This was done and an
immense tract of woodland and forest, almost as large as the city itself
at the time, was set apart. As this was in the centre of the island it
was called the Central Park. Millions of people have been thankful for
it, although they have not put their gratitude into words.
We have now come to the days of the Great Civil War, when many men
left the city to join the army. Now there were those who did not see
the necessity for war and had no desire to be soldiers, so when more
men were called for there was a riot; a terrible and destructive one.
A mob swept over the city, a murderous, plundering mob that left a trail
of horror wherever it touched; and before it was put down a thousand
persons had been killed or injured, and $2,000,000 damage had been done.
This was the Draft Riot. The Civil War ended, the city prospered,
growing greater and greater, until in the year 1878 the stages and
horse-cars could no longer carry all the people. Then railroads elevated
above the streets were built that could carry great numbers swiftly to
all parts of the city.
New York, already become one of the great cities of the world, advanced
with giant strides.
CHAPTER XL
THE GREATER NEW YORK
The time came when the city of New York grew beyond the limits of the
Island of Manhattan, though the island had seemed such a boundless tract
of land, that it had been thought laughable for the City Plan to provide
for streets over its entire length.
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