Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-08-12
NEW ronK rrrrr rnAas Aeo.

Tho Changes Am when
Union square was but Green Fields
Some one anonymously gives the fol !.
lowing "reminiscences to the New York
Sun.
Accustomed az have been all my life
TO the sight OF Broadway, and remember
ing we'll its appearance at different times,
IL has changed 80 much since first be-
came acquainted with it that sometimes
ask myself whether IL Is really the same
street knew in the days of my boyhood
that is, between 1880 and 1886. II is
true Il began then, as IL does today, at
the Battery; but Grace church, instead of
closing the long vista of tho street at the
northern end, M ut present, stood at the
corner OF Rector street. Beyond the
present site OF Grace church was nothing,
or, at best, dreary waste of projected
streets, having only hero and there a
house OF an Isolated block of houses,
laid out through desolate fields and en-
closed by struggling rail fences some.
times cut ruthlessly through old estates.
of which the mansions and outbuildings
stood high and dry 80 feet or more above
the sidewalks and lamp posts of the new
streets. Here and there were to be seen
quaint old houses, of which the plan and
outline testified by their picturesque
gables and broad stoops to their Dutch
origin, while occasionally one came across
an imposing mansion standing in the
midst Of broad acres, still inhabited as
the out of-town residence Of some wealthy
citizen.
The vast city has now spread itself over
all these, and Dutch farmhouses and pro-
vincial villa have alike disappeared.
Standing to-day in Union Square, Il seems
incredible that In not far distant boy
hood one has wandered there in green
fields in what is now the very centre Of
the metropolis.
The whole region In the vicinity Of the
Battery and the Bowling Green (where, ]
think, still stood the pedestal which had
once borne the gilded statue of King
George) wps then little changed from the
appearance II had presented during the
period of the British military occupation.
Beyond Trinity Church the new life Of
the city began to assert itself. Grace
Church and old Trinity (insigni1can,
compared with the present cathedral-likS
struoture) held fashionable congregation
and many Of their worshipers still lived
within stones throw of the church
doors. Viewed from this point,
Broadway seemed a broader way than i,
now appears. The buildings were gen.
orally low, scarcely exceeding three
stories in hight (and not lofty stories al
that so that the apparent width of the
street was greater than now, when it il
flAnked in its whole length by the tall
structures of tho present time.
There was then no Aston House. Tho
museum was not Barnum's but Peale's Q
few doors beyond Murray street. Between
the city hall and Broadway, opposite
Murray street, was the Bridewell, stone
building Of grim aspect, with strongly
grated windows, the Tombs Of that day
where unhappy inmates at any time were
to be seen, with faces pressed against the
bars, enjoying, as best they could, the
moving panorama Of the busy life Of the
street below them.
Beneath Canal street flowed and doubt
less still flows, the canal, which, few
years before, was opened TO the sun, and
its occasional cleansing presented fent.
full spectacle TO the eyes of lettering
school children. From time to time i
chain gang of eonvicts appeared in III,
street under guard, the manhOle in the
street was opened and n derrick md
tackle planted above the hole, into which
these prisoners. stripped nearly naked
were lowered, in order TO load into
buckets the filth OF the loRthsome sewer
the etlluvia from which, while the clean
ing was in progress, rendered the stree
| impossible.
At the time of which | am writing thor,
were many private residences on Broad
way. John Jacob Astor occupied modest
house nearly opposite White street. Iatei
he moved TO the residence near Primo,
street, in which he died. Through The
whole length of the street dwelling houses
| were to be found Handwiched among the
shops. These shops were not magnificent
The famous Stewards was nearly opposite
his recent downtown store, and wheI
you went there You saw Stewart himsel
at the counter. There was, rs yet, littl,
gas illumination, and remember, as tn,
chief marvel of this sort, two little ga
stars that blazed in the windows Of Bon
1 fanti's fancy goods establishment nea
l Reade sweet II il needless TO soy thu
no gas 1t5 yet seen IN private houses
Herds Of awiile roained unolaeRsd nj
over the city, supporting precarious OK
istence by browsing on the garbage of tn
cutters. Nor was it unusual to see drove
Of cattle driven through Broadway o
tearing madly along at their own pleasur,
on their way from the North river to tn
market at the Bulls Head