Nooks & Corners of Old New York

Settlements having early been made in widely separated parts of the island, streets were laid out from each settlement as they were needed without regard to the city as a whole; with the result that as the city grew the streets lengthened and those of the various sections met at every conceivable angle. This resulted in a tangle detrimental to the city's interests, and in 1807 a Commission was appointed to devise a City Plan that should protect the interests of the whole community.

A glance at a city map will show the confusion of streets at the lower end of the island and the regularity brought about under the City Plan above Houston Street on the east, and Fourteenth Street on the west side.

The plan adopted by the Commission absolutely disregarded the natural topography of the island, and resulted in a city of straight lines and right angles.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE No. 7 State Street 6 Fraunces' Tavern 11 The "Jack Knife," Gold and Platt Streets 23 Golden Hill Inn 24 Cell in the Prison under the Hall of Records 35 Statue of Nathan Hale, City Hall Park 38 No. 11 Reade Street, where Aaron Burr had an office 40 The Tombs 41 Park Street, with Church of the Transfiguration 44 Hudson and Watts Streets 55 Grave of Charlotte Temple 62 Tomb of Alexander Hamilton 66 Washington's Pew, St. Paul's Chapel 76 Montgomery's Tomb 77 A House of Other Days 79 "Murderers' Row" 97 Old Houses, Wiehawken Street 112 Looking South from Minetta Lane 114 Old Theological Seminary, Chelsea Square 126 Church of Sea and Land 135 Bone Alley 139 Milestone on the Bowery 143 Entrance to Marble Cemetery 152 College of the City of New York 186 Gate of Old House of Refuge 188 The Little Church Around the Corner 192 Milestone on Third Avenue 204

NOOKS AND CORNERS OF OLD NEW YORK

I

[Sidenote: Fort Amsterdam]

On the centre building of the row which faces bowling Green Park on the south there is a tablet bearing the words:

THE SITE OF FORT AMSTERDAM, BUILT IN 1626. WITHIN THE FORTIFICATIONS WAS ERECTED THE FIRST SUBSTANTIAL CHURCH EDIFICE ON THE ISLAND OF MANHATTAN. IN 1787 THE FORT WAS DEMOLISHED AND THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE BUILT UPON THIS SITE

[Sidenote: Dutch West India Co.]

This was the starting-point of the settlement which gradually became New York. In 1614 a stockade, called Fort Manhattan, was built as a temporary place of shelter for representatives of the United New Netherland Co., which had been formed to trade with the Indians. This company was replaced by the Dutch West India Co., with chartered rights to trade on the American coast, and the first step towards the forming of a permanent settlement was the building of Fort Amsterdam on the site of the stockade.

In 1664 New Amsterdam passed into British possession and became New York, while Fort Amsterdam became Fort James. Under Queen Anne it was Fort George, remaining so until demolished in 1787.

On the Fort's site was built the Government House, intended for Washington and the Presidents who should follow him. But none ever occupied it as the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia before the house was completed. After 1801 it became an office building, and was demolished in 1815 to make room for the present structures.

[Sidenote: Bowling Green]

The tiny patch of grass at the starting-point of Broadway, now called Bowling Green Park, was originally the centre of sports for colonists, and has been the scene of many stirring events. The iron railing which now surrounds it was set up in 1771, having been imported from England to enclose a lead equestrian statue of King George III. On the posts of the fence were representations of heads of members of the Royal family. In 1776, during the Revolution, the statue was dragged down and molded into bullets, and where the iron heads were knocked from the posts the fracture can still be seen.

[Sidenote: The Battery]

When the English took possession of the city, in 1664, the Fort being regarded as useless, it was decided to build a Battery to protect the newly acquired possession. Thus the idea of the Battery was conceived, although the work was not actually carried out until 1684.