New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-08
THE MOST POPULOUS BLOCK.
1T is NOT ON THE EAST SIDE OF NEW
YORK. BUT THE WEST.

"'So SOULS HAVE BEEN COUNTED THERE
sioping down TO the North River its skyline
MAKING a curious picture against the huge gray
gram elevator at its feet, is the most populous
DOCK III New-Iork City, or in the Greater New
1ork mat is soon to be. Theories and the test-
H'ohy OF the eye which long have pointed to
some one block of the East Side at it's southern
end as the block containing the most people
must now he discarded in the face of overwhem-
ing statistics. The Federation Of Churches and
CHRISTIAN Workers. acting under the supervision
of the Rev. Walter Laidlaw. has just discovered
in the course of its Sociological canvass" of the
far West Side north Of Fifty -ninth-st. that the
tenements bounded by Sixty first and Sixty-sec-
ond SITS and Amsterdam and West End ayes
certain more human beings than hived be
tween any other four streets: $3.50 souls have
been counted there.
1t will come as a surprise tC all people inter-
ested in the problems of the cities that such
condition exists on the very skirts and only a
little 10 the southwark Of a fine residence Sec
ton OF the West Side Looking north. one
stands i'm West End-ave on the sidewalk of this
block. even the dullest pair Of eyes can see the
trees and the fine buildings a little above-just
where ii crosses Sevenly-second-st The most
populous block its,lf is squalor pure and simple
Its inhabitants comprise five natonalites herd
ed together-Irish, Austrians. Germans. Italians
and negroes. How poor they are may be gath
cred from the fact that the average weekly wage
OIL the heads Of families throughout The entire
district is only SD 30 and this block contains the
poorest and The most shftless. All that saves this
most populous block from being absolutely the
worst tenement quarter in the city is its size
No block Of the East Side has actually so many
inhabitants, for all those blocks are smaller
Nearest to it in point Of population is the block
bounded by Second and Third SITS and Avenues
and b, for which the number Of people per
acre has not been calculated. It's actual popula-
ton is 3,'"2 Those bounded by Canal. Hester
Eldridge and Forsyth and by Stanton East
Houston. Pitt and Ridge SITS. are the most con-
gested and crowded, the first having | .5c6 peo-
pie To the acre. the last Liza Yet the popula-
ton is, respectively. only 2G2S and 224 The
most populous block" is 2O0xSOO feet in extent
against 315X200 and 2OOx3O0 for those down
town
The appearance of these great hives extending
down this SIDE hill-one Of the steepest on Man.
haitian lsand-is grim and forbdding The fen
ements are all patterned alike one long row Of
dull, Tod brick structures that save for the
crampcd Scoops. might as well be factories Even
in AmSterdam-aVe.. where the condition of the
residents is very much better, the soualor OF
the block increasing in rapid ratio at each step
down the hill, and arriving at its maximum along
West End-ave. there is the same uniformity
An air of gloom is the prevailing characteristic
Of this square of tenements. a gloom so marked
that even the negroes at it's lower end appear
sombre and dull in spirit.
Peace and quiet are unknown quantities in this
In,
other locality in New-York can excel it, The
peaceful Hebrew, who usually populates crowded
sections. is not here to hear insults quietly as
is his wont. There il not a Hebrew, go far as
is known. in the block. The Irish fight the ne
grOes and the Germans and the Italians have
a hand in every fray Mixed ale parties"
which go a long way in New-York toward keep
ing the police busy are the fashion up and down
the steep hill. and especially frequent near its
foot The Austrians. in fact. the only hard
working placid element. They are employed in
the grain elevator at the big slaughter house
at the foot Of Fiftyninth-st. and spend their
wages cautiously
Three tiny. narrow rooms the most fam
lily can expect and for these rent Of $40 to SD
is exacted. The $3.50 people live in 1888 rooms
Uhis counting the Kitchen always the living
roOm') and less than twelve hundred of these
have an outside window. Eight hundred and
nine families. practically the entire number,
have no bath.
1t is doubtful, indeed if half dozen bathtubs
can be found in the block. Not even the apollo
gies for bathtubs that some owners of recently
improved" property in the district have provid-
ed for their tenants are to be met here. These
ingenious owners have put in their apartments
stationary tubs, two in a row. the partition be-