The History of Chelsea Twenty-six years before the AmericanRevolution, retired British Major ThomasClarke, veteran of the French and Indianwars, purchased 94 acres of land three milesnorth of New York City. Clarke, named itChelsea, after an English veterans’ hospitaland old soldiers’ home, in honor of his com-rades across the Atlantic. He built a mansionon a hilltop, overlooking the Hudson, whereLondon Terrace sits today.

Thomas Clarke’s mansion burned to the ground and hedied days later. Unshaken, his widow, Mollie, with ‘thepride and strength of Tory,’ built a new home, nearby.Because of her English background, during theAmerican Revolution she and the estate were harrassedby Continental Soldiers. Like a true Chelseaite, sheappealed by note to the top honcho, General GeorgeWashington, asking him. “Why’d the quiet home of awidow and two young daughters be infested by youruniformed loutish varlets?”

Washington mounted a horse, and with an escort, rodefrom lower Manhattan, up Fitzroy Road, and then ontoLove Lane, to the Clarke Estate where he met Mollie,calming her temper with “real kindliness as well as stiffcourtesy.” (1)

1750 1763 1827

{The ClarkeEstate

Manhattan,1660

Hemstreet’s sketch (left) ofGeorge Washington’s ride upFitz Roy Road and then alongLove Lane to widow Clarke’shouse. Before the war ‘LoveLane’ was popular route forbuggyride courtships, high-lighted with a romantic tripalong the Hudson River thatran along, what is now, TenthAvenue.

1776

Clement Clarke Mooreinherits the Chelsea Estate.He soon offers theEpiscopal Church, his appleorchard—sixty lots of land,that still remains between

9th and 10th Aves, & 19th & 20thSts., on the condition that “thenewly established theological semi-nary be permanently located there-on.” (2)

1813

Theological Seminary’sWest Building along theHudson River at what isnow, 10th Ave..

Chelsea’s 14th street became thecommerce center of the city withRH Macy and B. Altman openingtheir first stores there.

1880

18691836—

18471820- 30ʼs

During the 80’s and 90’s, Twenty-Third Street became the the TheatreDistrict of New York. OpeningEdwin Booth’s Theatre, Procter’sTheatre, and Pikes Opera House.Many artists such as O’Henry, MaryPickford, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde,and Anna Held frequented Chelsea.

1860

Between an outbreak ofYellow Fever in lowerManhattan, due to baddrinking water, and a rap-idly increasing immigrantpopulation, the chunk ofthe city expanded northtoward the farmland surroundingChelsea. Clement Clarke Moore joinedforces with James N. Wells, dividinghis land into building plots based on aproposed City plan. Clement’s stipula-tion on his sold plots was that theywere for housing and that each plot hada front garden —for the enjoyment ofthose that lived in the neighborhood.

The laying of the Hudson RiverRailroad tracks along TenthAvenue had a profound effecton Clement Moore’s quainthamlet. With freight trains fullof supplies and raw materialsarriving to the city, warehous-es, lumber yards, maufacturersand truckers stormed the neigh-borhood. A large number ofIrish settled in WesternChelsea, working at the rail-yards, while Spanish migratedto eastern Chelsea, getting jobsin the maufacturing trade.

Throughout the conflict surrounding the Civil War,339 West 29th St., located on a row of housescalled Lamartine Place, acted as Manhattan’s lonesurviving home that was part of the undergroundrailroad. The owner, James Gibbons, printed theNational Anti-Slavery Standard and his wife,Abby, courageously worked at helping slaves fromrecapture. Their house was ransacked during theDraft Riots in 1863.

Lillian Russel at Procters,23rd and Sixth

Pikes Opera House openson 23rd.St & 8th Ave.

Clement Moore ’s footprintstill remains in the soil ofC h e l s e a ’s streetside gard e n s .Above are the ChelseaCottages along 24th St.,b t w. 9th & 10th Av e .

In the 1860’s, the waterline ofCheslea was moved West, twoblocks, with fill-in to accommo-date it’s new commerce business.

World’s first elevatedtrain, ran fromBattery Park, upNinth Avenue. Above,9th Ave. btw 22nd &23rd.

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1896 1907

1905 1940

1934 1951

1930

1894

Looking West on 23rd St,, from the Sixth Avenue el train.

Looking North from23rd St. & Ninth Avenue.

Old P.S. 33

The population of Chelseadecreased rapidly in the earlypart of the century, as businessreplaced much of the residencialhousing. The populationrebounded with the depression,when people were ‘doubling up.’.

An elevated West Side Highway forautomobiles and HighLine, an ele-vated trainline were built to protectthe streets of Chelsea from conges-tion and accidents. The train linebrought freights to the NationalBiscuit Company and meat market,among others. But trucking tookover all transport of goods, and, bythe fifties, the rails were underused.

In what would become an inspiring tale ofhuman commitment, Dr. John LovejoyElliot, happened upon a gang of Chelseateenagers shooting craps late one night. Hewas so bothered by their lack of disciplinethat he rented a room and turned it over tothe youths. The room became a hubble of activity, later, producingtwo Golden Glove Champions, and serving as the foundation ofmany programs he launched in Chelsea.

In 1894, Elliot established the Hudson Guild at 436 West 27thSt., the countries first real neighborhood center. It offered education-al programs as well as lectures on how to persue a life of self-better-ment. In 1899, he also established the Hudson Guild Club Council,the first self-governing neighborhood council. In 1933, he helpedestablish Chelsea Association for Planning and Action, which wasinstrumental in conceiving and gaining the federal funding, forbuilding of Chelsea Elliot and Fulton Housing Projects.

Dr. John Lovejoy Elliot

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Chelsea Piers, built in 1907 handled muchof Trans-Atlantic luxury passenger linesup until 1935, when the ships moved tonewer and larger berths further uptown.Chelsea’s fortunes might have been dif-ferent had the RMS Titanic not sunk. Pier60 was to be NY’s berth for the Titanic.It’s survivors arrived on the Chelsea Piersby way of the RMS Carpathia.

TheLusitaniain 1910.

Miller Highway(west side’s elevatedhighway)

P.S. 33 is built, at26th St. and NinthAve., replacing the1857 school housethat had been in con-tinuous use at thesame locale.

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ted

1973

1980ʼs—

2009

2009

20021964

1962 1969

During the 60’s several iconic buildings by sea-men unions rose in the Chelsea area, each withporthole windows. But, as N.J’s ports tookmuch of the business fromthe Port of N.Y., theInternationalLongshoremen’sAssociation building at 13th St. & Seventh Ave.was sold to St. Vincents Hospital in 1973. St.Vincents has since closed theirdoors too, and the buildingmight house Chelsea’s newEmergency Care Facility. TheNational Maritime Unionbuilding on Ninth Ave. & 16thSt. was sold to the Covenant House in 1987.Today it is a hotel.

A police raid on Grenwhich Village’sStonewall Inn would greatly change thefuture of Chelsea. The ensue-ing gay riot gave the rest ofthe world a spot on the atlas,where there was strength inrebellion against sexual-ori-entation discrimination.

After finding few placesaffordable in GreenwichVillage, gays and lesbians, were morethan welcomed in Chelsea.

The 2.5-acreChelsea WatersidePark opened.

Chelsea Waterside Cove along the Hudson RiverPark, opened with gar-dens, piers, lawns, askateboard facility andeven a carousel.

As part of the Mitchel-LanaHousing Program, PennSouth, a ten building com-plex with 2,820 affordableunits was built betweenEighth and Ninth Aves and23rd & 29th Sts. It wassponsored by theInternationalLadies GarmentWorkers, and,today, is asvibrant andaffordable as ever.

A cement truck fell through adilapitated, elevated West SideHighway and the bridge was dis-mantled. Plans for a new Westway,with traffic running undergroundwere buried by environmentals. Anew suface highway was eventual-ly laid according to the plans ofthe Hudson River Park and NYCHighway Department.

From the 1070’s on, art gal-leries and night clubs, lookingfor more space for lessmoney, swarmed WesternChelsea.

The HighLine opened its southernportion between Gansevortt Streetto 20th Street. A special zoning foradjacent property sprurred a realestate boom. New hotels, officebuildings, new condos followedit’s tracks through Chelsea.

Today in ChelseaLike the survivors of the Titanic, who first stepped on Chelseaground, following their rescue, the community of Chelsea is alsoa ship-load of survivors. It’s turbulant history of change has test-ed the resolve of many, as has the force of discrimination.

Industries of railroad, warehousing, trucking, passenger ship-ping, manufacturing, and riots, have stormed through it’s streets,leaving behind generations of those left in the wake. The lastrelic of the railroad industry, is now the High Line, the docks thatserved luxury liners are now parks, and the giant warehouseshave been converted into art galleries, offices, and condos.

Historic Districts and strong zoning laws have kept a goodportion of our neighborhood in the sunlight, but those laws arecontinually challenged, as is affordable housing, and our way oflife. New York City and Chelsea too is quickly becoming aworld-leading tourist destination.

Take comfort in the thought that seeds of civic spirit spread byJohn Lovejoy Elliot and Clement Clark Moore, before him, havegrown into strong roots of passion. Local block associations,planning boards, community groups, and politicians have sincebeen diligent in embracing and improving the lives of a verydiverse Chelsea Community.

But the work is never done.

TIMELINE COMPILED & WRITTEN BY DONATHAN SALKALNSpecial thanks to the Chelsea’s Public Library and The New York CityHistorical Society in setting up historical reviews; Kathy Casey’s CRDCResolution on the Gibbons Home, Lesley Doyel, Robert Trentlyon, DorisCorrigan and Tim Gay for their help and information.Credits: (1) Villages within New York City ; (2) Old Chelsea and SaintPeter’s Church; (3, 4, 6, 7) The New York City Historical Society; (5)Chelsea, a study by the Mills School. Also helpful: Forty Years on 23rdStreet Any omissions of history are purely bipartisan and, please, for-ward any additions to dsalkaln@yahoo.com