|
United States of America – Mayor Robert A. Van Wyck
City of New York – Inauguration of the Five Boroughs into Greater New York (1/1/1893)
1893 White Metal Token 31mm (15.17 grams)
ROBERT A. VAN WYCK, Robert facing 3/4 right.
SOUVENIR OF THE INAUGURATION OF GREATER NEW YORK JAN. 1., Flourishes within text.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State. The boroughs of Queens and the Bronx have the same borders as the counties of the same name. The other three counties are named differently from their boroughs. (Borough name/county name: Manhattan/New York County, Brooklyn/Kings County, and Staten Island/Richmond County.)
All five boroughs came into existence with the creation of modern New York City in 1898, when New York County, Kings County, part of Queens County, and Richmond County were consolidated within one municipal government under a new City Charter. All former municipalities within the newly consolidated city were eliminated.
New York City was originally confined to Manhattan Island and the smaller surrounding islands that formed New York County. As the city grew northward, it began annexing areas on the mainland, absorbing territory from Westchester County into New York County in 1874 and 1895. During the 1898 consolidation, this territory was organized as the Borough of the Bronx, though still part of New York County. In 1914, Bronx County was split off from New York County so that each borough was then coterminous with a county.
When the western part of Queens County was consolidated with New York City in 1898, that area became the Borough of Queens. In 1899, the remaining eastern section of Queens County was split off to form Nassau County, thereafter making the borough and county of Queens coterminous.
 Robert Anderson Van Wyck (July 20, 1849 – November 14, 1918) was the first mayor of New York City after the consolidation of the five boroughs into the City of Greater New York in 1898.
Robert Anderson Van Wyck was the son of William Van Wyck and Lydia Ann Maverick. He was one of seven children, including two brothers Augustus and Samuel Maverick, a Confederate Regimental Surgeon. He studied at the Wilson Academy in North Carolina, and later graduated from Columbia University, where he was valedictorian of his class. His sister Lydia married Robert Hoke of North Carolina, a Confederate general during the American Civil War and businessman.
Van Wyck began working in business, then studied law and became an attorney. He enjoyed a large practice for many years before entering politics.
His business life depended on his social connections as well. Van Wyck was a member of the Holland Society, of which he became President. He belonged to many of the social clubs of the city and was prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of The Ancient Lodge, New York City.
For many years Van Wyck took an active interest in Democratic Party matters, attending many conventions, state and national. Later, Van Wyck was elected Judge of the City Court of New York. He advanced to Chief Justice.
Van Wyck resigned as justice to accept the Democratic Party nomination for Mayor of New York City. He was elected in 1897 by a very large majority. He served as mayor of New York City between 1898 and 1901, as the first mayor to govern New York City after its five boroughs had been consolidated into a single city.
As Mayor, he brought together the innumerable municipal corporations comprising the greater city, adjusting their finances and bringing order out of almost total chaos. He directed construction of the Interborough Rapid Transit, the first subway in Manhattan, and provided for the construction of the proposed Brooklyn Tunnel.
Van Wyck is generally regarded as a colorless mayor, selected by the leaders of Tammany Hall as a man who would do little to interfere with their running of the city. Initially highly popular as a result of his reversal of the various reforms introduced by the preceding Fusion administration, Van Wyck’s administration foundered on the so-called ‘Ice Trust’ scandal of 1900. The New York World reported that the American Ice Company of Charles W. Morse planned to double the price of ice, from 30 to 60 cents per hundred pounds (from 66 cents to 1.32 dollars per 100 kilograms). In the era before refrigeration, this had potentially fatal effects, as the ice was the only preservative available to keep food, milk, and medicines fresh. The high price would have put ice beyond the reach of many of the city’s poor – Tammany’s main power base in the years of waves of immigration.
American Ice was forced to reverse its decision due to the public outcry. Van Wyck’s political rivals forced an investigation into the issue. It revealed that American Ice had secured an effective monopoly over the supply of its product to the city – it was the only company with rights to land ice at New York piers – and would have dramatically increased its profits at the new price. In addition, Van Wyck, whose salary as mayor was only $15,000, owned and had apparently not paid for, $680,000 worth of American Ice stock.
The Ice Trust Scandal destroyed Van Wyck’s political career and was generally reckoned to have cost Tammany the elections of 1901, which was won by the Fusion reformist slate led by Seth Low. Two years later, the New York Times characterized the Van Wyck administration as one mired in “black ooze and slime”. Governor Theodore Roosevelt initiated an investigation, which determined that Van Wyck had not been personally implicated in the Ice Trust Scandal.
Van Wyck and his wife enjoyed traveling. In 1906, they moved to Paris, France. He died there at the age of 69 on November 14, 1918. The funeral was held at American Holy Trinity Church. His body was returned to New York and he was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.
|
