USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 37
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RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL 333
which had been incorporated in 1823. No system for lighting the streets was introduced until 1697, when the aldermen were charged with enforcing the duty that "every seventh householder, in the dark time of the moon, should cause a lanthorn and candle to be hung out of his window on a pole-the expense of which to be divided among the seven families." At a later period the prin- cipal streets of the city were lighted with oil-lamps. The first gas-pipe in- novation extended on either side of Broadway, from Canal street to the Battery, and soon grew into public favor, so that, in 1830, the Manhattan Gas-light Company was incorporated with a capital of $500,000-an im- mense sum in those times-to supply the upper part of the island.1 ST. PETER'S CHURCH.2
1 In this connection it is perhaps worth while calling attention to the origin of the name Locofoco as applied to the Democratic party. In Hammond's "Political History of New-York " it will be seen that the locofoco matches gave the name to the Democratic party. The case was this: Upon the introduction of gas into the city, the old Park Theater being lighted for the first time, and a dif- ficulty experienced in lighting the stage (gas)
lights, one of the audience, a prominent Democrat, struck one of the new sulphur locofoco matches and lighted the gas. A wag. who had observed the occurrence, afterward called the party Locofoco- which name adhered, for many years, to the Democratic party, especially in New-York State. 2 The first Roman Catholic church built in New-York city, situated in Barclay street, on the corner of Church. EDITOR.
Che Darroll of Carrollton
John Adams fayda
Intelfeston James monroe
John Quincy clams.
James Madison
AUTOGRAPHS OF INVITED GUESTS, ERIE CANAL CELEBRATION.
CHAPTER IX
THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 1825-1837
HE meeting-place of the merchants had been, since 1792, the Tontine Coffee House, erected under their auspices in that year. In 1825 the corner-stone of a new edifice was laid in Wall street. It was opened for business in May, 1827, having cost two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. The post- office was in this building. The Chamber of Commerce had its rooms here, and there were numerous offices for brokers on the base- ment floor. The merchants occupied offices in the galleries. The prin- cipal room or exchange was of oval form, in the center of the building. Here were posted the various notices which interested the merchants generally : such as the arrival and departure of vessels, signaled by a telegraph which received and replied to signals from the station at the Narrows.
At this, the beginning of the second quarter of the century, New- York was the principal mart for the products and manufactures of a large part of the Eastern States, of New-York State, and New Jersey, and of the Southern section of the Union. The city soon began to feel the enormous stimulus to her trade caused by the operation of the Erie Canal. This great work of internal improvement was for- mally opened, as noticed in the preceding chapter, on October 26, 1825. It brought to her the control of the trade of the great lakes, and the vast and prolific regions which bordered upon them, as well as that of the valleys of the Ohio and of the Mississippi. The Champlain Canal, finished in 1823, was the outlet for the produce of a large section of country bordering on Lake Champlain. It began at Whitehall, at the head of sloop navigation on that large body of water. These two waterways, connecting with the Hudson, consti- tuted an extent of navigation of seven hundred and eight miles (Hud- son and Champlain, 345 miles ; Erie, 363 miles). Besides, there was the great chain of lakes, with which communication was now established, affording a navigation of sixteen hundred and twenty-five miles, of which over eleven hundred miles were within the limits of the State
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THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 335
of which New-York city was the only ocean outlet. It is not difficult to understand the exultant joy of the citizens of New-York at the final completion of these magnificent monuments to the genius of the states- men and the enterprise of the people of the great commonwealth. It definitely assured the supremacy of the city as the commercial em- porium of the western continent. Becoming the outlet of a vast ter- ritory, it followed nat- urally that New-York should become also the point at which the sup- plies for that territory would be obtained, as well as the financial cen- ter of exchange for do- mestic as well as foreign THE VERPLANCK HOUSE. commerce. The amount of tonnage which the Erie was capable of transporting with locks all double was estimated at 3,024,000, includ- ing both descending and ascending trips. In 1826 the toll on imports on the Erie and Champlain canals was $762,000; in 1827, $859,000.
The value of the merchandise laden and unladen at the port of New-York at this period (1825-28) was seventy to one hundred mil- lions of dollars, and the number of merchant vessels in port varied from five to seven hundred in busy seasons, besides fifty steamboats. The number of arrivals from foreign ports averaged fourteen hun- dred, and of coasting vessels four thousand, per annum. Goodrich, in his "Picture of New-York " (1828), estimated " the arrivals at and departures of steamboats from this port during the year, or season of about forty weeks, supposing each boat to make but two trips a week both ways, to amount to six thousand four hundred; and if an average of fifty passengers is allowed per trip, the number will be 320,000." He considered this to be a low estimate, as during the sum- mer travel the Hudson River steamboats frequently carried from two hundred to three hundred passengers. Great numbers were con- stantly arriving also by coasting vessels and from foreign ports; "the aggregate of the latter description during the last twelve months is 22,000; those by ships, sloops and coasters, generally from southern and eastern ports, and the river craft, amount to an immense number." The port was admirably adapted to this mode of communication. There was an ample depth of water at every wharf. The line of ship- ping ran from the Battery to Corlaer's Hook on the East River, and
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to the North Battery (foot of Hubert street) on the Hudson, an extent on the two water-fronts of three miles. The principal slips were Coen- ties, Old Coffee House (at the foot of Wall street), Beekman, and Peck slips. South street was the site of the wharves for the large shipping. The provision-boats from Long Island lay off Fulton, and those from New Jersey off Washington, Market.
Not till 1825 did New-York recover from the depression of the em- bargo period and the war of 1812-15. In the decade from 1796 to 1806, the most prosperous years, nearly one quarter of the total exports of the United States were from this port. The exports of 1806 were not again equaled in amount until 1825. In 1827 fourteen hundred and fourteen ves- sels arrived from foreign ports, of which three hundred and eighty-six were ships, six hundred and nine brigs, and three hundred and eighty-one schooners. In 1827 the tonnage of vessels built in New- York amounted to twenty-nine thousand one hundred and thirty-seven, divided among twenty-three ships, three brigs, and twelve steamboats. The cotton trade of the South for Europe, and that of the New England manufacturing States, passed through this city. In 1827 there were received 215,705 bales, of which 191,626 were exported, and 24,000 taken by manufacturers. The value of the im- ports for New-York in the year 1825 was $50,024,973, of which over $48,000,000 came in American vessels; that of the exports was $34,032,279, of which over $19,000,000 in American vessels,-in all a total foreign trade of $84,057,252, of which over $67,000,000 in American vessels. Goodrich gives an interesting his- torical comparison of the trade at this period: "In the three years preceding the celebrated embargo of Mr. Jefferson's administration the exports of New-York averaged $23,869,250 per annum; and in those years preceding the last war, $14,030,035; and during the years 1825-6-7 the average has been $26,000,000."
The most striking changes in the physical features of the lower part of New-York city-that below the park-date from the beginning of the second quarter of the century. Gulian C. Verplanck, to whom New-York is indebted for many curious and interesting reminiscences, returning from a long absence in 1829, noted the changes which had taken place in his time, in two letters published in the "Talisman" (1829-30), under the nom de plume of Francis Herbert :
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THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 337
Pine street [he writes] is now full of blocks of tall massive buildings which over- shadow the narrow passage between and make it one of the gloomiest streets in New- York. The very bricks there look of a darker hue than in any other part of the city. The rays of the sun seem to come through a yellower and thicker atmosphere ; and the shadows thrown there by moonlight seem of a blacker and more solid darkness than elsewhere . . . It was not thus thirty or forty years ago. Shops were on each side of the way-low cheerful-looking two-story buildings of light colored brick or wood painted white or yellow, and which scarcely seemed a hindrance to the air and sunshine.
There were many and important changes in the municipal economy of the city at this period. Besides the Merchants' Exchange, the foundations of which were laid in Wall street in 1825, a new Presbyterian church was the same year built in Bleecker street, which sufficiently shows the rapid trend of the popu- lation upward on the island. A new building was also erected for the savings-bank in Cham- bers street. The city was this year divided into twelve wards. The free- school system was altered to that of public schools which took pay from scholars at the rate of twenty-five cents to one dollar each quarter. In . January, 1825, Philip Philipstone Hone was appointed mayor. This gentleman, well known in public life as a Whig leader, the companion of Daniel Webster, and in private intercourse as an elegant host and leader of fashion, has left a charming diary of his life and times. Mayor Hone was a native of this city, his father having a mercantile business in John street. Early in life he engaged in the auctioneer business, in partnership with his brother John. They each amassed a considerable fortune, which was employed by Philip Hone in the encouragement of many enterprises of a benevolent or educa- tional character. The Mercantile Library, founded in 1820, owed much to his liberality in the erection of its building on Astor Place, in the year 1830. He held the office of mayor for only one year. Under President Zachary Taylor, Mr. Hone was appointed naval officer of the port of New-York, a post in which he continued till his death, in 1851, at his house, corner of Broadway and Great Jones street. VOL. III .- 22.
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The immediate successor of Mr. Hone in the mayoralty was William Paulding, who had already been mayor in the years 1823 and 1824, as before noticed, and who now occupied the position for the years 1826 and 1827. In 1828, Walter Bowne was appointed, and he was annually reappointed until 1833. He was a descendant of the well-known and highly estimable Quaker family of the Bownes, of Flushing, Long Island. At the age of maturity he left the paternal farm and engaged in the hardware business in New-York, meet- ing with great success. His store was located at the corner of Burling Slip and Water street. In politics Mr. Bowne was a Democrat, and before his appointment as mayor had represented the city as State senator for three suc- cessive terms. He died in 1846, at the age of seventy-six. During his term the population of New-York reached the figure of two hundred thousand.
The last mayor to be appointed to Walter Bowne. the position was Gideon Lee, who served only during the year 1833. He was born at Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1778. Left an orphan, he began life on an uncle's farm, and after a checkered career with greatly varying fortunes, he at last estab- lished a profitable leather business in New-York. In 1822 he entered upon public life as a member of the State legislature. Retiring from business in 1836, he was soon after elected to Congress, and died in 1841, at Geneva, New-York, where he had purchased a country-seat, which continued in the possession of his family till a recent period. His business is still carried on in the "Swamp" by his youngest son, who succeeded his brother-in-law, Charles M. Leupp.
In 1832 New-York was visited for the first time by the Asiatic cholera. It made its appearance in a house in Cherry street, near James street, on June 25, 1832. By July 3 public alarm was excited to such a degree that the Board of Health appointed a special medical council to de- vise proper measures in the emergency. This council consisted of Dr. Alexander H. Stevens, president; Drs. Joseph Bayley, Gilbert Smith, John Neilson, William J. McNeven, Hugh McLean, Richard K. Hoffman, to whom after a few days was added Dr. Anthony L. Anderson. Their acknowledged skill quieted public apprehension, and they continued to superintend the public medical arrangements
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THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 339
until the decline of the epidemic. Within a week four large public hospitals were organized, to which a fifth was later added. During the nine weeks from July 1 to September 1, there were treated in these 2030 patients, of which 852 died. Besides these, there was a medical station established in each ward, where prompt attention was assured to every applicant. The total number of cases in the city, including those in the hospitals as well as those reported to the Board of Health, was 5835, and of deaths 2996. It was at its height on July 21, three weeks after its appearance. This is a much greater mortality than appears, as it must be remembered that this was the summer season, when a large number of the permanent population left the city for the seaside or the vil- lages of the interior above the Highlands. The conduct of the gentlemen of the city in this time of distress was be- yond all praise. The New- York Hospital, which then oc- cupied its beautiful grounds THE NEW-YORK HOSPITAL. on Broadway between Reade and Duane streets, opposite the opening of Pearl street, was under the management of a board of governors, to belong to which was one of the most esteemed honors of a New- Yorker. Daily throughout this season they attended personally to their voluntary duties, and by their steadfastness greatly encouraged the suffering citizens.
In 1834 the city was visited by a calamity of another character. So many were the disturbances of the peace that this has received the name of the "year of riots." It was the first year in which the election of mayor was effected by the popular vote. The candidates were Gulian C. Verplanck on an independent ticket, and Cornelius W. Lawrence on that of Tammany. There was a serious split in the Democratic ranks, a large number of whose members supported the independent ticket. The elections in that day were conducted after the old fashion, the polls being held open for three successive days. This, at a period of great popular excitement, gave ample opportunity for the development of street brawls and organized attacks by the more violent partizans. Toward noon of April 10, 1834, the distur- bances in the Sixth Ward, always the home of a motley population, took an alarming form. There being no registration of votes, the polls were at the mercy of an audacious mob. Party feeling ran exceedingly high at this period, because of the opposition to Jack- son's financial policy, which had little favor with the conservative element of New-York, but was ardently supported by the Tammany
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party. In the Sixth Ward the tumult rose to the wildest pitch; a num- ber of the Jackson Democrats seized the polls, destroyed the ballots, and sacked the room where the polling was held. During the day raids were made on the gun-shops in Broadway. An alarm spread- ing that the mob was about to attack the State arsenal, which stood on the block between Centre, Elm, Franklin, and White streets, the better class, fearful of the inefficiency of the police, rallied for its protection, and prevailed upon the mayor to call in the aid of the military.
UT VITA SIC MORS
In the evening the Whigs, determined to maintain their rights, gathered in large and resolute force (esti- mated at from four to five thousand men) at Masonic Hall, and voted to meet early the next day "and re- pair to the Sixth Ward poll for the purpose of keeping it open to all voters until such time as the official au- thorities may procure a sufficient number of special con- stables to keep the peace." Other meetings were held in the fourteen wards, and the next morning all the polls were guarded by large bodies of well-disposed citizens. The morning of the third day displayed the determina- VERPLANCK CREST. tion of the rough element of the city to do mischief. Some sailors, in the Whig interest, parading the city with a miniature of the frigate Constitution in full rig, were fallen upon and beaten in Broadway opposite Masonic Hall. The mayor, intervening, was personally injured, several of the city watch were badly hurt, and the hall was forced. Hearing of this outrage, the Whig inhabitants issued from their quarters, and as crowds kept gathering, the mayor held a consultation, and it was resolved to declare the city in a state of insurrection and to call on the military for aid. The United States authorities in the forts and on the station declining to interfere, General Jacob Morton directed General Charles W. Sandford to call out the city militia.
Order being established, the election proceeded, resulting in the choice of Mr. Lawrence ' by a small majority. Later it was an- nounced that the Whigs had elected the common council. Says the historian of the great riots of New-York: "As the news passed through the immense concourse, a shout went up that shook Wall street from Broadway to the East River. It rolled back and forth like redoubled thunder." The Twenty-seventh Regiment,2 under Colonel John Stevens, had early taken possession of the arsenal, and
1 The mayor's full name was Cornelius Van of the Bank of the State of New-York. He mar- Wyck Lawrence. He was born in 1791, and at- ried Lydia A., his cousin, daughter of Judge tained the age of seventy years. Previous to his Effingham Lawrence. EDITOR. election as mayor, he was a member of Congress, 2 Now the famous Seventh Regiment, its nu- merical designation having been changed in 1847. EDITOR and under President Polk was appointed collector of this port. For twenty years he was president
THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 341
relieved the independent collection of citizens. This is said to have established the confidence of the good people of New-York in the power and willingness of the National Guard to protect the property and lives of the citizens and to secure the public peace. The com- mon council passed a vote of thanks to "the individuals who thus nobly sustained their reputation as citizen soldiers, and proved the importance and the necessity to the city of a well-disciplined militia in time of peace, as well as in time of war." General Morton, in his general orders, added: "The Major-general doubts not that the corps will still continue to perform their duties; they will be sustained by their fellow-citizens, who will see in them, not the array of an uncon- trolled force, but a power directed by the venerable majesty of the laws in the persons of the magis- trates." This riot, for many reasons famous, is generally known as the "election riot."
The Abolitionists, a small and in- considerable body, were beginning, in the agitation of politics, to attract public attention to their opinions and purposes. Attempts had been made by the friends of William Lloyd Garrison, in the autumn of 1833, to promote an antislavery John WFrancis' agitation by public meetings and addresses. There was a large business class in New-York city di- rectly concerned in trade with the Southern States, and naturally opposed to any exciting discussion of this subject; and, moreover, the sympathies of the great body of Democrats were with the strict constructionists of the constitution, who held slavery to be beyond the pale of any jurisdiction, except that of State sovereignty. In the unruly element of this, as of all large cities, there were always men to be found ready for violent measures, especially in any cause that had the support of popular favor. An attempt to break up an abolition meeting in October, 1833, had resulted in the summary dispersal of the small attendance. In July, 1834, an assemblage of colored per- sons gathered at Chatham street chapel to listen to a sermon from a negro preacher. They were ordered from the building, but, having
1 Dr. Francis was a celebrated physician, and
a man of wide culture. His "Old New-York," a
volume of charming reminiscences of the first
sixty years of the century, is an admirable book, and contains a memoir of the author by Henry T. Tuckerman.
EDITOR.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
paid their rent, refused, and, resisting ejectment, the church was cleared by an excited crowd. Lewis Tappan, who was present at the chapel, was followed to his home in Rose street with hooting and threats, and his house was stoned. His name had been attached to the call for the meeting in the autumn preceding. The blacks, alarmed for their personal safety, dispersed.
The next evening the mob broke open the chapel door, held an extempore meet- ing, and on its breaking up proceeded with shouts to the Bowery Theater, whose stage manager was obnoxious to them because an Englishman and accused of remarks uncomplimentary to America on THE PROVOST JAIL. 1 the subject of slavery,-Great Britain be- ing the headquarters of the antislavery movement. Forcing the doors, the excited mob took . possession of the theater. Interfered with by the arrival of the police, and eager for some object on which to vent their excitement, they rushed to the house of Nathan Tappan, a brother of Lewis, in Rose street, which they broke into and sacked. After a fight with the city watchmen, they made a bonfire of the dilapidated furniture. Other petty riots followed, with similar scenes of destruction of the property of Abo- litionists, until Mayor Lawrence issued a proclamation calling on all good citizens to aid in maintaining the peace. Large bodies of troops were gathered at the arsenal, City Hall, and other public buildings.
On the night of July 11, the mounted patrol having failed to disperse the roving mob which had attacked the churches of the Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Cox, in Laight street, and of the Rev. Henry G. Ludlow, in Spring street, the military were called upon, and the Twenty-seventh Regiment of the National Guard, under Colonel Stevens (the same which had been called upon in the election riots), marched upon the rioters. The latter had thrown up double barricades, which were stormed and carried, the obstructions scattered, and as the militia moved to the word "Forward" in solid column, the mob broke in every direction. Meanwhile there was another great gathering at the Five Points, where the mob committed depredations and burned buildings indiscriminately. During the night the rioters were reported to have concerted risings, and in the morning the mayor issued a second
1 The Provost Jail is now the Hall of Records, its walls remaining as they were, but its front and rear having been adorned with colonnades in the style of a Greek temple. It was built in 1758. Before and after the Revolution it was used as a debtors' prison. During the Revolu- tion prisoners of war were confined here, and sub- jected to the cruelties of Provost Marshal William
Cunningham. In 1830 it ceased to be used as a prison, the process of reconstruction being then begun, but not till 1835 was it ready for its new purposes. At the time of the Revolution, "it had two lobbies, with strong barricades between the external and internal one. A grated door was at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second and third floors." . EDITOR.
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THE BEGINNING OF NEW-YORK'S COMMERCIAL GREATNESS 343
proclamation to the citizens to report to him for organization into companies to aid the police. The volunteer military companies and the fire companies tendering their assistance, the backbone of the riot was broken, and a hundred and fifty of the ringleaders were lodged in jail.
One of the most interesting public events of this year was the pro- cession on June 26, in respect to the memory of General Lafayette, the last general officer of the Revolution. General Lafayette was no
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