he church,
and on the west side of it was the parade and the market place. Ere long
several well-to-do merchants erected substantial dwellings on the same
side, one of these belonging to no less a personage than the
Schout-Fiscal Van Dyck. The east side of Broadway, during the rule of
the Dutch, was thickly built up with dwellings of but one room, little
better than hovels. Eventually, however, some of the better class
mechanics came there to reside, and erected better houses. Their gardens
extended down to the marsh on Broad street, and they cultivated their
cabbages and onions with great success, where now the bulls and bears of
the stock and gold markets rage and roar.

Under the English rule Broadway improved rapidly. Substantial dwellings
clustered around the Bowling Green. The first, and by far the most
elegant of these, was the edifice still known as "No. 1, Broadway," at
present used as a hotel. It was built by Archibald Kennedy, then
Collector of the Port of New York, and afterwards Earl of Cassilis, in
the Scotch Peerage. In the colonial times it was frequented by the
highest fashion of the city, and during the Revolution was the
headquarters of the British General, Sir Henry Clinton. Other noted
personages afterwards resided in it. This portion of Broadway escaped
the destruction caused by the great fire of 1776, and until about forty
years ago preserved its ante-colonial appearance.

This fire destroyed all that part of the street that had been built above
Morris street. After the Revolution it was rebuilt more substantially,
and many of the most elegant residences in the city were to be found
here, between Wall street and the Bowling Green. General Washington
resided on the west side of Broadway, just below Trinity Church, during a
portion of his Presidential term.

In 1653, the Dutch built a wall across the island at the present Wall
street. One of the main gates of this wall was on Broadway, just in
front of the present Trinity Church. From this gate a public road,
called the "Highway," continued up the present line of the street to the
"Commons," now the City Hall Park, where it diverged into what is now
Chatham street. In 1696 Trinity Church was erected. The churchyard
north of the edifice had for some time previous been used as a burying
ground.

Along the east side of Broadway, from Maiden lane to a point about 117
feet north of Fulton street, was a pasture known as the "Shoemaker'