Year: 1876

Castle Garden.


What is now called Castle Garden
was built for a fort. Long before the
Revolutionary war was ended, fortifi-
cation was erected at the lower end of
Manhattan Island, and, although this
disappeared before the present century,
the place has ever since been called
'TThe Battery" This slight battery,
however, was of more use to the people
of New York than the strong fort which
succeeded it ever was. There had been
sort of a fort here in the time of the
Dutch settlement, which, when the in
vincible Englishmen helped themselves
to the colony of New Amsterdam, was
named Fort James, and afterward,
when the Dutch regained their own for
a short time, was called Fort William
Hendriek. There were battles in the
harbor, and the old fort did good service
in the colonial struggles. At the close
of the Revolution it was determined to
erect a house for the President of the
United States upon this very site, but
the house was, of course, never built.
1t became evident, when there were
rumors of an approaching war, in the
early part of the present century, that
the Notifications of New York Harbor
were inadequate. In 1908, therefore,
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Williams,
Superintendent of the Military Acad-
emy at West Point, and one of the most
prominent typographical engineers in
the country, began the erection of q
strong fort with casemates upon the
rocks at the west of the Battery. The
fortificatiOn was finished at the be-
ginning of the war of 1872, and was
called Castle Clinton. The name is not
to be confOunded with that of Fort
Cliuton, however, which then stood on
the right bank of the Hudson River,
opposite West Point. Castle Clinton
was furnished with twenty-eight guns.


The second war with Great Britain
began and ended, and the guns Of
Castle Clinton had never been called
into use. 1t was regarded by courtesy
as a fort, however, for a number of
years afterward, although the outer
Notifications of the harbor had been
made sufficiently strong to render 1t
useless.


In 1923 the site was ceded to the
State, and finally it became city prop
erey, and Castle Clinton, the resort of
warriors, became Castle Garden, the re-
sort of anybody who was willing to pay
his shilling at the gateway; for, when
there were not balls there, and the
young folks did not go to dance the
polka and the schottische, they went
to stroll up and down the bal
comics on summer evenings. Here
General Jackson was formally received
on his first visit to New York, and
here, in 1924, Lafayette landed from the
ship "Cadmus," whose strea meTs were
all flying, and whose escort up the
harbor included the famous steamship,
"Robert Fulton.n The stairs of the
building were carpeted, and a tri-
umphal arch was erected in honor of
the Marquis. He was greeted with a
Major Generals salute from a battery
of field artillery, and within the amphi-
theater he reviewed the troops under
the command of General Benedict. In
the evening there was a ball in the
Garden in honor of the hero.


President Tyler's reception was one of
the last held in the Garden before the
addition of roof transformed the place
into an opera house; and of all the
great events which occurred here after
ward, the first appearance of Jenny
Lind was by far the most notable.
Heralded by many glowing reports,
and advertised in various ways as only
]
to advertise, land, indeed, he has no
rival in this branch of showman's busi-
ness today, before the night fixed for
the first concert, the 11th of September,
| 1850, the seats in Castle Garden had all
been disposed of for enormous sums.
1t is said that there were seven thous-
and persons in the house when the
| Swedish singer came forward in her
simple white frock to sing her first
song; and those persons of the seven
| thousand who still live, have not yet
ceased to talk of the gIories of that
night. The receipts of the evening
were twenty-six thousand dollars, Of
which ten thousand (the singers share)
was divided among the charitable assO-
Citations of the city. As an opera house,
| Castle Garden was used for the Julien
band concerts, for the performances of
Henrietta Sontag, and for those of
Mario and other great singers. In those
days the Battery was green field with
pleasant shade trees, and the building
was approached by wide bridge from
the main land, at the end of which


was gateway and ticket office. More
than twenty years ago it was found i'm
possible longer to attract the public to
entertainments given there, and it was
converted into a depot for the Emil
grant Commissioners. The narrow
channel which separated it from the
Battery was filled in, offices were parti-
toned off in the upper story, and the
building was ready for use. The grass
plots on the Battery soon disappeared,
and the place assumed forlOrn aspect;


bur within recent years the Park Com
missioners have made the neighbor-
hood as pleasant place as it was when
Castle Garden was in the height of it's
glory.-EUe1ing Post.