1725
Oct 16
William Bradford, a printer who set up shop in Manhattan's Hanover Square in 1693, begins publishing The New York Gazette, the city's first newspaper.
City
Johannes Jansen is appointed mayor. ** A race course opens on the Church Farm adjacent to Trinity Chapel.
1726
Former New York Gazette apprentice John Peter Zenger sets up his own printing firm. ** Robert Lurting is appointed mayor; serves into 1735. ** First Presbyterian Church minister James Anderson leaves New York as a result of a feud with Doctor John
Nicolls.
1727
George II appoints New York colonial governor William Burnett as governor of New England. Burnet leaves New York, moves to Boston.
1728
Jun 25
Historian and future Chief Justice of the Province of New York William Smith is born in New York City to lawyer William Smith and his wife Mary.
Jul 7
William Smith is baptized at New York's First and Second Presbyterian Church.
Aug 13
Augustus Van Cortland, son of Frderick and Francyntje Jay Cortland, is baptized in New York City.
City
The Middle Dutch Church purchases property on Nassau Street for £575. ** The city's Jews purchase property on Mill Street (South William) to build a synagogue.
1729
Firefighters purchase the fire engine “Old Deluge” from a London firm. ** Portuguese immigrant Louis Gomez donates land on Chatham Square for a Jewish burial ground. Noe Willey of London gives property in New York, bounded by Chatham, Oliver, Henry and Catherine streets, to his three sons, merchants, to be used as a Jewish burying ground, enabling Beth Haim, the Jewish cemetary near Chatham Square, to be enlarged. ** An outbreak of measles kills some of the city's children. ** Stages begin running between New York City and Philadelphia on a fortnightly basis. ** Proposal are put forth for a foot post between New York and Albany. ** The city’s first synagogue, Shearith Israel, is built.
Queens
Abraham Lent erects additions to the ca. 1656 house in the future Jackson Heights
neighborhood, built by ancestor Abraham Rycken Van Lent.
1730
Nov 24
The Willey brothers establish a trust fund for the maintenance of the Jewish cemetery on land given them last year by their father.
Dec 5
211 vessels have entered New York harbor and 222 have departed in the year since Dec 1, 1729.
City
The state grants the city jurisdiction over underwater land as far out from land as 400 feet, on the Hudson River between Charlton and Washington streets and Marketfield Street, and over such land on the East River between Whitehall and Houston streets. Total acreage covered is 209.5 acres. ** Former Lieutenant Governor Etienne De Lancey builds a mansion just to the north of Trinity Churchyard. ** The Mill Street Synagoue is built. ** The population reaches 8,622. Among Jewish immigrants to the city Ashkenazim slightly outnumber Sephardim. ** French Huguenout Robert Prince establishes Prince’s Linnaean Botanic Garden and Old American Nursery, in Flushing, Queens. It will be the preeminent one in the U. S. for the next century. ** Future attorney Richard Nicholls becomes a freeman of the city and a postmaster. ** John Lyne produces a map of lower Manhattan. ** The approximate date (perhaps 1731) of engraver John Carwitham’s A View of Fort George with the City of New York.
Staten Island
The approximate date a brownstone house is built for Captain Nicholas Manning (later the Scott-Edwards House) on Delafield Avenue in Port Richmond.
1731
Firefighters purchase two Newsham hand pumper fire engines from London. ** Sanitary laws encourage the emptying of privies into dumps outside the walls and into the rivers (but only at night on Fridays and Saturdays) and imposes fines on those spilling contents in the streets. ** A smallpox epidemic kills 549 people, roughly 6% of the inhabitants. ** James Bradford publishes John Lyne’s map of lower Manhattan.
1732
September
A group of English actors join with New York City amateurs to perform what may be the first dramatic performances in America. They give three performances a week for about a month, then disband.
Oct 14
New York City’s rights are confirmed by a act of the colonial legislature.
December
The New York City actors regroup for a few more performances, including George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer.
City
The population reaches 8,624. ** An epidemic (later known to be yellow fever) strikes the city. ** With the danger of The Collect pond being over-fished, the use of nets is banned. Anthony Rutger is granted 75 acres of marshland around the main outlet of the pond, agreeing to drain and develop it within a year. ** Richard Nicolls becomes coroner. He also becomes a vestryman at Trinity Church. ** Manhattan’s Bowling Green becomes the city’s first park. ** The approximate date the Horse and Cart Tavern opens, on a street to take the Horse and Cart name (later Williams Street).
1733
Nov 5
Opponents of Governor Cosby found the New York Weekly Journal with John Peter Zenger as its editor.
City
A space in lower Manhattan is leased as a bowling green by three local citizens, who will pay one peppercorn a year for its use.
Queens
The date of the earliest recorded tombstone at today’s Moore-Jackson Cemetery, in the future Woodside neighborhood, that of 17-year-old Augustine Moore.
Transportation
A stage line runs between New York City and Philadelphia, through New Jersey by way of Perth Amboy and Burlington.
1734
Nov 17
Zenger is arrested for libel of Governor Cosby.
City
The city's maids form the first women's labor organization. ** The city's first Bridewell prison is built, in City Hall Park.
Queens
St. James Episcopal Church (later just St. James Church) chartered by George III, is built in Elmhurst village at Broadway and 51st Avenue.
Politics
The Popular party, with Zenger's help, wins the New York City aldermanic election.
© 2011 David Minor / Eagles Byte
