^ ^'UAMvio^ Monographs 
 
 . T7 C45 
 -opy 1 
 
 
 Vol. Ill 
 
 
 <3 
 
 December i6, 1919 
 
 No. I 
 
 TRANSIT IN 
 OLD 'TIME NEW YORK 
 
17 
 
 Printed on Hamilton Enamel by- 
 Publishers Printing Company, New- 
 York. The illustrations are from the 
 collection of old prints o'wned by The 
 New York Historical Society, which 
 graciously permitted their reproduction 
 in this Monograph. Acknowledge 
 ment is also made of the kind and 
 courteous aid in the preparation of 
 this paper by Mr. A. J. Wall, of the 
 Society. 
 
 HUE 
 
 Publisher 
 JUN 28 1920 
 
 ^ 
 
P,fr-^..«^. 
 
 ^. S'?!' " -'■ -- """■rTirt"- Tr I "HM rtS> '•••^■iiiiriiAi** 
 
 ll'/ien Bunvliiiir Green --cas the transit center of Ne-iv York 
 
 TRANSIT IN 
 OLD-TIME NEW YORK 
 
 SINCE the early Colonial days 
 dust-covered diligences from 
 far-ofF New England and the remote 
 town of Albany had rolled into the 
 City of New York by way of the 
 Boston Post Road and the Bloom- 
 ingdale Road. They then pro- 
 ceeded down Broadway to Wall 
 Street. 
 
 Then, too, there was a stage line, 
 which carried venturesome tourists 
 to the outlying villages of Green- 
 wich, Yorkville, and Harlem. 
 
 Moreover, in 1827, Abraham 
 Brower had started running a cov- 
 ered conveyance seating twelve 
 persons, which had been built for 
 him by John Stevenson. He called 
 his carriage an "Accommodation." 
 
 His route was over Beekman Street 
 to Wall Street, and he picked up and 
 dropped his fares as they listed, his 
 charge being a shilling, regardless of 
 the distance traveled. Two years 
 later he added a closed coach, which 
 he named the "Sociable." 
 
 But these startling innovations 
 had not prepared the good towns- 
 people for the sensational spectacle 
 which met their eyes one memorable 
 day in 1831. An enormous vehicle 
 drawn by four horses and bearing 
 in large letters, the legend "Omnibus 
 — A. Brower," came rumbling down 
 Broadway, The tradesmen ran 
 from their shops, and the residents 
 along Broadway hurried to the 
 windows of their homes to behold 
 
00 
 
 en 
 
 CO 
 
 g 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 O 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 v- 
 
 O. en 
 
 o HI 
 
 p <u 
 
 en 3 
 
 1 — > ni 
 
 "o 5 
 
 ^r2 
 
 M o 
 
BROADWAY IN 1831 
 
 In this year Abraham Brower started his omnibus-line. Unless the artist gave too 
 
 free a rein to his imagination, we must conclude that the congestion before St. Paul's 
 
 Church was hardly less than it is to-day. 
 
 this, the eighth wonder of the 
 world. They said, " Brower is surely 
 overdoing it. His 'Accommoda- 
 tion' was all right and his 'Soci- 
 able' was all right, but there never 
 will be traffic enough in this city to 
 also support this great ark of an 
 Omnibus." 
 
 But they were wrong. In spite 
 of the exorbitant fare — for a shilling 
 in those days amounted to almost 
 as much as a dollar now — Brower's 
 line prospered. Bus after bus was 
 added until the people, who at first 
 were proud of the city's progress, 
 
 began to complain of the congestion 
 on Broadway. The drivers of those 
 omnibuses must have been terrible 
 fellows — direct ancestors, no doubt, 
 of the taxi-drivers of to-day. A 
 contemporary bemoans the times 
 and the customs. "The character 
 of the omnibus-drivers has become 
 brutal and dangerous to the highest 
 degree," he writes. "They race up 
 and down Broadway and through 
 Chatham Street with the utmost 
 fury. Broadway, especially be- 
 tween the Park and Wall Street, is 
 almost daily the scene of some out- 
 
EN ROUTE TO HARLEM, 1878 
 
 The wooden trestle shown in this picture was built along what was then called Fourth 
 Avenue, across the valley between looth Street and Ii6th Street. At this time the 
 New York and Harlem ran to a station on the present site of Madison Square Garden, 
 passing through the Fourth Avenue Tunnel, through which the Madison Avenue 
 
 trolleys now run. 
 
 rage in which the lives of citizens 
 riding in light vehicles are put in 
 imminent hazard. Not content with 
 running upon everything which 
 comes in their way, they turn out of 
 their course to break down other 
 carriages. A ferocious spirit seems 
 to have taken possession of the 
 drivers, who defy the laws and de- 
 light in destruction." 
 
 However, the death-knell of the 
 omnibus had already sounded. In 
 1832 the New York and Harlem 
 Railway Company laid a pair of 
 tracks from Prince Street to Four- 
 teenth Street, and placed thereon a 
 "street-car," built by the same 
 redoubtable Stevenson who had 
 
 made the Brower omnibuses. This 
 horse-drawn railway-car was named 
 "John Mason," after the president 
 of the Chemical National Bank, 
 who, I suspect, may have put his 
 hand into his pocket to help along 
 the enterprise. It was a great, lum- 
 bering vehicle, containing three 
 compartments, each of which seated 
 ten passengers. Thirty more could 
 ride on the roof, to which access was 
 gained by a flight of steps at the 
 end of the contrivance. 
 
 In 1845 Stevenson changed the 
 design of his car, omitting the side 
 doors and crosswise seats, adopting 
 end doors and side seats. 
 
 In those good old days before a 
 
THE VOYAGE TO BROOKLYN, 1858 
 
 If we would believe the engravers of old New York, the East River was wider and the 
 
 waves more tumultuous in those days than now. The New-Yorker was, indeed, 
 
 venturesome who would hazard the perils of those wild waters to go to Brooklyn! 
 
 NEW YORK PIER OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, 1876 
 
 The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was perhaps the greatest engineering achieve- 
 ment of the latter half of the nineteenth century. Long Island is now moored to the 
 American continent by five great bridges. 
 
03 -G 
 
 
 0) ? 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 tn 
 
 
 >^w 
 
 
 XI •- 
 
 
 -M 
 
 
 4^ 03 
 
 
 
 
 0-1 ■- (fl 
 
 
 _ b*?^ 
 
 
 rysta 
 restin 
 eyani 
 
 00 
 
 U OJ > 
 
 
 -" c 
 
 
 0) c o 
 
 H 
 
 5":." 
 
 ^ 
 
 4-1 0) ■"-; 
 
 o 
 
 OJ > rt 
 
 CQ 
 
 T?--'= 
 
 < 
 
 ^^ Q. 
 
 U 
 
 s op 
 d pr: 
 
 ies o 
 
 < 
 
 wa 
 is ol 
 rieti 
 
 i_j 
 
 < 
 
 03 _c rt 
 
 
 <U >i 
 
 J 
 
 5^ 03 
 
 < 
 
 <^B 
 
 H 
 
 ■Sc^^ 
 
 CO 
 
 -^ -^ c 
 
 >^ 
 
 - 5 "5 
 
 Cii 
 
 JH >- tn- 
 
 u 
 
 
 u 
 
 o ^ c 
 
 n^ 
 
 H 
 
 £fs 
 
 2 ^ rt 
 
 
malevolent and soulless corporation 
 offered to carry a passenger from 
 the most northerly extremity of 
 New York to Atlantic Avenue, 
 Brooklyn, a distance of about 
 twenty miles, in an electric-lighted, 
 solid vestibule, steel car, which runs 
 smoothly, swiftly, and safely over 
 heavy rails, charging for this service 
 about a quarter of a cent a mile, 
 in those good old days of horse- 
 cars, our grandfathers allowed an 
 hour and a quarter to go from 
 Twenty-third Street to Vesey Street. 
 The cars were small and smelled 
 like a menagerie. In winter the 
 floors were covered with straw to 
 
 prevent the feet of the passengers 
 from becoming frost-bitten. At night 
 the car was illuminated by two 
 kerosene lamps, one placed in each 
 end, which instead of dispelling the 
 darkness only accentuated it. The 
 tracks were so badly laid that the 
 ride gave all the thrills of a Coney 
 Island scenic railway. At intervals 
 the joints were most uneven, and 
 the passengers received shocks which 
 almost jolted out of them their 
 immortal souls. 
 
 Is it any wonder that some more 
 modern and comfortable method of 
 travel was demanded by a truly 
 "long-suffering public".'' 
 
 B 
 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
 
 'r 
 
 !• 
 
 It 
 
 1- 
 
 ■• 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 Wjj 
 
 1 
 
 PROPOSED ARCADE UNDER BROADWAY 
 
 In 1867 the Legislature recommended that the solution of New York's transit problem 
 lay in underground railroads. Here is one of the many schemes formulated at this time. 
 
•"^Si 
 
 j.i. -^OHl" 
 
 ■lllil! 
 
 
 4#"i; 
 
 BROADWAY AT CITY HALL PARK DURING THE CI\"IL WAR, 
 SHOWING THE FAMOUS BROADWAY BUSSES. 
 
 For many years attempts had been made to gain a franchise for a street-car line on 
 Broadway, but the merchants always fought the "desecration of the Highway." 
 
 On July 31. 1867, a special com- inspect New York's first subway. 
 
 mission, which had been appointed They entered a car which was pro- 
 
 b}^ the State Senate to ascertain the pelled by a most ingenious method, 
 
 best means for the transportation Be it remembered that the employ- 
 
 of passengers for the City of New ment of electricity for turning a 
 
 York, published a report in which it motor was still m its infancy. It 
 
 recommended that "In the opinion was obvious that a steam-locomotive 
 
 of the Commission, the best method could not be used in a closed tunnel, 
 
 of speedily attaining the design and so the plan was adopted of 
 
 contemplated is by the construction literally blowing the car along the 
 
 of underground railroads." tracks by means of powerful fans 
 
 Soon thereafter capital was raised set at the end of the tunnel, 
 
 and a tunnel eight feet in diameter The promoters promised to build 
 
 was dug under Broadway between this tunnel from the Battery to 
 
 Murray and Warren Streets. On Harlem and to run in it cars one 
 
 April 26, 1870, guests were invited to hundred feet long — but the funds 
 
^irf l_pi r 
 
 /Aj_/vvA\ HOr^^c->_-\R BEF'JRE THE 
 
 r ir i rx .-tv njs l n ei'_' l r-i 
 
 H<?R5E-CAR- AXr ZLE\'ArED R.\ILRO.\D AT HER-\LD 5<^L\\RE. :Scc 
 
 It 
 
FULTON STREET BRIDGE, 
 BUILT IN 1866 
 
 Congestion over Broadway was so acute 
 that this bridge was built to span the 
 thoroughfare. People, however, preferred 
 dodging the busses and trucks to climbing 
 the stairs, and the bridge was taken down 
 the next year. 
 
 were never forthcoming and the 
 enterprise was abandoned. 
 
 Another ambitious scheme called 
 for the construction of an under- 
 ground arcade, having sidewalks and 
 shops on either side and a roadbed 
 in the middle, along which should 
 glide cars propelled by compressed 
 air. But this, too, came to 
 nothing. 
 
 Meanwhile, another group of 
 capitalists was hard at work erect- 
 ing an elevated railroad. On July 2, 
 
 1867, the first section was completed. 
 It ran from Battery Place, through 
 Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue 
 to Thirteenth Street. At first it was 
 operated by cable, but soon steam- 
 locomotives were substituted. Alas, 
 however, for the pioneer investors. 
 In 1871 the road was sold out by the 
 sheriff. 
 
 The next few years were full of 
 trouble for the promoters of the 
 elevated railway. Not only did they 
 find it difficult to persuade investors 
 to furnish the capital, but their lives 
 were made miserable by litigation 
 and the efforts to gain franchises 
 and to obtain the rights of way. 
 However, perseverance triumphed, 
 as it always does, and in 1875 a 
 commission which had been ap- 
 
 LAYING THE CABLES IN LOWER 
 BROADWAY 
 
pointed by the Legislature reported 
 in favor of granting a franchise for 
 the elevated railroads. 
 
 Now things began to go along 
 swimmingly. Funds were rapidly 
 forthcoming, and in 1876 the Green- 
 wich Street road was extended to 
 Fifty-ninth Street. The elated offi- 
 cers issued a public announcement 
 in which they boasted that they 
 were running forty trains a day! 
 
 In the spring of the next year, 
 Cyrus W. Field purchased the con- 
 trolling interest in the line and put 
 the force of his indomitable per- 
 sonality back of the enterprise. 
 
 On July 5, 1876, the Sixth 
 Avenue line was opened from Rector 
 Street to Central Park. On April 
 26 of the same year, the rival road 
 on Third Avenue was opened to 
 Forty-second Street. 
 
 The next year saw the consolida- 
 tion of the two companies under 
 the name of the Manhattan Railway 
 Company. In 1880, the Second 
 Avenue line was opened to Sixty- 
 seventh Street. Soon the elevated 
 railroads on both sides of the city 
 were extended to the Harlem River. 
 
 On July 24, 1916, a little horse- 
 car, drawn by two cadaverous 
 
 Ij^iatis.;:.--*-!*:'-?!;.;?^ 
 
 NEW YORK'S FIRST "KL." 
 
 In 1 868 a block of experimental elevated railroad was built along Greenwich Street 
 south of Morris. The next year it was extended as far as Cortlandt Street. 
 
 13 
 
horses, passed under the Municipal —this relic of ancient days — had 
 Building going toward Broadway. passed, the last reminder of old- 
 It disappeared in the west. And time transportation of New York 
 when this phantom-like horse-car, faded from the eye of man. 
 
 BUILDING THE ELEVATED 
 
 This is the reproduction of a photograph taken in 1879. The 
 
 wilderness through which the road is being constructed is Ninth 
 
 Avenue and Sixty-fifth Street. 
 
t 
 
 t >Xf^v^y^>^v.fi.v^v^^v^'vg^ 
 
 ^. 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 <! 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 WHEN all is said and done 
 Hamilton Enamel is the 
 largest selling coated paper in the 
 world because it gives the largest 
 measure of satisfaction. It is not 
 the most expensive paper, but it 
 is the best paper that can be had 
 for the price. 
 
 The Champion Coated Paper Co. 
 324 Pearl Street, New York, N. Y. 
 
 For sale b}i almost every jobber 
 and dealer in J^ew Tor\ 
 
 0:j^x^j^>:^j.^j^j.^j.^x^j^ 
 
014 109 072 
 
 CHAMPION MONOGRAPHS 
 
 T IS our purpose to issue from time to 
 time monographs on interesting sub- 
 jects, each of which will be printed on 
 one of our papers. We believe the best 
 demonstration of the printing quality of a paper 
 is an actual printed job, as distinguished from mere 
 specimen pages. 
 
 The Champion Monographs will be printed for 
 gratuitous distribution among the printers, pub- 
 lishers and buyers of printing. It is possible that 
 some would prefer receiving these monographs in 
 their homes, where they would find a place on the 
 library tables. 
 
 A post-card to the publisher giving the change of 
 address will receive proper attention. 
 
 We should be glad to learn what our readers think 
 of these monographs; and also to receive sugges- 
 tions as to subjects they believe will prove of gen- 
 eral interest for future editions. 
 
 The Champion Coated Paper Co., 
 324 Pearl Street, New York, N. Y.