BROOKLYN AFTER THE WAR
1866-1876
Administration of Samuel Booth. Metropolitan Sanitary District
created. Cholera. Erie Basin Docks. The County Institutions and
their Work. The Gowanus Canal and the Wallabout Improvement.
The Department of Survey and Inspection of Buildings.
Establishing Fire Limits. Building Regulations. Prospect
Park. The Ocean Parkway. The Fire Department. The Public
Schools. The East River Bridge. Early Discussion of the Great
Enterprise. The Construction begun. Death of Roebling. The
Ferries. Messages of Mayor Kalbfleisch. Erection of a Brooklyn
Department of Police. Samuel S. Powell again Mayor. A New City
Charter. Movement toward Consolidation with New York. Henry
Ward Beecher. Frederick A. Schroeder elected Mayor.
When Samuel Booth entered the office of Mayor in 1866, the city of
Brooklyn, in common with other communities throughout the country,
was suffering from the results of the strain imposed by the war and
its resulting incidents; and the fact that his own party was in the
minority in the Board of Aldermen did not lighten the burden of the
Mayor. Notwithstanding these political conditions no veto by Booth was
overridden by the Board.
In February of this year the Legislature created a metropolitan
sanitary district corresponding to the metropolitan police district,
and a board of health composed of the police commissioners, four
sanitary commissioners, and the health officer of the port of New York.
Brooklyn was represented in this board by Dr. James Crane, as sanitary
commissioner, and T. G. Bergen as police commissioner. Dr. John T.
Conkling was made assistant sanitary superintendent, and Dr. R. Cresson
Stiles was made deputy registrar of vital statistics for Brooklyn. To
this force six sanitary inspectors were added.
This movement represented the practical beginnings of that interesting
modern system of sanitary inspection and regulation by which the cities
of New York and Brooklyn have in recent years attained such improved
conditions. The movement had been urged by the prevalence of cholera
in Europe, and the new board found occasion to make great exertions
to prevent the entrance of the disease here. The disease appeared in
New York in April, and Brooklyn's first case was reported on July 8.
In spite of the precautions the disease gained considerable headway
in sections of the city where the sanitary conditions were worst, and
the total number of cases in Brooklyn reached 816. More than a quarter
of the total number of cases occurred in the twelfth ward. The number
of deaths in the city reached 573. The cholera hospital, opened at
Hamilton Avenue and Van Brunt Street in July, was closed on October 1.
In October the completion of the large Erie Basin dry docks was the
occasion of a celebration. These great docks, built by a Boston
syndicate, have since been used by most of the large iron ships that
are docked at the port of New York. The chamber of Dock No. 1 is 510
feet long, and 112 feet wide at the top. Dock No. 2 is 610 feet long
and 124 feet wide at the top.
In this month occurred also the interesting occasion marked by the
presentation of the medals ordered by the Common Council for each
honorably discharged, or still serving, Brooklyn soldier who had done
his share toward the saving of the Union.
Among the legacies of the war was a great deal of poverty that public
provision had not obliterated. An exceptional degree of distress
appeared during the decade following the war.
There were admitted into the almshouse during the year ending July 31,
1868, 5500 persons, and at the close of the year there remained 1995.
The total number relieved by the commissioners during the year was
44,734. The amount expended was $464,800.61, being an average of $10.40
to each person relieved. Of the number relieved, 7273 were in the
institutions. The population of the county at this time was 375,000. It
will be seen that 11.9 per cent, of the population received aid from
the public institutions. In addition to this, many others received
assistance from the churches and benevolent societies.
Formerly the county was divided into districts, to which the poor would
come to receive assistance. During the year ending July 31, 1870,
38,270 persons applied for and received aid. This was about ten per
cent, of the population. The amount expended was $128,602.83.
This system has been discontinued, and the work is done by other
agencies, notably by the Society for Improving the Condition of the
Poor. This society, officered by public-spirited and efficient men,
has made a highly creditable record. Connected with the society is an
effective advisory committee, selected from each ward. Every case is
carefully investigated, and imposition is rendered almost impossible.
In 1880 the number of cases investigated was 2755; of these 214, or
about eight per cent., were rejected. The number relieved who were
found worthy was about one fourteenth of the number receiving aid in
1870, while the disbursements were only $23,009.68, or 18.5 per cent.
of the former expense.
During the year ending July 31, 1869, there were remaining in the
lunatic asylum of the county, 557. The whole number under treatment
during the year was 818. Of those remaining, 225 were males and 322
females. There were admitted, during the year, 286. The whole number
admitted into the almshouse in 1869 was 2090.
The number treated in the hospital in 1863 was 2023; in 1864, 2601; in
1866, 3505; in 1867, 2828; in 1868, 2613. In the hospital there were
treated, in 1876, 4270 persons.
By an act of the Legislature in May, 1867, the Inebriates' Home for
Kings County was incorporated. A movement led by A. E. Mudie resulted
in the establishment of a Brooklyn branch of the American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The Legislature provided at this session for the dredging and docking
of Gowanus Canal, and for the "Wallabout Improvement," under the
direction of a commissioner. Another provision of the Legislature was
for a department for the survey and inspection of buildings in the
Western District of the city. A section of this law provided that the
chief officer of this department should be called the "Superintendent
of Buildings." He was to be appointed by the board of trustees of the
fire department, and confirmed by the Board of Aldermen. He was to have
been an "exempt fireman" for five years, a fire underwriter for ten
years, and was to be, ex officio, a member of the board of trustees of
the fire department.
Concerning the duties of inspectors the law said:--
"It shall be the duty of the inspectors to examine all
buildings whereon violations are reported, and all buildings
reported dangerous or damaged by fire, and make a written
report of such examinations to the superintendent, with their
opinion relative thereto; to reëxamine all buildings under
applications to raise, enlarge, alter, or build upon, and
report to the superintendent the condition of the same, with
their opinion relative thereto; and in the absence of the
superintendent they shall be empowered to act with all the
powers enjoyed and possessed by said superintendent. And
the said inspectors shall perform such other duties as the
superintendent of buildings may from time to time require of
them.
"The inspectors of buildings shall be under the direction of
the superintendent, and shall attend all fires occurring in
their respective districts, and report to the chief engineer
or assistant engineer present, all information they may have
relative to the construction and condition of the buildings
or premises on fire, and the adjoining buildings, whether the
same be dangerous or otherwise, and report in writing to said
department, all such buildings damaged by fire or otherwise,
with a statement of the nature and amount of such damages,
as near as they can ascertain, together with the street and
number of such building, the name of the owners, lessees, and
occupants, and for what purpose occupied; and said inspectors
shall examine all buildings in course of erection, alteration,
and repair throughout their respective districts, at least once
every day (Sundays and holidays excepted), and shall report
in writing, forthwith, to the superintendent, all violations
of any of the several divisions of this act, together with
the street and number of the building or premises upon which
violations are found, and the names of the owners, agents,
lessees, occupants, builders, masons, carpenters, roofers,
furnace builders, and architects, and all other matters
relative thereto, and shall report in the same manner all
new buildings in their respective districts, and the clerk
shall perform such duties as may be assigned him by the
superintendent. All the officers appointed under this act
shall, so far as may be necessary for the performance of their
respective duties, have the right to enter any building or
premises in said city."
The fire limits of the city were then fixed to "comprise all that
portion of said city beginning at the East River at the northwest
corner of the United States Navy Yard, and running thence southwesterly
and southeasterly along said Navy Yard to the centre of Navy Street;
thence southerly along the centre of Navy Street to the northerly
side of Flushing Avenue; thence easterly along the northerly side of
Flushing Avenue to the centre of Washington Avenue; thence southerly
along the centre of Washington Avenue to the southerly side of Warren
Street; thence westerly along the southerly side of Warren Street to
the easterly side of Vanderbilt Avenue; thence southerly along the
easterly side of Vanderbilt Avenue, and across Flatbush Avenue in a
straight line, to the southeasterly corner of Union Street and Ninth
Avenue; thence southerly along the easterly side of Ninth Avenue to
the northerly side of Fifteenth Street; thence easterly along the
northerly side of Fifteenth Street to the centre of Tenth Avenue;
thence southerly along the centre of Tenth Avenue to the centre of
Twenty-first Street; thence westerly along the centre of Twenty-first
Street to a point distant one hundred feet west of the westerly side
of Third Avenue; thence northerly and parallel with Third Avenue, and
one hundred feet westerly therefrom, to a point distant one hundred
feet southerly from the southerly side of Hamilton Avenue; thence
northwesterly and parallel with Hamilton Avenue, and one hundred feet
southerly therefrom, to a point distant one hundred feet easterly from
the easterly side of Columbia Street; thence southerly and parallel
with Columbia Street, and one hundred feet easterly therefrom, to a
point distant one hundred feet southerly from the southerly side of
Nelson Street; thence westerly and parallel with Nelson Street, and
one hundred feet southerly therefrom, in a straight line, to a point
distant one hundred feet easterly from the easterly side of Richard
Street; thence southerly and parallel with Richard Street, and one
hundred feet easterly therefrom, to a point distant one hundred feet
southerly from the southerly side of King Street; thence westerly and
parallel with King Street, and one hundred feet southerly therefrom,
to the East River, and thence along the easterly shore of the East
River to the point or place of beginning at the said northwest corner
of the United States Navy Yard; and also extending from the centre of
Washington Avenue along both sides of Fulton Avenue, one hundred feet
on each side, to the easterly side of Bedford Avenue, and such further
portion of the Western District of said city as the Common Council of
the city of Brooklyn by ordinance may from time to time, as hereinafter
provided, include therein."
[Illustration: STATUE OF HENRY WARD BEECHER IN FRONT OF CITY HALL]
The act provided in detail rules for building within the fire limits,
and regulations appertaining to building in general. Thus it was
provided that "no timber shall be used in the front or rear walls of
any dwelling, store, or storehouse, or other building hereafter built
or erected within the Western District of said city, where stone,
brick, or iron is commonly used; each lintel on the inside of the front
or rear wall or side walls shall have a secure brick arch over it,
and no wall strips in any wall thereof shall exceed in thickness one
half of one inch, and in width two and one half inches; and no bond
timber in any wall thereof shall in width and thickness exceed the
width and thickness of a course of brick; and no bond timber shall be
more than six feet in length; and such bond timbers shall be laid at
least eighteen inches apart from each other, longitudinally, on either
side of any wall, and the continuous line thereof shall be broken every
six feet by inserting a brick of eight inches; and no front, rear, or
other wall of any such dwelling, store, storehouse, or other building
now erected, or hereafter to be erected, as aforesaid, within the fire
limits, or as they may hereafter be extended as aforesaid, or any brick
or stone building or buildings in the Western District of the city of
Brooklyn, shall be cut off or altered below, to be supported in any
manner, in whole or in part, by wood, but shall be wholly supported by
brick, stone, or iron; and no wood or timber shall be used between such
wall and such supporters; but it shall be lawful to insert a lintel of
wood over the doors and windows of the first story of stores, of oak or
Georgia pine, of such length and size as shall be first approved and
determined by the superintendent of buildings."
An important movement, begun before the war, culminating in 1860,
and bearing fruit soon after the close of the war, resulted in the
establishment of one of Brooklyn's chief objects of pride,--Prospect
Park. The actual construction of the park began in 1866, and was
steadily continued until 1874.
The laying out and adornment of the park was placed in the hands of
a commission, of which J. S. T. Stranahan, always a leading figure
in the park movement, was the president. This commission, originally
constituted under an act of the Legislature for the laying out,
adornment, and management of the park, had its powers and duties
increased by succeeding laws, until it had under its control Washington
Park, City Park, Carroll Park, the Parade Ground, and all the public
grounds appertaining to the city.
In their report for 1868 the commissioners said: "The propriety, if not
the absolute necessity, of an extension of Prospect Park at its western
angle, so as to allow the principal drive in that direction to be
carried out according to the original design, has been repeatedly urged
in former reports of the board, and the Legislature was on more than
one occasion applied to for permission to make the desired acquisition;
but without success. The commissioners have now, however, the pleasure
of stating that an act was passed at the last session, authorizing this
extension, and directing the board to apply to the Supreme Court for
the appointment of commissioners to estimate the value of the land so
taken."
The ground under treatment during the year covered by this report
represented over two hundred acres. "The finished drives," says this
report, "now amount to nearly three miles and a quarter, being a little
more than two miles in excess of that which we were able to report
last year. Of bridle paths, we have nearly a mile and a half finished
or well progressed; and of walks three miles and three quarters are
completed, and nearly five additional miles in progress. The very
large and continually increasing number of delighted visitors show
how thoroughly these walks and drives are appreciated by them. A fine
specimen of rustic work has been erected near the main entrance to the
park for a summer house; and a vine-covered trellis-work, with seats
overlooking the children's play-ground, commands a beautiful sea and
island view, and, when covered with the foliage and flowers of climbing
plants, will afford grateful shelter to all such as may be disposed to
linger in its shade."
The arrangement of the park steadily advanced until it has become one
of the most beautiful in the world. Covering 525 acres, its meadows,
woodland, lakes, and drives combine to create a picture of remarkable
beauty. The lakes cover 50 acres; the woodland, 110 acres; the meadows,
70 acres; the gardens and shrubbery, 200 acres; and there are over 60
acres of water-way. Five and a half miles of main drives were laid out,
and minor drives and walks covering a distance of thirteen miles.
The later creation of the Ocean Parkway was a desirable movement,
resulting as it did in a driveway running southward from the park to
the sea,--a distance of five and a half miles. This magnificent drive
is 210 feet wide for its entire length, being subdivided into a main
and two minor roadways, with lines of shade-trees to mark the receding
lines.
The Parade Ground, adjoining the park on the east, was a popular
device. The broad field has contributed an important factor in the
summer life of the city, its acres being in constant demand during the
out-door season for all manner of sports.
These improvements and others associated with the minor parks of the
city have placed heavy obligations on the park commissioners.
A permanent board of water and sewerage commissioners was created by
an act of April 2, 1869. The board received exclusive power to cause
streets to be repaved, regraded, and repaired; to cause cross-walks
to be relaid and sidewalks to be reflagged; and generally to have
such other improvements, in and about such streets so to be repaved,
regraded, or repaired, to be made, as in their judgment the public
wants and convenience shall require. The board held other authority,
afterward vested in the board of city works.
The charter of the Nassau Water Company was obtained in 1855. In 1857
the city had acquired all the contracts, property, and rights of the
Nassau Company. The thirty-six inch main laid from Ridgewood in 1858
was followed by an additional forty-eight inch main laid in 1867. Three
mains have since been added, giving the city water from a drainage area
of seventy-four square miles.
The act of 1869, by which the fire department of the city was
reorganized, called upon the Mayor, the street commissioners, the
president of the Board of Aldermen, the city treasurer, and the
comptroller, to appoint four citizens as fire commissioners: "Said
commissioners, on being qualified, shall meet and reorganize the
fire department of the city of Brooklyn, by electing one of said
commissioners to be president, and appointing a person to be secretary;
whereupon they shall possess and have all the power and authority
conferred upon or possessed by any and all officers of the present fire
departments of the city of Brooklyn, and of each division thereof,
except such power and authority as is now vested by law in the trustees
of the fire departments of the Eastern and Western districts of the
city of Brooklyn, which said divisions shall continue distinct from
each other, so far as relates to the Widows' and Orphans' Fund of each
district, but for no other purpose; and the persons elected and now
acting as the trustees of the Widows' and Orphans' Fund of the Eastern
District, and those elected and acting as trustees of the Widows' and
Orphans' Fund of the Western District, shall remain and continue to
have and exercise, each division respectively, all such powers and
duties as are now vested by law in said boards, with regard to the
Widows' and Orphans' Fund of each district" (sec. 2).
By the report of School Superintendent Buckley, issued in July (1869),
it appeared that the whole number of pupils attending the public
day schools numbered 70,000. In the evening schools 10,000 more were
taught, while the private schools received 22,142 scholars. At this
time the value of the schoolhouse sites in the city was placed at
$276,386; that of the buildings at $709,727.
Building throughout the city became very active. The widening of
Broadway in the Eastern District materially affected the prosperity
of that section of the city, to which Broadway became the leading
business artery. Grand Street developed into a busy thoroughfare, and
Fourth Street, now northern Bedford Avenue, became the third important
street of this section. For a site for a new building on Broadway at
Fifth (now Driggs Street), the Williamsburgh Savings Bank paid the then
enormous sum of $210,000. The superb structure afterward erected on
this ground is one of the most imposing in the city, its classic dome
rearing itself among those objects in the city which command first
attention from Bridge spectators.
In 1869 it was estimated that Brooklyn had 500 miles of streets, and
150 miles of sewer. Mayor Kalbfleisch's message reported a total of
3307 buildings erected in 1868. The assessed value of real and personal
property in the county was $199,840,551.
But most momentous of the movements of this period was that looking
to the building of the first East River bridge. The possibility of a
bridge over the East River had been discussed early in the history
of the two cities. General Johnson[35] had discussed the feasibility
of the suggestion, and had argued that the plan was quite within
the possibilities of engineering science. Thomas Pope, in a volume
published in 1811, by Alexander Niven, 120 Duane Street, New York,
describes his idea of a "flying pendent lever bridge," which was
intensely original as well as impossible.
In 1836 General Swift proposed the erection of a dike over the river.
The dike was to have a central drawbridge, and was to give foundation
to a broad boulevard, running between the two cities. At a later day
Colonel Julius A. Adams of Brooklyn, while engaged upon the bridge
of the Lexington and Danville Railroad, over the Kentucky River,
conceived the idea of an East River bridge, to extend from Fulton
Ferry on the Brooklyn side to a point near Chatham Square, on the
New York side. The intention was to have the main body of the bridge
built of two elliptic tubes, placed side by side, and supported by
ribbons of steel. There were to be three platforms for travelers,
and it is claimed by its projector that the capacity would have been
greater than that of the present structure. Colonel Adams communicated
his plan to Mr. William C. Kingsley, who was largely engaged in the
contracting business in this city. Mr. Kingsley entered heartily into
the spirit of the enterprise, and carefully examined the diagrams
submitted by the engineer. He spent several months in a thorough and
exhaustive examination of the entire question, studied the needs of
the two cities, and finally became thoroughly impressed with the
practicability and feasibility of the scheme. In connection with the
project he consulted with some of the eminent and public-spirited
citizens of Brooklyn, among them James S. T. Stranahan, Henry C.
Murphy, Judge Alexander McCue, Isaac Van Anden, Seymour L. Husted,
and Thomas Kinsella.[36] The more these gentlemen talked and thought
about the matter, the deeper interest they felt in it. Mr. Kingsley
in particular continued undisturbed in the belief that the time for
bridging the river had come, and he persisted in this view until the
enterprise was carried beyond the region of remote speculation into
the clear atmosphere of intelligently directed and practical effort.
The Hon. Henry C. Murphy at the time represented Kings County in the
state Senate, where he wielded a vast influence, and was regarded as
one of the leaders of his party in the State. Upon the basis of Colonel
Adams's plans a bill was prepared providing for the construction of
a bridge across the East River. Copies of the original drawings were
taken to Albany and exhibited in the Senate and Assembly Chamber. The
project received Senator Murphy's unflagging support, and through his
endeavors and the energetic and untiring aid of its projectors, it
became a law.
The act incorporating the New York Bridge Company was passed by the
Legislature on April 16, 1867. It named as incorporators the following
citizens of New York and Brooklyn:--
John T. Hoffman
Edward Ruggles
Samuel Booth
Alexander McCue
Martin Kalbfleisch
Charles A. Townsend
Charles E. Bill
T. Bailey Myers
William A. Fowler
Simeon B. Chittenden
Smith Ely, Jr.
Grenville T. Jenks
Henry E. Pierrepont
John Roach
Henry G. Stebbins
C. L. Mitchell
Seymour L. Husted
William W. W. Wood
Andrew H. Green
William C. Rushmore
Alfred W. Craven
T. B. Cornell
Isaac Van Anden
Alfred M. Wood
William Marshall
John W. Coombs
John H. Prentice
John P. Atkinson
Edmund W. Corlies
Ethelbert S. Mills
Arthur W. Benson
John W. Hayward
P. P. Dickinson
J. Carson Brevoort
Samuel McLean
William Hunter, Jr.
Edmund Driggs
John Morton
By this act power was given these incorporators and their associates
to acquire real estate for the site of the bridge and approaches; to
borrow money up to the limit of the capital, and to establish laws and
ordinances for the government of the structure upon its completion. The
capital stock was fixed at $5,000,000, in shares of $100 each, and the
directors were given power to increase the capital with the consent
of the stockholders. It was further provided that the incorporators
already named should constitute the first board of directors, holding
their places until June 1, 1868, and that after that the board should
have not less than thirteen nor more than twenty-one members. The
officers were to consist of a president, secretary, and treasurer. The
cities of New York and Brooklyn, or either of them, were empowered
at any time to take the bridge by payment to the corporation of the
cost and 33.33 per cent. additional, provided the bridge be made
free. An additional provision was made that the structure should have
an elevation of at least 130 feet above high tide in the middle of
the river, and that it should in no respect prove an obstruction to
navigation. In conclusion, the law authorized the cities of New York
and Brooklyn, or either of them, to subscribe to the capital stock
of said company such amounts as two thirds of their Common Councils
respectively should determine, to issue bonds in payment of these
subscriptions, and to provide for the payment of interest. It was
subsequently determined that the city of New York might subscribe
$1,500,000 of the total capital; the city of Brooklyn, $3,000,000, and
$500,000 to be paid by the private stockholders.
An enterprise of such magnitude was not carried forward without
extraordinary struggles. To keep the work, so far as possible, out of
politics required much ingenuity and persistence on the part of those
who were actuated by the most public-spirited motives. It was not
possible to wholly eliminate politics and self-seeking. An act of the
Legislature in 1859 provided that New York city should be represented
by its Mayor, comptroller, and president of the Board of Aldermen,
and Brooklyn by the commissioners of the sinking fund. The company was
authorized to occupy land under water on each shore to the distance of
250 feet.
Meanwhile, operations were begun in the direction of an effort to
raise the required $5,000,000 by private subscription, but they were
not successful, and it was determined to apply to the cities for
aid. Application was made to Brooklyn, through the Common Council,
for $3,000,000. After many months the incorporators were successful,
and later, in 1868, the city of New York subscribed the $1,500,000
required, and the stockholders made up the additional $500,000.
The shares, as has been shown, were fixed at $100 each. The list of the
original subscribers, as revealed by the original minute-book still in
the possession of the trustees, is very interesting. It is as follows:--
SUBSCRIBERS SHARES.
Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonalty
of the City of New York 15,000
The City of Brooklyn 30,000
Henry C. Murphy 100
Isaac Van Anden 200
William Marshall 50
Seymour L. Husted 200
Samuel McLean 50
Arthur W. Benson 20
Martin Kalbfleisch 200
Alexander McCue 100
William M. Tweed 560
Peter B. Sweeny 560
Hugh Smith 560
Henry W. Slocum 500
J. S. T. Stranahan 100
Grenville T. Jenks 50
Kingsley & Keeney 1,600
John H. Prentice 50
William Hunter, Jr. 50
John W. Lewis 50
------
Total 50,000
After the subscriptions were all made, several of the subscribers
withdrew or failed to make good their promises, whereupon Mr. Kingsley
took up their stock and advanced the amount necessary to cover their
deficiencies. In fact, he and the firm he represented took in all over
$300,000 of the entire $500,000 subscribed by the New York Bridge
Company.
John A. Roebling, who had made a brilliant record as a bridge engineer,
was chosen for the responsible post of chief engineer. His son, Colonel
Washington A. Roebling, was made first assistant engineer. The plans
of Roebling having been duly approved by the War Department engineers,
the United States government commission,[37] the Secretary of War,
and lastly of Congress itself, the company was formally organized in
the summer of 1869, with the following directors: Henry C. Murphy, J.
S. T. Stranahan, Henry W. Slocum, John W. Lewis, Seymour L. Husted,
Demas Barnes, Hugh Smith, William Hunter, Jr., Isaac Van Anden, J. H.
Prentice, Alexander McCue, William M. Tweed, Peter B. Sweeny, R. B.
Connolly, Grenville T. Jenks.
At this juncture a distressing accident darkened the opening days of
the great work. "One morning in June, 1869, Mr. Roebling, in company
with Colonel Paine and his other engineering associates, was engaged in
running a line across the East River, making the first survey of the
site for the Brooklyn foundation. Colonel Paine crossed to the New York
side and made the necessary signals, while the chief engineer stood on
the Brooklyn side. Just as the operations were approaching completion
Mr. Roebling was standing on the rack of one of the ferry slips taking
a final observation. At the moment a ferryboat entered the slip and
bumped heavily against the timbers, pressing them back to the point
where the chief engineer was standing. His foot was caught between the
piling and the rack. Colonel Paine, who was on the boat, noticed that
his chief started suddenly, and, while he made no outcry, an expression
of agony overspread his countenance. The first person to reach the side
of the injured man was his son, Colonel Washington A. Roebling, and
Colonel Paine quickly followed him. The chief engineer was assisted to
a carriage, remarking, as he went, 'Oh, what a folly.' He was quickly
driven to his residence on the Heights, and a surgeon was summoned. The
surgeon found that the toes of the right foot were terribly crushed.
It was at once decided that amputation was necessary. Mr. Roebling
rejected the suggestion of an anæsthetic, and personally directed the
operations of the surgeon. Nearly all of his toes were taken off at
the joints, but he maintained his composure throughout, and endeavored
to soothe the apprehensions of his family and friends. During his
subsequent illness he preserved intact the use of his mental faculties,
exhibiting indomitable will power. Eight days elapsed before fears were
entertained of a fatal result. Then the patient complained of a chill,
and it was soon discovered that lockjaw had set in. He lived eight days
longer, and toward the close suffered the most excruciating agonies,
but without complaint, and steadily insisted upon directing the method
of his treatment. Even after the muscular contraction precluded the
possibility of utterance he wrote with a pencil directions for his
attendants. He died of lockjaw just sixteen days after receiving his
injuries."
For a time work on the bridge was paralyzed. As soon as possible the
directors chose Colonel Roebling to succeed his father, and the great
undertaking proceeded.
The mechanical difficulties of the work were enormous. The history of
the labors, by which one difficulty after another was overcome, is one
of the most absorbing in the annals of engineering enterprise. Huge
wooden caissons were sunken on the diving-bell principle to a depth
sufficient to assure firm foundations for the piers, which were built
over them. The Brooklyn caisson was launched on March 19, 1870; the
New York caisson, in September, 1871. The greater difficulties existed
on the New York side, where an area of quicksand made it problematical
whether bed-rock could ever be reached. The foundation on the New York
side was required to be begun at a depth of seventy-eight feet. On the
Brooklyn side brick was used under the caisson. On the New York side
the space remaining after the lowest point had been reached was filled
with concrete.
The most perplexing problem having been solved by the sinking of the
foundations, the work advanced steadily. Difficulties with anchorages,
materials, contracts, expenditures, and appropriations made the work
necessarily slow, and there was a proportionate degree of public
impatience. The distant possibility of a completed bridge was the
permanent theme of newspaper jest and popular song. But the Brooklyn
tower, containing 38,214 yards of masonry, and rising 278 feet above
high water, was completed in the spring of 1875, and by the summer of
1876 the New York tower had also been finished.
During this period the pressure on the various city ferries was
demonstrating the necessity for some relief to the strain of travel
between the two cities. During the year 1869 the Union Ferry Company
carried 42,720,000 passengers; the Roosevelt, Grand, and James Slip
ferries, 7,028,000 passengers; the Greenpoint, 1,622,250; and the
Thirty-fourth Street, 2,250,550. The terms of the new lease of the
Union Ferry Company included a provision that the fare between five and
half-past seven o'clock, morning and evening, be one cent. It was a few
months later that the Brooklyn City Railroad Company reduced its rate
of fare to five cents.
Mayor Kalbfleisch was reëlected Mayor. In his message of January
3, 1871, he places the population of the city in 1870 at 400,000;
the taxes levied during the year at $8,000,000; the city debt at
$36,000,000. The period was active in building operations. The
foundations of the still unfinished Roman Catholic Cathedral were laid
in 1868. The Twenty-eighth Regiment armory was completed in 1870. The
Brooklyn Theatre was begun early in the following year, shortly before
the finishing of the new wing of the Long Island College Hospital, and
the laying of the corner-stone of the Church Charity foundation at
Albany Avenue and Herkimer Street.
Brooklyn acquired a police department distinct from that of New York
in 1870. The management and control of this new department was vested
in a board of commissioners, known as the Board of Police of the City
of Brooklyn, composed of the Mayor and two other persons nominated by
him, and appointed by the Aldermen. The first two commissioners thus
chosen were Daniel D. Driggs and Isaac Van Anden. Patrick Campbell
was appointed chief clerk. Henry W. Van Wagner was placed at the
head of the detective squad. The following provisions were embraced
in the law establishing the department. "The commissioners shall
divide said city into precincts, not exceeding one precinct to each
thirty-six of the patrolmen authorized to be appointed. They may also
establish sub-precincts and assign two sergeants, two doormen, and as
many patrolmen as they may deem sufficient to each sub-precinct, and
shall appoint a telegraph operator who shall be assigned to duty by
the chief of police. They shall appoint as many captains of police as
there may be precincts, and assign one captain and as many sergeants
and patrolmen as they shall deem sufficient to each precinct. The
police force shall consist of a chief of police, captains, sergeants,
and patrolmen, who shall be appointed by the commissioners. The number
of sergeants shall not exceed four for each precinct, and one for
each special squad; and the number of patrolmen shall not exceed the
present number now doing duty in said city, unless the Common Council
of the city of Brooklyn shall, by resolution, authorize a greater
number, in which case they shall not exceed the number fixed in such
resolutions; and such resolutions may be passed by the Common Council
from time to time as that body may deem expedient. The commissioners
shall fill all vacancies in the police force as often as they occur."
By the message of Mayor Powell[38] in January, 1872, it appears
that there were 450 men on the police force, supported at an annual
expense of $500,000. The total liabilities of the city were then over
$30,000,000, and the total county debt nearly $4,000,000. During 1871
twenty miles of streets were graded and paved, and 2,596 buildings
erected. In his second message, a year later, the Mayor reported that
the water department was self-sustaining.
The pressure of opinion in favor of a new charter for the city resulted
in the appointment of a committee of one hundred, whose report appeared
in 1872, shortly before the death of ex-Mayor Kalbfleisch. In May the
charter was passed by the State Assembly. By this charter the offices
of Mayor, auditor, and comptroller were made elective; the excise
and police departments were consolidated; the appointment of heads
of departments was placed in the hands of the Mayor and Aldermen,
the departments being as follows: Police and excise, finance, audit,
treasury, collections, arrears, law, assessment, health, fire and
buildings, city works, parks, public instruction.
In November, 1873, John W. Hunter, who had represented the third
district in Congress, was chosen Mayor. The Mayor's message in the
following January shows that the city debt rose from $30,669,768.50 in
1872, and $32,012,884 in 1873, to $37,431,944.
It was in February of this year that a largely attended meeting of the
Municipal Union Society urged the consolidation of Brooklyn and New
York. Meanwhile the town of New Lots, known as East New York, had voted
for annexation to Brooklyn. The city's growth continued at a remarkable
rate. In the decade between 1864 and 1874, 19,660 buildings had been
erected. Of this number 1786 had been built during the year ending 1874.
Perhaps the most sensational incident of the year 1874 was the
announcement of Theodore Tilton's action against the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher, Brooklyn's foremost preacher and orator. The news that the
pastor of Plymouth Church was to be sued by his former friend upon
charges assailing the integrity of Mr. Beecher's relations with Mrs.
Tilton, created intense excitement in the city, and throughout the
country.
The action was opened in the City Court before Judge Neilson, and the
trial began on January 5, 1875. The public interest aroused by this
extraordinary trial has no parallel in the history of the county.
During the months of the progress it remained the chief topic of public
and private talk in the city. The court room on trial days presented
an historic spectacle, and excitement reached a great height when, at
the end of June, the case was at last closed, and the fate of the great
preacher was placed in the jury's hands. It was on July 2 that the jury
reported its inability to agree. The case was never retried, and the
painful drama thus came to an end.
That such an incident should cast a cloud over Henry Ward Beecher's
life was inevitable. But the cloud passed away. Mr. Beecher remained
at his post, his fame and influence growing; and the celebration of
his seventy-fifth birthday drew to the Academy of Music one of the
most remarkable gatherings ever witnessed in that place. Mr. Beecher's
sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin,"
occupied a seat in one of the boxes.[39]
In 1875 the population of the city was estimated at 483,252; that of
the county at 494,570. In November of this year Frederick A. Schroeder
was elected Mayor. Schroeder represented the staunch German element,
which had begun long before this period to form an important proportion
of the city's population. He was the founder of the Germania Savings
Bank. In 1871 he was elected comptroller. His opponent in a heated
mayoralty contest was Edward Rowe.
The most extraordinary incident of the year 1876 was the burning of the
Brooklyn Theatre in December, and the loss of 295 lives. This tragedy
caused intense excitement throughout the city. The temporary morgue on
Adams Street presented the most ghastly spectacle the city had ever
witnessed. After all possible identification had taken place, 100
unclaimed bodies were publicly buried at Greenwood.