Nooks and Corners of Old New York Part 13

Within half a dozen steps of the old tower, in the same lumber yard, is a house said to be the oldest in the city. It is of Dutch architecture, with sloping roof and a wide porch. The cutting through and grading of Fifty-third Street have forced it higher above the ground than its builders intended it to be. The outer walls, in part, have been boarded over, and some "modern improvements" have made it somewhat unsightly; but inside, no vandal's art has been sufficient to hide its solid oak beams and its stone foundations that have withstood the shocks of time successfully. It was a farm-house, and its site was the Spring Valley Farm of the Revolution. It is thought to have been built by some member of the De Voor family, who, after 1677, had a grant of sixty acres of land along the river, and gave their name to a mill-stream long since forgotten, save for allusion in the pages of history.

A block away in Fifty-fourth Street, between First Avenue and the river, is another Dutch house, though doubtless of much later origin. It stands back from the street and has become part of a brewery, being literally surrounded by buildings.

[Sidenote: Central Park]

The first suggestion of a Central Park was made in the fall of 1850, when Andrew J. Downing, writing to the _Horticulturist_, advocated the establishment of a large park because of the lack of recreation-grounds in the city. On April 5, 1851, Mayor Ambrose C. Kingsland, in a special message to the Common Council, suggested the necessity for the new park, pointing out the limited extent and inadequacy of the existing ones. The Common Council, approving of the idea, asked the Legislature for authority to secure the necessary land. The ground suggested for the new park was the property known as "Jones' Woods," which lay between Sixty-sixth and Seventy-fifth Streets, Third Avenue and the East River.

At an extra session of the Legislature in July, 1851, an Act known as the "Jones' Woods Park Bill" was pa.s.sed, under which the city was given the right to acquire the land. The pa.s.sage of this Act opened a discussion as to whether there was no other location better adapted for a public park than Jones' Woods. In August a committee was appointed by the Board of Aldermen to examine the proposed plot and others. This committee reported in favor of what they considered a more central site, namely, the ground lying between Fifty-ninth and One Hundred and Sixth Streets, Fifth and Eighth Avenues. On July 23, 1853, the Legislature pa.s.sed an Act giving authority for the acquirement of the land, afterward occupied by Central Park, to Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court. The previous Jones' Woods Act was repealed. These Commissioners awarded for damages $5,169,369.69, and for benefits $1,657,590.00, which report was confirmed by the court in February, 1856.

In May, 1856, the Common Council appointed a commission which took charge of the work of construction. On this commission were William C.

Bryant, Washington Irving and George Bancroft. In 1857, however, a new Board was appointed by the Legislature, because of the inactivity of the first one. Under the new Board, in April of the year in which they were appointed, the designs of Calvert Vaux and Frederick L. Olmsted were accepted and actual work was begun.

The plans for the improvement of the park, which have been consistently adhered to, were based upon the natural configuration of the land. As nearly as possible the hills, valleys and streams were preserved undisturbed. Trees, shrubs and vines were arranged with a view to an harmonious blending of size, shape and color--all that would attract the eye and make the park as beautiful in every detail as in its entirety.

The year 1857 was one of much distress to the poor, and work on the park being well under way, the Common Council created employment for many laborers by putting them to work grading the new park.

The original limits were extended from One Hundred and Sixth to One Hundred and Tenth Street in 1859.

As it exists to-day, Central Park contains eight hundred and sixty-two acres, of which one hundred and eighty-five and one-quarter are water.

It is two and a half miles long and half a mile wide. Five hundred thousand trees have been set out since the acquisition of the land.

There are nine miles of carriageway, five and a half miles of bridle-path, twenty-eight and one half miles of walk, thirty buildings, forty-eight bridges, tunnels and archways, and out-of-door seats for ten thousand persons. It is a.s.sessed at $87,000,000 and worth twice that amount. More than $14,000,000 have been spent on improvements.

[Ill.u.s.tration]