In 1664, Heere Stras was
changed to Broadway. At the King's Arms and Burr's Coffee-House, near
the Battery, the traitor Arnold was wont to lounge, and in the
neighborhood dwelt the Earl of Stirling's mother. At the corner of
Rector Street was the old Lutheran church frequented by the Palatine
refugees. Beyond or within the Park stood the old Brewery, Pottery,
Bridewell, and Poor-house; relics of an Indian village were often found;
the Drover's Inn, cattle-walk, and pastures marked the straggling
precincts of the town; and on the commons oxen were roasted whole on
holidays, and obnoxious officials hung in effigy. Anon rose the brick
mansions of the Rapelyes, Rhinelanders, Kingslands, Cuttings, Jays,
Bogarts, Depeysters, Duers, Livingstons, Verplancks, Van Rensselaers, De
Lanceys, Van Cortlands, etc.; at first along the "Middle Road," and then
in bystreets from the main thoroughfare down to the rivers; and so,
gradually, the trees and shrubs that made a _rus in urbe_ of the embryo
city, and the gables and tiles, porches and pipes, that marked the
dynasty chronicled by old Diedrich, gave way to palatial warehouses,
magnificent taverns, and brown stone fronts.
The notes of old travellers best revive the scene ere it was lost in
modern improvements.
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