The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-17
NEW FORK a CENTURY AGO.
Ste Features Described By an OLD and We'll
Inrornaed Reaident.

Inrorned Resident.
To THE EDITOR or THE SCS-Sir: In an
article on This City a Century Ago" in last
Sundays Sun 1t is said that thorc was but ono
bank in New York in 1897. There had been mt
least the Bank Of New York since 1884 lncor-
porated a few years later, and the United States
Bank, somewhat historical rs having been
founded in 1901. Its branch bank was here in
1897, OF course.
We had had fire engines sixty years. Instead
OF there being no dentist until 1893. ! can show
the ads" Of dentists fifty years before. II tho
residential outskirts Of the Seventh ward were
at Bowery and Grand. and those OF the Sixth at
Broadway and Reade. where did the votes come
from. when we consider that the twcnty.pound
property qualification was in forcef The limit
given to the Sixth ward leaves 1t only about
eleven acres. and we know that three.fourths Of
that area was the Commons City Hall Park
now), the old State Arsenal, and the negro
burying ground. Broadway. Reade, Chambers.
and Cross streets.
Why had not the goat yet reached Harlemi
II was projected as q hamlet in 1880, in
1854 was incorporated as n village, and at once.
along with Fordham. placed under the jurisdic-
ton OF New Amsterdam. II was in. the Seventh
was in the Out ward. Born in Harlem. 1 am an
authority on goa,s: anyhoS: ,,,r ..r,,,r =,
kind was issued in 1888. and his "Compendious
Dictionary" was begun in 1894.
ton in 1927 at 23.6l4. Il is too specific TO be
an estimate; Those IRE the precise e, n ,1nz Of
about $1,000. for It was s.ioi in 1880. and
COAST in 1900.
Of w tbs s sh9ni !. h About sa{ t tRst miles the eat Y be s1d sc lsnSfe
meant that the pump. which was at the present
Baxter and Chatham streets, was almost a mile
,sinTins the Of ' iGyo CITY a H mffo van aanis street 70, 'R BS, not
SAYING #: The working people were dying Ike
the PIE pisa s:s, % 2. ef sPs%so Cd S'e: T5i Si plea ss'S was aS 90:
St. Peters Church Of 1897 is not standing now.
nor could its architecture have been admired.
tn Is G s5mplR now o0 ib sss .I,e as III, Tss o dsd ssist o IN is an
Andrew Nugent might be IN the directory. but
the priest Of that name could not have lived at
lived near their churches in this town. There
was but one Catholic church here until 1918.
death. in isis. having suooeeded Father An.
drew Nugent in l7ss. That was s.; Peters; II
in 1872 he was not a priest. for he must have
been :" silenccd."
cr aThe an nHme IS OF PPsmmHny was yet eti TnkP pow 4,
on their banners during the Revolutionary war.
The last Of all the political Tammany societies
1883. and among its fifteen or sixteen sachems
and other officers for that year there is not the
name Of one known anti.Federalist.
So the Democratic party was yet to be organ
lied, and in behalf. too, OF a man who in 1892
received the electoral vote OF the foremost Dem
ocratic State in the country. ana who in 1896
was virtually elected President-that i, the
Republicans voted for Adams in personal friend
ship and because of his patriotic. non-Puritan
| record before the war and during IL. Was James
Madison a Republican in 1894 or still a Federal
isl 7 and what is the Democratic party but the
Republican formed in 1923 because OF Eng
lands failure to carry out. in any sense, the
Hail Columbia had long ceased to be called
was inauRuratcd President. It became the
Presidents March" in short order.
The Bloomingdale road Of 1897 has never
been our Boulevard; 1t ran from the Sailors
Snug Harbor. Broadway and Ninth street. TO
Twenty-sixth street. and the present Fifth
avenue. II is the modern Bloomingdale road.
from Fifty-ninth north. that is our Boulevard.
Hundreds OF lots along the Bowery lane are
on the market AS lots then ran. there were
not hundreds along the whole Bowery. Cut NJ
as they are now, there are about 400. In l77l
estate sale this city had ever known. a halt
dozen men clubbing together and buying 4Oo
lots on II and TO the westward. The thorough.
fare was built up closely as far as Grand street
in 1897. and in large part as far as Houston.
See the Excise Return for 1T76.-
probably have been bought for 81 1t would
take n great many millions to buy one-quarter
of II now. Aaron Burr afterward married into a
part OF II. but did not hold on. 1t was from abou,
149th to l63d street. Stephen Jumel bought the
eastern side OF 1t.
not west Of the City Hail." That was in Wall
street. The corner stone OF the present City
Hall was not laid until 1903. Yours respectfully
BENJAMIN GARSo.