enter name and hit return
A HISTORICAL TOUR OF THE GREATEST STREET IN THE WORLD.......BROADWAY
FROM UNION SQUARE TO FORTY-SECOND STREET
Pre 1911
1. UNION PLACE PARK
As before stated, the Bowery and Broadway were designed by the
commission of 1807 to meet at the "tulip tree"; above this was the
Bloomingdale road, into which the Bowery curved slightly from its route over
that part of the present Fourth Avenue below Fourteenth Street. If the
streets planned by the commission were cut through from east to west, there
would be formed at this place a number of irregular blocks of inconvenient
size and shape. To get out of this dilemma, the commission laid out at this
point a small park where fresh air might be obtained when the city blocks
should be built up. This park they called Union Place, because here was the
union of the two principal thoroughfares of the island.
In 1815, by act of the legislature, it became the public
meeting-place, or commons, for the people of the city; but it was many years
before it was used for anything else than for the shanties of the squatters
who occupied the site. Like nearly all the public parks of the city, it had
before 1815 been used as a potter's field. In 1832, the corporation
determined to enlarge and regulate the place to its present area, from
Fourteenth to Seventeenth streets and from Fourth Avenue to the extended
north line of University Place. It was not until 1845, however, that with an
expenditure of one hundred and sixteen thousand dollars, the park was put
into shape and that the elegant mansions were erected which once surrounded
the park, a few of which still remain as business places. Samuel B. Ruggles,
one of the founders of the Bank of Commerce, was chiefly instrumental in
developing as a fashionable part of the city this section as well as
Gramercy Square.
2. FARMS
In 1762, Elias Brevoort sold twenty-two acres of his farm, extending
from the Bowery westward between the present Fourteenth and Sixteenth
streets, to John Smith, from whose executors the farm passed in 1788 to
Henry Spingler, a shop-keeper of New York, for nine hundred and fifty
pounds. Spingler's farmhouse stood within the limits of Union Square. Other
farms as far as Twenty-third Street on the west side belonged to Thomas
Burling, John Cowman, Isaac Clason, Sir Peter Warren, Isaac Varian, and
Christian Milderberger. On the east side, were the two farms of Cornelius
Williams and John Watts. At the corner of the present Seventeenth Street and
the Bloomingdale Road was a square acre of ground belonging to the Manhattan
Bank, acquired so it is supposed, as a sort of refuge for conducting
business in case of being driven from the city by the yellow fever.
3. OTHER POINTS OF INTERESTS IN THE SECTION SURROUNDING UNION SQUARE.
A) SPINGLER HOUSE HOTEL
The hotel known as the Spingler House stood for many years on the west side
of the square on the site now occupied by the Spingler building.
B) MAISON DOREE
A fashionable restaurant, on the south side, near University Place.
C) HOTEL CHURCHILL
On the southeast corner of Broadway and Fourteenth Street is the Hotel
Churchill, formerly the Morton House, and originally the Union Place Hotel,
established in 1850.
D) TIFFANY & CO.,
Among the prominent shops which occupied the west side of the square was the
great jewelry house of Tiffany & Co., which moved here from Broadway and
Broome Street in 1870, occupying a site upon which formerly had stood the
Spingler Institute. Tiffany remained at the southwest corner of Fifteenth
Street until 1905, when the business was moved to Fifth Avenue and
Thirty-seventh Street, as the highest class of trade was moving to that
avenue.
E) SCHIRMER, AND DITSON & CO.,
Leading music dealers and publishers of the city, were also here for many
years before moving up-town.
F) THE EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
On July 4, 1856, the first statue erected in New York since that of George
III. in 1770, was unveiled with appropriate honors in the southeast corner
of the square. It is the equestrian statue of George Washington, designed by
Henry K. Brown. It stands near the spot where the citizens of New York met
Washington on the Bowery Road when he was entering the city to take
possession upon its evacuation by the British, November 25, 1783.
G) THE STATUE OF LAFAYETTE IN UNION SQUARE
At the head of Broadway is the statue of the gallant Frenchman Lafayette,
who gave not only money and supplies to the American army, but his personal
services as well, and with such marked ability as to deserve well of the
American people. The statue is by Bartholdi and was given to the city in
1876 by its French residents.
4. MANY BUSINESSES HAVE MOVED FROM THE VICINITY
To show how the retail trade is departing, there is one great house of
international reputation, located near Twentieth Street, which spent $6000
more in advertising in December, 1910, than in previous years and $55,000
less business in the same month. The assessed valuation of property in this
neighborhood for taxes has been decreased in some cases for 1910..
The Gorham Company of silversmiths was at Nineteenth Street for nearly
thirty years, moving to upper Fifth Avenue in 1906. The great grocery house
of Park & Tilford, which had occupied the southwest corner of Twenty-first
Street for forty years, moved to the Brunswick building on Fifth Avenue in
the fall of 1910.
The last of the old mansions that once stood in this neighborhood was
one belonging to Peter Goelet at the northeast corner of Nineteenth Street;
it stood until June, 1897, amid the great business houses that surrounded
it. It was a rather gloomy place with few signs of occupancy except some
peacocks which strutted proudly around within the railed garden in front of
the house and attracted the attention of the passers-by. Most of the other
great
houses on the thoroughfare between Union and Madison Squares___Arnold,
Constable & Co., Lord & Taylor, Aitken & Son, Sloan's, Brooks Brothers, and
others___are too well known at present to call for description.
5. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
For many years the park was enclosed by an iron railing; but about
twenty years ago, the city authorities awakened to the fact that the public
parks should be free at all hours, especially at night in our hot spells,
and the fence was removed. The fountain was erected in anticipation of the
admission of Croton water and played for the first time upon the day of the
great celebration in 1842. Several smaller fountains for drinking places
have been erected about the park.
On the north is a house of comfort with a platform facing the open
space of Seventeenth Street from which speakers can address the crowds upon
public occasions. This has been a favorite out-door gathering place upon
May-day and Labor day for the socialistically inclined; and one can listen
upon such occasions to a variety of denunciations by wild-eyed and
long-haired foreign citizens. You may not be able to understand anything
they say except the one word "Capitalisten" which is hurled with such
obvious and bitter hatred that you come to the conclusion that it cannot
mean anything else but capitalists. At a meeting of this sort on March 28,
1908, a bomb was hurled at the police, but fortunately no one was killed
except the hurler of the missile.
6. THE GREAT MEETING IN UNION SQUARE
Of a different class from the socialistic meetings was the great
meeting in Union Square on the twentieth of April, 1861, when at three
o'clock in the afternoon, over one hundred thousand people assembled in mass
convention to take steps to redress the insult to the flag, which had been
fired upon at Sumter less than ten days before. The Meeting was presided
over by John A. Dix with eighty-seven vice-presidents from the leading men
of the community; among whose names you will find only half a dozen, which,
at that time, would have been called foreign. The list began with Peter
Cooper and ended with John J. Astor. The most famous of the orators who
addressed the meeting was Senator Baker of Oregon, who, during the Mexican
War, had led a New Meeting gave encouragement to the Government and showed
the spirit in which the city viewed the impending conflict.
The mayor of the city at the time of this meeting was Fernando Wood, a
wily and disloyal politician, who had proposed the secession of the city,
together with Staten and Long Islands, from the State of New York and the
formation of a new State, to be called "Tri-Insula." As mayor, he was chosen
to preside at this meeting, and it was strongly intimated to him that it was
as much as his place was worth if he did not come out boldly for the Union.
With this threat in mind, and doubtless still further reminded of the
necessity of being loyal by the shrill cry of a small boy perched in a tree;
"Now, Nandy, mind what you say; you've got to stick to it this time," he
made a speech in accord with the loyal sentiments which animated the great
crowd.
7. THE UNION LEAGUE CLUB
A short time after the meeting there was formed a club of loyal and
patriotic men, modelled after a similar one in Philadelphia, and called the
"Union League Club." Its object was to assist the government in raising
regiments and funds. It first occupied a house loaned for the purpose by
Henry G. Marquand at the corner of Seventeenth Street and Broadway, later
moving to Madison Avenue and now at Fifth Avenue and Thirty-ninth Street;
its membership for many years has been restricted to members of the
Republican party.
8. DEADMAN'S CURVE
When the cable road was built on Broadway, it was customary for the
cars to take the double curve from the west side of the Square into Broadway
at full speed, the company stating that it was impossible to let go and grip
the cable while on the curve___and the authorities believed them. So many
accidents occurred here that the place became known as "deadman's curve." At
last, the authorities threatened to do something ___and the car company
immediately found a contrivance for picking up and letting go the cable as
successfully as on a straight course.
9. A SURFACE CAR LINE ON BROADWAY
The idea of a surface car line on Broadway had its inception as early
as 1850, and a company of thirty was incorporated for the purpose. This
corporation, of which Jacob Sharp and John L. O'Sullivan were the prime
movers, secured from the Common Council in December, 1852, a franchise "to
lay a double track in Broadway and Whitehall or State Street from the South
Ferry to Fifty-seventh Street; and also, hereafter to continue the same from
time to time along the Bloomingdale Road to Manhattanville." In addition,
the company was to give free transfers to omnibus lines at a number of cross
streets and to pay an almost nominal sum to the city for the privileges
granted. The motive power was to be horses, the only known power at that
time for street traction purposes. In granting the company the right to
extend their line to the terra incognita of Harlem, the aldermen little
thought how promptly the Manhattanville section would be built up and that
their generous grant would in the near future prove to be of immense value.
10. A COURT MATTER OVER THIRTY YEARS
As Broadway was then the chief residential street of the best society
of the city, strong objections were made, and the company was enjoined from
building the road. The matter was carried into the courts, where the fight
lasted for over thirty years. The aldermen and assistant aldermen who,
notwithstanding the vetoes of the mayor, granted this and other franchises
without adequate compensation to the city, were denominated "The Forty
Thieves," as each board consisted of twenty members. William M. Tweed was
at this time an alderman, and Richard B. Connolly, his coadjutor in the
later infamous Tweed ring, was already known in political and municipal
affairs as "Slippery Dick." As a result of failing to obey an order
restraining them from granting the franchise, many of the aldermen were
fined and one was imprisoned for contempt of court. When the rail-road
matter was finally settled in 1885, most of the aldermen of 1852 were dead
and not more than half a dozen of the original incorporators were alive.
11. BETWEEN THE 1852 FRANCHISE AND 1885 ROAD CONSTRUCTION A BITTER FIGHT.
Between the granting of the franchise in 1852 and the construction of
the road in 1885, the fight against it was so bitter and politics entered
into it so largely that the contest had its effect upon the election of both
state and city officials. In 1863, Commodore Vanderbilt stole a march on
Jacob Sharp by getting the aldermen to grant him a franchise for the
extension of the Fourth Avenue surface road down Broadway from Fourteenth
Street to the Battery. He was the controlling power in the Harlem railroad
which owned the Fourth Avenue line, the first surface car line in the city.
In furtherance of his plan, the block between Thirteenth and Fourteenth
streets on Broadway was torn up: but an injunction stayed the work, and the
block remained in a disgraceful condition for two years while the matter was
being adjudicated.
12. BROADWAY AND SEVENTH AVENUE CAR LINE ESTABLISHED IN 1864.
In 1864, the Broadway and Seventh Avenue car line was established, and
the cars were run on Broadway above Union Square, continuing through
University Place below Fourteenth Street. Sharp was one of the directors of
this line and it became the backer of the Broadway line and the corporation
through which the financial manipulations of the Broadway Surface Company,
as Sharp's line was officially known, were made. The principal difficulty
experienced by the exploiters of the road was in getting the consent of
property owners on Broadway below Fourteenth Street. At last, in 1883, Sharp
succeeded in having passed at Albany a general railroad act which permitted
the aldermen to offer the franchise of a street railway for sale or not, "at
their option."
13. MORE CONFLICT REGARDING SURFACE ROAD
On August 6, 1884, the aldermen, with only one dissentient vote, gave
permission to lay tracks on Broadway; but the mayor promptly vetoed the
resolution. A taxpayer named Lyddy then enjoined the board from passing the
resolution over the veto; but Lyddy was bought off, and at nine o'clock on
the morning of August thirtieth, the eighteen aldermen in favor of the
franchise were called secretly together and repassed the resolution granting
the franchise. No notice of the meeting was sent to those aldermen opposed
to the grant, and the city got little for a franchise so valuable that two
millions of dollars had been offered for it. The feeling of the public in
regard to this flagrant abuse of power is shown in a cartoon of Harper's
Weekly at the time. Two strangers inquiring their way are saying to a New
Yorker: "We want Broadway and Tenth Street." The reply was: "Broadway has
already been given away; but if you make haste, you may be able to secure
Tenth Street from the aldermen."
The Act of the board had hardly become public before injunctions were
at once applied for. The Supreme Court appointed a commission to examine
into the matter and to report upon the case. It was shown in the senate
investigation that some members of the commission were connected with the
interested parties. Upon a decision of the Supreme Court in favor of the
Broadway surface railway, Sharp lost no time in laying tracks and securing
equipment, buying up all the stages and horse of the omnibus lines, many of
whose drivers he later used on the horse cars. The last bus ran on Broadway
below Fourteenth Street on June 20, 1885, and the first public horse-car ran
over the route from Fifty-seventh Street to the Bowling Green the next day.
The cost of building the road was about $138,000, but the company was
financed for over two millions.
The action of the Board of Aldermen aroused the ire of the public, and
the State Senate began an investigation. Their counsel was Roscoe Conkling,
and the leaders of counsel for the railroad were James C. Carter and Elihu
Root. One of the striking features of the investigation was the inability of
Sharp to remember anything about transactions involving the drawing of
checks amounting to over half a million dollars, though his memory was
wonderful in regard to other matters. The Senate committee found that no
legal authority had ever existed for the construction of the Broadway
surface road; that the Broadway Surface Railway Company was a sham and a
scheme shaped in conjunction with the directors of the Broadway and Seventh
Avenue Company; that bribery had been employed and the city defrauded in the
granting of the franchise, and that the franchise should be revoked.
This was followed by the arrest of Alderman Jachne, one of the "solid
eighteen," on March 18, 1885. Of the twenty-two members of the Board of
Aldermen that passed the franchise in August, 1884, all but two were found
to be implicated. One of the two, Hugh J. Grant, later became mayor of the
city. Of the remaining twenty, two were dead and three fled at the time
Jaehne's arrest. The others were indicted and tried for bribery and suffered
various degrees of punishment from fines to imprisonment. The arch briber,
Jacob Sharp, suffered imprisonment. It was shown that the price paid for
votes was as high as $20,000.
In the thirty-three years during which the conflict for the surface
road had been carried on, the character of Broadway had changed completely.
It was no longer a select residential thoroughfare, but it had become the
main artery of the city's trade, and the advent of the horse-cars was hailed
by the merchants with satisfaction. In a little more than five years the
question arose of changing the motive power to cable. The public was
strongly opposed to it; but other cities had already introduced the cable,
and New York was obliged to get rid of the antiquated horse-car, and the
railway company finally won out. For months, the street was torn up from end
to end and business was in a demoralized condition; but the work was at last
done and the first cable cars were run in June, 1893. The change from the
small, bumpy, and slow moving horse-car satisfied the public; and when, on
September 5, 1898, an accident happened to the power house at Houston Street
and the cars had to be hauled by horses from Thirty-fifth Street to the
Bowling Green, their reappearance was greeted with derision. Then came the
final change to electric traction. Overhead trolley wires with their
potentiality of danger in a great thoroughfare like Broadway were out of the
question, and the underground trolley was decided upon. Other city lines
were changed first; and as they worked successfully, even with heavy snow on
the ground, the work of changing on Broadway was begun in September, 1898.
It was expected by the railway people that the change would be effected by
December of the same year; but it was not until May26, 1901, that the cars
were running by electric traction.
This, briefly, is the history of the Broadway Surface Railway
Company___a history replete with bribery, corruption, "Boodle" aldermen,
iniquitous legislatures, and complaisant courts.
14. BUCK'S HORN TAVERN
At Twenty-second Street and Broadway was situated the Buck's Horn
Tavern, which is spoken of in 1816 as "an old and well-known tavern." It was
ornamented with the head and horns of a buck and was set back short distance
from the street about ten feet higher than the present grade. It was a
favorite road-
house for those who drove out upon the Bloomingdale Road
(Boston Post-road). Almost opposite the tavern, the Abingdon Road (Love
Lane) followed approximately the line of the present Twenty-first Street as
far west as the Fitzroy Road (Eighth Avenue). The drivers of that day used
to come as far as the Buck's Horn, then turn through the quiet and shady
Love Lane to Chelsea, and thence by the river road through Greenwich village
back to the city across the Lispenard meadows. Three hotels still stand in
this section between Union Square and Twenty-third Street; these are the
Continental, at the northeast corner of Twentieth Street; the Bancroft, at
the corner of Twenty-first Street, and the Bartholdi, at the southeast
corner of Twenty-third Street.
15. ABBEY'S PARK THEATRE
Nearly on the site of the old Buck's Horn Tavern, Abbey's Park Theatre
stood in the seventies and eighties. The Stock company was one of the best
in New York, containing several actors who later joined Daly's company.
Between seasons many well-known actors appeared; among them, Mrs. Langtry,
who made her American debut upon this stage. The house was planned by Dion
Boucicault, but he got into difficulties and was not its manager when it
opened in 1874. It came under the management of Abbey on November 27, 1876,
the actress Lotta being his financial backer. Among the plays first given
here was "The Gilded Age" in which John T. Raymond appeared as the
protagonist, Colonel Mulberry Sellers. The play was founded on Mark Twain's
story of the same name. The house was destroyed by fire, October 30, 1882,
several hours before the evening performance, and was not rebuilt.
16. FLAT-IRON BUILDING
The high building at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue is one
of the curiosities of New York architecture, and from its resemblance in
shape to the common household utensil is popularly called the "Flat-iron
Building." Its site was owned by Eno of the Second National Bank , who also
owned the Fifth Avenue Hotel property. The triangular block was occupied for
many years previous to the construction of the "Flat-iron" by a row of
two-story buildings used as shops and offices, and at the Twenty-second
Street boundary by a tall building called the Hotel St. Germain, the whole
pre-senting an anomalous appearance upon one of the most beautiful squares
in New York, with the trees and lawns of Madison Square Park so prominent in
the view. At the time that the Fuller Company was constructing the building
to its dizzy height, the streets of the city were torn up and gouged out by
the workmen on the subway. A French visitor was moved to remark upon the
idiosyncrasies of the American people. "I look up zare," he said, "and zay
are going up to heaven; I look down zare, and zay are digging down to_____ze
ozzer place."
17. MADISON COTTAGE
On the west side of Madison Square, between Twenty-third and
Twenty-fourth streets, there stood for about thirty years the "Madison
Cottage", kept by Corporal Thompson. This house had formerly been the
homestead of John Horn, who owned the land where Madison Square is now
located. When the improvements were made in this vicinity, the old homestead
was moved from the bed of Fifth Avenue to the site described above. It was a
favorite road-house on the Bloomingdale Road, and at certain times of the
year a cattle fair was held in the adjoining lot. In 1853, the Cottage gave
way to Franconi's Hippodrome, a two story, brick building, where
performances of a superior quality were given. In 1858, the Hippodrome in
turn gave way to a magnificent marble hotel, which was for many years the
most notable in New York.
18. THE FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL
This was the Fifth Avenue Hotel, which was the usual stopping place of
most of the presidents after 1860 when they visited the city.
When Arthur was President, he received here the first Corean embassy
that visited the country. The interpreter was a naval officer named Foulke,
a classmate of the author. It was here that in 1884, during the
Blaine-Cleveland campaign, the Rev. Mr. Burchard made use of his famous
saying in referring to the Democratic Party as the party of " Rum,
Romanism, and Rebellion." The alliterative remark, made in the presence of
Mr. Blaine, went unrebuked at the time; and as it was repeated in the public
press throughout the country, it gained such wide notoriety as to aid
materially in the defeat of Mr. Blaine for the presidency. The hotel also
sheltered the famous "Amen Corner", where the politicians, journalists, and
newspaper men used to gather in social intercourse, resulting in an annual
dinner somewhat resembling that of the famous "Grid-iron Club" of the
national capital. At these dinners gather the jurists, editors, journalists,
and politicians, and current affairs are burlesqued in such a manner as to
make lots of fun, at the same time conveying a moral. The hotel was
demolished in 1908, making way for the great office edifice now occupying
the site.
19. BLOOMINGDALE ROAD
The Bloomingdale Road was in colonial times a country road leading to
the hamlet of Bloomingdale and to the farms and country residences of
wealthy citizens on the west side overlooking the Hudson. In 1760, this road
was widened to four rods to about the present Fortieth Street, and remained
so until the improvements in this section subsequent to 1845. It was lined
with farmlands belonging, on the west, to Matthew Dyckman, Jacob Horn,
Isaac Varian, James Stewart, Samuel Van Norden, extending on both sides of
the road, Mary Norton, and L. Norton as far as Forty-fourth Street. On the
east side, above the arsenal, were the Samler, William Ogden, and John
Taylor farms, some land belonging to the corporation and the farm of Arthur
Kind, extending to Forty-fifth Street. Many of these farms both above and
below this immediate section, were the country places of well-to-do New York
merchants who had their city homes and shops below Canal Street. There was
no Newport, Lenox, or Bar Harbor in those early days to take the people away
from the island; and if there had been there were no luxurious boats or
Pullmans to whisk them hundreds of miles in a few hours.
20. THE HOFFMAN HOUSE
On the west side of Broadway, at Twenty-fifth Street, the Hoffman
House was located in the eighties and soon became one of the sights of the
city on account of the paintings displayed in its barroom ___all of them by
the greatest of American and European artists____the especial object of
interest being Bouguereau's Nymphs and Satyr. The Albemarle Hotel adjoins
the Hoffman House on the Twenty-fourth Street corner; and at the southeast
corner of Twenty-seventh Street is the Hotel Victoria, at one time the home
of the late President Cleveland after his first term of office.
21. THE WORTH MONUMENT
At the junction of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and Twenty-fifth Street is
a small, triangular park, in which is a granite obelisk, known as the Worth
Monument. If we read the bronze bands which are around the stone, we find
inscribed Chippewa and Lundys Lane of the War of 1812 and nearly every
battle of the Mexican War in which either Taylor or Scott fought; for
Major-General William J. Worth was the right hand man of both these
commanders. Worth was a native of Hudson and a very distinguished officer.
He died in Texas in 1849, and his body was brought here later. After lying
in state in the City Hall, it was buried with imposing ceremonies on
November 25, 1857, under this monument erected by the City of New York. It
has become customary in late years to erect reviewing stands abreast of the
monument when parades and processions pass down Fifth Avenue to the
Washington Arch, or up the avenue to points above. Here the reviewing
officer, whether president, governor, mayor, or other distinguished person,
takes his stand.
22. THE NAVAL MEMORIAL ARCH
This was a beautiful arch and colonnade erected in 1899 when Admiral
Dewey returned from Manila. The arch was miscalled the "Dewey" arch. It was,
in fact, a naval memorial arch; and upon it and the columns were the names
of John Manley and John Paul Jones, Decatur, Hull, Perry, Stockton,
Farragut, Porter, and a host of others who have carried the flag upon the
seas and added lustre to it in all of the wars in which the United States
has been engaged from the Revolution to the present. The whole affair was
made of "staff," and in the course of several weeks became so dirty and
bedraggled that it had to be removed. It was intended to perpetuate the arch
and colonnade in marble, and subscriptions were started with this end in
view; but for some reason___perhaps because the admiral became too prosaic
an individual by getting married___the scheme fell through. It is a great
pity; for the Farragut statue opposite the Worth Monument is the only
memorial in New York which tends to do honor to that service that has always
distinguished itself in time of war, and which is immediately forgotten in
time of peace.
23. POLICE PRECINCT KNOWN AS "TENDERLOIN".
Twenty years ago, this section between Twenty-third and Thirty-fourth
streets was the liveliest in the city. Here were located many of the popular
hotels; and in the adjoining territory was the police precinct known as the
"Tenderloin," to be the commander of which was the ambition of many police
captains, as after one or two years of it they were assured of being able to
retire with at least a competency for their declining years.
24. HOTELS OF THE AREA
Besides the hotels mentioned, the Hoffman and the Albemarle, there
were the Gilsey at Twenty-ninth Street on the east side, the Grand at
Thirty-first Street, just above, now called the New Grand, the Coleman House
on the west side between Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth streets, the Hotel
Martinique at the north-east corner of Thirty-second Street, and the
Sturtevant at 1186 Broadway, a favorite stopping place for officers of the
army and navy. The last two have disappeared, the Gilsey is termed the New
Breslin, and the Imperial at Thirty-first to Thirty-second streets, the
finest hotel of all, has been erected and enlarged within less than fifteen
years. Where the Gilsey House now stands was the field of the St. George
Cricket Club, which was formed by the Englishmen who patronized Clark and
Brown's English chop-house in Maiden Lane; the grounds of the club are now
on Staten Island. At the southeast corner of Twenty-sixth Street,
Delmonico's up-town restaurant was located from 1876 to 1888, when the Cafe
Martin took its place and succeeded to its popularity. There are a number of
well-known restaurants and Rathskellers on this part of the thoroughfare.
25. THE VARIAN TREE
One of the last relics of the olden time to disappear was a tree on the west
side in front of Number 1151, near Twenty-sixth Street, which was the Varian
Tree, which had been at the gateway of the old Varian farm near the
homestead; it stood until before 1880.
26. A FEW TID-BITS REGARDING THEATRES OF THE AREA
The San Francisco Minstrels moved up-town between Twenty-eighth and
Twenty-ninth streets, on the west side, in 1874, and with Birch, Wambold,
and Backus ran successfully for several years. J. H. Haverly secured control
on December 1, 1883, and ran his "Mastodon," or "Megatherian," Minstrels for
some time. He was obliged to go back to the paleozoic age for an animal big
enough to represent the size of his show, with eight end men and the company
in proportion. The house was the Comedy Theatre under Haverly and was run
as a combination house. Dockstader had the place for a while and gave his
amusing monologue Misfits. The house belongs to one of the Gilsey family,
and it has been through all sorts of theatrical vicissitudes down to 1909,
rejoicing then in the name of the Princess Theatre."Sam" T. Jack ran it for
some time with a somewhat risky show. He appeared one morning in the Gilsey
office, after he had signed the contract, with an old valise and several
bundles tied up in newspapers, and notified the clerk he had come to pay his
first six months' rent. The clerk expected a check; but instead of producing
one, Jack tumbled his bundles onto the table and said: "Here it is; count it
and see if it is right." An examination showed the bundles to contain a
collection of bills of all denominations, mixed up in apparently
inextricable confusion. One of the Gilseys and the clerk put the bundles
into a cab and drove to the bank, where, after two hours' work, assisted by
several of the bank clerks, they succeeded in sorting out the mixture and
found it correct to the last dollar.
Two other theatres have entrances from Broadway: Daly's old
Twenty-eighth Street house, and Jo Weber's. The first began as Apollo Hall,
and later became Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre. After Daly's removal, it
became Harry Miner's Theatre and was burned out January 2, 1891; it is now
Keith and Proctor's. The other theatre on Twenty-ninth Street was originally
Weber and Field's, where those amusing comedians gave very funny burlesques
of the passing shows. After the dissolution of their partnership, it became
Jo Weber's Theatre.
1) LESTER WALLACK'S THEATRE
Lester Wallack moved into his up-town theatre at the northeast corner
of Thirtieth Street in February, 1881, but the building was not ready for
opening until January 4, 1882. The exterior of the building has never been
completely finished. Here Wallack had an excellent stock company as before;
but the house never became so famous or so popular as the old Thirteenth
Street theatre___perhaps, because a new generation of theatre-goers had
grown up and the actor-manager was getting old. He retired from active
management, and the house opened as Palmer's Theatre on October 8, 1888, to
become and remain Wallack's once more on December 7, 1896.
2) BANVARD'S MUSEUM AND THEATRE
The oldest theatre in this neighborhood was originally Banvard's
Museum and Theatre at 1221 Broadway, near Thirtieth Street. It was the first
building in the city erected expressly for museum purposes, and was opened
June 17, 1867. It became Wood's Museum and Metropolitan Theatre in 1868, and
Wood's Museum and Menagerie in 1869. Very good plays with first-class actors
were given under both managers, as I can personally testify. In 1877, it
became the Broadway Theatre, and two years later it became Daly's remaining
under the management of Augustin Daly until his death. It was the one
theatre where the visitor could find the perfection of acting, management,
and presentation, whether the play were a French or German farce or a
Shakesperian revival. Ada Rehan, John Drew, Mrs. Gilbert, James Lewis,
George Clarke, and others were known, admired, and loved by a generation of
theatre-goers.
3) THE BRIGHTON THEATRE
The Brighton theatre at 1239 Broadway opened with a variety show on
August 26, 1878; and after many changes of names, became the Bijou Theatre,
December 1, 1883.
4) THE MANHATTAN ( or EAGLE) THEATRE
The Manhattan (or Eagle) Theatre stood on the west side of Broadway
between Thirty-scond and Thirty-third streets. It was opened with a variety
show October 18, 1875; later, it became the Standard Theatre, becoming the
Manhattan again August 30, 1897. It was the first house in New York to
present Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore which became so popular that
it was played at over half a dozen theatres at the same time; that was
before the days of international copyright. Towards the end of its career,
it was about the only theatre of prominence the city outside of the
theatrical trust. At the last it became a moving-picture house, and was torn
down in 1909 to make way for Gimbel Brothers' big department store.
5) THE HERALD SQUARE THEATRE
At the northwest corner of Thirty-fifth Street a building called the
Coliseum was opened with a panorama in 1873 and was run until the following
year, when it was taken down and removed to Philadelphia during the
Centennial Exposition. October 11, 1876, the New York Aquarium took its
place with a theatre, and later, a circus attached. The place was very
popular until 1883, when it was torn down and the New Park Theatre was
erected, opening on October fifteenth. Harrigan took possession and opened
on August 31, 1885, after the destruction of his New Theatre Comique. It was
called Harrigan's Theatre and was successful, but the rent ate up the
profits and Harrigan was obliged to give it up. It then became the Herald
Square Theatre on September 17, 1895, and has retained that name until the
present.
6) THE KNICKERBOCKER
After the destruction of his Park Theatre at Twenty-second Street,
Henry E. Abbey had no house that he could call his own until 1893, when he
opened the theatre at the northeast corner of Thirty-eighth Street, where he
introduced Irving, Bernhardt, and other foreign actors of high rank, opening
with the first named on November 8, 1893. On September 14, 1897, the house
was opened as the Knickerbocker, a name that it still retains.
7) THE CASINO
The Casino, at the southeast corner of Thirty-ninth Street, was opened
October 21, 1882, with "The Queen's Lace Hankerchief." The building is in
the Moorish style, and has been, more than any other theatre in New York,
the home of comic opera. Among its greatest successes were Erminie and
Florodora, the latter of which seems to have been unfortunate for many of
its participants, as several murders and numerous scandals in which
Florodora girls were concerned filled the columns of the daily papers and
set the town by the ears for some time during and after the run of the play.
27. THE UNION DIME SAVINGS BANK
The Union Dime Savings Bank stood on Thirty-second Street, facing
Greeley Square, from 1876 to February, 1910. From in front of the bank the
old Bloomingdale stages had their point of departure before going out of
existence altogether. About fifty years ago, the property belonged to
Richard F. Carman, who asked $90,000 for the plot, but took $87,500,
remarking to his agent with a chuckle of satisfaction as he closed the
bargain: "I guess that fellow's stuck." Such was the opinion of many who
considered the price beyond all reason for property in the neighborhood of
Thirty-fourth Street; in 1874, when the savings bank took title, it paid
$275,000, or about seventy dollars a square foot for approximately four
thousand square feet. At the sale in October, 1906, the bank received about
two hundred and fifty dollars a square foot; and the purchaser sold to an
English syndicate in June, 1909, at a price which is stated to have been in
the neighborhood of three hundred and seventy five dollars a square foot, a
value for city property only exceeded so far by the plot at the corner of
Broadway and Wall Street. This will give some idea of the increment in land
values in this vicinity within half a century.
28. HERALD SQUARE AND GREELEY SQUARE
Broadway crosses Sixth Avenue at Thirty-fourth Street; and from
Thirty-second to Thirty-fifth, there is an open space, except for two
triangular parks. The lower one contains a statue of Horace Greeley and is
called Greeley Square. The upper space contains a statue of William E.
Dodge, one of New York's famous merchants, but since it stands in front of
the Herald Building, it is called Herald Square. The crossing here at
Thirty-fourth Street is probably the most dangerous and the most congested
spot on the whole line of Broadway at present. Though the houses on the west
side from Thirty-second to Thirty-fourth Street, and on the east side above
the latter to Thirty-fifth Street are actually on the line of Sixth Avenue,
they are numbered as being on Broadway.
29. THE HOTEL McALPIN
There is now in course of construction on the block between
Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets, on the east side, the Hotel McAlpin,
which is to be a commercial hotel twenty-five stories high, with stores on
the ground floor, one of which at the Thirty-fourth Street corner has
already been rented at twenty dollars a square foot, the highest rent paid
in New York. The hotel is to be the largest in the city and will cost for
building, furnishings, lease, etc., over thirteen millions of dollars..
30. THIRTY FOURTH STREET - THIRTY SIXTH STREET AREA
When the congregation owning the Tabernacle sold out their property in
lower Broadway, they established themselves at the northeast corner of
Thirty-fourth Street and remained until March, 1902, when they moved
temporarily to Mendelssohn Hall in Fortieth Street near Broadway until such
time as their new Tabernacle was ready for them. While at Thirty-fourth
Street, the Rev. Dr. William Taylor continued to uphold the fame of the
church. The wedge-shaped block between Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth
streets, occupied by the New York Herald and the Evening Telegram was
previously occupied by a building the upper floor of which was the armory of
the Seventy-first Regiment of the National Guard. The newspapers introduced
an innovation in exposing to public view the great presses upon which the
papers are printed and folded when they took possession, August 20, 1893;
and the windows overlooking the press-room are always occupied by curious
and interested spectators.
No section of the city has shown such remarkable advance as this
portion has in the last decade. Macy's opened here on November 8, 1902; Saks
& Co., a Washington firm, a year or so earlier; and at this writing, the
Gimbel Brothers from Philadelphia have just opened on the block below
another mammoth store. This region is becoming the greatest retail section
of the city. This is due to a great extent to the fact that within the past
five years the Pennsylvania Railroad has erected a great station a few
blocks west and has connected this with New Jersey and Long Island by means
of tunnels under the city and under the two rivers.
31. THE GREAT WHITE WAY
Broadway from Thirty-fourth to Forty-seventh Street has been for the
last few years the locality where the gay life of the metropolis has been
most readily seen. Here are congregated great hotels, famous restaurants,
and theatres; and the brilliant illumination at night by the countless
electric lights has caused this section of the avenue to be called the
"Great White Way"; and no stranger has seen New York who has not traversed
it.
It is to this part of the town that the heart of the exiled New Yorker
turns, and it is hither that the footsteps of visitors bent on gaiety
naturally and inevitably find their way. The occupants of stores and
theatres as far down as Twenty-third Street claim to be a part of it
all__and they were ten years ago___but they cannot stop the law of progress
up the famous thoroughfare. From abreast of the City Hall Park, in the first
half of the nineteenth century, gay fashion has gradually worked its way
northward to this present section. Perhaps, at the end of this century, the
"Great White Way" will be as quiet and colorless as is now the section of
Broadway below Fourteenth Street, while the gay populace of that future time
will find its pleasures in the neighborhood of Kingsbridge. This seems to be
the law of the street. When that day comes, Manhattan Island will have lost
the greater part of its population and will be devoted almost entirely to
business; while the enormous mass of the people will live in the suburbs of
Westchester County, of New Jersey, and of Long Island, carried daily to and
from their occupations at rates of speed now undreamed of, and by means of
transit which exist at present only in the dreams of visionaries.
32. THE RIALTO SECTION
A quarter of a century ago, the south side of Union Square was the
lounging place of many actors seeking employment at the theatrical offices
in that neighborhood; and the section was called the "Rialto". With the
upward trend of the theatres and theatrical offices, the "Rialto" has moved
to this section of Broadway; and in the "off" season, the sidewalks are
crowded with actors and actresses seeking engagements.
33. BROADWAY BETWEEN THIRTY-FOURTH AND FORTY-SECOND STREETS
Yet, between Thirty-fourth and Forty-second streets, Broadway was
sixty years ago little more than a country lane; and there are still many
insignificant buildings along the thoroughfare. Beginning with the year
1838, various acts were passed affecting the laying out and widening of the
Bloomingdale Road and Broadway between Twenty-first and Forty-fifth streets.
34. HOTELS BETWEEN THIRTY-FOURTH AND FORTY-SECOND STREETS.
Among the hotels between Thirty-fourth and Forty-second streets were,
and are, the Marlborough on the west side between Thirty-sixth and
Thirty-seventh streets; the Normandie at the southeast corner of
Thirty-eighth Street; the Vendome at Forty-first Street; the Albany, the
most recent, between Fortieth and Forty-first streets, both on the east
side, and the Knickerbocker at the southeast corner of Forty-second Street.
This last is one of the Astor properties and occupies the site where stood
for many years the Saint Cloud Hotel. On the west side, below Forty-second
Street, the Cafe de 1' Opera opened in December, 1909. This was the most
gorgeous and extravagantly fitted restaurant the city has ever seen,
costing, so it is stated, over a million of dollars. The news spread of its
high prices, there was poor service, and its patrons were obliged to wear
evening dress; as a result, it closed its doors four months after opening.
After various vicissitudes with the creditors, lasting several months, the
place was acquired by Louis Martin, rearranged and refurnished, and opened
on Christmas Eve, 1910. Upon the same site at first stood the Rossmore,
later the Metropole, and the Saint Charles, upon land which is among the
highest in the lower part of the island and which has been a hotel site for
over forty years. Upon the angle formed by the junction of Seventh Avenue
and Broadway, there was erected, in 1910, the Heidelberg building with its
great tower designed for advertising purposes. At this time (January, 1911),
it is rumored that the famous Chicago house of Marshall Field & Co. has
acquired the Marlborough Hotel property for a great department store.
35. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE
Between Thirty-ninth and Fortieth streets on the west side, taking up
the entire block to Seventh Avenue, is the Metropolitan Opera House, which
opened October 22, 1883, with Henry E. Abbey as manager. The house has been
devoted almost exclusively to grand opera, as it is too great in size to be
an ordinary theatre. It has also been the scene of many great gatherings on
patriotic occasions, of many public balls, and of concerts, as well as of
several fairs. The history of the operas produced and of the great artists
and singers who have appeared here would fill a book larger than this. Its
interior was destroyed by fire in September, 1892, but was rebuilt in the
following year.
36. THE EMPIRE THEATRE
Opposite to it on the south side of Fortieth Street is the Empire
Theatre, whose entrance is from Broadway. It was opened January 25, 1893,
under the management of Charles Frohman, and has been famous, not only for
its early stock company, but as the New York home of such actors as John
Drew, Maude Adams, and similar stars.
37. THE METROPOLITAN CASINO
The Metropolitan Casino, at the southwest corner of Forty-first
Street, was dedicated on May 27, 1880, and opened as a concert hall by
Rudolph Aronson on October 10, 1881; to be followed later by Rudolph Bial
and his orchestra with concerts and comic operas. On October 20, 1884, owing
to bad business, the house became the Cosmopolitan Skating Rink. As early as
1887, a firm of which Bailey the circus man was an original member was
started for the purpose of securing the property and opening it as a regular
theatre. The house was rebuilt and opened March 3, 1888, as the Broadway
Theatre. One of its greatest successes was the spectacular play of Ben Hur,
founded on General Lew Wallace's famous story of the same name.
Source: The Greatest Street in the World (The story of Broadway, old and
New, from the Bowling Green to Albany)
Author: Stephen Jenkins
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons-New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
Copyright: 1911
_________________________________________________
Researched, Prepared and Transcribed by Miriam Medina
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