USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume II > Part 36
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St. Mary's Club is an organization composed of the members of the church of the Immaculate Conception, which adjoins the club's quarters. The purpose of this club is of a social nature, and the hall is fitted up with the paraphernalia conducive to making the club attractive. St. Mary's Catholic Club, Mr. Comfort goes on, "was organized July 4, 1887, under the name of Sacred Heart Dramatic Society, with a mem- bership of eighteen. The Rev. J. Keitz, then rector of the Church of the Immaculate Conception to which the society was attached, ap- pointed Rev. Paul Huber as spiritual director, whose duties are the same as those of chaplain. Other spiritual directors appointed since the club was organized, were the Rev. Fathers Tewes, Gutberlet, Sturm, Schoenhardt and Hild. Shortly after organization the society changed its name to that of St. Mary's Literary and Dramatic Association, under which name it was incorporated and was foremost in dramatic work in the vicinity and held many successful entertainments. In 1904, the name again was changed to that of St. Mary's Catholic Club, by which title it is today widely known as the oldest and leading Catholic club
Bronx-48
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of the borough. In 1903, the Rev. H. J. Otterbein, rector of the parish, decided that a new club-house was necessary and through his efforts and good will the building was started the latter part of that year. The house is a handsome three-story structure of brick and stone, hand- somely furnished and equipped with modern ideas. In the basement there are two fine Brunswick-Balke bowling alleys, as well as needle and shower baths, etc. The ground floor consists of a parlor and large gymnasium equipped with all kinds of appliances to suit anyone with athletic tendencies. Located on the second floor there are billiard and pool tables, card room and a large sitting room. On the third floor there is a well furnished up-to-date library and reading room. The membership consists of single and married men, and anyone wishing to join must be 21 years of age. Initiation fee is $3; and dues are 30 cents a month. The officers and trustees of the club are as follows : Rev. Charles Burger, spiritual director ; Adam J. Hecht, president ; John Kupfer, first vice-president; Jacob Blaesser, second vice-president ; John Pfluger, treasurer ; Charles Maeder, financial secretary ; Edward Jacques, corresponding secretary ; George Berliner, recording secretary ; James F. Berman, Jr., first librarian; Anthony Stadta, second librarian ; William Roger, dramatic director; Bernard Schilling, sergeant-at-arms. Board of Trustees : Rev. Charles Burger, president; Adam J. Blecht, Jacob Blaesser, Frank Geisler, John Kupfer, L. Metterer, Joseph Reichert, Edward Jacques, George Pfluger, Christian Stumpf and Edward Geneckler."
The Morris Park Club House, the conception of the Morris Brothers, for the improvement of thoroughbreds, is also mentioned by Mr. Com- fort, as having been the scene of many exciting races both on the flat and hurdle. "The days of this club, however, are numbered," he remarks, "as the growth of the borough in that section demands the extension of the street system through the tract of land upon which the Messrs. Morris have spent millions in grading the grounds for racing purposes, and under the auspices of the Westchester Racing Association drew immense crowds of visitors when the races authorized by the American Jockey Club were being run. The Morris Park track was the outcome of the condemnation of the Jerome Park race-track by the city for reservoir purposes, and now its own existence is doomed, owing to the encroachments of the railroads and the ever-increasing tide of population that is converting the farm lands into homes for the thrifty. At both Morris Park as well as Jerome Park, the American turf has received an impetus in its development which has led to the investment of millions in the propagation of racing studs, and eventually led to the man of wealth investing large sums in establishing his own private equipment to relieve the strenuosity of life."
The Fordham Club, located in the West Bronx, is described by the
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same writer as "another of the prominent organizations that have attained fame. The membership embraces some of the foremost men in the upper portion of The Bronx, who are a power both in political and civil life. The club's quarters are located on Fordham Road and Morris Avenue."
Of the clubs in the lower section of the borough, the foremost were the Wampanoag, at Willis Avenue and 143rd Street; the North Side Republican Club, at 142nd Street and Third Avenue, "occupying the upper part of three buildings, and fitted up with billiard rooms and every convenience tending to make club life congenial; the Union Republican Club, at Boston Road and 165th Street, located in the former residence of ex-Senator William Cauldwell; the Osceola, the Mott Haven Ath- letic Club, the Mohawk Athletic Club, the Men's Club of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; the West Morrisania Club, besides a host of others. In the Annexed District, as the territory north and east of the Bronx River is designated, the spirit of clubdom has had full sway. The most noted in the territory is the Chippewa Club, at Throggs Neck, under the patronage of Deputy Commissioner Thomas H. O'Neill." The membership of this club is described as including nearly every . . one of prominence in the district, and its influence as having been much felt during political campaigns.
CHAPTER XXIII TRANSPORTATION AND SHIPPING
The Bronx, forming as it does part of New York City, partakes of the development of transportation in the metropolis which so far ex- ceeds the development in any other urban area in the world. The great trunk lines run through it; subway lines and elevated lines run through it; buses, cars, stage coaches, and vehicles of every conceivable kind flit through its streets. Vessels from every point on the globe swing at anchor in its waters. Electric lines and steam lines go from north to south, and from east to west, and back again. Airships, aero- planes and dirigibles make occasional thunder overhead, a thunder now but little regarded by the population that has become accustomed to wonders. The Bronx indeed, like New York, may be called the child of transportation development. The rate of development in the last generation has indeed been greater in The Bronx as in New York and in the other great towns and cities, than in all previous generations combined. So accustomed have we now become to flying over the ground or through it or above it, that the older methods of transpor- tation on which the world got along for thousands of years have begun to look like the mechanism of an ancient dream.
In the early days, as in all new countries, water was the natural high- way, as Stephen Jenkins remarks, and sloops, periaugers, batteaux and canoes constituted the main vehicles of communication. "The waters of the Sound, the Hudson, and the Harlem, all adjacent to the shores of the borough, gave easy and convenient access to Manhattan Island and to the settlers near the shores. Westchester Creek was navigable for sloops, and when Captain de Connick and Fiscal Van Tienhoven went to eject the English settlers at Oostdorp they ascended the river and creek in vessels of that class. The Bronx and the Hutchinson rivers
were both navigable for several miles in batteaux and canoes, the former to West Farms and the latter to Eastchester. In recent years, the Federal Government has deepened the channel of the latter so that heavily laden coal vessels and small steamers are able to ascend at high tide as far as the City Dock at Mount Vernon, contiguous to old St. Paul's Church, and just over the boundary line of the borough.
"From time immemorial, and even up to the present generation, a regular sloop trade was carried on from Westchester borough-town to New York City. In the advertisement of the Reverend Samuel Sea- bury, mentioned in another chapter, there is a paragraph which says:
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'Westchester is about nineteen miles from New York by Land, and about fifteen by Water; and a Water-passage may be had almost every- day, when the Weather will permit, in good safe Boats'. There was a regular sloop trade also to Eastchester, even during the Revolution ; and it was by first capturing the market sloop engaged in this trade with New York that the Darien whale-boatmen were able to effect the capture of the 'Schuldan,' the British guardship. The building of these vessels began very early. Shonnard, in his 'History of Westchester County,' on the authority of the Reverend Theodore A. Leggett, a de- scendant of one of the patentees of the West Farms, states that John Leggett, a ship-builder, executed, November 30, 1676, a bill of sale as follows :
"John Leggett of Westchester, within the Province of New York, shipwright, to Jacob Leysler of New York City, merchant, a good Puick, or ship, Susannah of New York, now laying (sic) in this harbour, and by the said Leggett built in Bronck's river near Westchester, together with masts, Lay boat, and other materials."
The shipbuilding industry, thus begun in 1676, or earlier, has continued to the present day; but it is now principally carried on in the ancient manor of Pelham at City Island, where yachts and pleasure craft are built, repaired, and laid up out of season. There was also boat communication by way of the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek; for in November, 1776, Lord Cornwallis carried his troops in a flotilla of boats through the river and creek to the Hudson for the attack on Port Washington from the Hudson River side. That these streams had always been navigable was one of the principal arguments used by Lewis G. Morris and his supporters in their opposition to Macomb's dam. In their com- munications inland, the settlers at first used the old Indian trails. The principal village and fort of the Siwanoys was on a hill to the south of the present Union- port, overlooking Westchester Creek. From the strong stockade, palisaded in the Indian fashion, the hill came to be known as "Castle Hill," a name by which it is known today. A village of the Manhattans was located at Spuyten Duyvil Neck, and another at Nepperhaem, the present Yonkers; while above the latter were the villages of the Weckquaesgecks, all members of the Mohican tribe. In their communications with each other and with their neighbors on Manhattan Island by way of the "wading place," there was formed in time a plainly marked trail extending from Paparinemo to Castle Hill, called in Doughty's patent to Archer the "Westchester Path." From Westchester another plainly marked trail led by way of Eastchester across Hutchinson River and contiguous to the Sound, through the Rye woods to "the great stone at the wading place" at the Byram River, the eastern boundary of the colony and the State. It extended still farther into Connecticut, also occupied by the Siwanoys, as far as the villages of the Pequots, a kindred tribe of Mohicans. It was by this path that many of the Connecticut settlers found their way into the Dutch colony of New Netherland and gave Stuyvesant so much trouble. This was preeminently the "Westchester Path."
It was natural that the earliest whites should follow these long established and plainly marked trails. As time passed, these trails became wider as the travelers cut down trees for the convenient passage of their horses or wagons. We find therefore in these trails the beginnings of the roads which later developed into some of the principal highways of the county, with such changes in grade
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and direction as the necessities of wagon roads required-the Albany and the Boston Post roads, and the Kingsbridge Road leading through Fordham, as well as Eastchester Avenue connecting the parishes of St. Peter's and St. Paul's. The Albany Post Road was opened to the Sawkill, or Sawmill River, in Yonkers, as early as 1669. The traveler, having arrived at the end of Manhattan Island over the old Kingsbridge Road from Harlem, would cross Spuyten Duyvil Creek by the ford, the ferry, or the bridge and thus land on the island of Paparinemo. Pas- sage up the west side of the marsh was impossible, and in ancient days the task of filling it in for a roadway would have been too costly to have been undertaken. The traveler therefore turned to his right through the marsh, or later, over the causeway built by Archer, Verveelen, Betts, Tippett, Hadden, and the inhabitants of Fordham, and found himself in that village. Here he would turn to the left along the base of Tetard's Hill, and so north on the higher and dryer ground on the eastern side of the marsh. The road crossed Tippett's Brook about a mile from the bridge, near the Van Cortlandt station of the Putnam Railroad, and then swung westward in front of and below the Van Cortlandt mansion to the western side of the valley, up which it passed to Yonkers. After passing through the lands of John Hadden, it came within the manor of Philipseburgh, and the manor- lord thus became responsible for its maintenance. In fact, as the road led to his toll bridge, he probably maintained the lower part of it as well. The ancient road, or the greater part of it, still remains and is known to the residents of this section as the old Albany Post Road. It could not have been more than a trail at first; but later the postman traveled on horseback and travelers accompanied him on the way; a woman passenger sometimes rode on the pillion behind the postman. It was not until after the Revolution in 1785, that stages began running over the post road to Albany. It was not until about 1808 that the present Broad- way was filled in on the western side of the marsh. This was done by the Highland Turnpike Company, who hung gates and charged toll. The causeway called Depot Street, connecting Broadway with the railroad station at Kingsbridge, was con- structed about 1855 by the late Joseph Godwin, Esq., as a short cut to the road leading to Highbridge, Morrisania, West Farms, and Westchester.
Old Bronx Thoroughfares-The same author goes on to show that a traveler turning to his right through the village of Fordham at the foot of Tetard's Hill would have passed over the ancient Westchester Path up over the hill into the present Kingsbridge Road. His course would have been then relatively past the Dutch church at Fordham, the southern end of Jerome Park reservoir, Poe Park, across the tracks of the Harlem Railroad at the station opposite St. John's College, Ford- ham, through the ancient road used to go through the College grounds, over Pelham Avenue to Bronxdale, whence he could continue over the Bear Swamp Road to Westchester, or turn to his right over the Union- port Road to Castle Hill. The improvements in this section within recent years have obliterated most of the old roads, so that only the general direction can be given by present thoroughfares. The High- bridge and Kingsbridge roads are ancient highways; east of the Bronx River, the rural conditions still prevail to some extent ; "but the progress of development is so rapid that in a few years they will have departed also, especially since the completion of the subway has rendered these
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rural communities more accessible. The Bear Swamp Road still exists and leads to Westchester. Its name was derived from a swamp to the east of Bronxdale, where the Siwanoys had an important village near the site of Morris Park race-track."
Another road, the same writer remarks, starting from a point on Tetard's hill beyond the one just described led to De Lancey's mills at West Farms. This road has long been closed. It branched off from the Westchester and Kingsbridge road near the present Fordham rail- road station, and continued in a southerly direction till it met the line of East 182nd Street, over which it passed approximately to the bridge at East 181st Street, below the lower dam in Bronx Park at West Farms, where it was known, and still is to the older inhabitants, as the "Kingsbridge Road." Its continuation connected the mills with the borough-town of Westchester. The portion of the road lying within the park east of the bridge has been macadamized; but between Morris Park Avenue and the bridge over the tracks of the Suburban branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, there still remains enough of the ancient highway to convince us that preceding generations might have traveled in style, but they did not do so in comfort.
The principal road that the traveler could take after crossing the causeway to the village of Fordham was the Boston Road, which dates from 1673. This swung in a curve around the base of Tetard's Hill and up to its top, paralleling the Albany Road about a third of a mile, then turning sharply to the eastward toward Williamsbridge. Here it crossed the Bronx River and turned north as far as the head of Rattle- snake Brook, when it again turned sharp east to Eastchester. Here the Hutchinson River was crossed, and the road continued through Pelham Manor to New Rochelle. A few miles of the old road still remain and can be traced. The first portion is that leading up to Sedg- wick Avenue, where Jerome Park and later the reservoir have obliterated a section of it. From Jerome Avenue to the Williamsbridge reservoir, the part remaining is called Van Cortlandt Avenue, and from the reservoir to the bridge over the Bronx River and to the White Plains road the section is called improperly, the Gun Hill Road. The White Plains and the Boston roads are the same thing from Williamsbridge northward to where the latter turns off toward Eastchester. This last portion of the road is called Bussing Avenue, which begins at East 231st Street, one block east of White Plains Avenue, and continues on to the city line. As soon as it enters the city of Mt. Vernon, its name becomes what it has been for over two centuries, the Kingsbridge Road. At Eastchester the ancient road is connected with Coles's Boston Road by a short street called Fisher's Lane; but the two roads do not become one until near New Rochelle. The laying out of the Coles road diverted
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travel from the way of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, as the distance was con- siderably shortened by way of the new road and the Harlem Bridge.
This will give the reader some fragmentary idea of some of the principal roads of the borough as they formerly existed. In general in earlier days the roads radiated from two points: the ancient wading place, ferry or bridge at Fordham, or Kingsbridge, or from the borough- town of Westchester. Travelers from Manhattan Island to the main- land had to cross Spuyten Duyvil Creek, from which the roads radiated like the ribs of an open fan-to Yonkers or Albany, to the Mile Square, to Boston or nearer eastern points, to West Farms, or to Westchester. The borough-town of Westchester was also the county-seat until 1759; and, in consequence, roads from all sections of the county led to it. By the above date the upper county had become so settled as to make it a hardship for the freeholders to go to the southern extremity at Westchester. The Provincial Assembly therefore transferred the county- seat to White Plains, a point nearer the centre of population as well as of area. Through the different generations, the names of the same roads have changed quite frequently, so that it is sometimes quite difficult to trace some of them under their various aliases. The High- bridge Road, for instance, could not have been called such until after the construction of High Bridge, yet it existed in very early times. After 1813, a part of it was called Macomb's Dam Road, and so spoken of in deeds and records. Most of the roads of the borough began as private roads to get to property. After 1850, when the newly-built railroads had brought in such a population as to admit of the incorporation of villages, the laying out of the highways became more systematic in each locality. Naturally the topography of the borough affected the course of the streets. One of the greatest problems that confronted the Commissioner of Highways of The Bronx, or of Street Improve- ments, as he was officially known, was to whip the chaos of roads into some sort of systematic arrangement. In accordance with the plan adopted the blasting, grading, cutting down of hills, and filling in low places and quagmires have been going on in all portions of the borough.
In the old days, of course, everybody rode on horseback or coach and this was the usual method of getting from place to place. In 1796 an enumeration was made of all the vehicles in the State; and there appear coaches, chariots, post-chaises, phaetons, and other four-wheeled carriages ; while of two-wheeled vehicles, there were curricles, chaises, top-chairs, steel-spring chairs, sulkies, and wooden-spring chairs. The chaise was a sort of two-wheeled gig with a top and was drawn by either one or two horses; the sulky had a seat for only one person. These two-wheeled vehicles were best suited to the difficult roads. The American woman had already begun to show her independence and
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ability to take care of herself by driving about alone in an open chair, much to the surprise of visitors from Europe.
In the old days even the best of the roads were quagmires in bad weather, and fetlock deep with dust in dry. Many of the streams had to be forded or crossed by ferries, bridges coming later with the increase of travel. Notwithstanding the establishment of the post roads, and the later introduction of stage-coaches, the favorite manner of traveling long distances was either by horse or sloop, the latter especially suiting the leisurely traveler of that day. In the trip between New York and Albany, the sloops came to anchor every night, and the journey fre- quently lasted a week. The same is true of the trip to the east, the inlets and harbors on both sides of the Sound furnishing safe and com- fortable anchorages at night; but it must be remembered that there were no lighthouses along these thoroughfares to guide the mariner at night. Stages were also run from the outlying villages to Morri- sania and Harlem ; and later, in the nineteenth century, when the steam- boats began to run, these stages connected with the boats plying to the city. Before the days of the elevated railroads a favorite route of travel was by means of the fast boats running on the East River to. Peck Slip, Manhattan, from Harlem Bridge.
Coming of the Railroad-The successful establishment of a railroad between Baltimore and Ellicott's Mills in Maryland, and of the Mohawk Valley Railroad, the ancestor of the New York Central, turned the attention of both civil and mechanical engineers and of capitalists to the possibilities of the new method of travel; and a craze for railroad building began, which, with the United States Bank troubles and some others, helped to bring on the financial panic of 1837. One of the earliest of these railroads to be incorporated was the New York and Harlem, April 25, 1831, with a capital of $350,000, increased the follow- ing year to $500,000, with the stipulation that the road should be com- pleted to the Harlem River by 1835. This company was authorized to build a railroad upon the island of Manhattan only, by way of the Bowery and Fourth Avenue. The engineering difficulties to be over- come were too much for the engineers of that day, and, notwithstanding the stipulation as to the completion of the road by 1835, it was little more than started at that date. On April 17, 1832, the New York and Albany Railroad was incorporated for the purpose of building a road from the end of Fourth Avenue, Manhattan, to Albany. The company met with no success in raising money for its construction ; and on the principle of two people who have nothing getting married to share their united poverty, the later company surrendered its Westchester County rights to the earlier company, and the two combined in 1838 as the New York and Harlem Railroad Company. The Legislature
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of 1840 affirmed the contract between the two companies, and further, authorized the construction of a bridge over the Harlem River, and the extension of the road to Putnam County. By this last date, the country had begun to recover from the panic of 1837, so that by the time the extension was begun through Westchester County more funds were forthcoming, and the capital was increased to $1,950,000, and $1,000,000 more was needed to carry the road to the county line.
The first portion of the road above the Harlem River was to extend to White Plains. The easiest route was found to be by way of the valley of the Mill Brook to Williamsbridge, whence the valley of the Bronx River was followed to White Plains, a distance of twenty miles. By this route not much grading was necessary, nor was there required much blasting through rock. Several bridges were needed, which, how- ever, did not give the engineers much trouble, as the spans were short. This was not the case, however, with the bridge over the Harlem River, which, for a long time, was a hard nut for the engineers to crack. The road was a single-track one and was finished to Fordham by October, 1841, to Williamsbridge by 1842, and to White Plains by the end of 1844. It thus passed through the towns of Morrisania, West Farms (Fordham), Yonkers, and Eastchester within the borough. "The first running of the trains through the country was a matter of great curiosity and crowds of people surveyed them from the surrounding hills," was a remark made by an old employee of the company. Celebrations were held to commemorate the completion of the road; and at one of them, the following toast was offered: "The locomotive, the only good motive for riding a man upon a rail." The completion of the railroad gave an impetus to the section through which it passed, and the growth of the borough may be dated from 1842, the lower portions building up first as being nearer the great city.
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