USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume II > Part 40
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With regard to the unification of the Port of New York, including The Bronx and the environs that touch on the water, a former dock commissioner has said: "New York is not an organized port in the technical sense of that term, but rather a series of congeries of many unrelated private sub-ports which do not function together. City docks have been leased for long terms to private steamship and railroad in- terests, in effect monopoly franchises which operate without relation to each other or to any general port policy.
"When railroad tunnel connections shall have been established be- tween the opposite sides of the port, the separation of the port into two ports will be ended and the expensive, complicated and congested float- ing movement of freight between the two sides of the harbor will stop. There will be no more ice blockades or strike blockades. Freight will move directly across the Hudson as passengers now do in the Penn- sylvania tubes, and the prosperity of the New York side of the port will no longer be threatened by an additional charge due to the probable action of the Railroad Administration in separating terminal charges from railroad haulage charges. The construction of the vehicular tun- nel between New Jersey and Manhattan will leave the principal rail- road terminals in New Jersey unconnected with the Long Island and Manhattan systems. Motor truck haulage will then be less expensive
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than lighterage. One alternative lies in the Port Authority plans to physically connect the railway systems of New Jersey, Manhattan, and Long Island by tunnels and thus unify the Port of New York. The cooperation of the Federal Government which is in control of the rail- roads is a necessary perquisite to be sought by the two States involved." Some of these problems have already been solved.
Commissioner Whalen stated in 1924 that the waters of New York Harbor are the most congested in the world, not only because of the immense volume of the commerce of the port but also because 350,000 people are carried each day in the passenger vessels plying back and forth. His suggestions of efficient regulation of the water traffic in- cluded a provision forbidding any vessel to cross a ferry slip within 300 feet of the ends of the racks; an adequate patrol fleet, such as the ma- rine police have for the Coast Guard, with a fixed post and courses of patrol between the Battery and Staten Island, along the North and East rivers, in the Harlem River, in Newton Creek, in Buttermilk Chan- nel, and in the Kill von Kull; and a harbor traffic court to judge offenders. Objection to this proposal of policing the harbor shipping came from practically every interest in the bay, from the masters of large ships as well as from the spokesmen for tow-boats and lighterage companies, and for the railroads which transfer cars and freight from the New Jersey shore to Manhattan, The Bronx, and Long Island. The congestion of traffic in the harbor will doubtless remain a serious prob- lem until the completion of the Spuyten Duyvil and Harlem River im- provements, now almost effected, which will assuredly mean a great deal to the interests of The Bronx.
This work at Spuyten Duyvil and in the Harlem River will more directly affect The Bronx than other improvements now going for- ward but the numerous other developments will affect The Bronx also. The development of a large amount of waste land about and in Jamaica Bay is expected to provide a coordination of water, rail and truck con- nections through the creation of twenty miles of improved wharfage. In 1915 improvements were carried out at Jamaica Bay to admit large ocean liners. Recent recommendations of the New York Board of Trade are that the Harlem Kills be deepened so that much of the East River traffic may avoid the perils of Hell Gate and the alternative of making the long journey around Long Island. In March, 1924, the old bed of Spuyten Duyvil Creek was offered to the city of New York by the United States Government for one dollar, to use as an anchorage for the "Half Moon," the reproduction of Hendrick Hudson's ship, as a memorial to the great discoverer. The little vessel was in a neglected cove near Bear Mountain until it took part in celebrating the 315th an- niversary of Hudson's landing at Spuyten Duyvil Inlet, on September
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TRANSPORTATION AND SHIPPING
27, 1609, after which it departed for its final resting place at Cohoes, Hudson's most northerly port of call.
In 1924 the commissioners of the Port Authority reported to the gov- ernors of New York and New Jersey that, save for a few formalities, they were ready to proceed with the construction of two new tunnels and a bridge across the North River, connecting New York with New Jersey. This would initiate a work, which, it is thought, will end with the extinction of the ferry service, the release of new dock space, and the conversion of Manhattan for all essential purposes into a port of the American mainland. Since then much progress has been made in the work and the vehicular tunnel is well on the way to completion. Its completion will manifestly greatly affect The Bronx, which formerly the portion nearest to Manhattan of the American mainland, is now bound so indissolubly with it, that whatever affects Manhattan affects The Bronx. The Harlem River as a barrier to traffic in effect no longer exists. Modern engineering has eliminated and heightened its merits. Manhattan is now more closely linked to The Bronx, than the parts of The Bronx were formerly linked with each other. The two great bor- oughs now form a unity in a much closer sense than the three other boroughs of Kings, Queens and Richmond.
Bronx River Parkway-In January, 1927, after nearly twenty years of effort, and at a cost of $16,658,537, the Bronx River Parkway, extend- ing thirteen miles from Bronx Park to the plaza at Kensico Dam, in Westchester County, was completed. Those whose memories went back to only 1913 could remember the sorry appearance of the Bronx River Parkway, remarked Frederick P. Close, chairman of the Board of Supervisors at the dedication exercises; but now The Bronx and Westchester County felt like owners of a great picture gallery, the walls hung with the works of the masters.
Hundreds of thousands of motorists followed this route in the tour- ing weather and on week-end jaunts after partial completion, finding the roads smooth, dipping and flowing through a reconstructed land. The Bronx River Parkway provides an outlet to the north where the joys of motoring are fully restored, and even though its average width was but forty feet,-all that the Parkway Commission was able to secure- it is considered worth every cent of the million dollars a mile spent on it. The face of nature has been changed by the demolition of shattered buildings, the cleaning up of old dumps, the rearranging of the course of the river itself, landscaping, shrub planting, and the construction of beautiful bridges and viaducts, that the scenic panorama was generally voted worth a journey in itself.
In its work the Commission, headed by Madison Grant, who was appointed by Governor Higgins in 1906, acquired and sold for removal
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
or demolition 370 buildings, and provided that no structures should be reërected within 300 feet of the parkway. A total of 1,200 acres of land was acquired, 900 in Westchester County and 300 in The Bronx, at a cost of $8,500,000. In 1906 the total assessed valuation of the land was $1,650,000, indicating how much could have been saved had the co- operation of all authorities attended the work from the start. For a long time the apathetic interest of the authorities in New York City delayed the work, and there was little public interest. But for this general apathy the parkway would be 100 feet wide. The commission laid down its completed work on December 31, 1925. Turning over the maintenance of the route to New York City and Westchester County, it expressed the belief that like other highways in the metropolitan area, the parkway would soon be crowded, but it was felt that the existence of any parkway at all was the result of herculean efforts.
There has been no lack of appreciation of the highway since it was opened and there has been a rise in real estate values throughout the area which has more than justified the improvement. From the point of view of natural scenery there is no more beautiful motor route lead- ing out of New York. The parkway is linked with the great drives crossing the Bear Mountain Bridge and along the Hudson, giving a virtual boulevard system from New York to the Catskills, thence from Albany to the Adirondacks or the Finger Lakes region by the Empire State turnpike.
The commission, composed, in addition to President Grant, of Wil- liam White Niles, vice-president, and Frank H. Bethell, treasurer, gave due credit in its final report to Jay Downer, engineer and secretary, who remained in the parkway work from its inception; Leslie G. Holleran, deputy chief engineer; Herman W. Merkel, landscape architect and forester, and Theodosius Stevens, general counsel, whose work involved the acquisition of land.
High Prices For Land-It was disclosed that the parkway would 'have been laid at a much greater width had it not been for the high prices placed on land in some of the avenues, which were so prohibitive as to endanger the whole project. Rather than attempt the extra bur- den the whole width of the route was modeled in conformity. The commissioners pointed out that had the parkway been begun in the year in which it was completed the cost would have been prohibitive.
Restoration of River Valley-The restoration of the Bronx River Valley is now an accepted fact, beautifully planted and arranged with the parkway flowing through it. The engineers who started upon the work as they found it in 1913, after nearly seven years that had been spent in surveys, and securing legislative appropriations, went back to the Revolutionary period to learn how beautiful it was in its early
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TRANSPORTATION AND SHIPPING
state. It was then a purling stream dotted by quaint windmills, with farms outlying, which often inspired poetry. Its course through the succeeding centuries was that of many another American river. It was seen not as a thing of beauty, but as a dumping ground for all manner of debris and refuse. A railroad line was laid beside it, deprec- iating land values. The Bronx River Valley became a slum district.
Protests against this condition were heard as early as 1895, when a commission was appointed by the Legislature to study the question of constructing a sewer and highway along the river between Bronx Park and Valhalla. The Bronx Valley Sewer Commission was authorized in 1905 as a result of this report, but the sewer that was laid did not cure the fault. The river and its banks were still left unprotected from refuse dumps and from pollution of stables, factories and many old drains, which the owners allowed to remain rather than go to the ex- pense of linking in with the sewer. Lakes in that section of Bronx Park were declared to have become a menace to health, and at the in- stance of Mr. Niles the Legislature in 1906 created the Bronx River Parkway Commission. It had authority then, however, only to in- vestigate and report.
The beginning, however, had been made. The commission, under Mr. Grant, took to its duties, recommending the rebirth of the entire re- gion, the cost to be apportioned between New York City and West- chester County at the rate of two-thirds for the former and one-third for the latter. The Legislature changed the proportion to three-fourths for New York and one-fourth for the county. It was not until 1910, however, that on the report of Borough President Cyrus C. Miller and Comptroller William A. Prendergast, the Board of Estimate made its initial appropriation of $26,250. Westchester followed with $8,750. fifteen hundred separate ownerships of land were surveyed with this money. Three more years elapsed before the Board of Estimate gave its final approval to the project, and the appropriations were authorized which carried it through.
Actually the building of the parkway was a matter of about twelve years. The commission found that its work fell into these divisions : land acquisition by gift, purchase or condemnation; land reclamation involving destruction of buildings; abatement of river pollution ; pres- ervation of existing tree growth and reforestation; cross viaducts, street connections, grade crossing eliminations; the parkway drive; river diversions ; viaducts and bridges and legislation.
It was a big programme. In all, 1,338 parcels of land were acquired, of which 884 were by purchase and donation at a cost of $4,744,217.09, and 454 were acquired by condemnation at $4,270,385. From the sale of buildings lying in the parkway zone, which were moved or destroyed, the commission obtained $75,036. Nuisances along the river, such as
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mosquito pools, weed growth, stumps, debris of all sorts, were cleaned away, and in some cases soil was reconstructed so that it would bear plant growth. The sanitary restoration was an indispensible part of the work and required in 1914 a survey of the plumbing of houses over a zone of twenty-nine miles to find which were discharging sewage into the stream. More than 150 such cases were found and remedied. When this was done and the river channel raked clean, the course of the river arranged to restore its beauty, and planting begun.
The parkway itself follows natural contours, lending grace to its beauty, and avoiding sharp and dangerous turns. To accomplish this the drive was separated at certain places into two-way drives, each twenty feet in width. Three grade crossings remaining in the route are to be taken out. The Westchester Park Commission is eliminating one at Yonkers Avenue and plans have been approved for eliminating the Fenimore Road crossing at Hartsdale. The Bronx or New York City will be expected eventually to remove the crossing at East 233d Street at Woodlawn, the only notable one remaining.
CHAPTER XXIV REAL ESTATE AND BUILDING
In considering the development of real estate and building in The Bronx one or two points have to be kept in mind. The development of The Bronx, in which the growth of operations in its real estate is an extremely important element, is as recent as it is extraordinary. It dates from the period of annexation and incorporation in the Greater City, and it dates especially from the establishment of self-government in The Bronx. Local rule and local authority, the committal to the hands of men living in The Bronx and acutely intimate with its require- ments and its ambitions, have been determining factors in the develop- ment of the borough. The change of the character of The Bronx from a provincial to a metropolitan area threw over its territory the prestige of the world's greatest city, of which it became the segment of its most thriving expansion. It opened the way to the vast mainland, and widening of boundaries. It became an area of fixed streets, where real estate operators knew exactly where they stood, and along which the lines of building could follow. It gave its leading citizens a vastly in- creased influence to bringing the transportation lines of Manhattan northward through the entire borough. It greatly reduced the cost of transportation to the people in The Bronx and made access easy to every part of Manhattan. It attracted the overflowing population that the old city of New York had drawn towards itself from the countries of Europe and the surrounding country. It gave an impetus to the de- velopment of The Bronx surpassing the dreams of its most ambitious citizens, of which the growth in its architecture is one of the most con- spicuous manifestations. It has led men who take account of the future as well as of the present to speak of a time, when The Bronx, and not Manhattan, will be the heart of the vast expanding metropolitan area.
A glance at the figures of building operations will give an idea of the rate of geometrical progression at which development has proceeded in the borough since the period of organization and annexation. In the period from 1883 to 1890 the value of building operations in The Bronx amounted to $27,500,000; in 1891-1900, to $93,000,000; in 1901-1910, to $248,200,000; in 1911-1920, to $208,700,000 ; in 1921-1924, to $448,593,000.
We will add some other figures :
Population
88,000
201,000
1890 1900
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
1905
431,000
1915
650,000
1920
732,000
1926
(Estimated)
1,000,000
Areas
Total land area
26,800 acres
Total park area
4,350 acres
Street and Sewer Systems (As of October 1, 1925)
Total length of sewers
429.873 miles
Receiving basins
4,723
Macadam streets
116.76 miles
Dirt streets (graded only)
248.06 miles
Permanent pavements
246.18 miles
Assessment Rolls
1924
1925
Total real estate
$897,838,175
$980,392,844
Real estate corporations
53,693,550
53,808,050
Special franchises
36,627,126
40,083,787
Grand Totals
$988,158,851 $1,074,284,681
The Tentative Realty Assessment for 1926 is $1,340,000,000.
Total Number of Parcels Assessed
1924
80,375.
1925
83,538.
Personal and Corporation Assessment Rolls
1924
1925
Personalty assessments-individuals
$18,746,100
$20,005,550
Personalty assessments-estates
731,500
858,750
Assessed value of corporations
187,000
186,000
Indian Property Ownership Around New York-When Peter Minuit purchased from the Indians for twenty-four dollars the whole Island of Manhattan, now worth billions, its original owners had little concep- tion of the private ownership of property. Settlements they had, scat- tered here and there at points suitable for fishing and farming, but even in these villages land was held for the needs of the group, not of the individual. Hence such transactions as Minuit's purchase were little understood by the majority of the natives, and gave rise to dissatisfac- tion which had often been quieted by additional payments. Evidence presented in "New York City in Indian Possession," a monograph pre- pared by R. P. Bolton for the Museum of the American Indian Heye Foundation, goes to show that the entire district in and around New York City was systematically occupied by the aborigines before the days of Minuit. In the vicinity of the Harlem there were Indian settle- ments at 105th Street and the East River, at Yorkville, on Washing- ton Heights, at Inwood, on Spuyten Duyvil Hill, and points in Yonkers, Van Cortlandt Park, West Bronx and Kingsbridge. The Reckgawa-
272,000
1910
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REAL ESTATE AND BUILDING
wanc Indians in the Harlem district repudiated the deal with Minuit and the Harlem section had to be repurchased from their chief at a later date. All the natives of the metropolitan district owning land were In- dians of the Algonkian stock, divided into three large groups, the Dela- ware tribe occupying the western side of the bay and the Hudson, in- cluding part at least of Manhattan Island, the Matonack occupying the whole of Long Island, and the Mohican occupying The Bronx and the mainland. A map prepared by the Heye Foundation for a territory only slightly larger than the present Port Authority District, shows a total of eighty-five Indian settlements of early days.
Private Property Among Dutch Settlers-The institution of private property was established by the settlers of the several colonies who carried the tradition of the Old World into the American wilderness. The first outright ground brief in New York is reputed to have been issued to Andries Hudde, who, in 1638, acquired two hundred acres in Harlem from the Dutch West India Company. Among the early pat- entees of Harlem as recorded there were : Daniel Tourneur, Isaac D'For- reest, and Jacob Van Corlaer. Jonas Bronck was of course the first property owner and settler in the present Borough of The Bronx, the date of his arrival being 1639. In 1661 Jacques Cortelyou, at that time surveyor-general of New Netherland, surveyed and mapped the lots within New York and parts of its environs under orders from the Pro- vincial officials. The latter sent the map, together with a sketch of the city and its environs, to the directors at Amsterdam, who acknowledged its receipt as follows : "We have been pleased to receive the map of the City of New Amsterdam; we noticed that, according to our opinion, too great spaces are as yet without buildings." A number of detailed criticisms followed. But what the Dutch, with their enterprising plans, might have made of the territory they had no further opportunity to show; for three years later, in 1664, it passed into the hands of the English.
Under English Rule-When New Netherland hauled down its flag before the Duke of York in 1664 the history of the land which is now The Bronx and Manhattan began to be written in the changes made in their physical appearance. In 1665, after a year of British occu- pancy, Governor Nicholls extended the limits of the city of New York to the boundary of what is now The Bronx, including the whole of Manhattan Island. In 1668 a wagon road was authorized through the interior to Harlem on the west side of the island, and a gradual develop- ment of property along this highway followed. In 1683, Colonel Thomas Dongan, who became governor in that year, divided the city into six wards, South, Dock, East, North, West and Out wards, the latter com- prising the town of Harlem and all the farms and settlements on the
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
island from a point north of the Fresh Water Pond, to the southern boundary of what is now The Bronx. After 1732 a monthly stage to New England traveled along the Boston Post Road through the terri- tory of The Bronx.
After the Revolution-When the independence of the United States was established in 1783, and the British troops withdrew after their five years' occupation of the city, New York, as port of entry into a free land, soon began its phenomenal growth. Even between 1786 and 1796 the population nearly doubled, and from then on continual immi- gration increased it. Official surveys were made in 1790 and 1793, and in the latter year the Council ordered all buildings to be regularly num- bered in accordance with a definite system. By the early part of the nineteenth century streets were laid out in New York as far north as Canal Street. The first sidewalks were laid in 1790. During the period following the Revolution the first outstanding figures in the real estate field began operations and found in New York property a source of wealth. Among them were: John Jacob Astor, John G. Wendel, Casper Samler, Robert Goelet, Judah Moses, Asser Levey, and the Cruikshank brothers.
During the first decade of the nineteenth century New York adopted the Randel Survey, or Commissioners' Map, which laid out streets ac- cording to a definite mathematical plan as far north as 155th Street. The year 1811, when Gouverneur Morris, Simon de Witt, and John Rutherford, published their report and projected map, may be regarded as the milestone which marked the advent of the great modern metrop- olis. The Commission had been appointed by legislative enactment in 1807 with instructions to lay out streets, roads and public squares, northward to near the southern boundary of The Bronx. Their report recommended the plotting of streets to run east and west on a rectan- gular plan as far north as Washington Heights, with twelve numbered avenues to run north and south, and four additional paralleling avenues, A, B, C, and D, through Manhattan's most easterly projection. Against some of the probable objections the Commission defended itself in ad- vance, stating for instance that "To some it may be a subject of mer- riment that the Commissioners have provided for a greater population than is collected at any spot on this side of China." The rectangular plan was chosen, according to the Commissioners, because "A city is to be composed principally of the habitations of men and . . . strait- sided and right-angled houses are the most cheap to build and the most convenient to live in." There were numerous complaints that the Com- missioners had not provided sufficient open space for public parks, to which they replied that the geographical make-up of the city, with its definite limits set by "large arms of the sea" accessible to practically
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REAL ESTATE AND BUILDING
all sections, obviated much of the necessity for parks and at the same time rendered doubly important the necessity for economy of space. It was not till a much later date that the city learnt the unfortunate implications of this shortsightedness. Much of the charm of New York territory, with its rolling hills and meandering little streams, vanished before the mathematical precision of the surveyors, concerning whom it was said that they were men who would have cut down the "seven hills of Rome ... and thrown them into the Tiber." But despite much opposition the plan was adopted practically as presented and the work of developing went on. In 1817 New York was divided into ten wards, the boundaries of which were fixed by the State Legislature. The gradual development of steam navigation in the early part of the nine- teenth century, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, inaugurated a period of wonderful prosperity for the whole metropolitan district. Industry and commerce developed steadily ; and during the next half- century the metropolitan district was built up rapidly, almost fever- ishly, in an attempt to keep pace with the pressing demands of com- mercial life. Residential and shopping districts were constantly on the move, and the character of many quaint sections was lost forever by the practical real estate developments.
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