New-York tribune., 1896-05-31
THE CITY OF OLD DAYS.
PICTURES DRAWN FROM NEW-YORk
DIRECTORY OF A CENTURY AGO.
urMPsEs OF PEOPLE AND PLACES IN 1880
STREETS THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY AND

yLIMPSES OF PEOPLE AND PLACES IN i'o-
STREETS THAT HAVE PASSED AWAY AND
TRADES THAT ARE NO LONGER KNOWN
r,srs are some things that can bring back the
mast better than histories. They are things that
wer. of the past itself when IT was the present
How vivdly ones own past comes pach "neH vi
reads an old letter. The little things that co"".
for nothing now counted FOR everything theh' anu
m. letter Is full CT them 1t is true little picture
:, ~. dav vben n was written And just so, In
matters that concern many instead Of one. frag-
nent out Of the old time itself brings odch "io
whole OF II far clearly than pages OF scho'aily
description based authentic records ana
with careful reference to its relative vaue ae ms
toricaI material 1t happened the other day thal a
directory of the city OF New-York for the year la"
came into the hands of the writer. and IL was 80
fascinating that no treatment OF II snort OF re~u
ing II through would sufhce
This book is interesting because it is an epitome OF
old New-York history Of the time would te''
who was the Mayor OF the city and who was the
Governor OF the State and what public acts they uiu
This hook tells who were the citizens and where
thew lived and worked, and what work they dlu'
and something OF how they lived, and now 'hey
travelled 1t gives little things whereas the history
would give only great ones. and So as lie IS rnaoe
up Of LITTLE things II has good deal more vi i''e "
II than the history would have
This is the title page Of the book
The New>York Directory. and Register. For the
Year 1880 Illustrated with an accurate anu eiesnm &
plan Of the City Of NcwYSrk ana paT the OF sreets
Lanes, Pubic Buildings. Wharves. &C. exactly laid
r% a ss Of asss fe Same
Places Of Of the Citizens Register b deren Ss .nf
8, Of ,se sfsn
state 3 Sssrs o'eEs a city
Of Commerce Marine Society srinv The other
Societies of the city Roll Of Attornies Of supTeme as
COa Columbia SocseR Ra.s sFaTy PycsThfe. s0fS sS
iinss SewsYork: Printed by Hodge. Allen and
Campbell. and Sold at their several booK-o'oieS
COME OF, THE PEOPLE AND WHAT THEY DID
IT Is not possible to say anything about the nooK
that "a so entertaining the book Itself; so mere
are some extracts from the body OF it-tne reai
d,r.ctorv mart They are selected because OF some
.eemng interest in each case in the name or the
address or the trade or the combination
Crous john stone potter back OF the pa srss
Deruyter. Cornelius, gin distiller near the Tres"
Ferguson James grocer near az ifa wa'er pump
Fisher. Leonard. barber. surgeon anu ue""''' '''
Queen-street
tr,,s shows an ancient combination Of trades that
has gone out with the theory that II the oi'ou "e''
had the less one had of 1t the better)
Cold John. SOP shop, II Water do:
Soiden William sop shop 16 Front DO.
,.no" stands for street usually. The trade OF
the slop shop seems to have been giided one'
Graham. Mrs. young ladies' Boarding tchooi'
bTosuWa'c .orge taylor and starch and hair powder
mannfactory. 10 Princess street ...s c.....
Jay. John. chief justice OF the oh'eu 'e''
hJofHs Johnson. John. musicianer, CroTn-stsreet
Knox Henry secretary OF war, BlosuMay; -. =,
Iear Tobias, secretary to the president OF the U.
Leutheuser. Henry, German schoolmas'er swamp
encore Moore Mrs. tambour worker worker 10 .y Ferry Do so
MTers, James tavern plough and harrow Bowery
lane.
Here are suggestions ancient and Enghsn ana
rural and convivial all at once)
Totten. silas, tea-water pump punch house. cha'-
nsV, Westervelt. He Abraham. wampum-maker Robin
'0% Wilson, is Abraham. Queens ware mandatory
vauxhall.
STREETS WITH LOYAL BRITISH NAMES.
This will give a notion Of the general run of the
names and the trades and the streets as they ap-
near in the book Several things can be learned
-, tho old civ from these lines and from others
u,hich there is no space and need TO quote here
IN detail For instance. one of the frst Things
noticed Is that there were many streets then Wlch
do not exist or have different names now Ihere
were Pump-st, Fair-st.. Fsher-st, Queen-st'' King
Ceorge-st Augustus-st Little Dock-st., Copsie-st'
Partition st ian apparent family connection OF d.
y,son-st) Iumber-st, Little Queen-st, Smith-st'
Crown-st Moll-st. Godenhill-st.. Eage-st.' Gar
den-st Mnl-st. Fayette-st., Skinner-st' Nerleten-
berg-st Cheap-si6e-st.. Magazine-st, Princess
g, and Duke-st None of these appears In
the current New-York directory II will be noted
that many OF these names express loyalty to
monarchical Government and 1t Is likely that this
was the occasion of the change OF some OF them
for names that were felt to be more in keeping with
the spirit OF the country.
There is no mention of any street at all above
second-st This occurs twice and Firstst. perhaps
half a dozen times. These streets seem TO have
been in the country. One OF the men who lived
there was farmer, another was milkman. and
so on There was young ladies' boarding school
where the Washington Building Is now and II must
have been a pretty place for 1t Is no new sug-
gestion that the region of the Battery Park would
h. IN. pcasantest place In the city for dwellings II
It were not hopelessly given over TO business
A FEW OLD-FAsHIONED CALLINGS.
There were many trades in those days that are
now unknown. or unfamiliar or called by different
names There may be readers of this column who
do not know what cordwainer is but there were
several of them in New-York in 1890 cordwainer
is properly worker in Cordova leather, but the
term was extended workers in any sort OF leather
and so to shoemakers. Perhaps these New-York
cordwainers were only shoemakers. but there were
other sho makers who were called by that title In
the directory. they may have been genuine Span
ish leather workers. Another designation that
sounds strange in modern ears is tea waterman. A
local antiquary informs the writer that the old
ladies Of old NewYork fancied that the water OF
certain wells was better for making tea than the
water Of ordinary wells, and that certain men made
x their business to supply water for tea-makng
from these wells. These the tea wstermen.
This seems a reasonable explanation especially
when taken in connection with the location Of Mr..
Ferguson's grocery, formerly quoted, near the
tea water pump"
There were Windsor chair makers in those days.
The Century Dictionary says that a Windsor chair
IN "(a) A kind OF strong. plain, polished chair made
entirely OF wood. (b) sort Of low wheeled car
Rage" 1t seems likely that the second definition Is
the one to be applied. for there were so many men
of this trade that 1t unlikely that there was