Notes 



and encased in new outer walls, and as the Hall of Records 

 remained one of the historic landmarks of the city until 

 1903, when it was torn down because it obstructed the 

 route of the underground railway. 



Note XII. 



The fort of Burnaby's time was the successor of the one 

 built by the Dutch founders of New York. It stood just 

 south of Bowling Green, but was demolished in 1790 to 

 furnish a site, first for an official residence for the governors 

 of the State, then for a row of dwellings, and finally for a 

 custom-house. 



Note XIII. 



The history of New York's first public library is an in- 

 teresting one. In 1729 a collection of books bequeathed 

 by John Millington, rector of Newington, England, to 

 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign 

 Parts, was by that organization presented to the city for a 

 public library. At the same time like disposition was 

 made of a collection presented to the society in 1700 by 

 the Reverend John Sharp, chaplain of Lord Bellomont, 

 then royal governor of New York. A quarter of a century 

 later a number of citizens organized themselves into a 

 body, which in due time received a royal charter under 

 the name of the New York Society Library. Its collec- 

 tion of books housed in the old city hall in Wall Street 

 grew steadily until the Revolution, during which it was 

 scattered and almost totally destroyed by the British 

 soldiery. The society reorganized, however, in 1783, and 

 reviving its charter again began the collection of books. 

 A building was erected in Nassau Street in 1793, but the 



[258] 



