house facing it.
[Illustration]
Gramercy Square
“_The Players_”
Edwin Booth, perhaps the most distinguished American actor, was born
in Maryland in 1833. He made his first appearance in 1849 and was ever
after devoted to his profession, playing throughout this country and
also abroad.
He was crushed by the affair of the assassination of President Lincoln
and retired from the stage for a year, but never lost his personal
popularity. He opened Booth’s Theater in Twenty-third Street in
1869 and for thirteen years maintained the most popular revivals of
Shakespeare’s tragedies ever known in the city. Although forced into
bankruptcy in 1873, he retrieved his fortunes by earning two hundred
thousand dollars in fifty-six weeks.
In 1882 he went to Europe and was received with the greatest favor.
In 1888 he purchased the building here shown (formerly the residence
of Valentine G. Hall), remodeled and furnished it and presented it
to actors and the friends of the drama as “The Players,” a complete
gentleman’s club. Booth made his home at “The Players” from the date
of its opening until his death, which took place in this house June 7,
1893.[25]
[Illustration]
Gramercy Square
_Former Residence of the Late Samuel J. Tilden_
Mr. Tilden had a great reputation for skill as a lawyer. He was
also a thorough politician, being chairman of the Democratic State
Committee of New York for thirteen years. Nominated for President in
1876, he received a majority of the popular vote, but owing to the
fact that the votes of several States were disputed, the celebrated
Electoral Commission was appointed, consisting of senators, judges, and
representatives. The commission divided on party lines and gave the
disputed votes to Mr. Hayes. The house is formed by combining two, one
formerly having a front similar to that of “The Players,” and the other
with a front corresponding to the brick house adjoining on the west.
The larger house had belonged to the Belden family. Both the Hall and
the Belden houses once had ornamental iron balconies at the main floor
with canopies similar to those now seen attached to the fronts of the
houses on the west side of the square, and were alike in appearance,
excepting that the Belden house had the coat of arms carved in high
relief over the door. One of the beautiful Misses Belden married the
late Dudley Field, another the late Colonel Talmadge.
The gardens in the rear of these two houses were the largest in the
row, extending through the block to Nineteenth Street, a part near the
Belden house being formally laid out with box-edged walks and flower
beds, while the rest was turfed and shaded by large trees, a few of
which survived until a year or two ago, when they were cut down to make
way for the new building of the National Arts Club, the present owner.
Mr. Tilden, joining with the other owners on the square and the owners
of the houses on Irving Place, had all the wooden fences in the angle
formed by these houses removed and an open iron fence put in their
place. As there were no houses on Nineteenth Street, there remained an
unusual effect of greenery and trees for New York City.
[Illustration]
Gramercy Square
_Former Residence of the Late Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows_
Dr. Bellows was a distinguished clergyman. Born in 1814, he graduated
at Harvard and at the Cambridge Divinity School, and in 1838 became
the pastor of the First Unitarian Church, New York, and so continued
for forty-four years. Dr. Bellows was an accomplished orator, his
extemporaneous speeches being remarkable for their lucidity and style.
He published numerous lectures and pamphlets, but is best known
throughout the country for his work as president of the United States
Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. Under him the commission
distributed supplies amounting to fifteen millions of dollars in value
and five millions of money. The results of the experience of the
commission in their work of reducing the suffering in war have been
copied abroad.
[Illustration]
Gramercy Square
_Former Residence of the Late Dr. Valentine Mott_
Dr. Mott was a distinguished surgeon, and one of the best-known
citizens of the small town of sixty or seventy years ago. He previously
lived at the easterly end of Depau Row. For many years Dr. M. resided
in Paris, during the reign of Louis Philippe, whose physician he was.
In 1841[26] a ball was given for the Prince de Joinville at the Depau
Row house, and during the Civil War the Comte de Paris and brothers
were entertained at the Gramercy Square house.
[Illustration]
Gramercy Square
_Rectory of Calvary Parish_
This rectory has been the home of many clergymen celebrated in the
community. One of the early rectors was Dr. Francis Lister Hawks. Born
at Newbern, N. C., in 1798, he was ordained in 1827 and was conspicuous
in the church up to the time of his death in 1866.
In 1844 he became rector of Christ Church, New Orleans, and president
of the University of Louisiana, and in 1849 he became rector of this
parish. Being of Southern birth, he, at the outbreak of the Civil War,
withdrew to the South, but returned after the close of the war. He
published many works on ecclesiastical and other subjects. He declined
the bishopric of Mississippi and also that of Rhode Island.
The Rev. Dr. Arthur Cleveland Coxe was at one time rector. He
afterwards became the Bishop of Western New York. The Rev. Dr. Henry
Yates Satterlee was for many years the well-known rector of this
parish. He is now Bishop of Washington.
[Illustration]
Gramercy Square
_Former Residence of the Late Stanford White_
Mr. White was an eminent architect. It is now the house of the
Princeton Club.
[Illustration]
Gramercy Square
_Former Residence of the Late Cyrus W. Field and the Late David Dudley
Field_
Cyrus W. Field was a business man until about 1854–56, when with Peter
Cooper, Moses Taylor, and others he organized the Atlantic Telegraph
Company. Although the first cable was laid in 1858, it was not until
1866 that the enterprise was entirely successful, after Mr. Field had
crossed the ocean thirty times in the prosecution of the work. He
received the thanks of Congress and many other honors.
His brother, David Dudley Field, was conspicuous at the New York bar
for over fifty years. For forty years of this time he devoted all his
spare moments to the subject of the reform of the law and obtained a
marked success. The new system of civil procedure has been adopted in
many States and substantially followed in Great Britain. In 1873 he
was elected the first president of an association for the reform and
codification of the law of nations formed at Brussels in that year.[27]
The two houses owned by the brothers Field have been united by the
present owner, Henry W. Poor, banker and author of the statistical
work on American railways universally consulted by bankers and
investors throughout the country. The interior has been beautifully
reconstructed.
[Illustration]
Former Residence of the Late Peter Cooper and the Late Abram S. Hewitt
Peter Cooper was born in New York in 1791. His father being a man of
small means, he was at an early age put into business and contributed
to the support of his family.
He entered into the manufacture of glue and soon became the best-known
maker of that commodity. In 1828, when thirty-seven years of age, he
had acquired considerable wealth and was enabled to buy three thousand
acres of land within the limits of the city of Baltimore. Here he built
the great Canton Iron Works, and the entire investment soon proved
extremely successful. About the year 1830 he built, at the West Point
Foundry, N. Y., the first locomotive constructed in the United States
for actual service. Not long after he disposed of the Canton Iron Works
and erected enormous iron works at the city of Trenton, N. J. The firm
was a pioneer in the successful manufacture of iron and became one of
the largest of the kind in the country.
Mr. Cooper made many inventions in connection with this business.
He became associated with Cyrus W. Field in his efforts to lay the
Atlantic Cable, and the final success of that enterprise was in great
measure due to his coöperation. Mr. Cooper is perhaps best known as the
founder of the Cooper Institute, of which he commenced the construction
as early as 1853. The objects of this institution were to furnish free
schools in art and science and a free reading room and to provide free
lectures on scientific, artistic, and social subjects. Mr. Cooper died,
universally respected, in 1883.
Abram S. Hewitt, a native of Rockland County, N. Y., was the son-in-law
of Peter Cooper, and to him, in partnership with his son Edward
Cooper, he transferred that branch of his business connected with the
manufacture of iron. Mr. Hewitt was a man much interested in the great
social problems, being no mere theorist but a man ready to sacrifice
his own interests to the well being of his dependents.
It is a fact that for forty years the business at Trenton was carried
on with absolutely no profit beyond the amount necessary to pay the
wages of the three thousand men employed and the regular expenses
of the establishment. He stated at one of the meetings of the
Congressional Committee on the grievances of labor that from 1873 to
1879 the business was carried on at a loss of one hundred thousand
dollars a year. Of course, one object was to continue the business and
to prevent the deterioration of the plant, but the firm also aimed to
avoid throwing such a large body of men out of employment, although at
times they were placed on half pay.
Notwithstanding, the firm became wealthy through ventures not relating
to the iron business and also through investments connected with it.
As an example it may be mentioned that a large purchase of iron in
1879–80 resulted in a profit of a million dollars. In 1874 Mr. Hewitt
was elected a representative to Congress and served with the exception
of one term until 1886. In that year he was chosen mayor of New York.
Mr. Hewitt was extremely honest and independent. He was neither a free
trader nor a protectionist. He was a reformer but not a radical one,
and at his death the nation, and especially the Democratic Party, lost
a wise statesman and counselor.[28]
[Illustration]
The General Theological Seminary
_Chelsea_
Some time about the year 1750 Captain Clarke, a veteran of the
provincial army, who had seen considerable service in the French war,
built a country house, two or three miles north of the city, to which
he gave the name of Chelsea. He gave it this name because he said it
was to be the retreat of an old soldier in the evening of his days.
It has been thought that the name of Greenwich was given to the
neighboring estate by Admiral Warren for a corresponding sentimental
reason, but Mr. Janvier, in that very entertaining book, “In Old New
York,” shows that the name of Greenwich was in use long before the
admiral’s advent. Captain Clarke, unfortunately, was not destined long
to enjoy the house he had built. During his last illness, the house
caught fire and the captain came very near being burned with it, but
he was carried out by neighbors and shortly after died in an adjacent
farmhouse. Mrs. Clarke rebuilt the house on the crest of a hill that
sloped down to the river about three hundred feet distant.[29] The
estate descended to her daughter, the wife of Bishop Moore, and in
1813 it was conveyed to their son, Clement C. Moore,[30] by whom the
old house was considerably enlarged. The house was taken down when the
bulkhead along the river front was constructed by the city. Mr. Moore
gave the whole of the block bounded by Twentieth and Twenty-first
streets and Ninth and Tenth avenues to the General Theological Seminary
of the Episcopal Church, and it became known as Chelsea Square. The
building here shown was built about 1835 and is constructed of a gray
stone. The modern buildings, however, are of brick and stone, of a
Gothic style and, with the old trees remaining and the stretches
of green lawn, produce, especially in summer time, a suggestion of
English seclusion and repose quite at variance with the bustle and the
crudeness of that part of the city.
[Illustration: Former Residence of the Late William C. Schermerhorn]
[Illustration]
Church of the Transfiguration
It is difficult to realize the position held forty years ago by the old
Wallack’s Theater at Broadway and Thirteenth Street. It was in a way a
city institution. The company remained nearly the same for years, with
occasional changes, and its members were, one and all, accomplished in
their profession. The receipts of the theater were as regular as those
of a bank.
The elder Wallack, a well-bred Englishman, was a finished actor of the
old school. His son, Lester Wallack, was an extraordinarily handsome
man of the romantic type, well suited for the more sentimental drama
of the day, although his wealth of curly black hair and whiskers would
violate our modern canons of taste. By his father’s desire when a young
man he became an officer in the British army, but after serving two
years resigned and adopted the profession of the stage. His wife was a
sister of Millais, the artist.
George Holland was a short, thickset man with a rather large head,
who was seldom cast for a very prominent part, but his humor and his
evident geniality and honesty made him a favorite with the public.
Consequently when the story of his funeral became public, there was
some indignation expressed.
It is fair to the Rev. Dr. Sabine, however, to say that it is claimed
that when approached by the parties having charge of the funeral, he
told them that the Church of the Incarnation was undergoing repairs,
that the aisles were crowded with workmen and scaffolding, and that
it would prove an inconvenience to all parties to hold the services
in that church. The late Rev. Dr. Houghton, rector of this parish for
forty-nine years, was a clergyman held in the highest esteem by the
people of this city.
[Illustration: Residence of J. Pierpont Morgan]
[Illustration: Former Residence of the Late Theodore A. Havemeyer]
[Illustration]
Former Residence of the Late Edwin D. Morgan
Edwin D. Morgan, born in Berkshire County, Mass., in 1811, came to
New York in 1836 and founded a mercantile house which became very
successful. In 1858 he was elected Governor of the State of New York,
and as he continued to hold that office during the first years of the
Civil War he is frequently referred to as “The War Governor.” In 1861
he was appointed major general of volunteers and placed in command, but
refused to receive any compensation for his services. In 1862 he was
chosen United States Senator and occupied that office until March, 1869.
President Lincoln offered him the position of Secretary of the
Treasury. The same position was offered him by President Arthur in
1881, but on both occasions he declined the honor.
He was a most generous benefactor to charitable institutions during his
lifetime and also by virtue of his last will and testament.[31] The
grounds attached to this house are extensive for New York City.
[Illustration: The Old Arsenal--Central Park]
[Illustration]
Claremont
The view of the Hudson, on a fine day, to a person looking northward
from Claremont is one of the best on the river. Being on a high point
that juts out somewhat into the stream, the spectator appreciates the
river’s breadth. In former days the site of Claremont was remarkable
for its magnificent trees, pine, oak and tulip, of extraordinary girth,
height and spread, but the building of the railroad (which spoiled so
many country seats) sounded its death knell in respect to its being a
place of residence with appropriate surroundings. What is now known
as Claremont appears at an early period to have been composed of two
properties, the upper or northerly one being called “Strawberry Hill,”
or “Claremont,” and the lower or southerly, one “Monte Alto.” Some of
the early deeds were not recorded and the writer has not ascertained
when or how the division was made.
A tract of land including that on which the house stands was conveyed
in 1774 to Nicholas de Peyster, and in August, 1776, was sold by him to
George Pollock, an Irish linen merchant.
Pollock endeavored to improve the place by clearing and cultivation,
as is shown by the statement in a letter mentioned below, in which
he says: “I have long considered those grounds as of my own creation,
having selected them when wild, and brought the place to its present
form.” He named the place “Strawberry Hill.” After living there for
some years and after the loss of a child (said to have occurred by
drowning) he withdrew to England.
Almost everyone who has visited Grant’s Tomb remembers the marble
funereal monument in the form of an urn inclosed within an iron railing
near the top of the hill. The inscription, much blurred by time, reads:
“Erected to the memory of an amiable child, St. Claire Pollock, died
15th. July 1797 in the 5 year of his age.” Then follow some lines of
verse. In a letter written from England by Mr. Pollock to Mrs. Gulian
Verplanck, who had become the owner of that or the adjoining place,
dated July 18, 1800, he writes: “There is a small enclosure near your
boundary fence within which lie the remains of a favorite child,
covered by a marble monument.... The surrounding ground will fall
into the hands of I know not whom, whose prejudice or better taste
may remove the monument and lay the enclosure open. You will confer a
peculiar and interesting favor upon me by allowing me to convey the
enclosure to you, so that you will consider it a part of your own
estate, keeping it however always enclosed and sacred. There is a white
marble funereal urn to place on the monument which will not lessen its
beauty. I have long considered those grounds as of my own creation,
having selected them when wild, and brought the place to its present
form. Having so long and so delightfully resided there, I feel an
interest in it that I cannot get rid of by time.”[32]
In July, 1803, a tract of over thirty-one acres was conveyed by John
B. Prevost, former Recorder of the city, to Joseph Alston, of South
Carolina, planter. Alston[33] seems to have held the property about
three years and then to have sold it to John Marsden Pintard. This deed
conveys the tract known as “Monte Alto.” In November, 1808, a release
was recorded, executed by Theodosia Burr Alston in favor of Michael
Hogan, gentleman, Hogan having bought Monte Alto from Pintard.[34]
There is no record of any conveyance of Claremont, by Gulian Verplanck
or his executors, to Hogan,[35] but a deed made by Robert Lenox, Jacob
Stout, and John Wells, trustees, to Michael Hogan, dated July 21, 1819,
reconveys to him all property not disposed of in the execution of their
trust, which is referred to as having been imposed by _two_ previous
deeds of assignment or conveyance dated July 25, 1811. It is here that
it is generally thought a vagueness and uncertainty as to the true
owner exists. It was about this time that Claremont was occupied by a
rather mysterious individual, an Englishman named Courtenay, who, it is
said, in after years, inherited the title of the Earl of Devon.
Mr. Haswell,[36] in his “Reminiscences of an Octogenarian,” says, page
25: “West of Broadway, between Eleventh and Twelfth avenues and One
Hundred and Twenty-third Street, there was a large country residence
occupied by an Englishman, a Mr. Courtenay, with but one man servant
and a cook. He lived so retired as never to be seen in company with
anyone outside of his household and very rarely in public.
“There was, as a consequence, many opinions given as to the occasion of
such exclusiveness. The one generally and finally accepted was that he
had been a gay companion of royalty in his youth, and that his leaving
England was more the result of expediency with him than choice.”
Lossing’s[37] account differs somewhat from this. He says: “When the
War of 1812 broke out he (Courtenay) returned thither (to England)
leaving his furniture and plate, which were sold at auction....
Courtenay was a great lion in New York, for he was a handsome bachelor,
with title, fortune, and reputation--a combination of excellencies
calculated to captivate the heart desires of the opposite sex.
Claremont was the residence for a while of Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King
of Spain, when he first took refuge in the United States, after the
battle of Waterloo and the downfall of the Napoleon dynasty. Here
too Francis James Jackson, the successor of Mr. Erskine, the British
Minister at Washington, at the opening of the War of 1812, resided a
short time.... He was politically and socially unpopular, and presented
a strong contrast to the polished Courtenay.” Courtenay disappeared
at the time of the war between this country and Great Britain, after
having greatly embellished the place. It has always been a tradition
in the Post family (who owned the property for nearly fifty years)
that Courtenay built the present house. In March, 1812, Hogan joined
with the above-named trustees in conveying the property “commonly
called Claremont” to Herman Le Roy, William Bayard, and James McEvers,
trustees. By some it has been supposed that while the legal title was
in trustees, there may have been an unrecorded declaration of trust,
by which Courtenay became the equitable owner. The grantees[38] in the
last-mentioned deed first leased Claremont and several years later
sold it to Joel Post, February 12, 1821. Later, Mr. Post (brother of
the distinguished physician of the last century, Dr. Wright Post, who
also resided at Claremont) purchased the property adjoining on the
south, Monte Alto, and united the ownership of the two places, although
Monte Alto was for many years occupied as a country seat by the McEvers
family.[39] In 1868 the house and a portion of the place were acquired
by the city from the heirs of Mr. Post.
It seems to have been pretty well shown that the battle of Harlem
Heights was not fought in this locality. It is only in recent years
that Morningside Heights have been spoken of as Harlem Heights. In
conveying Claremont it is described as in Bloomingdale and according
to the map (Mrs. Lamb’s “History of the City of New York,” vol. II,
p. 129) the westerly line of Harlem excluded all Morningside Heights
except a few feet at the base of the high ground at Manhattanville.
The high ground was known as Vandewater Heights, and if the battle had
taken place there it would have been known by that name. It is more
probable that most of the fighting (which was widespread) took place
at the base of the Point of Rocks, south of the Convent of the Sacred
Heart, and also along the high ground to the west and north. Day’s
Tavern stood a little to the northeast of the Point of Rocks, and there
Knowlton and the Connecticut troops were stationed.
Major Lewis Morris, Jr., wrote to his father on September 28th: “Monday
morning an advanced party, Colonel Knowlton’s regiment, was attacked on
a height a little to the southwest of Day’s Tavern.”
Morningside Heights would have been considerably more than “a little”
to the southwest of Day’s Tavern. The detachment sent out before
daylight under Knowlton by General Washington was not his regiment
but a small body, probably a single company, and was sent to make a
diversion upon the enemy’s rear. It is probable that they followed the
river’s edge as far south as Ninety-fourth Street, much below Claremont
and Morningside Heights. The actual battle did not begin until late
in the day. The resolution of Congress passed October 17, 1776, was
“Resolved, That General Lee be directed to repair to the camp on the
Heights of Harlem with leave,” etc.
Washington had no camp on Morningside Heights. His camp was on the high
ground between the Point of Rocks and the Harlem River.