Part 8

The British forces landed, on the day of the stop at the Murray House, in Turtle Bay, that portion of the East River between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Streets. It was a safe harbor and a convenient one. Overlooking the bay, on a great bluff at the present Forty-first Street, was the summer home of Francis Bayard Winthrop. He owned the Turtle Bay Farm. The bluff is there yet, and subsequent cutting through of the streets has left it in appearance like a small mountain peak. Winthrop's house is gone, and in its place is Corcoran's Roost, far up on the height, whose grim wall of stone on the Fortieth Street side at First Avenue became in modern times the trysting-place for members of the "Rag Gang."

[Sidenote: The Elgin Garden]

Forty-seventh and Forty-ninth Streets, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, enclose the tract formerly known as the Elgin Garden. This was a botanical garden founded by David Hosack, M. D., in 1801, when he was Professor of Botany in Columbia College. In 1814 the land was purchased by the State from Dr. Hosack and given to Columbia College, in consideration of lands which had been owned by the College but ceded to New Hampshire after the settlement of the boundary dispute. The ground is still owned by Columbia University.

The block east of Madison Avenue, between Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Streets, was occupied in 1857 by Columbia College, when the latter moved from its down-town site at Church and Murray Streets. The College occupied the building which had been erected in 1817 by the founders of the Institute for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb--the first asylum for mutes in the United States. The original intention had been to erect the college buildings on a portion of the Elgin Garden property, but the expense involved was found to be too great. The asylum property, consisting of twenty lots and the buildings, was purchased in 1856. Subsequently the remainder of the block was also bought up.

[Sidenote: St. Patrick's Cathedral]

At Fiftieth Street and Fifth Avenue is St. Patrick's Cathedral, the cornerstone of which was laid in 1858. The entire block on which it stands was, the preceding year, given to the Roman Catholics for a nominal sum--one dollar--by the city.

The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum in the adjoining block, on Fifth Avenue, between Fifty-first and Fifty-second Streets, was organized in 1825, but not incorporated until 1852, when the present buildings were erected.

[Sidenote: Four Mile Stone]

There is still standing, in Third Avenue, just above Fifty-seventh Street, a milestone. It was once on the Post Road, four miles from Federal Hall in Wall Street.

Close by Fiftieth Street and Third Avenue, a Potter's Field was established about 1835. Near it was a spring of exceptionally pure water. This water was carried away in carts and supplied to the city. Even after the introduction of Croton water the water from this spring commanded a price of two cents a pail from many who were strongly prejudiced against water that had been supplied through pipes.

[Sidenote: Beekman House]

Memories of Nathan Hale, the Martyr Spy of the Revolution, hover about the neighborhood of Fifty-first Street and First Avenue. The Beekman House stood just west of the Avenue, between Fifty-first and Fifty-second Streets, on the site where Grammar School No. 135 is now. It was in a room of this house that Major André slept, and in the morning passed out to dishonor; and it was in a greenhouse on these grounds that Nathan Hale passed the last of his nights upon earth. The house was built in 1763 by a descendant of the William Beekman who came from Holland in 1647 with Peter Stuyvesant. During the Revolution it was the headquarters of General Charles Clinton and Sir William Howe. It stood until 1874, by which time it had degenerated into a crumbling tenement, and was demolished when it threatened to fall of natural decay.

[Sidenote: An Old Shot Tower]

A very few steps from the East River, at Fifty-third Street, stands an old brick shot tower; a lonely and neglected sentinel now, but still proudly looking skyward and bearing witness to its former usefulness. It was built in 1821 by a Mr. Youle. On October 9th it was nearing completion when it collapsed. It was at once rebuilt, and, as has been said, still stands. In 1827 Mr. Youle advertised the sale of the lots near the tower, and designated the location as being "close by the Old Post Road near the four mile stone."

[Sidenote: The De Voor Farm]

Within half a dozen steps of the old tower, in the same lumber yard, is a house said to be the oldest in the city. It is of Dutch architecture, with sloping roof and a wide porch. The cutting through and grading of Fifty-third Street have forced it higher above the ground than its builders intended it to be. The outer walls, in part, have been boarded over, and some "modern improvements" have made it somewhat unsightly; but inside, no vandal's art has been sufficient to hide its solid oak beams and its stone foundations that have withstood the shocks of time successfully. It was a farm-house, and its site was the Spring Valley Farm of the Revolution. It is thought to have been built by some member of the De Voor family, who, after 1677, had a grant of sixty acres of land along the river, and gave their name to a mill-stream long since forgotten, save for allusion in the pages of history.

A block away in Fifty-fourth Street, between First Avenue and the river, is another Dutch house, though doubtless of much later origin. It stands back from the street and has become part of a brewery, being literally surrounded by buildings.

[Sidenote: Central Park]

The first suggestion of a Central Park was made in the fall of 1850, when Andrew J. Downing, writing to the _Horticulturist_, advocated the establishment of a large park because of the lack of recreation-grounds in the city. On April 5, 1851, Mayor Ambrose C. Kingsland, in a special message to the Common Council, suggested the necessity for the new park, pointing out the limited extent and inadequacy of the existing ones. The Common Council, approving of the idea, asked the Legislature for authority to secure the necessary land. The ground suggested for the new park was the property known as "Jones' Woods," which lay between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-fifth Streets, Third Avenue and the East River. At an extra session of the Legislature in July, 1851, an Act known as the "Jones' Woods Park Bill" was passed, under which the city was given the right to acquire the land. The passage of this Act opened a discussion as to whether there was no other location better adapted for a public park than Jones' Woods. In August a committee was appointed by the Board of Aldermen to examine the proposed plot and others. This committee reported in favor of what they considered a more central site, namely, the ground lying between Fifty-ninth and One Hundred and Sixth Streets, Fifth and Eighth Avenues. On July 23, 1853, the Legislature passed an Act giving authority for the acquirement of the land, afterward occupied by Central Park, to Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court. The previous Jones' Woods Act was repealed. These Commissioners awarded for damages $5,169,369.69, and for benefits $1,657,590.00, which report was confirmed by the court in February, 1856.

In May, 1856, the Common Council appointed a commission which took charge of the work of construction. On this commission were William C. Bryant, Washington Irving and George Bancroft. In 1857, however, a new Board was appointed by the Legislature, because of the inactivity of the first one. Under the new Board, in April of the year in which they were appointed, the designs of Calvert Vaux and Frederick L. Olmsted were accepted and actual work was begun.

The plans for the improvement of the park, which have been consistently adhered to, were based upon the natural configuration of the land. As nearly as possible the hills, valleys and streams were preserved undisturbed. Trees, shrubs and vines were arranged with a view to an harmonious blending of size, shape and color--all that would attract the eye and make the park as beautiful in every detail as in its entirety.

The year 1857 was one of much distress to the poor, and work on the park being well under way, the Common Council created employment for many laborers by putting them to work grading the new park.

The original limits were extended from One Hundred and Sixth to One Hundred and Tenth Street in 1859.

As it exists to-day, Central Park contains eight hundred and sixty-two acres, of which one hundred and eighty-five and one-quarter are water. It is two and a half miles long and half a mile wide. Five hundred thousand trees have been set out since the acquisition of the land. There are nine miles of carriageway, five and a half miles of bridle-path, twenty-eight and one half miles of walk, thirty buildings, forty-eight bridges, tunnels and archways, and out-of-door seats for ten thousand persons. It is assessed at $87,000,000 and worth twice that amount. More than $14,000,000 have been spent on improvements.

INDEX

INDEX

Abingdon, Earl of, 109, 125 Abingdon Road, 123, 124 Abingdon Square, 109 Academy of Music, 178 All Saints' Church, 136 Allen Street Memorial Church, 142 American Museum, 37 André, Major, 205 Aquarium, Public, 5 Arsenal in Madison Square, 182 Art Street, 167 Astor House, 78 Astor, John Jacob, 163, 172 Astor Library, 170, 171 Astor Place, 172 Astor Place Opera House, 168, 169, 170 Astor, William B., 172

Bank Coffee House, 146 Bank Street, 113 Banker Street, 134 Bank for Savings, The, 38, 151 Barnum, P. T., 5, 30 Barnum's Museum, 30 Barrow Street, 108 Battery, 4 Battery Park, 4 Battery Place, 9 Bayard Family Vault, 144 Beaver Lane, 56 Beaver's Path, 8 Beaver Street, 8, 9, 10 Bedford Street M. E. Church, 106 Beekman House, 205 Belle Vue Farm, 189 Bellevue Hospital, 188, 189, 190 Bible House, 166, 191 Bleecker Street Bank, 151 Block, Adrian, 56, 57 Bloomingdale Road, 124, 128, 175, 180, 185, 199 Bond Street, 149 Bone Alley, 139, 140 Booth, Edwin, 194 Boston Post Road, 183, 192, 199 Boston Turnpike, 183 Boulevard, 181 Bouwerie Lane, 46 Bouwerie Village, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161 Bowery, The, 47 Bowery Lane, 166, 175 Bowery Road, 47, 128, 163, 164 Bowery Theatre, 49 Bowery Village Church, 162 Bowling Green, 3, 55 Bowling Green Garden, 84 Bradford, William, 14 Grave of, 63 Brannan's Garden, 101 Breese, Sydney, grave of, 62 Brevoort, Hendrick, 174 Brick Presbyterian Church, 31, 196 Bridewell, 35 Bridge Street, 9 Broad Street, 9, 10

Broadway, 12, 55, 175, 180, 181 Broadway Theatre, 97 Brougham's Lyceum, 97 Brouwer Street, 15 Bryant Park, 114, 197, 198, 199 Bull's Head Tavern, 49, 190 Bull's Head Village, 190, 191 Bunker Hill, 144 Burdell Murder, The, 149, 150 Burr, Aaron, home of, 18, 104 Office of, 40 Last Friend of, 67 Burton's Theatre, 39

Café des Mille Colonnes, 39, 86 Canal Street, 41, 42, 94, 95 Canda, Madam, 171 Castle Garden, 5, 178 Cedar Street, 21 Cemetery, New York City Marble, 154, 155 Cemetery, New York Marble, 151, 152, 153, 154 Central Park, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211 Chambers Street, 34 Chambers Street Bank, 37 Chanfrau, Frank, 170 Chapel Place, 83 Chatham, Earl of, 18, 47, 90 Chatham Square, 45, 46 Chatham Street, 47 Chelsea Cottages, 129 Chelsea Village, 126, 127, 128, 129 Cherry Hill, 51, 52 Cherry Street, 51 Church, All Saints', 136 " Allen Street Memorial, 142 " Bedford Street Memorial, 106 " Bowery Village, 162 " Brick Presbyterian, 31, 196 " Dr. Schroeder's, 167 " Duane M. E., 102 " First French Huguenot, 9 " First Moravian, 195 " First Presbyterian, 154 " First Reformed Presbyterian, 40, 118 " Friends' Meeting House, 178 " Grace, 58, 175 " John Street, 26, 161, 162 " Little, Around the Corner, 192, 193, 194, 195 " Madison Square Presbyterian, 186 " Mariners', 133, 134 " Dutch Middle Reformed, 21, 22, 171 " New Jerusalem, 89 " Oliver Street Baptist, 133 " St. Ann's, 167 " St. George's, 29, 179 " St. John's, 91 " St. Mark's, 86, 156, 157, 158, 159 " St. Mary's, 137 " St. Patrick's, 144, 145 " St. Patrick's Cathedral, 203 " St. Paul's, 75, 76, 77, 78 " St. Peter's, 81 " Sea and Land, of, 135 " Second Street Methodist, 156 " Spring Street Presbyterian, 102 " Transfiguration, of the (Episcopal), 192, 193, 194, 195 " Transfiguration, of the (Catholic), 44, 45 " Trinity, 20, 56, 58, 60, 61 Church Farm, 59 Churchyard, St. Paul's, 155 " Trinity, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72 Churcher, Richard, Grave of, 61 City Hall, 35 City Hall (first) Site of, 7, 8, 12 City Hall in Wall Street, 17 City Hall Park, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 City Hospital, 88, 89 City Hotel, 73, 74 City Library, 120 City Prison in City Hall Park, 35 Clarke, Capt. Thomas, 127 Cliff Street, 24 Clinton, Gen. Charles, 205 Clinton Hall, 28, 168, 169 Coenties Lane, 13 Coenties Slip, 12, 13 Collect, The, 41 College of the City of New York, 186, 187 College Place, 83 Collis, Christopher, Tomb of, 77 Colonnade Row, 172 Columbia College, 81, 82, 83, 202 Commons, The, 34 Company's Farm, 59 Cooke, George Frederick, Grave of, 77, 78 Cooper, James Fenimore, House of, 147 Cooper Mansion, 191 Cooper, Peter, 164, 165, 166 House of, 191, 192 Statue of, 165 Cooper Union, 161, 164, 165 Corcoran's Roost, 201 Cornbury, Lady, 66 Corlears Hook Park, 136 Country Market, 75 Coutant, John, House of, 161 Cox, Samuel S., Statue of, 168 Cresap, Michael, Grave of, 70 Croton Water Celebration, 177, 197 Cryptograph in Trinity Churchyard, 64, 65, 66 Crystal Palace, 198 Custom House, 16, 18 Cuyler's Alley, 15

Debtors' Prison, 34, 35 Delacroix, 163 De Lancey, Etienne, 10, 72, 73, 74 De Lancey, James, 72, 73, 143, 144 De Lancey, Susannah, 100 Delmonico's, 16, 25 De Voor House, 207 Dickens, Charles, 31 Drew, Daniel, 191 Duane M. E. Church, 102 Duke's Farm, 59 Dutch West India Company, 2

Eacker, George, Grave of, 78 East River Bridge (second), 137 Eleventh Street, 174 Elgin Garden, 201, 202, 203 Eliot Estate, 172 Emmet, Thomas Addis, 77, 155 Essex Market, 143 Exterior Market, 75

Fayette Street, 133 Federal Hall, 17, 18 Fields, The, 34 Fifth Avenue Hotel, 185 Fire of 1835, 14 First French Huguenot Church, 9 First Graveyard, 56 First House Built, 56 First Moravian Church, 195 First Presbyterian Church, 154 First Prison Labor, 110 First Reformed Presbyterian Church, 40, 118 First Savings Bank, 37 First Sunday School, 161 First Tenement House, 136 Fish, Hamilton, Park, 139 Fish Market, 75 Fitzroy Road, 126, 128 Five Points, 42, 43 Five Points House of Industry, 44 "Flat and Barrack Hill", 16 Fly Market, 23 Forrest, Edwin, 168, 169 Forrest-Macready Riots, 168, 169, 170 Fort Amsterdam, 1, 2 Fort Clinton, 4 Fort George, 2 Fort James, 2 Fort Manhattan, 2 Fountain in Union Square, 177 Franconi's Hippodrome, 185 Franklin House, 50 Franklin Square, 51 Fraunces' Tavern, 10, 11 Free Academy, 186, 187 Fresh Water Pond, 41 Friends' Meeting House, 178 Fulton Street, 20

Garden, Bowling Green, 84 " Brannan's, 101 " Castle, 5, 178 " Elgin, 201, 202, 203 " Niblo's, 146, 147 " Ranelagh, 94 " Vauxhall (first), 84, 163 " Vauxhall (last), 163, 164, 170 " Winter, 148 Garden Street, 16 Gardner, Noah, 110, 111 General Theological Seminary, 126, 127, 129 George III, Statue of, 3, 19 Gold Street, 23 Golden Hill, 23 Golden Hill, Battle of, 24 Golden Hill Inn, 24, 25 Government House, 1, 2 Governor's Room, City Hall, 36 Grace Church, 58, 175 Gramercy Park, 179 Graveyard, Jewish, 50, 116, 117, 122, 123 " Paupers', 34, 114, 115, 181, 197, 204 " St. John's, 105 " St. Paul's, 155 " Trinity, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68 " New York City Marble, 154, 155 " New York Marble, 151, 152, 153, 154 Great Bouwerie, 157 Great Kiln Road, 118, 121, 122, 125 Great Queen Street, 12 Greenwich Avenue, 116 " Lane, 116, 166 " Road, 80, 81 " Street, 80, 81 " Village, 98, 99, 100, 101 Grove Street, 108

Hale, Nathan, 38, 135, 204 Hall of Records, 34 Hamilton, Alexander, Grave of, 66 Hamilton, Alexander, Home of, 18 Hamilton, Philip, 67 Haunted House, 165, 166 Holland, Joseph, 193 Holt's Hotel, 21 Hone, Philip, 159 Horse and Cart Street, 26 Hosack Botanical Garden, 82 Hosack, David, 202 Hotel, Astor, 78 " City, 73, 74 " Fifth Avenue, 185 " Holt's, 21 " Metropolitan, 147 " Riley's Fifth Ward, 89, 90 " St. Nicholas, 145 " Tremont, 149 " United States, 20 Houghton, Rev. Dr. George H., 194 House of Aaron Burr, 18, 104 House, First, of White Men, 56 House of James Fenimore Cooper, 147 House of Peter Cooper, 191, 192 House of John Coutant, 161 House of the De Lanceys, 10, 72, 73, 74 House of Alexander Hamilton, 18 House of Thomas Paine, 107, 108 House of President Monroe, 145 House of Refuge, 182 House of Charlotte Temple, 48, 167 House of Francis Bayard Winthrop, 201 Houston Street, 150 Howe, Sir William, 205 Huguenot Memorials in Trinity Churchyard, 69, 71

Inclenberg, 199 Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, 202 Island of Manhattan, 138

"Jack-knife," The, 23 Jail in City Hall Park, 34 James Street, 133 Jans' Farm, 59, 60 Jeanette Park, 13 Jefferson, Joseph, 193 Jewish Graveyard in New Bowery, 50 Jewish Graveyard in Eleventh Street, 116, 117 Jewish Graveyard in Twenty-first Street, 117, 122, 123 John Street, 26 John Street Church, 26, 161, 162 John Street Theatre, 26 Jones' Woods,208 Jumel, Mme., 40

Keene, Laura, Theatre of, 147 King's College, 82 King's Farm, 59 Kip's Bay, 200 Kip, Jacob, 200 Kipsborough, 183, 200 Kissing Bridge, 47, 184

Lawrence, Capt., Grave of, 68 Lafarge House, 148 Lafayette, General, 172 Lafayette Place, 167, 170, 171, 172 La Grange Terrace, 172 Leeson, James, Grave of, 64 Leisler, Jacob, Where Hanged, 31, 32 Lich Gate of Little Church Around the Corner, 194 Light Guards, 7 Lind, Jenny, 5 Lispenard's Meadows, 80, 93, 94, 95 Little Church Around the Corner, 192, 193, 194, 195 Logan, the Friend of the White Man, 70 London Terrace, 129 Love Lane, 121, 124, 125, 126, 128

Macneven, William James, 77, 155 Macomb's Mansion, 57 Macready-Forrest Riots, 168, 169, 170 Macready, William Charles, 168, 169 Madison Square, 182, 183 Madison Square Presbyterian Church, 186 Madison Street, 134 Maiden Lane, 13, 22 Mandelbaum, "Mother", 141, 142 Manetta Brook, 99 Manetta Creek, 113, 114 Manhattan Island, 137, 138, 142 Manhattan Market, 139 Marble Houses on Broadway, 148, 149 Mariners' Church, 133, 134 Mariners' Temple, 133 Market, Country, 75 " Essex, 143 " Exterior, 75 " Fish, 75 " Fly, 23 " Manhattan, 139 " Meal, 20 " Uptown, 74 " Washington, 74 Marketfield Street, 8 Martyrs' Monument, 63, 64 Masonic Hall, 87, 88 Meal Market, 20 Medical College Hall, 195 Mercantile Library, 28, 29, 170 Merchants' Exchange, 16 Metropolitan Hall, 148 Metropolitan Hotel, 147 Middle Dutch Reformed Church, 21, 22, 171 Middle Road, 192 Mile Stone, 143, 178, 204 Military Prison Window, 41 Milligan's Lane, 117, 118 Minetta Street, 99, 113, 114 Monroe, President James, 145, 155 Montgomery, General, 76 Monument Lane, 115, 166 Moore, Bishop Benjamin, 127, 128 Moore, Clement C., 128, 129 Morris Street, 56 Morse, Samuel F. B., 5 Morton, General Jacob, 7, 37 Morton, John, 6 Mount Pitt, 137 Mount Pitt Circus, 137 Mulberry Bend, 43 Murder of Dr. Burdell, 149, 150 Murder of Mary Rogers, 145, 146 Murderers' Row, 97 Murray Family, 199, 200, 201 Murray Farm, 200 Murray Hill, 199, 200

Nassau Street, 17, 18, 21, 22 Nean, Elias, Grave of, 71 Nean, Susannah, Grave of, 71 Negro Insurrection, 42 New Jerusalem Church, 89 New York City Marble Cemetery, 154, 155 New York Hospital, 88, 89 New York Institute, 37 New York Marble Cemetery, 151, 152, 153, 154 New York Society Library, 119, 120 New York Theatre, 170 New York Theatre and Metropolitan Opera House, 148 Niblo's Garden, 146, 147 Niblo's Theatre, 146 Nicholas William Street, 161 North Street, 150, 151

Obelisk Lane, 115 "Old Brewery", 44 Oldest Grave in Trinity Churchyard, 61 Old Guard, 7 Oliver Street, 133 Oliver Street Baptist Church, 133 Orphan Asylum, Roman Catholic, 203 Olympic Theatre, 96, 147

Paine, Thomas, Home of, 107, 108 Paisley Place, 122 Palmo Opera House, 39, 87 Parade-Ground, 181 Park, Battery, 4 " Bryant, 114, 197, 198, 199 " Central, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211 " City Hall, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 " Corlears Hook, 136 " Gramercy, 179 " Hamilton Fish, 139 " Jeanette, 13 " St. John's, 91, 92

Park Row, 47 Park Theatre (first), 30 Patti, Adelina, 148 Payne, John Howard, 36 Pauper Graveyard, 34, 114, 115, 181, 197, 204 Pearl Street, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 Peck Slip, 12 Petticoat Lane, 8, 9 Pie Woman's Lane, 22 Pitt, William, Statue of, 18, 47, 90 Platt Street, 23 Poelnitz, "Baron", 173 Poor House in City Hall Park, 34 Post Office, 21, 33 Post Road, 47, 124, 125, 180, 181, 182, 204 Potter's Field, Bryant Park, 114, 197 Potter's Field, City Hall Park, 34 Potter's Field, Madison Square, 181 Potter's Field, Third Avenue, 204 Potter's Field, Washington Square, 114, 115 Printing-Press, First in Colony, 13 Prison Manufactures, 110 Prison Riots, 111 Prison, State, 109, 110, 111, 112

Queen's Farm, 59, 81

Rachel, the Actress, 148 "Rag Gang", 201 Randall, Robert Richard, 173, 174 Ranelagh Garden, 94 Red Fort, 92 Reservoir Square, 198 Revolutionary House, 79 Revolutionary War, First Blood of, 24 Richmond Hill, 103, 104, 105 Riley's Fifth Ward Hotel, 89, 90 Road, Abingdon, 123 " Boston Post, 183, 192, 199 " Bowery, 47, 128, 163, 164 " Fitzroy, 126, 128 " Great Kiln, 118, 121, 122 " Greenwich, 80, 81 " Middle, 192 " Post, 47, 124, 125, 180, 181, 182, 204 " Skinner, 117 " Southampton, 117, 120, 125 " Union, 117, 118, 119, 120 " Warren, 126 Rogers, Mary, Murder of, 145, 146 Rotunda in City Hall Park, 37 Ruggles, Samuel B., 180 Rutgers, Anthony, 92, 93, 94 Rutgers, Col. Henry, 135 Rutgers Farm, 135