 |
| The Flemish bond brick and the tidy dormers were typical of the Federal homes constructed on Spring Street at the time. |
In 1817 William Dawes constructed a three-and-a-half story
house at No. 129 Spring Street, just off the corner of Greene Street. The rapid development of the area, only
recently still farmland, was evidenced two years later. In the single year of 1819 the entire south block
front between West Broadway and Wooster Street, one block away, was filled with
homes similar to Dawes’s.
Spring Street had originally been called Brannon Street,
named for the landowner whose farm it ran through. But it was renamed for the underground spring
that now supplied fresh water to the growing population. It was probably Dawes who constructed a deep
brick cistern behind the house.
By the 1850s a shop had been installed in the first floor of
the Federal style house. Here Andre
Sabatier sold his varnishes and polishes.
In July 1860 he advertised “Black French Varnish, suitable for varnishing
all kinds of leather, such as boots, harness, metal; also, French Polish, for
parlor and other furniture.” Sabatier
offered the varnishes “at the loss prices of 30 cents a bottle.”
For those soldiers in New York’s volunteer regiments who preferred
to avoid the labor-intensive job of rubbing the varnish into their leathers,
Sabatier performed the service. “Military
accoutrements renewed at $1 a set.”
Two years after Sabatier’s advertisement, on May 2, 1862,
Spring Street residents were no doubt thrilled when the Post Office opened a
station at No. 129 Spring Street for “collection and distribution of letters.” Postmaster Wakeman issued “instructions” that
Station A was to open at 6:30 in the morning and would not close until 9:30 at
night.
With the postal station in the former shop space, the second
floor was converted to a leased meeting room.
It was the regular meeting place of the Society of Soldiers’ and Sailors’
following the Civil War. It was here in
1871 that the group raised concerns over the revised Old Soldiers’ Bounty Land
Bill.
The original bill was passed on December 24, 1811 and was
amended in 1855. It granted 160 acres of
land in the West—Arkansas, Illinois or Missouri—to men who had served at least
14 days in any war since 1775. The bill
generously noted “The provisions of the act extend to Indians.”
But in the spring of 1871 a vote was scheduled in Congress
to amend the bill again; requiring those receiving the free land to settle on
it. The new provision would force New
York veterans to move west. On March 9,
1871 the Society of Soldiers’ and Sailors met on Spring Street, complaining
that the modification “it little, if anything, more than the homestead law.”
Within two weeks they had accumulated around 500 names on a
petition to Congress. The group held a
special meeting on March 21 to discuss sending the petition to Senator Fenton. The New York Times remarked “The bill as
passed by the House is unsatisfactory to a large majority of the soldiers and
sailors in the Eastern and Middle States.”
Also using the meeting space that year was the Hackmen’s Association. An early version of a labor union, the hired
hansom cab drivers were well-organized.
They had a delegate to the Mayor’s office who demanded “that the members
of the Association be protected in their rights as citizens of this City.” Members wore metal badges which were
recognized by out-of-towners disembarking from boats or trains. The New York Times remarked on July 8, 1871 “These
members are recognized at all the depots and boat landings, and their cabs
immediately engaged by passengers.”
The following year was a Presidential Election year. The George W. Francis Association, composed
of African American Republicans, met at No. 129 Spring Street on August 16 to
discuss its support of incumbent President Ulysses S. Grant. A “Mr.
Myars” spoke. He stressed “the necessity his race had of standing up for the
present Administration, and also conveyed some useful information on the
subject of local politics,” reported The Times.
He was followed by George W. Francis, himself, who “expressed
his sorrow in seeing a colored traitor at the Cooper Institute on Thursday
night supporting the Greeleyite ticket.”
Equally concerned with a Grant victory was the
ponderously-named Fifth Assembly District German Republican Grant and Wilson
Campaign Club which met here that year.
And a week before Election Day the International Working Men’s
Association held a meeting. Following
its report on the business transacted that night, The Times editorially added “A
long, strong pull, and a pull all together on Tuesday, a legal holiday, will
pull Greeleyism up by the roots.”
Among other political and labor groups renting the upstairs
meeting rooms was the German Reformers of the Fifth Assembly District.
While the groups discussed their issues upstairs, Post
Office Station A continued serving the Spring Street community. In 1891 a new clerk, 23-year old Richard
Banse, was hired in the Money Order Department.
Banse made a modest salary of $600 a year—about $16,000 in 2016
terms. But he found a way to augment his
earnings.
On November 28, 1893 he was unceremoniously led out of the
postal branch by police. Banse had a
stamp of Postmaster Dayton’s signature which made filling out money orders payable
to himself simple. The Evening World
reported “There are charges against Banse of forgery and fraud and involving a
multitude of offenses covering a period of several months.”
His ill-gotten money could not cover the $2,000 bail set by
the Police Commissioner.
In 1954 the DaGrossa family purchased No. 129 Spring
Street. A hero sandwich store opened in
the shop space where Andre Sabatier sold furniture varnish in 1860. And the upper floor meeting rooms were again
being used as a duplex living space. The
Soho neighborhood was being rediscovered by artists and in 1961 the two-story
apartment was home to struggling artist Miles Forst, his wife and two children.
Soho had not yet achieved its peak as a trendy and expensive
district. Forst told a reporter his
family lived here because, like some other artists, they “cannot afford to live in
Greenwich Village.” The Forsts paid $50
a month in the house.
Eventually, of course, Soho did become trendy and
expensive. The hero shop was converted
to the Manhattan Bistro by the DaGrossa family; and in 2015 the entire building
was converted to retail space for the women’s clothing store, COS.
In the 1970s a scandalous murder mystery from 1799 was
recycled. The unmarried Gulielma Elmore
Sands, rumored to be pregnant, was murdered.
Her body was found in the well, recently dug by the Manhattan Company at
89 Greene Street. It was a sensational
story which left newspaper readers nationwide enrapt.
In 1974 a Greene Street shop owner declared that his
building was haunted by the ghost of Guilielma Sands. And when William Dawes’s cistern was
unearthed under the Manhattan Bistro in 1980, the ghost story migrated
south. As a result No. 129 Spring Street
was included in The Travel Channel’s list of the 10 Most Haunted Places in
America. Why the unfortunate Miss Sands
would wait 181 years to appear; and why her spirit is more
comfortable here than where the Manhattan Company well stood is unclear. But ghost enthusiasts nationwide happily
accept the discrepancies and repeat the story.
 |
| While No. 129 survived, it was hemmed in by taller commercial structures in the 19th century. |
Even without a ghost story, William Dawes’s handsome Federal
home retains its early 19th century charm, despite the modern
storefront. And the stories that played
out within its walls are nearly as interesting as the murder that occurred 18
years before it was built.
photographs by the author
No comments:
Post a Comment