USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 13
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The signals are now mostly given by telegraph, and few people hear of a fire. within a few blocks of their door, until all is over. The police have charge of the order to be ob- served in the vicinity of a fire ; they frequently draw ropes at a proper distance, inside of which none are allowed but the
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
firemen, and those directly interested. Though the city is constantly enlarging, the loss by fires is steadily diminishing. In 1866, there were 796 fires, with a loss of $6,428,000. In 1867, there were 873 fires, with a loss of $5,711,000. In 1868, there were 740 fires, with a loss of $4,342,371; and in 1869, there were 850 fires, with a loss of but $2,626,393. But forty-three of the 850 fires of the last year extended to. adjoining buildings, which gives some idea of the rapidity with which the work of extinction is conducted. The head- quarters at 127 Mercer street contain the offices of the Com- missioners, Chief Engineer, Secretary, Medical Officer, Tele- graph, Bureau of Combustible Materials, and Fireman's Lyceum. The last-named, organized quite recently, now contains a library of over 4,000 volumes, besides many curious engravings, and relics of the Department. Beside the thirty-seven engine-houses, and fifteen truck-houses, the Department has a repair yard in Elizabeth street, where most of its work is now done, a number of hospital stables in Chrystie street, and eleven bell-towers. All fines imposed on firemen, and all imposed on citizens for violating the hatch- way and kerosene ordinances, go to the "Fire Departinent Relief Fund," for the relief of the widows and orphans of firemen.
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THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
Every great center of population is occasionally overtaken with pestilence, and with various local and travelling diseases. Manhattan has not been the exception. In 1702, the yellow fever was brought from St. Thomas, of which over six hun- dred persons died, about one-twelfth of the entire popula- tion. In 1732, an infectious disease appeared, of which seventy persons died in a week. In 1743, a bilious plague prevailed, of which two hundred and seventeen died. In
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THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT.
1745, malignant fever prevailed; and in 1747, the bilioui- plague reappeared. Yellow fever returned in 1791, 17:4. 1795, 1797, 1799, 1801, 1803, 1805, 1822, 1856, and 1870.
Over thirty-five hundred died of cholera in 1832, nine hundred and seventy-one in 1834, five thousand and seventy- one in 1849, three hundred and seventy-four in 1852, and a small number in 1866. There are a few cases of cholera nearly every year. A great city, unless carefully guarded. soon becomes a sink of putrefaction, which not only aggra- rates but engenders disease. To prevent as far as possible this unnecessary waste of human life, the sanitary interests of the metropolis have been for some years committed to the care of a Board of Health Commissioners, vested with large power, who have given their entire attention to this branch of the public service.
THE NEW HEALTH DEPARTMENT, under the present charter. consists of the Police Commissioners of New York. the Health officer of the Port, and of four Commissioners of Health, appointed by the Mayor, for the term of five years, with a salary of $5,000 each, two of whom must have been practising physicians in the city, for a period of five years previous to their appointment. The Department is divided into four bureaus. The chief officer of one is called the " City Sanitary Inspector." This officer must be selected from the medical fraternity, having practised ten years in the city. Complaints against fat or bone-boiling establish- ments, or other questionable buildings or practices, are made to this officer. Another is styled the " Bureau of Sanitary Permit." This Bureau grants licenses for burials, without which a dead body cannot be brought into or removed from the city. Another is the " Bureau of Street Cleaning." The chief officer of the fourth Bureau is called the " Register of Records." This is the bureau of vital statistics. IIe records without charge all marriages, births, deaths, and the inquisitions of the coroners. It is the duty of every clergy- man, or magistrate, solemnizing matrimony, to report the
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
same to this officer, and of physicians to report all births and deaths occurring in their practice. The former Board of Health was very vigilant and useful, guarding with scrupu- lous care the sanitary interests of the city, warding off chol- era and various contagious diseases, and rendering the me- tropolis so salubrious as to impoverish many physicians. The first year of the new Board has witnessed the ravages of yellow fever on Governor's Island, with a number of deaths.
QUARANTINE DEPARTMENT.
Every large city is compelled to provide a Quarantine, as a matter of self-preservation, especially seaport towns. The first measures for a Quarantine in New York were inaugur- ated by the passage of an act in 1758, to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. By Act of May 4th, 1794, Governor's Island was made the Quarantine, and in March, 1797, a laza- retto was directed to be built on Bedloe's Island. The ravages of yellow fever led in 1799 to the purchase of thirty acres of land on Staten Island, five of which were ceded to the United States Government for warehouses, and on the remainder per- manent quarantine buildings were erected. The first build- ings were erected with the material taken from the demolished lazaretto on Bedloe's Island. In 1819, a long brick building was erected ; in 1823, a fever hospital ; in 1828-29, a small- pox hospital ; and such subsequent additions were made as the wants of the Institution required. The great increase of population on Staten Island, and the return of yellow fever in 1856-58, many cases occurring in the vicinity of the quar- antine, the long-cherished desire for its removal burst forth in a frenzy, of which the whole populace seemed to partake. On the evening of the 1st of September, 1858, the buildings were entered by the excited multitudes, the sick carried on their mattresses into the yards, and every building save the women's hospital destroyed by fire. This last-named edifice
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QUARANTINE DEPARTMENT.
was destroyed the following evening, making the ruin com- plete.
Quarantine is now located on the east of Staten Island, several miles below Castle Garden, on artificial islands con- structed for that purpose. The sick, until a year or two since, were kept in vessels stationed in the lower bay for that pur- pose. During 1869, the West Bank Hospital was completed at a cost of over three hundred thousand dollars. This is one of the largest and best-arranged quarantine buildings in the world. The foundation consists of crib-work of heavy timbers fas- tened together, filled with stone and sand, and sunk. The crib contains 15,000 cubic yards of stone, and 56,000 cubic yards of sand. The Hospital is a one-story edifice, divided into eight wards, each 89 feet long and 24 wide, and can accom- modate fifty patients each. The Hospital is supplemented by other buildings, used as baggage house, wash-house, dead- house, and apartments for superintendent, physicians, nurses etc. The buildings are lighted with gas, and connected by telegraph with New York. During 1869, 213 vessels ar- rived from ports infected with yellow fever ; and in 1870 no less than 365 such vessels, with at least 470 yellow fever pati- ents on board. Thirty vessels carrying about 18,000 persons were detained at Quarantine, having small-pox, during 1870, and ten vessels with ship fever, yet so vigilant were the health officers that no panic occurred on shore, and none of these dis- eases spread in the city. Yellow fever, however, broke out in the autumn of the last year among the troops on Governor's Island, eighty-three of whom were prostrated and thirty-Que died. The health and prosperity of the Metropolis are more largely dependent upon quarantine vigilance than many sup- _pose. Another building for the detention of persons exposed to disease, while on passage in an infected vessel, has been commenced at West Bank, and a warehouse for the storage of infected goods will follow, making our Quarantine com- plete and unrivalled. The annual expense of this branch of our measures for public security, exclusive of permanent im-
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
provements, amounts to about $50,000. The Quarantine Com- missioners have exclusive control of the Hospital, and are distinct from the Health Department of the city.
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MARITIME DEFENCES.
ORTIFICATIONS erected under the trained skill of cultivated military en- gineers have long been the chief means of defence for all civilized cities and countries. It is therefore a little remark- able, that while New York was from the earliest settlement the chief city and heart of the country, no general effort to suitably fortify its approaches was made until the outburst of the war of 1812.
Rude fortifications were then placed upon some of the small islands, in the upper bay, and Fort Lafayette was commenced on Hendricks Reef, 200 yards from the shore, in what is known as the Narrows, the water doorway to the Metropolis. This fort, when completed, had cost about $350,000, and mounted seventy-three heavy guns. Its chief fame during the half-century has arisen from the fact of its having been made the house of detention for political prisoners during the late civil war, and some who read this notice will require no fuller description of it. The elements were unfriendly to this fortress, however, and on the first of December, 1868, it was destroyed by fire, leaving only the naked walls. The government is about to rebuild it on a greatly improved scale.
In 1824. Fort Hamilton was commenced, immediately op- posite the former, standing on an eminence on the Long Island shore. It was completed in 1832, at an expense of $550,000, and mounted sixty heavy guns. It has recently been supple- mented with a strong battery, and now numbers in its arma- ment some of the celebrated Rodman guns, that discharge a
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MARITIME DEFENCES.
FORT LAFAYETTE, NEW YORK HARBOR
spherical ball weighing a thousand pounds. Several of the other guns throw balls weighing four hundred and fifty pounds. Directly opposite these works, on the Staten Island shore, stand Forts Richmond and Tompkins, both new and improved works, constructed of gray stone, mounting many guns of huge calibre. Fort Tompkins is a water battery of formida- ble appearance, while Fort Richmond occupies the bluff in its rear, spreading out with its accompanying batteries at great length, and is so arranged as to shoot over Fort Tompkins, and sweep the channel for miles. Batteries Hudson, Morton. North Cliff, and South Cliff have been completed, and another is now being constructed. The channel at this point is but little more than a mile wide, and these fortifications are so ar- ranged that with suitable projectiles and management, such a shower of balls and shells may be rained as to prevent the en- trance of a fleet of iron-clads.
The upper bay is favored with several islands, admirably arranged for fortifications. Ellis Island, two thousand and fifty yards southwest from Castle Garden, is occupied by Fort Gibson, built in 1841-44, mounting fifteen or twenty guns, and requiring a garrison of one hundred men. Bed-
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
FORT HAMILTON, NEW YORK HARBOR. (Long Island side of Narrows.)
loe's Island, situated 2,950 yards southwest of Castle Garden, is. occupied by Fort Wood, erected in 1841, at a cost of $213,000, on the site of a fort built at the beginning of the century. It has space for eighty guns, and a garrison of three hundred and fifty men. A strong battery is now being added to this fort.
Governor's Island containing seventy-two acres, and situa- ted ten hundred and sixty-six yards from Castle Garden, is also wholly devoted to maritime defence. Its largest work is Fort Columbus, a star-shaped fortification with five points, standing on the summit of the island, with quarters for many troops. Castle William is a three-story round tower, situated on the west shore of the island, six hundred feet in circum- ference, and sixty feet high, mounting over one hundred guns. South Battery fronts on Buttermilk channel, separating the island from Brooklyn (which channel was once forded by cattle, but now affords anchorage for heavy ships), and mounts fifteen heavy guns. An immense barbette battery is now be-
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MARITIME DEFENCES.
ing constructed on this island, which will require several years for its completion. Governor's Island, in time of war, re- quires a garrison of a thousand men. Acres of its surface are covered with heavy cannon, and with pyramids of balls and shells, thoroughly painted to resist the action of the ele- ments. Here recruits are drilled for the service, and deser- ters detained as prisoners. There are also very extensive works at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, calculated to prevent the occupation of the lower bay, as a place of anchorage to an enemy's fleet.
Fort Schuyler, a large strong fortification, constructed of gray stone, mounting over three hundred guns, and requiring a war garrison of fifteen hundred troops, stands at Throggs Neck, several miles up the East river, and is designed to pre- vent the approach of armed vessels to New York by way of Long Island Sound. This fortification is being extensively remodelled, at an expense of several hundred thousand dollars. Willet Point unites with Fort Schuyler in guarding this eas- tern channel of approach, which, with the late improvements at Hurl Gate, requires to be more carefully defended than · formerly. Willet Point is the principal engineer depot of the Department of the East. Here the surplus stores which accumulated during the war were largely deposited. Here bridge-trains, and equipage, intrenching, mining, and other tools, are preserved for use, in future field service. The de- pot is guarded and cared for, and the property issued by en- gineer troops. This place is also, at present, the Torpedo School of the United States army, and extensive experiments .. in that line are now being made. Many millions have been consumed on these fortifications and their armament, which cover all the strong points about the harbors, and vast sums are still being expended ; yet, with all this, it is doubtless truc that New York is not defended as its importance demands. The old walls, guns, and round shot of the fathers are of lit- tle use in these days of improved projectiles and floating bat- teries. And while we would not encourage a useless expendi-
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
ture in the arts of war, too much pains can scarcely be taken by the government to prevent the capture of the Metropolis, in the event of a sudden conflict with a maritime power. It should also be remembered that while the nations are beating their ploughshares into swords, and their pruning hooks into cannon and shells, to thoroughly prepare for war is the sur- est promise of peace.
THE UNITED STATES NAVY YARD.
THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD. (Marine Hospital in the distance.)
Having looked in vain for the appropriate niche where a brief account of the United States Navy Yard might be in- troduced, we insert it here. In 1801, the government pur- chased fifty-five acres of ground located on Wallabout Bay, now lying between the Eastern and Western Districts of the city of Brooklyn. Subsequent purchases have increased the amount to about two hundred acres, which cost originally
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THE UNITED STATES NAVY YARD.
1741-71
FELTER SC-
ENTRANCE TO NAVY YARD, BROOKLYN.
$40,000, and is now valued at twenty millions. The Navy Yard proper covers about fifty acres, is laid out with paved streets and walks, which are kept very clean. The Dry Dock, begun in 1841, is a vast structure, capable of taking in a ship 300 feet long, and cost between two and three million dollars. It is emptied by steam pumps. The yard contains large buildings to cover ships of war while in process of building, extensive lumber warehouses, great numbers of cannon, pyramids of shot and shell, shops, foundries, etc., etc. A Naval Museum, filled with curiosities sent home by officers, a Marine Hospital, with barracks for troops, cottages for officers, and other neces- sary appendages, are spread around the premises. It is a place of curiosity, and is visited by many thousands annually, but as it occupies nearly the heart of the city, the enterprising property-owners would gladly see it removed. Congress ha- begun to debate the matter of its removal, and it will probably be accomplished before many more years elapse.
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XI.
NEW YORK ALL THE YEAR ROUND.
EW YORK is situated in latitude (of City Hall) 40° 42' 43" North, longi- tude 74° 0' 3" West, and a little south of the centre of the belt described as the north temperate zone. As the city stands in the upper bay, eighteen miles from the Atlantic Ocean, the extreme rigor of the ocean blast is lost ere it reaches the city, calming gently down into a bracing .and healthful breeze. The cli- mate is quite changeable, often characterized by the extremes of heat and cold, yet, all things con- sidered, is perhaps as salubrious as that in any other part of the world. New York, unlike London and many other cities enveloped half the year in an impenetrable fog, is blest with a clear atmosphere, so that despite the smoke of a hundred thousand chimneys, its inhabitants can nearly every day in the year look upon a sky as blue and fair as the Italian.
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WINTER IN NEW YORK.
New York has a brief but emphatically a northern winter, the great sheets of salt water lying around it rendering the atmosphere very chilly, and usually making the impression, that the weather is colder than the thermometer indicates. The winter begins properly about the first of December, and continues about three months, but as the mercury seldom falls
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WINTER IN NEW YORK.
below zero (Fahrenheit) the weather may be considered but moderately cold. About once in ten or twenty years, how- ever, the cold becomes intense. The winter of 1740-41 was thus marked. The rivers were frozen, and the snow, which was six feet deep, covered the earth for a long period. Just twenty years later (1760) the cold was so intense that the Narrows were frozen over, and men and teams crossed with- out danger. But the coldest ever known since the settlement of the country occurred in 1779-SO. The Hudson River was one solid bridge of ice for forty days, and Long Island Sound tras nearly frozen over in its widest part. The bay was so solidly frozen, that an expedition with eighty sleighs, and as many pieces of artillery, crossed to Staten Island, and returned to New York in the same manner. The city was at that time held by the British garrison, trade almost wholly suspended, and the suffering among the populace became intense. The British commander, under severe penalty, ordered the inhabit- ants of Long Island and of Staten Island to cut their timber and draw it to the city for sale, but even this failed to bring the needed supply. Many families sawed up their tables and chairs to cook their food, and covered themselves in bed dav and night to avoid freezing to death. A shipbuilder named Bell cut up a rope cable worth six hundred dollars for back- logs, and a spar equally valuable for fuel. Another severe winter was experienced in 1820, and again in 1835, and the rivers have been again so frozen in our day as to afford safe crossing.
Occasionally there is a fine run of sleighing, lasting several weeks. This is a gay and brilliant period for the wealthy classes, and a golden harvest for the livery stables, each team and sleigh earning the proprietor from one hundred to two hundred dollars per day. But this period of festivity is one of deep privation and suffering among the poor. A heavy fall of snow suspends all operations on public works, building. grading, etc. It is not unusual to have seventy or a hundred thousand men out of employment at mid-winter, half of
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
whom have no money to pay rent, provide the necessaries of life for their families, or to bury their own dead. It is at . this season, often characterized by immense losses and suffer- ings, that the deepest religious impressions are made upon the masses by the Churches. An old divine once quaintly said that " the Lord did not enter New York until after the rivers were frozen over." This is not true; yet such is the rush of business and pleasure, that no general spiritual har- vest is gathered until after the holidays. A cold winter, affording fine opportunities for sleigh-riding and skating, is much relished, and except the suffering among the poor, resulting from insufficient food, clothing, and fuel, is by far the most healthy and desirable.
SPRING IN NEW YORK.
Spring may be said to open generally about the first of March, and is considered pleasant to all except those afflicted with pulmonary complaints. To this class the air is moist, harsh, and severe, until near the middle of May. Parks, lawns, and gardens are clothed with the finest green by the first of April, and fragrant flowers bud and bloom in rich luxuriance.
Spring is the period for projecting new parks, streets, piers, public buildings, letting contracts, opening business, etc. Everything hums with excitement from the Battery to Har- lem bridge, the rivers and bay are white with sloops and crafts laden with brick, lumber, sand, and a hundred other articles of domestic commerce, and everybody plans and hopes for a business harvest. The beauty and toil of this busy period are marred and aggravated by the advent of " May-day." On the first few days of May nearly half the families exchange houses, filling the streets day and night with
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SPRING IN NEW YORK.
loads of furniture and clouds of dust. The sidewalks are thronged in the meantime with women, boys, and girls, car- rying mirrors, pictures, books, vases, babies, birds, dogs, etc .. etc. Half the houses need repairing, and every family " must be served first ; " hence, masons, plumbers, painters, and gia- ziers are in great demand, many of them toiling night and day. After a few weeks the houses are adjusted, the streets swept, the families appear in church, the children in school, and everything assumes a more cheerful aspect.
* These extensive removals necessitate the annual compiling of a new City Directory, which is gotten out with great dis-
* The New York City Directory for 1871-72, just issued, is quite.as inter- esting and complete as any of its predecessors. It contains 1,268 pages, ex- clusive of 172 pages of advertisements, and sixty-two pages of miscellaneous inatter ; the present volume contains 200,953 names. It is quite amusing to note the singularity of some of the names to be found within its pages. For instance, there are a number of Houses and only one Foundation ; a number of the Goodkind, Corns and Coffins, several Plants, some Lively and some Nott, Long, Short, and Hot. Of the different colors, there are 547 Whites, 91 Blacks, 938 Browns, 3 Blues, and 253 Greens. Then there are 30 Whiteheads and 2 Redheads; 22 Bulls, 3 Cowards, 1 Happy, 1 Hen, and 1 Chick. Of the Seasons, there are 32 Winters, 24 Springs, and 5 Sum- mers; of household utensils, 5 Pitchers, 16 Bowles, 1 Broker, 2 Allwell, and one Sick; of horse-fare, 4 Oats, 3 Straws, and 33 Hays. There are, also, 60 Lords, 21 Dukes, 321 Kings, 10 Queens, 20 Princes, 14 Barons, and 24 Earis. The O's occupy seven columns, and the M's 85 columns. The ancient name of Smith occurs 1806 times. There are 36 Barbers to 1 Shaver, 5 Shoe- makers, 7 Tinkers, and 1 Blower; 56 Pages with only 1 Blot; 1 Untied, 2 Loose, and 1 Blind; 3 Lawyers against 28 Judges, and 2 Juries with no Ver- dict. Then again there are 40 Popes, 11 Priests, and 81 Bishops, 12 Pea- cocks and 2 Heads; 2 Books, 4 Bound; 16 Coffees, with 18 Beans ; 26 · · Shepherds with 11 Flocks; 1 Ship, 2 Masts, and 64 Seamen. Of the differ- ent nations, there are 5 Englands, 18 Irelands, 4 Wales, 2 Chinas. 2 Germanys, 2 Frenchmen, 8 Germans, 2 Dutch, 1 Irish, 32 English, 99 Welsh, and only 2 Americans, and 7 Turks. Of the different fruits, . there are 3 Apples, 4 Peaches, 7 Plums. Then come 7 Moons, 1 Morning- *tar, and 1 Gentleman. The name of George Washington occurs 9 times. that of Thomas Jefferson twice, John Quincy Adams four times, and Sly. Smart, and Slick once each. There are 2 Clocks, and 39 Hands; 1 Lion. 3 Bears, and 96 Wolfs; followed by 14 Divines, and 9 Deacons. The shortest name in the Directory is Py."
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NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
patch. The note on preceding page appeared in the New York Tribune, June 17, 1871, and will explain itself.
SUMMER IN NEW YORK.
This period, the loveliest of all in many parts of the world, is here, to all classes, the most unpleasant and trying of the whole year. During July or August, nearly every year, the heat becomes intense, sickness greatly prevails, and death reaps an abundant harvest. Business, with few exceptions, is almost wholly prostrated, many large houses not selling for months sufficient to pay their rents. Merchants, bankers, clerks, ministers, nearly all who have means, fly with a .part or all of their families to the country, visiting the watering places, the White Mountains, the Catskills, their farmer- relatives, the conventions, and camp-meetings, and not a few cross the Atlantic. Schools are suspended, churches deserted, and many of them closed. Beer-gardens, soda and ice-cream- saloons, ice-dealers, and a few others reap their annual har- vest. Physicians, druggists, and undertakers find little time for relaxation, and the few clergymen remaining in the city have incessant calls to minister to the sick, and to bury the dead.
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