Shepp's New York city illustrated. Scene and story in the metropolis of the western world ..

Front matter

lEx IGtbrtB

SEYMOUR DURST

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Preface

ROM TIME immemorial great cities have embodied within themselves the interest, the wonder, and the glory of the world. It is through them and by them that we remember the empires of old. The broad plains of Assyria and Babylonia, the fertile expanses of th** Nile bottom-lands, the hills and valleys of Judea have no such place in contemplative memory as do Nineveh, and cloud-hung Babylon, and hundred-gated Thebes, and Jerusalem, " the city of the Great King." Who knows what the lands of northern Africa were three thousand years ago ? But who has forgotten Carthage ? All the mountains and plains and forests and seas of Hellas are as nothing by the side of Athens, and the most stupendous empire he world has ever seen lives chiefly in the one imperial city, Rome.

Nor are these conditions greatly changed to-day. To what true Frenchman is not Paris, France; and all France, Paris? Fittingly did Lowell, adapting Goethe's matchless simile, say that in the heart of London he could hear the throbbing of the ceaseless loom of time. It is to the great cities that ambitious young men instinctively turn— uc . , , , , , . , .

J hager-hearteu as a boy when first he leaves his father s field,

And at night along the dusky highway near and nearer drawn, Sees in heaven the light of London flaring like a dreary dawn ; And his spirit leaps within him, to be gone before him then, Underneath the light he looks at, in among the throngs of men — Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new, That which they have done but earnest of the things that they shall do."

It is this intensity and concentration of human life and human activity that invests the great city with interest so surpassing. Whatever of knowledge and culture man has attained is there to be found. There are the triumphs of art and invention. Literature and music there find their home. Benevolence and religion, too, there have their most devoted agents. Or, if we turn to lighter fancies, fashion and pleasure and amusement, and all the luxuries that wealth can afford and appetite enjoy are there more abundant than elsewhere. Or yet again, to look to the darker side, there vice and crime run riot, and evil holds its fullest sway.

An epitome of all the world and of all humanity is in each great metropolis. What wonder, then, that all the world turns to it, and centres round it?

Every such city, moreover, has its own individuality, according to the land and time. Athens was a concrete expression of the art and poetry of Greece; Rome, of the laws and martial prowess of the Roman Empire. Paris well reflects the temperament of the French people, and London is the embodied genius of the British race.

In the chief city of the western world, then, at the close of the nineteenth century, what shall we expect to find? Surely, above all others, this city must be "the heir of all the ages, in the foremost files of time." We must look for the most advanced civilization of these latest years in this, the most ingenious and progressive nation under the sun. We must look for a composite city, since this is a composite nation ; a city made up of men and women from the uttermost ends of the earth, with their own peculiar habits and customs, all blending together into a more or less homogeneous whole. Two million people, with another million clustered close around, and well-nigh seventy millions more tributary — these form a theme for contemplation immeasurably vast.

New York is not, moreover, in its material being unworthy of such exalted rank as that to which its history and place entitle it. Its very position is most impressive, at the head of a vast harbor of surpassing beauty, and at the mouth of a noble river which furnishes an unrivaled highway of trade inland. One harbor only in all the world, perhaps, that of Rio de Janeiro, is comparable with this in splendor of natural setting, but it is insignificant indeed when we see the works of man on land and sea at New York, the vast city and its environs, and the argosies that ride the waters of the bay and river. " I, too," wrote Whitman—

" 1, too, saw the reflection of the summer sky in the water, Had my eyes dazzled by the shimmering track of beams, Looked on the haze of the hills southward and south-westward, Looked on the vapor as it flies in fleeces tinged with violet ; Saw the white sails of the schooners and sloops, saw the ships at anchor, The sailors at work in the rigging, or out astride of the spars, The round masts, the swinging motion of the hulls, the slender, serpentine pennants, The large and small steamers in motion, the pilots in their pilot-houses, The white wake left by the passage, the quick, tremulous whirl of the wheels, The flags of all nations—"

Even his graphic pen could do but scant justice to the wondrous panorama of the harbor. Then there is the view of the city from afar ; the spires, the towers, the domes ; by night the sky-painting blaze of ligh t by day the tremulous haze of smoke ; the mountain-masses of buildings, the soft green expanses of the parks : a picture unrivaled, bewildering, indescribable.

But greater yet, by far, is the city when we tread its streets and mingle with its multitudes. It appeals to every sense, to every sympathy. The ear is bewildered by its babel of sounds, the roar of the streets, the clang and whir of machinery, the myriad voices. The eye is dazzled by the kaleidoscopic panorama, buildings great and small of infinite variety, show-windows gorgeously arrayed, the ceaseless procession of the streets, well-nigh as motley and varied as the gathering of tribes at the Judgment. The nostrils are greeted by a thousand odors, sweet or vile, such as woodland and meadow never knew. The palate is surfeited with strange meats and drinks. The nerves of touch tingle with the impact of ten thousand jostlings in the hurrying throngs.

And who shall learn the secrets of this city ? Who shall see all its sights and know all its manifold phases of opulence and squalor ? The visitor who comes to it for the first time to spend a day, thinks he can get a bird's-eye glimpse of it all in that time, but at the day's end his chief thought is not how much he has seen, but how much still remains unseen. If he prolongs his visit, his feeling of personal insignificance and the city's immensity is increased tenfold by the end of the second day. A week passes, every hour crowded with sight-seeing, and he then only begins to realize the greatness of the task before him. If he dwells here a whole year, he even then feels that much of the city is still unseen, and that new buildings and new institutions have sprung into perfected being since he began his observations, making it necessary that he should turn back and begin his work over again.

In truth, no one man can fully know New York by personal observation. Should he devote his life to the task, there would never be a day in which he would not discover something that to him was new. He would find the city constantly growing beyond his reach, getting ahead of his studies. And so the curious anomaly comes to pass that a stranger, living afar, may really know the city better than the actual resident, for he will depend, not upon his own limited powers of observation, but upon the collected results of many men's observations.

It is the purpose of the present volume to furnisn, both to the stranger and to the New Yorker himself, such a collection. As New York is a miniature of the world, so this volume is New York in epitome. We have striven, with the assistance of our special artist, Mr. A. L. Simpson, to present life-like views of all phases of the city's varied activities and existence. By aid of the camera's facile art, one may in these pages behold hundreds of scenes, to observe which with his own eyes would be a task of weeks or months. He may here read the record of many pens, inspired by many attentive eyes, telling the story of the great city, its business and its pleasure, its law-keepers and its law-breakers, its poverty and its wealth, its sunshine and its shadow.

Here are portrayed the mansions of the rich, and the " Four Hundred " who dwell therein, and the shoddy aristocracy which vainly strives to emulate them ; the great middle class, happily not yet extinct ; the army of labor and its daily toilings ; the homes of the poor and all the pathos that invests them ; the reeking slums and their scarcely human- denizens. Here one may visit the famous Bowery and its typical resorts, the almost innumerable clubs, the theatres, the Patriarchs' Ball, the notoriously popular French Ball, and all the places of amusement and diversion, indoors and out, with which the great city abounds. One may learn how the city is governed, and how its police-force suppresses crime, and its wonderful fire department extinguishes conflagrations; how the bunco-steerer and the green-goods man and the burglar ply their trades, and the tens of thousands of the " frail sisterhood " pursue their feverish career; how politicians "pull wires" and manipulate the public interest for their own ends ; how the great newspapers record the doings of the day in all the world; how the great markets supply the city with food, and the hotels and eating-houses of every grade furnish from a five-cent meal to a sybaritic banquet such as Lucullus might have envied.

All this and more we have endeavored to lay before our readers. It is neither an allurement nor a warning. The throng of sight-seers and fortune-seekers will continue as before to press on to this Mecca, and their fate here will be as it ever has been. But to the myriads who never may see the metropolis of the western world, and to the myriads more who, having seen it, would know more of its wonders than their own eyes have seen or can see, this work is offered. Who does not remember Carlyle's inimitable picture, in " Sartor Resartus," of the rare old German philosopher sitting at midnight in the upper chamber of the house, looking out over the great city at his feet, and musing upon the innumerable scenes of comedy and tragedy which were being enacted beneath those roofs? Such a view, and even more, with some actual lifting of the roofs, we have endeavored to give to our readers.

BEDLOE'elC^) ULAND. /

Map of New York City.

CON

PAGE

CHAPTER i. The New York of To-Day, 17 Panorama from East River Bridge, 18

View of New York and Harbor, 19

New York Bay and Governor's Island, 20

New York and Hudson River, 20

Looking North from Washington Building, 21

Brooklyn Bridge, 22

Footpath, Roadway and Cable Cars, 23

Harlem Bridges, 24

Second Avenue Elevated Railroad Bridge, 25

Third Avenue Surface Bridge, 26

Washington Bridge, 27

High Bridge, 28

Viaduct and Bridge, Washington Heights, 29

Telegraph and Insurance Building, 30

East River Park, 31

Jeannette Park, . .' 32

The Mall, Central Park, 33

Bowling Green Park, 34

Jumel Mansion, 38

Statue of Liberty, 40

CHAPTER 2. The Environs of the City 41 Hudson River from Riverside Park, 41

Castle Garden and New York Bay, 42

West Street, 44

Hell Gate Channel, 45

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South Street, 46

Governor's Island, 47

Castle Williams, Governor's Island, 48

Sectional Dry-Dock, " . . 49

Ellis Island, . 50

Fort Hamilton, 51

Fort Wadsworth, 52

Willett's Point, 53

Fort Tompkins, 54

Miantonomnh, U. S. N., 56

Philadelphia, U. S. N., 58

The Narrows, 59

South Ferry, 60

Cortlandt Street Ferry, 61

New York End Brooklyn Bridge, 62

Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn, 63

CHAPTER 3. Through the Heart of the City, ... 65 Lower Broadway, 66

Bowling Green, 67

Telegraph Office, 68

General Post-Office, 69

Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall Station, 70

A Large Retail Establishment, 71

Washington Statue, Union Square, . 72

Grand Central Depot, 74

Train Shed, 75

Switch Tower, 77

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Contents

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Riverside Drive, 78

Grant's Tomb, 79

A Chicago Flyer, 82

Curve of Elevated Railroad, One Hundred and Tenth

Street, 83

Fifth Avenue Reservoir, 85

CHAPTER 4. Strangers Within the Gates, .... 87 Grand Central Terminal, 87

Interior Waiting-Room Passenger Station, Jersey City, 88

Fulton Ferry, 90

Wall Street Ferry, 91

Hamilton Ferry, 92

Hoboken Ferry, 93

Hoffman House, 94

On Ellis Island, 96

Interior Main Building, Ellis Island, 97

Interior Detention Quarters, 98

Group of Immigrants, Ellis Island, 100

CHAPTER 5. Mansions of the Rich, 101 Fifth Avenue at Madison Square, 102

Fifth Avenue North from Forty-second Street, . . . 104

Art Gallery of a Millionaire, 106

Interior of a Fashionable Residence, 107

A Corner in a Fifth Avenue Palace, 108

Residence of Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, 109

Dining-Room in a Palatial Home, no

Residence of Mr. Wm. K. Vanderbilt, in

Bed-Room of a Moneyed King, 112

A Luxurious Sitting-Room, . . . 114

Residence of Mr. H. O. Hav^meycr, 115

Hall and Stairway in a Private Mansion, 116

Residence of Mrs. William Astor, 117

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A Private Library, 118

Music-Room, Uptown Residence, 120

Parlor of a Society Leader, 122

A Cosey Library, '. .... 125

Residences, Eighth Avenue and Eighty-fourth Street, . 127

CHAPTER 6. "THE FOUR HUNDRED, " 129 Fifth Avenue on a Sunday Morning, 131

Homes on Riverside Drive, 133

North End of Riverside Drive, 134

Music-Room in a Riverside Residence, 135

Riding Meet, Central Park, 136

Coaching, 137

Dining-Room of One of the Four Hundred, 139

Parlor in a Fifth Avenue Residence, 141

Dining-Room in a Fifth Avenue Residence, .... 143

CHAPTER 7. Codfish and Shoddy, 145 Broadway at Madison Square, 145

Fifth Avenue North from Forty-eighth Street, .... 146

Zoological Garden, Central Park, 147

Elephants, Central Park 148

Sheep and Lambs, Central Park, 149

Terrace, Central Park, 150

Bethesda Fountain and Lake, 15 1

Bridge of Solid Rock, Central Park 152

Bridge and Lake, !53

Dakota Flats, 1 53

Greeley Square, lS4

Twenty-third Street and Fifth Avenue, 155

Steamer-Day, IS^>

CHAPTER 8. The Middle Class, 1 57 Battery Park, !57

Coenties Slip, J58

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Elevated Railroad near Coenties Slip, 159

Broadway and Post Office, 160

Fourth Avenue Tunnel, 161

Fourteenth Street, East from Sixth Avenue, 162

Whitehall Street Terminus, 163

Terrace and Fountain, Central Park, 163

Third Avenue Elevated Railroad, 164

Nurse Girls, Madison Square, 165

Thirty-third Street and Broadway, 166

CHAPTER 9. The Army of Labor, 167 A Large Retail Store, 167

West Broadway, 168

Evening School for Working Classes — Calisthenics, . 169

Elevated Railroad, Forty-second Street, 170

General View of Park Row, 171

Interior of a Sweater Shop, 172

Operating-Room — Telephone, 173

South Street and Shipping, 174

Under the Elevated Railroad, 175

Evening School for Working Classes — Working in Clay, 176

Sugar Refineries, 177

Evening School for Working Classes — Designing, . . 179

Evening School for Working Classes — Sewing, ... 181

Evening School for Working Classes — Gymnastics, . 183

CHAPTER 10. The Homes of the Poor, 185 Five Points, 186

Tenement Yards, 188

Mott Street, 189

Exterior of Tenements, 192

River-front Scene, 193

Swimming in the Harlem River, 194

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Shantytown, 195

A Large Shanty, . 196

CHAPTER 11. In the Slums, 199 Mulberry Street, showing Bend, 199

Squalid Negroes, Thompson Street, 201

The Growler Gang, 202

A Street Bum, 203

Dock Rats, 204

Italian Rag-Pickers, 205

A Woman Peddler, 206

Soda-Water Venders, 207

Old Clothing Store, - 207

Pest House, North Brothers' Island, 208

CHAPTER 12. The Bowery, .209 Bowery, North from Grand Street, 210

Bowery, North from Canal Street, 212

General View of the Bowery, 214

Chatham Square 216

Chatham Street, 218

Interior Cheap Lodging House, 220

Bowery Colored Dude 222

A Hot Night Near the Bowery, 223

CHAPTER 13. FOREIGN COLONIES, 225 Baxter Street, 226

Jewish Quarter, Bayard Street, 227

Squalid Italians, Mulberry Bend, 229

Chinese Quarter, Mott Street, 231

Group of Chinese, 233

Thompson Street, 234

Barge Office and Battery, 236

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER 14. Clubs and Club Life, 237 Union League Club, 238

Manhattan Club, 240

Lotus Club, 242

Arion Society Club House, 243

Masonic Temple, 244

Herreshoff Yacht, 245

Cushing, U. S. N., 246

Ocean Steamer, 247

Smoking-Room, Ocean Steamer, 248

Billiard-Room, 249

CHAPTER 15. WORSHIP AT MANY SHRINES, 25 1 Trinity Church, : 252

Interior Trinity Church, 253

Churchyard, Trinity Church, 255

Broadway, Near Grace Church, 256

Grace Church, 258

St. Paul's Church, 260

Interior of St. Paul's Church, 261

St. Paul's Churchyard, 262

The Little Church Around the Corner, 263

John Street Church, 264

St. Patrick's Cathedral, 265

Interior St. Patrick's Cathedral, 266

Italian Church, Mulberry Street, 266

Jewish Synagogue, 267

Dr. Parkhurst, 268

Woodlawn Cemetery from Depot, 270

General View of Woodlawn Cemetery, 270

CHAPTER 16. Intellectual Life, 271 Fifth Avenue, 271

Columbia College, 272

PAGE

Normal College, 273

St. Francis Xavier College, 274

Cooper Institute, 275

Interior of a Business College, 277

Lenox Library, 278

Reading-Room, Lenox Library, 279

Art Gallery, Lenox Library, . 280

Museum of Natural History, 280

Metropolitan Museum, 282

Interior of the Art Museum, 283

Schoolship Minnesota, 284

General Interior Metropolitan Museum 285

Newspaper Educators, 286

Men-of-War, 287

CHAPTER 17. THE BUSINESS OF THE STREETS, .... 289 Bootblacks, 289

Bootblack Business, 290

Banana Peddler, 291

A Suspender Man, 292

All-Night Lunch Wagon, 294

Blind Organ-Grinder, 295

Italian Organ-Grinder, 296

Oyster Stand, 297

Flower Stand, 299

The Fakir, 300

Fruit Stand, 3°i

Pretzel Man, 302

Knife Sharpener, 3°4

Flower Girl, 305

Night-Hawks, 3°6

CHAPTER 18. From a Five-Cent Dinner to an Epicurean Feast, 3°7 A Famous Hotel, 3°8

CONT

PAGE

Hotel Dining-Room, 310

Hotel Lounging-Room, . . .' 312

A New Hotel, 314

Hotel on Park Avenue, 315

Hotel on Fifth Avenue, 316

Delmonico's, 317

Fifth Avenue Stage, 318

Washington Memorial Arch, 319

Dining-Room of an Epicure, . 320

Worth Monument, 322

Columbus Statue, Fifty-ninth Street, 323

Egyptian Obelisk, 324

The Belvidere, 324

CHAPTER 19. Evening amusements, 325

Mr. Ward McAllister, 325

Vanderbilt Mansions, 327

Japanese Room, Vanderbilt Mansion, 329

New Residence of Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, 330

Lounging-Room of a Railroad King, 331

Mr. Wm. C. Whitney, , 333

Riverside Residences, 334

A Sumptuous Dining-Room, 336

Lovers' Walk, Central Park, 338

The Flower Show, 340

Navarro Flats, ~ . . 342

CHAPTER 20. AMONG THE PLAY-HOUSES, 343 Atlantic Garden, 343

The Casino, 345

A Famous Musee, 346

Madison Square Garden, 347

Music Hall, 348

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Interior Music Hall, 349

Metropolitan Opera House, 350

Third Avenue at Ninth Street, 351

Lincoln Monument, Union Square, 352

Augustin Daly, 353

Joseph Jefferson, 354

CHAPTER 21. Out-of-Door Diversions, 355 Ocean Yacht Race, 356

Under Full Sail, 358

Tomahawk and Minerva, 359

Riverside Yacht Club House, 360

Dauntless, 362

Atalanta Boat House and Float, 363

New York Yacht Club, 363

Suburban Day, 364

New York Athletic Club, 365

Coaching in the Park, 367

Lawn Tennis, 369

Base-Ball, Before the Game, 371

Base-Ball, the Game, '. 373

Children in Central Park, 375

May Party, Central Park, 377

Boat House on Lake, 378

Skating in Central Park, 380

Swimming Bath — Exterior, 382

Swimming Bath — Interior, 384

CHAPTER 22. HOW THE CITY IS GOVERNED, 3^5 Mayor Gilroy, 385

City Hall, 386

Chambers Street Courthouse, 3^6

Chief Bonner, 3^7

CONTENTS

PAGE

Engine House, Exterior, 388

Hitch-up at Night, 389

Night Alarm, 390

Going to the Fire, 391

Fire Patrol, 392

The Fire, 393

Engine after the Fire, 394

Engine on Duty, 395

Water-Tower at Work, 396

Ruins of the Fire, 397

Water-Tower on Parade, 398

Presentation of Medals for Bravery, 399

Fire-Boat New Yorker, 400

Ludlow Street Jail, 401

Seventh Regiment Parade, 402

The Tombs, 403

In Central Park, 404

CHAPTER 23. The Metropolitan Police, 405 Superintendent Byrnes, 405

Police Headquarters, 406

Police Parade, 407

Police on Duty, 408

Mounted Policeman, 409

Police Boat, 411

Black Maria, 412

Seventh Regiment Armory, 413

Eighth Regiment Armory, 414

Twenty-second Regiment Armory, 415

Naval Brigade Parade, 416

CHAPTER 24. The Criminal Classes, 417 Street Beggars, 417

Landing Prisoners, Blackwell's Island, 419

PAGE

Blackwell's Island from New York, 421

Almshouse, Blackwell's Island, 422

Workhouse, Blackwell's Island, 424

Interior of Workhouse, 425

Penitentiary, BlackwelPs Island, 427

Interior of Penitentiary, 429

House of Refuge, Randall's Island, 431

Infants' Hospital, Randall's Island, 434

CHAPTER 25. POLITICS, 435 Bird's-Eye View of City Hall, 437

Department of Docks, 439

Tammany Hall, 441

Richard Croker, 443

Chauncey M. Depew, 446

Thomas H. Piatt, 447

CHAPTER 26. Moulding Public Opinion, 449 "Herald" Office, 450

Press-Room, Largest Printing Press in the World, . 451

"World" and "Tribune" Buildings, .-453

"Mail and Express" Building, 455

"Evening Post" Building, 456

"Staats Zeitung" Building, 457

Printing House Square and Franklin Monument, . . . 458

Greeley Monument and " Tribune" Building, .... 460

Charles A. Dana, 461

Newsboys Receiving Papers, 462

Newsboys Selling Papers, 463

Street Tots, 464

Greeley Statue, Greeley Square, 464

A Franklin Square Publishing House, 465

A Famous News Stand, 465

CONTENTS

'5

PAGE

CHAPTER 27. Financial Institutions, 467 United States Sub-Treasury, 469

United States Custom House, 470

Broad Street 471

Stock Exchange, 473

Interior Stock Exchange, 475

Interior Produce Exchange, 477

Cotton Exchange, 479 v

Park Bank, 481

Produce Exchange, 485

HAPTER 28. How the People are Fed, 487

Washington Market Stands, . . 487

Washington Market 488

Fulton Market, .... 488

Fulton Fish Market, 489

West Washington Market, 490

Fulton Market, Fish Stands, 491

Fulton Oyster Market, 491

Essex Market, 492

Tompkins Market, 493

Old Clinton Market, 493

Interior of Slaughter-House, 494

Driving Sheep from Pen to Slaughter-House, 495

HAPTER 29. Charities and Corrections 497

Bellevue Hospital, 497

Bellevue Ambulance, 498

Bellevue Hospital Grounds, 498

Interior Ward 6 Bellevue Hospital, 499

Bellevue Hospital, Operating-Room, 500

The Morgue, 501

PAGE

Interior of the Morgue, . 501

Potter's Field, «, 502

Burying Paupers, 503

New York Hospital, 504

Presbyterian Hospital. 505

Women's Hospital 506

New York Foundling Hospital and Asylum, 507

Charity Hospital, BlackwelPs Island, 508

Catholic Orphan Asylum, . . *. 508

Homoeopathic Hospital, Blackwell's Island, 509

Essex Market Court, 510

Jefferson Market Court, 510

CHAPTER 30. Men of Millions and Favorite Sons, . 511

Russell Sage, . 511

A Millionaire's Library, ' 512

Cornelius Vanderbilt, : 513

Dining-Room of a " Favorite Son," 514

George Gould, 515

A Private Bed-Room Suite, 516

Astor Tomb, 517

Gould Mausoleum, 518

CHAPTER 31. Summer in Town and Out, 519

Iron Pier, Coney Island, 519

Beach Pavilions and Pier, 520

Brighton Beach, Coney Island, 521

A Seashore Hotel, 522

Another Beach Hotel, 523

High Tide, 524

Surf Bathing, Coney Island, 525

Bathing at Rockaway Beach, 526

The Plunge, 527