Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/543

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NEW YORK
449
NEW YORK

land, Park Avenue, Pennsylvania, Plaza, Prince George, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Savoy, Vanderbilt, Waldorf-Astoria, and many others. There are also many so-called apartment hotels, combining the features of apartment houses and hotels. The Bossert, St. George, and Margaret, in Brooklyn, are also famous. Some of the more important clubs are the Aero, Aldine, Army and Navy, Automobile, Bankers, Calumet, Catholic, City, Colony, Columbia University, Engineers, Harmonie, Harvard, India House, International Sporting, Knickerbocker, Lambs, Lawyers, Lotos, Metropolitan, New York, New York Athletic, New York Yacht, Press, Princeton, Progress, Racquet and Tennis, Railroad, Rocky Mountain, St. Nicholas, Salmagundi, Three Arts, Union, Union League, University, Whitehall, and Yale in Manhattan, and the Crescent Athletic, Hamilton, and Montauk Clubs in Brooklyn.

There are over 100 theaters and music halls in the city, including the Metropolitan Opera House, the Manhattan Opera House, the Carnegie Music Hall, and Madison Square Garden.

Municipal Improvements.—The city is lighted by gas and electricity at a cost of over $3,000,000 per year. The water-works system, owned by the city, cost $330,175,000, and has a capacity of 955,000,000 gallons per day, and an average consumption of 616,000,000 gallons. There are 3,548 miles of streets, of which 2,226 miles are paved; 2,290 miles of sewers; and 3,003 miles of water mains. The annual cost of cleaning streets and removing garbage averages $6,700,000; of maintaining fire department, $8,640,000; and police, almost $20,000,000. The city government is maintained at a cost of $246,190,000 per annum, and the annual death rate is 12.4 per 1,000.

Churches and Charities.—In 1920 there were over 1,500 churches of all denominations in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, including Roman Catholic, Protestant Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Jewish, Lutheran, Reformed, Congregational, and many other denominations. The Reformed Church is the oldest in the city, and dates from 1628. The Protestant Episcopal is next in age, and Trinity is the oldest and wealthiest parish, maintaining several chapels; St. Paul's, St. John's, Trinity Chapel, St. Chrysostom's, St. Augustine's, St. Agnes, etc. The first Presbyterian Church was founded in 1719 in Wall street, and is now at Fifth avenue and 11th street. The Protestant Epicopal Cathedral on Morningside Heights and the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Fifth avenue and 50th street are among the more prominent churches in the city.

The hospitals in New York are among the finest in the world. In the various boroughs there are about 200 hospitals and dispensaries, prominent among which are Bellevue, Hahnemann, New York Homeopathic, New York Polyclinic, Roosevelt, New York, Presbyterian, and St. Luke's Hospital. There are some 175 asylums and homes, and many benevolent societies.

Education.—The department of education is conducted by a board of 7 members appointed by the mayor. This board has the care and control of all property of the city used for school purposes, and supervises the various executive officers of the department. The Board of Education appoints a City Superintendent for a term of six years. He is the chief executive officer of the board, conducting the business of the department in accordance with its regulations. At the end of the school year 1919-1920 the enrolment in public schools was 908,467; and the number of teachers 21,853. There were about 550 public school buildings and the annual cost of maintaining public schools was over $42,500,000. For higher education there were 25 public high schools, many private secondary schools, the College of the City of New York, the College of St. Francis Xavier, Columbia University, Manhattan College, New York University, Fordham University at Fordham, Normal College of the City of New York, Teachers' College, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute, Adelphi College, St. Francis College, St. John's College in Brooklyn, Packer Collegiate Institute, Barnard College, Union Theological Seminary, General Theological Seminary, etc. The medical schools are the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York University Medical School, Cornell University Medical School, New York Homeopathic Medical College, New York Medical College for Women, and the Post Graduate Medical School. There are also the New York Dental College and the New York College of Pharmacy. The art schools include the Art Students' League, the Academy of Design, the art school of Cooper Union, and many private schools. There are also numerous schools of music.

Libraries and Periodicals.—The libraries of the city are very extensive. The Astor Library in Lafayette place, the Lenox Library in Fifth avenue, and the Tilden Library were consolidated in 1901, under the title of New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden