USA > New York > New York City > New York panorama : a comprehensive view of the metropolis > Part 8
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The early history of Staten Island is extremely difficult to trace, as far as e first actual settlers are concerned. It is known that three attempts to lonize the territory by the patroon system failed, although David P. de ries, who went there in 1636, and Cornelius Melyn, who arrived in 1640, om importantly in the island's history.
The first permanent settlement was made by Peter Billiou and eighteen hers in 1661, the settlement being named Oude Dorp, meaning Old down. Three years later, after the English had captured New Amsterdam
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and changed its name to New York, British names were given to oth parts of the province, including Staten Island, which now became a di' sion of "Yorkshire" known as the "West Riding." Later, the Indians so the entire island to a man named Ryssel, who soon discovered the Indi aptitude for selling the same thing repeatedly, and at a higher price ea time.
There were only some 200 families on the island when it became t
te English county of Richmond on November 1, 1683, under Governor Do gan. On March 7, 1788, Richmond became a county of New York Stat One hundred and ten years later, it was incorporated in Greater New Yo as the Borough of Richmond.
In 1698, the population of Richmond consisted of 654 whites and · Negroes. Four years later, it had decreased to a total of 505; and in tì nine years following 1703, there was a gain of less than 800. Eleven yea later, the inhabitants numbered 1,506, of whom 255 were Negroes. I 1771, the total of 727 in 1698 had increased to 2,847-an average gain only 30 persons a year. The first Federal census of 1790 listed 3,835 pe sons. Fifty years later, the figure was 10,965; and by 1936, it had reach 172,169.
The Greater New York charter that had translated the popular vote 1895 into the legal fact of consolidation in 1898 had been very strong criticized at public hearings held in January 1897. The Bar Associatio Board of Trade, Clearing House Association, City Club, Union Leag Club, Reform Club, and Real Estate Exchange had expressed their opinion in no uncertain terms. Even Mayor Strong of New York, ex-officio memb of the Charter Commission that had framed the instrument, reversed h position when the charter was submitted for his approval as mayor. Bul the legislature overrode his veto by large majorities in both houses. TH criticism did not cease after January 1, 1898, when Greater New Yor, became a fact despite these protests. On the contrary, it mounted until th. 1898 charter was revised in 1901. The revised instrument, which becan effective January 1, 1902, was virtually a new charter throughout.
Prosperity and Progress: 1879-1909
By 1879, the nation had begun to recover from the panic of 1873, an New York entered upon a phase of its modern growth which, while n( devoid of the corruption that had characterized the Tweed era, was marke at least by increasingly determined efforts to better the governmental stru
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re and thus to control in a greater degree the various factors contributing an unbelievably rapid expansion.
By 1909, 300 years after Henry Hudson's arrival in New York's mag- ficent harbor, the city was not only the undisputed colossus of the west- n hemisphere, but a giant among world-giants as well. The three decades tween 1879 and 1909 constitute the first phase of New York's develop- ent as a modern city.
Politically, the period contributed evidence of a civic pride lacking for ars. In 1882, the first of several organized public attempts to defeat cor- iption was staged. Although unsuccessful, it contributed to the legislative vestigation of 1884, which was particularly interesting because of the pearance on the New York scene of a young man named Theodore roosevelt, who headed the Assembly committee and submitted a report shing, among other things, the Police Department. Ten years later, bosevelt became president of the Board of Police Commissioners. In that ost, he succeeded in doing a job sufficiently sound to bring himself to the tention of the nation, which later made him President.
The election of William R. Grace as mayor in 1884 was the first victory r good government in this period. Two years later, the idea of inde- endent tickets had so far progressed as to make possible the first labor- ghion candidate for mayor-Henry George, the single-taxer. Both he and s Republican opponent, Theodore Roosevelt, were defeated by Abraham Hewitt, the Democratic nominee.
From 1888 to 1894, Tammany completely dominated municipal affairs. hen came the famous exposures of Police Department graft by the so- lled Lexow Committee of 1894. These shocking revelations resulted in e nomination of a fusion candidate, William L. Strong, who defeated ammany and turned in a generally good administration. But Strong lost political support because he and his adherents did not give enough thought political realities, with the result that Tammany won the 1897 election. Again the community regretted its choice, and once more fusion defeated orrupt politicians by the election in 1901 of Seth Low and the temporary nashing of Tammany's power in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Richmond. his was the victory that carried William Travers Jerome into the district torney's office in New York County and loosed a one-man crusade against ammany which that organization is not likely to forget. Low was followed y George B. McClellan, a Tammany candidate whose independence, par- cularly in his second term, cut the Hall to the quick.
The awakening of civic pride, as the result of political developments de-
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manding greater interest in the community by its citizens, was accompani by other developments in various fields. Street improvements on an i portant scale began in 1889. Two years later, there were 365 miles of pav thoroughfares. Electricity for lighting began to replace gas in 1880; ai in 1887 the tremendous task of moving electric light wires from the fore: of poles to underground conduits was initiated.
This latter move turned out to be of great advantage in the buildi! boom that reached its peak in 1901, probably the year of greatest activi in real estate and building that New York has ever known. Many ramblin old structures below City Hall were replaced by modern office building Within a few years, the skyscraper began to dominate lower Manhatta center of the city's big-business activities. The Flatiron, Singer, Metropo tan Life and Woolworth Buildings exemplified a new and distinctly Ame ican type of commercial architecture.
Residential construction was particularly prominent on Fifth Avent where the Vanderbilts, Carnegies and other wealthy families were buildit elaborate mansions ; and to the north in Morningside Heights, Washingto Heights and the Bronx, where large tracts of land were being utilized apartment house sites.
New public buildings included the Criminal Courts, the Custom Hous and the Hall of Records, all completed by 1907; the Municipal Buildin begun toward the end of this period; the Metropolitan Opera Hous opened in 1883; and Carnegie Hall, completed in 1891. Two large d' partment stores began construction of new quarters at Greeley Square the new Pennsylvania Station was started; and Longacre Square becan the center of unparalleled real estate and building developments that r sulted in the Times Square of today.
New educational structures were projected or opened. On Morningsic Heights, Barnard, Teachers and Columbia Colleges, together with Unio Theological Seminary, constituted a noteworthy group. New York Un versity opened its uptown center in 1895, and City College dedicated sim lar quarters in 1908. In 1895, 15 new buildings and annexes were bein built for public school use. Public high schools were inaugurated with th opening of the first three in September 1897.
Along the waterfront and in the parks, important improvements wer also effected. In 1897, five new piers were under construction, and plar for seven more had been approved. Between 1904 and 1909, about 3 miles of new wharfage were constructed. Park development had progresse so steadily that the New York Improvement Commission recommended, i
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07, a city-wide parkway system connecting the independent borough sys- ns-a recommendation that, in its basic features, is now (1938) being tried out by Park Commissioner Moses.
With the close of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1907, this first ase of the development of modern New York was well advanced. The st transatlantic radio message, the first successful flight of a heavier-than- craft, the first skyscraper and the first subway were accomplished facts. gineering and scientific genius had provided the bases upon which the y was now developing physically.
New York had become a colossus. It had the money, the power and the ility to maintain and to strengthen its undisputed supremacy. It had the om to grow even more huge. It had a throbbing, almost a terrifying, ality. It had unlimited ambition, and the power to translate that ambi- n into reality. Yet this power, this hugeness, this vitality were essentially ose of a frontier town sprawling beyond its limits. New York knew com- ratively little and cared less about the world beyond its borders. It was isfied to have and to hold. Despite its world-wide commerce, it could rdly be called world-conscious in anything save rates of exchange.
The new colossus had grown in bone and sinew and muscle. Now it was out to develop intellectually through a broadening of its interests; it was but to become truly cosmopolitan.
om Metropolis to Cosmopolis: 1910-1937
In this period, at least three factors contributed to the second phase of :w York's modern development. They were the administrations of Mayors ynor and Mitchel, the revelations of the Seabury and Dewey investiga- ns, and the development of a cosmopolitan viewpoint as the result of : World War and a later domestic crisis.
William J. Gaynor, who was elected mayor in 1909 and served until his ath on September 10, 1913, has been described as combining "the gift : literary gossip and philosophy of Philip Hone, the clever wit and satire the elegant A. Oakey Hall, and the simple earnestness of Peter Cooper." rtainly Gaynor was unusual. He challenged the Tammany machine that d nominated him; he refused so steadily to yield to patronage demands it the machine denied him a renomination; he sued his most enthusiastic irnalistic supporter, the World, for libel; he fought William Randolph arst, the publisher, to a standstill; and he probably lost the Presidency the United States by declining the proffered aid of Colonel House, the
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man who is credited with putting Woodrow Wilson in the White Ho and who had first sought Gaynor as the nominee.
Before becoming mayor, Gaynor had been a reporter, lawyer, vice cf sader, writer and a justice of the Appellate Division of the New Your Supreme Court. He was considered an authority on libel and slander, a ate his judicial experience was marked by continual effort to reduce the lc and involved terminology of the law to brief and exact statements of fauna as well as by a viewpoint remarkably liberal for those days. "Nothing more distressing," he stated in an article published more than 30 years a "than to see a bench of judges, old men as a rule, set themselves again the manifest and enlightened will of the community in matters of soci po economic, or commercial progress." The plain people were his primary terest, and it is said of him that he understood them as did no other m top of his time. Intolerance of any kind, particularly racial, was abhorrent him. He was the champion especially of the Jews, and he had many pow ful Jewish friends. Ent Ar
Gaynor's emphasis upon brevity of speech throughout his public caree was never better demonstrated than during the simple inaugural ceremon til at City Hall after his victory of 1909. His speech consisted of exactly words: "I enter upon this office with the intention of doing the very b I can for the city of New York. That will have to suffice. I can do more." About six months later, he was shot by a dissatisfied employee the Dock Department on the deck of the Kaiser Wilhelm as he was abdH to sail for Europe. The bullet was never removed, and three years later died as a result of the wound. a J
Denied a renomination by Tammany in 1913, Gaynor entered a thread cornered contest independently, only to die before the campaign got under way. This left the regular Tammany nominee and a young man namde John Purroy Mitchel as the candidates. Mitchel had been nominated by tt "Committee of 107," a fusion organization created to beat Tammany am also to prevent the re-election of Gaynor. He won by about 120,000 vot his and became mayor on January 1, 1914.
Although only 34 years old, Mitchel had been in politics for seven yeas as assistant corporation counsel, commissioner of accounts, president of ty Board of Aldermen, and acting mayor for a time in Gaynor's regin am Like his predecessor, he gave New York good government in the faces a still powerful Tammany machine and an electorate by no means as Fde. litically aroused or well-educated as it is today. Theodore Roosevelt garded him as having "given us as nearly an ideal administration . . Te
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odave seen in my lifetime, or as I have heard of since New York became ig city"; and Oswald Garrison Villard wrote of his regime: "Never was a fire department so well handled, never were the city's charities so well ninistered, nor its finances grappled with upon such a sound and far- ahted basis ... Under him the schools progressed wonderfully, while sons were carried on with some semblance of scientific and humanitarian nagement."
Among Mitchel's various services to the city were a thorough reorganiza- agn of the police department under Arthur Woods as commissioner, the aaning up of gambling and vice at Coney Island, the preparation of a porate stock budget that showed just where the city stood on public ex- ditures, the supervision of a complete schedule of city property that mapped purchase by the municipality of its own holdings, the mapping of city's zoning plan, the launching of investigations that led to the re- Hval of two borough presidents, and initiation of the West Side improve- nt program that has now been finally achieved. Despite these construc- rde services, Mitchel was beaten by Tammany in 1917, his defeat being nibuted to various reasons, not the least of which was a lack of diplo- fcy in the handling of delicate political situations. He enlisted at once ofthe Army, was commissioned a major in the air service, and was killed fa fall from a scout plane during the last stage of his training period, July 6, 1918. t
His successor, John F. Hylan, became mayor on January 1, 1918, and um that day to January 1, 1934, Tammany Hall was in undisputed con- 1 of New York's government. Few mayors of New York have been so agely criticized as Hylan, and fewer still could better hold their own in rough and tumble school. That he was personally honest even his worst memies conceded. Three investigations during his administrations failed tturn up anything worth while. Indeed, most of the departments were un surprisingly well, with practically none of the old-fashioned graft. is was credited to "Boss" Murphy's "enlightened" leadership of Tam- ny Hall rather than to Hylan. The latter, according to many observers, afs merely a figurehead.
"Yet Hylan had forced himself on the powerful Charlie Murphy as the mmmany candidate in 1917 with no more background than about II years service in rather obscure judicial posts. His strategy was beautifully sim- p :. It consisted of setting up the "Allied Boards of Trade and Taxpayers' sociations of Brooklyn," an organization with headquarters in a bat- ed letterbox at No. 1028 Gates Avenue, where Hylan had his law office,
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and a membership composed of himself, two fellow lawyers and a vau. ville entertainer. For 12 months prior to the 1917 campaign, this "allian poured out caustic criticism of Mayor Mitchel, while Judge Hylan repea that criticism before many civic organizations throughout the city. C. ously enough, it never occurred to anyone to look into the "Allied Boa of Trade and Taxpayers' Associations of Brooklyn" until just a few d before the election. It was too late then, for Hylan had made himsel front-page figure. Throughout the eight years of his regime as mayor, ] lan was one of the most effectively publicized men New York has e known.
During these superbly press-agented administrations, the kind of g ernment that Mayor Gaynor had initiated and Mayor Mitchel had cart forward came to an end, especially after Mayor Hylan's record plurality more than 420,000 in 1921 had convinced Tammany that continuation a more or less laissez faire policy would do quite well. Nevertheless, Ma Hylan did have to his credit an uncompromising stand against the "ti tion interests," as he termed them, which some authorities contend sa the city millions of dollars.
In 1925, Tammany turned for its candidate from the elderly, ploddi bewildered, unflinchingly honest Hylan to the young, effervescent, cc sure, night-clubbing James J. Walker; and Walker's election justified Hall's strategy. From 1925 to 1930, Tammany gave New York what been well described as "high, wide and handsome government." Then Hall began to turn an anxious eye toward a certain Mr. Samuel Seabı who in August 1930 was appointed a referee by the Appellate Division, the New York Supreme Court, First Judicial Department, to conduct investigation into the magistrates' courts of Manhattan and the Bronx. March 1931, Governor Roosevelt selected Mr. Seabury to investigate report on charges against Thomas C. T. Crain, district attorney of N York County; and a month later he was made counsel to the Joint Co mittee of the New York State Senate and Assembly, created to investig various departments of government of the city of New York. Under of these appointments, Mr. Seabury had power merely to investigate, port and make recommendations.
The recommendations submitted by Mr. Seabury on the reorganizat of the magistrates' courts more directly affected the average New Yor than the inquiry into District Attorney Crain's activities or even the iny tigation by the Joint Committee. But it was in this last that the dram clash between Seabury and Mayor James J. Walker focused attention
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timony so damaging to Tammany Hall as to make possible an anti-Tam- iny victory in 1933 and an even more crushing defeat of the Tiger in 37.
Most amusing of all the testimony was that of James A. McQuade, then mmany leader of the Fifteenth Assembly District in Brooklyn and Regis- of Kings County. It was brought out that McQuade had deposited about 20,000 over a period of six years, on a total salary for that period of less in $50,000. Questioned about this, McQuade replied that "33 other Mc- lades" were dependent on him. "They were," he said, "placed on my k, I being the only bread-winner, so to speak, and after that it was nec- ary to keep life in their body, sustenance, to go out and borrow money." ch borrowed money, McQuade explained, accounted for the $470,000 love and beyond his visible earnings. With it, he saved the "33 other Quades."
One direct result of this investigation was the sudden resignation of tyor James J. Walker before Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt had a Lince to hear all the evidence that Seabury adduced. Indirectly, the Sea- cy revelations are credited with being a tremendous factor in the elec- n of Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1933 on a fusion ticket. On the occasion this election, William Travers Jerome remarked: "Tammany goes out, Tammany comes back in, and you've got to be realistic about it." So Mr. La Guardia, an excellent politician, has been very realistic about indeed much too realistic to suit Tammany, which went down to an- er smashing defeat in the re-election of Mayor La Guardia on Novem- 2, 1937.
Mayor La Guardia's first administration had to its credit a long list of olic improvements. Among these were the tearing down of the notorious fy Penitentiary on Welfare Island to make way for a hospital, and the nsfer of the convicts to a new city prison on Riker's Island; the Ward's und sewage disposal plant; the great Triborough Bridge, in use since y II, 1936; an increase in number of the city's hospital beds; the first 1 start made on slum clearance; the magnificent parks, boulevards and lages, and the hundreds of new playgrounds, created in most cases with help of Federal funds.
Thomas E. Dewey was the second major investigator of this period. On y I, 1935, he was appointed by District Attorney William C. Dodge of w York County as a special deputy assistant district attorney "to conduct investigation of vice and racketeering before an extraordinary grand ny." The idea of so appointing Mr. Dewey was not Mr. Dodge's; it had
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been urged upon Tammany's district attorney by Governor Herbert H. L. man. Four Republican leaders of the bar had declined to serve, and } joined in seconding Governor Lehman's recommendation.
Mr. Dewey came to his new position with a broad knowledge of ra eteering methods and personalities, having already, as special assistant the U. S. Attorney-General, placed several racketeers in government pe tentiaries. From the day of his appointment to July 29, when he and 1 first eight of his assistants were formally sworn, Mr. Dewey was busy I ing preliminary plans. On August 7, he opened his investigation a caused the arrest of the first racketeer. By September 11, when the indici man had pleaded guilty to an extortion charge, the public began to see this 33-year-old special prosecutor the newest hope of law and order.
On October 25, it was reported, a new group took over all major ra ets in New York, Brooklyn and Newark. This group virtually asked M Dewey what he was going to do about it. On April 18, 1936, they ho their answer. On that day, the powerful "Lucky" Luciano (Lucania ) fou himself jailed in New York City in the unheard-of-bail of $350,000, wh he could not raise; and on June 18, he was sentenced to a prison term from 30 to 50 years, with other members of his gang getting similarly s
Fas sentences. This was Mr. Dewey's most sensational conviction. It drove : ad vice gang to cover, and was followed by impressive victories in the case or other rackets, notably those in the restaurant and poultry businesses.
The rackets that had flourished for years in New York, exacting trib from rich and poor alike, were now definitely on the run-a conditie confidently expected to continue as long as Thomas E. Dewey has : power to make indictments and to prosecute them. This power was assui him when he was elected District Attorney of New York County in Notes vember 1937.
But neither the Seabury nor the Dewey investigations, important thou : both of those were to good government and law enforcement, constitui fas the really significant contribution of the period now under review. T.t lay in another and not nearly so evident a field; and it changed New Yo from a sprawling and overgrown colossus into a cosmopolitan city.
This development began with the World War. Millions were put under arms. Nationality met nationality, and found it not at all a bad experien to Thousands went overseas; and even in very bitter circumstances, they m:a aged to survive contact with "foreigners." Intimacy bred an understandi o of the other fellow such as these clannish New Yorkers had never bef possessed.
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e The war ended. But millions who had been taken out of their complacent hittle group-existence did not cease to be interested in things they had seen, eard and read about. The press, more than anything else, had broadened agie viewpoint not only of those who had gone to fight but of those who tjayed at home. However restricted by censorship, it had still furnished edews, and in so doing had expanded its foreign service far beyond the bro standard. By 1926, the old system of maintaining only London and aris offices, and there picking up stuff via the foreign news agencies, was longer adequate. The war had doubled or tripled the number of corre- spondents. Papers had been forced to send men to places never before rectly covered. During the war, correspondents had naturally written out the war. Now, they were writing about the problems that the struggle d left in its wake.
America found itself linked to nation after nation through loans. New Hork was the financial center of the country. It was interested in loans, in ugonomic losses, in the effects of those losses on industry and jobs. Pres- huitly the papers were printing a tremendous amount of foreign political news. New Yorkers read it; for they began to sense that the politics of sissia, of Europe, of the Far East had a great deal to do with loans and de and jobs. Nations that had been little more to the average New se orker than a stereopticon slide now became vital to his well-being. He dn't understand the situation, but he did see a lot about it in the papers. band as he read, the world shrank. "Foreigners" were now neighbors; Eu- pe and the Soviet Union and the Far East were inextricably mixed up, mehow, with prosperity and profits and work in New York. M
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