Part 7

A line drawn through Astor Place and continued to the Washington Arch in Washington Square, through Fifth Avenue to the neighborhood of Tenth Street, with Fourth Avenue as an eastern boundary, would roughly enclose what used to be the Eliot estate in the latter part of the eighteenth century. It was a farm of about twenty-one acres in 1790, when it was purchased for five thousand pounds from "Baron" Poelnitz, by Captain Robert Richard Randall, who had been a ship-master and a merchant. Randall dying in 1801, bequeathed the farm for the founding of an asylum for superannuated sailors, together with the mansion house in which he had lived. The house stood, approximately, at the present northwest corner of Ninth Street and Broadway. It was the intention of Captain Randall that the Sailors' Snug Harbor should be built on the property, and the farming land used to raise all vegetables, fruit and grain necessary for the inmates. There were long years of litigation, however, for relatives contested the will. When the case was settled in 1831, the trustees had decided to lease the land, and to purchase the Staten Island property where the Asylum is now located. The estate, at the time of Captain Randall's death, yielded an annual income of $4,000. At present the income is about $400,000 a year. It is conceded that the property would have increased more rapidly in value had it been sold outright, instead of becoming leasehold property in perpetuity.

Many efforts have been made to cut through Eleventh Street from Fourth Avenue to Broadway. The first was in 1830, when the street was open on the lines of the City Plan. Hendrick Brevoort, whose farm adjoined the Sailors' Snug Harbor property, had a homestead directly in the line of the proposed street, between Fourth Avenue and Broadway. He resisted the attempted encroachment on his home so successfully that the street was not opened through that block. He was again similarly successful in 1849, when an ordinance was passed for the removal of his house and the opening of the street.

[Sidenote: Grace Church]

Grace Church, at Tenth Street and Broadway, was completed in 1846. Previous to that date it had been on the southwest corner of Broadway and Rector Street, opposite Trinity Church.

There is a reason for the sudden bend in Broadway at Tenth Street, close by Grace Church. The Bowery Lane, which is now Fourth Avenue, curved in passing through what is now Union Square until, at the line of the present Seventeenth Street it turned and took a direct course north and was from thereon called the Bloomingdale Road. This road to Bloomingdale was opened long before Broadway, and it was in order to let the latter connect as directly as possible with the straight road north that the direction of Broadway was changed about 1806 by the Tenth Street bend and a junction effected with the other road at the Seventeenth Street line.

At Thirteenth Street and Fourth Avenue there was constructed in 1834 a tank which was intended to furnish water for extinguishing fires. It had a capacity of 230,000 gallons, and was one hundred feet above tide water. Water was forced into it by a 12-horse power engine from a well and conducting galleries at the present Tenth Street and Sixth Avenue, on the site of the Jefferson Market Prison.

[Sidenote: Wallack's Theatre]

In 1861 James W. Wallack moved from Wallack's Lyceum at Broome Street, and occupied the new Wallack's, now the Star Theatre, at Thirteenth Street and Broadway. His last appearance was when he made a little speech at the close of the season of 1862. He died in 1864.

[Sidenote: Union Square]

Union Square was provided for in the City Plan, under the name of Union Place. The Commissioners decided that the Place was necessary, as an opening for fresh air would be needed when the city should be built up. Furthermore, the union of so many roads intersecting at that point required space for convenience; and if the roads were continued without interruption the land would be divided into such small portions as to be valueless for building purposes.

The fountain in the square was operated for the first time in 1842, on the occasion of the great Croton Water celebration.

The bronze equestrian statue of Washington was erected in the square close by where the citizens had received the Commander of the Army when he entered the city on Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783. The statue is the work of Henry K. Brown. The dedication occurred on July 4, 1856, and was an imposing ceremony. Rev. George W. Bethune delivered an oration, and there was a military parade.

[Sidenote: Academy of Music]

The Academy of Music, at Fourteenth Street and Irving Place, was built in 1854 by a number of citizens who desired a permanent home for opera. On October 2nd of that year, Hackett took his company, headed by Grisi and Matio, there, the weather being too cold to continue the season at Castle Garden. The building was burned in 1866 and rebuilt in 1868.

In Third Avenue, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth Streets, is an old milestone which marked the third mile from Federal Hall on the Post Road.

The Friends' Meeting House, at East Sixteenth Street and Rutherford Place, has existed since 1860. In 1775 it was in Pearl Street, near Franklin Square. In 1824 it was taken down and rebuilt in 1826 in Rose Street, near Pearl.

[Sidenote: St. George's Church]

St. George's (Episcopal) Church, at Rutherford Place and Sixteenth Street, was built in 1845. The church was organized in 1752, and before occupying the present site was in Beekman Street.

Early in the century a stream of water ran from Stuyvesant's Pond, close by what is now Fourteenth Street and Second Avenue, to First Avenue and Nineteenth Street, having an outlet into the East River at about Sixteenth Street. In winter this furnished an excellent skating-ground.

[Sidenote: Gramercy Park]

Gramercy Park, at Twentieth and Twenty-first Streets and Lexington Avenue, was originally part of the Gramercy Farm. In 1831 it was given by Samuel B. Ruggles to be used exclusively by the owners of lots fronting on it. It was laid out and improved in 1840. In the pavement, in front of the park gate on the west side, is a stone bearing this inscription:

GRAMERCY PARK FOUNDED BY SAMUEL B. RUGGLES 1831 COMMEMORATED BY THIS TABLET IMBEDDED IN THE GRAMERCY FARM BY JOHN RUGGLES STRONG. 1875.

[Sidenote: Madison Square]

There was no evidence during the last part of the eighteenth century that the town would ever creep up to and beyond the point where Twenty-third Street crosses Broadway. This point was the junction of the Post Road to Boston and the Bloomingdale Road. The latter was the fashionable out-of-town driveway, and it followed the course that Broadway and the Boulevard take now. The Post Road extended to the northeast. At this point, in 1794, a Potter's Field was established. There were many complaints at its being located there, where pauper funerals clashed with the vehicles of the well-to-do, and there was much rejoicing three years later, when the burying-ground was removed to the spot that is now Washington Square.

[Sidenote: Arsenal in Madison Square]

In 1797 was built, where the burying-ground had been, an arsenal which extended from Twenty-fourth Street and over the site of the Worth Monument.

In the City Plan, completed in 1811, provision was made for a parade-ground to extend from Twenty-third to Thirty-fourth Streets, and Seventh to Third Avenue. The Commissioners decided that such a space was needed for military exercises, and where, in case of necessity, there could be assembled a force to defend the city. In 1814, the limits of the parade-ground were reduced to the space between Twenty-third and Thirty-first Streets, Sixth and Fourth Avenues, and given the name of Madison Square.

[Sidenote: House of Refuge]

The Arsenal in Madison Square was turned into a House of Refuge in 1824, and opened January 1, 1825. This was the result of the work of an association of citizens who formed a society to improve the condition of juvenile delinquents. The House of Refuge was burned in 1839, and another institution built at the foot of Twenty-third Street the same year. A portion of the old outer wall of this last structure is still to be seen on the north side of Twenty-third Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A.

In 1845, at the suggestion of Mayor James Harper, Madison Square was reduced to its present limits and laid out as a public park. Up to this time a stream of water had crossed the square, fed by springs in the district about Sixth Avenue, between Twenty-first and Twenty-seventh Streets. It spread out into a pond in Madison Square, and emptied into the East River at Seventeenth Street. It was suggested that a street be created over its bed from Madison Avenue to the river. This was not carried out, and the stream was simply buried.

[Sidenote: Post Road]

The road which branched out of the Bloomingdale Road at Twenty-third Street, sometimes called the Boston Post Road, sometimes the Post Road, sometimes the Boston Turnpike, ran across the present Madison Square, striking Fourth Avenue at Twenty-ninth Street; went through Kipsborough which hugged the river between Thirty-third and Thirty-seventh Streets, swept past Turtle Bay at Forty-seventh Street and the East River, crossed Second Avenue at Fifty-second Street, recrossed at Sixty-third Street, reached the Third Avenue line at Sixty-fifth Street, and at Seventy-seventh Street crossed a small stream over the Kissing Bridge. Then proceeded irregularly on this line to One Hundred and Thirtieth Street, where it struck the bridge over the Harlem River at Third Avenue. The road was closed in 1839.

The monument to Major-General William J. Worth, standing to the west of Madison Square, was dedicated November 25, 1857. General Worth was the main support of General Scott in the campaign of Mexico. His body was first interred in Greenwood Cemetery. On November 23rd the remains were taken to City Hall, where they lay in state for two days, then were taken, under military escort, and deposited beside the monument.

[Sidenote: Fifth Avenue Hotel]

For twenty years, or more, prior to 1853, the site of the present Fifth Avenue Hotel, at Twenty-third Street and Broadway, was occupied by a frame cottage with a peaked roof, and covered veranda reached by a flight of wooden stairs. This was the inn of Corporal Thompson, and a favorite stopping-place on the Bloomingdale Road. An enclosed lot, extending as far as the present Twenty-fourth Street, was used at certain times of the year for cattle exhibitions. In 1853 the cottage made way for Franconi's Hippodrome, a brick structure, two stories high, enclosing an open space two hundred and twenty-five feet in diameter. The performances given here were considered of great merit and received with much favor. In 1856 the Hippodrome was removed, and in 1858 the present Fifth Avenue Hotel was opened.

The Madison Square Presbyterian Church, at Madison Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street, was commenced in 1853, the earlier church of the congregation having been in Broome Street. It was opened December, 1854, with Rev. Dr. William Adams as pastor.

[Sidenote: College of City of New York]

At the southeast corner of Twenty-third Street and Lexington Avenue, the College of the City of New York has stood since 1848, the opening exercises having taken place in 1849. In 1847 the Legislature passed an Act authorizing the establishment of a free academy for the benefit of pupils who had been educated in the public schools of this city. The name Free Academy was given to the institution, and under that name it was incorporated. It had the power to confer degrees and diplomas. In 1866 the name was changed to its present title, and all the privileges and powers of a college were conferred upon it. In 1882 the college was thrown open to all young men, whether educated in the public schools of this city or not. In 1898 ground was set aside in the northern part of the city, overlooking the Hudson River, for the erection of modern buildings suitable to meet the growth of the college.

[Sidenote: Old House of Refuge Wall]

The House of Refuge in Madison Square was, after the fire in 1839, rebuilt on the block bounded by Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Streets, First Avenue and the East River. It was surrounded by a high wall, a section of which is still standing on the north side of Twenty-third Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A. The river at that time extended west to beyond the Avenue A line. The old gateway is there yet, and is used now as the entrance to a coal-yard. Some of the barred windows of the wall can still be seen. In 1854 the inmates were removed to Randall's Island, and were placed in charge of the State.

[Sidenote: Bellevue Hospital]

Bellevue Hospital has occupied its present site; at the foot of East Twenty-sixth Street, since about 1810. The hospital really had its beginning in 1736, in the buildings of the Public Work-house and House of Correction in City Hall Park. There were six beds there, in charge of the medical officer, Dr. John Van Beuren. About the beginning of the nineteenth century, yellow fever patients were sent to a building known as Belle Vue, on the Belle Vue Farm, close by the present hospital buildings. In about 1810 it was decided to establish a new almshouse, penitentiary and hospital on the Belle Vue Farm. Work on this was completed in 1816. The almshouse building was three stories high, surmounted by a cupola, and having a north and south wing each one hundred feet long. This original structure stands to-day, and is part of the present hospital building, other branches having been added to it from time to time. The water line, at that time, was within half a block of where First Avenue is now.

In 1848 the Almshouse section of the institution was transferred to Blackwell's Island. The ambulance service was started in 1869, and was the first service of its kind in the world.

[Sidenote: Bull's Head Village]

Bull's Head Village was located in the district now included within Twenty-third and Twenty-seventh Streets, Fourth and Second Avenues. It became a centre of importance in 1826, when the old Bull's Head Tavern was moved from its early home on the Bowery, near Bayard Street, to the point which is now marked by Twenty-sixth Street and Third Avenue. It continued to be the headquarters of drovers and stockmen. As at that time there was no bank north of the City Hall Park, the Bull's Head Tavern served as inn, bank and general business emporium for the locality. For more than twenty years this district was the great cattle market of the city. As business increased, stores and business houses were erected, until, toward the year 1850, the cattle mart, which was the source of all business, was crowded out. It was moved up-town to the neighborhood of Forty-second Street; later to Ninety-fourth Street, and in the early 80's to the Jersey shore. The most celebrated person connected with the management of the Bull's Head Tavern was Daniel Drew. He afterwards operated in Wall Street, became a director of the New York and Erie Railroad upon its completion in 1851, and accumulated a fortune by speculation.

[Sidenote: Peter Cooper's House]

At Twenty-eighth Street and Fourth Avenue, on the southeast corner, the house numbered 399-401, stands the old "Cooper Mansion," in which Peter Cooper lived. It was formerly on the site where the Bible House is now, at the corner of Eighth Street and Fourth Avenue. Peter Cooper himself superintended the removal of the house in 1820, and directed its establishment on the new site so that it should be reconstructed in a manner that should absolutely preserve its original form. Now it presents an insignificant appearance crowded about by modern structures, and it is occupied by a restaurant.

This corner of Twenty-eighth Street and Fourth Avenue was directly on the line of the Boston Post Road. Just at that point the Middle Road ran from it, and extended in a direct line to Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street.

[Sidenote: Little Church Around the Corner]

The Little Church Around the Corner, a low, rambling structure, seemingly all angles and corners, is on the north side of Twenty-ninth Street, midway of the block between Fifth and Madison Avenues. It is the Episcopal Church of The Transfiguration. Its picturesque title was bestowed upon it in 1871, when Joseph Holland, an English actor, the father of E. M. and Joseph Holland, the players known to the present generation, died. Joseph Jefferson, when arranging for the funeral, went to a church which stood then at Madison Avenue and Twenty-eighth Street, to arrange for the services. The minister said that his congregation would object to an actor being buried from their church, adding: "But there is a little church around the corner where they have such funerals." Mr. Jefferson, astonished that such petty and unjust distinctions should be persisted in even in the face of death, exclaimed: "All honor to that Little Church Around the Corner!" From that time until the present day, "The Little Church Around the Corner" has been the religious refuge of theatrical folk. For twenty-six years of that time, and until his death, the Rev. Dr. George H. Houghton, who conducted the services over the remains of actor Holland, was the firm friend of the people of the stage in times of trouble, of sickness and of death.

[Sidenote: Lich Gate]

The lich gate at the entrance of the church is unique in this country, and is considered the most elaborate now in existence anywhere. It was erected in 1895, at a cost of $4,000.

The congregation worshipped first in a house at No. 48 East Twenty-fourth Street, in 1850. The present building was opened in 1856. Lester Wallack was buried from this church, as were Dion Boucicault, Edwin Booth, and a host of others. In the church is a memorial window to the memory of Edwin Booth, which was unveiled in 1898. It represents a mediæval histrionic student, his gaze fixed on a mask in his hand. Below the figure is the favorite quotation of Booth, from "Henry II": "As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; a man that fortune's buffets and rewards has taken with equal thanks." And the further inscription: "To the glory of God and in loving memory of Edwin Booth this window has been placed here by 'The Players.'"

At Lexington Avenue and Thirtieth Street is the First Moravian Church, which has occupied the building since 1869. This congregation was established in 1749. In 1751 their first church was built at No. 108 Fair (now Fulton) Street. In 1829 a second house was erected on the same site. In 1849 a new building was erected at the southwest corner of Houston and Mott Streets. This property was sold in 1865, and the congregation then worshipped in the Medical College Hall, at the northwest corner of Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue, until the purchase of the present building from the Episcopalians. It was erected by the Baptists in 1825.

[Sidenote: Brick Presbyterian Church]

At Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh Street is the Brick Presbyterian Church, which stood at the junction of Park Row and Nassau Street until 1858, when the present structure was erected. The locality was a very different one then, and the square quaintness of the church looks out of place amid its present modern surroundings. There is an air of solitude about it, as though it mourned faithfully for the green fields that shed peace and quietness about its walls when it was first built there.

It is related of William C. H. Waddell, who, in 1845, built a residence on the same site, that when he went to look at the plot, with a view to purchase, his wife waited for him near by, under the shade of an apple tree. The ground there was high above the city grade.

[Sidenote: Bryant Park]

The ground between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, Fortieth and Forty-second Streets, now occupied by Bryant Park and the old reservoir, was purchased by the city in 1822, and in 1823 a Potter's Field was established there, the one in Washington Square having been abandoned in its favor. The reservoir, of Egyptian architecture, was finished in 1842. Its cost was about $500,000. On July 5th water was introduced into it through the new Croton aqueduct, with appropriate ceremonies. The water is brought from the Croton lakes, forty-five miles above the city, through conduits of solid masonry. The first conduit, which was begun in 1835, is carried across the Harlem River through the High Bridge, which was erected especially to accommodate it. At the time the reservoir was put in use the locality was at the northern limits of the city. On Sundays and holidays people went on journeys to the reservoir, and from the promenades at the top of the structure had a good view from river to river, and of the city to the south. The reservoir has not been in use for many years.

The park was called Reservoir Square until 1884, when the name was changed to Bryant Park.

[Sidenote: A World's Fair]

On July 4, 1853, a World's Fair, in imitation of the Crystal Palace, near London, was opened in Reservoir Square, when President Pierce made an address. The fair was intended to set forth the products of the world, but it attracted but little attention outside the city. It was opened as a permanent exposition on May 14, 1854, but proved a failure. One of the attractions was a tower 280 feet high, which stood just north of the present line of Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue. In August, 1856, it was burned, and as a great pillar of flame it attracted more attention than ever before. The exposition buildings and their contents were in the hands of a receiver when they were destroyed by fire October 5, 1858.

Bryant Park has been selected as the site for the future home of the consolidated Tilden, Astor and Lenox Libraries.

[Sidenote: Murray Hill]

Murray Hill derives its name from the possessions of Robert Murray, whose house, Inclenberg, stood at the corner of what is now Thirty-sixth Street and Park Avenue, on a farm which lay between the present Thirty-third and Thirty-seventh Streets, Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) and the Boston Post Road (the present Third Avenue). The house was destroyed by fire in 1834. On September 15, 1776, after the defeat on Long Island, the Americans were marching northward from the lower end of the island, when the British, marching toward the west, reached the Murray House. There the officers were well entertained by the Murrays, who, at the same time, managed to get word to the American Army: the latter hurried on and joined Washington at about Forty-third Street and Broadway, before the English suspected that they were anywhere within reach.

The Murray Farm extended down to Kip's Bay at Thirty-sixth Street. The Kip mansion was the oldest house on the Island of Manhattan when it was torn down in 1851. Where it stood, at the crossing of Thirty-fifth Street and Second Avenue, there is now not a trace. Jacob Kip built the house in 1655, of brick which he imported from Holland. The locality between the Murray Hill Farm and the river, that is, east of what is now Third Avenue between Thirty-third and Thirty-seventh Streets, was called Kipsborough in Revolutionary times.

[Sidenote: Turtle Bay]