1118





The Real Estate Record.





December 3, 1881





vault the remains of David Provost were
interred. Thisis the vault whicli Washing-
on Irving so vividly describes in his legend
of the search for the hidden treasure of Cap¬
tain Kidd. This old burial place was removed
about twenty years since to make way for
the opening of streets. In 1806 John Jones
died and the estate went to his children,
John, Isaac C. and James I. Jones, who was
the distinguished general of revolutionary
fame, Frances M. wife of Edward F. Pendle¬
ton, a relative of the well known Ohio
statesman of our day, William Henry and
Helena M. Jones and Sarah the wife of Peter
Schermei'horn.

In 1814 the property was partitioned into
six equal parts, running parallel with each
other from what is now Third avenue to the
East River. Parcel number oue of the
estate comprised the i^roperty that has been
known in later days as the Hamilton Park
and Garden, extending from Sixty-eighth
to Sixty-ninth streets east, of Third avenue,
and was assigned to Mrs. Sarah Schermer¬
horn, wafe of Peter Schermerhorn. Ou
April 20, 1845, Sarah Schermerhorn died,
leaving four children, John Jones, William
C, Edward H., and Peter Augustus Scher¬
merhorn, who inherited the property.
Eight days later Peter Augustus Schermer¬
horn died, and his wife, Adeline E., became
the owner of his share in the estate, aud
with the other heirs conveyed the same
to their father, Peter Schermerhorn, who
was, as we have already seen, the owner of
the old Hardenbrook estate. In 1852 Peter
Schermerhorn died, leaving both estates to
his sons and the children of his deceased
son, Peter Augustus Schermerhorn. Since
this time there have been several partitions,
but the bulk of the property remains in the
possession of the Schermerhorn family.
Nearly the whole of this property has been
improved from time to time except that
portion bounded by Second and Third
avenues and Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth
streets, and now this last remaining land¬
mark on Third avenue, of the old Boston
Road, is to pass into history, and what was
formerly the magnificent entrance to the
Schermerhorn mansion, (Avhich is still stand¬
ing, and was occupied until twenty years ago
by William C. Schermerhorn), will soon be
covered with handsome stores and fine
dwellings. On this plot of ground may
still be seen the commencement of the
magnificent winding avenue of elms that
led to the house of old Peter Schermerhorn.
The artists of some of our illustrated con¬
temporaries could not find a more interest¬
ing subject for a sketch than tliese sturdy
elms, many of whom have doubtless with¬
stood the storms of a hundred winters. The
old-time New Yorker will recall the famous
hostelry known as Flynn's, which stood
direct opposite to the entrance to the Scher¬
merhorn estate, on Avhat is now the north¬
west corner of Sixty-ninth street and Third
avenue. In the days when " 2.40 on a plank
road" was mythical speed, this was the
great resort for the drivers of fast teams,
for, of course, in those days the old Boston
road monopolized all the trotters, as well as
being the fashionable drive. If this old
landmark, so rich in the reminiscenses of the
New York of a century ago must be des¬
troyed, it is at least some satisfaction to
know that the improvements to be erected
are to be of a substantial character, and that
the property is not likely, at least in our day,
to  pass out of  the possession of the old





Knickerbocker family who have possessed
it for so many generations.





Jay Gould seems to be slowly adding to
his real estate investments. The Grand
Opera House is again in his possession. The
Erie Company have given it to him in ex¬
change for certain coal lands. Gould, it
will be remembered, is also a stockholder in
the Opera House that is underway on Broad¬
way. Can it be that he expects to bear the
stock of the latter company, by giving rival
performances in the establishment he com¬
pletely controls ? Jay Gould once told a re¬
porter of the Real Estate Record that he
needed his money for his railway enter¬
prises, and had none to spare for invest¬
ments in real estate. Yet he owns what
ordinary people would consider a good deal
of real estate. The Wo Id building is his,
the house he occui^ies in Fifth avenue is
worth a good deal of money, and his Tarry¬
town property is quite a magnificent do¬
main . Perhaps this great operator, knowing
the certainty of fortunes based on land, is
about to change his investments gradually,
so that his fame and name may be perpetu¬
ated like the Astors and other great holders
of realty. Gould, Field and Sage are sus¬
pected of being willing to take a hand in a
real estate deal on the upper end of this is¬
land, in connection with their elevated rail¬
way programmes.

---------«.t ♦ ^ .---------

The verdict delivered by the jury ou the
Grand street disaster, is just wiiat it should
be. The recommendations are right to the
point. The Superintendent of Buildings
should be the head of an independent bureau,
answerable only to the Mayor, aud the law
should be so changed as to give him authority
to put a stop to the erection of houses which
are a danger to the safety and health of
those who live in them. No doubt the
coming winter will see a far more striugeut
building law passed.





HOW MATTERS LOOK  OUT WEST.

A gentleman, just returned from the West,
was asked by the writer what he had to report
of interest.

"I was struck," said the traveler, "vidth the
general activity of real estate everywhere that I
have been, and particularly in Chicago, Denver
City and Kansas City. The growth of the latter
town, especially, is simply wonderful. Four
years ago, a well-known merchant of this town
lost, by death, a child twelve years of age. He im¬
mediately took it into his head that in some way
God had unjustly dealt with him. So he closed
up a prosperous business, realizing some $10,000,
all of which he put into some land in the suburbs
of the city, which he declared should be his grave¬
yard, and then foi-eswore communication with
all humanity. Latterly he has emerged from his
retirement, and two months ago sold for $100,000
one-half of the property bought four years ago
for $10,000. As a rule the most profitable invest¬
ments have been made by Eastern men; the old
residents cannot be made to believe that such
prices are real. JN^ature could hardly have de¬
signed the site for that of a city, but it has been
made such by railways, which converge from all
points of the compass. It will, I think, in time
be the most populous city between the Missis¬
sippi and the Pacific Ocean."

"And how about Denver ?"

"That, also, is destined to be a very large place.
It is at the foot hills of the.Rocky Mountains, and
is the natural entrepot for the vast business of
the mining region and the mountains beyond. It
is strange how conversation varies in each city
you visit. In Chicago all the talk is of
wheat, corn, and the crops genei-ally, as
well asj of hj^jaal .lanbir.     Ia  Sb.  Lja





cotton, corn, wool, and the iron industries
are uppermost in the minds of people. The
crops and the railways form the basis of con¬
versation in Kansas City; but in Denver, Color¬
ado Springs and Pueblo, mines and mining inter¬
ests are the standard topics. Denver is splendidly
located for doing the business of the mining re¬
gions in the mountains beyond it. Some day the
vast plains to the south and east of Denver, .lovv
arid and unproductive, will be irrigated by the
waters of the Platte River and by the streams
which are fed by the snows in the mountains to
the west. All that is needed is water to make a
wonderfully productive region. South Pueblo
will also be a very important town. Its business
will be manufacturing of iron, .steel rails and the
smelting and management of ores. There are
great chances in all these places for people who
buy properfcy and can afford to wait."

" What," asked the writer, " did you think of
the Denver & Rio G-rande road and the Colorado
Iron Company ?"

" I shouliinot care," said the traveler, " to hold
Denver & Rio Grande stock as a permanent
investment. It cost when first laid some $8,000
a mile, but was stocked and bonded for $30,000 a
mile. Having a monopoly they charged what
they pleased, and the investment proved so prof¬
itable that tho insiders have been overdoing it
They had a monopoly of the business to Lead¬
ville and charged extravagant rates, but the
Union Pacific, by a cut off, now also runs to
Leadville by a much shorter route, and will
shortly be in the Gunnison region. To make up
for this certain loss the Denver & Rio Grande is
constructing other lines in the direction of Salt
Lake City and other points, which cannot pos¬
sibly pay. I think, however, there is likely to be
a contest for the possession of this valuable road
between the Burlington & Quincy people and the
managers of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.
The Uiiion Pacific has lately opened and operate
what they call the Julesburg cut-off, which short¬
ens the distance between Denver and Chicago
some 140 miles, and of course that gives ifc the
cream of the travel. The Burlingtin & Quincy,
however, will within five months have a line
completed which will be some 130 miles shorter
than the Julesburg cut-oft", and they will then
want to get into the mining regions, which they
cannot do excepfc by way of the Denver & Rio
Grande. As for the Colorado Coal & Iron Com¬
pany, I was very much impressed with what I
saw of it. It has the two varieties of iron which
make the best of Bessemer steel, and its coking
coal is equal to any in the world. The company
seems also to be well and honestly managed.
Still, it will take some time to develop all the
capabilities of this fine property, and then who
can answer for the management of auy corpora¬
tion ?"

" What else struck you on your travels ?"

" I was astonished at the number of deadheads
on all the Western roads, with the exception of
the Union Pacific. I should certainly say thj.t
three persons out of four, on the Denver & Rio
Grande, who travel in parlor cars had passes.
It was the poor people who had to pay for their
tickets; ali the weU dressed and the well-to-do
seemed to be riding free. There is enormous ac¬
tivity in every department of business out Wesfc,
but it would soon come to a stop, if anything
went wrong in New York, for there is where the
money comes from after all. I should say there
was to be a great development of the mining in¬
dustry, due to the building of railway lines
through the mineral regions. By the way, the
Black Hills do not seem to come up to the expec¬
tation. They are building,'another road to
Deadwood, but there is too Kttle business for the
branch of the Northwest, which is now near that
city. As yet, the production of the Black Hills
is confined to a few mines, such as the Home-
stake, Deadwood, Terra and Father de Smet,
owned by Haggins of San erancisco. But noth¬
ing that will pay has been found outside of a
few square miles."

" What do people say about the railways out
that way?"