Old Steamboat Days on The Hudson River
By: David Lear Buckman, The Grafton Press, 1907

CHAPTER 13

Hudson-Fulton Memorials

Two important committees are at work on the proposition and they include in their membership, some of the best known men in the country.

The scheme to suitably celebrate the Tercentennial of Hudson’s discovery took its first tangible shape on February 15, 1905, when Mr. Robert Roosevelt, uncle of President Roosevelt, invited a number of gentlemen to meet with him and the subject was discussed. The attendants at that conference represented most of the patriotic and historical societies of the city of New York. It was determined to secure the creation of a commission under act of the Legislature to carry out the object of the conference. This was done and December 5, 1905, the Hudson Tercentenary Joint Committee was duly organized at the New York City Hall.

The New York Board of Trade and Transportation, and others, acting quite independently, having determined that some celebration should mark the Centenary of Steam Navigation, on July 13, 1905, organized the Robert Fulton Memorial Association with Gen. Fred D. Grant as president, who has since been succeeded by Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, a great-grandson of the “Commodore” who broke the river monopoly.

It did not take long after these two separate movements had been inaugurated, for those at the head of each to appreciate the fact there was such a general tendency of scope and purpose as to suggest a consolidation of endeavor, though the actual anniversaries fall in 1907 and 1909 respectively. A special legislative act, Chapter 325 of the Laws of 1906, was passed with a view of eo-ordinating the two propositions; General Stewart L. Woodford, ex-United States Minister to Spain, has been elected president of the joint commission and the success of the celebration is assured.

It is the purpose of the combined associations to cause suitable memorials to be erected to Hudson and Fulton, to be followed with a joint celebration on the waters of the Hudson that will bring together, possibly, the greatest number and finest types of steam craft ever assembled. The entire week beginning September 20th, 1909, will be given over to land and water parades and commemorative exercises in the schools and by the historical Societies.

The Hudson Memorial Committee has already advanced its plans in a large measure toward completion. These provide for an imposing Hudson Memorial Bridge to span Spuyten Duyvil Creek, connecting the Boulevard system of Manhattan Island with the parkways of Westchester County. There has already been appropriated $1,000,000 by the City of New York to make a beginning, and the total cost of the contemplated improvement is likely to approximate $5,000,000.

The Memorial Bridge, as planned, is to span the Spuytcn Duyvil Creek at a height of one hundred and seventy feet. The central steel span of the bridge will be eight hundred and twenty-five feet in length, the largest in the world with a single exception, that being the steel arch bridge over the gorge at Niagara, which is fifteen feet longer. From abutment to abutment the length of the bridge will be two thousand five hundred feet. The stone viaduct approaches are to be carried on a series of masonry arches. The structure will be one hundred feet wide, affording two sidewalks, each eighteen feet wide, and a central roadway of sixty feet. No attempt will be made at elaborate decoration on the structure itself.

Its grace of outline and massiveness are relied upon to produce an appreciation of its solidity and impressiveness, but parklike effects at the apprpaches will be introduced and a knoll some thirty-five feet in height at the southern end will be retained and it is expected to crown this with some suitable monument to Hudson. The city is not expected, in the plans of the commission, to defray the cost of this memorial as it is believed that a popular subscription will produce sufficient funds to insure its erection by the time the bridge has been constructed and opened for the use of the public.

The views that will be obtained from the bridge when completed will be among the finest that can be secured anywhere near the great city. Immediately below will be the Harlem River and the ship canal to the east. To the west will lie the Hudson, showing a stretch of water several miles in length, teeming with river craft, and beyond, the Palisades on the New Jersey shore. To the north the eye will take in the heights above Riverdale and the wooded hills of Van Cortlandt Park, and to the south, extended views of what is rapidly becoming the greatest city of the world. The panorama that will spread in every direction before the visitors to the Memorial Bridge, will present pictures that will linger long in the memory of those who shall live to see the work successfully completed.

The Fulton Monument Association is planning to erect a Monumental Water Gate on the Hudson River shore front at West 114th and 116th streets and Riverside Drive, harmonizing and adding to the dignity and beauty of the tomb of General Grant and the buildings of Columbia University that crown the hillside at that point. Several well-known architects are now at work on the plan for this Monumental Water Gate, but the design that will be finally selected has not as yet been determined.

Every endeavor will be made, however, to decide upon the plan in time to put the corner stone of the monument in place on November 14, 1907, with appropriate ceremonies. The date named is the birthday of Robert Fulton and the year marks the first century of the successful application of steam to navigation. It is the purpose in building the Water Gate not only to honor the genius of Fulton, but at the same time to provide a suitable landing place for distinguished visitors who reach the city in ships. Nothing of the kind has yet been provided. The beautiful park at the Battery might well have been reserved for such purposes instead of having been given over to elevated railroad structures, landing places for emigrants, ferry slips and docks for excursion steamers.

A third proposition taking tangible shape and form is the establishment of a Hudson-Fulton Memorial Park at Verplancks Point, forty miles up the river and directly opposite historic Stony Point, which has already been secured for a Memorial Park. It is proposed to locate on Verplancks Point some form of museum and exhibition that will foster a lively appreciation of all the points of interest that are associated with the history and achievements on the river. The State of New York has already been asked to pass a law appropriating $125,000 for this purpose.

The proposed park is to include many historical points and will do much to preserve the scenic beauties of the river. The site of Fort Fayette and the remains of a shore battery that did service in the Revolution, the old King’s ferry landing leading to the Stony Point battlefield on the opposite shore, the site of Washing- ton’s headquarters and the camp ground of the allied American and French troops, under Washington and Rochambeau, in 1782, are all included in the area which it is sought to acquire. Hudson anchored the Half Moon on his trip up the river in 1609 off the shore of Verplancks Point; so there will be added interest to the Memorial Park on that account.

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