Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

and, when the new Post Office shall be finished, the lots on which it stands will sell for $300,000. The Brick Church afforded a neat operation. It was put

into the market in 1854, and, with its cemetery (three-fourths of an acre), was sold for $175,000. A year afterward the new owners sold it at auction for $350,000, and the plot at present valuation would be worth a million. In the catalogue may also be included the Pearl Street Church, which the bookseller Appleton purchased at a bargain; and also the Broome Street Church, which the Merchants' Express Company bought for a stable, and were immediately offered $40,000 advance.

To these interesting examples is to be added the recent sale of the Scotch Presbyterian Church (Dr. McElroy's) on Grand street. The congregation having moved up town three years ago, the property, 125x100 feet, was sold for $120,000. It was purchased by the Masonic body, with the intention of erecting a hall, but their views changed, and it was sold by them at an advance of $40,000. Hardly a year has elapsed when it is again put into the market, and brings a further advance of $30,000. With these precedents we are safe in advising any one who wants to get rich to buy a church. The chances are not exhausted. All churches below Union square must go into the market, and in a few years the entire space between that square and the Battery, two miles in extent, will be denuded of all symbols of worship, with perhaps one exception. Mammon will then enjoy an undisturbed reign.-Times, May 28, 1869.

THE FIVE POINTS.-The existence of such a spot as this in the heart of our populous city is a blot upon the authorities in this enlightened age, and the nightly scenes of infamy that take place there surpass, in point of depravity, those of any other city in this Union. Did such a vile den as that of the Five Points exist in some obscure part of the suburbs of our city, away from the sight of the moral of our community, it might not, from time to time, have called forth the rebuke of every upright and worthy citizen who feels an interest in the common welfare; but while it stands in our very midst, a monument of corporate imbecility, or neglect, or political corruption, it has been loudly complained of-first, as a public scandal, and next, as an impediment to local improvements. Individual enterprise, in the shape of the erection of respectable buildings in the various streets adjoining the Five Points, will not effect the slightest good, for respectable and industrious citizens will not tolerate the idea of allowing their families to breathe in the contaminated atmosphere of this place. Scarcely a night passes off without some crime of the darker description, while the immorality that is openly practised before the eye of the authorities is truly shameful. A project for widening Anthony street, direct from Broadway to Chatham Square, had been some time since "spoken of," but nothing has been since done upon the subject. If the Five Points were attacked in this way from four or five particular locations, and if it were made the more direct communication between Broadway and the lower part of the Bowery, Chatham Square-in fact made one of the leading thoroughfares, it would enhance the value of property in this quarter a good deal, and as a consequence the denizens of this "peculiar" sort of city would flow to a more congenial part of our city. We trust that a day may arrive when we shall see

this subject vigorously agitated and taken in hands by some members, if not the whole of the corporation, as it is time that something should be done about the matter. There is a growing thirst for local improvements, particularly in the building line, as is evidenced by the vast number of buildings thrown up last season; and it would considerably enhance the value of property in this vicinity if the "Philistines" were routed in some shape or form.—Herald, 1846.

THE CITY PARKS.-The expense of keeping and improving the public Parks in this City, for the year past, as reported to the Street Commissioner by Mr. Tom Byrnes, the Superintendent, was $27,389, of which amount a little more than half was devoted to Tompkins Square, though the improvements in that Park are not yet quite completed. A tasty stone and iron fence has been erected around it, the flagging has been taken up and replaced where necessary, grass and timothy seed have been sown, privet planted, and young and thrifty trees set out. Gutters and drains are yet to be built, and a railing is to be put around the fountain. Madison Square looks dilapidated. The wooden fence around it is rotten and decaying, continually requiring repairs; and the Square, in consequence, looks very little like the one which a Flora McFlimsey might be expected to choose for her melancholy promenades. Lines of flagging and an iron fence are wanted. Union Park looks neat and cosy, and the fountain never fails. The Washington Parade Ground also seems to be in good condition. A number of large trees in this Park were broken down and destroyed by heavy storms last Summer. The fairy little fields facing Dr. Tyng's Church, the East and West Stuyvesant Parks, though almost deserted except on sunny days, maintain as inviting and cheerful an aspect as any other Parks in the city. The City Hall Park in some parts is muddy, in others dilapidated, and presents a shabbiness of appearance in keeping with the seedy politicians that lounge about in it. The parade ground in front of the Hall was elevated last Fall by filling in foundry ashes, and mud since then has been less plentiful. The Comptroller and Street Commissioner have closed up the Beekman street breach with uncomely little wooden posts, and the question is now pending whether Beekman street shall be extended or not. The Bowling Green, down town, is closed, and its fountain frozen up, and none but immigrants now resort to that dirty and noisome dumping ground, the once beautiful and much-frequented Battery.-Tribune, Jan. 25, 1860.

[blocks in formation]

ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSTORE.

WILLIAM ERVING,

13 EAST 17th STREET,

Between Broadway and Fifth Ave.,

NEW YORK.

Old and New Books in every Department of Art, Science and Literature: also in French, German, Spanish, Italian, &c.

Local Histories, Genealogies, Autographs, Portraits and Engravings for Illustrating, &c., &c.

Books Bought in Large or Small Quantities.

FINE BOOKBINDING.

OPEN EVENINGS, SEPT. to MAY.

ANNOUNCEMENT.

OLD NEW YORK, a magazine devoted to the History and Antiquities of New York City, will be published monthly at No. 19 Park place. Each number will contain at least sixty-four pages of reading matter, thus making two large volumes yearly. Many of the articles will be illustrated; each volume will have a copious index, and each series of volumes will also contain a general index, similar to those in Notes and Queries. The price will be Five Dollars a year.

The work is intended to cover the entire range of events from the discovery of the river and bay down to a period within the recollection of middleaged persons. For this purpose all available material in the possession of the State and City Governments, the files of newspapers which are extant, the pamphlets and manuscripts in our public libraries, the letters of those who have passed away, the references in books of travel, and in fact everything that can be obtained will be examined and digested. Many well known New York collectors and antiquaries have promised their assistance, and it is believed that the repertory thus made will speedily be regarded as a most valuable one. One prominent feature of Old New York from the beginning will be its indexes. These will refer to the collections already made or books already published, enabling writers on New York topics to have brought before them all that has been said or written elsewhere.

The editor invites the aid of all those who are interested in preserving the memorials of the past. Documents entrusted to him will receive the utmost care, and be returned as speedily as possible.

Checks should be made payable to W. W. Pasko, 19 Park place, New York, and communications should also be sent to him.

[merged small][ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »