The Tomahawk., 1917-05-10


,RLES n. SCtlWAo
citizens who built the forts. Delega-
tons from Tammany Hall, the Masons
and Columbia college worked side by
side on barrier gates, blockhouses and
stone towers.
Home of Edgar Allan Poe.
In 1914 there came to New York
writing man who had lost good place
as editor Of Philadelphia magazine
and who was being tortured by the
desperate illness Of his adored wife.
This was Edgar Allan Poe. He had
but little money and there was in him
the premonition Of great sorrow.
He lived for short time in frame
house near the river at Eighty-fourth
street, and it Is commonly believed by
his biOgraphers that it was here that
he wrote "The Raven" In his intro
duction to 'The Raven and Other
Poems," which was published in 1915,
Poe wrote: events not to be controlled
have prevented me from making at
any time any serious effort in what,
under happier circumstances, would
have been the field Of my choice" He
moved to Fordham after the publica-
ton Of "The Raven" and it was in
the little cottage there that his wife
died.
A lesser genius than Poe, but one to
| whom the world was kinder, also wrote
Il famous poem in this neighbOrhOod.
On the hill ut Ninety-sixth street was
tavern with an intriguing view Of the
river Behind the tavern were several
majestic trees, and towering above
them oil, one mighty elm.
George Pope Morris, Journalist and
poet, came upon man In the act OF
cutting down the elm. He urged SEN
timental reasons for saving the tree,
but it was the timely arrival of Il
friend Of Morris with $40 that eventu-
ally rescued the elm. Based on this
incident, "Woodman, Spare That Tree"
was written in 1897.
Here Britain's Heir Was Feted.
In 1860 the prince OF Wales came
overseas to tlutter our dovecotes and
was entertained by Fernando Wood,
then mayor of the city, at his home on
what is now Seventy-eighth street.
The Wood estate extended far along
the river front and the fashionables of
the town drove out to the entertain
ments given there.
! 1t is after the Civil war, when the
growing city begins to cast about for
more room and to look nOrthWard with
cnviOus eyes, that one in reading over
the history Of the time feels the COM
ing Of the change.
Then the shacks Of the squatterS be-
gan to spring up on the fringes Of the
great estates by the river. BY 1868 the
boulevard had been laid out and some
trees along it planted by Boss Tweed.
In the years that followed this pur-
suit Of the old families continued even
more fiercely. With the coming Of the
elevated railroad Bloomingdale was no
more and the day Of the real estate
man had arrived.
There are residents of the West side
today who will tell you about the man
who was stationed beneath the
Seventy-second street elevated station
to warn drivers Of the approach Of
train by waving a red flag. There Is
the story Of the goat who devOured lit
orally the sermon of one of the pioneer
preachers of the West side and appar-
emily was none the worse for it. Those
were the days when you could look
from the back windows Of your home
in the Seventies and watch the ele-
waited trains curling around the lofty
tracks at One Hundred and Tenth
street and when ride downtown on
the front platform Of rocking, jolting
horsecar was the accepted method OF
taking the air.
In the Days of the aic5s!Sst.
Then the tree-lined boulevard was
completed and women in huge sleeves
and fioppy hats pedaled for dear life
after their scorching husbands. When
bicycling was at it's height the pedes-
trian who attempted to cross the
boulevard on pleasant Sunday
morning needed every bit Of the craft
and agility of q quarterback running
through broken field.
On those back lots where the boys Of
q generation ago snOwballed one an
other with fiery zeal great apartment
houses stand stolidly today. From
Grants tomb to Seventy-second street
a new race, strange in speech and MAJ
ners to those who knew the West side
in it's early days, now presents fuzzy
soft lat and trench bonnet to an aston
ished sun. Only the river, rolling down
to the sea as in the days when Verra-
zano first dropped anchor by it's banks.
is the same.