Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: v. 1, no. 11: May 30, 1868

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A^ND BUILDERS' GUIDE, Vol.1.] Published Weekly by ' C. W. SWEET & CO., Boou 25 World Building, No. 87 Pabk Eow. TEEMS. Six months, payable in advance.................. 8 00 PRICE OF ADVERTISING. 1 square, ten lines, three months..................$10 00 1 square, single Insertion.......................... 1 00 Special Notices, per line.......................... 20 Business cards, per month......................... 2 00 TiujouGii a mistake, some very poor paper was used on a portion of our'edition last week; and, as a con¬ sequence, there has been some complaint. As we take a very natural pride in the appeatance of the Recobd, this accident was very mortifying to us. We havo had a number of extra copies printed, and wc will willingly give them, without extra charge, to subscribers upon application at tho office or to our carilers. As we have sold nearly a thousand bound files, there must be more than that number of tho Record preserved for refer¬ ence; and as it Id desirable that all tho copies should be good ones, those who keap such files should see to to it, and get a good copy of last week's paper, AVe have bought extra fine paper for our future editions, HOW STEAM SOADS AFFECT CITIES. The high price paid for real estate in the suburbs of New York, within a radius of say .fifty miles, shows that capitalists are begin¬ ning to realize the effect Avhich steam rail¬ ways will in time have upon the distribution of population. It Avas long before the intro¬ duction of steam that Thomas Jefferson said, " great cities are sores upon the body politic." He alluded, of course, to the over-croAvding, and consequent disease and misery, of large populations confined to a limited area, and in whom there were great contrasts of wealth and condition. It Avas the impossibility of locomotion for any great distance Avhich has filled all the old cities of Europe Avith houses eight and ten stories high. When a large population is confined to a limited space of land, the only thing to be done is to add story to story to accommodote a larger and still larger number of people. By the force of habit great, high houses are still being erected in the cities of the old world—notably in Paris, under the direct command of the Em¬ peror ; yet it is as plain as day that the need which caUed" these huge caravansaries into being exists no longer. The steam horse has rendered vast spaces of land available for the residence of citizens, and in ten years time over-crowding of people in any civilized centre of population will be quite out of the question. There is yet a good deal to be done in the way of multiplying steam roads and cheapening fares, but Avhen this is ac¬ complished there is an end of tenement ''houses, and great cities will distribute their SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1868. [No. 11. populations over hundreds of-square miles, where there will be ample room and verge enough for every family to have its own home, and sit under its oAvn vine and fig tree. Hence almost unconsciously capitalists have directed their attention to property in the neighborhood of large cities, Avhichnow bears a price apparently though not really out of all proportion to its real value. In a few years new roads Avill be opened exclusively for local traffic, and districts now apparently far removed from hope of improvement, will be made available for healthful residences. Railroads, then, lead to two apparently very different results. (1) They concentrate busi¬ ness in great centres of trade, and (2) They scatter the population of large cities. The first effect was the first manifested when railroads were originally constructed. They aimed merely to unite distant centres of trade: the result has been the enormous growth of population in the great cities. One of the most marked phenomena of modern times is the increase of the urban at the ex¬ pense of the suburban population; and this tendency is-still at work. We have entered upon an era of mighty cities. But now a new effect is growing out of the use of steam. It is being employed to disperse population as well as to concentrate trade. Villages, towns, nay, cities, such as would have been impossible tAventy years ago, are now growing up in the neighbor¬ hood of all large centres of population. Look at NeAvark, Elizabeth, Ralnvay, Paterson, Mount Vernon, New RocheUe, Yonkers, and the scores of other places which now are filled with people whose business is here in New York. Our advice to the poor as well as the moderately well off, would be to secure a lot of ground almost anywhere within thirty miles of the City HalL The use of steam for local traffic is as yet in its infancy. Within fifteen years' time this city will be honey¬ combed Avith tunnel and Arcade roads, in which steam will be used, and connecting with branch roads, that will make immense areas of land available for building purposes. No one can miss it Avho buys in a good location in Westchester County, or the out¬ skirts of Brooklyn, or anywhere on the Jer¬ sey shore. There is more money to be made in buying real property to-day, than at any period in the history of the country. Chicago expects to build 7000 dwellinga next year. We commence this week a record which will be of very great use to property own¬ ers in this city. It is a list of all the reso¬ lutions, ordinances, and bills before the Com¬ mon Council which in any way affect real property. All the propositions for new mains, sewers, for paving and grading streets, for pavement, curbing, guttering, and the like, will be found here recorded. Up to this time there Avas no publication which could inform property holders of the proposed ac¬ tion of the Common Council upon matters affecting their private and personal interests- Hereafter the readers of the Record, at least, can keep posted. If schemes are afoot which are not really needed, our readers can take measures in time to prevent their pas¬ sage. In any event, these bills affecting their property cannot pass without their knowl¬ edge. As these improvements are decided upon, we will also announce the fact. An interesting suit is about to be brought by a Mr. David Groesbeck against the cor¬ poration of Trinity Church, involving the title to a large tract of land in this city, formerly known as the " lung's Farm Gar¬ den," noAV held by the above named corpo¬ ration. The point made by Mr, Groesbeck, in a communication addressed to the city author¬ ities, requesting them to take the necessary steps to guard the right of the city in the property, is, "that the charter of Trinity Church is in abeyance, and the present hold¬ ers of the property are successors of Trustees appointed as the result of a war measure in 1784, and as a measure of preserving* the peace of the city, and of the nature of an act of reconstruction, unconstitutional and only temporary in its nature, arising from the ne¬ cessities of the case in order that the rights of all parties might be preserved." It is therefore a case of great importance to those who are holding long leases from the Trinity Church Corporation, and have in consequence expended large sums of money in improving the property. It is possible, however, that like many cases of this gigantic proportion, it will drag its slow length along in our Courts through successive generations, and no one now liv¬ ing will see the end of it. Ninety-nine year lessees may therefore rest their souls in peace, for no harm will come to them. --------------------- I m I Over thirty-one thousand acrea of land have been taken up by actual settlers in the St. Peter's district, Minnesota, the past month., j