Broadway Below Wall Street Pages: 509-514

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That part of the present Exchange place which is situated on the west side of Broadway, was originally a path leading to a small redoubt connected with the city fortifications, and during the English colonial times was called "Oyster Pasty alley."

The site on the southerly corner of Rector street was originally occupied by a Lutheran church, erected about 1710, in which year many Palatines, driven from Germany by religious persecutions, sought refuge in America, many of them establishing themselves in this city. The edifice thus erected shared the fate of others in the vicinity, from the fire of '76, and its ruins remained many years without removal, thus acquiring the common appellation of the "Burnt Lutheran Church." In 1809 an Episcopal church was erected on the site by a congregation which, from some internal division in Trinity, separated from that church. This edifice, called Grace Church, was considered quite equal in fashion to any in the city, and its pews commanded higher rents than any other. The migration of the population to the upper part of the city necessitated the erection of the new edifice, now well known by the same name. The present pastor, Dr. Taylor, had officiated in the old building, having commenced his pastoral duties in 1834. The following view represents Grace Church and its vicinity as it appeared about forty years since:

The great fire of 1776, before referred to, left Broadway a mass of ruins, and, of course, the improvements made there before the return of peace were of a temporary character, and not at all in keeping with the elegance which was appropriate to the leading thorough-fare. They remained but a few years after the close of the war, when they gave way to a class of private residences far exceeding any which had previously existed there. We are enabled to gratify the curious in such matters by giving a list of the residents of that side of Broadway, while the revolutionary shanties were still standing, viz., in 1785. No. 37, Mrs. Ross, grocery store; No. 39, S. Buskirk, tinman; No. 41. Mrs. Lasley, shopkeeper, No. 51, Peter Ritter, jeweler; No. 53, Benjamin Haight, saddler; No. 55, John Goodeve, chandler; No. 57, Henry Roome, merchant; No. 59, William Bayley, tinman; No. 63, R. Soderstrom, Swedish Consul; No. 65, James Anderson, shoemaker; No. 67, John B. Dash, tin store; No. 69, J. Richardson, Jeweler; No. 71, Mrs. Hoffman, grocery store; No. 73, Mrs. Forbes, Shopkeeper.

But the succeeding five years saw all these frame buildings demolished, and elegant private residences reared in their stead, which were owned and occupied by leading citizens. The following view of the building known as Bunker's Mansion-house exhibits several of those original buildings when converted into a hotel, and serves sufficiently to show their original character. The middle portion of the building, as here shown, was for some time occupied as the Presidential mansion of General Washington.

This building, for many years, had considerable celebrity as a hotel, being considered in its most prosperous days (thirty years since) as "very large and commodious, kept with the utmost neatness and attention, and usually filled with the best company." It possessed much of the retirement and quiet of an elegant private residence.

There is no other building in that vicinity, among those erected at the time spoken of, that seems a deserving of particular mention. For many years they were generally occupied as private residences, and as will be seen from the following list of residents, toward the close of the last century by some of our principal citizens: No. 35, Dominick Lynch; No. 37, Brockholst Livingston; No. 39, William Edgar; No. 43, Edward Livingston; No. 47, Alexander McComb; No. 57, Ann McAdam; N. 59, Jacob Morton; No. 61, Isaac Clason; No. 67, John R. Livingston. The march of events gradually changed their character from residences to boarding-houses, and finally the commercial inroad swept them away entirely, some five to ten years since, and when the elegant mercantile establishments now standing in that vicinity were erected.

Reverting to the east side of Broadway, below Wall street, it is to be observed that the prejudices which seem to have existed among the Dutch against that side of the street, were to some extent countenanced in after years by their successors. The principal building erected there for many years after the English came into possession was a tavern erected by John Corbett below Exchange place. And as further testimony to the inferiority of the class of buildings in that locality during the last century we give a list of the prices paid for different properties on the east side of Broadway below Wall street, so far as we have been able to ascertain them. In 1725 Leonard De Grave, cartman, sold to Thomas Elde, blacksmith, house and lot 31 feet front, 60 feet deep, for L100. In 1736 Mr. Bloom sold to Thomas Shields, victualler, house and lot for L140. In 1737 E. Eastham sold to Capt. Matthew Norris, house and lot on southeast corner of Broadway and present Exchange place (the Verlettenberg), 34 feet by 75, for L95. In 1750 Abraham Montagnie, carpenter, bought house, 24 by 80 feet, for L201. The most expensive purchase we have found during the colonial era was house with lot 55 by 150 feet, the price of which was L320. These facts illustrate sufficiently well the character of the street in that vicinity in English times, and we suppose the inference may be fairly drawn that they were mostly frame house, of small size, occupied by persons following mechanical pursuits, and that the locality was not distinguished above the more retired parts of the city as a place either of business or residence.

The fire of '76 also destroyed many of the buildings on the east side of the street as well as those on the opposite side, but it left standing a brick house near Exchange place, ad a few others. In a similar manner to that related concerning the west side of the street, the period of the war witnessed the erection of a small class of frame buildings on the site of the ruins on the east side, and these continued in existence for eight or ten years after the peace. the following view exhibits the premises No. 2 Broadway, corner of Marketfield street, and the adjoining buildings, at the period now spoken of:

A list of the residents below Wall street, and their occupations, in 1785, is given as follows: William Barham, tavern keeper; William Willement, shopkeeper; J. Resler, tallow-chandler; John Mills, shoe-maker, Andrew Aiken, shopkeeper; N.F. Saunders, shopkeeper; John Houseman, painter and glazier; John Rutherford, lawyer; Abraham Schenck, grocer; John Tear, linen draper; William Bayley, merchant; Ann Baurie, shopkeeper; S. Bauman, grocer; James Cary, lodging-house; William Houseman, tailor; James Paxton, carpenter; Joshua Mills, carpenter; William A. Forbes, saddler; and M.A. Gib, painter and glazier.

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