The New York Post-Office

The imposing, but ugly, building now occupying the southern end of the Park triangle is the New York post-office. The ground was acquired from the city, and the building was first occupied by the Federal Government on September 1, 1875. Its cost was between $6,000,000 and $7,000,000. It contains not only the post-office proper, but also the United States courts of this district and the rooms of many Federal officials. So rapid has been the growth of the city that the building is entirely inadequate for the demands made upon it, and a new post-office is now (1911) in course of construction on the plot of ground above the tunnels of the Pennsylvania railroad, between Eighth and Ninth avenues and Thirty-first and Thirty-second streets.

The Collect or Freshwater Pond

Lying northeast of the City Hall Park was the pond which has been frequently mentioned in these pages, the Collect, or Freshwater. It had outlets to both the East River and to the Hudson, and it had been proposed several times from very early days to connect the two rivers by a canal across the island, making of the Collect an inland harbor, or basin. Near the North River, the little stream found its way through swamps and meadow land, which were known as Lispenard's Meadows after the owner, Leonard Lispenard, who had married the daughter of Anthony Rutgers, the original grantee from the city in 1730. Under the terms of his grant, Rutgers was obliged to drain the land; but it was not until 1792 that steps were taken to render the land useful for building purposes. Then followed plan after plan for disposing of the water of the Collect and its outlets; and these were of such diverging character that in the multitude of schemes nothing was done. At Last, in 1808, the proprietors of adjoining lands in despair at the inactivity of the local authorities, petitioned the Legislature for the appointment of a commission that would adopt and carry out any one plan, however imperfect, rather than that they should continue to be held up in their improvements by so many fluctuating ideas. The result was the laying out of a street one hundred feet wide, through the middle of which was an open ditch, or canal, with planked sides, which continued to carry off the water of the Collect. Trees were planted along the sides of the ditch and the street became populated; but this took several years to accomplish.

The regulating and grading of the streets in the vicinity were going on and the tops of the hills were used in filling in the Collect and the low land of Duggan Street, as it was first called after a tanner of that name who was located at Broadway and Canal Street. Within twenty years afterwards, about 1840, the canal became a covered sewer, which still continues to draw off the water from the springs which fed the ancient Freshwater Pond.

Stone Bridge

At Broadway the stream was crossed by an arched bridge, which was known as the Stone Bridge. This was probably built by the British when occupying the city during the Revolution to serve as a means of communication between their fortifications on the Kalck Hook and those above the stream at Bayard's, or Bunker, Hill. The ancient bridge is buried some eight or ten feet below the surface of the present thoroughfare; and when the engineers come to build the proposed subway under the line of Broadway, they will run across the old landmark. Near the bridge was the Stone Bridge Tavern. About 1850, the New York and New Haven Railroad had its station near the site of the bridge, this was then about the centre of the city.

The Bayard's Farm

The delay in the improvement of Canal Street held back the development of Broadway above that street for several years. The principal owner of property was Nicholas Bayard, whose farm extended across Broadway above the canal, so that the Middle Road divided it into the west and east farms. This land was badly cut up by fortifications which the British had erected during
the Revolution. North of Bayard's west farm was the Herring estate, which extended north from Bleecker Street. Bayard's east farm extended to between Prince and Houston Streets; above this was the land of Alderman Dyckman; above him was the land of Anthony L. Bleecker, and above him was the Herring property, which thus crossed the line of the road, the eastern boundary of
these lands was the Boston Road, or the Bowery.


Lieutenant-Governor Andrew Elliot's Land, and Randall's "The Sailors' Snug Harbor".

Astor Place was originally a road leading from the Bowery over to the village of Greenwich and it was called the Sand Hill Road, as it led along the base of a range of low sand hills, called by the Dutch the Zantberg, which extended nearly all the way across the island. In 1766 Lieutenant-Governor Andrew Elliot purchased thirteen acres of land, extending from the Bowery westward almost to the present Sixth Avenue. His later purchases increased his holdings to twenty-one acres, which he called "Minto." In 1780, he was acting governor of the province under the British and left the city when the evacuation took place in 1783. He had erected a fine mansion and beautified his grounds. The estate came into the possession of "Baron" Poelnitz, who sold it in 1790 to Robert R. Randall, a shipmaster and merchant of the city, for five thousand pounds. Mr. Randall had no children and no near heirs.

At the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, so it is said, who made Mr. Randall's will, the devisor left the property, which he had named "The Sailors' Snug Harbor," as a home for aged and infirm seamen. Mr. Randall died in 1801, and his will at once became a matter of litigation on the part of his relatives, and it was not until 1831 that the matter was settled by the Supreme Court of the United States. It had been Mr. Randall's intention to have had the home occupy his mansion on the farm, which was to furnish vegetables, etc., to the inmates; but by the time his will was upheld, the property had become so valuable that the trustees thought it better to buy land on Staten Island, and the Snug Harbor was opened there on August 1, 1833. The farm was divided up and let on long leaseholds which give the institution a yearly income of over $400,000. This is one of the most munificent charities ever established by any one in the city.

The Farm of Elias Brevoort

Adjoining the "Minto" estate of Governor Elliot on the north, was the farm of Elias Brevoort, which extended from the Bowery to between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, its northern boundary being Eighteenth Street. The house stood on the Bowery on the line of Eleventh Street; and though the city made efforts in 1836 and 1849 to cut the street through both attempts were blocked by the Dutch obstinacy of Hendrick Brevoort, then the venerable owner of the property.

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 Bakery On Tenth Street

On the Tenth Street corner, there stood for many years the restaurant and bakery conducted by the Fleischmanns. The "bread line" here became one of the institutions of New York, for it was the custom of the firm to give away every night the bread and rolls that had not been used or sold during the day. It was a practical charity, duly appreciated by the poor and unfortunate men, women, and children  who could be seen waiting here in line until midnight to receive their dole of bread, even on the coldest or most inclement nights.

The Old Stewart Building

On the block below, is the old Stewart building, now occupied by John Wanamaker, who erected a still larger and taller building below Ninth Street in 1908, the two buildings being connected by a subway and a bridge across Ninth Street. Stewart moved here in 1862, but it took several years before he acquired the whole block between Ninth and Tenth Streets, as the Ninth Street corner was occupied by the firm of Goupil & Co., the art dealers.

The Hoffman House

On the west side of Broadway, at Twenty-fifth Street, the Hoffman House was located in the eighties and soon became one of the sights of the city on account of the paintings displayed in its barroom , all of them by the greatest of American and European artists, the especial object of interest being Bouguereau's Nymphs and Satyr. The Albemarle Hotel adjoins the Hoffman House on the Twenty-fourth Street corner; and at the southeast corner of Twenty-seventh Street is the Hotel Victoria, at one time the home of the late President Cleveland after his first term of office.

The Worth Monument

At the junction of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Twenty-fifth Street is a small, triangular park, in which is a granite obelisk, known as the Worth Monument. If we read the bronze bands which are around the stone, we find inscribed Chippewa and Lundys Lane of the War of 1812 and nearly every battle of the Mexican War in which either Taylor or Scott fought; for Major-General William J. Worth was the right hand man of both these commanders. Worth was a native of Hudson and a very distinguished officer. He died in Texas in 1849, and his body was brought here later. After lying in state in the City Hall, it was buried with imposing ceremonies on November 25, 1857, under this monument erected by the City of New York. It has become customary in late years to erect reviewing stands abreast of the monument when parades and processions pass down Fifth Avenue to the Washington Arch, or up the avenue to points above. Here the reviewing officer, whether president, governor, mayor, or other distinguished person, takes his stand.

The Naval Memorial Arch

This was a beautiful arch and colonnade erected in 1899 when Admiral Dewey returned from Manila. The arch was miscalled the "Dewey" arch. It was, in fact, a naval memorial arch; and upon it and the columns were the names of John Manley and John Paul Jones, Decatur, Hull, Perry, Stockton, Farragut, Porter, and a host of others who have carried the flag upon the seas and added lustre to it in all of the wars in which the United States has been engaged from the Revolution to the present. The whole affair was made of "staff," and in the course of several weeks became so dirty and bedraggled that it had to be removed. It was intended to perpetuate the arch and colonnade in marble, and subscriptions were started with this end in view; but for some reason perhaps because the admiral became too prosaic an individual by getting married the scheme fell through. It is a great pity; for the Farragut statue opposite the Worth Monument is the only memorial in New York which tends to do honor to that service that has always distinguished itself in time of war, and which is immediately forgotten in time of peace.

Police Precinct Known as "Tenderloin".

Twenty years ago, this section between Twenty-third and Thirty-fourth streets was the liveliest in the city. Here were located many of the popular hotels; and in the adjoining territory was the police precinct known as the "Tenderloin," to be the commander of which was the ambition of many police captains, as after one or two years of it they were assured of being able to retire with at least a competency for their declining years.