USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 35
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rapid transit trains. The Putnam road opened up High Bridge, Morris Dock, Morris Heights, University Heights, Kingsbridge, and Van Cort- landt Park. Though run at a loss during its earlier years, under the later lessee it began to pay more than its expenses. The cost of the road a few years ago amounted to $11,700,000, an average of nearly $206,000 for every one of its 58.88 miles to Brewster's, even though it was single track. -
Street Car Companies-With the passage of the State Railroad Act of 1830 a number of street car lines were formed and articles of asso- ciation filed, though very little appears to have been accomplished in the years that immediately followed. Among those later companies were: the New York and Westchester Railroad Company, September 24, 1859; New York and Yonkers Railroad Company, October 17, 1859; Union Railroad Company of Westchester, December 15, 1859; Port Morris and Westchester Railroad Company, April 2, 1864; and the Third Avenue and Fordham Railroad Company, on the same date. The president of all these companies was David Milliken, and the leading name of each of the board of directors was Gouverneur Morris. The last of these companies was incorporated under Chapter 143 of the laws of 1860, to authorize the construction of railway and tracks in West Farms, Westchester, Eastchester, New Rochelle, Yonkers, and Morris- ania. The road was to extend from Harlem Bridge to Fordham, via Third Avenue, but as the road was not completed by December 11, 1862, its charter became extinct. The rest of the companies held on to their charters and were built, more or less, subsequently.
The Third Avenue and Fordham Railroad had a natural successor in the Harlem Bridge, Morrisania, and Fordham Railroad Company, incorporated in 1863, with a route from the bridge to Fordham via Third Avenue. This was the first street railway in the borough. According to the report filed at the end of 1864 by its president, John B. Haskins, five miles of road had been built at a cost of $158,749.22 and 571,450 passengers had been carried. The road was capitalized at $300,000, of which $72,000 was paid up; the outstanding indebtedness of $88,000 bore interest at seven per cent. It owned seventeen first-class and two second-class cars, which traveled by horse-power at the rate of six and one-half miles an hour, including stops, or seven miles an hour while in motion. The rates of fare were as follows :
Harlem Bridge to Morrisania 5 cents.
Harlem Bridge to Tremont 8 cents.
Harlem Bridge to Fordham 10 cents.
In 1865 the fare to Morrisania was increased to six cents, and the average rate of speed decreased to six miles an hour.
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This was the rate of progress according to the report. As a matter of fact on very stormy nights the cars did not run at all, or at such infrequent intervals as to be useless as a means of transportation. The roadbed was so poor that very often, when the driver attempted to put on a spurt of speed, there would be a sudden jar and stoppage, and the passengers would have to help to lift the car on the track. So fre- quent were the mishaps and delays that a writer in the "New York Herald," in 1864, spoke about getting off the cars at such times to pick up huckleberries. There was a convenient and handy nickname, and the Huckleberry Road it became at once ; a name which was applied to the whole system of street-cars in the borough, and which became notorious under the wide powers granted to the "Huckleberry System" by the act of the Legislature of 1892, authorizing the incorporation of the Union Railway Company.
The earliest extension of the horse-car service was in 1870, when two cars were run between Third Avenue and West Farms by way of the Boston Road. Later, other extensions were made, both in the days of the horse and in the days of the trolley, until the borough became fairly gridironed with street-car surface lines, most of which gave and took transfers to and from other connecting or crossing lines. The trolley or electric motive power was first introduced in October, 1892. The street-car service in time extended from Harlem River northward from three points, Harlem Bridge, Central Bridge, and Kingsbridge, though cars cross the Madison Avenue, the Lenox Avenue, and the Washington bridges. The most important of these radiating points is Harlem Bridge, over which many lines pass from their terminus at 125th Street and Third Avenue, Manhattan. These lines go over a part of Third Avenue for a greater or lesser distance before diverging to their special destination. Until the spring of 1908, an additional fare of three cents would secure a transfer to or from the elevated. The whole system of the borough was under the Union Railway Company, or the "Huckleberry Road," until January, 1898, when the Third Avenue Company secured control. The Third Avenue and leased lines were in their turn, leased to the Metropolitan Street Railway on April 13, 1900, for nine hundred and ninety-nine years. On November 25, 1901, the Interurban Railway Company secured control. The development of the system was, however, mainly due to the Union Railway Company. In January, 1904, the Interurban Company petitioned the county court of Westchester County to change its name to the New York Railway Company. During the decade from 1898 to 1908, all the railways of Manhattan and The Bronx were being manipulated by William C. Whitney and others, with the result that they came virtually under one management. The stock was enormously increased beyond any reason-
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able relation to the actual value of the roadbeds, rolling stock, barns, power-houses, franchises, and earning capacity, so that in June, 1908, they went into the hands of receivers; and the transfers to and from the elevated and the Westchester Traction Company were abolished by the United States courts, though those with the Westchester Com- pany were resumed in some cases.
Elevated and Underground Railways-The success that attended the operation upon Manhattan Island of the elevated railroads after 1870, turned the attention of engineers and capitalists to the possibilities of similar structures in the newly annexed district. Accordingly, April 5, 1880, articles of association were filed by the Harlem River and Port Chester Rapid Transit Company, under the general railroad laws of 1850, for the construction of a steam railway from East 129th Street and Second Avenue, Manhattan, to a point on Westchester Avenue, near the Bronx River, there dividing into two branches, one of which was to go to Hunt's Point. On October 19, 1880, the Suburban Rapid Transit Company was chartered under the Rapid Transit Act of 1875, relating to elevated railroads. On November 30, 1883, the New York, Fordham, and Bronx Railway Company filed articles of incorporation under the same act for the purpose of constructing a railroad in the Annexed District, to connect with the elevated railroads than running on Manhattan Island, and to extend to Bronxdale and Williamsbridge in two branches from Fordham. On March 17, 1886, the Suburban Rapid Transit Company acquired all the rights, franchises, and the like, of the last-named company and began the construction of an elevated road from East 129th Street, between Willis and Alexander avenues in the borough. The bridge over the Harlem River, generally known as the "Second Avenue Bridge," was opened to the public on May 17, 1886. In 1887, the line was continued to 161st Street, a distance of 2.16 miles from the Manhattan end. To 145th Street the road uses its own property, none of the streets being used except to cross over, and the tracks are constructed in the middle of the blocks between Willis and Alexander avenues. From 145th Street the elevated structure follows the line of Third Avenue. The next extension was made to Tremont, 177th Street, in July, 1891. Another extension was made to Pelham Avenue, Fordham, in 1900; and the last extension was made to Bronx Park through the grounds of Fordham University in 1902, thus making the total length of the line about five miles. Until August, 1891, to get from any place in the Annexed District to any place in Manhattan by elevated required the payment of two fares, or ten cents ; but upon this date the Manhattan Company acquired the Suburban, and since that time the fare from the upper terminus of the road to the South Ferry has been five cents.
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In the middle of the last century the subject of underground railways began to be discussed in New York City. In 1868, the New York Cen- tral Underground Railway was chartered; in 1872, the New York Rapid Transit Company, in which Cornelius Vanderbilt was interested, was chartered, and among other schemes was the Beach Pneumatic Railway Company, which actually built a section underground. All these com- panies, though granted full powers and excellent routes, failed to attract the necessary capital for their construction; and the building of the elevated railroads sidetracked the idea of underground railways for several years, or until 1884, when the discussion was resumed. In his message to the Common Council in January, 1888, Mayor Hewitt called the attention of the members to the subject of underground railways by stating that the existing railways of the city would soon be in- adequate for the increasing traffic and that the construction of an under- ground railway was desirable and would soon thereafter be absolutely necessary. He suggested in view of the facts which he had presented that some scheme should at that time be devised to advance the credit of the city for building such roads, as a large amount of capital would be required. However, at that particular time nothing came of the mayor's suggestion. Clearly the idea was a novel one, and a good deal of reflection would have to be employed, before a plan could be elab- orated and the implications of the plan followed to their consequences. In 1890, the Legislature enacted a rapid-transit bill affecting cities of over one million inhabitants. Under the provisions of this act, Mayor Grant appointed the first Rapid Transit Commission, which made a report, June 16, 1890, in favor of an underground railway. Routes were selected, soundings made, consents of property owners obtained, other property selected for condemnation by the Supreme Court, and, finally, the franchises were offered for sale, but no responsible bidder appeared; the plan, which had cost the city over $130,000, was dropped.
Three years later a responsible banking house offered to construct the road if the city would loan its credit to an amount not to exceed thirty million dollars; but ex-Mayor Hewitt pointed out that the city was forbidden by the constitution of the State to loan its credit for private enterprises, and that the city must own anything for which its credit was advanced. A bill embodying the ideas of Mr. Hewitt was passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Flower on May 22, 1894. A new commission was appointed by the mayor, of which Alex- ander E. Orr was president, and William Barclay Parsons was chief engineer, both of whom held the same positions when the road was completed. The act authorized the use of the referendum at the election of November 6, 1894, to see whether the people were willing to increase
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THE SECOND HOUSE BUILT IN TREMONT; THE HOUSE IN WHICH THE DUGAN AND KIRBY FAMILIES LIVED IN 1845
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the city's indebtedness by the issue of bonds for the construction of the road, which was to be the property of the city. The vote showed 132,000 in favor of, and 43,000 opposed to the plan. It was not until January 14, 1897, that the routes were finally decided on and published; and it was not until January 15, 1900, that all legal difficulties having been over- come, the commission was able to open bids for the construction of the underground railway. There were two bidders; and the contract was awarded to John B. MacDonald, who offered to construct the under- ground railway for $30,000,000. The contracts were signed February 1, 1900, and the work was formally begun on March 26 by Mayor Van Wyck, who began the excavation in front of the City Hall. The work was divided into parts and these again into sections let to sub-con- tractors. No time was then lost in getting to work upon all sections of the road.
The subway, or underground rapid-transit railway, enters the Borough of The Bronx at three points: Kingsbridge, and in Morrisania by two routes, one just east of the Lenox Bridge over the Harlem, and the other just east of the Madison Bridge. At Kingsbridge the road is elevated, crossing the bridge over the Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The terminus of the Broadway branch of the subway is at 242nd Street and Van Cortlandt Park. The West Farms division crosses under the Harlem River in tubes at West 145th Street, Manhattan, the tracks emerging from the subway east of Third Avenue at 149th Street. From there to its terminus at West Farms and Boston Road it is an elevated structure, following Westchester Avenue and the Southern Boulevard. Work was started in the borough in the spring of 1901, and the road was formally opened for passenger traffic from City Hall to 145th Street, Manhattan, on October 27, 1904, and to the West Farms terminus on July 10, 1905.
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company was formed on April 1, 1903, by the interests engaged in building the subway for the purpose of controlling both the subway and the elevated railway. As their in- terests were thus made identical, the two roads began to issue transfers to each other at their crossing at Third Avenue and 149th Street. The contracting company had until September, 1904, to complete the con- struction of the road, after which it was required to lease the road from the city for a period of fifty years at a fixed annual rental. At the ex- piration of the lease the road with its entire equipment of power-houses, rolling stock, etc., becomes, according to the contract, the property of the city. The subway, which has been continually extended, proved from the beginning the most important factor in causing the large increase in the population of The Bronx. That even with the extensions that have been made it is still inadequate to the demands made upon
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it is shown every day in the crowded conditions of the trains. The demand has been unanimous for years for the still wider extension and multiplication of the subway routes, but the rivalries of the Inter- borough and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit companies, the danger of going beyond the debt limit, and the difficulty of agreement among those in authority, the mayor, the Board of Estimate and Apportion- ment, the Board of Aldermen, and the Public Service Commission, have proved serious obstacles in the path of development. In recent years, despite these obstructions, the subway has been greatly extended, though without any near approach to the demands of the increasing problems of transportation. The borough watched with interest the planning and development of the new route on the east side of Man- hattan, which was intended to do away with the large detour to the west side of the island. It received the name of the Broadway-Lexing- ton Avenue route, because it starts in lower Broadway, but swings over to Lexington Avenue, which it follows to the Harlem River, over which it crosses in tubes. At East 138th Street and Park Avenue, the new subway divides into two branches of three tracks each; the Jerome Avenue branch, and the Southern Boulevard branch. The first named remains underground to River Avenue and East 157th Street, where it emerges from the ground and becomes elevated above Jerome Avenue, which it follows to Woodlawn, a distance of a little over six miles. The other route turns east under 138th Street as far as the Southern Boulevard, which it follows underground as far as Hunt's Point, where it swings under Whitlock Avenue, which it follows to a point south of Westchester Avenue. Here it emerges from the ground and becomes elevated over Westchester Avenue, which it follows to Pelham Bay Park, a distance of seven and one-fifth miles.
Work was begun on the different sections of the road in Manhattan in November, 1911, and the first work was started in The Bronx with appropriate ceremonies at Mott Avenue, just north of 138th Street on the morning of December 4, 1911. It was estimated that the road would be running at the expiration of two years following the beginning of the work, but needless to say it took very much longer. Another ex- tension of the rapid-transit system was started when the Interborough agreed upon terms with the city for the extension from its terminus at West Farms by way of White Plains Avenue to near the city line. In 1898, W. C. Gotshall, an electrical engineer, conceived of the idea of an electric railway to run to Port Chester. It was organized under the laws of the State on April 5, 1901, and application was made to the railroad commissioners for a franchise. At the first public hearing strong opposition was manifested by the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, the New York Central, the Union Railway Com-
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pany, and the New York and Stamford. Mr. Gotshall stated what his company intended to do; and these statements he supported with the strongest kind of evidence, so that the citizens of the Borough of The Bronx and of Westchester County showed themselves almost unan- imously in his favor. After the first hearing the opposing roads, with the exception of the New Haven, withdrew their opposition. Then followed a fight for-several years. The New York, Westchester, and Boston Railroad then entered the field; but great doubt existed as to the value of the charter, which had expired, so it was alleged, because nothing had been done in the way of construction within the time specified by law.
The application of the Port Chester road to the Board of Aldermen of the city for permission to cross the streets of the borough on its own right of way was held up for over a year, while the application of the Boston and Westchester was granted almost at once. The reason given by one of the aldermen on the Committee on Railroads was "that the Port Chester Company had not convinced him of its financial respon- sibility, while the Westchester people came and showed they had the money." To others, who followed the various applications and pro- ceedings for several years, it appeared that the Port Chester people, backed by the entire population of the sections through which the road would pass, tried to get its franchise without "buying" it from the authorities, while the Westchester road "showed" its money, to employ the aldermanic term, to the authorities and convinced them of its finan- cial ability. However that may be, the Port Chester people offered so much to the city in the way of payment of its franchise that the Court of Appeals at last ordered that it should be granted, in accordance with the unanimous vote of the State Railroad Commissioners. Work was begun upon the roadbed on June 21, 1906, and large sums of money were spent, both in the borough and in Westchester County. Then, after months of work, everything suddenly stopped and nothing was done for the period of a year and more. Finally the public was informed through the press that both the contending roads had sold their fran- chises to the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad; and as- surances came from President Mellen of that railroad in the latter part of January, 1909, that work would be resumed upon the construction of the electric elevated lines of the two roads, combined into one, at as early a date as would be convenient. The convenient day came sooner than most people expected, for work was resumed a short time after- wards. In the autumn of 1911, the railroad officials announced that the road would be running in February; but owing to the delay in receiving equipment, the first passenger trains were not run until May 29, 1912. At West Farms there is a great union station with the
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subway, but the Port Chester road continues south over Walker Avenue and comes down to the level of the tracks of the Suburban branch of the New York, New Haven and Hartford, which it uses to the terminus of the Suburban branch. Northward from the union station at Adams Street and Morris Park Avenue, the Port Chester road parallels the latter for some distance, then crosses the old Morris Park race-track and continues straightway to the city line near old St. Paul's, East- chester. The route is owned by the railroad company, and public streets are not used, though several have been closed at Van Nest, where the union station is located. There are no grade crossings on the road from beginning to end.
CHAPTER VIII VILLAGES THEN WITHIN THE PRESENT BRONX
What is now The Bronx has only in recent times worn the aspect of unity that enables us to regard it as a single entity. Its area of forty- two square miles of variegated surface was not then so easily delimited as it is today. A distinct boundary and imprint had not been imposed upon it. It was more like the piece of sealing wax that had lain open to the accidental marks of time and wear than that sealing wax which had been made the base for a definite impression. What is now The Bronx grew merely as the most southerly part of a vast stretch of county territory. It received the overflow of Manhattan. It was a land of adventure for the first daring and curious spirits that crossed the Harlem stream to make a home deep in the woodland and deep in the wilderness. To the imagination of the founders of its first villages it was full of mystery. Through its corridor of trees a great continent lay beyond. One man followed another. A clearing was made and a hut erected on a likely spot. The first sparse settlements were made on the coasts, since passage by water to and from the lower part of Manhattan was easier than passage by land. None of the settlers ever dreamed that they were engaged in the making of a single city. To them Manhattan alone looked as big as many of the countries they had seen in Europe. Manhattan itself was in course of time dotted with numerous villages, as isolated and distinct and self-sustaining as Boston and New York appear today, and travel between them appeared almost as difficult. And as Manhattan became studded with villages, so what we call The Bronx became studded also. A single house in most cases would form the kernel. Other log cabins would follow and a cluster would be formed, and paths would naturally be beaten out by feet without design, later to become the lines the streets would follow. So the villages multiplied in a number that appears incredible to a gen- eration that has come to regard the vast territory of the metropolis as one complex unity.
Through much the greater part of its history and indeed up to re- cent decades the territory of The Bronx preserved much of its rural aspect. It remained distinctly county territory rather than town terri- tory. Wide unoccupied spaces separated its centres of population. That aspect it still in some degree retains, but the remnants of it are disap- pearing. The masonry of a civilization that has learnt to build miracu- lously with giant tools is chambering the borough from the Hudson to
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the Long Island Sound. Soon the old 'nooks that spoke of a recent Arcadian simplicity will speak of those days no more, and the memory and the record will be called on to make an effort to picture the earlier Bronx as a fair carpet of trees and verdure which the hand of man had adorned with hamlets and stray habitations. The Bronx was then neither county nor borough. It was a vague woodland region, the rim of the "maine," as distinguished from the island of Manhattan, that was the continent of America. Then village reached out antennae to village and thus linked together and joined by bridges to Manhattan, inevitably became merged in the vast metropolis to the growth of which no eye exploring the future appears to be able to give a definite limit.
The Rustic Bronx-What has been said of Westchester County in its Arcadian simplicity may be applied to The Bronx territory which was the most southerly part of the county. "While the bolder beauties of the Hudson are not comprised within its limits, its territory adjacent to the borders of that classic stream has long been a favorite theme for song and story. Cooper, Paulding and Irving have drawn a rich store of literary material from within its confines, and the bold, original genius of Poe found much inspiration while the poet was roaming along the banks of the river or gazing from the windows of his little cottage at Fordham":
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