INTRODUCTION.
 

ON January 1, 1898, the cities, towns and villages, upon and clustering
about the Island of Manhattan, were united into one municipality,
under the historic title of the City of New York, and this vast com¬
munity became in name and effect, as for years it had been in fact, the Second
City of the "World.

When, in the race for municipal premiership. New York, with her 3,500,-
000 inhabitants, world-wide commerce, great intellectual resources, high social
refinement, splendid architectural development, and commanding position as
the financial center of the New World, passes in rank the city of Paris, and
yields the palm of precedence only to the ancient city of London, the incident
not only signalizes the growth of the city, but assumes a character of inter¬
national significance. An event so remarkable, in its antecedents and far-
reaching in its consequences, so grand in its magnitude and extraordinary in
the manner of its accomplishment, has no parallel in municipal history; and
both justice to the present and duty to the future generations demand that the
more important facts of this historic achievement be recorded. The greatness
of New York is partly the product of natural forces and conditions; but it is
pre-eminently the creation of the leaders of action of the past and present
generations, who, at each stage of her career, have possessed the sagacity to
discover, and the energy to utilize, opportunity for the benefit of their fellow-
men ; and it is chiefly to record in some suitable manner the labors of those
creative and executive minds in the living generation that the following pages
are written.

New York City, August 1, 1898.

The Pcblishebs.