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The Fabulous, Fantastic Timeline of Hunts Point, Bronx

  1. History of Hunt’s Point in the Bronx
  2. Hunts Point today Famous Residents Population: 52,246 - 75% Latino, 22% Black, 1.3% White* Tony Curtus actor Colin Powell
 sec’y of state Betty Boop
 actress Herman Woulk author *2010 census
  3. Bronx Geology Hunts Point rocks originated When Africa and North America collided 250 million years ago. Their are many spectacular exposures of bedrock in the Bronx. There are numerous faults that trace a generally northeastern direction and provide a course for rivers and streams.
  4. Ice Age Glaciers The Wisconsin Glacier covered New York City with 1,000 feet of ice about 20,000 years ago. The ice began its retreat about 13,000 years ago leaving behind features such as Long Island and the many large boulders or “erratics” found throughout the five boroughs
  5. Bronx River Called Aquehung or River of High Bluffs by the Mohegan Indians who first lived and fished along it. The river attracted European traders in the early 1600s for the sleek, fat beaver living there. Once heavily polluted action has been taken recently by environmentalists to clean the river. In February 2007 biologists spotted a beaver in the river. There has not been a sighting of a beaver lodge or a beaver in New York City for over 200 years. Jose the beaver
  6. Egbert Ludovicus Viele 1874Sanitary Map showing streams Map shows original flow of Bronx River Bronx RiverTidal Estuary upland salt marsh Bungay Brook 149th St. Leggett Creek railroad Crotona Park “Indian Lake” NYC-OasisNYPL Forest Houses Bound Brook Debatable Ground
  7. Clements Library, University of Michigan today British military maps were the most accurate of the time Bronx River Hunts Point Bungay Brook Leggett’s Creek A Map of the Country Adjacent to Kingsbridge by Andrew Skinner and George Taylor, 1781 Debatable Ground
  8. Language groups defined Indians Nations Kurt Griesshaber 1962 Native Americans lived in the Bronx Indian Lake in Crotona Park
  9. Remains of a Native American village show 2000 years of habitation Indian paths in the great metropolis, Part 1 By Reginald Pelham Bolton
  10. Indian Trails in upper Manhattan and the Bronx Native Villages in the South Bronx
  11. Quinnahung Siwanoy name for Hunts Point. Quinnahung means “Long High Place.” Kurt Griesshaber 1962
  12. Wekkguasegeeck Life Woodland people lived in houses made of sticks and tree bark called wigwams. Kurt Griesshaber 1962
  13. Mohican Vocabulary • Mohican word • aquai • nomasis • achwahndowagan • aki • mbei • stau • we-ku-wuhm • English translation • hello • little grandmother • love • earth • water • fire • wigwam or house
  14. Henry Hudson 1609 Trading House, 1615 Dutch and other traders came to the Hudson valley to trade with Indians for beaver furs and other products before settlers arrived. Beaver
  15. Birth of the Bronx 1642 Joanas Broncx Signs Treaty with the Indians. Kurt Griesshaber 1962
  16. Warfare was common and brutal warclubs AMNH Pequot War 1636 Queen Anne’s War 1702 King Philip’s War 1675 Major wars involving settlers northeastern Indians
  17. 1641 Faced with British encroachment from Connecticut New Amsterdam makes terms On Thursday, being the 6th of June 1641... 1. They are bound to take the oath of allegiance to the honorable Lords the States General and the West Indies Company under whose protection they will reside. 2. They shall enjoy free exercise of religion. 3. In regard to political government, if they desire a magistrate, they shall have the privilege of nominating three or four persons from the fittest among them, from which persons so nominated the governor of New Netherland shall choose one, which magistrate shall be empowered in all civil to render final judgement not exceeding 40 guilders: above this amount an appeal may be made to the governor and council of New Netherland; and in criminal cases he shall have jurisdiction except in cases involving corporal punishment. 4. They shall not be at liberty to erect any strongholds without permission. 5. The land shall be granted to them in fee, free of charge, and they shall have the use thereof for ten years with out paying any dues at the expiration of the said ten year be obliged to pay tithes. 6. They shall enjoy free hunting and fishing and freedom of trade according to the charter of New Netherland Pell Throckmorton Hunt Grove Farm Leggett Morris 1671 New Haven 1642 1664 Whereas a considerable number of respectable Englishmen with their clergyman have applied for permission to settle here and to reside among us and request that some terms might be offered to them, we have therefore resolved to send them the following terms: West Farms Hutchinson massacre 1643 Broncx 1644
  18. Anne Hutchinson Religious Dissenter in the Bronx. Anne, her servants and 5 of her children were allegedly killed by Indians in 1643. Anne’s daughter was kidnapped, married an Indian and resisted returning to the colony. Anne denied the dogma of original sin. A controversial idea in colonial America. Kurt Griesshaber 1962
  19. Hutchinson River The Hutchinson River is a small freshwater stream in New York. It flows 5 miles south through Westchester and the Bronx, until it empties into Eastchester Bay. The Hutchinson River Parkway follows the river for most of its distance.The river is named for Anne Hutchinson.
  20. 1 March 1643, Goodman Hunt and his wife were banished from the New Haven Colony. "...for keepeing the councells of the said Willaim Harding, bakeing him a pasty and plum cakes, and keeping company with him on the Lords day, and she suffering Harding to kisse her... Mr. Harding himself was convicted "of a great deale of base carryage and filthy dalliances with divers yong girles, together with his inticeing and corrupting divers servants in this plantation, haunting with them in night meetings and juncketting etc." In 1652 Thomas Hunt bought from Augustine Harmons land on Spicer and Bracketts Neck which became the nucleus for his famous Grove Farm. He apparently did not move there at that time because of disputes between the English and the Dutch who at that time occupied and claimed the New York area. 1898 map showing the Lorrilard estate at the site of “Grove Farm” near today’s Throggs Neck bridge. Thomas Hunt is banished from New Haven Establishes Grove Farm in Throggs Neck along Westchester Creek John Throckmorton (Throggs Neck)arrives in from Rhode Island about 1642
  21. The land is purchased from Indians This may certify whom it may concerne that we Shonearoekite, Wapomoe, Tuckorre, Whawhapenucke, Capahase, Quannaco, Shaquiski, Passachahenne, Harrawooke, have aleined and sold unto Edward Jessup and John Richardson, both of the place above said, a certain Tract of land bounded on the east by the River Aquehung or Bronxkx... - from original deed with native signers 1664 Deeds are rarely enforced to the benefit of the native people Similar deed signed by native sachem’s for Rye 1661
  22. Grove Farm passes to the Ferris family On Sept. 6, 1664, Col. Nichols took possession of "New Amsterdam" and the English took over from the Dutch. Thomas Hunt moved on to his Westchester Grove farm and in October 1664 he is described as "a delegate from Westchester." From 1664 until his death in 1695 he resided on his Grove Farm. He left a will in which he identified his children as Thomas, Joseph, John, Josiah, and Abigail, and left his Grove Farm, entailed (to pass on to eldest sons of successors) to his grandson Josiah, son of Josiah, who was subsequently known as "Grove Siah." The pioneer Thomas Hunt left his Grove Farm to his grandson Josiah who left it to his son Jacob who died without heirs and title passed to Jacob's brother Caleb and then to Caleb's son Gilbert, who died without children leaving a Will which authorized his mother, brothers, and unmarried sisters to live on the farm for 12 years after which it was to be sold and the proceeds divided. The property was sold by Gilbert's brother Marmaduke in 1760, and then purchased in 1775 by John Ferris who was m. to Marianne (usually seen as Miana or Myana) Hunt. old Ferris home on Grove farm modern Throggs Neck
  23. West Farms established Richardson gets permission to build a mill that continues for 250 years DeLancey family owned the mill in West Farms and lived in an estate along the banks of the Bronx River until 1780. West Farms 18th Century West Farms 19th Century West Farms early 20th Century
  24. The British Invasion 1664 James Duke of YorkPeter Stuyvesant
  25. King Charles II Land Grant 1666 [A]Parcell of Land within this Government Scituate, lying and being heare unto and within the Limitts of the Towne of Weftchester, uppon ye maine, being Bounded to the Eaft by the River commonly Called by the Indyans Aquehung; otherwife Bronckx River, extend- ing to the midst of the said River to the north by the markt Trees and by a Piece of Hafsock meadow weftward by a little Brooke called by the natives Sackwrahung and Southward by the Sound or Eaft-River including within itt a certaine neck of Land called Quinnahung…
  26. The first landholders on Hunts Point were Edward Jessup and John Richardson. They bought the land from Native Americans in 1664. The land was inherited by both Gabriel Leggett (1637-1700) who married Elizabeth Richardson daughter of John Richardson, and Thomas Hunt of Grove Farm, who married Jessup’s daughter also named Elizabeth. Jessup and Richardson buy Hunts Point
  27. The Grange 18th C. addition Original 1668 residence 19th C. Built in 1668 the first house in Hunt’s Point.
  28. Morrisania established 1670 Lewis Morris
 First lord of the manor of Morrisania (15 October 1671 – 21 May 1746) old Morrisania seat of the manor built on the site of Jonas Bronck’s original settlement now rail yards Joanas Broncx dies in 1643. His estate passed through several owners until it was purchased by Richard Morris in 1670. Morris and his wife died in 1672 and their infant son became Lord of the Manor known as Morrisania Morris mansionThe patent for Hunts Point claims a creek as boundary. The dispute over whether a certain creek called Wigwam (Leggett Ave.) or another further west called Bungay (149 St.) divides West Farms and Morrisania fuels a century of disputes.
  29. debatable land Stephen Jenkins Richardson & Jessup Lewis Morris “Debatable ground” 1666-1740 Bitter dispute between Morris and Leggett, “on the 4th of February 1712, Elizabeth Leggett, widow of Gabriel releases her title” [to the Morris claim.] later Leggett & Hunt
  30. The Stabbing of James Graham At a meeting of the Deputy mayor and Aldermen at the City Hall, the 21 day of July, 1682. Present Mr. William Beekman, Deputy mayor. Mr. Johanes Van Brugh, Mr. Thomas Lewis, Mr. Peter Jacobse, Aldermen. The occasion of this meeting was about the examination of Captain JARVIS BAXTER, who the last night, being the 20th instant, stabbed with a Rapier, Mr. James Graham, one of the Aldermen of this city in the Body, by which he is dangerously wounded. JAMES GRAHAM (1656 - 1700) James Graham arrived New York on the Blossom, on the 7th of August, 1678... Graham held political offices in the province of New York, including those of attorney-general...
  31. Isabella Graham Morris November 3, 1691
 Graham’s daughter Isabella marries Lewis Morris. Soon after Graham leased a mansion at Jeafferds Neck, later known as Leggett’s Point and then Oak Point. Part of the “debatable ground” it was a conflicted area claimed by both Morris and the owners of the West Farms from the earliest days before passing to Morris in 1740. Morris family crypt St. Anne’s Morrisania, Bronx
  32. Graham’s Point Graham Point, later Oak Point History of the City of New York -Harrison This strong piece of land named after the Graham family in the early 19th century is now called Oak Point and was called Jeafford’s Neck at the time of the Revolution and later Leggett’s Point. 1700: The death of New York State Assembly Speaker James Graham Debatable Ground Hells Gate
  33. James Graham grandson of the Attorney General marries his first cousin Arabella Morris (daughter of Lewis & Isabella.) “Wigwam Brook. But by some falsely called Sakrahunck...” “by the House of Gabriel Legget...” “Including the same Jeafards neck with the Hammock Meadows and Marshes thereunto...” Lewis Morris about 1740 transfers the “debatable ground” to James Graham (d. 1767) as a wedding gift
  34. New York is dependent on the slave trade Royal African Company set up by James Duke of York (namesake of New York) later King James II to compete in the slave trade Lewis Morris governor of New York largest slaveholder in the province. Frederick Philipse who founded this manor in Yonkers owned about 40 slaves
  35. Slaves were property and could be inherited. “By deed dated April 2, 1705, Westchester Records, L. 3, p. 165: Elizabeth Legatt of West Farms, widow, to her daughter Mary Legatt, gives "unto the said Mary Legatt, her heirs and assigns forever my two negro children born of the body of Hannah my negro woman, and of the issue of the body of Robin My Indian slave, the boy being named Abram, and the girl named Jenny.*”
 
 *EARLY SETTLERS OF WEST FARMS, WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N. Y. Reprinted from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, July, 1913.] Indians were enslaved too Helping a runaway was a crime as well
  36. Frederick Philipse and “the mariner” Will of John Leggett of Westchester, made at Port Royall, in the Island of Jamaica, dated Oct. 2nd, 1679. Letters testamentary granted to Ffredrich Phillips, as Executor by Sir Edmund Andros, Feb 2nd, 1680.” - Philipse was executor of Leggett’s will in 1679. Frederick Philipse, friend of John Leggett, “the mariner” and executor of Leggett’s will. Philipse is a large land and slave owner in Westchester and Barbados. Philipse Manor museum today Contemporary map of Philipse Manor Barbados and the Caribbean are major stops in the Atlantic “triangle-trade” bringing raw materials and slaves to the colonies in return for manufactured items from England
  37. Slave Trade Grows Giving Names to the Nameless My negro man Mungo is to live on the farm seven years and then to be free Thomas Hunt About 1615 - 8 Feb 1693/94 "I leave to my son Moses Hunt... 5 shillings and my negro 'Robin.” To my daughter Phebe, so much of the rest of my personal estate as my executors shall think reasonable, and she is to maintain my woman slave 'Maria' while she lives. Josiah Hunt 1665-1732 On May 29, 1664, Jacob Leisler made his first known slave purchase when he bought "a Negro for 615 florins" from a shipment of 40 slaves on the Sparrow. Howard Pyle, "The First Slave Auction at New Amsterdam in 1655" (1917). Leisler a German born colonist would lead rebellion in New York
  38. 1676 John Leggett (1628-1679)“the mariner” (brother of Gabriel 1637-1700) builds a ship for merchant Jacob Leisler, founder of New Rochelle, NY. The ship is named Susannah (Leisler’s mother’s name). Built on the Bronx River the boat inaugurates shipbuilding in New Amsterdam. Leisler sailed the Susannah to Chesapeake picking up a cargo of tobacco and cow hides. North African Barbary pirates seized the ship in the English channel. Leisler was freed on payment of nearly 2000 pieces of eight raised from New York merchants. Excess money was seized by Governor Andros to build a Dutch church. That church was St. Peter’s on Westchester Avenue founded in 1693. Slave Owner as Slave
  39. Ransom in Algiers 1677 It is still unclear who advanced the funds for Leisler's ransom, but he apparently left Algiers for London at the end of March under cover of Sir John Narborough's fleet. The "Jew Salooment" was active in ransoming the crew of Leisler's Susannah as Dr. Mose Rafael Salom, a physician resident of Amsterdam and the son of Louis d'Azevedo, a Netherlands national then living in Algiers. Slave market in Algiers
  40. Glorious Revolution 1688 Edmund Andros Governor of New England 1686-1689 William Kidd hanged for piracy 1701Richard Coote Governor of New York 1698-1701 The governor, the hypocrite and the pirate who wasn’t
  41. “Stealing” the government After the overthrow of James II merchant Jacob Leisler seized the Government of the Province of New York Colonists signing up to follow Leisler a radical who fears the restoration of a catholic monarchy in Britain Governor Henry Sloughter signing Jacob Leisler's death warrant. Gabriel Leggett disagrees when ordered by Leisler to march on the French the anti-Leislerians found their revenge by securing Leisler's sentence to death, and he was executed in New York in 1691 The aristocracy smells treason in Leisler’s designs
  42. 1691 Leisler is executed for treason May 16, 1691 execution of Leisler James Graham, father-in-law to Lewis Morris prosecutes Leisler for treason. This execution divided the populace for decades. Leisler's head was sewn back on and he was buried with fanfare.  Relics were venerated as pieces of a Protestant martyr. James Graham as Speaker of the New York Assembly demands Leisler’s execution
  43. Gabriel Leggett I 1637-1700 “Old Gabriel had with his boldness evidently a violent spirit.” "Capt. Barnes upon his oath as a Justice of the peace saith that Capt. Williams and Gabriel Leggett being at his house was drinking together and he thinks Gabriel was a little overtaken in drink, but he called Capt. Williams thief, murderer & Iyer, & he would prove it, and repeated over many times, upon which Williams being provoked got out a writt against him. “Here comes the father of rogues” 17th century rum bottle By John Richardson's will the bulk of his property was left to his wife during life without other conditions. She was a rich widow, and her marriage to Captain Williams was apparently a great trial to the heirs; but what seemed to exasperate Gabriel the most was that Capt. Williams would not vacate the house after Martha's death; as appears by his petition to Gov. Fletcher. --Thomas Williams (stepfather to Gabriel Leggett)
  44. John Richardson Mary Richardson Joseph Hadley Thos. Williams died 1698 Gabriel Leggett George Hadley St. Peters "land which my Lord of London obtained of her Majestie for the church at Westchester." son 1628-1679 sold 8 acres Jan. 10, 1687/8 1637-1700 daughter husband Elizabeth Richardson marriage 1676 John Bartow, rector of St. Peter's Church founded 1693 Crown Lands sold
 March 3, 1695 challenges sale escheated Martha Richardson widow of John Richardson marriage 1684 1656-1724 St. Peter’s on Westchester Avenue founded 1693 St. Peter’s rebuilt 1856 At Town meeting May 5, 1696, Gabriel Legat and Josiah Hunt were appointed to oversee repairs to be made upon the Meeting House. It was not until 1700 that the town meeting house, previously used for religious services, was abandoned, and a church was erected.
  45. Quaker Slave Traders This monument on Main St. in Flushing Queen is located across from the John Bowne House. The stone commemorates the place where George Fox preached a sermon on June 7, 1672. Tradition also holds that Fox spoke near the present site of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Westchester Ave. 1642 engraving of Quakers titled “Englese Quakers en Tabak Planters” In the background is the second oldest known depiction of New Amsterdam. Slaves can also be seen unloading cargo. Quaker slave owners began to question the practice a century later. Gradually they freed their slaves and between 1799 and 1827 slavery was ended in New York.
  46. Quaker Meeting and cemetery next door Two Quaker factions had meeting houses across from each other on Westchester Ave. adjacent to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church as shown on this map. One was the Friends and the other the Orthodox Friends. When the meeting houses were sold St. Peter’s agreed to care for the Quaker cemetery. Quaker burials “Thomas Leggett Jr. in 1830 had a large retinue of colored help, some of whom had been slaves to his father and others who were children but were free now. They were almost all born on the place, and looked upon it as their home.” The Glebe Quaker burials West Farms Quaker land St. Peter’s Glebe Avenue near West Farms is an area of ancient settlement. A glebe is land given to a church pastor in as a salary. Known here also as the Parsonage. The glebe originated in medieval England. Thomas (Leggett 1755-1843) Thomas (Leggett 1755-1843) lies in the "Friends Burial Place" perhaps always part of St. Peter's yard, but bought by the Quakers next door]- and his old slave Rose ...........lies at his feet by his request, a faithful woman indeed. The Quakers liberated their slaves at a very early date but as a rule they remained in the family rearing their children there. -Elizabeth Seaman Legett’s Journal 1888 “A faithful woman...” -Seaman Legett
  47. Slave Burial Grounds Mr. Henry D.Tiffany, who resides at "Foxhurst" at the junction of the Southern Boulevard and Westchester Avenue, is the son of Mary L. Fox, whose mother was Charlotte Legget, who was descended from John Richardson, the original patentee of Hunt's Point—or the planting neck of West Farms, as the point was known in Colonial times. Mr.Tiffany's mother, who died in 1897, had a clear recollection of the last black interred in the slave plot.This was an old negress named "Aunt Rose." She had formerly been a slave in the Legget family, but she and her children had been manumitted. Aunt Rose was something of a character in her way and a memory of her has consequently survived to the present time in Mr.Tiffany's family. She was buried in the slave plot some time away back in the forties. --Valentine’s Manual of Old NewYork 1920 Aunt Rose Thomas Leggett 1755-1843 Some Quakers began freeing their slaves and providing for their care. Quaker Burying Ground St. Peter’s Church The Quaker burying ground is pictured in this photo of St. Peter’s Episcopal church on Westchester Ave. in the Bronx. The green field is the Quaker cemetery. Many Quakers in the 18th century were buried without headstones and sometimes separated from other family members in strict accordance with the faith’s early doctrine.
  48. Hunts Point slaves Hunts Point Slave Cemetery Possible modern location
  49. Slave rebellions rocked New York in 1712 and 1741 Many innocents are executed and fear of revolt drives a tyrannical reaction. New York city hall site of the “Negro Plot” 1741 slave rebellion trials Justice Daniel Horsmanden presided over the trials authoring an account of the proceedings. 1741: 17 Blacks 3 whites hanged 13 Blacks burned at the stake1712 revolt: 21 Blacks executed (20 burned, 1 on the “breaking wheel,”) 6 Blacks committed suicide.
  50. Slave Census 1755 Gabriel Legget II, (1698-1786) a patriot slaveowner in lower Westchester County... was turned out of his farm by Major Bearmore of the British army in 1779, who then occupied his farm. Legget's slave Mercy and her two children left Legget shortly before his eviction from his property to live on Long Island with Stephen De Lancey. Legget's wife then arranged for her to live with Mr. Davenport at Morrisania and then with Capt. Kip, who had succeeded Bearmore in occupying Legget's property. After Kip turned Mercy out, Legget asked Mercy's husband to build a hut for her on the Legget farm where her third child was born. Legget used his slave's family to maintain and safeguard his property during the emergency. Upon the withdrawal of British troops from the farm, Mercy and her three children went to New York City, where she sought freedom under the British proclamation. Legget claimed her as his property prior to her embarkation to go to Nova Scotia with the 1783 British evacuation of New York and had her brought on shore for examination. The board ordered Mercy and her children to be returned to Legget* Petition of Gabriel Legget, August 7, 1783 Board Meeting, British Headquarters Papers, Document 10427, Manuscript Room, New York Public Library.
 *The proximity of the British lines in New York City also encouraged Westchester slaves to run away from their masters and seek freedom within the British camps. “Leggett’s Slave Mercy...”
  51. America’s Revolution DeLancey Pine was used by rebel snipers aiming at British troops A cannonball, cutlass and other Revolutionary war items found in the Hunt Mansion. British and Hessian soldiers sweep through meeting stiff resistance
  52. The Bronx is divided by war “Cowboys” were loyalist militia in the “neutral ground” in todays’ Bronx.They constantly skirmished with local people and the rebel army. A "Cowboy" in the Neutral Ground. WCHS Collection. James DeLancey of West Farms was military leader of the “cowboys” P.O.W. Thomas Leggett (1755-1843) in his later years. West Farms Last Revolutionary war era houses in West Farms West Farms Square- E Tremont Avenue / Boston Road-Bronx Zoo West Farms 18th Century showing DeLancy estate
  53. American Warriors Native Americans who fought on the Patriot side. The Stockbridge Indians were originally from the Bronx. Stockbridge Indians
  54. Queens Rangers The Queens Rangers. were Colonists who remained loyal to the King. The British commander in the Bronx was John Simcoe, who went on to found Toronto, Canada. Simcoe’s men on patrol
  55. Native American Commander Chief Daniel Nimham
  56. Indian Fields Fight Brave Indian warriors are ambushed by Queens Rangers in Van Courtland Park on August 31, 1778. AMBUSH
  57. Kurt Griesshaber 1962 Massacre in the Bronx
  58. How did Fox St. get its name? The oldest building in the Bronx, Hunt's Inn was a stagecoach stop. A one story wooden building with a pitched roof that was used for many public purposes. Fox hunting was a popular “sport” in the woods around Hunts Point during colonial times and the fox to be hunted was released at the Inn. James DeLancey was a wealthy pro-British land owner who socialized with like minded Tories at the Inn during the British occupation of New York. Hunts Inn James DeLancey
  59. Revolutionary War POW Major Abraham Leggett Major Leggett as a POW of the British Ruins of British General Howe’s headquarters erected on Hunts Point about 1778 Sugar House Prison
  60. Leggett Mansion taken by DeLancey 293 Lenox Ave. New York, N.Y. June 25, 1892 My dear Grandson, One dark night, when all the family was asleep, a party of British soldiers under the command of Colonel Delaney surrounded the Leggett mansion and took possession of it, with all its contents and other farm property, saying they were accused of being spies and giving information to the American forces at White Plains. The family without notice were driven out in the dead of night to seek shelter wherever they could find it. My grandfather, [Thomas Leggett (1755-1843)] who was at the time some nineteen years old, was seized with his two brothers, and made prisoners of war, and conveyed, under the charge of a band of Indians to General Burgoyne’s camp, then at Saratoga.’’ After a long while of confinement, my grandfather with another prisoner of war, effected their escape, and immediately made for the woods, hiding in hay stacks, under barns and other places by day, traveling only at night, begging food and perhaps shelter as best they could, suffering much from cold, hunger and fatigue; liable at any moment to be picked up by British spies and scouts, or tomahawked by brutal savages... He immediately started for his father’s place, but what a sight he was to see. His father’s comfortable house with all its contents, burnt to the ground by the British marauding troops... About all that was left of the house were the foundation walls...
 On these same foundation walls, on which stood his father’s [Thomas Leggett (1721-after 1781)] house, my grandfather erected his house and lived in it all his days... Grandfather, Thomas B. Leggett Illustration shows 125th St. near Lenox (6th Ave.) in 1891 near the home of Thomas B. Leggett -nypl
  61. Graham Mansion Burns -1779 “The destruction of the old house took place under the following circumstances Col Fowler of the British army who had dispossessed the Graham family and made it his own quarters invited all the officers and gentry in the neighborhood to dine with him preparatory to his change of quartersThe company were assembled and all seemed gay and happy The more youthful of both sexes were wandering about the lawn enjoying the beauty of the prospect when a servant one of Mr Graham's slaves announced the important fact Dinner is on the table All turned their faces to the banqueting room but before any one entered the door there was a cry of fire heard Col Fowler seemed to think the dinner was more important than the building he ordered everything removed from the table the gentlemen assisting and in a few minutes the table and contents were removed to the shade of a large willow where all seated themselves and appeared to enjoy the meal and the burning The house was utterly consumed with the contents before the company separated No effort was made to save an article not required for the better enjoyment of their meal The same evening Colonel Fowler conducted a marauding party into the vicinity of Eastchester where he was attacked and fell mortally wounded Being brought back to the house of Cornelius van Ranc overseer of Mr Graham's farm he expired that night.” --A history of the county of Westchester, from its first settlement, Robert BoltonVol.2 1848 Leggett’s house occupied the site of the Graham house. The property between Bound and Wigwam Brooks (Leggett Creek) was granted by Judge Morris to his son-in-law James Graham (grandson of Graham), on April 2, 1740; Mr. Graham died here in his house on Jeafferd’s Neck (Leggett Point), in 1767... It was later sold and divided up among several owners including Joshua Waddington and in 1830 to William H. Leggett where it was named Rose Bank. -Stephen Jenkins House of Jonathan Graham descendant of James Graham
  62. Mayanna Hunt 1738-1809 Gerrit Smith Sojourner Truth Laura Smith Haviland Abolitionists Eliza Seaman Leggett (1815-1900) Abolitionist and Suffrage Activist Eliza’s grandfather James Ferris bought Grove Farm in 1775 and was listed as a slave owner in the 1755 slave census. So many homes were left unprotected with women and a few servants, perhaps slaves in those days... in those days farms were not bought by the acre but by the mile so Grove Farm extended for many miles. Grandfather was often way with his sloop, perhaps taking a load of oysters or farm truck to the city, New York... Now too there came tramping a set of these outlaws; our little grandmother knew no fear - but she knew well enough what this sudden incoming meant. Always there was a plan laid, if an attack threatened. Oh, the grand-mothers of the war time. She joked with the boys saying you've caught us this time, you are more lucky than those fellow who came around last, but be easy with us. I'll treat you well. The cider began to work, the hot good cakes did their share and knowing the man of the house was away, they ate and snoozed a little. Finally they went to the barns - to find that all the live stock had been driven to West Chester, and a small army of neighbors had come with guns to help their neighbor - they had been fairly beaten and no blood shed - then our little grandmother laid her hands on her hips and laughed for she was a merry woman, and old Sam, the master par excellence among the servants, said, "We did better then the masta could." And for his ready wit was filled with cider and dough-nuts. Journal of Elizabeth Seaman Leggett Detroit Public Library, The Burton Historical Collection, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. Survival story told by granddaughter Eliza Seaman Leggett The slavery question interested Mrs. Leggett deeply and she was an ardent and outspoken Abolitionist. She was closely in touch with the Underground Railroad and helped many a poor creature to escape into Canada. Detroit Free Press - 10 February 1900
  63. Massacre at the Indian Cave Close to the winding lane, under a grove of immense forest trees, was situated some years ago a little cave almost hidden by the green turf. In its dark recesses once lay a pile of human bones, ghastly, gruesome and white. During the Revolution there was a sharp skirmish hereabouts between the Americans and the British, with the unfortunate result that the former were only "almost successful." In their hasty flight they carried their dead with them, until the little cave was reached, when they halted just long enough to hide the bodies in its black interior. An old resident recently told me that man" years ago she had often visited the place and seen the white bones, which a physician who had examined them, declared were genuine human bones. History of Bronx Borough; RANDALL COMFORT, Member of the New York Historical Society, 1906 Indian Cave, Hunts Point 1915, nypl “genuine human bones”
  64. Salvaging the HMS Hussar 1780: “Bill,” a slave pilot belonging to the Hunt family is commandeered by a British captain escaping with the British Army payroll. The HMS Hussar sinks near Hunts Point
 King George III on a golden Guinea. Sir Charles Pole ignores his pilot, a local slave named Bill and sails east through Hell Gate. Bill is said to be buried in the slave burying ground at Hunts Point A renowned “Black Jack” slave ship pilot Slaves were seafarers from the earliest days of the slave trade. Slaves often guided ships into local harbors. The name “Guinea” comes from the coast of Africa where gold was traded. Guinea’s were used to pay soldiers.Hells Gate
  65. Fatal Route of the Hussar “We silenced British cannon fire in 1776 and we don’t want to hear it again in Central Park,” the New York Police Department said in a statement Trying to save the Hussar. Cannon and powder salvaged from the Hussar in possession of the NYC Parks Dept. Hunts Point
  66. Joshua Waddington’s Point The view of Waddington’s residence from Rikers Island Joshua Waddington was a merchant at the time of the American Revolution. His estate was at the southeastern point of the Long Neck later known as Barretto’s Point. Waddington was represented by lawyer Alexander Hamilton in an important legal case involving the treaty that ended the revolution. This would have been a dangerous area to live during the revolution. Gen. Howe of the British Army was encamped nearby and guerillas fighting for both sides and themselves roamed the woods. Waddingtonton lived here between from 1808 until 1828 when the land was sold to Francis J. Barretto
  67. Barretto Point today Barretto Point in 1936 Hunts Point Wastewater Treatment plant at Barretto Point Francis J. Barretto was a merchant and member of the Westchester Assembly
  68. Gouverneur Morris Battles Thomas Leggett Westchester Road (Avenue) is cut through Morris land 1808-1814 Thomas Leggett 1755-1843 Gouverneur Morris 1752-1816 Bronx Accent: A Literary and Pictorial History of the Borough edited by Lloyd Ultan, Barbara Unge
  69. Anna Maria Julia Coster 1804-1871 Heiress to a large fortune, was the granddaughter of prosperous New York City merchant Henry Arnold Coster. In 1821, when she was only 17, Anna Maria married shipping baron Francis Barretto (1794-1871). The couple, who had 11 children, built an estate, Blythe Place, on Barretto Point, across from Riker's Island. Francis Barretto Elle Shushan - Fine Portrait Miniatures, Philadelphia, PA Provenance: By direct descent.
  70. Joseph Rodman Drake 1795-1820 Poet and resident of Hunts Point Fitz Greene-Halleck was Drake’s friend Among the relics of the old Hunt Inn is a pane of glass with a diamond the names of Drake and Nancy Leggett, joined at the end with a bracket and the single word “Love.”
 -City History Club of New York Hunt Inn
  71. The American Flag When freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her standard to the air She tore the azure robe of night And set the stars of glory there! She mingled with its gorgeous dyes The milky baldric of the skies, And striped its pure celestial white With streakings of the morning light… -Drake
  72. Lafayette visits 1824 Hale • Nathan Hale who said "I only regret that I have but one life to give my country,” crossed Hunts Point. He was later hanged by the British as a spy. • In 1824 the French general Lafayette traveled from Boston to New York via Fox Corners, presumably to stay at one of the Leggett houses on Hunt's Point. George Fox was one of the marshals of a delegation of New York citizens to meet and escort him. The lane was thus named in his honor. • Lafayette is said to have "paused in silent meditation at the grave of Joseph Rodman Drake.” -- HISTORICAL GUIDE TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK Lafayette’s carriage
  73. Joseph Rodman Drake Park --NYTimes 1903
  74. Saving the old cemetery 1903 Albert E. Davis letter to the NYTimes A doctor, Drake was only 25 when he died from TB. He’s buried in the Hunt family cemetery.
  75. PS 48 Memorial at Drake cemetery In 1968 the cemetery was vandalized . The community came together to repair the damage. More than 1,000 P.S. 48 students came to the rededication ceremonies. Some of the students planted an oak tree near the grave. The tree is still there.
  76. The Railroad comes to Hunts Point A New Birth of Freedom
  77. Railroads in New York 1835 New York Central Rail Road Edward G. Faile on the Board of the New York Central 1855 1840s
  78. Hunts Point Station Then Now Built in 1908 closed in the 1930s 1921 map
  79. A former Hunt Point Station? Is this an even earlier HP station
  80. Estates of Hunts Point Elmwood owned by Paul N. Spofford, Blythe owned by Francis Barretto, Ranaque owned by A.G. Allen, Greenbank owned by C.D. Dickey, Ambleside owned by J.B. Simpson and Sunnyslope owned by W.W. Gilbert. Can you find them on this 1868 map?
  81. Rockland Foxhurst Ambleside Hunt Inn Mansions of West Farms north of Hunts Point including Simpson, Fox, Tiffany and Vyse estates.Entrance to Hoe’s “Brightside.”
  82. Rose Bank The Leggett family retained possession of the property which was called Rose Bank until near the middle of the last century. The story of the Bronx from the purchase made by the Dutch from the Indians ... Stephen Jenkins 18191849 “In the Graham Mansion, which formerly stood on the site of Mr. Leggett’s farm house” The view from Graham’s Mansion describes as it was in the 17th century Archives of the General Convention Episcopal Church (See slide “Graham Mansion Burns) Rose Bank
  83. Barretto Point Park La Playita The Brothers The Pier Near the site of Rose Bank, the Leggett estate
  84. Thomas B. 1823-1895 Margaret Peck 1794-1878 Thomas Jr. 1755-1843 William Haight 1789-1863 Sarah Huggins 1826-1902 Mary Underhill 1770-1849 Text The Leggett’s of Hunts Point
  85. 1675 1844 1864 1888 1963 1919 Leggett estate over 300 years
  86. Mystery of Rose Bank How did the Leggett family lose its patrimony - an estate that survived the Revolutionary War and sprawled across much of today's South Bronx for 200 years, only to be dismantled under mysterious circumstances? Florence Huggins Leggett, writing in 1902, says her father was forced to move from the estate, due to "financial difficulties," around 1862.] -FAMILY HISTORY SHOWS BRONX AS RURAL PARADISE, Gersh Kuntzman; The New York Post, Monday, August 28, 2000 “That would follow a pattern,” said Bronx historian Lloyd Ultan. When the city expanded -- and annexed the Bronx in 1874 -- large landowners sold their farms to reinvest in the booming manufacturing, railroad or steel industries. "Some invested it badly, though," Ultan said. "It's like I always say, `the first generation makes the money, the second generation preserves it and the third generation squanders it." IBID Gersh Kuntzman
  87. Paul N. Spofford 1792-1869 Elmwood Estate Spofford Tileston & Co. 26 Broadway, NYC Spofford was a merchant, who traded in clothing, coffee and sugar.
  88. Spofford, Tileston & Co. The partnership was formed by Paul N. Spofford and Thomas Tileston in 1819. Owners of the first two coastal steamships "Southerner" and "Northerner," which began trading in 1846. Until 1860 they had a mail contract to Charleston, Savannah, Key West and Havana
  89. William W. Fox 1783-1861 Descendant of the Quaker leader George Fox Built Foxhurst mansion at 167th & Westchester Ave. One of the original Croton Water Commissioners that built the first aqueduct to New York City. Went into business with brother-in-law Samuel Leggett providing gas lighting for the city. Charlotte St. was probably named after his wife. Croton Aqueduct Bridge between Morrisania and New York
  90. Henry Dyer Tiffany Descendant of Fox and Leggett families 1841-1917 Foxhurst at West Farms Rd. and Westchester Ave.
  91. High Society Takes to the Waves Yachting’s America’s cup was designed by Tiffany Jewelers a branch of the famous family from Hunts Point. An example of a typical sloop from the early 20th Century. The Ventura was a 50 foot long racing yacht built in the Bronx and raced off shore from Hunts Point. Similar to a boat owned by Fox family heir Henry Dyer Tiffany whose name is on Tiffany street.
  92. Cornelius Poillon Established around 1858, C&R Poillon shipyards were the largest in New York with 300 workers at their peak. ...the boatyards were well established at producing racing yachts. A columnist writing about the upcoming racing season, of 1883, makes the following comments in his article; “Among the untried craft the three new yachts now substantially completed at the yard of Messrs. C. & R. Poillon have excited very general interest, and standing, as they do, all three in a row, afford yachtsmen a sight which has never before been had of so many new yachts representing the most advanced ideas of the most successful designer applied to different sizes of boats.” Poillon Brothers were on the cutting edge of design changes with some of the most beautiful yachts of their era coming to life in their yards died 1881
  93. Poillon & Staples Varnishes & Japans 148th St. & R.R Avenue, Bronx A key component to the longevity of yachts built by the Poillon family were the Varnishes and Japans supplied from this Bronx factory.
  94. GARRISON AVE. Named after real estate speculator C.K. Garrison
  95. The Locusts, Faile family ancestral home 1905 The Locusts Today The corner of Hunts Point
 and Garrison Ave. The home of the tutor of the Faile family, there teacher was Sir Walter Scott. Built in the 17th Century
  96. Edward G. Faile d. 1864 E.G. Faile building 236 Front St. preserved as part of the South Street Seaport. It’s now a restaurant. 1832 Edward G. Faile named his mansion “Woodside.” Surrounded by a glorious forest, its sloping lawns boasted two signal attractions, a flock of beautiful peacocks and a splendid Cedar of Lebanon, the gift of a United States consul.
  97. Faile Mansion Interior Two chairs Faile family heirlooms said to have been on the Mayflower Titania 358 (1084) Calved March 1853. Owned and imported in 1853 by Edward G Faile, West Farms, Westchester Co., NY. Bred by George Turner of Barton, Near Exeter, England. Sire Kossuth 93. Dam Calystigia 39. Winner of the first prize in the two year old class of Devons at the New York State Agricultural Show at Elmira in 1855, and at the United States Agricultural Show at Boston in 1855. Faile bred cows as a hobby
  98. American Bank Note Company Mexican Pesos where just some of the money printed in the Bronx Built in 1912 on the site of the Faile mansion, now a charter school
  99. The Springhurst Dairy Joe Duffy was born in Monaghan Ireland in 1861 and married a Lucy Ann Devlin from County Armagh. He or his family moved to New York and was the proprietor of the Springhurst Dairy in Hunts Point NY. -- Ellen Storer 33 cows grazed on property belonging to the Faile family. Joe Duffy ran the Springhurst Dairy in Hunts Point supplying milk for 8 cents a quart to families in he surrounding area. His sons used milk wagons to make deliveries.
  100. Sunnyslope Mansion 1851 “Sunnyslope” home of Peter A. Hoe Brother of Colonel Richard March Hoe. 
 The “neo-gothic” style mansion survives at Faile & Lafayette streets.
  101. Richard M. Hoe was an Inventor •In 1843, Richard Hoe invented the rotary printing press. •His mansion was called Brightside and covered a vast area of 53 acres. •He raised prize cows as a hobby. •Hoe St. where Brightside was located is named after Mr. Hoe
  102. B.G. Arnold was a merchant. He lived in a Hunts Point mansion called “Ranaque” after the original Indian name for the Bronx. Benjamin G. Arnold was a wealthy Coffee merchant. NY Times Dec. 8, 1880 Mr. Arnold embarked upon his big speculation in coffee in 1869. For ten years he maintained his mastery of the market and in that time amassed a fortune... The President of the United States was his friend, and a guest at his luxurious home. But the high-price levels to which Arnold had forced the coffee market started a coffee-planting fever in countries of production. Almost before he knew it, there was an over production that swamped the market and forced down prices with so amazing rapidity that panic seized upon the traders -William Harrison Ukers; All About Coffee
  103. William Mortimer Allen Cosey Nook was his estate near Leggett Point wife Catherine Maria (Leggett) Allen and her mother Margaret Peck (Wright) Leggett 1814-1878
  104. Corpus Christi Monastery Lafayette & Barretto St. Built 1889 on the site of the Oliver Bryan mansion. Then Now Dominican monastery incorporating the Bryan mansion. Supported by real estate developer John D. Crimmins as a memorial to his wife. He’s buried in a crypt there.
  105. Simpson Homestead The Cheeryble Brothers; painting by Harold Copping , scanned by Philip V. Allingham New York Times 1878
  106. Haunted House of Hunts Point 1859 “Whitlock’s Folly” near Southern Boulevard “Cradle of Cuban Liberty.” Built in 1859 by Benjamin M. Whitlock, a wealthy grocer of New York, on a property consisting of fifty acres. The mansion cost $350,000 ($10 million today) when completed, and was the most imposing residence above the Harlem at that time.It is said that the door knobs were made of solid gold. As a carriage approached the gates of the estate the horses stepped on a hidden spring causing the gates to fly open ; and the house had secret underground passages. The house contained one hundred rooms and the beauty in the decoration of these rooms has not been surpassed to this day,
  107. Sold to Benjamin M. Whitlock East River East River by Thomas B. Leggett Hommock Manor, the country seat of B. M. Whitlock, Esq., is situated in West Farms Township, on the East river, or Sound, about 3 miles from Harlem. The estate contains several hundred acres; but that part on which the dwelling is situated, is, as its name implies, a complete Hommock of about 20 acres - which at high tides is nearly surrounded by water - and is approached from the main part of the estate by a causeway. --"The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams.
  108. Benjamin Whitlock’s store on Beekman St. at the Old Brick Church Whitlock traded in tobacco, wines and cotton. This is a bottle of his Ambrosia. The church, was used as a hospital during the revolution. In 1856 it was ripped down and replaced by the first 
 New York Times building.
  109. Built with Windows from the old Brick Church B. M.WHITLOCK ROSE HOUSE AND CONSERVATORY “All the circular-headed windows, with a corresponding number of square ones, belonged to the old Brick Church in Beekman Street, which was pulled down to make room for stores; so that the plan had to be got up to meet the material, and not, as is usually the case, the materials to suit the plan. ” -- NY Times
  110. Merchant Prince Art Lover Records of the National Academy of Fine Arts show Whitlock purchased this painting. P. 178 Waldo & Jewett 1845 Address: 1 Cortlandt Street 82. Portrait of a Gentleman B.M.WHITLOCK l New York Historical Society - Vo I. 77 American Academy of Fine Arts and American Art Union ...Exhibition Record National Academy home on Broadway from 1859 to 1865 The American Academy of Fine Arts and American Art Union influenced artistic tastes in the 19th century United States
  111. Whitlock spoke at this angry pro-slavery meeting “[against]The treasonable raid of John Brown and his followers...” December 19, 1859 A scheme to extend U.S. control to Cuban slave plantations John Brown raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry October 16, 1859 helped start the Civil War Whitlock sat on many political committees including this one to annex Cuba as a slave state Civil War Intrudes
  112. Southern Militia Visit Whitlock About 4 o'clock the visitors again embarked, and proceeded up the River through Hurl (Hells) Gate, about twelve miles, to the suburban villa of B.M. WHITLOCK, Esq., in Westchester County, on the banks of the river... After being photographed in line on the lawn in front of Mr. WHITLOCK's fine new brown-stone mansion, taking a look at his sixty blood horses, and extensive repository of carriages, imbibing a timely drink, and viewing the grounds, the company was invited to a collation spread for three hundred in a shady grove near one of the residences. -- NY Times July 23, 1860 The Seventh Regiment entertained the Savannah Republican-Blues and the brothers B. and B. M. Whitlock gave a grand entertainment to them up the Hudson, where my "lovely Nell" and I were in attendance. In a letter home I used this language: "It seems to me as if our people were military-mad, and had rushed together for a last fraternal embrace, to separate and fight like maddened devils; so violent do altercations and argument come when the questions of slavery, free soil, etc., are discussed." And when I went South some of my friends dubbed me the "bloody prophet." -Mrs. Elizabeth Lyle Saxon
  113. Benjamin M. Whitlock 1860 His long interest in the abolition of slavery led Dr. Houghton to found the first black Sunday school in New York City and to harbor runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railway, one stop on which was the basement of the church's rectory. During the Civil War Blacks were burned, hanged, and mutilated during the Draft Riots of July 1863... Angry mobs trying to get at those who had found sanctuary within the church twice thronged the gates of the churchyard... George Houghton lifted the processional cross from its place in the church, walked out to face the rioters, held it before them, and said, "Stand back, you white devils; in the name of Christ, stand back!" With such courageous words, George Houghton held off the unruly mob, and those in the church remained safe for several more days, until the mob had been quelled and dispersed. George Hendric Houghton Henry Ward Beecher Henry Ward Beecher held mock “auctions” at which the congregation purchased the freedom of real slaves. The most famous of these former slaves was a young girl named Pinky, auctioned during a regular Sunday worship service at Plymouth on February 5, 1860 William Lloyd Garrison Lewis Tappan ABOLITION
  114. Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad is not the subway. It is the network of abolitionist “conductors” who brought “passengers and parcels”, escaped slaves by way of “stations” or safe places run by “station masters” to “entry ports” into Canada and freedom.
  115. Daniel Mapes one of the oldest families in West Farms ran a successful store that was across the Boston Post Road from the Uncle Mapes Temperance Hotel West Farms: A Possible Station on the Underground Railroad The Mapes Temperance Hotel in the same spot as DeLancey’s Mills 100 years later located near 180th Street Mapes Bros. store Mapes’ estate could have been a station on the underground railroad. Conducting escaped slaves was illegal under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 so little beyond family lore is known about those who participated. Mapes land became the New York Catholic Protectory 1863-1938. Replaced by Parkchester housing development.
  116. Benjamin M. Whitlock’s Southern Strategy NY Historical Society ...A good many merchants, in order to avoid catastrophe were, the correspondents added, already abandoning their Establishments in New York and were preparing to set up business in "some city of the Confederate States" Charleston Mercury March 21,1861 ...the extensive grocery house of B.A. & E.A. WHITLOCK... had already completed negotiations for “going to Savannah.” Philip Foner 1941 But Whitlock also made ready to run south... 1860
  117. NY Times October 1861 Before the Civil War (1861–1864), Mott Haven was the site of two stations on the Underground Railroad — the villa of Charles Van Doren, lawyer for the Jordan L. Mott Iron Works. The “villa” stood at East 145th Street and Third Avenue, and the Mott Haven Dutch Reformed Church, which still stands on East 146th Street. 1861 Whitlock’s Mother Dies The funeral is held at the Dutch Reformed Church on Third Ave. A station on the Underground Railroad
  118. -- Benjamin M. Whitlock, Esq., formerly one of the prominent wholesale grocers of this City, died on Wednesday last at his residence in Westchester County, after a very brief illness. Mr. Whitlock, in consequence of the present troubles, lost overwhelmingly, because of the failure of his Southern customers to meet their engagements, and was compelled to relinquish his business, which had before been one of the most profitable in the City. He was a man of finest business capacity, and of noble, generous impulses. His hospitality was lavish, and he was noted especially for keeping one of the finest studs in the country, his stock and stables being the centre of admiration and interest. These and the remainder of his property he sacrificed when misfortune overtook him, in order honorably to meet his sudden embarrassments. Benjamin Whitlock’s Obituary 1863 NY Times
  119. “a vast and fiendish plot” 1864 B.M. Whitlock’s relations out for revenge against NYC after Sherman burns Atlanta February 8, 1865 A NAWARK REBEL. WILLIAM LAWRENCE MCDONALD, who figures in the papers as the rebel agent in Canada, and the leading spirit in the Chesapeake, St. Albans, and New-York hotel-burning affairs... In 1860, he associated with Mr. B.M. WHITLOCK, (his brother-in-law,) in the carriage business... "GUS" MCDONALD, a brother of the above, who also lived in Orange, but recently a resident of New-York, is in custody on a charge of harboring the incendiaries while they were in that city. -- Newark Advertiser. Southern Gentleman (about to Fire the Hotel), Harper's Weekly. "These Yankees," the "Southern Gentleman" says "will learn what it is to incur the Enmity of a proud and chivalric People.” William “Larry” McDonald brother-in-law to B.M. Whitlock owned a carriage business. McDonald, his brother “Gus” and niece Katie were named in the 1864 plot to burn NYC but never charged in the crime despite Larry’s confession to an undercover New York City police detective.. Confederate Operations in Canada and New York -Headley
  120. After the death of Mr Whitlock it was transferred by deed from his widow to Innocencio Casanova a Cuban patriot under date of November 1, 1867 for a consideration of $150,000 The first struggle for Cuban independence was then in progress and the house became a rendezvous for the supporters of Cuba Libre It is stated that its great cellars became storehouses for powder rifles and other munitions of war which were smuggled aboard the vessels which stole in and out of the creeks contiguous to the house and which sailed away on secret filibustering expeditions to the Ever Faithful Isle. It is also said that the ill fated Virginius took on board her unfortunate crew here With the downfall of the rebellion the visits of the dark skinned mysterious looking men ceased and the house was deserted while whispers of murdered Spanish spies and of ghosts and strange and unaccountable noises in the vacant house filled the neighborhood. Ibid, Stephen Jenkins NY Times
  121. Casanova’s Underground Passages Inocencio Casanova was from the Canary Islands, a naturalized U.S. citizen and slave owner with a sugar plantation in Cuba. He bought the mansion after the Civil War Bronx Historical Society Duck Island was a secret outlet for the tunnels built under the mansion Duck Island
  122. Rebellion Sweeps Cuba Historian Philip Foner, from the book Antonio Maceo: 
 “What the Cuban army lacked in numbers, experience, warfare training and arms and equipment was often compensated for by their thorough knowledge of the country, effective use of guerrilla tactics, greater immunity to cholera and other diseases that flourished on the island, and above all patriotic devotion. The most important asset of guerrilla warfare is an ideal; the rebels were fighting for the liberation of their country, and this gave them the popular support without which a guerrilla movement cannot be effective. ‘Every tree and flower and grass had a use or a virtue with which they seemed acquainted,’ reported James J. O’Kelly, the Irish journalist. The guajiro and the campesino, the slave and the free black, not only moved steadily into the ranks of the Liberating Army, but aided and shielded the patriotic fighters, even though they risked their own lives by so doing.” Lt. Gen. Maceo “The Bronze Titan” #2 commander Cuban Army of Independence Battle at Casanova’s “Armonia” Sugar Plantation May 22, 1868 In an attack at the strongly defended sugar mill, “Armonia,” Maceo receives the first of twenty-four wounds. He is carried back to a hidden rest camp, where his wife and his mother nurse him back to health. Late in the month, an expedition organized by the New York Junta, made up of 800 to 1,400 men equipped with Spencer carbines, revolvers, sabres, two batteries of 12-pounder, and several 60-pounder guns, is intercepted by U.S. federal authorities and most of the men are taken prisoner.
  123. “I am under my flag! Viva Washington!” 1871 - Inocencio Casanova to Spanish officials from the deck of the American steamer “Columbia.”February 25, 1871 On a trip to Cuba Casanova learns about a threat to his life from the Spanish government
  124. A Cuban Woman Stands for Independence from Spain One hotbed of militant activity was an old mansion in what is now the Hunts Point area of the Bronx. There, the activist Emilia Casanova and her husband, exiled author Cirilo Villaverde, worked in support of the Cuban rebels, and are said to have collected arms and ammunition for smuggling out to Long Island Sound and shipment south to Cuba.  -Museo del Barrio Emilia Casanova de Villaverde Raffles to raise funds for weapons Emilia Casanova de Villaverde supports Cuban rebels from Casanova’s Castle Cirilo Villaverde
  125. Emilia Casanova de Villaverde Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia edited by Vicki Lynn Ruiz Cuban newspapers attack her as a “witch” using her wealth to back the insurgents. Who she rivaled in commitment and militancy. Here she is portrayed as selling Cuban national flags “wholesale or retail.” “No nation has the right to hold another in its grip, no more Spain over Cuba than England over Gibraltar.” -Victor Hugo’s reply to a letter from Emilia Casanova de Villaverde January 15, 1870 Victor Hugo 1853
  126. ...the purpose I write is to inform you that the next shipment of arms and ammunition has been sent by the “League of Daughters of Cuba” At this time I don't want to speak on misfortunes and discords between you, but you must count on the devotion of all Cubans and to distinguish between the sincere patriot and the weak speculator in patriotism. To benefit the next game of illustrious general Quesada I write you these lines.The disasters and reverses that have undergone expeditions of men and the ammunition of war , because of the ineptitude and stupidity of the ones in charge of their organization and handling, have produced deep misfortune, causing desperation to those Cubans who see clearly the origin of the evil... --Emilia Casanova de Villaverde Letters of Emilia Casanova General Manuel de Quesada elected as of the Cuban rebels’ Chief of the Armed Forces April 12, 1869. Emilia Casanova Carlos Manuel de Céspedes del Castillo a Cuban planter who freed his slaves, and made the declaration of Cuban independence in 1868 which started the Ten Years' War.
  127. Victor Hugo’s Letters to Emilia Victor Hugo author Les Miserables
  128. Virginius Incident A ship possibly launched from the mansion taken by Spain many crew members executed Casanova Mansion “Hommock” Duck Island Leggett Creek
  129. A Mysterious Mansions Last Days Massive wrought-iron chandeliers adorned halls and chambers. On my visit I found bell-pulls in the immense apartments, which I vigorously rang, causing mysterious ringings in distant rooms below with true ghostlike effect —but never a servant appeared. Chance led us into the strangest place of all, the secret chamber containing the great safe, itself as big as a room.
 The entrance was by a hidden door. The place was lighted by opaque oval panels that exactly resembled the surrounding woodwork. High up beneath the lofty roof was a mysterious place, but whether it was an elaborate chapel or an immense ballroom we never learned. -Valentine’s Manual of Old New York So many weird tales were told about the old mansion that its demolition was watched with intense interest. Its site is now occupied by a large piano factory and part of the grounds has become the property of the railroad’
  130. This view of the East River is what she saw from the top. --photos by Albert E. Lickman 1902 A local child named Eulia McVay ran to the roof of the mansion and climbed the flag pole. Haunted Mansion as child’s playground
  131. Published: August 14, 1880 Fertilizer is behind complaints of bad smells in Hunts Point in 1880 Published: August 14, 1880 Urban Problems Begin to Overtake Hunts Point
  132. First Public Recreation Area in The Bronx The Oak Point Bathing beach and Pavilion in 1887 built on Leggett family property William Mortimer Allen (“The” Allen in the article above) lived near Oak Point.. He owned the property called “Cosy Nook” Allen’s wife Catherine daughter of William H. Leggett
  133. East Bay Land and Improvement Co. 1890 Gen. Egbert Ludovickus Viele heads the company that wants to create an eastern harbor in Hunts Point Viele
  134. Homes built on refuseNYTimes Feb. 26, 1893 East of the Railroad
  135. Longwood Park Between 1897 and 1901 real estate developer George B. Johnson purchased the old S. B. White estate on speculation and hired local architect Warren C. Dickerson (also known for his work on Mott Haven Historic District structures) to design and construct houses.  By the time that the IRT subway line from Manhattan reached the neighborhood in 1904, Dickerson’s houses were completed and clustered nearby. West of the Railroad
  136. Life, Death & Re-birth of the Dennison-White Mansion 1850s 1870s 2000s 156th and Beck Street
  137. Dennison-White Mansion Today Located at the current 156th and Beck streets the mansion of the Dennison-White merchant family was famous for the beautiful forest that once surrounded it. The mansion became the Longwood club, then the Police Athletic League. Now its going to be a community center.
  138. Steamboat Ferry’s Were Popular Children knew that this ferry meant it was time for supper 1904 General Slocum disaster- A ferry could be dangerous
  139. General Slocum Memorial The memorial is in Tompkins Square Park. The victims were students at St. Marks Evangelical Lutheran Church. Located at East 6th Street in Manhattan. 1,000+ died. The Slocum beached on North Brother Island near Hunts Point.
  140. Early Aviators Spark the Imagination Dr. Julian P. Thomas rode his balloon over the Bronx.

  141. Roosevelt the Hunter Paul Nocquet sculptor and balloonist crashes on Gilgo Beach after a balloon flight from the Bronx. He dies of exposure.
  142. “Colored Teams Will Make Fur Fly” NYT 1909 Shades of glory: the negro leagues and the story of African-American baseball By Lawrence D. Hogan NYPL
  143. Baseball at the Bronx Oval Tim Jordan 1907 Bronx Oval at 163rd and Southern Boulevard NYTimes 1911 Baseball Barnstorming And Exhibition Games, 1901-1962 Thomas Barthel
  144. Hunts Point Avenue In 1908 the main thoroughfare is rebuilt and made wider.
  145. The end of the Bronx Oval 1918 NYTimes 1910 The OVAL Shoes 1930s. Monsignor Raul Del Valle Square, formerly Crames Square. formerly Bronx Oval
  146. Now Subway brings new homes 1921 1914
  147. Henry Morgenthau Sr. Henry Morgenthau; April 26, 1856 – November 25, 1946) American Real Estate Company (ARECO) develops the South Bronx ARECO rental office on Southern Boulevard between 163 & Westchester Ave. in 1910 Born in Bavaria he made his fortune in New York and was later U.S. ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Theaters along the same stretch a few years later. After making a fortune in Bronx and Yonkers Real Estate Henry Morgenthau Sr. was known for championing the rights of Armenians and Jews. His son Henry Jr. was Secretary of the Treasury under FDR and grandson Robert was Manhattan District Attorney.
  148. Transformation of Estates to Community Hunts Point station Hunts Point Avenue Manida St. Barretto St. 1920 ARECO develops a residential community in Hunts Point
  149. Hunts Point Residential Train Station Gilbert Place Two Family Homes Apartments
  150. Jewish Hunts Point before 1940 Dr. Seymour J. Perlin Remembrances of Synagogues Past Map showing Hunts Point and South Bronx Synagogues founded before 1940 Jewish migration: South Bronx to Grand Concourse and beyond 812 Faile St, Temple Beth Elohim 1913 currently Bright Temple A.M.E. Church former estate of Peter A. Hoe 1859 823 Faile St,
 Hunts Point Chevra Bikur Cholim Iglesia 1929 currently Pentacostal Casa de Dios Former Synagogues in Hunts Point
  151. Egbert Ludovicus Viele (June 17, 1825 – April 22, 1902) was a civil engineer and United States Representative from New York, as well as an officer in the Union army during the American Civil War. Viele Street Fitz-Greene Halleck (July 8,1790 – November 19, 1867) was an American poet and friend of Joseph Rodman Drake. Halleck St. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 - March 24, 1882) was an American educator and poet whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and "Evangeline" Longfellow St. Whittier St. John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 - September 7, 1892) was an Influential American Quaker poet And ardent advocate of the abolition of slavery. The faces behind Hunts Point street names
  152. 1909 HUNTS POINT TROLLEY 1944 Busses replaced trolleys by 1956
  153. Boulevard of Theaters Southern Boulevard Spooner Theater Southern Blvd. & Westchester Ave. Boulevard Theater
  154. Cecil Spooner’s Theater 1910-1913 Cecil Spooner. She was both a popular and a controversial figure in her day who dared to be herself regardless of the cost. She opened her own theatre in 1910 at the age of twenty-two Spooner theater is a discount store today
  155. Spooner’s Vice Play Spooner was a feminist and produced “vice plays” about women forced into sexual bondage. The police shut down the show
  156. Antiwar protest at Hunts Point Palace Emma Goldman John Reed Hunts Point Palace on Southern Boulevard between Hunts Point & Westchester Aves. Local firebrands; John Reed is the only American buried in the Kremlin, Emma Goldman was deported to Russia for denouncing the draft
  157. Eyewitness Account Emma Goldman Writing many years later a witness describes the police crackdown
  158. Class Struggle Among Bronx Industrial Workers 1916
  159. Graft and Pollution in 1909 Louis M. Haffen first Bronx Borough President
  160. Public Baths in Hunts Point 1910 2008 ..a daily army of excursionists tramped along this leafy lane (Leggett Lane followed today’s Leggett Ave. but continued to the shore where there was a bath house) on hot summer days on their way to reach a water resort. Then it was that the ceaseless throng became an eyesore to the residents of the old mansion (Denison-White), and, claiming that the lane was a private and not a public way, they sought to bar popular progress by erecting gates across the roadway. "But no," said those wise in the law. "For twenty years this has been an open road, and you cannot close it now." Thus did the Oak Point excursionists win the day. The public defends claims to the private lane of the estates A Victory for the Public
  161. Joseph Rodman Drake School 1915 1921 2009 Public School 48 “The Best School in the Universe”
  162. Hunts Point Avenue 1921 2009
  163. End of an Era Dickey Estate was one of the last mansion to be sold. 1921
  164. Bruckner Boulevard 1938 Demolition Makes way for Bruckner Boulevard at Hunts Point Ave. The Hunts Point train station with demolition for Bruckner Boulevard
  165. Bronx River at Bruckner Blvd. formerly Whitlock Ave. 1950s
  166. Bruckner Expressway 1960s The Bruckner was one of the last roads in NYC’s expressway system. Brainchild of Robert Moses. The “master builder” of New York City. Often praised often criticized for the damage his highways did to Bronx communities.
  167. Bruckner Expressway today
  168. Hunts Point 1951 NewYork State Archives Con Edison gas plant Bronx River Rikers Island Oak Point East River National Gypsum American Banknote Co. North Brother Is. Drake Cemetery sewage treatment plant Barretto Point Hunts Point and Southern Boulevard
  169. City Projects Take Over the Point Mayor Vincent Impellitteri dedicates the sewage treatment plant 1952 Mayor Robert F. Wagner digging in for the Hunts Point Market 1967
  170. National Gypsum Co. 1950s Hunts Point In Place Industrial Park 1982 Con Edison sets up a a gas plant 1931 The Con Edison gas plant manufactured gas and coke from coal from 1926 to 1960 . Waste products include toxic coal tar. This was the view in 1982. Associated with asbestos poisoning
  171. In 1988, after the Oak Point site was purchased from Conrail by Britestarr Homes for $3.2 million, Britestarr proposed building a modular-housing factory there. But the factory was never built, and the property became a sprawling dump. Three years later, Britestarr came under investigation for possible ties to John A. Gotti, then the head of the Gambino crime family. In May 2002, the company filed for bankruptcy, leaving the property with more than $60 million worth of claims against it. NY Times March 5, 2008 Britestarr president David Norkin pled guilty to federal fraud and racketeering charges. The court appointed a new owner who teamed up with KeySpan to propose a power plant for Oak Point. Village Voice August 22, 2006 1921 Toxic Dumping
  172. P.S. 48 highest hospitalization rate for asthma in NYC "Nineteen percent of our school population has asthma." - Principal Roxanne Cardona.
  173. Hunts Point Protests Environmental Racism The city forced the sewage-to-fertilizer plant on Oak Point Avenue to close its doors last summer after 16 years of nauseating smells. Now the same city agency that shut NYOFCo down is soliciting proposals for a new effort to process sewage sludge from all 14 city sewage plants. 10. Nov, 2010 Hunts Point Express NY Organic Fertilizer is closed former garbage transfer station at the point
  174. Stopping a jail on Hunts Point floating jail City proposal for a $375 million jail at Oak Point is withdrawn
  175. The World Comes to Hunts Point Latin America 86%
  176. A Puerto Rican Family in Hunts Point in the 1940s Photo: Courtesy NYC DOE
  177. Latin Music at Hunts Point Palace A dance club for nearly a century, important for performers from mambo king Tito Puente to the first hip-hop crews in the '70s and '80s The Palace was host to nearly a century's worth of American popular music; swing music in the 1920s-1930s, big band jazz dance bands in the 1940s, Latin music in the 1940s-1970s, and Hip Hop in the 1970s and 1980s. During the heyday of Latin music in the Bronx, the Hunts Point Palace rivaled Manhattan's Palladium. All the best dancers went there. It held 2500 people, offered large, well-maintained dance floors, and a bandstand that musicians loved. With ornate architecture and beautiful balconies, it had glamour. The "big three"--Tito Puente, Tito Rodríquez, and Machito--often played here, as did stars like Arsenio Rodríguez, and jazz greats like Stan Getz and Dizzy Gillespie. Here, as in other venues, musicians in the late 1960s and 1970s started calling their music salsa--a term that gained currency when Fania Records used it to market a range of Latin music styles, and publicized these urban- edged sounds with a movie called Nuestra Cosa at Manhattan's Cheetah Club. Early salseros Willie Colón and Rúben Blades wrote lyrics relevant to life in El Barrio and to larger social and political issues, while still playing popular dance music. City Lore and Municipal Art Society
  178. 1960s in Hunts Point Young Lords Free Breakfast Program A great meal Political organizers
  179. Hunts Point 1968photos courtesy NYC Department of Education
  180. Old School Subway Graffiti 70s & 80s Graffiti gives birth to Hip-Hop
  181. Hunts Point thriving art and music scene La Terre with Rebel Diaz
  182. Nations Represented at P.S. 48 Today Belize Dominican Republic Albania El Salvador Honduras Zambia Mexico Haiti Guatemala Liberia Puerto Rico Guinea
  183. P.S. 48 Oak Tree in Joseph Rodman Drake Park
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