At 12:30 p.m. on April 30, 1789, a military escort arrived at Franklin House in lower Manhattan to conduct president-elect George Washington to Federal Hall where, about ninety minutes later, he took the oath of office as the first President of the United States. The current Federal Hall, which replaced the original structure in 1842, is a well-known historic site and national landmark that has been welcoming visitors ever since. History has been less kind to Franklin House. Located at the intersection of Cherry and Pearl Streets, Franklin House was demolished in 1856. This week, For the Record highlights Municipal Archives and Library collections that help tell the story of the nation’s first Presidential residence.
Federal Hall, Inauguration of General Washington, the First President of the United States, on the 30th of April 1789. H.R. Robinson for D.T. Valentine’s Manual, 1849. NYC Municipal Library.
Although President Washington’s residency at Franklin House was short-lived, from April 1789 to February 1790, it was long enough for the City’s tax assessor to record his name in the records of Assessed Valuation of Real Estate.
The assessed valuation ledgers constitute one of the Municipal Archives’ core collections, providing essential information about the built environment of the City for countless researchers. For the Record featured the collection in How to Use Tax Assessment Records to Date Construction of a Building.
The 1789 ledger is the oldest in the series. There are five sections in the ledger; one for each ward of the city. The Franklin House was located in the Montgomery Ward. Turning to page 15 and reading down the first column (Name of Residents) to the ninth line, the entry “George Washington in D” jumps out. The “D” is an abbreviation for “ditto,” meaning Mr. Washington lived in a house owned by Samuel Osgood, listed on the line above.
Two questions arise from discovery of this entry. What can Municipal Archives and Library records tell us about the Franklin House, and second, who was Samuel Osgood?
Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, Montgomery Ward, Cherry Street 1789. Records of Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, NYC Municipal Archives.
The first step in any research project concerning the built environment is to determine the Borough block and lot (BBL) numbers. Although not officially adopted until the latter part of the nineteenth century, it is still important to identify the BBL as records that pre-date the numbering system are often subsequently identified and/or indexed by those numbers. Examining historical atlases in the Archives to locate the Franklin House on Cherry Street provides the necessary BBL: Manhattan Block 112, lots 1 and 52.
Secondary sources provide helpful information about the early history of Franklin House. An article from 1939, “President Washington’s Cherry Street Residence,” in the New York Historical Society’s Quarterly Bulletin (vol. 23) is particularly useful. According to article author Henry B. Hoffman the Cherry Street property on Block 112 had been the site of a brewery operated by Robert Benson in the mid-18th century. After Benson’s death in 1762, his widow Catherine and son Robert closed the brewery and sold the property to Walter Franklin for £2,000. The Municipal Archives deed transcription series, confirms this transaction, referencing Conveyance Liber 39, page 53, indicating that Catharine Benson, Widow, and Robert Benson grant the property to Walter Franklin on March 19, 1770.
Conveyance transcriptions, Manhattan, Block 112. NYC Municipal Archives.
The Hoffmann article continued: “Walter Franklin who was a rising merchant, at once built a large residence on Cherry Street, a squarish building with a front about fifty feet long. In May 1774, he married at Flushing, Long Island, Mary (or Maria) Bowne, daughter of Daniel Bowne of that town. They had three daughters. After the British evacuation of New York City [in 1784], Mr. Franklin died, and shortly thereafter, on May 4, 1786, his widow married Samuel Osgood, a native of Andover, Massachusetts.”
The indispensable six-volume Iconography of Manhattan Island, by I. N. Stokes, available in the Municipal Library, adds to the story. Stokes quotes extensively from George Washington’s correspondence concerning his upcoming inauguration in New York. In March 1789, Washington wrote from Mount Vernon to James Madison: “I... take the liberty of requesting the favor of you to engage lodgings for me previous to my arrival [in New York City for the inauguration]. “On the subject of lodgings I will frankly declare, I mean to go into none but hired ones—If these cannot be had tolerably convenient... I would take rooms in the most decent Tavern...” Thanks to members of Congress, the President did not need to take rooms in a tavern, but instead they rented the Franklin House on Cherry Street, then owned by Mr. Samuel Osgood. Stokes writes, “This house had been built in 1770 by Walter Franklin, an old merchant in the city and upon his death had passed into the possession of Mr. Samuel Osgood, who was appointed Post-master General in September 1789. It stood on the north side of Cherry Street several doors east of the present Franklin Square which received its name in March 1817, in honor of Benjamin Franklin, its former appellation having been St. George’s Square.”
The Presidential Mansion, from D.T. Valentine’s Manual, 1853. NYC Municipal Library.
The President’s residency in the Franklin/Osgood house was short-lived. It apparently proved inadequate to accommodate the large Washington household which included seven enslaved persons. In February 1790, the President and his entourage moved to larger quarters, the Macomb house on lower Broadway, nearer to Federal Hall on Wall Street.
Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, 4th Ward, Cherry Street, 1808. Records of Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, NYC Municipal Archives.
The subsequent history of the Franklin House (later called Franklin Mansion) is described in the secondary sources and confirmed in Archives collections. According to the Hoffmann article, and supported by examination of the assessed valuation records, in 1789 Osgood owned not only the Franklin mansion, but another property at no. 6 Cherry Street. In 1791, after Washington vacated the property, Osgood moved into the Franklin Mansion, and remained there until he died in 1813. His wife Maria survived him by only one year at which point the house passed into ownership of Osgood’s two step-daughters, Maria and Hannah. Maria married DeWitt Clinton, who would later serve as Mayor of New York City and Governor of New York State. Hannah Clinton married DeWitt’s brother George.
The assessed valuation ledger for 1808 shows Samuel Osgood at no. 9 Cherry Street (renumbered from no. 3 in 1794) with the property valued at $7,000, considerably greater than surrounding properties and consistent with the description of the Franklin Mansion as a substantial structure. The 1809, 1810, 1811, and 1812 ledgers record similar data. The 1813 ledger is missing, but in 1814, after Osgood’s death, ownership is listed as DeWitt Clinton and the property’s assessed value had increased to $20,000.
The Hoffmann account notes that the Franklin Square neighborhood had become increasingly commercial in the first decades of the nineteenth century, and by 1818 the mansion had been remodeled into a bank. And again, the assessed valuation records confirm the change. In 1821, the property owner is listed as “Widow Clinton,” with description as “Bank,” valued at $16,500. By the 1840s, the last occupant was the piano and music store of Firth, Pond & Company, also confirmed in the tax records. Finally, the mansion was demolished in 1856.
Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, 4th Ward, Cherry Street, 1824. Records of Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, NYC Municipal Archives.
Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, 4th Ward, Cherry Street, 1842. Records of Assessed Valuation of Real Estate, NYC Municipal Archives.
Samuel Osgood. Library of Congress
To answer our second question, who was Samuel Osgood, secondary sources are again helpful, supplemented by other Archival material. An entry prepared by the University of Virginia Miller Center provides basic biographical information: “Samuel Osgood was born in Andover, Massachusetts, February 3, 1748. He graduated from Harvard University and first experienced politics on a small scale, serving from 1774 to 1776 on the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and as a delegate to the Essex County Convention (Massachusetts). He earned more notoriety after a successful stretch with the Revolutionary Army, ascending in rank from volunteer militia captain to army colonel in four years (1776-1800). Resuming his political career soon thereafter, Osgood served two terms with the Massachusetts State Senate (1780 and 1784), and spent several years as a member of the Continental Congress (1781-1784). Involved in national financial affairs as well, Osgood became director of the Bank of North America while a congressman and later became one of three board members to oversee the U.S. treasury under the Articles of Confederation (1785-1789). In recognition of Osgood’s national service, President George Washington named him the nation’s first postmaster general in 1789, a post which Osgood held until resigning in 1791. After giving up politics for a decade, Osgood reappeared to become a member of the New York State Assembly and Supervisor of Internal Revenue for the District of New York by appointment of President Thomas Jefferson (1800-1803). In 1803, Jefferson promoted Osgood to naval officer at the port of New York, a position Osgood held until his death on August 12, 1813.”
George Washington statue in front of Sub-Treasury, 1937. E.M. Bofinger, photographer. WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection. Built as the Custom House in 1842 on roughly the same site as City Hall/Federal Hall, then operated as the US Subtreasury from 1862 to 1924, the building was used for various federal purposes until 1939 when it was turned over to the National Parks Service for use as Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site.
For the time period of the colonial era through the early Republic, the Common Council records are a useful resource, and it is not surprising that there are several references to Samuel Osgood in the series, given his prominence in the community. To the great benefit of students of this time period, the proceedings of the Council are well indexed, printed and published in two series: 1653-1776 and 1784-1832. Among Mr. Osgood’s appearances in the Common Council records are notices of his appointment as Inspector of Elections for the 5th Ward in 1792 and 1794. Other entries in the Common Council records concern more mundane matters. In 1794, Osgood and other residents along Cherry Street petitioned the Council, “..complaining of the Injury which result to their Houses if the present regulation of St. James Street should be carried into execution... and Mr. Osgood attending the Board was heard on the subject whereupon the whole Board proceeded to the place to see whether any and what alteration could be made in the regulation of the said Street to the end that the cause of complaint be removed if possible.” The record does not note the final outcome.
For the Record wishes its readers a happy Presidents’ Weekend.
