The Establishment Of A Desired College

In 1746, an act of the Provincial Assembly authorized the holding of a lottery to raise a sufficient sum of money for the advancement of learning within the colony, "and Towards the Founding a College with the same." It took many lotteries and many excise moneys before a sufficient sum was obtained for the establishment of the desired college. Religious controversies arose as to the management, the Presbyterian and the Reformed Dutch Churches objecting to the prospective control of the college by the Established Church when all of the colonists were to be taxed for its support.

Trinity Church gave a tract of land on the west side of Broadway, provided the president should be a member of the Church of England. The differences were not yet healed when the corner-stone of King's College was laid in 1756, with Dr. Samuel Johnson of Stratford in Connecticut as the first president. He was succeeded, in 1763, by Dr. Myles Cooper, who remained until the Revolution. He was a hot-headed royalist and took the wrong side in the dissensions which arose from the passage of the Stamp Act onwards, and when the news of Lexington reached New York barely escaped from maltreatment by a mob of patriots.

During the Revolution, the college buildings were used as barracks and hospitals by the British, and the college was closed as an institution of learning. It was reopened in 1784 as Columbia College, and remained in the vicinity of Park Place until 1857, when it was removed to Madison Avenue and Forty-eighth Street. The neighborhood of the college at Park Place was the location of the best society of the city for many years.

The Establishment Of A Public Hospital

As early as 1770 several physicians notified Lieutenant-Governor Colden that subscriptions were being solicited for the establishment of a public hospital; and a royal charter was obtained the following year. The land secured was from the Rutgers farm and was considered far out of town. It comprised five acres on the west side of Broadway, between the present Duane and Worth streets, Thomas Street being cut through later. The corner-stone of the building was laid by Governor Tryon, September 2, 1773. The building was partially burnt before completion, but was repaired and was ready for occupancy at the time the Revolution began. It was located on the Kalck Hook, a hill some forty or fifty feet high, situated on the line of Broadway, and, therefore, a commanding position for fortifications, which were erected here by the British, the hospital building, itself, being used by the soldiers and being surrounded by a fort.

The New York Hospital Grounds

The grounds of the hospital extended to church Street, and in the early days constituted with those of Columbia College a sort of park in which were to be found some of the finest trees of all varieties on the island of Manhattan.

In 1807, a lunatic asylum was built on the south side of the New York Hospital grounds and was used for that purpose until 1821, when the asylum was removed to Bloomingdale, overlooking the Hudson. The beautiful lawn and grand trees of the old hospital formed a delightful relief to the eye amid the lines of brick and stone that grew up on each side of Broadway; and the spot was a favorite one with the firemen and others when they held parades. After the Civil War, the property became too valuable to be longer used for hospital purposes, so it was cut up into building lots and sold, while the grand old trees went the way of all trees that stand in the way of improvement. The original building was vacated February 19, 1870. The hospital then remained in a state of suspension until the property on Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, west of Fifth Avenue, was obtained. The new hospital on that site was begun in May, 1875, and opened on March 16, 1877.

Washington Hall

At this date, (1796) there were several houses on Broadway, one being occupied by the Widow Provoost; on the corner of Reade Street there was a stable. In 1810 the construction of Washington Hall was begun, taking up about half the block on the east side between Chambers and Reade Streets; it was completed in 1812. The building was one of the finest in the city and was to be used as a hotel and meeting-place, especially of the Federalists, as an offset to Tammany Hall, the rendezvous of the Republicans. On the twenty-second of February, 1813, during the war with Great Britain, Captain James Lawrence in command of the Hornet defeated and sank the British Peacock. Upon Lawrence's visit to New York in May, he was given the freedom of the city and was tendered a great banquet at Washington Hall on the fourth. Before the month was out, he was in Boston in command of the Chesapeake, and within a month of the banquet in his honor, Lawrence was dead. At the conclusion of the war, a great ball was given at the Hall in honor of the return of peace, and among the participants were the best people of the city. In 1816, according to Haswell, there were only two billiard rooms in the city, one at the Cafe Francais in Warren Street, and the other in Washington Hall.

The Society Library

Some buildings gave way in 1840 to the building of the Society Library, used occasionally for entertainments. This Society had been started in 1754, and incorporated in 1772, the books being stored in the old City Hall in Wall Street. During the Revolution, the library was looted by the British soldiers, and the books hawked about the streets, and sold for drink, so that few of them remained when the Americans came into their own again. The Society started once more in 1793 in Nassau Street, removing later to Chambers Street, where it remained until 1840, when it removed to the above site on Broadway. It was soon crowded out of this last place by the upward trend of business in 1853, and removed temporarily to the Bible House, and to its present home in University Place in 1857. The vacated building on Broadway was occupied by D. Appleton & Co., the publishers.

The Grace Episcopal Church

As we have come up Broadway from the Bowling Green, our course has been in a straight line; but after we have passed Canal Street, ever before our eyes and growing larger as we get farther north is a beautiful church steeple, rising apparently in the middle of the thoroughfare. We find the reason at Tenth Street, where Broadway changes its course and where stands Grace Episcopal Church, which was built here in 1846, after the removal of the congregation from Rector Street. By the plan of the commissioners of 1807, it was intended that the two main roads of the island, the Bowery and Broadway, should meet at the "Tulip tree," which was located in the present Union Square abreast of Sixteenth Street.

It was found, however, that if Broadway were continued in its previous straight course, the meeting of the two roads would be below Fourteenth Street: and the line of the Middle Road was therefore changed at this point. Many suggestions have been made to cut Eleventh Street through the Grace Church property, but these have been unsuccessful, as the members of the congregation represent too much wealth and influence. Tweed told the church boldly that he was going to do it, and the church authorities told him to go ahead; but the street is not yet cut through. The church has been the scene of many fashionable weddings, and at several of these there have been scenes of crowding, spoliation of decorations, and exhibitions of bad manners which have made the New Yorker blush for the reputation of American women; for it has been the sensation-loving and uninvited women who have been the chief offenders.

The Broadway Tabernacle

The Broadway Tabernacle, Congregational, stood for many years between Worth Street and Catherine Lane on the east side of Broadway. It was the scene of the May meetings, where William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith, and the gentle Quaker, Lucretia Mott, used to hold forth upon the iniquities of slavery and advocate its abolition. The Sacred Music Society, founded in 1823, gave oratorios and concerts in the Tabernacle, as did later musical organizations. In 1856, a great gathering of citizens was held in the Tabernacle to express their indignation at the assault on Charles Sumner by Preston Brooks while Sumner was at his seat in the United States Senate Chamber. The hall is said to have been the most convenient for public meetings and entertainments, as well as for religious observances, of any in the city. In the same year as the Sumner meeting, the Tabernacle was sold by its congregation, which moved to the corner of Broadway and Thirty-fourth Street, and which has since migrated to Broadway and Fifty-sixth Street. In closing these paragraphs on the Broadway churches, it may be well to repeat the remark of an old writer, who said that the churches in general kept clear of the noise and bustle of Broadway and sought their sites in quieter localities.

The Union League Club

A short time after the meeting there was formed a club of loyal and patriotic men, modeled after a similar one in Philadelphia, and called the "Union League Club." Its object was to assist the government in raising regiments and funds. It first occupied a house loaned for the purpose by Henry G. Marquand at the corner of Seventeenth Street and Broadway, later moving to Madison Avenue and now at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-ninth Street; its membership for many years has been restricted to members of the Republican party.

Abbey's Park Theatre

Nearly on the site of the old Buck's Horn Tavern, Abbey's Park Theatre stood in the seventies and eighties. The Stock company was one of the best in New York, containing several actors who later joined Daly's company. Between seasons many well-known actors appeared; among them, Mrs. Langtry, who made her American debut upon this stage. The house was planned by Dion Boucicault, but he got into difficulties and was not its manager when it opened in 1874. It came under the management of Abbey on November 27, 1876, the actress Lotta being his financial backer. Among the plays first given here was "The Gilded Age" in which John T. Raymond appeared as the protagonist, Colonel Mulberry Sellers. The play was founded on Mark Twain's story of the same name. The house was destroyed by fire, October 30, 1882, several hours before the evening performance, and was not rebuilt.

Lester Wallack's Theatre

Lester Wallack moved into his up-town theatre at the northeast corner of Thirtieth Street in February, 1881, but the building was not ready for opening until January 4, 1882. The exterior of the building has never been completely finished. Here Wallack had an excellent stock company as before; but the house never became so famous or so popular as the old Thirteenth Street theatre perhaps, because a new generation of theatre-goers had grown up and the actor-manager was getting old. He retired from active management, and the house opened as Palmer's Theatre on October 8, 1888, to become and remain Wallack's once more on December 7, 1896.

Banvard's Museum and Theatre

The oldest theatre in this neighborhood was originally Banvard's Museum and Theatre at 1221 Broadway, near Thirtieth Street. It was the first building in the city erected expressly for museum purposes, and was opened June 17, 1867. It became Wood's Museum and Metropolitan Theatre in 1868, and Wood's Museum and Menagerie in 1869. Very good plays with first-class actors were given under both managers, as I can personally testify. In 1877, it became the Broadway Theatre, and two years later it became Daly's remaining under the management of Augustin Daly until his death. It was the one theatre where the visitor could find the perfection of acting, management, and presentation, whether the play were a French or German farce or a Shakesperian revival. Ada Rehan, John Drew, Mrs. Gilbert, James Lewis, George Clarke, and others were known, admired, and loved by a generation of theatre-goers.

The Brighton Theatre

The Brighton theatre at 1239 Broadway opened with a variety show on August 26, 1878; and after many changes of names, became the Bijou Theatre, December 1, 1883.

The Manhattan (or Eagle) Theatre

The Manhattan (or Eagle) Theatre stood on the west side of Broadway between Thirty-second and Thirty-third streets. It was opened with a variety show October 18, 1875; later, it became the Standard Theatre, becoming the Manhattan again August 30, 1897. It was the first house in New York to present Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore which became so popular that it was played at over half a dozen theatres at the same time; that was before the days of international copyright. Towards the end of its career, it was about the only theatre of prominence the city outside of the theatrical trust. At the last it became a moving-picture house, and was torn down in 1909 to make way for Gimbel Brothers' big department store.

The Herald Square Theatre

At the northwest corner of Thirty-fifth Street a building called the Coliseum was opened with a panorama in 1873 and was run until the following year, when it was taken down and removed to Philadelphia during the Centennial Exposition. October 11, 1876, the New York Aquarium took its place with a theatre, and later, a circus attached. The place was very popular until 1883, when it was torn down and the New Park Theatre was erected, opening on October fifteenth. Harrigan took possession and opened on August 31, 1885, after the destruction of his New Theatre Comique. It was called Harrigan's Theatre and was successful, but the rent ate up the profits and Harrigan was obliged to give it up. It then became the Herald Square Theatre on September 17, 1895, and has retained that name until the present.