Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-12-08

N. 7. Sun. Nov. 18th.

The two millions of people IN NeS
York and her dependent cities who wit
ness today's ceremonies will ind II DIN =
colt to picture TO themselves tue New
York of little more than hundredth
part of that population, AS II appeared
a Century ago.
Brookiyn, a. Mayor Low has just told
H. citIz. Us n4d then but A thousand ~
two inhabitants, while mere hamlet At
PauIus Hook represented jersey City.
4. for New York. We must figure to our
srIve- - town bounaed, to speak IN gen
er,l terms. by Greenwich street on the
~e,t. Chambers pu tae northwest, Canal
on the north, Norfolk on the northeast.
and Catharine on the east, while the
d.ure.-inn where the ToutJs is nov was
covered by an extensive y md With ad-
i,cent marshes. All of VI .nhattan Ill
and save the narrow southern corner
Jus: Indicated. was occupied by farms,
Woodlands and country Residences, With
inns scattered along the post roads. Inc
British line of works, which. of course.
we're put beyond the bullt-up portion.
ran near what is now Grand street. But
even these restricted limits were not
fully occupied by the New York of that
day. The North river water line came
up about to, Greenwich street. Ihe
present Battery is almost wholly on
made ground.
Finally. the ravages of a great nre
and the customary drawbacks OF mill
tary occupation gave the city Al i,Spec.
so melancholy that Samuel Breck, Who
visited 1t four years later, wrote thus. IN
after life, of the impression 1t had then
made upon him:
THE CITY Of New York, now 90 large
aud we'll built. was IN ruins IN i'Si. II
was in the last days OF June IN that veal
that we anchored opposite to nithy
wooden shed called tue Fly Market, aad
when our boat reached the shore We bad
70 climb up wharf that WAS tumoiing
TO pieces. Some twenty or thirty vessels
Law at the other wharves, and the shores
that now EXHIBIT forest of nasts ana
A stir of commerce, surpassed IN the
whole world by two cities only, tLon1or
and Liverpool were then naked ana
silent. Asa colonial town 1t was place
of considerable trade; but having been
in the hands of the enemy for seven
years, and visited during that time 10y
an extensive cOntiagratlon, We foun l II
in a state of dIlapidation. and not a,
all recovered from the effects of the
war la Broadway, from Wall street tc
the Battery, the great fire had swept
away almost every building, including
Trinity Church, aud the rest Of the 10 WI
was made up of miserable wooden nov
els and strange looking brick houses
constructed in the Dutch fashion, and
often with yellow bricks brought frou
Holland. They presented a narrow
front to the street, and exhibited thei
gable ends. These have all disappeared
and indeed they contrast very disadvan
tageously with oar modern manner o.
building. In short, the city of New
York, which now displays 80 much ele
gance, comfort and wealth, and contains
about one hundred and eighty thOusinl
inhabitants. was in 1877 a poor town
with about twenty-three thousand peo
pie"
Carry the City Hall down to Wal
street: rebuild Fort George III BOwIin.
Green: put the stage coach III place 81
the railroad, the postboy for the te!e
graph, oil and tallow for gas and tn,
electric light: restore the quaint oolonla
dwellings and shops. with an OCCASION ,
fine mansion. on the site OF the massive
commercial editices of today; banlsl
pavements and sidewalks from tin
streets; silence the tremendous whlr
and work of steam on river and shore
and 81 the the people with knee breeche
and cues. the embroidered coats ant
frills, the buckled shoes and three cor
nered has of that period, IN order &
bring back the New York of 1888.