VALENTINE'S MANUAL

In 1789 the house on the southwest corner of William
Street, then No. 8 Wall Street, was the New York post-
office, and residence of the postmaster, Colonel Sebastian
Bauman, a Revolutionary soldier, who received his ap¬
pointment from President Washington. He held the of¬
fice till 1803. In 1799, the postoffice having been moved
to 29 William Street, corner of Garden Street (Exchange
Place) we find the old building in the possession of B. M.
Mumford, merchant. At the period of the view it was
occupied by George W. Willis, watchmaker, Isaac M.
Wooley, commission merchant, and Rufus L. Nevins,
broker.
 

The First White Way

When William Niblo opened his new theater at Broad¬
way and Prince Street back on Independence Day, 1828,
he celebrated the double occasion by a patriotic display
of gas lights which flaunted the name of "Niblo" far and
wide and immortalized it in stage as well as gas history.
An admiring public gasped from a respectful distance,
watching the red, white and blue shadows cast by the
rows of gas jets spelling the proprietor's name.

Gas had been used for the first time in New York City
five years before, but to the owner of Niblo's Garden
goes the credit of first using gas for illuminating a thea¬
ter.—Gas Logic.
 

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