The History of Chelsea

Twenty-six years before the American Hemstreet’s sketch (left) of Revolution, retired British Major Thomas George Washington’s ride up Clarke, veteran of the French and Indian Fitz Roy Road and then along wars, purchased 94 acres of land three miles Love Lane to widow Clarke’s north of . Clarke, named it house. Before the war ‘Love Lane’ was popular route for Chelsea, after an English veterans’ hospital buggyride courtships, high- and old soldiers’ home, in honor of his com- lighted with a romantic trip rades across the Atlantic. He built a mansion along the Hudson River that Theological Seminary’s West Building along the ran along, what is now, Tenth on a hilltop, overlooking the Hudson, where Hudson River at what is sits today. Avenue. now, 10th Ave..

1750 1763 1776 1813 1827

Thomas Clarke’s mansion burned to the ground and he The Clarke died days later. Unshaken, his widow, Mollie, with ‘the inherits the Chelsea Estate. Estate { pride and strength of Tory,’ built a new home, nearby. He soon offers the Because of her English background, during the Episcopal Church, his apple American Revolution she and the estate were harrassed orchard—sixty lots of land, by Continental Soldiers. Like a true Chelseaite, she that still remains between appealed by note to the top honcho, General George 9th and 10th Aves, & 19th & 20th Washington, asking him. “Why’d the quiet home of a Sts., on the condition that “the widow and two young daughters be infested by your newly established theological semi- uniformed loutish varlets?” nary be permanently located there- Washington mounted a horse, and with an escort, rode on.” (2) from lower , up Fitzroy Road, and then onto Manhattan, Love Lane, to the Clarke Estate where he met Mollie, 1660 calming her temper with “real kindliness as well as stiff courtesy.” (1) Throughout the conflict surrounding the Civil War, Between an outbreak of 339 West 29th St., located on a row of houses Yellow Fever in lower called Lamartine Place, acted as Manhattan’s lone Manhattan, due to bad surviving home that was part of the underground drinking water, and a rap- railroad. The owner, James Gibbons, printed the idly increasing immigrant National Anti-Slavery Standard and his wife, population, the chunk of Abby, courageously worked at helping slaves from the city expanded north recapture. Their house was ransacked during the toward the farmland surrounding Clement Moore ’s footprint Draft Riots in 1863. Chelsea. Clement Clarke Moore joined still remains in the soil of forces with James N. Wells, dividing C h e l s e a ’s streetside gard e n s . his land into building plots based on a Above are the Chelsea (3) Chelsea’s became the proposed City plan. Clement’s stipula- Cottages along 24th St., commerce center of the city with tion on his sold plots was that they b t w. 9th & 10th Av e . RH Macy and B. Altman opening were for housing and that each plot had their first stores there. a front garden —for the enjoyment of those that lived in the neighborhood. 1836— 1869

1820- 30ʼs 1847 1880

1860 During the 80’s and 90’s, Twenty- The laying of the Hudson River Third Street became the the Theatre Railroad tracks along Tenth District of New York. Opening Avenue had a profound effect Edwin Booth’s Theatre, Procter’s on Clement Moore’s quaint Theatre, and Pikes Opera House. hamlet. With freight trains full Many artists such as O’Henry, Mary of supplies and raw materials Pickford, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, arriving to the city, warehous- and Anna Held frequented Chelsea. es, lumber yards, maufacturers and truckers stormed the neigh- borhood. A large number of World’s first elevated train, ran from Lillian Russel at Procters, Irish settled in Western Battery Park, up 23rd and Sixth Chelsea, working at the rail- . Above, yards, while Spanish migrated In the 1860’s, the waterline of 9th Ave. btw 22nd & to eastern Chelsea, getting jobs Cheslea was moved West, two 23rd. Pikes Opera House opens in the maufacturing trade. blocks, with fill-in to accommo- on 23rd.St & 8th Ave. (4) date it’s new commerce business. In what would become an inspiring tale of human commitment, Dr. John Lovejoy Elliot, happened upon a gang of Chelsea teenagers shooting craps late one night. He was so bothered by their lack of discipline that he rented a room and turned it over to Dr. John Lovejoy Elliot the youths. The room became a hubble of activity, later, producing two Golden Glove Champions, and serving as the foundation of many programs he launched in Chelsea. (5) In 1894, Elliot established the Hudson Guild at 436 West 27th The population of Chelsea St., the countries first real neighborhood center. It offered education- decreased rapidly in the early Looking North from (6) al programs as well as lectures on how to persue a life of self-better- part of the century, as business 23rd St. & Ninth Avenue. ment. In 1899, he also established the Hudson Guild Club Council, replaced much of the residencial the first self-governing neighborhood council. In 1933, he helped housing. The population establish Chelsea Association for Planning and Action, which was rebounded with the depression, instrumental in conceiving and gaining the federal funding, for when people were ‘doubling up.’ Old building of Chelsea Elliot and Fulton Housing Projects. . P.S. 33

1905 1940 1930

1896 1907 1934 1951

An elevated Highway for P.S. 33 is built, at 1894 automobiles and HighLine, an ele- 26th St. and Ninth vated trainline were built to protect Ave., replacing the the streets of Chelsea from conges- 1857 school house The tion and accidents. The train line that had been in con- Lusitania brought freights to the National tinuous use at the in 1910. Biscuit Company and meat market, same locale. among others. But trucking took , built in 1907 handled much over all transport of goods, and, by of Trans-Atlantic luxury passenger lines the fifties, the rails were underused. up until 1935, when the ships moved to newer and larger berths further uptown. Chelsea’s fortunes might have been dif- ferent had the RMS Titanic not sunk. Pier 60 was to be NY’s berth for the Titanic. Miller Highway It’s survivors arrived on the Chelsea Piers (west side’s elevated Looking West on 23rd St,, (7) by way of the RMS Carpathia. highway) from the el train. ted

A cement truck fell through a During the 60’s several iconic buildings by sea- dilapitated, elevated West Side The HighLine opened its southern men unions rose in the Chelsea area, each with Highway and the bridge was dis- portion between Gansevortt Street porthole windows. But, as N.J’s ports took mantled. Plans for a new Westway, to 20th Street. A special zoning for much of the business from with traffic running underground adjacent property sprurred a real the Port of N.Y., the were buried by environmentals. A estate boom. New hotels, office International new suface highway was eventual- buildings, new condos followed Longshoremen’s ly laid according to the plans of it’s tracks through Chelsea. Association building at 13th St. & Seventh Ave. the and NYC was sold to St. Vincents Hospital in 1973. St. Highway Department. Vincents has since closed their doors too, and the building might house Chelsea’s new Emergency Care Facility. The National Maritime Union The 2.5-acre building on Ninth Ave. & 16th Chelsea Waterside St. was sold to the Covenant House in 1987. Park opened. Today it is a hotel.

1964 1973 2002 2009

1962 1980ʼs— 2009

As part of the Mitchel-Lana 1969 Chelsea Waterside Cove Housing Program, Penn A police raid on Grenwhich Village’s along the Hudson River South, a ten building com- Stonewall Inn would greatly change the Park, opened with gar- plex with 2,820 affordable future of Chelsea. The ensue- dens, piers, lawns, a units was built between ing gay riot gave the rest of skateboard facility and Eighth and Ninth Aves and the world a spot on the atlas, even a carousel. 23rd & 29th Sts. It was where there was strength in sponsored by the rebellion against sexual-ori- International entation discrimination. Ladies Garment From the 1070’s on, art gal- After finding few places Workers, and, leries and night clubs, looking affordable in Greenwich today, is as for more space for less Village, gays and lesbians, were more vibrant and money, swarmed Western than welcomed in Chelsea. affordable as ever. Chelsea. LikeToday the survivors of thein Titanic, Chelsea who first stepped on Chelsea ground, following their rescue, the community of Chelsea is also a ship-load of survivors. It’s turbulant history of change has test- ed the resolve of many, as has the force of discrimination. Industries of railroad, warehousing, trucking, passenger ship- ping, manufacturing, and riots, have stormed through it’s streets, leaving behind generations of those left in the wake. The last relic of the railroad industry, is now the , the docks that served luxury liners are now parks, and the giant warehouses have been converted into art galleries, offices, and condos. Historic Districts and strong zoning laws have kept a good portion of our neighborhood in the sunlight, but those laws are continually challenged, as is affordable housing, and our way of life. New York City and Chelsea too is quickly becoming a world-leading tourist destination. Take comfort in the thought that seeds of civic spirit spread by John Lovejoy Elliot and Clement Clark Moore, before him, have grown into strong roots of passion. Local block associations, planning boards, community groups, and politicians have since been diligent in embracing and improving the lives of a very diverse Chelsea Community. But the work is never done.

TIMELINE COMPILED & WRITTEN BY DONATHAN SALKALN Special thanks to the Chelsea’s Public Library and The New York City Historical Society in setting up historical reviews; Kathy Casey’s CRDC Resolution on the Gibbons Home, Lesley Doyel, Robert Trentlyon, Doris Corrigan and Tim Gay for their help and information. Credits: (1) Villages within New York City ; (2) Old Chelsea and Saint Peter’s Church; (3, 4, 6, 7) The New York City Historical Society; (5) Chelsea, a study by the Mills School. Also helpful: Forty Years on Any omissions of history are purely bipartisan and, please, for- ward any additions to [email protected]