The New York herald., 1922-10-04
Manhattan Island.
Historic Facts About an Interesting
East Side District.

To THE NEW YORK HERALD One OF
your correspondents asks about the Local
ton Of Manhattan Island. In the days
Of the Dutch and early English occu-
patton the high water mark on the
East Side ran very near the present
line Of Lewis street from about Broome
street northward. turning westward a
about the present Avenue d and
Twelfth street. The adjoining land was
mostly marshy and swamp-Stuyve-
SAINTS marsh---and this extended inland
in some places to Avenue and be-
yond. The eastern side OF Tompkins
Square was swamp when the city took
il over
There was dry, sandy patch in the
marsh about the present Houston and
Third streets and Lewis street which
was originally called Manhattan Island.
Public School 1sS in Manhattan street
Is built on this sandy patch. l believe
there is some reference to the island in
Irving's "Knickerbocker History or New
York.
Father Byrnes would have been right
il he had said his church at the corner
OF Grand and Ridge streets was on the
highest point on the East Side. Possi-
bly, the Pitt and Grand street corner
was higher. the hill on which the
church stands was called Mount Pitt;
the Jones house. erected before the
Revolution. stood at the Pitt stree.
corner, and the fortihcation erected on
the top of the hill was called Fort Pitt.
In 1926 Mount Pitt circus occupied the
top OF the hill. This was the same
year that st. Marys was organized and
two years after All Saints Protestant
Episcopal Church at the corner of Henry
and Scammel streets was erected.
The Seventh Presbyterian Church in
Broome street at the corner of Ridge
street antedates All Saints six years
and Is, believe, the oldest church odi-
fee on the East Side. There is still
standing the old WIllet Street Methodist
Church, now a synagogue, erected In
1926. II is curious to note that the
four denominations that erected their
churches within a few hundred feet OF
one another a century ago kept on grow
ing. maintaining their relative posi-
tions. for fifty years. Then they began
to go down and kept going down. while
Jews, arose and within a few years
filled the district with their houses of
worship.
Fifty years ago st. Mary's had about
1000 rarishioners. in 1905 It had about
5000. to-day II has fewer. The Press
byterian church has "A handful Of wor-
shippers on Sunday. while nifty years
ago the church was crowded. The Meth
odist church has been converted into a
synagogue like so many other churches
on the East Side. while All Saints has
given up.
am afraid your correspondent Mr..
Green won't find any oldest inhabitant
who recalls swimming across the chan
mel that separated the Island OF Man
haitian from Manhattan Island for
find the streets as far as Tompkins
street marked on a map OF 1912. The
land. which was part of the Delaney
farm, was conhscated by the state inn
mediately after the Revolution. cut UP
and sold In lots and the marsh land
was filed in during the early part OF
the last century.
The east side OF Tompklns Square
was still a marsh in 1911, when It was
laid out as a park on the 1911 plan
OF city streets, but II was filled In when
the city purchased the land in 1894 for
park purposes. Al that time the south
eastern corner belonged to John jacob
Astor. and he made no improvements on
land he held for his descendants.
The native New Yorker takes little
pride or interest in the New York Of
yesterday. in It's old schools, old
churches, old historic buildings OF old
history. A few years sso I tried 20 set
tars thar a rsuninon Of ths boys OF old