The story of the Bronx from the purchase made by the Dutch from the Indians in 1639 to the present day

Front matter

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By STEPHEN JENKINS

The Greatest Street in the World — Broadway The Story of The Bronx

Introduction

THE preparation of this history has taken over a decade, during which time I have jotted down various facts and incidents as I have run across them, either in books, or in the daily press, or in magazines. I have kept no account of the sources from which I have drawn my facts, so that I can furnish no bibHography. The principal sources from which a great deal of the early historical matter has been drawn are Bolton's History of Westchester County (both editions) and Scharf's History of Westchester County. The earlier history of the Borough can be found in both these works, if one has plenty of time to search for it.

The facts in regard to railroads I have obtained from the reports of the State Engineer, from those of the Railroad Commission, from Poor's Manual, and from the officials of the several roads of which descriptions are given. I have, also, received direct information in regard to churches from the pastors and others connected with such institutions. I am especially indebted to Father D, P. O'Neil for information concerning the Roman Catholic Church.

Most of the pictures illustrating this book are from actual photographs taken by me. Few old prints of the Borough exist; but J. Clarence Davies, Esq. has a very fine collection of New York prints and pictures which he very kindly placed at my disposal for copying. Others have been equally kind viii Introduction

in other matters, and I here wish to thank those who have so kindly taken the trouble to answer my inquiries or to give me information.

There are to-day in the old city of New York (the Borough of Manhattan) but three pre-Revolutionary structures of a public or semi-public character: Fraunces' Tavern, St. Paul's Chapel, and the Roger Morris, or " Jumel, " mansion. Within the Borough of The Bronx there are still a number of historic landmarks. If this book lead to the preservation of but one of these, I shall feel that it has not been written in vain.

Stephen Jenkins.

Mt. Vernon, New York, April, 1912.

Contents

PAGE CHAPTER

I.— The Political Formation of the Borough,

AND ITS Topography . . . . i

Chapter I The Political Formation Of The Borough, And Its Topography

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"^HE city of New York is divided for administrative purposes into five boroughs : Manhattan, the original city of New York upon the island of Manhattan; Brooklyn, the old city of that name in the county of Kings; Queens, in the county of the same name, adjoining Brooklyn; Richmond, or Staten Island; The Bronx, the Borough lying north of the Harlem River.

November i, 1683, the county of Westchester was formed. Its western boundary was the Hudson River; its northern, Dutchess (now Putnam) County ; its eastern, the Connecticut Colony and Long Island Sound; its southern, the East and Harlem rivers and Spuyten Duyvil Creek. The Borough of The Bronx was included within the county of Westchester until 1874 for the western part of the Borough, and until 1895 for the eastern part. Its history is until these dates that of the county. The county also included the islands contiguous to its shores.

By act of the State Legislature, March 7, 1788, all the counties were divided into townships. There were twenty-one of these in Westchester County, following very closely the lines of the ancient manors and patents. The section under consideration was formerly within the towns of Yonkers, Morrisania, Eastchester, Pelham, and Westchester.

Yonkers was a part of the Philipsburgh Manor, sequestrated by the State in 1779, on account of the disloyalty of its owner, Colonel Frederick Philipse. The part of the township within the Borough was known as Lower Yonkers ; and it remained a part of the original township until June i, 1872, when the city of Yonkers was incorporated. At the same time, the portion of the township lying south of a line drawn from the northwest corner of the land belonging to the Sisters of Charity, known as St. Vincent de Paul, due east to the Bronx River, was set off as a new township under the name of Kingsbridge. It remained a part of the Yonkers township until December sixteenth of the same year, when the selection of town officers was perfected. Its northern boundary was the line given above, from the Hudson River to the Bronx ; its southern, the northern line of the ancient manor of Fordham, from the Harlem River at East 230th Street to a point on the Bronx River between First and Second avenues, Williamsbridge, and Spuyten Duyvil Creek; its western, the Hudson River.

Morrisania was the most sparsely settled section of the whole county; and why it should have been made into a

» By the National Census of 1790, the names of thirteen heads of families are given, with one hundred and three free persons and thirty slaves, of whom seventeen belonged to Lewis Morris, the manor-lord, and five to James Graham.

Southern Part of the Township of Yonkers, 1867, Made into the Township of Kingsbridgd

and Part of the Annexed District, 1875.

township is not clear, unless it was by reason of the influence and prominence of its owner, Lewis Morris, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. The new Constitutional government had gone into effect in New York in 1789, but the site of the permanent capital of the nation was a matter of considerable discussion. Morris believed his manor to be an ideal spot for it; hence, its formation into a township. On October i, 1790, the Congress in session at New York was to determine the location of the new capital, and Morris memorialized it in favor of Morrisania. He states:

"that the said manor is more advantageously situated for their [Congress's] residence than any other place that has hitherto been proposed to them, and much better accommodated with the necessary requisites of convenience of access, health, and security"; "that vessels from the four Eastern States may arrive at Morrisania through the Sound, in the course of a few hours, and that ships from the Carolinas and Georgia may perform voyages to Morrisania with much more safety and dispatch than they can to the ports of Philadelphia and Annapolis, not being incommoded with tedious passages of two hundred miles each up Bays and Rivers which often consume a fortnight or three weeks — passages rendered hazardous by rocks and shoals, and annually obstructed by ice"; "that Morrisania is so situated that vessels may arrive from, or proceed to sea, sometimes in six hours . . . and that this passage, from the quantity and saltness of the water, has never been totally impeded by ice"; "that Morrisania has always been noted for this particular [health and salubrity], that the fever and ague is unknown, and that persons from other places, emaciated by sickness and disease, there shortly recover and are speedily reinforced in health and vigor"; and further, "that Morrisania is perfectly secure from any dangers either from foreign invasion or internal insurrection";

"that Morrisania being distant only twenty miles from the State of Connecticut, and eight miles from the City of New York, that it therefore can be amply protected by the hardy sons of New England on the one side and the inhabitants of the populous City of New York on the other ; that as the chief defence of this country in future must be by its militia . . . there are more fighting men within a sweep of thirty miles around Morrisania than perhaps within the same distance around any other place in America, as there are many populous places which contain large proportions of inhabitants who are principled by religion against bearing arms, ' and other places which contain negro inhabitants who not only do not fight themselves, but by keeping their masters at home, prevent them from fighting also. "^

As a real-estate broker, Morris was not a success, and the capital went to the banks of the Potomac; while by act of the Legislature of February 2, 1791, Morrisania ceased to be a separate township and became a part of the township of Westchester, and later, of West Farms ; it remained so until December 7, 1855, when it again became a separate township. Previous to 1848, there were few settlers; but the revolutions that occurred in Europe at that time sent a stream of immigrants to the land of liberty; and many of them settled in Morrisania, converting its fields and farms into thriving, active villages, and giving it that Teutonic appearance of names and occupations which it maintained for forty years afterwards, and which has not yet wholly disappeared under the later Celtic, ItaHan, and Semitic invasions.

The bounds of the township at both creations, 1788 and

^Friends, or Quakers.

* This was probably the belief of the slaveholders themselves. That it had but little basis in fact is shown during the Civil War by the loyalty of the southern slaves during the absences of their masters from 186 1 to 1865.

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Map of Morrisania and West Farms.

1855. were the same as those of the ancient manor. The northerly line, which was also the southerly line of Fordham Manor, began at the Harlem River immediately south of the present High Bridge, and extended east to Union Avenue between East 170th and 1 71st streets; its eastern boundary was practically Union Avenue to Bungay Creek (Intervale Avenue) , which it followed to the East River ; its other boundaries were the East River, Bronx Kills, and Harlem River.

The township of Eastchester (1788) had for its western boundary the Bronx River; on the north, Scarsdale; on the east, Hutchinson's River; on the south, Black Dog Brook and a line drawn from the head of the brook on the line of 229th Street to the Bronx River. When the city of Mount Vernon was incorporated in 1892, the township of Eastchester was divided into two parts, entirely separated from each other by the newly formed, intervening city. The southern piece was the smaller ; and when the question of annexation was submitted to the people in 1894, the inhabitants voted to be taken into the city of New York.

Pelham township was what remained of Pelham Manor; it was triangular in form. New Rochelle being its base or northerly line, and the two sides being the Sound and Hutchinson's River. It also included Hunter, Twin, Hart, High, and City islands. The portion taken for the city of New York is almost entirely within Pelham Bay Park. The part annexed to New York was the ancient Annes Hoeck, or Pell's Neck, and Rodman's Neck, as well as the islands mentioned above.

The township of Westchester (1788) included all the rest of the land now within the limits of the Borough ; the ancient manor of Fordham, the West Farms tract, and all the land between the Hutchinson River, the Bronx River, and the Sound, with a northerly boundary at the Eastchester line from Black Dog Brook to the Bronx River. This included about one half the Borough. The town was further increased by the accession of Morrisania, February 22, 179 1. It remained intact until May 13, 1846, when the township of West Farms was formed out of its territory.

West Farms (1846) comprised all the land west of the Bronx River as far as the Harlem River, lying south of Yonkers, until December 7, 1855, when the township of Morrisania was once more formed from its territory. It thus included the manors of Morrisania and Fordham and the West Farms patent of 1663.

The annexation of a part of Westchester County to the city of New York was a question that arose long before any formal action was taken by the authorities. As early as 1864, it was proposed to unite the townships of Morrisania and West Farms under a special city charter; but the objections of the inhabitants of West Farms defeated the project. In 1869, one of the Tweed members of the Legislature from Mount Vernon proposed the annexation of a large portion of the county to the city; but as the action was taken without any reference to the wishes of the inhabitants or their immediate representative, Senator Cauldwell, he arose in his place and announced that, in a few days, he would introduce a bill "to annex the city of New York to Morrisania," a piece of sarcasm which defeated the movement at that time. Yet Senator Cauldwell was, later, one of the foremost in advocating annexation and in bringing it about.

In the autumn of 1872, the people of West Farms and Morrisania came together ; and the following year, the bill referring the question of annexation to the people was enacted. Owing to disputes among the officials, the bill provided that the

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Map of the Township of Westchester, 1867,

Southern Part of the Township of Pelham, 1867, Annexed in 1895.

streets should be placed under the Park Department, a scheme that worked more harm than good to the newly annexed district until the streets were put under a special Department of Street Improvements of the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards, January i, 1891.

On January i, 1874, by act of the Legislature mentioned above, the townships of Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania became a part of the (old) city of New York, and were formed into the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth wards. The new wards were also spoken of as the Annexed District ; they constitute that part of the Borough lying west of the Bronx River and comprise 12,317 acres.

At the election of November 6, 1894, the question of the Greater New York was submitted to the inhabitants of the localities affected, including Westchester, Eastchester, Pelham, and the city of Mount Vernon. The result of the referendum showed good majorities for annexation in Eastchester and Pelham, while Mount Vernon and Westchester voted against, the former by a large majority, and the latter by a majority of one. The adverse majority in Westchester was so small that it was ignored by the annexationists; and July I, 1895, the whole section east of the Bronx River became a part of the city of New York, forming part of the Twenty-fourth Ward. It comprises nearly 14,000 acres, making the total area taken from Westchester County by the two annexations 26,017 acres, or about 39! square miles.

January i, 1898, the charter of the Greater New York went into effect, and the whole annexed section north of the Harlem River became officially known as the Borough of The Bronx, '

^ The question is often asked: "Why the Borough of The Bronx?" For the same reason that we speak of the Anny of the Potomac, the valley of the Hudson, etc. — all taking their names from rivers, to which it is customary to prefix the article.

though united in educational and some other official matters with the Borough of Manhattan.

January i, 1902, the revised charter of the Greater New York went into effect. It gives a certain amount of autonomy to the different boroughs, especially in the matter of local improvements, though many acts of the local boards are subject to the Board of Aldermen or Board of Estimate and Apportionment, or both, when the outlay authorized by the local board exceeds two thousand dollars. The local boards of The Bronx are composed of the Borough president and the aldermen of the local improvement districts. There are four such districts in the Borough; the Twenty-second, or Morrisania; the Twenty- third, or Chester; the Twenty-fourth, or Crotona; and the Twenty-fifth, or Van Courtlandt.

When the two annexations took place, the sections ceased to be parts of Westchester County and became parts of New York County. In the matter of congressional, senate, assembly, and judicial representation, however, portions of the Borough were at first attached to Westchester County; though there is now separation. The Borough constitutes the eighteenth congressional district ; but on the basis of population as shown by the last Federal Census, it is entitled to two congressmen. There are eight aldermanic districts, and four local school districts, each having its own board. The Borough is allowed two municipal courts where civil cases may be tried in which the value in controversy does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars. There are also two police magistrate's courts for the settlement of minor cases of crimes and misdemeanors and for preliminary hearings in cases of felony. For police protection, the Borough is divided into nine precincts with 756 men. For protection from fire, there are twenty engines and nine hook and ladder trucks, while in the Harlem River is stationed a fire tug. There are fifty public elementary schools and the Gouverneur Morris High School on the Boston Road, while, owing to the rapidly increasing population, new sites are being selected and buildings erected, though not half fast enough to keep up with the growth of school population. Most of these school buildings are modern in every respect; and while built for utiHtarian purposes, the assthetic side has not been neglected; and, as the sites are often on high ground, these fine examples of school architecture tower above their neighbors and attract the attention of the wayfarer.

Many of the natural features of the Borough are rapidly disappearing before the march of modern improvements; and the authorities are filling in creeks, swamps, and lowlands, laying out and grading streets, and establishing water mains and sewers for the immense population of the future. In the spring of 1903, a plan of opening and grading 420 miles of streets in the district east of the Bronx River was submitted to the Board of Estimate and approved by them on May 29, 1903. In this plan, ample provision is made for several small parks and for a larger one at Seton's Falls; but little or no attention is paid to the preservation of old landmarks, except in the way of some of the more prominent of the ancient highways.

By the Federal Census of 1900, the Borough had a population of 200,507; and by the Census of 1910, a population of 430,980, an increase of nearly 115 per cent., more than that of any other borough of the city. The great increase in population and the consequent erection of buildings to accommodate the inhabitants, with the transfers of property and other matters of record in relation to real estate, became so great in volume that, on April 28, 1903, a committee was appointed by the North Side Board of Trade to bring before the State Legislature the formation of a new county to be called Bronx County. In January following, a bill to form such a county was introduced, but it failed to pass. It was introduced in every subsequent Legislature, but it was defeated, so it is stated, because, if such a county were created, Tammany and the other political machines would lose their power in the Borough. Extraordinary meetings and agitations took place in the autumn of 191 1, with the result that an act passed by the Legislature of 1 912 authorizes the formation of Bronx County, the matter to be decided by a referendum to the voters of the Borough at the election of November, 1912.'

The construction and opening of the subway in 1904 caused a great boom in real estate ; and the operations have run into many millions of dollars, as many farm lands and estates have been brought into the market and have found ready purchasers for actual building.

On January 16, 1904, the Bronx Free Library, which had been in existence for several years, surrendered its separate existence to the New York Library, and thus brought itself within the scope of the Carnegie Library Fund ; and, in consequence, the corner-stone of a new building was laid on January 21, 1904, at Washington Avenue and East 176th Street. Other branches of the New York Public Library are located in Morrisania, Mott Haven, Highbridgeville, and Kingsbridge.

^ The author is not a believer in the idea that you can make people rich by taking money away from them; and he thinks that, if the new county be formed, it will be due to local pride, and to the active efforts of an energetic minority of contractors and poHticians, whose eyes are fastened upon the annual expenditure of several millions (to be taken from the taxpayers) for the salaries of county officials and the erection of county buildings.

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Political Formation and Topography ii

The only regular military organization in the Borough is the Second Battery of the State National Guard, which prides itself on being the pioneer company of the Borough. It was organized February 4, 1833, in the city of New York and moved to temporary quarters on Bathgate Avenue near East 177th Street on October 25, 1902. It occupied its new armory on Franklin Avenue and East i66th Street on June i, 1910. The ground and building cost ^57,200. The battery, which is now officially Battery A, First Battalion, Field Artillery, N. G., N. Y., consists of six officers and one hundred and eleven men. The battery is equipped with four threeinch breech-loading field guns, four Colt rapid-firing guns, and four Gatling guns. In addition, there are forty-four horses, the property of the battery, and the necessary equipment of harness, small arms, caissons, etc.

One of the most important factors in the development of the Borough on its commercial and sociological sides has been the North Side Board of Trade. This is composed of the leading business and professional men of the Borough, and those having business or other interests there. The society was organized March 6, 1894; ^^^ since that time it has been untiring in its efforts to arouse a proper public spirit and pride in the Borough and in disseminating information about it, so as to attract manufacturing and other enterprises and a superior class of residents. That this has been successfully done is shown in the large number of commercial enterprises, the increase in traffic facilities, and the doubling of the population within the last decade. On Saturday, October 28, 191 1, the corner-stone of the new North Side Board of Trade building was laid by Mayor Gaynor with appropriate ceremonies. The building is located at Third and Lincoln avenues and East 137th Street. When finished, it will be one of the most beautiful buildings in the Borough.

Two other organizations, the Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1904, and the Bronx Beautiful Society, founded in January, 1912, have been established for the development of the Borough on its intellectual and esthetic sides.

Besides the Seton Hospital and the Home for Incurables, mentioned elsewhere, there are six great hospitals within the Borough. Fordham Hospital, under the Department of Charities, was established in 1882 at Valentine Avenue and 1 88th Street, whence it removed to the old Eden mansion at Aqueduct Avenue and 190th Street. Since May i, 1907, it has occupied the new building at Crotona Avenue and Southern Boulevard, not far from the Bronx "Zoo," a location which will always be of the best, as it is surrounded by open, public park spaces, and it will never have its air and light cut off, nor fail to receive a supply of clear, pure air. Another city hospital is Riverside, situated on North Brother Island, where contagious and infectious diseases are taken care of. There are accommodations for five hundred patients.

Lincoln Hospital is situated at East 141st Street and Southern Boulevard. It was originally incorporated in 1845 under the name of the Colored Home, and was located at 65th Street and First Avenue, Manhattan, until September 7, 1898, when it was moved to its present site into the new buildings especially erected. The name was changed to Lincoln Hospital and Home in i86o. No color line is drawn in the hospital service, but the training school for nurses attached to the institution is restricted to colored women. The institution is maintained principally by subscriptions and donations, though it also receives aid from the city.

Lebanon Hospital, located at Cauldwell and Westchester avenues, upon the site formerly occupied by the Ursuline Convent, was incorporated by a number of Jewish citizens in 1 890. The present building was occupied in 1 892 ; and there are two hundred and fifty beds, four ambulances, and a full complement of surgeons and nurses. From its central location in a thickly settled neighborhood, it is probably the busiest of the Bronx hospitals, as it makes no distinction as to religion in its services. Its name is almost invariably mispronounced, and it is called Le-ban-on by the people of the vicinity. It is supported by subscriptions and donations, and also by help from the city.

St. Francis's Hospital is in charge of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, and is situated between Brook and St. Ann's avenues and I42d and 143d streets. It has been located here since 1906, and is a splendid up-to-date institution with over four hundred beds. It treats patients of every and all creeds, colors, and nationalities; and for its treatment of nonpaying poor, it receives pay from the city.

St. Joseph's Hospital, under Sisters of the same order, is situated on the block above St. Francis's; but its doors, while open to all creeds and nationalities, are closed to all cases except those of consumption, all stages of which are taken care of. There are five hundred beds, over four hundred of which are free to the poor, of whom there were 21 11 treated from October i, 1910 to September 30, 191 1. The hospital was opened here on January i, 1889; and it is maintairied by private subscriptions and donations, though the city helps for the care of poor patients.

Union Hospital was started in the spring of 191 1 for the treatment of all ailments, and for general hospital work. It occupies the Eden mansion, the former home of Fordham

Hospital. It is backed by the Episcopal Church and by a number of the leading physicians of the Borough.

The surface of the Borough is such as to present all varieties of scenery ; and in its wild state it must have shown scenes of surpassing rural and sylvan beauty. In fact, even to-day, one is pleased with the vistas of hills and streams in the more sparsely settled parts.

The elevated portions of the Borough are continuations of the ranges of hills of Westchester County and, speaking generally, run north and south, parallel to the Hudson. The valleys between are occupied by streams flowing to the southward and are comparatively level, so that they became the way of the earlier roads, and later, of the railroads. These elevations rise to a height of two hundred feet in many places, and do not fall below a hundred, except in the slopes to the valleys. The westernmost ridge extends from Yonkers to Spuyten Duyvil Creek through Mount St. Vincent, Riverdale, and Hudson Park. In Riverdale is the highest elevation in the Borough, 282 feet. This ridge has a sharp descent to the Hudson, and presents a bold frontage when viewed from that stream. The streams emptying into the Hudson are few and short; the longest being Dogwood Brook near West 247th Street. On the east, the slope is almost equally abrupt to the valley of Tippett's Brook. The lower part of this valley is fiat, meadow land, reaching, in places, over half a mile in width. At its southern end is a rocky islet in this sea of meadow, upon which the principal part of the former village of Kingsbridge is situated; in ancient times, it was the core of the island of Paparinemo, or Paparinemin.

The second ridge extends from the Yonkers line to Central Bridge, and is the dividing line between Tippett's Brook and the Harlem River on the west and the Bronx River, Cromwell's Creek, and Mill Brook on the east. It presents a bold front to the Harlem River all the way from Kingsbridge to Central Bridge. Its southern terminus is known as Devoe's Point, after one of the earlier proprietors, a descendant of the original patentee, Daniel Tumeur. This ridge is known as the Fordham Ridge; its northern portion is called Woodlawn Heights. Several brooks find their way down the easterly slope into the Bronx River. The valley between Fordham Ridge and the ridge on the easterly side of the Bronx valley is wide at its southern part, allowing of several minor ridges forming the valley of Mill Brook.

The ridge forming the eastern side of the Bronx valley has a considerable elevation at Wakefield and Williamsbridge, but it falls away gradually toward the shores of the East River and the Sound, so that they present in general the appearance of low, salt meadows, which, at unusual high tides, are awash. Castle Hill Neck below Unionport is an elevation of sixty feet, separating Pugsley's and Westchester creeks. To the eastward of Westchester Creek is Throgg's Neck, which does not rise higher than fifty feet. Before the Westchester meadows were filled in, Eastchester Bay, the Sound, and Westchester Creek virtually used to make an island of Throgg's Neck at high tides.

Tippett's Brook has its rise near Valentine's Hill in Yonkers and empties into Spuyten Duyvil Creek, almost equally dividing the former township of Kingsbridge. Its Indian name was Mosholu. Just below High Bridge, there was formerly a small stream emptying into the Harlem River, which constituted the northern boundary of Tumeur's patent; it has disappeared under modem improvements. A considerable extent of wet meadow lines the shore of the Harlem River below the Fordham Ridge. Below High Bridge, this meadow formerly constituted Crab, or " Crabbe, " Island of the ancient records. Cromwell's Creek had its origin about East 178th Street and Jerome Avenue and emptied into the Harlem River south of Central Bridge, but the stream has been filled in. Jerome Avenue follows the valley of the old stream for a considerable distance.