It ran, I think, almost directly along North
Washington Square, and, at one point, formed part of the "Inland Road
to Greenwich" which was the scene of Revolutionary manoeuvres.
Monument Lane was so called because at the end of it (about Fifteenth
Street and Eighth Avenue) stood a statue of the much-adored English
general, James Wolfe, whose storming of the Heights of Abraham in the
Battle of Quebec, and attendant defeat of the Marquis de Montcalm,
have made him illustrious in history. After the Revolution, the statue
disappeared, and there is no record of its fate.
With the passing of the old Potter's Field, came many changes. Mayor
Stephen Allen (later lost on the _Henry Clay_), made signal civic
improvements; he levelled, drained and added three and a half acres to
the field. In short, it became a valuable tract of ground. Society,
driven steadily upward from Bowling Green, Bond Street, Bleecker and
the rest, had commenced to settle down in the country. What had
yesterday been rural districts were suburbs today.
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