A landmark history of New York: also the origin of street names and a ...

Front matter

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Preface

In a city like New York, governed by a spirit of tearing down and rebuilding at short intervals of time, it is not surprising that landmarks have been destroyed and that old places have been in danger of losing their historical associations. Fortunately, of late, through the worthy efforts of certain patriotic societies, many of the more important historic sites have been determined and marked by suitably inscribed tablets. These memorials serve the double purpose of awakening attention and of investing with an air of reality the events they perpetuate. They are, however, but isolated mementos, bearing a suggestive phrase or two that have a meaning only to the student who has delved into the city's past. To make clear the full significance of these tabletmarked sites, to visit them in their chronological order, together with other landmarks worthy of consideration, and to weave around these relics and reminders of other days an interesting, graphic, and precise story, has been the object of this little work.

In order to lend additional value to the book and

to emphasize how much the welfare and the progress

^ of the city depend upon the efforts, the civic love, and

a

Googk vi A LANDMARK HISTORY OF NEW YORK

the civic pride of the citizen, special pains have been taken to introduce as much information as space would permit, of the characteristics and the careers of those individuals that have figured prominently and worthily in the development, from a little Dutch town, of our great metropolis.

While the plan has been particularly to interest the young, it is believed that the careful reproduction of inscriptions, the exact location of historic sites, the explanation of the origin of street names, and the addition of a comprehensive bibliography and list of references, can not fail to prove of interest to the teacher and to the student of history.

For their generous assistance in this undertaking, thanks are due to Mr. Hugh Hastings, State Historian, at Albany; to Mr. Robert H. Kelby, Librarian of the New York Historical Society; to Henry P. Johnston, Professor of History at the College of the City of New York ; to the librarians of the Mercantile, Astor, and Lenox Libraries; to Dr. Frank B. Kelley, of the City History Club; to Dr. Henry S. Leipziger; to the Holland Society; and to the Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

A. U.

New York, January, 1901.

f

I

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

An Indian village on Manhattan Island Frontispiece

Stuyvesant's town house, erected in 1658 15

First City Hall. Erected 1642, taken down in 1700 ... 17

View of the Wall and Water Gate, at the foot of Wall Street . 18

Broad Street, 1659 . 20

Peter Stuy vesant • 24

Stuyvesant's country house 28

Peter Stuyvesant's tombstone, St. Mark's church .... 28

Milestone on Kingsbridge road 81

Stuyvesant's pear tree 33

. Map of New York in 1642 35

The earliest view taken of New Amsterdam 37

Section of Jewish cemetery established during Stuyvesant's time. 39

New York in 1664 43

*~ New York as it appeared about the year 1667 .... 45

The city's seal .... 47

Jfew York in 1695 53

__Map of New York in 1728 66

View of the fort about the year 1750 70

New York Historical Society 76

Site of Fort Amsterdam, directly south of Bowling Green . . 79

ftarinus Willett tablet, corner Broad and Beaver Streets . . 94

Tearing down the statue of George III on Bowling Green . . 99

The old Post Office, originally the Middle Dutch church . . 101 Harlem Heights battlefield looking north from One Hundred and

Sixteenth Street, west of Broadway 116

Statue of Nathan Hale in City Hall Park 119

^Tablet to commemorate the battle of Harlem Heights . . . 121

^/Library, Columbia University 122

Point of Rocks, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Street and

Convent Avenue 125

The Grange, as it appeared in Hamilton's time .... 126 The thirteen trees planted by Alexander Hamilton at One Hundred and Forty-third Street, east of Amsterdam Avenue . 127 2 vii viii A LANDMARK HISTORY OF NEW YORK

PAGE

The Jumel Mansion 131

Bhinelander sugar house, prison during the Revolutionary War . 136

The old prison ship Jersey 138

Washington's house in Cherry Street 149

Wall Street in 1789, showing Federal Hall 151

Tammany Hall, 1830 ; present site of the New York Sun Building. 155

View of old buildings on William Street in 1800 .... 159

y Statue of Alexander Hamilton in Central Park . . . .161

Collect Pond, 1800 164

First boat propelled by steam 166

Cooper Union and Peter Cooper's statue 171

New York Free School No. 2, Chatham Street, 1808 . . .173

Modern schoolhouse, West End Avenue and Eighty-second Street 174

New Hall of the Board of Education 175

^•Map of McGowan's Pass and Forts Fish and Clinton . . .177

Fortifications at McGowan's Pass, 1814 179

Site of Fort Clinton in Central Park 181

Blockhouse, One Hundred and Twenty-third Street ... 183

Canal boat village, Coenties Slip 185

View of St. Paul's church and the Broadway stages, 1831 . . 188

Departure of the Seventh Regiment 199

Grant's tomb, Riverside Drive 201

Astor Place Riot, 1849 204

Style of engine used in 1812 206

Scene at a fire, 1800 207

^Theological Seminary, Twentieth Street and Ninth Avenue . 213

A glimpse of Hudson Park, Leroy and Hudson Streets . . 216

St. John's chapel, Varick Street . .220

Montgomery's tomb, St. Paul's church 224

Trinity church 226

Hamilton's tomb %ffit

Trinity churchyard 228

Bowling Green, 1830 • 234

Old mansion in State Street 236

Statue of Liberty 238 ^

Fraunces's Tavern 240 \S

Statue of Washington, Subtreasury Building 243

Statue of Washington, Eighty-ninth Street and Riverside Drive. 245

Washington Arch 248

Columbus Column, Fifty-ninth Street and Eighth Avenue . . 250

y/dty Hall and Printing House Square 254

Chapter I

"Father, what's Bowling Green?" asked Tom, turning to me one evening as we sat in the library.

" It's a small park just north of the Battery," I replied.

" And why do they call it Bowling Green? " continued Tom.

"Because at one time people used to play at bowls on that very green. There's an interesting painting in the Hotel Imperial that shows a party at play. Some day we'll take a look at it."

" Seems to me," said Tom, whose dark eyes had a way of lighting up when he was very much interested in a subject, " that there must be a lot of curious things downtown worth looking at."

" Guess there must be," assented his brother George. " I read not long ago that there were tablets in many places that tell all about the old history of the city, and I have been planning to go down some day, only I do not know exactly how to go about it."

"Are you really interested in the matter?" queried I, addressing the two lads.

" Yes," answered each with enthusiasm.

"And I am, too/' hastily added their sister Emily.

" Well, then, I have a plan to submit to you. I think it the duty, and it ought to be the pride and pleasure, of every inhabitant of New York, young and old, to know its history and its historic sites. I confess that my education in this field was sadly neglected, but I don't think I am too old to take it up now. I am glad that you introduced the subject, and that you want to learn something about it. Now, suppose we arrange some Saturday afternoon excursions, and have our friend, Professor Williams, go with us. He has always taken an interest in you, and I feel very certain that he'll be glad to give us the benefit of his knowledge."

"Hurrah! that's a fine idea!" exclaimed Tom, while George and Emily, who were of a quieter disposition, but none the less in earnest, fairly beamed with pleasure.

It may be well to say right here that Emily was eleven, Tom twelve, and George fourteen years old, and that I was three times as old as George. We were great friends in spite of this difference in our ages, which, I imagine, was due largely to the fact that they looked upon me as a sort of older brother, who was ever ready to be their companion and their confidential adviser.

Professor Williams, a great friend of the young people, and immensely admired by them, approved heartily of our plan. He named us the Walking Historians, and said he would be ready to go with us at any time. Accordingly, a few days later, on a fine afternoon about the middle of September, we entered a Ninth Avenue elevated train at Seventysecond Street and rode downtown.

" By the way," said the professor after we were seated, " do you know that Hudson was very much* disappointed with the results of his expedition in this neighborhood? "

"Really?" said Emily in surprise.

"Yes. You see when he sailed from Holland in the Half Moon he expected to find a short route to India, the land of rich silks, precious stones, and other valuables, and when,

on September 2, 1609, he Henry Hudson.

first beheld the mouth of

the glorious river that now bears his name, he thought he had surely found the path to the East. So he sailed past Manhattan Island without paying much attention to it, and after ten days arrived in the neighborhood of the present city of Albany. Here the river became so shallow that he had to stop. He sent on a crew in a small boat, hoping against hope, but the men returned presently, reporting that it was useless to go farther in that direction. Hudson then turned about with a heavy heart and drifted downstream, caring very little for the beautiful banks that lay on either side. The fact was that he was interested in water, not in land. His employers, the East India Company, were as keenly disappointed as he was, and they were unable to follow up his discoveries, as their charter did not permit them to visit countries bordering on the Atlantic for the purposes of trade."

" Wasn't it strange," remarked George, " that so many years passed after Columbus's discovery before any one visited these parts? "

" As a matter of fact Hudson was not the first discoverer," answered the professor. "In 1524, John Verrazano, in the employ of the French, sailed into New York Bay, wrote a description of it, and handed it to Francis I, who was King of France at the time. But the French were then at war, and so no attention was paid to the matter. One year later Stephen Gomez, a Portuguese, came here and carried off a quantity of furs, and some Indians whom he sold into slavery. The Spaniards listened to Gomez's story, but they, being interested in fountains of youth and rich mines, which they thought could be found only in the sunny South, scorned the northern wilderness and never visited it again."

" H'm," grunted Tom, to indicate his contempt of Spanish ideas.

" How was the city begun," asked George, who always wanted to get at the bottom of things, "if the East India Company did nothing? "

"Private individuals took up the matter. The Dutch were shrewd merchants, and when it became known that there were great quantities of furs to be obtained in the new land, some enterprising men fitted up a vessel and sent it across the ocean. The ship returned with a large cargo of furs, and the enterprise was regarded as a great success."

"Twenty-third Street! " called out the guard.

" Watch for Twenty-first Street," said the professor, " and notice the theological seminary. This neighborhood is known as i Old Chelsea/ and well deserves a visit, which we shall pay later on."

A glimpse was accorded us of the sjately college buildings and the trimly kept lawns, but George brought us back to our subject by saying:

" What sort of people were the Dutch? "

" A fine nation," answered the professor. " They were brave, enterprising, inventive, loved liberty, and, what was particularly praiseworthy, allowed every one, no matter what his religious belief might be, to worship as he pleased. This was a rare privilege in those days, and no other country in the Old World was as free as Holland. You can understand their character fully when I tell you that the Dutch have often been called the Yankees of Europe."

" Why was the island called Manhattan? " asked George.

" It was the name of the Indian tribe that lived here. The name means, literally speaking, the 1 Place of the Whirlpool,' and refers to the tumbling, rushing, boiling waters of Hell Gate, that both fascinated and puzzled the natives."

" Did they fight the Dutch? " inquired Tom, who loved adventure of all kinds.

" Yes, there were some bloody wars, but the Dutch were as much to blame for this as the Indians.

It is only fair to say that the red men met the whites in a friendly spirit. They greeted Hudson with every sign of welcome and brought him food, for which he gave them axes, knives, shoes, and stockings. Not knowing the purposes of these articles, they surprised Hudson by hanging the axes and shoes around their necks as ornaments, and used the stockings as tobacco pouches. It was only when the whites injured them that the Indians turned against the Dutch. The Indians were exceedingly revengeful — revenge was a part of their religion — and they never rested until they had shed blood to atone for that of any relative that had been killed."

"Christopher Street! " shouted the guard.

" We are now in old Greenwich village," said the professor.

" Where is it? " asked Tom in his impulsive way, looking out of the window, as if he expected to see some of the ancient farmhouses.

" The village has long ago .disappeared," explained the professor; " in fact, excepting the neighborhood of the Battery, this is probably the oldest settlement of white men on the island of New York. Originally, it was an Indian village called Sappolcanican, and Indian huts stood near the shore where you can see the red funnels of that French steamer. A little stream, called Manetta Creek, emptied into the river near by, and though it can no longer be seen, it still flows through its ancient channel underground. It rises somewhere east of Fifth Avenue near Twentieth Street, touches Union Square, and then turns westward. Builders putting up new buildings discover, to their cost, that the old stream is still there, as it means expensive pile driving. I shall tell you more of Greenwich village at the proper time; meanwhile we are traveling along the old Greenwich road, which was one of the principal and most popular roads of colonial New York."

" How is it that the streets in these parts are so mixed up?" asked George.

" We shall get to that later," responded the professor. " It will be necessary, in order to avoid confusion, to take one period at a time. First, we shall inspect the old Dutch town, passing over a number of English landmarks that belong to a later period. In this way we shall follow the historical order of events, even if we have to pay a second visit to some of the localities. I suppose you have noticed that Manhattan Island is like a long stocking, having its toes at the Battery and its heel at the eastern terminus of Grand Street. It was at the toe end that the earliest settlement was located."

"Rector Street! " called out the guard.

" Ah, here we are in the old Dutch town at last," said the professor, rising and leading the way out.

As we passed up Rector Street toward Broadway, Tom, who had been casting disapproving glances around him, remarked: "Why did the Dutch have such narrow streets? "

" They never thought that their little lanes would some day become the thoroughfares of a great metropolis. In their time such a street as this was nothing more than a country pathway, and the old Dutch burghers found it wide enough. The wonder is that, as the city grew, no attempt was ever made to improve the old paths."

"Hello," said Tom suddenly, "here's a graveyard. I never knew they buried people downtown."

"That's Trinity," said the professor. "The churchyard is over two hundred years old, but it belongs to the English period, and so we shall pass it for the present."

" I wonder what the Dutch would say if they were to come back now and see these high houses," remarked George as he raised his eyes to the top of the American Surety building, three hundred and six feet above the ground and twenty-two feet above the top of Trinity steeple.

No one attempted to solve this problem, and so we turned into Broadway, walking down the west side.

"I don't see," remarked Tom, "why they ever called this Broadwaj."

" Others have made the same comment," said the professor. "At first it was nothing more than an Indian trail, running along the ridge of a hill that formed the backbone of the island. The original settlers did not consider it a choice locality, preferring Pearl and Broad Streets, as we shall presently learn. In fact, for some years the houses, especially on the east side, were little better than hovels, consisting of a single room with a fireplace. But here we have Tablet No 1."

Pointing to a bronze plate near the downtown edge of Aldrich Court, 41 Broadway, the professor asked George to read the legend. George thereupon read the inscription, which was as follows:

THIS TABLET MARKS THE SITE OF THE

FIRST HABITATIONS OF WHITE MEN

ON THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN.

ADRIAN BLOCK

COMMANDER OF THE TIGER

ERECTED HERE FOUR HOUSES OR HUTS

NOVEMBER 1613.

HE BUILT THE RESTLESS THE FIRST VESSEL

MADE BY EUROPEANS IN THIS COUNTRY.

THE RESTLESS WAS LAUNCHED

IN THE SPRING OF 1614.

THIS TABLET IS PLACED HERE BY

THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

SEPTEMBER 1890.

" What's the Holland Society? " queried Tom.

"It is an association/' answered the professor, " of descendants of those who can trace their ancestry back, through the male line, to the colonists from Holland prior to 1675. That little text," continued the professor, referring to the tablet, " furnishes us with a good starting point, and will give us a clew to the manner in which the first attempt at anything like a settlement was made. I have already told you that the first vessel to reach Manhattan after the Half Moon, was fitted up by private individuals. Its voyage proving a success, other merchants followed the example of the pioneers, and in this way the fur trade was fairly established. One of the pioneers in this traffic was Adrian Block, whose name appears there on the tablet. His vessel, the Tiger, took fire just as he was about to sail for home. Nothing daunted, he set about building a new ship, aided by the Indians, who helped him drag trees to the shore, and supplied him with food. While engaged in constructing the first boat ever launched in the waters of Manhattan, he erected the houses or huts to which reference is made. Block was thus the first house as well as boat builder in this vicinity."

" Was the Kestless a good boat? " asked George.

" Oh, yes. Block sailed it up through the East River into the Sound and discovered Block Island, which still bears his name."

"Why is it called the East River?" queried Tom.

"Because," said the professor, "the current from the heel of the stocking to the toe — that is, the section first settled by the Dutch — flows east and west. North River was so called to distinguish it from the South or Delaware River, where the Dutch had also planted a colony. Now, let us go down to Bowling Green."

A short walk brought us to this miniature park.

" Let us pass right through," said our guide, " ignore the statue, and examine yonder tablet on the Cunard Company's building." *

* This and the neighboring buildings have recently been removed to make room for the new Customhouse, to which, no doubt, the tablet will be affixed.

A LANDMARK HISTORY OF NEW YORK H

We crossed the street, mounted the stoop, and George read the inscription which is here copied:

THE SITE OF FORT AMSTERDAM

BUILT IN 1626.

WITHIN THE FORTIFICATIONS

WAS ERECTED THE FIRST

SUBSTANTIAL CHURCH EDIFICE

ON THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN.

IN 1787 THE FORT

WAS DEMOLISHED

AND THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE

BUILT UPON THIS SITE.

THIS TABLET IS PLACED HERE BY

THE HOLLAND SOCIETY

OF NEW YORK.

SEPTEMBER, 189k).

" You will notice that this date is thirteen years later than that of Tablet No. 1. Some very important events took place during this period. At first no attempt was made to establish a colony — that is, to have people come over and make their homes here, but soon the English began to lay claim to the territory, asserting that, owing to the discoveries of Cabot, they had a right to the whole coast. The Dutch quickly saw that to hold their possessions they would have to found a permanent settlement on Manhattan Island, whereupon, in 1624, a number of families crossed the ocean, followed shortly after by a director general, whose name you no doubt remember, George."

" I think it was Minuit."

" Quite right; Peter Minuit. He began his administration by purchasing the island. The Indian chiefs met him, probably in this neighborhood, under some spreading trees, and concluded the bargain. As they looked with contempt on European money, considering it worth nothing, they accepted a quantity of beads and other showy trifles, amounting to twenty-four dollars. For this they gave up all title to Manhattan Island, containing some twenty-two thousand acres. This was the first real estate transaction in the history of New York. Have you any idea what its real estate is worth to-day? "

As none of us could answer this question, the professor informed us that the latest valuation fixed by the tax commissioners was over two thousand three hundred millions of dollars.

" Having now become lawful owners of the land, the settlers made plans to provide for their personal safety. A fort was at once staked out, consisting of a blockhouse surrounded by cedar palisades and called Fort Amsterdam. This rude structure did not last long, and a few years later a larger fort was erected, three hundred feet in length by two hundred and fifty in breadth, consisting of stone and earth. One side of it covered the ground where these six steamship buildings now stand. Inside, three windmills, a guardhouse and barracks, a stone church, and a house for the director were set up. Above them all waved the Dutch flag."

" What was it like? " asked Emily.

" Red, white, and blue, in horizontal stripes, thus curiously supplying Manhattan with a red, white, and blue ensign two hundred and fifty years ago.

" The settlement," continued the professor, "comprising about thirty simple huts, was strung along the shore of the East River, close to the fort. Every settler had his own house, kept his cows, tilled his land, or traded with the natives — no one was idle. Opposite the fort a space was kept open, and there it is to-day," added our guide, pointing to the Bowling Green through which we had just passed. " It was the heart of the old Dutch town. There the children played, there the youths and maidens danced around the May pole, there the soldiers paraded, and on Sundays the country wagons were gathered while the people were at church. There, too, after a bloody war with the Indians, a great assembly of chiefs took place, the pipe of peace was smoked, and the tomahawk buried as a sign of peace. Later on it was used as a market place and for an annual cattle show. Still later, during the English period, it was the scene of many stirring events of which we shall learn at the proper time."

" Let's go over again and look at it," suggested Tom.

" Not now," said the professor; " I want to take you next to the oldest street of the old city."

Following our guide, we turned into State Street and walked southward, having on our right hand Battery Park.

"Looks just like a part of Central Park," remarked Tom, " only the water, and the ships, and the Statue of Liberty are more interesting."

" All but the little corner right opposite us," said the professor, " was originally under water. A number of rocks jutted out here and there, and not until the city was about seventy-five years old were they covered over and a battery of guns put in place. But here we are at Pearl Street."

" Is Pearl Street the oldest street in the city? " asked Emily.

"Yes," answered the professor; "it is the oldest and twists about more than any other."

" Why was it called Pearl Street? " queried Tom.

" Because of the quantity of pearly shells found there. The city, you know, was considerably narrower in the old days, Pearl Street being right at the water front."

" And why is it so twisted? " asked George.

" Perhaps it wound round the foot of a hill. This will explain the existence of other crooked streets. The hills are gone, but to this day we keep walking around them. Then, too, it must be remembered that the original town grew up in a haphazard sort of a way. People placed their houses where they pleased at first, and so when it came to the laying out of roads the latter were more likely to be crooked than straight. You must try to imagine," continued the professor, as we turned the corner into Pearl Street, "tfyat instead of those buildings opposite, you have the line of the shore before you, and here, on this side, a straggling row of quaint Dutch houses with their gable ends toward the road, topped with crowstep roofs."

Google .

" Why were the roofs made that way? "

" To enable the chimney sweeps to climb up easily and reach the chimneys from the outside."

A short walk brought us to Whitehall Street.

" In the old days," said the professor, pointing toward the river, " you could have seen there a white

Stuyvesant's town house, erected in 1658. Afterward called the White Hall. From an old print in Valentine's Manual for 1862.

residence of no mean appearance, surrounded by a garden and stately trees. This was Stuyvesant's official town house, known as the ' White Hall 9 which has left its name to the street it used to adorn."

"Here's another tablet," said Tom, looking up at No. 73 Pearl Street.

George being now recognized as the official reader, at once began to decipher the inscription, but not without difficulty, as it is high up.

THE SITE OF THE FIRST DUTCH HOUSE OF ENTERTAINMENT

ON THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN.

LATER THE SITE OF THE OLD " STADT HUYS "

OE CITY HALL.

THIS TABLET IS PLACED HERE BY

THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.

SEPTEMBER 1890.

" This," said the professor, " is one of the most interesting sites of New Amsterdam. As the fort was the center of military life this was the center of all the great political discussions. Originally, as you see, it was a tavern to entertain traders and visitors who stopped on their way from New England to Virginia. Being five stories high it could be seen from the decks of ships a long distance off. Later on it was turned into the City Hall and Stuyvesant and his council took possession, the council listening and Stuyvesant laying down the law. He regulated everything, from fixing the taxes to the hour when people ought to go to bed. Here, in 1653, the official announcement was made that converted the settlement into a city with a court of burgomasters and schepens, and an officer called a schout, who was a mayor, a sheriff, a district attorney, and a chief of police all in one."

" He must have been the most important man in the town," remarked Tom.

" Oh, no," answered the professor, " Stuyvesant was still supreme. It was intended, you must know, that all these officers should be elected, but Stuy-