The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-12-24
HIGH STREET NEWARK
Various Names by Which
That Thoroughfare Was
Known on Old Maps.
ANCIENT INNS AND TAYERNS
Hostelries Famous in the His
tory of Essex County-Cel-
ebrated Haunts.

street, says the Newark SUNDAY Cali
For years during the s~forties, " the lower
end Of High street still retained the
euphonious name Of Bellevilie street.
Newark has good reason to be proud
Of her well laid out thoroughfares- The
old names, familiar for many generations,
should never be changed except for UNI
usually good reasons. Sometimes q seam
~dalously Objectionable n is wiped out
by a substitute, and a duplicate, which has
crept in is provided with a sub
stitute. On the whole, our street vocabu-
larry is unobjeetionable, and should be re-
tanned in the interests Of those days OF
Aud Lang Syne.
Said a distinguished citizen of Newark
upon one o~ccasion.-aI am always seized
with a violent disposition to take off my
hat to my ancestors when ! walk dow1
Broad street. 1t is one Of the widest and
finest avenues on this continent" And
this is the opinion of the observing stran-
ger who visits our city today.
Referring to the old Northern Liberties
Hotel, on Broad street, just south Of
Orange street, the thought occurs that in
those early days of the century there were
ample hotel facilities in our town. Not
for pomp or display. by any means, but
for solid comfort, ample refreshment and
genial Welcome in those hostelries-
writer says of the town, while there We're
vet but two churches. and the own shep-
herd tended his flocks in pastoral style
Hotels were in the ascendant. n New
ark was better supplied in that particular
than she has ever been since. Today
QS7e) the city cannot boast of a single he
tel of any note, with its one hundred and
thirty thousand inhabitants The Clifford
Inn, owned by Archer Clifford at the cor
ner Of Broad and Market streets, was FOR
many years as well known to Southerners
as was the St. Nicholas at a later date.
1t was the headquarters of gentlemen of
fortune, who hunted for amusement, and
upon its sign was painted a pack OF
hounds. with the sportsmen on horseback
arrived at the death, the fortunate hunter
holding the fox by the hin legs" AR
other writer, of thirty years ago, giving
a cursory glance at Newark as it APP
peared at the beginning of the present
century, speaks in a ~fragmentary way as
follows;-"Our lower (Mflitary) park had
young elm trees and poplars then in the
infancy of their growth On the east SIDE
of the park, at Park place, was q post
and rail fence, nearly its entire length on
that street, marking the boundary
of the OLD common or Training
Ground. There were but few dwellings
on Park place, one where the market
building now stands, a small one and a
half story building where the old Post
office was; the Boudinot place, which
was later the home of Stephen II. Condlt,
and an old stone house, corner of Centre
street. These, with two or three others,
which were very primitive structures,
comprised all the houses on Park place.
On the north side of the common was
also a post and rail fence, and there were
only two houses at that end then; one a
low double cottage, where William
Wright,s house is; the other a small
stone dwelling, the rectory of Trinity
church. There We're only Trinity and the
First Presbyterian churches then. The
Baptist was not built till 1904. A chureh's
foundation was once laid on what is now
mart of South Park Church, but the build
ing was never erected. Old Mill Brook
was a reality in those days, when the Og
den place was at the Stone Bridge.
= $ The old town pump stood in a
hollow at the junction of Broad and Mar
ket streets. The pump was lower than
the clifford House, at which was the sign
of the Hunters and Hounds On the
other corner of Broad and Market streets
were Jonathan Corey's store, Jesse Bald
wins and Rodney Wilbur's. These were
the business ~neighbors of the well known
tavern. Just at the opening Of the present
century.
From another source we a this brief
mention Of Gifford's Tavern of about the
same aate:-"We now have to speak of
clifford House, on the northeast cor
ner of Broad and Market streets, estab-
lished by Archer Clifford not long after
tbe Revolution. 1t was we'll known in
those DAVIS by Southerners visiting New
arb Captain Clifford called his Southern
guests his Rice Birds Fox hunting was
then the prevalent amusement, and the
GifTord Tavern was the headquarters for
the hunters. On the sign was painted
horses and hounds. Hounds Joe Roberts
was the ~whipper-in and keeper of the
pack"
MANY noted men Of a hundred years
sinca ayailed themselves of the hospital
itv Of Gifford's hostelry, among whom
O,ere washington irving and his hteraryd
friends from New York. Irving, referring
Ia Newark says:-.4It is noted for its fine
breed Of mosquitoes; they sting through.
the thickest boot. Archer Clifford and his
man Caliban~ (probably Joe Roberts, are
Jolly good fellows. A knowing traveller
always Judges of everything by the inn-
keeper and walters; set down Newark peo-
nle as fat as butter. Learned dis
on Archer Gifford's green coat,
with philosophical reasons why the New
arkers wear red worsted night APPS and
turn their noses to the south when the