USA > New York > New York and its institutions, 1609-1871. A library of information, pertaining to the great metropolis, past and present > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
The rise of Burr was not so completely from obscurity. Ilis father and grandfather having been pre-eminently dis- tinguished for both moral and intellectual greatness, he inherited the prestige of a great and honored name. Grad-
T
92
EW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
uating with honor at Princeton, in 1772, at the early age of sixteen, he had two or three years for reading and observa- tion before the outburst of the Revolution. The times were fraught with great events, and the military ambition with which his whole soul was aglow soon burst forth in rapid and dashing strides for glory and renown. In those perilous northern campaigns under Arnold, he bore a distinguished part ; and, though a beardless youth, he had the honor of carrying General Montgomery bleeding from the field, and
1
I
RICHMOND HILL HOUSE.
of supporting his dying head. He was for a short time associated with Washington as one of his aids, the connection being soon dissolved with mutual disgust, which never after- wards suffered any abatement. At the close of the war, Burr and Hamilton, neither of whom had spent much time in the study of law, on being admitted, began to practice in New York, where each rose with the rapidity and brilliancy of a rocket-entering regions which rockets could not. The old members of the bar being mostly legally disqualified on ac-
93
THE BURR AND HAMILTON TRAGEDY OF 1804.
count of their former disloyalty, these intrepid young military celebrities, with scarcely more than a single bound, placed themselves at the forefront of the profession, from which they were never subsequently displaced. Burr, in particular, from his family associations, soon became immensely popular, drawing numerous and wealthy clients, in whose service he speedily amassed a fortune. In the meantime his success in politics was equally brilliant. In 1784 he was elected to the . State legislature, and the following year appointed Attorney- General of New York. In 1791 he entered the United States' senate, where he continued six years, when he was again sent to the State legislature. Here he fought a blood- less duel with Mr. Church. The electoral college of 1800, having by some mischance cast an equal number of votes for Burr and Jefferson, the House of Representatives, on its thirty-sixth ballot, elected Jefferson President, leaving Burr the Vice-president of the United States. It was during this term that the fatal duel occurred between him and Hamilton. Burr had purchased the famous Richmond Hill mansion, where he lived with his family in much splendor. This building, erected previous to the Revolution, stood on a fine eminence, on what is now the corner of Varick and Charlton streets, then far out in the country, and was sur- rounded with richly cultivated gardens and parks. It had been the headquarters of General Washington, and at a later period was occupied by one of the British Generals com- manding New York. Hamilton owned a fine country resi- dence on the Kingsbridge road (near Central Park), but at the time of his death lived in Park Place, near Broadway. Burr's popularity having much waned, and seeing no pros- pect of being returned to the presidency, sought to be elected Governor of New York. In this he was also over- whelmingly defeated. Hamilton was virtually the head of the opposition ; and Burr believed his failure owing to cer- tain disparaging utterances made by this distinguished oppo- nent. He accordingly demanded a general and uncondi-
94
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
tional retraction, which, not being instantly complied with, was followed by a challenge for a duel. Burr had been observed by the boys of the neighborhood for some time, to be practising with a pistol in his park ; and while Hamilton in the encounter innocently discharged his piece in the air, the aim of Burr produced deadly effect. These facts, coming to the knowledge of the people, produced the belief that he had sought the deliberate murder of Hamilton, who had long
HAMILTON'S RESIDENCE.
been his victorious opponent. Burr was found several hours after the occurrence in his arbor, reading one of his favorite authors as composedly as if nothing had happened, and even refused to credit the statement that Hamilton had been injured, and was then lying in a dying condition. The re- · mains of IIamilton were interred amid the sighs and wails of
.
95
ROBERT FULTON AND THE "CLERMONT."
the people, in the grounds at old Trinity, where they still remain. Having slain the nation's favorite, the indignation of the populace burst forth against Burr with such intensity that he was glad to abandon his palace home and seek refuge in the Southern States. We cannot trace minutely his later career. Arrested soon after and tried for treason, he con- sumed all his means in making his defence successful, after which he sailed for Europe. Sunk in deepest poverty and distress, he begged a passage back to the States in 1S12. His wife had died some years previously, his only daughter, Mrs. Governor Alston, of South Carolina, and her son being the only surviving friends to claim his affection. About the time of his return from Europe, Aaron Burr Alston, his only grandchild, was laid in a little grave. The mother of this boy, a gifted woman, with unchanging affection for her doting father, soon after started North to visit and console him in his despised and wretched condition. But she was lost at sea, and never heard from after embarking ; and her sorrow-stricken husband, after long, anxious, and disappointed search, expired suddenly under a burden of woe. By a singular providence, Burr lived on and passed his eightieth year. Like a shrivelled and fire-scorched oak, he still lifted his guilty head and looked down upon the des- olation of his business, his popularity, his honor, his family, and his hopes for time and for eternity. What a sad and melancholy comment upon the insecurity of worldly fortune, and the unhappy fruit of deliberately abandoned principle !
96
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
ROBERT FULTON AND THE "CLERMONT."
OW long and anxiously the world waited for human ge- nius to control and utilize material nature! How slow is philosophical progress !
Though the properties of steam were treated of, and THE "CLERMONT " mechanical effects produced by its agency, more. than two centuries previous to the beginning of the Christian era, the steam engine proper was not patented until the time of Watt (1768-9), and not successfully applied to the use of navigation until 1807. It is amusing, in these days of rapid travel, to think of the early ferries of New York, and the slow progress made on all the rivers and lakes. Until 1810, row- boats and pirogues were the only ferry-boats plying between New York and Long Island, or used anywhere else on the rivers. Horse power was introduced in 1814, the boat being constructed with a wheel in the centre, propelled by horses, who operated on a sort of horizontal treadmill. The first steam ferry-boat was the Nassau, constructed by Fulton, and placed on the ferry bearing his name May. 8, 1814; but as steam was considered too expensive, no additional boats of this kind were added for more than ten years.
Experimenting in steam navigation had been going on in New York under the direction of Stevens, Fitch, and Robert R. Livingston, for more than twenty years previous to the successful attempt of Fulton. A monopoly had been granted to John Fitch in 1787, but in 1798 the legislature of New York transferred to Chancellor Livingston, who claimed. to be the discoverer of this new power, the exclusive right of steam navigation on all the waters of the State for twenty years, provided that he should within the next twelve months
97
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF 1825.
place a boat on the Hudson river, with a speed of not less than four miles per hour. This he failed to do. Several years later he made the acquaintance of Fulton, in France, who .. though born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and essentially an American, had hitherto gained all his notoriety in the old world. Fulton had studied painting under Benjamin West, the new canal system under the Duke of Bridgewater, had been intimate with Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, had invented machines for making ropes, spinning flax, ex- cavating channels and aqueducts, and had spent much time in inventing and patenting a torpedo. Fulton has been described by those who knew him as tall and slender in form, graceful in manners, simple in all his habits, and so intelligent and prepossessing as to readily captivate the young and win golden opinions from the talented and learned. Entering into an arrangement with Mr. Livingston, he returned to New York, planned and launched the "Clermont," the first steam- boat that ever ploughed the Hudson, and thus obtained the monopoly on the waters of the State. The vessel was con- structed at Jersey City, amid the jeers of the populace, who derisively christened it " the Fulton Folly." Scarcely any one believed he would succeed; but he knew the fate of men who live in advance of their time, and coolly proceeded with his undertaking. On the 7th of August, 1807, he announced his vessel ready for the trial trip to Albany. Thousands of eager spectators thronged the banks of the river, to mingle their glee over the long-predicted failure; but as the ma- chinery began its movement, and the vessel stood toward the centre of the river, the cry of " she moves ! she moves !" ran all along the line, and it is said that some sailors on vessels anchored in the river, and not acquainted with the secret, fell down on their knees and prayed to be delivered from this wheezing monster. The passage to Albany was made in thirty-two hours, the banks of the river being thronged much of the way with excited thousands, witnessing with peculiar pleasure this marvellous triumph of human genius. But
1
98
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
while Fulton won the first laurels with the " Clermont," Mr. John Stevens, and his son, R. L. Stevens, launched the Phoenix immediately after, which they ran to Philadelphia, gaining equal notoriety ; and as soon as the State monopoly was abolished they launched an improved steamboat with a speed of thirteen and one-half miles per hour, thus producing a complete revolution in the system of navigation. Fulton died suddenly in the plenitude of his powers, February 24th, 1815, in the fiftieth year of his age.
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF 1825.
APITAL is one of the mighty engines of national progress, and internal developments can only keep pace with the ac- cumulations of the people. Our city rulers now expend more on pub- lic works in a single year than our fathers did during a lifetime. Still, we must pause to chronicle a few of the prominent events that transpired in the earlier part of this century. Passing over the events of the war with England, in 1812-14, when the city wore a martial air, and the populace almost unanimously engaged in constructing the fortifications at the Narrows, on the islands of the bay, and elsewhere; and the imposing reception of General Lafayette, in the summer of 1824, we pause to glance at the internal improvements of the following year. The year 1825 was the beginning of a new era in the devel- opment of the city, since which its population has more than quadrupled, and the volume of its commerce enlarged at least twenty-fold. The great event of this year was the opening . of the Erie Canal, commenced eight years previously. The
99
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF 1825.
first flotilla of boats, containing Dewitt Clinton, Governor of the State, and many other distinguished gentlemen, left Buffalo October 26th, and arrived at New York on the morn- ing of November 4th. The triumphant starting was signaled by the discharge of a cannon, which was replied to by another and another all along the line, the report reaching New York in eighty minutes, and the return salute finding its way back to Buffalo in about the same time-the raciest telegraphing of that period. The construction of this great artificial thoroughfare, as well as its subsequent enlargement, was an unpopular measure with a large minority of the people, on · account of its costliness ; but in 1866 it was ascertained that, besides enlarging many of the principal cities, and adding to the comfort and wealth of nearly all the people of the State, it had returned into the public treasury $23,500,000 above all its cost, including principal, interest, repairs, superintend- ence, etc., etc.
It was in May, 1825, that the first gas-pipes were laid, by the New York Gas-light Company, which had been incorpo- rated in 1823. No system for lighting the streets was intro- duced until 1697, when the aldermen were charged with en- forcing the duty that " every seventh householder, in the dark time of the moon, cause a lantern and candle to be hung out of his window on a pole, the expense to be divided among the seven families." At a later period, the principal streets were dimly lighted with oil lamps. This first gas-pipe inno- vation extended on either side of Broadway, from Canal street to the Battery, and soon grew into public favor, so that in 1830 the Manhattan Gas-light Company was incorporated with a capital of $500,000, to supply the upper part of the island. A network of gas-pipes now extends over the en- tire island, conducting this brilliant illuminator into nearly every building.
The same year were introduced the joint-stock companies, which were speedily followed by great commercial disasters, almost paralyzing the commerce of the whole country. .
100
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
The Merchants' Exchange, and other architectural monu- ments, were begun the same year. Marble was then first in- troduced for ordinary buildings, the City Hall and the Amer- ican Museum being the only buildings then standing on the island in the construction of which this material had been employed. The records of that otherwise bright year were somewhat darkened with the introduction of the Italian opera and the Sunday press. .
In this connection we may also add that the New York and Erie Railroad was opened to Goshen in 1841, and through to Dunkirk in 1851. The Long Island Railroad was opened in 1844, the New York and New Haven in 1848, the Harlem to Chatham Four Corners in 1852, the Flushing in 1854, the Hudson river to Peekskill in 1849, and to Albany in 1851. All these have greatly enlarged the commerce and growth of the metropolis.
The first telegraphic communication with New York was established by the Philadelphia and Washington line in 1845, and was the second in the country, one having been estab- lished the previous year between Washington and Baltimore.
VIEW OF NEW YORK, looking South-west from Green Point.
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 101
CHAPTER IV.
NEW YORK AS IT IS.
I. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND.
EW YORK Island is situated in the upper New York bay, eighteen miles from the. Atlantic Ocean, at the mouth of the Hudson river, which forms its western boundary, is separated from Long Island by the East river, and from the rest of New York State by the Harlem river and Spuyten Duyvel creek. The island is thirteen and one-half miles long, two and one-half wide at its extreme point, contains fourteen thousand acres, and is by survey divided into 141,486 lots, twenty-five by one hundred feet each. Its original surface was diversified by broken rocky hills, marshes, and ponds of water, and by arable and sandy plains. The rocks, which consisted principally of gneiss, hornblende, slate, mica, limestone, and granite, have been, for the most part, too coarse and brittle for building purposes, but have been employed to advantage in grading and docking. A bold rocky ridge, starting on the southern portion, extended northward, branching off into several spurs, which again united, forming Washington Heights, the greatest elevation anywhere attained (two hun- dred and thirty-eight feet above tide), and ending in a sharp precipitous promontory at the northern extremity of the island.
.
A body of fresh water known as "Collect Pond," nearly two miles in circumference, and fifty feet deep, covered the territory of the present Five Points, and the site of the
%
102
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
Tombs, and was connected with the Hudson by a deep outlet on the line of Canal street, from which the street takes its ' name. This lake was encircled with a dense forest, and was the resort of skating parties in winter, while in summer Stevens and Fitch experimented in steam navigation on its waters ten years before Fulton's vessel skimmed the Hudson. Deep rivulets supplied by springs and marshes cut the surface in many directions. Up Maiden lane flowed a deep inroad from the bay. In the vicinity of Peck Slip ran a low water- course, which in the wet season united with the Collect, thus cutting off about eight hundred acres on the lower point, into a separate island. A deep stream flowed down Broad street, up tvhich boatmen came for many years in their canoes to sell their oysters. The sources that supplied these lakes and streams still exist, and these waters are carried off through numerous immense sewers, covered deep in the earth, over which thousands tread daily, unconscious of their existence. The lower part of the island has been greatly widened by art; the whole territory covered by Front and Water streets on the east side, and by West, Greenwich, and Washington, on the west, including the whole site of Washington Market, was once swept by the billows of the bay. The chills and fever, with which hundreds of families are afflicted at this writing, result doubtless from these numerous covered but malarious marshes.
Civilization introduced gardening and farming. At the sur- render of the Dutch dynasty the city occupied only the ex- treme southern portion of the island, a high wall, with ditch, i having been thrown across it on the line of Wall street, for defence. All above this was for several years common pasture ground, but was afterwards divided into farms. The Governor's garden lay along what is now Whitehall street; the site of St. Paul's (Episcopal) Church was a rich wheat-field; the site of the old New York Hospital was once a fine or- chard; the Bible House and Cooper Institute cover what at a later period was devoted to luxurious gardens. The central
103
POPULATION AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.
portion of the island was during the English colonial period mapped out into rich productive farms, where men of means settled, became rich, and left their names in the streets that were afterwards constructed.
The city proper now extends from the Battery northward, and is compactly built for six miles, and irregularly to the Harlem river. The few vacant lots below Fifty-ninth street are being rapidly improved, and a vast amount of building is going on much farther up. Gardening is still conducted on a splendid scale on the upper portions of the island, though these green plots are being constantly encroached upon by the advance of the mason and the joiner. On the west side, through Bloomingdale, Manhattanville, and Washington Heights, may be found still some of the old country mansions and yards of the good lang syne, and many modern palatial residences glittering with costly splendor.
IL POPULATION AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.
HE growth of the city has been rapid, as a few statistics will show. In 1656 the population amounted to 1,000, in 1664 to 1,500, in 1700 to 5,000, in 1750 to 13,500, in 1774 to 22,750, in 1800 to 60,489, in 1820 to 123,706, in 1830 to 202,589, in 1840 to 312,932, in 1850 to 515,547, and in 1860 to 813,669. In consequence of the high prices occasioned by the war, and the disorganized condition of the various industrial pursuits, the census of 1865 showed a decrease in the popula- tion, which amounted to 726,386. The census returns of 1870 place the population of the island at 942,252. It is proba- ble that the population of the island will eventually reach a. million and a half, and perhaps even more. Many portions
104
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
of the city have long since been deserted by the better classes of society, but their departure has been speedily followed by a much denser packing of the localities thus deserted. In 1800 the fashionable part of the city was in Wall and Pine streets, and between Broadway and Pearl. It has gradually moved northward, lingering in our day long around Union Square, which has at last been deserted, and it is difficult deciding where the matter will end. When the plan for the erection of the City Hall was made, about seventy years ago, it was urged that the city would never extend above Cham- bers street ; hence the rear wall of the edifice was made of sandstone, and not of marble like the rest, because it was said it would never be seen. To fill the entire island and suburbs, would produce an immensely smaller change than has already occurred since that time. There are now about sixty-five thousand buildings on the island, many of which cover several lots, and not a few twenty or thirty each; and as fully one thousand acres are covered by the parks and reser- voirs, there is not as much vacant land remaining as many writers have supposed. The vicinity of Central Park is now considered the most eligible part of the city ; but who can tell but even this may yet become a grand commercial theatre, as many places already have which were once held sacred by a generation long since departed ? Some sections in the lower wards are now packed with a population amounting to the appalling figure of two hundred and ninety- thousand to the square mile. If this should become general, the island would contain over six millions. Hundreds of residences are annually rising on the upper parts of the island, but an equally large number farther down are being converted into places of business ; and this, we opine, will continue until the entire island is one vast centre of com- merce, manufacture, and storage. Thirty years will proba- bly entirely drive the elite from the island. The bridges and tunnels now in immediate prospect will hasten this result, make the surrounding country for miles the real sub-
105
STREETS AND AVENUES OF NEW YORK.
urbs of the metropolis, and fill it with wealth and palatial splendor. Already many thousands doing business here daily, reside in other places, not a few thirty, and some fifty miles up the Hudson. It has been estimated that two hundred thousand persons daily cross the East river, while not many less cross on the other side to New Jersey, Staten Island, or depart on the railroads running north. The construction of a railroad on the west side of the Hudson, and a bridge across the East river, at Blackwell's Island, will open eligible sections for suburban residences hitherto inaccessible to the business public of Manhattan. These enterprises cannot long be delayed.
III. STREETS AND AVENUES OF NEW YORK.
THE PLAN, THE PAVEMENTS, AND THE MODES OF TRAVEL-WALL STREET-BROAD STREET -- BROADWAY-FIFTH AVENUE-BOULE- VARD.
HE early settlers of Manhattan had no conception of the propor- tions the town was ultimately to assume, and, hence, formed no comprehensive plan for its outlay. In 1656 they resolved to lay out the streets of the city, which was done in a most grotesque manner. Washington Irving ludicrously describes the occurrence thus : " The sage council not being able · to determine upon any plan for the building of their city, the cows, in a laudable fit of patriotism, took it under their pe- culiar charge, and as they went to and from pasture, estab)- . lished paths through the bushes, on each side of which the
106
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS.
good folks built their houses, which is one cause of the rambling and picturesque turns and labyrinths which distin- `guish certain streets of New York at this very day." Many of the streets in the lower part of the city have been straightened and improved at vast expense. On the 3d of April, 1807, an Act was passed, appointing Simeon Dewitt, Gouverneur Morris, and John Rutherford, to lay out by careful survey the whole island, which was accordingly done, and the map of the same filed in the secretary's office in March, 1811. To the commendable forethought of these gentlemen is the city indebted for the admirable arrangement of its uptown streets and avenues. This survey extended to One Hundred and Fifty-fourth street, but it has since been extended to Kings Bridge. Below Fourteenth street much irregularity still exists in the streets, and probably always will, to the infinite perplexity of strangers ; but above that point the avenues and streets run at right angles to each other, the direction of the former being nearly north and south, and the latter east and west, from river to river, and numbering each way from Fifth avenue. The avenues number from south to north.
.
The streets, avenues, squares, and places on Manhattan now number nearly seven hundred, about three hundred miles of which are paved, and are illuminated at night by about nineteen thousand gas lamps. The first pavements were laid in what is now Stone street, between Broad and Whitehall streets, in 1658. Bridge street was paved the same year, and several others running through marshy sections soon after. These pavements were of cobble-stone, without side- walks, and with wooden gutters running through the centre of the streets. Broadway was paved in this manner, in 1707, from Trinity Church to Bowling Green.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.