Lights and Shadows of New York Life

J >> James D. McCabe >> Lights and Shadows of New York Life

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New York bore a prominent part in the resistance of the colonies to the
aggressions of the mother country, and in spite of the efforts of her
royalist Governor and the presence of a large number of Tories, responded
cordially to the call of the colonies for men and money during the war.
On the 14th of April, 1776, the city was occupied by the American army,
the British force stationed there being obliged to withdraw. On the 26th
of August, 1776, the battle of Long Island having been lost by the
Americans, New York was occupied by the British, who held it until the
close of the war. It suffered very much at their hands. Nearly all the
churches, except the Episcopal, were used by them as prisons, riding
schools, and stables; and the schools and colleges were closed. On the
21st of September, 1776, a fire destroyed 493 houses, including Trinity
Church--all the west side of Broadway from Whitehall to Barclay street,
or about one-eighth of the city; and on the 7th of August 1778, about 300
buildings on East River were burned. The winter of 1779-80 was very
severe; there was a beaten track for sleighs and wagons across the
Hudson; the ice in that river being strong enough to bear a horse and man
as late as the 17th of March; eighty sleighs, with provisions, and a
large body of troops, crossed on the ice from the city to Staten Island.
On the 25th of November, 1783, the British evacuated the city, which was
at once occupied by the American army.

In 1785 the first Federal Congress met in the City Hall, which stood at
the corner of Wall and Nassau streets, and on the 30th of April, 1789,
George Washington was inaugurated first President of the United States on
the same spot. By 1791 New York had spread to the lower end of the
present City Hall Park, the site of the new Post Office, and was
extending along the Boston road, or Bowery, and Broadway. In 1799, the
Manhattan Company for supplying the city with fresh water was chartered.
On the 20th of September, 1803, the cornerstone of the City Hall was
laid. The city fathers, sagely premising that New York would never pass
this limit, ordered the rear wall of the edifice to be constructed of
brown stone, to save the expense of marble. Free schools were opened in
1805. In the same year the yellow fever raged with violence, and had the
effect of extending the city by driving the population up the island,
where many of them located themselves permanently. In 1807, Robert
Fulton navigated the first steamboat from New York to Albany.

The war of 1812-15 for a while stopped the growth of the city, but after
the return of peace its progress was resumed. In August, 1812,
experimental gas lamps were placed in the City Hall Park, though the use
of gas for purposes of lighting was not begun until 1825. In 1822 the
yellow fever again drove the population up the island, and caused a rapid
growth of the city above Canal street. In 1825 the Erie Canal was
completed. This great work, by placing the trade of the West in the
hands of New York, gave a powerful impetus to the growth of the city,
which was at that time spreading at the rate of from 1000 to 1500 houses
per year. In 1832 and 1834, the cholera raged severely, carrying off
upwards of 4484 persons in the two years. In 1835, the "great fire"
occurred. This terrible conflagration broke out on the 16th of December
of that year, and swept the First Ward of the city east of Broadway and
below Wall street. It laid almost the entire business quarter in ashes,
destroyed 648 houses, and inflicted upon the city a loss of over
$18,000,000. New York rose from this disaster with wonderful energy and
rapidity, but only to meet, in 1837, the most terrible financial crisis
that had ever burst upon the country. Even this did not check the growth
of the city, the population increasing 110,100 between 1830 and 1840. In
1842 the Croton water was introduced. In 1849 and 1854 the cholera again
appeared, killing over 5400 persons. In 1852, the first street railway
was built. In 1858, the Central Park was begun.

The Civil War checked the growth and trade of the city, which languished
during the entire struggle, but upon the return of peace New York resumed
its onward progress. The growth of the city since 1865 has been most
marked, especially in the immediate vicinity of the Central Park. Not
less marked has been the improvement of the older portions. The city is
rapidly increasing in size, population, and magnificence, and is fully
maintaining its position as the brilliant metropolis of the New World.

II. DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL.

The city of New York, the largest and most important in the United
States, is situated in New York County, on Manhattan Island, at the mouth
of the Hudson River, eighteen miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The city
limits comprise the entire county of New York, embracing Manhattan
Island, Randall's, Ward's, and Blackwell's Islands, in the East River,
and Governor's, Bedloe's, and Ellis' Islands, in the bay. The last three
are occupied by the military posts of the United States Government.
Manhattan Island is bounded on the north by Spuyten Duyvel Creek and the
Harlem River--practically the same stream; on the east by the East River,
on the west by the Hudson, and on the south by New York Bay. It is nine
miles long on the east side, thirteen and a half miles long on the west
side, and two and a half miles wide at its greatest breadth, the average
breadth being a mile and a half. It is but a few feet in width at its
southern extremity, but spreads out like a fan as it stretches away to
the northward. The southern point is but a few inches above the level of
the bay, but the island rises rapidly to the northward, its extreme
northern portion being occupied by a series of bold, finely wooded
heights, which terminate at the junction of the Hudson River and Spuyten
Duyvel Creek, in a bold promontory, 130 feet high. These hills, known as
Washington Heights, are two or three miles in length. The southern
portion of the island is principally a sand-bed, but the remainder is
very rocky. The island covers an area of twenty-two square miles, or
14,000 acres. It is built up compactly for about six miles, along the
east side, and irregularly to Harlem, three miles farther. Along the
west side it is built up compactly to the Central Park, Fifty-ninth
street, and irregularly to Manhattanville, One hundred and twenty-fifth
street, from which point to Spuyten Duyvel Creek it is covered with
country seats, gardens, etc. Three wagon, and two railroad bridges over
the Harlem River connect the island with the mainland, and numerous lines
of ferries afford communication with Long and Staten Islands, and New
Jersey. The island attains its greatest width at Fourteenth and
Eighty-seventh streets.

The city is finely built, and presents an aspect of industry and
liveliness unsurpassed by any place in the world. Lying in full sight of
the ocean, with its magnificent bay to the southward, and the East and
Hudson Rivers washing its shores, the city of New York possesses a
climate which renders it the most delightful residence in America. In
the winter the proximity of the sea moderates the severity of the cold,
and in the summer the heat is tempered by the delightful sea breezes
which sweep over the island. Snow seldom lies in the streets for more
than a few hours, and the intense "heated terms" of the summer are of
very brief duration. As a natural consequence, the city is healthy, and
the death rate, considering the population, is small.

The southern portion is densely built up. Between the City Hall and
Twenty-third street New York is more thickly populated than any city in
America. It is in this section that the "tenement houses," or buildings
containing from five to twenty families, are to be found. The greatest
mortality is in these over-crowded districts, which the severest police
measures cannot keep clean and free from filth. The southern portion of
the city is devoted almost exclusively to trade, comparatively few
persons residing below the City Hall. Below Canal street the streets are
narrow, crooked, and irregular. Above Houston street they are broad and
straight, and are laid out at regular intervals. Above Houston street,
the streets extending across the island are numbered. The avenues begin
in the vicinity of Third street, and extend, or will extend to the
northern limit of the island, running parallel with the Hudson River.
There are twelve fine avenues at parallel distances apart of about 800
feet. Second and Eighth are the longest, and Fifth, Madison and
Lexington the most fashionable. They commence with Avenue D, a short
street, near the East River. West of this, and parallel with it, are
three avenues somewhat longer, called Avenues C, B, and A, the last being
the most westerly. Then begin the long avenues, which are numbered
First, Second, and so on, as they increase to the westward. There are
two other avenues shorter than those with numbers, viz: Lexington, lying
between Third and Fourth, and extending from Fourteenth street on the
south to Sixty-ninth street on the north; and Madison, between Fourth and
Fifth, and extending from Twenty-third street at Madison Square to
Eighty-sixth street. Madison and Lexington are each to be prolonged to
the Harlem River. These avenues are all 100 feet wide, except Lexington
and Madison, which are seventy-five feet wide, and Fourth avenue, above
Thirty-fourth street, which is 140 feet wide. Third avenue is the main
street on the east side above the Bowery, of which it is a continuation,
and Eighth avenue is the principal highway on the west side. Fifth and
Madison avenues are the most fashionable, and are magnificently built up
with private residences below the Park. The cross streets connecting
them are also handsomely built.

The numerical streets are all sixty feet wide, except Fourteenth,
Twenty-third, Thirty-fourth, Forty-second, and eleven others north of
these, which are 100 feet wide. The streets of the city are well laid
off, and are paved with an excellent quality of stone. The sidewalks
generally consist of immense stone "flags." In the lower part of the
city, in the poorer and business sections, the streets are dirty and
always out of order. In the upper part they are clean, and are generally
kept so by private contributions.

The avenues on the eastern and western extremities of the city are the
abodes of poverty and want, and often of vice, hemming in the wealthy and
cleanly sections on both sides. Poverty and riches are close neighbors
in New York. Only a stone's throw back of the most sumptuous parts of
Broadway and Fifth avenue, want and suffering, vice and crime, hold their
courts. Fine ladies can look down from their high casements upon the
squalid dens of their unfortunate sisters.

Broadway is the principal thoroughfare. It extends from the Battery to
Spuyten Duyvel Creek, a distance of fifteen miles. It is built up
compactly for about five miles, is paved and graded for about seven
miles, and is lighted with gas along its entire length. There are over
420 miles of streets in the patrol districts, and eleven miles of piers
along the water. The sewerage is generally good, but defective in some
places. Nearly 400 miles of water-mains have been laid. The streets are
lighted by about 19,000 gas lamps, besides lamps set out by private
parties. They are paved with the Belgian and wooden pavements, cobble
stones being almost a thing of the past. For so large a city, New York
is remarkably clean, except in those portions lying close to the river,
or given up to paupers.

The city is substantially built. Frame houses are rare. Many of the old
quarters are built of brick, but this material is now used to a limited
extent only. Broadway and the principal business streets are lined with
buildings of iron, marble, granite, brown, Portland, and Ohio stone,
palatial in their appearance; and the sections devoted to the residences
of the better classes are built up mainly with brown, Portland, and Ohio
stone, and in some instances with marble. Thus the city presents an
appearance of grandeur and solidity most pleasing to the eye. The public
buildings will compare favorably with any in the world, and there is no
city on the globe that can boast so many palatial warehouses and stores.
Broadway is one of the best built thoroughfares in the world. The stores
which line it are generally from five to six stories high above ground,
with two cellars below the pavement, and vaults extending to near the
middle of the street. The adjacent streets in many instances rival
Broadway in their splendors. The stores of the city are famous for their
elegance and convenience, and for the magnificence and variety of the
goods displayed in them. The streets occupied by private residences are
broad, clean and well-paved, and are lined with miles of dwellings
inferior to none in the world in convenience and substantial elegance.
The amount of wealth and taste concentrated in the dwellings of the
better classes of the citizens of New York is very great.

[Picture: BROADWAY, LOOKING UP FROM EXCHANGE PLACE]

The population of New York, in 1870, according to the United States
census of that year, was 942,337. There can be no doubt that at the
present time the island contains over 1,000,000 _residents_. Thousands
of persons doing business in New York reside in the vicinity, and enter
and leave the city at morning and evening, and thousands of strangers, on
business and pleasure, come and go daily. It is estimated that the
actual number of people in the city about the hour of noon is nearly, if
not fully, one million and a half. According to the census of 1870, the
actual population consisted of 929,199 white and 13,153 colored persons.
The native population was 523,238, and the foreign population 419,094.
The nationality of the principal part of the foreign element was as
follows:

From Number of persons.
Germany 151222
Ireland 201999
England 24432
Scotland 7554
France 8267
Belgium 328
Holland 1237
British America and Canada 4338
Cuba 1293
China 115
Denmark 682
Italy 2790
Mexico 64
Norway 373
Poland 2392
Portugal 92
Russia 1139
South America 213
Spain 464
Sweden 1569
Switzerland 2169
Turkey 38
Wales 587
West Indies 487

Besides those mentioned in this table, are representatives of every
nationality under heaven, in greater or less strength. It will be seen
that the native population is in the excess. The increase of natives
between 1860 and 1870, was 93,246. The Germans increased in the same
period at the rate of 32,936; while the Irish population fell off 1701 in
the same decade. The foreign classes frequently herd together by
themselves, in distinct parts of the city, which they seem to regard as
their own. In some sections are to be found whole streets where the
inhabitants do not understand English, having no occasion to use it in
their daily life.

In 1869, there were 13,947 births, 8695 marriages, and 24,601 deaths
reported by the city authorities. The authorities stated that they were
satisfied that the number of births was actually over 30,000; the number
reported by them being very incomplete, owing to the difficulty of
procuring such information.

Its mixed population makes New York a thoroughly cosmopolitan city, yet
at the same time it is eminently American. The native element exercises
a controlling influence upon all its acts, and when the proper exertion
is made rarely fails to maintain its ascendancy.

The number of buildings in the city is from 60,000 to 70,000. In 1860,
out of 161,000 families only 15,000 occupied entire houses. Nine
thousand one hundred and twenty dwellings contained two families each,
and 6100 contained three families each. After these come the tenement
houses. At present, the number of houses occupied by more than one
family is even larger.

It has been well said that "New York is the best place in the world to
take the conceit out of a man." This is true. No matter how great or
flattering is the local reputation of an individual, he finds upon
reaching New York that he is entirely unknown. He must at once set to
work to build up a reputation here, where he will be taken for just what
he is worth, and no more. The city is a good school for studying human
nature, and its people are proficients in the art of discerning
character.

In point of morality, the people of New York, in spite of all that has
been said of them, compare favorably with those of any other city. If
the darkest side of life is to be seen here, one may also witness the
best. The greatest scoundrels and the purest Christians are to be found
here. It is but natural that New York, being the great centre of wealth,
should also be the great centre of all that is good and beautiful in
life. It is true that the Devil's work is done here on a gigantic scale,
but the will of the Lord is done on an equally great, if not a greater
scale.

[Picture: THE CITY HALL PARK AS IT APPEARED IN 1869]

In its charities, New York stands at the head of American
communities--the great heart of the city throbs warmly for suffering
humanity. The municipal authorities expend annually about one million of
dollars in public charities. The various religious denominations spend
annually about five millions more, and private benevolence disburses a
sum of which no record is to be had--but it is large. Besides this, the
city is constantly sending out princely sums to relieve want and
suffering in all parts of our broad land. New York never turns a deaf
ear to an appeal for aid.

The people of New York are very liberal in matters of opinion. Here, as
a general rule, no man seeks to influence the belief of another, except
so far as all men are privileged to do so. Every religious faith, every
shade of political opinion, is protected and finds full expression. Men
concern themselves with their own affairs only. Indeed this feeding has
been carried to such an extreme that it has engendered a decided
indifference between man and man. People live for years as next door
neighbors without ever knowing each other by sight. A gentleman once
happened to notice the name of his next door neighbor on the door-plate.
To his surprise he found it the same as his own. Accosting the owner of
the door-plate one day, for the first time, he remarked that it was
singular that two people bearing the same name should live side by side
for years without knowing each other. This remark led to mutual
inquiries and statements, and to their surprise the two men found they
were brothers--sons of the same parents. They had not met for many
years, and for fully twelve years had lived side by side as neighbors,
without knowing each other. This incident may be overdrawn, but it will
illustrate a peculiar feature of New York life.

Strangers coming to New York are struck with the fact that there are but
two classes in the city--the poor and the rich. The middle class, which
is so numerous in other cities, hardly exists at all here. The reason of
this is plain to the initiated. Living in New York is so expensive that
persons of moderate means reside in the suburbs, some of them as far as
forty miles in the country. They come into the city, to their business,
in crowds, between the hours of seven and nine in the morning, and
literally pour out of it between four and seven in the evening. In fair
weather the inconvenience of such a life is trifling, but in the winter
it is absolutely fearful. A deep snow will sometimes obstruct the
railroad tracks, and persons living outside of the city are either unable
to leave New York or are forced to spend the night on the cars. Again,
the rivers will be so full of floating ice as to render it very
dangerous, if not impossible, for the ferry boats to cross. At such
times the railroad depots and ferry houses are crowded with persons
anxiously awaiting transportation to their homes. The detention in New
York, however, is not the greatest inconvenience caused by such mishaps.

To persons of means, New York offers more advantages as a place of
residence than any city in the land. Its delightful climate, its
cosmopolitan and metropolitan character, and the endless variety of its
attractions and comforts, render it the most delightful home in America.
Its people are warmly attached to and proud of it, and even strangers
feel drawn towards it as to no other city save their own homes. Few
persons care to leave it after a twelve-months' residence within its
limits, and those who are forced to go away generally find their way back
at the earliest opportunity.

II. THE HARBOR OF NEW YORK.

The bay and harbor of New York are noted the world over for their beauty.
When the discoverer, Henry Hudson, first gazed upon the glorious scene,
he gave vent to the impulsive assertion that it was "a very good land to
fall in with, and a pleasant land to see," and there are few who will
venture to differ from him.

To enjoy the wonderful beauty of the bay, one should enter it from the
ocean; and it is from the blue water that we propose to begin our
exploration.

Nineteen miles from the City of New York, on the western side of the bay,
is a low, narrow, and crooked neck of sand, covered in some places with a
dense growth of pine and other hardy trees. This neck is called Sandy
Hook, and its curve encloses a pretty little bay, known as the Cove. On
the extreme end of the point, which commands the main ship channel, the
General Government is erecting a powerful fort, under the guns of which
every vessel entering the bay must pass. There is also a lighthouse near
the fort, and within the last few years a railway depot has been built on
the shore of the Cove. Passengers from New York for Long Branch are
transferred from the steamer to the cars at this place, the road running
along the sea-shore to Long Branch. To the westward of Sandy Hook, on
the Jersey shore, are the finely wooded and picturesque Highlands of
Nevesink, and at their feet the Shrewsbury River flows into the bay,
while some miles to the eastward are the shining sands and white houses
of Rockaway Beach and Fire Island. Seven miles out at sea, tosses the
Sandy Hook Light Ship, marking the point from which vessels must take
their course in entering the bay.

Leaving Sandy Hook, our course is a little to the northwest. The New
Jersey shore is on our left, and we can see the dim outlines of Port
Monmouth and Perth Amboy and South Amboy in the far distance, while to
the right Coney Island and its hotels are in full sight. Back of these
lie the low shores of Long Island, dotted with pretty suburban villas and
villages. A few miles above Sandy Hook we pass the Quarantine station in
the Lower Bay, with the fleet of detained vessels clustering about the
hospital ships.

[Picture: THE HARBOR OF NEW YORK, AS SEEN FROM THE NARROWS]

Straight ahead, on our left, is a bold headland, sloping away from east
to west, towards the Jersey coast. This is Staten Island, a favorite
resort for New Yorkers, and taken up mainly with their handsome country
seats. The bay here narrows rapidly, and the shores of Staten and Long
Islands are scarcely a mile apart. This passage is famous the world over
as _The Narrows_, and connects the Inner and Lower Bays. The shores are
high on either side, but the Staten Island side is a bold headland, the
summit of which is over one hundred feet above the water. These high
shores constitute the protection which the Inner Bay enjoys from the
storms that howl along the coast. It is to them also that New York must
look for protection in the event of a foreign war. Here are the
principal fortifications of the city, and whichever way we turn the
shores bristle with guns. On the Long Island shore is Fort Hamilton, an
old but powerful work, begun in 1824, and completed in 1832, at a cost of
$550,000. The main work mounts eighty heavy guns; but since the Civil
War, additional batteries, some of them armed with Rodman guns, have been
erected. A little above Fort Hamilton, and a few hundred yards from the
shore, is Fort Lafayette, built on a shoal known as Hendricks' Reef. It
was begun during the war of 1812, cost $350,000, and was armed with
seventy-three guns. It was used during the Civil War as a jail for
political prisoners. In December, 1868, it was destroyed by fire, and
the Government is now rebuilding it upon a more formidable scale. The
Staten Island shore is lined with guns. At the water's edge is a
powerful casemated battery, known as Fort Tompkins, mounting forty heavy
guns. The bluff above is crowned with a large and formidable looking
work, also of granite, known as Fort Richmond, mounting one hundred and
forty guns. To the right and left of the fort, are Batteries Hudson,
Morton, North Cliff, and South Cliff; mounting about eighty guns of heavy
calibre. It is stated that the new work on Sandy Hook will be armed with
two hundred guns, which will make the defensive armament of the Lower Bay
and Narrows over six hundred and thirteen guns, which, together with the
fleet of war vessels that could be assembled for the protection of the
city, would render the capture of New York by an enemy's fleet a
hazardous, if not impracticable, undertaking.