of from 1000 to 1500 houses per year.  In 1832 and 1834, the cholera raged severely, carrying off upwards of 4484 persons in the two years.  In 1835, the “great fire” occurred.  This terrible conflagration broke out on the 16th of December of that year, and swept the First Ward of the city east of Broadway and below Wall street.  It laid almost the entire business quarter in ashes, destroyed 648 houses, and inflicted upon the city a loss of over $18,000,000.  New York rose from this disaster with wonderful energy and rapidity, but only to meet, in 1837, the most terrible financial crisis that had ever burst upon the country.  Even this did not check the growth of the city, the population increasing 110,100 between 1830 and 1840.  In 1842 the Croton water was introduced.  In 1849 and 1854 the

cholera again appeared, killing over 5400 persons.  In 1852, the first street railway was built.  In 1858, the Central Park was begun.

The Civil War checked the growth and trade of the city, which languished during the entire struggle, but upon the return of peace New York resumed its onward progress.  The growth of the city since 1865 has been most marked, especially in the immediate vicinity of the Central Park.  Not less marked has been the improvement of the older portions.  The city is rapidly increasing in size, population, and magnificence, and is fully maintaining its position as the brilliant metropolis of the New World.

II.  DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL.

The city of New York, the largest and most important in the United States, is situated in New York County, on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River, eighteen miles from the Atlantic Ocean.  The city limits comprise the entire county of New York, embracing Manhattan Island, Randall’s, Ward’s, and Blackwell’s Islands, in the East River, and Governor’s, Bedloe’s, and Ellis’ Islands, in the bay.  The last three are occupied by the military posts of the United States Government.  Manhattan Island is bounded on the north by Spuyten Duyvel Creek and the Harlem River—practically the same stream; on the east by the East River, on the west by the Hudson, and on the south by New York Bay.  It is nine miles long on the east side, thirteen and a half miles long on the west side, and two and a half miles wide at its greatest breadth, the average breadth being a mile and a half.  It is but a few feet in width at its southern extremity, but spreads out like a fan as it stretches away to the northward.  The southern point is but a few inches above the level of the bay, but the island rises rapidly to the northward, its extreme northern portion being occupied by a series of bold, finely wooded heights, which

terminate at the junction of the Hudson River and Spuyten Duyvel Creek, in a bold promontory, 130 feet high.  These hills, known as Washington Heights, are two or three miles in length.  The southern portion of the island is principally a sand-bed, but the remainder is very rocky.  The island covers an area of twenty-two square miles, or 14,000 acres.  It is built up compactly for about six miles, along the east side, and irregularly to Harlem, three miles farther.  Along the west side it is built up compactly to the Central Park, Fifty-ninth street, and irregularly to Manhattanville, One hundred and twenty-fifth street, from which point to Spuyten Duyvel Creek it is covered with country seats, gardens, etc.  Three wagon, and two railroad bridges over the Harlem River connect the island with the mainland, and numerous lines of ferries afford communication with Long and Staten Islands, and New Jersey.  The island attains its greatest width at Fourteenth and Eighty-seventh streets.

The city is finely built, and presents an aspect of industry and liveliness unsurpassed by any place in the world.  Lying in full sight of the ocean, with its magnificent bay to the southward, and the East and Hudson Rivers washing its shores, the city of New York possesses a climate which renders it the most delightful residence in America.  In the winter the proximity of the sea moderates the severity of the cold, and in the summer the heat is tempered by the delightful sea breezes which sweep over the island.  Snow seldom lies in the streets for more than a few hours, and the intense “heated terms” of the summer are of very brief duration.  As a natural consequence, the city is healthy, and the death rate, considering the population, is small.

The southern portion is densely built up.  Between the City Hall and Twenty-third street New York is more thickly populated than any city in America.  It is in this section that the “tenement houses,” or buildings containing from five to twenty families, are to be found.  The greatest mortality is in these over-crowded districts, which the severest police measures cannot keep clean and free from filth.  The southern portion of the city is devoted almost exclusively to trade, comparatively few

persons residing below the City Hall.  Below Canal street the streets are narrow, crooked, and irregular.  Above Houston street they are broad and straight, and are laid out at regular intervals.  Above Houston street, the streets extending across the island are numbered.  The avenues begin in the vicinity of Third street, and extend, or will extend to the northern limit of the island, running parallel with the Hudson River.  There are twelve fine avenues at parallel distances apart of about 800 feet.  Second and Eighth are the longest, and Fifth, Madison and Lexington the most fashionable.  They commence with Avenue D, a short street, near the East River.  West of this, and parallel with it, are three avenues somewhat longer, called Avenues C, B, and A, the last being the most westerly.  Then begin the long avenues, which are numbered First, Second, and so on, as they increase to the westward.  There are two other avenues shorter than those with numbers, viz: Lexington, lying between Third and Fourth, and extending from Fourteenth street on the south to Sixty-ninth street on the north; and Madison, between Fourth and Fifth, and extending from Twenty-third street at Madison Square to Eighty-sixth street.  Madison and Lexington are each to be prolonged to the Harlem River.  These avenues are all 100 feet wide, except Lexington and Madison, which are seventy-five feet wide, and Fourth avenue, above Thirty-fourth street, which is 140 feet wide.  Third avenue is the main street on the east side above the Bowery, of which it is a continuation, and Eighth avenue is the principal highway on the west side.  Fifth and Madison avenues are the most fashionable, and are magnificently built up with private residences below the Park.  The cross streets connecting them are also handsomely built.

The numerical streets are all sixty feet wide, except Fourteenth, Twenty-third, Thirty-fourth, Forty-second, and eleven others north of these, which are 100 feet wide.  The streets of the city are well laid off, and are paved with an excellent quality of stone.  The sidewalks generally consist of immense stone “flags.”  In the lower part of the city, in the poorer and business sections, the streets are dirty and always out of order. 

In the upper part they are clean, and are generally kept so by private contributions.

The avenues on the eastern and western extremities of the city are the abodes of poverty and want, and often of vice, hemming in the wealthy and cleanly sections on both sides.  Poverty and riches are close neighbors in New York.  Only a stone’s throw back of the most sumptuous parts of Broadway and Fifth avenue, want and suffering, vice and crime, hold their