The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time, Part 33

Author: Weise, Arthur James, 1838-1910 or 11. cn
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Albany : E.H. Bender
Number of Pages: 620

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time > Part 33

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

Commissioners, and other respectable citizens. The site on which the edifice is to be erected is at the head of State Street, on the west side of the public square. It is to be built of stone-is 100 feet by 80-on an improved plan, embracing much elegance with great convenience and durability."

The commissioners, in March, 1808, made a report that the sum of sixty-nine thousand dollars had been received by them for the erection of the building, of which they had expended sixty-seven thousand six hundred and eighty-eight dollars. They estimated that the further sum of twenty-five thousand dollars would be needed to complete the structure. The legislature therefore voted an appropriation of that amount to complete the state -- house. In 1809, another appropriation of five thousand dollars was made to defray the expenses incurred in "procuring the necessary furniture for the rooms in the said house for the accommodation of the legislature, and towards furnishing of the said building." Subsequently in 1809, a similar sum was appropriated "for the com- pletion of the public building in the city of Albany, which building shall hereafter be denominated The Capitol."

In 1805, the congregation of the Reformed Protestant Dutch church, worshipping in the old edifice at the in- tersection of State and Market streets, having determined to erect a new house of worship on Beaver Street, sold the old building for five thousand dollars to the city. In the spring of 1806, the demolition of the old church was begun. Several of the wealthy families had placed me- morial windows in the church, and parts of these were now eagerly secured as valued relics.1 The pulpit, the church Bible, the weather-vane, the sand-glass, and a

1 The Van Rensselaer window was embellished with the armorial bear- ings of the family, and contained the inscription : " Jan Baptist Van Rens- selaer, Directevr der Colonie Rensselaer Wyck 1656." That of the Schuylers

PROTESTANT. DUTCH CHURCH

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

number of other articles are still preserved as curious mementos.

The laying of the corner-stone of the new church was thus referred to in the Gazette of Thursday, the first of May, 1806 : "Yesterday the corner stone of the South Dutch church in this city was laid by the Rev. Mr. Brad- ford-This church, in its plan and style, is much the same as that of St. Paul's church in New York, and when finished will probably be the most elegant of any in this part of the State. It is situated upon the old cemetery, between Beaver and Hudson streets, which has a front of about 100 feet upon both. Its dimensions are 102 feet in length, including the steeple and portico, by 66 in breadth. This church and the new State House now erecting, together with the removal of the old Gothic structure, which lately incommoded our streets, will in some degree show the extent and rapidity of our improvements."

John Fitch of Bucks County, Pennsylvannia, having represented to the legislature of the state of New York that he had discovered "an easy and expeditious method of impelling boats through the water by the force of steam," was vested, on the nineteenth of March, 1787, with the exclusive right of "navigating all and every species of kind of boats or water-craft," that could be impelled by steam, for fourteen years, "in all creeks, rivers, bays and waters " in the state of New York. This privilege, however, was annulled by an act of the legislature, passed the twenty-seventh of March, 1798. By the latter act, Robert R. Livingston was granted the same rights that had been obtained by John Fitch, and contained those of that family and the inscription : " Filijp Pietersen Schuijler, Commissaris 1656." That of the Herbertsen family, besides the coat of arms, bore the inscription : " Andries Herbertsen, Commissaris, 1657."

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the time given to Robert R. Livingston was "extended for the term of twenty years from the passage of this act. In 1803, another act was passed in which the rights and privileges of the act of 1798 were to be extended to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton for the term of twenty years.

Under the provisions of these acts the steam-boat Clermont was constructed. It was launched from the ship-yard of Charles Brown, on the East River, in the spring of 1807. The engines were made by Boulton & Watt, in Birmingham, England. The boat was one hundred feet long, twelve wide, and seven deep.

The following advertisement was inserted in the Albany Gazette, on the second of September, 1807, re- specting the navigation of the Hudson by the Clermont :

" The North river steamboat will leave Pauler's Hook Ferry on Friday, the 4th of September, at 9 in the morn- ing, and arrive at Albany on Saturday, at 9 in the after- noon. Provisions, good berths, and accommodations are provided. The charge to each passenger is as fol- lows :

" To Newburgh $3 00

To Poughkeepsie 4 00

To Esopus 5 00

To Hudson

5 50

To Albany

7 00

Time, 14 hours.

"For places, apply to Wm. Vandervoort, No. 48 Courtlandt Street, on the corner of Greenwich Street. Way passengers to Tarry-Town, &c., &c., will apply to the captain on board. The steamboat will leave Albany on Monday, the 7th of September, at 9 in the morning, and arrive in New York on Tuesday at 9 in the evening. She will leave New York on Wednesday morning at 9, and arrive at Albany on Thursday at 9 in the evening.

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

She will leave Albany on Friday morning at 9, and ar- rive at New York on Saturday evening at 9-thus per- forming two voyages from Albany and one from New York within the week. On Monday, the 14th, and on Friday, the 18th, she will leave New York at 9 in the morning, and Albany on the 16th at 9 in the morning, after which the arrangements for her departure will be announced. For passage apply at the Tontine coffee house, Stebbins's stage house, or to the captain on board, where a book will be kept to enter names."

The departure of the Clermont from New York, on Friday, the fourth of September, and her arrival at Al- bany are thus spoken of by a New York newspaper and the Albany Gazette, the latter having taken the first paragraph from the former :

"North River Steamboat .- This morning at 6 o'clock Mr. Fulton's steamboat left the ferry stairs at Courtlandt street dock for Albany. She is to make her passage in 36 hours from the time of her departure, touching at Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Esopus, and Hudson in her way. We understand she had 24 passengers.

"The steamboat arrived at Albany on Saturday fore- noon, and this morning [the seventh of September] at 9 o'clock again departed for New York with about 40 ladies and gentlemen passengers."

The side-wheels of the Clermont were at first un covered. Each wheel had twelve paddles. The top of the smoke-stack was about thirty feet above the deck. The boat had two masts, fore and aft, bearing square sails when the wind was fair. Her boiler was of copper, and about eight feet long. In 1808, she was length- ened to one hundred and fifty feet, and widened eighteen, and her name changed to the North River

In 1809, the Car of Neptune was built and began to

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

"The steamboat arrived at Albany on Saturday fore- noon, and this morning [the seventh of September] at 9 o'clock again departed for New York with about 40 ladies and gentlemen passengers."

In 1809, the Car of Neptune was built and began to

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

ply between New York and Albany. In 1811, the Hope, the Perseverance, and the North River were plying be- tween the two cities. In 1812, the Paragon, the Car of Neptune, and the North River were the boats running on the Fulton and Livingston line.

In 1812, the steamboat Fire-fly began running between Albany and Troy ; leaving Troy at seven o'clock in the morning and at one in the afternoon. Ten o'clock in the morning and four o'clock in the afternoon were the hours of her departure from Albany.

The exhibition of a male and female tiger from Asia at the Thespian hotel, in Pearl street, in November, 1808, was attended by a large number of citizens, who had been "invited to lose no time in visiting these extraordinary animals, as there never was and probably never would be exhibited animals so worthy of their attention."

When in November, 1809, the bell was taken from the belfrey of the court-house, on the northeast corner of Court and Hudson streets, and placed in the one on the capitol, the common council, deeming that the in- habitants were "in a great measure deprived of the benefit of the 12 and 8 o'clock bell, which, by ancient custom," had "been established and continued " in the city, ordered the bell in the North church to be rung at those hours, in the manner and for the same length of time as had been the custom to ring the bell of the old church formerly at the intersection of Market and State streets.

A plat of ground, at the corner of Lutheran (Howard) and Eagle streets, having been selected as the site for a prison and county-jail, the work of laying the foundation was begun in the spring of 1810. On Monday, the thir- tieth of July, the mayor, Philip S. van Rensselaer, laid the corner-stone, in the presence of the common council

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

and a number of interested citizens. The building was to be sixty-two feet square, and three stories high.

The incorporation of a third bank was the subject of considerable discussion in the newspapers in March, 1811. The projectors of the institution having petitioned the legislature to pass an act incorporating them and their associates as a company under the name of the Mechan- ics' and Farmers' Bank, the Albany Register thus speaks of their application :

"Those who apply for this institution are generally mechanics and middling traders, whose wealth is the fruit of their honest industry, and whose talents and integrity in their pursuits entitle them to the patronage of an enlightened legislature. To our fellow mechanics then, of the city of Albany, we recommend a cordial union in support of an institution calculated for their good, and for the fairness and liberality of whose operations they have a sufficient pledge in the integrity of those with whom the plan originated, who have brought it to its present state of maturity, and have been the first to step forward and claim for it the sanction of the legislature. It is no child of party, no offspring of mo- nopolizing speculation, but has its origin solely in a regard for the common good of those who if they did not pro- tect their own rights, will look in vain for their pro- tection from any other source."

The petition of the projectors was complied with, and the legislature, on the twenty-second of March, 1811, passed "an act to incorporate the stockholders of the Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank in the city of Albany." The name under which the institution was to do business until the first of June, 1831, was that of "the president, directors and company of the Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank in the city of Albany." The bank was to be under

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

the management of thirteen directors, "a majority of whom, at least," were to "be practical mechanics." The directors were required by the act to elect one of their number annually as president of the bank, who was to be a mechanic. The capital stock, exclusive of that subscribed by the state, was not to exceed six hun- dred thousand dollars. The first directors named in the act were : Benjamin Knower, John Bryan, Elisha Dorr, Solomon Southwick, Spencer Stafford, Isaac Denniston, Benjamin van Benthuysen, William Fowler, George Merchant, Thomas Lennington, Giles W. Porter, Willard Walker, and Walter Weed.

At a meeting, held in the Columbian hotel, on Court Street, on Monday, the first of June, 1812, all the per- sons named in the act were elected directors of the bank except Spencer Stafford and John Bryan, Peter Boyd and Isaac Hutton being elected instead of them. Im- mediately thereafter the directors elected Solomon South- wick president, and Gorham A. Worth, cashier of the bank. The banking-house near the northeast corner of Court street and Mark Lane, was known as No. 6, Court Street, and was next door north of the bank of Albany, No. 8 Court Street.

The act incorporating the Albany Insurance Company was passed the eighth of March, 1811. The number of shares were not to exceed five thousand ; each share being one hundred dollars. The directors named in the act were : Elisha Jenkins, Philip S. van Rensselaer, Isaiah Townsend, Dudley Walsh, Henry Guest, jr., Charles Z. Platt, Simeon De Witt, Stephen Lush, Charles D. Cooper, Thomas Gould, John Woodworth, Peter Gansevoort, and Christian Miller.

The Albany Lancaster School Society was incor- porated by an act of the legislature passed the twenty

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

sixth of May, 1812. The school was to be conducted on the plan suggested by Joseph Lancaster of England. William A. Tweed Dale was made principal of the school, which was first conducted in the upper part of the Mechanics' Society building, on the northwest corner of Chapel and Columbia streets. In 1815 the erection of a school building was begun on the southwest corner of Eagle and Tiger (Lancaster) streets. The building is now known as the Albany Medical College. It was formally opened on the fifth of April, 1817. In 1834, the school conducted in it was discontinued.

On the eighth of November, 1812, when Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry passed through the city from Lake Erie, he was presented in the capitol with an elegant sword and the freedom of the city in a gold-box by the patriotic citizens. The commodore was entertained at the Eagle tavern during his brief stay in the city. On the twenty-eighth of the same month, Captain Buckley's company of Albany volunteers and Captain Walker's artillery company returned to the city, after an absence of three months on Staten Island. The citizens of Al- bany, during the war of 1812, established a fund of many thousand dollars to encourage the enlistment of men in the several companies raised in the city. The Albany regiment won considerable distinction for its achievements during the war. Lieutenant-colonel Mills, one of its brave officers, was killed in an engagement at Sackett's Harbor.

For a number of years different theatrical companies had given performances in the Assembly room, known as Angus' Long room, in Pearl Street. The first edifice used especially for a theatre was erected on the west side of Green Street, near Hamilton Street, in 1812. It was built of brick; its dimensions were fifty-six by

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

one hundred and ten feet. It was opened on the night of the eighteenth of January, 1813, under the manage- ment of John Bernard, a well-known English actor from Boston, the plays being The West Indian and Fortune's Frolic. The opening address, spoken by Mr. Southey, was written for the occasion by Solomon South- wick, one of the editors of the Albany Register.

The long and distinguished career of the Albany Argus began on Tuesday, the twenty-sixth of January, 1813, when Jesse Buel, a professional printer and an able journalist published the first number of the paper. A bold aggressiveness in the field of politics is declared in the prospectus : "The character of the Albany Argus will be decidedly Republican. It will support with zeal the National Administration, in the arduous conflict in which it is now engaged, in support of our national rights, sovereignty and independence, against the enemy who has allied himself with the savages of America and the pirates of Algiers. It will advocate a vigorous prose- cution of the war, until the wrongs of our seamen are redressed, their rights recognized, and our commerce freed from European shackles." The paper was "printed on Tuesdays and Fridays, in Store-Lane, between Wash- ington and Green streets." The publication of the Al- bany Argus as a daily paper began on the eighteenth of August, 1825.

The first Albany directory, edited and compiled by Joseph Fry, was published by Websters and Skinners, in June, 1813. It was a pamphlet of sixty pages and contained about sixteen hundred and forty names.

In 1813, a second congregation of Presbyterians was formed, and the erection of a church begun on the west side of Chapel Street, between Pine Street and Maiden Lane. The Rev. William Neill laid the corner-stone on

THE HISTORY OF ALBANY. 443

Monday, the eleventh of October, in the presence of a large number of interested persons. The stone building was to be sixty-eight by ninety-nine feet, including the tower, The four trustees were : James Kane, John L. Winne, Nathanael Davis, Joseph Russell, and Roderick Sedgwick. On Sunday, the third of September, 1815, the church was dedicated, the Rev. William Neill preach- ing an appropriate sermon. Ninety pews were sold on the following Tuesday, from which the church obtained more than thirty-five thousand dollars.

In 1813, the Methodists erected a meeting-house on Division street. The church was dedicated on the nine- teenth of December of that year.

The distinguished scholar, Horatio Gates Spafford, in his Gazetteer of the state of New York, printed at No. 94, State Street, by H. C. Southwick, in 1813, thus speaks of the site, appearance, and business of the city at that time :

" A low alluvial flat extends along the river, and in the rear of this rises the river-hill, abruptly, to near the height of the plain which extends to Schenectady. This flat is from 15 to 100 rods wide ; and the hill, which is composed of alternate strata of fine blue fetid clay and silicious sand, though deeply gullied by some small water-courses, rises, within ¿ mile of the river in the direction of State-Street, till it gains an elevation of 153 feet ; thence, for another half mile, the ascent is about 60 ; making about 220 feet above the level of the river in the distance of 1 mile. * *

"Agreeable to the Census of 1810, the whole popu- lation of the City of Albany was 9356, of which number were 4444 white males, 4157 white females, 501 other free persons not taxed, and 254 slaves ; and the whole number of houses within the city 1450.

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

"There are now at Albany about 12, 000 inhabitants, 1800 houses and stores, many of which are very exten- sive, large and elegant, and a large proportion of which are of brick, 10 houses for public worship, the Capitol or State-House, and another for the public Offices, an old City-Hall, an elegant new jail, the old one of brick, which is to be demolished, 3 banks, with 2 elegant bank- ing-houses, an alms-house, a mechanic hall, Uranian- hall, library-house, a powder-house belonging to the state, and one also for the city, a large state arsenal for public stores, 2 market-houses, a theatre now building, and many elegant private mansions and gentlemen's seats, with a great variety of manufactories, some of which are very extensive.

" Of the shipping belonging to Albany, I am not pre- cisely informed ; but agreeable to information derived from the Dock-Master, there are 50 Albany sloops that pay wharfage by the year ; 60 belonging to Troy, Lan- singburgh and Waterford; 26 from Tarry-Town and New York ; 70 from New Jersey and the Eastern States, including 20 schooners ; in all 206 ;- and about 150 from dfferent places have paid wharfage by the day, being engaged in different kinds of trade, during the season of 1812 :- making a total number of 356.

"The quantity of wheat purchased annually in Al- bany, is immensely great ; and good judges have esti- mated it at near a million bushels. Other grain, and every article of the agricultural and other common pro- ducts of this country, nearly in the same proportion, swell the aggregate of exports from this city to an enormous amount. It will be observed that the great roads of communication between the Eastern States and the Western Country, centre more extensive intercourse at Albany, than at any other place between the Eastern

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

and Western sections of the Union. And it is doubted if there be a place on this continent which is daily visited by so many teams ; and Albany probably possesses greater wealth, more real capital, than any other place in the United States, containing the same population.

"There are three banking companies in this city, the Bank of Albany, the New York State Bank, and the Mechanics' and Farmers' Bank, with an aggregate capi- tal of 1,380,000 dollars ; and the Albany Insurance Company is incorporated with a capital of 500,000 dol- lars. The city is supplied with water by aqueducts of considerable extent ; and a new Reservoir of hewn stone, recently erected on the hill near the Capitol, which is designed to ensure a more abundant supply, is an excellent work of the kind. This Reservoir is filled with water from a spring about 3 miles distant, which it dis- charges through smaller aqueducts to furnish a sepa- rate supply to each family.

"Among the public buildings, the Capitol challenges distinguished attention. This building stands at the head of State-Street, adjoining the public square, and on an elevation of 130 feet above the level of the Hud- son. It is a substantial stone building, faced with free- stone taken from the brown sand-stone quarries on the Hudson below the Highlands. The east front, facing State-Street, is 90 feet in length ; the north, 115 feet ; the walls are 50 feet high, consisting of 2 stories, and a basement story of 10 feet. The east front is adorned with a portico of the Ionic order, tetrastyle ; the columns 4 in number, are each 3 feet 8 inches in diamater, 33 feet in height, exclusive of the entablature which sup- ports an angular pediment, in the tympanum of which is to be placed the Arms of the State. The columns,

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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.

pilasters, and decorations of the door and windows are of white or grey marble, from Berkshire county in Massachusetts. The north and south fronts have each a pediment of 65 feet base, and the doors are decorated with columns and angular pediments of free-stone. The ascent to the hall at the east or principal front, is by 15 stone steps, 48 feet in length. - This hall is 58 feet in length, 40 feet in width, and 16 in height, the ceiling of which is supported by a double row of reeded columns ;- the doors are finished with pilasters and open pediments ; the floor vaulted, and laid with squares of Italian marble, diagonally, chequered with white and grey. From this hall, the first door on the right hand opens to the Com- mon Council Chamber of the Corporation of Albany ; opposite this, on the left, is a room for the Council of Revision. On the right, at the W. end of the hall, you enter the Assembly Chamber, which is 56 feet long, 50 wide, and 28 feet in height. The Speaker's seat is in the centre of the longest side, and the seats and tables of the members are arranged in front of it, in a semi-circular form. It has a gallery opposite the Speaker's seat, sup- ported by 8 antique fluted Ionic columns ;- the frieze, cornice, and ceiling piece, (18 feet diameter,) are richly ornamented in Stucco .- From this hall, on the left, you are conducted to the Senate Chamber, 50 feet long, 28 wide, and 28 feet high,1 finished much in the same style as the Assembly Chamber. In the furniture of these rooms. with that of the Council of Revision, there is a liberal display of public munificence, and the American Eagle assumes an Imperial splendor. There are 2 other rooms on this floor adjoining those first mentioned,

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The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time, Part 33

Author: Weise, Arthur James, 1838-1910 or 11. cn Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Albany : E.H. Bender Number of Pages: 620

Author: Weise, Arthur James, 1838-1910 or 11. cn
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Albany : E.H. Bender
Number of Pages: 620