less than ten pistoles would be run for on the Church Farm on the 11th of
October, two mile heats, horses that had won plate on the island and a
horse called Parrot excepted, the entrance money to be run for by any of
the horses entered, except the winner and those distanced. We have every
reason to suppose that the races were at this period a yearly event on the
Church Farm, taking place in October. In 1750 it was announced in the New
York _Gazette_ in August and September that "on the Eleventh of October
next, the New York Subscription Plate of Twenty Pounds' Value, will be Run
for by any Horse, Mare or Gelding that never won a Plate before on this
Island, carrying Ten Stone Weight, Saddle and Bridle included, the best in
three Heats, two miles in each Heat," etc. A few days after the race the
New York _Gazette_ announced that on "Thursday last the New York
Subscription Plate was run for at the Church Farm by five Horses and won
by a horse belonging to Mr. Lewis Morris, Jun."
[Illustration: A RACING TROPHY]
The next year similar announcements were made of the race, the difference
being that the horses eligible must have been bred in America and that
they should carry eight stone weight. The date is the same as that of the
previous year, October 11. We find no record of this race in the
newspapers, but the illustration which is given of the trophy won is
sufficient to indicate the result. Lewis Morris, Jr., appears to have
carried off the prize a second time. The plate was a silver bowl ten
inches in diameter and four and one-half inches high, and the winner was a
horse called Old Tenor. The bowl, represented in the cut, is in the
possession of Dr. Lewis Morris, U. S. N., a lineal descendant of Lewis
Morris, the signer of the Declaration of Independence and the owner of Old
Tenor. The name of the horse was doubtless suggested by certain bills of
credit then in circulation in New York. In an advertisement of two
dwelling houses on the Church Farm for sale in April, 1755, notice is
given that "Old Tenor will be taken in payment."
The great course was on Hempstead Plains. On Friday, June 1, 1750, there
was a great race here for a considerable wager, which attracted such
attention that on Thursday, the day before the race, upward of seventy
chairs and chaises were carried over the Long Island Ferry, besides a far
greater number of horses, on their way out, and it is stated that the
number of horses on the plains at the race far exceeded a thousand.
In 1753 we find that the subscription plate, which had become a regular
event, was run for at Greenwich, on the estate of Sir Peter Warren. Land
about this time was being taken up on the Church Farm for building
purposes, and this may have been the reason for the change. In 1754 there
was a course on the Church Farm in the neighborhood of the present Warren
Street. An account of a trial of speed and endurance was given on April
29, 1754. "Tuesday morning last, a considerable sum was depending between
a number of gentlemen in this city on a horse starting from one of the
gates of the city to go to Kingsbridge and back again, being fourteen
miles (each way) in two hours' time; which he performed with one rider in
1 hr. and 46 min." The owner of this horse was Oliver De Lancey, one of
the most enthusiastic sportsmen of that period. Members of the families of
DeLancey and Morris were the most prominent owners of race horses. Other
owners and breeders were General Monckton, Anthony Rutgers, Michael
Kearney, Lord Sterling, Timothy Cornell and Roper Dawson. General
Monckton, who lived for a time at the country seat called "Richmond,"
owned a fine horse called Smoaker, with which John Leary, one of the best
known horsemen of the day, won a silver bowl, which he refused to
surrender to John Watts, the general's friend, even under threat of legal
process. Several years later he was still holding it.
In January, 1763, A. W. Waters, of Long Island, issued a challenge to all
America. He says: "Since English Horses have been imported into New York,
it is the Opinion of some People that they can outrun The True Britton,"
and he offered to race the latter against any horse that could be produced
in America for three hundred pounds or more. This challenge does not seem
to have been taken up until 1765, when the most celebrated race of the
period was run on the Philadelphia course for stakes of one thousand
pounds. Samuel Galloway, of Maryland, with his horse, Selim, carried off
the honors and the purse.
Besides the course on Hempstead Plains, well known through all the
colonies as well as in England, there was another on Long Island, around
Beaver Pond, near Jamaica. A subscription plate was run for on this course
in 1757, which was won by American Childers, belonging to Lewis Morris,
Jr. There were also courses at Paulus Hook, Perth Amboy, Elizabethtown and
Morristown, New Jersey, which were all thronged by the sporting gentry of
New York City. James De Lancey, with his imported horse, Lath, in October,
1769, won the one hundred pound race on the Centre course at Philadelphia.
The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 brought together in New York men interested
in horse-racing who had never met before, and in the few years
intervening before the Revolution there sprang up a great rivalry between
the northern and southern colonies.
[Sidenote: Bull Baiting]
The men of New York enjoyed rugged and cruel sports such as would not be
tolerated at the present time. Among these were bear-baiting and
bull-baiting. Bear-baiting became rare as the animals disappeared from the
neighborhood and became scarce. Bulls were baited on Bayard's Hill and on
the Bowery. A bull was baited in 1763 at the tavern in the Bowery Lane
known as the sign of the De Lancey Arms. John Cornell, near St. George's
Ferry, Long Island, gave notice in 1774 that there would be a bull baited
on Tower Hill at three o'clock every Thursday afternoon during the season.
[Illustration: BULL BAITING, FROM AN OLD ADVERTISEMENT]
[Sidenote: Bowling]
The taverns in the suburbs could, in many cases, have large grounds
attached to the houses and they took advantage of this to make them
attractive. From the very earliest period of the city there were places
near by which were resorted to for pleasure and recreation. One of the
earliest of these was the Cherry Garden. It was situated on the highest
part of the road which led to the north--a continuation of the road which
led to the ferry in the time of the Dutch--at the present junction of
Pearl and Cherry Streets, and was originally the property of Egbert Van
Borsum, the ferryman of New Amsterdam, who gave the sea captains such a
magnificent dinner. In 1672 the seven acres of this property were
purchased by Captain Delaval for the sum of one hundred and sixty-one
guilders in beavers, and, after passing through several hands, became the
property of Richard Sacket, who had settled in the neighborhood, and
established himself as a maltster. On the land had been planted an orchard
of cherry trees, which, after attaining moderate dimensions, attracted
great attention. To turn this to account, a house of entertainment was
erected and the place was turned into a pleasure resort known as the
Cherry Garden. There were tables and seats under the trees, and a bowling
green and other means of diversion attached to the premises. It had seen
its best days before the end of the seventeenth century.
[Illustration: THE BOWLING GREEN, FROM LYNE'S MAP]
On the borders of the Common, now the City Hall Park, was the Vineyard,
which is said to have been a popular place of recreation and near the
junction of what are now Greenwich and Warren Streets was the Bowling
Green Garden, established there soon after the opening of the eighteenth
century. It was on a part of the Church Farm, quite out of town, for there
were no streets then laid out above Crown, now Liberty Street, on the west
side of the town and none above Frankfort on the east. In 1735 the house
of the Bowling Green Garden was occupied by John Miller, who was offering
garden seeds of several sorts for sale. On March 29, 1738, it took fire
and in a few minutes was completely consumed, Miller, who was then living
in it, saving himself with difficulty. A new house was erected and the
place continued to attract visitors. There does not appear to have been
any public road leading to it, but it was not a long walk or ride from the
town and was finely situated on a hill near the river. In November, 1759,
when it was occupied by John Marshall, the militia company of grenadiers
met here to celebrate the king's birthday, when they roasted an ox and ate
and drank loyally. Marshall solicited the patronage of ladies and
gentlemen and proposed to open his house for breakfasting every morning
during the season. He describes it as "handsomely situated on the North
River at the place known by the name of the Old Bowling Green but now
called Mount Pleasant." Some years later it became known as Vauxhall.
Bowling must have had some attraction for the people of New York, for in
March, 1732-3, the corporation resolved to "lease a piece of land lying at
the lower end of Broadway fronting the Fort to some of the inhabitants of
the said Broadway in Order to be Inclosed to make a Bowling Green thereof,
with Walks therein, for the Beauty & Ornament of the Said Street, as well
as for the Recreation and Delight of the Inhabitants of this City." In
October, 1734, it was accordingly leased to Frederick Phillipse, John
Chambers and John Roosevelt for ten years, for a bowling-green only, at
the yearly rental of one pepper-corn. In 1742 the lease was renewed for
eleven years; to commence from the expiration of the first lease, at a
rental of twenty shillings per annum. In January, 1745, proposals were
requested for laying it with turf and rendering it fit for bowling, which
shows that it was then being used for that purpose. It was known as the
New or Royal Bowlling Green and the one on the Church Farm as the Old
Bowling Green.
[Sidenote: The Glass House]
Some time about 1754, an attempt was made in New York to make glass
bottles and other glass ware. Thomas Leppers, who had been a
tavern-keeper, was storekeeper for the Glass House Company, and advertised
all sorts of bottles and a variety of glassware "too tedious to mention,
at reasonable rates." He stated that gentlemen who wished bottles of any
size with their names on them, "could be supplied with all expedition." A
few years later, 1758, notice was given by Matthias Ernest that the
newly-erected Glass House at New Foundland, within four miles of the city,
was at work and ready to supply bottles, flasks and any sort of glassware.
Newfoundland was the name of a farm of about thirty-three acres, four
miles from the city on the North River, extending from the present
Thirty-fifth Street northward, on which this glass house had been erected.
It is not unlikely that the Glass House was visited by many persons,
either on business or from curiosity, and that they were there entertained
by the owner or manager of the property; at any rate, it seems to have
acquired a reputation for good dinners. Paymaster General Mortier notes in
his diary a dinner at the Glass House on February 18, 1758, which cost him
3s. 6d. The manufacture of glass was not successful, but the place became
a well-known suburban resort, where good dinners were served to visitors
from the city. In 1764 the Glass House was kept by Edward Agar, who, in
addition to serving dinners, could furnish apartments to ladies or
gentlemen who wished to reside in the country for the benefit of their
health. In 1768 it was kept by John Taylor, and it was evidently then a
popular resort, for a stage wagon was advertised to run out to it every
day, leaving Mr. Vandenberg's, where the Astor House now stands, at three
o'clock in the afternoon.
VII
THE KING'S ARMS
George Burns, as has been stated, was in 1753 keeping one of the best
taverns in New York. Soon after this he left the city and took charge of
the tavern at Trenton Ferry, which was on the great post road between New
York and Philadelphia, over which flowed almost all travel between the two
cities and to the south. The prospects must have been very enticing.
Whether they were realized or not, Burns soon became anxious to make a
change and, returning to New York, became the landlord of a tavern in Wall
Street near Broadway, opposite the Presbyterian church, which was known as
the Sign of Admiral Warren. Here he remained until June, 1758, when Scotch
Johnny, retiring from the tavern near the Whitehall Slip, known as the
Crown and Thistle, he moved into his house. The house of Scotch Johnny had
been the meeting place for the St. Andrew's Society while it was kept by
him and it so continued to be after Burns became landlord.
[Sidenote: King's Head]
Burns retained for a time the old sign of the Crown and Thistle, but some
time about the middle of the year 1760, took it down and hung out in its
stead the sign of King George's Head, and the tavern became known as the
King's Head. It continued to be the meeting place of the Scots' Society.
They held their anniversary meeting here on St. Andrew's Day, Monday,
November 30, 1761, and elected the Earl of Stirling, William Alexander,
president of the society. The members of the society dined together as
usual and in the evening a splendid ball and entertainment was given,
which was attended by the principal ladies and gentlemen in the town. It
was a grand and notable ball. The newspapers state that "The Company was
very numerous, everything was conducted with the greatest regularity and
decorum and the whole made a most brilliant and elegant appearance."
[Illustration: Stirling]
In the latter part of the year 1761 the army was coming down from the
north, there was a large camp of soldiers on Staten Island and New York
City was full of officers. Burns' house, the King's Head, became the
headquarters of the Scotch officers of the army when they were in the city
and their favorite place of rendezvous. The effects of several of the
Royal Highland officers, who had died, were sold at public vendue at
Burns' Long Room in November, 1762. There must have been many articles to
be disposed of, for the sale was to be continued from day to day until all
were sold. The effects of Lieutenant Neal, late of the 22d Regiment,
consisting of wearing apparel, etc., etc., etc., etc., were sold at public
vendue at the same place in December.
[Sidenote: The King's Arms]
We have been unable to find any record to establish the fact or even a
hint to justify a deduction that there ever was at any time in the
colonial period any house known as Burns' Coffee House. We believe this to
be entirely a modern creation. The house described and illustrated in
Valentine's Corporation Manual of 1865 as Burns' Coffee House, or the
King's Arms Tavern, although the statements concerning it have been
accepted by many writers, was never occupied by Burns; and the story of
this house, as related in the Corporation Manual of 1854, is simply a
strong draft on the imagination of the writer. The tavern which hung out
the sign of the King's Arms, on the corner of Broad and Dock Streets, had
been also known as the Exchange Coffee House and the Gentlemen's Coffee
House, but when Burns moved into it in 1751, he dropped the name Coffee
House and called it simply the King's Arms. Mrs. Sarah Steel, in 1763,
carried the sign to Broadway, as appears by the following announcement:
"Mrs. Steel Takes this Method to acquaint her Friends and Customers,
That the King's Arms Tavern, which she formerly kept opposite the
Exchange she hath now removed into Broadway (the lower end, opposite
the Fort), a more commodious house, where she will not only have it in
her power to accommodate Gentlemen with Conveniences requisite to a
Tavern, but also with genteel lodging Apartments, which she doubts not
will give Satisfaction to every One who will be pleased to give her
that Honour."
Mrs. Steel, in February, 1767, advertised that the Broadway house was for
sale and that the furniture, liquors, etc., would be sold whether the
house were sold or not. A few months previous to this announcement, Edward
Bardin, probably anticipating the retirement of Mrs. Steel from business,
had acquired the sign, which we presume was a favorite one, and had hung
it out at his house on upper Broadway, opposite the Common. The writer of
the article in the Corporation Manual gives the following advertisement,
which appears in Parker's Post Boy of May 27, 1762, as evidence that Burns
occupied the house before Mrs. Steel moved into it.
"This is to give Notice to all Gentlemen and Ladies, Lovers and
Encouragers of Musick, That this day will be opened by Messrs. Leonard
& Dienval, Musick Masters of this city, at Mr. Burnes Room, near the
Battery, a public and weekly Concert of Musick. Tickets four
Shillings. N. B. The Concert is to begin exactly at 8 o'clock, and end
at ten, on account of the coolness of the evening. No Body will be
admitted without tickets, nor no mony will be taken at the door."
This concert did not take place in the house on Broadway, but in the house
of George Burns, the King's Head near the Battery. Burns had succeeded
Scotch Johnny, and had in his house a long room where societies met and
where concerts and dinners were given on special occasions. "Burns' Long
Room" was well known at that time. The following appeared in the New York
_Journal_ of April 7, 1768:
"To be let, from the 1st of May next, with or without Furniture, as
may suit the tenant, the large corner house wherein Mrs. Steel lately
kept the King's Arms Tavern, near the Fort now in the possession of
Col. Gabbet."
The next year Col. Gabbet, having moved out, was living next door to the
house of John Watts, who lived in Pearl Street near Moore. In 1770 Edward
Bardin announced that he had taken "the large, commodious house known by
the name of the King's Arms, near Whitehall, long kept by Mrs. Steel,
which he will again open as a tavern." George Burns succeeded Bardin and
kept the house for a short time in 1771.
Before the Revolutionary War there was no Whitehall Street. What is now
Whitehall Street was known as Broadway. There is no doubt about this. In a
list of retailers of spirituous liquors in the city of New York in April,
1776, we find one on Broadway near Pearl Street, one on Broadway near the
Lower Barracks, another on Broadway opposite the Fort and two others on
Broadway near the Breastworks. These were all on the present Whitehall
Street. In Mrs. Steel's announcement she states that the King's Arms
Tavern was on Broadway (the lower end opposite the Fort), that is, on the
present Whitehall Street. As the house was on a corner, its location was
probably the corner of the present Bridge and Whitehall Streets. If there
were left any doubt about this, it should be thoroughly dissipated by the
advertisement, December 30, 1765, of Hetty Hayes, who made and sold
pickles in her home, which she states was on Wynkoop (now Bridge) Street,
near the King's Arms Tavern. Notwithstanding the many statements to the
contrary, no house known as the King's Arms Tavern or Burns' Coffee House
ever stood on the west side of Broadway opposite the Bowling Green.
[Illustration: HOUSE BUILT BY CORNELIS STEENWYCK]
Some time after the middle of the seventeenth century Cornelis Steenwyck
built a fine house on the southeast corner of the present Whitehall and
Bridge Streets, and it was here no doubt, the grand dinner was given to
Governor Nicolls on his departure from the province. In an inventory of
Steenwyck's estate in 1686 the house was valued at seven hundred pounds.
This indicates that it was a large, and for that time, a very valuable
dwelling. In the illustration copied from Valentine's Corporation Manual
of 1864, there is a sign attached to the house. We do not know the source
from which this illustration was obtained, but the sign we presume to be a
tavern sign, and we are inclined to think, for various reasons, that this
house was for many years used as a tavern and that for a time subsequent
to 1763, it was the King's Arms. It was probably destroyed in the great
fire of 1776.
About this time a man made his appearance as a tavern-keeper whose name,
although he was not a hero or a great man, has come down to us, and will
go down to many future generations in connection with the revolutionary
history of the city. Samuel Francis was a tavern-keeper without a peer,
and when the time came to decide, struck for liberty and independence,
abandoned his property and stuck to his colors like a true patriot. He
came to New York from the West Indies. Although from the darkness of his
complexion commonly called Black Sam, he was of French descent.
Previous to 1750 Broadway did not extend to the north beyond the present
Vesey Street. There was a road, however, following the line of the present
Broadway, known as the road to Rutger's Farm, the residence of Anthony
Rutger standing near the corner of the present Broadway and Thomas Street.
Just subsequent to the year 1750 Trinity Church laid out streets through a
portion of the Church Farm and leased lots on this road, on which houses
were built. The first of these, as far as we can ascertain, were built by
Bell and Brookman, in 1752, on lots just south of the present Murray
Street, fronting on the Common, which was then an open field without fence
of any kind. In 1760, Mr. Marschalk, one of the city surveyors, presented
to the board of aldermen the draft or plan of a road which he had lately
laid out, "beginning at the Spring Garden House and extending from thence
north until it comes to the ground of the late widow Rutgers," which was
approved by the board and ordered to be recorded. Other houses were built
on the Church Farm, and a few years later we find one of these, situated
on the north side of Murray Street, fronting the Common, was being used as
a tavern or mead house, and occupied by San Francis. In 1761 he advertised
sweatmeats, pickles, portable soups, etc., at the Mason's Arms, near the
Green in the upper part of the Broadway near the Alms House. He was in New
York in 1758, and his house at that time was patronized by those who
frequented only the best taverns in the city.
[Sidenote: The DeLancey House]
The house with which his name is indissoluably connected, the DeLancey
House, on the corner of the present Broad and Pearl Streets was purchased
by him in 1762. It was quite a large house and very well suited for a
tavern, where it was intended that public entertainments should be given,
as it had a long room that could hardly be surpassed. The lot on which the
house stood was given by Stephen Van Cortlandt to his son-in-law, Stephen
DeLancey, in 1700, and it is said that in 1719 Stephen DeLancey built the
house on it which is still standing.
It was a handsome and conspicuous house for the period, but in the course
of time DeLancey wished a change of location for his home. When he ceased
to occupy it as a residence we do not know, probably on the completion of
his new house on Broadway, which is said to have been built in 1730. Not
long after this we find that it was being used for public purposes. In
1737, Henry Holt, the dancing master, announced that a ball would be given
at the house of Mr. DeLancey, next door to Mr. Todd's, and in February,
1739, there was given in Holt's Long Room "the new Pantomine
Entertainment, in Grotesque Characters, called _The Adventures of
Harlequin and Scaramouch_, or the Spaniard Trick'd. To which will be added
_An Optick_, wherein will be Represented, in Perspective, several of the
most noted Cities and Remarkable Places in Europe and America, with a New
Prologue and Epilogue address'd to the Town." The tickets were sold at
five shillings each. This clearly shows that the long room, probably just
as we can see it today, was then used for public entertainments.
[Illustration: THE DELANCEY HOUSE]
[Sidenote: The Queen's Head]