THE CITY OF BROOKLYN
1834-1860
Government of the City. George Hall, first Mayor. Plans for a
City Hall. Contention among the Aldermen. Albert G. Stevens
and the Clerkship. The Jamaica Railroad. Real Estate. The
"Brooklyn Eagle." Walt Whitman. Henry C. Murphy. Brooklyn City
Railroad. The City Court established. County Institutions.
The Penitentiary. Packer Institute and the Polytechnic.
Williamsburgh becomes a City. Progress of Williamsburgh. Mayor
Wall and the Aldermen. Discussion of Annexation with Brooklyn.
The "Brooklyn Times." Consolidation of the Two Cities. Mayor
Hall's Address. Nassau Water Company and the Introduction of
Ridgewood Water. Plans for New Court House. Proposal to use
Washington Park. County Cares and Expenditures. Metropolitan
Police.
The act of incorporation erected the city of Brooklyn from the village
and town of Brooklyn, dividing the city into nine wards. By Section
50 of this act, provision is made against closing or altering streets
"within the first seven wards, or fire and watch district, set apart
as such by the owners thereof, etc., and graded, leveled, paved, or
macadamized, and against closing or altering streets in said city laid
out and opened and used as such for ten years from the passage of this
act, without the consent of the Common Council." The act was otherwise
conservative in adjusting the new plans to existing conditions.
The government of the city was vested in a mayor and a board of
aldermen, the latter, to the number of two from each ward, to be
elected annually. The selection of a mayor was conferred upon the
Aldermen, whose first choice was George Hall.
Hall was born in New York, in 1795, in the year preceding his father's
purchase of the Valley Grove Farm at Flatbush. He was educated at
Erasmus Hall, and chose to follow his father's trade of painter and
glazier. He made friends, and established a good business position.
In 1826 he became a Trustee in the third district of the city. He
became president of the village, and in 1833 was reëlected after a hot
contest, the bitterness of which resulted from Hall's support of the
movement to exclude hogs from the public streets, and to prevent the
unlicensed selling of liquor in groceries and elsewhere. The defeat
of what was called the "Whig-Hog-Rum" party was announced amid much
excitement.
In the July following the choice of Hall as Mayor of the new city, it
was resolved to raise $50,000 for the purchase of ground for a city
hall. General agreement fixed upon the junction of Fulton and Joralemon
streets as sufficiently central. In January of the following year
(1835) a committee of the corporation reported favorably on low lands
of the Wallabout for a city park, and before the close of the year
ground was selling for $1000 an acre.
In May the Aldermen chose Jonathan Trotter for Mayor. Trotter was an
Englishman who had been in this country since 1818, and who in 1828 had
opened a leather-dressing factory in Brooklyn. He became an Alderman,
representing the fourth ward, in 1834.
In 1834 the total valuation was $15,642,290; in 1835 it was
$26,390,151; in 1836 it was $32,428,942; and in 1837, $26,895,074.
Previous to 1838, the assessments were made by wards, and it is
impossible to give the aggregates. The valuation and total taxation for
subsequent years, up to 1860, are as follows:--
YEAR. VALUATION. TAXATION.
1838 $25,198,956 $112,817.94
1839 26,440,634 145,331.39
1840 25,447,146 134,139.66
1841 25,596,862 151,038.24
1842 24,715,380 159,205.84
1843 21,812,941 159,189.64
1844 23,260,385 176,271.21
1845 24,788,886 163,726.24
1846 26,918,613 227,433.94
1847 29,927,029 250,244.13
1848 31,246,305 306,138.16
1849 32,446,330 404,332.90
1850 36,665,399 411,044.78
1851 45,005,518 572,776.63
1852 58,058,485 617,855.64
1853 68,328,546 772,915.81
1854 72,849,503 959,209.18
1855 94,791,215 1,532,692.68
1856 95,859,735 1,381,114.39
1857 99,016,598 1,783,834.19
1858 104,475,275 1,567,948.39
1859 101,052,666 1,256,820.94
1860 103,680,566 1,969,794.00
In 1835 there were thirteen churches in Brooklyn, as follows: St.
Ann's, St. John's, and Christ Church, Episcopalian; Sands Street, York
Street, and Washington Street, Methodist, and the African Methodist;
First, Second, and Third Presbyterian; St. James', Roman Catholic;
Nassau Street, Baptist; and Joralemon Street, Dutch Reformed. St.
Luke's (then Trinity) Church, in Clinton Avenue, was organized in
this year. The population was 24,310, making a church for each 1807
persons. In 1847 there were fifty-two churches in the city, or one to
each 1442 inhabitants.
On the 10th of September, the plan of the City Hall was submitted
to the Common Council and approved. The corner-stone, as originally
planned, was laid April 28, 1836, by the Mayor. The building, if it
had been completed in accordance with first intentions, would have
rendered unnecessary the building of the new Court House and municipal
buildings. It was started during the inflation times of 1836. The era
of wild speculation came to an end. The bubble burst, and work upon
the city building was suspended on August 7, 1837. The walls, which
had risen above the basement, stood for many years, when the work was
resumed and carried to completion on a much smaller scale. The City
Hall, as originally planned, was intended to cover the entire square in
front of the present edifice.
On the 4th of August, 1836, the Apprentices' Library, having been
purchased by the corporation of the city for $11,000, was officially
named the City Buildings.
During the time the Common Council met in the City Buildings, Whigs and
Democrats were very belligerent. The cause of the trouble grew out of
the election for Alderman of the seventh ward. That ward then embraced
the area of the present seventh, eleventh, nineteenth, and twentieth
wards. The charter election was held in the public schoolhouse on
Classen Avenue, between Flushing and Park avenues, on the 11th of
March, 1843, and resulted in a tie between John A. Cross and Zebulon
Chadbourne, the former being a Whig and the latter a Democrat. A
protracted lawsuit followed. Albert H. Osborn, whose seat was to
be filled, held over, and ever after the people declared that his
initials, A. H. O., stood for Alderman Hold Over.
The contention ran high, and bitterness and rancor marked the
deliberations of the Aldermen. At a regular meeting of the Board,
held at the City Buildings May 8, a separation took place between the
Whig and Democratic members, occasioned by the fight between Cross
and Chadbourne for the seat from the seventh ward. The Whig members
retired to Hull's Exchange Buildings, whilst the Democrats remained
in possession of the City Buildings, and made their appointments. The
Whigs did the same.
On the 15th of May a writ of mandamus was served on Alfred G. Stevens,
who had been appointed clerk of the Common Council by the Democrats May
8. His election was secured by the vote of A. H. Osborne, without whose
holding over the Board would have been a tie.
On the 23d of May the mandamus which had been obtained by Worthington
Hodgkinson, the clerk appointed by the Whigs, was argued before the
Supreme Court. On the 9th of July, 1843, the motion to displace Stevens
and substitute Hodgkinson was decided and denied by the Supreme Court,
Chief Justice Nelson and Greene C. Bronson presiding. The decision did
not suit the Whigs, and was carried to the Supreme Court at Albany, and
argued October 21, 1843. Abraham Crist appeared for the relator, and
John Greenwood for the defendant. Shortly afterwards the court decided
in favor of the defendant.
The matter was again argued November 24 before Judge Kent in New York,
on a motion to obtain the books and papers of the Common Council in the
hands of Mr. Stevens. On the 27th Judge Kent again decided in favor of
Mr. Stevens.
On the 1st of December the Whig Aldermen were arrested for misdemeanor
in neglecting to perform their duty. The complaint was abandoned. On
the 5th of December the grand jury found bills of indictment against
the several Whig Aldermen for neglecting to serve as members of the
Common Council. At this time Seth Low (grandfather of the president of
Columbia College) represented the fourth ward in the Common Council.
The indictment against the Whig Aldermen grew out of an effort on their
part to indict Mayor Sprague. It was a case of the biter being bitten.
The grand jury refused to indict the Mayor, and indicted his accusers.
The indictment was, however, not pressed to trial.
Meanwhile the Jamaica Railroad had obtained permission to occupy
Atlantic Street, and other projects matured. The population of the city
had, in 1835, reached 24,310, showing a gain of 9013 in fifteen years.
Trotter was reëlected Mayor, and was succeeded by Jeremiah Johnson, a
man whose contemporaries revered him, and whose name occupies, and must
always occupy, a high place in the annals of the city. General Johnson
was reëlected, and was succeeded by Cyrus P. Smith, who was elected by
vote of the people, and who also was reëlected.
The fluster in the real-estate market was paralleled by the financial
excitement, which resulted in the suspension of specie payments by the
three banks of the city. The year of General Johnson's reëlection was
one of general business depression, but the community rallied quickly
from the blow inflicted by disordered markets.
In 1841 the Democrats of the county received representation in a new
newspaper, the "Brooklyn Eagle and Kings County Democrat." The movement
for the establishment of the "Eagle" was led by Henry C. Murphy, with
whom Richard Adams Locke was associated in the editorship. The first
number appeared in October, and the Democrats were not loth to give the
lusty young journal full credit for the success of the campaign, in
which its voice gave no uncertain sound.
Directing the helm of the "Eagle" enterprise was the clear-sighted,
practical genius of Isaac Van Anden, who soon came into complete
control of the paper, and remained sole proprietor until the year 1872.
The "Eagle" had its days of adversity; but it had a field, and it had
vitality, and its growth was sure and steady. Following Murphy in its
early editorship were William B. Marsh, Walt Whitman,[24] S. G. Arnold
(under whose editorial leadership the name of the paper was abbreviated
to "Brooklyn Daily Eagle"), and Henry McCloskey. In 1861 McCloskey was
succeeded by Thomas Kinsella, who gave force and distinction to the
editorial page of the flourishing paper. Kinsella died in 1884, after
having made himself a power in the community. He was succeeded by his
first lieutenant on the "Eagle" staff, that graceful writer and orator,
Andrew McLean, who afterward took the editorship of the Brooklyn
"Citizen." That the "Eagle" was destined to be lucky with its editors,
received further indication in the appearance of St. Clair McKelway at
the post of command. Mr. McKelway's brilliant gifts as a speaker and as
a writer have given to him peculiar prominence in the social, artistic,
and political life of the city and the State.
The policy of the "Eagle" has been independently Democratic from the
outset, a policy which has fostered, as it has been favored by, a
singularly representative constituency. The paper is now controlled
by the Eagle Association, of which Colonel William Hester is the
president, William Van Anden Hester is secretary, and Harry S.
Kingsley is treasurer. Its business management, like its editorial
management,--if these may consistently be separated,--has been
aggressive and liberal, and goes far toward explaining the present
national reputation of the paper.
[Illustration: FACSIMILE (same size) OF LETTER BY WALT WHITMAN IN
POSSESSION OF CHARLES M. SKINNER, ESQ., BROOKLYN
(Transcriber's note: Text of letter is in Footnote 24.)]
Henry C. Murphy, who had, as we have seen, taken so important a part
in the starting of the "Eagle," was a young Democrat of prominence in
the county. Born in the village of Brooklyn, Murphy had been educated
at Columbia College, where he distinguished himself as a writer as well
as in general scholarship, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. During
his student years, he had taken part in debates in the Young Men's
Literary Association, which afterward became the Hamilton Literary
Association, with Murphy as president. To this association belongs
the honor of popularizing the lyceum lecture system, which afterward
became so potent a factor in American civilization, and which in this
city represented the beginning of the Brooklyn Lyceum and the Brooklyn
Institute. In 1834 he was appointed assistant corporation counsel of
the city, and in the following year he formed a legal partnership with
the leading lawyer of the city, John A. Lott. This firm, which Judge
Vanderbilt afterward joined, won great influence in the city, with
whose early politics it was so closely connected.
In 1842 Murphy was chosen Mayor of Brooklyn. He was then but thirty
years of age. His administration was forcible throughout, and
consistently resulted in his election to Congress, of which he was one
of the youngest members. He was a candidate for reëlection, but was
defeated by Henry L. Seaman. In the State Constitutional Convention of
1846, he was a delegate from Kings County, with Tunis G. Bergen and
Conrad Schwackhammer, and in the autumn of the same year he was again
elected to Congress by a large vote.
Upon the election of Buchanan, Murphy was appointed Minister to the
Hague. On his return to this country he was elected to the state Senate
as an avowed champion of the Union cause. In the later political life
of Brooklyn, Murphy took an active interest; and local enterprises,
such as the bridge and various railroads, claimed his attention and
support. He made important historical collections, wrote valuable
contributions to local history, edited the "Journal" of Dankers and
Sluyter, and was a leader in the establishment of the Long Island
Historical Society.
Murphy was succeeded as Mayor of Brooklyn by Joseph Sprague. The city
had now 30,000 population, and thirty-five miles of paved and lighted
streets. The Atlantic Dock Company had been incorporated. Thirty-five
churches opened their doors on Sunday. A line of stages ran from the
ferry to East Brooklyn, and soon afterward a line was established
between Fulton and South ferries. In the year of Sprague's election 570
new buildings were finished or in course of erection. During Sprague's
second term the Brooklyn City Hospital was incorporated.
Sprague was succeeded by Thomas G. Talmadge, who was followed by
Francis Burdett Stryker. In March, 1848, gaslight came into use.
It was in the same year that Augustus Graham indelibly wrote his name
in the annals of Brooklyn, by his munificent gifts to the Brooklyn City
Hospital, and to the establishment of the Brooklyn Institute in the
building on Washington Street built for the Brooklyn Lyceum.
A fire which took place in September destroyed three churches, the
post-office, two newspaper offices, and other property to the value of
a million and a half of dollars, and might have been more disastrous
had not the flames been checked by the destruction of buildings in
their path.
Edward Copeland was elected Mayor in 1849. Cypress Hills Cemetery had
been established in 1848. In the following year the Cemetery of the
Evergreens was incorporated. The ground for Greenwood Cemetery had
already been secured.
The idea of a bridge to connect New York and Brooklyn, which had
occasionally been discussed at earlier times, was now seriously taken
up. The water front assumed a constantly increasing activity.
Copeland was followed in the mayoralty by Samuel Smith, Conklin Brush,
and Edward C. Lambert. The latter was able to congratulate the city on
a population of 120,000, and the position of seventh city in the Union.
The Brooklyn City Railroad, incorporated in 1853, began in July of the
following year the running of street cars on Myrtle Avenue, Fulton
Street, and Fulton Avenue. In August cars were running to Greenwood.
The act of May 9, 1846 (Session Laws 1846, chapter 166), authorized
the Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty of the city of Brooklyn to create
a temporary loan, in addition to the loans already authorized, not
exceeding the sum of $100,000, for the purpose of erecting a city hall,
and provision was made for the issuance of bonds for the purpose.
The Legislature at their session on the 12th of April, 1848, amended
the 4th section of the act of April 21, 1846, authorizing the
Supervisors to create a loan, and provide further accommodations for
the confinement of prisoners, so as to read as follows:--
SEC. 4. The Board of Supervisors of said county, if land should
be purchased, are authorized to remove as many prisoners
sentenced to hard labor in the County Jail, as they may deem
necessary, to the lands so purchased; to place them under such
keeper or keepers as they may appoint for that purpose, and
to employ them in erecting said penitentiary and workhouse,
or such other labor as may be deemed expedient; and they may
also authorize and direct the superintendents of the poor of
said county to take charge of the establishment (subject to
the directions of said Board), and provide the necessary food
and clothing for said prisoners, and for those committed as
herein next provided. And it shall be lawful for the several
magistrates and justices of the peace in said county to commit
all offenders convicted before them of petty causes, offenses
or misdemeanors, who are in their judgment proper subjects for
the penitentiary and workhouse in their discretion.
The city court of Brooklyn was established by an act of the
Legislature, March 24, 1849. It had but one judge until 1870, when it
was reorganized with three.
On the 10th of March, 1849, an act was passed authorizing the Mayor and
Common Council to create a loan, in addition to the loans which had
already been authorized by law, not exceeding $50,000, to complete and
finish the City Hall.
By virtue of the laws of 1850, chapter 23, the Mayor, Aldermen, and
Commonalty were authorized to create an additional loan of $15,000,
for the purpose of completing the City Hall of Brooklyn, paying for
the fences, ornamenting the grounds belonging thereto, and all other
necessary expenses for the full completion and protection of the same.
The subject of building a new court house was again agitated in 1852.
On the 17th of September in that year a special committee was appointed
by the Board of Supervisors to consider the matter. On the 18th of
January, 1853, they reported in favor of applying to the Legislature to
carry out the work.
On the 29th of June, 1846, Charles G. Taylor offered a resolution in
the Board of Supervisors declaring that it was expedient to purchase
lands for the purpose of erecting a workhouse and penitentiary thereon,
in accordance with the act of the Legislature passed April 21, 1846.
Charles G. Taylor, Barnet Johnson, and James Debevoise, the committee
having the matter in charge, reported that 18 acres could be purchased
at $200 per acre, and 29 acres for $180 per acre. On the 4th of August,
1846, a resolution was adopted that the same should be purchased, if
the titles proved good. On the 4th of December, 1846, Seth Low, John
Skillman, and Tunis G. Bergen were appointed a committee to present
plans and details.
In April, 1846, the county treasurer issued $2000 of bonds for the
erection of the Penitentiary. In 1849 $10,000 more were issued. The
total amount of bonds issued up to March 2, 1854, was $155,000. On the
5th of June, 1855, the committee reported that the cost thus far of the
easterly and main wing was $111,433.49.
The new Penitentiary was occupied as early as January, 1854, although
it was not completed until August, 1856. The total amount of bonds
issued for the Penitentiary was $205,000.
It was not until May 3, 1855, that steps were taken to build the female
wing of the new Penitentiary.
On the 5th of April, 1853, an act was passed by the Legislature
requiring that whenever the Penitentiary should be ready for the
reception of prisoners, the Board of Supervisors should file a
certificate thereof in the office of the clerk of the county, and
publish a notice thereof for three weeks in one or more newspapers,
and that thereafter all persons who, on conviction, are liable to
imprisonment for not less than thirty days, should be sent there by the
magistrates. The Penitentiary is situated on a spot familiarly called
Crow Hill, and is bounded by Nostrand, Rogers, President, and Carroll
streets. It faces on Carroll Street. Prisoners have been sent here from
all parts of the State, and, through the efficient management of its
wardens, it has been rendered nearly, if not wholly, self-supporting.
The increase of business and the unsuitableness of location rendered it
necessary to change the place for holding the courts. The Legislature
was again appealed to, and in 1853 an act was passed authorizing the
county to borrow a sum not to exceed $100,000, to purchase a site, and
erect buildings for such county offices as the Board of Supervisors
might designate. Many sites were offered, and various and diverse
propositions and suggestions were made. Some were anxious to have
the Court House built on Fort Greene, holding that it would, from
its elevation, give character to the building. The matter slumbered
until October 10, 1855, when it was again brought up and postponed
indefinitely. The difficulty of securing a suitable site now presented
itself. Seventeen lots on Vanderbilt Avenue near Baltic Street
were proposed, and the Board resolved to purchase them. Soon after
the purchase the people, realizing that it was not a proper place,
instituted opposition.
When the City Hall was opened the courts were transferred to that
building. The room long occupied by Justice Courtney was used by the
Supreme and county courts. A small room opposite, now occupied by
the Bureau of Elections, was appropriated for the purpose of holding
special terms. The county clerk's office occupied a part of the
apartments of the present comptroller. The surrogate's court occupied
the Court Street portion of the comptroller's present rooms, whilst the
register's office was opposite, in the rooms of the present auditor.
The city court was held in the room now used by the city clerk. Hall's
Exchange Building, in which the courts had been held, was destroyed in
the great fire of 1848, and the courts were, thereupon, transferred to
the City Hall.
In those days the sheriff lived with his family in the jail on Raymond
Street.
If the city was forced to look to the building of its penal
institutions and courts of justice, institutions of another kind were
springing into being. In 1854 the Brooklyn Female Academy became the
Packer Collegiate Institute for Girls; and in the same year a boy's
academy was established, with the title of the Brooklyn Collegiate and
Polytechnic Institute. The development of these important educational
institutions has been one of the most gratifying incidents in the life
of the city.
As early as 1848 there had been serious talk of the civic union of
Williamsburgh and Brooklyn.
The village of Williamsburgh was incorporated in 1827. Its boundaries
then were: "Beginning at the bay, or river, opposite to the town of
Brooklyn, and running thence easterly along the division line between
the towns of Bushwick and Brooklyn, to the lands of Abraham A. Remsen;
thence northerly by the same to a road or highway, at a place called
Sweed's Fly; thence by the said highway to the dwelling-house, late
of John Vandervoort, deceased; thence in a straight line northerly, to
a small ditch or creek, against the meadow of John Skillman; thence by
said creek to Norman's Hill; thence by the middle or centre of Norman's
Hill to the East River; thence by the same to the place of beginning."
The first officers of the Board of Trustees were Noah Waterbury,
president; Abraham Meserole, secretary; and Lewis Sanford, treasurer.
In 1829 Williamsburgh had a population of 1007. In 1835 Williamsburgh
and Bushwick together had a population of 3314. It was in this year
that the "Williamsburgh Gazette" was started. Within a few years came
the Williamsburgh Lyceum, the Houston Street Ferry, the "Williamsburgh
Democrat," and a Bible Society.
By chapter 144 of Laws of 1850 (p. 242), passed April 4, 1850, so much
of the territory of the city of Brooklyn as lay east of the centre of
Division Avenue, between the intersection of South Sixth Street, in the
village of Williamsburgh, and Flushing Avenue, in the city of Brooklyn,
was annexed to the village of Williamsburgh; the city of Brooklyn was
divided into eleven wards (therein described), and the Common Council
of the city was authorized, under certain restrictions and limitations,
to cause streets and avenues to be opened and widened, and to be
regulated, graded, and paved, public squares and parks to be opened,
regulated, and ornamented, etc., and to close up and discontinue roads,
streets, lanes, and avenues, etc.[25]
By chapter 102 of Laws of 1835 (p. 88), passed April 18, 1835, a
portion of the town of Bushwick--"beginning at the southeast corner
of the present village of Williamsburgh, running thence southeasterly
along the line that divides the town of Bushwick and the city of
Brooklyn, to a turnpike road leading from Brooklyn to Newtown and
Flushing, at a point near, and southwesterly of, the house of
Charles DeBevoise, thence running along said road northeasterly to
the crossroads, thence northerly along the road leading to Bushwick
Church to the Williamsburgh and Jamaica turnpike, thence northerly
along the road, passing the church, and leading to Newtown Bridge,
about twelve hundred feet, to an abrupt angle in said road turning
to the east, thence westerly about eighteen hundred feet until it
intersects the head of navigation of a branch of Bushwick Creek,
thence westerly along said branch creek, according to its meanderings,
to the main creek, which is the present boundary of the said village of
Williamsburgh, thence southerly along the eastern boundary line of the
said village of Williamsburgh to the place of beginning"--was annexed
to Williamsburgh, and Nicholas Wyckoff, David Johnson, Peter Stagg,
Robert Ainslie, and John Leonard were appointed commissioners to lay
out streets.
In 1840 the town of Williamsburgh was created, and eleven years later
the city of Williamsburgh was incorporated, comprising the village of
Williamsburgh. The city was divided into three wards, and the Common
Council was authorized, under certain restrictions and limitations, to
cause streets and avenues to be opened and widened, and public squares
and parks to be opened.
The city charter was drawn by S. M. Meeker, counselor of the village,
a lawyer, whose name was prominent in the annals of this section of
Brooklyn for many years. Mr. Meeker was counsel of the Williamsburgh
Savings Bank when chosen its president in 1881. He was a prime mover in
the establishment of the First National Bank.
Abraham J. Berry was the first Mayor of the city of Williamsburgh,
William H. Butler being city clerk, George Thompson, attorney and
counsel, and Jas. F. Kenny, comptroller. In the first year of the
new city's life the Farmers' and Citizens' Bank, the Williamsburgh
City Bank, the Williamsburgh City Fire Insurance Company, and the
Williamsburgh Medical Society were incorporated. The population was
estimated at over 40,000. Over 9000 children attended school, and
there were fifteen private schools. A year later the Mechanics' (now
the Manufacturers') National Bank was established, and a number of new
churches appeared. There were twenty-five Sunday-schools of different
denominations. The Young Men's Christian Association of Williamsburgh
began its career under favorable auspices.[26]
William Wall, elected Mayor on the Whig ticket in 1854, was soon at
swords' points with the Aldermen, whose resolutions he vetoed with
remarkable frequency. His antagonism toward the Aldermen led him to
take an active part with those who were urging the consolidation of the
cities of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh.
The movement toward annexation was accompanied by all of the conflict
of opinion that inevitably characterizes such movements. The Brooklyn
"Star," in March, remarked editorially: "We know there are some
amongst us who prate of greater taxation and inequalities in favor
of Williamsburgh. There are those in Williamsburgh who argue that
Brooklyn has greatly the advantage. We are rather disposed to argue
that it is like a well-assorted union between man and wife, where, with
kindred feelings and objects, both have the advantage. No matter how
the property relations may seem to be, we are convinced that time will
vindicate the advantage of the union.
"We hope our members of the Legislature will not be persuaded by
individual efforts and desires to thwart the will of three committees
clearly expressed, with Brooklyn at their head, lifting up the loudest
voice. We have taken some pains to ascertain the public sentiment, and
it is at this day more clearly in favor of the union than when the vote
was taken."
The Williamsburgh "Times" warmly supported the consolidation movement.
When the bill prepared by the Consolidation Commission was before
the Legislature for action, the "Times" said (March 24): "With the
exception of the amendment relative to the office-holders, the bill is
nearly in all respects as it passed from the hands of the commissions.
Thus the hopes of the friends of consolidation seem in a fair way of
being realized, and after a world of pain and trouble the parturition
of the new city is at hand. Let us trust that the friends of this
measure will not meet with an entire disappointment. There are two
grounds for hope in this connection. Brooklyn has been at least a
little better governed than ourselves, and a large city can be more
cheaply managed than a small one."
The publication of the Williamsburgh "Times" was begun in 1848 by
Aaron Smith and George C. Bennett. Bennett, who previously had been
associated with Levi Darbee and Isaac A. Smith in printing the
Williamsburgh "Morning Post,"[27] acquired control of the "Times,"
and made it a pronounced Whig organ. In 1859 an interest in the paper
was secured by Bernard Peters, and under this favoring partnership
the paper rapidly advanced in circulation and influence. Bernard
Peters, who subsequently became sole proprietor of the paper, had made
an important journalistic record at Hartford, Conn., and was already
well known in Brooklyn as a Universalist clergyman, whose ringing
Union sermons and addresses had aroused public interest during the
war period. The later history of the "Times," under Peters' energetic
editorship, has been one of consistent progress in public confidence.
In politics the "Times" has been Republican, while its policy, to avoid
any partisanship that might impair its value as a newspaper, has been
strongly worked out with the notable business management of William C.
Bryant.
By the act of the Legislature passed in April, 1854, all that part of
the county of Kings known as the cities of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh
and the town of Bushwick, and bounded easterly by the town of Newtown,
Queens County, south by the towns of New Lots, Flatbush, and New
Utrecht, west by the town of New Utrecht and the Bay of New York,
and north by the East River, was consolidated into one municipal
corporation called the city of Brooklyn, and divided into eighteen
wards, therein described, and into the eastern and western districts.
A year later all local distinctions in relation to the eastern and
western districts were abolished, except as to the Fire Department.
George Hall, who had been first Mayor of Brooklyn upon its
incorporation as a city, became the first Mayor of the consolidated
cities of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh. In his inaugural address the
Mayor said:--
"It is now twenty-one years since I was called by the Common
Council to preside over the affairs of the late city of
Brooklyn, then first ushered into existence. The population
of the city at that time consisted of about 20,000 persons,
residing for the most part within the distance of about three
quarters of a mile from Fulton Ferry. Beyond this limit no
streets of any consequence were laid out, and the ground
was chiefly occupied for agricultural purposes. The shores,
throughout nearly their whole extent, were in their natural
condition, washed by the East River and the bay. There were
two ferries, by which communication was had with the city
of New York, ceasing at twelve o'clock at night. There were
within the city two banks, two insurance companies, one savings
bank, fifteen churches, three public schools, and two weekly
newspapers. Of commerce and manufactures it can scarcely be
said to have had any, its business consisting chiefly of that
which was required for supplying the wants of its inhabitants.
Sixteen of its streets were lighted with public lamps, of
which thirteen had been supplied within the previous year. The
assessed value of the taxable property was $7,829,684, of which
$6,457,084 consisted of real estate and $1,372,600 of personal
property.
"Williamsburgh was incorporated as a village in 1827. Its
growth was comparatively slow until after the year 1840. At the
taking of the census in that year it was found to contain 5094
inhabitants, and since that time it has advanced with almost
unparalleled rapidity, having attained a population of 30,780
in 1850. It was chartered as a city in 1851.
"Within the comparatively short period of twenty-one years what
vast changes have taken place! Bushwick, from a thinly settled
township, has advanced with rapid strides, and yesterday
contained within its limits two large villages, together
numbering a population of about 7000 persons. Williamsburgh,
from a hamlet, became a city with about 50,000 inhabitants.
Brooklyn, judging from its past increase, yesterday contained
a population of about 145,000, and on this day--the three
places consolidated into one municipal corporation--takes its
stand as the third city in the Empire State, with an aggregate
population of about 200,000 inhabitants."[28]
Under the new charter the Board of Aldermen consisted of one alderman
elected from each ward. A new board of education came into existence
and held its first meeting in February. Other incorporations were those
of the Fire Department, the Nassau Water Company, and the Brooklyn
Sunday School Union.
The Williamsburgh Ferry Company had been authorized in 1853 to build
and maintain docks, wharves, bulkheads, and piers on the land under
water in the East River, in front of their lands in the city of
Williamsburgh between the foot of South Sixth Street and the foot of
South Eighth Street, and extending into the river to a line not more
than sixty-five feet from the front of the largest pier on the property.
The Common Council voted a subscription of $1,000,000 to the stock of
the Nassau Water Company, on condition that the company show $2,000,000
paid capital stock, and the Aldermen afterward added $300,000 to the
subscription. In July of the following year (1856), work on the Nassau
Water Works was begun at Reservoir Hill, Flatbush Avenue. The occasion
of breaking ground was signalized by imposing ceremonies.
In his January address Mayor Hall announced the opening of fourteen
miles of new streets, and the erection of 1034 new buildings.
The business of the city was rapidly increasing, and with the
annexation of Williamsburgh the municipality needed all the
accommodations afforded in the City Hall for the transaction of its
business. The judges were complaining of the cramped condition of their
rooms, and the need of further accommodations. The question of a new
court house was publicly discussed. It was not, however, until July 6,
1859, that anything definite was done. The Board of Supervisors awoke
to the necessity of the hour, and decided to renew their efforts to
accomplish the desired result. On the 18th of July, 1860, they resolved
to make a new application to the Legislature for authority to purchase
land and erect the necessary buildings thereon.
On the 17th of April an act was passed authorizing the Board of
Supervisors of Kings County to build a court house for the county.
The county treasurer was authorized by the act, under the direction
of the Board of Supervisors, to borrow on the credit of the county a
sum not exceeding $100,000, and to give his official bonds, in such
form as the Board might prescribe, for the payment of the same, with
interest payable annually or semi-annually as the Board might direct.
The money so collected was to be expended, under the direction of the
Supervisors, in the purchase of lands and the erection of a building
for the proper accommodation of the courts and county officials. The
act also provided for a levy of tax to pay the principal and interest.
The Board of Supervisors was authorized to select and determine the
location; and when completed, and ready for occupancy, and notice
thereof filed, by the Board with the clerk of said county, the same
should become for all purposes the court house of the county.
On the 23d of May, 1860, a special committee was appointed to select a
proper site for the building, and to report to the Board. Every owner
of lots was anxious to dispose of them to the county. Washington Park
had its advocates. So favorably did the Supervisors look upon that
location, that a committee was appointed to confer with the Board of
Aldermen on the subject. When it began to look as if a portion of
that famous old hill would be chosen, the abutting owners sent in a
remonstrance, claiming that as the park had been paid for in part by
assessment on the surrounding property, the city had no right to grant
any such privilege. The city fathers, adopting this view of the case,
gave the Board no satisfaction, and the scheme was abandoned.
A circular was prepared, and invitations extended to architects to
submit plans. The plans were to be deposited with Albert H. Osborn,
clerk of the Board of Supervisors, on or before June 3, 1861. A large
number were submitted, some coming from St. Louis. The plan of King and
Tackritz of Brooklyn was finally accepted.
In March, 1861, the special committee appointed by the Supervisors
purchased the land on which the present building stands for $70,000.
The land having cost $70,000, only $30,000 was left of the sum directed
to be raised to purchase the land and erect the building. As that was
insufficient for the purpose, the aid of the Legislature was again
invoked, and the passage of an additional act obtained, authorizing
the Supervisors to borrow, on the credit of the county, an additional
sum of $100,000 to be expended under their direction for the erection
of a building or buildings, for the use of the courts and county
offices.
In 1858 the expense of supporting the almshouse, and the several
institutions connected therewith, was $158,604.66. Including
expenditures for out-door relief, the aggregate cost of supporting
the poor of the county was $192,079.77. The average number of inmates
during the year ending August 1, 1858, was 1495. The cost for the
support of each of them was $106.09, or $2.04 per week. This was a
decrease on each as compared with the previous year.
The expenses of the several departments were as follows: Almshouse,
$36,530.15; hospital, $51,755.19; lunatic asylum, $33,068.26; nursery,
$20,571.31; store, $605; miscellaneous, not including temporary relief,
$16,074.07.
The total number remaining July 31, 1857, was 1274; number admitted
during year, 8570; number of infants boarded out during year, 123;
number temporarily relieved, in Brooklyn, Western District, 20,793;
Eastern District, 11,661; Flatlands, Flatbush, and New Lots, 378; New
Utrecht, 108; making a total of 32,940; and the total number relieved
and supported wholly or in part during the year ending July 31, 1858,
was 41,623. The population of the county was at this time about
254,000. The number relieved was 16-1/3 per cent. of the population.
It may be interesting to state the number of persons remaining in these
institutions at the termination of previous fiscal years. The official
statement is as follows: 1849, 494; 1850, 592; 1851, 662; 1852, 873;
1853, 969; 1854, 1156; 1855, 1533; 1856, 1347; 1857, 1274; 1858, 1239.
The number admitted to the hospital during the year 1858 was 2299, of
whom 148 were born in the hospital.
During the seven years from August 1, 1850, to August 1, 1857, there
were 235 cases of small-pox, of which only 35 died. Of those admitted
into the hospital during 1857 and 1858, 565 were born in the United
States, 1261 in Ireland, and 369 in Germany. On the 31st of July, 1858,
there were 268 patients in the lunatic asylum. In 1850 the number in
the asylum was only 91. The nursery had, in 1858, 111 boys and 103
girls; total, 214.
On the 31st of July, 1862, there were in the almshouse, 373; in the
nursery, 260; in the lunatic asylum, 366. In 1863 there were 404 in
the almshouse; in the nursery, 217; and in the lunatic asylum, 396.
The total number relieved and supported, in whole or in part, for the
year ending July 31, 1863, was 22,879. The population of the city at
the time was 295,000. The net cost was $141,640.52.
Mayor Hall was succeeded by Samuel S. Powell, who served for three
terms. During his occupancy of the Mayor's chair many significant
advances were made in the growth of the city. In April, 1857, the
Metropolitan Police law went into effect. By this enactment the
counties of New York, Kings, Westchester, and Richmond, and the towns
of Newtown, Flushing, and Jamaica were placed under a single system of
police. The first commissioners from Brooklyn were J. S. T. Stranahan,
James W. Nye, and James Bowen.
Ridgewood water was supplied to the city through mains which were
opened on December 4, 1858. In April of the following year the event
was marked by a public demonstration. The Brooklyn Academy of Music was
incorporated in 1859, and the collegiate department of the Long Island
College Hospital was opened.