by Fran Leadon
73 “Mr. Mitchell has, with great tact”: A Picture of New-York in 1846: With a Short Account of Places in Its Vicinity; Designed as a Guide to Citizens and Strangers. New York: Roman & Ellis, 1846, 66.
74 an influx of “market boys”: Stephen C. Massett, Drifting About; or, What Jeems Pipes of Pipesville Saw-and-Did. New York: Carleton, 1863, 50–52.
74 “Boys, if you misbehave”: Brown, A History of the New York Stage, I, 271.
74 Massett, who was known professionally: Massett, Drifting About, 49.
74 a calf’s head, “white as milk”: Ibid., 53; “Olympic Wit,” Illinois Free Trader and LaSalle County Commercial Advertiser, June 30, 1843, 4.
74 In 1855 there were still twelve theaters: In 1859, Wood’s Marble Hall, at Broadway and Prince Street, was turned into the Merchants and Manufacturers’ Bank, and the Broadway Theatre was torn down and replaced by a store, even though it was only twelve years old. Panorama Hall, the Apollo Rooms, and Wallack’s Theatre suffered similar fates. Brougham’s Lyceum, 485 Broadway, was demolished in 1869 to make way for a dry goods store.
74 Just before Christmas in 1854: “Terrible Conflagration,” New York Tribune, December 21, 1854, 5.
CHAPTER 9. MILLIONAIRES AND MURDERERS
75 The interior furnishings: “Metropolitan Hotel,” New York Times, March 4, 1852, 2; “Mirrors Extraordinary,” New York Tribune, January 20, 1852, 5.
75 Dances called “hops”: Untitled, New York Times, October 7, 1852, 1.
76 “the largest and most elegant hotel”: “The New-York State Agricultural Society Fair,” New York Tribune, September 26, 1854, 3.
76 Visitors entered from Broadway: Isabella Lucy Bird, The Englishwoman in America. London: John Murray, 1856, 341–342.
76 Off to the side was a “gentlemen’s drawing - room ”: “The St. Nicholas Hotel,” New York Times, January 7, 1953, 6.
76 $50 a night: “The Bridal Chamber,” Spirit of the Times (Ironton, Ohio), February 8, 1853, 3.
77 “Who could think of sitting down to a dinner”: Thomas Butler Gunn, The Physiology of the New York Boarding-Houses. New York: Mason Brothers, 99.
77 “The man who sits beside you at dinner”: Ibid., 98.
78 that guidebooks were published: Directory to the Seraglios in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and All the Principal Cities in the Union. Edited and Compiled by a Free Loveyer. New York: s.n., 1859.
78 “The practice of carrying concealed arms”: Bird, The Englishwoman in America, 339.
78 Graham drew a concealed sword: “Manslaughter at the St. Nicholas Hotel,” New York Tribune, August 3, 1854, 7.
79 “You need not be at all afraid to go there”: “The New-York State Agricultural Society Fair,” 3.
79 Thomas R. White of Augusta: “The Stabbing Case at the St. Nicholas Hotel—Postponement of Examination,” New York Times, July 5, 1854, 8.
79 Captain J. J. Wright attempted to strike Robert S. Dean: “The Affray at the St. Nicholas Hotel,” New York Times, September 18, 1855, 4.
79 “beat his face”: “A Brutal Outrage in Broadway,” New York Times, October 23, 1851, 1.
79 a Whig Party operative: “The Whig General Committee, the Whig Party, and the U.S. Senator,” New York Tribune, February 13, 1851, 4; “Political Notices,” New York Tribune, October 29, 1851, 8. The Broadway House stood on the site of Abraham Davis’s earlier tavern.
80 Poole ran his own barroom: “Death of Bill Poole,” New York Tribune, March 9, 1855, 7.
81 Stanwix Hall specialized in terrapin soup: “Board and Rooms,” advertisement, New York Tribune, March 8, 1855, 2.
82 John Lyng’s barroom: “The Murder of Wm. Poole. Coroner’s Inquest. The Funeral on Sunday,” New York Tribune, March 12, 1855, 6. Lyng’s “public house” was reportedly at 39 Canal Street. City directories of the time list a “John R. Lyng, carpenter,” at 49 Canal Street, three doors west of Broadway.
82 shot him on the heart: “The Murder of Wm. Poole. Coroner’s Inquest. The Funeral on Sunday,” 6.
82 “I die a true American”: “Funeral of the Late William Poole,” New York Tribune, March 12, 1855, 6.
84 “It is generally conceded”: Ibid.
84 “We are so young a People”: New-York Historical Society. BV Strong, George Templeton—MS 2472. Journal entry, November 8, 1854, III, 68.
CHAPTER 10. “BROADWAY IS NEVER FINISHED”
85 “in the hands of contractors”: “City Improvements. Migration of the Mercantile Community,” New York Tribune, June 9, 1860, 5.
86 544 buildings in Manhattan: Daniel D. Badger, Illustrations of Iron Architecture, Made by the Architectural Iron Works of the City of New York. New York: Baker & Godwin, 1865, 25–33.
87 the E. V. Haughwout & Company store: In 1941, Robert Moses designated Broome Street as the conduit for the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway, an elevated highway designed to connect the Williamsburg Bridge and the Holland Tunnel across Manhattan, bisecting Broadway’s second mile. The project called for the demolition of hundreds of buildings along Broome Street, including the old Haughwout’s store. In 1965, the city’s new Landmarks Preservation Commission included Haughwout’s as one of the first eight buildings designated as historic landmarks, which meant the building was protected from demolition and the expressway would have to be rerouted. The expressway project was finally canceled once and for all in 1971.
88 a Henry Frederick Metzler sculpture of Atlas: The Atlas Clock followed Tiffany’s with each subsequent uptown move. Today it is part of the façade of Tiffany’s famous store at 727 Fifth Avenue.
88 Lord & Taylor spent $180,000: “City Improvements. Migration of the Mercantile Community,” 5.
89 the “latest Paris novelties”: Advertisement, New York Tribune, March 14, 1860, 1.
89 a typical dress of the era: “Begin Centennial of Lord & Taylor,” New York Times, February 2, 1926, 10.
89 “ suitable for promenade”: Advertisement, New York Tribune, December 30, 1861, 1.
89 “Will Broadway ever be finished?”: “The Metropolis . . . No. V. Architectural Improvements,” New York Tribune, October 5, 1850, 1–2.
89 “Broadway is always being built”: Henri Junius Browne, The Great Metropolis: A Mirror of New York. Hartford: American Publishing Co., 1869, 339.
CHAPTER 11. THE BEND
94 perhaps New York’s most powerful merchant: Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin, 2004, 32.
94 Watts brushed them aside: Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1784–1831, III, 338–339.
95 in 1804 proposed that Broadway should bend: Ibid., 585.
96 a group of landowners headed by Henry Spingler: Ibid., 549.
96 The following August: Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1784–1831. New York: City of New York, 1917, IV, 70–71, 139.
96 “Mr. Dunham still occupies his house”: Ibid., 465.
96 the immediate removal of Dunham’s house: Ibid.
97 Hunn visited her house: Ibid., 620.
97 New York City had never seen as prosperous a year: Robert Greenhalgh Albion, The Rise of New York Port, 1815–1860. New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1939, 8.
97 Hunn recommended pushing ahead: Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1784–1831, IV, 687–688.
98 they recommended extending Broadway: Ibid., 694.
98 Spingler claimed that he had “misconceived” the terms: Ibid., 692.
98 Fish, Slidell, and Kip confessed: Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1784–1831, V, 16.
98 the Common Council ordered Dunham: Ibid., 29–30.
98 Then Spingler and six of his neighbors: “Reasons of several land holders in Broad Way against the payment of the Sums assessed upon them for Opening the Same, Submitted to the Honorable the Mayor & Corporation of the City & County of New York,” New York City Municipal Archives, New York City Common Council Papers (1670–1831), 1807, “Street Commissioner: Acco
unts-Assessments,” Box 31, Folder 858, Microfilm Roll 31.
98 Henry Brevoort: The Brevoort family tree comes from The Story of the Brevoort Family: From Farm to Savings Bank. Brooklyn: Brevoort Savings Bank, 1964.
99 only 11 acres remained: Jennie F. Macarthy, “Original Grants, and Farms,” in I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498 to 1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915–1928. Reprinted, New York: Arno Press, 1967, VI, 80–81.
99 “of large size”: Robert Manning, Book of Fruits: Being a Descriptive Catalogue of the Most Valuable Varieties of the Pear, Apple, Peach, Plum & Cherry, for New-England Culture. Salem: Ives & Jewett, 1838, 102. There is also a mention of Brevoort’s plums in U. P. Hedrick, The Plums of New York. Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1911, 408.
99 “[The Brevoort Purple Washington] is a handsome and most productive plum”: Andrew Jackson Downing, The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America; or, the Culture, Propagation, and Management, in the Garden and Orchard, of Fruit Trees Generally; with Descriptions of All the Finest Varieties of Fruit, Native and Foreign, Cultivated in This Country. London: Wiley & Putnam, 1845, 290.
99 “One of the richest”: Ibid., 472.
99 having served three consecutive terms: D. T. Valentine, Manual of the Corporation of the City of New-York. New York: Edmund Jones & Co., 1847, 165; Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York 1784–1831, III, 151. Brevoort’s name was among those of the Common Council carved into the cornerstone of City Hall when construction began in 1803.
100 Brevoort was named one of twenty - seven inspectors: Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1784–1831. New York: City of New York, 1917, IV, 289.
100 “A merry old Dutchman was Uncle Brevoort”: Gideon J. Tucker, “The Old Brevoort Farm,” Legends of the Netherlands to Which Are Added Some Legends of Manhattan Island. New York: Concord Cooperative Printing Co., 1892, 171–176.
101 selling four of the lots to John Jacob Astor: Memoranda as to the Will of Henry Brevoort, undated, Box A0240, Folder 2, Brevoort Family Papers (1760–1879), Brooklyn Historical Society.
101 gave his father’s prized long gun to Irving: George S. Hellman, editor, Letters of Henry Brevoort to Washington Irving. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1915, II, 114.
102 calculating how much the Brevoort farm was worth: The Diary of Philip Hone, 1828–1851, Bayard Tuckerman, editor. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1889, II, 85.
102 encouraged his children to sell: “Last Will & Testament of Henry Brevoort,” 1836, Box A0240, Folder 2, Brevoort Family Papers (1760–1879), Brooklyn Historical Society.
CHAPTER 12. GRACE
103 selling the old church for $65,000: The Diary of Philip Hone, 1828–1851, Bayard Tuckerman, editor. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1889, II, 252.
103 while paying only $35,000: George S. Hellman, editor, Letters of Henry Brevoort to Washington Irving Together With Other Unpublished Brevoort Papers. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1916, II, 170.
103 Renwick Jr. hadn’t yet opened a proper architecture office: Throughout the 1840s, Renwick was listed in Doggett’s Directory as working out of his father’s office on the campus of Columbia College. By 1854 he was working at 21 Fifth Avenue, his parents’ house on the old Brevoort property. In 1857 he opened an office at 88 Wall Street. Dennis Steadman Francis, Architects in Practice: New York City, 1840–1900. Committee for the Preservation of Architectural Records, American Institute of Architects, 1979.
103 a “monstrosity”: New-York Historical Society. BV Strong, George Templeton—MS 2472. Journal entry, July 19, 1843, II, 15.
104 “Have you seen the magnificent kaleidoscope ”: “City Items,” New York Tribune, January 30, 1846, 2.
104 “[We] were not prepared to find [Renwick] capable”: Ibid.
105 Grace suffered from an “unhappy straining”: New-York Historical Society. BV Strong, George Templeton—MS 2472. Journal entry, August 1, 1845, II, 139.
105 tormenting Strong with pontifications: New-York Historical Society. BV Strong, George Templeton—MS 2472. Journal entry, April 16, 1847, II, 218.
105 “That most windy of all the bags”: Ibid.
105 Mrs. Jervis’s Cold Candy: “More—More—More!—Proof of the good effects of Mrs. Jervis’s Cold Candy,” advertisement, New York Tribune, December 24, 1846, 2.
105 “This is to be the fashionable church”: The Diary of Philip Hone, 1828–1851, Bayard Tuckerman, editor, II, 269.
106 “The bidding was quite lively and spirited”: “City Items,” New York Tribune, January 29, 1846, 2.
106 she was twice ejected: “Consecration of Grace Church,” New York Evening Post, March 9, 1846, 2.
106 “The effect of the light”: “City Items,” New York Tribune, March 9, 1846, 2.
107 “This grace our Churches want”: Margaret Fuller, “Consecration of Grace Church,” New York Tribune, March 11, 1846, 1; Fuller’s contributions weren’t signed, but have been attributed and collected in Judith Mattson Bean and Joel Myerson, Margaret Fuller, Critic: Writings from the New-York Tribune, 1844–1846. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000, 372–373. In 1856, Grace built a “free” chapel (meaning that pews weren’t sold) on 14th Street, and began to reach out to the city’s poor residents.
CHAPTER 13. UNION
109 Randel remembered that the name came about: John Randel Jr., “City of New York, north of Canal street, in 1808 to 1821,” in D. T. Valentine, Manual of the Corporation of the City of New-York. New York: Edmund Jones & Co., 1864, 850.
109 When landowners around the Forks discovered: In late April of 1811, Ephraim Jennings, who held twenty-one-year leases on two lots situated between Broadway and the Bowery, within the theoretical boundaries of Union Place, sent a memorial to the Common Council. Jennings was typical of the many tenants who had recently entered into long-term leases and spent money on their improvement, only to find that the Commissioners’ Plan was about to negate everything. Jennings suggested two equally difficult propositions: that the city either immediately take the land and pay him for the improvements he had already made there, or let him stay for the full term of the lease. In response, the Council formed a committee to consider “measures respecting Union Place.” Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1784–1831, New York: City of New York, 1917, VI, 567.
109 an “Act making certain Alterations in the Map”: Henry E. Davies, A Compilation of the Laws of the State of New York, Relating Particularly to the City of New York. New York: City of New York, 1855, 582. The legislature decided that Union Place should “cease to be or be deemed to be a public square or place.”
109 “It is worthy of remark”: Documents of the Board of Assistants. New York: City of New York, 1837, I, 154.
111 Union Place was only: Ibid.
111 a neat Greek Revival house at 24 Union Place: The houses that Ruggles built along Union Square weren’t much bigger than the supposedly outmoded residences flanking Washington Square and St. John’s Park. They were a bit taller but weren’t, in general, wider or longer, and most of them maintained the 25-foot width that had become ubiquitous for New York row houses.
112 Peter Goelet’s house wasn’t demolished until 1896: I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498 to 1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915–1928. Six volumes. Reprinted, New York: Arno Press, 1967, V, 2023.
112 “This is now the fashionable quarter ” : James Disturnell, A Gazetteer of the State of New York. Albany: J. Durnell, 1842, 271.
112 “That’s the way to live in New York”: Henry James, Washington Square. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881, 36–37.
113 “I bought an extra and cross’d to the Metropolitan hotel”: Walt Whitman, Specimen Days & Collect. Philadelphia: Rees Welsh & Co., 1882, 21.
113 a recruiting office opened at 613 Broadway: This was the same office that a mob later burned during the 1863 Draft Riots.
113 an American flag to be hoisted: “Public Sentiment in the City,” New York Tribu
ne, April 20, 1861, 5; New-York Historical Society. BV Strong, George Templeton–MS 2472. Journal entry, April 19, 1861, III, 377–378.
113 Spier & Co., 187 Broadway: Advertisement, New York Tribune, April 23, 1861, 1.
113 “A beautiful bonnet made by Miss A. M. Stuart”: “Public Sentiment in the City,” 5.
113 “At the command forward ” : Egbert L. Viele, Hand-Book for Active Service; Containing Practical Instructions in Campaign Duties. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 1861, 24; Advertisement, New York Tribune, April 23, 1861, 1.
114 hawked portraits of Anderson: Advertisements, New York Tribune, April 20, 1861, 1.
114 Music publishers rushed out: Ibid.
114 “a heaving multitude”: “Departure of the Seventh Regiment. Splendid Ovation,” New York Tribune, April 20, 1861, 5, 8. The storied 7th Regiment was the same unit that had opened fire on civilians during the Astor Place Riot of 1849.
114 “The scene that burst upon the view”: “Departure of the Sixth Regiment,” New York Herald, April 22, 1861, 1.
115 Semmons & Company: Advertisement, New York Tribune, April 20, 1861, 1.
115 guaranteed regiments “an enormous supply”: Advertisement, New York Tribune, April 23, 1861, 1.
115 Devlin, Hudson & Company offered “military clothing”: Advertisement, New York Tribune, April 23, 1861, 1; Devlin, Hudson & Co. became Devlin & Co. later that year. Their two stores were at 253, 259, and 260 Broadway, corner of Warren Street, and 459-461 Broadway, corner of Grand Street.
116 “southerners sighing for their sunny homes”: Isabella Lucy Bird, The Englishwoman in America. London: John Murray, 1856, 342.
116 B. F. Palmer & Company, manufacturer: Palmer promised that prosthetics would be “provided for mutilated soldiers of very limited means, at prime cost, and in extreme cases at less than cost.” Trow’s Directory, 1863, 965. By 1864 the company was offering “the ‘Best’ Patent Limbs to Soldiers—Free!” Advertisement, New York Tribune, November 29, 1864, 5.