the high bluffs, to watch the setting sun. The house thus occupied was on the line of the Broadway Boulevard, which a few years since swept it away. A portion of the Somerindyke estate was included in the Fernando Wood property, which he purchased and improved about 1844. He built a substantial dwelling-house upon it, which was his home during his mayoralty of New York. In 1860 he entertained the Prince of Wales with something very akin to royal magnificence at this country mansion. No

where in America did the young Prince meet such a brilliant gathering of notable people, or behold appointments of greater elegance and in better taste than in this delightful summer residence of the Mayor of the metropolis. In driving with the Prince of Wales to places of interest, it is said that no point visited elicited more unqualified admiration from him than the view from Claremont. The superbly shaded grounds in the rear of Mayor Wood's residence then extended to the Hudson's edge, while the

broad, pretentious frontage of the place, covering a full block, was on the old Bloomingdale road, now the Boulevard.

A little farther on, about Eighty-sixth street, was a charming cottage built at the close of the Revolution by Doctor Charlton, an English surgeon of distinction, who came to New York with the British army and married into the De Peyster family. He was a short, stout man, of florid complexion, who had been much at the court of George III., and brought to this country various relics of his court life that are still preserved. His name appears in connection with many worthy New York charities, and he was for years a trustee of the City Dispensary. A little to the west of his house, and overlooking the water, was the mansion of the McVickars, built by the great merchant and shipowner, John McVickar. He was a tall, sharp-featured, courtly man, with a kindly eye, a smile of singular sweetness, and a mouth and chin indicative of an unbending will. He was noted for his public spirit in building churches, and was constantly aiding the clergy, as well as unobtrusively assisting deserving young merchants in trouble. His wife was the first cousin of Bishop Moore. He had nine children, to all of whom he gave a liberal education and the benefit of a tour through Europe. His son Archibald married the daughter of his neighbor on the Hudson, Judge Brockholst Livingston, and his daughter Augusta married Judge William Jay, the son of the Chief Justice and the nephew of Judge Brockholst Livingston. Near Ninety-third street, in the Boulevard, is the old country house of Doctor Valentine Mott, one of the boldest and most successful surgical operators of any age or country-a house which was the scene of his death in 1865, at the age of eighty. West of this, and fronting Riverside drive, is the Schieffelin house, famous for being the residence of General Daniel E. Sickles at the most interesting period of his life.

There are numerous churches of various denominations in the immediate vicinity of Riverside Park at the present time. St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church, established in 1807, on the old Bloomingdale road at One Hundredth street is the oldest. The ground upon which the church. edifice is built was a grant from Queen Anne. The little church-yard about it, long since unused, records the names of many of the early worshipers within its walls, such as Delafield, Armstrong, Hazard, Fleming, Field, Perrin, De Peyster, Livingston, Wagstaff, and Richmond. Rev. William Richmond, who died in 1858, was thirty-three years rector of the church. Rev. Thomas M. Peters, D.D., has been rector since 1850, a period of thirty-five years. In the west end of the church is a memorial window to Mr. William H. Guest, who was twenty-two years superintendent of the Leake and Watts Orphan Asylum at One Hundred and Tenth street,

VOL. XIV.-No. 3.-16

built in 1842 in the center of a twenty-six-acre lot. The New York Asylum for the Insane, built in 1821, with forty acres surrounding, is between One Hundred and Twelfth and One Hundred and Fifteenth streets.

The history of the origin of Riverside Park is a curious chapter in itself. When the commissioners of 1807 were apppointed to lay out New York city from Houston street to the Harlem River, they adopted the rightangled plan of parallel streets intersecting parallel avenues of equal width, from river to river, without the slightest reference to shore lines or surface variations. Along the Bloomingdale shore such was the configuration of the land that the line of Thirteenth avenue was six hundred feet out into the river. The time came eventually when streets and avenues had had their day on paper and must actually be constructed on the soil, but in the mean time the legislature had enacted that there should be no filling in beyond two hundred feet from shore. Thus Thirteenth avenue was stricken off the map and ceased to exist. Twelfth avenue was left as the exterior line. This, however, proved even more difficult to adjust than the other, for its site fell upon the steep side of the bluff, about midway between the base and the crest, and excavation through solid rock at enormous cost would be necessary for its construction. The corporation brain was sorely puzzled. The ex-commissioners of 1807 were anathematized for their short-sightedness. The idea of converting the belt of picturesque precipice into an ornamental city park first found expression in a little pamphlet of forty-nine pages, written in 1865 by Mr. William R. Martin. The subject was henceforward persistently agitated, as the bluff would neither admit of streets, right angles, or avenue; and a topographical map was compiled on a scale sufficiently large to show the principal features of the area in question. The ground-work of Central Park was about that time completed, and Mr. Andrew H. Green and others gave critical attention to the subject. In the winter of 1866 a bill, with much caution, was introduced in the legislature, and passed with little opposition, making it the duty of the Central Park Commissioners to cause a survey to be made of this area and prepare a report of the same. The next spring (in 1867) this report, accompanied with maps, was submitted to the legisla ture, and after an intelligent exposition of the subject, the committee on municipal affairs agreed to report the bill, which, with a few amendments, became a law on the 24th of April. Under that law Riverside avenue was to be on the top of the bluff, about midway between Eleventh and Twelfth avenues, one hundred feet wide, and the Park was to occupy the slope toward the river. The city immediately thereafter instituted measures to acquire title to the land for public use,

which occupied five well rounded years. In 1872 the report of the Commissioners of Estimates and Assessments was confirmed by the Supreme Court, and that struggle ended. The total value of the land taken was assessed at $6,174,120.80, of which $3,104,479 was assessed upon the adjacent property. The construction of the avenue was to begin at once; but when surveys were made it was found expedient to consider the question of important changes in the plan, which involved legislative action that was not accomplished until 1873. Two years more passed and a design was absolutely made ready, but for power to raise funds necessary to commence operations, still another appeal to the legislature was in order. In 1876 (chapter 447) the comptroller was directed by the legislature to pay therefor by the issue of bonds, which thereafter were to be redeemed by the assessment of the expense upon the property benefited by the improvement. At the same time, and by the same act, the legislature established the legal status of the avenue by enacting that “ (Sec. 2) the whole of the land embraced within the boundaries of Riverside avenue is hereby declared to be one of the parks and public places in the city of New York, and shall be under the control and management of the Department of Parks of said city, subject to the provisions of the first section of this act in respect to the roadways, curb and gutter and sidewalks therein mentioned." In September of that year the Department of Parks advertised for bids for the entire work required, and upon the coming in of the bids the contract was awarded to Nicholas H. Decker, who began operations in the spring of 1877. In the fall of 1879, after many sharp contests with the department concerning the details of the fulfillment of the contract, the work of Decker was substantially completed. But the department was not satisfied, and refused to accept the work as the performance of the contract. Decker could not collect the residue of the contract price, and, in self-protection, closed the avenue, refusing to allow the public to drive over it. He obstructed all the entrances by placing across them large derricks used for lifting stones, and boarded up each of the intersecting streets, strengthening the barricades with tool-houses, piles of stone, etc., and employed a guard of watchmen to prevent their being disturbed. The innocent and long-suffering property owners along the line of the park were indignant, but all applications to the Park Department for redress of grievances proved fruitless. In the spring of 1880 the claim of Decker seemed farther than ever from settlement, and the residents were clamorous for the opening of the drive. Refused by the city departments and the contractor, they finally took the law into their own hands, and opened it themselves in the night. A few days before this somewhat remarkable

occurrence, a suit was brought against the city and the contractor by one of the property owners for $10,000 damages, and for an injunction restraining the defendants from placing any further obstructions on the drive, or maintaining those already placed. The injunction was granted by Judge Lawrence, and duly served upon the parties concerned. The same night a body of men, supposed to number at least one hundred, under command, entered the avenue quietly at Seventy-second street, and before three o'clock in the morning of May 7 had removed every obstruction. The huge derricks were tumbled over the parapets, heavy pieces of timber were tossed down the embankment, tool-houses and fences met with the same swift removal, and the drive was open. About ten o'clock in the forenoon the police observed carriages rolling along over the forbidden ground to their utter amazement, having slept soundly through the night and known nothing of the rapid and effectual work being accomplished so near them. In attempting to check further travel they were curtly informed that the Supreme Court had ordered that no obstructions should be placed on the road. Nobody knew, and no one seemed to care to know, who had been chiefly instrumental in the achievement, and from that date, although there was some litigation, Riverside drive has been open for public use.

Like all great enterprises, this park and drive have cost effort, energy, and persistence on the part of individuals that can never be measured or appreciated. Those who devised the scheme and those who have striven. for twenty years to overcome the obstacles to its successful completion, deserve the everlasting gratitude of the community. The bewildering beauties of the drive have within the past few weeks been proclaimed to the ends of the earth-and they cannot be exaggerated. New York may well be proud of such a possession. The unique park which its drive overlooks is heavily wooded, for the most part with native forest trees of great age and gigantic dimensions. At a few points along its course the hand of the landscape gardener is visible; but ornamental park features are less conspicuous than the sparkling river through the trees and the most captivating of views beyond. In behalf of the multitudes who will breathe this exhilarating air for the first time in the weeks and months in the near future, and seek information concerning the points of interest on the way to their Mecca, the following brief paragraph is written: Entering Riverside Park at Seventy-second street, two blocks only are passed ere you reach the Orphan Asylum, founded in 1806 by the ladies of New York, of whom was Mrs. Rev. Dr. Bethune, her mother, Mrs. Isabella Graham, Mrs. Sarah Hoffman, the first directress of the institution, Mrs. John McVickar, Mrs. Coster, and Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, widow of the