VALENTINE'S MANUAL

hard work involved, and to-day enjoy a trip up the river
on one of the present-day steamers as much as if I were
a part of the river itself.

Probably in the revision of the Hudson River notes,
which you propose to publish in a separate publication,
the above references to the old barge lines may be of
interest to you. The first passenger barges were put on
the river from Albany in 1825, the boats being the "Lady
Van Rensselaer" and "Lady Clinton," being convoyed by
the steamboats "Commerce" and "Swiftsure."
Yours very truly,

Fletcher  DuBois.
 

ST. MARK'S PLACE, MANHATTAN

By William J. Urchs

How many residents of this big city know where St.
Mark's Place, Manhattan, is? It is in the old 17th
Ward, running easterly from Third Avenue to Avenue
A, terminating at Tompkins Square and running par¬
allel to East Eighth Street.

In the early seventies, when my family moved to St.
Mark's Place, there was every evidence of a recent aris¬
tocratic residential neighborhood; large mansions of
granite and brownstone and numerous smaller private
dwellings. Until a few years ago, the old Keteltas Man¬
sion, at the northwest corner of Second Avenue, was still
in existence. Tompkins Square, the eastern terminus of
the street, was generally known as the Parade or Drill
Grounds; not a bench nor a tree nor a fence anywhere.
This parade ground was used principally in the spring of
the year, for out-door drilling or practice for the various
regiments of the National Guard, as well as the Police

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