Where Nathan Hale Was Hanged
On what is now Cherry Street, between Clinton and Jefferson Streets, was the house of Col. Henry Rutgers, the Revolutionary patriot, and his farm extended from that point in all directions. On a tree of this farm Nathan Hale, the martyr spy of the Revolution, was hanged, September 22, 1776. On this same farm the Church of the Sea and Land, still standing with its three-foot walls, at Market and Henry Streets, was built in 1817.
In 1828, at the corner of Henry and Scammel Streets, was erected All Saints' Church (Episcopal). It still stands, now hemmed in by dwelling-houses. It is a low rock structure. A bit of green, a stunted tree and some shrubs still struggle through the bricks at the rear of the church, and can be seen through a tall iron railing from narrow Scammel Street. In 1825 the church occupied a chapel on Grand Street at the corner of Columbia.
First Tenement House
The first house designed especially for many tenants was built in 1833, in Water Street just east of Jackson, on which site is now included Corlears Hook Park. It was four stories in height, and arranged for one family on each floor. It was built by Thomas Price, and owned by James P. Allaire, whose noted engine works were close by in Cherry Street, between Walnut (now Jackson) and Corlears Street.
Where Grand and Pitt Streets cross is the top of a hill formerly known as Mount Pitt. On this hill the building occupied by the Mount Pitt Circus was built in 1826. It was burned in 1828.
At Grand, corner of Ridge Street, is the St. Mary's Church (Catholic), which was built in 1833, a rough stone structure with brick front and back. In 1826 it was in Sheriff, between Broome and Delancey Streets. It had the first Roman Catholic bell in the city. In 1831 the church was burned by a burglar, and the new structure was built in Grand Street.