1817. Martin Van Buren and Benjamin F. Butler form a partnership in law, and establish their office at No. 111 State street. May 26. Thos. W. Olcott made cashier of Mechanics & Farmers' Bank, June. July 4. Work inaugurated on Erie canal with public ceremonial, Aug. 21. People were issuing private "shinplasters" ad libitum at this time, and one of the most active was Calvin Cheeseman, whose private banking-house had issued $150,000 when he assigned to John Van Ness Yates and C. Humphrey, Aug. 25. Captain Bartholomew goes to Lake George to command the first steamboat operated on that body, Caldwell to Ticonderoga, August. South ferry propelled by two horses working a treadle, the invention of Langdon, of Whitehall, August. Forty-five miles of the new Erie canal under contract, Sept. 13. Rev. Arthur Joseph Stansbury installed at 1st Presbyterian Church, Sept. 30. Charter election of aldermen and assistants in the 5 wards, Sept. 30. James Geddes, an engineer, advertises for proposals to excavate the canal connecting the Hudson with Lake Champlain, Oct. 10. Citizens meet at Moody's Tavern, So. Market st. (lower Broadway) to discuss methods of abolishing smaller currency bills than one dollar unless issued by the city, Robert McClellan, former state treasurer, dies, Oct. 7. Oct. 8. Oct. 8. Charter election. Common Council: John V. N. Yates, Isaac Denniston, I. Chauncey Humphrey, Charles E. Dudley, II. Nicholas Bleecker, Richard S. Treat, III. Matthew Trotter, Samuel Harring, IV. Isaac I. Fryer, James Gibbons, V. Election, Sept. 30; sworn in, Oct. 14. 1817-1818. Dr. James MacNaughton, one of the most prominent physicians the city ever had, starts practice at No. 91 No. Pearl st., Fire burns 21 houses, from No. 142 to 186 Washington street, Whale exhibited at State and Lodge streets, River closed to navigation, official record, Oct. 15. Nov. 8. Nov. 28. Dec. 14. 1818. Postmaster Theodore Bailey, of New York, sends word that with the river closed the mail would be sent once daily by stage to New York on the east side of the river, Jan. 17. Thermometer 13 degrees below zero, which is likely inaccurate, as that of Simeon DeWitt registered 26 degrees below, Feb. 11. Freshet so high that water stood over 2 feet deep in the barroom of the Eagle Tavern, s. e. corner So. Market (Broadway) and Hamilton streets, the ferry carried half way to Pearl street and sailing vessels floated over the dock, one family carried in its house across the river to Bath, River open to navigation, official record, March 3. March, 25. Bell for South Dutch church, 2,500 lbs., made in Holland, placed in the belfry of the Beaver street edifice, March 30. April 21. April. N. Y. State Library founded by Act of Legislature, on Hudson avenue (on Norton street in 1906). Green street theatre, erected in 1811, being unused, sold to the Baptist Society and funds raising to furnish it, June 1. Rev. William B. Lacey accepts the call of St. Peter's Church to conduct services for one year, proposing mutually the prospect of becoming the rector, July 2. Remains of Gen. Richard Montgomery (born at Swords, County Dubin, Ire., Dec. 2, 1736; killed before Quebec while fighting for the Americans' cause against the British, Dec. 31, 1775) having been brought to Troy on the 3rd, where they rested in the Court House, were conveyed the next morning to this city, being met at the northern bounds of the city by the corporation's officers and military bodies under Lieut.-Col. LaGrange, the United States troops commanded by Majors Birdsall and Worth, marching through upper Broadway, Columbia and No. Pearl street to Gov. DeWitt Clinton's residence at the southeast |