The Hudson River from Ocean to Source (Bacon, 1903)

But popular appreciation had not yet reached far enough to restrain the predatory bands of boys and men who enjo}'ed the fruits of nocturnal forays upon the garden and orchards of Chelsea, so in a fit of desperation the owner sought counsel and concluded to survey his land and la}^ it out in building lots. There was some question whether merchants doing business in New York could be induced to travel so far night and morning, but the rapid-transit problem was solved b}^ the establishment of the Knickerbocker line of stages, run by Palmer & Peters, whose stables stood where the Grand Opera House does now. The partition of the estate into village lots went forward rapidly, and fortunes were made by men who saw a little way into the future and speculated on the rise in realty. After a time Chelsea had its own stores, schools, and offices, a church, a theological seminary, and a fire com]:)any, and the value of the Moore estate is reckoned by millions of dollars. The Glass House farm, extending from Thirt_\'-fifth Street northward, was so named from an unsuccessful attempt to make glass there at an early day. This

64 * The Hudson River

farm was purchased just after the Revokition by Rem Rapelje, a descendant of the Rapeljes who became locally famous as the parents of the first white child born in Manhattan. Mr. Rapelje was at one time a wine merchant, and the cellars of the house at the farm were well stocked with port and Madeira, and a pipe of good wine was always on tap for visitors. Perhaps, after all, the name of " Glass House" was no misnomer. At that time the farm was three miles and a half from the city:- it is now practically downtown. Nothing could more strikingly illustrate the vastness of the change that has taken place on Manhattan Island in a little more than a century.