44
 

FIFTH   AVENUE
 

r-^"'^r^:^4m    .......................___                    ...........................

From an old print.                                                                                  Collection of S. B. Altmayer.

COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM, FROM 1842 TO 1863.
44th Street and Fifth Avenue.
 

Edwin D. Morgan, also a former Governor of the State, lived at the
corner of 37th Street and Fifth Avenue. At No. 511 Fifth Avenue,
near the corner of 43rd Street, stood the former residence of "Boss
Bill" Tweed, sold later to R. T. Wilson for $1,200,000, and recently
demolished to make way for a business structure. From this house
Tweed made his escape after his arrest for robbing the City. Having
secured permission to return to his home for clothes, he escaped by
a rear alley, while policemen were on guard at the front door, and
made his way to his yacht, which lay with steam up, in the East River.
He fled to Spain, whence he was extradited.

Across the Avenue, on the northwest corner of 42nd Street, stood
a small tavern before the Civil War. On the lot next to it was the
garden of William H. Webb, the shipbuilder, who lived at No. 504
Fifth Avenue. On this corner later stood the Hotel Bristol, which
has been transformed into an office building. No. 506 Fifth Avenue,
on the same block, was once the home of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Sage.
Temple The Temple Emanu-El has stood at the northeast corner of Fifth
Emanu-El Avenue and 43rd Street since 1868, when it was completed at a cost
of $600,000. It was designed by Leopold Eidlitz, and is considered
one of the finest examples of Moorish architecture in the country.
The congregation was organized by a combination of the reformed
congregation of the Rev. Leo Merzbacher with an association of
young Hebrews who had organized a Kultur Verein. The congrega¬
tion thus formed has widespread influence in reformed Judaism.
Rev. Samuel Adler, father of Felix Adler, was for years Rabbi of
the Temple.    The present Rabbi is the Rev. Joseph Silverman.