HIST 3480: The History of NYC

1. Consolidation & The Progressive Era HIST 3480: The History of NYC

2. Consolidation & The Progressive Era The Father of Consolidation Andrew Haswell Green (1820-1903) • Green was a lawyer, reform Democrat, and close friend of future N.Y. governor and 1876 presidential candidate, Samuel Tilden. • Green first got involved with politics by being elected to the School Board in 1854. • His reputation for honesty and strong administrative capabilities led to his appointment as a Central Park Commissioner. He served and also led this commission between 1857 and 1870.

3. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Timeline of Consolidation • The Dongan Charter (1686) and the Montgomerie Charter (1730) gave the City of New York domain over the East River and its ferries, depriving Brooklyn of rights to its own waterfront. • New Yorkers strongly opposed Brooklyn’s chartering as a city in the 1830s as they saw it as potentially creating destructive commercial competition. • In 1857, the two cities had at least some functions merged by the state legislature with the creation of metropolitan police, fire, and health districts. • The Central Park Commission was a state-sponsored agency created in 1857 that was given power to develop bridges, roads, and sewers on both sides of the river, and it was while serving on this commission that Andrew Haswell Green began to develop a plan for consolidation.

4. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Timeline of Consolidation • Green proposed a non-binding plebiscite that goes forward in 1894 in which the New York and the surrounding counties vote in favor of consolidation; the measure passes by a mere 500 odd votes in Brooklyn. • Brooklynites rally against the measure and delay it for several years. • Ultimately, upstate Republican boss Thomas Collier Platt (1833-1910) succeeds in getting the consolidation charter passed in 1897 through tremendous political arm-twisting and deal-making.

5. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Thomas Collier Platt THOMAS COLLIER PLATT (1820-1903) • “Easy Boss” of upstate Republicans • Supported Green’s plan for consolidation since he saw it as an opportunity for Republicans to take away more control of the city from Tammany. • He shepherded the Consolidation Act to passage in 1896. • Pushed through a new city charter through the state legislature in 1897, focused around a strong and centralized authority of the mayor. • Ultimately, Platt’s plan did not come to fruition, and he is discredited.

6. Consolidation & The Progressive Era • New York City and Progressivism: The Career of Theodore Roosevelt • (1858-1919) • Born a sickly child into a very wealthy old-money New • York family. • Graduates from Harvard (1880) • State Assemblyman (1882-1884) • Mother and young wife dies on the same day (February • 14, 1884) • Becomes a cowboy/rancher in the Badlands of the Dakota • Territory, but loses his $80,000 investment when a bad • winter kills off his cattle. • Runs for mayor in 1886, but loses a three-way race to • Democrat Abram S. Hewitt (the other candidate was the • reformer Henry George). • Serves on the U.S. Civil Service Commission, a three-man • commission to reform corruption and patronage in the • federal government (1889-1895). Presidential portrait by John Singer Sargent (1903)

7. Consolidation & The Progressive Era • Career of Theodore Roosevelt • (1858-1919) • Appointed superintendent of the NYPD (1895-1896). • Befriends reformer Jacob Riis at this time. • Serves as Assistant Secretary of the Navy • (1897-1898) • Becomes a colonel of the “Rough Riders,” a volunteer • regiment that fought in Cuba during the Spanish- • American War (1898) • Elected Governor of New York (1899-1900). • Selected and is elected as Vice President of the United • States (takes office March 4, 1901) • McKinley dies on September 14th of gangrene • poisoning inflicted by two bullets from an assassin’s • gun on Sept. 5th and Roosevelt is sworn in as president. • President (1901-1909) Presidential portrait by John Singer Sargent (1903)

8. Consolidation & The Progressive Era • TEDDY ROOSEVELT AS STRONG’S SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BOARD OF POLICE COMMISSIONERS (1895-1896)

9. Consolidation & The Progressive Era • NYC POLITICS FROM THE 1890s THROUGH THE DEPRESSION • Reform Cycle Begins: Corruption of Investigations of the 1890s • 1894-1895: Lexow Committee – State legislature investigation largely • driven by concerns over police corruption in the Tenderloin, with pressure • from the Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst. Theordore Roosevelt becomes • Superintendant of Police during this time. • 1899-1900: Mazet Committee (1899-1900) – Another state legislature • investigation driven by upstate Republicans that examined into organized • vice and graft in city government. Leads to Croker’s permanent retirement to • his estate in Ireland, Wantage, where he bred race horses. • Birth of the Fusion Movement: Over the next three decades, elections were • a back and forth between Fusion Reformers taking power followed by • Tammany reasserting itself. Several mayors also used Tammany to get • elected, but then would strike out on an independent path (McClellan and • Gaynor are good examples).

10. Consolidation & The Progressive Era POLITICS OF THE 1890s AND EARLY 1900s Mayors 1893-1894: Thomas F. Gilroy – Tammany Democrat 1895-1897: William L. Strong – Fusion (he himself was a Republican) 1898 - Consolidation 1898-1901: Robert A. Van Wyck – Tammany Democrat 1902-1903: Seth L. Low – Citizen’s Union/Republican/Anti-Tammany Democrats 1904-1909: George B. McClellan, Jr. – Democrat (elected with Tammany help, but proved independent) 1909-1913: William J. Gaynor – Tammany Democrat (although a reformer) 1914-1917: John PurroyMitchel – Fusion 1918-1925: John Francis Hylan – Tammany Democrat 1926 – 1932: James “Jimmy” J. Walker – Tammany Democrat, also known as “Beau James” or the “night mayor” Tammany Bosses 1886-1893: Richard Croker 1893-1897: John C. Sheehan 1897-1901: Richard Croker 1901-1902: Louis Nixon 1902-1924 : Charles Francis Murphy 1924-1929: George W. Olvany 1929-1934: John F. Curry

11. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Mayor Robert Van Wyck (1898-1901) • First mayor of Consolidated Greater New York • Hand-picked by Richard Croker of Tammany • since it was believed Van Wyck would not • interfere; had been a City Court judge. • Tammany also ran his brother, Augustus, for • governor against Roosevelt in 1898. • Oversaw the construction of the first subway line, • the IRT, which would open in 1904. • Political career was ruined by the revelations of • the Mazet Committee, which showed that Van • Wyck, Croker, and other Tammany officials were • getting payoffs from the American Ice Company • to preserve its monopoly on ice in Manhattan • (it only would sell large $0.60 blocks, hurting • Tammany’s poor constituents).

12. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Mayor Seth Low (1902-1903) • Born into a wealthy Brooklyn merchant family. • Served as Mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885. • Served as president of Columbia University from 1890 to • 1901. Oversaw the move of the campus from midtown to • Morningside Heights in 1897. • Ran for mayor of NYC in 1897 but loses to Van Wyck • because of divisions within anti-Tammany forces. • After the revelations of the Mazet Committee • investigations, Tammany is temporarily discredited. • Low becomes the first “fusion” candidate elected as mayor • of NYC, taking office in 1902. • Institutes civil service reform, where jobs are assigned by • merit rather than by political connections. • He reduced police graft and improved the education • system. • Cold and intellectual, he was not a good campaigner. He • also chose to enforce a ban on Sunday liquor sales, which • proved an important issue in his defeat by Democrat • George B. McClellan, Jr. in the 1903 campaign.

13. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. (1904-1909) • Son of famed Civil War general, George B. McClellan, • who had run against Lincoln for president in 1864. • Had become a Tammany president of the Board of • Aldermen in 1892 at age 27. • Elected to the U.S. House in 1895. • Defeats Mayor Low in the 1903 election with over • 60,000 votes. • Serves two terms (four-year terms were restored for • his second term) and grows increasingly independent • from Tammany. • Oversees the opening of the IRT subway on Oct. 27, • 1904 (he insisted on driving the ceremonial first train himself). • Re-elected with Tammany’s help in 1904 in a bitter fight against independent • William Randolph Hearst, running on the “Municipal Ownership League” ticket. • Becomes increasingly alienated from Tammany and Boss Murphy in second term. • Immigration reaches it peak in 1907 with 1.1 million entering through Ellis Island. • Tries to regulate the new “nickelodeon” industry, canceling their licenses in 1908.

14. Consolidation & The Progressive Era 1904 Plan and Profile of the IRT

15. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Mayor McClellan taking the controls for the first subway run

16. Consolidation & The Progressive Era

17. Consolidation & The Progressive Era 1905 Herald Cartoon Critical of the IRT

18. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Charles Francis Murphy (1858-1924) • Son of Irish immigrants, Murphy saved up • enough money to purchase his own saloon, • eventually acquiring several. He became the • Tammany political leader of the Gas House • District on the East Side (now Stuyvesant Town/ • Peter Cooper Village). • Becomes Tammany Grand Sachem in 1902 and • is key in getting McClellan elected. He remains as • sachem until 1924 and was perhaps the most • powerful Tammany leader ever. • “Silent Murphy” reigned with restraint and • employed careful calculation. • Dies on April 30, 1924, causing chaos for • Tammany. State Senator James Walker says, • “The brains of Tammany now lie in Calvary • Cemetery.”

19. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) • Born in the town of Makó in the Kingdom of Hungary • within the Hapsburg Empire in 1847 to a well-to-do • Jewish mercantile family. • His family’s business went bankrupt in 1858, leading • young Pulitzer to attempt to enlist in several European • armies before emigrating to the U.S. in 1864 and enlisted • in the Union Army, fighting in the cavalry. • After short stints in New York and New Bedford, Mass., • he traveled to St. Louis by boxcar, where he found his first • reporter job at a German-language newspaper, theWestliche • Post. He soon became managing editor and was able to • purchase a proprietary share of the profitable paper. • Pulitzer switched from the Republican Party to Democrats in 1880. • He bought the St. Louis Dispatch and St. Louis Post in 1879 and • combined the two, creating a paper known for hard-hitting • investigative reporting and a populist orientation. • In 1883, he bought the struggling New York World from financier • Jay Gould for $346,000, and turned it into a great success.

20. Consolidation & The Progressive Era William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) • Son of a wealthy California mining engineer. He enters • publishing by buying the San Francisco Examiner in • 1887. • Arrives on the New York scene by buying the failing • newspaper, the New York Journal in 1895 and • immediately begins a circulation war with Pulitzer's • New York World. • Helps to engineer American entry into the Spanish- • American War in 1898 by inflaming popular sentiments • against Spain. Viewed as one of the creators of “yellow • journalism.” • Hearst served in the U.S. House from 1903 to 1907. • Runs against McClellan in 1905 favoring the municipal • ownership of utilities and transit companies, which his • opponents deem socialism. • Runs against Judge Gaynor in 1909 for mayor and is • once again defeated by Tammany. • His life was the inspiration for Orson Welles’s brilliant • film, Citizen Kane (1941).

21. Consolidation & The Progressive Era “The Yellow Kid” • Popular feature of Pulitzer’s New • York World from 1895 to 1896. • The Yellow Kid’s creator, Richard • F. Outcault, was hired away by • Hearst in 1897. • The Yellow Kid had his head • shaved, which was a common • sight among New York City street • kids as a way to prevent lice; he • lived in “Hogan’s Alley” in a poor • Manhattan neighborhood. • The Yellow Kid has been linked to • the term “yellow journalism.”

22. Consolidation & The Progressive Era “The Yellow Kid”

23. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Mayor William J. Gaynor (1910-1913) • Nearly became a Christian Brothers monk while still a • teenager, but drops out of the order while still a novice. • Joined his father’s law firm instead. • Served as a respected New York Supreme Court Justice • from 1895 to 1909. • Picked by Tammany’s Charles Murphy to run in 1909 for • his reputation as incorruptibly honest reformer. • Easily beats fusion candidate William Randolph Hearst • and Republican Otto Bannard. • Walked to his inauguration from his home in Park Slope to • City Hall—would do this three-mile walk every day. • Proved a real reformer, not a Tammany puppet, pruning • the city payroll of excess Tammany “no shows” and • initiated legislative efforts that became a new city charter • in 1911. • Survives an attempted assassination on August 9, 1910, • just as he was boarding a ship for Europe; but with the • bullet lodged in his pharynx, he becomes depressed and • irascible, losing his effectiveness.

24. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Gaynor after being shot, August 9, 1910, by a disgruntled dockworker, James Gallagher.

25. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Triangle Shirtwaist Fire – March 25, 1911– 4:40 pm • Fire breaks out at the ten-story Asch Building at 23-29 • Washington Place right before quitting time in the top • three floors, which housed a women’s garment “sweatshop.” • Fire spreads quickly; the passenger elevator operator is • incapacitated and dies. • One staircase was blocked by fire, one was locked to prevent • theft (the foreman with the key escaped at the first sign of fire). • The flimsy fire escape collapsed with the heat, and 20 • people who were on it fell to their deaths. • The two freight elevators became inoperable after three trips • since the heat warped their rails and people fell on to the top of • the cars with great force. • The fire department responded quickly, but its ladders only • reached the sixth floor. • People either are burned to death or choose to jump. • Overall, 146 workers are killed, including 125 young female • workers, mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants, all within a span • of about 18 minutes.

26. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Triangle Shirtwaist Fire – March 25, 1911– 4:40 pm • Owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were acquitted of • criminal charges, but in a civil lawsuit had to pay $75 • for each victim killed. • The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union • (ILGWU)—the union representing many Triangle • workers—organizes a relief fund for victims’ families • and protests about the conditions that led to the disaster. • The New York State Legislature created the Factory • Investigating Commission (FIC), which led to better • regulation; young Lower East Side assemblyman Al • Smith was vice chairman and distinguishes himself. • Tammany boss Charles Murphy gets behind reform. • Noted social worker, Francis Perkins, leads the NYC’s • new Committee on Public Safety, formed after the fire. • Perkins later would become FDR’s secretary of labor, • the first female cabinet member. Shirtwaist style

27. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Officials look on near bodies of those who jumped

28. Consolidation & The Progressive Era Editorial cartoon in Hearst’s New York Journal by Tad Dorgan

29. Consolidation & The Progressive Era John PurroyMitchel (1914-1917) “The Boy Mayor” • Young lawyer comes to prominence as anti-Tammany • Democratic aldermen in the early 1900s. • Becomes President of the Board of Aldermen in 1909. • Leads a corruption investigation of the corrupt borough • presidents of the Bronx and Manhattan and gets them • dismissed, which leads to his city-wide prominence. • Enters the 1913 race as a “Fusion” candidate, backed by • Republicans, Jewish and Protestant reformers, and anti- • Tammany Democrats. He wins at 34 years of age. • Reformed police department considerably, but ran into • political trouble when he vetoed new school construction and • threatened to take funding away from Catholic schools (even • though he himself was a devout Catholic). • Lost his 1917 reelection bid to Tammany “dark horse” John • Francis Hylan in an election that featured a non-Fusion • Republican and Socialist candidate, Morris Hilquit, who • Mitchel barely beat for second place. • Mitchel joined the army air corps to become a pilot and died in • a training accident in 1918.

30. Consolidation & The Progressive Era John Francis Hylan (1918-1925) • “Red Mike” served as a locomotive engineer for the Brooklyn • Union Elevated Railway and was a longtime resident of • Bushwick. • Studied law at night, became an established attorney and then a • Kings County judge. • Chosen by Tammany as a “dark horse” candidate in the 1917 • mayoral election but defeats fusion incumbent John Purroy • Mitchel with the backing of Tammany and the Hearst papers; • the latter shared his desire for municipal ownership of utilities. • Progressive reformers aghast at his election; the New York • Times calls him a “man of marvelous mental density.” • Proved to be a relatively capable mayor who was honest and • institute many reforms that made the city better run: helps • create the Port Authority of New York and begins initiates the • move toward the creation of the city-owned subway line, the • IND, and creates a city-owned radio station, WNYC. • Easily wins reelection, but the Tammany power vacuum after • the death of Murphy in 1924 left it in a state of confusion and • opened the door for the charismatic Walker.