| BROOKLYN BRIDGE. TAMMANY HALL, NEWSPAPER ROW, PRINTING
HOUSE SQUARE.
Opposite the City Hall is the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge, the first and most famous of all the bridges spanning the East River. A very excellent view of the city may be had from the tower on the New York side. It is a short walk on the promenade. Both trolleys and elevated trains cross the bridge, but so many pillars and posts are in the way that any attempt to obtain a good sight of the river and bay is foredoomed to failure.
Do not attempt to make use of the bridge during the rush hours. That is sacred to the mob.
The fountain that stands in the park is located a little north of where the first fountain stood, which was erected in 1842, when running water was first introduced into New York.
The building corner of Frankfort Street and Park Row, occupied for sixty years by the "Sun" is on the site of the original Tammany Hall headquarters. This was their first permanent location. As this is rather a famous organization, both outside of New York as well as in it, perhaps some details regarding its origin may not be amiss. It came into existence in 1789.
Colonel Marinus Willett, one of our earliest Mayors, had been in the South negotiating a treaty with the Creek Indians and returned to New York with one of their chiefs and twenty-eight warriors of the tribe. They were received with much enthusiasm all along the route and when they reached New York imagine their surprise to be met and welcomed apparently by a brother tribe. At all events, a delegation greeted them dressed in full Indian costume, bucktails and all, which assumed entire charge of the proceedings and conducted the puzzled Creeks to Federal Hall and into the presence of the Great White Father !
Such was the first appearance of Tammany Hall in the annals of New York. It was a clever piece of advertising and proclaimed the existence of the long expected rival Democratic organization to the rather aristocratic Society of Cincinnati, presided over by Washington, Hamilton and others.
Opposite the Sun is the World Building, from whose tower a magnificent view of lower New York and the Harbor may be had. This section is known as "News-paper Row," most of the large dailies having their publication offices here. Frankfort Street, going East from this corner, was named after the birthplace of Jacob Leisler, the only man to meet death for a purely political offense in all the history of this city. Jacob Street, just below William, is named after his son-in-law, who perished with him. This occurred in 1691 and the State later acknowledged its error by restoring the family's property. A statue of Benjamin Franklin, patron saint of the printers, stands in the middle of the open space fronting the Tribune Building and which is known as Printing House Square.
In Duane Street, just east of Park Row, is another related branch of the great dailies—the Newsboys' Lodging House—a most worthy organization. Besides caring for many homeless waifs and providing warmth and shelter in the winter months, it affords comfortable, clean rooms all through the year.
At Christmas they have a Christmas dinner that long ago became famous. This is quite an old institution for New York, as it was founded by J. Loring Brace in 1853. It is now administered by the Children's aid society.
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