ANNUAL ADDRESS. INDUSTRIAL AND By DAVID MURRAY, Ph. D., LL. D. [Delivered May 25, 1880.] MATERIAL PROGRESS, ILLUSTRATED IN THE Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Albany Institute: You have invited me to make one in a long and distinguished succession of members, who have delivered addresses before this society. When I recall the names of those who have preceded me, and the contributions they have made to the annals of this venerable society, I realize that it is no easy task to find something worthy and fitting to say on this occasion and in this presence. In attempting to fulfil the duty to which I am called to-night, I have thought that it would not be inappropriate and, I hope, not without interest, to present to you a sketch of the material and industrial progress of the country during the period which has elapsed since the origin of this society. And in order that the subject may have for an Albany audience a more direct and personal interest, I propose to illustrate this progress, so far as possible, from facts in the history of our own city. I confine myself to the material progress of this period, because other aspects of this subject have been more frequently presented, and because we shall find in a comparison of the physical condition of the present with even that of the recently past, facts that must prove both striking and instructive. The limit which I have set for this comparison carries us back to the time immediately succeeding the revolutionary war. It was in 1791 that the Society of Arts, which composes the elder branch of the Albany Institute, was founded. This was almost at the very beginning of that wonderful career of growth and prosperity on which the country entered after its struggle for independence a career which before that time had had no parallel in any country, and which since has only been paralleled by other examples in our own. In this general march of prosperity, Albany held a conspicuous rank. Her situation at the head of the navigation of the Hudson, and in the direct line of travel from New England to the West, gave her unrivaled commercial facilities. The fur trade, which, for a century, had been the chief reliance of Albany, had, indeed, nearly ceased, or been diverted into other channels. But, instead of it, sprang up a new traffic dependent upon and growing out of the immense immigration into central and western New York from New England and from foreign countries. From first to last, no American town has had a more varied or interesting history. It is one of the few cities whose diversified experiences have developed in it a distinct individuality. The old Dutch Colonial period; the period of English administration; the long residence here of an English garrison; the intimate and friendly relations which its people established and invariably maintained with the neighboring Indians; its strategic position in the French and revolutionary wars; its central position for travel and trade; all these have left their indelible marks upon the town, and have given it a character which is a record of its history. Before proceeding to my subject, I cannot forbear making my acknowledgments for the material which I have combined in this address to the labors of a deceased member of this Institute. No man can ever hereafter write about the history of Albany without being indebted at every step to the previous labors of Joel Munsell. Let us pause a moment at the mention of this name. The words of eulogy, which were spoken on the occasion of his death, are still fresh in your memories. It will always be an honor to the Albany Institute that it gave help and encouragement to him in his work; that he found, in the meetings and associations of this society, that sympathy and appreciation which led him on year after year in those researches which have made his name a household word in this city. Many of you, I dare say, have read the touching address with which he prefaces the concluding volume of his "Annals of Albany." While preparing for this address, I chanced upon an explanation of what had seemed to me puzzling in the manner and contents of that preface. For the first time in all his writings, he refers to the trials and struggles and unsubstantial recompense of his labors. The explanation will surprise no one who knew the appreciative and generous character of Mr. Robert Townsend. In a little manuscript note, appended to the copy I use, Mr. Townsend says: "Mr. Munsell had brought to me to touch I told him it would not answer. up a short preface he had written. In justice to himself, this concluding volume of his series should contain something more; and above all it should give some slight sketch of his struggles and sacrifices in continuing his work. As I was well acquainted with his labors, and knew how unrequited they had been, I offered to write a concluding address for him. He gladly consented, and this is the result." Mr. Munsell himself, I think, never complained. It was left to this kind friend to put in words, and such appropriate words, too, those feelings, not which Mr. Munsell had for himself, but which others who knew his work entertained for him. To the world, Mr. Munsell is best known as a printer of rare skill and enthusiasm in his profession, but to Albanians and to his associates in the Institute, he will always be best remembered as the man whose researches, like those of Layard or Schliemann, have rescued a city from oblivion. 1. General Progress. Let us then look at our old city as it emerged from the trials and struggles of the revolution, and entered upon its new career of progress and prosperity. Let us recall its contour, size and general aspect, and draw, if we can, even a rude and imperfect sketch of it, touched up, if possible, with some of the colors of nature. In the old maps of the city (1696), the fort stood at the head of State street, where now St. Peter's church stands. A line of stockades ran off on each side down to and along the river, enclosing the space from Steuben street on the north, to Hudson street on the south. Within this narrow space was included all that there was of the little city. Subsequently the stockades were extended and renewed, probably when fears of the French and Indian wars stirred up the city to greater diligence in its defense. This new stockade followed the line of Hamilton street on the south, and on the north crossed Broadway near Van Tromp street, where the location of the ancient blockhouse and gate was preserved to a late period, as the dividing line between Albany and the Colonie. According to Simeon DeWitt's map, made in 1794, State street still extended only up to Lodge street, where it merged into the Schenectady turnpike. The old fort had been removed, but the ground on which it had stood, and westward, where now the capitol stands, towered up in a high bluff. Capitol hill was a famous place for huckleberries in those days, and all west of Eagle was still left covered with the scrubby pine which was the only vegetation that the poverty of the soil was capable of supporting. Broadway from its junction with State street, northward, was then called Market street. It took its name from the public market, which stood in the broad portion of it near Maiden Lane. The street south of State street, to the steamboat dock, was called Court street. South Pearl street, which then as now formed the principal exit from the city to the south, was called Washington street. The broad meadows south of the city had originally been set apart as a common for pasturing the cows of the citizens, and Mrs. Grant paints us a pretty bucolic picture of the cows with their tinkling bells coming home each night to be milked, each one seeking out and taking her place quietly at her master's gate. But by this time the cow pasture had been cut up into lots, and Mrs. Grant's bucolic picture had been spoiled. The streets must have been as yet almost entirely unpaved. In 1729 the city fathers had indeed issued some kind of an ordinance that the people should pave their streets, but they complained bitterly of the burden, and on one pretense or another, got it put off, so that still in 1792 we hear of General Schuyler's carriage getting mired in State street, opposite Green, and of the whole neighborhood being called out to extricate it. The incident may have made some stir, and helped to work some improvement; for two years later a traveler in giving an account of his visit, compliments the city on the condition of the streets and pavements. Curb stones were a thing unknown at that time, and only a shallow gutter separated the roadway from the sidewalk. The pavement was, of course, the old cobble stone pavement which continues with us till this day. I have made some effort, but unsuccessfully, to discover the inventor of the cobble stone pavement, in order to award to him his due meed of gratitude for the boon which he bestowed on mankind. I would like to have him here to-night and hold up before him the miraculous mirror which the angel of retribution presents to his victim when they are brought to the Buddhist purgatory—a mirror in which he can see all the crimes and evil consequences for which he is responsible. There was still in the city no system of drains. The surface gutters of the streets served the purpose of carrying off the sewage, and on Mondays, which was the traditional washing-day, the streams of soap suds which ran down the streets made crossing the streets a perilous undertaking. Water-works were first projected for the city in 1799, at which time a company was formed, which afterward, in 1802, was incorporated as the "Albany Water-works Company." Previous to this time, the sup ply of water for the inhabitants was chiefly derived from wells; and we have the occasional references of ill-natured travelers to the badness of the well water, complaining of its containing all sorts of animalculæ and bad tastes and smells. But we hear no complaints from the natives themselves, either because they had become used to these impurities or because they rarely used it for drinking. They had no patience with these prying, fault-finding, water-drinking travelers, who came with their pocket magnifiers to discover animalculæ, and did not know what water in the economy of Providence was meant for. The water company purchased from the Patroon the right to take water from Maestland kill, and erected a dam and laid a line of pump logs down Broadway and up Columbia street to a reservoir which has been only recently removed. The main line consisted originally of two lines of four-inch pipes, bored from logs. But subsequently, about 1815, iron pipes were substituted in the main line, and it is mentioned incidentally that the company got the privilege from the Patroon of substituting one eight-inch iron pipe for the two four-inch wooden pipes, a very clever little operation by which they more than doubled their supply of water at the expense of the good old Patroon. The reservoir being on Eagle street, the supply could only reach the streets east of this line. I have copied from the old book of minutes of this company, kindly lent to me by Mr. Meads, who was the last secretary of the company, the schedule of annual charges in 1815: 1st class dwelling, 3-story double house..... $16 14 12 10 6 3 100 70 60 50 In 1832 additional iron pipes were laid, and in 1845 the company purchased the right of taking water from Patroon's creek. But the growth of the city, especially westward, made necessary the increase of the supply of water and the construction of new reservoirs. Hence movements were set on foot to establish a city commission to take in |