Jersey City and Its Historic Sites

LIBRARIES.

About 1866 a few gentlemen in Bergen formed the Bergen Library Association. They collected subscriptions and organized a library of one thousand volumes. A room was given for their use in Library Hall and Major Gaines acted as librarian and secretary. After a few years the interest in it died out and the books were sold. In 1867 a few gentlemen in Hudson City formed a Free Library Association and hired a room on the southwest corner of Newark and Baldwin avenues for the library. Books were given and bought until quite a respectable beginning was made. The ladies formed an aid society to help raise funds to start and support it. It existed for a few years, and then, for lack of funds and public interest, was discontinued. The books were packed and stored in a stable belonging to one of the trustees. In 1873 the Board of Education was authorized to establish a free library, with an allowance of $1,000 per year. It was kept at the High School and was open on Saturdays only. It was patronized principally by the pupils and teachers of the High School; in fact, there was a general impression abroad that none others were entitled to the privilege of the library.

In 1884 the New Jersey Legislature passed a law providing for free libraries in cities where the provisions of the law were accepted by the people at the general election. At the first election held, through indifference of the voters, there was not a majority in favor of a library, and the matter rested until another opportunity was given in 1889. At the April election of that year the requisite majority was secured. In May the Mayor appointed a Board of Trustees to create a library. They were Dr. L. J. Gordon, Michael Murray, W. C. Heppenheimer, Nelson J. H. Edge and Charles S. Haskell. The Mayor and City Superintendent of Schools, ex-officio members. The library was opened July 6th, 1891. Mr. George Watson Cole was the first librarian, but was soon succeeded by the assistant librarian, Miss Esther E. Burdick. In the beginning the library met with many obstacles from the politicians, but owing to the indefatigable energy of Dr. Gordon and some of his colleagues, these and all other hindrances were overcome. A sinking fund was started for the purchase of lots and the erection of suitable buildings. The site purchased fronts on Jersey avenue, with fifty-one feet on Montgomery street, and fifty feet on Mercer on the block east of Jersey avenue.

The library has established fifteen stations. These will be increased as there is demand. In the reading room three hundred and ten periodicals and newspapers are on file, and it is well patronized every day of the year. The reference room is a greatly appreciated feature of the library, and is patronized by men, women and school children, who always find in Miss Burdick a courteous, kindly, interested assistant, one who always seems to know just where the needed knowledge is to be found. The very superior cataloguing of the library is due to Miss Burdick. While she is invaluable to all who frequent the library, her warmest sympathies seem to go out to the school children; to help solve their difficulties is her greatest delight. The cherished hope of her heart is that in the new library building there may be a children's room, well supplied with the very best juvenile literature. She recognizes fully the importance to the future of our city of the proper direction of the minds of the children, and in this line is doing most noble work for her adopted city. The library has many excellent features, notably the system of book circulation among the schools—the works in German, French and Italian—and its department of books for the blind. Jersey City may well be proud of its library and of its trustees and officials.

PARKS.

Jersey City is lamentably deficient in parks. Before the city was first established, some say that there was a small park in front of Lyons Hotel, others assert that there was only one willow tree there. After the city came into existence there was for many years, on the site now occupied by the brick-yard, south of Essex street, between Essex and the Canal, a pleasure resort called the Thatched Cottage Gardens, with trees, flowers and vines, where there was music, balloon ascensions and games, and ice cream served in the summer houses and arbors. A place very popular, not only with Jersey City people, but also with many New Yorkers. It was the scene of many interesting events, among others it is said that Jenny Lind sang there. An interesting illustration of the growth of local expressions had its origin in a little incident connected with a visit of Bergen boys to the Thatched Cottage Gardens to see a celebrated aeronaut of the day, named Gilley. After their return home the boys arranged a balloon ascension of their own in the barn belonging to the father of the chief actor, who by means of ropes fastened about him and thrown over the beams above, holding an open umbrella, was drawn up by the other boys to what he considered a proper height, then bidding them let go, he expected to sail off by means of his umbrella, but instead, came suddenly to the barn floor, with a broken leg as the result, amid the derisive jeers of his mates, "You're a Gilley!" To this day the term is used among Bergen children when an over smart scheme of a mate proves a failure.

In Bergen the old orchard on the Merselis farm, near Orchard street, called the Merselis Grove, was for years a resort for picnic parties. To-day there is the Caledonia Park; the Blakely Wilson Homestead, on Baldwin avenue, belonging to a private corporation and hired out to associations for picnic and games. The only city parks are Van Vorst Square and Hamilton Park, which were originally given to the town of Van Vorst, the first by the Van Vorst family and the other by John B. Coles, the founder of the town, and the four park corners at the intersection of Washington and Grand streets. A few years ago, when there were still acres of woodland between Jersey City and Bergen Point, where people could go for a day's outing, there seemed less need for city parks, but with the growth of the city and the vast increase of the manufacturing population, there is necessity for the establishment at different points of small parks and play grounds as breathing places for the crowded portions of the city. At present the Boulevard or County road is the great resort on Sundays and holidays, when it is crowded with people in vehicles of all characters, on bicycles and afoot.

JERSEY CITY OF THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.

What of Jersey City to-day? It has been said that when the plan of the tide-water canal on the western border of the little city started on Paulus Hook failed to be carried out, that it was a blow to the prosperity of the city. Perhaps it was, but when the consolidation of all the towns in Hudson County was started in 1869, the movement embodied greater possibilities for the city than were ever dreamed of by the associates. The first effort failed of its complete realization, but it will eventually be carried out. Last winter legislative action was begun looking to the including of the whole of Hudson County in the Jersey City of the future, thus giving it an area of nearly thirty-nine thousand acres, and a magnificent water front of about seventy miles along the Hudson, the Kill von Kull, Newark Bay, the Passaic and the Hackensack, giving the city almost unlimited business possibilities. The city is already the center of several of our great railroad lines, and year by year is steadily growing in commercial strength and population, which is now nearly one hundred and ninety-six thousand. Situated as it is, it combines magnificent residence locations along the Heights, from the northern limit of the county to Bergen Point, with the business sites of the lower portions of the city on either side of the dividing ridge. Nature has been lavish of her gifts to our city; from almost any point of the Boulevard are magnificent views, unsurpassed in any city in the country. We already have many beautiful streets and buildings, both public and private residences, and each year is adding to their number.

An interesting feature of the city, and one that is a matter for congratulation, adding, as it does, to the historic interest of the town, and is a connecting link between the city of to-day and the early settlers who founded here the first village in New Jersey, is the fact that there are still in the limits of Jersey City quite a number of old houses built upon the Dutch plan, although there are but few dating beyond the present century. The Gautier house, on New York Bay, for some years the home of the Greenville Yacht Club, was built in 1760 by Captain Brown, and called "Retirement Hall." In the old days it was the scene of a lavish hospitality, and gay hunting parties were often gathered there. Captain Brown was the owner of slave ships, and the slaves were kept in the large cellar of his house, where the rings and staples to which they were chained were still in the walls, and, with the large fire-place, remained until a few years ago. The house became known as the Gautier house through the marriage of his daughter and heiress with Mr. Gautier. It has been held by several different owners, the latest of whom, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, are about to remove it. People who have resided there tell interesting stories of hearing the "swish" of oars and grating of boats upon the beach, followed by the tramp of feet from the shore to the cellar, and groans, with the rattling of chains. Originally the house had a double veranda across the front, and within the memory of the present generation it was still a beautiful place, with fruit trees and grape-vines planted by the original owner, still in existence not many years ago. Mr. Brown was a devoted patriot, and served the country in many capacities. Then there is the old Midmar house, between Gates avenue and the Morris Canal, probably built by a Vreeland, some time in the last century. The Daniel Van Reypen house, at 320 Fairmount avenue, was also built before the Revolution; a story and a half Dutch house, originally with two wings. When the street was laid out one wing was cut off, leaving it with the gable end to the street; otherwise the house has not been changed much, only as time has brought ruin and dilapidation.

The other old houses that are left date from the early part of the present century. The Van Reypen house, 201 Academy street, a little west of the site of the original house built in 1660-61, was built in 1802. The Sip house on the corner of Bergen avenue and Newkirk street, which, like the Van Reypen house has sheltered four generations, is probably about the same age. The Van Horn house near Philip street, fronting the New York Bay, was built in 1804, on the site of an earlier house. It was here that Washington Irving wrote his "Knickerbocker History of New York," and it is to this house he refers in his sketch of "the House of the Four Chimneys." It has been remodelled, but the lower portion remains not greatly changed. 631 Bergen avenue was built in 1805, a square two-story brick and stone house, with an extension at one side. The old tree which formerly stood in front of this house, about which were clustered many stories connected with Washington, was an English elm and probably set out about the time that the house was built.

Then there are the Newkirk houses, built by the two families of that name. The one on Newkirk street and Tuers avenue, a little northeast of the site of the original house, was built in 1810. In the parlor is the high, carved wooden mantle, and the wide hall has the Dutch half doors, although the upper and lower portions are now nailed together. It is said that the father of the present owner, Mr. Gerritt Newkirk, who died in 1893, shot in Greenville, in 1873, the last wild deer seen in Hudson County. The house 52 Sip avenue was built by Mr. John Newkirk, on part of the Newkirk farm. The stone house at 36 Church street was built in 1829, by a member of this family, Mr. Henry Newkirk. The other Newkirk family built the old house on the east side of Bergen avenue, between Magnolia avenue and the bridge, also the house on the southwest corner of Bergen and Jewett avenues, which has been remodelled and is now one of the prettiest houses in Bergen.

Another very interesting old house which has been remodelled is the Halmagh Van Houten house, west of the reservoir, on Summit avenue near Germania street. On the southeast corner of Bergen Square stands the DeMott house, still in most excellent condition. The old house on the southwest corner of Glenwood and Bergen avenues, was built about seventy-five years ago by Mr. George Tise, upon the site of the old Stuyvesant tavern, largely of the material of the former building; in the rear wall is the date stone of the old house, marked "P. S. 1762." This house was a tavern within the memory of comparatively young people and was quite celebrated for the good dinners and suppers served there. Fricasseed snapping turtle and roast pig were among the choice dishes. The barns and sheds were on what is now the opposite corner of Glenwood avenue, and here, the people who came from a distance, put up their teams during the Sunday services.

At the Five Corners are several interesting old houses; Riker's Tavern on the southwest corner of Newark and Summit avenues, and Coulter's general store, now a grocery store and dwelling house, on the southeast corner of Newark and Summit avenues. Coulter's Tavern was on the site now occupied by the Avenue House; the old stone house built for a tavern by Mr. John Tise, on the northwest corner of Newark and Summit avenues, and the old building, formerly a store kept by Nicholas and Justus Jerolaman, on the northeast corner of Summit and Hoboken avenues. It is said that at the Corners, just in front of the point where stands the Avenue House, there was formerly a Liberty pole, probably erected about 1812-14, but at a St. Patrick's celebration, not long before the Civil War, there was found in the early morning a St. Patrick hung in effigy upon it; the indignant Irishmen cut the pole down and it was never replaced.

Many of these old houses are a story and a half, some fronting the street, others with the gable end to the street, with dormer windows in the sloping roof which extended out over the porch, sometimes upon both sides of the house; in others the porch was only in front, and in the rear the roof sloped to within a few feet of the ground. One peculiarity in many of these early houses is that instead of using lathes, the "brown coat" of plaster was mixed with straw and thickly plastered on to the stone. Almost invariably an extension was built at one end, with the roof a few feet lower than the main part. In later days this was the kitchen, but in olden times the kitchen was a detached building, and the slaves slept in the loft. In the main part there was a wide hall, usually through the center of the house, but sometimes at one end, with the Dutch half doors at either end. During the summer months the family meals were usually served in the hall; they used a "comfore," a sort of chaffing dish with hot coals, upon which the kettle was set to boil the water for the tea. During the winter the living room was also the dining room. There are still preserved in some of these old houses, choice heirlooms of quaint furniture, rare old Delft, Prints, Psalm books with great silver clasps, a few old Dutch Bibles with board covers, and interesting relics of many kinds, of which an occasional glimpse is given at some loan exhibition, but usually they are carefully guarded from profane eyes.

In 1806 the United States Government became possessed of the property on Palisade avenue between Hoboken and Newark avenues. Here was situated the old building known as the Arsenal, which served as arsenal, barracks, and hospital during the war of 1812-14, and once again as barracks in the war of 1861-65, the Anderson Zouaves and the New York troops being quartered there. Several of the soldiers who died there in 1812-14, are buried in the west corner of the cemetery on the southwest corner of Vroom street and Bergen avenue. After 1865 the old Arsenal was used as a tenement house until it was torn down, about twenty years ago. Although all trace of it is now lost, the memory of it should be preserved.

Two very interesting houses in lower Jersey City are on Wayne street, of Ionic architecture, built about seventy years ago—one, No. 95, by Cornelius Van Vorst, and the other by Dr. Barrowe—and so carefully and well built that to this day they have needed no repairs. The houses are forty-seven feet front by fifty five feet deep. The columns in front are twenty-eight feet high. The doors are of solid mahogany, and it is said that the original window glass was tinted and imported from Venice. The veined marble mantels were also imported. In the wide central hall was a great stove, with pipe running up through the hall above. This, with the grates in each room, was the only means of heating the house. When built the houses were the only ones on the block, but that was too limited a space for houses as large as those.

Another very interesting old place was the Tonnele homestead, built in 1837-8. In 1835 Mr. Tonnele bought the old Dr. Hornblower place, on the west side of Summit avenue, a ten-acre plot, extending from a little south of what is now Magnolia avenue to the center of what is now Pavonia avenue, where it joined a Van Reypen farm. Dr. Hornblower served in the Revolution, having joined the army from Belleville. After the war he studied medicine, and came to this locality in 1789, and began the practice of medicine—the first doctor known to have practiced in Jersey City. He married, and built a house about the center of the block between Pavonia and Magnolia avenues. The date of building is not known, but probably it was about the beginning of the century. The house had a wing on either side—one used as an office, and the other as a kitchen. After Mr. Tonnele bought the property he removed the main part of the house to its present location on the southwest corner of Magnolia and Summit avenues, leaving the wings for a lodge and gardener's cottage. Along Summit avenue he built a high stone wall with iron gates, about where the old house had been. Inside the wall was a hawthorn hedge and a row of mulberry trees. A driveway, bordered with cherry trees, extended from the gate and around a circular lawn in front of the house, which stood on the west side of the grounds. It was built of trap rock, some forty feet square, three stories and basement, with a wide veranda in front. A wide central hall with large rooms on either side. The ceilings were beautifully frescoed, the mantels were of Sienna marble, and the doors of solid mahogany. It also was heated from a great stove in the hall and grates in the rooms. It is said that John Kelly, the Tammany Sachem of New York, put the grates in the house. The grounds were beautifully laid out, and many of the fruit trees were imported from France. The furniture for the house was made by a Frenchman in New York.

Mr. Tonnele was born in New York City; his mother a daughter of General Waterbury, of Connecticut, and his father a Frenchman, who came to this country about the time of the Revolution. He founded a chamois glove factory in Water street. It is said that he never spoke a word of English, nor did his wife ever speak a word of French. Mr. Tonnele, of Jersey City, was the first Catholic member of the New Jersey Legislature, and served in county offices. He laid the corner stone of the Court House. The old stone house has passed through numerous changes in its comparatively short life. From the hospitable home of the Tonneles it became the first home of Christ Hospital, later a tenement house. The grounds have been sold off in city lots, and the old walls are a dilapidated ruin.

The question is often asked, what is there and what can there be in Jersey City? It is a question that cannot be briefly answered; this book only answers it in part. We have very much that should make us proud of our city. Our location is superb, our historic legacies are rich and enviable. But few American cities can boast of church and school in uninterrupted continuance for two hundred and thirty-eight years. There might be given a long list of names of citizens, honorable and upright men, whose lives in many ways reflect glory upon their city; business men, patriots, clergymen, lawyers and judges, who have made Jersey law a synonym for justice and right; doctors whose lives have been a constant blessing to the sick and suffering; men in all walks of life, whose simple devotion to duty has made the world better. Phillips Brooks said that "no man, woman or child could think a good thought without the world being better for it."

Of course, there are shadows, but, if we choose, they can easily be removed. Our streets are not as clean as we hope they soon will be, but it is claimed by good authority that there is less crime here than in any other city of its size in the world; and city streets are more easily made clean than criminal characters reformed. Let our citizens once realize that our city will become just what we choose to make it, and its future is assured—a future of honor, of beauty, of substantial, thorough excellence in all directions. The foundations are already laid.