. Historic buildings of America as seen and described by famous writers; . being dwarfed,crushed and overwhelmed, by the World building, officesky-scrapers and other unsightly buildings that surround we want to realize the architects intent, we must levelthe monster structures in the immediate vicinity and restorethe scene of the date when the City Hall was designed. A tablet under the Mayors office informs us that hereWashington read the Declaration of Independence to thetroops, but the City Hall did not occupy that site in thosedays. The present miniature park is a very small part ofth
. Historic buildings of America as seen and described by famous writers; . being dwarfed,crushed and overwhelmed, by the World building, officesky-scrapers and other unsightly buildings that surround we want to realize the architects intent, we must levelthe monster structures in the immediate vicinity and restorethe scene of the date when the City Hall was designed. A tablet under the Mayors office informs us that hereWashington read the Declaration of Independence to thetroops, but the City Hall did not occupy that site in thosedays. The present miniature park is a very small part ofthe original common land known as the Commons, orthe Fields. Under the Dutch, this open space wascalled the Vlackte (the Flat). In Colonial days, the Bride-well, and the New Jail, and the stake at which negroeswere occasionally burnt were situated on it. Kings Col-lege was on the West; on the North was the Collect Pondand the stream flowing to the Hudson through LispenardsMeadow. A powder house also stood on the Commonsand the old Boston Post Road (now Chatham St.) passed. THE CITY HALL, NEW YORK 287 through it on the East. At the corner of Park Row andNassau St. was the Brick Presbyterian Church. The Sonsof Liberty used to assemble in the Fields; and thepresent Post Office covers the spot whereon the LibertyPole was raised. The first City Hall, or Stadt Huys, was modest was a stone house built for a tavern by Governor Kieft,in 1642. The site, on the Waal, at the corner of PearlSt. and Coenties Alley, was selected on account of its beingconvenient to the ferry. Thirteen years later, it was cededto the city authorities for the sittings of the Burgomastersand Schepens of New Amsterdam. It was used also as aprison. This old Dutch house, with its crow-stepped gable and cupola, stood till 1700. The next City Hall, which lasted throughout the Eight-eenth Century, was situated almost on the site of the pres-ent Sub-Treasury on Wall St. In 1800, the corporation of the city of N
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjecthistori, bookyear1906
