skill of those trained veterans, who had so thoroughly solved these prob- lems, appears in the present condition of the schools of our city, which in discipline and scholarship are second to no other in the world. The Board of Education consists of twelve Commissioners, who have the general supervision of the schools, the appropriation of the moneys set apart for their maintenance, the purchase of sites, and erection of new schools, the furnishing of supplies, books, stationery, fuel, and lights. There are also one hundred and ten Trustees, until recently elected by the people, five for each ward, one · being chosen each year for a term of five years. There are also twenty-one Inspectors of schools, who were, until the present year, nominated by the Mayor, and confirmed by the Board of Education. The members of our last Legislature, madly intent on the one-man power, vested the entire school authority of the city in the Mayor. He is henceforth to appoint the Board of Education, the Inspectors, and all the
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THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK.
Trustees in the several wards, completely absolving the people from all responsibility in directing and regulating a
GRAMMAR SCHOOL NO. 56 FOR FEMALES. (West Eighteenth street ; erected 1869.)
matter, more than any other, connected with the happiness and success of their children.
There are now ninety school-buildings owned by the city, besides numerous hired ones, which cover more than twenty acres of ground, and the floors above the basements of the same, about seventy acres additional. The old buildings were plain as will be seen by the accompanying cut. but many of those recently erected cover several lots of ground, are lofty and elegant structures, with several fire-proof stair- ways, and all necessary apartments for the complete accom. modation of two thousand scholars. . The second cut repre-
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
sents the new building in West Eighteenth street, and contrasts favorably with the one erected in 1809.
' There are now besides the thirty-six corporate schools of the several benevolent societies, and which are partly under the control of the Board of Education, sixty-three Grammar schools, which are divided into forty-six departments for male scholars, forty-four for female, and six for colored students. There are fifty-six Primary departments, fifteen evening schools for males, eleven for females, and three for colored children. There are two Normal Schools, and one High School. The Board of Education employs over twen- ty-four hundred teachers, over two thousand of whom are females. . The number of scholars on register during 1869 was 237,325, with an average attendance of about 103,000. The annual expense of the public schools amounts to about $3,000,000. The Board of Education appoints its President and Clerk, also the City Superintendent, and his assistants. The Superintendent grants two grades of certificates, to persons of suitable age, who have completed the course of study, after which they may be appointed to teach. The books and other requisites are purchased by the board in large quantities, stored at a central depot, and distributed to the several schools when needed.
In 1866, the Free Academy was, by Act of Legislature, erected into the College of the City of New York, and be- came a separate corporation, the members of the board of Education being ex officio members of its board of trustees. Advanced students from the public schools are admitted with free scholarship, and the trustees are authorized to draw on the Board of Supervisors, who shall raise by general taxation a sum not exceeding $125,000 per annum, to defray the ex- penditures of the institution. Besides these general provi- sions for the benefit of advanced students, there are several Academies and Colleges belonging to the Roman Catholics, taught by Jesuits, and various orders of Brothers and Sisters. Columbia College, the oldest in the State, is situated on
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THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK.
Fourth avenue and Fiftieth street. It has departments for law and mining, and a separate college for Physicians and Surgeons. It is under the control of the Protestant Episco- pal church, and has a property of several millions. The New York University, a large four-story Gothic structure of free-stone, at Washington square, was founded in 1831, has the several departments, and has graduated many students. There are two extensive theological seminaries in the city.
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RUTGERS FEMALE COLLEGE. (Fifth avenue and Forty-first street.)
The " Union Theological Seminary" (Presbyterian), founded in 1836, and open for students from all denominations who have graduated at a college. The trustees of this Seminary last year purchased four acres of ground on St. Nicholas avenue, between One Hundred and Thirtieth and One Hun- dred and Thirty-second streets, and are now erecting new and more commodious buildings, which it will require several
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
. years to complete, and will involve an expense of about half a million. The students will occupy buildings distinct . from the Professors. The library room is to be fire-proof, and will contain about 28,000 rare and valuable works. The city contains also the " General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church," established at New Haven in 1819, afterwards removed to this city, and located on Twen- tieth street, between Ninth and Tenth avenues. There is prospect of this being removed to Westchester or to some other location out of town. There are beside these, ten Med- ical Colleges and Academies, several Business Colleges, and a number of institutions of a high order for girls, Rutgers Fe- male College, on Fifth avenue, opposite the reservoir, rank- ing among the first. An effort is being made at this writing to secure an endowment of $500,000, to greatly enlarge and improve the facilities of the Institution. Much has already been secured, and the complete success of the undertaking is confidently expected by the friends of the enterprise.
Besides the schools just enumerated, there are over 320 in- dependent ones, large and small, of a sectarian and miscella- neous character, with more than 1,500 teachers. It is to be regretted that so many parish and other schools, not con- trolled by the Board of Education, have come into existence for the perpetuation of antagonistic creeds and nationalities. The school property of the Board of Education has cost over five millions, and is now worth twice that amount. A care- ful examination has proved that 40,000 more scholars than ordinarily attend could be seated in the present buildings ; this is probably as many or more than are taught elsewhere. We need but one system, and one organization, to control the ordinary branches of education. Our " Free," " Public," and "Common " schools, notwithstanding all these diver- sions, have been the chief glory of our city for sixty years, and are eminently so to-day. Every movement toward the division of the School Fund, for the promotion of sectarian interest, should be zealously resisted by every thoughtful
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THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK.
American. Sectarian schools of a high order supported by private corporations, for a few advanced students, are emin- ently proper ; but the State should always control the secular education of all the children, compelling their attendance. Our children, representing, as they do, nearly every national- ity, should study the same books, in the same buildings, and play in the same yards. Thus only can that homogeneity be secured that shall give security and permanency to the Re- public. The State also should ever, as now, encourage the reading of the Bible in the schools, that great and only true educator of the conscience; not, indeed, in any sectarian spirit, but from great and manifest civil considerations.
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X.
PUBLIC SECURITY.
METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT-METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPART- MENT-THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT-QUARANTINE DEPARTMENT- MARITIME DEFENCES-UNITED STATES NAVY YARD.
METROPOLITAN POLICE HEADQUARTERS. (300 Mulberry street.)
THE Metropolitan Police service has grown, from small and . imperfect beginnings, to be a great and effective department of the city government. Many experiments and numerous changes of government and reorganizations have contributed
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PUBLIC SECURITY.
to bring the force to its present efficiency. Twenty-eight years ago, portions of the city were patrolled at night by la- borers, porters, cartmen, &c., each carrying a lantern. When a regular police force was at length provided, it fell under the control of corrupt officials and rings, and was of uncer- tain service to the city, until the Legislature in 1857 took the matter in hand, and provided for the appointment of Po- lice Commissioners, independent of all city control. Since that, the department has rapidly improved in discipline and efficiency until now; but as the new charter of 1870 has again lodged the appointing power in the Mayor of New York, it remains to be seen whether the same untrammeled efficiency in the maintenance of public order shall be con- tinued. The metropolitan district was, until 1870, composed of the cities of New York and Brooklyn, and of portions of Richmond, Kings, and Westchester counties, which were divided into 43 precincts and several sub-precincts. At the close of 1869, there were on duty in New York, 2,232; in Brooklyn, 446 ; in Richmond Co.,' 29; and in Westchester, 22 ; making a grand total of 2,729, including captains, subor- dinates, and patrolmen. These patroled incessantly about 500 miles of open streets in New York, 350 in Brooklyn, the villages of Yonkers, Tremont, and Morrisania, while a few on horseback scour the suburbs of the two cities mentioned, and others floated around the rivers and bay.
A squad of forty are on service at the various halls of jus- tice, called the Court Squad, and twenty-two are detailed for special service. Four are in charge of the House of Deten- tion, at No. 203 Mulberry street. This is a prison for the de- tention of witnesses who are to give evidence in the trial of culprits, and one of the rankest legal abominations of New York. During 1869, 194 men and 52 women, or 246 wit- nesses, were detained in this gloomy tenement an aggregate of 10 years, 7 months, and 13 days. During the seven years just passed, 1,955 persons have here been detained as wit- nesses, and the aggregate of such detention has amounted to
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
20,714 days, or nearly 85 years. One poor victim of this op- pressive law was detained 269 days awaiting the trial of the case, about which he was supposed to know something, lear- ing his family, wholly dependent upon him, to suffer every form of destitution. He was an honest mechanic, charged with no crime, but unfortunately knew something of the crimes of others. During 1869, 5 persons were detained over 100 days each, 16 over 60 days each, 25 over 40 days each, and 45 over 20 days each. It is due to the Commis- sioners to say, that they have again and again appealed to the Legislature for the modification of this system, by allowing the depositions of these witnesses to be taken in due form, after which they might be allowed to return to their homes and occupations.
The Sanitary Squad consists of a captain, four sergeants, and fifty-seven patrolmen. A detachment of these look after the safety and workings of the numerous ferry lines communicating with New York, and tell us that about ninety million people cross on these lines to or from the metropolis in a year. Others test hydrostatically at intervals, and by course, every steam boiler on the island ; causing defective ones to be repaired or removed. They examine and license suitable persons as engineeers. Others execute the orders of the Board of Health. Still another detachment looks after truant children, compelling thousands to return to school, and conveying some to the Juvenile Asylum. Some members of the Sanitary Squad have ranked among the most pious, bene- volent, and useful men of New York. The Detective Squad . consists of a captain and nineteen subordinates. These are . all shrewd, adroit, and skillful men of good reputation, whose business it is to unravel the deepest schemes, ferret out the darkest crimes, and entrap the shrewdest villains. Their knowledge of polite thieves, counterfeiters, forgers, and bur- glars, is very extensive. Great thieves are continually watched by them, so that they know at once whether they were in a city at the time of a robbery or not. They scent -
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PUBLIC SECURITY.
crime across a continent, even across the ocean. A man hitherto considered reputable is arrested for forgery or burglary, and it comes to be known that the detective can tell how much money his wife has expended in the city for twelve months. Though living in private quarters all her movements have been watched, and all her purchases ascer- tained and recorded. They grasp at every clue, and follow it to its result, often discovering the perpetrator of crime from the slightest accident. When men who have spent their money set up the plea of having been robbed, the de- tective is sure to search them out, and expose them. Mil- lions of dollars worth of stolen goods are annually recovered by this force, but with all their art, some great rogues escape. Horrible murders and bold robberies remain veiled in im- penetrable mystery. Much of this detective work is per- formed by the "Merchants' Independent Detective Police," established in 1858, and by members of the several other de- tective organizations.
The headquarters of the Police department are a fine mar- ble structure, at No. 300 Mulberry street, containing elegant offices for all the officials, with telegraphic communications with every station-house in the department ; rooms for the instruction of candidates for the force, and for the trial of offenders. The Commissioners are very strict with the mem- bers of the force, fining and discharging many for derelic- tion, intemperance, or other vicious habits. The pay of a patrolman is $1,200 per annum, but as he has no Sabbath, or other privileges, such as most men enjoy, his compensation is not large. Men are selected and distributed according to their fitness for the different undertakings. The tallest are stationed along Broadway, those with mechanical knowledge tend toward the Sanitary, and those of penetration and adroitness, toward the Detective squads. Their appearance is always that of tidy, well-dressed, courteous officers, erect and manly in bearing, and in the prime of life, the average age being about thirty-five years.
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
During the last nine years, the police have returned over 73,000 lost children to their parents or homes, and found · above 40,000 houses left open, through the carelessness of in- mates, affording unembarrassed opportunities for the entrance of thieves and burglars. That policemen are sometimes rash, unduly severe and evil, we doubt not; yet the regulations and discipline of the department are so severe, as to render them generally effective, and without them nothing would be safe for a day. They are distinguished for their valor, and their numerous bloody encounters with rioters, and vil- · lains of every grade, are well known and startling. During 1869 they arrested no less than 56,784 males, and 21,667 fe- males, making a total of 78,451.
METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPARTMENT. 1
Manhattan has several times been sadly impoverished with conflagrations. On September 21st, 1776, while the British were in possession of the city, a fire broke out in a wooden grogshop, near Whitehall Slip, and as there were then no en- gines in the city, and the men were mostly in the army, little resistance could be offered. 493 buildings were destroyed, reducing the impoverished population to great suffering.
On the ninth of August, 1778, the second great conflagra- tion occurred. This began in Dock, now Pearl street, and consumed nearly 300 buildings. In May, 1811, another fire broke out in Chatham street, when nearly 100 houses were destroyed. In 1828 . a large fire occurred, and nearly a mil- lion dollars of property was destroyed. The most destruct- ive fire, however, occurred in 1835. It began on the night of the sixteenth of December, in the lower part of the city. The weather was colder than it had been known for over fifty years. The Croton had not yet been introduced, little
METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPARTMENT. 155
water could be obtained, and that little froze in the hose be- fore it could be used. The buildings were mostly of wood,
FREVELS HALL
111
HEADQUARTERS NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT. (127 Mercer street.)
greatly favoring the work of destruction. For three days and nights the flames raged furiously, sweeping away 648 houses and stores valued at $18,000,000, and leaving 45 acres of the business portion of the city a desert of smoking ruins. To crown the disaster, the insurance companies unanimously suspended. On the 19th of July, 1845, another great con- flagration occurred, second only to the one just described. It began in New street, near Wall, sweeping onward in a -outherly direction, until 345 buildings were consumed, in- ilicting a loss of at least five millions.
The Fire Department of New York has, in some form, ex- . i-ted since 1653, but never attained to any eminence in
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
point of discipline or quiet efficiency, until within the last few years. For many years it was composed of volunteer forces, who served gratuitously ; the engines were worked by hand; the force, though large, was undisciplined, frequent collisions occurred between the different companies, and the noise, riot, and plunder at the fires became intolerable. On the 30th of March, 1865, the Legislature created the paid " Metropolitan Fire Department," the commissioners of which, after some litigation and much opposition, proceeded to reorganize and suitably discipline the force. This has gone steadily forward until New York can at length boast of as intelligent, disciplined, and vigilant a Fire Department as can be found in any city in the world.
The force, at this writing, consists of a Chief Engineer, an Assistant Engineer, ten District Engineers, and five hundred and eighty-seven officers and men. Each Company consists of a Foreman and his Assistant, an Engineer, and nine firemen. Each Company is provided with a house, with appropriate rooms for rest, drill, and study. The basement of the building contains the furnace which keeps the water in the engine hot ; the horses are harnessed, and everything ready so that when the signal of a fire is received, ten or fifteen seconds only elapse before the whole company is flying to the scene. These twelve men accomplish with six times the dispatch, and with no noise, insubordination, or theft, what forty but poorly accomplished under the old regime. When on duty they have the right of way, taking precedence of everything, save the U. S. Mail, and their smok- ing engines go dashing through crowded streets at a fear- ful pace, but as everybody takes pains to clear the track,
few collisions occur. The men undergo the most rigid examination, both physical and moral, before they are ad- mitted, and are only discharged on account of failing health or bad conduct. No nationality, political sentiment, or religious belief is taken into the account; but good moral
METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPARTMENT.
conduct, tidiness, subordination, and fidelity to duty are always required, and compensated with timely promotions.
The Department has thirty-seven steam-engines, second. size, costing four thousand dollars each, and manufactured by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester. New Hampshire. It has also a floating engine which throws several powerful streams, which is used to extinguish fires on the piers, or in vessels anchored in the bay.
The horses, which now number one hundred and fifty-six, are the finest and best-trained in America. They are large, well-formed, fleshy, and perfectly docile. They understand their business as well as the firemen. The sound of the gong puts them on needles until they are fastened to the engine, which they whirl through storm, mud, or snow-banks with a speed which is often surprising.
Occasionally an unhappy circumstance occurs. A false step in the haste of departure precipitates a poor fireman near the door of the engine-house, just in time to be crushed by the pondrous wheels of the engine in its rapid exit, and . his sorrow-stricken comrades toil on for hours against the raging element, before they have a moment to return and shed a friendly tear over his remains. Sometimes New Yorkers sit down to their breakfast-tables, and glancing at the morning paper, read of an immense fire that has occurred during the night, where several devoted firemen were crushed beneath the falling walls, or went hopelessly down into a sea of flame from the roof or floor of a building, while in discharge of a perilous duty. Sometimes an engine bursts. spreading terror and death on every side. The means of public safety are attended with private toils and woes that would fill volumes.
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