City Hall

The City Hall is the most beautiful of New York's earlier buildings. This building is considered by architects and artists one of the most successful examples of the Colonial School existing in our country today. It was completed in 1812, and succeeded the old Federal Hall, standing on the corner of Wall Street and Nassau. It remains as originally built, except for the cupola, which has undergone several changes. In 1834 the classic simplicity of the first cupola gave place to one having a four-faced clock, which necessitated the raising of the dome about eight feet, and a few other minor changes. 

This was done to satisfy the public demand for a municipal time piece, and although the new cupola was not so chaste as the first, it was still a very beautiful and appropriate structure. In 1858 this cupola was destroyed by fire, during the celebration of the opening of the Atlantic cable and the question of restoring the original simple and classic design of the old Scotch architect, John McComb, came up for discussion. The public, however, were bent on having a clock and the cupola was restored very much as it had been before the fire. 

Recently, and at a rather inopportune time, just when the city was entertaining its foreign visitors from France and Britain the cupola was again destroyed by fire. The opportunity presents itself once more to restore the cupola in all the beauty and simplicity of its original design. The need for a clock is no longer felt, as there are many in the downtown section of the city and the public, if its desire leans strongly to the aesthetic and classical, may see the beautiful structure of 1814 appear again.

The City Hall is built of white marble, but the rear wall is of freestone, for the builders of 1812 surmised that the city would never go beyond this. Today the city limits are sixteen miles north. The Mayor's room is on the first floor. Under one of its windows on the outside is a tablet recording: "Near this spot, in the presence of General George Washington, the Declaration of Independence was read and published to the American Army, July 9th, 1776."

The halls of the Council and Assembly are on the second floor, and may be visited. The Governor's room, originally intended for the use of the Governor of the State, is on the second floor. Across the hall is a statue of Thomas Jefferson by David d' Angers, a replica of the one in the Capitol at Washington. The Governor's Room, which is open to the public from 10 to 4 daily (Saturday to noon), contains Trumbull's full-length equestrian portrait of General Washington, and a series of portraits of New York's Governors and other worthies. 

That of Governor Dix, by Anna M. Lea, represents him as author of the historic dispatch sent by him as Secretary of the Treasury to Wm. Hemphill Jones in New Orleans, January 29, 1861: "If any one attempts to haul down the American Flag, shoot him on the spot." An easel bears a Washington portrait woven in silk in Lyons, France, at a cost of $10,000. Here, too, are preserved the desk and table used by President Washington during his first term. The table is inscribed in letters of gold: "Washington's writing table, 1789." The fine old mahogany furniture is that which was used by the first Congress of the United States in Federal Hall, in Wall Street.

In front of the City Hall stands the Macmonnies bronze statue erected by the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in memory of Nathan Hale, a Captain of the Regular Army of the United States of America, who was executed as a spy during the Revolution.

Old Castle Garden

The circular building which is now the Aquarium was originally a fort, Castle Clinton, built for the defense of the city against the British in the War of 1812; and the spot where it stands was then an island 200 feet from the shore. When in 1822, Congress ceded the property to the city, it was converted into a place of amusement and was named Castle Garden. It became the home of opera, and was a place for great public gatherings. Here on Lafayette's return to America in 1824, six thousand persons assembled to greet him.

 Here in 1835 S.F.B. Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, publicly demonstrated by means of a wire coiled about the interior of the Garden, the practicability of controlling the electric current. Here in 1850 Jenny Lind, the Swedish singer, made her American debut, under the management of P.T. Barnum. The Prince of Wales and Louis Kosuth arrived here. From 1855 to 1890 Castle Garden was an immigrant bureau, through whose portals millions of immigrants entered America and as such is well remembered by many persons. It became the Aquarium in 1896.

The most recent event of historical interest and one which is destined probably to become the most important of any that has taken place on this historical ground is the landing here of the French Commission headed by Gen. Joffre and M. Viviani; and a few days later of Mr. Arthur James Balfour and the other members of the British Commission on a visit to the city. On both occasions the crowds were massed in thousands to welcome those famous men, and old Castle Garden and the Battery were gay with flags and bunting. 

The city has seldom witnessed a more brilliant and inspiring scene than the procession of these visitors through the flag bedecked city streets from the Battery to the City Hall. Lafayette's welcome in 1824 was a great event and he was greeted with enthusiasm, but the reception of the great Marshall of France, "the man who stopped them at the Marne," far eclipsed in genuine affection and enthusiasm any thing of a public character that has ever happened in New York before. When we remember that Joffre may go down in history as the hero of what may be considered the greatest battle of all time, we cannot be surprised at the interest and enthusiasm of his welcome.