On July 30, 1904, the contractors who were excavating for the Rapid
Transit tunnel in Battery Park, New York City, dug up at a point twenty
feet west of the center line of State street and eighty-seven feet north
of the center line of Bridge street, a small monumental stone of great
historical significance. This stone, which was two feet nine inches
below the surface of the ground, marked the site of the southwest
bastion of Old Fort George.
The great historical value of this monument was immediately appreciated
by the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society and the New
York Historical Society, for it supplied the _datum_ for the exact
location of the boundaries of the old fort, which, under various names,
had occupied the site of the birthplace of the Metropolis.
The Secretary of the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society
on August 1, wrote to Mayor McClellan, and President Orr of the Rapid
Transit Commission, requesting that the bearings of the exact site of
the monument be carefully taken, and that the stone be replaced above
ground on the same spot as soon as Battery Park was restored to its
normal condition. On August 12th, the Scenic Society’s letter was
formally approved by the Rapid Transit Board, and the acting chief
engineer was authorized to construct a proper pedestal for the monument
and restore it as soon as practicable.
The New York Historical Society, through whose instrumentality the stone
was originally erected in 1818, also manifested the liveliest interest
in the matter, and when the stone is replaced will probably hold formal
ceremonies.
The circumstances of the original erection of the monument are extremely
interesting:
Under date of June 10, 1817, Mr. John Pintard, Secretary of the New York
Chamber of Commerce, wrote to the New York Historical Society as
follows:
NEW YORK, _10th June, 1817_.
The subscriber, as Secretary of the Corporation of the New York
Chamber of Commerce (instituted 5th April, 1768), in reviewing the
minutes of that respectable Association, found the following
astronomical observations for determining the Latitude of the City of
New York made in October, 1769, by Mr. David Rittenhouse of
Philadelphia, and Captain John Montresor of the British Corps of
Engineers, at that period stationed in this City.
These observations, it is presumed, have never been published, and may
be considered of sufficient importance to be preserved in the archives
of the New York Historical Society.