Harlem

Owing to the exertions of the Harlem Board of Commerce a number of important public improvements, work on which was suspended some time ago, are now about to be proceeded with. One of them is the new pier at One Hundred and Twenty-ninth street and the North River, at which the Albany Day line and Iron Steamboat Company's steamers will call. The contractor was unable to get his money and stopped work. Then William A. Martin, president of the Board of Commerce, had an interview with the Controller, with the result that Mr.. Martin has received a letter stating that the contractor will be paid immediately and the work resumed. The work of improving Park avenue, which dragged slowly along for years and then finally stopped altogether, in the serious loss of property owners and storekeepers, will also shortly be resumed through the board's intervention. Another convenience which the board has advocated for a long time has at last been accomplished namely, the stopping of New Haven and Hartford trains at One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street. yesterday thirteen north bound trains and fifteen south bound, including the Boston and Pittsfield Express trains, stopped at Harlem, and this number will be gradually increased during the fall. Hitherto these trains did not stop between the Grand Central Depot and New Rochelle.

It will be many a long day before Harlem people can forget the return of the Seventy-first Regiment. The regiment got to the armory, at Thirty-fourth street and park avenue, at 4:30 P.M. yesterday. Then, as might be expected, many tears were shed. Fire Chief Peter H. Short, whose son left Hempstead a sergeant and returned a lieutenant, was one of the first to break down and he was followed by Joseph J. Casey, principal of the Grammar School on East One Hundred and Tenth street. When Fanciuli's band played "Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow" and Dr. Van de Water offered up thanks for their safe return there was not a dry eye in the armory.

The new recreation pier at the foot of One Hundred and Twelfth street and the East River has been partly thrown open to the public. The main floor is not yet finished, but as the completion of the work is three months behindhand the Department of Docks and Ferries thought it best to admit the people to that part of the pier which has been completed, the upper deck. On this desk there is a band stand, benches for 300 people, a candy stand and two ice water fountains. Six male and six female attendants are engaged to look after the wants of the patrons. The pier is in the heart of "Little Italy." the most crowded tenement district in Harlem, and its usefulness can be easily imagined. The pier is open from 8 A.M. to 11 P.M.

The permanent electric lights on the new Third avenue bridge over the Harlem River are now being put in place. Up to the present time the draw was illuminated by are lights and the approaches by gasoline. Now, however, forty-eight incandescent electric lights have been placed on the draw and sixty are lights are soon to take the place of the dim gasoline lamps on the approaches. Are lights are not used to illuminate the draw because the shadows they cast would make that part of the bridge appear grotesque. All the electricity for lighting the structure is supplied from a dynamo in the engine house, the Third avenue bridge being the only one over the Harlem to follow this plan.