Читать книгу Nooks & Corners of Old New York - Charles Hemstreet - Страница 15
ON THE COMMON OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, NEAR WHERE THIS BUILDING NOW STANDS, THERE STOOD FROM 1766 TO 1776 A LIBERTY POLE ERECTED TO COMMEMORATE THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. IT WAS REPEATEDLY DESTROYED BY THE VIOLENCE OF THE TORIES AND AS REPEATEDLY REPLACED BY THE SONS OF LIBERTY, WHO ORGANIZED A CONSTANT WATCH AND GUARD. IN ITS DEFENCE THE FIRST MARTYR BLOOD OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION WAS SHED ON JAN. 18, 1770.
ОглавлениеThe cutting down of this pole led to the battle of Golden Hill.
City Hall Park
Potter's Field In City Hall Park
The post-office building was erected on a portion of the City Hall Park. This park, like all of the Island of Manhattan, was a wilderness a few hundred years ago. By 1661, where the park is there was a clearing in which cattle were herded. In time the clearing was called The Fields; later The Commons. On The Commons, in Dutch colonial days, criminals were executed. Still later a Potter's Field occupied what is now the upper end of the Park; above it, and extending over the present Chambers Street was a negro burying-ground. On these commons, in 1735, a poor-house was built, the site of which is covered by the present City Hall. From time to time other buildings were erected.
The new Jail was finished in 1763, and, having undergone but few alterations, is now known as the Hall of Records. It was a military prison during the Revolution, and afterwards a Debtors' Prison. In 1830 it became the Register's Office. It was long considered the most beautiful building in the city, being patterned after the temple of Diana of Ephesus.
The Bridewell, or City Prison, was built on The Commons in 1775, close by Broadway, on a line with the Debtors' Prison. It was torn down in 1838.
