Sleepy Hollow Politics in the Gilded Age - River Journal Online
Written by Henry John Steiner
Thursday, 14 October 2010
As election time nears, my thoughts turn to politics and the role that money and influence plays
in getting candidates elected. I was recently paging through the annual issue of Forbes
Magazine's wealthiest Americans; it's a kind of Sports Illustrated "swimsuit edition" for those
who prefer ogling wealth. Toward the end, I came to those individuals whose wealth was a
mere billion and actually found myself starting to feel sorry for them – until I remembered how
many million make a billion.
In the late 19th century, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. redefined what it meant to be a wealthy
American, but his low-key personal style helped to deceive many people about the true extent
of his wealth – at least for a while. He was on his way to becoming the richest man in the world
after establishing Standard Oil's control of the oil business. Oil refining was the Microsoft
Windows of the late 19th century.
To the average citizen of Sleepy Hollow (North Tarrytown in that day) there might have
appeared to be little difference between the fortunes of John D. Rockefeller and John Webber,
one of his neighbors. Webber was a wealthy attorney and a real estate investor. He was a rich
and influential local fixture who, in the early days of the incorporated Village of Sleepy Hollow,
owned an expensive residence on Bedford Road, just east of the Old Croton Aqueduct. Later,
in 1886, Webber bought the large estate of his deceased client, John Anderson, and moved into
the Anderson mansion on New Broadway. Webber was also an early village president of Sleepy
Hollow, winning his first election in 1892 when the Village was but eighteen years old.
Like John Anderson and Ambrose Kingsland, another local man of wealth, John Webber was
raised from the old school of New York wealth, which counseled, "Do well in business and do
even better in real estate." This was the "school" of wealth founded by John Jacob Astor, who
reflected near the end of his life that he ought to have bought every square inch of Manhattan. Rockefeller, however, had founded his own school of wealth, which dictated, "Do very, very,
very well in business, and do whatever you like with real estate."
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Sleepy Hollow Politics in the Gilded Age - River Journal Online
Written by Henry John Steiner
Thursday, 14 October 2010
John D. Rockefeller's arrival in the Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown area coincided with Panic of 1893,
a severe economic collapse brought on by unbridled railroad speculation. This massive
economic depression, the largest in America prior to the Great Depression, wrecked many
fortunes and sent estate owners scrambling – not to mention what it did to the working class
and the poor. As a result, Rockefeller and his agents bought low and stood pat, assembling a
patchwork of smaller local estates into one great estate – and he had plans for it. Like the great
Bronx Park that was emerging in this same timeframe, the Rockefeller estate needed workers –
especially landscape workers. In both cases, this need was filled largely from the ranks of local
Italian-Americans and Italian immigrants. A succession of families came from Italy to Sleepy
Hollow and Tarrytown to find work on the Rockefeller estate, and many of our old local families
are descended from those immigrations.
At first, when John D. Rockefeller, moved into town in 1893, he seemed to hit it off with John
Webber, the Village President. But then, apparently, Webber became acquainted with
Rockefeller's penchant for rearranging things to suit his town tastes, including the public roads. Later, the list of things that Rockefeller loved to move included houses, railroads, hamlets,
quarrying industries, and so on. So Webber, in the spirit of the ancient Sleepy Hollow tradition
of putting newcomers in their place, determined it was time to put the brakes on Rockefeller's
plans to redecorate things according to his own design. In this, Mr. Webber seems to have
underestimated the resourcefulness of Mr. Rockefeller, for, in short order, the new arrival was
making another plan – to replace the Village President with his own candidate.
In 1896, after three, one-year terms as Village President (the office had a one-year term),
Webber and his board of trustees were swept from office by the Rockefeller-backed Good
Government Party, whose campaign was sweetened by Rockefeller's promise to pay $100,000
for village road improvements. The victorious leader of the Rockefeller ticket was Howard H.
Morse, the father of Winfield L. Morse, after whom Morse School is named. Like Webber, the
elder Morse was an attorney and the owner of a fine residence, named Bay View, on the site of
today's Barnhart Park.
Yet, twelve months later, in 1897, John Webber was voted back into office as Village President;
he would, no doubt, spend an uneasy year eyeing the Rockefeller faction's next move. Accordingly, one year later, in 1898, Webber was sent from office by a new Rockefeller
champion, James Ledwith. But Webber was shrewd and seasoned in politics, and, once again,
he was able to reverse his political fortunes. In 1899, he was back again as Village President
and ready to even the score with Rockefeller. The opportunity came when a Rockefeller work
crew began building a macadam surface on Gorey Brook Road, right next to the property of
John Webber. The work wasstopped by order of the Village President, and, according to the
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Sleepy Hollow Politics in the Gilded Age - River Journal Online
Written by Henry John Steiner
Thursday, 14 October 2010
New York Times of that day, "Mr. Webber threatens to bring suit for $5,000 in damages if the
work is continued."
Yet, this 1899-1900 term was to be Webber's last term in office. The Rockefeller party was
strengthening, aided perhaps by the increasing number of his voting employees. By 1902,
Webber could marshal only a losing challenge, as the Rockefeller ticket prevailed in one village
election after another. Not until 1904 was a challenger victorious against Rockefeller's pick. John Wirth was the victor that year, but it is not clear what role Webber may have played behind
the scenes.
If Wirth was Webber's man, the sweetness of the election success did not last very long, for
within a year or two Wirth was running unopposed with the backing of the Rockefeller party. In
1910, when an opponent did emerge, he was soundly trounced by a margin of three to one. The New York Times recounted, "John D. Rockefeller and his brother, William Rockefeller,
employ hundreds of men and many of them reside in [Sleepy Hollow]. Although John D.
Rockefeller did not appear, it was said that some of his representatives supplied the workmen
with sample ballots before voting time and they knew just how to vote for the Wirth ticket." Wirth was to be the longest serving Sleepy Hollow Village President on record, with nine terms. Webber did not survive to see Wirth's 1910 victory – he had passed away at his New Broadway
mansion the previous June.
The extent of the Rockefeller influence in the Tarrytowns was reconfirmed four years later, in
June 1914. John D. Rockefeller was the target of a planned IWW (Industrial Workers of the
World) demonstration. When demonstrators arrived at the Tarrytown Station and began their
march toward the Rockefeller estate, they were driven off by local townspeople who saw the
demonstrators as a threat to their beloved mega-millionaire and, by extension, their jobs and
their domestic happiness and prosperity. The villagers pelted the demonstrators with objects,
and a riot broke out. The police arrived in time to rescue the demonstrators and usher them out
of town.
[blockquote class=blue]Henry John Steiner is the village historian of Sleepy Hollow and the
managing broker of Steiner Real Estate Associates;
[email protected][/blockquote]
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