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ELEVATED RAILROADS.
“IPORTANT, SYSTEMS. 'HANDLI'NG .. THE
PASSENGER TRAFFIC j or rent
' ' , [GREATER CITY. -
microns m THE DEVELOPMENT or UPPER nnwa -
roux AND THE susuans or BROOKLYN—
STATISTICS RELATING TO THE AN—l
NUAL OPERATIONS. .
One of the most interesting features of New-
York to strangers is the elevated railroad, which
has been no small factor in aiding the develop-
ment of the city. As late as 1876 only three of
the street railroads of the city had tracks ex-
tending above Fifty-ninth-st., and the transpor-
tation afforded was too slow to admit of many
persons living along their routes at long dis-
tances from the centres of business. The upper
parts of Manhattan and the outlying portions of '
Brooklyn were unimproved, and thousands of
merchants and manufacturers of moderate
means, clerks and workingpeople whose wages
enabled them to live outside of the tenement
districts, resided in the villages along'the lines
of railroad on the mainland, Long Island or
New-Jersey. The idea of an elevated railroad
had a practical demonstration in 1876 in the
construction of an experimental track along
(.lreenwich-st. from Cortlandt to Fourteenth st.
The feasibility of the plan was soon evident,
and a system was projected along Sixth and
Third aves., the roads being put in operation in
1878. Other roads were built later along Second,
Ninth and Columbus aves., and at the same
time the construction of elevated roads was be-
gun in Brooklyn.
From this time unusual activity became ap-
parent in building operations on both the upper
East and West sides, and with the extension of.
the elevated roads this activity moved north-
ward, gradually crossing‘ the Harlem River.
Brooklyn witnessed a. similar development as an
accompaniment of her elevated railroads.
EFFECT ON TAX VALUATIONS.
Property enhanced in value rapidly, and land
that had once been waste suddenly became valu-
able and brought good prices in the real estate
market. The figures compiled from the annual
reports of the Tax Commissioners show that
while the average annual increase in the value
of real estate in New—York City was only $5,-
000,000 for the four years preceding the comple-
tion of the first two lines of elevated roads, the
‘ average increase for the succeeding four years
was over $33,000,000. The first two roads com—
pleted were put in operation in 1878, for which
year the increase of assessed values was $5,791,-
1169. Next year (1879) the increase was $17,278,-
2230:1131 helre are the figures of the increase in
se va ues or each of the succeedin thre
years; .1880, $24,437,310; 1881, $34,164,006; 1882e
858,408,011;‘ total increase for the four years:
hid-1,318,610. But that is not all. During the
four years preceding the opening of the elevated
roads there was an actual decrease in values in
mne of the twenty-four wards into which the
city was divided, and the aggregate of the items
was more than $4,000,000 Thus more than
two—thirds of the city property was falling in
value. At the end of the succeeding period of
four years only one ward, the Fourth, showed‘a "
decreasein values, and the item was compara-
tively unimportant.
VAST NUMBERS OF PASSENGERS.
'At the present time there are 64%), miles of
elevated railroad in New-York City, operated
by three companies. The Manhattan Railway
Company, which owns the lines on Manhattan
Island and the extension beyond the Harlem,
operates 36 miles, and the remaining 281,9 miles
are divided between the two Brooklyn com-
panies. The Manhattan Railway carries mere
passengers than any other system in the world,
and Since the opening of the road the number
exceeds several times the entire population of
the globe. .
The management of the Manhattan Elevated
Railroad has resulted in a system without which
the question of transportation would present
difficulties which would be unsurmountablep
From its inception a careful study has been
made of the requirements necessary for. the
transportation of the city’s population, with the
least inconvenience and the greatest degree of
speed and comfort. The Manhattan Elevated
Railroad is conducted by a trained corps of men,
and it IS an institution which is a‘cause for
wonder to foreign visitors to the city. It is of
supreme importance to the commercial world.
In the early morning hours its trainsare‘ filled
With busxness men, clerks and working people
who find in it the means for reaching their
business promptly, and with the least possible
delay. In fact, delay of any kind is a. thing
almost unknown, and the infrequency of acci-
dents even of a trivial nature is a cause for
congratulation.
MANAGEMENT OF THE ROAD.
The general efficiency of the road may be at-
tributed directly to the superiority of its man-
agement and the fact that its employee are at
all times impressed with their responsibilities.
Discourtesy to passengers on the Manhattan
Elevated road is not tolerated by the officials
and the result is a corps of employes who at
all times look outffor the Welfare of the road’s
patrons. Similar care is given to the rolling
stock. There is no occasion for complaint in
winter, as the cars are comfortably heated, and
at all. tlmes strict attention is paid to their
cleanliness. The introduction of express trains
has facnitatecl traffic to a remarkable degree,
and when the day’s work is over men and
women 1n the downtown districts flock to the
elevated, knowing that they will thus be able
to reach their homes in the shortest possible
space of time. Notwithstanding the excellence
of its equipment, the . Manhattan Elevated
makes a study of everything that might pos—
sxbly add to its general excellence, and the in-
troduction of electric motor power is a promise
of the near future. , '
The mantle of the late Jay Gould, to whose
efforts much of the road’s success was due, has
fallen upon George J. Gould, who now gives the
Manhattan Elevated the benefit of his attention.
Although a comparatively young man, Mr.
Gould has shown remarkable ability. He was
born February 0, 1864. He first attended the
Rev. Dr. Campbell's school in Forty-second—st.,
and subsequently Was graduated from Columbia.
-‘._ . ‘u-‘g' ‘ ‘ ‘1 :‘ I
,METROPQLITAN
College. During his travels through Europe"
which followed. he bought the schoonerHildef.
garde, formerly owned by the Prince of Wales.
- The palatial-vessel Atalanta was 'giv'en‘tb‘him’
by,his father, in whose financial affairs he» took
an active interest before he had attained, his,
' majority, and of late years he has assumed
varied responsibilities, and successfully cared
for.them.- -. ~- - ' ',
In 1897 the road carried 182,964,851 passen-
gers. ..It employed on its various lines 334 10-
comotives, 1,151 passenger-cars and 5,306 per-
sons. The traintmileage was 9,910,865, and the
payroll figured $3,612,018.» The _operating ex-
penses ,of the road were $5,302,301. Its capital
stock was $30,000,000, and funded debt, $39.“-
5‘15,000. ' ’
. One of the features which has added con-
siderably to the popularity of the elevated roads
\ .
is the introduction. ofrthe Pints’ch'light. It "13
not so long ago that. New-Yorkers were com.-
pelled to read their 'evening newspapers in .a
gloom which brought forth repeated growls of
dissatisfaction. The use of the Pintsch light in
the‘carsds :looked: upon as a boon. ,by' the alarge
class who use the elevated in Coming home
from. business and after. nightfall. ~. ,- ~
Of the elevated railroads in that part of New-
.York whiéh fines ' across ‘the- East River, the
Brooklyn Elevated Railroad Company operates
20.08-miles.' It empldys95 locOmoti’ves and 285
cars. In 1897 the number of passengers car-
ried.wa.s,.31,753,117. Its, capital..stock is ”$13,;
283,600, and its funded debt is $12,986,000. .
The Kings County Elevated Railroad Com-
a has 833- miles of road‘ capitalmstock,
1 ,gS‘UREAQE; 11-0.th S'YS’EEMS. gt
CHANGES _-No‘w..nnncmnej COM‘PLETIon; -,
eonsomna'rion .or lrnorna'rnas m VBO'L‘HS Bacon:
Dim '7 ‘Ann‘ I Naiveronx,”_ ins .CENTRAQIZ‘ED ;"
OWNERSHIP‘U Ann onnnanrqu»
PROV-EMENTS IN OPERATING METHODS ’ "
e-FIG’uREs .TELL can, s'ronr. .- ‘
The necessity for moving myriad-s of men dad”
to and from their plaCes‘of business-has given
risa _ to many problems. of transportation in
D .
'$4,~t ,000;. funded debt, $10,965,112. In 1897”“
carried 13,931,262 passengers. _. . _
New-York, fiend the development. o‘f.‘thc Street;
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L‘ CITY ,BA K. ‘ .
d which marked a notable epoch in the financial
The National City Bank dates from a perio .
and general history of the country. The first meeting 0
f its directors was held June 19, 1812;
d only three or four days previously.
the declaration of warwith Great Britain had occurre
y of New-York; the Bank of
Before the time referred to there were four banks in the cit
New—York, the oldest (1784), the Manhattan Company, next (1799), the
(1805), and the Mechanics', fourth (1810).
some $4,500,000.
011 the expiraticn of the ch
gress to recharter the same, the Bank of New-
City was then called, applied to the New-York
with $1,800,000 capital, to be known as the U11
Merchants’,
The capital employed by these in banking was
third
arter of the Bank of the United States and the refusal of Con-
. Jersey, at Powle’s Hook, as what is now Jersey
Legislature and obtained a charter for a bank
ion Bank, which was established in Wall-st.
in 1811, on the site which it now occupies. .
The City Bank began business in the bank
which was on the present site of the City Bank,“ and soon after pur
lng house of the old United States Branch Bank,
chased the same, together
with other real estate in New-York of the United States Bank.
Bank, stock of the old United States
In payment of subscriptions to stock of the City
Bank‘was receivable at parfif accompanied by a cash paymen
per cent was realized, of which 88 per cent was paid in 1812, an
to 1834, When the final dividend was made.
The charter of the City Bank required the payment at a
State, for the school fund, etc., but an act March 2", 1813, reduced the amoun
payable in sixty days. It appears that immediately after the
Yates, cashier of the State Bank at Albany, received from the C
000, and passed the same to the credit of the State, the account
Yates’s bank.
The City Bank subscribed $500,000 of the Government Loan 0
t of 2% per cent. In all 109
d 21 per cent more at periods
future period of $120,000 to the
t to $50,000,
passage of the act, Joshua
ity Bank this amount of $50,-
of which was kept at Mr.
f 1813. Its directors also took
considerable amounts on private account and the bank seems to have been most energetic in
sustaining the Government in the war.
The first Board of Directors of the City Bank was as follow
5: Samuel Osgood, Abraham
Bloodgood, Henry Fanning, Ichabod Prall, John L. Norton, Isaac Pierson, Grove Wright,
William Irving, Benjamin Bailey, Samuel Tooker, Peter Stagg, William Cutting, William Fur-
man, John Swartwout, Jasper Ward. Samuel Osgood, the first president of this bank, was in
1814 Naval Officer at this port, and lived at No. 9 Cherry-st.
In 1812 the City Bank purchased of the Bank of the United
States (the charter of which
expired in 1811), its banking business on the present site of the City Bank, and the house in
Pine—st. in the rear. With this property went a banking house in Greenwich village, as it was
then called (Hammond-st), and sixteen lots of ground therewith.
The whole was bought, after
considerable negotiation, for the round sum of $100,000. The present commodious and ele-
gant marble building, in a part of which the bank does its business—the larger portion of the
building being rented to tenants—is the second one which the City Bank has put up on the
site.
In 1852 the bank was reorganized under the general banking law of the State, and in 1865
came under the National system with the name of the National
City Bank of New-York.
In July, 1853, on the increase of the capital stock from $800,000 to $1,000,000, its present
amount, the 'two thousand new shares were sold at public auction at the Merchants’ Ex-
change, and brought prices from 1201/2 to 121%,.
The City Bank has had its vicissitudes, besides those evolved by the stormy events of the
war. ‘It' was the subject, twenty years ago, of one of the most
ever known in the history of crime. Some $80,000 was taken.
profdundly planned burglaries
The officers of the National City Bank are: James Stillman, president; Gilmon S. Whitsbn,
cashier; Horace M. Kilborn, notary.
' The following is a statement of the Bank at the present ti
profits, $4,322 80; loans, $83,781,100; specie, $24,595,800; legals, $3,
circulation, $754,400. ' ' I . '
me: Capital, $1,000,000; net
302,500; deposits, $106,305,200;
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railway system called for ideas of an interesting
and ingenious character. In the Knickerbocker
,days, when: men had more time 'at their dis-
posal than they doin this hurrying. hustling
period, stage-coaches provided a satisfactory
means of transit. ' The blowing of horns ant
nounced their departure at stated intervals.
The coaches ran from taverns 'on the lower part
of the island, over the .old Boston Post Road
and the Bloomingdale Road to the hamlets on
the north. The modern development of this
system is stillto be seen 'on Fifth-ave, whiski-
traversed by coaches,-begin'ning at Bleecl‘ihfl'st.
and running north. to Eighty-sixth-sthTho
double-deck stages, with seats on the r0612 at.
much in favor during the summer. ' ~'
. With the growth 'of‘the city and: the needs of
more rapidgtransit facilities the rattling stages
gave way to the horsecar, the idea for which
originated in this city. Nearly thirty year-
after their adoption in New-York they were are:
introduced into Europe by George Francis Train
The New-York and Harlem, chartered in 1831,
was the first street railway in the world. ' In
1832 it opened its line from Prince—st. to Hats
lem Bridge. The cars were like stage-coached
balanced on leather springs, and with three coma
partments each. The driver sat overhead. The
immense street-car system or New-York de-
veloped from this beginning now carries million.
of passengers daily, and extends to every part
of the island, with its lines along both waten-
fronts and up nearly all of the north and south
avenues and across town at many convenient
points.
HARD TO HANDLE THE TRAFFIC.
Notwithstanding the introduction of the ele- ,
vated railroad, which is an important factor in
the transit of the city, the surface lines, do- .
spite their growth and the continued introduc-
tion of new methods, still have hard work in
accommodating their immense traffic.
The introduction of the cable system on Broad-
way and Third—ave. in a measure revolutionized
the transit system of the city, and enabled tho
companies to provide a. more satisfactory sen
vice for their patrons, but in order to meet the .
ever-increasing demands for rapid transit the
cable is to be superseded by the underground
trolley system. This system, which has been in
use for some time on Madison-ave., has been
found extremely satisfactory. It has already
been introduced on the Sixth and Eighth ave.
lines; and work on it is rapidly proceeding.
While the introduction of electricity int.
street railways has been highly satisfactory, it
has by no means solved the question of rapid
transit, for which the city has been clamoring
for years. The development of the electric sys:
tem has. however, been extremely rapid, and
marks an era of importance.
It is not much more than ten years since
Charles J. Van Doeple and Frank J. Spraguo
brought out their first electric railway systems,
and their theories werefirst put into practice in
Dayton, Ohio, and Richmond, Va. Since that
time city after city has introduced the electric
road, and there is now hardly a. village in tho
United States which is without electric cars.
The introduction of the underground trolley
system in New-York has been attended with tho
best results, and its probable effects in the de-
velopment of the city should not belunderesti-
mated. -It furnishes the workingr’nan 'and the
professional man a means for getting quickly to
and from his place of business, and its extension
into the suburbs will give to these two classes
.of men particularly an outlet from the data
confinement of city life. ‘ " i _
The .first regular transportation line in Brook-
lyn was a stage line OWned by one Thomas
Hardy in .1832, running from Fulton Ferry to
Greenpoint, through Sands-st.,.Kent-ave. and
Williamsburg. 'Other independent lines were
put into operation, until in the year’1850» they
were consolidated ‘by Seymour L. Husted._ In
1853' » the consolidated, ~stage- lines (were 33.018}?
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Norwalk Chronicler