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PROGRESS OF NEW YORK IN A CENTURY.
1776— 1876.
AN AD DRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
DECEMBER 7, 1875,
BY
JOHN AUSTIN 'STEVENS.
NEW YORK:
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY.
1876.
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
At a stated meeting of the New York Historical Society, held in its Hall
on Tuesday Evening, December 7th, 1875 :
Mr. John Austin Stevens read the paper of the evening on " 77/;? Progress
of Nezu York ill a Century. 1776-1S76."
On its conclusion, Mr. George H. Moore submitted the following resolution,
which was seconded by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Osgood, and adopted :
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to Mr. Stevens, for his
valuable paper read this evening, and that a copy be requested for publication.
E.xtract from the Minutes,
ANDREW WARNER,
Recording Secretary.
I
\
THE PROGRESS OF Ni:W YORK IN A CENTURY
1776-1876.
Mr. President and Members
OF THE New York Historical Society :
The members of this Society will remember that early last
winter a petition was addressed by it to the Governor and
Legislature of the State of New York, praying for authority
to prepare a Memorial Volume, showing the growth of the
State during the last century ; and it was respectfull}^ in-ged
that no more fitting contribution could be made by the State
to the International Exhibition, to be held at Philadelphia,
than a faithful record of the progress of this great commu-
nit}- in political, civil, and social life. Other and more
pressing duties have, no doubt, hindered the Governor of
the State from paying any regard to this request, and the
petition left in his hands by the Committee of this Society
has never been presented to the Legislature. A further
effort will be made at the approaching session, though the
time is short for such an exhibit as the extent and nature of
the subject demand.
It has not been the habit of New York to pause in its
march to count the milestones which mark its progress. In
the many new duties which perpetually crowd themselves
upon this busy communit}', there has been little time for
such considerations, and only here and there sketches -like
those of Duer, F"rancis, and King have attracted passing
notice ; but now that in the depression which almost in-
evitably follo\\s a period of unusual activity, there is a
moment of pause and discouragement, the thought ma)' be
profitably turned backward, new hope be derived from a
retrospective view, and new courage drawn from the example
of that wondrous activity which, from a depth of miser)- un-
I
4 NEW YORK IN THE REVOLUTION.
paralleled in the history of any other of the colonial cities,
has lifted New York to its undisputed pre-eminence as the
metropolitan city of the Western Continent, and its rank
among the few cosmopolitan cities of the world.
Early in the war the British Government recognized the
importance of occupying the city of New York as a military
post and a basis of supplies. Repeating the strategy, old as
war itself, of dividing the hostile territory by seizing the
great rivers which serve at once as lines of separation and
easy avenues of transportation, the plan of subjugation in-
cluded the occupation of Quebec and New York, and the
establishment of a line of almost unbroken water commu-
nication by the Hudson and St. Lawrence, navigable high
up for vessels of the largest size, which should isolate the
great and populous New England colony from those of the
Middle region. With these magnificent harbors, at which all
her fleets could ride at easy anchor, Great Britain was sure
of safe and convenient bases for the operation of her troops ;
and her vessels could patrol the long broad streams as safely
as the warlike vessels of the old Northmen the streams and
lakes of Southern Europe, from the Seine to the Mediter-
ranean. A similar policy adopted by the great Union com-
manders during the late war held the Ohio and the Tennes-
see with gunboats, and again dividing the Confederacy by
the broad and rapid course of the Mississippi, insured the
final triumph of the national arms. The failure of Great
Britain was not a consequence of her strategy, but inherent
to the condition of the two countries. A careful perusal of
the journals of the day, which abound in papers of remark-
able vigor and sagacity, amply shows that there was never
a doubt in the minds of the colonists of their ability to
achieve their independence. Nor is it at all probable that,
even with entire union in the councils of Great Britain, there
could have been any other result. Indeed, as early as 1740
serious alarm had been felt in England by the Ministry, and
a defection of the colonies feared.
Great Britain, rich in every appliance of civilization, whose
foundries and manufactories had increased many fold her
NEW YORK IN THE REVOLUTION. 5
manual force by mechanical contriwancc, was poor in men.
The com[)laint of Goldsmith, made in the " Deserted Vil-
lage," in 1770, was still fresh in the ears of his countrymen,
and his sigh of regret over the time
— " Ere England's griefs began,
When every rood of ground maintained its man,"
had been wafted across the Atlantic to those of a race who
knew no such sorrow. In the land struggles of the Continen-
tal powers, where men were abundant and the material of war
was scarce, the wealth and resources of Great Britain had
always turned the scale, and on the sea she had proclaimed a
policy of exclusion and imperial assumption which, since the
defeat of the Dutch fleet, had never received more than tem-
porary check. But the contest with the colonies was to be ot
man to man whh a race to whom the very struggles for mas-
tery of the continent with the old enemy, France, had taught
the secrets of military science. In this contest no ingenuity
or contrivance could make up for numerical inferiority, nor
could the British Government hope for any serious advantage
from local divisions or dissensions. With but few inconsider-
able exceptions the colonists Avere of one mind, and though
there were many, particularly in New York, of direct or near
English descent, who were unwilling to take up arms against
their immediate kindred, yet their secret sympathies were all
wnth their old companions and friends. The American spirit
was already strong. The king had said, " the test of the
colonies is submission." But the colonies had been founded
by men who would not submit to arbitrary rule, whether
priestly or regal. The first act of repression crystallized re-
sistance, and consolidated hesitating opinions into firm and set
resolve.
It was the misfortune of New York, to AA'hose sagacity and
inflexible resolve the union of the colonies was chiefly due,
that she should be, from her position of natural and central
advantage, the seat of hostile occupation. The American
leaders foreseeing, if not informed of the strategy of the enemy,
had failed in their first efforts to thwart its accomplishment.
6 THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.
The attack upon Quebec had been repulsed, and the St. Law-
rence lay open from its mouth to the Lakes. The line of the
Hudson became now of the utmost importance, and while the
northern army was slowly gathering for its defence, Wash-
in^^ton moved from the eastward to New York, to cover the
city and prevent the landing of Lord Howe. His efforts were
fruitless; on the 22d August, 1776, the British troops were
safely landed on Long Island, under the guns of the fleet,
and Washington, defeated in a disastrous battle on the 27th,
retreated across the river and prepared for the abandonment
of the city.
It is hardly possible for those who have never personally
witnessed the capture of a great city to realize the anxiety and
gloom which fall upon the unfortunate population— an anxiety
and gloom to which civil war adds double horrors. The re-
sult of the battle of Long Island filled New York with alarm,
the apprehensions of the citizens being heightened by the
memory of their struggles in the past with the royal troops,
who had many a discomfiture to avenge. Numbers hastily
followed the retreating army, including many sick and help-
less, for whom Gen. Washington had provided with humane
foresight.
On the 15th of September, 1776, the British troops took
possession of the city, and in their train were refugees from all
sections. Later, traders and speculators came in hordes by
every transport fleet from Great Britain, and a large business
sprung up in the purchase and sale of army supplies, but the
city itself found no profit in this abnormal traffic. Its legiti-
mate occupation as the outlet and inlet of product and sup-
plies for a large section of country entirely disappeared, and
its merchants, one by one, gave way to hucksters and petty
traders whose interest was limited by and dependent upon
the British occupation. The streets and buildings were
allowed to go to decay, with the exception of temporary
repairs for sanitary reasons, and the glories of the once
thriving city were but a story of the past. Two terrible con-
flagrations added to the measure of distress and ruin. Hardly
had the British troops taken possession ere (on the 21st of
THE BRITISH OCCUPATION. ^
September, 1776) a disastrous fire, breaking out in a small
wooden house on the wharf near Whitehall, occupied by
dissolute characters, spread to the northward, and consumed
the entire cit}^ westward of Broadway to the very northern-
most limit. In this terrible calamity, which owed its extent
to the desertion of the city and the terror of the few remain-
ing inhabitants, 493 houses were destroyed, including old
Trinity and the Lutheran Church. Another destructive fire
broke out on Cruger's ■i\-harf on the 3d of August, 1778, ^iid
burned about 54 houses.
At last the fortune of war changed. The thunder of the
American artillery at Saratoga, where the sons of New York
were in full force on her own battle-field, and at Yorktown,
where the same gallant corps vied in friendly and not unequal
rivalry with the trained officers of France, had cleared the
sky, and beneath the smoke of battle peace was dawning in
the near horizon. On the 24th of March, 1783, Eobert R.
Livingston, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, notified Wash-
ington, then at West Point, of the agreeable intelligence of a
general peace, and on the 9th of April following, at 12 o'clock,
peace was proclaimed from the steps of the City Hall by the
Town ]\Lijor. The patriots were in giee, the English occu-
pants and their friends in alarm. Oliver de Lancey, the
Adjutant-General of the Royal army, issued a proclamation
a few days later, offering transportation to all those who
wished to withdraw from the city, and measures were taken
to establish a refugee colony in Nova Scotia. During the
summer there was a constant departure by the fleets, and
the Whigs began to pour into the city and take possession
of their deserted homes and estates. Feeling ran high, and
the remaining loyalists awaited in terror the hour when the
final \\ithdrawal of the British forces should leave them help-
less at the mercy of the irritated patriots. The prudent fore-
sight of Gen. Washington, counselling " moderation and
steady behavior," and the wise precautions of Gov. Clinton,
happily arrested any disposition to excess, and in this they
were nobly seconded by the Whig leaders, who at the meet-
ing to prepare for the reception of the American troops,
8 DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY.
after a signification of their opinion of those who had remain-
ed in the city during the British occupation, by a request
that any such withdraw from the room, pledged themselves
to " prevent any confusion that may arise on and after the
day of evacuation." On the 25th day of November the
American army, under the command of Major-Gen. Henry
Knox, marched from Harlem to the Bowery lane, where they
remained until I o'clock, when, the British posts being with-
drawn, the American column marched in and took possession
of the city. Nothing could have been more grateful to New
York than this disposition, for in Knox's artillery command
was the favorite regiment, commanded by Col. John Lamb,
and officered by men who like himself were of the earlier
Patriots and Sons of Liberty. The new era began upon this
day ; henceforth New York is to move on her marvellous
career. Stripped of everything, her streets in decay, her
halls in dilapidation, her churches burned, desecrated, or
abused, whole sections charred and blackened ruins, her
shops empty — the retiring tradesmen having conveyed away
their goods as well as their profits — her tenements vacant, her
citizens in poverty and rags ; a city of desolation ; yet like
the athlete who has thrown aside every external trapping, and
stands stripped to the loins for the contest which is to strain
every nerve and draw each muscle to the utmost tension, a
contest of which fame, and wealth, and honor are the reward,
she is the stronger for her nakedness. In a few years she
appears reorganized, rebuilt, with new architecture, new in-
stitutions, faci/c J)7'i7iccps the imperial city of the continent.
Though New York had suffered the change in its physical
surface and interior life, which is in every city the result of
foreign hostile occupation, varying its purpose and pursuits,
diverting its channels of industry, and disturbing its social
organization, the limits of the city itself were the same in
1783 as on the outbreak of war in 1775. The area of the
city at this time may be described as comprised within a line
drawn from the North River at the foot of Reade street
across the island in an easterly direction to the East River at
the foot of Catharine street. Within this surface, which was
DESCRIPTION OF THE CllY. 9
dix'ided into six wards, known from the time of the charter
granted by Gov. Montgomerie in 1730 as the West, South,
Dock, East, North, and Montgomerie Wards, was the princi-
pal seat of population ; beyond, on a part of what was
called the Out Ward, was an irregular parallelogram, with
Division street as a base, extending easterly as far as Norfolk,
and northerly to Hester, through which ran the Old Bowery
Lane to Kingsbridge — a total surface averaging about three-
fourths of a mile in width, and embraced within a circumfer-
ence of about four miles. Broadway was then, as now, the
ridge or back-bone of the lower end of the island. From it
the land fell in easy slope to the East River, but to the west-
ward a steep embankment, \\ith occasional breaks, separated
it from the Hudson, presenting an appearance from the river
not unlike that of the Brookl}'n Highlands within oHr own
memory.
The water line on the East Ri\'er, where the greater part
of the shipping lay at this period, and a great depth of water
was found at every pier, extended from Whitehall to the
ship-yards at the foot of Catharine street, a distance of one
and a half miles, passing in its easterly course Coenties slip,
or the Albany Basins ; the Great Dock at the foot of Broad
street ; Cruger's W'harf, a broad land projection on the line
of present Front street, \\'ith extending piers, and Burnet's
Key on the line of Water street ; and running with numer-
ous other irregularities, and intersecting piers and slips, of
which Cofifee-House slip and its extension, Murray's Wharf,
at the foot of Wall street, and Burling's, Beekman's, and
Peck slips were the most important. From the Fly Market,
at the foot of Maiden lane, a ferry communicated with Long
Island. On the water-line of the Hudson, extending from
the Battery to the foot of Reade street, one and a half miles,
there were no wharves below Little Queen (now Cedar) street,
and but few and inconsiderable structures above, as far as
Murray street. From the rear of the houses on Broadway
gardens were laid out on the slope, which ended in a sandy
beach. Mr. Duer relates in his interesting sketch of old New
York, that his mother was wont, in her youth, to amuse her-
lO DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY.
self fishing from a summer-house or garden-wall overhanging
the water in the rear of one of these Broadway houses.
Cortlandt street was the principal street, cut through the
green embankment ; at its foot were the Bear (now Wash-
ington) Market, and the ferry to Powles Hook (now Jersey
City), then as now the thoroughfare to the Jerseys. There
was a third ferry from Scotch Johnnie's tavern at Whitehall
to Staten Island.
The streets were irregular and of great diversity, the better
houses being built of brick, after the English manner, except
that the roofs were tiled. They were mostly painted. Water
and Queen (now Pearl) streets were low and narrow, with
insufficient sidewalks, in some parts with none. They were
the chief business streets. Broad street, which extended from
the Exchange at the water side to the City Hall, on the cor-
ner of Wall street, was the main avenue, a street of sufficient
width and well inhabited. Wall street was a wide and ele-
vated street, and the buildings in it large and elegant. The
upper part, toward Broadway, was a fashionable residence,
the lower end exclusively given up to stores, auctioneers'
rooms, and offices, here and there interspersed with lodging-
houses. Broadway was already beginning to be thought the
most agreeable and convenient part of the city, being unin-
cumbered by traffic, and from its high situation free from
the nuisances with which the imperfect system of drainage
afflicted the streets near the East River. Beginning at the
Bowling Green, there were buildings as far as St. Paul's
Church. The lower end facing the green was a favorite resi-
dence. The street numbers began here. No. i was the
Kennedy mansion. On the corner of Stone street (now
Thames street) was the famous tavern, afterwards replaced
by the City Hotel. The great fire stopped with the destruc-
tion of Trinity Church, and spared the buildings to the north-
ward on the front of the street. There were only two brick
hou"ses at the upper end of Broadway opposite St. Paul's,
both of which have now disappeared. They later made part
of the Arden estate, and one of them was for a long period
occupied by the Chemical Bank, and, with its neighbor, is
THE PARKS OF THE CITY. II
now the site of the Park Bank building. On the opposite
side of Vesey street there stood on the corner a l^uilding of
two stories. A sign-bo-ard affixed upon it bore the inscrip-
tion " Road to Albany," while on the opposite corner, on
the house which has been replaced first by the American
Museum, and since b)' The New York Herald building, a
similar board pointed the tra\ellcr the " Road to Boston,"
through Chatham street, A\hich ran as far as the Fresh Water,
a street so called after the great I'^arl, who for so long stood
first in the affection of the Colonies fn' his manly support of
American rights and liberties. Thence the Boston Road ran
through the Old Bowery lane to a point (present corner of
Broadway and Twenty-third street) where it forked, and took
the direction to King's Bridge, which it crossed.
Beyonci lay the open space known as the Commons or
Fields, and later as the City Park — a spot celebrated as the
scene of many a public gathering during the colonial da)'s.
Here was held the great popular meeting on the evening of
Friday, the ist of November, 1765, which protested against
the Stamp Act, burned the lieutenant-governor in effigy, and
here also rallied the " prodigious concourse of people," as the
journals of the day termed the armed multitude which, on the
5th of November, marched upon the fort and compelled the
royal authorities to surrender the obnoxious instruments into
the hands of the popular representative, the mayor of the city.
On the western border of the Fields, opposite to what is now
known as No. 252 Broadway, between Warren and Murray
streets, and nearly opposite the latter, was planted the famous
liberty pole about which many struggles took place be-
tween the British soldier}^ and the people. The fourth pole
was planted here on the 19th of March, 1767, and a flag flung
to the winds with the motto of " King, Pitt, and Liberty,"
which was rr:aintained with many x'icissitudes until the l^ritish
occupation. This was the rally-point of the Sons of Libert}',
an organization originated in the Stamp Act period, and
revived, in November, 1773, to prevent the landing of
the tea from the ships of the Plast Lidia Company, which
were announced as on the way ; this was also the scene
12 THE PARKS OF THE CITY.
of the great popular rising known as the " Great Meet-
ing in tlie Fields," on the 5th of July, 1774, at which the
youthful Hamilton, then a student at King's College, is said
to have made his first appearance in public life. When
Washington occupied the city, a part of the troops were
quartered on the Commons, and here the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was proclaimed and read to the army on the 9th of
July, 1776. Later, on the entry of the British, the liberty
pole was cut down, and the Commons became a scene of im-
prisonment and torture as the site of the new jail, the building
now known as the Hall of Records.
Above the line of the Commons, on the west side of Broad-
way and north of Reade street, built upon the grounds of the
old Ranelagh Garden, was the New York Hospital, extending
from what is now known as Duane to W^orth street, and
opposite to Pearl street, where was then a broad green.
Upon this beautiful site a building was begun by private
subscription, the corner-stone of which was laid by Governor
Tryon in I773- It was hardly completed when in February,
I775> it ^vas nearly destroyed by fire. During the war it
was occupied in an unfinished condition as a military hospital
by each army. Later completed, the New York Hospital
was long a model of admirable curative art, but like other
landmarks of the city, gave way in 1869 to the march of
population, and has lost something of its old prestige. To
the northward of the hospital grounds stood the Ranelagh
House and Gardens, a summer resort. Beyond were farms
and country residences, and to the westward the Church farm,
the property of the already wealthy corporation of Trinity
Church.
The only other open space in the city proper which served
as a park was the ancient Bowling Green, sometimes called
the Royal Bowling Green. This little green, now hardly
noticeable save as one of the few open spots which has been
left for public uses in the lower part of the city, was in
the days of Dutch rule one of the most conspicuous features
of the town. It was then part of the spacious green in front
of the fort, where a market was daily and fairs occasionally
STATUES OF GEORGE TIT. AND WILLIAM PITT. 13
held ; here the Train bands made tlieir usual parade. In
March, 1753, the corporation leased the ground to some of
the inhabitants of Broadway, "to be enclosed as a Bowline
Green, with walks therein for the beauty and ornament of the
street," and it has since been known by this name.
In the centre of this green, on a A\'hite marble pedestal
fifteen feet high, stood the equestrian statue of George
III., erected by the Assembly, Thursday, the i6th of Sep-
tember, 1770, the anniversary of the birtluku' of Prince
PVederick, second child of George III. This statue is
described as made of metal, richh' gilt, and the workman-
ship of the celebrated statuar}^ Mr. Wilton, of London.
The same artist made a statue of George III. for the Royal
Exchange of London. The erection in the Bowling Green
was the occasion of a grand public display, the members
of the Colonial and City Governments, the Corporations of
the Chamber of Commerce and Marine Society, and the
officers of the army and na\y, waiting upon the Lieuten-
ant-Governor at the fort near by, where toasts were drunk to
the accompaniment of military music and artillery. To pro-
tect it the corporation in 1771 built an iron railing aroimd the
green at a cost of /J'800. The statue stood upon the green
in all its gilded glory, the object of lo}'al admiration and
patriot contumely until the evening of the 9th of Jul)% 1776,
when, after the hearing of the Proclamation of Independence,
it was overthrown by the soldiery, an act of \'andaiism for
which they received the rebuke of Gen. Washington in
general orders the next morning. This was another instance
of that disposition for destruction which unfortunately is not
confined to the excited populace, but is shared by delibera-
tive bodies. But too often the first act of a new order of
government is the overthrow and ruin of even the artistic
emblems of the old. The mutilated statue, the material of
which was lead, is said to ha\'e been taken to Litchfield,
Conn., and run into bullets for the use of the American army.
Fragments of it still exist, one in the possession of this Society,
and a bullet-mould to which a similar romantic story is attach-
ed. The slab on which the statue rested was taken to Powles
14 STATUES OF GEORGE III. AND WILLIAM PITT.
Hook in 1783, and was used as a memorial stone for the
grave of Major John Smith, of the 42d Highland regiment.
Later it served as a door-step for the residence of Mr. Cor-
nelius Van Vorst in Jersey City, and has now a resting-place
in the vestibule of this Society. The marks of the hoofs are
still visible. The pedestal remained for some years in its
original position, but was removed when the green was re-
modelled. It is to be regretted that there is no discrimi-
nation in these acts of barbarism. No complaint would be
made by the present generation if some modern iconoclasts
should destroy the hideous objects which now disgrace our
.public places, and are even invading the National capital,
proli pudor, in the name of art.
At the intersection of Wall and Smith (now William street)
stood the pedestrian statue erected to William Pitt " for the
services he rendered America in promoting the repeal of the
Stamp Act " — a peaceful victory as dear to the Colonies as
ever conquest celebrated by triumphal pageant or memorial
arches in the streets of ancient Rome. The statue is de-
scribed in the journals of the day as of " fine white marble,
the habit Roman, the right hand holds a scroll partly open,
whereupon we read, Articuli Magna-Charta Libertatum ; the
left hand is extended, the figure being in the attitude of one
delivering an oration." On the south side of the pedestal
there was a Latin inscription, cut on a tablet of white marble.
This statue (like that of George HL, the workmanship of
Wilton) was erected on the /th September, 1770, by the
Assembly of the Colony, " amid the acclamations of a great
number of the inhabitants, and in compliance with a request
of a public meeting of the citizens held 23d June, 1766," Avhen
the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act reached the city.
This statue stood in its original position until 1787, when it
was removed by city ordinance on the " petition of a major-
ity of the Proprietors of the Lots of Ground in Wall street,
as an obstruction to the cit}-." It was then a deformity, hav-
ing been beheaded and otherwise disfigured in 1776, during
the British occupation. It lay for many years in the corpo-
ration yard, then in that of the arsenal, after which it stood
THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS. I 5
for a long period in front of Riley's Museum, or Fifth Ward
Hotel, corner of West Broadway and Franklin street. It
was later purchased b}' Mr. Samuel ¥. Mackie, one of our
members, and b)- him presented to this Socict)-, in the refec-
tory of which it may now be seen. It is hoped that some
liberal member will restore it to its original beaut}', as its
counterpart, which may serve as a model, is still in existence
in Charleston.
The ground in front of the Trinity Cemetery was at this
time, and for many years after the Revolution, the fashion-
able promenade, and was known as the " Church Walk,"
and the Mall. During the war seats were arranged for the
public, and music was given every evening by military bands,
while the army officers and such city belles as " lox-ed the
military" paraded up and down in pleasant discourse. In
the present day, when the rights of the sexes are matters of
discussion by the indignant of both in the public prints, it is
amusing to notice a protest from a British officer in The
Royal Gazette, 1780, against the " want of politeness and
decorum in the masculine gender " in monopolizing the seats
in the Mall. He remarks, with sense and sensibility, in the
elegant language of the day, " that this must be very dis-
agreeable to the fair sex in general, whose tender, delicate
limbs may be tired with the fatigue of walkincr and bein<r
denied a seat to rest them." The Central Park to-day
repeats in its broad and beautiful Mall and adjacent music-
stand these features of the life of the city a century ago.
The public buildings were not striking either for size or
beaut}-. The City Hall, which stood at the head of Broad
street, where the elegant white marble structin-e occupied by
the United States Treasury Department noAv stands, was a
three-storv' brick building with wings. The ground floor
was open as a thoroughfare. The site of the building was
laid in the }^ear 1700, on a bastion and line of stone fortifica-
tions which extended across the northern boundary of the
cit}^ from, the East to the Hudson River, whence the name of
Wall street is derived. First occupied b}- the Common
Council in 1703, the edifice was for a long time the most
lb THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
magnificent in the city, and was frequently improved and
embellished until the Revolutionary War. While in posses-
sion of the British it was occupied by the main guard, and,
escaping the ravages of the enemy, remained entire, although
much injured, until the evacuation in 1783. The Legislature
of the State and the courts met here after the war. The city
bell was here. A curious notice in The New York Packet
of 1784 warned the inhabitants " not to be alarmed by the
ringing of the court bell;" and informed them that "the
said bell will be rung daily, at a quarter before ten o'clock in
the forenoon, for the meeting of the Legislature," and other
papers were requested to copy. It was renovated in 1784,
and extensive additions made in the rear, for the use of the
Congress, which had adjourned to New York from Philadel-
phia ; in the spring of 1789 the first Congress under the new
Constitution met in the new edifice, which took the name of
Federal Hall ; and here it was that on the 3d of April. 1789,
George Washington was inaugurated the first President.
The building was demolished in 18 12.
The Exchange, at one time called the Royal Exchange,
at the foot of Broad street, below the intersection of Dock
(now Pearl street), was a building raised upon arches in the
middle of the street. Built upon or near the site of a struc-
ture which had served as a market-house as well as meeting-
place of merchants, from the beginning of the century, it was
sometimes called the New Exchange. A subscription was
made by the merchants, in 1752, for its erection, but it was
assumed and finally completed by the city corporation. At
times its lower arch-covered surface seems to have been inclos-
ed. Above the arches was a large hall sixty feet by thirty,
with walls fourteen feet high, arching to a height of twenty
feet, surmounted by a cupola. It was provided with a stove,
then a modern invention, and a clock. In 1754, the lower
story was used as a coffee-house, and the room above as a ball-
room. The Chamber of Commerce hired and repaired it in
1769, and occupied it until their sessions were interrupted by
the breaking out of hostilities in 1775. During the war it was
used by the British as a market. When the City Hall was
I
CHURCHES.
17
undergoing repairs after tlie peace, the State Legislature and
courts of justice held their sessions here. In 1795 it passed
into the hands of the Tamnian)' Society for use as a nuiscum,
and was so used under the direction of the eccentric (lardner
Baker. In 1799, in consequence of numerous complaints, the
city authorities ordered it to be taken down and removed.
At the time of its erection, the streets in its neighborhood
had been greatly improved, and the commerce of the city for
a few }-ears gathered about it, but it gradually lost its pres-
tige from the nuisances which were allowed to accumulate
about the water edge near by. Then, as now, the system of
sewerage was a crying disgrace to the city, and the river
banks had become intolerable nuisances. Comparing Eng-
lish and x'\merican cities with those of Continental Europe,
the thought forces itself upon the mind that the Anglo-Saxon
race, neat as it may be in personal habits, has no special
" vocation " for public cleanliness.
At the south-west point of the island stood the Fort in a
square with four bastions, facing the Bowling Green ; within
it a building which was the residence of the colonial gover-
nors until destroyed by fire in December, 1773. The Fort
itself was removed in 1790, to make way for the Government
House erected for the use of the State Government. Below
the Fort, on the water line, were fortifications of considerable
extent. A stone battery was laid here by Governor Cosby,
in 1735, and called after his son-in-law, the " George Augus-
tus Royal Battery." Hence the name of the Battery, which was
before and for many years after the war, in the summer season,
a delightful promenade, cooled by the sea breeze, and pre-
senting a bay view unparalleled in beauty and extent. It
is not improbable that this charming spot may again become a
favorite residence. The other public buildings were the new
jail called the " Provost " during the war, and " The Bride-
well," both in the fields now the City Park.
Of the three Episcopal churches founded under one ro}-al
charter in 1697, Old Trinity, the most stately edifice in
America, had fallen a victim to the terrible fire Avhich swept
the city after the British entry in 1776. St. George's Chapel,
1 8 CHURCHES.
finished in 1750, stood in Beekman street. It was destroyed
by fire in 18 14, again rebuilt, and finally taken down in 1868.
St. Paul's Chapel, on the corner of Broadway and Vesey
street, completed in 1766, is the finest relic of colonial archi-
tecture, and for beauty of design is not excelled by any later
structures. Its elegant and graceful spire was added in
1794.
There were three houses of worship belonging to the Pres-
byterians. The First Presbyterian, or Wall Street Church, a
modest building of rough stone, stood at the upper end of
Wall street, near Broadway. It was originally erected in
1719, enlarged in 1768, rebuilt in 1809, and finally removed
in 1844, and reconstructed in Jersey City. The second or
Brick Meeting-house, a branch of the Wall Street Church,
was built, in 1768, on the Vineyard lot opposite the Common,
rebuilt in i797j ^^'^^^ "^''^is demolished in consequence of the
widening of Beekman street. The present New York Times
building occupies its site. The last service was held here in
May, 1856. This was for a long time, with the exception of a
few small wooden houses, the only building on Chatham row.
The third or Second Presbyterian church was built in 1768,
in Little Queen (now Cedar street), between Nassau and
Broadway. This congregation originated about the year
1756? ii"! a separation of the Scottish members from the
Wall Street Church, in consequence of changes in the form of
worship and a difference of opinion as to psalmody. All
these three churches were occupied by the British troops as
hospitals and barracks, and were left behind them in ruins
and dilapidation.
There w'ere three Dutch Reformed churches. The Old
South, or Garden Street Church, which stood in the present
Exchange place, was built in 1693, rebuilt in 1766, again in
1807, and was destroyed by the great fire in 1835. The
New or Middle Church, built in 1729. and remodelled in 1764,
still remains. From its cupola one of the best views of the
city and surrounding country was to be seen. It was here
that Dr. Franklin made some of his experiments in electri-
city. Indeed the only steeples high enough to be seen to
CHURCIIKS.
19
advantage, after the destruction of Trinity, were those of this
cluirch and St. George's Chapel. During the occupation it
was used Iw the Britisli as a riding scliool for dragoons.
Pubhc worship ceased in it in 1S44, when it \\\as sold to the
United States Government, the merchants of New York con-
tributing to its purchase by subscription, for the use of the
Post-Office Department. It has been this fall abandoned,
and is now being demolished. The North Dutch Church was
erected in 1769, on the corner of Fulton and William streets,
remodelled in 1842, and has been this year taken down. It
had become famous, in latter years, as the seat of the Ful-
ton street prayer-meetings.
The Methodists erected a church in John street in 1768,
which is still standing on the south side of the street, near
Nassau. The Moravians began their worship in a small frame
building which they put up in Fulton street, between William
and Dutch streets, in 175 i. The old house was taken down
and rebuilt in 1829, and finally removed in 1843. The Bap-
tists had their place of worship in Gold street, between Fulton
and John streets, in a small building erected by them in 1760.
It was rebuilt in 1802, and finally taken down in 1840. The
Friends, who had occupied a modest structure in Little Green
street (now Liberty place), a small street running from Maiden
lane to Crown (now Liberty street), from the early part of the
century, in 1775 built a second house of brick in Pearl street,
between Franklin square and Oak street, which was taken
down in 1824. In 1794 the old building was destroyed and a
new one erected, fronting on Liberty street. This continued
to be used as a meeting-house until 1826, when it passed into
the hands of Mr. Grant Thorburn, who occupied it as a seed
store for many years. The French congregation, L'Eglise du
Saint Esprit (Church of the Holy Ghost), which had existed
from an early day, in 1 704 erected a building, which was long
the oldest of the New York churches, in Pine street, fronting
the rear of the present United States Sub-Treasury, with a
burial ground running back as far as Cedar street. Here the
descendants of the French Huguenots continued their worship,
according to the tenets of the old faith, for 130 years. The
't3
2
20 EDUCATION AND ART.
building was "low, grave and sombre, and its tower heavy
and monastic." The Jewish house of worship was built in
Mill street, about 1706. This was taken down, and the first
Synagogue erected on the same site in 1729. This building,
in turn, was rebuilt in 18 18, and occupied till 1833, when the
property was sold, and the congregation removed. The first
Roman Catholic public worship was held at the Vaux Hall, at
the foot of Warren street ; this was the origin of St. Peter's
Church in Barclay street, built in 1786. The corner-stone
was laid by the Spanish ambassador, Don Diego de Gardoqui,
and the building fund contributed to by both the Spanish and
French official representatives. It was later rebuilt.
Education had not as yet been considered a matter for legis-
lative interference. It was held, indeed, to be a matter with
which the Government had no right to interfere, and was
chiefly in the hands of the clergy. Early in the history of
the Dutch colony teaching in Latin had been fostered by the
Government. In 17 10 the first free school was opened by
Trinity Church, under the teaching of William Huddlestone.
In 1754 King's College was established, and a year later the
Dutch, tenacious of their old language, imported a school-
master for instruction in the Dutch language. During the
seven years of war these schools and the college were closed.
The first to reopen was the Dutch, many months before the
evacuation by the British. King's College (now Columbia)
occupied the beautiful square, well remembered, bounded by
Church, Chapel (now West Broadway), Murray and Mortlike
(now Barclay street). This was an elegant stone structure
three stories high, with a chapel, hall, library, museum, ana-
tomical theatre, and school for experimental philosophy. The
edifice was surrounded by a high fence, which also inclosed a
large court and garden. The students resided in the build-
ing. The fire of 1776 burned all the houses west of Broad-
way up to this limit.
There were no public collections of art in the city before
1800; a few occasional portraits, but of a low order of merit.
An example may be seen in the portrait of Lieut. -Gov. Cad-
wallader Golden, painted for the Chamber of Commerce by
EDUCATION AND ART. 21
Matthew Pratt, a picture 4^)x78, for wliich the artist received
£37 ■
In the year 1791, ^Ir. Archibald Roliertson, an artist, or-
ganized " The Cohimbian Academy of Painting," but this was
a private institution. In 1801, the American Academy of
Fine Arts was organized under the ad\ice of Robert R. Liv-
ingston, then Minister to France, with the active co-operation
of Aaron Burr. It opened its rooms with numerous donations,
prominent among which were several gifts from the Emperor
Napoleon, and in 1808 was incc^rporated, with ICdward Liv-
ingston as President. It ceased to exist in 1841, and its \-alu-
able collection is scattered.
The theatre was on the north side of John street, about half-
way between Broadway and Nassau street. The building
stood, as described by Mr. Duer, about sixty feet back from
the street, and was entered by a covered way. It was opened
on the 7th of December, 1767, by " The American Company,"
with Farquhar's comedy of the " Stratagem," and Garrick's
farce or dramatic satire, '' Lethe." A curious incident is con-
nected with the histor}' of the theatre at this period. Some
Cherokee warriors arrived in the cit}' from South Carolina
with Capt. Schermerhorne, among whom were Attakullakulla,
or the Little Carpenter; Ocounostola, or the Great Warrior;
and the Ra\'en King of Tougooloo, wlio expressed a desire to
see the performance of the 14th, which was the play of Richard
III., not the most appropriate entertainment, certainl}', for
the instruction of savage chiefs. Attakullakulla was a noted
Cherokee chief. Lie had visited England and signed the
treaty of peace at Westminster, in 1 730. The general de-
pression which resulted from the sullen but as }'et peaceful
struggle of the colonics with the home Government, brought
theatrical exhibitions to a close, and no entertainments were
given after Aug. 2, 1773. On the 24th of December, 1774,
the Provincial Congress passed a resolution recommending the
suspension of all public amusements, and no further perform-
ances w^ere given. When the British held the city, amateurs re-
opened the John Street Theatre under the name of " Theatre
Royal," and plays were given from January, 1777, to June,
22 TAVERNS, MEAD-HOUSES, ETC.
1 78 1, the receipts being for the benefit of the poor of the city.
It was here that the accomphshed and unfortunate Major An-
dre distinguished himself both as an actor and scene painter.
After the peace, in spite of strong pubhc sentiment, which took
shape in articles in the newspapers and speeches in the Legis-
lature, the theatre was reopened on the 24th of August, 1785,
with a prologue and pantomime, which continued until Oct.
14 of the same year. The legitimate drama was not resumed
till the 2 1st of November, 1785. The last performance in the
John Street Theatre was " Wives As They Were and Maids
As They Are," on the 12th of January, 1798. The New, or
Park Theatre, which stood in Park row, near Ann street, was
opened on the 29th of January of the same year.
The principal tavern was the City Arms, a large house
on the west side of Broadway, at the corner of Stone, now
Thames street. This famous house was a part of the
Delancey estate, and until 1754 was the residence of James
De Lancey, the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony. On the
15th April of that year it was opened as a tavern by Ed-
ward Willet, a noted host, under the name of the Province
Arms. In the newspapers of the day it is sometimes called
the New York Arms, the York Arms, the City Arms, or, as
was often the case, by the name of the proprietor. Willet's
opening notice describes the house "as not only the best
accommodated with stables and all things necessary to the
entertainment of travellers, but the best situated of any house
in that business in this city, being nearest the centre ; and in
a direct line with the eastern road, and very handy for both
the North River, Staten Island, and Long Island Ferries."
The New York tavern-keepers were in the colonial days an
itinerant class, and moved from house to house with the reg-
ularity of lawyers on a circuit. Crawley, Burns, Bolton, and
Hull all kept it in turn. It was here, while in the keeping of
Burns, that the famous non-importation agreement was signed
the 31st October, 1765, by the merchants of the city. Burns
succeeded Crawley in 1763. John Adams, delegate to the
first Continental Congress, stopped here on his way to Phila-
delphia in 1774. During the earlier part of the war it was kept
TAVERNS, MEAD-IIOUSKS, KTC. 23
by Hicks, who seems to have been displaced in an arbitrary
manner in 1781, to make way for Roubalet. It was a favorite
resort of the miHtary, on account of its proximity to the
fashionable promenade. On its piazzas and balconies were
"coigns of vantage" for the review of the loj-alist belles
" walking down Broadway." Later it passed into the hands
of John Cape, and was called the " State Arms of New
York" (No. 18 Broadway), in his advertisements of May 31,
1784. The house was provided with a large ball-room, where
concerts were given and dancing assemblies held. These
assemblies were subscription balls under the direction of
managers. They were renewed immediately after the war.
The first was held on the evening of Thursday, the 1 8th of
December, 1783, at 6 o'clock. Rivington, the editor of the
newspaper which advertised this ball, announced in the same
paper that he had " for sale a supply of white dancing gloves
for gentlemen, silk stockings, dress-swords, and elegant Lon-
don cocked hats." As he was a loyalist, this was probably
the stock of the outgoing officers. of the British army. Cape
does not appear to have met with success in his venture. In
1786 Joseph Corre, a Frenchman by birth, took the house,
and in 1788 he, in turn, made way for the veteran Edward
Barden, who had returned to the city from Jamaica. Long
Island, where he kept the inn opposite the Episcopal Church.
Broadway was already the favorite street, and the old tavern
became the chosen spot for the meetings of societies and
great public entertainments, and acquired a popularity which
it uninterruptedly maintained for a long period. In 1793 tlie
old building, which was still owned by the De Lanccy
family, was taken down, and the Tontine City Tavern or
City Hotel, erected by a company who organized for its
purchase on the Tontine plan. The City Hotel has been taken
down within our recollection.
There was another tavern largely patronized by the offi-
cers of the British arm}' and navy, on Brownejohn's Wharf,
at the Fly Market, as it was called. This was kept by James
Strachan until 1781, when he changed his quarters. Not far
distant, in Water street, Ephraim Smith kept a house known
24 TAVERNS, MEAD-HOUSES, ETC.
by his name — Smith's Tavern. lie had previously kept a
tavern under the same sign in Philadelphia. The Bull's
Head was in the Bowery lane. But of all, the most famous
for its historic associations was the house on the south-east
corner of Broad and Dock (now Pearl street), which is still
standing". It was built in the early part of the last century,
by the De Lancey famil}-, on land conveyed by Col. Stephanus
Van Cortlandt to Esticnne de Lancey, his son-in-law, in
1 700. It was for some time occupied as a residence by Col.
Joseph Robinson ; then by Delancey, Robinson & Co. as a
store, and later passed by sale into the hands of Sam
Fraunces, the most noted publican of the day (later the
steward of General Washington's household), who here
opened a tavern in 1762, under the sign of Queen Charlotte.
This was in honor of the charming and popular queen of
George III., who had already, although only in her eighteenth
year, earned the name of " The Good Queen Charlotte." A
record of the interesting incidents connected with this old
house would fill a volume. The Chamber of Commerce
organized here in 1768 ; the clubs and societies often met at
its hospitable board. This was the building which was struck
by the shot upon the city by the " Asia " man-of-war, but it
is most dear to the heart of the patriot as the spot where, at
a dinner given to him on the 4th of December, 1783, Gen.
Washington bade a touching and affectionate farewell to his
officers. Before the war it was known as the Queen's Head ;
later, as Fraunces's Tavern. It is now kept as a lodging-house
by W. Stiibner, under the sign of Washington's Headquar-
ters, in memory of the incident related.
On the new road, a continuation of Broadway, there were
several mead-houses and tea-gardens, and opposite the Park,
where Peak's Museum stood later, was the celebrated garden
and public house of de la Montague, where the Liberty
Boys had their rendezvous. The Liberty Pole was near
by. The Vauxhall was a large garden at the foot of War-
ren street, extending as far as Chambers street, overlooking
the Hudson, and commanding a beautiful view. This had
been the residence of Major James of Stamp Act memory,
COFFEE-HOUSES. 25
and had later passed into the hands of the cnterprisincj
Fraunces.
Besides these, there were bilHard tables at de la Mon-
tagne's, in the fields, and near by Walker's Fives Alley, about
the corner of Murray street, where Sir Henry Clinton was
wont to play with his officers. There was also a Fives alley
in John street, near the theatre. In summer the ladies visited
the tea-gardens, but then, as now, the men at times preferred
to enjoy themselves without the restraining influence of the
fair sex.
Before the war, coffee-houses, kept on the English plan, were
places of great resort. A notice of a Coffee-House appears on
the Assembly Journal of 1705, and occasional mentions of it
occur until 1/37, ^vhen the Exchange Cofifee-House is noticed
in an advertisement in Bradford's Gazette. A few years later
{1744) one appears of " The Merchants' Cofifee-House," which
stood on the south-east corner of Wall and Water streets, on
the site later occupied by The Journal of Commerce. Cofifee-
House slip and Cofifee-House bridge, which occupied the cen-
tre of Wall street, running from Queen (now Pearl) to Water
street, derived their names from their proximity to this Cofifee-
House. The Bridge was the place where the " vendues," as
auctions were then called, were held. A notice in Parker's
Post Boy of August 27, 1744, shows that this was the
favorite resort of captains. It was for a long time kept by a
Madame Ferrari, until a new building was erected on the
opposite cross corner, when she removed to the new house.
John Adams, recording his walk about the city in 1774, men-
tions a visit to the coffee-house, which he found full of
gentlemen, and his reading of the newspapers there ; but for
some cause coffee-houses gradually decHned toward the
close of the colonial period, probably because of the depres-
sion in trade and general want of ease in the fortunes of the
population, as the next year a long article appeared in Holt's
i^ew York Journal calling on the inhabitants to support
these useful institutions, and complaining that those who did
take adx-antage of their many conveniences, did not, as was
the custom in England, do their part to the support of the
26 COFFEE-HOUSES.
house by ordering a cup of coffee, a glass of wine, etc. Cor-
nelius Bradford opened the Merchants' Coffee-House after
repairs in May, 1776, but his stay was of short duration. A
warm patriot, he Avent out with the American army on its re-
treat, and remained near Rhinebeck during the war. It then
passed into the hands of a Mrs. Smith, probably the person
who kept the building next door, where the Insurance Office
was. Later, James Strachan moved from the tavern on
Brownejohn's wharf, and tried his fortune here, but without
success, as appears from a piteous appeal to his debtors, March,
1783. In October of the same year, Cornelius Bradford re-
turned, and the Merchants' Coffee-House under his admirable
management became a noted resort. He established in 1784
the first Marine List ever publicly kept in New York, from
which the newspaper notices were daily taken. He also
opened a register where " gentlemen and merchants " were
requested to enter their names and residences. This was the
first approach to a city directory. The first directory was
published by David Franks, in 1786, and contained the names
and addresses of 933 persons. Trow's City Directory for
1875 contains 233,971 names. It must be observed, how-
ever, that the first of Franks was very incomplete. The
Chamber of Commerce and the Marine Society entertained
Congress at the Merchants' Coffee-House in February, 1784,
Bradford died the next year, but the house remained in the
keeping of his widow for some years, until the building of
the famous Tontine Coffee-House, on the northwest corner
of Wall and Water streets (the opposite cross angle), when
the widow withdrew. The Merchants' Coffee-House was de-
stroyed in the great fire of 1804, and rebuilt as the Phoenix
Coffee-FIouse the next year. The Tontine was projected
on the 30th of March, 1791, by an assemblage of gentlemen
who met at the Coffee-House, with John Broome, at that
time President of the Chamber of Commerce, as chairman.
The corner-stone was laid with ceremony on the 5th of June,
1792, and the building formally opened by a great public
dinner, at which 120 gentlemen sat down, the 5th of June,
the following year (1793). The Tontine became celebrated
RESIDENCES— SUGAR-HOUSES. 2/
under the management of John Ilyde, its first host. A letter
on emigration, pubhshed in London by a " gentleman lately
returned from America," recommends the house as havin"-
" as elegant accommodations as an\'in London," and as con-
sidered to be the best in the United States. He states the
cost of living in a handsome apartment at £'jo to £^o per
annum, wine and porter excepted, and speaks of it as fre-
quented by all genteel strangers and the superior gentlemen
of the town. Hyde died of the yellow fever in 1805. Dur-
ing the war a Mrs. Treville kept the London Coffee-I louse
at the Exchange.
Of the two private houses of note, the chief was the Ken-
nedy Mansion, at No. i Broadway, built for Capt. Archibald
Kennedy of the British Navy, who had married a daughter of
the wealthy colonial famil}' of Watts. This house was the
headquarters of Gen. Putnam in 1776, and afterward of the
British commanders. The other famous dwelling was the
Walton House, an edifice of Holland brick, 50 feet front, and
three stories high, still standing, though shorn of its architec-
tural ornaments, and known as No. 324 Pearl street. This old
house was illuminated for the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766.
Of the four sugar-houses three were in the hands of persons
of Dutch descent, by whom this lucrative business was then
as now almost monopolized. The old sugar-house in Crown
street (now Liberty street, near the Dutch church), built by
the Livingstons, is best known as the British prison during
the Revolution. That built by Henry Cuyler, Jr., for his
heir, Barent Rynders Cuyler, in 1769, is still standing, a mas-
sive structure on the corner of Rose and Duane streets. It
later passed into the hands of the Rhinelanders, who contin-
ued the same business. The Van Cortland sugar-house was
on the north-west corner of Trinity churchyard. The Roose-
velts also had a sugar-house, in Skinners street, near the
Walton House. The Beiyard sugar house, which stood in
Wall street, close to the old City Hall, from 1729, had been
in 1773 turned into a tobacco manufactory. The Bayards
introduced what they termed the " mystery of sugar refin-
ing " in New York.
s^
28 THE WATER SUPPLY.
Water was supplied to the inhabitants from the Tea Water
Pump. Kahii, in his account of New York in 1748, says:
" There is no good water to be met with in the town itself,
but at a little distance there is a large spring of good water
which the inhabitants take for their tea and the uses of their
kitchen :" hence the name which the spring and pump long
retained. The Tea Waterworks, as they were called, stood
in the Out Ward, on a lot 75 by 120, which made, in 17S4,
part of the estate of Gcrardus Hardenbrook. This lot fronted
on the Bowery road, at what was then the head of Queen
(now Pearl street), now the west side of Chatham, nearly op-
posite Roosevelt street. It was said to receive its supply of
water from never-failing springs, but in reality drew it from a
pond not far distant, known as the Cohect Pond or Fresh
Water, which lay where the present Tombs building stands
in Centre street. This pond had an outlet on the North
river, through Vv^hat was called the Canal, over which a stone
bridge was erected on the line of Broadway, and another on
that to the East river. The Collect was unfortunately filled
up by the authorities of the city instead of being enlarged
and made a water communication between the two rivers, a
plan at one time proposed, which would have afforded ex-
cellent basin accommodation for river transports, and a safe
winter harbor. Nature seems to have indicated this in her
original design. The water still runs through the Canal
street sewer. The well which supplied the famous Tea Water
Pump was about twenty feet deep and four feet in diameter,
and supplied an average daily drawing of from 14,000 to
15,000 gallons. In summer sometimes as many as 28,000
gallons were taken, yet the depth of water never fell below
three feet. The water was sold at the pump at three pence
the hogshead. In 1796 there was a rumor that the supply of
water was failing, but it was immediately contradicted by the
proprietor. At this time the water was sold at the pump at
four cents the hogshead of 140 gallons. The water was
carted through the streets and retailed from door to door.
Two years later its reputation became bad, the Collect was
reported as being " a shocking hole, where all impure things
'rili; WATER SUPPLY.
29
centre tog-ether." An article in 'J'he Daily Advertiser of
September 6th, 1798, urged the citizens, "every man for
himself, to leave no stone unturned to provide aqueducts."
As early as 1774 Christopher Colles, with his usual saga-
cit}', had proposed to erect a reser\-oir and to convey water
through the several streets, and with the aid of the corpora-
tion erected a steam pumping engine near the Collect, but the
war caused an abandonment of this plan. Tliis enterprise
was completed in March, 1776. The newspapers describe
the engine as carrying a pump eleven inches in diameter and
six feet stroke, which lifted 417,600 gallons dail\-. There is
a curious notice of these works in the journal of Dr. Isaac
Bangs of the New England troops, who was quartered in the
cit}' in 1776. He describes the works as consisting of a reser-
voir on the top of a hill, from which wooden pipes distributed
it through the city (the reservoir a quarter of an acre in extent)-
His astonishment was excited by the working of the machine
which lifted the water through a wooden tube. With his native
curiosity, however, he mastered the problem and gives a
lucid description of the steam-engine. In 1799 the Manhat-
tan Company was chartered to supply the city with water,
and the Bronx river was proposed as the source of supply.
^\ pump was built near the Collect and wooden pipes laid
through the streets, and the inhabitants served with water for
a long period. It w^as not until the completion, in 1842, oi
the Croton Aqueduct, that colossal and beneficent monument
of New York enterprise, that there was assured to the pop-
ulation a never-failing supply of pure water, the first condi-
tion of prosperity and health, an enterprise so eloquently and
prophetically described by the late John Romeyn Brodhead
at the fortieth anniversary of this Society in 1844 — "the
stern and majestic ruins that frown over the desolate Cam-
pagna are not more impressive monuments to the Emperor
Claudius than will the aqueduct of New York be an enduring
memorial of the far-reaching philanthropy of those who pro-
jected and advocated this noble work."
Even before the Revolution the cit}- provided itself with
the purely American luxury, ice, the use of which is only at
30 MARKETS— CEMETERIES.
this late day becoming general in Europe by the example of
American travellers. There were several ice-houses, all of
which took their supply from the fresh water. The prin-
cipal of these buildings was situated on the North River,
near Trinity Churchyard.
The principal market was the Fly Market, so called from
Vly, or valley, its site having been originally a salt meadow.
It stood at the foot of Maiden lane, and was supplied, as
New York has always been, with an endless variety of fish
and shell-fish of the most delicious kind, and with meat,
poultry and fruit — the latter in abundant profusion. The
other markets of importance were the Bear Market, now
Washington, on the west side of the city, between Green-
wich street and the Hudson ; the Oswego Market, which
was built on the site of the old Broadway, in 1771, and stood
in Maiden lane, between Broadway and Nassau street, until
removed as a nuisance in 18 10, when its stalls were trans-
ferred to the Bear Market. There was also a market at Peck
slip, built in 1763, occupied as a storehouse by the British,
again restored after the war, deserted when Catharine Market
Avas built, in 1786, and finally removed in 1792. Still another
was opened at the foot of Broad street, at the Exchange, on
the petition of the inhabitants during the war, there being
no other convenient to the population in this locality.
Besides the Trinity Church Cemetery, which was the city
burying ground from an early period, and the graveyards
attached to the churches, there was a Jewish cemetery at the
corner of Oliver and Chatham streets, and a negro burying-
ground on the spot immediately north of the common now
occupied by A. T. Stewart's dry-goods store.
Bradford's New York Gazette and Zenger's New York
Weekly Journal^ the one the organ of the Colonial Govern-
ment, and the other of the Opposition party, make frequent
mention of a club named the Hunc Over De, which met a.t
the houses of four gentlemen, where lively discussions seem
to have taken place. A letter of one Andrew Merrill to
Zenger says, that " the members were merry enough ; but they
had like to have demolished the ladies' tea-table at whose
CLUBS POLITICAL AND SOCIAL. 3 1
house the chib was. They had not much party till supper
came, and then they were as warm as scollopt oysters."
Politics ran high at this time, 1735-173^, when Colonel
IvCwis ]\Iorris, afterward Governor of New Jersey, and James
De Lancey, later Lieutenant-Governor of New York, were
struggling for the control of the province of New York.
A Whig Club was formed in 1752, which met once each
week at the King's Arms Tavern. Of this William Living-
ston, William Smith and John Morin Scott, the Presbyterian
leaders, were members, and as they were not of the order
of men who consent to take secondary places, no doubt the
founders. The King's Arms Tavern was at this time in
Broad street, opposite to the Royal Exchange, and kept by
George Burns.
Before the war the Social Club met every Saturday even-
ing in winter at Sam P'raunces' Tavern, and enjoyed them-
selves after the usual manner. Li svmimer the members met
at Kip's Bay, where they built a neat and comfortable house.
It was at this point the British landed, September 15, 1776.
The club dispersed at the time of the war, and never reas-
sembled. An account of the club and a list of its members
were found among the papers of Mr. John Moore, and pre-
sented to the New York Historical Society by his son, T. W.
C. Moore. Among its members were John Jay, Gouver-
neur Morris, Robert R. Livingston, Egbert Benson, Gulian
C. Verplanck, Morgan Lewis, the Ludlows, Watts, Lispen-
ards, Bards and others. The lawyers had a club which they
called the Moot, organized in 1770, where disputed points of
law were formally debated. Such veteran lawyers as Wil-
liam Smith, John Morin Scott, Richard Morris, and among
the younger, Samuel Jones, John Jay, R. R. Livingston,
James Duane, Gouverneur Morris, and Peter Van Schaack,
need only be named to show the character of the society.
The Moot was held at Barden's Tavern, on the evening of
the first Friday in every month. Barden's Tavern was in
1770 at the corner of Murray and Broadway.
After the war the Belvedere was organized by thirty-three
gentlemen, and a building erected on the corner of Cherry and
32 CLUBS POLITICAL AND SOCIAL.
Montgomery streets, in the }'car 1792. The club building com-
prised a ball-room with a music gallery, bar-rooms, and bed-
rooms, and had a large balcony from which there was a beauti-
ful view of the East River and Long Island. Attached to the
house were bowling-alleys, coach-houses, a green, with gravel
walks and shrubbery, elegantly laid out and cared for. This
was a celebrated club, and included such members as Bab-
cock, Constable, Fish, McEvers, Kemble, Ludlow, Seton,
Hoffman and Van Hornc — all leaders of fashion and the beaux
of the day. They met on Saturday nights, also evenings
specially set apart for social gatherings, and the strangers in
the city were generally invited guests. The Sub-Rosa was
another club of thirty gentlemen, who met on Saturday
evenings at a tavern kept by Rebecca Gere, at Corlears
Hook. This dame bore the sobriquet in the club of " Our
Hostess of the Garter." This club, organized in 1794, was
essentially a dining club ; no cards were allowed by the
articles until two hours after dinner, and no discussions dur-
ing or after dinner. Such men as Robert Lenox, Thomas
Roach, Buchanan, Bayard, Winthrop, Henry Cruger, Wal-
ton, Gouverneur, Sherbrooke, and Laight composed this
solid band of good livers. The minutes of their proceedings
show that the proposal of an unfortunate member, that the
bill of fare consist of cold beef or lamb, was voted down by
the conclusive majority of eleven to three.
New York had always been celebrated for the elegance of
its life. When, in Parliament, the poverty and exhaustion
of the colonies after the French war was given as a reason
why they should not be taxed, the " plea was rebutted b)- an
appeal to the elegant entertainments given by the city of
New York to the officers of the British army, and the daz-
zling display of silver plate at their dinners, equal, if not
superior, to any nobleman's." John Adams, in his diary,
constantly refers in terms of wonder to the luxury of life in
the city, to the plate, the damask, and the choice luxury of
the food. Even the butter did not escape his notice and his
praise. He complains, however, that the gentlemen did not
wait for him to finish his sentences before interrupting him
SOCIETIES. 2,3
with their remarks. The New Yorkers were then, as now,
a mercurial people, a quality they derived from the large
intermixture of foreign element in their blood, and perhaps
John Adams was himself a little prosy and pompous. New
England has always been declamatory.
Of the numerous foreign National Societies now in exist-
ence, only one was incorporated in the Ccjlonial period, that
of St. Andrew, which was instituted on the 19th November,
1756, as a society for charitable purposes, with Philip Living-
ston as president. The English, Welsh, and Irish born resi-
dents were in the habit of meeting at Sam Fraunces', Bolton's,
Barden's, or Burns's Taverns, on their Saints' days of St.
George, St. David, St. Patrick, and contributions were then
made for the poor of their naticmality. The St. George's
Society was established in 1786 ; the St. Patrick's later.
The St. Tammany Society, or Independent Order of Lib-
erty, was first organized in 1789. It announced itself as "a
National Society, consists of Americans born who fill all
offices, and adopted Americans who are eligible to the hon-
orary posts of warrior and hunter. It is founded on the true
principles of patriotism, and has for its motives charity and
brotherly love." ^In 1792 its members formed a Tontine
association, under the name of the New York Tammanial
Tontine Association, to expire in May, 1820, whose primary
object \vas stated to be " the building of a hall, with a view to
accommodate the Tammany Society ; " but so far as a build-
ing was concerned the plan does not appear to have been suc-
cessful. The Society was incorporated under the name of
the " Society of Tammany, or Columbian Order," on the 9th
April, 1805, for the purpose of affording relief to the indi-
gent and distressed." It is needless to state how Avidely its
practices have diverged from its original purpose, unless upon
the principle that charity begins at home.
The Black Friars was a society established for social, chari-
table, and humane purposes, on the loth November, 1784.
The Society of the Cincinnati was organized at the Canton-
ment of the American Army on Hudson River, May lOth,
^7^2, by the officers of the Army of the Revolution, as a
34 COLONIAL COMMERCE.
Society of Friends, with a provision that its future member-
ship should be Hmited to tlieir male posterity. The New
York branch organized the 5th July following, at New Wind-
sor ; their annual meetings are always held in the city.
Besides these societies may be mentioned the Society for
the Manumission of Slaves, and protecting such of them as
have been or may be liberated, organized in February, 1785,
with John Jay as president and John Keese as secretary.
Their articles of association were published in Loudon's New
York Packet of 21st February, 1785. The General Society
of Mechanics and Tradesmen was originally designed in 1784,
and appeared before the Legislature in application for a char-
ter in the following year, failing which it was formally insti-
tuted on the 4th August, 1785. It obtained an act of incor-
poration March 14, 1792, which was renewed in 18 10. This
Society built the well known Mechanics' Hall, corner of Park
place and Broadway,, and is still in existence. A Society for
the Promotion of Useful Knowledge was formed, of which
Georoe Clinton was President. This was a revival of the old
New York Society, which was formed before the war for
similar purposes. They met on the 13th July, 1785, at Cape's
Tavern.
The first directory of 1 786 makes mention also of a Gold
and Silver Smiths' Society in existence in 1786, and of a
Society of Peruke Makers and Hair Dressers, which met at
Mr. Ketchum's, No. 22 Ann street, the same year. Hair-
dressing, when perukes and queues were in fashion, was a
business of importance.
The physical, popular, and social features of New York, at
the close of the colonial period, and during the war, have
been presented. It only remains to give some account of the
commerce of the city, to establish a basis for the comparison
of New York as it was in 1776 with the New York of to-day.
The preparation of flour for export had always been a chief
industry of the city and colony. An old document in the
English records of 1698 speaks of " grain as the staple com-
moditie of the Province of New York," and adds that "the
citizens had no sooner perceived that there were greater
COI.nxiAI. COMMERCE.
35
quantities of wheat raised than could be consumed within tlie
said Province but the\' contrived and invented the art of bolt-
ing, by wliicli they converted the wheat into flour, and made
it a manufacture, not only profitable to all the inhabitants of
this Province, by the encouragement of tillage and naviga-
tion, but likewise beneficial and commodious to all the planta-
tions, and the improvement thereof is the true and only cause
of the growth, strength and increase of buildings within the
same, and of the riches, plenty of money, and rise of the value
of lands in the other parts of the Province, and the livelihood
of all the inhabitants of this city did chiefly depend thereon."
The Minutes of the Common Council of 1692 record that the
Supreme Court were of the opinion that the City of New
York had the charter or privilege of bolting or packing flour.
Gov. Andros prohibited the transportation of wheat " that
the same might be improved by the inhabitants of this city in
bolting it into flour, and to bake ' bisketts ' for, transporta-
tion." Of this privilege New York was deprived by Act of
Assembly in 1694. The writer complains that the City of
New York, which had been called the granary of America,
where never less than 40,000 or 50,000 bushels of wheat were
in store, suffered greatly in consequence of this legislation, and
the supply fell off to scarce 1 ,000 bushels, insufficient for the
supply of the inhabitants. The sketch closes with the re-
markable statement that of the 983 houses then in New York,
600 depended upon "bolting;" while in the three counties
of Kings, Queens, and Ulster, there were not over 30
" bolters." Notwithstanding the careful attention paid
by the Assembly of the Colony to the inspection of flour,
as its minutes abundantly show, and in fact compulsory
inspection was not abolished until 1843 (April 18), both
Pennsylvania and Maryland had excelled New York in this
product, and the superfine flour of their manufacture com-
manded higher prices than that of New York. In 1768 New
York exported 8o,ooo barrels of flour to the West Indies, and
received in return rum, sugar, and molasses. Provisions also
were exported to the Spanish Main, wheat, flour, Indian corn,
and timber to Lisbon and Madeira — and before the Revolution
3
36 COLONIAL COMMERCE.
the manufacture of pot and pearl ashes had become an im-
portant industry. There was also a considerable export of
flaxseed to Ireland, in return for which linens were received.
In addition to these there had been from the earliest history
of the Colony a large and profitable trade in peltry. All
Northern and Western New York was a fur-yielding coun-
try, and thousands of hunters traversed the great interior in
pursuit of skins.
The old seal of the Province itself gives evidence of the
importance of the two great interests of the Colony, the beaver
and flour-barrel being both borne upon the arms. The beavei
figured upon the seal of New Amsterdam from 1654; the
flour-barrel was added after the English conquest in 1686.
The fur trade had declined after the capture of the Canadas, but
was again to revive with the new-born sympathy of the Cana-
dians, French, and Indian half-breeds for the Americans.
Already young Astor, who arrived here in 1784, was travers-
ing the wilderness and organizing the vast trade which was
the foundation of the colossal fortune \\hich attracted univer-
sal notice a few days since as it passed, quintupled in magni-
tude, to a second generation, a fortune in itself the most
remarkable witness of the growth of the city which alone has
swelled it to its enormous magnitude.
With the close of the war with France and Spain, in 1763,
began the period of greatest commercial activity in the Colo-
nies. In May of that year the lighthouse at Sandy Hook was
lighted for the first time. The lucrative business of priva-
teering, in which New York largel)' indulged whenever there
was an occasion, and to which the rich galleons of Spain,
heavy with the freight of the Indies, contributed many a
prize, had of course fallen with the general peace.
In the year 1773, the importations by New York from
England reached the sum of ;!^53i,ooo, and her exports
;^529,ooo, the chief export business being, as has been shown,
with the West Indies. In the year ended January 5, 1776,
the customs books report among other exports from New
York in 705 vessels, 104,357 barrels flour and 19,033 tierces
and barrels bread, 700,689 bushels wheat, 66,045 Indian corn,
POPULATION AND COMMERCE. 37
111,8-1-5 flaxseed, 99,949 casks of beef and pork, 3,057 casks
of butter.
Such were the conditions under which New York began
her new career. It will not be possible to measure the
gigantic strides of her progress in e\ery walk of life through
the centur)', or give more than a faint sketch of the innumer-
able details which fill its history. In the preceding an en-
deav'or has been made to present New York as it was in 1776,
and to show the changes caused by the war in its physical
appearance. The returning patriots who left the city on the
entrance of the British troops found it on their departure not
only deserted, but, as Dunlap describes it, a mass of " black
unsightly rubbish."
The population of the city at this period (1783) cannot be
acciu'ately ascertained. A great change was then occurring
with the outgoing of the loyalists and the incoming of the
patriot population, and the arrival of large numbers of new
settlers who, attracted by the natural advantages of New
York, proposed to make it their home ; among these many
New Englanders, whose energy and enterprise contributed
largely to its growth and prosperity. In 1768 the cit}- was
estimated by Noah Webster, a competent authority, to con-
tain 3,340 dwelling-houses and a population of 23,614 souls.
This little cit}- was then the second in importance of the
Western Continent — Philadelphia, the first, had at this period
40,000 — Boston, owing to her inferior situation and climate,
had been alread)' outrun b\' her more fortunate rivals, and her
population did not exceed 15,000. Baltimore followed with
14,000, and Charleston, which at one time had. ambition equal
to any of her sisters, 10,000. New York had already begun
to feel within her broad loins the throes of empire, and was
looking forward to her magnificent destiny. Already it com
manded the trade of the larger part of New Jersey, of Con-
necticut, and part of Massachusetts, besides the vast interior
country to which its imperial river gave it access, and the
eye of enterprise was measuring the distances from sea and
river to the interior lakes, over which connections might be
made, to lock the whole in one grand system of internal com-
38 CURRENCY.
munication which should open an avenue for the commerce
of a continent. The road to the Canadian provinces and the
great North-West was up the banks of the Hudson, and at
its 'mouth lay the matchless land-locked harbor, safe anchor-
age for fleets of untold magnitude. The mission of New
York was commerce, and she early understood it. Phila-
delphia had at this period outstripped her sister cities in
manufacturing of all kinds, and New York seems never to
have undertaken any serious rivalry in this branch of in-
dustry. She recognized that commerce was her vocation.
During the colonial period New York had always been
extremely careful of her credit, and her issues of paper
money were never in excess of the absolute demands of
trade. The first issue was made in 1710, but no such bills
were made a legal tender after 1737. Tater, when a new
issue was consented to by Lieut. -Gov. Colden, in 1770, they
were only made a tender at the Loan Offices and Treasury,
a well-regulated sinking fund prevented depreciation, and
New York bills were at par all over the country, and equal
to silver.
For some time after the war the currency was expressed
in pounds sterling. Hamilton, in his famous report to Con-
gress, January 28, 1791, on the establishment of a mint, says :
"The pound,. though of various value, is the unit of the
money account of all the States. But it is not equally easy
to pronounce-what is to be considered as the unit in the
coins, there being no formal regulation on this point."
" But," he continues, " the manner of adjusting foreign ex-
changes would . seem to indicate the dollar as best entitled to
that character." Before the Revolution, the debasement of
coin by clipping and washing had become a general and
annoA'ing evil. As all the coins were foreign, and the Lyon
dollar, introduced by the Dutch, was the only legal tender of
coin in the Colony, the Provincial authorities had been
powerless to remedy the evil ; the Lyon dollar, the value of
which was fixed as early as 1720 as *' seventeen pennyweight
for fifteen pennyweight of Sevil pillar or Mexican plate,"
having almost disappeared. The proclamation of the King,
FOUNDING OF BANKS.
39
June 24, 1774, had directed the brcakhig up of all Rrilish
coins which should reach the Treasury deficient in wei'dit •
but this rather increased than abated the evil in the Colonies.
The dollar was, therefore, only a money of account, and —
like the marc banco of Hamburg— a fictitious symbol of
value by which all others were measured.
After the adoption of the State Constitution in 1777, but
two laws were passed making bills of credit. The first, March
27, 1781, was for $41 1,250 to pay the proportion called for by
Congress toward the expenses of the war. The bills of the
Provincial Congress as well as the Continental bills were made
a legal tender. The only other law passed making bills of
credit was one of April 18, 1786, for ;^200,ooo, which pro-
vided that they be received in all payments to the State
Treasury, and limited their circulation to the year 1 800.
On the 30th of March, 1780, an act was passed fixing the
rates at which the Continental issues should be taken. ]^y
the act it was declared that $146 of Continental issue of
June I, 1778, was the equivalent of $100; $679 of the issue
of Jan. I, 1779; $2,932 of the issue of Jan. i, 1780, and
$4,000 of that of March 16, 1780, showing a depreciation in
the value of the last issues to two and one half per centum
of the face of the bill. In 1781 an act was passed repealing
all laws making bills of credit a legal tender, and four years
later all such bills in the Treasury were destroyed. Such
were the sound principles upon which this mercantile com-
munity began its career.
During the Colonial period there was no such institution
known as an incorporated bank. The Bank of North
America, the first of this nature in the United States, origi-
nated in the efforts of the merchants and citizens of Philadel-
phia to supply the wants of the army in 1780, and the honor
of its conception was due to the distinguished financier and
patriot, Robert Morris. The bank was incorporated by an
ordinance of Congress Dec. 24, 1 781, and by act of the Legis-
lature of Pennsylvania April i, 1782. On the lOth of the
same month the Legislature of New York, then sitting at
Poughkeepsie, passed an act to prevent the establishrnent of
40 FOUNDING OF BANKS.
any bank within this State, other than the Bank of North
America, during the war. The importance of a local insti-
tution became evident soon after tlie peace. On the 12th
of February, 1784, a plan of a bank appeared in The New
York Packet, and on the 28th a notice was issued in the same
journal " inviting all gentlemen disposed to establish a bank
on liberal principles, the stock to consist of specie only,
to meet at the Merchants' Cofifee-House the next evening."
Every effort was made to attract subscribers by notices in the
newspapers, public placards on the street corners and per-
sonal application. The capital proposed to be raised was
$500,000. When about one-third of that sum ($150,000) had
been taken, it was resolved to commence operations. On
Monday, the 15th of March, 1784, the Bank of New York was
organized, with Alexander McDougall as President and
William Seton as Cashier. An application for a charter was
refused by the Legislature, and the bank did not become a
corporate body until the 2ist of March, 1791, with a capital
of $1,000,000. This was the only bank in New York before
1800. The Manhattan Company, originally organized in
1799, to supply the city with water, only availed itself of its
banking privileges at a later period. The next, the Merchants'
Bank, commenced operations without a charter in 1804. In
J815, Mr. Isaac Bronson, in a pamphlet entitled "An
Appeal to the Public," stated the active capital of the banks
of the city to be $13,515,000. On the 31st of December,
1874, there were 59 banks, with a capital of $85,166,100,
deposits of $165,918,700, and a circulation of $24,977,300.
The transactions of the Clearing-house, in which the banks
are associated, for the year 1874 reached the enormous sum of
$2,226,832,247.89.
This is not the occasion for a history of banking in this
city or a eulogy of the banking laws of this State under
which this difficult business was carried on for so many years
with safety and success. Nor is there room for an account of
its vicissitudes and trials. In all financial disasters the banks
of this city have borne themselves with credit and courage.
Whatever opinions may be entertained of the wisdom of their
IMlli
INSURANCE COMPANIES. 41
policy, on occasions of grave enicrgcncy, it cannot be denied
that the}- liave always kept in view the best interests not only
of their stockholders, but of the cc)nimunity at large. By
common consent the financial centre of the country, New
York has always led the way to resumption when suspension
of specie payment became inevitable. Such was the case in
18 1 7, in 1839, in 1857. In 1S61 the scheme was here devised
which .associated the banks of the four great commercial
cities in support of the Government, and enabled them to
make to it the colossal loan of $150,000,000 in coin. It may
be truly said of the New York banks that they spared no
effort to keep the country on a specie basis and to avert the
calamities which have fallen upon it from excessive issues of
paper money — a dark disaster to which the well-worn quota-
tion may be applied with perfect fitness — " Facilis est descen-
sus Averiii, scd revocare gradnui , hie labor, hoe opus est."
The first savings bank was the Bank for Savings of the
Cit}^ of New York-, incorporated on the 26th of March, 1S19.
Its plan was devised in the rooms of this Society by John
Pintard, to whose sagacity New York owes so many of its
most useful and thriving institutions, and Thomas Eddv. The
deposits from the 3d of July to the 27th of December (18 19)
reached the sum of $153,378 from 1,527 depositors. On the
31st of December, 1874, there were 44 savings banks in this
city, holding $180,010,703 from 494,086 depositors.
Insurance companies, or associations of individuals for the
purpose of insurance under the management of a chosen board
of officers, are of comparatively modern growth. The old
fashion was different. Then any persons inclined to under-
write risks made their undertaking at some public place where
the policies upon which insurance was desired were shown,
and kept books of their own in which their liabilities upon such
policies were entered. In the middle of last century the
"Old Insurance Office," as it was called in 1759, was
kept at the Coffee-House, where the clerks of the office,
Keteltas and Sharpe, attended every day from 12 till i in
the day, and 6 to 8 in the evening. A rival office, the
New York Insurance Office, with Anthony Van Dam for
42 INSURANCE COMPANIES.
clerk, was established the same year, and a permanent
office taken next door to the Coffee-House. This was
the office patronized by the Waltons, Crugers, Jaunceys,
and other city capitalists. In 1778, when the destruction
of vessels and convoys by the adventurous American pri-
vateers had greatly enhanced the risk of navigation, " the
New Insurance Office " was opened at the Coffee-House.
The mode in which this business was done is shown by an
announcement of Cunningham & Wardrop, " Insurance
Brokers," who advertised in 1779 that they had opened a
"Public Insurance Office," where policies are received and
offered to the merchants and underwriters generally. Each
underwriter subscribed his name for the sum he engaged.
x\n interesting hand-book of the insurances of William Wal-
ton, in sums varying from ^^400 to ^50, is still preserved.
All these offices were for marine insurance. The first marine
insurance company organized after the war was the United
Insurance Company, founded in 1795, or early in 1796,
and chartered March 20, 1798, with a capital of $500,000.
The charter allowed fire as well as marine risks. The second
was the New York Insurance Company, founded in 1796, and
incorporated April 2, 1798, with a capital of $500,000. The
first company which confined itself wholly to sea risks was
the Marine Insurance Company, which commenced business
Nov. 19, 1801, with a capital of $250,000. To-day there are
nine marine insurance companies, with assets reported Dec.
31, 1874, at $25,035,785.62.
The first proposal for insurance against fire seems to have
been a motion made in the Chamber of Commerce by Mr.
John Thurman on the 3d of April, 1770, that "as it is the
desire of a number of the inhabitants of this city to have their
estates insured from loss by fire, and that losses of this sort
may not fall upon individuals, the Chamber take into consid-
eration some plan that may serve so good a purpose." The
consideration of the subject was postponed, and no action
taken. On Feb. 16, 1874, a notice appeared in The New York
Packet: "Some gentlemen have now in contemplation to
form a company for insuring houses in this city against fire.
COMMKRCIAI. LIKE. 43
Such houses as arc insurctl will be of course received as secu-
rity ill the bank ; " and a further attempt was made by Mr.
John Delafield in April, 1785, to establish a " fire insurance
office," but they do not seem to ha\e been successful. The
first fire insurance company was organized by John Pintard
(who became its secretary), June 15, 1787, under the name
of the Mutual Assurance Company. An act of incorporation
was obtained March 28, 1809. 'J\)-day there are 74 fire in-
surance companies in the city, with assets reported Dec. 31^
1874, cat $44,696,827.
The first notice of a life insurance company appears in
an act of incorporation of the Mechanics' Life Insurance and
Coal Company on the 28th of February, 1822, " with power
to make insurance upon lives or in any way depending upon
lives, to grant annuities, and to open, find out, disco\er, and
work coal-beds within this State."
To-day there are in the city 21 life insurance companies,
with assets reported, December 31, 1874, at $191,683,513.
These companies issued 59,261 policies last year, for the sum
of $178,389,450, and had outstanding at its close 272,803 poli-
cies, for the amount of $994,151 ,829.
In these figures no account is taken of the large business
done in this city by insurance companies of other States hav-
ing branch ofiices here.
A recapitulation of these sums gives the amount of capital
employed in banking and insurance at $692,501,627. The
recapitulation is as follows :
Bank capital $85, 166, lOO
Deposits 165,918,700
Savings 180,000,703
Total $43 1 ,0^5,503
Insurance- Marine $25,035,785
Fire 44,696.827
Life 191,683,513
261,416,125
Total $692,501,627
The commerce of the cit>' was under the watchful care of
two important societies during the colonial period. The
44 COMMERCIAL LIFE.
Chamber of Commerce was founded the 3d of May, 1768 ;
chartered 13th of March, 1770, and revived 13th of April,
1784, by an act of the Legislature confirming its charter. This
institution established the rates of commission, settled the
usages of trade, fixed the value of coins, and otherwise super-
vised the mercantile interest. The other commercial society
was the Marine Society, chartered April 12, 1770, and
rechartered by the State Legislature in May, 1786. The
business of this corporation was the " improving of maritime
knowledge and the relief of indigent and distressed masters
of_yessels and of their children."
No sooner was the treaty of peace signed than the great
Continental powers hastened to stretch forth a hand of wel-
come to the infant Republic, and ambassadors were ap-
pointed to the seat of government. France, the Netherlands,
and Spain were all represented by first-class Ministers as
early as 1785- ^^ "^^'^^ remarked at the time, " every nation
in Europe solicited to partake of her trade." Great Britain
alone, chafing under her defeat, remained for a long period
sullen, and endeavored by navigation acts and other adverse
legislation to cripple the commerce of the States. The West
Lidia trade, the most profitable in which New York was
engaged, was prohibited in American vessels, and all inter-
course forbidden, except in British bottoms, the property of
and navigated by British subjects. She only consented to a
treaty of amity and the sending of an ambassador in 1791, and
only then because of the fear of a closer alliance of America
with the French Republic. Nor was this the only obstacle to
the development of the trade of New York.
On the 3d of February, 1781, the Congress of the United
States had passed an act recommending to the several States
as indispensably necessary that they vest a power in Congress
to levy for the use of the United States a duty of five per
cent, ad valorem, at the time and place of importation, upon
all goods, wares, and merchandise of foreign growth and
manufacture, to take general effect when the States should
consent. On the 19th of March of the same year (1781) the
Legislature of New York passed the required act, suspending
COMMERCIAL LIFE. 45
its operation until all the States not prevented by war slioulJ
vest similar powers in Congress. Here, again, as in the act
authorizing the legal tender of Continental bills as nione)- in
this State, New York had without dela}- waived its settled
opinion and undoubted interest for the benefit of the whole.
On the 15th of March, 17S3, the Legislature, after reciting
in a preamble that several Legislatures of other States have
passed laws " dissimilar to the true intent and meaning of the
act of 1781 ," repealed the same, and passed a new act granting
to Congress a duty of five per cent, ad valorem, as in the pre-
ceding act, but ordered the duties to be levied and collected
by officers under the authority of the State. To the provi-
sions of this act the merchants of New York took exception,
and on the motion of Isaac Moses, one of the most intelligent
and respectable of the Jewish merchants of the cit)', the
Chamber of Commerce memorialized the Legislature to aban-
don the vicious s}'stem of ad \-alorem duties, which opened
ever}' man's invoices and trade to the inspection of his neigh-
bors, and adopt in lieu a specific tariff. The Legislature
listened to this petition, and on the i<Sth of November, 1784,
passed an act levying specific duties, and established a custom-
house the same day. The veteran Col. Lamb was appointed
the first Collector of the Port. When the State adopted the
Federal Constitution in 1789, it was compelled to surrender
its preference for specific duties, among other and \aluable
privileges. From that day to this each succeeding generation
of merchants has urged upon Congress the importance of
a change to the specific system.,
Almost immediately upon the return of the merchants ex-
iled by the war, new avenues were sought by them for the
extension of commerce. Li the fall of 1783 a ship was pur-
chased by some of the most enterprising, in association with
their neighbors of Philadelphia, and dispatched to China laden
chiefly with ginseng for exchange for tea and Chinese manu-
factures. This ship— the Lmpress of China, Capt. John
Green— sailed on the 22d of February, 1784 (Washington's
birthday), having on board, as supercargo, Major Samuel
Shaw of the Revolutionary arm}-, later the first American
46 DEPREDATIONS OF THE ALGERINES.
Consul at Canton. This was the first American v^enture in
those distant seas. She reached the city (New York) on the
I2th of Ma}% 1785, after a voyage of 14 months and 20 days.
This venture was one-half for the account of Robert Morris
of Philadelphia, and the net profit was ^^o,"/!"/ — over 20 per
cent, on $120,000, the capital employed. Other vessels fol-
lowed, and as early as 1789 the United States had 15 vessels,
against the 21 ships of the East India Company, in the China
seas ; and in the six years, from 1802 to 1808, of ^12,831,099
in value of bullion imported into India, iJ"4,543,662 was from
the United States, and of £22,^^/0,6^2, the value of goods
exported from India, ^4,803,283 was to the United States.
The Empress of China carried the original flag of the United
States, adopted in 1777 as the national flag, " thirteen
stripes, alternate red and white, and a union of thirteen stars,
Avhite, on a blue field, representing a new constellation."
This flag, first shown in the Pacific at the masthead of a New
York vessel in 1784, was taken round the world by the
Columbia in 1789- 1790, and by the Franklin of Salem to
Japan in 1799. The French Government was quick to
stimulate the commerce of the American States, from whose
enterprise it anticipated a counterpoise to the maritime power
of Great Britain. In August, 1784, the French Consul-General
at New York communicated to the merchants an invitation of
the King "to avail of the French ports of the Isles of France
and Bourbon in their voyages to and from the East Indies,"
where they were promised " every protection and every
liberty they might wish for or stand in need of." To show
the importance of the trade which sprung from these small
beginnings, it is only necessary to refer to the amount of the
total Asian trade of the city of New York, which, in the
year closed June 30, 1874, reached the sum of $36,099,362,
of which tlie imports amounted to $31,275,679, and the
exports hence, $4,823,683.
'In its inception the young marine had other difiiculties to
contend'with than the simple unfriendliness of Great Britain.
One of the greatest was the terror spread over the colonies
by the report in February, 1785, of the capture of an Ameri-
UNFRIENDLINESS OF FOREIGN PO\VERS. 47
can vessel by the Barbaiy pirates, who then infested the
Mediterranean Sea, and even ventured in pursuit of tlieir
prey into the open ocean. It is ahnost impossible for us at
this day to comprehend the policy which influenced such a
naval power as Great Britain to consent to the ignominy of
paying tribute to, and taking papers of safe-conduct from, this
petty but audacious power. Probably no better explanation
can be given than that she considered it for her interest to
have a dangerous sea between the near towns of France and
the African coast as a shield to her Indian possessions, the
highway to which lay through the Mediterranean. Certain
it is that at a later day her agents negotiated a treaty between
the Barbary States and Portugal, then wholly under her in-
fluence, in which it was stipulated that Portugal should fur-
nish no protection to any nation against Algerine cruisers.
This treaty, kept secret both by the contracting powers and
Great Britain, in 1/93 opened the gateway of the Atlantic to
the Moors, and ten American vessels fell unsuspecting victims
into their hands. The United States, like the pAU'opean
powers, finally consented to pay the required tribute ; but the
disgrace at last awakened the pride of the States, a navy was
created, and in 18 15 Commodore Decatur met and defeated
the Algerine squadron, sailed into the Ba\' of Algiers, and
forced the Dcy at the mouth of his guns to surrender all
American prisoners and all claims to tribute, an example
soon followed by the great powers.
The French, though never openly hostile, were never
wholly friendly. The French people, who had declared the
" rights of man " on the Champs de Mars, and asserted their
own freedom in 1789, were dissatisfied with the neutrality of
the United States, which they looked upon as signal ingrati-
tude. The Imperial Government in the Berlin and Milan
decrees, by which it attempted to enforce a Continental land
blockade against British trade, was as indifferent to American
rights as Great Britain herself in her Orders in Council, and the
adventurous trading vessels of the States had to run a double
gauntlet. It was not till after the peace of 181 5, and when
the gallantry of its youthful navy, led by Hull, Perry, Preble,
48 INCREASED COMMUNICATION WITH EUROPE.
Bainbridge, Decatur, and Lawrence, had shown that it was as
dangerous an enemy in war as a valuable friend in peace,
that the young nation found a fair and unimpeded field for its
marvellous activity. Of the rapidity of its movement at this
period, the Customs revenue collecteci by the United States
Government is a striking example. From $4,415,362 in 1 8 14,
it rose in 181 5 to $37,695,625, of which $16,000,000 was
taken at the port of New York alone. In the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1875, the total amount of Customs revenue
for all the United States was $157,167,722, of which $109,-
207,786 was taken at the port of New York.
The communications with Europe were now largely in-
creased. In 1774 there were only five packet-boats, belonging
to the royal service and carrying the mails, stationed between
Falmouth and New York, of which one left each port the first
Wednesday in every month. They were the Earl of Halifax,
the Harriott, the Duke of Cumberland, the Lord Hyde, and
the Mercury. Besides these, there were numerous excellent
vessels in the merchant service. An instance of the speed
of these vessels is to be found in the voyage of the Samson,
Captain Henry Coupar, which brought out the act known as
the Boston Port bill. This fast ship left London the loth
of April, 1774, Land's End the 14th, and arrived at New
York on the 12th of May, making the passage in 27
days. The journals record that this vessel brought an ac-
count of the receipt of bills (of exchange) sent from New
York to London in one month and 29 days, which was
in less time than perhaps was ever known before, consid-
ering the distance. The French Government was early
in establishing regular packet communication with the young
nation. In the fall of 1783, on the 19th of November,
before the evacuation of the city, the Courrier de I'Europe,
Capt. Cornic de Moulin, arrived from the port of I'Orient,
and notice was at once given of the establishment of a
line of five first-class ships — le Courrier de I'Europe, Ic
Courrier de rAm^erique, le Courrier de New York le Courrier
de I'Orient, and I'Allegator — to make monthly trips. The
line was under the direction of Mr. Hector St. John, the
OCEAN STEAM CO.MMUNICATIOX, 49
Coiisul-Gcncral of France for Connecticut, New York, and
New Jersey, anti the immediate supervision of 'Slv. William
Seton as deputy at;ent. The " noble cabin " of I'Orient was
advertised as capable of accommodating forty persons at
table. The price of passage was fixed at 500 livrcs at the
captain's tables, and 200 livres for those who chose to take
ship's rations, and 120 livres the ton of 2,000 pounds weight,
or forty-two cubical feet. This vessel sailed on her return
Dec. 19, 1783, and took out a number of passengers,
among whom, strange to sa}', were several officers of the
British army. In the comrnencenient of this enterprise the
public were informed that the French packet was an immedi-
ate channel of con\e}'ance for letters from and to all parts of
the continent of Europe, the General Post-Office at Paris
having a daily intercourse with all the capitals.
Such was the beginning of regular communication. Tn
1816, the famous Black Ball line to Liverpool was established,
a few years later the Swallow Tail line to London, and in 1824
the Ha\'re line. In 1827, the Liverpool line emplo\ed twenty
ships, the London line eight, and the Havre line tweh'e, be-
sides which there were weekly lines to Savannah, Charleston,
Mobile, and New Orleans. The average passages outward
of the Black Ball line were made in twent}'-two days, and the
home voyage in twent}'-nine days. But steam was soon to
change the entire mode of ocean navigation as well as of land
travel ; and to such an extent that to-day, of all the passen-
ger fleet the only line which continues its regular passages is
the old Swallow Tail line.
As far back as 1 790 John Fitch had solved the problem of
the application of steam to vessels, and is said to have made
experiments on the Collect Pond in this city, in which he used
the screw as well as the paddle, and within a short period
from that date practically carried passengers on the Schuylkill
at Philadelphia. In March, 18 19, the steamship Savannah
sailed from New York for Savannah, and leaving that port on
the 25th of May, made the first ocean passage, arriving in
Liverpool the 20th of June. On the 7th of April of the same
year, the Legislature of New York incorporated an " Ocean
50 INCREASE OF NAVIGATION.
Steam-ship Company ; " but it was not until 1838 that the
arrival of the Sirius and Great Western opened ocean steam
navigation. The Bremen line was the pioneer of the Ameri-
can steam lines. In 1850 the " Atlantic" began the career
of the Collins line, which was for a long period the pride of
the nation as well as of New York, but at last succumbed
after a series of misfortunes and disasters. The history of
our once splendid steam marine is but an episode in the pro-
gress of New York commerce. Of all the large fleet of
steamers only one now carries the flag of the United States
across the Atlantic. Yet the exhibit of its commerce is none
the less wondrous for this absence.
In the year 1770, the ships which entered the harbor of
New York were 196 in number, the sloops 431 — a total of
627 sail. In the year 1828, the arrivals of vessels at New
York were 1,400 from foreign ports and 4,000 coasting
vessels. In the year ended June 30, 1874, the number of
entrances at the port of New York of American and foreign,
ocean, steam and sail, was 6,723 — 5,044,618 tons, and handled
by crews numbering 148,246 men. Of these vessels, 4,290
were foreign and 2,433 American. In this number are in-
cluded 1,108 steamers; 877 foreign and 231 American. Of
the American steam-vessels, every one, with one single ex-
ception, was from the coast, the West Indies, or South
America, the ocean trade having been whollj' abandoned to
foreigners. The registered tonnage of the customs district
of New York was, at the same date, 6,630 vessels of 1,318,-
523 tons; 2,810 sailing vessels of 600,020 tons; 788 steam
vessels, 351,686 tons; 546 barges, 123,535 tons; and 2,486
canal boats, 243,281 tons. The coastwise trade engaged
2,742 vessels, 1,774,181 tons, of which there were 1,583 steam
vessels, 1,517,481 tons, and 1,159 sailing vessels, 256,700
tons.
/ The internal tracie has progressed with equal rapidity.
The project of a canal connecting the great lakes of the inte-
rior with tide water was the first thought of the city after the
peace. In 1785 Christopher Colles, an ingenious mechanician,
memorialized the Legislature of New York for the establish-
INTERNAL TRADE. 5 I
mcnt of a canal to connect the Mohawk with the Ilmlsun,
and in 1792 a company was chartered, which in five years
opened the passage from Schenectady to Oneida, and in-
tended to continne it to Lake Ontario, for whicli extension
the route hail been surveyed in 1791 ; but it was not till 18 10
that the canal policy found its great advocate in De Witt
Clinton. His memorial in 181 5 gave a new impulse to the
movement. Through his commanding influence, the act
establishing the Erie Canal was passed in 18 1 7, and the grand
enterprise completed. On October 26, 1826, the sound of
cannon commenced at Buffalo, and, repeated from city to
town and town to city, announced to New York tlie comple-
tion of the Erie Canal and the final union of the lakes with
the Atlantic, the presage of the power and wealth of the city
as the great gateway of the western hemisphere. The arri\al
of the first canal boat on the iith November following, was
the occasion of a grand aquatic and civic pageant, in which
the commingling of the waters was t}-pically illustrated by the
pouring by Gov. Clinton, the " Father of the Canal," of a
keg of fresh water of Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean at
the Narrows. The measure of this grand improvement may
be judged from the amount of produce now brought to mar-
ket. In 1874 the transportation of produce from the interior
of this State and the Western States b}' canal boats amounted
to 3,323,112 tons, and the returns of supplies of various kinds
to 753,981 tons. An estimate of the value of the produce
brought into this city by the canals and railroads may be
made from an examination of the exports from New York in
the fiscal year ended June 30, 1874, in which breadstuff's
figure to the value of $91,332,669, and provisions to the
value of $40,193,947, in all $131,000,000, without estimate of
the amounts retained for consumption or traffic with other
States. The other principal exports of American product
from this port were cotton to the amount of $41,499,597;
lard and tallow, $20,319,514; tobacco, $16,117,749; illumi-
nating oils, $23,121,059. A summary of the total foreign
trade for the same year (ended June 30, 1874) shows that of
the total imports by the United States, of $595,861,248 in
4
52 IMMIGRATION.
value, New York imported $395,133,622; and of the total
exports of the United States, $704,463,120, $340,360,260
were by New York ; and of a total aggregate of foreign
trade, in\i'ard and outward, by the whole country of $1,300, -
324,368, New York had $735,493,882, or nearly 60 per cent.
It may not be without interest to present a summary of the
trade of New York in geographical divisions. Its total trade
(in the year ended June 30, 1874) with foreign American
ports, Canada, South and Central America, and the West
Indies, amounted to $163,523,775. Its total European trade,
$53371 1.992- Its total Asian trade, $36,099,362, and its
total African trade to $2,158,753.
In its imports sugar and molasses figured to the amount of
$52,360,176; coffee, $33,485,559; tea, $15,024,794.
Soon after the peace, a German society was established
under the direction of Cols. Lutterloh and Weissenfels, as
President and Vice-President (both of whom had been dis-
tinguished in the Revolutionary War, the latter as one of the
expedition under Gen. Montgomery to Canada), for the pur-
pose of encouraging emigration to the State of New York,
" so that the western part thereof may be settled by those
useful members; witness the State of Pennsylvania." So
runs the card of " A Friend to Cultivation," in The New York
Packet of October 14, 1784 ; but no considerable movement
took place for a long period. In 1824 the total number of
emigrants to all the United States was 7,912. The improve-
ment in comfort and diminished risk of the ocean traverse
gradually induced a larger movement ; but the great impulse
to the exodus, which in the last half century has reached
nearly ten millions of people, was given by the Irish famine of
1844. The highest rate of emigration was reached in 1872,
when 449,042 persons were landed; of these, 294,581 at the
port of New York. Since that year there has been a gradual
decline in the number ; in 1873 it fell to 266,449, i'l 18/4 to
149,762, of which 41,368 were from Germany, 41,179 from
Ireland, 19,822 from England, and 7,723 Mennonites — a
religious sect from Russia. In 1875 the number landed at
this port dropped to 84,544. This decline may be ascribed
MANUFACTURKS — PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 53
chiefly to the long-continued financial and business depres-
sion throughout the country. The movement will certainly
be resumed upon a revival of trade and renewal of prosperity.
This emigration has been a large and profitable branch of
the carrying trade, now in great distress in consequence of its
decline.
It has been observed that New York lias never claimed
any preeminence as a manufacturing city, yet as a o-reat in-
dustrial centre it ranks next to Philadelphia. The United
States Census of 1870 showed that there were then 7,624 es-
tablishments, with 1,261 steam-engines and sixteen water-
wheels, employing 129,577 hands, at an annual outlay in
wages of $63,824,262, and a capital of 129,952,262. The raw
materials used were valued at $178,696,939, and the annual
product at $332,951,520. In addition to these, the ship-
building in the year ended 30th of June, 1874, comprised 89
sailing and 60 steam vessels, 196 canal boats, and 51 barges,
a total of 396 vessels, 64,001 tons. It is a fact too often for-
gotten, but of which the increase of the great landed prop-
erty to which allusion has been made, by accumulation alone
without original enterprise, since the death of its founder in
1848, is indisputable evidence, that no ship arrives, no emi-
grant lands, no railroad or canal brings its freight to this city,
that does not pay some toll and add some value to its real
estate.
Let us now pass from the review of the commercial and
industrial progress of New York to an examination of its
advance in social improvement. Before the Revolution
popular education was limited, and chiefly dependent on the
aid of churches. Indeed, until this century the education of
the lower classes was regarded rather as a favor than a right.
Universal sufl'rage has set forever at rest this fallacv in the
United States, and if it have no other advantage, it has at
least the indisputable merit that it compels capital to educate
labor. William Smith, the historian, writing in 1756, says:
" Our schools are of the lowest order; the instructors want
instruction ; and through a long shameful neglect of the arts
and sciences our common speech is extremely corrupt."
54 UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.
Noah Webster speaks of the schools in 1788 as " no longer
in the deplorable condition they were formerly, and many of
them as kept by reputable and able men." But all these
remarks apply to private schools. The first action toward
general education was in 1791, when the Legislature appro-,
priated the sum of $50,000 for five years for elementary
and practical instruction in this State. To-day the public
instruction of the city is under the charge of a Board of
Education, who reported the number of schools within its
jurisdiction, December 31, 1874, as 287, held in 121 build-
ings, engaging 3,215 teachers, of whom over 3,000 are
females, and giving instruction to 251,545 scholars. The
system is maintained at an annual cost of $3,475,313- New
York may safely challenge rivalry on the part of any com-
munity, American or foreign, with this magnificent showing
of her system of public education, which includes for the
higher branches a Free Academy, a Normal College for the
education of teachers, a Nautical school, and a school for the
compulsory instruction of delinquents.
The institutions for instruction in letters, science, law,
medicine, and art must be passed by in silence ; enumeration
even would be tedious. Columbia College, the University
of the City of New York, and the Rutgers Female College
are the principal. Besides these, each religious denomina-
tion has its own school system. The College of Physicians
and Surgeons heads the list of medical colleges, the Law
School that of law — both adjuncts of Columbia College ; but
every branch of instruction has its special institution. Re-
viewing the whole, there are found 3,365 instructors, 277,310
students, and an annual expenditure of $3,808,381. Li
addition to these, all institutions incorporated by the State
or making a report to the authorities of the State, there are
numerous schools for instruction of both sexes in the higher
departments of knowledge, some of which are as extensive
as the colleges. Of these, the most famous is the Cooper
Institute, the munificent donation of Peter Cooper for the
education of the working classes — a model institution, which
includes free tuition in engineering and the arts of design
and modelling.
THE NEWSPAPERS. 55
The earliest organized library in the city of New Yovk \\\is
the City Library, founded in 1729. Its rooms were in the
City Hall, where the Society Library, organized in 1754 and
chartered in i77-. ^^'^'-^ •'I'so kept. Both of tliese libraries, as
also that of King's College, were sacked b)- the British and
Hessian troops during the war. \n 1784 (February 12) Mr.
Samuel Bard, by order of the trustees, made a public recjuest
in The New York Packet for the return of such volumes as
belonged to the Societ)- Library. To-day there are 23 libraries
of circulation and reference, of which the Astor is the most
valuable, containing 150,000 volumes. This is a free library,
under certain reasonable restrictions. Another, which prom-
ises to be of great if not equal value, is that projected by
James Lenox. The beautiful structure erected for its recep-
tion is one of the principal ornaments of the city. The Mer-
cantile Library follows with 158,034, and the New York
Society Library is next in order. The New York Historical
Society Library, in the rooms of which we are now gathered,
has a valuable collection of manuscripts, public and private
documents, bound newspapers to the number of 2,319, his-
torical works exceeding 6o,000, and includes a fine museum,
with the famous Abbot collection of Egyptian antiquities and
the Lenox Nineveh collection. The Metropolitan Museum
of Art, yet in its infancy, has already brought together a
remarkable variety of curiosities, among which is the Cesnola
collection of Etruscan antiquities, and the society is erecting
a large building in Central Park.
The first newspaper in New York was The New York
Gazette, established by William Bradford in 1725. During
the war the only journals were PLigh Gaines's New York
Mercur}', Rivington's Royal Gazette, and Robertson's Royal
American Gazetteer, suspended after the departure of the
British. Li 17S4 the newspapers were The New York Packet
and The American Advertiser, published by Samuel London ;
The New York Gazetteer, by Shepard Kollock ; and The
Independent Gazette, or The New York Journal, revived by
John and Elizabeth Holt; The Independent Journal or The
General Advertiser, by McLean & Webster. To-day New
$6 CHARITIES.
York boasts of 444 newspapers and periodicals, of which 28
are daily and semi-v/eekly, 187 weekly, 22 semi-monthly, 180
monthly, 3 bi-monthly, and 16 quarterly ; 32 are in foreign
languages, and 99 have a circulation of over 5,000 copies.
Of the 10 principal newspapers, one has a daily circulation of
127,000 copies ; the lowest, printed in German, of 30,000
copies. Of the illustrated papers, one weekl}^ issues 100,000
copies. Of the newspapers devoted to literature and stories,
one has a weekly circulation of 300,000, and another of
180,000. One of the religious papers issues 78,000 copies,
and one of the monthly magazines 130,000 copies. The
weight of newspapers and periodicals mailed by publishers at
the City Post-office to regular subscribers for the first three
quarters of 1874, Jan. i to Sept. 30, was 17,392,691 pounds,
the postage prepaid on which amounted to $249,952.17.
The charities of New York are conducted on an imperial
scale. Her cosmopolitan munificence is proverbial. To her
the eyes of suffering communities, cities, nations, are first
turned, and never in vain. Ireland in its famine, France in
its floods and desolation, England in the suffering of its
manufacturing district.^, Portland, Chicago, Boston, scourged
by fire, have all found ready and abundant aid in their day
of trial, and at home her charity is no less bountiful. The
public prisons, hospitals, asylums, almshouses, and nurseries
are 27 in number. The Commissioners of Public Charities and
Correction made an expenditure last year of $1 ,54i .685.50 ;
the Commissioners of Emigration gave relief to 51,871 per-
sons, at an expense of $466,108.22. Besides these great
public charities there are endless private associations. That
for Improving the Condition of the Poor gave relief in 1874
to 24,091 families. There are also 27 hospitals in the city, of
which 15 have large and commodious buildings. St. Luke's,
the Roosevelt, and Mount Sinai are prominent examples.
There are seven dispensaries, chief among which is the New
York Dispensary, established in 1790, Avhich supplies an ave-
rage of 40,000 patients annually. There are two institutions
for the deaf and dumb ; three for the blind. There are in
addition 26 religious, educational, and charitable Roman
CLUBS — GROW III OF THE CITV. 57
Ciitholic orj^anizations, 51 benevolent societies, 50 trades-
unions, and about 50 other charitable institutions, reforma-
tory and educational. The organized local charitable socie-
ties receive and disburse about $2,500,000 annually. The
Department of Buildings reports 66 hospitals and as)-lums,
1st January, 1876. Where is the community which con-
tributes so much of its wealth to the improvement and
support of the ignorant and indigent of its members ?
Clubs have grown to be a marked feature of city life.
Those of New York, including literary and sporting associa-
tions, number 40. Of these the most celebrated is the Union,
with a handsome and costly building, and a full membership
of 1,000 members ; the Union League Club, an offspring of
loyalt}' during the late civil war ; the New York, Knicker-
bocker, Travellers', the Century, (home of Art and Litera-
ture,) the Lotos, and the German Club, all provided with
refreshment rooms and restaurants, and largely attended.
The limits of the city in i/?>j have been described as con-
tained within the irregular triangle formed by the North and
East rivers and a line drawn across the island at Reade
street. To-day they include the whole of Manhattan Island,
13^2 niiles In length, and averaging l^-^ miles in width, an
area of 22 square miles, or 14,000 acres ; and the recent an-
nexation from the mainland of part of Westchester County,
before known as the towns of Morrisania, West Farms, and
Kingsbridge, gives an additional area of about 13,000 acres.
Li addition there are the islands of Blackwell, Ward, Ran-
dall, Bedloe, Ellis, and Governor, of which the last three
named have been ceded to the Government of the United
States for Federal purposes ; the other islands have been set
aside for correctional, reformatory, and charitable purposes.
Of the 27,000 acres comprising the city proper, 1,007 acres,
or 8,712,000 yards, are devoted to public parks. The Cen-
tral Park needs no mention. There is no park to be found
in any European city at all comparable to it. It only re-
quires an extension of narrow wings to the river sides near
by to combine all possible beauties of location and scenery.
Of the other parks, the Battery, Bowling Green, and City
58 GROWTH OF THE CITY.
Hall Park are of the last century ; Tompkins, Washington,
Union, Madison, and Reservoir-square, and at the northern
end of the island, Mount Morris, High Bridge, and Morning-
side parks, complete the admirable provision of breathing-
places for the fast-growing population.
The little town which in 1788 contained in its seven wards
3,340 houses with 23,614 inhabitants, had grown in 1870 to a
colossal city, with 64,044 dwellings, and 942,292 inhabitants.
Of these 419,094 were foreign born, — 234,594 British and
Irish, and 151,216 Germans. To these considerable addi-
tions must be made. The Department of Buildings reports
the total number of dwellings at 84,200 ; of stores, stables,
markets, etc., at 16,438 ; of public buildings, churches, etc.,
at 524 ; a total of 101,162 of all kinds, ist January, 1876.
The recent State census of 1875 carries the total number of
the population, including that of the two wards lately an-
nexed, to 1,046,037, an increase of 419,707 since 1865. But
although this is the actual number of persons residing within
the city limits, it is not the measure of its real population :
the true location of population is that where it leads its wak-
ing not its sleeping hfe. To the enumeration made should
be added the number of those who visit the city daily, or
depend upon it for livelihood and support. Those added
would carry the population of the city and suburbs within a
radius of twenty-five miles from the City Hall to more than
two millions.
The lower part of the city is quite irregular in construction,
but from Houston street to the northward is laid out upon a
regular and well-devised plan, essentially that made by the
Commissioners appointed by the Legislature in 1807 (Gouver-
neur Morris, De Witt Clinton and others). There are broad
a\'enues running in parallel lines to the end of the island,
traversed laterally by parallel streets, all of which are desig-
nated by numbers. To this recent changes have added ex-
tensive boulevards which connect with the Central Park and
offer long and pleasant drives. Broadway, the most famous
of New York, and, indeed, of American avenues, is an ex-
ception to the general rule of regularity and runs across five
GREAT PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 59
of the parallel avenues in a north-westerly direction. This
is the great shopping street, and is lined with enormous
retail stores and hotels. Fifth avenue, extending northward
from Washington square, and skirting the eastern limit of the
Central Park, is, with its splendid prix'ate residences, churches
and clubs, one unbroken series of architectural display.
The public buildings are numerous, and some of them grand
as well as graceful. For massivcness, the Custom-house in
Wall street, originally built for the Merchants' Exchange,
and the new Post-Ofifice, are the most noted : for grace and
beauty, the old City Hall, and the Sub-Treasury in Wall
street. A new order of architecture has recently sprung up,
of which the Tribune building with its tall tower, and the
Western Union Telegraph building, are the most aspiring
examples. Structures are being erected all over tb.e cit\- ot
great size and costliness, both for stores and as private resi-
dences. The fourteen churches in which the little city wor-
shipped in 1788, have expanded, with their adjuncts of mission
organizations, into 470, of which there are 344 distinct edifices,
providing seats for 350,000 persons. Connected with the
Protestant churches are 356 Sabbath-schools, which give
instruction to 88,327 scholars. Many of the churches
are large and imposing. Those most marked for their
beauty are Trinity, Grace, St. George's, the new Fifth Ave-
nue Presbyterian, the Reformed Collegiate, and the Jewish
Synagogue. The Roman Catholics are erecting a cathedral
in the Gothic order, with all the emblems of the new cardi-
nalate, which will surpass all other New York churches in
architectural beauty and grandeur.
The Croton Aqueduct has been alluded to. The supply of
water is drawn from the Croton River, a clear, pure stream
of remarkable quality, in Westchester County, which is con-
ducted to the city through a covered way of solid masonry
40 iX miles in length. It has a capacity of 60,000,000 gallons
a day. It crosses the Harlem River on the High Bridge, a
granite structure 1,450 feet long, 21 feet wide, 114 feet high ;
is received in two great basins in Central Park, and distributed
from two reservoirs through 350 miles of pipes.
60 LIGHT — MARKETS — TRAVEL.
The utility of gas was first demonstrated to the citizens in
1817, and in 1825 mains were laid on Broadway. Five char-
tered companies now supply the city. Of these the Manhat-
tan has two works, which deliver gas through about 170 miles
of street mains to 30,000 private consumers and 7,000 street
lamps.
The markets are 1 1 in number, but with hardly an exception
are utterly unworthy of a great city, yet the enormous busi-
ness transacted in them deserves notice. The sales of food
for cash were reported by the worthy and efficient superin-
tendent, who lacks neither the will, energy, nor intelligence to
make the market system an honor instead of a disgrace to the
city, as amounting to $130,000,000 in the year 1874, of which
Washington Market alone received $108,000,000. In the
height of the season miles of country wagons from Long
Island, Westchester County, and the Jerseys line the streets
leading to this great country mart, and form as busy a scene,
from daylight until late in the forenoon, as can well be imag-
ined. Mr. Devoe, the Superintendent, is authority for the
statement that 1,350,000 persons, of both sexes and all ages
- — 1,000,000 residents and 350,000 daily visitors — are fed,
every business day, in the city. The Superintendent of Pub-
lic Buildings estimates the average daily number of guests at
the hotels at 200,000.
In 1783, and for many years after the beginning of the
present century, travel was still in the old-fashioned primitive
manner, and communication from State to State, though more
frequent than before the Revolution, did not greatly differ in
kind until a much later period. The first land route to Bos-
ton was opened in 1732, and stages ran to and fro, starting
from each point once each month, and made the single trip
in fourteen days. In 1787 the Boston stages set out from
Hall's Tavern in Cortlandt street (No. 49) every Monday and
Thursday morning, arriving in Boston in six days. In the
summer months a third trip was made in each week ; the fare
four cents per mile. In 1827 a stage left each city daily, and
reached its destination in thirty-six hours. To-day the Ex-
press trains on the railroads make an easy communication
t
THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. 6l
Avithin eight hours. In 1785 the first stages began their trips
between New York and Alban)-, on the east side of the river,
with four horses, at the rate of four cents per mile. In 1787
two stages set out for Philadelphia every evening from Powies
Hook, Jersey City, at four o'clock, going by the way of
Newark, where they stopped for the night, and reached
Philadelphia the next day. Another line went by way of
Communipaw (Bergen Point), stopped at h'.lizabethtown at
night, and arrived at Philadelphia the next evening. Besides
these a stage-boat, leaving the Albany pier twice each week,
connected with a stage wagon at South Amboy, which took
passengers to Philadelphia by the way of Burlington ; and in
addition a boat left Coenties slip every Saturday, if the wind
was fair, reached New l^runswick the same evening, and re-
turned to New York the next Tuesday. To-day the trip is
made by railroad in three hours.
The first steamboat on the Hudson was the Clermont, built
by Robert Fulton in 1807, which moved at the rate of five
miles the hour. In 1828 the arrivals and departures of steam-
boats at New York reached 6,400. They transported 320,000
passengers. To-day the fast summer boats run to West Point,
fifty miles distant, in 2^2 hours, a rate of twenty miles the
hour.
Steam was first practically applied to railroads in the year
1830, when the Mohawk and Hudson, connecting Albany
with Schenectady, was opened. The first railroad out of the
city of New York was the Harlem, completed October, 1837.
This road began at the Cit\' Hall, and in 1841 extended to
Fordham in Westchester County. There are now (1875)
three great railroads having their terminus at the Grand Cen-
tral Depot, a fine and convenient structure at the corner of
Forty-second street and the upper end of Fourth avenue. All
these are now under the management and control of the great
capitalist and railroad king, Cornelius Vanderbilt. These are
the Hudson River, New York Central, and the Harlem, which
connect the metropolis with the interior of this State and the
Western States. The New York and New Haven carries
passengers and freight to the Eastern States, and starts from
I
62 CITY CARS AND P^ERRIES.
the same depot, below which steam is not allowed on
the city streets. Five railroads connect the city with the
interior of Long Island, all having their terminus on tlie
Long Island side of the East River. These are the Long
Island Railroad to Greenport at the eastern extremity of
the island, the South Side to Patchogue, the Flushing and
North Side to Great Neck, the Central to Babylon, the late
construction of A. T. Stewart. From the Jersey shore the
Erie Railway runs through the State to Buffalo, thence to
the Western States, and communications are maintained by
an endless network of roads which centre at Jersey City, with
the Middle and Southern States. The average speed on
these roads is about thirty miles an hour.
The travel was for a long period confined to stages, which,
under the name of omnibuses, reached their height in 185 1,
when there were twenty-four lines. A few lines still remain,
but they are gradually disappearing. Our older inhabitants
remember the palmy days of the famous lines of Kipp and
Brown, the Chelsea and Knickerbocker. The first cit}' rail-
road for horse-cars was the Sixth Avenue, established in
1852. The Harlem R. R. Company had used this mode of
conveyance at an earlier day, but rather as an adjunct to their
steam line than as a convenience for city travel. The last
report of the State Engineer for 1872 gives the number of
passengers carried as 134,588,877, at fares varying from five
to eight cents. The steam elevated road, the pioneer of
rapid transit, carried the same year 167,153 passengers, at a
fare of ten cents. The ingenuity' of the best engineers is now
tested to devise some mode of rapid transit which may keep
pace with the increase of travel, already outrunning all
present acconmiodation.
The first use of steam on ferries was on the Jersey City
Ferry, in July, 1812. To-day there are twenty-three ferries,
all steam, connecting NewYork with the west shore of the Hud-
son, Hoboken and Jersey City, Staten Island and Long Island.
The boats to Brooklyn and Hoboken run every five to ten
minutes by day, and every fifteen to twenty minutes b}' night,
at fares ranging from two to four cents each passenger. The
POSTAL COMMUNICATION. 63
official returns made to the city authorities in 1865 reported the
number of passengers carried at 82,321 ,274. The system of
leasing the ferries has taken this \aluable franchise from city
supervision, but the natural increase of the cit)' and suburbs
would carry this number to 100,000, 000 as the lowest estimate
for the present year. It has been stated that the estimate of the
persons who enter and leave the city (;very day for jnu-poses
of business is not less than 300,000. These facts seem to in-
dicate that the centre of the travel of the city and suburbs,
of AN^hich the cities on the opposite shores are, practical!}', part,
is not far distant from the City Hall Park.
In 1790 the Hackney Coach stand was at the Coffec-I louse,
and the charge one shilling per mile. In 1875 there A\-erc
1,800 licensed coaches in the citv. Yet the citv is in sjreat
need of some improvement in the present cab system, for
Avhich Paris and London offer such admirable models.
The mails were carried in the early days by men on horse-
back. In 1673 the post rider began his trips to and from
Boston once in three weeks.
During the exciting period which preceded the Revolution,
the famous Paul Revere, about whose name, as the Express
Rider of the Sons of Liberty, cluster memories as sacred as
those which attach to the Grecian runner who brought the
holy fire from the Delphic altar, kept the communication be-
tween Boston and New York, and Cornelius Bradford between
New York and Philadelphia. As an instance of the speed
of these journeys, it is recorded in the journals of 1789 that
John Adams, then at Braintree, received despatches from
Congress in fifty hours. In 1775 the mails were made up in
New York twice each week for Boston, once for Albany and
Quebec, and three times for Philadelphia and southward.
In the w^inter the Albany post was carried on foot. In 1783
the post-office was kept in a private house, at No. 38 Smith
street, where the postmaster dated his notices and made up
his mails. In 18 10 the amount received for postages in New
York was $60,000 ; in 1826, $ii3.893-7L 'i"t^ twenty-five
persons, including clerks, letter-carriers, etc., were employed
in the post-office. To-day the mammoth structure at the
64 TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION.
southern angle of the Cit}' Park is one of the chief ornaments
of the city. Besides this great building there are twenty
branch stations ; the total force employed, including carriers,
who make seven daily deliveries, numbers 1,193. In the
year 1874 there were delivered by carriers 33,689,117 letters
and postal cards, and 16,634,475 city letters ; the postage
received amounting to $2,589,384.94.
More remarkable is the wonderful growth of the system of
telegraphic communication. The Western Union Company,
in addition to its large and convenient structure, has 90
branch offices in the city alone, employing 371 operators,
214 messengers, and 238 clerks and other employes. In
the year 1875, messages passed over its wires in the city to
the number of 242,316, and from the city to other points
1,543,878, in all 1,786,914, or more than ten per cent, of the
total messages, numbering 17,153,710, which passed over the
lines of this mammoth company in the year mentioned.
Of hardly less interest to the citizen is the American Dis-
trict Telegraph Company, one of the most useful adjuncts of
modern city life ; valuable also in that it employs bo}'s in
its service, and trains them to habits of promptness and fidel-
it}-, which will in time show good results in efficient public
labor of more important kinds. This company, organized
in 1 87 1, has now 3,700 instruments in houses, public and
private, throughout the city, and a staff of 500 messenger
boys. In the past year they delivered 1,107,454 calls, of
which 580,886 were their own district business, the remainder
deliveries for the Western Union, with whose local offices
they are connected. In addition to this service they deliv-
ered 1,890,600 circulars and cards of various kinds.
It only remains to show the progress in the value of taxa-
ble property in the city to complete the showing of its growth
and establish its progress in the century, 1776 to 1876, which
has been under consideration. In 1801, the total valuation
of the real and personal estate of the City and County of
New York was $21,964,037. The official valuation in 1875
was, of real estate, $883, 643, 845, and of personal property at
$217,300,154 — a grand total of $1,100,943,699. To this
TAXABLE PROPERTY. 65
nuist be added the large amount of personal property exempt
from taxation held by indi\-iduals and associations, certainly
not less than $300,000,000, and the sum of property ^\ ill be
found to reach $1,500,000,000. Great complaint is made at
this time of the depression of business, but allowance must
be made for the extreme expectations of our business men,
accustomed as they are to the rapid successes of tlie past.
Surely, when the foreign trade alone of New York reached the
sum of $735,000,000 in the year 1874, there is still some
hope left for the future. Evidently the grass is not to grow
in the streets this decade, and the glory of the city is not
wholly departed ! It is peculiar to the life of great cities
that depression in one branch of trade is the cause of increase
and thriving in other ways, and that there is a constant com-
pensating balance between the richer and poorer classes of
society. Economy and extravagance follow each otlier in
alternate rise and fall, and with its injuries, each metes out its
benefits to the community as well as to individuals, while
stimulated in turn by each alternately, the life of the city
itself maintains its health and vigor, all the better perhaps
because of the change.
The marvels we have witnessed in the present century in
the use of steam, and the development of the electric and
magnetic forces, which now seem destined to supersede it as
motors, are reasonable grounds for hope of new applications
and new discoveries as marvellous. What changes they are
to make in the life of mankind none may prophesy, but it is
not unsafe to predict that New York will continue to grow
and prosper, to become greater and wealthier in the same
increasing ratio as in the past, and that the values of 1885
will show as wondrous an advance over those of 1875 as those
of 1875 over those of 1865. What its progress may be in
another century no intelligence can measure, no imagination
conceive.
In the rapid summary of New York progress a large field
of interest has been left wholly untouched— perhaps the most
important field of all, that of political government. No-
where in the history of modern civilization has the experiment
I
PROGRESS OF NEW YORK IN A CENTURY.
1776-1876.
AN ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE;
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
DECEMBER 7, 1S75,
BY
JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS.
NEW YORK : ^
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY
1876. ^,
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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