Fifth Avenue; glances at the vicissitudes and romance of a world-renowned thoroughfare

(New York :  Printed for the Fifth Avenue Bank of New York,  1915.)

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FIFTH   AVENUE                                  11

lent in gold or silver coin.   To-day this tract, where he laid out the
Elgin Botanical Garden, is assessed for $30,370,000.

One of the first important transfers of Fifth Avenue realty was the Early
sale in April  1836 of the estate of John Cowman, comprising the Important
block between 16th and 17th Streets, Fifth Avenue and Union Square.  Transfer of
The twenty-eight lots brought $197,000, of which the  seven Fifth ^^^^^ Avenue
Avenue lots brought $57,200.                                                                       ^^""^^^

In 1850 lots at Fifth Avenue and 58th Street, where the Cornelius Corner
Vanderbilt house stands, brought from $520 to $710 each.    Sixty-five  Valuations
years ago, so little value had 57th Street corners of Fifth Avenue that in 1850
a twenty-five  by one hundred foot lot sold for $1,025.     Three  lots
in 45th Street near Fifth Avenue brought $500 apiece at the same
time, while the corner of Fifth Avenue and 46th Street brought $1,300.
Below 34th Street, prices were better, a Fifth Avenue lot near 27th
Street bringing $4,500.    On October 12, 1858 A. J. Bleecker &, Sons Values in
sold at auction lots on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 46th Streets 1858
for $6,500 to $7,000 and upwards; Fifth Avenue, 48th and 51st Streets,
$6,000; 52nd and 58th Streets on the Avenue, $5,000.    Lots on 59th
Street and Fifth Avenue brought $7,000;   Fifth Avenue corners at
106th Street brought $2,500;   and at 109th Street, $1,600.    Inside
lots were as low as $1,025.   The prices decreased from this point until
between the north side of Central Park and the south side of Mount
Morris Park, lots 25 x 100 feet were sold for as little as $385.

KALEIDOSCOPIC  CHANGES

Having taken a bird's-eye view of the early topography of the
Avenue, learned something about its origin, and delved into its land
values, let us, starting at Washington Square, stroll up this remarkable
thoroughfare, stopping here and there to learn what fact and romance,
time has woven into the Avenue's story.

Little known is the fact that at the very beginning of this patrician Washington
avenue once lay a paupers' burying ground.    Three other Potter's Fields Square a
were located, at one time or another, along Fifth Avenue.    Although the Potter s
one we here encounter is the farthest south, it was not the earliest.           Field

As epidemic after epidemic of yellow fever, at the close of the eigh¬
teenth century, swept the young City of New York, the need became
imperative for a new Potter's Field to succeed the one then at
Madison Square, and, accordingly, the swamp and waste land, on the
site of Washington Square, was bought by the City for £1,800
on April 10, 1797. The land then formed part of the farm of Elbert
Herring, an old resident of wealth and consequence in the New York
of his day, and one from whom many prominent families are descended.
The plot purchased consisted of ninety lots, "bounded on the road
leading from the Bowery Lane at the two-mile stone to Greenwich."
Here were buried, during the yellow fever epidemics of the early part
of the nineteenth century, thousands of bodies, many of which still lie
under the soil of Washington Square.
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