The Thirteenth Street Theatre

The Thirteenth Street theatre was continued by his more famous son Lester; and Wallack's Theatre and its stock company became synonymous with all that is best in dramatic art, in acting, in scenery, in stage management and presentation, and in the play itself. The fact that an actor had been a member of Wallack's company was sufficient recommendation as to ability and training to secure him admission into almost any theatre company in the land; although Thomas Allston Brown says that Wallack never made a good actor, but only engaged those who already had reputations. Some of the many plays at Wallack's were "The Clandestine Marriage", "The School for Scandal" with John Gilbert, John Brougham, Charles Coghlan, Charles Rockwell, E.M. Holland, and Harry Becket, Madam Ponisi, Effie Germon, Stella Boniface, and Rose Coghlan. In 1881, Wallack's was about the only theatre on Broadway below Twenty-third Street, as the theatre-going public had deserted lower Broadway; so a new theatre was built at Thirtieth Street which Wallack managed almost up to the time of his death.

After Lester Wallack retired from the management of the Thirteenth Street House, it became for a time the German Theatre, passing later into the management of Henry E. Abbey, who presented grand opera. Wallack resumed possession January 10, 1883, and the house was reopened as the Star, March twenty-sixth. Then followed such a galaxy of actors as Modjeska, Lawrence Barrett, Booth, McCullough, Wilson Barrett, Boucicault, Florence, Irving, Hermann, Robson, and Crane. But its days were numbered, and toward the last, it was given over to melodrama. The last performance, "The Man-o-war's Man," was given in April, 1901. It was a very rainy night, otherwise there would probably have been more people in the theatre to say good-bye to the old house. At the end of the performance there was a demonstration on the part of the audience, led by the photographer Rockwood; and those present united in singing Auld Lang Syne before dispersing to their homes. The building was demolished shortly afterward to make room for a great business structure. What recollections of great acting and fine casts the very name of Wallack's brings to many .

The Apollo Ball-Room

A second Broadway Theatre was opened in August, 1837, on the east side of Broadway near Walker Street in a building formerly known as Euterpean Hall and the Apollo Saloon; but the enterprise was soon abandoned. Across the street, at Number 412, was the Apollo Ball-Room, a very popular resort for politicians opposed to Tammany Hall. In May, 1844, the Congo Minstrels, later called the Negro Minstrels, appeared at Apollo Hall. During the time of Fernando Wood, the building became the headquarters of the Apollo Hall, or Wood, democracy.

During the vogue of the Apollo Ball-Room, it was the resort of many of the younger set, who here found a freedom of action and dancing which they were denied in the sedate affairs of society. In fact, patronizing the Apollo became a mild kind of dissipation among the society youths.

The Old Broadway Theatre

The Old Broadway Theatre was located on the east side of the street, between Pearl and Worth Streets, and was opened, on September 27, 1847, with "The School for Scandal" and "Used Up", in the latter of which Mr. John Lester (Wallack) made his first appearance on the American stage. The house had been projected by "Tom" Hamblin; but he was not able to carry the
enterprise through, so that the first manager was Alvah Mann, who later took Ethelbert A. Marshall into partnership. The firm lasted until October 25, 1848, when Marshall became sole manager and remained so until May 1, 1858. By this time, the theatre had become too far down-town, the houses were declining, and Marshall was losing money. Many famous actors appeared upon the boards of the Broadway; and it was here that Forrest and Macready earned their greatest laurels. The theatre closed on April 2, 1859, and shortly afterward, it was torn down.

Laura Keene's Varieties

Laura Keene's Varieties at 624, above Houston Street, was opened November 18, 1856, and remained under her management until May 8, 1863. The theatre was remarkable for presenting all sorts of plays and for the ability of the actors who appeared; among these we find the elder Sothern, Jefferson, Mrs. D.P. Bowers, Matilda Heron, and Laura Keene herself. For a period of six months, it became Jane English's Theatre; and then, on October 8, 1863, it became Mrs. John Wood's Olympic until June 30, 1866, and was as famous as under the management of Laura Keene. It then passed under new management; and on March 10, 1868, there was produced the great pantomime of Humpty Dumpty with George L. and Charles K. Fox as clown and pantaloon. The play was performed four hundred and eighty-three times to box-office receipts of $1, 406,000 before it was withdrawn on May 15, 1869. Humpty Dumpty was revived August 31, 1873, for a run of three hundred and thirty-three performances, and again on February 17, 1875, for a run of one hundred and twenty-seven more. Augustin Daly was one of the last managers of this theatre. The final performance was given in the house on April 17, 1880, shortly after which the building was torn down. The last performances of George L. Fox were attended with a strong element of pathos. It is stated that the powder he used for whitening his face and head, bismuth, I believe, had penetrated to his brain and produced insanity. He would be brought to the theatre, made up, and set upon the stage; and so much had the character of the clown become a part of his very nature that he would go through his part and be as excruciatingly funny as in his best days.

Wood's Minstrel Hall

Wood's Minstrel Hall at 514, below Spring Street, was opened July 7, 1862. It became Wood's Theatre on June 15, 1866, with performances of the legitimate drama; but changed its character in September of the same year when it became the German Thalia Theatre Comique. Harrigan and Hart appeared here December 2, 1872; and after it had been in the hands of other managers with variety performances, they obtained possession again on August 7, 1876, and kept it until April 30, 1881, when the building was torn down and converted into stores. It was during this time that they produced "The Mulligan Guard" series. A visitor remarks: "I remember dropping into the theatre one afternoon in 1877 and seeing the play of 'Old Lavender'. The audience was small, the house was dirty and dingy, and the curtain did not reach the stage when lowered; yet I felt like a discoverer as I remarked to my companion about the excellence of the acting in such inharmonious surroundings and prophesied a career for the protagonist of the play."

The Altheneum

The Church of the Messiah, Unitarian, had been at 724 (later, 728) Broadway, near Waverly Place, from 1839 to 1864, when the congregation moved to other quarters. The church edifice took on a deserted and dilapidated appearance and was bought by A.T. Stewart, who renovated it and opened it as the Broadway Atheneum on January 23, 1865. Eleven months later, after being completely transformed architecturally, it became Lucy Rushton's Theatre, and the house was dedicated to the legitimate drama; but the lessee failed to pay the government revenue tax and so had to give it up. From this time until 1881, its names and managers were numerous, and the performances ran the whole range from opera to variety. "The Streets of New York" was performed here in 1869 when it was called the Worrell Sisters' New York Theatre. Mrs. Scott-Siddons, with whose husband Sothern, Nelse Seymour, Dan Bryant, and other jokers of the stage had had so much fun, made her American debut here in Shakespearian roles.

At one time it was Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre after that manager's Twenty-fourth Street house had been burned on January 1, 1873; but he had the good taste to see the incongruity of the name and changed it the second year of his management to Daly's Broadway Theatre. It also bore the name of Globe Theatre three several times; but its name was changed for the last time when Harrigan and Hart opened it as the New Theatre Comique on October 29, 1881. The new lessees had made it one of the handsomest theatres in the city; and it became immensely popular with the presentation of Harrigan's various plays with his stock company, which changed very little from year to year, so that every member was well-known to and beloved by the public. The house was destroyed by fire December 23, 1884, and the ground remained idle for a long time; then it became the Old London Street, February 26, 1887, and after a period of vacancy a gymnasium for sporting and sparring exhibitions in 1896. This last building was demolished in September, 1902; and at this date (February, 1911) the lots from 724 to 732 are unbuilt upon.

Hope Chapel

Hope Chapel, formerly a church on the east side of Broadway below Eighth Street, was opened as a place of amusement on March 28, 1853, for lectures, spiritualists, etc. The Davenport Brothers exhibited here their spirit cabinet and mystified their audiences. It became the Broadway Academy of Music in 1864, and a year later, Blitz's New Hall, given over to concerts, etc. Kelley and Leon ran it as a minstrel hall from 1866 to 1870. In 1870, the house became Lina Edward's Theatre for two years, when Kelly and Leon took it once more on November 25, 1872; three days afterwards the building was destroyed by fire.

New York Times Building

On the triangular block between Broadway and Seventh Avenue is the high building of the New York Times, from which the open space from Forty-third to Forty-seventh streets gets its name of Times Square. The plot was occupied with a block of two-story buildings, containing a private school and several quiet stores, which seemed to be almost out of the business of the vicinity. About 1890, a hotel-keeper named Regan erected a building on the south side of the plot and ran it with a bar and famous Rathskeller.
In 1900, the underground railway was commenced, and The Regan building was one of the earliest of the skeleton, steel and concrete construction, and its demolition after about ten years of existence was watched by the architects and civil engineers with a great deal of interest in order to see the effect upon the steel framing. As it was torn to pieces, it was found that everything was as good as the day it was put into the building. An immense, deep hole in the solid rock was necessary for the new building; for the subway was to pass under it, and its foundations were to carry not only the Times building itself, but the tracks of the subway also, and to be able to withstand the vibrations of the passing trains. In many respects therefore, the building is one of the most wonderful in New York; and until the Singer building was erected, it was the highest structure in the city, if we figure from the lowest foundations, where the presses are located to the top of its high tower.

The Armory

The armory of the Twenty-second Regiment of Engineers of the National Guard is on the east side of Broadway;, between Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth streets. The regiment was organized in April, 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War and had its quarters at Seventh Street and Hall Place; it occupied its armory in Fourteenth Street near Sixth Avenue in 1864. The present armory was occupied in 1891. The regiment was mustered into the service of the national government during the Spanish War, and became an engineer regiment on February 20, 1902. A new armory, the corner-stone of which was laid December 19, 1909, is now in course of construction on Fort Washington Avenue at One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street at a cost of about a million of dollars; and the members of the regiment hope to occupy it in the spring of 1912.

The Sheltering Arms

It was organized in 1864 for homeless children between five and twelve years of age for whom no other institution provides, is at Amsterdam Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Street.

The Hebrew Orphan Society

It was founded in 1822, is on the same avenue at One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Street.

The Montefiore Home

At Broadway and One Hundred and Thirty-eighth Street is one of the grandest charities in the city, the Hospital and Home for Chronic Invalids, commonly called the "Montefiore Home." It was founded in 1884 and is supported almost entirely by the voluntary subscriptions from people of the Jewish faith, as a memorial to the famous philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore; it is open to both sexes without distinction of race or creed. The present quarters have been found to be too cramped to carry out fully the desires of the trustees, and arrangements are already completed to transfer the Home to the Borough of The Bronx on the Gunhill Road near Jerome Avenue. The new buildings are to cost $1,500,000, and will be designed to accommodate six hundred invalids, with all modern improvements for their comfort and health.

The Colored Orphan Asylum

It was organized in 1837, was for many years at Amsterdam Avenue and One Hundred and Forty-third Street until its removal to Mount St. Vincent. At the time of the draft riots of July, 1863, the asylum was located at Fifth Avenue between Forty-third and Forty-fourth streets. The malice of the rioting crowds was directed against every one who showed color, whether man, woman, or child, and many negroes were hanged from near-by lamp-posts. Inspired by this hatred, the mob made an attack upon the asylum and fired the buildings, which were consumed; but fortunately, the children were withdrawn safely through a rear entrance. With the money obtained as damages from the city, that secured from the sale of the Fifth Avenue plot, and that subscribed by citizens, many of whom had never heard of the institution until the burning of the asylum, the new buildings were started on Washington Heights.

The Institution For The Deaf And Dumb

It was incorporated in 1817 with De Witt Clinton as first president of the society; it is located at One Hundred and Sixty-third Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

The New York Juvenile Asylum

It was founded in 1817 at what is now Madison Square, long occupied a portion of the Smedes property below One Hundred and Sixty-eighth Street until its removal to Dobbs Ferry.

Fort Washington

On the river bank at Jeffrey's Neck, where is now located Fort Washington Park, was the Revolutionary fortification of the patriots, erected under the plans of Major Rufus Putnam, Washington's engineer. The outworks of the fort extended in all directions for over a mile, and on the Jersey shore of the river was Fort Lee. It was expected that these two forts, with the obstructions placed in the river for the purpose, would prevent the passage up the stream of the British vessels; but in this expectation the Americans were disappointed, as the war vessels sailed safely through the obstructions. Much against his own judgment, Washington, instead of dismantling the fort upon his own evacuation of the island, listened to the request of Congress and left it with a garrison under Colonel Magaw. After their unsuccessful Westchester campaign, the British turned their attention to the reduction of Fort Washington. After several days of preparation, they carried it by assault on November 16, 1776, and Magaw and his three thousand troops became prisoners of war to die and rot in the New York prisons. Thus the Americans lost their last foothold on Manhattan Island. The fort was occupied by the British and was renamed Fort Knyphausen in honor of the leader of the Hessians who had taken the principal part in its capture.

Fort Tryon

We have a rather general idea that the Hessians were fit only for looting and other outrages. One has only to look at the precipitous bluff below Fort Tryon the northernmost of the fortifications below Inwood, to realize that they could also fight upon occasion. Loaded down with paraphernalia weighing fifty pounds or more and carrying a musket weighing sixteen pounds, they stormed these bluffs and carried them in the face of the finest marksmen in the world. The lines of the old fort are plainly visible, and as they are within a public park, they bid fair to be preserved for all time. On November 16, 1901, the anniversary of the battle, an appropriate monument and tablet were dedicated on Fort Washington Avenue, at the base of one of the old ramparts, the land being given for the purpose by James Gordon Bennett the younger, the proprietor of the New York Herald. The earthworks of Fort Tryon, just below Inwood, are easily discernible near the former residence of William Muschenheim of the Hotel Astor.