On the eastern side of Nassau street, near John, was the new meeting-house of the German Reformed Church, of which the Rev. J. M. Kern was the pastor. This old building survived until within a few years; and many of those who were in business near John street twenty years ago, will recollect the restaurant of Leonard Gosling, with its hundreds of dishes, which, at that time, found accommodation under its roof. That portion of Gold street of our day which is between John street and Maiden lane, was called "Rutgers' Hill" in 1767; and the large brewery of Anthony Rutgers, jr., at that time occupied the northeast corner of that lane and Maiden lane where the old established house of Wolfe and Bishop so long did business. Eastward from Golden Hill (now John) street, our Gold street, at that time (1767) was known as Vandercliff street-after Dirck Vandercliff, whose orchard, many years before, had occupied that locality; and on its northern side, between Golden Hill (now John) street, and Fair (now Fulton) street, stood the meetinghouse of the First Baptist Church, of which the Rev. John Gano was the pastor. It was then a plain, stone edifice, having been enlarged within three years after its first erection, fifty-two by forty-two feet in extent; and it remained there until 1840, when it was torn down, the materials serving as part of those which were taken for the construction of the new meeting-house in which the same church still worships, at the corner of Broome and Elizabeth streets. Proceeding up the Broad Way from Dey street, the promenader in 1767 next crossed Partition (now Fulton) street, extending westward to the North River; or Fair (also Fulton) street, which extended eastward only to the present Cliff street. On the lower corner of Fair and Dutch streets stood the small frame meeting-house of the Moravian Church, which had been erected in 1751; and on the north-eastern corner of Fair and William streets stood the more imposing stone edifice of the North Dutch Church, which still retains its original appearance and is still used by the same body, as in 1767, and for the same objects. On the upper corner of Partition (now Fulton) street and the Broad Way, in 1767, stood St. Paul's Chapel, which had been dedicated in October, 1766; and it still stands there, surrounded by its crowded grave-yard, one of the most interesting of the few landmarks which have been preserved in our city. Opposite to St. Paul's Chapel, the road to Boston-one of the great outlets from the city-branched off from the Broad Way; and the present Park Row, and Chatham street, and the Bowery, indicate the general course which it took through the suburbs of the city. Vesey and Barclay streets, named after two rectors of Trinity Church; Robinson (now Park Place,) Murray, Warren, Church, and Chapel [West Broadway] streets, on the western side of the Broad Way, with the edifice of the King's (now Columbia) College at the foot of Robinson street, are too well known to the citizens of New York of the present day to need any particular notice in this place. In 1767, these streets were generally occupied for residences-John and Martin Cregier being among the numberalthough David Grim, who has rendered so much service to the student of our local history, dispensed his ales and his good cheer at the sign of "the Three Tuns" in Chapel street. On the eastern side of the Broad Way, opposite the streets referred to, was the Common-an open ground, which is still well known as "The Park." Even at that early day the people had been accustomed to assemble at that place to express their wishes. They had rendezvoused there on the evening of the thirty-first of October, 1765, and on the following evening preparatory to the celebrated" Stamp Act Riots;" and at the same place on the following Tuesday, they had reassembled, armed, with the avowed intention to storm the Fort in order to obtain possession of the stamped papers which had been deposited within it. They had also met in that place, on the fifteenth of November, 1765, to express their pleasure when Sir Henry Moore had declared that "he had nothing to do with the stamps;" and in December of the same year, when the first stamped instrument appeared in New York, the procession which bore it proceeded to that place and burned it with the effigies with which it had been accompanied. On the sixth of March, 1766, also, they had assembled there to express their indignation against the conduct of Lieutenant-Governor Colden in spiking the guns in the king's yard and on the Copsey Battery; and in May of the same year they had celebrated, at the same place, with great spirit, the repeal of the obnoxious act. On its western margin, nearly opposite Murray! street, the celebrated Liberty-pole was erected in June, 1766; and around its base (or those of the poles which, from time to time, had been erected in the place of those which the soldiers had destroyed) cluster many of the most romantic associations of that interesting era.* On the nineteenth of March, 1767, the fourth pole had been erected on that spot in honor of "the King, Pitt, and Liberty;" and the colors had floated gaily from its summit on the birthday of the sovereign. *For a full description of the Liberty poles and the clashes between the citizens of New York and the British troops see Clinton papers, Vol. I, pages 42-54.-STATE HISTORIAN. Within the area of this Common, our present Park, on the very spot on which now stands the City Hall, stood in 1767 the Poorhouse, in the rear of which was a large garden; while on the space between that and the Broad Way, trees were planted. Eastward from the Poor-house stood the Prison, a rectangular stone building, surmounted with a cupola-a building which, during the subsequent war of the Revolution, was occupied by Cunningham, the provost marshal, whose cruelties to the "rebel" prisoners who were placed under his charge are so well known. That building, with modern improvements both interior and exterior, still retains its place in the Park, and is known to all our citizens as "The Hall of Records."* North from the Poor-house, near the site which the row of buildings known as "The New City Hall" more recently occupied, at that time stood the long line of barracks which furnished quarters for the troops whose turbulent spirit produced so much confusion in the city, and whose determination to cut down "the Liberty-pole" proved so powerful an element in the movements of that period. On the eastern side of the road to Boston, near the corner of Beekman street, at that time stood the unfinished structure of "the New Presbyterian Meeting," within whose walls, on the following New Year's Day, the message of the gospel was first delivered by the Rev. Dr. Rogers. That building, also, until within a few months, occupied the same position-being the well-known "Brick Church" meeting-house in whose Society the venerable Rev. Dr. [Gardiner] Spring still retains his pastorate-but the building itself has given way to the demands of trade, and has disappeared.† A short distance below Nassau street, in Beekman street, at that time also stood the remains of the old theatre-the third *Removed by order of the city authorities, July, 1902.-STATE HISTORIAN. For many years, up to the autumn of 1904, the New York Times was published at this spot.-STATE HISTORIAN. |