Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-09-10
Mordecai Noah's Grand Project.


On the 26th OF October, 1925, was
celebrated the opening of the Erie
canal. About Il month before, when
the community, eagerly anticipating a
connection with the tide water, was ex-
cited with the visions of prospective
greatness, and ready for any display,
there arrived from New York Major
Manuel Mordecai Noah, high sheriff of
the county of New York, consul at
Tunis, and self-stylcd Judge of Israel
He came with glittering robes and in
sigma of office, to establish the city of
Arar.t on Grand Island, then covered
with dense forest. Although a loyal
and devoted son of Abraham, Major
Noah had not succeeded in arousinc
enthusiasm in his scheme among those
of his own faith. As Il shrewd man of
the world, an able lawyer. 4 success
full politician, and the editor of the
principal organ of the Tammany party
in New York, and withal sanguine
that the city would prove a mine of
wealth to its founders, he had no diff
Guilty in persuading some of his Cen
tile friends, among whom was the
father of the late Gerritt Smith, to buv
nearly the whole of Grand Island, then
just surveyed and offered for sale by
the United States government.
On this lonely but extensive island.
between the forks of the Niagara and
lying midway between Lake Erie and
the Falls of Niagara, he determined to
build city of Oriental splendor. AL
ready before his arrival on the scene, q
flagstaff bearing the ''grand standard
of Israel" had been erected on the
chosen site, and stone having an in
scription in Hebrew and in English had
been prepared to dedicate with i'm
posing ceremonies. This stone, al
ways known in local history as "Mor-
decai's cornerstone" was intended
rather as memento of the founding
of the magnificent city of the Jews than
as the support of any particular build
ing In those days the luxurious
steam-yachts of wealthy citizens, which
now plough the rapid current of the
Niagara, existed not in the imagina-
ton of the veriest dreamer; even row.
boats were wanting with which to con-
yey the crowd eager to behold the
spectacle presented BY the birth of an
oIlCllIdl Clty Ill IllC Q0DIuS VI IuC LOT
est. The brilliant and audacious Noah
conceived the idea of having the cere-
mony celebrated with due pomp within
the walls of St. Paul's Church Gin Buf-
falo) twelve miles from the site of his
city. To this end were invoked the
willing services of all the dignitaries of
the town, the military and the Masons,
Major Noah the central figure appear
ing as the Judge of Israeli in black,
wearing judicial robes of crimson silk,
trimmed with ermine, and richly
embossed golden medal suspended
from his neck.
The bright September day opened
with the booming of cannons The grand
procession embraced the best that the
town could Offer Hating at the church
door, the troops opened each way, and
the pageant entered; while the band
played the grand march from Judas
MaccabeatS the cornerstone of Ararat,
the city of refuge for the people who
rejected Christ, was laid on the COM
munion table of Protestant Episcopal
church, and dedicated by Hebrew
ritual The Masonic rites were per-
formed with the typical corn, wine.
and oil, the choir sang "Old Hundred, !"
and the rector, in full canonicals, pro-
nounced Christian benediction.
Mordecai Noah never saw the site of
Ararat, and the Hebrew race disre-
garded his grandiloquent proclamation
and the tax levied for its building; but
its cornerstone, after many curious
migrations, occupies a conspicuous
place in the rooms of the Buffalo His
torical Society, where relic-hunters
are frequently seen copying its inscrip-
tion.-Jane N. Welch, IN Harper's Mag
aziaae for July.