Downtown Walking Tour Site #7 - US Custom House - Part One

Outline of Fort Amsterdam

The Early Years

When the Dutch formed the New Netherlands colony, they founded New Amsterdam in 1624 to be the main HQ of the trading company. In 1625, Fort Amsterdam was built at the tip of Manhattan to protect the colony from France, England and Native Americans. The fort housed the headquarters of the Dutch West India Company which controlled the colony. The area around the fort was mainly residential. It was along the East River that the commercial and shipping concerns developed.

Romantic view of Fort George. 

During the existence of the fort, It changed hands 8 times. The main change though was August 27th 1664 when the British sailed into the harbor and demanded that the Dutch West India Company leave. Peter Stuyvesant tried to put up a fight; but, the business men of the colony had no interest in British guns destroying the colony and refused to support him. After this, the fort changed three times until the British to final control in 1691 until the Revolutionary War. 

Probably the most interesting takeover was by Jacob Leisler. When the British took over, King Charles II gave the colony to his brother James, then the Duke of York (Thus New York and New York City). When James II ascended the throne, he reorganized the northeast colonies and installed a Royal Governor and Council with no legislature. After James II was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution, rebellion broke out in the New England states. James Leisler seized control of the fort and governed New York City for two years until William III regained control. 

In 1775, The fort was captured by American colonists. The battle destroyed the northern side of the fort and it was torn down in 1790 to make room for an executive mansion. 

Government House

In July, 1789, the New York State Legislature called for a mansion to be built in the site of the fort for the President of the United States. However, the Capitol moved shortly after construction started to Philidelphia. After it was finished, New York State Governors used the mansion until the state capitol moved up to Albany in 1797. It then became a boarding house and then offices for the US Customs until 1814 when it was sold off to the city who divided the plot into 7 lots and houses were built there. 

One last cool bit of trivia. The fort's name would change 7 times during its' history. Amsterdam, James, Wilem Hendrick, back to James, William Henry, Anne, and George. 

Visit me for more info on the tour at Donnie Walks NYC. 

Downtown Walking Tour Site #6 - Bowling Green

Postcard of Bowling Green

Bowling Green is a cute little teardrop shaped park at the beginning of Broadway and is the oldest park in New York City. It was laid out by the Dutch in front of Fort Amsterdam. It first served as a cattle market and parade ground. In 1686, it became public property under the City Charter.

 The Overthrow of King George

In 1733, the city leased the land to three landlords for a peppercorn a year on the promise that they would improve the land. The landlords built a park that had trees, benches, paths and yes, a bowling green. In 1770, a gilded lead statue of King George III on a horse was installed in the center of the park to celebrate the overturning of The Stamp Act. However, tensions ran high and they had to build a fence around the park to stop graffiti and vandalism to the park. The fence is still there. On July 9, 1776, after the public reading of the Declaration of Independence; the statue was torn down and the lead was sent to foundries in Connecticut to be melted down and turned into bullets for the Patriots muskets.

After the Revolutionary War, the fort was torn down and the area became a fashionable residential area with mansions and townhouses. This area remain residential until the 1850's when the wealthy started to move uptown to areas such as Washington Square Park. The area then turned completely commercial by 1900.

The current layout of the park is from the late 1970s.

Here are a couple of pics I took of the park in spring. The fountain was surrounded with a red ring of tulips.

For information on my walking tour, visit me at Donnie Walks NYC

Main links for this post
http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/bowlinggreen/history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Green_(New_York_City)

Historical Figure - Jay Gould

Jay Gould (1836-1892) was a railroad baron and speculator. He was unscrupulous in his amassing of power; gaining control of 15% the nation's rail lines. While that may be said of most robber barons of that era, Gould was one of the worst. He was not above bribery and wrecking havoc in the stock market.

The two most famous examples was his  partnership with Boss Tweed and the cornering of the gold market.

He put Boss Tweed on the Board of Directors and in return, Boss Tweed passed legislation in the City Hall favorable to Gould.

In August 1869, Gould gathered friends and formed a group to start buying as much gold as possible. It was believed that the bonds being sold by the US Government to finance the Reconstruction would be bought back with gold. Once the price started to rise, hitting $162 an ounce, President Grant had the government start selling gold and that caused the gold market to crash on September 20th.

 To the left is a photograph of the price board that I found on wikipedia. It was entered into evidence at a Congressional Hearing regarding the crash.












For information on my walking tour, visit me at Donnie Walks NYC