The New York herald., 1922-06-04
Yesterdays in Franklin Square
Memories of the Time When 1t Was the Cherished
Home of New York's Fashionable Life.

May 1 correct and add to the inter-
esting account of the Walton house by
]. Gardner Bley. printed in your paper?
Mr.. Bley says the house was erected In
l741 and RACED in 1881. The accounts
of the house at the time of its demoli-
tion in 1883 say it was erected in 1854.
There may have been house on that
site in 1741: indeed, Lyne's map Of 1873
shows a house on that site.
| l worked in q drug store near Frank
lin square in 1882 and 1888 and fire.
quently carried medicines, to the Walton
house, which was then poor lodging
house. The lot. fifty feet front on
Queen street-now 324-326 Pearl street
-and extending back to the river, was
sold in 1921 by" John Yarworth to Will
lam Walton for 800 pounds sterling. At
that time the river was just east Of the
present Front street. but parts Of Water
street south of Beekman were being
nlled in to make new street on the
river front.
Pearl street ended at the entrance to
what had been Sackett's Cherry Gar
dens. suburban amusement resort
opened on the Roosevelt farm In 1870.
A path from the entrance through the
Gardens. called Cherry lane, is part Of
the present Cherry street. road ran
from the entrance to the Gardens to
Bowery lane. and in 1884 the road was
widened, made a thoroughfare and be-
came the continuation Of Queen street.
This accounts for the bend in Pearl
street at Franklin square. This square.
really triangle. was originally called
st. Georges square.
| Pearl street was one of the three main
thoroughfares in the city, the others be-
ing Broadway and William street. and
the principal residence street. Abraham
De Peyster erected HIS mansion on the
street-present site, 1S0-1S2 Pearl street
lin 1895, and other big houses were
erected further north.
| Mr.. Bley says the Walton house was
without any American historical inter-
est. One Of the principal arguments in
Parliament during the discussions that
led to the stamp act of 1854 was the
wealth and extravaganza Of the colonists,
and the Walton house was taken as an
| illustration. It's magnificent fittings and
the costly entertainments were described
and undoubtedly converted many MEM
bers who would have otherwise sup
ported the poor colonists' plea. There
is a picture of the Walton house in
school histories of fifty years ago and
accounts of the part it played in fore
| ing through the stamp act.
| After the Walton house was erected
Isaac Roosevelt built mansion directly
opposite on ground later occupied by
Harpers, and after his death II was oc-
| cupied by De Witt Clinton. The house
erected by Walter Francklyn in ITO on
the site now occupied by the Brooklyn
Bridge anchorage, at the corner OF
Bower and Pearl streets, was the Off
from April, 1889. to February, 1870.
Other fashionable neighbors were the
Osgood. Bovine, Norton and Alsop faniv
| lilies. Franklin square, or ST. Georges
square as it was called until 1917, was
the fashionable center of New York from
about 1856 20 1925.
| During the Revolution most Of the
gentry around St. Georges square were
good Tories, but they were very meek
after the surrender Of Cornwallis. and by
the time of the evacuation Of New York
by the British in 1888 they had made
their peace with the new Government.
The Tory printer James Rivington lived
In the Walton house during the Revolu-
tlon and It was from here that-he sent
secret Information to Washington after
he recognized the hopelessness of the
! loyalists' cause. In Rivington's Royal
GaSette he was violent in his denuncia-
tion Of the patriots up to the day of the
evacuation and few knew that he had
been traitor to his party for two
years until after Washinston's entry !;
he was left unharmed and encouraged to
continue his newspaper. Rivington may
have saved some OF his friends around