Gold street regulated, below Frankfort street.

Greenwich street, footwalks laid, from Cortland to Barclay street.
Oliver street regulated.

Reade street regulated, from Broadway to Greenwich street.
Delancey's land, petition for removing fences.

BUILDING THE CITY HALL IN WALL STREET.

The time of erection of the building first used as a City Hall was in 1646. The position of the building is well known as being opposite the head of the present Coenties slip.

In 1695 we find the first complaints as to its insufficiency, through age and dilapidation, for the accommodation of the public service. A committee having been appointed to examine into its condition, reported in November of that year that it was in bad order, but that £150 would suffice to repair it and make it fit for use for "five or six years more." These repairs were ordered, and no further objection as to its sufficiency appears to have been made during the two subsequent years.

In October, 1697, the Mayor made a communication to the Common Council, setting forth that the next week the Supreme Court would sit, "at which several criminals' (probably Bayard and others, indicted for treason) "would be tried, to which trials it was supposed great numbers of people would resort, insomuch that it was feared the City Hall would not be of sufficient strength to sustain them." Upon this the Common Council ordered that certain masons and carpenters should examine the building, and give their opinion as to its sufficiency. The mason so appointed reported as his opinion that the walls were sufficient to sustain the concourse expected; and as to the carpenter work, the person designated on that subject was of opinion, that with six studs and a plank the building might be secured from any danger by falling.

These supports to the building were ordered to be made, and although the Supreme Court Judges made a special communication on the subject, representing, among other things, that several of the jurors who had been summoned had signified their determination not to answer to their names, by reason of the danger they would be in from sitting in the ruinous building, it seems the court was held as usual, and that no accident happened.

As early as May, 1696, the subject of erecting a new City Hall was agitated, and a committee was at that time appointed to make a draft of the proposed building and to estimate its cost, and to consider the means of defraying the expense. Upon the report of that committee, in June following, it was resolved that a new City Hall be built, and, as to the payment, that the rent of the Ferry should be mortgaged for fifteen years, that the old City Hall and its site should be sold, and certain lands belonging to the city, near the dock, should be offered in the market at nine pence per foot. By these financial measures it was estimated that three thousand pounds could be raised, which would finish a building, or a part of it, sufficient for present use.

In January, 1698, a committee, appointed for the purpose, reported the necessity of a new building, and that a site opposite the upper end of Broad street was the most eligible situation for it. A plan of the building, designed by James Evetts, was presented, and the site and plan were approved.

In the year following (1699), measures began to be taken for carrying this proposition into practical operation. It was resolved to sell the old City Hall and the ground on which it stood, reserving, however, the bell, the King's arms, and the iron-work belonging to the prison. This sale took place in August, 1699, at public auction, and the amount realized was £920, the purchaser being a merchant named John Rodman. The cage, pillory, and stocks, however, were permitted to remain in front of the old building for a year afterwards.

It would seem that the foundation stone of the new building was laid, with some ceremony, in August or September, 1699, as in the latter month a warrant was drawn for paying the expense incurred on that occasion.

In March, 1700, the Common Council agreed with one William Mumford, that the latter should find stones, and carve thereon the King's arms, the arms of Lord Bellamont, then Governor, and the arms of the Lieutenant-Governor, Captain Nanfan, of the size of the several squares left in the front of the City Hall for that purpose,. all to be completed within six months. Mouldings of stone were required to be made around each coat-of-arms, each to be cut on one stone, unless a stone sufficiently large for the King's arms could not be procured, in which case two stones might be used. For this work Mr. Mumford was to receive forty-one pounds four shillings.

It would seem, therefore, that the building was finished in the year

1700, or 1701. In the latter year, "a little old boarded house, standing by the City Hall," was ordered to be sold to the best advantage. The building was certainly finished previous to November, 1702, as at that time an order was made that "the arms of the late Earl of Bellamont and of Captain Nanfan, which are fastened in the wall of the City Hall, be, by the Marshal of the city, forthwith pulled down and broken, and that the wall be filled up."

In 1703, the cage, pillory, whipping-post, and stocks were removed from their old locality, at Coenties slip, and erected in the upper end of Broad street, a little below the City Hall. Several views of the City Hall, in Wall street, have been given in different publications of the Manual, but they were taken at comparatively late periods, when expensive improvements had been made to the building. Its general ground plan, however, as originally constructed, was not materially altered by those improvements, and an idea of its original character may be inferred from those views. When the building was erected, the line of Wall street, on which it was built, was all vacant ground, and was not built upon for thirty years subsequently.

In the year 1713, Col. De Peyster and Mr. Bayard, the owners of the property adjacent, brought a suit in ejectment against the Corporation to recover certain lands covered by the City Hall, which they alleged belonged to them. The result of this suit does not appear in the records.

In 1715, Mr. Stephen Delancy, a liberal and wealthy merchant of this city, presented the city with fifty pounds, which he had received as his salary as representative of the city in the General Assembly; and, upon being consulted with as to the manner in which it should be used, suggested the purchase of a clock, to be placed in the cupola of the City Hall. In 1716 an agreement was accordingly made with Mr. Joseph Phillips, a clockmaker in this city, for its construction. It was provided, that the largest wheel of the clock should be nine inches in diameter, and that there should be two dial-plates of red cedar, painted and gilt, each to be six feet square. The price to be paid was sixty-five pounds.

It was not until the year 1718 that the balcony which is seen in the engraving representing this building, was constructed; although, when the order was given for its erection, it was stated that it was a part of the original design. The building, thus completed, presented the appearance shown in the accompanying engraving, which is substantially in accordance with the original design.

In 1738 it was found that the cupola of this building was very rotten and in danger of falling," and it was resolved that it be taken down and a new one erected.

In 1763, which was a period when improvements, both private and public, were greatly encouraged in the city, the City Hall was altered and improved, at very considerable expense; a committee of the Common Council reported a plan of "alterations and ornaments" to the building, which was approved; and to defray the computed cost of three thousand pounds, a lottery was established. Among other improvements, the building was made higher, and roofed with copper procured from England. The "canopy," or balcony in the front of the building, was brought out to range with the two wings; a cupola of more imposing dimensions was raised upon the building, and a bell of larger dimensions than the old

one.

After the Revolutionary War a notification was received from the Congress of the United States that they intended to sit in New York, whereupon the Common Council tendered to them the use of the City Hall, which was accepted, and the proceedings of that distinguished body were opened in that builning. At that time a room adjoining that of Congress was occupied as a school-room, and the noise of the scholars in their recitations was so annoying as to disturb the debates. Complaint being made of this, the school was discontinued. Previous to the ensuing session of Congress, the building was improved and altered, for their accommodation, according to a plan of Major L'Enfants, a French engineer. The expense of these improvements was so large as to render the financial measure of a lottery again necessary to provide funds to meet the expenses. But though a large amount was then expended, the building was still found insufficient for public purposes.

A committee was appointed to report a scheme for a new City Hall, but many years elapsed before this design was brought to a practical result.

LIGHTING THE STREETS.

No attempt was made to light the streets by public authority until the year 1762 (if we except a temporary ordinance in the latter part of the previous century, requiring the occupants of every tenth house to hang out a lantern upon a pole). An act of Assembly was passed,