Brooklyn in 1863....Anniversary Issue






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The Old Town Suffered From Transit Evils and Crime Outbreaks
It Was Well Managed, and Escaped the Fate of New York When the Draft Rioting
Started ­ Its War Contribution Was Impressive.

Brooklyn in 1863.
To a world, or rather a Brooklyn accustomed to subways, radio, telephones
and Lindbergs, the old "town" was probably an oddity, It may even be funny.
To itself, Brooklyn in 1863 was a serious, progressive community with the
spirit of civic development well established.
It resented a popular joke of the times that "Brooklyn was only a large
bedroom for the businessmen of New York."

Those Busy Ferries.
The daily rush to New York by its residents, however, was already comparable
to the present day hegira that takes place every morning around nine
o'clock.  In those days however, there were something like [figure smudged]
3?,???,000 persons carried to and from the City of Brooklyn by ferry boat in
a year! The ferry boats, the only means of transit communication with the
other side of the river, made approximately 1,000 crossings daily and there
were about two dozen boats in service.
Still, in spite of the fact that "half its residents are out of town during
the day," the city was by no means without industry on its shores.

Called it a Walled City.
Brooklyn, then composed of Old Brooklyn, Bushwick and Williamsburg,
following a consolidation eight years before had thirteen miles of
waterfront "so completely covered with warehouses etc., that Brooklyn has
been, not inaptly nicknamed "the walled city."
"The Brooklyn docks," we learn from Stiles history, "are always above the
high water mark (which cannot be said of New York); are well built, kept in
proper repair and cleanliness so that every pound of sweepings and leakages
can be saved."
Already its shipping was one of the chief factors in its growth.  Nearly
$3,000,000 in fruit, grain and garden products was being shipped out every year.

The Busy Busy Waterfront
Along the thirteen miles of waterfront we learn, were, the Fulton stores,
Empire stores, De Forest's, Robert's, Prentice's, Schenk's and Pierrepont's
as well as others.  Martin and Harbeck's stores had ample accommodation for
twenty vessels where half that number could discharge cargo simultaneously.
The Eastern District, between the Navy Yard and Bushwick Creek, exposed to a
view a shore lined with ship yards, distilleries, sugar refineries, lumber,
brick and coal yards, gas works and ferry terminals.
Greenpoint between Bushwick Creek and Newtown Creek was mostly occupied by
large shipyards."

Atlantic Basin a Dream Realized.
The famous Atlantic Basin, $640,000 dream of Col. Daniel RICHARDS, had been
realized.  Here was an achievement that ranked as one of the engineering
feats of the day.  A line of warehouses or stores, built in the form of a
hollow square, for the most part on a pier with water frontage of nearly
three quarters of a mile.
The hollow square was open in the side facing Governor's Island.  Here a 200
foot gap permitted the ingress and egress of "100 large vessels drawing
twenty feet of water" and the entire basin offered a harborage of forty
acres of water.
The basin, fore-runner of Brooklyn's great shipping industry, was "passable
at all stages of the tide by any class of vessels, differing in this respect
from the Liverpool docks, which are accessible at high tide only."

A Faith That Moved Hills.
So zealous was Brooklyn to maintain her position among the ranking cities of
the nation and so public spirited were her wealthy citizens at the time that
when topographical difficulties threatened the success of the Atlantic Basin
project, "a number of gentlemen largely interested in the undertaking, by
the purchases, of neighboring lands and by arrangements with adjoining
owners, removed the hills and deposited the earth in the low places, thus
changing the face of a large portion of the city south of Harrison street
between Court street and the river, now covered by several thousand houses
unsurpassed by any equal portion in the city."
Also on the wharves at the Atlantic Basin were the first grain elevators to
be erected in the port of New York.

"Eagerly Sought" Beer.
"Dutchtown over in the neighborhood of Flushing Avenue and Broadway was the
center of the brewing industry.  The largest breweries in the country
produced "beer eagerly sought for by thousands of thirsty mortals," STILES
tells us.
FRIES', SCHNEIDER'S, LIEBMANN'S, and CLAUS' were among the chief producers
and SCHNEIDER'S had a 10,000 barrel capacity.  STILES does not tell us
whether that was daily or weekly.
And this great thirst notwithstanding, Brooklyn in 1863 was already a "city
of churches."  Approximately 115 spires pierced the skyline as the commuter
wended his way homeward via Fulton, Hamilton, Atlantic, Navy Yard, or South ferries.

The Old Shopping Center.
Lower Fulton Avenue and lower Atlantic Street were busy shopping centers.
There were no less than six dry goods "emporiums" in the vicinity of 275
Fulton and the big attractions were hoop skirts and "merino hose for the ladies."
The horse-drawn cars of the Brooklyn City railroad had approximately fifty
miles of trackage spreading to all parts of Brooklyn from Fulton and
Atlantic ferries and best of all, a long sought for improvement was under
way ­ a trolley connecting these points, known as the Van Brunt street line,
which ran until a few years ago.
The other lines are still, for the most part in existence, but were known in
those days as Fulton Avenue, Green Point via Myrtle Avenue, Green Wood via
Court Street, Myrtle Avenue to Broadway, Fulton Avenue, Hamilton Avenue and
Fort Hamilton, Marcy via Graham Avenue, Fulton Avenue and Hamilton Ferry.

A One-Man Car Era.
They were all two-horse cars and the smokers rode on the front platform with
the combination driver, motorman and conductor ­ oddly an individual sixty
years ahead of his time ­ the era of one-man cars.
We learn in the papers of Sept. 25, 1863, that the "drawbridge over Gowanus
Creek having been opened yesterday afternoon to allow the passage of a sloop
and canal boat, a lengthy detention of the Greenwood cars and a couple of
funeral processions ensued.
"Some of the hack drivers and car drivers, getting out of patience got into
a row and after crossing the bridge, one of the hack drivers striking his
whip at the car driver, got in the way of the car, and his carriage,
containing a couple of ladies and a gentleman, was overturned down the
embankment.  Nobody was seriously injured."
So traffic tie-ups and traffic problems in general were no novelty.

Complained of Traffic Violations.
The spiritual father of the Brooklyn Safety Council wrote his first "letter
to the editor" regarding safety by calling attention "to a law which, if
generally known, is but little observed.  I mean the Œlaw of the road.'"
"Most people know that if they meet anyone on the street, it is their duty
to pass on the right, but few seem to know that if they overtake and wish to
pass anyone, it is still their duty to pass to the right as before.
"Most persons when passing anyone going in the same direction, pass to the
left, thereby placing themselves in danger from a collision with those who
may be coming in the opposite direction.

Caution: Keep to the Right.
"This is not right.  One should keep to the right always, and after passing
take his proper position which is on the right hand side of the center of
the street, and not the extreme right, for the latter position prevents
those from passing, who may be going in the same direction.
"This law applies to persons on foot, as well as those in carriages and
careful observance of it would prevent very many of the accidents which
occur daily in our streets."
Brooklyn in 1863 was already having ideas!

The Old City Liked Its Baseball.
It still had some odd ones on what constitutes good baseball and the days of
the week on which it should be played.  The Unions, Eckfords, Mutuals,
Atlantics and Excelsiors were among the popular teams and a number of
occasions a Brooklyn club and a New York club played a "crocodile series" at
Hoboken.  On September 24, the Atlantic Club trounced the Mutuals in a game
that started off with a score of 13 to 1 in the first inning and ended with
a score of 42 to 18.
And four days later a news item reported that "police of the Forty-third
Precinct on Sunday arrested eight young men who were engaged in playing ball
in the lots back of the Degraw Street Schoolhouse.  Some sixty or seventy
are said to have been engaged in the sport but these eight were all who were
caught."  Three others were arrested for the same offense in the Fiftieth Precinct."

Temperance Pioneers.
Temperance was getting considerable attention and one of the sensations at
the time was the appearance in Brooklyn of Susannah EVANS, fifteen year old
temperance orator, at Brooklyn Tabernacle, Fulton Avenue and Hoyt Street.
She had made more than 5,000 persons sign the pledge" ­ a favorite pastime
of that era.
And yet a newspaper of that period gave preference to a story about "A
Serious Affray in the Lager Beer Saloon," following that story with
"Interesting Temperance Meeting."
The prices of food in 1863 were not so widely advertised in the papers, but
in a few instances we learn that coffee ran all the way from 10 to 35 cents
a pound, tea was quoted at 60, and butter was actually being offered to the
public at 20 cents per sixteen ounces.

French Was Fashionable.
Socially, no one was considered "up and doing" without a knowledge of
French.  Every school featured courses in that language.
And Miss AMES' Select School at 193 Atlantic Street taught "reading,
spelling, etymology, geography, history, grammar, composition, physiology,
astronomy, penmanship, arithmetic, algebra and rudiments of French" from
9:30 to 1:30 daily "for $11 to $12 quarterly."
You were simply nobody unless you attended the then two year old Academy of
Music, where Miss Laura KEENE was appearing in "the most sterling comedy of
the age, "Masks and Faces'" with Miss KEENE playing "Peg" Woffington.

Opening of the Park Theatre.
The Park Theatre, Fulton avenue opposite City Hall, opened the night of the
first copy of "The Union" made its appearance, and among the "credit lines"
on the programme of the new playhouse was the fact that carpeting in the
theatre had been furnished from "the spacious warehouse of Messrs, BERRI and
Son, at 180 Fulton Avenue."  William BERRI later became the sole owner  The
Union and The Standard, and merged them.
The Atheneum at Clinton and Atlantic Streets was another amusement place of
note, having on display at the time, the sensation of 1863 and the
forerunner of the moving picture craze of to-day ­ the Stereoscopticon with
views changed three times a week!  It was in these sacred halls that P.T.
BARNUM also delivered his talk on "How to Make Money."

At Good Old HOOLEY'S.
Hooley's Opera House, Court and Remsen Streets, was featuring  S.S. PURDY,
"Ethiopian comedian," and later became a great minstrel theatre.
The song hits of the day were not the "wows" of 1928 by several nautical
miles.  At the time the populace was humming or singing "Mouth Would Comfort
Me," "I've No Money," "I Don't Think I'm Ugly," "Our Faith Then Fondly
Plighting" and a red hot musical comedy duet which Walter LENOX and Susan
BURNETT salled "To-morrow Will Be Market Day."
The Park Theatre, by the way, was the first theatre to have sunken
footlights and "the absence of pillars to obstruct the view."
For the Philharmonic fans that society was giving five concerts a year at
the Atheneneum.
Theatre ticket prices even in that "war time" averaged 25 cents for "family
circles," 50 cents for "parquette," 75 cents for "balcony" and $1.00 for "orchestra"

George ELIOT a Best Seller.
"Romola" by George ELIOT was the leading novel of the day and sold for a
dollar and a quarter in paper binding.
The police force, an interesting institution, was part of the famous
metropolitan district police run by the State.  Brooklyn's central office
was located at Washington and Johnson Street.  It was operated under an
inspector who in turn reported to police headquarters at 500 Mulberry
Street, Manhattan.
Brooklyn in 1863 had eight precincts, headed by as many captain, at a salary
of $1,200 a year each.  There were thirty-three sergeants on the entire
force drawing $900 a year each, and the 200 patrolmen, who were "officers"
in those days, drew an annual salary of $800 each.

Seven Bell-Ringers at $600 Each.
The fire department was chiefly a volunteer affair and salaried jobs were
few.  A noteworthy position on the fire department list was that of bell
ringer.  There were seven "bell ringers" in Brooklyn drawing $600 per annum
per each!
The "Williamsburg murder" was the sensational police incident of Sept. 20
Conrad FISTER was reported to have been killed in a row in Grand Street by
on John REMINGER.
Thomas DORN, testifying at the inquest held at 154 Grand Street, told
Coroner John BARRETT that the victim "was not drunk but had taken too much
liquor."  John WEIS, another witness, testified that "as soon as deceased
was knocked down he jumped up and then the prisoner came at witness again."

The Missing Girl Problem.
Missing persons were no novelty then, even if they had no radio stations and
we learn that there was missing "since Monday afternoon, Sept. 14," a young
lady, "seventeen years of age, of medium size, light complexion, gray eyes,
heavy, dark brown hair in net ­ had on a light barege dress with two
flounces with wreaths of red roses, black bloomer, with long black feather
and blue vest.  Blue and green Scotch plaid cloak."
Officer CLANCY also was busy on Sept. 24 when he "arrested a person named
James M. JOHNSON on a charge of insulting females in the street."  It was
also "alleged that fellows lounging about Court Street perpetrate this
offense nightly and police are determined to put a stop to it."
Down in the "Forty-eighth Precinct," now the general vicinity of Fourth
Avenue and Nineteenth Street, police were continuing a "war" against
stockholders who allowed goats, hogs and cattle to run at large upon public
streets in this "semi-rural district" because the poundkeeper was sick and
couldn't be at his job.  They were fined one to five dollars whenever arrested.

Taxi Bandits' Forbears.
J.H. NEWHOFF's store at Park and Kent Avenues was robbed by "three unknown
men" who stole "ten dollars from the till while the clerk was out after
charcoal which they had ordered."  The miscreants then made their escape by
driving off in true modern taxi-bandit fashion but used instead " a cart and
later went to the home of G.F. MOTT, on Fulton Avenue, where they took a
chair and damask table cover."  The police are still working on this one so
far as further report divulges in the papers.
A man named Daniel HANLY "was badly beaten and robbed of $10 in money, a
revolver and a set of teeth" out at Troy Avenue and Bergen Street.  To the
everlasting glory of the police of the "Forty-ninth Precinct" they arrested
three men who later were found guilty.
The firemen were called upon within a few days to extinguish first, "a fire
in a woodshed at the corner of Clermont and Park Avenues" and a big blaze in
a slaughter house at Fifth Street "near the bridge," which was soon
destroyed with a resultant damage of $400, "covered by insurance."

A Busy, Bustling Town.
So the "town" of Brooklyn in 1863 was, with its rushing pedestrians,
careening horse cars and carriages, "crime waves" and fires, a busy place
for the police and firemen.  Their pay, no doubt, was small but they had a
lot of fun.
From the standpoint of vital statistics, Brooklyn in 1863 had a population
of approximately 280,000, or about as many residents as are today in the
City of Providence, R.I.
During one week in September, 1863, 177 deaths were reported of which
nineteen were men, twenty three women and 135 children.
Eighteen deaths were due to zygomatic diseases, 38 were due to diseases of
the nervous system, 29 were due to diseases of the respiratory organs, 66 to
digestive trouble and 20 due to other causes."
Of these 177 who died, 152 were American born, 17 were Irish, 4 German, 3
English and 1 Swiss.  These figures give a fair conception of the
proportionate population of the city at that time.
To-day Brooklyn, with an estimated population of 2,274,4000 reports
approximately 400 deaths a week.

City's Health Was Good.
So, considering the fact that brooks and springs of the Long Island
watershed furnished the drinking water, practically as it came from the
ground, and that there was something like twelve miles of sewer in the City
of Brooklyn with possibly 15,000 houses connected to this system, the
Brooklyn in 1863 was by no means an unhealthy community.
In the "good old days," Brooklyn consumed about 15,000,000 gallons of water
a day as compared to today's 203,200,000 gallons.
While on the subject of health conditions in 1863, we are pleased to learn
that Historian STILES considers Edwin C. LITCHFIELD a "sanguine and
indomitable believer in the future commercial greatness of Brooklyn" and
describes at great length how LITCHFIELD took upon himself the task of
reclaiming all the "marsh and swamp and meadowland west of Fifth Avenue,
between First and Fifth Streets, in the old CORTELYOU estate."

Part of Red Hook Submerged.
The same historian tells us that "very much of the land from the foot of Van
Brunt Street along Elizabeth, Halleck, Hicks, Bush, Henry Street to Hamilton
Avenue and Hamilton Avenue to Gowanus Creek is now under water at high tide"
while "the rest is appropriated by squatters for their shanties and pig styes."
Civic indignation rose to the heights in a letter to one of the papers of
the "sixties" in which a resident of the uptown section wrote in about the
"horrid condition of Elliott Place from Atlantic Street to Hanson Place
which has not been swept or cleaned for the past two years."  The editor in
a note to this letter added that "dirt and filth were by no means scarce in
the entire neighborhood and the Elliott Place was not alone."
And lest a generally unfavorable opinion of the residents of that age arise
from the foregoing, the reader is to be informed that a Turkish bath at 63
Columbia Street, under the guidance of Dr. Charles H. SHEPARD, was doing a
prosperous business.

Some Early Price-Boosters.
With the cost of living as it was, a momentous event entered the columns of
the press when the milkmen met on Sept. 25 at Monatague Hall to consider an
advance in price on their product.  Emphrraim STELL was chairman and Abraham
KIPP was secretary.
A committee of five, consisting of 
Aleaxander CAMPBELL, 
Jesse MOTT, 
J.MUNFORT, 
J. COVERT and A. KIPP were appointed to go into "closed session."
While the committee was out drawing up a resolution, the reporter tells us,
"the meeting amused itself by upsetting and kicking about a coal basket,
throwing about a pair of old boots discovered in the room, smashing
transparency frames, and signs which were piled in a corner, laughing at
attempted jokes and social bantering with each other."
Finally a price of seven cents a quart to families and 5 1/2 cents wholesale
was decided on as the new rate "owing to the advance in the price of feed
and all articles of consumption."  This price was agreed upon chiefly
because of the fear of the public's growing interest in condensed milk which
was cheaper.

An Ancient Realty Boom.
Another interesting point in the life of Brooklyn in 1863 was the real
estate boom that was going on in a mild sort of way along the outer edges of
the shopping and business district.
Several desirable residence "were for sale at Bedford, L.I. "on Pacific
Street, New York Avenue and St. Mark's Place, all modern improvements and
ample grounds.  There was a choice of villa sites of eight, sixteen and
twenty-four lots with some old chestnut, oak, hickory and ornamental trees."
Another man wanted to purchase "in the neighborhood of Clinton, Washington
and Gates Avenues, a good dwelling house with a few lots of ground.
Neighborhood and house must be good.  Price not to exceed $7,000."

Prospect Park Nearly Ready.
Prospect Park was already a proposed "rival to the Central Park in New
York," and was waiting to the end of the Civil War to receive proper attention.
Along its Ninth Avenue side builders were being invited to erect houses.
The big business epoch was starting to take seed in the immediate line of
properties behind the already large shipping front.  There were such
important places as Prentice's Hat factories, the Brooklyn Brass and Copper
Company, the New York Agricultural Works, American Steel Company, Campbell's
Printing Press Manufactory, Appleton's Book Printing and Binding
establishment, the Eastern District Distilleries and Peter COOPER's Glue
Works ­ all of these the proud Brooklynite pointed out as signs of Brooklyn progress.

Paper Collars All the Rage.
And while we snicker at the ladies' hoop skirts let us not forget that men
could get cloth-lined paper collars "all the rage," at ten for thirty cents,
"made to order."
William WISE was specializing in watchmaking at 233 Fulton Street in an era
when "hair jewelry made to order from your own hair," was the style.  Moritz
DINKELSPIEL and Frederick LOESER sold dress trimmings, velvet ribbons and
ladies' head dresses and nets at 227 Fulton Street.
A horse was for sale at McGovern's Stable in Love Lane, now replete with
garages, when the whole city was agog over the trial of "iron cars" by the
Erie and New York Central railroads.
Clothes wringers were running neck and neck with sewing machines as the very
newest engines of emancipation of the "modern housewife" in Brooklyn in 1863.

The Old Tenth Ward Was Most Populous Sixty-five Years Ago.
The City of Brooklyn, in 1863, had approximately 290,000 population.
Divided as it was into wards at the time, the most populous ward was the
Tenth, with 28,000 persons; next was the Sixth, with 26,000, and third came
the Sixteenth, with 24,000.
There were about 136,000 white males and 150,000 white females in the city.
In addition there were about 1,500 negro males and 2,500 negro females.
These persons were divided up as being single, married and widowed.  The
single folk numbered about 170,000, the married 107,000 and the widows
11,000 and the widowers 2,000.
There were approximately 60,000 families in the city and some 61,000 of the
290,000 persons were land owners.
There were also something like 13,000 persons over twenty-one years of age
listed as illiterates, or unable to read or write.


Transcriber: Mimi Stevens
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