USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 4
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@ UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD STUDIOS, N. Y.
James Le Welle
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business, which in the meantime had been incorpor- ated in 1895. The business originally located at Twenty-fourth Street and Tenth Avenue, Manhattan, was moved from there to West Fifty-second Street, later to West Fifty-fifth Street and eventually to its present location in The Bronx. In its modern and fully-equipped plant it carries on an extensive manu- facture of structural steel and architectural iron, Mr. Potter being vice-president and treasurer and Mr. J. M. Piper, president. Being connected with one of the essential industries, he was not permitted to engage in active military service during the World War, but nevertheless did helpful work in his par- ticular field.
Mr. Potter married in New York City, October 22, 1917, Loretta Foley, a daughter of Mary and James Foley. Mr. and Mrs. Potter have no children and make their home at No. 305 West Eighty-sixth Street, Manhattan.
JAMES L. WELLS-(By W. S. Downs)-A dis- trict does not achieve greatness unless there is direc- ted toward its welfare the best of the thought and labor of its able citizens, men with a vision of its future and with a willingness to plan and work to change that vision into reality. That there has been bestowed upon James L. Wells, by his appreciative fellow-citizens the title of "Father of The Bronx," is striking proof of the extent to which he is respon- sible for the development and prosperity of this re- gion, whose remarkably interesting history is set forth in accompanying pages of this work. There follows the outline of his active and useful life, which, in both public and private, has been inseparably identified with his native Bronx.
James L. Wells, son of James and Maria Wells, natives of England, was born at West Farms, at that time in the town of Westchester, and after attend- ing the public schools entered Columbia College, now Columbia University, where he was graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1865, and Master of Arts, in 1868. As a young man he entered the real estate field and therein found the opportunity and the sphere that have directed the business aspect of his life. He has had charge of some of the most im- portant realty developments in The Bronx, and his success and prominence in this line of endeavor brought him to the presidency of the Real Estate Exchange and Sales Room of The City of New York. Mr. Wells has been identified with the disposal of large tracts of real estate in The Bronx and has long ranked high among the leading operators in this field. His incumbency of the presidency of the Real Estate Exchange and Sales Room of The City of New York dates from April 3, 1891.
It would be impossible to give the details of Mr. Wells' activity in real estate, and it is almost as challenging a task to tell the complete story of his participation in public affairs. In 1869 he was elec- ted a member of the Board of Education of the Second School District of the old Town of West Farms, serving until 1874. He was elected to the New York State Assembly of 1879 and 1880, and in 1879 represented the First District of Westchester County, his district extending from the Harlem River to Hastings, including the old towns of Morrisania,
West Farms, Westchester, and Yonkers (then in- cluding Kingsbridge), a territory now represented by thirteen Assemblymen. He secured the passage of the following bills, among others: To facilitate the movement of the Harlem River; to reduce inter- est on unpaid taxes and assessments; to extend the New York water supply in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards; for the registration of the bonds of the old towns of Morrisania and West Farms; for the drainage of lands in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards and others acts in retalia- tion to local improvements in the city of New York; for the reduction of expenses in street opening pro- ceedings; and the bill transferring the care of the streets, avenues and public works in the Twenty- third and Twenty-fourth wards from the Park De- partment to the Department of Public Improvements. This bill was vetoed by Governor Robinson, but afterward was approved by other governors. From his earliest activity in public affairs he strongly favored and urged the completion of a final map of The Bronx.
In a mass-convention of citizens, irrespective of party, he was nominated for Alderman of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards. He was also nominated by the Republicans and was elected, being the only Republican chosen that year in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards. In the two following years Mr. Wells received similar nomina- tions and was elected. He served in the Board of Aldermen for the years 1881, 1882, and 1883. In 1882 he was appointed the chairman of the Com- mittee on Public Works, although the Board was opposed to him politically. He personally prepared and secured the passage of hundreds of resolutions and ordinances providing for local improvements, the extension of the water supply and the sewering, grading, flagging, paving and lighting of streets and avenues, the naming of streets and numbering of houses, and providing for gates at railroad crossings. He also secured the passage of the ordinances for the construction of the bridge across the Harlem River at Second Avenue, and the charters under which the elevated railroad was built and is opera- ted from One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Street to Fordham.
Mr. Wells advocated as a citizen the bill creating the new Parks and Parkways in The Bronx. He was appointed by Judge Lacombe, then corporation counsel, to examine and value for the city of New York all the lands, about 4,000 acres, taken for these Parks and Parkways. He was reappointed by Judge Morgan J. O'Brien and by Judge Henry R. Beek- man.
Mr. Wells was one of the originators of and a leader in the movement which resulted in 1890 in the passage of the bill creating the Department of Street Improvements in the Twenty-third and Twenty- fourth wards. A special committee of the State Senate, consisting of C. P. Vedder, George Z. Erwin, Frank P. Arnold, Charles A. Stadler and Michael C. Murphy, was appointed to examine into and report upon the condition of the public affairs of the then Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards. Mr. Wells was a member of the Citizens' committee that escorted the Senate Committee over the district and
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
was one of the witnesses for the people in the investi- gation that was held. The Senate Committee reported that the district "had been sadly neglected," and that "the city officials had evidently failed to provide the necessary improvements that should be made in this interesting and growing section of the city."
At a non-partisan mass-convention held at Zelt- ner's Hall on September 29, 1890, Mr. Wells was unanimously nominated for the office of Commis- sioner of Street Improvements of The Bronx, but he immediately declined in favor of his friend, Louis J. Heintz, to whom he had pledged his support. When it became evident that further legislation was necessary to protect the newly created Department of Street Improvements, Mr. Wells was prevailed upon to accept a nomination for the Assembly of 1892. He was nominated by the Republicans and endorsed by the independent citizens, and was elec- ted, although the district gave a majority of over 3,000 for Roswell P. Flower, the Democratic candi- date for Governor.
At this time the agitation for a five-cent fare and continuous ride on the elevated railroad began and was approved by him and an Assembly politically opposed to him passed the first bill on the subject. He also introduced the first bills for the construction of the Willis Avenue bridge and the One Hundred and Forty-ninth Street bridge and assisted by his vote and influence in securing necessary legislation for rebuilding the Third Avenue bridge, the exten- sion of the water supply, the improvement of Van Cortlandt Park and amendments to the street open- ing law.
Mr. Wells was one of the organizers of the North Side, now Bronx, Board of Trade and presided at its first meeting, held on March 6, 1894. He de- clined the presidency of the board in favor of John C. De La Vergne. On the death of Mr. De La Vergne, Mr. Wells was elected president of the board and was reelected each year until 1902.
In 1895, Mr. Wells favored the act providing for the Grand Boulevard and Concourse and was one of the committee that visited Albany on March 20th and urged Governor Morton to sign the bill.
On June 11, 1895, Mayor William L. Strong ap- pointed Mr. Wells one of the Commissioners of Taxes and Assessments of The City of New York. The office terminated on January 1, 1897, by reason of the Charter of Greater New York, which went into effect on that date. During Mayor William L. Strong's administration Mr. Wells was one of the Mayor's most trusted advisers on matters affecting The Bronx, and he assisted materially in securing favorable action and liberal appropriations from the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. He was also largely instrumental in securing the support of the Mayor in favor of the Manhattan Rapid Transit lines into The Bronx.
In 1897 Mr. Wells was selected by the North Side Board of Trade and the Taxpayers' Alliance of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards to represent the interests of the people before the Greater New York Charter Commission and the Committee of the State Legislature having in charge the organization of the form of government of New York City. On January 13, he delivered an address before the
Greater New York Charter Commission in favor of Home Rule for the boroughs and against the aboli- tion of the Department of Street Improvements. He delivered similar addresses throughout the dis- trict, at a mass meeting held in the Real Estate Exchange, and before the Committee on Cities of the Senate and Assembly.
Since the organization of the New York Rapid Transit Commission Mr. Wells has been frequently before that body urging the claims of The Bronx for additional rapid transit lines.
In 1899 Mr. Wells was one of the committee that escorted the State Railroad Commissioners through The Bronx and urged upon them the importance of compelling the Manhattan Elevated Railroad Com- pany to extend its lines to Fordham, Bedford Park and West Farms in accordance with its franchise acquired in 1882. He was one of the witnesses on behalf of the residents of The Bronx when the matter was formally considered by the Board of Commis- sioners.
On April 25, 1900, Governor Roosevelt appointed Mr. Wells a member of the Charter Revision Com- mission. Hon. George L. Rives, the president of the commission, selected Mr. Wells as chairman of the Committee on Borough Government. He re- ported and carried through the scheme of Home Rule and Borough Government. He embodied these pro- visions in the charter which went into effect January 1, 1902. Mr. Wells was constant in the discharge of his duties as a member of the Charter Revision Commission and made addresses in every borough of Greater New York and before the Committee on the Legislature in behalf of the Home Rule provisions of the new charter. He secured the appointment of Mr. W. W. Niles, Jr., as counsel for the Committee on Borough Government.
John D. Crimmins, a fellow-member of the Char- ter Revision Commission, wrote of Mr. Wells:
Mr. Wells, with persuasiveness and intelligence, born from observation of the workings of the present Charter, brought into the framing of the Amendments much that is valuable and which, when enacted, will make conditions that shall largely facilitate the administration of the af- fairs of the people of every Borough and forward intelli- gent public improvements.
In 1901, Mr. Wells was the Republican candidate for the presidency of The Borough of The Bronx, and was defeated, and in 1902-03, by appointment of Mayor Low, was president of the Department of Taxes and Assessments of New York City. In 1905, he was the Republican candidate for president of the Board of Aldermen, and in 1906 he was the candi- date of his party for Congress.
In 1914, Mr. Wells was called to a wide field of service in his election to the office of treasurer of the State of New York in which he served by two reëlections until January 1, 1921.
In 1916, he received a plurality of 249,150 and in 1918 a plurality of 188,975. Although 1918 was an off year he received 1,285 votes more than the com- bined vote polled by all the other candidates for treasurer in that campaign. Twice he was given the largest plurality ever received by a candidate for State office in New York State. To the responsible duties of the treasurership he brought a trained busi-
James m. Fizpatrick
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THE BRONX AND ITS PEOPLE
ness mind, intimate knowledge of the workings of the machinery of government, and proved ability in the public service. His administration was marked by capable handling of the public funds. He was a founder of the Twenty-third Ward Bank, and a founder and trustee of the Dollar Savings Bank.
Mr. Wells is an Episcopalian in religious identifica- tion and was for many years a warden of St. Ann's Protestant Episcopal Church of Morrisania.
Mr. Wells married, July 13, 1887, Florence Edith Fowler, and their children were: 1. Edith Lee, born June 14, 1888, married Rev. C. C. Harriman, Rector of St. Ann's Protestant Episcopal Church of Mor- risania. 2. James L., Jr., born February 14, 1899.
These are the facts, in barest outline, of the long and eventful career of James L. Wells. To talk with him of them is to have them illuminated by a thou- sand flashes of his keen wit, interesting reminiscence, and discerning insight into human nature. Mr. Wells has worked tirelessly for his borough and its people, has not evaded the burdens his constituents have laid upon him, has stood firmly in defence of his convic- tions when necessary, and stands in the respect and esteem of the community as a civic leader whose work is good.
B. FRED HUNTINGTON-One of the business, social, and fraternal leaders of The Bronx, New York, is B. Fred Huntington, manager for Burns Brothers, coal dealers, for The Bronx section of New York. His keen business ability, his broad understanding of local conditions, and his varied experience com- bine to fit him admirably for his present responsible position. Mr. Huntington was born in New York City, April 15, 1876, son of Byron O. and Sarah Hun- tington, and descended from notable English and American families.
The American progenitor of the Huntington fam- ily was Christopher Huntington, who came tc America from England in 1620, brother to the an- cestor of Samuel Huntington, a signer of the Dec- laration of Independence. His father's mother was the daughter of Captain Ephraim Hyde of the Revo- lutionary War, of the famous English family whose name was bestowed on Hyde Park in London. Byron O. Huntington was a pioneer manufacturer of ladies' underwear, retiring in 1897.
B. Fred Huntington was educated Henry Academy, Elizabeth, New Jersey, at Riverview Mili- tary Academy, and at Eastman's Business School in Poughkeepsie, New York. His business career began in association with his father in the manu- facture of underwear, and continued until his father's retirement. In 1899, Mr. Huntington entered the employ of Speilman & Company, silk merchants, as salesman, traveling in the Middle West, and remained in that association until 1905. For the next five years he worked for the American Silk Company, and for the next three for the Tatta Company, also silk importers. It was in 1913 that he shifted his attention and energy to the coal business as sales- man for T. R. Thorne & Company, coal dealers. After a year he entered his fourteen-year associa- tion with Burns Brothers as a salesman on com- mission, proving so successful that he was soon given
a salary. His value to the company has grown steadily, until he has become invaluable as manager of The Bronx section, which he has been for the past six years. He is a member of Bethel Lodge, No. 733, Free and Accepted Masons; of Bronx Lodge, No. 871, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Epsilon Sigma Fraternity, New York Ath- letic Club, and of The Bronx Board of Trade. He was one of the organizers and the second member of the Lions Club and is enrolled in the Schnorer Club. He attends the Tremont Baptist Church.
On March 3, 1898, in New York City, B. Fred Huntington married Estelle Schroder, daughter of John and Ernestine Schroder, both deceased now. Mr. and Mrs. Huntington are the parents of a daughter, Hazel S., now Mrs. Gordon Miller and mother of Gordon Huntington Miller.
JAMES MARTIN FITZPATRICK-A native of Massachusetts, but for more than three decades a resident of New York City, Mr. Fitzpatrick has been for many years one of the most prominent and popular leaders of The Bronx, and since 1918 has represented most effectively the Twenty-seventh (aldermanic) District, one of the eight aldermanic districts of The Bronx, in the New York City Board of Aldermen. Since January 1, 1926, he has also been engaged in the real estate business in the eastern section of The Bronx, as a member of the firm of Fitzpatrick & Domph, with offices at No. 1500 Williamsbridge Road, corner of Eastchester Road, and his firm, though comparatively a new- comer in its field, is rapidly becoming one of the most active and successful in its section. Its suc- cess, to a great extent, is based on Mr. Fitzpatrick's great personal popularity, his unusually wide ac- quaintance amongst all classes of people, his thor- ough knowledge of general conditions and of real estate values in The Bronx, and his undoubted nat- ural abilities.
James Martin Fitzpatrick was born June 27, 1869, in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, a son of Thom- as and Mary (Burke) Fitzpatrick. Both his par- ents were natives of County Mayo, Ireland, but throughout the greater part of their lives, residents of the United States. His father, born in April, 1824, a son of John Fitzpatrick, died in 1915, in his ninety- second year, while his mother, born in 1826, a daugh- ter of Thomas C. and Mary (Costello) Burke, died in 1904.
James M. Fitzpatrick was educated in the public schools of his native town, which he left at the age of twelve years to go to 'work, continuing, however, as best he could, his education by attending night school for a number of years. His first employment was in a cotton mill, where he remained until he was fifteen years old, when he went to work in the iron mines at West Stockbridge. Eight years later, in 1892, he gave up this work and removed to New York City, where he became a conductor on the Second Avenue Street Railway. Before long he was made one of the adjusters in the claim department of this company, and there his industry, ability and personality quickly found recognition which resulted
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in his advancement to the important and respon- sible position of examiner and adjuster in the com- pany's law department. In this capacity he was en- trusted with the handling of all of the more impor- tant claims for his company, frequently involving large sums of money and affecting diverse and impor- tant interests. In 1907 he was transferred to the pay roll of the Interboro Rapid Transit Railway Com- pany but still handled claims for the entire Metro- politan Railway System. He continued with the In- terboro Rapid Transit Railway System until Decem- ber 31, 1925, when he resigned after thirty-three years of most faithful and effective service. His resignation was the result of his decision to enter the real estate business, and on January 1, 1926, he or- ganized the firm of Fitzpatrick & Domph, of which he has since then been the senior member. The firm conducts a general real estate business and handles mortgage loans, being especially interested in that large section of The Bronx usually called East Bronx and reaching from City Island to Clason Point. Mr. Fitzpatrick has devoted a great deal of attention to local politics for many years as one of the most active and useful supporters of the Democratic party and its principles. As early as 1896 he entered the political arena as a public speaker, and his ready wit and great fluency brought him success from the start. Since then he has taken an active part in every political campaign. Beginning with 1918 he has been regularly, and always with large majorities, elected a member of the New York City Board of Aldermen, his latest reelection having occurred in November, 1925, for a two-year term, expiring December 31, 1927. He resigned from the Board February 28, 1927, having been elected to Congress from the Twenty-fourth Congressional District and on March 4, 1927, he took his seat in the National House of Representatives. He was considered one of the most capable members of the Board, with an ex- traordinary broad grasp of the practical needs of his community and an unusually keen sense of responsibility towards those whose interests were placed in his keeping. He has sponsored many constructive and helpful ordinances, including one which brought about municipal operation of the Clason Point ferry in spite of strong and influential opposition. Other legislation, either originated or supported by him, has resulted in many important and helpful local improvements and one of the out- standing characteristics of all his ordinances is that that they are invariably clear and free from all politi- cal pitfalls. On the 1926 Board he was a member of the apportionment committee, the finance and the rules committees and chairman of the committee on codification of ordinances. He also held the impor- tant position of member of the committee on reap- portionment of the assembly districts. He was one of the advocates of refusing tax exemption on apart- ment houses and granting it to private homes with a view of stimulating thereby homebuilding by indi- viduals. He is a member of St. Raymond's Council, Knights of Columbus; The Bronx Real Estate Board; Chippewa Democratic Club; the F. & S. Club; Uni- ted Taxpayers' Association; Throgg's Neck Taxpay- ers' Association; Morris Estate Taxpayers' Associa-
tion; Lorillard Spencer Taxpayers' Association; and Van Nest Businessmen's Association. His religious affiliations are with the Roman Catholic church and more particularly with the Church of Our Lady of Solace, Van Nest Avenue and White Plains Road, in which he has been one of the ushers for ten years.
Mr. Fitzpatrick married (first), in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, November 28, 1895, Ellen E. Leahey, who died February 5, 1909. Mrs. Fitzpatrick was a daughter of Michael and Mary (Kiley) Leahey, both natives of Stockbridge, where the former died in 1924, in his eighty-fourth year, and the latter in 1904, in her sixtieth year. Mr. Fitzpatrick married (second), September 14, 1922, Laura B. Stevenson, a daughter of John and Mary (Balf) Stevenson, the former a native of Scotland, where he was born in 1861, the latter a native of Brooklyn, New York, where she was born also, in 1864. Mr. Fitzpatrick is the father of four children, three by his first marriage and one by his second: 1. Charles A., born August 27, 1896. 2. Elizabeth E., born November 28, 1900. 3. James Martin, Jr., born April 22, 1904. 4. John Malcolm, born January 12, 1924. The family home is located at No. 1721 Filmore Street, The Bronx.
LOUIS F. HAFFEN- As a resident of The Bronx for more than seventy-two years, Louis F. Haffen has been the recipient of the highest honors within the gift of the borough, having within the same period served the Metropolis and the State in a manner that has reflected credit upon his profes- sion of civil and consulting engineer, in the practice of which he has become well known far beyond the confines of his immediate jurisdiction. For twelve years he was president of the Borough of The Bronx, and in that office distinguished himself for executive and administrative ability, achieving gratifying large results for the physical and educational and political betterment of the community-at-large. The people of the borough have delighted to do him honor who all through the years of his residence among them has had their interests very much at heart. His profes- sional and scholastic attainments, carrying four col- lege degrees, have brought him into high esteem throughout the city, and he is accounted one of the best informed men on Bronx history to be found in the county and borough.
Mr. Haffen was born November 6, 1854, in a house at the northwest corner of Elton Street and Court- landt Avenue (now East One Hundred and Fifty- second Street and Courtlandt Avenue), village of Melrose, town of West Farms (incorporated as Morrisania, 1856), County of Westchester, New York-now The Bronx, New York City. His father was Mathias Haffen, a native of Germany, whose wife was Catherine Hays, a daughter of Erin. They married and settled in Long Island, whence they came in 1850 to live in The Bronx. The elder Mr. Haffen was for many years a dairy farmer and later was engaged in the business of brewing. They were wholesome, clean-living folk, good neighbors and respected members of the community. They cast in their lot with the people of The Bronx with a fine spirit of cooperation, and reared their family in the nurture and admonition of their religious faith, at the same time making it a point to see their chil-
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