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 II, Part 81

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

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 II > Part 81

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The two vegetable stands were kept by Mrs. McCar- roll and Mrs. Watson, the latter of whom is now alive, aged 81 years. There was also one fish stand, run by Luke Mclaughlin, who was succeeded by Hugh MeLaugh- lin, ex-Register. In 1849-'50, the present market, south- east corner of Atlantic avenue and Hicks street, was erected by Jacob Frost, and, March 8th, 1850, was opened. Richard Dunn, of this city, bought the first pair of cattle killed for this market, and sold the first pound of beef retailed there. The weight of the cattle was 1,500 pounds and the cost, $108. There were 32 stands, occupied in part by Messrs. Dorset, Lowery, McIntyre, McMannis, Bennett, Curry, Nevins, Fisher, Weeks, Oswald, Bumpford, Hawes, Dwyer, Mackie, Martin and Dunn. The completion of the L. I. R. R., from Greenpoint to the foot of the avenue, in 1844, made it the central point for sale and purchasing of meats and farin products.

In 1859, the property-owners concerned, by purchase, got steam removed from the street, and the railroad was changed, in 1862, to Hunter's Point. The sales at this market, owing to the opening of so many private ones, as the city grew, are not so large as formerly. There was

972

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

no change in the mode of conducting business until 1883, when one-half of the market was leased to the Brooklyn Beef Company.

The Brooklyn Beef Company, Commission Mer- chants in Chicago Dressed Beef, Atlantic Market, Nos. 74 and 76 Atlantic street, received its first invoice of beef, and opened to the public, August 13th, 1883. The cattle are slaughtered at Chicago, by G. F. & E. C. Swift, whose daily business is 1,500 head. Their manager in this city is W. H. Noyes, to whom we are indebted for those facts. He reports the results satisfactory in all respects. After allowing for escape of animal heat, the carcases are shipped in refrigerator cars to this city, the trip taking three days. The first week they engaged in business here, they sold 100 head of cattle; the second, 200 head; and are now selling 300 head weekly. In February, 1884, they opened a branch at Williamsburg, which now has a trade of 200 head weekly.

There are killed in Brooklyn, weekly: 1,150 head of cattle, average weight, 750 lbs .; 3,500 head of sheep and lambs; 600 calves, from March to July: 200 calves, from July to December; 75 calves, from December to March. A large portion of the city's consumption is purchased in the New York city markets. No hogs to any amount are slaughtered in Kings county.

Brooklyn has long felt the need of a public market, where its retail trade can be furnished with those sup- plies of provisions for which it is yet so largely depend- ent upon the city of New York. The great bulk of the Long Island produce is to-day, as it has been for years, passing directly past the doors of the Brooklyn re- tailers and consumers, and over the ferries to New York, simply because it finds no suitable place here, where it can be received and held for distribution among our own community. Brooklyn desires to be, and naturally is, the depot for the sale of large and valuable island products; and its population could probably dispose of it all, with the proper management. Yet it goes over to New York, passing by the very doors of those for whom it is really designed, and who are obliged to follow it and then purchase it in a very deteriorated condition, and at a largely enhanced price. Brooklyn's citizens thus lose, also, the benefits of the trade which would naturally result, if the farmers had the op- portunity of spending among them the money received from the sales of this produce. The Prospect Park Commissioners, in 1869, urgently recommended that the City Park, in the Wallabout, bounded by Park and Flushing avenues, and Navy and Park streets (always a desolate, unattractive place, and eminently unsuitable for the purposes of public recreation), be converted into a public market.

Within the past year, there has been a renewed agi- tation by marketmen, retailers and others, and in the public press of Brooklyn, in regard to the establishment of a public market in this locality, which shall be com-

mensurate with the wants of this great city. In an article discussing the project, the Eagle says:

"If the city is to have a market it becomes important to know what Long Island farmers are likely to bring there to sell. The dairies would send 3,000,000 quarts of milk, 1,000,- 000 pounds of butter, and only a small quantity of cheese. The articles could be greatly increased. Suffolk county's dairy interests are hardly worth mentioning, but they could be made to exceed these of Queens without much efforts in the preparation of pasture lands. There are in Queens 7,500 cows, and 15,000 acres of pasture. Suffolk, on the other hand, has 50,000 acres of pasture land and only 9,000 cows. That is at the rate of five and a half acres to each cow. It needs but the addition of stock in Suffolk to increase the milk supply to 6,000,000 quarts and the butter supply in a corresponding ratio. In the vegetable line, these two counties market an- nually 5,000 bushels of peas, 2,000 bushels of beans, and Kings county produces about as much more. Potatoes form the staple crop. The yield of Kings county farms is about 600,000 bushels; of Queens, 800,000, and Suffolk 475,000 bush- els. The orchards yield 338,000 bushels of apples, and 20,000 gallons of cider are manufactured. The grapes sent to mar- ket weigh 200,000 pounds. Kings county farmers do not en- gage extensively in poultry breeding, but this is an extensive industry in the other counties. Queens markets $75,000 worth, sending 800 lambs and 3,500 poultry and $60,000 worth of eggs; Suffolk, $85,000 worth of poultry and $10,000 worth of eggs. The quantity of dressed meat sent from farms to market is, in Suffolk, 1,000 lambs and 11,000 ewine. A good many more are slaughtered for home consumption. To these crops are to be added such other products as cabbage, per- snips, carrots, celery, beets, spinach, rhubarb, asparagus, cauliflower, tomatoes, turnips and corn. A great hay mar- ket would be an important feature of the Wallabout system. The city could secure honest weight; for consumers are being swindled at the rate of three hundred pounds to every ton. Stablemen insist on being feed, and the speculator takes double the sum out of the pocket of the purchaser. There does not appear to be any secret about it. Kings county does not produce half as much hay as is consumed. Queens has 50,000 tons of hay to spare every year, and Suffolk, 65,- 000 tons. Suffolk is more essentially a hay-growing district. It costs less to produce hay and market it than any other crop. Brooklyn gets nearly the entire crop. King shas 9,110 acres in farms; Queens has 117,686 acres; and Suffolk, 156,760 acres, with 250,000 acres waiting to be tilled. The gross sales annually are: Kings, $1,000,000; Queens, $3,125,000; Suffolk, $1,600,000. It will be seen that those three agricultural coun- ties can furnish the products of a market business represent- ing $5,825,000 annually. It is claimed that the present yield can be increased six-fold. The above synopsis does not include the fisheries. The product of the ocean and bay, not including oysters, is estimated at half a million dollars an- nually. A great part of these products would find their way to the Wallabout. The oyster industry represents a million dollars a year, but only a small part of the oyster crop would go to the Wallabout. During the winter season the cod-fish catch amouuts to hundreds of tons, but taking the busi- ness the year round, and calculating the various species, it is safe to say that the fish market is equal to 250 tons a week.

The market fee in New York is 25 cents per day for each wagon, and the farmers of Long Island pay into the muni- cipal treasury over $100,000 each year. A business of $10,000,- 000 could be carried on in a market at the Wallabout, within two years from the date of its establishment."

THE

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS

KINGS COUNTY AND BROOKLYN.

Brooklyn Orphan Asylum,-In the summer of 1832, the city was visited by the cholera; and, among the disastrous consequences to be laid to its account, was the homeless con- dition of a number of children whose parents died of the epidemic. Their forlorn state excited the sympathy of some good people, who, after consultation, proceeded to act in the matter by organizing, on the 17th of May, 1833, the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum, the first institution of its kind in the city. Among the ladies engaged in the work were Mrs. Charles Richards, Mrs. Elizabeth Davison, Mrs. Phoebe Butler and Mrs. P. W. Radcliffe. They were aided by the Rev. Dr. Cutler, who had that year taken charge of St. Ann's Church, Judge Radcliffe, Adrian Van Sinderen, Esq., Judge Lefferts, and other gentlemen. The first residence of the Society was the old Jackson house, on the Heighte. It stood on the bank, a little north of the line of Pierrepont street, and was entered from Willow street by a lane bordered with Lombardy poplars, that-passing by a vege- table garden, lying where the roadway of Columbia Heighte rune -led around to the west side of the house. It was a Dutch maneion, the lower part of stone, the upper of scalloped wooden shingles, low-pitched and some 60 feet in length, and was of ante-Revolutionary War date. The front, with its three entrance doors, was toward the river, and of the interior there are still relics in some blue and white tiles from the fire-places, preserved by a family in the neighbor- hood.

The affairs of the Asylum at this time were in charge of a board of thirty-five ladies, who superintended domestic mat- ters, while seven well-known gentlemen acted in the capacity of Advisory Board. Fourteen boys and twelve girls consti-

tuted the family during the first year ; $837.69 paid the bills, and one cow supplied milk for the household. It seems as if the managers of fifty years ago had an easy task, but there are more to hear the heavier burden of to-day. The Asylum has now a host of friends, who give to it systematically. The boys, objects of solicitude in this generation, were gener- ally so in that. It was as difficult to keep them busy, when tempted to roll down the bank to get at the river (Furman street not then being opened), as it is to keep their success- ors from scaling the wall, to reach the ponds near by. "Times are changed," but neither boys, nor other of the chief prob- lems in managing, are changed with them.

In 1839, the main part of the Cumberland street building, long occupied by the Society, was com- pleted ; in 1851 it was added to, affording then accommodation for 130 children.

Dr. Cox and Mr. Gough lectured for the cause ; Fanny Kemble read, and Jenny Lind sang for it. Once a month Dr. Bud- dington preached the children a sermon, which they unfeignedly en- joyed. Now and again they had the delight of a picnic, or Christmas treat, or anniversary feast, where the aim of their entertainers evi- dently was to ascertain how much cake the orphans could eat. The population of Brooklyn, numbered in 1833 at 20,000, gained apace, and the necessity of a still larger Asylum long pressed on the Managers, who had to deny many worthy ap- plicants. At length the matter was taken in hand, and a number of lots were secured at the corner of Atlantic and Kingston avenues. On December 1st, 1870, the corner-stone of the present building was laid, and vigorous efforts in be- half of the enterprise were made thenceforward by all con- nected with it. The ladies developed new talent as financiers;

BROOKLYN ORPHAN ASYLUM.

974

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

the gentleman gave and asked others to follow the example. It was not easy to provide for the heavy expense incurred, and yet it was punctually done. Every exigency was met, every dollar paid when it was due. The work was carried in this prudent way to its conclusion; and on "opening day," June 15th, 1872, the Society was relieved, by the kindness of a watchful benefactor, from a mortgage, its only remaining liability. The building stands in the center of the grounds, and is regarded as a model, not only of exterior architectural beauty, but of taste and adaptation in its interior arrange- ments. Its cost was $210,000; it has ample accommodation for 400 orphans, but additional room is already needed. The institution is supported by an endowment, bequests, and specific donations, and by contributions from the charitable.

During the half century, four ladies have filled the office of Directress : Mrs. Charles Richards, Mrs. Phoebe Butler, Mrs. James L. Morgan, and, for the past twenty years, Mrs. John B. Hutchinson, whose care for the children's welfare in body and soul takes no rest. It is estimated that, from the beginning, the Ayslum's aid has been given to nearly 5,000 children, through whom its influence is now sown broadcast in the land. Many of them have returned to their friends and been heard of no more. A number are known to have been useful and respected in the various departments of life, from preachers and teachers down to the humblest vocations. One of the boys, so crippled that he was limited in his exer- tions for a livelihood to selling papers, did this in an honest way that gained him favor, and enabled him to lay by $700, which at his death he left to the Asylum, with the words, " To the Orphan Asylum I am indebted for all that I am and all that I have; it has been both father and mother to me." With those placed in homes selected for them, correspond- ence, as far as practicable, is maintained by the Chairman of the Adoption and Indenture Committee, and frequent letters come, telling of contentment and gratitude.

The OFFICERS for 1884 are as follows : First Directress, Mrs. J. B. Hutchinson; Second Directress, Mrs. Anna C. Field; Recording Secretary, Mrs. P. P. Sherwood; Corresponding Secretary, Miss V. Sampson; Treasurer, Mrs. Peter Palmer. The Board of Advisors consists of Hon. S. B. Chittenden, J. B. Hutchinson, Abraham Wyckoff, Franklin Woodruff, C. M. Field, Jonathan Ogden, A. H. Dana, J. G. Morgan, F. A. Crocker, J. W. Elwell, J. W. Mason and J. L. Truslow. The Board of Finance consists of Messrs. J. W. Mason, A. H. Dana and J. W. Elwell. The Counsel for the association is A. H. Dana.

The Brooklyn Bureau of Charities was organized in 1879 with the following officers : Seth Low, President; Alfred T. White, Secretary; Darwin R. James, Treasurer.

The objects of this Society are:

1. To secure the co-operation of the benevolent societies, churches, and individuals of Brooklyn, that they may work with an understanding of the exact conditions and needs of every case.

2. To obtain and diffuse knowledge on all subjects con- nected with the relief of the poor, so that all relief may be of the kind best adapted to the needs of each case, and ad- ministered in the best possible manner.

3. To encourage thrift, self-dependence and industry through friendly intercourse, advice and sympathy, and to aid the poor to help themselves rather than to help them by alms, raising them as speedily as possible above the need of relief.

4. To prevent imposition, and to diminish vagrancy and pauperism and their attendant evils.

This Society seeks to aid all benevolent societies, churcheg and individuals to attain the highest aims of charity and

thereby the truest welfare of the poor. It neither solicits or receives funds for the purpose of alms-giving.

The Society consists of the following, ex-officiis: The Minis- ters of all Churches, the Mayor, the State Commissioner of Charities for Kings County, the Commissioner of Charities of Kings County, the Heads of City Departments, and Cap- tains of Police Precincts ; of the officers, managing boards and agents of all charitable organizations, and all physicians who are connected with dispensaries, or do gratuitous service among the poor. Membership is obtained by any who con- tribute to the support of the Bureau. District Conferences are established in each Ward with an Executive Committee, who keep a register of all needy cases in their district, and assist in visiting and relieving the poor. Mr Low was suc- ceeded as President by Alfred T. White.

The OFFICERS for 1883-'84 are as follows: Manly A. Ruland, President; I. H. Cary, Jr., Rec. Secretary; Darwin R. James, Treasurer ; Geo. B. Buzelle, Gen'l Secretary; M. Bennett, E. D. Berri, J. O. Carpenter, I. H. Cary, Jr., S. B. Chittenden, Jr., G. B. Forrester, D. R. James, D. A. Kendall, F. T. King, M. A. Ruland, A. F. Smith, F. F. Underhill, J. D. Welle, D.D., A. T. White, Executive Committee.

Evangelical Home for the Aged .- The friends of the Ger- man Evangelical Aid Society determined to build a home for the aged. They bought 14 city lots on the south-west corner of Bushwick avenue and Fairfax street. They rented the house, No. 79 Himrod street, for their immediate use, and the corner-stone of the new Home was laid October 15, 1882. On the 19th of February, 1883, the new building was occu- pied. The house is large and well suited to the wants of the Society. It now contains 43 inmates. Those desirous of en- tering the Home as inmates are required to pay $500, if able. If not able, they pay according to their means; the majority being received entirely without money. The institution is supported by the charitable among the German Evangelical Churches. The OFFICERS for 1883-'4 are as follows: Rev. J. M. Wagner, President; Rev. J. Weber, Secretary; of the Board of Managers, Mrs. M. A. Miller is First Directress; Mrs. M. Wied, Second Directress; Mrs. E. Hehr and Mrs. M. Krapf, Secretaries; Mrs. P. Achterrath, Treasurer.

The Brooklyn Home for Aged Men .- In 1877, Mrs. Mary G. Brinkerhoff, Mrs. J. G. Wilbur and Mrs. Mary E. Whiton found, in what had purported to be a Faith Home for old men, in Grand avenue, near Atlantic, seven aged men in a suffering condition. They, with five others who became in- terested in the work, cared for these men during five months at their own expense. In 1878, they became incorporated under the above name. Soon after their incorporation, Mr. Frederick Marquand presented to the Society the undivided half of the house in which the Home was established-84 State street. This house was valued at $10,000. To it these men were removed, and others have been added, till it is now quite full. Its present capacity is twenty. Mrs. Mary G. Brinkerhoff was the first President, followed by the present President, Mrs. Lucien Birdseye. The other OFFICERS for 1883-'4 are: Mrs. H. W. Wheeler, Mrs. John Winslow, Vice- Presidents ; Mrs. A. F. Kibbe, Mrs. J. H. Williams, Secre- taries; Mrs. J. N. Bergen, Treasurer.

The Brooklyn Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor (108 Livingston street) was formed in 1843. The Presidents of the Society, up to the present time, have been Seth Low, 1843-'52; John H. Brower, pro tem, Stephen Crowell, 1854-'56; George Hall, 1857-'62; R. W. Ropes, 1863 to 1884. The General Agents, during the same period, have been : Stephen Crowell, 1843-'52; Samuel G. Arnold, 1853 ; Luther Eames, 1854-'60; Rev. Samuel Bayliss, from 1861 to October 12, 1876, when David H. Hawkins was elected.

CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.

975

Mr. Hawkins died in Spring of 1879, and, on October 13th of that year, Albert A. Day was elected, and continues to fill the office. This Association aims to improve the condition of the poor, morally as well as physically, by relieving their immediate necessities, and by giving them such advice, re- lief or encouragement as the several cases seem to require. Accordingly, it usually excludes from its benefits those of intemperate, or confirmed vicious, or indolent habits ; those who, from disease, imbecility, old age, or other causes, are likely to be permanently dependent (such persons would be better cared for in various public institutions), as well as such as are, or ought to be, provided for by relatives, churches

men of wealth and influence, each of whom has a district containing from fifty to a hundred families, which he can- vasses thoroughly during the months of November, Decem- ber and January. The work of distribution is carried on through an experienced corps of paid Ward agents (under the superintendence of the General Agent), who visit each applicant and investigate the case before giving an order for assistance.

The Association has its own storehouses, and purchases the supplies disbursed at wholesale. The Thirty-fifth Annual Report shows such disbursements made, at a cost of 81% per cent. of the value of the goods disbursed. From six to eight

A.D.1843

ASSOCIATION FOR IMPR

VING

THE CONDITION OF THE DOOR

1882

THE PRESENT BUILDING, 108 LIVINGSTON ST.

or other associations with which they may be connected ; recent emigrants (who properly come under the care of the Commissioners of Emigration); and those whose long-con- tinued poverty render them unquestionably fit subjects for the Superintendents of the Poor. In fact, it aims to confine its labors, as nearly as possible, to those whose poverty is caused by temporary reverses, which they may rise above; and those whose condition may be elevated by judicious assistance and advice. The society has no permanent fund, but depends entirely upon annual contributions. The collec- tions are made by voluntary unpaid solicitors, usually well- known residents of the district where they solicit, and often

FIRST BUILDING OF THE ASSOCIATION. (In rear of present one).

thousand families are assisted each year. During the past six years, a very thorough and accurate system of business, in all the details of this work, has been inaugurated and is now maintained. The last Annual Report shows a disburse- ment for the current year of over $29,000.

The original OFFICERS, in 1843, were: Seth Low, Pres .; C. P. Smith, John Greenwood, Henry C. Murphy, William Rockwell, Henry N. Conklin, Vice-Presidents; Abraham Halsey, Treas .; James How, Rec. Sec .; Stephen Crowell, Cor. Sec. and Gen. Agt., office, Brooklyn Institute, Wash- ington street; with a Board of Managers, consisting of five representatives from seven Wards, and eight elected members.

976

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

THE GRAHAM INSTITUTION.

The Brooklyn Society for the Relief of Respectable Aged Indigent Females, more popularly known as the Old Ladies' Home (or more familiarly as the Graham Institution), and designed for the benefit of poor gentlewomen who had been unfitted, by previous culture and refinement, to accept will- ingly the public asylum provided by the State for the poor indiscriminately, was first suggested in 1850. At a public meeting, held at Rev. Dr. S. H. Cox's church, in January, 1851, the project took a definite form; a building site, corner of Washington and DeKalb avenues, valued at $4,000, was presented by Mr. John B. Graham, and it was calculated that a proper building would be completed within sixteen months from that time ; Mr. Graham offering, during the meantime, to furnish relief at their own homes, to all applicants for ad- mission. The co-operation of twenty-six different (orthodox) congregations was secured, and the enterprise was thus placed on an unsectarian basis. A charter was obtained, the building commenced, and the corner-stone was laid on the 1st of July, 1851. The architect's report, read on that oc- casion, stated that the edifice would accommodate ninety old ladies, and would contain a chapel, hospital, committee- rooms, etc., at a probable cost of $22,000; Mr. Graham pledg- ing himself for its completion in 1852, and the amount to be raised by personal application to the citizens of Brooklyn. The Society failing, however, to raise the sum within the stipulated time, Mr. Graham, with his accustomed liberality, assumed the responsibility of the undertaking, and carried it on to completion, at a cost of $29,044.95. He then presented it to the Society, and it was dedicated to its beneficent uses on the 26th of October, 1852. Mr. Graham's original gift to this Society was $13,044.95, together with his time, labor, and many smaller but valuable aids to its success. It was his re- peatedly avowed intention to build handsome dwellings upon the two side lots, and give the rents of the same, yearly, to the institution; and also, to free the building from debt, by an already prepared deed to that effect. But whilst, with pen in hand, calling upon his clerk to hand him this deed, death closed his fingers in its icy grasp. This left the managers under very discouraging circumstances, struggling through each year, as best they could, with scarce a hope left for the relief of the institution, and dependent upon the uncertain support of public charity. In the year 1855, it was thought best to appeal to the public, through the pastors of the dif- ferent churches represented by the management, for the

means wherewith to cancel the mortgage and its accumu- lated interest. This plan proved entirely successful, and the institution, since that time, has been crowned with success sufficient to promise its permanent and honorable position as one of the most valuable charities of Brooklyn. In 1862, the sum of $5,000, given by the estate of the late Wm. H. Cary, furnished a nucleus, which, with additions of various sums from individuals, both living and deceased, formed a permanent fund, the interest of which was applied to the support of the inmates. With the exception of $1,500 from the State Legislature, no aid was received from any public body ; annual subscriptions and donations have been ite de- pendence.

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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 II, Part 81

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345