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REF 974.7275 C
The Borough of the Bronii
1639-1913
Cook, Tecumseh 1873
Dynix 1019411
The Branch Libraries
iSoNX REFERENCE C3ENTER
2556 Bainbridge Avenue Bronx, N.Y. 10458
THIS BOOK IS FOR REFERENCE USE ONLY AND MAY NOT BE TAKEN FROM THE ROOM.
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THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
1639 - 1913
ITS MARVELOUS DEVELOPMENT AND HISTORICAL SURROUNDINGS
BY
HARRY T. COOK
ASSISTED BY NATHAN J. KAPLAN
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR
AT 1660 BOONE AVENUE. NEW YORK
1913
\
COPYRIGHT. 1913
BY
HARRY T. COOK
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
n4' '
C'
FOREWORD
The Purpose of this book is to tell the story of the wonderful rise and de- velopment of the Borough of The Bronx. It is a story of heroic endeavor, individual self-denial, slow progress and final triumph. The hardy pioneers who sacrificed their comforts and lives to wrest the wilderness from its savage lords, and who blazed the path for progress and civilization, builded better than they knew.
The teeming Borough today is a noble monument to the greatness of the men who brought it into being. As long as it endures their achievements will be told in song and story.
Here will be found a record of the extraordinary growth of this great Borough. It is not the purpose of this work, however, to give a detailed description of the early history of The Bronx, but rather a brief summary of the most memorable events in its historical, commercial and municipal development.
It has been the aim of this book to indicate the modern development and future prospects of the Borough as well as to create associations of Colonial and Revolutionary memories with which almost every inch of ground in the Borough is hallowed.
In compiling a work of this kind, the author has had much assistance in gathering material and making it accurate and authentic. He is especially indebted to Mr. Nathan J. Kaplan for assistance rendered, suggestions made and material furnished; also to Mr. James L. Wells, Mr. Louis F. HafFen, Mr. Walter G. Scott, Mr. Lindsay M'Kenna, and Mr. Randall Comfort, who furnished many of the photographs illustrating this book — all of whom have rendered valuable service and made possible the publishing of this book.
Where facts could not be obtained from local residents, the author con- sulted early histories and documents for his data.
Chief among the books consulted were Bolton's "History of Westchester County"; Scharf's "History of Westchester Comity"; Comfort's "History of the Borough of the Bronx"; Kelly's "Historic Guide to New York"; and Jenkins* "The Story of The Bronx." The last mentioned work has been re- cently issued and contains a mine of historic information relative to the Borough. Besides these, a host of minor books, encyclopedias, newspapers and magazines were drawn upon.
HARRY T. COOK.
; s
Like tall monument of granite Standeth Tackamuck, the mourner, Grieving for his vanished nation Long years thriving in their vigor 'Mong the Bronx hills, but now scattered As dead leaves by blasts of autumn.
In his vision sad the chieftain Sees of white man's arts the progress Through the long moons — arts transplanted From the distant lands of sunrise To grow fair in western tillage And displace the Indian customs.
Out of stone brought from the quarries The new builder rears his dwellings Towering like the pines of forest, Steadfast in the gales of winter, Better than the deerskin wigwam Gone from sight upon the morrow.
Through the waters once so tranquil — On their placid wave reflecting All the blueness of the heaven — Now the boats of the bold stranger, Every birch canoe surpassing, Swiftly dash, like the strong salmon.
O'er the plains the steam horse rushes, Faster than the flying pony Ridden once by fearless warrior; In the air above the tree tops Soar the winged ships like eagles, Mounting to the highest heaven.
All, 0 Tackamuck, has altered Since in Bronx woods roamed thy people; Yet their setting suns are followed By a better morning's sunrise For the Indian who surviveth And for him who is thy brother.
'Tis the w\\\ of the Great Spirit Ruling high above the storm clouds. Maker of this earth so beauteous, With its satisfying fountains Flowing full for all his children. Both the Red Man and the Pale Face.
— A. B. Sanford.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. EARLY HISTORY 1
Henry Hudson Skirts the Western Shore of The Bronx, 1609 — His Encounter with the Indians — Adrien Block Explores the Eastern Shore, 1614 — The Settlement and Development of The Bronx — An Intimate Recital of Jonas Bronck, the First White Settler to Locate There.
IL MORRISANIA 12
Colonial and Revolutionary Days — Story of the Public-Spirited and Patriotic Morris Family — Lewis Morris, Signer of the Dec- laration of Independence, Who Backed up His Signature by Joining the Army with His Three Sons — Gouverneur Morris, Statesman and Diplomat — Landmarks in Morrisania — Founda- tion of Village in 1848.
in. DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRONX 23
What Organized and Intelligent Effort has Accomplished — The Rush of Capital and Steady Flow of Population.
IV. A CITY WITHIN A CITY 30
How the Child Grew up a Giant — The Past Speaks in Thunder Tones of the Prosperity Advancing Years Bring to the Home, the Merchant and the Manufacturer — What Rapid Transit Stands for in the Growth of a Metropolis.
V. BIG INDUSTRIES 36
Where Men and Women Shop — The Facilities Offered by Trac- tion Companies — Proposed Improvements.
VL THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 45
The Water Front That Invites Big Ships from Over the Seven Seas — Early Highways.
Vn. THE PARKS 56
The Parks Show Nature in Her Happiest Mood — Broad Acres Yield to Sport and Sentiment — Scenes Hallowed by Sacrifices and Struggles of Our Ancestors — A Page of Old History — The Bronx Beautiful Society.
VIIL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 72
How the Future of the Child is Anticipated and the Schools Turn Out the Men and Women of Tomorrow — Churches — How the Spiritual and Moral Welfare is Looked After — Hospitals — Benevolent and Charitable Institutions — Cemeteries.
IX. OAK POINT : 83
The "Cradle of Cuban Liberty"— Wreck of the British Frigate Hussar.
X. HUNT'S POINT 89
Colonial and Revolutionary Days — The Story of Joseph Rod- man Drake — A Visit to "God's Little Acre."
XL THE ROMANCE OF BESSIE WARREN 102
The Daughter of Old Simon the Landlord of the "King's Arms" — Her Love for the Dashing Officer Who Was Brandf i a British Spy — The Maiden Who Did Not Forget But Answered the Sum-
CONTENTS
mons of a Beckoning Spirit and Was Taken Over the Great Beyond.
XII. The "NEUTRAL GROUND" 106
The Indian Cave — Lep:gett and His Stolen Mare — The West- chester Guides — Barretto's Point — Wooden Armchairs that Came over with the Pilgrim Fathers.
XIII. NATHAN HALE '. 112
"I regret That I Have But One Life to Lose for My Country"
— Capt. Hale, the Patriot, Scholar and Soldier, Whose Mission Brought Him Death But Spread His Name on the Living Pages of History.
XIV. CLASON'S POINT 119
The Coney Island of The Bronx — Cornell's Neck — Three Clergy- men Who Hid in a Farm House in the Days of the Revolution — The Distinction of the Ferris Mansion at Zerega's Point — The Fate of Anne Hutchinson.
XV. THROGG'S NECK 126
"The Lexington of Westchester" — How American Patriots Re- pulsed the Enemy at Throgg's Neck — Colonel John Glover, the Hero of Pell's Point, Who Saved Washington from Disastrous Defeat — "Spy Oak," from Whose branches a Red-Coat was Hanged.
XVL CITY ISLAND AND EASTCHESTER '133
The Blacksmith Who Refused to Shoe a Horse on Sunday — Scenes That Figure in the Fight for Independence— President John Adams in The Bronx.
XVIL WEST FARMS 141
The Homes of Notable Men: Foxhurst, Brightside, Sunnyside — The Quaint Presbyterian Church at the Graves Where Heroes Lie Buried — The Draft Riots During the Civil War — "Wish- ing Rock," Where the Algonquin Braves Wooed the Fair Stock- bridge Maids.
XVin. FORDHAM MANOR 150
Edgar Allan Poe and His Cottage at Fordham, Where He Won a Niche in the Hall of Fame That He had Not Dreamed of — Fred- erick Philipse Whose Ships Brought Fortunes to These Shores.
XIX. HISTORIC KINGSBRIDGE 158
Fort Independence and Other Old Fortifications — Story of Gen- eral Richard Montgomery the Hero of Quebec.
XX. THE VAN CORTLANDTS 167
The Old Public-Spirited Colonial Family Who Figured Promi- nently in American History — Cortlandt Manor Founded, 1697 — Pierre and Philip Van Cortlandt Who Scorned England's Promises and Favors and Espoused the American Cause.
XXL PELHAM AND WESTCHESTER 173
Thomas Pell the Founder of Pelham Manor — The Glittering Pageant of Lord Howe's Troops to Impress the Westchesterites With the Strength of the British Army— History of St. Peter's Church, Westchester.
XXIL THE OLD TIMERS' ASSOCIATION 183
Men Who Have Been Residents of The Bronx for Fifty Years or More — An Interesting Chapter By its Historian, Sidwell S. Randall.
INDEX , 189
ILLUSTRATIONS
Page-
Signing the Treaty with the Indians in 1642 at the Home of Jonas
Bronck Frontispiece
Pudding Rock a
Henry Hudson Monument 4
Lydig House, Bronx Park 7
Lewis Morris 12
Gouverneur Morris Mansion 16-
Wm. H. Morris Mansion 17
Outhouse, Morris Farm 18
Home Street, Looking East from Union Avenue in 1883 28
Old Vyse Mansion 31
Junction 149th Street and Third Avenue 37
McKinley Square 38
Boston Road, South from 166th Street in 1883 39
Forest Avenue, South from Home Street in 1883 40-
King's Bridge over Spuyten Uuyvil Creek in 1856 46
Farmer's Bridge (Dyckman's) over Spuyten Duyvil Creek in 1860 47
Free or Farmer's Bridge in 1910 48
Macomb's Dam Bridge over Harlem River in 1838 49
Macomb's Dam Bridge in 1861 50
Macomb's Mansion Kingsbridge 51
Willis Avenue Bridge 52
Pell Treaty Oak, Pelham Bay Park 58
Van Cortlandt Vault, Van Cortlandt Park 60
Van Cortlandt Mansion, Van Cortlandt Park 61
Van Cortlandt Mills 62
Tenth and Fifteenth Milestones 63
Hadley House 64
Indian Monument, Van Cortlandt Park 66
Elephant House, Bronx Park 67
"Gunda," the Famous Elephant of Bronx Park Zoo 68
Bird Court, Bronx Park 69
Lorillard Mansion, Bronx Park 70*
Bathgate Homestead 71
New York University 74
Morris High School 76
Casanova Mansion 84
Subterranean Passage and Cells 86-
Leggett's Lane 87
Hunt's Mansion 93
Relics Found in Hunt's Mansion 94
ILLUSTRATIONS
Hunt's Point Cemetery in 1900 98
Grave of Joseph Rodman Drake 99
Slave Burying Ground 101
Indian Cave 107
Mayflower Chairs 109
"Woodside" Mansion 110
The Locusts 113
Nathan Hale Monument in City Hall Park 116
Page from Memorandum Book 117
Watson Mansion 120
Ferris Mansion, Zerega's Point 121
Split Rock, Pelham Bay Park 123
Massacre of Anne Hutchinson's Colony 124
Spy Oak, Pelham Road 131
Paul Homestead 132
Old City Island Bridge 134
St. Paul's Church, Eastchester 13.7
Old Reid's Mill, Eastchester 139
Old Hunt Inn 142
We.st Farms Cemetery 144
Isaac Varian Homestead 146
Washington's Gun House 148
Edgar Allan Poe 150
Fordham Dutch Reformed Church 154
Gen. Richard Montgomery 158
Bronze Tablet, Fort Number One 159
Rev. Isaac Wilkins 173
Lord Hovi^e Chestnut 177
St. Peter's Church, Westchester 179
Group of "Old Timers" 184
CHAPTER I
EARLY HISTORY
Henry Hudson Skirts the Western Shore of The Bronx, 1609 — His Encounter with the Indians — Adrien Block Explores the Eastern Shore, 1614 — The Settlement and Development of The Bronx — An Intimate Recital of Jonas Bronck, the First White Settler to Locate There.
The Borough of The Bronx affords a history probably more remarkable and more unique than that of any of her sister boroughs. Its numerous historic points of interest, both civil and military, make it a center of attraction to travelers from all over the United States.
The important part The Bronx has played in the making of this country's history is, however, not its only claim to our interest. Of even greater significance is its wonderful and rapid progress. There is not another tract of land in the whole United States that can boast of so marvelous a growth in population and in development within the past, ten years. Indeed, so prodigious has been its increase and so progressive its develop- ment, that it has no parallel in the annals of municipal government. Prior to the white man's invasion, this region was inhabited by various tribes of Indians, the most noted of which were the Mohegans, Weckquaesgeeks, Siwanoy, Sint Sines (or Sint Sincks), Kitchenwonks (or Kitchawancs), Manhattans, Tankitekes and the Taekmucks. They were the same in their general habits and ways of life, but there was a marked distinction in their individual character.
No one knows where the North American Indian originally came from. There are many ingenious theories to explain his presence on this continent. The most plausible and the one most generally accepted is, that his ancestors found their way from Asia across Behring Strait, many centuries ago, and, migrating southward, gradually overspread North and South America. The latest scientific researches corroborate this theory.
1
:2 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Not content with this, scientists go still further back to what they term the Glacial Era, when a mass of ice covered this land and the only inhabitant of which was the "glacial man," a wild savage whose features and characteristics resembled those of the Esquimau.
Geologists who have made a careful study of the Glacial Period, or Ice Age, say that in ages past nearly all of North America north of the fortieth parallel was covered with moving ice sheets, or glaciers. We find evidences of this everywhere even in our own Borough, where rock surfaces have been ground and polished, and great boulders, which have been carried along hundreds of miles by the slowly moving glaciers, have found lodgment here and there. The ''Rocking Stone," just west of the Buffalo range in Bronx Park, which is an example, has been for years one of the curiosities of that region. Tradition has it that sachems and medicine-men of the various Indian tribes built their council-fires about this colossal cube of pinkish granite and held there many a weird seance.
A wager was once made between a neighboring farmer and the foreman of the Lydig estate, upon which the stone stood, that the combined efforts of twenty-four oxen could not dislodge it from its bed, notwithstanding the fact that a single person push- ing from the right direction, can easily sway it back and forth. The presence of the rock on the same site attests the futility of the effort.
Another gigantic boulder was "Pudding Rock," at Boston Road and Cauldwell Avenue, just below East One Hundred Sixty- sixth Street. This ancient landmark gained its name from its resemblance to a pudding in the bag. On one side of the boulder nature had chisled out a fireplace which the Indians used when they held their corn feasts. It was also under the cool shade of this mammoth rock that the tired Huguenots paused to rest when they made their weekly pilgrimage from New Rochelle to worship at the shrine of Old Trinity Church. This once cherished landmark is no more. In order to make room for a modern residence, it has been shattered into a thousand fragments by the advancing march of civilization.
Other noted boulders that have been generally accepted as relics of the Pleistocene period are "Black Rock," on Westchester Avenue, just above the old Watson estate and the Westchester
EARLY HISTORY 3
Golf Club, and "Split Rock," on Prospect Hill Road, in Pel- ham Bay Park. This great boulder is one of the interesting sights of the neighborhood, and stands a few feet south of Split Rock Road, not far from the city line. On a section of the same historic roadway from which "Split Rock" may be seen, are "Glover's Rock" and "Jack's Rock," the former emblazoned with
PUDDING ROCK
a bronze tablet in commemoration of the brave patriots under Colonel Glover, who, while checking the advance of Howe's army, enabled Washington to reach White Plains in safety. Many others of less fame are scattered thruout the Borough.
From an historical point of view. The Bronx had its be- ginning September 13, 1609, when Henry Hudson, the intrepid English navigator, flying the Orange, White and Blue of the United Provinces, sailed up the river which now bears his name;
THE HOROUGH OF THE BRONX
altho its actual history, dates with the arrival, thirty years later, of Jonas Bronck, its first white settler.
To Hudson, who was employed by the Dutch East India Com- pany, had been assigned the task of discovering a northwest pas- sage to the Pacific — that long-sought sea-way to the Indies, for which all the nations and the traders of Europe were then striv- ing. He failed in this undertaking, but he brought back news that was of far greater value to the Dutch nation than the route for which he had been in search.
The Dutch were at that time the foremost commercial people in the world, and it was not long after Hudson had made known his discovery that venturesome Hollanders began to make their
appearance on Manhattan trading with the Indians try. As he sailed up the the western shore of Man- narrow strip of land, thir- of the most diversified beauty. It is said that with the wild, picturesque eyes that he anchored the Duyvil to get a better and chanted land. Hardly had when the deep solitude of by the loud whoops of In- ridge opposite suddenly be- horde of savages. Closer fied village protected by a torians tell us, was the In- which was situated on Ber- shore of Supyten From the ex- Moon cre- evident dians were
know what
this strange ap- "e^ry hudson monument
anchor off their
some evil spirit the medicine-men of some hostile tribe sent to awe
them, or was she a stranger from some distant country? But
Island for the purpose of and of exploring the coun- magnificent river skirting hattan, Hudson found a teen and a half miles long, scenery and great natural Hudson was so impressed country spread before his Half Moon off Spuyten closer view of the en- the vessel come to a stop the wilderness was broken dians, and the wooded came alive with a wild inspection disclosed a forti- strong stockade. This, his- dian village of Nipinchsen, rian's Neck on the north Duyvil Creek, citement the Half ated, it was that the In- at a loss to to make of parition lying at village. Was she
i
EARLY HISTORY 5
whether she was friend or foe, their curiosity would not down, and presently they put out from the shore in several canoes and boldly headed for the Half Moon. Their dread of the supernatural powers the strange craft might possess apparently had forsaken them and they came aboard and inspected her with the greatest interest. As they started to return to their canoes, an attempt was made to detain two of their number. The Indians vigorously resented this breach of hospitality. Before the Half Moon got under way they leaped overboard and made their escape, and when they reached shore they shrieked disdain and scorn at Hudson.
It may have been a coincidence, but it is an established fact that the next stop Hudson made after leaving Spuyten Duyvil was Yonkers, then the Indian village of Nappeckamok, and the present northern boundary line of The Bronx. It will thus be seen that he practically outlined the Borough. Be that as it may, The Bronx citizens, at the suggestion of Wm. C. Muschenheim, have commemorated that event by erecting a beautiful monument on the brow of the hill which overlooks the scene of his first anchorage.
The monument, designed by Walter Cook, is in the shape of a Roman Doric column, 100 feet in height, and it stands on an elevation of 200 feet from the river. The shaft is to be sur- mounted by a sixteen-foot statue of Henry Hudson, sculptured by Karl Bitter. There is to be a balcony at the top of the column, to be reached by means of a spiral stairway within the shaft, from which a magnificent panoramic view of The Bronx can be had.
Another tribute paid to the memory of this great admiral is the Hudson Memorial Bridge now in process of construction. This magnificent structure is to span Spuyten Duyvil Creek at its con- fluence with the Hudson River and is to connect the Boulevard Lafayette with the beautiful Spuyten Duyril Parkway. The bridge was to have been constructed by 1909, the three hundredth anni- versary of Hudson's explorations, but the plans did not meet with the approval of the Municipal Art Commission.
Hudson ascended the river to Albany, holding communication with the Indians along the way, and so kind and friendly was their disposition toward him that he wrote of them as the "loving peo- ple." On September 23d, he began his return voyage, sailing thru the Highlands, and on October 1st he anchored the Half
\
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Moou below the village of Sacklioes on the site of which \Peekskill has been built. Here many of the Indians came aboard and mar- veled at the size of the huge ship. Among the visitors was a chief who persuaded Hudson to accompany him to his village.
"I sailed to the shore in one of their canoes," Hudson after- wards wrote in describing his reception, "with an old man who was the chief of their tribe, which consisted of forty men and seventeen women. There I saw them in a house well constructed of oak bark, cylindrical in shape, with an arched roof, and it had the appearance of being well built. It contained a great quantity of maize and beans of last year's growth, while near the house there lay, for the purpose of drying, enough to load three ships, besides what was growing in the fields. On our coming into the house, two mats were spread out for us to sit upon, and imme- diately some food was served in well carved red wooden bowls; two men were also at once dispatched with bows and arrows in quest of game, and they soon returned with a pair of pigeons which they had killed. They likewise killed a fat dog which they hastily skinned with shells they had got out of the water." Hudson failed to state how he relished the dog.
When Hudson, on October 2d, passed the scene of his first anchorage, he was amazed to see a large fleet of canoes, swarmed with red-skinned warriors, put out from Shorackkappock, now named Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and boldly advancing toward the Half Moon evidently intent upon avenging the attempted kid- napping of their tribesmen and the breaking of faith with them. When they came within bow shot they showered a volley of arrows. This was the signal for hostilities to begin. The leader of the Half Moon quickly gave the order to fire. Bullets belched forth from the vessel's side, killing a number of warriors and wounding many ^lore. The Indians, astounded at the havoc wrought by the white man's weapons, became demoralized, and leaping into the water, swam frantically for shore. Clear of all danger, the Half Moon now re-entered New York Bay.
But the Indians would not be so easily subdued. With re- newed courage, and reinforced by several hundred, they gathered at what is now known as Fort Washington Point and again at- tacked the vessel as she was floating down the stream. A few musket shots soon put them to flight with the loss of nine of their warriors.
EARLY HISTORY
•1
There has been much discussion as to the origin of the name of Spuyten Duyvil. It is one of those historical mysteries for whose solution so many delightful theories have been advanced and there is no likelihood of its ever being satisfactorily explained.
We learn from various deeds and documents of the Seven- teenth Century that the Indian name for Spuyten Duyvil Creek was Papm-inemo. The earliest reference to Spuyten Duyvil under that name is found in a remonstrance by Adrien Van Der Donck, grantee of Yonkers, which was presented to the directors of the West India Company, on May 26, 1653. In this remon-
From An old Paint nig
Lydig House, Bronx Park
strance he recites that his grant included, besides the Yonkers valley, a convenient valley nearby bordering on the hill behind the Island of Manhattan at Paparinemo, called by the people "Speijt den Duyvel." Riker quotes an old record, dated 1672, which refers to "Spuyten Duyvil, alias the Fresh Spring." "Spit- ting Devil," "Spouting Devil," "Spiking Devil," "Spikendevil," are a few of the ways in which the name occurs on ancient maps and in old documents.
Many will no doubt recall Washington Irving's legend on the origin of Spuyten Duyvil — how trumpter Anthony Van Corlaer arrived at the creek one stormy day to summon the Dutch farmers
8 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
of the mainland to the defence of New Amsterdam, and found no ferryman daring enough to venture across. "The wind was blowing a perfect hurricane, which sent the waters swirling like a mael- strom. For a short time Anthony vapored like an impatient ghost upon the brink, and then bethinking himself of the urgency of his errand, took a hearty embrace of his stone bottle, swore most valorously that he would swim across 'in spite of the devil' {en spijt den Duyvel), and daringly plunged into the stream. Luck- less Anthony! Scarce had he been buifeted half way across the stream, when he was observed to struggle violently as if battling with the spirit of the waters — instinctively he put his trumpet to his mouth, and giving a vehement blast, sank forever to the bottom."
Altho this is entirely a work of the imagination, and has no basis in fact, it seems as good a solution of the mystery as any other offered.
Four years after the English navigator sailed up the Hudson, one Adrien Block, while cruising up the Long Island Sound in the first ship ever built by white men on Manhattan Island, landed somewhere along the eastern shore of The Bronx; but nothing ever developed from his visit.
Shortly after Hudson returned to Holland with the Half Moon, a company of merchants in Amsterdam sent out five vessels loaded with goods to be traded with the Indians in America for furs. Among the skippers of this fleet was Adrien Block, commanding a ship called the Tiger. The other ships having gone to various parts of the new continent. Block, who had visited Manhattan Island in 1610 or 1611, decided that the lower end of the island was a good place to land and trade.
Some time during the latter part of 1613 the Tiger caught fire, and was completely destroyed. In order to continue their trading and exploration of the surrounding country, the Captain and crew immediately started to build a new vessel. It may have been that the necessary rigging and iron work for this new vessel had been saved from the Tiger, for the work progressed so rapidly that she was finished and launched early in the following spring. The ship was called the Onrust ("Restless"), and was built on the site of what is now Fraunce's Tavern. Not only was this the first sailing vessel built on Manhattan Island, but it was the third one constructed by white men on the American continent.
EARLY HISTORY 9
The first had been built a little more than one hundred years be- fore by Spaniards in California, and the second, in 1608, by a party of Englishmen on the Kennebec River.
The honor of being the first white settler to locate in The Bronx belongs to Jonas Bronck, who came from Hoorn, Holland, in July, 1639, with his friend Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, a Danish capitalist.
The arrival of their ship, De Brant von T^'ogen ("The Fire of Troy"), which they had chartered together at Amsterdam was hailed by the colony as a great public good, and coming well rec- ommended from the Fatherland, they experienced little difficulty in obtaining land upon which to settle.
Kuyter settled on the Manhattan side of the Harlem River upon a tract of nearly four hundred acres of fine farming land of which he had obtained a grant from the East India Company. The farm stretched along the Harlem River and ran south to West One Hundred Twenty-seventh Street.
Bronck, however, crossed the Harlem River and settled in what is known today as "Old Morrisania." Here he erected a stone dwelling, a barn, several tobacco houses and two barracks for his servants and farm hands, whom he had brought over with his own family. Among these were Pieter Andriessen and Laurens Duyts, fellow passengers to whom Bronck had advanced one hun- dred and twenty-one florins to pay their board upon the ship and who had been hired by Bronck to help clear the five hundred-acre tract which he had purchased from the Indian sachems Ranachqua and Tackamuck. This tract, according to old records, lay between the Great Kill (Harlem River) and the Aquahung (Bronx River). In return for their labor Andriessen and Duyts were to have the privilege of planting tobacco and maize upon Bronck's land, but only on condition that they would break up a certain quantity of new land every two years for the planting of grain, and then the spot which they had cultivated was to be returned to Bronck. In this way the land was cultivated free of cost to the owner.
Bronck called his home Emmaus. It was situated near the present Harlem River station of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad at One Hundred and Thirty-second Street. An adjacent river (the Aquahung) became known as Bronck's (later shortened to Bronx) River, and in recent times the name was ap- plied to the whole Borough.
10 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
That Bronck was well pleased with the purchase of his prop- erty is shown by a letter he penned to Pieter Van Alst, a relative in the Old World, in which he speaks about his land in the most glowing terms. "The invisible hand of the Almighty Father," he writes, "surely guided me to this beautiful country, a land covered with virgin forest and unlimited opportunities. It is a veritable paradise and needs but the industrious hand of man to make it the finest and most beautiful region in all the world." Could Bronck rise out of his grave today he would see how well his prophecy has been fulfilled.
Bronck was evidently a man of culture and refinement. His scholarly ability was displayed in the treaty of peace which he drafted and which was signed in his house on March 28, 1642, by the Dutch and by the Weckquaesgeek chiefs. This compact was faithfully adhered to until his death in 1643. Bronck left a widow and one son, Pieter Jonassen Bronck. The widow, Antonia Slag- boom, married Arendt Van Corlear, Sheriff of Rensellaerswyck, who sold Bronck's estate to Jacob Jans Stoll, and removed with him to Albany, on the "Flatts." After Van Corlear's death his widow lived in Schenectady.
Frank C. Bronck, of Amsterdam, N. Y., has in his possession a copy of the inventory of Bronck's personal effects taken in May, 1643, and several other papers. R. Bronck Fish, an attorney in Fultonville, N. Y., owns a silver cup which belonged to Jonas Bronck.
There has been much discussion as to the genealogical origin of Jonas Bronck. Many historians adhere to the belief that he was Dutch, of Swedish extraction, probably from the fact that he came to this country under the protection of the Dutch flag.
The "Magazine of American History," January, 1908, tells us that Jonas Bronck "was one of those worthy but unfortunate Men- nonites who were driven from their homes in Holland to Denmark by religious persecution. He . . . gained rapid promotion in the army of the King of Denmark, who was very tolerant towards the sect known as Mennonites. He served as commander in the East Indies until 1638, when, with others of the persecuted he set sail for America, and his name first appears on the records the fol- lowing year, when he received a large grant of land in Westchester County from the Sachems of Ranachqua."
In the "Bronx Borough Record," December 20, 1902, Wm. R.
EARLY HISTORY 11
Bronk, of the seventh generation of that family, writes: "Of his [Jonas Bronck's] history prior to 1638 little is definitely known. It has been asserted that he was of Swedish or Danish ancestry, but there is little or no direct proof of this. . . . The name Bronck is a well-known Dutch name, and the probabilities all point in the direction of Bronck's having been of Holland descent."
Riker in his History of Haarlem says that "Bronck was of a family long distinguished in Sweden though he himself was probably from Copenhagen where some of his family lived." The writter is of the opinion that Bronck comes of Danish stock, because of his intimate association with Kuyter and other Danes, and the fact that the majority of the books in his library were Danish.
The Rev. R. Anderson, pastor of the Danish Church of Our Saviour, in Brooklyn, who has devoted much time to tracing the genealogical tree of Jonas Bronck, is of the opinion that he was a Dane and gives some plausible reasons for forming this belief. "After the Reformation," says Mr. Anderson, "we find in Denmark several priests of the name of Bronck. The name is written Bronck, Brynck, Brunck, and sometimes Bronckel; but Brunck is most common in Danish."
CHAPTER II
MORRISANIA
Lewis Morris
Colonial and Revolutionary Days — Story of the Public-Spirited and Patriotic Morris Family — Lewis Morris, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Who Backed up His Signature by Joining the Army with His Three Sons — Gouverneur Morris, Statesman and Diplomat — Land Marks in Morrisania — Foundation of Village in 1848.
FOR a quarter of a century the tract of land upon which Jonas Bronck had settled was owned at different times by several of the Dutch pioneers and traders. In 1668 it came into the possession of Samuel Edsall, a beaver maker of New Amster- dam. IJe held it for two years, then sold it on August 10, 1670, to Colonel Lewis Morris and Captain Richard Morris, both officers in Crom- well's army, who found refuge in Barbados upon the restoration of Charles II. The Morrises were of Welch descent, and their patronym was derived from Maur Rys, or Rys the Great, which title was conferred upon Rys, the companion of Strongbow, for valiant service rendered in the latter's expedition against Ireland.
Lewis went to the West Indies, where he purchased a large estate and became prominent in the political affairs of Barbados. He was later joined by his younger brother, Richard, who married there a wealthy lady named Sarah Pole, from whom he received large sugar plantations.
Both brothers agreed to invest in land in New York, and in 1668 Richard and his wife removed to the Dutch Colony, where the Captain purchased Broncksland from Samuel Edsall.
Captain Richard Morris and his wife both died in 1672, leaving behind them an infant ' son named Lewis. His uncle. Colonel Lewis Morris, then came from Barbados to New York in 1673, and held the estate in trust for the child. He re- sided in Morrisania, but he purchased some thirty-five hundred acres of land in Monmouth County, New Jersey, upon which he
12
MORRISANIA 13
located iron mills. When the Dutch in 1673 were again masters of New York, Colonel Lewis Morris was forced to surrender his share of the Morrisania property to the victorious Hollanders on the ground that he was an inhabitant of Barbados; but, upon the recapture of New Amsterdam by the English in 1765, it was restored to its rightful owner.
In 1676, Governor Andros granted to Colonel Morris a royal patent to Broncksland and adjacent meadows to the extent of about 1,920 acres, in consideration of which the Colonel was required to pay to James the Duke of York an annuity of five bushels of wheat. A deed confirming the grant was subsequently presented to Colonel Lewis Morris by Shahash and five other Indian sachems.
Upon the death of Colonel Morris in 1691, the property was inherited by Lewis Morris, his nephew, who by a royal patent issued on May 8, 1697, by Governor Fletcher in the name of Wil- liam III, became the first lord of the manor of Morrisania.
Colonel Lewis Morris was a Quaker and he could not tolerate what he termed his nephew's "many and great miscarryages" toward him and his wife. He accused his nephew of "adhering and advising with those of bad life and conversation." He con- sequently made his "dearly beloved wife, Mary Morris," sole ex- ecutrix of his last will and testament. But as the Colonel left no issue, and as his wife died before him, the estate devolved upon the disinherited nephew, Lewis Morris, Senior.
Like most youngsters, past and present, who in their early youth give promise of becoming the most wicked of men, but dur- ing their maturity turn out to be virtuous and upright, Lewis Morris became a model man. He achieved the distinction of being the first governor of New Jersey and the first native-born Chief Justice of New York.
Chief Justice Morris upheld the rights of the people and became the foe of tyrannical royal officials. In 1733 he rendered a decision adverse to the interests of Governor Cosby. The Governor accused the Chief Justice of having treated him "with slight, rudeness, and impertinence."
Whereupon Morris replied :
"If judges are to be intimidated so as not to dare to give any opinion but what is pleasing to a governor, and agreeable to his private view^s, the people of this province — who are very much concerned both with respect to
14 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
their lives and fortunes in the freedom and independency of those who are to judge them — may possibly not think themselves so secure in either of them as the laws and his Majesty intend they should be. . . , As to my in- tegrity, I have given you no occasion to call it in question. I have been in this office about twenty years. My hands were never soiled by a bribe; nor am I con- scious to myself, that power or poverty hath been able to induce me to be par- tial in the favor of either of them; and as I have no reason to expect any favor of you, so I am neither afraid nor ashamed to stand the test of the strictest inquiry you can make concerning my conduct. I have served the public faithfully, according to the best of my knowledge; and I dare, and do, appeal to it for my justification."
For this act of "impertinence," however, he was dismissed from the bench by Governor Cosby, and was replaced by the aris- tocratic royalist, James De Lancey. Morris then ran for repre- sentative in the Assembly in opposition to William Forster, who was supported by the Governor. Despite Cosby's unfair tactics of depriving the Quakers of their vote, Morris was elected by a majority of eighty, thus indicating that the people were on his side.
When Lewis Morris, Second, called Senior, died in 1746 at the age of seventy-three, the estate was divided into two portions, the Mill Brook having served as the dividing line. The section east of the Mill Brook was given over to his son, Lewis, Third, called Junior; while the remainder of the manor was bequeathed to his wife, Isabella Graham. Upon the death of the latter, Lewis Morris, Junior, who served as a judge in several courts, and as representative of Westchester County in the New York Legisla- ture, came into possession of the entire estate.
Judge Lewis Morris had three sons by his first wife, Elizabeth Staats: namely, Lewis, called the Signer; Staats Long, a general in the British army, and the Honorable Richard Morris ; and by his second wife, Sarah Gouverneur, he had one son, the Honorable Gouverneur Morris, and four daughters.
Upon the death of Judge Lewis Morris, Junior, in 1762, the estate was again divided into two portions. The section west of the Mill Brook was bequeathed to Lewis Morris, who was later a signer of that great human document — the Declaration of In- dependence,— and the easterly portion descended to Staats Long Morris, afterwards a Lieutenant General in the British army and a Governor of Quebec. Upon the removal of Staats Long Morris to Canada, his portion of the patrimony was purchased in 1786 by the Honorable Gouverneur Morris,- the distinguished
MORRISANIA IS
patriot and statesman, the half-brother of Staats Long and Lewis Morris.
General Lewis Morris, the last manor-lord of Morrisania, was born at Old Morrisania in 1726. He was graduated from Yale College in 1746. During the period prior to the Revolution much of his time was passed in the pursuit of agriculture on his estate at Morrisania, where he surrounded himself with the ele- gance and luxury of the period. At the beginning of the Revolu- tion he espoused the Whig cause and early in the war was made a Brigadier-General in the Continental army. In 1775 he was elected a member of the Continental Congress from New York, and was sent to Pittsburgh to secure the allegiance of the Indians to the cause of the colonists. He was in attendance at the meeting of the Colonial Congress of the Province of New York at White Plains, July 9, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was ratified by that body. Thruout Washington's Westchester County campaign, and at the battle of White Plains (October 28, 1776) he was in active service. He also took an important part in the succeeding winter campaign in New Jersey, being present at the battles of Trenton and Princeton. His three eldest sons were enlisted in the American army at the same time.
General Morris died in 1798. The manor-house of Lewis Morris, known as "Christ's Hotel," stood west of Brook Avenue near the Mill Brook, until it was torn down two decades ago by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, which had acquired the property.
Gouverneur Morris, the most illustrious of the Morris family, was born at Morrisania, January 31, 1752. In accordance with the wish of Lewis Morris, Junior, as expressed in his will, dated No- vember 19, 1760, namely, that "his son Gouverneur Morris may have the best education that is to be had in England or America," Gouverneur was sent to King's College (now Columbia) from which he was graduated in 1768, at the age of sixteen. His ora- tion on Commencement Day won great applause and a silver medal.
In 1775 he was a delegate to the Provincial Congress of New York, and on July 8th of that year a member of the Committee of Public Safety of Westchester County. He was one of the com- mittee appointed to draft the Constitution of the State of New York, which was adopted in 1777.
16
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
He was but twenty-seven years of age when he was appointed by Congress as one of a committee of five to assist General Wash- ington in the reorganization of the army. The committee spent three months with the Commander-in-Chief at Valley Forge, and as a result many reforms were instituted. It was shortly after this, in May, 1780, that he was thrown from his carriage, and his left leg so badly maimed that it had to be amputated. He was
GOUVERNEUR MORRIS MANSION
a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which framed the Constitution of the United States, and to him was assigned the literary revision of that masterful instrument. During the French hostilities he was American Minister to France, and he remained in Paris during the whole period of the Reign of Terror.
In 1799 he was chosen Senator from New York and served until 1803. He was closely associated with Governor George Clinton in the building of the Erie Canal, and was an intimate
MORRISANIA
17
friend of General Alexander Hamilton. Gouverneur Morris was with the great statesman during his last moments, and he delivered his funeral oration. In 1809, at the age of fifty-seven, he married Anne Gary Randolph, a sister of John Randolph of Roanoke, and a lineal descendant of Pocahontas. The Gouverneur Morris man- sion, built from the design of a French chateau, stood nearly opposite Hell Gate, and east of what is now St. Ann's Avenue. It was here that he entertained Washington and numerous French
Wm. H. Morris Mansion
notables, including Louis Philippe, afterward King of the French. Here, too, Lafayette was entertained in 1824 by his son, Gouvern- eur Morris, Junior. Until this historic manor-house was razed a few years ago to make room for the terminal of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, its wide stairway bore marks that were said to have been made by Gouverneur Morris's wooden leg as he hobbled to bed.
Below One Hundred and Sixty-seventh Street, west of Third Avenue, stands the old stone Gate House. This is the oldest
18
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
building in Morrisania and the only one that antidates the forma- tion of the village of Morrisania in 1848.
The Wm. H. Morris mansion at One Hundred and Sixty-fifth Street, Findlay and Teller Avenues, was built in 1816, and was recently purchased by the Daughters of Jacob; it is to be re- modeled for a synagog.
Just west of the old mansion stands a quaint stone structure
Outhouse, Morris Farm
dating from 1792. It was probably an outhouse of the old farm. Upon the death of Gouverneur Morris in 1816, and of his wife in 1837, the property east of Mill Brook passed into the hands of their son, Gouverneur Morris, Esq., the pioneer railroad builder. In memory of his mother, Anne Gary Randolph, he erected in the year 1841, at St. Ann's Avenue and East One Hundred and Fortieth Street, a church known since as St. Ann's Episcopal Ghurch. In the vaults beneath the old church and adjacent thereto, lie interred the remains of the members of this illustrious family whose mag-
MORRISANIA 19
nanimous patriotic services for our country have caused their names to be placed high on the American Roll of Honor.
On a tablet in the recess chancel is inscribed the following:
"The Relics of the Honorable Gouverneur Morris, A name illustrious in his country's annals, were laid by his faithful widow."
A tablet on the right side of the chancel bears the following inscription :
Gouverneur Morris,
born February 9, 1813,
died August 20, 1888,
Founder of this Parish, To which he gave church and lands for the glory of God and in memory of his mother.
Morrisania was the scene of many a skirmish during the Revolutionary War. General William Heath, who was in command •of a picket stationed in that section, relates in his Memoirs an interesting incident that occurred there. A chain of sentinels had been planted near Bronx Kills, the water passage between Morrisania and Montresor's (now Randall's) Island. The sen- tinels on the American side had been ordered not to fire at the sen- tinels on the British side unless the latter began ; but the latter were so fond of beginning that shots were frequently exchanged. During an interchange of shots a British officer was wounded. An officer with a flag soon came down the creek and informed the Americans that if their sentinels fired any more the commanding officer of the island would cannonade Colonel Morris's house, in which the officers of the picket were quartered. General Heath sent back the reply that "the American sentinels were instructed not to fire unless they were fired on ; that such was their conduct, and as to cannonading Colonel Morris's house, they could act their pleasure."
For a time all firing ceased until a raw Scotch sentinel was planted who soon discharged his musket at an American sentinel. The shots were instantly returned; whereupon a British officer called to the American officers observing that he thought there was to be no more firing between the sentinels. When informed that the offender was on his side, he immediately apologized and relieved the Scotchman. Thereafter both sides were so civil that when a British sentinel sent over to the Americans for a chew of
20 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
tobacco, he got a thick quid, and, after taking his bite, he sent the remainder back.
The little semi-circular redoubt still stands in the southeast corner of Woodlawn Cemetery, and is pointed out as having been erected under the personal direction of General Heath. Its guns once commanded the crossing over the Bronx River at Williams's Bridge where the original Boston Post Road, laid out in 1672, wound up from King's Bridge and extended on thru Eastchester and New Rochelle, and so on to Boston.
Major Henly, a promising young officer of General Heath's staff, lost his life in an attack on the British garrison on Mont- resor's Island, September 24, 1776. Colonel Jackson, the com- mander of the party, led the way in his boat, under cover of dark- ness, not heeding the firing of the pickets. The officers and their men jumped ashore and rushed upon the camp; but, overpowered by superior numbers, they were obliged to retreat to their boats. The Americans lost twenty-tw^o men, including Major Henly. The attack failed because the officers of the remaining boats did not follow the boat of their commander. For this cowardice, they were afterwards court-martialled and cashiered.
Pending its decision during the session of 1790 as to the loca- tion of a permanent seat of government, Congress received a petition headed by the signature of Gouverneur Morris, which strongly urged the selection of Morrisania as the national capital. Many excellent reasons were submitted for the adoption of this^ site — the well-drained condition of the land, and consequent free- dom from swamps; and the proximity to so great an industrial and political center as New York. But the proposal at once aroused all the political prejudices and petty jealousies of various sections of the country. In order to quiet this feeling and restore har- mony thruout the land, Philadelphia was picked as a compro- mise, since it was thought that the selection of this site would cause least friction.
Various efforts were made to induce people to settle in The Bronx. In 1841, Jordan L. Mott, a pioneer from Manhattan, bought a small tract of land, bounded by Third Avenue, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Street and the Harlem River. Here he erected a foundry and built an attractive residence. He then extended his possessions and encouraged others to settle there. He called the section owned by him Mott Haven, and the canal
/
MORRISANIA 21
extending from the Harlem River to One Hundred and Thirty- eighth Street, commenced by him in 1850, the Mott Haven Canal.
It was not until 1848, however, that any concerted effort was made to colonize The Bronx. A number of citizens, chiefly me- chanics and laborers, had met at various times to discuss the advisability of building homes of their own on land within com- muting distance of the city and possessing at the same time the advantages offered by the country. It was also figured that the children would derive incalculable benefit from the pure air and the quiet healthful environment so woefully lacking in the city.
Tho the project met with ridicule from the skeptical and timid, the enthusiasm of the leaders of the movement did not wane. Following the third meeting, a committee of three, consist- ing of Jordan L. Mott, Charles W. Haughton, and Nicholas Mc- Graw, was selected to act merely as purchasing agents of the would-be settlers.
After a long search, it was found that the Gouverneur Morris property, embracing two hundred acres of well-drained land, was the most suitable for their purpose. The purchase price was $37,622 — or about $173 an acre. When the avenues and streets were laid out, there were 167 acres for development.
Within two years the land was clear of debt and its name was changed from New Village to Morrisania, in honor of its former landlord. The total population of this village in 1850 was 961 persons in 149 dwellings. Between 1856 and 1868 no less than eighteen distinct communities, including Mott H& en. Port Morris, East and West Morrisania, Eltona, Woodstock, Bensonia, High- bridgeville, Claremont, Belmont, Grovehill, and Melrose grew up around Morrisania, and were incorporated with it into one village.
One of the curiosities of Morrisania was the "Huckleberry Road" with its bob-tail cars. Old residents never tire of relating some of the peculiar experiences they went thru when this ancient horse-car line was in operation. It is said that whenever the driver hit up the horses to urge them on to greater speed, the car would jump the track; whereupon the conductor would request the gentlemen to alight and help lift the car back upon the tracks. The stoppages were so frequent that the passengers found ample time to pick huckleberries along the road.
22 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Prior to the advent of horse cars, a stage coach would carry passengers to the Harlem Bridge, where they could continue down- town by means of either the Third Avenue horse cars or the steamboat.
Today the brilliantly lighted cars of the Union Railroad Com- pany, whose splendid trolley system may well stand as a model for other and less enterprising communities, has been one of the chief factors in the upbuilding of The Bronx.
CHAPTER III
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRONX
What Organized and Intelligent Effort has Accomplished — The Rush of Capital and Steady Flow of Population.
jRIOR to its annexation to New York City in 1874, the
section which then comprised The Bronx lying west
of the Bronx River, covered an area of but 12,317 acres
and consisted of fifty-two sparsely settled villages and
hamlets with an approximate population of 33,000. In
1895, the territory east of the Bronx River, comprising 14,500 acres
was annexed to the Borough, making a total of 26,817 acres in all,
or 42 square miles of territory.
Since the Borough's annexation to New York City in 1874, when it became familiarly known as the "North Side," its growth has been marvelous. From a population of 33,000 it grew to 430,- 980 in 1910, as shown by the latest census. This is an increase of more than 1,300 per cent in thirty-six years — a record probably never equalled in the history of the world.
Since the Federal census was taken in 1910 the Health De- partment estimated that the population of The Bronx by the middle of this year (1913) would be 583,981. If the same increase con- tinues for the next seven years — and it is safe to say it will — The Bronx should have by 1920 a population of at least a million.
The following table, based on the Federal census of 1910, has been compiled by a well-known statistician. It shows the estimated population of The Bronx up to and including the year 1920.
Year Bronx
1910 430,980
1911 483,000
1912 531,000
1913 590,000
1914 640,000
1915 690,000
1916 740,000
1917 790,000
23
24 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
1918 840,000
1919 890,000
1920 950,000
In compiling these figures, a thoro study of the conditions likely to be affected by the new rapid transit routes was carefully considered. While it is generally conceded that railroads, more than any other combination of forces, are responsible for the civil- ization and growth of a country, experience has proved that its success is not always assured unless it has the encouragement and aid of an efficient and wide-awake administration. And in this respect The Bronx has been most fortunate; for there can be no question that the rapid development and present prosperity of the Borough is the direct consequence of former Borough President Haffen's able and efficient administration and wisely directed efforts, as well as of the present Borough President, Cyrus C. Miller's intelligent management of local affairs.
The North Side Board of Trade and the Taxpayers' Alliance of the Borough of The Bronx, the latter having thirty-seven local associations affiliated with it, have both taken a lively interest in the welfare of the Borough, and thru their united efforts many public improvements have been pushed to a successful issue.
The North Side Board of Trade was organized March 6, 1894. At the time of its formation the population of The Bronx was about 90,000, but its influence was soon manifested and it has since been an important factor in the commercial development of The Bronx. With the consolidation in the Greater City, its growth has been steady and continuous, and today, it is one of the most influential bodies in the upper section of Greater New York. Its membership numbers more than five hundred men who represent the very heart of the business life of the great North Side. The Board has helped to obtain many public improvements for the people of this Borough; nothing escapes their vigilance where the public welfare is concerned. On October 28, 1911, the corner- stone of the new North Side Board of Trade building, situated at Third and Lincoln Avenues and East One Hundred and Thirty- seventh Street, was laid by the late Mayor Gaynor. This is the most magnificent building in the Borough. The officers are:
William W. Niles, President.
Charles W. Bogart, Treasurer.
Charles E. Reid, Secretary.
DEVELOPiMENT OF THE BRONX 25
Vice Presidents: Ernest Hall, Joseph A. Goulden, Adolph G. Hupfel, John J. Amory, Charles W. Bogart, John Claflin, Henry Lewis Morris, Louis F. Haffen, Charles A. Berrian, J. Homer Hildreth.
Board of Directors : Edward B. Boynton, Thomas J. Quinn, J. Clarence Davies, John De Hart, Herbert A. Knox, Charles E. Reid, Dr. William A. Boyd, Michael J. Sullivan, Richard W. Law- rence, Louis F. Haffen, Matthew Anderson, Israel C. Jones, Fred W, Hottenroth, Louis F. Kuntz, Martin Walter, J. Harris Jones, Douglas Mathewson, Thomas J. Higgins, Arthur Knox, Cornelius J. Earley, John F, Steeves, Olin J. Stephens, James L. Wells, Ernest Hall, Charles W. Bogart, Joseph A. Goulden, William W. Niles, J. Homer Hildreth, William S. Germain, Theodore Trimmer.
The Taxpayers' Alliance was founded in 1894, shortly after the establishment of local self-government in The Bronx, and owes its formation to the Twenty-third Ward Property Owners' Asso- ciation, now known as the "Bronx County Property Owners' Association." This worthy body believed that by cooperating with other local improvement associations, and by uniting, it would accomplish more good for the uplifting of The Bronx than by working independently. Thru the earnest efforts of Colonel Goulden, a meeting was arranged at the Fordham Club, on the evening of December 15, 1894, to which representatives from all the other local associations were invited. The consolidation plan met with instant favor, and as a result the Taxpayers' Alliance of the Borough of The Bronx was launched, with Colonel Goulden as its first president. *
The six original associations forming this alliance were: The Twenty-third Ward Property Owners' Association^ The Fordham Club.
West Farms Local Improvement Association. Kingsbridge Property Owners' Association. Property Owners' Association Vyse Estate and vicinity. The Fox Estate Property Owners' Association.
The combined membership of these six organizations num- bered about 600. Today the Alliance has thirty-seven local asso- ciations affiliated with it, and a membership of more than 8,000.
The list of the associations is made up as follows : Twenty-third Ward Taxpayers' Association. Fordham Club.
26 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Belmont Association.
Unionport Association.
West Morrisania Club.
West Farms Association.
Woodlawn Association.
Westchester Association.
Bedford Park Association.
City Island Association.
Van Nest Association.
Westchester Improvement Company.
Borough Club.
Casanova Association.
Springhurst Association.
Fordham Association.
Morris Heights Association.
Tremont Association.
Williamsbridge Improvement Association.
Wakefield Association.
Vyse Estate Association.
Mapes Estate Association.
East Morrisania Property Owners' Association.
East Tremont Taxpayers' Association.
Kingsbridge Association.
Throgg's Neck Association.
Protective Association, Mapes Estate.
Riverside Association.
Spuyten Duyvil Association.
Fox Estate and Vicinity Association.
Claremont Heights Property Owners' Association.
City Island Board of Trade.
Highbridge Taxpayers' Association.
Tax and Rentpayers' Alliance of Wakefield.
Mosholu Parkway North Association.
Van Cortlandt Association. The officers of the Taxpayers' Alliance are : President, George M. S. Schulz.
Vice Presidents: Harry Robitzek, James B. Powers, William W. Niles, A. C. Hottenroth, Charles W. Bogart, Louis F. Haffen, Col. Jos. A. Goulden, William S. Germain, Max Just. Treasurer, Carl W. Schmidtke.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRONX 27
Secretary, Philip J. McKinley.
That the Taxpayers' Alliance has been of incalculable benefit to the citizens of The Bronx no one will deny. There has not been a public improvement in which the hand of the Alliance cannot be traced. From its very inception, the chief aim of the organization has been to further the general interest and promote the welfare of the Borough, and to attain the greatest good for the greatest number.
^' The Association of the Bar of the County of Bronx, Inc., is the only lawyers' organization in the new county. It was incorpo- rated in 1902 as the Association of the Bar of the Borough of the Bronx in the City of New York, the name was changed in February, 1913.
"' It was a committee of the Association that drafted the first proposed Bronx County Act back in 1904. Since then this body has steadily kept in the fighting line. When the present act became a law in 1912, a committee of seven was delegated for the inevitable legal struggle to maintain the constitutionality of the legislation. The Association, thru its committee, was the sole advocate of the entire act before the courts. When the decision went contrary, the question was speeded to the Court of Appeals. 'There the brief filed on behalf of the Association was largely embodied in the opinion that preserved Bronx County.
The membership is 150 and increasing. Any lawyer in good standing, residing or practising in the City of New York, is eligible for membership. Admission fee and dues are moderate. Advan- tages off"ered are many, including the use of a large law library in the comfortable headquarters at 1187 Washington Avenue. A regular meeting is held the second Friday evening of the month, at which there is discussion and action on matters of importance to the profession and the county. Prominent men frequently at- tend and deliver addresses. Active officials and committees keep the general spirit keyed high.
The former presidents are W. Stebbins Smith, J. Homer Hil- dreth, Arthur C. Butts, Douglas Mathewson, and Charles P. Hallock.
The officers are:
President : Louis 0. Van Doren.
Vice Presidents : Maurice S. Cohen and John Davis.
Secretary: J. Philip Van Kirk.
Treasurer: Arthur L. Howe.
28
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Chairman of Executive Committee : Henry K. Davis.
Looking back a quarter of a century, and comparing conditions then with those of today, we cannot help but marvel at the re- markable growth of the Borough in commerce, population and achievement during that short period. From what was formerly a slow, slumbering unprogressive community, there has sprung
Home Street, Looking East from Union Avenue in 1883
up a great, vigorous and flourishing cosmopolitan community, which today, if it were a separate and distinct city, would rank in population as the seventh city in the United States, and the third in the State of New York.
What may be heralded as the birth of the new Bronx began in 1895, when the maps of the streets and highways west of the Bronx River were completed. The Bronx at that time contained about 100,000 inhabitants. In five years the population doubled.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRONX 29
the census report of 1900 showing that there were 200,507 persons residing in the Borough. This gain, however enormous, but faintly foreshadowed what was to come, when, in the next decade — the period of 1900-1909 — was disclosed an increase of 230,473 in- habitants. Thus The Bronx had more than quadrupled its popula- tion in less than the number of years allotted to a generation. This period of 1900-1909 has been in every respect one of unparalleled progress and prosperity. It is a history crowned with auspicious events, such as the opening of the subway, building of tunnels, construction of bridges over the Harlem and other waterways, and City Borough undertakings of the first rank. The projected Broadway-Lexington Avenue Subway will undoubtedly cause the denizens of congested Manhattan to migrate to the more spacious and comfortable Bronx.
In building. The Bronx has made greater progress than any other community in the country, except, perhaps, Seattle. In 1911, this Borough was the third greatest building community in the United States, Manhattan ranking first and Chicago second.
From 1881 to 1910, there have been $360,000,000 invested in Bronx building operations, and from 1881 to 1890, $27,000,000 were expended; $93,000,000 in the period from 1891 to 1900, and $240,000,000 from 1901 to 1910. The outlay for 1911 was $22,- 837,060, and that of 1912, $36,049,870.
While the building record last year was of unusual propor- tions, experts assert their belief that more buildings will be erected in The Bronx this coming year than ever before. From January 1 to March 18, 1913, plans for 204 new buildings, at a cost of $5,624,416, and alterations on 392, at a cost of $244,467, have been filed.
The assessed valuation of the taxable real estate in the Borough has also shown tremendous strides. In round numbers the figures are as follows: In 1880, $23,000,000; in 1890, $45,000,000; in 1900, $123,000,000; in 1910, $494,000,000; in 1911, $605,000,000; and in 1912, $616,486,898.
CHAPTER IV
A CITY WITHIN A CITY
How the Child Grew up a Giant — The Past Speaks in Thunder Tones of the Prosperity Advancing Years Bring to the Home, the Merchant and the Manufacturer — What Rapid Transit Stands for in the Growth of a Metropolis.
A.RVELOUS as has been the growth of The Bronx in the last decade, it is very little compared to what the near future has in store, awaiting the comple- tion of new subways and rapid transit lines. With better transit facilities, territory in outlying sec- tions, heretofore inaccessible, will be at the disposal of men of moderate means who will build homes which may be easily reached from their places of business in the metropolis. New York City is daily becoming more congested and the overflow of population must inevitably find its way to nearby suburbs. It is illy a question of a few years when the entire lower section of Manhattan will be devoted exclusively to business.
That the Borough of The Bronx will draw the greater share of this influx, needs no prophet to foretell. The close proximity of The Bronx to Manhattan, and the many substantial bridges which span the Harlem River and practically extend the streets of Manhattan into The Bronx, give it decided advantages over the other boroughs. Moreover, it is admirably situated; it covers an area double that of Manhattan; and it needs but the magic touch of better transportation facilities to make it the Empire City of the future. This is no idle boast, for The Bronx is on the brink of another evolution, and history is sure to repeat itself. Few dreamed thirty years ago that the region north of the Harlem River, known in the earlier days as the "Annexed District," would ever be the giant city it is today. And it will continue to exceed the expectations of even the flightiest prognosticators, as it is at present only at the beginning of its greatness.
Men of capital and keen business foresight who have made a study of realty conditions say that there has never been a more
30
A CITY WITHIN A CITY
31
opportune time to buy real estate in The Bronx than the present; particularly now that the routes of the new subway and rapid transit lines have been definitely settled. Ground has already been broken by the city for its Lexington Avenue route, which when completed, will tap a territory unequaled in beauty and in salutary and sanitary conditions. Nothing but the upheaval of the conti- nent or other remote catastrophe which no man can foresee can check the stupendous improvements planned for the next decade.
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Old Vyse Mansion
Let us for a moment glance into the future and see what wonderful transformation is to take place in The Bronx during the intervening period. What a wonderful vision we behold! Thruout the Borough, from the Harlem River on the south to the city line on the north, the Sound on the east, and the Hudson River on the west, we see a complete network of subways, elevated and surface roads, which spread out like the all-embracing arteries of the body.
The countless acres of unimproved property which for years-
32 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
lay dormant in the outlying districts are mapped out into tree-lined streets and avenues. Thousands of cozy and attractive little homes, which rent at low figures, are now occupied by men of moderate means, whose wish it is to live in a quiet, select neighborhood where the children may enjoy the blessings of pure air, good schools and delightful parks and playgrounds.
The forty miles of navigable water front are filled with pleas- ure and merchant craft of all tonnage — a great boon to both the manufacturer and the consumer, for they can receive and ship their products, either crude or manufactured, by either rail or water, with diminished cost of handling, and with increased profits to both. Electricity has banished smoke from the city and the great towers of the central town and college hall dazzle in the sunlight. There is a constant flutter in the air of the aeroplanes and airships carrying passengers and mail. All about us are bewildering changes. Industry and transportation have been revo- lutionized ; and progress, peace and contentment reign everywhere.
Does not this vision of future development inspire enthusiasm, devotion and patriotism in the citizen of the Borough of The Bronx?
That The Bronx has grown beyond all precedent, either in this State or elsewhere, during the sixteen years since its con- solidation, needs no further comment. Eleven years hence, it will rank with the sixteen world cities having a population of a million or over.
•' Up to April 19, 1912, The Bronx was the only one of the five boroughs comprising the City of New York that was not a separate and distinct county. On that date an act was passed in the Legis- lature creating the County of Bronx, subject to a referendum to the voters of the Borough. The question "Shall the territory within the Borough of The Bronx be erected into the County of Bronx?" was accordingly submitted to the voters at the general election in November, 1912, and a majority of the votes cast were in favor of the creation of the county.
The constitutionality of the act was questioned on the grounds that the Legislature had no power to submit the question to the voters, since New York State being a representative democracy, the people of the State act thru their representatives in the Leg- islature; and secondly, that the question should have been sub- mitted to the voters of the entire County of New York, instead of
A CITY WITHIN A CITY 33
only to the voters of the Borough of The Bronx. The act was declared unconstitutional by the Appellate Divisions of the Su- preme Court of the State of New York, but the decision was re- versed, on March 21, 1913, by the Court of Appeals. '^
In an administrative way, the creation of the County of Bronx means, that The Bronx will have its own courts; its own offices for recording deeds, mortgages, and other papers affecting real and personal property; its own offices where wills of its resid'ents can be probated; its own Sheriff's and County Clerk's offices.
The offices filled under the Bronx County Act at the last election were: Borough President, Douglas Mathewson; County Judge, L. G. Gibbs, for a term of six years ; Surrogate, G. M. Schulz, six years; District Attorney, Francis Martin, four years; Sheriff, J. F. O'Brien, four years; County clerk, J. V. Ganley, four years; and Register, Edward Polak, four years. The salary of each of these is $10,000. There will be a Commissioner of Jurors, at a sal- ary of $5,000 a year, and a Public Administrator, at $4,000 a year.
The construction of the New York, Westchester and Boston Railway, which penetrates the heart of the East Bronx, is the first step toward solving the local transit problem. By the opening of this four-track rapid transit line, 5,300 acres of practically undeveloped territory, lying north of Bronx Park and west of Pelham Bay Park and east of Van Cortlandt, which had absolutely no railroad nor rapid transit facilities for passenger traffic, have been made available for residential and manufacturing purposes. The system begins at Lincoln Avenue, between One Hundred Thirty-second Street and tracks of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, where it connects with the Second and Third Avenue Elevated Railways.
After leaving the Harlem River, the stations along the line are located at Port Morris, Casanova, Hunt's Point, Westchester Avenue, One Hundred Eightieth Street, Morris Park, Pelham Parkway, Gun Hill Road, Baychester Avenue and Dyre Avenue, which is the last station within the city limits and the end of the five-cent-fare zone. Mount Vernon has five stations. At Columbus Avenue Junction, a branch diverges from the main line, and pass- ing thru the easterly end of Mount Vernon, runs thru Wykagyl in the northern section of New Rochelle and thru the beautiful Quaker Ridge section to Scarsdale and White Plains, the latter be- ing the terminus of this part of the line.
34 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
The main line passes thru North Pelham, New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, Harrison and Rye to Port Chester.
The New York, Westchester and Boston Railway is the most modern and up-to-date system in railroad construction. From its roadbed to its cars and stations, its architecture, workmanship and materials are of the best and highest standard. The entire line is equipped with all-steel motor passenger coaches, each having a seating capacity for seventy-eight persons.
The new transfer station located at One Hundred Eightieth Street and Morris Park Avenue will connect with the West Farms Branch of the Interborough and will become the geographical center for the distribution of city and suburban traffic. Provision has also been made for the Pelham Bay section of the Lexington Avenue Subway to connect at the Westchester Avenue station, in The Bronx, thus affording an opportunity for the exchange of passenger traffic for all points.
The station occupies a space approximately 550 feet in length and 250 feet in width. Both entrances and exits are on the street level, and the platforms for receiving and discharging passengers are elevated above the street, conveniently arranged to expedite the transfer from one system to another.
The ground floor has been so designed that a space is reserved on each side of the entrance to the station from Morris Park Ave- nue, which can be converted into retail stores on the design of an arcade, should the development of the section in the vicinity of the station later warrant such an improvement.
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company, upon the comple- tion of the Broadway and West Farms extensions of the subway, started the "Green Lines" of the new crosstown system for the purpose of carrying passengers to the subways, and transferring them to the trunk lines of the company, for a three-cent fare.
On the extreme westerly side of the Borough is the Main Line and Putnam Division of the New York Central Railroad. These lines accommodate residents of Highbridge, Morris Heights, Uni- versity Heights, Kingsbridge, Spuyten Duyvil, Riverdale, Mount Saint Vincent, Van Cortlandt and Mosholu.
The northwestern section of the Borough is also tapped by
the Broadway branch of the subway up to Van Cortlandt Park
(Two Hundred Forty-second Street and Broadway), where the
terminals of five trolley lines feed the branch from the north and
A CITY WITHIN A CITY
37
east. This branch is also used by the residents of Yonkers an^ the suburbs.
Jerome Avenue will be equipped with three extensions of the Manhattan Elevated and Subway Systems. Under the hill just south of Highbridge, on the banks of the Harlem River, a tunnel will be bored to Jerome Avenue for the extensions of the Sixth and Ninth Avenue Elevated Lines. These lines will meet the Lexington Avenue Subway extension and all three will use the •elevated structure up Jerome Avenue to Woodlawn.
At present the residents of the Williamsbridge, Wakefield, Bronxwood Park, Westchester and other northern districts of The Bronx, reach the West Farms terminal of the subway by trolley. To eliminate the double fare and to provide better facilities for the residents, the subway will be extended up White Plains Avenue to Williamsbridge.
The new Broadway-Lexington Subway will aid materially the development of The Bronx. Ground was broken in Manhattan in November, 1911, and in The Bronx at Mott Avenue north of East One Hundred Thirty-eighth Street, on December 7, 1911. The subway, it is expected, will be in operation in three years. It is to be built jointly by the City of New York and the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, and is to be equipped by the company.
The line will start in lower Broadway and at Forty-second Street it will swing into Lexington Avenue to East One Hundred Thirty-fifth Street, The Bronx. At this point it will divide into two branches : the River and Jerome Avenue branch and the South- ern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue branch. The River and Jerome Avenue line will be underground as far as River Avenue and East One Hundred Fifty-seventh Street, from which point it will be elevated to Woodlawn Road. The Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue line will remain underground as far as Whitlock Avenue south of Westchester Avenue, thence elevated to Pelham Bay Park.
34
CHAPTER V
BIG INDUSTRIES
Where Men and Women Shop — The Facilities Offered by Traction Companies —
Proposed Improvements.
IKE all large cities, The Bronx has its business cen- ters. It is in these shopping districts that property shows the greatest increase in values, pays the best rentals, provides the best investment, and is most in demand. The junction of One Hundred Forty-ninth Street and Third Avenue is, without doubt, the most im- portant district of the most northern borough. Not only is it the transfer point of the West Farms subway and elevated rail- roads, but practically every trolley car operated in The Bronx passes thru this point. It is also the recongized shopping dis- trict of the Borough. Twenty-five years ago lots could be bought here for $6,000; today they bring that much rental per annum. Here are located department stores and other up-to-date business establishments that compare favorably with the largest in Man- hattan, and no less than five first-class playhouses bid for the amusement seekers' patronage in this particular neighborhood.
Only a few years ago, theater-goers were obliged to ride downtown in order to attend a high-class production. It was generally accepted that no first-class theater could be made to pay in The Bronx. How far this belief was from fact may be judged by the success our theatrical enterprises have achieved. During the last five years more than $3,000,000 have been invested in amusement structures here. There are one hundred and forty- seven amusement places in the Borough, the list including every variety from the home of serious drama to the "nickelet" and open- air playhouse.
The next busiest center is in Tremont. This upper middle section of the Borough has shown extraordinary development, and there are now in course of construction one hundred and ten build- ings, mainly apartment houses. Tremont Avenue, its main thoro-
36
BIG INDUSTRIES
37
fare, extends from Harlem River to the Long Island Sound, and is destined to become one of the leading highways of the Borough. The blocks from Webster to Third Avenues are given over entirely to business establishments and are veritable bee hives of activity. The third-tracking of the Second and Third Avenue Elevated Railroads, and the branch connecting the New York, Westchester & Boston Railroad will also materially help the development of that entire section.
The third important thorofare is McKinley Square, located at One Hundred Sixty-ninth Street and Boston Road.
The crosstown trolley line opened last year by the Union Railroad Company, starting from Washington Bridge and running
Junction 149th Street and Third Avenue
east thru One Hundred Sixty-seventh and One Hundred Sixty- ninth Streets to McKinley Square, thence to Westchester, and ter- minating at Clason's Point, has given new impetus to values along its entire route and has added to its population, as has also the new One Hundred Forty-ninth Street crosstown line, recently opened.
Other centers of note are: the junction of One Hundred Thirty-eighth Street and Willis Avenue ; Westchester, Prospect and Longwood Avenues; Westchester Avenue of the Southern Boule- vard and West Farms Road, and the intersection of Boston Road, Tremont Avenue and West Farms Road. This last center is sure to develop and it will even rival One Hundred Forty-ninth Street as it is practically the geographical center of the Borough. Almost all the important arteries running east and west, north and south connect at this point.
38
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
The Bronx is truly undergoing Aladdin-like changes. One has but to step around the corner to note some transformation that has, mushroom-like, made ics appearance overnight.
Take, for example, the section lying south of Westchester
rnm-^-
McKiNLEY Square — 169th Street and Boston Road
Avenue and the Southern Boulevard and see what miracles have been wrought there. Less than half a dozen years ago this region was but sparsely settled with a dozen or more neglected estates scattered over its large territory ; today it is teeming with activity, and the old mansions which were once the country seats of promi-
BIG INDUSTRIES
39
nent families have been swept away, and upon their sites have been erected hundreds of handsome brick one-, two- and three-family homes, and rows upon rows of beautiful apartment houses of the most modern and high-class type.
The American Real Estate Company, Henry Morgenthau Com- pany, Geo. F. Johnson, and James F. Meehan, four of the largest operators and home-makers in the Bronx, purchased practically all of the property embracing what is generally known as the Hunt's Point section. For years after their purchases, this section was in a state of chaos; rocks were being blasted, streets were
fe^.
Boston Road, South from IGGth Stkeet in 188:j
being laid out, sewers were being constructed and a total of upwards of one million dollars were spent by these owners in transforming this territory into city property. It is said that the buildings which they erected in that section, can house more than one hundred thousand persons.
A late purchase of the American Real Estate Company was the ninety-three acres of the Watson estate lying just north of Westchester Avenue and east of the Bronx River. The property is located on high ground and contains about twelve hundred city lots.
40 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Other sections which are steadily growing and undergoing transformation are the districts known as Bedford Park and Wood- lawn Heights. The latter occupies a unique location, for while it is within the city limits and enjoying all the improvements of municipal ownership, it is still closely allied with Yonkers, so that in a measure it might almost be classed with the latter. Topo- graphically the ground lies high and the outlook in every direction
Forest Avenue, South from Home Street in 1883
is extensive. To the east is the valley of the Bronx River, while to the north the land slopes gradually upward. To the south is Woodlawn Cemetery and to the west Van Cortlandt Park. The excellent service furnished by the New York and Harlem division of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad makes it easy of access, and the trolley line running along McLean Avenue brings Yonkers within a short riding distance. There is also a trolley line on Webster Avenue parallel to the railroad tracks. This sec-
BIG INDUSTRIES 41
tion differs from the main thorofare, in that only one- and two- family dwellings are being erected. The same conditions prevail in the Bedford Park section.
Crossing over to the easterly section, we come to Throgg's Neck, one of the most attractive shore fronts in The Bronx. There is a great future before it, particularly if the proposed new subway route, which, according to one plan, will have Pelham Park as a terminal, will be carried to completion. One of the first improve- ments planned, is a shore drive, one hundred feet wide, which will skirt Throgg's Neck.
The water front of The Bronx, aggregating more than forty miles of navigable waters, has added unlimited trade and commerce to the Borough. Almost the entire territory from Highbridge to Hunt's Point has been utilized by railroads, factories and other industrial enterprises requiring shipping facilities along the water front. The Bronx contains seven hundred factories, each large enough to be subject to State supervision and inspection. They give employment to at least thirty-five thousand people.
Among the numerous industries which have contributed toward making The Bronx a manufacturing center of world-wide renown, the manufacture of pianos and organs ranks among the foremost in importance. No less than sixty factories are located within the Borough, which turn out these musical instruments in amazing quantities annually. These are shipped to all quarters of the globe.
The mammoth plant of the American Bank Note Company at Hunt's Point is another institution which employs an army of over two thousand workers. For more than a century this com- pany has been recognized by experts as the leading engraving and printing concern in America, if not in the world. The choice of 'its present site in the Hunt's Point section of The Bronx was the result of a thoro canvas of all the available sections in Greater New York. Another enormous plant is the De la Vargne Machine Works at the foot of East One Hundred Thirty-eighth Street. Other industries covering acres and doing a large business are the Ward Bread Company, and the lumber, the coal and the brew- ing companies.
A comparison of the business done during 1912 with that of the previous year by some of the public service corporations will
42 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
give one an idea of the immense business transacted in the Borough.
The New York Telephone Company, for example, which has about $4,000,000 invested in The Bronx, increased its services by installing 4,648 telephones during the past year. On January 1st, 1906, there were but 5,573 telephones in use in The Bronx, while on February 28th, 1913 there were 26,622.
The New York Edison Company is also making large ex- penditures in The Bronx for the development and improvement of its facilities for furnishing both light and power. The increase in its business during the past year was most remarkable. In 1911 it had 20,148 customers on its books and in 1912 they numbered 28,582.
The Bronx possesses the largest and most perfect plants for the making of ice machines and gas engines. All the five com- panies which supply gas in the Borough show marked increases in the number of customers supplied during 1912. The Central Union Gas Company alone entered over 7,000 new customers on their books during the year, which brings their total to 87,000 customers.
The annual consumption of coal and the increase from year to year is also a fair barometer of the business activity in The Bronx. In 1912 it reached its record mark of 1,760,000 tons.
Another proof of the growth of the general retail business activity in the Borough is the fact that the National Cash Register Company sold over a thousand additional machines during the last year.
By means of the Harlem River Ship Canal many of the new products of the country are brought nearer to the Bronx Borough.
For the accommodation of business men, manufacturers and merchants, financial institutions of every class, including a National Bank with numerous branches of State Banks and Trust Com- panies have been established at all convenient points. For the thrifty there are saving banks. All of these institutions are well managed and conducted on safe lines so as to command the full confidence of their customers.
For the very immediate future the following improvements have been contemplated which will add impetus to business growth : Erection of a new station on the New York Central Railroad; change from a two-track to a six-track system on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad from Harlem River to New
BIG INDUSTRIES 43
Rochelle; proposed New York and New Jersey bridge across the Hudson at One Hundred Forty-ninth Street; the erection of a new Federal building at One Hundred Forty-ninth Street and Mott Avenue, which is to cost over half a million dollars, and is to in- clude the Bronx Central Post Office, the Internal Revenue Bureau, the Treasury and Commerce and Labor Departments; the build- ing of a connecting railroad, connecting Long Island with the Borough by a bridge; the erection of a direct east side subway; the improvement of the splendid water front by increased dock facilities; and the establishment of a public produce market.
The following waterway improvements are now under way or planned : Deepening of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, Harlem River, and Bronx Kills in connection with Barge Canal traffic; widening and deepening of Bronx River and Westchester Creek; plan adopted to make the Hutchinson River 80 to 900 feet wide.
Borough President Cyrus C. Miller proposes a plan for in- dustrial development benefiting directly the area which may be described roughly as lying south and east of a line beginning in the South Bronx at Macomb's Park and running thence easterly across One Hundred Sixty-first Street to Westchester Avenue; thence easterly along Westchester Avenue along West Farms Road and Boston Road to One Hundred Eightieth Street at the easterly boundary of Bronx Park ; thence northerly along the eastern boun- dary of Bronx Park to Bear Swamp Road; thence along Bear Swamp Road to Morris Park Avenue to Stillwell Avenue to Bronx and Pelham Parkway, and from this point east to Long Island Sound.
This district comprises about one-third the area of The Bronx, or about fourteen square miles. It is bordered on the south and east by the Harlem River, Bronx Kills and Long Island Sound, and intersected by Bronx River and Westchester Creek, which run up into the mainland from the Sound. It has a water front seventeen miles long with bays and indentations for the anchorage of ships and the building of docks.
The prime necessity for the whole plan is an industrial rail- way for freight around the south and east shores of The Bronx, so as to connect all the railroads coming into The Bronx with the dock system planned by Commissioner Tomkins, and by means of spurs, with the factories to be built in the territory described.
This will make it possible for a loaded freight car to come
44 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
into The Bronx on any railroad or steamship pier or dock, or to any factory or warehouse that is connected with the railway by a spur.
The Borough President has directed his engineers to draw up tentative plans for the Industrial Railway and has interested men of capital in the plan. One step in this development has been made by the Ryawa Realty Company, which has begun a $20,- 000,000 development at the mouth of the Bronx River, similar to the Bush Terminal stores in Brooklyn.
Part ot the plan is to have a Union Terminal Market on the line of the Industrial Railway, where food products may be carried by all the railroads and steamships coming to The Bronx and dis- tributed directly and cheaply to the retail dealers of the Borough.
CHAPTER VI
THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES
The Water Front That Invites Big Ships from Over the Seven Seas — Early Highways.
ILLIONS of dollars have been spent by the Govern- ment in deepening and widening the channels of waterways, and more money is constantly being ex- pended on improvements. The crowding of com- merce and the ever growing demand for more docking space in Manhattan will eventually force the city to build substantial wharves and piers along the matchless water front. The opening of the Erie Canal and the Harlem Ship Canal has brought The Bronx and the maritime states of New England into direct water communication with the Great Lakes of the Northwest, and it is only a question of time when the ocean greyhounds will be docking at Port Morris, at which point the East River is deepest. This will save 300 miles of water route, as it will enable steamers to come direct thru Long Island Sound, instead of the Narrows and the Lower Bay.
Our forefathers, as far back as 1693, saw the necessity of a bridge across the Harlem River. Since then nearly every leading thorofare of Manhattan has been extended into The Bronx by means of a bridge, and around these centers there has been un- paralleled growth of traffic and prosperity.
The old bridges which once connected the Borough of The Bronx with Manhattan have all been taken down and replaced by up-to-date steel structures.
The first bridge across the Harlem River was built by Fred- ■erick Philipse in 1693. It was named "King's Bridge" and stood about where the present Broadway Bridge is situated until 1713, when it was moved to just east of the present structure which bears the name of Spuyten Duyvil Creek Bridge.
Originally a ferry, owned by Johannes Verveelen, plied be- tween Westchester County and Manhattan Island. As traffic
45
46
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
became too heavy, it was decided to replace the ferry by a bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek ; but the public treasury was insufficient for the undertaking of such a project. The wealthy Frederick Philipse, foreseeing the possibility of reaping a large revenue, pro- posed to build the bridge at his own expense if he were permitted to collect tolls. The Provincial Assembly granted to Philipse "the neck or island of land called Paparinemo with the salt meadows thereunto belonging, together with power and authority to erect a bridge over the water or river commonly called Spiten
Courtesy Department of Bridges, City of New York
King's Bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek in 1856
Devil Ferry or Paparinemo." The "Dutch Millionaire" was author- ized to impose the following tolls:
" 3 pens (pence) for each man or horse that shall pass in
the daytime. " 3 pens for each head of neat cattle. "12 pens for each score of hoggs, calves, or sheep. " 9 pens for every boat, vessel or canoe that shall pass the
said bridge and cause the same to be drawn up. " 9 pens for each coach, cart, or sledge, or waggon."
The bridge was of much importance during the Revolution. Over it Washington's defeated and disheartened army retreated in
THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES
4T
September, 1776; and over it again in November, 1783, Wash- ington, Governor George Clinton and a guard of honor crossed, this time with their faces southward, to resume once more the pos- session of the City of New York. The surrounding section re- ceived the name of Kingsbridge from this bridge.
A short distance southeast of the King's Bridge stood the Farmers' Free or Dyckman's Bridge, erected in 1758 which, unlike King's Bridge, was free of all tolls. Philipse's bridge had become irksome to the farmers who were obliged to pay toll each time they"
Courtesy Department of Bridges, City of New York
Farmers' Bridge (Dyckman's) over Spuyten Duyvil Creek in 1860
crossed and recrossed it on their way to and from market. A move-^ ment was therefore started by Benjamin Palmer of City Island for raising a popular subscription with which to erect a free bridge. Palmer was encouraged in his efforts by Thomas Vermilye of Fordham and Jacob Dyckman of Manhattan, both of whom fur- nished the land for the approaches of the bridge. Despite the persistent opposition of Frederick Philipse, who realized that his- revenue would be curtailed, the project was effected and the "Free Bridge" formally opened on New Year's Day of 1759. Thus was a blow struck at Colonial aristocracy.
The bridge was also known as "Farmers' Bridge," "Dyek-
48
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
man's Bridge," and afterwards as "Hadley's Bridge"; the latter name after George Hadley who purchased this section in 1785 from the Commissioners of Forfeiture. The bridge was destroyed during the Revolution, but rebuilt after the war. In 1911 it was replaced by a steel structure.
In 1795 the State Legislature granted a franchise to John B. Coles to build a dam bridge across the Harlem River. This is known as the first Third Avenue, or Harlem, Bridge. Heretofore all persons going from Manhattan to the mainland, and vice versa,
Free or Farmer's Bridge in 1910
were obliged to travel in a round about way across Spuyten Duyvil Creek by ford or ferry or bridge. The bridge was to be constructed within four years, and the ownership was to be vested in Coles for sixty years, after which period it was to become the property of the State. A lock, attended by a lock-keeper, was to permit the passage of vessels.
The tolls which Coles was authorized to collect, provided he kept the bridge in repair, ranged from one cent for every ox, cow, or steer, and three cents for evel*y pedestrian to thirty-seven and a half cents for every four-wheeled pleasure carriage and horses that passed the bridge. At the expiration of the sixty years,
THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES
49
the Harlem Bridge Company, which was incorporated in 1808, loathe to relinquish so rich a pudding, made efforts to procure an extension of its franchise ; but the State Legislature turned it over to the counties of New York and Westchester, who converted it into a free thorofare.
For almost seventy years the Harlem Bridge did noble service across the Harlem River, when, owing to the increased traffic between Harlem and Morrisania, it was found necessary to replace it with an iron structure. This second Third Avenue, or Harlem,
Courtesy Department of Bridges, City of New York
Macomb's Dam Bridge over Harlem River, 1838
Bridge was in turn removed to make room for a more modern steel and iron bridge with a draw of 300 feet. The third Harlem Bridge was opened to the public on August 1st, 1898, at a cost to the City of $2,357,742.51.
In 1800 Alexander Macomb, a wealthy merchant of New York City, who had come into possession of the forfeited Philipse prop- erty, obtained from the city authorities a water grant extending across Spuyten Duyvil Creek just east of the King's Bridge. His son Robert obtained, in 1813, a grant to erect a dam across the Harlem from Bussing's Point on the Manhattan side to Devoe's Point on the Westchester shore, thus practically forming a mill
50
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
pond out of the Harlem River and the Spuyten Duyvil Creek to supply power to the mills constructed along the Westchester side. There was a stipulation, however, that the dam should be so con- structed as to allow the passage of boats, and that Macomb should always have a person in attendance to afford the desired passage. He neglected, however, to carry out this direction, and not only erected the dam without the specified contrivance, but converted its lip into a permanent bridge, known as Macomb's Dam Bridge, ^nd collected tolls from all who crossed it. The utter obstruction
Wil,,ii»,^
Courtesy Department of Bridges, City of Neto York
Macomb's Dam Bridge in 1861
of the river thus introduced, continued until 1838. In the mean- time Robert Macomb had become insolvent and his property was now in the possession of the Renwicks.
Protests were raised against the obstruction of the Harlem River as well as against the unauthorized collection of tolls, but they went unheeded. In 1838, Lewis G. Morris, a member of that family which have always championed the people's rights, devised a plot whereby he would bring the matter to an issue before the •courts.
He built a dock half a mile north of Highbridge and chartered the vessel Nonpareil to carry a load of coal for delivery at Morris
THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES
51
Dock. When the Nonpareil reached the dam at full tide, Mor- ris demanded that the passage be opened. As this request was not complied with, Morris with the aid of about one hundred men, who appeared on a number of small boats, tore out a part of the dam and thus forced thru the passage of his vessel. A suit was instituted by the Renwicks against Morris in the Superior Court for the damage done to the dam, but a decison was rendered
Macomb Mansion, Kingsbridge
against the plaintiffs. The Supreme Court and later the Court of Errors upheld the original decision. Chancellor Walworth, in handing down his decison, said in part: "The Harlem River is an arm of the sea and a public navigable river; it was a public nuisance to obstruct the navigation thereof without authority of Law."
From that time on a drawbridge was always maintained in the dam rendering the Harlem free to navigation. It was in turn replaced in 1861, by a swinging draw which became known as the Second Macomb's Dam Bridge, and remained in service until
52
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
1895, when a Third Macomb's Dam, or Central Bridge, a steel structure, took its place.
The oldest bridge across the Harlem today is the famous High Bridge, which was completed in 1849. It is 1,450 feet long and 25 feet wide, and extends between West One Hundred Seventy- fifth Street and Tenth Avenue, Manhattan, and Aqueduct Avenue near One Hundred Seventieth Street, The Bronx. It is an excel- lent example of masonry arch construction, and is one of the sights of the neighborhood.
High Bridge, as the name suggests, was so constructed as not
Courtesy Department of Bridges, City of Xcic Yorl:
Willis Avenue Bridge
to interfere with the navigation of the Harlem River. This was the effect of the decision rendered by the courts of the State of New York in connection with the Macomb's Dam Bridge. It had been planned to conduct the water of the Croton River by means of a low siphon bridge across the Harlem River to supply water to the City of New York. But the decision of 1839 caused the Legislature to pass an act directing the water commissioners to construct the aqueduct over the Harlem River with arches and piers ; the arches to have a span of at least eighty feet and not less than one hundred feet from the usual high-water mark of the river to the underside of the arches of the crown.
THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 53
Between the King's and the Farmers' or Dyckman's Bridges stands the Broadway Bridge, a perfect example of its type. It was opened to the public October 14, 1900.
Facing the Broadway Bridge is the Macomb Mansion. In 1693 this was known as the "public house at the north end of the bridge," and in 1776 as Cox's Tavern. It was bought by Alexander Macomb in 1797, who built nearby in 1800 the First Macomb's Dam, and in 1848 was sold to the late J. H. Godwin. Parts still show its age.
The Washington Bridge, with its two great steel arch spans of 510 feet each comes next and is one of the most beautiful speci- mens of ornamental bridgework in the world. It connects West One Hundred Eighty-first Street, Manhattan, with Aqueduct Ave- nue near East One Hundred Seventy-first Street, The Bronx. The bridge was opened to the public in 1888, after two years in building and at a cost of nearly three millions of dollars. Its entire length is 2,399 feet, and it is 86 feet wide. The crowns of the arches are 1331/2 feet above the mean high-water mark.
Beginning at the East River and extending towards the Hud- son is the magnificent Willis Avenue steel drawbridge which sup- ports a heavy traffic. It connects East One Hundred Twenty-fifth Street and First Avenue, Manhattan, with East One Hundred Thirty-fourth Street and Willis Avenue, Bronx. It cost two mil- lion dollars, and was opened to the public August 22nd, 1901.
Next comes the Third Avenue Bridge carrying the Elevated Railroad. This is owned by the Suburban Rapid Transit Company, but there is a free public footway. The Fourth Avenue Bridge is said to be the heaviest steel drawbridge in the world, and is used exclusively for railroad crossing.
The splendid Madison Avenue Bridge comes next, connecting Madison Avenue, Manhattan, with East One Hundred Thirty- eighth Street, The Bronx. This was the first bridge to be well elevated above the river so that it would not be necessary to open the draw for every passing vessel. The draws are not opened before 9 o'clock in the morning nor later than 5 o'clock in the afternoon, so as to avoid blocking the traffic and delaying the passengers. The first Madison Avenue Bridge, constructed in 1884, was replaced by a larger and more substantial structure, which was opened to the public on July 18th, 1910.
The One Hundred Forty-fifth Street Bridge connects West
54 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
One Hundred Forty-fifth Street and Lenox Avenue, Manhattan, with East One Hundred Forty-ninth Street, The Bronx. It was opened to the public on August 24th, 1905. Then follow the Ma- comb's Dam; New York and Putnam; Washington; University Heights ; Ship Canal ; Broadway and King's Bridges.
Connecting the Borough of The Bronx with the Borough of Queens is to be the new steel Bronx-Astoria Bridge, now in the process of construction. This bridge, which will be the largest of its kind in the world, will consist of a series of spans from Port Morris over Randall's and Ward's Islands, to the shore of the Borough of Queens, and will provide for direct railroad communi- cation between the two boroughs. It was designed by former Bridge Commissioners Gustav Lindenthal, Palmer and Horn- bostel.
The viaduct in The Bronx will be twelve blocks long, from One Hundred Forty-second Street and Walnut Avenue, where it will be twenty feet above ground, thru the Port Morris yard of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, to the water front; here its height will be sixty-five feet.
The first span, a 300-foot bridge of the lift type, will cross Bronx Kills. There will be a steel pier in the center, so constructed as to permit, in the event of the Kills being deepened, as was pro- posed by the War Department, the passage of vessels from the Hudson River to the Sound by way of the Harlem Ship Canal.
Next will come a 2,600-foot viaduct across Randall's Island, connecting with the second bridge, a 1,000 foot riveted truss bridge composed of five spans across Little Hell Gate. This joins the^ viaduct across Ward's Island, which will rest on concrete piers and will be 2,600 feet long. This viaduct will join the main bridge structure across Hell Gate, connecting with the Astoria shore be- tween Ditmars and Potter Avenues, just south of the old Barclay Mansion.
The railroad crossing this bridge will have a line for freight and another for passengers. The passenger line will connect the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New Haven by means of the Penn- sylvania tunnel under the Hudson River and the tunnel under the City at Thirty-fourth Street, thus making a route thru The Bronx from the southwest to New England and Canada. The freight line will come by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad along the north shore of Staten Island to St. George, thence by tunnel
THE STORY OF GREAT BRIDGES 55
under the narrows to South Brooklyn, and thence by the Bronx- Astoria Bridge to the Bronx.
The finest bridge of all, however, will be the Henry Hudson Memorial Bridge which is to be erected over the ship canal con- necting Manhattan and The Bronx. This bridge will have a span of 703 feet and will rank as one of the grandest achievements in bridge engineering, as no masonry arch has yet been built with a span of even 300 feet.
With the possible exception of the Albany Post Road, which extends along the eastern bank of the historic Hudson; the old King's Bridge Road leading thru Fordham; and the Boston Post Road, which branches east at King's Bridge, nearly all of the early highways have disappeared entirely or have been so altered that they are unrecognizable. The old Westchester Path, which was the first roadway cut out in Westchester County by the early pioneers, is but a memory today; and all traces of its former existence have been obliterated. In the early Colonial days it was the only road leading from Manhattan Island to Westchester County. By going along its crooked route, denoted by marked trees thru the dense wilderness, it was possible, if one cared to follow the Indian trails, to reach Greenwich and the Berkshire Hills.
Many of the families followed the line of the old Westchester Path as is shown by the early deeds which speak of the old West- chester Path as bounding their property on one side or the other.
It was also over this path that the Colonial Legislature made its flight to White Plains in 1776, from the scenes of its deliberation in New York City, and this was the road chosen by Harvey Birch, Fenimore Cooper's Spy, in his secret journeys for the Commander- in-Chief of the Continental army.
CHAPTER VII
THE PARKS
The Parks Show Nature in Her Happiest Mood — Broad Acres Yield to Sport and Sentiment — Scenes Hallowed by Sacrifices and Struggles of Our Ancestors — A Page of Old History — The Bronx Beautiful Society.
HAT has already greatly added to the attractiveness of The Bronx is its splendid chain of parks and recrea- tion places. All the boroughs have beautiful parks, but in none has Nature been more lavish in her handi- work than in those located in The Bronx. In April, 1883, the Legislature of New York, in the face of much opposition, passed an act authorizing an appointment of a commission to select one or more parks beyond the Harlem River. This commission was duly appointed, and they marked out the sites of the three large parks — Pelham, Bronx and Van Cortlandt — and of three little ones — Crotona, Claremont and St. Mary's. The commission consisted of Luther R. Marsh, President; Waldo Hutchins, Louis Fitzgerald, Charles L. Tiffany, George W. McLean, Thomas J. Crombie, William W. Niles, and John Mullay, Secretary, nearly all of whom had been from the beginning conspicuously active in the movement.
The chief objection raised against the purchase of park land was that the parks would be a heavy expense to the city, and that the money was needed for other purposes. But this was met by the argument that the acquisition by the city of the parks would raise the value of real estate in their neighborhood, and that the city would profit by the increased taxable value of the property. This was shown to be the case in regard to Central Park. The experience of other cities, particularly Chicago and Boston, was cited to substantiate this statement.
In June, 1884, the legislature passed an act giving possession of the six parks to the City of New York, and directing the Supreme Court to appoint a commission to appraise the lands. This was done, and the land became the property of the City at a cost of $9,000,000.
66
THE PARKS 57
There are seventeen named parks in the Borough, with a total of 3,916 acres, besides numerous unnamed grounds open to the public. The Bronx has 1,148 more acreage of park lands, including the parkways, than all the other boroughs combined. They are so evenly distributed thruout the Borough that they are within the reach of all and afford ample pleasure grounds for the multitudes.
The parks and parkways of The Bronx extend from one end of the Borough to the other. Beginning with the most westerly park limit there is the Spuyten Duyvil Parkway, beginning at the junction of Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Hudson River, and wind- ing over the hills and thru the valleys until it intersects Van Cortlandt Park at Two Hundred Seventy-second Street. This park- way is intended to be a connecting link, in time, between the system of parkways in The Bronx and those in Manhattan by means of a viaduct over the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, to connect with a similar parkway leading along the western side of Manhattan, which will be an extension of Riverside Drive and Boulevard Lafayette.
Going easterly thru Van Cortlandt Park, we enter the Mosholu Parkway, which leads directly to Bronx Park. Crossing Bronx Park, and still going easterly we enter The Bronx and Pelham Parkway, which brings us over to the great Pelham Bay Park, and following along the roadway thru Pelham Bay Park leads us up to the northerly limits of the City, and out into the town of Pelham Manor and New Rochelle.
The largest of these parks are: Pelham Bay, Van Cortlandt, and Bronx Parks. These three alone cover 3,608 acres. Other parks in the Borough include Claremont, Crotona, De Voe, Joseph Rodman Drake, Echo, Sigel, Macomb's Dam, Poe, St. James, St. Mary's, University and Washington Bridge.
Pelham Bay, the largest of the parks, is twice the size of Central Park, and contains large tracts of woodland with nine miles of water front. It has a fine athletic field and parade ground, an 18-hole golf course, and also two excellent bathing beaches. Here w^e have located a tent city, named Orchard Beach, where families and clubs erect their tents and spend the summer in the open air under the supervision of the Park Department.
It was in this park that Thomas Pell signed an important treaty with two Siwanoy Indian sachems in 1654, which made him lord of all that region. An iron fence that once surrounded
58
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
the famous tree under which it was signed, is all that remains to remind us of "Treaty Oak," which was destroyed in 1906 by a bolt of lightning. Here, too, on October 18, 1776, Col. Glover with a brigade of 550 Marblehead fishermen engaged Sir William Howe's army and held it in check long enough to enable General Washington's forces to make a successful retreat to White Plains.
Pell Treaty Oak, Pelham Bay Park
This feat is memorialized by a tablet on the face of a great glacial boulder on the City Island road, known as "Glover's Rock."
Extending thru this park, also, is "Split Rock" Road. This derives its name from a large boulder which seems to have been cleft in twain by a tree growing up thru the middle of the rock. Near this boulder is the site of the house of the unfortunate Anne Hutchinson who was cruelly butchered by the Indians.
THE PARKS 59
e Hutchinson River, which perpetuates the memory of •eligious reformer in this region, is the Pelham Bridge, in 1908. This bridge replaced an older one built in was itself a successor to one erected in 1834. The Pel- has been famous for the large fish that have been 1 it, ranging in weight from twenty to sixty-three
lous old chestnut tree, under whose spreading branches
and his officers had their luncheon just before the
lite Plains, is still standing in a wooded dell north of
ion at one time abounded in wild animals. Within two olves were a great pest in this neighborhood. The assembly enacted that in the County of Westchester ngs (about $5) should be paid for a grown wolf killed ian, and ten shillings ($2.50) for one killed by an half that sum respectively for a whelp. The remains fljere, up to recently, to be seen not far from Pelham Bi the deer, the wild turkey existed in great numbers bef the forest. It is said that flocks of them used to ga'idge west of Van Cortlandt Park across Tippet's
I east of this little stream. The flight was always thge black cock, and was made at sunset. The leader thand the flock were at once on the wing, sa'ere very common on the Bronx River. The last of if there about 1790. It is said they at one time changed rehe river by a dam. If the current was feeble, they te;es trouble by building the dam straight across; but,
ig, they built the dam in a convex shape, so as to N;ngth of the water. It was, therefore, possible to ac? a stream by the shape of the beaver dams, df andt Park, a botanical reservation, is situated in It nx and is the second largest in the Borough. On ri accessibility it is much further advanced in its srnd is more generally used than Pelham Bay Park, fi} '-acre parade ground, hemmed in on three sides by
id picturesque landscapes, makes a very impressive
s green sward the National Guardsmen in summer am battles and hold their dress parades. The field
60
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
is also used for athletic sports of all kinds, particularly baseball, golf and polo.
The parade ground is the site of Adrien Van der Donck's Planting Field (1653), where he located his bouwerie. Van der| Donck had been sheriff of Rensselaerswyck, but his young, newly-, wedded wife persuaded him to remove to Manhattan. Before he had completed his arrangements for removal, his pretty cottage | burned down ; and, as it was in the depth of an inclement winter (1647), Van Corlear invited his houseless neighbors to share his hospitality. A quarrel soon arose because the host insisted that
Van Cortlandt Vault, Van Cortlandt Park ue
rd Van der Donck was bound to make good to his patroon the valp^
of the lost house. Van der Donck retorted sharply, and was orde ^
from the house. Kieft, who was indebted to him for a large amou-;(j
of borrowed money, permitted him to purchase from the Indians;;^
large tract of land, now part of Van Cortlandt Park, and granijg
him the privileges of patroon. This took the name of Colen Dom\^
on Donck's Colony. Many of the Dutch were in the habit of calli)j..
this estate de Jonkheer's Landt, Jonkheer being a title which ^yi
Holland was applied to the sons of noblemen. The English C(
rupted it and called it "Yonkers," whence the name of the to'^^^j
north of Van Cortlandt Park. ^g
Van Cortlandt Lake comprises about seventy-five acres a
during winter offers opportunity to ten or fifteen thousand skatei
THE PARKS
61
.and in summer is dotted by those who love to go out in small boats. It was made in 1700 by throwing an embankment across Tippett's Brook, the Mosholu of the Indians.
No spot of ground around New York is so hallowed by Revolu- tionary memories as this. It was on Vault Hill, to the northwest of the Van Cortlandt mansion, that Washington in 1781 kept a string of camp fires blazing for several days to deceive Clinton -across Spuyten Duyvil Creek, while the allied French and American armies were speeding across the Jerseys on their way to Philadel-
Van Cortlandt Mansion, Van Cortlandt Park
phia and Yorktown. Vault Hill derived its name from the ancient burial place of the Van Cortlandts. It was in this vault that the records of the City of New York were hidden by Augustus Van Cortlandt, then City Clerk, when the City was evacuated by the Americans in 1776, and preserved until peace was restored.
In the lower part of Van Cortlandt Park, in front of the Parade Ground, still stands the historic mansion erected in 1748 by Frederick Van Cortlandt, who married Frances Jay, daughter of the ancestor of Chief Justice John Jay. Frederick Van Cort- landt refers to it in his will, written in 1749 as "the large stone dwelling house which I am about finishing."
62
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Two eagles surmounted the posts of an old gateway which, according to Bolton's "History of Westchester," were spoils taken from a Spanish privateer, and presented to the house by a British Admiral. The Eagles have disappeared since the sale to the City. General Washington occupied this house for a brief time in 1781, prior to his retreat to Yorktown, and at the close of the war in 1783 spent a night there before crossing King's Bridge on his triumphal entry into the City of New York. The house is still in an excellent state of preservation, and is used as a repository of
Van Cortlandt Mills
Colonial and Revolutionary relics, in the care of the Colonial Dames. It is furnished, as in the old historic days, with high canopied bedsteads and other quaint household articles. In the kitchen may still be seen the old fashioned utensils and the large fireplace. It was in the capacious rooms of this grand, old resi- dence that Washington, Rochambeau, the Duke of Clarence (later King William the Fourth), and other celebrities were entertained. During the Revolution this structure was the headquarters for the Hessian Jaegers. Captain Rowe of the Princhbank Jaegers, having been mortally wounded by the American water guard stationed on
Vai
auring w
THE PARKS
ea
Wild Boar Hill, was conveyed into one of the rooms of the Van Cortlandt mansion, where, after faintly speaking a few words to his broken-hearted bride-elect, became exhausted by the effort, and expired in her arms.
Grand old trees surround the ancient mansion and spread their mighty boughs above the eaves of that stately old building, as if to shield it from the blustering winds that on stormy days sweep- over the ridge. South of the mansion, surrounded by a moat, is the Dutch garden. One of the stones of the old mill forms the base for the pedestal of a sun dial. Under the shadow of this-
Fifteenth Milestone
Tenth Milestone
building may be seen the grim Rhinelander Sugar-House Prison window, removed hither from Duane and Rose Streets, Manhattan. This Rhinelander Sugar House was used during the Revolutionary War as a British military prison, and it was against the solid iron grated bars of this window that the patriots pressed their faces to get a breath of pure air. The window was presented by T. J. 0. Rhinelander, and dedicated on May 26, 1903. It is flanked, by two cannons from Fort Independence.
A crumbling old millstone on the bank of the mill race, near the site of the original Van Cortlandt house, is the only remaining-
€4
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
relic of the picturesque saw and grist mills erected by Jacobus Van Cortlandt, in 1700, which stood on the west side of the bridge crossing the dam; they were struck by lightning and destroyed in 1901. To the westward, on Newton Avenue, part of the old Albany Post Road, near Two Hundred Twenty-second Street, may still be seen one of the two surviving milestones in this Borough, recently reset by the City History Club. It was the fifteenth on the route to Albany; the other one (the tenth milestone) is located .at One Hundred Sixty-eighth Street and Boston Road.
Hadley House
About four hundred paces north is the Van Cortlandt's miller's house, a white house built for the miller of the old estate.
Further along on the left is the Hadley house, partly of wood, unpainted, and partly of stone covered with vines. It probably antedates the Van Cortlandt mansion. It is said to have given shelter more than once to Washington. In the adjoining woods many relics have been found, including old English muskets, and an Indian skeleton in a sitting position, holding a small child's skeleton in its arms. Just above, north of Riverside Lane, is the
THE PARKS 65
Somler house, the older portion dating back to the Revolution.
Near Hawthorne Avenue, west of Valentine Lane, is the re- mains of Washington's chestnut, a gigantic tree over two centuries old, which, tradition says, Washington used as a place of ob- servation.
At the corner of Hawthorne Avenue is the Lawrence house, where Washington stopped. This house was probably given ta Lawrence as a reward for his services as guide.
At Sycamore Avenue and Two Hundred and Fifty-third Street,, one block south of the Morrisania mansion, stands the former home of Mark Twain, where he lived in 1901.
Another interesting scene worth visiting in Van Cortlandt Park is the Indian Field at Two Hundred Thirty-seventh Street and Mount Vernon Avenue. On this plot lie the remains of Chief Nimham and seventeen Stockbridge Indians, who died on August 31, 1778, fighting on the side of the patriots. The Indians put up a desperate resistance against the British Legion Dragoons, but were overmatched by superior numbers. Chief Nimham wounded Sim- coe, one of the British commanders but was himself killed by Wright, his orderly Hussar. A cairn, upon which has been fas- tened a bronze memorial tablet by the Bronx Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is a tribute worthy of that valorous band who gave their lives for liberty. It bears the following inscription:
AUGUST 31, 1778.
UPON THIS FIELD,
CHIEF NIMHAM,
AND SEVENTEEN STOCKBRIDGE INDIANS,
AS ALLIES OF THE PATRIOTS,
GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR LIBERTY.
Erected by Bronx Chapter,
Daughters of the American Revolution,
Mount Vernon, New York.
June 14, 1906.
The Mosholu Parkway over 6,500 feet long and 600 feet wide leads direct from the Van Cortlandt to the Bronx Park. The grandeur and natural beauty of the Bronx Park is unsurpassed. The Zoological Park and the Botanical Gardens are the most com- plete, and are said to be the finest in the world.
'66
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
The Zoological Park is free to the public every day, except Mondays and Thursdays (if not holidays) when the admission fee is 25 cents. Almost every specimen of wild animal is to be found here amid surroundings as nearly like those of their native haunts ^s it is possible to create.
The Botanical Gardens are alone worth a visit to the park,
Indian Monument, Van Cortlandt Park
and are a wonderland of trees, flowers, and shrubberies. The celebrated Hemlock Grove on the west bank of the Bronx River is a favorite resort of artists who find many an inspiring scene for brush or pencil.
Other interesting points are : The Crystal Palace, the 100-ton Rocking Stone, and the Boars' Den, a natural cave in the rocks.
Bronx Park was at one time the property of the Lorillards,
THE PARKS
67
whose mansion still stands near the waterfall that ran the old snuff mill from which the family derived its fortune. During the Revolution it was the one place in the Colonies where snuff was manufactured. The manor-house has been renovated and turned into a museum by the Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences. The Lorillard Mansion Museum is open free to the public from 2 to 5 p. m. It would thrill the heart of an antiquarian to see the varied exhibits, historical relics, and countless other curiosities.
Elephant House, Bronx Park
Thru a rocky chasm flows the romantic Bronx River, made famous by Lord North. His Lordship once remarked that Howe should have sailed his fleet up the Bronx River, and thus cut off Washington's retreat. Had Howe followed up this ludicrous order the British fleet would, no doubt, have remained there to this day. The Bronx River runs directly thru part of the park from north to south, varying in width from 50 to 400 feet.
Crotona Park is situated in what is now one of the most popu- lous sections of the Borough, and with its ball fields, tennis courts, athletic fields, and Indian Lake, affords splendid recreation grounds for those living in its immediate neighborhood. Many improve- ments have been made in this park within the last few years. In
68
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
the northwest corner of the park stands the Borough Hall, erected in 1897.
The land comprising Crotona Park constituted the Bathgate Farm. Alexander Bathgate, a Scotchman, who came to this coun- try early in the nineteenth century, was overseer on the farm of Gouverneur Morris, the First. He was frugal and thrifty, and he saved enough to purchase the farm from the second Gouverneur Morris.
"GuNDA," The Famous Elephant of Bronx Park Zoo
Crotona Parkway, 100 feet wide, connects Crotona Park with Bronx Park. It was opened in 1910.
Claremont Park is situated on very high natural ground and gives an extensive view of the surrounding territory on all sides. This was formerly known as the Zborowski Farm, which Martin Zborowski obtained as a dowry from the Morris family thru his marriage to Anna Morris. The headquarters of the Bronx Park Department is located in what was known as the Zborowski man- sion, a stone building erected in 1859, and is evidently on the site of an older building dating about 1676. Beyond is the famous Black Swamp, where cattle have been lost since the time of the Indians. For years it has defied the eff'orts of all contractors to fill it up.
THE PARKS
69
Claremont Park is connected with Crotona Park by means of Wendover Avenue. A little north of Claremont Park are located the smaller parks, known as Echo Park, St. James Park and Poe Park. Poe Park is so named because adjacent to the park was the Poe Cottage, recently removed to the Park and where Edgar Allen Poe wrote many of his poems. Here, Virginia, his invalid wife, died and was buried from the Fordham Manor Dutch Reformed Church, Kingsbridge Road and Aqueduct Avenue. In Poe Park, directly opposite the cottage, there is a bust of Poe with an inscrip-
BiRD Court, Bronx Park
tion, erected by the Bronx Society of Arts and Sciences on the centenary of his birth, January 19th, 1909. In the Cromwell house near the Poe cottage lived an old lady who supplied Poe with the necessities of life during his deepest poverty.
St. Mary's Park is situated at the southerly end of the Borough and was formerly a portion of the property of Gouverneur Morris, who lies buried in the churchyard of St. Ann's Church, within a few feet of the park.
In the northwesterly end of the Borough are Franz Sigel Park, Macomb's Dam Park, University Park and Washington Bridge Park; all small but splendidly located, and adding much to the general beauty of the Borough. Franz Sigel Park, originally
70
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
called Cedar Park from the number of cedar trees growing there, was so renamed, in 1902, in memory of the heroic Civil War veteran who lived during the latter part of his life not far from Cedar Park. Recently some of the members of the North Side Board of Trade and The Bronx Industrial Bureau called, thru W. R. Messenger, the Secretary of the Bureau, a meeting of citizens in
LoRiLLARD Mansion, Bronx Park
the Morris High School to consider the organization of a society which should have for its object the preservation of the natural beauties of the Borough and the improvement of its home sur- roundings. A large and interested body of citizens responded to the call, and the meeting resulted in the organization of the Bronx- Beautiful Society.
Among those urging its formation and indicating its field of usefulness were the Hon. C. C. Miller, President of the Borough; Hon. Joseph A. Goulden, ex-member of Congress; Hon. Thomas
THE PARKS
71
J. Higgins, Commissioner of Parks; Chancellor Elmer E. Brown, of New York University; R. E. Simon, President of the Bronx Industrial Bureau ; E. B. Boynton, President of the American Realty Company; Hon. James L. Wells, who was elected Presi- dent of the Society; Chancellor Brown became its Vice President; Hon. Joseph A. Goulden was made Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Charles F. Minor, manager of The Bronx branch
Bathgate Homestead
of the Knickerbocker Trust Company, became Treasurer, while W. R. Messenger was elected secretary. Other members of the Executive Committee were J. J. Amory, E. B. Boynton, Prof. Irvin Chaffee, William S. Germain, Rev. Thomas F. Gregg, Rev. W. H. Kephart, Hon. F. D. Wilsey, R. E. Simon, W. R. Messenger, and Olin J. Stephens. To this committee have since been added Charles Hilton Brown and Mrs. Miller, of Mount Hope.
CHAPTER VIII
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
How the Future of the Child is Anticipated and the Schools Turn out the Men and Women of Tomorrow — Churches — How the Spiritual and Moral Welfare is looked After — Hospitals — Benevolent and Charitable Institu- tions— Cemeteries.
N educational facilities The Bronx possesses all that can be desired. No civic institutions have been more zealously looked after by the municipality than the public schools. True, some of the lower grades have been necessarily put on part time be- cause of the enormous increase in population in the last two years; but many new schools are now in course of erection and the work is being pushed with all vigor so that in due time there will be a seat for every child in The Bronx.
Search among the old records has failed to reveal just where and when the first school in the Borough was established. It was in a quaint little story-and-a-half schoolhouse once standing just east of the old Boston Post Road, now Third Avenue, and One Hundred Fifty-sixth Street that the gentry of the neighborhood, including the various branches of the Morris family, learned the rudiments of reading, writing, and ciphering. Bolton in his "His- tory of the County of Westchester" says that the first schoolhouse in Eastchester was erected in 1683, but it hardly seems possible that the burghers' children with their thirst for knowledge were so long without a school.
In Westchester the English school was established and main- tained by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The first schoolmaster of whom we have any rec- ord is Edward Fitzgerald who served in 1709. He seems to have taught in the school only provisionally, for in that year the Rev. John Bartow wrote to the Society recommending the appointment of Daniel Clark, the son of a clergyman, as schoolmaster. Mr. Clark served from 1710 to 1713, when he was succeeded by Charles Glover, who held tne position until 1719. Mr. Glover was paid a
72
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 73
salary of eighteen pounds per annum, which was considered quite an income in those days.
Mr. William .Forster, who subsequently opposed Judge Lewis Morris in the election for representative in the Assembly, is next mentioned as the schoolmaster at Westchester. His remuneration was ten pounds per annum and a gratuity of ten pounds. He served until 1743, and the following year was succeeded by Mr. Basil Bartow, the son of the Rev. John Bartow, who held the position until 1762. There was a vacancy for two years which was filled by Mr. Nathaniel Seabury, a son of the Society's missionary at Hempstead, Long Island, and a brother of the Rev. Samuel Seabury, rector of the parish. The power of appointment had been vested by the Propagation Society in the rector; George Youngs succeeded Nathaniel Seabury in 1768, and served until 1772. There was a vacancy again for two years, and in 1774 Mr. Gott accepted the appointment and held the office until the Revolution. After the war the school passed from the authority of the church to that of the town.
It was not, however, until 1874, when the Twenty-third and the Twenty-fourth Wards were annexed to New York City and the schools passed under the control of the Board of Education, that they developed to any degree of efficiency.
Since the consolidation of the Greater City in 1897, the public school system in the Borough has reached its highest mark. From a small number of scattered schools with a few thousand pupils there has grown a school population of 86,000, housed in fifty ele- mentary school buildings and one secondary school. There is a class for crippled children in Public School No. 4 at Prospect Avenue and One Hundred and Seventy-sixth Street. They are transported to and from the school by means of two stages. Open-air classes are provided for enemic children, wlio are supplied with free lunches and sitting-out paraphernalia.
Besides these schools there are within the Borough limits twenty parochial schools and the two great universities — New York and Fordham.
The New York University, founded in 1831, ranks among the foremost institutions of learning in the United States. The founders had an idea of grandeur and beauty when they selected this spot for the celebrated college. It is charmingly situated on a forty-acre elevation on Fordham Heights and overlooks the Harlem
74
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
and Hudson Rivers, as well as Long Island Sound. Its environ- ments are ideal and invigorating for the educational advantages and physical opportunities provided under the experienced and able supervision of Dr. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Chancellor, and a most distinguished faculty.
About five thousand students are distributed thru the fol-
New York University
lowing departments : College of Arts and Pure Science, Graduate School, School of Pedagogy, School of Commerce, Law School, and Medical College.
Adjoining the Library Building is the "Hall of Fame," where are recorded on bronze tablets the names of America's immortals in science, literature, art, law, politics and other fields of noble endeavor. These names are selected by a committee of men who are themselves leaders in their respective professions, and who are thus best qualified to pass judgment upon such matters.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 75
The site of Fort Number Eight was acquired by the University in 1907. It is marked by a boulder inscribed:
The Site
OF
Fort Number Eight 1776-1783.
Fordham University, established ten years later, has a wide- spread fame, and its students come from every quarter of the globe. The college is located in Fordham at the northern part of The Bronx. Since its inception, in 1841, it has been under the auspices of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. No college thru- out the land is more thoro in its system of education than this, and no student gets his university degree until he has attained the high intellectual qualifications for which the university is noted.
The university includes three departments: The Department of Philosophy and Arts, the Department of Medicine and the De- partment of Law. A school of Pharmacy was added last year, and Schools of Dentistry and Engineering will be established in 1914.
At the corner of Fordham Road and Sedgwick Avenue, on the site of the Old Dutch Burial Ground, stands the imposing Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders. It was founded and endowed by the eminent shipbuilder and naval architect, William Henry Webb, who is noted for his ship, the Dunderberg, built in 1864 for the United States Government and afterwards sold it to France. The Academy gives young men, who are citizens of the United States and who pass the entrance examination, free instruc- tion in the science and the art of shipbuilding and marine engine building. It furnishes its students with board and lodging as well as with all of the necessary tools and materials. The Home affords free relief and support to aged, indigent, or unfortunate ship- builders or marine engine builders, as well as to their wives or widows.
Other institutions of importance are : The Morris High School on Boston Road, Classon's Point Military Academy, and the Convent Schools and Academies of Mount St. Vincent, St. Joseph, St. Jerome, St. Martin of Tours, and Mount St. Ursula.
The spiritual and moral welfare of the community is looked after by one hundred and seventy-seven churches, made up of the following denominations : Baptist, 13 ; Congregational, 6 ; Disciples
76
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
of Christ, 2 ; Jewish, 12 ; Lutheran, 23 ; Methodist, 26 ; Moravian,! ; Presbyterian, 17; Protestant Episcopal, 25; Reformed Church of America, 9 ; Reformed Episcopal, 1 ; Seventh Day Adventists, 3 ; Roman Catholic, 38, and United Presbyterian, 1.
Accessory to these are many charitable and benevolent insti- tutions, as well as hospitals and free dispensaries. In these the wants of the needy are looked after and the sick are admitted free.
/
Morris High School
if too poor to pay for treatment. On the staffs of these hospitals are many distinguished physicians and surgeons who receive large fees in private practice, but who, as humanitarians, give their time and service to the poor without remuneration.
There are ten hospitals in The Bronx, three of which have ambulance service answering all calls in the Borough. Fordham Hospital, established in 1882, is under the charge of the Board of Trustees of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals. It is not only the busiest hospital, but it covers more territory than any of the other
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 77
institutions; its ambulance district reaches from East One Hun- dred Seventieth Street to City Island. The hospital is admirably situated at Southern Boulevard and Crotona Avenue and faces the Bronz Zoological Park. An excellent corps of physicians and surgeons treat an average of one hundred and sixty patients a day. There are one hundred and fifty beds distributed in six wards, and in all there are accommodations for five hundred patients.
Reposing upon the rocky heights at Cauldwell and Westchester Avenues is Lebanon Hospital, formerly the Ursuline Convent. Al- tho incorporated in 1890 by Jewish philanthropists its doors are open to all, regardless of nationality or creed. Connected with the hospital is a free dispensary and a splendid training school for nurses.
For the eight months preceding December 31st, 1912, 2,593 patients were treated in the hospital. In addition the ambulance service responded to 1,639 calls, of which 1,436 were accident cases that were taken to the hospital for treatment. During the same period 27,309 patients were treated in the dispensary free of charge.
The hospital is maintained partly by voluntary subscription and donations, and partly by the city. Its ambulance territory is from One Hundred Forty-ninth to One Hundred Seventieth Streets.
Lincoln Hospital, at East One Hundred Forty-first Street and Concord Avenue, was originally incorporated in 1845, as a colored home and hospital. In 1901 it was opened to the general public and an ambulance service was added, covering the territory from Harlem River to One Hundred Forty-ninth Street. It provide.-? separate buildings for consumptive and maternity patients, aiid a detached pavilion for persons afflicted with infectious diseases, li has also a home for the aged, infirm and destitute colored people of both sexes; a home for incurables; and a training school for colored nurses. The hospital has a capacity of four hundred beds. It is supported by voluntary subscriptions, donations and bequests.
St. Joseph's Hospital for consumptives, a Roman Catholic institution, is located at St. Ann's and Brook Avenues, East One Hundred Forty-third and One Hundred Forty-fourth Streets. It was established in 1882, and is in charge of the Sisters of the Poor of Saint Francis, a German order. During 1912, over 2,000 patients were treated here irrespective of nationality or religious denomination. The hospital has five hundred beds which
78 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
are constantly occupied by sufferers in all stages of the "Great White Plague."
Seton Hospital at Spuyten Duyvil is another fine institution where tuberculous patients are treated irrespective of race or creed. Its location is ideal. Overlooking the Hudson and Harlem Rivers, it embraces an area of twenty-eight acres. The hospital was named after Mother Elizabeth Baily Seton, the founder of the Sisters of Charity in the United States. It was incorporated in 1892 and opened in 1895 by Sister Mary Irene of the Sisters of Charity, under whose management it is conducted. The main building, formerly the Whiting mansion, which is used exclusively for men, accommodates two hundred patients. The House of Nazareth, a branch of this hospital, is used for the accommodation of women and children, and has a capacity of two hundred.
St. Francis Hospital occupies the entire block between One Hundred Forty-second and One Hundred Forty-third Streets and Brook and St. Ann's Avenues, and is under the direct charge of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis; the same denomination as- that having charge of St. Joseph's Hospital. It is one of the Borough's largest and most modern charity hospitals and treats diseases of all kinds. The institution has over four hundred beds at the disposal of patients regardless of sect or nationality. For the treatment of non-paying poor it is reimbursed by the City.
Union Hospital is located in the old Eden mansion, formerly occupied by Fordham Hospital, at No. 2456 Valentine Avenue, corner of One Hundred Eighty-eighth Street. It is a general hos- pital for the treatment of all ailments and has many prominent physicians connected with it. It is maintained entirely by volun- tary contributions and membership in the Union Hospital Asso- ciation, and receives patients of all creeds, sects or nationalities. During the first year of its existence over five hundred surgical operations were performed by its surgeons including the most severe and difficult.
Riverside Hospital, on North Brother Island, is a city institu- tion for the isolation of contagious and infectious diseases. It has accommodations for five hundred patients. Its ideal location on the Sound is one of the factors that help to effect many cures ; it is under the charge of Bellevue and Allied Hospitals.
The Home for Incurables, on Third Avenue between One Hun- dred Eighty-first Street and One Hundred Eighty-fourth Streets,
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 79
is one of the oldest institutions in The Bronx. It originated in 1866 in a small rented house in West Farms, the Old Jacob Lo- rillard mansion ; but it rapidly outgrew its limited accommodations. Thru the generosity of the late Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, the spacious grounds upon which the institution now stands were deeded to the Home in 1873. During the forty-six years of its existence 3,261 patients of both sexes suffering from "incurable" diseases, not contagious nor infectious, have found a home there. Of this number two per cent have left the institution cured, while 1,019 were discharged for various reasons. There are at present about 286 invalids in the Home.
At its new quarters No. 459 East One Hundred Forty-first Street, the Bronx Eye and Ear Infirmary has been doing excellent work for the last nine years. Persons suffering from diseases of the eye, ear, nose or throat who are unable to pay for professional services are accorded free treatment at the infirmary. They have now also opened a dental clinic.
A new Bronx Hospital is to be erected in the neighborhood of Kingsbridge Road and Sedgwick Avenue. It will be on the style of Fordham Hospital, with excellent ambulance service, and is to be directly connected with Bellevue and the allied hospitals.
In addition to the hospitals already mentioned, there are many church and private societies who supply medicine and medical as- sistance to the poor and needy.
Among the benevolent and charitable institutions, the New York Catholic Protectory, situated on Walker Avenue and the Unionport Road in Westchester, ranks as the largest. It was founded in 1863, and since its doors opened it has sheltered and educated approximately 50,000 wayward and destitute juveniles. Like all truly great religious and benevolent enterprises, its be- ginning was small, but the field was so large and worthy that many prominent men were influenced to aid Archbishop Hughes and the Brothers of the Christian Schools in this great charity work. The present site at Westchester, covering an area of 114 acres, was purchased June 9th, 1865, and cost $40,000.
There are three classes admitted to this institution — those under fourteen years of age, who, with the written consent of their parents or guardians, may be intrusted to it for protection or reformation ; those between seven and sixteen years of age com- mitted as idle, truant, vicious or homeless by order of a magistrate ;
80 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
and those of a like age transferred by the Department of Public Charities. The boys, in charge of the Christian Brothers of the Catholic Church, receive a general school education and are taught trades, such as printing, electrotyping, bookbinding, shoe, brush, harness, and paper box making, baking, farming, tailoring, chair caning, brick laying, plumbing, telegraphy, blacksmithing, wheel- wrighting, carpentering, painting, drawing, etc.
The girls, under the tutelage of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, also receive a general school education and are taught ma- chine sewing, typewriting, cooking, laundry work, telegraphy and music. The famous Protectory Band has won an enviable reputa- tion in the musical world and is a great credit to the institution.
The Peabody Home for Aged and Indigent Women at Boston Eoad and One Hundred Seventy-ninth Street was founded in 1874, and is a free and non-sectarian institution for white women over sixty-five years of age. The Home is supported entirely by volun- tary subscriptions and accommodates about thirty-five.
The Home for the Friendless at Jerome and Woodycrest Ave- nues, opposite Macomb's Dam Park, was opened in 1902, and aims to save from degradation, friendless and neglected children; boys under ten and girls under fourteen. It is under the control of the American Female Guardian Society. After being legally surrendered to the society, they are transferred by adoption to Christian families who, upon investigation, can give satisfactory assurance that they will provide good homes for the children.
Other philanthropic institutions are: The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum at Fordham Heights ; The Hebrew Infant Asylum ; St. Philip's Parish House, and Webb's Academy and Home for Shipbuilders, mentioned elsewhere in another connection.
The New York Public Library absorbed in 1904 the Bronx Free Library and maintains five branches in beautiful Carnegie Build- ings, where books and periodicals are loaned to young and old, and where reference and reading rooms accommodate scholars and students. The libraries are located at 321 East One Hundred Fortieth Street, 78 West One Hundred Sixty-eighth Street, 610 East One Hundred Sixty-ninth Street, 1866 Washington Avenue, and 3041 Kingsbridge Avenue.
It is a natural phase of human existence that a city's cemeteries expand in numbers and dimensions in direct ratio to the city's increase in size and population.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 81
Foremost in The Bronx is Woodlawn Cemetery, at Woodlawn. It was incorporated in 1863 and covers four hundred acres of ele- vated, sloping lands that display the height of the landscape gardener's art and is one of the most picturesque burying grounds in the world. It is situated on the westerly side of the Bronx River, and extends to East Two Hundred Twenty-third Street.
The grounds are divided by countless pathways, walks and avenues, and the contrast of the hundreds of marble and granite columns, monuments and mausoleums against the rich, green lawns affords a rare picture. Trees of great age and splendor, beds of flowers and plants and the green beds of ivy that almost hide many of the grey-white tombs add to the delicious richness of the spot.
Representatives of some of the most prominent families in New York have tombs there. Most notable are: The Appletons, Goulds, Vanderbilts, Lorillards, Choates, Corbins, Crosbys, But- terfields, Dillons, Flaglers, Havemeyers, Sloans, and Whitneys. The remains of Lieut. De Long, and Jospeh Pulitzer are also interred there. Lieut. De Long's body, with those of his comrades, were brought from the Arctic regions and interred on Chapel Hill Avenue.
One of the most imposing of the monuments in the cemetery is that of our first admiral, David Glasgow Farragut, who was buried here in 1870. The shaft is of fine white marble in the shape of a portion of a ship's mast, at the foot of which are nautical paraphernalia, a sword and symbolic shields. The inscrip- tion reads:
Erected
By his Wife and Son
To THE Memory of
DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT,
First Admiral of the United States Navy
Born July 5, 1801,
Died August 14, 1870.
Bensonia Cemetery, altho now a neglected, barren tract of land known on the City Map as the "Public Place at Rae Street," was once a picturesque burial ground, in a lovely section of Mor- risania, densely shaded by elms, poplar and evergreen trees. The land was purchased in 1853 by Robert H. Elton, who laid out what
82 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
he termed the "House Territory of Bensonia." About three years later it came into the possession of James L. Parsball who enlarged its boundaries so that it extended from Rae Street on the south to Carr Street on the north.
In 1868 the trustees of Morrisania forbade further inter- ments within its limits, and henceforth the cemetery has been neg- lected. A new street, St. Ann's Avenue, was laid out so as prac- tically to cut the burial ground in two, and the bodies thus un- earthed were removed to other cemeteries.
The extreme southeasterly section of Bensonia Cemetery was bought half a century ago by the Sons of Liberty, and here rest over 150 of its members. But the brave soldiers of the Civil War who were buried have not a tablet to indicate their resting places.
In his police history. Inspector Byrnes states that the ghouls who robbed the grave of A. T. Stewart temporarily hid his remains in this sequestered spot, and no one can accurately say whether his body rests under his costly mausoleum at Garden City.
Efforts have been made to have the City convert the Bensonia Cemetery into a public park, but as yet without success. It is hoped that in the near future the tract known as the "Public Place at Rae Street," will be transferred into a beautiful breathing place.
St. Raymond's Cemetery on the Fort Schuyler Road in West- chester is used exclusively by the Roman Catholics. It embraces €ighty-six acres and has many beautiful and imposing monuments.
CHAPTER IX OAK POINT
The "Cradle of Cuban Liberty" — Wreck of the British Frigate Hussar.
|ip^T-7/^^ F the future prosperity of Bronx Park depends
a^V' ^/ upon the productive and commercial activities of
> its people, its success is assured, for no city in the ^x__-^ ^ world has such natural or economic advantages. What has been done in the way of improvements is small compared to what is projected for the near fu- ture. New arteries of travel are to connect every section of the Borough with Manhattan. With the tri-borough subway under construction, and other local facilities for transportation extended, an efficient municipal and borough administration to push the work ahead, The Bronx has indeed a bright and glorious future.
So fast have events crowded one upon another since the days of Jonas Bronck, that the Borough's historic surroundings are rapidly being lost sight of.
One of the most conspicuous landmarks that was swept away by the 1906 land boom was the Casanova mansion, known as the "Cradle of Cuban Liberty." For years this famous structure had been standing a quaint, gray spectre at Oak Point, neglected and untenanted, and without a sign of life about, save the New Haven and Hartford freight station a quarter of a mile away.
The mansion was built in 1859 by Benjamin M. Whitlock, a wealthy grocer of New York, on a property consisting of fifty acres. The building cost $350,000 when completed, and was the most imposing residence above the Harlem at that time. It is said that the door knobs were made of solid gold. As a carriage approached the gates of the estate the horses stepped on a hidden spring causing the gates to fly open ; and the house had secret underground passages. The house contained one hundred rooms and the beauty in the decoration of these rooms has not been sur- passed to this day,
83
84
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
The mansion was known as "Whitlock's Folly," and the name clung to the place until the building was destroyed. In 1867, after the death of Mr. Whitlock, his widow sold the house to Senor Yglesias Casanova, a wealthy Cuban sugar and coffee planter, for $150,000. Senor Casanova was a leader of a band of Cuban, pa- triots, and during the early struggles of the Cuban people for liberty, this place was the rendezvous of Cuban patriots and sym- pathizers. It is said that the cellars and subterranean passages
Casanova Mansion
were stored with powder and rifles which eventually found their way into the hands of the patriots in Havana and other Cuban cities. An underground passage had been made, running from the house to the Sound, and under cover of darkness boats, which were undoubtedly filibusters, were occasionally seen to steal into the little cove that the mansion overlooked; and, after being freighted with ammunition and other implements of war, to creep out again as mysteriously as they had entered.
After the suppression of the first Cuban revolution, Casanova, whose loyalty to his country never waned, became down-hearted, and the mansion that for many years had been the scene of revelry
OAK POINT 85
and likewise of social functions, ceased to be occupied. Mr. Casa- nova moved to New Orleans, and the house began to fall into decay for want of care and attention.
When the war was declared between this country and Spain, Mr. Cosanova was an aged man. It is said that he returned to Spain where he died.
Just prior to the demolition of the building, the author had occasion to visit it. The once magnificent old structure appeared in a pitifully dilapidated state. The grounds surrounding it were overrun with rank weeds and other unsightly growth. The mas- sive bronze doors, with their Spanish coat-of-arms, turned heavily upon their squeaky hinges, as if reluctant to admit the feet of common mortals.
As one entered the dimly lighted hall, he seemed to be stepping into the shadows of former ages, for everything looked so sombre and sepulchral. An unnatural hollow sound echoed and reverber- ated thru the spacious hall as one's footsteps fell upon the marble floor.
A hasty glance thru the rooms left one amazed at the elaborate beauty of the architecture. The decorations of each apartment were different, there being no two rooms alike. Some had panelled ceilings and walls, others were richly decorated in fleur-de-lis and other floral designs, with heavy carved woodwork of cherry and oak. So artistically and sumptuously were they fashioned that one was fascinated with their grandeur.
There were numerous stairways leading to the cellar, some of which were rather risky to descend, as they were narrow and dark. The cellar was strewn with old rubbish, and on the south side of the building there was a large kitchen. A rusty iron oven^ a three-legged stool and an old wooden table upon which stood several broken dishes, were the only furnishings of the room. The place was musty and malodorous and shrouded in darkness. With the aid of a lantern the old tunnel was located. It was choked up with dirt and rubbish, but there was enough of it exposed to give a fair conception of what it had once been. On either side of the tunnel were half a dozen cells built of solid rock with heavy iron hinges riveted to both the floors and walls. To what use they could have been put can only be surmised. Could they speak what tales thej might have unfolded !
Ofl" Port Morris is the deepest water in the vicinity of New7
86
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
York. The Great Eastern made her first anchorage here on her maiden trip to New York, having come in by way of the Sound.
Close by is Pot Rock where the British frigate-of-war Hussar sank with one hundred and seven men on board. The vessel reached New York from England on September 13, 1780, carrying
Subterranean Passage and Cells
American prisoners and laden with a mass of gold, silver and cop- per coin with which to pay off the British forces in the Colonies. Rumors having reached the English Admiralty that New York City was about to fall into the hands of the Americans, the Hussar was given orders to sail up the Sound to Newport. But it struck in the vicinity of North Brother Island and Port Morris on the 23rd of November, 1780.
It was said that she carried to the bottom with her not only
OAK POINT
87
her own treasure but also three hundred and eighty thousand pounds which had been transferred from the Mercury; another British vessel. Numerous futile attempts have been made since 1818 to recover the treasure, and over a quarter of a million dollars have been sunk in the endeavors. In 1819 her guns and upper sheathing were brought to light. One treasure-seeker unearthed from the wreck fifteen guineas, a number of relics, including some beer mugs, inscribed "George III. Rex." and a cannon now in the museum of Worcester, Mass. Copper rivets of the prisoners' mana-
Leggett's Lane
cles, projectiles, and parts of the ship's woodwork have also been found.
Finally Secretary Gresham of the New York State Depart- ment exploded the myth of the lost treasure. He examined closely the report of the Admiralty Office and the logs of the Hussar and the Mercury, but found no mention of any treasure. A report of Fletcher Betts, an officer of the Hussar, was discovered which stated that there had been twenty thousand pounds in gold on the Hussar, but that two days before the disaster the money had been delivered to the Commissary General at New York; Betts himself having assisted in the transfer.
Near the Longwood Club House at Southern Boulevard and
88 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Leggett Avenue, formerly Leggett's Lane, is the site of a Revolu- tionary cave. There was a skirmish close by between the British and the Americans, and the patriots were forced to flee. They car- ried their dead along with them, and when they reached this cave they hastily concealed the corpses of their comrades.
CHAPTER X
HUNT'S POINT
Colonial and Revolutionary Days — The Story of Joseph Rodman Drake — A Visit to "God's Little Acre."
pNE by one the old landmarks of The Bronx are disap- pearing. The few that have been preserved are worth more than a casual inspection. There are few places in the Borough about which cluster so many interest- ing and historical reminiscences of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods as the Hunt's Point section. A few years ago, there were many of these early landmarks standing, but the region is changing rapidly; the old sites giving way to bright, new bricks and mortar.
On April 25, 1666, Edward Jessup and John Richardson ob- tained from Governor Nicolls a patent for certain lands, now known as the West Farms Patent; they having previously, on March 12, 1663, purchased the Indian rights. These lands lay along the west bank of the Bronx River, bounding "to the midst of the said river" running from the Fordham line south to the Sea or East River, and westerly to a little brook called Sackwrahung , or Bungay Creek, which ran along about where Intervale Avenue is now located.
On obtaining possession of this patented land, Jessup and Richardson set aside two home plots, each consisting of thirty acres of upland and eight acres of meadow. These were located on the old Hunt's Point Road just south of the present Lafayette Avenue. The Dickey and Spofford properties on the east of the old road, include within their bounds Richardson's thirty acres and most of the two meadow parcels. This home-lot vested, in 1679, in Gabriel Leggett, thru his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of Richardson, and remained in a branch of the Leggett family down to 1836. It was known as Barretto's Point.
Historians give but meagre information regarding John Rich- ardson, but speak of Edward Jessup as a most remarkable man,
89
90 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
not because he was a magistrate and a large land owner, or be- cause'he sprang from an ancient and illustrious English family; but, because he was a brave, daring, upright man, full of restless energy, and the recognized champion of the colonists. Among his neighbors, he was popularly known as Goodman Jessup, and in 1665, he was one of Westchester's two delegates sent to the Convention of Towns held in Hempstead, Long Island — the first representative and deliberative body that assembled in the Colony.
In that convention Jessup boldly advocated the right of the people to elect their own magistrates, instead of having those officers selected and appointed by the King.
This convention is referred to by historians as the precursor of the elective judiciary system of our State — a system which has been aptly described as "the growth of the soil."
Edward Jessup was the progenitor of a family who became distinguished in the annals of our country, and among whom was Major General Thomas Sidney Jessup, a hero of the War of 1812, and of the Mexican War, and who was prominently mentioned as a Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States.
Edward Jessup, on his death in 1666, devised his interest in the patent to Elizabeth Jessup, his widow. She married one Robert Meacham in 1668, and they in the same year conveyed the Jessup interest in the patent to her son-in-law, Thomas Hunt, Jr., who married Elizabeth Jessup, the daughter of Edward Jessup. It was after this Thomas Hunt, the son of Thomas Hunt of the Grove Farm Patent, that Hunt's Point received its name.
In 1669 Hunt sold his home lot on which he then resided, and built on a parcel of land at the north end of what is now Barretto's Point, near the old Landing Road. Around this section we find the early houses were erected.
Later, Richardson or Leggett, Richardson's son-in-law, erected a house west of the old Hunt's Point Road, south of the present Spofford Avenue, and near Bound Brook, on the land which also was acquired by the Leggett branch, and in which Gabriel Leggett, the second, lived, dying there about 1786. This property also remained in the possession of the Leggett family down to 1850.
Richardson and Hunt entered upon and cultivated parts of the present Hunt's Point. Richardson used a parcel of about twenty acres of upland at its southerly end along the Sound, probably as a cornfield, and both cut the meadows on the east side
HUNT'S POINT 91
of the Point; Richardson cutting the upper, and Hunt the lower end.
It would appear that disputes soon arose between them as to their occupations of the Point, and to settle the same they ap- pointed four commissioners in 1669 to adjust the differences and make a division of the lower end of the patented lands. This the commissioners did, awarding Richardson the twenty acres so oc- cupied by him, and sixteen acres of meadow, cut by him at the northwest corner of Hunt's Point, and Barretto's Point on the west, which last mentioned point they called in their report the "Long Neck"; while they awarded to Hunt all the rest of Hunt's Point, which they called the "Cornfield Neck," and certain meadows at its upper end.
The old Hunt's Point Road, which ran thru the middle of the patent down and into the Point was no doubt opened first at its lower end and used by Hunt and Richardson, while the old Landing Road which branched from it and ran into the Barretto's Point, or "Long Neck" lands, traces of which are still visible at its junction with the Hunt's Point Road, was opened prior to 1700.
About 1700 Thomas Hunt's eldest son, Thomas, acquired the Richardson twenty acres at the south end, and his father's interest in the rest of the Point, which was then and for many years thereafter called the "Planting Neck." The Indian name was Quinnahung. This property remained in this branch of the Hunt family down to the middle of the last century.
While mentioning the names of "Cornfield Neck" and "Plant- ing Neck," we might incidentially call attention, as a matter of historical information, to names given other parts of the Point; for instance, the "Little Neck" which lay along the old Hunt's Point Road, at the upper end of the Point east of the Barretto Homestead. On this road at the upper end of the Little Neck, about 250 feet north of the Eastern Boulevard, was the old gate or entrance to the Hunt property on Hunt's Point. Alongside of the old road, and just west of the angle where it turns toward the Hunt and Leggett cemetery, is an old well nearly filled in, which was probably the old well known as "Richardson's well," while on the east side of the Point, near the easterly end of the Eastern Boule- vard, is a district, known for 200 years as the "Fox Hills," which probably derived its name from the fact that it was at one time a fox haunt.
92 • THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
In 1680 Hunt and Richardson arranged for a division of the upper end of the patent into twelve great lots, but before the divi- sion was completed Richardson died. In 1681 Hunt and Richard- son's widow, who acted on behalf of Richardson's heirs, completed the division by drawing lots, each taking six lots. Hunt divided his six, except one which he sold, among his sons and grandson. The tract was therefore called the "Twelve Farms" as well as West Farms.
Edward Jessup had three children : Elizabeth, who married Thomas Hunt, the second, about 1662; Hannah and Edward, the latter two probably by a second wife. There is much confusion in the old records with reference to Elizabeth Jessup, wife of Ed- ward Jessup, and Elizabeth Jessup, daughter of Edward Jessup. There is a deed extant, dated June 20th, 1668, recording the pur- chase by Thomas and Elizabeth Hunt from "Robert Beachem and Elizabeth, formerly the wife of Edward Jessup."
John Richardson also had three children : Berthia, who mar- ried John Ketcham ; Mary, who became the wife of Joseph Hadley ; and Elizabeth, who was espoused to Gabriel Leggett.
Thomas and Elizabeth Hunt are the progenitors of a large family scattered all over the United States. Gabrie| and Elizabeth Leggett are the ancestors of the Leggett, Fox and Tiffany families of West Farms.
Mrs. Richardson afterwards, in or about July, 1683, married Captain Thomas Williams, and on her death the Richardson inter- est, consisting of the Legget, Hadley and Ketcham families, in 1695, divided their interests in the patent among themselves.
At the southern end of Hunt's Point, the old "Grange" was erected, which still stands as a mute memorial of those Colonial days. This famous old structure, which has withstood the storms of over two centuries, and in which generations have lived and died, is fast falling into decay for want of repairs and attention. For years this picturesque relic of bygone days has been the chief attraction at Hunt's Point, but its inevitable downfall, when some factory or dwelling will later take its place, is but a few years distant.
There is much romance woven about this quaint building. During the struggle for independence, it was occupied by Thomas Hunt, the fourth, the grandfather of Montgomery Hunt, a noted financier, and a Presidential Elector in 1816, who voted for James
HUNT'S POINT
93
Monroe for President, and who was the father of that eminent jurist, Judge Ward Hunt of the Court of Appeals of the State and of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Thomas Hunt, the fourth, was a patriot and a staunch ad- herent of the principles which his great-grandfather had embodied in the Charter of Liberties in 1683. He was prominent in all affairs pertaining to the separation of the Colonies from the Mother Country. He was an influential member of the Committee of Safety, and was instrumental in organizing the West Farms and Fordham Company of Minute Men, in which no less than seven
Hunt's Mansion
members of his own family enlisted. During the Revolution he espoused the American cause. He was the friend and confidant of Washington, who relied implicitly upon his calm judgment, his patriotic courage, and his thoro knowledge of the country.
The British frigate Asia was kept at anchor in the Sound near his home. His estate was devastated and his family driven from their home. One of the cannon balls, which was embedded in the west brick wall, w^here it lodged until a few years ago, is now in the writer's possession.
There appears to be much doubt among historians as to the
94 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
exact age of the old mansion. One historian gives the date of its erection as 1688, while others give much later years.
Thomas Hunt, Sr., on conveying the "Planting Neck" prop- erty to his son Thomas in 1698, and again executing a deed in 1718 — shortly after which he died — mentions his new dwelling and orchard containing three acres.
Traditions are numerous regarding the building of the old mansion. It is said that when Hunt first began to erect the build- ing, lumber commanded a very high price, as a result of a heavy tax which had been levied upon building material, and he decided to construct his of stone, of which there was an abundance in
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Relics Found in Hunt's Mansion
the neighborhood. Hardly had he put up the west wall, however^ when the tax was removed and he completed the building with lumber. The girders and rafters used in its construction were hewn from solid oak, while the laths used in the interior walls, rough and irregular, were made of strips of ash. The chimneys were built of the bricks brought over as ballast by the Dutch traders. The ceilings are low, and the closets with which each room is supplied open in two parts. The open fireplace in the living room, without which no old mansion was perfect, is crumbling away with age and is no longer used. Across the hall- way is the kitchen. The last occupant replaced the Dutch oven by a modern stove.
HUNT'S POINT 95
The upper chambers are reached by a narrow but substantial stairway. The tower, which gives the house the appearance of a fort, is reached by a spiral stairway from the living room. It is so narrow that only one person at a time can ascend it. This was apparently so constructed as a safeguard in emergency, should admittance be gained within the house by the wily Indians who frequently made attacks upon it.
For many years the "Grange" was the residence of Joseph Rodman Drake, the poet who won immortal fame as the author of "The American Flag" and "Culprit Fay." It was this gifted young poet who celebrated the rural beauties of The Bronx in some of his most charming verse:
The Bronx
I sat me down upon a green bank side,
Skirting the smooth edge of a gentle river, Whose waters seemed unwilling to glide,
Like parting friends, who linger while they sever; Enforced to go, yet seeming still unready, Backward they wind their way in many a wistful eddy.
Gray o'er my head the yellow-vested willow
Ruffled its hoary top in the fresh breezes, Glancing in light, like spray on a green billow,
Or the fine frost work which young winter freezes,. When first his power in infant pastime trying. Congeals sad autumn's tears on the dead branches lying.
From rocks around hung the loose ivy dangling.
And in the clefts sumach of liveliest green. Bright rising-stars the little beach was spangling, The gold-cap sorrel from his gauzy screen. Shone like a fairy, enchased and beaded. Left on some morn, when light flash'd in their eyes unheeded.
The hum-bird shook his sun-touched wings around.
The blue-finch carolled in the still retreat; The antic squirrel capered on the ground. Where lichens made a carpet for his feet. Thro' the transparent waves, the ruddy minkle Shot up in glimmering sparks, his red fins tiny twinkle.
:96 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
There were the dark cedars, with loose mossy tresses,
White-powder'd dog trees, and stiff hollies flaunting, Gaudy as rustics in their May-day dresses. Blue pellorets from purple leaves upslanting A modest gaze, like eyes of a young maiden Shining beneath dropp'd lids the evening of her wedding.
The breeze fresh springing from the lips of morn.
Kissing the leaves, and sighing so to lose 'em. The winding of the merry locust's horn.
The glad sighs spring gushing from the rock's bare bosom, Sweet sighs, sweet sounds, all sights, all sounds excelling; Oh ! 'twas a ravishing spot, form'd for a poet's dwelling.
And I did leave thy loveliness, to stand *
Again in the dull world of earthly blindness, Pain'd with the pressure of unfriendly hands, Sick of smooth looks, agued with icy kindness; Left I for this thy shades, where none intrude. To prison wandering thought and mar sweet solitude.
Yet I will look upon thy face again
My own romantic Bronx, and it will be A face more pleasant than the face of men. Thy waves are old companions, I shall see A well-remembered form in each old tree. And hear a voice long loved in thy wild minstrelsy.
Joseph Rodman Drake was born in New York City on August 7, 1795, and was a lineal descendant of the Colonial Drakes, set- tlers of Eastchester. Left an orphan at an early age, he was placed under the care of a guardian. As a boy he was fond of rowing his boat among the inlets of the upper East River where he could steal off by himself unmolested and spend the long summer after- noons in the shade of some willow tree along the river bank.
The happiest hours of his boyhood days he passed in the environs of Hunt's Point which gave inspiration to his verses. It was while he lived in the old "Grange" that he became acquainted with the daughter of Henry Eckford, the well-known shipbuilder. He commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Nicholas Romayne in 1813, received his degree in 1816, and in the same year he mar- ried Miss Eckford. After a visit to Europe and to New Orleans in a vain effort to restore his failing health, Drake died of con-
HUNT'S POINT 97
sumption, September 21, 1820. at the age of twenty-five, before his art as a poet had fully matured.
"There will be less sunshine for me hereafter," said Halleck,. "now that Joe is gone."
The association of Halleck and Drake in the most intimate of friendships is the pleasantest incident in the history of Ameri- can letters. The two poets charmed the town, in 1819, with a series of humorous satirical verses which they contributed to the New York Evening Post under the signature of "Croaker & Co."
Judged by what he had begun to do, this young poet was cut down at the opening of a promising career. Had the author of "The Culprit Fay," "American Flag," and "The Bronx" lived to a mature age, the prose fancies of Irving might have found a counterpart in the verse of Drake, inspired by the enchanted ground along the banks of the Hudson.
In memory of the intimate friendship that existed between them, Fitz-Greene Halleck wrote, at the death of Drake, a touching tribute beginning with these exquisite lines:
Green be the turf above thee,
Friend of my better days; None knew thee but to love thee,
Nor named thee but to praise.
The author shall never forget his first visit to Hunt's Point some ten years ago and with what frequency he visited it there- after. He had seen rural country — much of it — but nothing has ever taken so firm a hold upon his imagination as that piece of ground. He never could fathom why it appealed to him so strongly, perhaps it was the quaint old mansions and shady lanes that lured him to these scenes; but whatever the cause the spot had cast a bewitching spell upon him and he passed many a pleasant idle hour there.
During his rambles thru this isolated region he collected from old residents many an interesting tale of its early history, for few regions have been more kindly disposed than this to the preservation of their traditions.
One of the first points of interest the author was shown was
98
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
the quaint little Hunt burying ground * in which early settlers were interred and which is the last resting place of Joseph Rod- man Drake.
Until Park Commissioner Higgins sent a force of men there in the summer of 1910 to clear away the over-grown weeds and brambles and to cement the broken pieces of headstones together, the repose of the little cemetery was rarely disturbed, and all sum- mer long the birds and insects raised an unceasing song around the weed-grown graves of the forgotten dead; the winter spread a
Hunt's Point Cemetery in 1900
blanket of white snow over it which remained until spring came slowly and reluctantly to this upland resting place.
And so the seasons came and passed, leaving the finger marks of time and ruin. Yet on a summer's day the little knoll with its crumbling, weather-beaten old tombstones is really a delightful spot, and from its summit one can obtain an excellent panoramic view of the surrounding country.
* The little "God's Acre" is less than half an acre in area and is located on the summit of a wooded knoll a short distance from the Hunt's Point Station on the New Rochelle branch of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad running from Mott Haven to New Rochelle.
HUNT'S POINT
99
Before you are the placid, rippling, flashing waters of the Sound dotted here and there by the white sails of pleasure craft; while in the distance rise the dim bluish outlines of Long Island. Toward the west lies the Metropolitan City of Greater New York in all its majestic splendor. Silhouetted against the sky are the outlines of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Luke's Hos- pital, Columbia Library, and Grant's Tomb as well as the College of the City of New York and Columbia University with their many outlying buildings. The populous Bronx stretches northward, and
Grave of Joseph Rodman Drake
the green rolling slopes of Westchester extend toward the east. The evidences of vigorous life and progress viewed from this little resting place of those so long dead bring strongly to mind the achievements of our own era.
But when the wintry clouds scurry over the hill, and the rain beats down the withered weeds and dark graves, the burying ground seems weird and desolate. Years of wind and weather show plainly their imprints on the fifty or more tombstones scat- tered about, some of which, overspread with a coat of green moss, and sunken deep into the sod, date back nearly two and a half centuries.
100 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Some of these grave stones may have been new and un- tarnished when Washington's Continentals in their retreat from Long Island, trudged along the old Colonial road which winds around the little hillock, and when Lafayette revisited this country in 1824. The noted French General, after crossing the famous "Kissing Bridge" which stood to the right of Southern Boulevard and Lafayette Lane, "paused in silent meditation at the grave of Joseph Rodman Drake," and then passed thru the narrow lane which was afterwards widened and named "Lafayette Avenue" in his honor.
Surrounding one plot in the old cemetery was attached a rusty iron chain. It has long mouldered away from all but one of its fastenings to which it still clung creaking and rattling like a dun- geon fetter as the wind tossed it to and fro. Close by lay a shat- tered marble shaft which the angry winds had hurled from its pedestal and tall weeds and rank growth were blotting out its inscriptions. Decadence due to neglect was manifest everywhere in this ruined city of the dead.
Facing the entrance of the cemetery from the south stands a plain marble shaft seven feet high which marks the grave of Joseph Rodman Drake.
Whatever fitness there may have been in burying Drake in that particular spot, was lost in the neglect into which his grave was afterward permitted to fall.
In 1891 the Brownson Literary Union in appreciation of his genius restored the monument to a semblance of its former neat- ness. The inscription reads:
Sacred
to the Memory
of
Joseph R. Drake, M.D.
who died Sept. 21st
1820
Aged 25 Years
None knew him but to love him,
Nor named him but to praise.
Renovated by The
Brownson Literary Union
July 25, 1891.
J
HUNT'S POINT
101
The little cemetery is also the final resting place of veterans of the various Colonial wars and of Continental soldiers, members of the Hunt, Leggett, Willett and allied families.
Directly opposite the Hunt burying ground is a small en-
Slave Burying Ground
closure in which the slaves of early residents were interred. It is also said that "Bill," the negro pilot of the wrecked British frigate Hussar, was buried there :
"After the voice of shrieking winds And tossing of the angry deep, In kind embrace of Mother Earth Resting, like child in quiet sleep."
CHAPTER XI
THE ROMANCE OF BESSIE WARREN
The Daughter of Old Simon, the Landlord of the "King's Arms" — Her Love for the Dashing Officer Who Was Branded a British Spy — The Maiden Who Did Not Forget; But Answered the Summons of a Beckoning Spirit and Was Taken over the Great Beyond.
^HE consolidation of The Bronx with the Greater City in 1897, brought about many changes. When the Hunt's Point section was mapped out into regu- lar city streets, the little "God's Acre" was threat- ened with destruction, for a street was to be cut directly thru its center. When this became public a storm of protests arose from various historical societies and literary associations to prevent the obliteration of the old cemetery. One of the staunchest champions for its preservation was the Hon. James L. Wells, and thru his untiring efforts, com- bined with other pressure that was brought to bear, the original street plan was finally altered and the historic spot saved. By way of compromise the city turned the burial plot into a park and it has since been known as the Joseph Rodman Drake Park.
Of the many headstones crumbling into decay, there was one which has been marvelously preserved, and stood as firm and erect as when first placed there. It was the grave of Elizabeth Willett, who departed this life the 19th of June, 1772, aged 27 years, three months — so the inscription on the tombstone averred. Here are the lines graven beneath her name :
Behold and see, as you pass by; As you are now, so once was I, As I am NOW, you soon will be, Prepare for death and follow me.
Why was so grim an epitaph chosen for her? An involuntary shudder passes over one as he muses over these lines :
102
THE ROMANCE OF BESSIE WARREN 103
" 'Tis the wink of the eye, 'tis the draught of a breath From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud — Oh! Why should the spirit of mortal be proud?"
One wonders whether the Elizabeth Willett resting there could be the Elizabeth Warren whose romance, full of pathos and sorrow has been handed down from parent to child for more than a century, and who is said to be sleeping in an unmarked grave somewhere in the neighborhood.
Whether Elizabeth Warren really existed in life, or was merely the fanciful creation of a romancer can not be authentically stated, as historical research has failed to reveal her identity.
Tradition tells us that when Elizabeth Warren was the belle of Hunt's Point, that section was considerably smaller than it is today — there were the meeting house, the blacksmith's shop, the "King's Arms," and a dozen or two cottages. These were all, but in those days such pioneer buildings constituted no mean village.
Elizabeth was the daughter of old Simon Warren, the landlord of the "King's Arms" and she entered her maturity at a time when the air was overcast with rumors of approaching trouble. Already the first sign of that unrest which was to culminate in the Revolu- tion, was plain to all who had eyes to see and ears to hear; and it was said that there was no better place to observe these symp- toms than in the tap-room of Warren's inn.
Warren came of that New England stock which had turned England topsy-turvy, and which was later to suffer severely for it, tho with ultimate happy results. The English consequently had no more bitter enemy in all the restless Colony than Simon Warren. To his place it was, therefore, that young hot-heads of the neighborhood resorted when they desired to discuss the manner in which they were to rid themselves of the insufferable yoke of the Mother Country.
One evening at the close of a stormy day, a mud-bespattered traveler entered the "King's Arms" and sat long before the fire with old Simon, while pretty Bessie, the landlord's daughter, brought them many a foaming tankard to help the talk along.
Now, it never occurred to the hospitable Simon that the polite stranger he was entertaining was a British spy who had been sent to feel the pulse of the Colonies. Having discovered that Simon's
104 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
inn was the meeting place for the revolutionary hot-heads, he de- cided that he couldn't gauge the sentiments of the people better than at the old inn.
He was young, handsome, learned; and, before he had been at the "King's Arms" very long, he had captivated Bessie's heart, and in their rambles thru the lanes of Westchester, he poured into her innocent heart the witcheries of romance and poetry. So sentimental were his words and so gallant his actions, that Bessie looked up to her youthful admirer as a being of a superior order; and, before she was aware of it, she had blushingly con- sented to become his wife. On the very day he had asked for Bessie's hand, came the discovery that he was a British spy. They found him in the garret with his ear to a crack in the floor listen- ing to the fiery speeches of the Patriots' Club in the room below.
It was a wild night — outside the inn the great elms tossed their branches about like giants in agony. The signboard groaned as it swung before the gate. The fury of the storm kept the happy Bessie awake long after she had said "Good night," and retired. It seemed to her that she heard a shot — another, and another. The wind lulled for a second; and, as she listened, in the sullen silence there was an awful cry. Then the storm swept down again and she told herself that it was nothing but a loose shutter; but her nervous fear worked on her imagination until she believed a tragedy had occurred.
They told Bessie the next morning that her lover was a spy and that he had fled like a thief in the night with the dread of discovery.
The blow came like a thunderclap from a clear sky to Bessie. It was not long after this that a great shadow darkened her life. None knew whether she suspected the truth about the disappear- ance of her handsome lover, but many of the country-folk round about declared that they had seen a ghastly figure, wandering nightly over the hillsides, always looking for something it never found.
Like a beautiful lily cut down, Bessie began visibly to pine away. Everything possible was done to divert her thoughts and bring the color back to her pallid cheeks — but all in vain. Some- thing had gone out of her life that could not be replaced. Then one day old Simon found his daughter sitting at the window of her room apparently gazing earnestly out at something. He called
THE ROMANCE OF BESSIE WARREN 105
to her, but therp was no answer; he touched her with a feeling of awe, for there was that about her that transcended his under- standing. His eyes filled with tears; he broke away from her with a great cry. He understood: Bessie had found her lost lover.
Tradition says that they laid her tenderly in a grove of tall elms on the hillside where she watched nightly for the return of her lover :
"In vain her vigils did the maiden keep —
This patriot daughter with her love-lit eyes — Waiting her absent lover's slow return
Beneath Westchester's mellow evening skies.
Dim figures they of that far-distant strife
Whose swords are sheathed, with all their dent and stain, This warrior bold, this sweetheart desolate
Wounded to death by war's stern thrust of pain.
Yet still above thy turf-grown bed, sweet girl.
Walk other lovers of this latest day, Who hear thy tale of passion and of grief
And in their reverance hold thee dear alway.
So shall the memory of thy woman's trust
More beauteous ever grow, as swift time flies, Like flowers that blossom from the common dust
And shed their fragrance as of Paradise."
CHAPTER XII
THE "NEUTRAL GROUND"
The Indian Cave — Leggett and His Stolen Mare — The Westchester Guides — Barretto's Point — A Wooden Armchair That Came over with the Pilgrim Fathers.
HE most powerful of the tribes of aborigines which inhabited The Bronx were the Weckquaesgeeks. Relics of their settlements are still to be found along the shores of the Bronx and the East Rivers. Of these prehistoric relics, perhaps the most interesting is the "Indian cave," which is located a short distance east of the Hunt burying ground and about three hundred yards north of the bridge crossing the creek. This is said to have been the favorite haunt of the redmen, and it is there that many treaties were made with the whites. Close by are the remains of hastily thrown up earth- works of Lord Howe's Army.
During the dark days of the Revolution, the little settlements along the East River endured many hardships and privations. With the retreat of the American army in November, 1776, Westchester County was overrun with British refugees, known as "Cowboys," who committed all sorts of depredations and raids upon the de- fenseless farmers. Equally rapacious were the American ma- rauders, called "Skinners," who made frequent raids upon the loyalist inhabitants of the county. These bands of cowboys and of skinners carried on their plundering expeditions into the so- called "Neutral Ground" — a strip of land between the American outposts under the command of General Heath and those of the. British under Lieutenant-Colonel James De Lancey.
An interesting story is told about Thomas Leggett, whose ancestors had been resident proprietors of the "Planting Neck" section.
Thomas Leggett was the oldest son of Gabriel Leggett, 2nd. He strongly resented the invasion of the British. He organized a vigilance committee of Home Guards, as they were called among
106
THE "NEUTRAL GROUND'
107
the young men of the neighborhood, and patrolled the highways. At the first approach of the enemy they were to give the alarm and as they were equipped with the latest firearms, they hoped to drive invaders off their lands. However, they were caught napping. A party of British refugees got thru their lines unobserved, and seized Leggett just as he was leading his favorite mare out of the barn. Being unarmed he had to submit to their outrages. They carried off the young mare, which had been a gift of his par-
Indian Cave
ents, along with the other property. Leggett was furious ; he threat- ened to have the marauders hanged; but they only mocked him as they went on their way. He followed them, however, hoping to meet some of the Guards, but they all seemed to have vanished. When the party reached the junction of what are now Tremont Avenue and Boston Road, two Continental soldiers rose from be- hind a stone wall and fired. The man leading the horse was shot and he fell. The mare, finding herself free, took to her heels and ran home, much to the delight of her owner.
The County of Westchester contributed largely to the Ameri- can cause. Versed in every hidden path of the region, the West-
108 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
Chester guides were of invaluable service to Washington and his troops.
The foremost of these patriotic-spirited guides were Abraham and Michael Dyckman, whose old homestead at King's Bridge Road (Broadway) and Hawthorne Street, rebuilt at the close of the Revolution, is still pointed out as the only remaining Dutch farm- house on the road.
In May, 1780, Michael Dyckman acted as guide to Captain Gushing of the Massachusetts Line in his attack upon De Lancey's Corps. The Americans captured more than forty prisoners.
Michael Dyckman figured in an exploit on the 26th of March, 1782, when, with thirteen volunteer horsemen he made an excur- sion to Morrisania, and took five of De Lancey's corps and five horses. On their return they were pursued by a party of the enemy's horse, but when the British came near, the gallant West- chester Volunteers faced right about, charged vigorously, took one man prisoner with his horse, and put the rest to flight. The enemy again appeared on the old Eastctiester Road but dared not renew the attack,
Abraham Dyckman was mortally wounded on March 4th, 1782, while piloting a body of volunteer horse under Captain Hunnewell (after whom Honeywell Avenue in West Farms was subsequently named). The Americans made the attack on the cantonment of De Lancey's corps just before sunrise, taking the enemy completely by surprise, killing and wounding many, and capturing twenty prisoners.. De Lancey himself would perhaps have been taken prisoner had not the British loyalists fired the alarm guns and thus caused the Americans to retire. The enemy quickly started in pursuit but soon fell into an ambuscade set by Major Woodbridge, who with a party of light infantry had ac- companied Captain Hunnewell.
The State of New York has erected a granite monument at Yorktown in memory of the patriotic services of Abraham Dyckman.
The headquarters of De Lancey's corps was the De Lancey Block House, which had stood on the site of the Peabody House (One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Street) , and which was destroyed in a midnight attack by Aaron Burr in 1779. The De Lancey Pine, 150 feet high, is still one of the historic landmarks of West Farms.
THE "NEUTRAL GROUND" 109
"Memorial of the fallen great, The rich and honored line, Stands high in solitary state, De Lancey's Ancient Pine."
Andrew Corsa, born in the Rose Hill Manor House which is situated on the grounds of Fordham University, was the last of the Westchester guides. He was called upon to act as guide to Washington and Rochambeau when he was but nineteen years of .age. One time when the French and American allies were march-
Mayflower Chairs
ing past the Morris mansion opposite Randal's Island and Snake Hill, where the British were encamped, the enemy's artillery opened fire. Scared out of his wits, young Corsa dashed for his life and took refuge behind the old Morrisania mill. Taking a furtive glance from his hiding place and seeing Washington and the other generals riding along unperturbed and heedless of any- thing about them, he hastily spurred on his horse and galloped back to his place on the line, where he was cheered for his courage. Andrew Corsa died in 1852, at the age of ninety-one at Bedford Park, nearly opposite the Rose Hill manor-house.
Blythe Place was a strip of land running to a point somewhat
110
THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
similar to the Hunt property, southwest of the Planting Neck^ and became known in later years as Barretto's Point. The property was owned by Frangis J. Barretto, who for one year represented Westchester County in the State Assembly. Blythe the residence of Barretto, was of Revolutionary date, and when its inside shutters were closed it was a miniature fortress. Close by stood the resi- dence of Thomas Leggett, near the Leggett Dock. The Leggetts originally came from Essex County, England, and traced their
f,^^lltl!t'X''''
.T4*
"Woodside" Mansion
ancestry back to Helmingino Leget, High Sheriff of that county in 1404. As early as 1661, Gabriel Leggett emigrated to this country. Thru the marriage of Elizabeth Richardson, daughter of John Richardson, who with Edward Jessup were the first white owners of that large tract of land, he fell heir to much of the property. In the field opposite the George Fox mansion, erected about 1848, on the long slope below the Spofford mansion, is the site of the Leggett burying ground, where ten bodies of early settlers were removed, one being that of Mayor Leggett of Westchester.
When the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock, in 1620, they brought with them among their household furniture, two
THE "NEUTRAL GROUND" 111
wooden armchairs, which had no historical associations at that time, but were strong and sturdy and had been of great comfort to the suffering pioneers; and so, for "old-times' sake" were taken ashore. Later these chairs were presented to Governor Carvel, who took a peculiar fancy to them, because they brought back re- collections of the Old World. For many years the chairs occupied a prominent place in the library of Charles V. Faile, who lived in the beautiful "Woodside" mansion which stood on the site now occupied by the plant of the American Bank Note Company on Lafayette Avenue.
Woodside was built in 1832 by E. G. Faile an importer of tea and sugar. He was regarded as a rich man for those days and, being a lover of horses, he imported fast horses from Argentina at a cost, according to tradition, of $1,000 each in transportation alone. He drove to his place of business in Chambers Street every day and was always at his office by 9 o'clock.
CHAPTER XIII
NATHAN HALE
*I regret That I Have But One Life to Lose for My Country" — Capt. Hale, the Patriot, Scholar and Soldier, Whose Mission Brought Him Death But Spread His Name on the Living Pages of History.
HE "LOCUSTS" was another famous Revolutionary dwelling which stood upon the Faile property near Hunt's Point Road. It is said that Nathan Hale stopped here over night while reconnoitering in the neighbor- hood at the time the British were crossing at Hell Gate ^nd Washington had moved his troops to Harlem Heights. It was shortly after this incident that Capt. Hale started on his ex- pediton as spy.
The story of Hale's heroic death, and the memorable words he uttered when he was standing on the fatal ladder, will ever re- main an inspiration to American hearts.
Hale was only twenty-one years old when he died. He was born in Coventry, Connecticut, June 6, 1755, and was the sixth child of a family of twelve. He entered Yale College in 1770 and was graduated with the highest honors three years later. After leaving college he became a teacher in New London, Connecticut, intending eventually to enter the ministry. Hardly had his career begun when tidings arrived of the outbreak at Lexington. His spirit was fired, and at a mass meeting of his townspeople in Minery's Tavern, he dedicated his life to the cause of American liberty.
"Let us march immediately, and not lay down our arms until we have gained our independence!" he said in most ardent tones. Before the meeting closed, a company had been formed, and at daybreak it was on its way to Boston.
It was during the siege of Boston that Hale displayed his great ability as a leader. In consideration of the services rendered there, he was commissioned a Captain.
During the summer of 1776, the American army suffered most.
112
NATHAN HALE
113
The battle of Long Island had been disastrous, and a hasty retreat had been made to Manhattan Island. The outlook was discour- aging. Men were ill and were dying in appalling numbers; deser- tions were many; the army was being rapidly decimated. Lack of food and the failure to receive pay were breeding insubordina- tion, and not more than fourteen thousand men were fit for duty. Across the East River was a British army of about twenty-five
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'The Locusts"
thousand seasoned troops, and in the Lower Bay a powerful navy lay stripped for action.
For the first time since Washington had taken the field, he was worried and depressed. On every side he saw a choice of difficulties confronting him. In a letter to the President of Con- gress, he writes :
"It is evident, the enemy mean to close us on the island of New York, by taking post in our rear, while the shipping secures the front, and thus, by cutting off our communication with the country, oblige us to fight them on their own terms, or surrender at discretion ; or by a brilliant stroke endeavor to cut this army
114 THE BOROUGH OF THE BRONX
in pieces, and secure the collection of arms and stores, they well know, we shall not be able soon to replace."
The question was: How could the enemy's plan be most suc- cessfully opposed and defeated? To Washington there seemed but one way of discovering Howe's plans, and that was for a competent person to enter the British lines, and procure intelli- gence of their designs. The duty of finding a volunteer for this delicate enterprise was left to Lieutenant Colonel Knowlton, who had distinguished himself at Bunker Hill, and who had some of the best fighters under him.
Summoning his officers for a conference. Colonel Knowlton explained to them the situation, and the vital importance of the mission. But his plea was met with cold response. The work re- quired of them, so they argued, was degrading for men of honor and refinement. Colonel Knowlton was about to give way to despair when Captain Hale, emaciated from the effects of a recent illness, entered the room and volunteered to undertake the work requested by his Commander-in-chief. In vain Hale's brother officers tried to dissuade him, but no argument deterred him from his resolve to serve his country.
"I think I owe my country the accomplishment of an object so important, and so much desired by the Commander of our armies, and I know of no other mode of obtaining the informa- tion than by assuming a disguise and passing into the enemy's camp. I am fully sensible of the consequences of discovery and capture in such a situation, but for a year I have been attached to the army and have not rendered any material service. Yet, I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary re- ward. I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good becomes honorable by being necessary. If my country demands a peculiar service, its claims of the perform- ance of that service are imperious."
Accompanied by Colonel Knowlton, Captain Hale presented himself before General Washington and received final instructions. He started on his fatal expedition from the Roger Morris house, better known as the Jumel Mansion on Harlem Heights.
Assuming his professional character of schoolmaster, he was taken down the Sound at night and landed at Great Neck in Huntington Bay where he boldly plunged into the enemy's lines.
NATHAN HALE 115
Captain Hale was gone about two weeks, and in that time made the rounds of the entire British camps including New York, of which the enemy had taken possession on September 15th. The schoolmaster completed drawings of their defences and jotted down in Latin the information he had gathered. After completing his dangerous task. Captain Hale retraced his steps to Huntington, where a boat was to meet him and convey him to the Connecticut shore.
According to some writers. Hale was betrayed by a cousin who recognized him sitting in Widow Chichester's tavern waiting for his boat; but no proof exists for the authenticity of this re- port. It is more likely, however, that in the dark he mistook the boat from the British flagship Halifax, which had been sent to shore for water, for his own, and did not discover his mistake until he found himself