List of Prices Paid For Different Properties on the East Side of Broadway Below Wall Street

Reverting to the east side of Broadway, below Wall street, it is to be observed that the prejudices which seem to have existed among the Dutch against that side of the street, were to some extent countenanced in after years by their successors. The principal building erected there for many years after the English came into possession was a tavern erected by John Corbett below Exchange place. And as further testimony to the inferiority of the class of buildings in that locality during the last century we give a list of the prices paid for different properties on the east side of Broadway below Wall street, so far as we have been able to ascertain them.

In 1725 Leonard DeGrave, Cartman sold to Thomas Elde, Blacksmith, house and lot 31 feet front, 60 feet deep, for £100.
In 1736 Mr. Bloom sold to Thomas Shields, victualler, house and lot for £140.
In 1737 E. Eastham sold to Capt. Matthew Norris, house and lot on southeast corner of Broadway and present Exchange place (the Verlettenberg), 34 feet by 75, for £95.
In 1750 Abraham Montagnie, carpenter, bought house, 24 by 80 feet, for £201.

The most expensive purchase we have found during the colonial era was house with lot 55 by 150 feet, the price of which was £320. These facts illustrate sufficiently well the character of the street in that vicinity in English times, and we suppose the inference may be fairly drawn that they were mostly frame houses, of small size, occupied by persons following mechanical pursuits, and that the locality was not distinguished above the more retired parts of the city as a place either of business or residence.

The fire of '76 also destroyed many of the buildings on the east side of the street as well as those on the opposite side, but it left standing a brick house near exchange place, and a few others. In a similar manner to that related concerning the west side of the street, the period of the war witnessed the erection of a small class of frame buildings on the site of the ruins on the east side, and these continued in existence for eight or ten years after the peace.

1785 List of residents below Wall street, and their occupations

William Barham, tavern keeper; William Willement, shopkeeper; J. Resler, tallow-chandler; John Mills, shoemaker, Andrew Aiken, shopkeeper; N.F. Saunders, shopkeeper; John Houseman, painter and glazier; John Rutherford, lawyer; Abraham Schenck, grocer; John Tear, linen draper; William Bayley, merchant; Ann Baurie, shopkeeper; S. Bauman, grocer; James Cary, lodging-house; William Houseman, tailor; James Paxton, carpenter; Joshua Mills, carpenter; William A. Forbes, saddler; and M.A. Gib, painter and glazier.

1790s Improvement to area of Broadway

The earliest occupants of the new buildings: No. 16, George Scriba, merchant; No. 24, Nicholas Low, merchant; No. 26, Gen. Alexander Hamilton; No. 30, John Delafield, merchant; No. 34, Dr. Charlton; No. 36, Peter Jay Munro, lawyer; No. 40, Widow Livingston; No. 42, Widow Allen; No. 44, Robert Troup, lawyer; No. 46, Dr. Bailey; No. 50 John Slidell, chandler; No. 52, Judge Lawrence; No. 52, Col. Aquilla Giles; No. 54, Daniel Ludlow, merchant; No. 66, Herman Le Roy, merchant; No. 68, Josiah Ogden Hoffman; No. 70, Cadwallader D. Colden, lawyer; No. 72, Joshua Jones; No. 74, Dr. Thomas Jones; No. 86, Dr. Tillery.

It may be further mentioned that Governor Jay, in after years, erected in this vicinity a large stone house then considered a great ornament to the street. In 1827 the Adelphi hotel, on the corner of Beaver street, a building six stories in height, was erected.

1828 Boarding-Keepers

The boarding-house keepers enumerated in 1828, showed the gradual change then in progress. No. 24 was occupied by Mrs. Wood; No. 36 by Mr. Street; No. 40 by Mrs. Barker; No. 52 (formerly Governor Jay's residence) by Mrs. Keese; No. 56, (corner Exchange place) by Mr. Pearcy; No. 58 (opposite corner) by Mrs. Helme.

The Dey Property

The first sale of a lot of which we find record was made in 1737, on the north side of Courtlandt street; size, twenty-five by one hundred and twenty-six feet, extending to land of Dey. Price, twenty-six pounds.

The Dey property contained over five acres. Tunis Dey, who was a gardener and miller (his windmill being situated near the river shore), made his will in 1688, leaving half of this property to his wife and half to his children. It was not until 1730 that actual partition was made. In 1743 a map was made, and the property was brought into the market as building lots. The first record of any sale is dated in 1745, which describes a lot on southwest corner of Broadway and Dey street; consideration, seventy-five pounds. The value of property, however, speedily rose, and in 1770 we find sale of a lot on Broadway, near Dey street, for three hundred and eighty pounds. Broadway was first regulated from Dey street to Fulton street in 1760. In connection with this part of the city, mention should be made of the first suburban tavern, such as afterwards became so fashionable on Broadway, outside of the city walls. This was the "Blue Boar," erected about the year 1670 on the east side of Broadway, near the present corner of Liberty street.

The Van Tienhoven's Plantation

Extending along the east side of Broadway, from the Maagde Paatje, or Maiden lane, to a point about one hundred and seventeen feet north of Fulton street, became the property of an association of five shoemakers and tanners, and thence became commonly known as the Shoemakers' Pasture. Their property embraced about sixteen acres in all. The tannery was located on a swampy section near the junction of Maiden lane and William street. After being used in common for many years, the property was mapped off in 1715, at which time, as the record curiously states, the owners, "finding the said land to be rentable for building of houses for an enlargement of the city, projected and laid out said lands into one hundred and sixty-four lots." John Harberding, a venerable craftsman, and one of the original members of the shoemakers' association, lived and plied his trade on Broadway, near Maiden lane.

In a division of the property, some years after, the along-Broadway portion was allotted to him, extending the whole front, being five hundred and eighty feet along Broadway, and one hundred and sixty feet in depth. The plot is described as a garden, then in the occupation of said Harberding. Mr. Harberding emigrated to this city about the year 1660, while it was still under Dutch rule. He was a shoemaker by trade, and though rather a wild youth, became in his maturer years a pillar of the Church, and lived to a venerable age. He died in 1723, leaving a handsome fortune, a considerable portion of which he bequeathed to the Dutch Reformed Church, which they still enjoy. The streets as laid out originally through the property still exist (although both have been widened in recent times) under the names of John street (after the proprietor) and Fulton street, formerly Fair street. A house and lot, apparently the homestead of John Harberding, on the corner of Broadway and Maiden lane, was sold soon after his death (viz., 1732) for one hundred and twenty pounds.

1796 Stage Establishment of Brower & Anderson

The stage establishment of Brower & Anderson, under the directorship of James Carr, was, in 1796, situated in the block between Cedar and Liberty streets. On next block, extending to Courtlandt street, fine buildings and stores had been erected, occupied by John B. Dash, Jr., iron merchant: John Jacob Astor, fur merchant; Abraham Russel,, builder; Charles Dickinson; Dr. Benj. Kissam; Jas. H. Kipp, merchant; Jacobus Bogart, a wealthy baker, and others. From Courtlandt street to Fulton street some of the buildings were of a superior description, others of a less pretentious character.

Various Buildings, With Their Valuation, Occupants, &c., in 1815: Broadway Area

No. 123, City Hotel (Ezra Weeks), $90,000; No. 127 Sheldon & Beach, drygoods store, $11,000; No. 135, John C. Jacobs, $8,600; No. 139, William Bruce, merchant, $15,000; No. 141, William Young, saddler, $10,500; No. 145, William Dean, drygoods store, $10,500; No. 147, John B. Dash, iron store, $16,000; No. 149, Nathaniel Smith, perfumer, $13,000; No. 153, Aaron Thompson, $13,000; Nos. 155 and 157, Peter Stolenwerk, jeweler, $20,000; No. 159, Jesse Baldwin, merchant, $14,000; No. 163, A. L. Fessott, $6,000; No. 165, Alex. McDonald, merchant, $6,000; No. 167, Jacob L. Sebring, drygoods, $18,000; No. 169, Ebbits & Rankin, saddlers, $6,000; No. 171, Jacobus Bogert, baker, $20,000; No. 173, John Wolfendale, $20,000; No. 175, King & Mead, merchants, $16,500; No. 177 Ephraim Lee, drygoods store, $13,500; No. 179, Theophilus Pierce, $19,000; No. 181 Wilbur & Fish, $15,000; No. 183, Cushman & Falconer, $16,000; No. 187, And. G. Zabriskie, merchant, $19,000; No. 189, Garrit Gilbert, $15,000; No. 191, Spader & Carmon, merchants, $14,500: No. 195, David L. Haight, $14,000; No. 197, D. L. Haight, $12,000; No. 199,Robert Buloid, grocer, &18,000; No. 201, Stephen Ward, drygoods store, $12,000; No. 205, N.M. Boquet, milliner, $12,000; No. 207, B & H. Haight, drygoods store, $10,000.

Among the public houses which have, from time to time, enjoyed popularity in this section have been the Rathbone Hotel, No. 163 Broadway, about the year 1850, and the Franklin House, on the northwest corner of Broadway and Dey street, which under the supervision of J.P. Treadwell, was one of the leading resorts of country merchants.