CHAPTER IV.

THE PASSING OF THE  OLD  R^aiME AND  THE  INAUGURATION OF THE SECOND
CITY OF THE WORLD.

A DREARY rain storm on New Year's Eve, 1897-98, did not prevent a
great popular demonstration being made to mark the birth of the new
City. The focus of the celebration was City Hall Park, the scene of
many another memorable demonstration, peaceful and hostile, in the past
history of the City. A tremendous throng, estimated at 50,000 people, con¬
gested the streets in that vicinity, and awaited the civic procession which
formed a few miles up Broadway. During the evening the Park was illumi¬
nated with a brilliant display of pyrotechnics, and was resonant with band
music, the singing of a chorus of 800 voices, and the cheering of the populace.
Upon the arrival of the procession, the scene was particularly picturesque.
Two minutes before midnight, as is the custom of New York, every factory
and steamboat that had a whistle set it screaming, and the people joined in
raising the din with tin horns and other instruments. Just at midnight, the
American flag was mechanically hoisted over the City Hall by an electric
apparatus actuated by the Mayor of San Francisco, 3,000 miles away, and
the church bells throughout the City broke forth with merry chimes. Wil¬
son's Battery, stationed at the Post Office, fired a salute of 100 guns, and
searchlights, fireworks, bombs, and huzzahs brought the celebration to a close.

In Brooklyn, the Consolidation was marked by a reception, and appropriate
exercises in the City Hall New Year's Eve. The committees in charge were
as follows:

Executive Committee, representing citizens at large—Joseph C. Hendrix,
William Berri, Herbert F. Gunnison, John S. McKeon, Richard Young.

Public Officials—Mayor Warster, Comptroller Palmer, Auditor Sutton,
President Stewart, of the Board of Aldermen, Alderman Clark.

Committee for the Society of Old Brooklynites—Dr. James L. Watson,
President; Daniel T. Leverich, Edward D. White, John Hess, Stephen M.
Griswold.

Sub-committe on Arrangements—Mayor Wurster, Richard Young, J. R.
Clark, Stephen M. Griswold, Herbert F. Gunnison, Dr. James L. Watson,
William Berri.

Six former Mayors of Brooklyn received the public in the Mayor's room.
In the center stood Mayor Frederick W. Wurster, and grouped about him
were ex-Mayors Seth Low, Frederick A. Schroeder, Daniel D. Whitney,
David A. Boody, and Charles A. Schieren.    At 9:30  the  exercises  in the