# The New International Encyclopædia/New York (city)

Edition of 1905. See also New York City on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​ NEW YORK. The chief city of the State of New York, the commercial metropolis of the United States, the largest city of the Western Hemisphere, and after London the largest city in the world. It is situated at the mouth of the Hudson River, which enters the Atlantic Ocean through New York Bay, 205 miles in a direct line northeast of Washington, 715 miles east by south of Chicago, and 190 miles southwest of Boston; latitude of the City Hall, 40° 42′ N., longitude 74° W.
The climate, on the whole, is very healthful and enjoyable, but is subject to great extremes. As the continental climate extends to the Atlantic coast of North America, the temperatures of New York City depend, to an important extent, upon the meteorological conditions of the interior regions. The humidity due to the proximity of the sea tends to increase the discomfort both of oppressively hot and severely cold days. The average annual temperature is about 54° Fahr. The mean temperature of the three winter months is about 34°; spring, 52°; summer, 75°; autumn, 57°. July is almost invariably a little warmer than the other summer months. The temperature of the hottest day ranges from 90° to 99°, and the mercury sometimes falls to zero or even below. The annual precipitation is from 36 to 42 inches, the amount of snow being from 20 to 30 inches. Cyclonic storms from the West Indies occasionally bring very high winds, accompanied with a heavy fall of rain or snow.
New York Harbor, one of the finest in the world, has an entrance about a mile wide, between Fort Hamilton, the southwest corner of the Borough of Brooklyn, and Fort Wadsworth, the point opposite on Staten Island. This entrance, known as the Narrows, leads into a fine bay bounded by New Jersey and Manhattan Island on the north. Long Island on the east, Staten Island on the southwest, and New Jersey on the west. It is about five miles wide and six miles long from north to south. The bronze statue, ‘Liberty Enlightening the World,’ by Bartholdi (see Liberty, Statue of), the largest statue of modern times, 151.41 feet in height, stands upon a pedestal 155 feet high on Bedloe's Island in the bay. The torch held aloft by the figure is lighted at night by electricity. Governor's Island, near the Battery, the southern point of Manhattan Island, containing 65 acres, is occupied by the United States Government for military purposes. Ellis Island, a mile and a half from the Battery, architecturally prominent, with a fine modern building, also belongs to the United States Government and is used as a landing place for immigrants. On Swinburne and Hoffman Islands, in the Lower Bay, are institutions of the Quarantine Station.
NEW YORK
VIEW OF THE SOUTHERN END OF MANHATTAN ISLAND
Copyright, 1899, by George P. Hall & Son, New York.
​ Previous to 1874 the city did not extend beyond Manhattan Island. At the beginning of that year parts of Westchester County were incorporated with it, and in 1895 more territory in Westchester County was annexed. In 1898 the city's ​boundaries were enlarged to include Kings County and part of Queens County, on Long Island, the whole of Richmond County (Staten Island), and part of the towns of East Chester and Pelham, south of Westchester County. The city, which embraces an area of 309 square miles, consists of five boroughs. These, in order of area, rank as follows: (Queens (124 square miles), Brooklyn (66 square miles), Richmond (57 square miles), the Bronx (40 square miles), and Manhattan (22 square miles). The Borough of Manhattan consists of Manhattan Island (q.v.) and several small islands adjacent. The Borough of Brooklyn is coextensive with Kings County. (See Brooklyn.) All that section of the city northeast of the Harlem River, with a number of islands, constitutes the Borough of the Bronx. It is nearly bisected by the Bronx River, and is mainly residential, its northern portion having a distinctly suburban character, though much of the southern part is closely built up. The Borough of Queens includes that portion of Long Island within the municipal limits, to the north and east of Brooklyn. It comprises Long Island City, Flushing, Jamaica, Newtown, and part of Hempstead. A number of the islands in Jamaica Bay belong to the Borough of Queens. Long Island City is noted for its great industrial establishments. The remainder of the borough consists of many pretty suburban villages and not a few tracts of farm land. The Borough of Richmond is coextensive with Richmond County, the whole of Staten island. It is largely a district of residences, although it contains a great number of establishments. The seaside resorts in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Richmond are frequented in summer by thousands. New York extends over a distance of more than 30 miles from the Yonkers line on the northeast to the southwest extremity of Staten Island.
WALL STREET ABOUT 1785.
Manhattan Island (q.v.), which contains the chief offices of the city, its greatest banks, business houses, museums, tenements, and palaces, lies between the Hudson, East, and Harlem rivers, and is 13½ miles long, with a greatest breadth of 2¼ miles at Fourteenth Street. The southern end of the island is laid out irregularly, the early settlers having built their houses wherever they saw fit, the streets being laid out afterwards. Above Canal Street there is greater regularity, while above Tenth Street the city is laid out, with a few exceptions, in blocks about 200 feet in length from north to south, and from about 400 to about 900 feet from east to west. The cross streets are 60 feet wide, as a rule, although there are a number 100 feet wide, placed at an average distance of half a mile apart, in order to facilitate heavy traffic. The avenues running north and south are generally 100 feet wide. The great artery of New York is Broadway, which unfortunately is only 80 feet wide in the business section of the city, its width being nearly doubled in its northern half. On the east side of the city along the avenues D, C, B, A, First, Second, and Third, counting west from the East River, and in an adjoining area to the south, are the great tenement house districts. On the West Side, along the Hudson, and including the district between Seventh and Tenth Avenues, are manufacturing plants, lumber yards, gas houses, and also many cheap tenements. In the central part of the city, toward the southern end of the island, with Broadway as the main artery, are the largest banks and great commercial houses. Farther up is the retail shopping district, and above that are the homes of the well-to-do classes. Fifth Avenue, which but a few years ago was occupied solely by the homes of rich people, is becoming more and more a business thoroughfare as far as Fiftieth Street. Above Fiftieth Street, however, the character of the present structures—churches, fine club houses, and the spacious homes of the rich—will probably prevent great changes. In 1865, when Central Park was approaching completion, the districts on both sides of the park east and west were entirely unimproved. Along Fifth Avenue, from Sixtieth Street to One Hundredth Street, there were not a dozen houses, where today is a solidly built line of handsome dwellings. On the west side of the park the change has been still greater, but in addition to private dwelling there are hundreds of apartment houses. On Riverside Drive, the boulevard which skirts the Hudson River, there are both private residences and ​apartment houses. Riverside Drive is one of the most beautitul avenues in the world. Uptown along the West Side there are miles of small, artistic private houses until the neighborhood of 110th Street is reached, where over large areas apartment houses are again the rule. The upper part of the island along the East Side is solidly built up with tenement houses. A rocky ridge, rising steeply from the Hudson, with an equally abrupt descent toward the east, extends through the upper part of Manhattan Island, rising finally into hills of nearly 250 feet elevation. These eminences, in part known as Washington Heights, offer charming sites for dwellings, and are in some places compactly built up, while extensive tracts are still covered with woods, presenting exquisite bits of scenery along the Hudson and Harlem rivers.
BROAD STREET IN 1796.
Blackwell's, Ward's, and Randall's islands, picturesquely situated in the East River, are used for city institutions for the care of the poor, sick, and disorderly. Contagious disease hospitals are maintained by the city on the small islands off Port Morris, in the Borough of the Bronx.
Buildings. Viewed from the bay, the business part of the Borough of Manhattan presents a most extraordinary conglomeration of towering office buildings, varying from ten to twenty-five stories in height, huddled together in apparent confusion upon a strip of land less than a mile wide. Beginning at the Battery, the first building of importance is the Produce Exchange, a modern Renaissance structure of brick and terra cotta, with a tine tower 225 feet high. Opposite the Exchange, on Bowling Green, is the new Custom House, upon the site of the official residence built by the city for General Washington. From Bowling Green to Wall Street, Broadway is lined with immense business structures, each of them costing millions of dollars, occupied by the Standard Oil Company, the Manhattan Life Insurance Company, the Commercial Cable Company, the Union Trust Company, and other large corporations. The Consolidated Stock and Petroleum Exchange is at Broadway and Exchange Place. From Trinity Church, running east to the river, is Wall Street, a narrow thoroughfare so completely lined on both sides with buildings from twelve to twenty stories high, used by banks and financial institutions, as to resemble more a cañon than a street. Chief among the buildings here are the great banks, and the Sub-Treasury, a Doric building of granite, upon the site of the old City Hall, from the balcony of which Washington was inaugurated as first President of the United States. In Broad Street, which runs south from the Sub-Treasury, is the new Stock Exchange, costing $2,000,000. Opposite the Stock Exchange is the Mills Building, erected twenty years ago at a cost of $4,000,000. It was the first of the luxurious office buildings in the financial district. On the other side of Exchange Place is the Broad-Exchange, a twenty-story granite pile. Trinity Church, the most interesting of New York's churches, stands upon land granted by the English Government in 1697. The original plot embraced a tract of many acres running down to the Hudson River. The first church was completed in 1697, the present one in 1846. It is a Gothic structure of brown stone. In the churchyard are many monuments in memory of well-known persons. On Broadway, from Trinity Church to the City Hall, are some of the most imposing of the insurance buildings. That of the Equitable Life Assurance Society occupies a whole block. Here also is the building of the American Surety Company, with a cornice 307 feet above the pavement and a foundation extending 72 feet below the street. On the opposite side of Broadway is the main office of the Western Union Telegraph Company. In Cedar Street, a few doors from Broadway, is the Clearing House, maintained by the associated banks of New York. It is a beautiful structure of white marble. In Liberty Street is the palatial home of the Chamber of Commerce. At the junction of Broadway and Park Row stands the Post Office, a large and imposing composite structure, of Doric and Renaissance, upon a triangular plot. Opposite the Post Office is Saint Paul's Chapel, where Washington's pew is shown. Across the way is the old Astor House, a granite hotel which fifty years ago was considered the most luxurious establishment of its kind in the country. Above the Post Office is the City Hall, in City Hall Park. Near by are the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, the great buildings of the World, Tribune, and Times on the east, and the lofty structures of the Postal Telegraph Building and Home Insurance Company on the west. To the south is the Park Row Building, one of the tallest in the country, twenty-five stories high, not counting the towers. The City Hall is the most beautiful of New York's earlier buildings. It was begun in 1803 and finished in 1812 at a cost of $500,000. White marble was used for the front and sides, but brown stone for the back, as it was supposed that the city would not extend beyond it. Back of the City Hall is the ​County Court House, a marble building in Corinthian style, and almost opposite, at the corner of Chambers and Centre Streets, is the new and palatial Hall of Records. The Criminal Courts Building, a superb structure on Centre Street, is connected with the Tombs Prison by a covered bridge. The Tombs, a nickname of the city prison, suggested by its original gloomy architecture in Egyptian style, rebuilt in 1898 and much enlarged, is now, architecturally, one of the finest of modern prisons.
Broadway, from Chambers Street to Tenth, is largely given up to wholesale trade, one of the most prominent features along the route, however, being the massive building of the New York Life Insurance Company. West of Broadway, below Canal Street, lies the great wholesale dry goods centre of the United States, and farther uptown are the wholesale dealers in straw goods, millinery, feathers, and ready-made clothing. Where Broadway changes its direction at Tenth Street, the character of business changes.
Here is Grace Church, one of the most attractive ecclesiastical edifices in New York. It is an ornate Gothic structure, built of white limestone. There are other buildings connected with the church, the whole forming a striking group. In this neighborhood are the Astor Library, long the most important library in the city, the Mercantile Library, and at Fourth Avenue and Eighth Street, Cooper Union (q.v.), a brownstone building erected in 1857. Union Square, once the limit of the retail business of the city, and until 1860 surrounded by private houses, is now wholly given up to business. At the lower end of Fifth Avenue, in Washington Square, stands the Washington Arch, erected by popular subscription at a cost of $128,000, and completed in 1892. It is 70 feet high. On the east side of Washington Square is the large building of New York University, housing the schools of Law and Pedagogy and the Graduate School, and various business establishments. It occupies the site of the celebrated Gothic collegiate structure pulled down in 1894-95. In the district north by east of Union Square lies Gramercy Park, and, at Second Avenue, Stuyvesant Square, on which stands Saint George's Church, with its lofty spires. At Eleventh Street and Second Avenue is the old home of the New York Historical Society, built in 1857. The new building of the society, at Seventy-sixth Street and Central Park West, will cost $1,000,000. The new Lying-in Hospital at Second Avenue and East Seventeenth Street is one of the handsomest structures of its class in the city. Bellevue Hospital, founded in 1826, occupies two blocks extending from Twenty-sixth to Twenty-eighth street on First Avenue to the East River; the City Morgue is situated in the grounds at the foot of Twenty-sixth Street. Broadway from Ninth Street to Thirty-fifth Street, Sixth Avenue, and Fourteenth and Twenty-third streets contain most of the great retail shops of the metropolis. When the Herald Building, copied after a Venetian palace, was built at Thirty-fifth Street and Broadway in 1894, there were but few large retail stores in the neighborhood. To-day the vicinity of Broadway and Thirty-fourth Street bids fair to become the centre of retail trade. One of the largest department stores in the country occupies the block on the west side of Broadway between Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth streets. Along the line of Broadway, from Twenty-third to Fifty-ninth street, are situated a number of important hotels, apartment houses, and the leading theatres of the city. At the angle of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, upon a triangle, 87 by 190 feet, stands a twenty-story wedge-shaped building known as the ‘Flatiron,’ visible for miles, and presenting a striking architectural contrast with the Madison Square Garden. The graceful tower of the latter, copied from the Giralda of Seville, is surmounted by a gilded statue of Diana. On the east side of Madison Square is the handsome office building of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Another beautiful and imposing marble building is the Court House at Twenty-fifth Street and Madison Avenue, used by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
Saint Patrick's Cathedral (Roman Catholic) on Fifth Avenue, between Fiftieth and Fifty-first streets, ranks among the most imposing Gothic edifices in this country. It is built of white marble in the form of a Latin cross, and its two beautiful spires rise to a height of 332 feet. It cost $2,000,000. The corner-stone was laid in 1858, and the church was dedicated on May 25, 1879. At Forty-second Street and Fourth Avenue is the Grand Central Station. Above Fifty-ninth Street, on Broadway, apartment hotels are the great feature of this thoroughfare. The first hotels of this character, in which the tenants furnish their own apartments, but take their meals in a common dining-room, appeared in 1888. To-day there are more than one hundred apartment hotels in Manhattan, each housing from 40 to 200 families, and many more are being built. One of the largest groups of apartment houses is that known as the Navarro, at Seventh Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, built about sixteen years ago at a cost of $5,000,000. Another noted building of this type is the Dakota, at West Seventy-second Street, facing Central Park. One of the largest of the new apartment hotels is the Ansonia, at Seventy-fourth Street and Broadway, which covers a plot of land 200 × 400 feet, and is 16 stories high.
At 116th Street are the buildings of Columbia University, including a magnificent library, costing about $1,000,000. Near by are Saint Luke's Hospital and the beginnings of the great Protestant Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. The building stands upon a rocky bluff overlooking the Harlem plains on the cast. Various estimates of from thirty to fifty years as the time required to finish the building have been made, and the cost may be anywhere from ten to twenty million dollars. In vastness of dimensions and beauty of design it will take its place among the great cathedrals of the world. On Amsterdam Avenue, between 109th and 110th streets, the new building of the National Academy of Design is approaching completion, the well-known Venetian-Gothic building, formerly occupied by the Academy, at the corner of Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue, having been demolished in 1901. Facing Central Park on the west side of Seventy-seventh Street is the Museum of Natural History, one immense wing of which, the southern façade, is already complete. On the east side of the park, and within it, facing on Fifth Avenue at Eighty-second Street, is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Lenox Library occupies a massive limestone building fronting ​Central Park, between Seventieth and Seventy-first streets. Farther up Fifth Avenue at One Hundredth Street is the new Mount Sinai Hospital, one of the largest and most perfectly appointed in the country. At 123d Street and Riverside Drive is the tomb of General Grant, a mausoleum in classic style, covering an area about 100 feet square and rising 100 feet from the ground. It stands upon a bluff overlooking the Hudson. The cornerstone was laid in 1892 and the building was dedicated on April 27, 1897. The bodies of General Grant and his wife lie in twin granite sarcophagi in the crypt under the dome. Farther north, in the Borough of the Bronx, are the handsome library and other buildings of New York University.
THE TOMB OF GEN. U. S. GRANT
​ Parks. The first proposal to make a public park for New York was about the beginning of the last century. In 1802 some citizens advocated the setting aside for this purpose of twenty acres around the Collect Pond, a sheet of water situated where the Tombs prison now stands, which was used in summer for boating and in winter for skating. The scheme was rejected, on the ground that the proposed park would be too far from the city. Washington Square, at the beginning of the century the Potter's Field, was redeemed about 1840, and a little later Union Square and Madison Square were cleared of squatters and laid out as parks. It was William Cullen Bryant who first proposed to make a large public park in the upper part of the city. In 1840 he suggested the appropriation of a strip of land known as the Goose Pasture at Sixtieth Street. His plan was to take a section running across the island from river to river. A strip of land was finally appropriated for a public park, but running north and south instead of east and west. Work was begun in 1857. Central Park is now one of the most beautiful pleasure-grounds in the world. It contains 840 acres. About 400 acres are wooded, this area including specimens of nearly every tree and shrub that can be made to grow here. There are nine miles of drives, with thirty miles of foot-paths and other roads; many bridges, archways, and tunnels; several lakes; a large reservoir a mile and a half in circuit; an imposing mall, lined with superb trees; and a large number of statues. Zoölogical and botanical gardens are also among its attractions. On fine days in summer from fifty to sixty thousand persons visit the park. Lawns are provided for free tennis courts, and there is a field for baseball and other games. One of the chief curiosities of Central Park is the Obelisk (see Cleopatra's Needles and Obelisk) presented to the city by the late Khedive of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, which was brought here in 1880.
In Central Park are an equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar, the gift of Venezuela; a bronze statue of Burns, presented by resident Scotchmen; a granite statue of Alexander Hamilton; a life-size bronze statue of Morse, erected in 1871 by the telegraphers of the country; a bronze statue of Sir Walter Scott by John Steele; a bronze statue of Shakespeare by J. Q. A. Ward, unveiled on May 23, 1872, commemorating the poet's birth over 300 years previous; a bronze statue called “The Pilgrim,” by Ward, commemorating the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620; an heroic bronze statue of Daniel Webster, by Thomas Ball; and busts of Beethoven, Cervantes, Humboldt, Schiller, and Thomas Moore. At the entrance to the park at Fifty-ninth Street and Eighth Avenue stands a marble monument to Columbus, a shaft surmounted by a statue, unveiled in 1892. At the Sixth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street entrance is a bronze statue of Thorwaldsen, erected in 1894 by the Danes of New York. On the Plaza at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street is an imposing equestrian statue of General Sherman by Augustus Saint Gaudens. Opposite the Lenox Library, at Seventieth Street and Fifth Avenue, is a memorial to Richard M. Hunt, the architect, consisting of a semicircular bench with a bronze bust of Hunt, by French, and ornamental figures. The most notable statues in other parts of the city are the bronze figure of Peter Cooper, south of the Cooper Union, by Saint Gaudens; the bronze statue of John Ericsson, by J. Scott Hartley, at the Battery; the statue of Farragut, by Saint Gaudens, in Madison Square Park; the bronze statue of Garibaldi, in Washington Square, by Turini, presented to the city by the Italian residents; the colossal bronze statue of Horace Greeley, in Greeley Square, by Alexander Doyle; the bronze statue of Lafayette, by Bartholdi, in Union Square, presented by French residents in 1876; the bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, in Union Square, modeled by H. K. Browne, and erected by popular subscription in 1867; the equestrian statue of Washington, in Union Square, also by Browne; and the colossal bronze figure of Washington, by J. Q. A. Ward, at the entrance of the Sub-Treasury in Wall Street.
The most important park of the city after Central Park is Brooklyn's pleasure-ground, Prospect Park. (For description, see Brooklyn.) The third in interest is Bronx Park, which includes an area of 661 acres on both sides of the Bronx River. It has superb botanical and zoölogical gardens, opened to the public in 1899. Van Cortlandt Park, north of Kingsbridge, is even larger in extent (1132 acres), but is as yet largely undeveloped. The old Van Cortlandt mansion here, erected in 1784, now serves as an historical museum. There are golf links, grounds for baseball, tennis, and polo, and a lake frequented in winter by thousands of skaters. Pelham Bay Park, on the Sound, near Baychester, is the largest of the New York City parks, containing 1756 acres. It is diversified by lakes and islands, and has a shore line of nine miles. These three suburban parks, the Bronx, Van Cortlandt, and Pelham, are connected by a driveway, maintained by the Park Department. On Manhattan Island millions of dollars have been spent in reclaiming and beautifying the strip of land along the edge of the Hudson River from Seventy-second Street to 130th Street, known as Riverside Park, and since 1901 a handsome viaduct and driveway across Manhattan Valley connects the Park with the northern heights, Morningside Park, the bluff at Columbus Avenue, between 110th and 123d Streets, has also been laid out with excellent taste. The Harlem River Speedway, extending for two miles along the western bank of the river from 155th Street to 208th Street, was completed in 1898. Above Manhattan Island are Crotona and Claremont Parks, in the vicinity of Tremont, and Saint Mary's Park (28 acres) at 149th Street. There are many squares and small parks throughout the city. The playgrounds and recreation piers, of which ​there are several, should be mentioned in connection with this phase of municipal activity. The Park Department has also under its care a well-stocked aquarium (q.v.) in the old Castle Garden at the Battery.
Churches. There are over 800 churches in Manhattan and the Bronx, ranging in seating capacity from 200 to 2,000. The Dutch Reformed Church (32 societies) has the oldest church organization in New York. The finest of its churches is the Third Collegiate, at Fifth Avenue and Forty-eighth Street, which owes its ample endowment to fortunate real estate investments. Other handsome buildings of this denomination are the Bloomingdale Church, at Broadway and Sixty-eighth Street, and the Marble Church, at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-ninth Street. Next in antiquity is the Protestant Episcopal Church (94 parishes). Something has already been .said of the parent church, Trinity, of the new cathedral of Saint John the Divine, and of Grace Church. This denomination possesses a number of notable buildings, several of which are chapels of Trinity, built and supported out of its endowment. Saint George's, the Transfiguration (in Twenty-ninth Street near Madison Avenue), Saint Thomas's, and Saint Bartholomew's are all fine examples of ecclesiastical architecture. The most noted Presbyterian church (71 churches) is that known as the Fifth Avenue, at Fifty-fifth Street. The Madison Square Church and the Brick Church, at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh Street, are among the strongest organizations of the denomination. The John Street Methodist Episcopal Church (62 Methodist Episcopal churches) occupies the site of the first of this denomination in America, and is known as the cradle of American Methodism. The most noted Baptist church (49 churches) is that at Fifth Avenue and Forty-sixth Street. Among the Congregational churches is the Tabernacle, whose trustees, having sold the old church building at Broadway and Thirty-fourth Street, are now building at Broadway and Fifty-sixth Street. All Souls', at Fourth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, is the oldest of the Unitarian churches, while the Divine Paternity, at Central Park West and Seventy-sixth Street, holds a similar position among the Universalist churches. There are 114 parishes of the Roman Catholic faith, the Cathedral of Saint Patrick, at Fifth Avenue and Fiftieth Street, being one of the finest church buildings of the city. The oldest of its churches is Saint Peter's, in Barclay Street, which stands upon the site of a chapel built in 1786. The first Jewish synagogue of the city (136 societies) was the Shearith Israel, founded about 1675, and now possessing a beautiful temple at Central Park West and Seventieth Street. The Temple Emanu-El, at Fifth Avenue and Forty-third Street, the Beth-El, at Fifth Avenue and Seventy-sixth Street, and the Temple Israel, in Harlem, are all fine buildings. Also noteworthy are the temples of the First Church of Christ (Scientist), Central Park West and Ninety-sixth Street, and of the Second Church, Central Park West and Sixty-eighth Street. The Young Men's Christian Association, which for 30 years had its headquarters at Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street, has now finished a new house on the same street, west of Seventh Avenue. The association has fifteen branch buildings. That at Madison Avenue and Forty-fifth Street, for railroad employees, was erected by the late Cornelius Vanderbilt. The Young Women's Christian Association has a beautiful home at 7 East Fifteenth Street.
Educational Institutions. The number of schools within the jurisdiction of the city, omitting the Nautical School, exceeds 500. Of corporate schools, orphan asylums, and industrial schools there are above 50, with an average attendance of some 18,000. The College of the City of New York (q.v.), at Lexington Avenue and Twenty-third Street, was established in 1847 under the name of the New York Free Academy. It will soon move to handsome buildings, estimated to cost $4,000,000, at 138th Street and Convent Avenue. The Normal College, at Sixty-ninth Street and Park Avenue, has accommodations for 1600 students. There is also a State Normal School at Jamaica, in the Borough of Queens. An important work of the Department of Education is the lecture system, under which free evening lectures are given in a number of places from October to May. The Board of Education also provides free night schools. The most important of the private educational institutions is Columbia University (q.v.), on Morningside Heights. Barnard College (q.v.), for women, and the Teachers College, for both sexes, are affiliated with the university. The College of Physicians and Surgeons (the medical department of the university) occupies extensive buildings on Sixtieth Street, near Roosevelt Hospital. Barnard College and the Teachers College, with which is incorporated the Horace Mann School, also have suitable buildings of their own on Morningside Heights. New York University (q.v.) maintains professional departments in the Borough of Manhattan, and undergraduate and engineering schools at University Heights, in the Borough of the Bronx. Its main site, in the Bronx, on the heights overlooking the Harlem, is one of singular beauty. Here is the Hall of Fame (q.v.). The Union Theological Seminary, which has academic relations with New York and Columbia universities, is at Fourth Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street. It is one of the chief training schools for ministers of the Presbyterian Church. The Protestant Episcopal Church maintains its General Theological Seminary in a group of beautiful buildings, modeled after the Oxford college type, at Ninth Avenue and Twentieth Street. The new building of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, in 123d Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway, was dedicated in 1903. Cooper Union occupies a prominent place among the educational institutions of the city. Its classes, with very few exceptions, are entirely free. The attendance is large. Saint John's College, at Fordham, in the Borough of the Bronx, the College of Saint Francis Xavier, and Manhattan College are important institutions under control of the Catholic Church. Cornell University (q.v.) maintains part of its medical department in New York City. Among independent professional institutions are the New York Law School; the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, and the Eclectic Medical College; the New York College of Dentistry and the New York Dental School; and the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York.
​Libraries and Museums. For many years the Astor Library, founded under the will of John Jacob Astor, who died in 1848, leaving $400,000 for the purpose, was the only free library of importance in the city. The Mercantile Library, which was founded in 1820, is a subscription library with more than 230,000 volumes. The Astor Library, in Lafayette Place, is entirely for reference, and is visited by about 125,000 readers every year. The Lenox Library (reference), at Fifth Avenue and Seventieth Street, the gift of the late James Lenox, was opened to visitors in 1877. In 1895 the Astor and Lenox libraries and the Tilden trust fund were consolidated as the New York Public Library (q.v.). The number of volumes is now over 785,000. The new building for the Public Library, a vast structure of white marble, 366 feet long and 246 feet wide, is upon the site of the old reservoir at Fifth Avenue, between Fortieth and Forty-second streets. Its estimated cost is about $5,000,000. It has shelving capacity for 1,250,000 volumes. The first circulating library dates from 1880. There are now sixteen circulating libraries and reading rooms, which form a part of the general system, the New York Public Library, the New York Free Circulating Library, and other libraries having been consolidated in 1901. In the same year Andrew Carnegie offered the city $5,200,000 for the purpose of building branch libraries on condition that the city furnish sites. Some sixty libraries will be built under this gift. The first one was opened in January, 1903. The library of Columbia University contains about 325,000 volumes, of which 10,000 are in the reference room open to the public. The Cooper Union Library contains about 32,000 volumes, the chief feature of which is a complete set of patent office reports. Among the private libraries of importance are those of the Historical Society, the Geographical Society, and the New York Society Library. The last, founded in 1754, has about 100,000 volumes. There are also special collections of books belonging to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the New York Academy of Medicine, with 46,000 volumes, the New York Law Institute, having about the same number, and the Bar Association.
THE LIBRARY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
​ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the most important in this country, for which a superb series of buildings on the east side of Central Park is projected, and partly completed, is the outcome of a public meeting held in 1869. Gifts came in so rapidly from citizens that the Legislature authorized the building of a fire-proof structure in Central Park at a cost of $500,000. This was formally opened in 1880. During the last twenty-five years a collection of art objects of every description, to the value of several million dollars, has been gathered, chiefly by gifts from public-spirited citizens. There are paintings, statuary, porcelains, ivories, tapestries, musical instruments, and Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities. In 1902 a handsome entrance wing facing on Fifth Avenue was finished. The Rogers bequest of $6,000,000 will enable the Museum to make great progress. The American Museum of Natural History, on Central Park West, contains vast collections of stuffed animals, birds, reptiles, fishes, shells, and fossils. The main lecture hall will seat 1000 persons. Museums of great interest are maintained also by the Historical Society, Columbia University, and the Lenox Library, the last named having a fine picture gallery.
Theatres, Clubs, Hotels. New York has about 40 theatres, in addition to almost as many more variety houses and concert halls. The largest is the Metropolitan Opera House, opened in 1883, which occupies the block bounded by Broadway, Seventh Avenue, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth streets. It seats 3200 persons. Among the largest and most luxurious of the theatres, most of which are on or near Broadway, are the Broadway, at Forty-first Street; the Casino, at Thirty-ninth Street; the Criterion, at Forty-fourth Street; Daly's, at Thirtieth Street; the Knickerbocker, at Thirty-eighth Street; the Empire, at Fortieth Street; the Herald Square, at Thirty-fifth Street; the Garrick, in Thirty-fifth Street; the Manhattan, at Thirty-third Street; Wallack's, at Thirtieth Street; the Savoy, in Thirty-fourth Street; the Victoria and Belasco's, at Forty-second Street; the New York, at Forty-fifth Street; and the Majestic, at Fifty-ninth Street. In other parts of the town should be mentioned the American Theatre, at Eighth Avenue and Forty-second Street; the Garden Theatre, at Madison Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street; and the Irving Place Theatre, a German high-class theatre, at Fifteenth Street and Irving Place. Among the newest theatres are the Lyceum, in Forty-fifth Street, and the Hudson, in Forty-fourth Street. The most important music hall of the city is that built by Andrew Carnegie at Fifty-seventh Street and Seventh Avenue, which is known by its founder's name. It was opened in May, 1891. It is one of the finest concert halls in the world, and cost more than $1,000,000. The main hall seats 3000 people, and there are two smaller concert rooms. The most important concerts of the season, such as those of the Philharmonic Society, the Boston Orchestra, and the Oratorio Society, are given here. Mendelssohn Hall, a beautiful music room occupied by the Mendelssohn Glee Club, in West Fortieth Street, is used for many of the smaller concerts, recitals, etc. The total seating capacity of New York's places of amusement has been estimated at over 80,000. The Harlem section also has several fine theatres, among which are the Harlem Opera House, near Seventh Avenue on 125th Street, and the West End Theatre, on 125th Street west of Manhattan Avenue. The Star Theatre, at Lexington Avenue and 107th Street, is also a large house.
The clubs of New York number more than 200. The oldest and most conservative of the non-political clubs is the Union, at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-first Street, organized in 1836. The Union League Club, at Thirty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, is the largest political club. The most important club of artists and literary men is the Century Association, organized in 1847, which possesses a beautiful building in West Forty-third Street. Among other noted clubs may be mentioned the Army and Navy, City, Calumet, Colonial, Grolier, Knickerbocker, Lawyers', Lotus, Metropolitan, New York, Players', Progress, Reform, and University. The Players' Club, as its name implies, has a membership largely composed of theatrical people. Its beautiful home on Gramercy Park, costing $250,000, was presented to the club by the distinguished tragedian Edwin ​Booth. The University Club membership is restricted to graduates of colleges. Its club house, an imposing structure of granite, opened in May, 1899, at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-fourth Street, is one of the finest in the city. The New York Yacht Club also has a magnificent club house on West Forty-fourth Street.
New York has about 40 hotels that may be ranked as first-class, with as many more in the second class, and perhaps 100 of a lower grade. The largest and best-known is the Waldorf-Astoria. It is built upon the site of the family mansions in which lived for many years John Jacob Astor and William Astor, his brother. This structure covers the block between Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets, bordering Fifth Avenue, and having a depth of 500 feet. It is 16 stories in height, and contains over 1000 rooms for guests, a large ballroom, and a number of smaller apartments used for public dinners, concerts, etc. The Buckingham, at Fifth Avenue and Fiftieth Street; the Holland House, at Fifth Avenue and Thirtieth Street; the Murray Hill, at Park Avenue and Forty-first Street; the Manhattan, at Madison Avenue and Forty-second Street; the Netherland and the Savoy, at Fifth Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street, are large and luxurious hostelries, which accommodate from 800 to 2000 guests. Farther downtown, a number of the Broadway hotels, such as the Fifth Avenue, at Twenty-third Street, the Hoffman House, at Twenty-fifth Street, and the Imperial, at Thirty-second Street, are equally popular. Several immense hotels, among which may be mentioned the Plaza, at Fifty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue, and the Majestic, at Seventy-second Street and Central Park West, are known as family hotels of the best type. The most luxurious restaurants in the city are Delmonico's, at Forty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, and Sherry's, almost opposite. In the business district the Café Savarin, in the Equitable Building, is well known.
Charities. The great number of immigrants landing at the port of New York, the poorest of whom remain in the city, tends to increase the dependent class. The administration of public charities is under a separate department governed by a commissioner, who appoints two deputies and other subordinate officers. New York City differs from other large American cities in that it grants large subsidies to private charitable institutions, the amount spent in this way exceeding that apportioned to public charities. In 1901 the city maintained three almshouses, with 3646 inmates, and 11 hospitals, two of which are asylums for idiots, with 53,991 patients. Nearly all of the city institutions and some of the State and private institutions are located on Randall's, Ward's, and Blackwell's islands, in the East River. Sailors' Snug Harbor, a home for aged seamen, is on Staten Island. This institution derives an income of $250,000 from valuable Broadway real estate, with which it is endowed. The orphan asylums of New York are under private control. Private charity is active and thoroughly organized; and much has been done to correlate the different agencies by the Charity Organization Society of New York City. The society has a number of sub-committees in charge of the different districts into which the city is divided. The Brooklyn Bureau of Charities performs a similar function in that borough. Among the more important organizations which give attention to charitable work are the United Hebrew Charities, Children's Aid Society, Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. The conditions in the crowded sections of the city have been greatly improved by the work of Social Settlements and similar institutions, of which there are a large number, some denominational, others non-sectarian. Manhattan alone has some 25, the best known of which are University Settlement and the Educational Alliance.
Intercommunication. The problem of passenger transportation within the limits of New York City and its residential areas offers peculiar difficulties. The wholesale business is at the lower end of Manhattan Island, and the shopping districts in the middle, while the dwelling districts are at the upper end, and across the waterways in the surrounding regions. The crowding and discomfort on the various car and ferry lines during the ‘rush’ hours surpass anything of the kind known in any other city of the world. There are car lines on almost all the thoroughfares leading north from the business district, the limit of surface transportation in this direction having been practically reached. The first elevated railroad was opened on Ninth Avenue in 1870, from the Battery to Fifty-ninth Street. The Sixth Avenue line, opened in 1878, extended from the Battery to the Harlem River, the upper half being on the line of Ninth and Eighth avenues. Similar lines were built on Third and Second avenues to the Harlem River, and later the Third Avenue line was carried across the Harlem River into the northern suburban districts. The elevated roads, on which it was found practicable to run trains by steam at a high rate of speed and at very short intervals, with a minimum of danger, soon proved utterly inadequate for the traffic. In 1886 the first cable line in Manhattan was established on 125th Street. In 1898 the underground electric trolley system was introduced and rapidly supplanted the cable all over Manhattan. The overhead trolley system still prevails in other portions of Greater New York. In 1902 the elevated roads began to run their trains by electricity. A contract was awarded in January, 1900, by a commission created for the purpose, for an underground rapid transit railway system running from one end of Manhattan to the other, with a branch, starting at 104th Street, to the Bronx. Work upon the subway was begun in February of that year. The time fixed by the contract for the completion of the system was four years and a half, and the original price was $36,500,000. The contractors were conceded the right to operate the road for fifty years. Thirty-five stations are provided for on the main line and 13 on the Bronx branch. An extension of the subway to Brooklyn was decided on in May, 1901. The cars are operated and lighted wholly by electricity. Express trains run on two central tracks.
There is a very extensive ferry system between Manhattan and the surrounding region. Besides the ferries to Brooklyn (q.v.), lines connect with Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Fort Lee, Staten Island, and other points. During the winter months the ferry traffic is somewhat impeded by occasional fogs and floating ice. The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge (see Bridge) in 1883 greatly facilitated communication with ​Brooklyn; but in recent years the bridge has been wholly inadequate. A second bridge was begun in 1896, extending from Delancey Street, Manhattan, to Broadway, Brooklyn; three other bridges are projected: from Grand Street, Manhattan, to Williamsburg, Brooklyn; from Corlears Hook, Manhattan, to the Navy Yard, Brooklyn; and from Fifty-ninth Street, Manhattan, to Long Island City, by way of Blackwell's Island. Furthermore, two tunnels to connect Manhattan with Brooklyn have been planned, one by private railroad companies (also connecting with the New Jersey Shore), and the other by the city through the extension of the subway. The Harlem River is spanned by a number of costly bridges, Washington Bridge being perhaps the finest structure of its kind in the country, and High Bridge, which carries the old Croton Aqueduct at an elevation of over 100 feet, being unequaled among American stone bridges.
Newspapers. There are forty-eight daily newspapers published in New York City, with ninety-five weekly papers, and seventy-two monthly publications, not including trade organs and religious journals. The oldest of the daily newspapers are the Commercial Advertiser, founded in 1797, and the Evening Post, founded in 1801, of which William Cullen Bryant was for nearly fifty years the editor. The Sun, founded in 1833; the Herald, founded in 1835 by James Gordon Bennett; the Tribune, founded in 1841 by Horace Greeley; the Times, founded in 1850 by Henry J. Raymond; the World (1860), the Journal, the Press, the Daily News, and the Staats-Zeitung are the most important of the morning newspapers. The Evening Post, the Commercial Advertiser, the Mail and Express, the Telegram, the Evening Sun, the Evening World, and Evening Journal are the chief afternoon publications. See Newspaper.
Commerce and Industry. New York did not rise to commercial preëminence until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its rise is due to its central location on the Atlantic seaboard, and especially to its excellent harbor, which lies at the entrance to the fine natural waterway, the Hudson River and the Mohawk Valley, leading to the highly productive North-Central portion of the United States. The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 was the most important event in the business history of the city. New York was already far in advance of its rivals before the building of railroads began, a fact which tended to make it a great focal point in their construction. It is difficult to overemphasize the importance of New York as an entrepôt of trade. It is without a rival as the centre of the wholesale dry goods and wholesale grocery business. Not only does it market its own manufactures and the greater part of its imports, but the trade in many varieties of domestic goods, produced outside of the city, centres here.
Harbor. The harbor proper consists of the lower and upper bays, the former covering about 88 square miles of anchorage, and the latter 14 square miles. Between the two is Staten Island. The principal passage from one to the other is by way of the east channel called the Narrows, which at one point is only a mile in width. Small vessels may pass also on the west side of the island. The harbor is approached from the ocean from two directions, the principal one being from the southeast. The Sandy Hook Bar stretches across this entrance, about 20 miles from the lower end of Manhattan, the deepest channel having been originally 16 feet at mean low water. In 1884 the National Government provided for dredging this channel to a width of 1000 feet and a depth of 30 feet. In 1899 a provision was made for the dredging of another entrance channel farther to the east, 2000 feet wide and 40 feet deep, requiring an excavation about 7 miles in length. Work upon this channel is still in progress. The other entrance into the harbor is from Long Island Sound. From the Sound, the passage leads through Hell Gate, at Ward's Island, into the East River, which is about half a mile in width. The tide flows very swiftly through the river, especially the ebb-tide. Extensive improvements were begun on this course about 1868 and are still going on. The channel has been made amply deep and safe for coast-wise traffic. In 1901 the battleship Massachusetts, drawing 27 feet of water, successfully passed through it. The great strength of the ebb-tide current serves to keep the port open in winter, and, in a measure, to prevent the deposit of sediment. The North River (Hudson), which is about one mile in width, does not carry as much sediment as most rivers. Some dredging, however, has been necessary.
The Sandy Hook entrance to the southeast is guarded by elaborate fortifications on Sandy Hook. (See Fort Hancock.) The passage through the Narrows is protected by Fort Hamilton on the east (Long Island) shore and by Forts Tompkins and Wadsworth on the west (Staten Island) shore. Besides the works at the east entrance of Long Island Sound, the approach from that direction is defended by fortifications on the closely approaching points, Throggs Neck and Willets Point, within the limits of the city, and on Davids Island, a few miles to the north. Governor's Island, just south of Manhattan, is also fortified.
Almost the entire water front of Manhattan, about 22 miles, is deep enough to admit of heavy shipping, and the total frontage within the limits of the greater city is several times this. The docks already constructed occupy but a small part of the available space. Docks and piers naturally were built first on the lower end of Manhattan, the line gradually being extended northward on both sides of the island. The line is almost unbroken on the west side for a distance of about four miles, and many piers are still farther north. On the east docks are less numerous. In Brooklyn the docks extend along that portion of the shore opposite the lower end of Manhattan and farther south in Gowanus Bay. A part of the water front of Manhattan was acquired by the city from the Crown of England and subsequently State laws added to the portion belonging to the city. The greater part of the entire frontage, including in 1901 170 whole and 12 half piers out of a total of 224, is controlled by the city. The Brooklyn water front is owned mainly by private persons.
Transportation. New York City has profited immensely from the advantages of internal transportation afforded by the Hudson River and the Erie Canal. In recent years the canal traffic has decreased. The canal is still of great importance, however, owing to its competition with the railway lines. All the railroads which approach New York from west of the Hudson River have their terminals in New Jersey. These lines are ​the Pennsylvania, the West Shore, the Erie, the New York, Ontario and Western, the Lackawanna, the Philadelphia and Reading, the Lehigh Valley, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and the Baltimore and Ohio. The Pennsylvania Company has projected a tunnel from the New Jersey shore under North and East Rivers to Long Island, with a great station in Manhattan. The lines which approach from the north, the New York Central and Hudson River, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford, have a union passenger station, the Grand Central Station, under the control of the New York Central. The Long Island Railroad maintains terminals in Long Island City and Brooklyn. The daily traffic on all these lines to the suburbs is enormous.
Trade. The port of New York includes all the municipalities on New York Harbor and the Hudson River. In 1901 64 per cent. of the total imports and 35.60 per cent. of the total exports, or 45.73 per cent. of the total foreign trade of the United States, passed through New York, its commerce being five times that of the next largest American port. The imports for that vear were valued at $527,259,906 and the exports at $529,592,978. While the trade is rapidly increasing, there has been in recent years a relative decrease, the port in 1882 having had nearly 57 per cent. of the total trade of the country. New York has practically a monopoly in the trade between the European countries and the Great Lake and Northwest region. On the other hand, its location places it at a disadvantage with the more southern Atlantic Coast ports in the trade with the Lower Mississippi and the Ohio Valley regions. Some of the leading imports of the country, such as rubber and elastic goods, silk goods and furs, are received almost wholly through New York. It also imports the bulk of manufactured goods generally, including manufactures of cotton, linen, and jute goods, jewelry and precious stones, chemicals, coffee, cocoa, and tobacco. It leads in imports of sugar. The relative rank of the city is much lower in respect to the principal exports of the country. It exports less than one-half of the animal products, less than one-fourth of the breadstuffs, corn, wheat, flour, etc., the shipments of the latter class having decreased in recent years, and only about one-tenth of the cotton. It exports a large part of the copper and most of the machinery. In 1901 878 sail and 2945 steam vessels engaged in the foreign trade cleared the port of New York. Their aggregate tonnage was 8,118,427. The volume of the coastwise trade greatly transcends that of the foreign trade. The transfer of freight at the port of New York is done almost wholly through the use of barges, lighters, etc., as there are no railroad tracks along the docks.
Manufactures. The value of the manufactured products of New York is considerably more than 50 per cent. greater than that of any other American city. Manhattan and Bronx alone rank first, Brooklyn alone ranks fourth. Of fifteen industries selected by the census of 1900 for comparison between the great manufacturing centres, New York City held first rank in eight. The total capital invested in manufactures in that year was $921,876,000, and the value of products aggregated $1,371,358,000. The industrial prominence of the city is not due to large iron and steel, textile or meat-packing interests—the industries which have been responsible for the growth of many American cities—but rather to a large group of manufactures peculiar to city life and mainly of local interest. The city's most important industry is the manufacture of clothing. In the census year 1900 the value of women's clothing (factory product) was $102,711,604, and of men's clothing, $103,220,201, besides a great amount of custom work and repairing, and dressmaking. The aggregate output of all industries in but two other cities exceeded the value of the clothing product of New York. The abundance of cheap, unskilled labor, in consequence of the large immigrant population, partially explains the growth of this industry. Much of the work is done in tenement houses and small workshops, and comparatively little in large factories. Sugar and molasses refining ranks second in value of the product, which in 1900 was $88,598,113. In the printing and publishing business, the value of which in 1900 was $78,736,069, New York ranks far above other American cities. Among other industries are the manufacture of foundry and machine-shop products, malt liquors, tobacco, cigars and cigarettes; the roasting and grinding of coffee and spices; the manufacture of millinery and lace goods, men's furnishing goods, fur goods, shirts, furniture, musical instruments, paints, and electrical apparatus and supplies. New York has hardly a rival in the variety of its highly finished manufactured articles. The sugar and molasses refining industry is confined mainly to Brooklyn. There are also in Brooklyn extensive foundries and machine shops, and establishments for the roasting and grinding of coffee and spices.
Government. The first charter of Greater New York went into effect January 1, 1898. But it was found defective in several important respects, and in 1901 the Legislature made radical changes. Under the amended charter, the Mayor is elected for two years. Much power and responsibility is given him, especially in the appointment and removal of administrative officers. The heads of 14 of the 15 administrative departments—law; police; fire; water supply, gas, and electricity; street-cleaning; bridges; parks; docks and ferries; health; public charities; corrections; education; taxes and assessments; and tenement houses—are appointed by the Mayor, as are also certain other officers, including three civil service commissioners. He may remove any of these officers except members of the board of education, aqueduct commissioners, trustees of the College of the City of New York, trustees of Bellevue and allied hospitals, and judicial officers. Legislation is in the hands of a single body, the board of aldermen, consisting of 73 members elected for two years, the president of the board being elected by the whole city. The aldermanic districts generally coincide with the districts into which the city is divided for the election of members of the State Legislature. The Mayor's veto is final when placed upon grants of franchise, but in other matters it may be overridden. Many interests are provided for through local government, the five boroughs being divided into 25 local improvement districts. In each borough a president is elected, in whom important powers are vested. The borough presidents control such matters as the grading and paving of streets, sewers, public baths, etc., and the presidents of Queens and Richmond have control also of ​street-cleaning. Each borough has a bureau of buildings, the superintendent of which is appointed by the borough president, and is subject to removal by him. In the smaller districts there are local boards of improvement, consisting of the president of the borough as chairman and those members of the board of aldermen who represent the districts within the area subject to improvement. The resolutions of the local board upon certain subjects must be submitted to the Mayor. Most of the offices in the departments are filled in accordance with civil service requirements.
Police, Fire, and Health Departments. The police commissioner appoints all members of the force from the eligible lists furnished by the civil service commission, and has power of dismissal. He is assisted by three deputies. The department includes also 15 inspectors and one captain to each 50 patrolmen. The total force in February, 1903, of men and officers was 7679. For patrol service the city is divided into 80 precincts, each having its own building with quarters for the men, cells for prisoners, and lodgings for homeless persons. Each precinct is in command of a captain under whom are several sergeants.
On January 1, 1902, the fire department of New York City had an active force of 2602 men. There were 137 engine companies, including 5 fire boats, and 44 hook and ladder companies. The companies constitute battalions, each under the command of a chief of battalion. The chief of department is at the head of the entire force.
The health department is administered by a board of health, consisting of a commissioner appointed by the Mayor, the commissioner of police, and the health officer of the port. The sanitary superintendent is chief executive officer of the board. A corps of medical inspectors is employed for the detection and prevention of disease, the inspection of tenement houses, and the enforcement of the sanitary code. There are also a vaccinating corps, a corps for disinfection, and one for the inspection of milk, meat, and other food products.
Water Supply. Manhattan and the Bronx have an excellent water supply, derived from the Croton River (q.v.), supplemented by the Bronx River. The Croton River, which is nearly 40 miles north of the City Hall, includes in its basin a number of small natural lakes and three artificial reservoirs, the largest of the latter being Croton Lake, in the main stream of the river. From this lake the aqueducts lead. There are a small receiving and a large retaining reservoir in Central Park, and a ‘high service’ reservoir at High Bridge. Another large reservoir is under construction on the site of Jerome Park, and plans have been made for a large distributing reservoir at 135th Street and Tenth Avenue. The storage system has a total capacity of more than 40,000,000,000 gallons. A new dam, the central masonry portion of which is 600 feet long and 260 feet high, is being constructed across the Croton River. This dam will add 21 square miles to the drainage area and increase enormously the storage capacity. There are also three smaller dams in course of construction. The supply reaches the city through two aqueducts, an old one with a capacity of 75,000,000 gallons a day and a new one with a capacity of 318,000,000 gallons a day. The average consumption of water in 1902 was more than 250,000,000 gallons a day. The Brooklyn water supply is obtained from small local streams, ponds, and wells. There is a large reservoir in the eastern part of the Borough of Brooklyn and a small one near the entrance to Prospect Park. The daily consumption in this borough is about 100,000,000 gallons.
Finance. The budget of New York is considerably more than three times that of any other American city, and greater than that of any other city in the world. The actual income for 1901 was $118,740,596, including $1,285,821 received from the State for schools. Of this amount, $76,886,091 was collected from property taxes; $5,557,593 from liquor licenses; $5,048,788 from special assessments; $8,050,900 from water rates; and $2,571,584 from docks and wharves. The total expenditures for the same year were $102,946,573 for maintenance and operation, and $53,451,000 for construction and capital outlay other than loans repaid. The principal items of expenditure for maintenance and operation were: schools, $19,731,629; interest on debt, $13,693,155; police department, $10,199,206; fire department, $4,739,993; hospitals, asylums, almshouses, and other charities, $4,754,380; water-works, $3,000,990. The principal items for construction were: streets, $8,109,494; schools, $5,471,460; ferries and bridges, $4,458,739; water-works, $3,450,870; docks and wharves, $3,322,938. There is a bonded debt of $426,174,823 and a floating debt of $6,306,472. Against this indebtedness there is a sinking fund of $121,340,920. The city's legal borrowing limit (exclusive of the water debt) is 10 per cent. of the assessed valuation. The basis of assessment is legally 100 per cent. of the value of both real and personal property. The valuable franchises which have been granted to private companies return an entirely disproportionate income to the city treasury.
The expenses of Greater New York are much larger than were the combined expenses of the various component municipalities before consolidation. The increase in the first year after consolidation amounted to $15,000,000. This is due largely to the creation of more salaried offices and to increases in salaries. The salaries paid are the highest prevailing in any city of the world. There is a board of estimate and apportionment, consisting of the Mayor, Comptroller (elected by popular vote), president of the board of aldermen, and the five borough presidents (the presidents of Manhattan and Brooklyn having two votes each), which annually submits the budget to the board of aldermen. The board of aldermen cannot insert new items, increase the amount specified, or vary the stipulated terms and conditions; but there are certain items which it may reduce. The financial department is in charge of the Comptroller, and is divided into five bureaus. All officers in the department except two, one of whom is the city chamberlain, or treasurer, are appointed by the Comptroller.
Population. Greater New York has about twice the population of any other American city, and is exceeded only by London among the cities of the world. This has come about almost wholly in the nineteenth century, during which time the city grew at a rate never equaled. In the colonial period New York ranked below Boston and Philadelphia. In 1790 there was a ​population of 33,131; in 1800, 60,515; 1810, 96,373; 1820, 123,706; 1830, 202,589; 1840, 312,710; 1850, 515,477; 1860, 805,658; 1870, 942,292; 1880, 1,206,299; 1890, 1,515,301; and in 1900 (after the creation of a Greater New York), 3,437,202, including 1,850,093 in the Borough of Manhattan, 200,507 in the Borough of the Bronx, 1,166,582 in the Borough of Brooklyn, 152,999 in the Borough of Queens, and 67,021 in the Borough of Richmond. The suburbs on the New Jersey shore of the Hudson (Jersey City, Hoboken, etc.) contain about 300,000 inhabitants. Beyond these immediate suburbs we come to a section of New Jersey embracing Elizabeth, the Oranges, Montclair, Morristown, Plainfield, and many other places which are mainly suburbs of New York, in addition to the two great manufacturing centres of Newark and Paterson, also the homes of great numbers of New York business men. These places have a total population of about half a million. On the northeast the cluster of towns largely inhabited by persons doing business in New York extends beyond the boundary line of Connecticut. Among these may be mentioned New Rochelle, Rye, Portchester, Greenwich, and Stamford. The total population embraced within a radius of 25 miles from the New York City Hall is not far from five millions. As the city grew, the population of New York naturally tended to centre about the lower end of Manhattan, the business district. Inconveniences, too, incident to transportation across the river have aided in confining the population within the narrow limits of Manhattan Island, where the density of population is greater than in any other city whatsoever. The distribution of the population in Brooklyn is more normal. In 1900, 66.70 per cent. of the population of Manhattan and the Bronx lived in dwellings containing twenty-one or more persons, while in Brooklyn the corresponding percentage was only 25.70 per cent. In Chicago it was 16.63. The density per acre in the Borough of Manhattan was 129.2. The region of greatest density is the lower East Side, where in the Eighth Assembly District, covering 98 acres of area, there was in 1900 a population of 735.9 to the acre. In the densely populated section, tenement houses having an average height of five or six stories, inadequately lighted and ventilated, and otherwise lacking in sanitary facilities, are the rule. Several large model tenement houses have recently been built, notably those of the City and Suburban Homes Company. The housing problem, therefore, is one of the most difficult with which the city has to deal, and presents phases almost unknown in other large centres of population. A radical tenement house law, which went into effect in 1902, is effecting a great improvement. The problem of congestion is closely related to that arising from the presence in the city of large classes of mostly poor foreigners. The various foreign elements tend to form distinct colonies. In the Eighth District, above mentioned. 67.2 per cent. of the population in 1900 were foreign born, and the greater part of the remainder were children of foreign-born parents. In 1900 the foreign born numbered 1,270,080, or 37 per cent. of the total population of the city. In Manhattan alone, 41.5 per cent. of the total population was foreign born. New York has been always a strikingly cosmopolitan city. During the middle of the nineteenth century there was a very heavy German and Irish immigration to the city, but before the end of the century the immigration of these nationalities had greatly declined, and there had begun a heavy immigration from the south and east of Europe. According to the census of 1900, the principal foreign countries represented in the immigration to New York City in order of prominence were Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Bohemia, Hungary and Austria, Poland, England, Scotland, and Wales. Few of the many Scandinavian immigrants to the United States have settled in New York. The large immigration from Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Poland consists almost wholly of Jews. Nearly one-fourth of the population of Manhattan are Jews. A large proportion of New York immigrants represent a class of unskilled laborers. The German immigrants, however, have always contained a large class of skilled artisans, who have participated in the more advanced industrial life of the city, and have contributed greatly to its social and artistic life. A much larger percentage of the Irish have been unskilled laborers. The Italians have come mainly from the poorer districts of southern Italy, and almost all are laborers. Most of the coarser labor of the metropolis is done by them. The Jewish immigrants, like the Italians, are extremely poor and mostly unskilled. The majority are employed in the manufacture of clothing; many, however, are small merchants. Both of these elements keep to themselves. It is in the parts of the city occupied by them that the density of population is greatest. The negro population in 1900 numbered 60,666. of whom nearly two-thirds were born outside of New York State. Of the total population of the city, 1,705,705 were males and 1,731,497 females.
History. Probably the first European to visit the vicinity of New York was Giovanni Verrazano, who came in 1524; in 1525 the Spanish navigator Gomez sailed into the harbor; and by 1600 the French seem to have begun an extensive trade with the Indians along the Hudson. In September, 1609, Henry Hudson (q.v.) explored the harbor and the river; in 1613 four trading houses were built on Manhattan Island—“Manhatanis” (meaning ‘those who dwell upon an island’) being the name applied to the aboriginal Delaware inhabitants; and in 1614 Adriaen Block, preparatory to exploring the New England coast, built here his little vessel the Onrust, or Restless, probably the second ship to be built in America. In 1614 the States General of Holland chartered the United New Netherland Company of Amsterdam, and in 1621 this was succeeded by the West India Company, chartered with power to make treaties, maintain courts, and employ soldiers. In 1623 permanent colonists, sent out by the Dutch West India Company, arrived under Cornelis May as Director-General or Governor. In 1624 May was superseded by Verhulst, who in turn was replaced in 1626 by Peter Minuit. Minuit in this year bought the island from the Indians for goods valued at 60 guilders, or $24.00 (about $120.00 in present values), and built near the present Bowling Green a small fort. Fort Amsterdam—the settlement itself, then having a population of 200, being called New Amsterdam. In 1628 a church was organized and the first clergyman, Rev. Jonas Michaelius, arrived at New Amsterdam. ​Wouter Van Twiller was Governor of the colony from 1633 to 1638, William Kieft from 1638 to 1647, and Peter Stuyvesant from 1647 to 1664. In 1643 the Dutch, without provocation, massacred 120 Algonquin Indians, who had come to them for protection, and a bloody Indian war ensued, lasting for two years, and almost depopulating the settlement. In 1653 New Amsterdam, with a population of about 800, was incorporated as a city, and in the same year a wall 2340 feet long was built along the site of the present Wall Street as a protection against the English and the Indians.
In March, 1664, Charles II. granted New Netherland to his brother James, Duke of York, and on September 8th Col. Richard Nicolls with an English force took possession of the city and renamed it New York. Nicolls was Governor until 1668, when he was succeeded by Francis Lovelace. On August 9, 1673, the Dutch regained possession, and the province became New Netherland as before, the city becoming New Orange, and Anthony Colve replacing Lovelace as Governor. On November 10, 1674, the Dutch again gave way to the English, Edmund Andros becoming Governor; in 1686 the first city charter, known as the Dongan Charter, from Thomas Dongan, Governor in 1681-88, was issued (though it was never confirmed by James II.); and in 1689, Andros being overthrown, Leisler usurped control and held it until early in 1691, when he was executed for treason. See Leisler, Jacob.
In 1690 the first intercolonial Congress (called to consider an attack on Canada) was held in New York—Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, Maryland, and New York being represented—and in the same year the only Mayor elected by the people until after 1832 was chosen. Slavery had been introduced in 1625; in 1712 a negro insurrection was put down with much cruelty, twenty-one negroes being executed (some by burning, others by hanging, and one by breaking on the wheel); and in 1741 the discovery of a supposed plot, ‘The Great Negro Plot,’ caused a panic, during which four whites were executed, and 154 negroes were arrested, of whom 13 were burned at the stake, 18 were hanged, and 71 were transported. In 1693 William Bradford set up the first printing press in New York; in 1703 the first free school was opened; and in 1725 the first newspaper, the New York Gazette, was founded. A city library was organized in 1729, and a classical academy was opened in 1732. In 1731 a new charter, known as the ‘Montgomerie Charter,’ was granted to the city. In 1732 a monthly stage was established between New York and Boston, the trip taking two weeks each way, and in 1756 a Philadelphia stage, taking ‘three days through only,’ began running.
John Peter Zenger, who had founded the New York Weekly Journal in 1733, was arrested and prosecuted for libel by the authorities in 1734, but he was acquitted in the following year after a famous trial—his acquittal being regarded as the greatest vindication in the colonial period of the freedom of the press. See Zenger, John Peter.
In 1765 the Stamp Act Congress (See Stamp Act) met in New York, and on January 18, 1770, nearly seven weeks before the Boston Massacre, British soldiers killed one citizen and wounded three in a riot caused by the destruction by the soldiers of a liberty pole set up by the ‘Sons of Liberty.’ This riot, called the ‘Battle of Golden Hill,’ is ranked by some writers as “the first conflict of the War of the American Revolution.” In 1774, during the excitement over the tea tax, a ship loaded with tea was sent back to England, and the cargo of another was thrown overboard. When news of the battle of Lexington reached New York, a ‘Committee of Safety’ assumed control of the city, and Governor Tryon took refuge on a British man-of-war. In the early summer of 1776 a large part of the American troops were quartered in New York. On July 8th, in the presence of Washington, the Declaration of Independence was for the first time publicly read to them, and on the 9th the equestrian statue of George III., erected on Bowling Green in 1770, was torn down. On September 14, 1776, a short time after the battle of Long Island (q.v.), the city was evacuated by the Americans and was occupied on the following day by the British, who held it until November 25, 1783—‘Evacuation Day.’ On September 15, 1776, a large portion of the city was destroyed by fire. During the British occupation the city was the refuge of Loyalists, who came from all quarters to take advantage of British protection, many of the more wealthy and influential residents joining their ranks. From 1785 to 1790 Congress met in New York in the old City Hall, at the corner of Wall and Nassau streets, and here Washington was inaugurated, April 30, 1789.
In 1785 a manumission society was formed and the Bank of New York was organized. In 1789 the Tammany Society (q.v.) or Columbian Order was organized. During an epidemic of yellow fever, from October, 1794, to July, 1795, more than 600 persons, and during another in 1798 more than 2000 persons, died. In 1790 the population numbered 33,131, and the city limits were extended to the lower line of the present City Hall Park. In 1805 the population was 78,770, and since then, especially after the War of 1812, when immigration greatly increased, the growth has been very rapid. In 1807 Fulton's steamboat, the Clermont, began running regularly between New York and Albany. In 1812 a steam ferry to Long Island was opened, and a line of Sound steamers was established in 1818, while in 1819 the Savannah, built in New York, successfully crossed the Atlantic. The Erie Canal, begun in 1817, was completed in 1825—the first boat, Seneca Chief, reaching New York on November 4th—and gave an extraordinary impetus to the growth of the city. In 1832 an epidemic of cholera caused the death of 4000 persons, and another two years later caused the death of nearly 1000. In 1835, December 16-19, occurred the most disastrous fire in the history of the city, the entire east side below Wall Street, including about 650 stores, the Merchants' Exchange, and the South Dutch Church, being destroyed, with a loss of almost $10,000,000. The financial panic of 1837 caused many failures, and the great destitution and suffering in the city led to the Bread Riots of that year. From 1820 to 1870 riots were frequent, one of the most serious being the Astor Place Riot (q.v.) of May 10, 1849, in which 141 soldiers were wounded, while 34 rioters were killed and many more were wounded. In the same year more than 5000 persons died of the cholera. Another riot occurred in 1857, growing out of a conflict between two police organizations, ​when the Seventh Regiment of militia was called out to preserve the peace. The Croton aqueduct was completed in 1842; and on July 14, 1853, the Crystal Palace Industrial Exhibition was opened on what is now Bryant Square. Another severe financial panic occurred in 1857, followed by suspension of banks and business failures.
On the approach of the Civil War many in the city seemed to favor the South, and in January, 1861, the Mayor, Fernando Wood (q.v.), proclaimed secession to be ‘a fixed fact,’ and proposed that an independent commonwealth, to be called ‘Tri-Insula,’ be formed out of Manhattan, Long, and Staten Islands. The city, however, loyally supported the Union during the war, sending to the front 116,382 soldiers at a cost of about $14,500,000. In July, 1863, occurred the Draft Riots (q.v.), lasting three days, during which business was suspended, property worth more than $1,500,000 was destroyed, and more than 1000 lives were lost. The city suffered for several years from frauds, perpetrated by the ‘Tweed Ring,’ which controlled municipal affairs, but in 1871 the ‘Ring’ was convicted of having robbed the city of more than $20,000,000, and was effectually broken up. (See Tweed, William M.) In 1869 a financial panic, caused by the effort to ‘corner’ gold, culminated on ‘Black Friday’ (September 24th), gold then being at 162½. The financial panic of 1873 caused the greatest suffering in New York City, although its growth continued unabated. On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was formally opened, and in 1886 the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty was unveiled. New York has been the scene of many imposing processions and celebrations: On the occasion of Lafayette's visit in 1824; the celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825; the funeral processions of Lincoln, April 25, 1865, and of General Grant, August 8, 1885; the laying of the Atlantic cable, 1858; the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge; the centennial celebration of Washington's inauguration as President of the United States, in 1889 (from April 29th to May 1st); the Columbian celebrations of October, 1892, and April, 1893; the reception to the Santiago fleet in 1898; and the Dewey reception in 1899.
Bibliography. Lamb, History of the City of New York (New York, 1880); Lossing, History of New York City (ib., 1885); Roosevelt, History of New York (ib., 1891); Wilson, Memorial History of the City of New York (ib., 1891-93); Janvier, In Old New York (ib., 1894); Goodwin, Royce, and Putnam, Historic New York (ib., 1898); Leslin, History of Greater New York (ib., 1899); Wilson, New York, Old and New (Philadelphia, 1903). Special periods are treated in Guernsey, New York City and Vicinity During the War of 1812-15, vol. i. (New York, 1890); Phisterer, New York in the War of the Rebellion (Albany, 1890); Colton, Annals of Old Manhattan, 1609-64 (ib., 1902); Inness, New Amsterdam and Its People (ib., 1903). Consult, also, for a popular treatment of the city government, Coler, Municipal Government (New York, 1900); for the financial history, Durand, The Finances of New York City (ib., 1898); and for the economic improvement, Riis, How the Other Half Lives (ib., 1890); id., The Battle with the Slum (ib., 1902).
* COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.
* COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.
* COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY.