The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 132

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 132

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This region, too, includes all of the best public build- ings and institutions. Here are the City Hall, not yet dreamed of fifty years ago; the County Court-House, the Municipal Building,-not yet, we are sorry to say- the Federal Building so long promised-the Academy of Music, Music Hall, and four or five theatres, the Academy of Design, the Brooklyn Library, and the Historieal Society's building, five large Hospitals, three Homes or Asylums for the aged, two or three Orphan Asylums and many other benevolent institutions; the Paeker Collegiate Institute, the Polytechnic Institute, The Adelphi Academy and St. John's College, as well as many other sehools of a high order. Within these limits are also our finest business houses, such as the Continental, Atlantic and Phonix Insurance buildings, the Garfield, the Dime Savings Bank building, the St. Ann's Building, Hamilton Buildings, Atheneum, ete.,

etc. South of this region is what is generally known as South Brooklyn, with Prospect Park and its two fine Boulevards, the Eastern and the Ocean Parkway, Greenwood Cemetery, that beautiful eity of the dead; and on its south-western and western portions, another manufacturing district, only less in extent than that of Greenpoint, and furnishing employment to many thou- sands of men. Here are the great Steam Pumping En- gine works, whose fame is in all the world; the largest wall paper factory in the United States; foundries whose produets find a market in all climes, and Brass and Coppersmiths, whose work has a national reputa- tion. Here too, are those great Basins, the Erie and Atlantie, where so large an amount of shipping finds shelter in winter. The piers of six Ocean steamship lines, and those vast warehouses of which we have al- ready spoken, filled to repletion with the produets of all elimes, brought by thousands of ships, whose lading and unlading, furnishes employment to other thousands of sturdy laborers. In the eastern part of this district as well as of those farther north, where the numerous railways do not obstruet the growth of the eity, build- ing goes on uneeasingly. Block after block of fine residenees of brick, of brownstone, and of the paler sandstones, is reared with a rapidity which renews the dream of Alladin's lamp. ""From whenee will come the people to inhabit these dwellings ?" inquires our ob- server in dismay. But lo ! the words are hardly uttered, before he sees in long procession, the heavily laden vans which bring the furniture for the new comers who are to dwell there.

But it is time for the observer to deseend from his lofty eyrie; he has viewed the topography of the great eity, lias been an eye witness of its marvellous growth, and has heard the whisper of its guardian genii, that this is the home of seven hundred thousand souls. It now remains for him to gather other facts in regard to the great city, which are not patent to his unassisted vision.

The increase in population from about 30,000 to 700,- 000 in these fifty years that have passed sinee 1833, has demanded great expenditures in all directions, both private and public, and the greater part of these expen- ditures have been thrown into the last twenty-five years. There was no City Hall fifty years ago, and only the foundation for one forty-seven years ago. The County buildings have been erected within twenty-five years; the Municipal building, and the enlarged Jail, within ten. The inhabitants were supplied with water, by numerous pumps and wells, and to a limited extent by the Nassau Water Works, which brought the water in wooden pipes from the higher lands, on Oeean and Clover Hills. The Ridgewood Water Works were begun in 1856, but were not operated till 1858. It now has three large reservoirs, and about 353 miles of water mains laid, and has connections with about 80,000 buildings. The debt for the water-works, originally

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$11,664,507, has been reduced to $9,830,500 by pay- ments from the sinking fund, and will cveutually be extinguished by the surplus from the water revenues. There was no sewerage system fifty years ago; the houses were all drained into cesspools. Now, the sewerage system extends over the whole city, and effects a complete drainage. This expenditure, amount- ing to many millions of dollars, has been paid by assessments.

Fifty years ago, the streets were generally ungraded and unpaved; now there arc 546.29 miles of streets, of which 331.17 miles are graded and paved, and 177.50 graded, but not paved. There has been a great va- riety in the kinds of pavement, as cobble-stone, of which there are 288.42 miles, granite, the Belgian block pavement, the Scrimshaw, asphalt, Tilford and wood-block pavements. All matters relating to water, sewerage, and paving the streets, are now under the control of the Commissioners of City Works.

The Prospect Park was commenced in 1862, and its completion has cost $9,236,000. It contains 562 acres, and its lakes, drives and rambles, and its fine groves and varied surface are full of beauty, surpassing many parks of greater extent. Other and smaller parks have been put in order, and add greatly to the health- fulness and attractiveness of the city.

The Green- Wood Cemetery, though not a city enter- prise, is so far identified with the Brooklyn of to-day that it cannot be omitted from our record. It was founded in 1838-forty-five years ago-and now con- tains about 600 acres ; to January, 1883, there had been 216,799 interments; its receipts are about $260,000 a year, and while large expenditures have been made to beautify its entrances, and to make its whole area at- tractive and worthy of the fine monuments which adorn it, a fund of nearly a million dollars has accumulated for its permanent maintenance. There are six other cemeteries adjacent to the city.

The East River, or as it is now generally called, "the Brooklyn Bridge," is another of the great undertakings of the city. Of this colossal enterprise, Brooklyn has borne two-thirds of the cost, her share amounting to $11,523,333, and she will, we believe, reap an equal share of the benefit.

The Union Ferry Company, the other principal means of communicating with New York, dates only from 1844, less than forty years ago, though there had been steam ferriage after a fashion since 1819, and a tolerably efficient line since 1833. The Union Ferry Company runs five ferry lines. Other ferries have been established since 1860. The Union Ferry Com- pany carry on all their lines 100,000,000 passengers annually.

The paid Fire Department, with its steam fire- engines, its fincly-trained corps of firemen, its complete telegraph and telephone arrangement, has been another of the city's large investments, necessitated by its

growth, and one which does it high honor. The annual expense of this department is about $363,500, aside from the original investment.

The Police and Excise Department is another of the additions to the safeguards thrown around the city for its protection, and another item-a very large one-of its annual expenditure. The necessity of a large police force in a city of such extensive area as Brooklyn, is self-cvident, and so rapid is the city's growth, that it is difficult to keep pace with it, in the multiplication of the city's guardians. The force, which is excellently managed by its efficient commissioner, now consists of about 700 men in all, including the officers, roundsmen, patrolmen, and men detailed to special duty. The ex- pense of the force somewhat exceeds $800,000. There is a police pension fund from which payments are annu- ally made to disabled policemen, and the families of policemen deceased in the service, averaging about $29,000.

The Excise Department superintends the granting, renewing and revoking licenses for the sale of spirituous liquors in the city. Its receipts are not far from $210- 000, and this sum, after deducting the necessary ex- penses of the office, etc., is distributed among the public charities of the city.

The thorough organization of the public schools is another item of Brooklyn's growth and advancement. The present number of children of school-age in Brooklyn now exceeds 200,000. Of these, about 112,- 000 attend the schools some part of the year. There are between 60 and 70 public schools, and the number of teachers is between 1,300 and 1,400. The annual expenditure for the support of schools exceed one million dollars. The schools are generally of a high character.

The private and endowed schools of the city are numerous and of great merit. We can only specify the Packer Collegiate Institute, the Brooklyn Female Seminary, the Athenaeum Female Seminary, the Nassau Institute, the Clinton Avenue Institute, the Christiansen Institute, the Misses Brackett's, Madame Stamm's and Madame Giraud's schools for girls, the Polytechnic, the Adelphi Academy, Lockwood's, the Juvenile High School, the Adelphi Institute, Wells', Hart's, Greenc's, Chadwick & Pye's, and the St. Francis and St. John's Colleges for boys (some of these admit both sexes); and the commercial colleges, of which three, Bryant & Stratton's, Browne's and Kissick's, are best known. There is also a medical college of high order.

Intimately connected with the cause of education arc the great libraries of the city, of which only one, the Brooklyn Institute Library for youths, has existed more than twenty five years. The Brooklyn Library, now numbering over 70,000 volumes, and a large and valuable suite of reading-rooms, is destined to a very much more rapid growth in the future. It has, at the present time, the best selected collection of books, and

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

the most admirable catalogue, to be found in any library in the United States. It was founded in 1858.

The Long Island Historical Society, founded in 1863, has a very large collection of historical and professional works, and a fine museum of natural history. It is not a lending library.

The Young Men's Christian Association, a most vig- orous and useful organization, is just entering upon a new cra in its history. Its new and commodious build- ing, and its ample endowment, its courses of secular instruction, and its library, to be rapidly increased, make it one of our institutions of which every citizen of Brooklyn has a right to be proud. The Union for Christian Work is another admirable organization which has accomplished a great amount of charitable work, besides its promotion of intelligent culture. It has a small but excellent library. The Law Library and the Medical Library are also collections of great value.

Of our benevolent and charitable organizations, we have hardly room to speak as they deserve, but else- where in this volume we shall try to do them justice. There are thirteen hospitals, twenty dispensaries, twenty-five homes for the aged, indigent, children, the feeble and incurables, besides those for inebriates, for the opium habit, for nervous and mental diseases, and for deaf mutes ; four nurseries, six orphan asylums, three convents, and houses for the care and reformation of the morally endangered, onc truants' home, and six- teen relief and benefit associations, aside from those connected with the secret orders.

Brooklyn has been called the City of Churches. With its rapidly growing population, it perhaps does not so fully deserve that title now as it did in former years, but it has two hundred and eighty churches and missions, and each ycar adds to the number. The average number of sittings in these would not probably exceed five hundred, but in some of them, especially the Roman Catholic churches, the congregations are not identical at the different services. The number of churches is not sufficient for so great a population, and it is to be feared that the number who do not, at any time, attend public worship, is increasing with con- siderable rapidity.

Our city government is now well administered, and there is less fraud, corruption and self-seeking among those who hold office, than in any other city within our knowledge.

We close this rapid view of the "Brooklyn of To- Day," with the acknowledgment that our city is very far from being perfect, but with the belief, that, under the disabilities of the past, always overshadowed by the greater city across the river, it has, in all respects, acquitted itselt as well as any city in the land ; and with the hope, that with its present or on-coming facilities for furnishing food, clothing and shelter to the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, who are

soon to make their homes among us, it may speedily grow up to a far greater industry, a wider commerce, a vaster wealth, a higher culture, a purer public policy, and a more exalted moral status than any American city now occupies.

We cannot better close this bird's eye view of Brook- lyn's growth and prosperity than by quoting the ring- ing and prophetic words of a speech delivered at the Annual Banquet, May, 1883, of the New York Chamber of Commerce by the Hon. J. S. T. STRANAHAN, of Brooklyn :

"I do not know, Mr. Chairman, whether you have heard of it or not; yet I may as well say that the people of Brook- lyn have an idea in regard to this bridge which is quite sure to reveal itself at no distant period. Brooklyn, as you are aware, is by the East River isolated from the main land. The people of that city hope that the bridge will remove this iso- lation, and put them in direct railway communication, not only with New York city, but with all parts of the country. This will greatly serve their convenience and promote their prosperity. New York certainly will not object, and will not be the loser. If a bridge over the Harlem River connects New York with the main land, why should not a bridge over the East River perform a similar service in behalf of Brook- lyn and Long Island ? Brooklyn believes in utilizing the bridge to this end; and, fortunately, the end can be gained without any serious disturbance of existing conditions in the city of New York.

"The Second Avenue Elevated Railway has, between the Harlem River and Twenty-third street, sufficient width for four tracks; and, between this street and the New York ter- minus of the bridge, for three tracks; and it is, withal, so strongly built as to make it entirely possible to utilize it to the full extent of giving to Brooklyn, and the system of rail- roads on Long Island an outlet through the Hudson River and New Haven roads to all parts of the country. This view contemplates no public or private concessions on the part of the city of New York. It rests simply upon that business theory which so strongly marks the great trunk lines of the country, and to which the Hudson River and New Haven roads are no strangers. Thoughi Brooklyn does not expect to rival the commercial grandeur of the greater city, she does expect in this way to be put in rapid and easy connection with the outside world, and, by her extended water-front, by her capability of indefinite territorial expansion, and by her numerous attractions as a place of residence, to maintain, at the least, her past record in the growth of population and wealth.

"Mr. Chairman, Brooklyn has another idea, and has long had it, the accomplishment of which she hopes will be facil- itated by this bridge. The Thames flows through the heart of London, and the Seine through the heart of Paris; but in neither case have you two cities. It is London on both sides of the Thames, and Paris on both sides of the Seine. The corporate unity is not dissevered by either river. Numerous bridges make the connection between the two sides in both cities; and it is best for both that it should be so. The popu- lation on neither side would be advantaged by being split up into two municipalities.

" Here, however, we have our New York city and our Brooklyn, with the East River rolling between them. They are distinct cities, in immediate contiguity with each other, and separated by a water highway. Is this distinctness of municipality any advantage to either? I think not. Would the consolidation of these two cities into one municipal cor-

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THE BROOKLYN OF TO-DAY, 1883.

poration be any harm to either? I think not. The people are the same people, have the same manners and customs, and have common commercial and social interests ; and one municipal government would serve them quite as well as two, and at far less cost. I know of no reason why this dis- tinctness should be continued other than the fact that it ex- ists; and I confess I see no good reason why it should exist at all. I may be mistaken, but I think that the public senti- ment of Brooklyn would cordially welcome a consolidation of the two cities under the title of New York. The East River Bridge, now superadded to the ferry system, will, as Brooklyn hopes, so affiliate the two in heart and sym- pathy, and so facilitate their mutual intercourse that both, without any special courtship on either side, will alike ask the Legislature of the State to enact the ceremony of a municipal marriage; and if this shall be done, then I venture to predict that each will be so happy and so well content with the other that neither will ever seek a divorce.

GEO. J. COLLINS, Alderman of the Second District (comprising the 3d, 4th, 7th, 11th, 13th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 23d Wards), was born in the city of New York in 1839, but has resided in the present 21st Ward since boyhood. He served creditably during the war of the rebellion; being promoted from the ranks for good conduct, and retiring at the close of the war as commanding officer of his company in the 127th Regiment N. Y. Volunteers. Has, since 1865, been a successful business man and member of the firm of Collins & Sesnon, blank-book manufacturers, New York city. Sixteen years ago he married Susan E., only daughter of the late Jeremiah Johnson Rappelyea, whose steel portrait and biography are found in this work. He, with his family, now occupy the Rappelyea house on Throop avenue. He is a trustee and treasurer

of the Throop avenue Presbyterian Church, trustee of the East Brooklyn Savings Bank and actively engaged in various local institutions.

JACOB DURYEE and his twin brother Isaac were born in the city of New York, October 5, 1818. He was engaged in the mahogany business many years. He joined the second company, 27th Regiment, National Guard, now the 7th, commanded by Captain Abram Duryee, now General. His father and two uncles were veterans in the war of 1812, and his grandfather was one of the victims of the Jersey prison ship and was buried at Vinegar Hill, near the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, L. I.

Young Duryee served with distinguished credit in the 27th and 7th Regiments. He was promoted Sergt .- Major for soldierly qualities and efficiency at camp Trumbull, New Haven, Conn. Having served his full term of service with fidelity and zeal, he was honorably discharged. He then joined the veteran corps of the 7th Regiment, of which he is now a uniformed and active member. When the rebellion broke out, he at once recruited and organized a company (H), Anderson Zouaves, 62d Regiment N.Y. Volunteers, which he commanded, and immediately proceeded to the front, under General McClellan.

Mr. Duryee married, at an early age, Miss Sarah Mills, of Brushville, whose mother was a Bergen, an honored and historic name in the annals of Long Island. He has been a resident of Brooklyn for forty years, and has one son, Luke Bergen, who possesses the mili- tary enthusiasm so characteristic of the family.

THE MUNICIPAL HISTORY

OF THE

CITY OF BROOKLYN,

1834-1884.

BY Imburator EsQ.

W ITH the close of the war of 1812, the little village of Brooklyn, then numbering about 4,500 inhabitants, manifested evident signs of growth and enterprise, which indicated that it was soon to spread beyond its original limits to the beautiful " Heights," above and around it; and that these would, in the process of time, become the site of a large commercial town. It required no particular prescience to foretell that this then unoccupied territory, with its great natural facilities for a harbor, wharves and ware- houses, stretching along the eastern shore of the river, would be made available sources of vast wealth and prosperity to the town.

At about the time of which we are writing, the more enterprising part of its citizens began to agitate the question of incorporating the village; but as, in the estimation of many of its citizens, the little town had done well enough for over a century and a half under the rule of the Town of Brooklyn, there was so much opposition to the proposed plan, that it was not until 1816 that the village of Brooklyn became a chartered municipality; therefore, the civic history of Brooklyn commenced sixty-eight years ago.

" At that time the village comprised the area em- braced by the East river, District street, (nearly the same as the present Atlantic street), up to Red Hook Lane, and a line drawn from Red Hook Lane to the City Park, and thence along the west side of the navy yard to the river." For eighteen years the village and town of Brooklyn were distinct organizations; the one a chartered village, the other an original town of Kings county, governed like its sister towns in the county. But, in 1834 the town and village of Brooklyn were united under one government, and Brooklyn became a city with a population of 23,310.

The Municipal History of the City of Brooklyn begins properly with the year 1834. For several years previous to that time the village had contained the requisite number of inhabitants to entitle it to be chartered as a city. Efforts to secure its charter were

repeatedly made, but owing to violent opposition they were frustrated. This opposition was from influential persons in the city of New York, whose influence with the legislature was sufficient to thwart all efforts to secure a city charter. Among the most prominent of these were Gideon Lee, Mayor of New York from 1833-34, Myndert Van Schaick and Alpheus Sherman, state senators. In those days a large num- ber of wealthy citizens of New York were owners of tracts of land in the upper part of the city, which had been divided into lots and thrown upon the market for sale; thus creating a combination of vast wealth and influence, headed by Messrs. Lee, Van Schaick and Sherman. The two latter gentlemen, from their position in the senate, were enabled, as we have said, for a long time to defeat any bill brought before the legislature chartering Brooklyn as a city. They were instigated by a desire to make and continue Brooklyn as a mere suburb of New York, fearing that its growth and the develop- ment of its landed resources would put them in compe- tition with their landed interests in New York. They knew that the incorporation of Brooklyn would largely promote its growth. Meantime, Brooklyn as a village was singularly hampered in its growth and develop- ment; for an instance: it could not open a street-no matter how necessary it might be for the convenience of the public-without the consent of the owners of the land through which it was to pass. There were also other equally embarrassing regulations which retarded its growth.

At length its citizens, wearied and exasperated by this factious opposition to their interests, united in a great meeting or convention, for the purpose of adopt- ing some measure to overcome it, and to agree upon the form of a proper charter.

Hon. John Greenwood was secretary of the conven- tion, and one of a committee to whom the whole matter was referred. To him was committed the duty of drawing a charter, which duty he discharged with singular ability. He attended the session of the next

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MUNICIPAL HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.

legislature in the interests of the charter, and notwith- standing the opposition of Senators Van Schaick and Sherman, backed by a strong lobby force, he succeeded in securing the enactment of some portion of the charter; that portion of it enabling Brooklyn to lay out streets where they were necessary, the power to do so being similar to the present authority in such cases. The act incorporating the City of Brooklyn passed both branches of the legislature, and became a law April 8th, 1834. By this act the corporation became known by the name of "The Mayor and Common Council of the City of Brooklyn."

The city was divided into nine wards. What was known as the five districts of the village of Brooklyn, as then laid out, were retained according to their boundaries, but were respectively numbered and designated as wards.

The Legislative Power of the city was vested in a Mayor and a Board of Aldermen, who together formed the Common Council; a majority of the whole number constituting a quorum for the transaction of business. Two aldermen were to be annually elected in each ward. No person but freeholders were eligi- ble to the office of alderman, and no person who had been elected an alderman while acting as such, could be mayor.

The Administrative Power under the First City Charter. - A Common Council met annually after the year 1834, on the first Monday of May of each year and elected a mayor by ballot. Previous to January 1st, 1851, the term of the mayor began May 1st. Since 1851, it has began with the civil year.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 132

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114