The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-01

1
 able It was permitted to grow old and
 gather moss with only now and then an
 innovation. The house and landowners
 in Nassau street apparently have al-
 ways been content to be conservative,
 A feature during the third and fourth
 decades of the century was the old
 Shakespeare tavern, the trysting place
 of the national guard, at the southwest
 corner of Fulton street. John Leake,
 commissary in the French war, built
 the house many years before the Revo-
 lution, a low, old fashioned massive
 structure, of small yellow brick, Of two
 stories, with dormer windows. The en-
 trance was through an ivied porch and green-baize door on Nassau street, an entry running through the bu lding With
 rooms on both sides. The bar was ln
 the south front room, and of the old English pattern. On the second story
 was a large room for public meetings and military drills.
 The host, for many years, was Thom- as Hodgkinson, an Englishman, who bought the house in 1908. He gained the patronage of the eminent by the quality of the fare he served, and the comfort, as well as elegance he pro- vided. Politicians like De Witt Clinton went there. Fitz-Greene Halleck and Paulding, and such wits as the town possessed, tried to make the Shake speare, to the young city, what the Turks Head and the Mitre tavern had been in London. It disappeared in 1886, when Fulton street was widened.
 In the course of time, another feat ure of the street was the postoffice. Af- ter making shift from one quarter to another during period of 25 years or more, it was finally lodged, in 1S45, in the Middle Dutch church. Burned out of the Merchants exchange in 1885, the office had been transferred to the Ro- tunda building, then in the city hall park. The distance from the commer- cial center had caused much disatisfac- tion. Under President Tyler's adminis- tration, the government was induced to purchase the old church, and $SO,00O was appropriated, in addition to the purchase money; $300,000 to pay for al- terations. From that year until 1875 the postoffice was the chief actuality and dominating business of the street
 By the time the civil war came on, Nassau street had arrived at congest- : ed condition as thorughfare. The in- creased business and population in all the neighboring streets turned crowd lose into this street going north and South Most of the buildings then be- ing old, the rents were less than in those of more recent date which offer ed the latest improvements. Conse- quently they were sought by small shopkeepers and all who desired the | ofT IvraI without 9rtipi- pating in it's exceptional eXtravagance.
 Next to the postoffice in importance was the headquarters of the Western Union Telegraph company in an ancient structure on the southeast cor ner of Cedar street. There were daily newspapers occupying other conspic- uous corners, the Sun and the Herald facing on opposite corners of Nassau and Fulton streets, and later the Even- ing Post moved to the corner of Liber- ty street, where the Bryant building now stands.
 Some of the best known among those dealing in rare books could be found i'll the basements, and much of the side walk from Maiden Lane to Fulton street was often blocked by the book stands displaying bargains. Auction eers sought quarters in the street to sell pictures, bric-a- -brac, and furniture. Watch case makers and jewellers gath cred in building that formerly pos sessed a wide front courtyard. It is still standing, one of the ancient structures of the street. The court has served as the site for another building; and, en- tering this, the visitor may walk direct ly through the hall, cross bridge, and land in the front hall of the older house Publishers of law books and law sta tioners were among the others who gave the street distinction for special ties. Here Cyrus Field had set up as stationer long before he tolS part in the laying of the first Atlantic cable. North, beyond Ann street, the American News | company became conspicuous in the | days of the war And at the corner of Beekman street for many years was the hotel kept by the brothers of Samuel F. B. Morse, on the site of the tall | structure now known as the Morse building. It was in a portion of the old 1 hotel that the Democrat tic Review, fa- | nous periodical in it's day was edited. | In close proximity Edgar Allan Poe had | an office during theb rief period of his | effort to stabish the Broadway maga- | zine.
 At that period, when the present gen eration of the middle-age was in early | youth this street was peopled by a race of energetic and loud-voiced fakirs that has quite disappeared. From one ex tremity to the other, it was kept | boisterous by them from early morning till dark. They came from various lands. and the articles they vended are, for the most part, now lost to view
 There were red-letter days, too, when famous men appeared in the street Beecher used to be fond of a saunter up and down it's pavements, looking in at the print shops and hunting for books at the stalls. Then Dickens came He sat in his carriage in front of the old postoffice while Dolby-DOlby his man Friday, of whom evrybody was talking gathered his stacks of mail at a win dow. A crowd collected quickly and stood awed-so it appeared to Dickens. Then all classes put their hands through the open window of the hack ney coach and begged the pleasure of shaking them with him. At least that is what Dickens wrote home to John Forster, and the devoted Forster en-