A STORY OF OLD NEW YO.RK
By HENRY COLLINS BROWN
I
NEW YORK VALENTINE'S MANUAL
I 9 2 8
THIS BOOK WAS DONE AT THE SIGN OF T-HE THREE BLACK SWANS HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON WHICH IS IN THE SLEEPY HOLLOW REGION OF SUNNYSIDE BY HENRY COLLINS BROWN AND MARK RAFALSKY COPYRIGHT 1928
DELMONICO'§
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DELMONICO'§
CHAPTER I
"HE was born-no or:e knows exactly where or when. He died -no one knows when or how. He comes into our view on the quarterdeck of a little shallop of scarcely ninety tons' burden. He goes out of it in an open boat with seven sick sailors cast adrift in the Arctic seas to perish miserably, the victim of a cruel mutiny." So writes one historian of Hendrik Hudson, whose name is so closely identified with New York. He appears to have vanished into nothingness when his great work was done, and even his portraits and autographs are not generally believed to be genuine. No one knows his age at the time he made his discoveries,. but that he was of mature years is shown by his having an eighteen-year-old son. \Vhether he was a hale mariner of forty or a grizzled veteran of seventy has never been settled. Hudson had made two attempts to find the Northwest passage, both unsuccessful. This caused the company to abandon further work along this line, and as an explorer Hudson seemed a failure. Just when it looked as if he would sink into oblivion the Dutch West India Company gave him the opportunity of his life, and by his immortal voyage in the "Half Moon" to the mouth of the great river which now bears his name, he achieved undying fame as one of the great discoverers of the world. For his perilous journey, in the frail est of frail crafts, Hudson received the munificent sum of $320, and in case he never came back, the directors of the company agreed to pay his widow a further sum of $80 in cash. "Hudson," John Fiske tells us, "was a notable instance of the irony. of human destiny. In all that he attempted he failed, yet he achieved great results that were not contemplated in his. original plans. He started two immense industries-the Spitzenbergen whale fisheries and the Hudson Bay fur trade, now the world renowned Hudson Bay Company; and he brought the Dutch to Manhattan Island. No real ization of his dreams, however, could have approached the astonishing [ 7 ] '!}~~i:'l~S-•'ill . ·1~~-~..v~~~l'.]tml.lffll!~v:lSmt''!DfJMiffit~,.~g.11 5 1 i;l:Tf ~;>ii±tlc~ · · .,, ;tr: ·i~t; }j~ ~·:-=,.;\~!·•.:~~,f".: : '-:~? \ \ mntt:!) r~111;·t~~r,•qf~ ,•:-:• :\'.f.. ,,_~ '- ,.. , g -~:1. .~ .. lv, ~!\:·~i '· .,. K•'':il~ 1·· ·· .. ·rt~ ·,t•, ...... •.-:; .. _, r,·J. '· '. • '-..-11,,,_ :t·•1•.. •:r>'1, ..;.1 ~~•I•'•.';'•'. . ' ,. '. /,:~,.,, .... ~'<1•~,'{,,M; "1 ' ·h, \,•.,." .,,!, ,.,,,,,~ ' •:, ., ' ' . • ' -~ d•'· ''i•1T · '. ' · • f ''it' ~ 1 ,, ,. •.. '\j/, ·.{ ~. " •t~•~ 11,• ;t,,.1 ~~~~'.'.- ._., :• ,", I . , \j';,; .,•, },V,\i ',.•.• ' ; I ' . '. ,,•.;,•' ... tr;d,_: J ,ii..1 jr..il.J...,_"r'j ·. ·;,.,, •cl,!-. ·; ·, ;·•,?;-' r , . , : . -:\··:, :-..~ . ·" :··· • ,., .• i~f ~ -~1 .r,, 1(•~:fi11~iI ·,/i{~-,~~.. -~. · ..;,,... ·"!. ,,. , .. · ...:_'.;,: · •·.·. '••· /~}.'.'1£.~f,1 •t.,•~h,,._,~.. ,;,~1,. 1j~ ..... ,(".····. · · ... ·,• -: ,•·.J', .. . .. •.,.:,.,-,,~•- ,~ 1ft •liV~. }:f.f,it1!: l (~'; : . JI '··. :, . , .. : . ·: • ; i\\~'·j~ 't ::_ ! ~- . ,;, ,:·; ;\1h~\~}:~ . '.~~~)-.·•. 'i:f(},., i ,~•:·:,'.,.-:;1 .. ; ? . · ·:_' -'/'.\> '·•t. ;_· , :.-,;_ ·.~.'•/,: ,;: ;· · . ' . .''..~C:.1ft.~•>} .~,:, ..,• •. ·.,1ff" 1h·,r-~.,--· · r"'.-,•;.•t ... r-- •. , . . -.--.: ..-··:'• i-' •,-.,.,·.r~-r-11 t:t.i~{~l'r'·;.:;t tR(:\::i~'.i:.:',~ ... \ : .:.- ,?,>>;_-:: ;.:>:-·: :/:;:::>~_·-~>, .. \'<\· ].:___ '. ->:?'.··~ i'L't.l,~\~-.., ,~. 1~1•'i1'{''••o',,\,,t,;-I·•[· •l•.• •.. I.'•:'.,·,,, , •.. ,, " ... '·'. · .. ,:,!.• l r',!..,,_.-:t.:f;..lt,.f• :.,!\,~ ._,. ,J ~ . •.• :· 11;,, .. ·,,\' .,. ·. ' •. ,: ... ·,...... , , ,""\ ·: r·r - , -~-...... ,,q .. ._,.,.,,,, .,;,..:. ., .. ,· ... ,J', . . . . ''.! .. \,. ,111, ·, .,., ., . ,, ••,•·••;,( ~ ( .·. .·,; . ,.. , t1 ,\lt ,, .:) :;! , , ' . .,. . • /. (\A/1? ~::t lfJ:, ;,::tJ.'l 01 i ',,,,,~.. ·.,: • .....·. ) ,·• ;,·•.'-~-~I < ,. '.-''" • .. • 1 ,! ',., i. ;/' \ ,~((:t,:,,:,-1. 1.• --~--:·. ',·:•:,J . >~11;,;. , . li1i~; : :. ... •.. · >: ,: :· i ,. :.:- .,, ,. ,. : :i.. ,,:;,;
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BROADWAY FROM BOWLING GREEN, 1825 Delmonico's second location was in the Stevens House opposite Bowling Green 011 the site now occupied by the Cunard Line. Otu· view· is looking ttp Broadway from ·in front of the Custom I-louse in 1825, The houses at left now form the new Steamship Row. D E L M · 0 N I C .0 ' S
actuality which would have greeted him could he have looked through the coming centuries and caught a glimpse of what the voyager now beholds in sailing up the bay of New York." "But what, perhaps, would have surprised him most of all would have been to learn that his name was to become part of the folk lore of the beautiful river to which it is attached; that he was to figure as a Dutchman instead of an Englishman in both legend and story; that when it is thun~der weather in the Catskills children would say it is Hudson playing at skittles with his goblin crew. Perhaps it is not an unkindly fate. Even as Milton wished for his dead friend Lycidas, that he might become the genius of the shore, so the memory of the great Arctic navigator will re·main a familiar presence among the hillsides which the gentle fancy of Washington Irving has clothed with undying romance." It is not my purpose to relate in detail these cradle days of New York. Our imperial city at its beginning was imperial in name only. Cruel scourges attacked it with relentless regularity, threatening at times its almost total extinction. Water was scarce and much of it undrinkable; it was hawked about the streets in carts and sold by the. pennysworth. Plank roads were on one or two of the principal streets, but dirt paths were the rule, while here and there an attempt had been made to improve the condition by cobble stones and brick, but only in occasional sections. · During the Revolution, V\."hen frs population dwindled to less than twelve thousand, the eight years' occupation by the British left the city desolate and in ruins. A disastrous conflagration in I 7 7 6 almost leveled it to the ground, and a second fire in 1778 destroyed the few buildings that had escaped the first visitation. Streets which had been opened and partly graded had been suffered to lapse again into idle waste. The wharves, to which no ships had come, had crumbled, and were covered with barnacles and sea weed. The ruins left by the two fires presented a dismal and melancholy sight; practi cally all of Broadway from Wall Street to Bowling Green stood spectre-like, gaunt and foreboding. The revenues of the city had vanished and the machinery for law and order had practically ceased to exist. A ~ore doleful and hopeless outlook could hardly be imagined than New York confronted in t~e autumn of I 783. With the departure of the last British ship, however, and the entrance into the city of the victorious .,American troops with Washington, com- ;~t r ~.r ':-'"'.· ..,; , ;; f'
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'• .,,.' . . -2:>:~;~:~;~-~t):·.1~~-;., D E L 1\,1 0 N I C O ' S mander-in-chief, at the head, accompanied by Hamilton, Lincoln, Knox and other famous generals of the Continental Army, the citi zens regained their courage and viewed the future cheerfully. In 1789, James Duane was appointed first ·Mayor of the city and New York was finally started on that career which has since become the · wonder of the world. It became the first capital of the United States, showing thus early its importance in the eyes of its sister provinces. The background from which New York emerged in 1800 was one which staggers the imagination. The burden of an untamed con tinent rested on the shoulders of less than seven million people, nearly half of whom were slaves. Except upon a narrow stretch along the seaboard, the land was uninhabited save by wild animals and still wilder savages, and nowhere beyond this narrow strip could the wants of civilized life be sustained. Communication was by means of virgin paths through forests, frequently impassable by freshets and torrential rains. Commerce was confined to small vessels that made infrequent trips to seaboard towns and the exchange of commodities was irregular and uncertain. Th_e denizens of the deep furnished the oil which lighted the cabins at night. .i\.:float and ashore, disaster beset the traveler at every turn. Comforts there were none and life was a con stant stn1ggle for bare existence. Wayfarers overtaken by night were privileged to_ claim food and shelter at any house they reached, as the wilderness still stretched to the very doors of the city and predatory animals roamed the streets. Nevertheless, with resistless energy, the new city began its career. Post roads were established, connecting the nearby important cities and some small taverns sprang up along these roads so that settlers were no longer expected to play "mine host" to the belated traveler. These little taverns sprang up all over the country and were soon to be found in eYery place where the stages stopped to change horses. They rejoiced in fancy names and still fancier signs. "The Kings Arms" or the "Queens Arms" was a general favorite; others popular were "The White Swan," the "Blue Boar," the "Black Horse," "The Buckthorn." Sometimes they took the name of their proprietors "Cato," "Fraunces," etc. The latter, by the way, is the only one which has survived to this day and is now the headquarters of the Sons of the Revolution, who bc;>ught the old building and remodeled it. It is at the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets and Well worth a visit. Since the restoration, it retains faithfully its original appearance.
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: . ' ~, '', ~~<;_-:--; ..... t . ;;f i ,.. :~ .: :1 '. ~.; ' : ' ·,,, : • I' d; ': ;i !: :;, t, '' .;_-·_;. J !.. :_.~~~t; l -~\ :,,r.. ;" . r.. . ,,·t ~:- ...ti""' tf.\">lf'JY ~--,t-p.'' :: ',. '· ,•,'. ~:. : ;~:~if:·; • ' ,~--- :; :Iij, /i ·"·,· . .f"'t .. I ,··:r jl'·r_i. '"', .. ' ;: l ;" ·'.1 f'.'<'.~ '· h. \~:1 ~-. .,;,f''f ': f'!l' t ;~-:.~ " -~~~t'-~. . ,,.~..... ·.-. . -•·'1.,,,: .:{/-''.. ,·-.r.;\;;~}.f/r f.L:!,lt~J~)~. i- ~.. -~ .. c.'·; ,),A~ 'lt ~ ;' bu.;<~!,~t: -•. -"'-·--;."··--.:· :_;;\J-L,;;, ~-;,ta ' ;, THE FIRST OF NEW YORK'S GREAT HOTELS. IT OCCUPIED THE SITE OF THE PRESENT TRINITY BUILDING. D E L M 0 N I C 0 ' s Fraunces is the most celebrated of all the Revolutionary Taverns, as it was the scene of Washington's farewell to his officers, and when, as President, Washington came back to New York, he selected "Black Sam," the proprietor, as his steward. Although these early taverns were not very pretentious they were not without certain standards, and the f ol~owing set of rules prevailed at one establishment. Few hotels of today are more exacting: When Lafayette paid his memo:,; able visit to this country a hundred years_ ago it was at just such little taverris that he was for the most part entertained. Lafayette's visit was an amazing experience. He had no idea of the warmth and cordiality with ~vhich he was to· be everywhere received. Long past the traditional three score years and ten, he was revisiting the scenes of his youth. On the way over he had confided to a fellow traveller that he was somewhat troubled over the cost of his trip and_ sought information as to the expense of travelling in America. His acquaintance said that in any event it would cost him nothing when he came to Boston, as he would be delighted to entertain the Marquis there as long as he cared to stay. Meanwhile the forts on both sides were booming forth their heaviest guns in the presidential salute, and looking past the forts into the lower bay, the two strangers suddenly discovered that every ship was dressed from stem to stern in flags of welcome and that an o.fficial vessel filled with high dignitaries was rapidly approaching. Bands played and the whole harbor was alive with every demonstra tion of welcome. Tears streamed down the face of the venerable visitor when he at last realized that this welcome was meant for him. It had been about half a century since he had left New York. All his comrades in arms-Washington, Hamilton, Knox, Gates, Lincoln-had long since joined the silent majority, and he ·thought himself forgotten. [ 13] ffi~\1~t~j;;,,t1,·; itr>.;:'~;; i?{(I S;~~~K:' .'::· . ",' ··>'-,~•- , I" "'.:~tl"::'i l {~-r~P,;i~~~r ,.... ~,.;' ',,, , 1, _,:::,; 1 i,~#~J f~~ , ;: ' ' i ' ; ' :, \ :, ) 11 ::~; }:f ~\I~ '.it':':·• .. ' i;M~1f ;;iij)f ;!!:! }: !!t:f >r ,,: ,;; [,L ): i ,., . )_. ,,' i~~:t\; .. ~!~~ .,,,v;,. ~; f ', t; '~<" lt,~·n ...•: .. ·''C \)..,¥'f• i\.4"~:~:.:- ·.> ( . -' < t·;1.-~,,~ l'J,Vk/· ;'', . .,;._, {, ·.,· "' , i' 1¥• '\ · f,,., . . ,:,, •\'f{~-::~:-~"':."~~~fj.(~'~ :·.~:· ♦.,t,.. , \ ,., :.,_~: BROADW A y FROM RECTOR 'fO LIBERTY STREET .. ' ' . " About the time Delmonico opened his Wiltiam Street establishment, 1845. DELMONICO'S But t~e young Republic which he had done so much to create, the country which he had served so well, had not forgotten him .and Lafayette received such an enthusiastic and sincere welcome as to over come him completely. It is scarcely necessary to refer to the fact that the possible expense of the trip no longer troubled the General; still he kept his promise to visit his Boston friend, who no doubt realized and appreciated the honor paid him. Lafayette's visit, with its round of dinners, receptions, etc., directed attention to the lack of suitable quarters and equipment in the new country for occasions of this nature, and led to the establishment and success of the now famous Delmonico's. Delmonicojs was founded just one hundred years ago in. a small house in William Street in the center of the block between Exchange Place and Beaver Street, under the name of "Delmonico Brothers." The .first of the family to come to New York from Switzerland, their motherland, was John Delmonico. He was a seaman and in 1825 was in command of a three masted schooner engaged in trade between Cuba and this po~, then in the infancy of its commerce. The city was then mainly comprised in the mile ·or so of territory between the Battery and City Hall, but the clear-headed Swiss saw a vision of greater things to come and returning to Switzerland, brought back to New York his brother Peter, a confectioner, with whom, in I 82 7, he inaugurated their famous New York institution. Their advent in New York occurred when the primitive custom of going home at noon or carrying lunches in one's pocket to business was the rule and not the exception. Restaurants did not exist. When he opened his modest establishment in William Street, between Ex change Place and Beaver Street, he introduced at once a novelty and a necessity. To obtain a well prepared hot lunch in the middle of the day was an innovation and was at once highly popular. Another radical departure of his_ was the introduction of a lady cashier. Up to that time no person of the gentler sex was ever employed in a busi ness office. Delmonico's cashier was the forerunner of all the short skirted; silk stockinged,' ball-gowned costumes now so common in the .financial district of o·ur city. In the meantime four Delmonico nephews had come over to fortify the business. They were Lorenzo, Siro, Francois, and Con stantine. Previous to the great fire in I 835 the Delmonicos had opened a [ 15 ] OLD S,r. MARK'S ON. THE BOWERY .... '":, ·-.·-c::-••,-.-.. ___... ,... _____ """!~'!""•:,-:f"'.,'".,""·.---- ..c\ . "'"4 \0 CX).... ... ~ > u0 :z 0 ~ 0..... P.. CHAPTER II AVING now looked at our city from its outward and visible aspect, let us glance for a moment at the every day life of H our old friends, the more intimate personal side, which reflects another picture equally interesting, their social and family affairs. In their little weekly paper The Post Boy, they would read such news items as the following: MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT Cow KILLS MAN ON BEEKMAN STREET Yesterday afternoon as a respectable looking citi zen was crossing the Common he was suddenly attacked by a cow. The maddened beast pursued and overtook him at Beekman Street. He was so severely injured that he died a few hours later. The cow was after wards killed on William Street. The name of the un fortunate person could not be ascertained. Marriages are al ways a subject of general interest. Looking over some of the old announcements, it seems that there is more enthusiasm in them than we get today, and more intimate details. For example: On Monday evening, June 7th, I 792, by the REv. MR. BEACH, JoHN BucHANAN, EsQ, to the amiable, adorable, incomparable, inflexible, invincible and non parallel of her sex, NANCY Lucy TURNER, both of this city. .. On Monday the 31st of July, I 786, was married in Washington County, Maryland, MAJOR GENER-4.L HORATIO GATES, to Miss MARY VALLANCE; a lady most deservedly distinguished for her good sense, liberal education and amfa1ble disposfrion, wfrh a handson1e fortune. On Wednesday evening (24th of May, 1786) was married SAMUEL OsGoon, Commissioner of the Treas ury Board, to MRs. FRANKLIN, widow of WALTER FRANKLIN, late an opulent merchant of this city. The lady is possessed of every amiable _accomplishment, added to a very large fortune." [ 19] ,,, . I ~, ,_ ,.~.~ .,;-!-' 'I ,j '· i ' '-~,_~ .-,.~t '·-~il, :• :· THE WATER FRONT OF YESTERDAY South Street in the Roaring Forties, showing the spars and bowsprits of the China Tea Clippers; Californian, Australian and Liverpool Packets, and square-rigged beauties from every port in the world. DELMONICO'S In passing, we might also mention the fact that slavery was not wholly abolished in New York City until as late as 1827-.fifty-one years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The problem of domestic help was evidently as keen then as it is today. Negro servants were constantly running away, as evidenced in the following announcements: Ten Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber, on Tuesday last, a Mulatto Fellow named Jim, about .five feet nine inches high, of a downcast look, thick lips and broad shouldered, much addicted to liquor, and whether drunk or sober very silent; had on when he went away, a tow cloth trowsers and shirt, and a blue cloth coat. Bo-wery, July 1, 1786. PETER STUYVESANT. For Private Sale, a Negro Wench aged 30 years, a compleat Cook, understand all house work; with her daughter, aged I 4 years, used to house work, and par ticularly handy in the care of children: likewise her two sons, one aged 5 and the other 3 years. The above slaves are sold for no fault. Apply to JAMES BARCLAY, No. 14 Hanover Square. ISSAC BRINCKERHOFF, No. 8 Co~nties Slip, has for sale a likely Negro wench aged 33 years, with her female child, about two years old, also a smart Negro boy, twelve years of age. Run away, two indented German servant men; who came here last year, named Peter Sweine and Jacob Ronk, neither of them speak English, they were seen near King's Bridge, and it is .supposed intend for Albany. Eight dollars reward for each will be paid by ISSAC ROOSEVELT or THOMAS PEARSALL. AUGUSTUS VAN HORNE, of No. 58 Smith Street, offers a Half Joe reward for the capture of his Negro slave. He is a very talkative, saucy, impertinent fellow. Ran away from her place at No. 55 William Street a mulatto wench named Diana, she is good looking about [ 21 ] ·-··.. . ···~,~,,·-, .. l·.. \~rt~!;~~ "trr \·? ( · ,;; ,'!'~. . ' • V ., j.~~ . ."., -~ :-. -: \1f:. '\,\;\~ .· \-~.:~.~;,•1, ; t '- ~, .J :,~,...... ~-;-' ,· ., , . :•7_·~~. •,; •'• .,. . • ·(. t· ,. ,. ,'~\)·, ')...... '\\ I _ :I •·\t·· "-, ~.-.• i '. :t!}. ! ~ .... ,. J:; : t, t ,;. :.: ' '! ~;},), l ;:; ~-; \ ~ I ..... ,. )Jifi! (: ;.:}> /·. 4 i.-; J_ ·-~~ _/ ~-·;· ..'.'1{{''. ,p, •.• 1 ~ -~\ ;1 :,;i}•:H"'x~ i' ·' \· , '.' :, \)'·,) if::;>;; ·,t•: ii; t.~.,~:-:;)>i\): ii :rtF,;·:-,, I. .. ·::. • .. !J.~_ i ··""'' ..,· .~. j ~ ~ ·: . r·.~ '_,,·;, ., . .c~.. _,-''fffllt'y · • \ l ·I'. 1:1._ 1t,, ~-- .. ·J..t·.-.r._ J.~ f •r:·;.}J, :.J;'.'.li',.'.: r,) ;._;; ;;? :-::;f I'. ' •';,1i{\tt-\•':,,·•;. ,. I'- Ir.'l(;..l~, _\ \ ' i ...·:r~,./1:i , •f ·-,· .. , ' .•l•' .,-.,• ; :· !· , ••. •• ~ '!. . •,. --~- ,' eit;ii li!&:: :if ._;-,;, (;.,,', ~, ..-r1£• \{;·,tt,:P··' ,., lii7 • BROADWAY BETWEEN VRSEY AND BARCLAY STREETS IN 1830, JusT BEFORE THE ASTOR l-IousE WAS BUILT DELMONICO'S 20 years old, middle sized, had on a blue stuff short gown, a yellow calico peticoat, spriged, a new pair of leather shoes, and solid silver buckles, a black silk bonnet, and mixed colour' d cloth great coat. She took with her a variety of articles and may appear in a chintz bedgown and a quilted stuff peticoat. Whoever ap prehends the said wench shall have Two Dollars Reward. The fashions, too, maintain their perennial freshness. No matter how much time has elapsed, the same old thrill is there, as we read the items that tell us what they wore and what was the correct thing. The .first notice indicated that the dainty satin or brocaded slipper was the only thing a stylish woman could wear. It does seem to us, even now, that the thin paper sole was dangerously light. Double soles, though introduced,, are quite the ex ception, _and as for leather footwear, no lady of condj tion would dream of putting on anything so coarse. They were quite Gothic, and appropriate to none but the lower orders. The next item recalls the time when fainting was actually among the polite accomplishments and when to be delicate and fragile was the ultimate desire. Our healthy, robust, athletic young woman of today would have been sadly out of place, I fear, in these de bilitated days. Girard's masterpiece of Pysche has brought pallor into fashion. It is so much the rage to look ethereal and delicate that a pot of rouge can now be purchaseo. for a crown, and lotions, instead, are used to promote the interesting shade of the lily, which has of late sub dued the rose .. Poudre de riz is universally selected, and all fashionable women in these days of the Empire endeavor to render themselves still more interesting by · making up their lovely faces a la Pys~he. The next paragraph has a familiar sound. The weaker sex does [ 23] ~ ...... ,' .. - . ~.-.,-~ .. ,·:,.~;~]r~~j~j~. :~~;:.~~ JW--~-~~ ~c·ii,i ·:c,:,·:. . . . - ~• ~,Ko:,:0-~'"4 Siiz?lii~it...- ...... --,-., ·: -::-,.._·'""'":•""'·"~---•.. f;i;1 ....E-4 en. f;i;1 =E-4 z 0 z~ 0u t:l r.n I ~ E,-1 0:: 0 ~ z 0 E-< 0 u~ DELMONICO'S not change. The fashion of wearing furs in summertime is as bad as anything in the old days; but try to change it! Physicians and doctors of divinity have declared that the scanty clothing prescribed by fashion is indeli cate as well as unhealthful, but do they not speak to deaf ears? What, doctor, be he D.D. or M.D., could outweigh a fashion-book? The arbiters of taste never seem to care to invent anything to protect women from cold and damp, and even when common sense forces one to put on heavy warm clothing, its wearer is . deemed either insane or a hopeless invalid. The origin of many of our great New York fortunes may also be traced in the announcements. of our busy little merchants. 'rheir descendants today are reaping the benefit of their enterprise and in dustry. ISSAC ROOSEVELT having repaired his Sugar House, is now carrying on his business of refining as formerly, and has for sale (by himself and son) at his house 159 Queen Street, opposite the Bank, Loaf, Lump, and strained M uscovado Sugars and Sugar House Treacle. JACOB ASTOR) No. 81, Queen Street, two doors from the Friends Meeting House, has just imported from London, an Elegant assortment of Musical In struments, such as piano Fortes, spinnets, plane forte guittars, guittars, hautboys, fifes, the best Roman violin strings, and all other kind of strings, music books ~d papers. ARCHI~ALD GRACIE has removed his Counting Room from his dwelling house, No. I 10 Bro?,dway, to his new Fire-Proof Store, No. 52 Pine Street, where he has for sale, a few chests very fine Hyson and half chests Souchong TEA: a consignment of eight packages of Muslins. ROBERT LENOX has for sale, remaining from the cargo of the ship Sanson from Calcutta, an assort- [ 25] OLD CAS'l'LE GARDEN.. 1853 Originally built as a fort during the War of 1812. Afterwards a concert hall. Jenny Lind made her first appearance here. Then it became the Emigrant Receiving Station. It is now thee Aquarium, DELMONICO'S ment of WHITE PIECE GOODS: Also: 60 Hhds. Jamaica Rum I 0,000 Pieces White Nankeens A quantity of large cottles in cases. And as usual, Old Madeira Wine, fit for imme diate use. JOHN DELAFIELD, No. 28 Water Street deals in all sorts of Continental Certificates, every kind of Security belonging to di:ff erent States in the Union, . particularly those of the State of New York. And here are some real estate advertisements: SAMUEL and JOSIAH BLACKWELL, offer for sale, the well known farm of Jacob Blackwell, de ceased, about six miles from New York on the East River; it contains 160 acres and 25 acres of salt meadow. (This refers to Blackwell's lsland.-Ed.) To be let, the "Dog and Duck" tavern, in the Bowery Lane, at the two mile stone; the house has eight rooms with a large garden and the best bed of asparagus on this island. Enquire at No. 44 Gold Street, opposite the Baptist Meeting-house. (This was about 3rd Ave. and I 4th Street.) To be ~old, Mount Pitt, the place where the subscriber now lives, situated near Corlear's Hook, one mile from the City Hall, containing a handsome dwelling house, out kitchen containing several rooms, a large stable, a new carriage house, a complete ice house. There are about eleven acres of land, between three and four hundred bearing fruit trees, and a handsome garden. The place being so well known needs no further de scription. Also a farm of Brooklyn, L. I. For terms enquire of MORGAN LEWIS, at 59 Maiden Lane. (Mount Pitt began at above the corner of Grand and Allen streets, stretching toward the East River. _The farm in Brooklyn mentioned now covers a large por tion of Brooklyn Heights. It was bought hy Hezekiah Pierrepont and is still in the possession_ of his descen dants. )-Ed. PARK Row AND "PRINTING HousE SQUARE," 1$62 DELMONICO'S PETER GOELET, at the Golden Key, No. 48 Han over Square, has imported in the last vessels from London, a very large and general assortment of Iron mongery, C·utlery, Sadlery, and Hardware. Also spades, frying pans, sad irons, crucibles, black lead pots, nails, saws, tongs and shovels, brass ware, candlesticks, pewter spoons, coat, vest and sleeve buttons. ABRAHAM BREVOORT, No. 26 Queen Street, has received from London, and Bristol, a general assort ment of ironmongery and cutlery. JAMES \V. DEPEYSTER & CO., No. 174 Queen Street, have imported an assortment of dry goods, Hol land Sheeting and Holland Geneve in cases, and a quantity of best Holland Powder in quarter casks. LEONARD KIP, has an assortment of Dry Goods, for sale at his store No. 2 I Great Dock Street near the corner of the Old Slip. FREDERICK JAY, sales at auction, of dry goods at No. I I Queen Street. In these random notes oJ yesterday, it is possible to sketch but· faintly, the fascinating developments of the city .as they move across the stage with the rapidly passing years. Each quarter of a century seems to have seen the city born anew. . ,: , .d~F;':f i~, i, 1: ~.. I .: '· ~ . ~-~; YOUNG AMERICA One of the famous Clipper Ships of New York in the Fifties. Rounded Cape Horn over fifty times. Lost at sea in 1888 with all hands aboard. CHAPTER III HE second quarter of the Nineteenth Century ushered in such amazing changes as to dwarf completely all that had gone T before. Fulton's steamboat had now reached a practical stage. Hence£orth, man was no longer to navigate the sea with sail and oar -a slave to unknown winds and tides, helpless alike in calm and storm-but had now obtained mastery of the deep. A huge canal was built to connect the Great Lakes with the sea. The Iron Horse made its appearance in a modest way between Mohawk and Schenec tady and the eanh began to shrink. Great events were in the making. Meanwhile maritime supremacy still continued to enthrall mankind and no account of New York would be complete without a reference to those romantic days of the "Roaring Forties" when the Yankee Clipper Ship ruled supreme on the Seven Seas. Many of these famous ships were built here~ All along the East River front, from Pike Street to the foot of Tenth Street, were to \ be seen these splendid vessels in every stage of construction. · Besides the ship building yards, there were rigging lofts, sail lofts, shops of boat builders, block and pump makers, painters, carvers, and gilders. Workers in iron, brass, and copper, mast and spar ~akers and ship chandlers of all kinds, where everything required on shipboard, from a marlinspike or ball of yarn, to an anchor and chain, was to be found. These ship yards were great thriving hives of industry where hundreds of sledge hammers, top mauls -and caulking mallets, swung by the arms of skillful American mechanics, rung out a mighty chorus and the fresh odor of rough hewn timber, seething Carolina pitch and Stockholm tar .filled the air with healthful fragrance. They were unique and interesting localities, the like of which have never existed elsewhere. They have long passed away and are all but forgotten. The long Napoleonic wars in Europe had resulted in transferring the world's carrying trade to American bottoms. In addition to the China Tea Trade, the discovery of gold in Australia and in California created a demand for sailing vessels that was unexampled in the his tory of the sea. Always the centre of maritime activity, New York was now fairly overwhelmed with an extraordinary situation calling for ships and still more ships. The names and fame of some of these old time sea captains were [ 31 ] '. ( ;:i ~~ ~; .. ·, ' · ·... t ·' · ll' , .. - li' ;: ~:' .; • : .;•. /\<':; i "~t: •~ I ... '"; ·'t ii,,f :. . )',, ·,·\·,··•.,':r-,,·1··i rr.;:, ,~¾,-~- ,,,, ·-~· , .. , ._,_ . ~~: ;~ [t\ /•~~ ·~,~ 1 .. ~ !}~ 't:,, ' 4', l~~)'•tef.!J.II:,,...,; ~•• ''li'~••·•• P.1'1,'l"'/.'', 'W,\':-,·· ...• ,·.' > • .. ?,..t,1,•~~t'?Y,',,·,·, l >:., .: . < :f~-tt '._:,.: \}~.~<:-~ ,: , ;,-, .. : ·; -~\ .; itJ.i\U . . ~-t·:tfl'•.~"'-, ' , ...-. . , -~ }1;1, (JA f ·~:, ,( .· :.:I . . , ,•.. : . ' , . • , . { ., I :\. j' ~ '.' .{ :, --~- _. ,, I'"' .. "•i·',, ,-i[.i,; ~... : ... ·· L !' ~:;,j~,,:. l;:t-.. J~~il ; n' :~ • :./:. ~., ~\:;~j.~_>,_ ·ct",( i ,,...... ,,/J,r, .. \, , .... If·.,... • ,,•, l ,,_;~.;;~ .. ,.;. A'~f•1 · : ...,, '''.f ~ l~\· :° ~~ '' . :i,.';~,~ I : . ;,,; , •• .,•! . t_j;,:_ :~ •;, ,i;_ ~ , ) • a • r; a !¥>.>:;\ !i L' h i·:X:~\, '~'.""ffl .. ~ .... J , ,. . ·- ..u, .. .l!lll ■ lmf I' ! DELMONICO Nt BROADWAY AND CHAMBERS STREET, 1853 Opposite the City I-Iall and convenient to the law courts, the third Delmonico establishment was opened in the 50' s. The next move was uptown. DELMONICO'S world wide. Captain Nat B. Palmer, probably the best known, com-. mantled several of the .finest ships sent out by A. A. Low and Brothers. Captain William P. Low of the same .firm; Captain Samuel Samuels, Captain Cressy, Captain Waterm2.n and Captain McKay, brother of Donald McKay, the famous shipbuilder, are only a few of the many that were equally renowned. When two clippers happened to ieave New York together vast sums were wagered on the race round the Horn to San Francisco. The victorious captain upon reaching New York was greeted after the man ner of a :flier of today. His steering wheel and compass were carried in triumph at the head of a procession that led to the Astor House, where a great banquet awaited the winner. It would be difficult to describe the suppressed excitement which prevailed during the progress of a race or the enthusiasm with which news of a victory was received. It was unique in the annals of New York and nothing like it has ever occurred since. Curious! y enough, the crews of American Clipper and Packet Ships were strictly temperance, and no grog was served as was the case in British and other ships. Hot coffee was the only drink allowed. The fact that Insurance companies offered a discount of 10 per cent to any foreign ship adopting the American plan, was another peculiar circumstance~ Apparently,_ the Volsteaders have always been abroad in our land~ The ships themselves were well known to the general public. I remember the late George Halstead of the Seamen's Savings Bank, pointing out to me a picture of the William H. Macy, a famous Clipper of her day. "That ship, sir," he said, "was every inch a lady. No dirty cargo ever soiled her decks; nothing but Chinese silks and spices from the Orient. AI ways sweet and clean above and below decks; yes, sir! And do you know what happened? She committed suicide; yes, si.r, suicide, as sure as you're alive. When she was .finally no longer .fit for service, she was sold for junk; her new owner turned her into a coal hulk. On her .first trip out of Newport News, she never said a word. But just as soon as she got clear of Hampton Roads and out in the blue ocean where she belonged, she deliberately turned turtle and went to the bottom. Suicide I call it and don't let anybody tell you different." He. turned once more to the picture of the· square rigged beauty in her prime and I could well believe that the cruel fate that over- [ 33] ...... ! . ·, (..~ ,. ~ ;.. ~,. i ! t ·:~; - :. ·,\:,... ;-:-. . ' }., -· . ,,. 11:1. . ~- -~- .~, . ',. ·' .,,~. '":':I ' '}'..!i'.~'l'I4 '\ .. ~~;~~:;,.,,." , • ~ , • ·. .• . r. 1 ~-: ·<,:•~ :.; , .., ·.t,~ • .. --1· 'l·~~~l~f,.,l~ :·~- 1,t,·;.~'~l'l·;,,,:k ,.,,, . . ·- -- ;.,--...... ,, .i H.... \ ·,1 - ". • ....~ i-J :, :~ ... ·- i ~· • '""· ,, ...... I : I : f~ -• ~)_.-;,} • ·,,~~;~-- .. .~i=:==~~~- .~:!~;JI t:;.,...... PRESENT SJTE OF WORLD BUILDING AND ENTRANCE TO 'fI-IE BROOKLYN BRIDGI~, 1853 Nothing shows the great changes in New York better than the substitution of the great East River Bridge entrance and the World Building for these wooden shacks that stood opposite City Hall Park in the Fifties, This is Park Row, popularly known as Newspaper Row, where many of New York's great dailies were published. Only the World remains on this block. The great Municipal Building leading to the new CivicCenter is across the way. DELMONICO'S took her proved too much for the high-spirited old clipper and death was a relief. In those days New York was one of the most beautiful picturesque seaports of the world; the water-front was lined with majestic ~lippers, stately Indiamen, and noble packet ships. American ensigns and well-known houseflags of many brilliant colors floated in the breeze. The view and skyline of the port from the harbor was very beautiful; Battery Park with its .fine lawns and trees, in the fore ground supplied a note of rare beauty, while_ clustered in every side were the modest yet dignified and substantial residences, gardens, and warehouses of the merchants. There was a quiet; re.fined atmosphere of prosperity and contentment which has long since departed. If tp.e changes in the long ago past seem almost beyond belief what shall be said of the changes that have come to pass right in our own time? The City in the Seventies as I knew it when a boy has been practically scrapped. It was the Reign of Terror, architecturally speaking, and the town was filled with "brovyn stone" fronts in the residential section, than which no more melancholy set of buildings were ever erected. Few architects were employed and these structures were mainly the product of some God-gifted plumbers and carpenters. Apparently no one appreciated the beauty of the few Georgian types which still remained on Stuyvesant Square and lower 5th A venue, hence the new style was vastly preferred. The majority of our residences, however, were unpretentious in character and not over two or three stories high. Many houses had the old style sloping roof with dormer windows, such as you see in lower South Street today. Giant shade trees still adorned City Hall Park, Union and Madison Squares and many lined our downtown streets. A pear tree at the corner of Third Avenue and Twelfth Street, planted by Stuyvesa..flt about I 660, existed for two hundred years. Union Square was still a beautiful :flower market in the spring and squirrels scampered out to the Broadway edge. Awnings in front of Broadway stores extended in an almost unbroken line from Fulton Street to Grace Church, and wooden canopies with iron stanchions, carriage blocks, old stoops, hitching posts and street hydrants on Broad way still impeded the progress of the pedestrian. As for business buildings, the "cast iron age" may be said to have dated from this period. Builders of armor plate and ironclads, [ 35] LooKING NORTH ON BROADWAY, SHOWING CITY HALL, I825 Note the pigs which were a feature of all New York streets in those days. D L M 0 N I C 0 ' s thrown out of work by the ending of the Civil War, were perfor~e turned to the arts of peace, resulting in the erection of so melancholy a set of buildings, many persons thought it would have been much less harmful to let the war go on. Specimens of this distressing era · are still to be seen in the wholesale dry goods district. The Benedict building, recently demolished, at Broadway and Cortlandt Street, I believe, had the honor of being the first iron-clad monitor to bedeck Broadway. Their original claim of being fireproof was soon proved a fallacy and dealt a severe blow to their popularity. Aside from these cast-iron fronts, there was little of. note in the buildings of the business district. The Stock Exchange; Drexel, Morgan and Co.; the Custom House and the Treasury Building were possibly the only exceptions from endless cheap looking structures which had already served their day and generation as warehouses, cheap hotels. and boarding houses. Wall and Broad Streets were shabby in the extreme. The office building as we know it hardly existed. Great excitement was occasioned in I 880 when the old Ex change Place building announced that it had ~installed an elevator. These awful cast-iron buildings, with some trifling exceptions, have now been mercifully removed. A very large number of us can remember when there was .no telephone, no electric light and very few elevators. There was no such thing as an office building as we know it, and the sky scraper was unknown. Stages still ran on Broadway, and for some reason or other there was great opposition on the part of the public to any other style of transportation on this particular thoroughfare. A scan dal resulted when Jake Sharp finally secured a franchise for a street railway. Several of our Aldermen found it convenient to move to parts_ unknown, as a result of Mr. Sharp's activities and for a long time were spoken of in the newspapers as the Boodle Aldermen. But the street cars proved a great improvement and forced a demand for transportation on Broadway above 59th Street. It was easy to see that the city was filling up. Street lighting was almost entirely by gas, and the lamplighter hu~rying in the twilight with his torch, was a famiiiar figure. Few there were to see him in the early dawn, quenching last night's flame, except that urban disturber of the peace, the milkman whose whoop announced the morning milk, then delivered directly from the can. There were still many street water pumps in active use throughout the city. [ 37] THE MARY POWELL The Hudson River is part of the city itself. This picture of the old Mary Powell will appeal to many old New Yorkers. DELMONICO'S The fastest commercial vehicle was, the butcher's two wheeled cart, driven by a diabolic youth in a white apron at the rate of eight miles an hour. The best pavements the city could boast, even on Fifth Avenue, were of Belgian block, which, under the thousand iron tires moving on it, resounded with a mighty roar. One of the early manifestations of a congested population was the folding bed. This ingenious piece of furniture was designed to camouflage its real purpose, assuming, during the daytime, curious alien shapes such as that of a wardrobe, desk or chiffonier. But the only one who dwelt in a state of illusion was its owner, since everybody knew it was a folding bed, but the etiquette of the times forbade discussion of the subject. It was perfectly obvious that the bookcase in the library of an over crowned apartment, which had the capacity of Dr. Eliot's five-foot book shelf, was a folding bed. Likewise that the large cheval glass in front of an apparent cupboard concealed another of the genus, . but these innocent fictions were taken as a matter of course. _ There was one type of folding bed, however, constructed with weightS, with a disconcerting habit, when its equilibrium was disturbed, of ·folding up like a jack-knife to the intense amazement of the occu pants. For a stout gentleman to find himself sudd~nly awakened and standing on his head ·in bed was only a small inconvenience compared· with the imminent danger of asphyxiation that the situation afforded. There w~re a few cases of premature burial _recorded in this connec tio~~ and this type consequently declined· greatly in popularity and is now largely extinct. Another of the great chang~s that_ have_ occurred in New York is the marvellous· development of the Barber Shop. Its prototype, a now obsolete institution that flourished mig:litily in the days when dimes and nickels were counted as money, was the "tonsorial parlor." More than a mere hair cutting establishment, the tonsorial parlor ministered· to man's gregarious nature. It always possessed a canary and kept spony papers,· such as the inevitable Police Gazette, on hand. The art of conversation as brought to a. high perfection on cracker boxes in country stores, was, in New Y o~k, fostered in the old-time barber shop. We fear it is now a lost art. The modern barber has· none of the encyclopedic qualities of his professional fore bear. The latter was usually a German or an American of that stock. His opinions on ·politics, sport, the drama, art and current topics in general [ 39] THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL New York's first hospital, Broadway, between Duane and Worth Streets, organized 1794. DELMONICO'S were voluble to the point of verbosity. He was the repository of state secrets _which he transferred to the ears of the discriminating, _and leisureiy, as was most becoming in our only example of a "Gentieman's gentleman." Haste was indecent except when specially requested by the client. The "tonsorial parlor" was heavy and languid with all the per fumes of Araby. The customer arising from one of its plush covered chairs, carried upon his person olfactory evidence of his visit, in a weird aroma of occult essenc;es compounded after a formula which only years of barbering had brought to perfection. A shave cost 10c, with Bay Rum I 5. Hair cut 20 to 2 5c. Being a seaside town there has always been a large element of our population devoted to the gentle art of .fishing. The fishing boat left her wharf shortly after daylight, with a grimly resolute company carrying baskets and tackle for the business in hand, as well as eatables and drinkables--especially the latter-for the day, and there is a story told of _one fisherman inquiring of the other-who had been delegated to provide the fare-as to the contents of their baskets. "I got half a dozen sandwiches and two quarts of whisky." "W~at are we goin' to do with all the sandwiches?" complained the .first. If the catch was good, all was well, but if not, there were bellows of "Move the boat" from the disappointed anglers who were disposed to regard their ill-luck as a conspiracy, for some ulterior motive, on the part of the captain and the crew. A goodly proportion of the passengers was made up of frugal Germans, who indulged in bitter lamentation when they failed to obtain the value in" .fish equivalent to the cost of their passage. Lines cast from the upper decks rarely succeeded in landing a prize, since it was considered bad form for the Isaak Waltons on the lower decks to allow the ascent of a perfectly good fish beyond the .first deck, and it rarely happened. There were other and no less simole diversions of those davs .. ~ . Forty years ago every young lady owned an autograph book. This was generally in appearance a miniature red plush photograph album with gilt edges and the loveliest robin's egg blue paper inter spersed with salmon, gray, pink, .buff, and a few other shades. It was the custom of her friends and acquaintances to indite verses, tender, facetious, or admonitory, in this treasury of mementoes. "Be good, dear child, and let who will be clever," was a favorite sentiment of a reprobate old uncle or cousin. Similar incongruities fell like pearls [ 41 ] DELMONICO SAW THE INTRODUCTION or THE BICYCLE, AND WHEN SocIETY TooK IT UP IN THE EIGHTIES HE SUPPLIED MANY LUNCHEONS AND SUPPERS DELMONICO'S from the pens of spinster aunts. Gawky puppy-lovers \Vrote carefully studied verses taken from "Gems from the Poets" in flowing Spen-· cerian hands. Every visitor was primed with a rhyme or a couplet in anticipation of the inevitable "Oh Mr. Jinks, won't you write some thing in my book?" Whereupon you would dash off iI_npromptu: You ask me to write something original But I don't know where to begin For there's nothing original in me Except original sin. or this: The inner side of every cloud Is bright and shining; There£ore; turn your clouds about And always wear them inside out, Just to show the lining. Perhaps you felt more ambitious than usual with the following result: The days of pleasures past, And think of joyous hours and all In after years when you recall, Have flown away so fast. When some forgotten air you hear, Brings back past scenes to thee; And gently claims your listening ear Keep one kind thought of me. Here, however, was the one great standby: In the tempest of life When you need an umbrella, May it be upheld By a handsome young feller. A signature was a portentous thing in those days. A gentleman with an elegant set of Galway whiskers, a plush coat, and cameo cuff buttons was not inclined to execute his cognomen in any meagre or cramped fashion. The name of "Alonzo B. Cheesecake" was written far into the night in violet ink on an azure blue page, to obtain the inimitable flourishes beloved of the "Business. College." The old autograph album is a tender memory, nevertheless. We [ 43] .?:~-}⇒ ?:? f.. ~---~·: : .... _.. .·: -, ' ·~·•,•" ...... ~~:::.~"ii ~:::~,~~~~:-.t~("!}' ,, ;_r:,:;.: ,..:__ ... ···.\~~~--} ~-:•. ~-- ·• .·-:-~ -~-~_f·_;·.. ,,_~-~-="::~:.:~;-~.: ... >:..- ··:._:....;: ...Zt3fii ";·:~..;,;:~·/:~~::s~;;\~-Z::~~-:.:·:;~~ ?~. ::.. :;;;~~ .·:.:."""~~-• :•>ir -;';.~.:>.,,.•· ·; ~-. .. · •· • .'· :• ..._~;..,. ;: .~-~-,. :...... -·'. ,.;;,;.... .:, .• ,...... _.., ...... :· .. •· ...,'!..-- .. ~, ... ,; •. ·----~~< .· - .. ... -:· -~.. ·. ~I.,:,~:/);i~SS;~;f;'/:'A.;.<::~;;;·S;:'..,.. • '.' .?.-· ...... < -~~J;-j::;~!i~;~----~; -~--.:~~:~<··:-.:· ··: ~---:~ ~. :.:!"'~~--~~·:..,.;~·•:...-·•5:~=;;:.:: ... ~ ~~-~-~-·-•:.:~:~~-----~ --- _- .. :-:·~- .. l!f$ 1tt.>\;:~--. :i)tt )",.• '~: ::·. ~· _.-.• ( ·...... ,. ... , -:: • - "1, ::.;~!!.~ , .... ~·::;·:: ..... --· ~ '...... -...... ~ ~:.:. ..:.9. ·...:,...·.:.:.;,~ ....,;;....,,,,,;: ~-. ':k, ... ·?-i2/~~-- -::_·-~.::~~:~,~:-::::i:Zr:~-~:i;~~::_ 1~--:-~ DELMONICO'S may look at some of the old verses differently today but when they were fresh on the page they produced many a delightful thrill. _ · There was another solemn rite sacred to these days-New Year's calls-with which we celebrated the beginning of a New Year. It was a custom which came down to us from our Dutch fore bears. As a rule the ladies received in groups, and as long as you knew one of t4e group that was sufficient to jusify a call. Custom decreed that you must break bread with your hostess, and partake of some liquid refreshz:rient. Lemonade was the most favored beverage but wine became popular toward the end and I think the Demon Rum had considerable to do with the final disappearance of the custom. It was no~ unusual to make ninety or a hundred calls which, of course, meant madly rushing in and out and no small amount of fatigue when a heavy snowfaU intervened, as sometimes happened. The men boasted the number of calls they had made and the ladies counted up the total of their cards. All the old sociability and neigh borliness which I imagine was the original charm of the custom gradually disappeared during the hectic period of its closing days. Then one year there was no calling, and no observance whatev,er. Although there was apparently no prearrangement to discontinue,)the practice simply ceased. Baskets were placed on door knobs to receive any cards that callers might leave, but the houses were closed and so ended, with all its faults, one of the oldest and pleasantest customs on Manhattan Island. By the time the < 1 1 ~J{ 1nI1;~~r. i!t:lk:~~;: - .j 1i'.t :,..;•,_·., Ai'>'.;.,t_,,_:.'; <_·_: : ·, II··,. "I I"'·., ,t,';f; r' t~:v1,, ),'ts/ <'.'. •. t t· i.CT!' t< {:f k ,-l(fJf_\:';'./\l;::.-,-;~: ';', :/ ' " IS: ?!J Jli'L~l'i1~\ ~ "< :'•J ~.:.,{ "·;1 (:\J THE SEVENTH REGIMENT PARADING I:W WASHINGTON SQUARE, 1850 The Square was originally a pauper burial ground, before 1820, but with the opening of Fifth Avenue was made into a Parade Ground and later into a Jl)ark. It is now the heart of a famous section-Greenwich Village, CHAPTER IV Y this time the Delmonico establishments had become a per manent feature in the city's development. In _I 840 Francois B died, and next, in 1841, John, leaving Lorenzo and Peter heads of the house, who in I 846 opened what alone of all their establish ments could legitimately claim the title of an hotel, the building then at 21, 23 and 25 Broadway. This was--conducted as an hotel down to I 8 5 6. :Bowling Green ( our .first public park) which it faced, was then among the :fashionable places in New York and had a good, solid, substantial residential section around it. Facing it on Battery Place, where the Custom House· now stands, was· a famous row of brick houses that later became known as "Steamship Row." In them lived John Guion,· the Phoenixes, the Wilmerdings, Stephen Whitney, Elisha ,Riggs, the Remsens; Commodore Vanderbilt, Philip Hone, etc. etc. In 1855 the Delmonico restaurant at the corner of Broadway and Chambers Street was .first opened on the site of the house made notorious_ by Colt"'~ murder of· Adams-·-a- cause _celebre · of the time. - ,. The new . restaurant being opposite City Hall and Court Houses at once bec_p.. L9ne a rendezvous. for politicians and lawyers. · Its handsome upper ro"om was the scene of nearly all the exclusive social festivities of the city: All the leading societies gave their annual dinners here and dancing was greatly in vogue at this place .. But it was when Delmonico's took over the Grinnell Mansion in I 860, at the corner of 5th Avenue and Fourteenth Street that its fame became nation wide. The beautiful ballrooms and dining rooms at once eclipsed the glories of all its former establishn1ents and inaugu rated a new a.qd brilliant gastronomic era. · Among the notable dinner~ given at this Fifth Avenue. Del monico's was the one in. honor-of Professor Samuel F. B. Morse in 1861, in the grand ballroom. A· connection was made with the first cable to Europe, and Professor Morse telegraphed the _.first cablegram directly from his table. In forty minutes an answer came back, and, followed by a tremendous applause, was read to the 3 5 o guests. The famous Assembly Ball was ~nnually one of its more im portant social events and here also was.· founded that most exclusive of all society functions, the Patriarchs Ball. As the members of this [ 49] •.:t··.~.·Nl.,;.·~1·> ··p;,('i· ~~!!~.~{:~.; • .... •. ;·',~•ij,I ,l~ ~. 1"'.·~.~--··'"~'i,.W.i'867~ ;1:, ),c;,, .rt.. ·, rJ. •.•.,.~.,,·\:li'i!.....-,:;i/. :11-·•·•: I:'·•~- ,. i•t ~· ~~ ~ \'• ~la~~r...... ,,, .• ,. ~: ' ~)~f /l ~'";i I \j!l ~ -· -~-""j{• f';~ ./ 1:rtt t~i(~; t\:•\: ,' . i ·•11.... t•.•z1t•.,..!w, ..!l'".; 1-u-\.:.-:~•. :-:~:•·,: i;;·; i ti\\i,.. htf ·./ i· ~~:. ;, i{)i; :.~" I; \;, " :· .. ;·. " . .,_ •· . ,: I ·• ~;. ~- . ... :' ~/ .. :\;\ . . 1··r•1<,,._ • Wumm DELMONICO BECAME FAMOUS The old Grinnell Mansion, Fifth Avenue, Corner Fourteenth Street, where Dclmonico's held forth in the sixties and seventies and the scene of every noted society function of that period. D E L M 0 N I C 0 s organization comprised society in their ciay, it is interesting to recall _the names of some memb~rs attending the first function: JOHN JACOB AsToR ALEX VAN RENSSELAER GEORGE HENRY WARREN. WILLIAM ASTOR DELANCY KANE, JR. WARD McALLISTER WILLIAM BUTLER DUNCAN EUGENE A. LIVINGSTON LEWIS COLFORD JONES E. TEMPLETON SNELLING B. J. WELLES WALTER LANGDON EDWIN A. PosT JOHN W. HAMERSLEY ...4.RCHIBALD GRACIE KING RoYAL PHEL.Ps ROBERT G. REMSEN FREDERICK SHELDON IssAc BELL LEWIS M. RUTHERFORD F. G. d'HAUTEVILLE WILLIAM c~ ScHERMERHoRN ROBERT E. LIVINGSTON FRANCIS B. R.IvEs THEODORE RoosEVELT J. AuGus.Tus HAMILTON CHARLES H. REMSEN C. C. GOODHUE LEVI P. MORTON MATURIN .. LIVINGSTON CHARLES DE RHAM In one of the apartments here, Gen. Scott lived; within its walls Seward spoke and Abraham Lincoln offered his quaint and now classic jests. Here Andrew Johnson and General Grant sat down at meals together. Indeed there was not a President from 1832 to a_ very late period who had not been a guest at Delmonico's. Some of its private banquets were of Roman magnificence, notably the Luck~ meyer dinner at which a number of· snow white swans sailed majesti cally in a pond in the centre of the table while myriad birds warbled inc.: 0 -.:s overhead. Mr. Stuart, who represented England at Washing ton for a time, and of whom Abraham Hayward speaks in his essay on dinners, as "unquestionably the best judge of living in Europe," expressed the enthusiastic opinion that there was no finer restaurant in Europe. t By this time the fame of Delmonico's banquets were world wide.~ We can record but a few. ~ Brilliant in every respect, was the fare well dinner tendered Henry wj 1 Irving at Delmonico's in 1885. Nearly 200 representative Americans -: were present to speed the parting guest; among them, Henry Ward Beecher, Hon. William M. Evarts, Judge Noah Davis, Charles Fran- [ 5 I ] OLD BLOOMINGDALE ROAD This view, from the corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-third Street along Broadway to Twenty-sixth Street. It was then the Bloomingdale Road, 1845. When Fifth Avenue was cut through, the little cottage became a roadhouse known as Madison Square Cottage. See next page. DELMONICO'S cis Adams Jr., Chas. A. Dana, Henry Cabot Lodge, John lv1cCull_ogh, William ·F. Florence, Julian Hawthorne, Noah Brooks, William Winter, Cyrus W. Field, Albert Bierstadt, Judge Van Brunt, Newt Collis, Rev. William S. Rainsford, Elihu Root, Cornelius N. Bliss and Erastus Wiman. Another memorable dinner was that given to Oliver Wendell Holmes, by the Medical profession of New York City, on ..A.pril 12, 1883. Among the many distinguished doctors present were Drs. Lewis A. Sayre, S. Weir Mitchell, T. M. Markoe, W. T. Bull, A. Jacobie, A. McLane Hamilton, J. D. Emmett, J. M. Simes, J. H. Ripley, not~ to mention such con.firmed diners out among the laymen as Secretary Evarts, Whitelaw Reid and George William Curtis. Another famous banquet was that tendered to Thomas Bayley Potter by the merchants of New York. Mr. Potter, a member of Parliament, was the warm personal and political friend of ;Bright and Cobden and the dinner was given in appreciation of his services to the Union during the Civil War. The dinner was said to be of its kind, the most costly ever served in the city with the single exception of that given to the Prince of Wales on his visit here in 1860. Del monico. consequently outdid himself. The menus were printed by hand upon broad pieces of silk ribbon in di.fferen~ :colors. Among the I 5 o guests present were Levi . P. Morton, William Earle Dodge, John Jay, John Bigelow, Dr. Henry C. Potter, Samuel D. Babcock, J. S. Morgan, J. P. Morgan, Samuel -~- Ruggles, John H. Starin, Noah Davis, s~th Low, Oliver Harriman, Brayton Ives, John A. Stewart, Sam Sloan, Charles Lanier, Augustus D. Juilliard, James Stranahan, Cyrus W. Field, Marshall 0. Roberts, Cornelius N. Bliss, \V'illiam H. Guion, David Dudley Field, D. 0. Mills, William H. Webb, Woodbury Langdon, James McCreery and Elliot F. Shepherd. The cafe of this Fourteenth Street house also became a scene of noted gatherings-the resort of more native and foreign notabilities than any -other place in the ·city. There distinguished literary and political characters stopped daily to sip the matutinal "cocktail," the anti-prandial sherry and bitters, the evening "pony." T~ere the Wall ~ '"I. •1 Street magnates dropped in on their way uptown to discuss the "mint julip" of delectable memory, or quaff the "champagne cocktail.» Morning, noon and night the place was ever alive with a chattering, convivial, imbibing throng of celebrities. • 'J :'.<'. r · . ~J·.:·.~,~-: _:-.·h.;:./:~-~-.1,- ~}.-~- ,;-·~: ~~- ,, \t".,·b.,,, ·., .. ;,. it.. ··•;•f ~;·~:··:i , -··-r= ...... ,¥ ;)"1,r •. \,;,..;~,..... •r•.'!I_,,~,;;,,.:\' 1,ffl ~-: ',. , ;,·.; ,,•.,;~'I' • ,< • , l . ', , •, ••~, ••., . ' .,_ rr ;':f. 7 ,. ,- -~;,~ ·• \J.,~11/:~sr:.;;.,\ ~ ' • ..,-;!i::,\ \';J:•,,•_.-l~;, .',. ·;1 .. . ' :'/ ; . k¢~\rr,~!:}, d; ~-. ,:~H\1~J ,_~ tt t \~ ;~:Ji;i' ;, ;:• ~i-~•,., . lr.f~ t,.,,. ... : ... ' .. (. : .. ' . ·.;;>.. ~i/;'~~~.. 3~~~3~~: m~/r~/':1. l"f ·\•ft~·f 4J ~.~17, t1 "\'\''}. o ·M· '< 1/,r>, \f,-,;,_,._, . '' •... , . ; . · . ' .,, \.: ,.. !•°>:•J.>:t1J}j~~•1•. ~i• j ~-~•\? ·t:• .' ~; '~~;-. . .. ' -•. , ,,, , . FIFTH AVENUE, CORNF..R BROADWAY AND 23RD STREE'r,·1850 This is the little farm house seen through the trees in the other picture. Within a few years it was succeeded by the great Fifth Avenue Hotel built by An10s R. Eno and leased to Paran Stevens. THE Oi.o STOCK · ExcHANGE Delmonico's first famous restaurant was at William and Beaver Streets opposite the stock exchange. Along in the eighty's Delmonico brought over a portico and entrance taken .from the rums of Pompeii of an old Roman hostelry, a small section of which is shown at extreme .right of picture at entrance of restaurant. From a Contenvporaf"1J Sketch, 1890 A LUNCHEON AT DELMONico's, CORNER FIFTH AVE. AND 26TH ST. By 8medle11 in Harper'8 Weekly , •:··.. -a,··.·-~ i.mf t-"'.>-!::§·•,:,-.--.-,\·:,;. "'-\~.v,, •.... ,.-,,_, • , , ~·~ wi~ ~vr':-:, -~_~.-.. ·,.\ -_"iY·~,:,'.•·· 1 t·· •11i~-; ·• · -· •".,; - .. ,.. ' ,r~,i:J -, __ : ;;,;::;,· I· .' - .;'i "'''' ~ :o,-~ .,,.,,: ·1··~:.·(; ;;;:: .. :..::: f,..,. ,·t;;, ':{:-<'·... •r?: --~\({i:'_·_·.-_ •. ·- •. , - --).) i.%~-Y~ ....,,.1:i,,1,,t,l.; •• i;-,.- ,,._~1,,...... J.J' ,, ... \ l!i ~:,,I' ft:. - __ ., f \ 1., -4,. 'J V/fc.:.,' •. •\' ' . . i}'< ~-•-~ ~·•-1} " ' 'JII'\-· ,},t· ,y·,t \ ,J.-.· ;'1 ... ,.,, . ,~-- ! ,...,:,;:; : ' , . ,. •.i hloti.: . .- <•- .·:, 1:·-1-~f\lJ ·1·. ·. ,, ., ~ f.•::· . .~ ,1 ~ - 1. \·-~\, 11 . -- (• •:: ' '' ,, ,:.:. \ ;; h i1\'• I! y ' . ·;· . ''. '.l/~i}>-:: 1 • ·, 1, ~-,, ,.\. ~1JI, · ,,t ,~ ,(_, . ;•\' ,, .. .. -·,)' h ,, "ii,t-;. ·I :j-f•, . (, ~--- ,. ._..,._ ..... •··• ..·•.•· ~-.- .... .:r-- . 'f, \,;: ., \ ' . . ~' .;J;{; '·•,it ._'.:':iq·,, . 1 ,,; ::· '·tt) Ji·"k,/; ./.'- i .: ,;)~ :/ -~: . ~ )tii\ ''i. ~.:A· j "ii'r,>,f,;_1 .-; ,v~· ., I ,,,z\'.• • /jfr(f~'I<'-! ~,.. • __ fl j ~,,;•,I,: •rvrli': ',1' ,•'.\t.-"'.l ,tJ ".o!:'. THE OLD FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL Corner Broadway, Fifth Ayenue and Twenty-third Street, which succeeded Corporal Thompson's roadhouse 011 same site. The fitst passenger elevator was installed here. DELMONICO'S Leaving-the Avenue at 14t.b,: street in .1876, Pelqionico ~f~ll9w_ed the uptown tr~nd to the corner of 26th Street,.there to become qn~- of the chief-sights of·the. city. Nightly · the. : great ·dining salon was filled ._ wi_th_·_ beautiful women and men of l)ational celebrity, while .in the men's cafe w~uld have been fo.und ?ttc~ div~rsified- types as-.Br9Ckh9lst. Cu~i~g, one _of New York's best dressed _men;. Berry Wall,. "~ing-of .the Dudes"; James B. Haggin; John Hoey; "Mike" O'Brien. and "Jim~' Keene; Tom Howard of _Cotillion fam·e; Freddie Gebhard and the Cottonet .brother~, Charles and Rawlin; and John Drew, only lately departed, the· darling. of the stage, might have been seen h_ob-nobbing _with Rich ard Mansfield. Other notables of the theatre never long ab~ent from Delmonico's were Nat Goodwin, T. Henry Frenc;h,_ Charles, and Daniel Frohman. : As for. Delmoni_co hi~self he _wa~ always _in .e_vi dence, sustaining the reputation for personal populanty . enjoyed . by a.11 the brothers. : "Betwe_en the hours of three and four,"-:said a con temporary, "you are bound to find him in the cafe of the Fifth Avenue house, not discovering a new dish, which· it has. been_ said, does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery ~f a. new _co~ stellation, but· -chatting with some of the .w;ell---_knn~n. m.en o:( New _·:York-on the topics of. the day. Tha~ cafe._of _De_lmoni~o's i~ µie b~~.t club- in the city, owing to the infinite variety of: its members.- . It __ -is the trysting place of men . from the Union, · Knickerboc_k~r;: Calumet. and Ma.nhattaµ Clubs; the great meeting ground of_ busi.r~ess meri, actors and other professional men, leaders of the financial. world, sponsmen and men who have nothing to do save enjoy themselves. It is almost the first American institution to which the .foreigner when he lands on these shores is introduced and about-the surest shot for finding a friend who has'just arrived in town." Madison Square offered Delmonico's an ideal millieu for its operations. Situated facing the park, amid the great hotels: the Fifth A venue, Albemarle, Hoffman House, St.· James, Brunswick, Victoria a.nd others; the increasing parade of equipages rolling up Fifth Avenue and its fashionable promenad~rs; all afforded a Parisian aspect to the surro'll:ndings that has since had no counterpart in New York. Soon afterwards the Fourteenth Street building was demolished '-' to make way for a warehouse. In the spring of 1877 the Broadway and Chambers Street downtown Delmonico's was closed and replaced by a new branch ad joining the old Equitable Building at I I 2 Broad- [ 59] DELMONICO'S way. At this time Lorenzo Delmonico was the presiding genius of the house. Just before the Civil War, he had become involved in some oil-well speculations and had suffered heavy .financial reverses, and as a consequence ·he was forced to offer his business at auction. The day of the sale came, but no bids were forthcoming. "Delmonico's is an institution and shall not be sold," was the slogan, and Wall Street rallied to Lorenzo's aid with enough capital to resume business on the old scale. The war, with its high prices, afforded him the desired opportunity and he ·was soon out of debt. He died in I 88 I and was interred in old St. Patrick's Cathedral Churchyard on Mulberry Street. · In I 897, when the social centre moved northward, Delmonico's abandoned the Madison Square location and removed to a splendid new building on Fifth Avenue at 44th Street, especially planned for its sole occupancy. Here the traditional splendor increased. Of the great dinn.ers and balls given here the list is a long one. All the famous names in New York society were to be read in the guests roster at luncheon, dinner-dances or balls, among them many of the descen dants of the founders of the "Patriarchs" in the old Fourteenth Street establishment. None could foresee, however, the overwhelming change that was soon to transform Fifth Avenue from a citadel of high society to a street wholly given up to business. With this momentous change accom plished, the Avenue no longer held its former place in the affections of its early devotees and its social prominence waned. And with it for the time being society's old favorite, Delmonico's, followed suit. · But as in the case of Lorenzo after the Civil War, the public re garded Delmonico's as an institution which must not be allowed to disappear, and in the new structure recently completed at Park A venue and 59th Street, a new Delmonico has arisen which promises even greater achievements than those of its renowned predecessors. · [ 60] grateful acknowledgnzent is nzade to Jlfr. Henry Collins 13rown far his kind permission to append these few succeeding pages of advertising matter, which seem not inappropriate in view ofthe many complimentary rrferences to the House qf Velmonz"co in this interesting volunze. .,I i ! ·,'I l .!' "'.;'' I r :f j i .• I '•I : ~ ~ ...•• .a. ·: .i, '*'.;_ HOTEL DEL1·fONICO 500 PARK i\VENUE Northeast Corner of Fifty-ninth Street, New York. HOTEL DELMO.N-ICO ITUATED commandingly at one of the highest points of elevation S on Park A venue, this imposing structure of thirty-one stories; with its graduated. set:backs and terraces, presents to the City of New York a dominating note in the recently developed trend of American architecture. Twenty-seven of the upper stories are devoted to suites so ingeniously planned as to permit wide v~riation in arrangement and number of rooms; many have private sun terraces. The rooms are of sensible proportions-neither grotesquely oversize nor in judiciously constricted-with every concomitant of comfort and good taste. Suites will be · decorated and equipped to meet the wishes of the Tenant, or if desired, will he leased unfurnished. Floor plans and authoritative information may be acquired from DOUGLAS GIBBON§ & COO 6 EAST 45th STREET NEW YORK CITY OR FROM THEIR REPRESENTATIVE AT THE BUILDING ~HE RES1'AURANT-Admirable L ... in architectural contour and purity of decorative scheme, it presents a superb setting for revivescence of the art of din ing. Many excellent restaurants there are in Manhattan, but none has ever captured the ineffable atmosphere nor rivaled the surpassing cu1s1ne which distinguishes the Hotel Delmonico. ~HE GR/LL-Since-alas! the cos L .L mopolitan cafe of the beloved Fifth Avenue and Twenty-sixth Street establishment cannot be reproduced-here, then, is an inviting approach, less formal than the main dining salon, but distinctly attractive in tone and treatment. ~HE BdLLROOlvf~-The major L .L portion of the second and third floor is allotted to the Ballroom, a strik inglr ornate ar.d lofty hall, two stories in height with a graceful balcony, a superb dancing floor, reception rooms and parlors, separate kitchens and every requisite for large social functions. Here, also, are a nun1ber of rooms to be used singly or in combinations for smaller dancing parties, pri,·ate dinners, vvcddings and assemblies. The entire operation is under the personal direction of MRo THEODORE ROTHE an assurance to patrons of the former Delmonico establishments, as well as to the present generation, of capable administration in every department.