NEW YORK CITY. 



427 



were given in 6 places 186 lectures to a total 

 attendance of about 75,000. In 1899-1900 lectures 

 were provided in 48 places; 1,850 lectures were 

 given, and the attendance was about 538,000. 

 Tlic formal presentation of the new hall of the 

 Board of Education, Park Avenue and 59th 

 Street, to the city took place on Feb. 25. 



Rapid Transit. This is cared for by a com- 

 mission consisting of Alexander E. Orr (presi- 

 dent), Woodbury Langdon, Morris K. Jesup, 

 George L. Rives, John H. Starin, and Charles S. 

 Smith, together with the Mayor and Comptroller 

 ejc-nflieio. Office, 32 Nassau Street. Sealed bids 

 for the building of a system of underground rapid 

 transit were opened on Jan. 15, and on Feb. 25 

 the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commis- 

 sioners awarded a contract to John B. McDonald 

 for its construction, the route to extend from City 

 Hall in Manhattan, through that borough, and 

 into the borough of the Bronx. The board hav- 

 ing fixed the cost of the proposed work at $36,- 

 500,000, made requisition upon the Board of Esti- 

 mate and Apportionment for that money, and on 

 March 1, 1900, the Board of Estimate and Ap- 

 portionment authorized the issue of corporate 

 stock of New York to that amount. The con- 

 struction company divided the 4 sections in the 

 engineer's division of the road into 15 sections 

 for convenience and expediency in calculating 

 quantities, as follows: First, Post Office to center 

 of Chambers Street; second, Chambers Street to 

 Great Jones Street; third, Great Jones to 33d 

 Street; fourth, 33d to 41st Street; fifth, 41st to 

 60th Street; sixth, 60th to 104th Street; seventh, 

 portal of tunnel at 103d Street and Broadway 

 to 110th Street and Lenox Avenue; eighth, 110th 

 to 135th Street, Lenox Avenue; ninth, 135th 

 Street to Brook Avenue, across the Harlem; 

 tenth, East Side viaduct, three miles long, begin- 

 ning at Brook Avenue; eleventh, 104th to 125th 

 Street, Broadway; twelfth, 125th Street to 133d 

 Street, being the Manhattan Valley viaduct; 

 thirteenth, 133d to 182d Street; fourteenth, 182d 

 Street to Hillside Avenue; fifteenth, West Side 

 viaduct; each of which sections was let to a sub- 

 contractor. On March 24 the formal breaking of 

 the ground for the rapid transit tunnel took place 

 in City Hall Park. 



On April 20 the commissioners authorized the 

 construction along Elm Street, between the lower 

 side of Worth Street and the north side of Astor 

 Place, of galleries for the accommodation of the 

 pipes, wires, sewers, and other subsurface struc- 

 tures. Subsequently this work was abandoned in 

 consequence of a resolution passed on Nov. 27, 

 but it was said that this was only preliminary to 

 taking up a more comprehensive plan of build- 

 ing galleries along the whole line of railway. This 

 will require legislation in Albany to amend the 

 law governing the construction. 



Meanwhile the work of the Construction Com- 

 pany was promptly begun in various parts of the 

 city, and has steadily progressed. 



Street Rail-ways. The order to remove the 

 elevated tracks in Battery Park served on the 

 Manhattan Railway by the Park Commissioners 

 resulted in the presentation of the choice of two 

 proposed routes to the railway officials by the 

 commissioners. These the railway decided not to 

 accept, and on June 20 served President Clausen 

 with a preliminary injunction restraining the 

 Park Commissioners from removing or interfer- 

 ing with the structure of the Manhattan Railway 

 Company at Battery Park. The State Board of 

 Railroad Commissioners granted on Aug. 6 the 

 application of the Metropolitan Street Railway 

 for permission to increase its capital stock from 



$45,000,000 to $52,000,000. The proceeds of the 

 sale of the new stock will be used in changing 

 cable lines to underground electric trolley system 

 in Columbus Avenue, Broadway, and Lexington 

 Avenue, and in changing the horse road on 34th 

 Street to electric storage battery system. The 

 expenditures for construction and equipment 

 work will be about $3,000,000, and the company 

 proposes to utilize the remaining $4,000,000 for 

 the payment of its floating debt, contracted in the 

 purchase of stock in other street surface rail- 

 road corporations. A through train service over 

 the Brooklyn Bridge and the Fifth Avenue line 

 of the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad was begun on 

 Dec. 19 by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company. 

 The trains run between Park Row and Bath 

 Beach. 



Bridges. In 1900 bonds amounting to $4,000,- 

 000 were issued for carrying on the construction 

 of the new East River Bridge. The construction 

 has so far progressed that the anchorages of the 

 bridge have been completed so far as can be done 

 before the completion of the cables. The steel 

 towers have been erected, and cable saddles have 

 been placed thereon ready for cable making to 

 begin. The spans connecting the steel towers 

 and the anchorages are well advanced. Prepara- 

 tions were made to begin the erection of tem- 

 porary foot bridges, which are to serve as false 

 works for the support of the main cables during 

 erection. 



During the year corporate stock amounting to 

 $1,000,000 was issued for the construction of an 

 additional bridge, known as Bridge No. 3 ; be- 

 tween the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

 The plans for the proposed bridge have been ap- 

 proved by the War Department of the United 

 States, and the contract for soundings and bor- 

 ings was awarded and the preliminary work com- 

 pleted. 



Monuments. The beautiful Naval Arch that 

 was erected in honor of the home-coming of Ad- 

 miral Dewey was removed in the early winter. A 

 fund of $200,000 had been collected for its con- 

 struction in stone, but as the public seemed in- 

 different to its preservation the plan was aban- 

 doned. A request from the South Carolina and 

 West Indian Exhibition asking permission to re- 

 move the arch and transfer it to Charleston was 

 submitted to the Municipal Council. 



On April 19 a bronze group of Washington and 

 Lafayette, by Bartholdi, presented by Charles 

 Broadway Rouss, was unveiled in West 114th 

 Street, at the junction of Morningside and Man- 

 hattan Avenues. The presentation speech was 

 made by Gen. Horatio C. King, and the statues 

 were accepted on behalf of the city by Mr. Ran- 

 dolph Guggenheimer. Mr. Edmond Bruwaert, 

 French consul in New York, who represented the 

 French ambassador to the United States, made 

 a short address. 



A memorial tablet in honor of the officers, sol- 

 diers, and sailors of the War of Independence 

 was placed by the New York State Society of the 

 Daughters of the Revolution at the Reformed 

 Collegiate Church, corner of Fifth Avenue and 

 29th Street, on April 24. The presentation ad- 

 dress was made by Mrs. C. F. Roe, the regent of 

 the society, and the tablet was accepted by Rev. 

 Dr. Coe, representing the church. 



The corner stone of the Soldiers' and Sailors' 

 Monument, at Riverside Drive and 89th Street, was 

 laid on Dec. 15. Bishop Farley opened the cere- 

 monies with a prayer, and Col. Albert D. Shaw, 

 commander in chief of the Grand Army of the 

 Republic, delivered an address. Gov. Roosevelt 

 then laid the corner stone, on which was the sim- 





