A CONDENSED GUIDE TO NEW-YORK CITY. The outward aspect of New-York City is in a constant state of change because of the displacement of the smaller brick buildings in the business districts by the iron girded structures that make chasms of the most important General Plan streets, and because of the uptown march of offices and shops of the City. into spots formerly devoted to residence. But the general plan remains perforce unchanged. This is indeed the constant lament of students of the problems of transportation, who vainly regret that the rectangular city blocks have their long dimension east and west, and the short north and south. The reverse would have facilitated the daily movement of population up and down town. Little else, however, could be added to the rigid simplicity of the street arrangement. North of Fourteenth-st. the scheme has the sameness of bricks in a wall. The avenues run on the long axis of the island, north and south, and are given numbers for names, from First-ave, on the east to Twelfth-ave, on the west. To the east of First-ave., where much of the land has been made, are four more avenues, named A, B, C, D. North from Twenty-first-st., moveover, the long blocks are split between Third and Fourth-aves. by Lexington-ave. North from Twentythird-st. another supplementary avenue runs between Fourth and Fifth, called Madison-ave. Central Park occupies the spece, originally planned for streets, between Fifty-ninth-st. and One-hundred-and-tenth-st. and Fifth and Eighth-aves. Two of these boundaries, Eighth-ave. and Fifty-ninth-st. take its name along its length, and become Central Park West and Central Park South. Above the park Sixth-ave. appears as Lenox-ave. On the west the numbered avenues from Fiftyninth-st. north change their names. Ninth-ave. becomes Columbus, Tenth, Amsterdam, and Eleventh, West End. Fourth-ave. above Thirty-fourth-st. is known as Park-ave. Above the park on the west this prim arrangement is disturbed by various diagonal and curving avenues cast in the mould of old country roads and village lanes. But on the whole the general arrangement above Fourteenth-st. on the west and Houston-st. on the east is extremely simple. Below this the city is laid out on various axes, like several checker boards shoved together on a table in an irregular group, due to the natural tendency in early days to a parallelism with the broken shore line. The one great varlant in this plan of laying out the streets by the four points of the compass and four only is Broadway. This thoroughfare runs from the Battery diagonally west of north to One-hundred-and-sixth-st., where it reaches West End-ave. From the Battery to Tenth-st. it runs almost in the avenue axis, though a little to the eastward, but at Tenth-st. it deflects with a sharp turn to its diagonal direction, leaving the quieting spire and porch of Grace Church in the vista of Broadway from points below. After skirting Union Square Broadway continues aslant the avenues, cutting Fifth-ave. at Twenty-third-st. and Madison Square; Sixth-ave. at Thirty-fourth-st. and Herald Square; Seventh-ave. at Forty-third-st. and Long Acre Square; Eighth-ave. at Fifty-ninth-st. and Columbus Circle; Columbusave. at Sixty-fifth-st. and Amsterdam-ave. at Seventy-first-st. Running rather irregularly between Amsterdam-ave. and West End-ave. to One-hundred-and-sixth-st. it finally joins the latter there and converts it for the rest of its length to Onehundred-and-seventy-fifth-st. into Broadway. Another street strikingly out of harmony with the north and south uniformity is the Bowery. This wide and noteworthy avenue begins practically at Union Square in Fourth-ave. and sweeps down east of Broadway, bulging nearer to the river front, toward Brooklyn Bridge. Thus Lower Broadway to Tenth-st., in a straight line, and the long diagonal extension up town, and the Bowery curving down on the east, make a figure on the map much like the rim, handle and bowl of a huge spoon. The numbered cross streets run normally from river to river, but down town they are squeezed into small space, getting shorter like the thread at the end of a wood screw. First-st, is extremely short. At Twelfth-st., however, they reach from shore to shore. The house numbers on these cross streets are counted each and west from Fifth-ave., except on the west of Central Park, where they are counted from its boundary, Eighth-ave. Even numbers are found on the south side of the cross streets, odd numbers on the north. Twenty cross streets make a mile. The numbers on the avenues have no absolute uniformity. It is possible, however, to find what street any avenue number is near by the following method. Write down the number. Cancel the last digit. Divide the remaining number by 2. Add the key number. The key numbers are as follows: Avenue D, 3; Avenue C, 3; Avenue B, 3; Avenue A, 3; First-ave., 3; Second-ave., 3; Third-ave., 10; Lexington-ave., 22; Fourth-ave., 8; Madison-ave., 26; Park-ave., 25; Fifth-ave.. 17; Sixth-ave., 6; Seventh-ave., 12; Eighth-ave., 9; Ninth-ave., 13; Tenthave., 14; Eleventh-ave., 15; Columbus-ave., 59. Buildings of Public At the Battery, the Aquarium, where curious fishes now disport, otherwise Castle. Garden, was once a music hall where Jenny Lind sang herself into fame. The Barge Office is also on the water front with a view down the bay of the old fort on Governor's Island and the Statue of Liberty, the gift of the French Republic Near Bowling Green, where the famous statue of George II. was pulled down and melted, stands the Produce Exchange, and the beginnings of the new Custom House, Further up Broadway, at Rector-st., tands Trinity Church, facing down Wall-st., where, on the site of the Sub-Treasury. in Federal Hall, Washington took the first oath of office as President. In Broad-st. the new building of the Stock Exchange is nearing completion. In Fulton-st and Broadway is the oldest church in the city, St. Paul's Chapel, where Washington attended when New-York was the capital. Beyond this is the Postoffice, and above this City Hall Park, with the old City Hall and the ""Tweed" Courthouse. To the east is "Newspaper Row." Brooklyn Bridge rests on New-York nearby. Up Centre-st. is found the new Hall of Records, and a few blocks beyond the new City Prison and the Criminal Courts Building, connected by the storied Bridge of Sighs. In Washington Square, at the starting point of Fifth-ave., stands the arch erected at the time of the Washington Centennial and designed by Stanford White. On reaching Madison Square, at Twenty-third-st., he garden looms up in warm tones, a building with a tower planned after the Giralda, in Seville, and capable of housing anything from a circus to a chamber concert. The impressive twin spires of St. Patrick's Cathedral, at Fiftieth-st. and Fifth-ave., may be seen from many points in the city. In the park, at East Eighty-second-st., is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with its increasing treasures. On the other side of the park, between Seventy-seventh and Eighty-first sts., stands the Museum of Natural History. Further up, beyond One-hundred-and-tenth-st., on the prominence Morningside Park, the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine is building. St. Luke's Hospital is there, and the Library and other buildings of Columbia University. Over the way, in Central Park, near its northern limit, stands on a little rise of ground a small stone fort, where Washington's army made a stand, in its retreat from Long Island and New-York up the river and over into New-Jersey. Parks and Monuments. The city was not planned with much of an eye for .ts breathing places. In some cases restricted private property has survived in small squares of open air and vegetation and in other land has been cleared, or tracts set aside in time to escape occupation by streets; but there is a regrettable lack of any original provision for a system of parks. Central Park, already mentioned, is one of the most beautiful pleasure grounds, however, to be found in any part of the world. Its area is 840 acres, and it has nine miles of carriage road attractively laid out, six miles of bridle path and thirty miles of footpath. With its rolling ground, its extensive planted trees and shrubs, and its natural woodlands and several lakes, it is not easily surpassed. Riverside Park, stretching along the Hudson shore from Seventysecond-st. to Grant's Tomb, at One-hundred-and-twenty-fifth-st., a long, narrow strip of handsome driveway adds another feature of beauty to the city. Morningside Park, between Manhattan-ave. and Arsterdam-ave., is at the foot of a commanding bluff. Besides the large parks outside the island, Van Cortlandt, Bronx and Pelham Bay parks, there are a number of smaller ones at various points in the city. There is the Battery, with the sweep of a magnificent harbor in full view. Bowling Green, City Hall Park, Union Square, Madison Square, Washington Square, Stuyvesant Square, and in the northern part Mount Morris Park, are smaller pleasure grounds. Among the monuments Grant's Tomb takes rank as an imposing memorial in a fitting situation, with the Hudson stretching away in either direction. The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Monument, in Riverside Park, at Eighty-ninth-st., was dedicated with military ceremony May 30, 1902. The statue of Washington on the steps of the Sub-Treasury is the work of J. Q. A. Ward. That of Nathan Hale in City Hall Park is by MacMonnies, and Peter Cooper's at the Cooper Union, by Augustus St. Gaudens. The lines of transportation within the city are, generally speaking, operated by electricity. The cable which took the place of the horse on some of the main thoroughfares has been replaced with the electric underground trolley Transportation system, and the third rail system succeeds the steam locomotive Features. on the elevated roads. There are elevated lines on Ninth, Sixth, Third and Second aves. running the length of the island. Trolley lines are found in the majority of the busy avenues, such as Broadway, Sixth-ave., Columbus-ave., Amsterdam-ave., Eighth-ave., Madison-ave., Lexington-ave. Thirdave., Second-ave. and the Bowery. Of the railroads the New-York Central and Hudson River and New-York, New-Haven and Hartford rur their trains into the Grand Central Station at Forty-second-st. Many roads run into Jersey City and ferry their passengers and freight over. The Central Railroad of New-Jersey and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad are reached by the Whitehall-st. and Liberty-st. ferries. The Erie, Greenwood Lake, New-York and New-Jersey, and Northern Railroad of NewJersey have ferries at Chambers-st. and Twenty-third-st. The ferries for the Pennsylvania, New-York, Susquehanna and Western, and Lehigh Valley roads leave Cortlandt-st., Desbrosses-st. and Twenty-third-st.; those of the West Shore, Franklinst. and West Forty-second-st.; the New-Jersey Central at Liberty-st., and the NewYork, Lackawanna and Western and the Delaware and Western, at Barclay-st, and Christopher-st. The Long Island ferrics leave East Thirty-fourth-st. and Whitehallst. Ocean steamship lines, such as the Holland-American, American, Red Star, Cunard, White Star and North German Lloyd have piers along West-st. In addition to the Brooklyn Bridge, three new bridges are to cross the East River-the Williamsburg Bridge, at Delancey and Clinton sts., will be ready for traffic early this year; the Manhattan Bridge, reaching the shore at Pike Slip and connecting with the Second-ave. elevated road at Canal-st., and the Blackwell's Island Bridge, at Fifty-ninth-st., the middle piers of which will stand on the island. It is expected that regular passenger trains will be running in the subway by May 1, 1904. The contract, which was awarded to John B. McDonald on January 17, 1900, allowed The Rapid four and a half years for completion, so that this great engineering enterprise, which has been the admiration of all foreign visiting engineers, is to be done_considerably under contract time. The contract was signed on February 24, and ground was broken in front of the City Hall by Mayor Van Wyck on March 24. The contract price was $35,000,000, and the contractor agreed, after building the road, to operate it for fifty years. Security of $7,000,000 was furnished through the organization of the Rapid Transit Subway Construction Company, August Belmont, president. The contractor divided the work into sections and sublet them to under contractors, one of whom, Major Ira A. Shaler, was mortally injured by falling rock on June 17, 1902, while inspecting the progress of work in his section in Park-ave., near Thirty-ninth-st. This was one of several accidents in this section, No. 4, including the Park-ave. cave in of March 21, 1902, and at other points, notably in the Washington Heights excavation, where five men were killed by a fall of rock. But on the whole the work has been remarkably free from accident and calamity, when the many engineering difficulties encountered, such as the prevalent bed rock and the troublesome tidewater sand, are considered. The chief engineer is William Barclay Parsons, to whom much of the credit of obviating delays is due. Another man who has given much of his energies to the task is Alexander E. Orr, president of the Rapid Transit Board. The route adopted begins at City Hall and runs up Elm-st. to Lafayette Place, thence on to Fourth-ave.. to Forty-second-st., through Forty-secondst. to Broadway, and up Broadway to Onehundred-and-fourth-st. Here it branches. One tunnel proceeds to Fort George and beyond to Marble Hill near Kingsbridge. The other turns off to the east of Lenox-ave., then up to One-hundred-and-forty-first-st., where it dips under the Harlem River and reaches Bronx Park. Thirty-five stations are planned from the City Hall on the west line, and thirteen above the branching at One-hundred-and-fourth-st. to The Bronx. An ex An extension to Brooklyn was adopted by the Rapid Transit Commission September 27, 1900, and was approved by the Municipal Assembly on May 1, 1901, and by Mayor Van Wyck on June 1. The route is as follows: From City Hall down Broadway to Bowling Green and Whitehall-st., to South Ferry, under the East River to Joralemonst., Brooklyn, to Fulton-st., to Flatbushave. and to Atlantic-ave. An extension that would serve the part of the city on the East Side above Fortysecond-st. and below the eastern branch at One-hundred-and-tenth-st. was urged by The Tribune. On April 24, 1902, the Rapid Transit Commission authorized a survey for such a route to be constructed when the proper funds became available. tension is also proposed to run down Broadway below Forty-second-st. The main power house which will supply the electricity occupies nearly the whole block bounded by Fifty-eighth-st. and Fifty-ninth-st. and Ninth-ave. and. Tenthave. Electricity will be used for lighting as well as motive power and to operate a block signal system, in which the blocks will be 2,500 feet, or nearly half a mile, apart. On the two central tracks express trains will be run in rush hours, probably on a two-minute headway. Express trains will be composed of eight cars, local trains from three to five. Such an underground system has been proposed for the city for many years, but the execution of the design was blocked from time to time by legislative checks and the opposition of property Owners along proposed routes. In 1888 Mayor Hewitt sent a bill to the legislature providing for building an underground railroad, but in May of the next year the bill was killed. In April, 1890, a bill was signed by Governor Hill providing for rapid transit railways CENTRAL PARK in cities of over one million inhabitants. Mayor Hugh J. Grant named a commission to decide upon routes, which recommended a four-track underground road. George R. Read and others applied for a franchise. A new commission was appointed, and perfected plans were submitted to the Board of Aldermen and approved by it on October 21, 1891. The franchise was offered for sale, but had no bidders because of the threats of litigation. The legislature in 1894 created a new Rapid Transit Board. The commission was composed of Alexander E. Orr, John H. Starin, William Steinway, John H. Inman, Seth Low and John Claflin, and the Mayor and Controller ex officio. Mr. Low resigned June 2, 1896. His place was taken by Woodbury Langdon. On November 30, 1896, William Steinway died, and Charles Stewart Smith, who had served on the commission of 1890, took his place. Another member, John H. Inman, died on November 5, 1895, and was succeeded by George L. Rives. On May 5, 1899, Morris K. Jesup entered the board, having been elected president of the Chamber of Comr.erce. Mr. Orr, who resigned from the presidency of the Chamber of Commerce, was enabled to continue on the board by the resignation of John Claflin, May 10, 1899. This POST OFFICE FULTON S OZY S RECTOR $8) commission finally selected Broadway as the route. This raised a clamor of protest, and individual property owners carried the fight into the courts. A commission was appointed by the Appellate Court, First Department, by which the necessity of obtaining the individual consents of property owners along the route was overcome. The consent of the local authorities was obtained in 1897. The objections raised, however, to the Broadway route resulted in new plans being drawn. The steel used in the construction of the subway is furnished by the American Bridge Company. It is estimated that 70,000 tons will be employed. MAYORS OF THE CITY OF NEW-YORK. The following table gives a list of the Mayors of New-York since 1665, when Thomas Willett was appointed by the Governor of the Province. The office was filled by the same appointing power until 1784. when for six years the power was vested in the Appointing Board of the State of New-York. From 1820 to 1830, when the charter was amended, the Commor. Council was the appointing power. Robert A. Van Wyck was the first Mayor elected under the Greater New-York charter: 14 C. Steenwyck. 1682-1683 15 G. Minville... 1691 35 Robt. Lurting 1726-1735 66 A. H. Mickle..1846-1847 meyer 1848-1849 39 Edw. Holland 1747-1757||69| C. S. Woodhull 1849-1851 40 J. Cruger, jr.1757-1766|| 70|A. C. Kingsland 1851-1853 41 W. Hicks.... 1766-177671 J. A. Westervelt 1853-1855 42 D. Matthews (Tory) 72 Fernando Wood 1855-1858 meyer 1873-1874 1684 16 N. Bayard.. 1685 17 S. v. Cortlandt 1686-1687 18 P. Delanoy...1689-1690: 19 J. Lawrence.. 20 A. de Peyster 1692-1695 21 Wm. Merritt. 1695-1698 22 J. de Peyster. 1698-1699 23 David Provost 1699-1700 24 I. de Riemer. 1700-1701. 25 Thomas Noell 1701-1702 26 Philip French 1702-1703) 27 Wm. Peartree 1703-1707 28 E. Wilson... 1707-1710 29 J. v. Cortlandt 1710-1711 30 C. Heathcote. 1711-1714) 31 John Johnson. 1714-1719 32 J. v. Cortlandt 1719-1720 64 James Harper 1844-1845||94|G. B. McClellan (1904-1906 33 Robt. Walters 1720-172565 W. F. Have34 J. Jansen....11725-1726| 1874 82 W. H. Wickham 1875-1876 83 Smith Ely..... 1877-1878 84 Edward Cooper. 1879-1880 85 Wm. R. Grace.1881-1882 86 Franklin Edson. 1883-1884 87 Wm. R. Grace. 1885-1886 88 A. S. Hewitt...1887-1888 89 Hugh J. Grant. 1889-1892 90 T. F. Gilroy....1893-1894 61 Aaron Clark. 1837-1839) 91 Wm. L. Strong. 1895-1897 62 I. L. Varian. 1839-1841 92 R.A. Van Wyck 1898-1901 63 R. H. Morris. 1841-1844|| 93 | Seth Low... rence meyer 1834-1837 1845-1846 1902-1904 CITY. CHIEF FEDERAL OFFICIALS IN NEW-YORK Postoffice Building, Manhattan, Judges Rufus W. Peckham, Circuit Justice; William J. Wallace, E. Henry Lacombe and William K. Townsend, Circuit Judges. Clerk-William Parkin; salary, $3,000. Term-Last Tuesday in Oc tober. United States Circuit Court. Postoffice Building, Manhattan, Judges appointed by President, and confirmed by United States Senate, for life. Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and Judge of the Circuit Court-R. W. Peckham, $12,000. Circuit Judges-William J. Wallace, E. Henry Lacombe and Alfred C. Coxe, $7,000 each. Clerk-J. A. Shields, $3,500. General Terms-First Monday in April and third Monday in October. Equity Term-Last Monday in February. Terms of Criminal Court-Second Wednesday in January, March, May, October and December, and third in June. United States District Court. Stated Term-First Tuesday in every month. Special Term-Every Tuesday for return of process. United States District Attorney-Henry L. Burnett, $8,000. Assistant District Attorneys-H. C. Platt, E. E. Baldwin, A. M. King, D. Frank Lloyd, C. E. Houghton, Henry A. Wise and C. D. Baker; salaries from $1,800 to $3,600. Marshal-William Henkel, $5,000. Chief Deputy-John Stibling, $2,750. Commissioners-J. A. Shields, S. H. Ly- United States Courts. Postoffice Building, Washington and Circuit Court-William J. Wallace, E. H. Lacombe, William K. Townsend and Alfred C. Coxe, judges; each $7,000. Clerk-B. Lincoln Benedict. Fees not to exceed $3,500. Deputy Clerk-J. G. Coch E. Hamilton... $5,000 Deputy Collector and Private Sec- 3,000 2,500 Collector, First Division Naval Office. 3,000 3,000 4,200 Wall and Nassau sts., Manhattan. 3,600 3,200 3,100 3,100 3,000 United States Assay Office. 30 Wall-st., Manhattan. Superintendent, Andrew Mason.... $4,500 Assayer, Herbert G. Torrey. 3,000 Melter and Refiner, B. T. Martin. 3,000 Pension Agency. .$12,000 Chief Clerk and Special Deputy 6,000 |
