Ambrose Kingsland

Early life

Kingsland was born on May 24, 1804, in New York City. He was the son of Cornelius Kingsland and Abigail (née Cock) Kingsland.

He was a member of the old New Jersey Kingsland family who had for nearly 200 years lived in and around Belleville, New Jersey. His maternal grandparents were Isaac Cock and Charity (née Haight) Cock. His paternal grandparents were Stephen Kingsland and Jane (née Corson) Kingsland. He was the uncle of William M. Kingsland, who owned 1026 Fifth Avenue.

Career

A successful merchant, Kingsland built businesses in grocery dry goods, sperm oil, shipping and real estate. He held public office as the 72nd mayor of New York City from 1851 to 1853, the first mayor to be elected to a two-year term. In 1851, he initiated the legislation that eventually led to the construction of Central Park.

Business

Kingsland began his career in 1820, in partnership with his brother Daniel C. Kingsland, as a general merchant and commission business, D & A Kingsland, at 49 Broad Street, then 5 Broad Street. The business expanded into sperm oil and international trade. D & A Kingsland operated whaling ships and owned several noteworthy clipper ships, including Typhoon and Western World, operating the Empire Line between New York and Liverpool and the Third Line of New Orleans packets, and entering the China trade around 1850.http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us~hfk.html The firm became D.A. Kingsland & Sutton in 1843, then A. C. Kingsland and Sons, located at No. 55 Broadway in lower Manhattan.

Public Office / Mayoralty

Kingsland was appointed a Commissioner of the Croton Aqueduct in 1848. During the year he held that position the Croton Aqueduct High Bridge commenced operation and the proposal was made to the city to purchase ground for a large new reservoir immediately north of the existing reservoir located at the center of Manhattan. This new reservoir was to become a factor in the creation of Central Park.

In 1850 he was nominated as the Whig candidate for Mayor of New York. Kingsland had little political experience and had not previously held elective office. His nomination was part of a concerted initiative undertaken by New York’s business community to mobilize behind a “Union ticket” promoting the Compromise of 1850 as critical to New York’s future prosperity. New Yorkers’ apprehensions about the nation’s growing disunity, and Kingsland’s high standing in contrast with doubts about the integrity of his Democratic opponent, Fernando Wood, contributed to Kingsland’s election by almost 4,000 votes over Wood.

Mayor Kingsland's proposal for a Park "on a scale . . . worthy of the City"

Since the mid-1840s, articles and editorials had promoted a “great park” in uptown Manhattan, to remedy the inadequacy of Manhattan’s oppressed collection of small downtown parks; to preserve a large swath of greenspace for health and recreation before the opportunity was lost to imminent uptown development; to create a park that would put New York on a par with elegant European cities and their great parks.

Both candidates in the 1850 mayoral elections voiced the need for such a park. On May 5, 1851, Mayor Kingsland sent to the Common Council a message setting forth the necessity and benefits of a large uptown park, proposing that a sum be appropriated to procure a park "of sufficient magnitude" to "become the favorite resort of all classes", that "the establishment of such a park would be a lasting monument to the wisdom . . .of its founders". Kingsland's proposal was the first official step in a tortuous two-year process leading to the State legislation that authorized the creation of Central Park. The proposal, that public monies be appropriated to create a large urban park, was a conceptual novelty. Its eventual outcome – the expenditure of nearly $15 million(about five times the entire city’s 1851 budget), including the purchase of 760 acres out of one of the nation’s most expensive urban real estate markets, to create the nation’s first large landscaped public park, was revolutionary.

Kingsland’s proposal did not specify a location, other than that it should be "in the northern section of the island". Ever since William Cullen Bryant’s seminal 1844 Evening Post editorial, calling for "a new park", suggested the 160-acre Jones Wood (situated on the East River between 66th and 75th streets), subsequent new park advocates formed a consensus around Jones Wood as the best site for such a park. When the Common Council’s Committee on Lands and Places, having endorsed Kingsland’s proposal, chose this location, the pro-park press heartily cheered it. The larger, more centrally located alternative option had not yet surfaced.

Legislative action was quick, despite strong opposition from fiscal conservatives and downtown commercial interests. The Common Council approved the committee’s choice of Jones Wood and sought State enabling legislation. Albany enacted the Jones Wood bill on July 11, 1851.

In the interim, there appeared two significant articles about the park proposal. One, in June 1851, published correspondence between two city officials discussing an alternative site for the park – a tract, much larger than Jones Wood, at the center of Manhattan where the new Croton reservoir was to be located, which would realize economies of combining park and reservoir. The other article was by noted landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing, thanking the mayor for his path breaking message, but forcefully arguing that the Common Council’s choice of Jones Wood was too tame – that a much larger park was needed for Manhattan’s burgeoning population. In light of the emerging appeal of the central alternate site, and mounting opposition to Jones Wood (fueled by Kingsland’s veto of the Battery enlargement, which nettled aldermen who had seen this downtown park enlargement as a quid-pro-quo for supporting the uptown parkKingsland's veto of the Battery enlargement was based on engineering studies and widespread concerns that landfill for the Battery enlargement would adversely impact harbor and North River navigation

See Reference #15

and Ted Steinberg, Gotham Unbound: The Ecological History of Greater New York), the Common Council resolved to delay the Jones Wood acquisition to allow time for considering other possible sites. Kingsland appointed a Special Committee on Parks to evaluate other possible sites, primarily the central site.

The numerous advantages of the central site (now referred to as Central Park), including five times the acreage of Jones Wood at a lower cost per acre, better accessibility, and a configuration better suited to a long drive through varied scenery, resulted in the Special Committee’s recommendation of the Central Park site in January 1852. Kingsland thereupon suggested the Common Council petition the State legislature to replace the Jones Wood authorization with Central Park authorization. However, the newly elected Democrat dominated Common Council, immobilized by discord between Jones Wood supporters, Central Park supporters, and those opposing any grand uptown park, took no action

Eighteen months of public debate, confusion and intense political maneuvering ensued, as the tide of opinion and political support shifted from Jones Wood to Central Park. Despite setbacks, including Kingsland’s successor Mayor Jacob Westervelt’s reticence towards both park contenders, Central Park prevailed. On July 21, 1853, two years after Kingsland’s proposal, the State legislature passed the Central Park Act, the critical legislation ultimately enabling the realization of his clarion call for a park "on a scale that will be worthy of the city".

Conflict with the “Forty Thieves” Common Council, 1852

The 1851 city elections ended old line Whig domination of the Common Council and resulted in a sweep of the Common Council by Tammany Democrats. Many of them, including one William Magear Tweed, were small businessmen elected to their first term of office. This group of aldermen intended to use their time in office for self enrichment, and were to be known as the “Forty Thieves” Common Council of 1852-1853.Tammany Hall#Political gangs and the Forty Thieves They foreshadowed an era of New York’s history marked by rampant political corruption. Tweed was the leader of these Forty Thieves and later, in the 1860s, graduated to corruption on a grander scale as master of the Tweed Ring.

Under the new municipal charter of 1849, there was little Kingsland could do, as mayor, to thwart the corruption. Since the early 1840s, reformers had sought a new city charter to curtail the excessive power of the patronage prone Common Council by transferring some of its executive functions to an independent executive branch (along with other measures). However, reformers hesitated to concentrate power in the mayor’s office. The new charter extended the mayor’s term to two years, but left mayoral power very limited. Executive functions were transferred to nine departments with independently elected heads, leaving the mayor with little executive authority. Mayoral vetoes of Common Council actions could only delay such actions by ten days, after which they could be overridden by a simple majority. Thus, the Forty Thieves easily overrode Kingsland’s numerous vetoes of their graft riddled bills, ordinances and resolutions, which included the sale of properties and the award of contracts, ferry leases and railroad franchises at rigged values, lining aldermanic pockets at the city's expense. Shortly after Kingsland’s term, a new municipal charter was introduced in 1853 enhancing mayoral power through provision of limited executive appointment powers, and a presidential style veto power.

Personal life

Kingsland was married to Mary Lovett, whose father, George Lovett, was born in England. Together, they were the parents of eleven children (two died in infancy):

• George Lovett Kingsland (1834–1892), who married Helen Schermerhorn Welles (1842–1911), a daughter of Benjamin Welles and aunt to Sumner Welles, the Ambassador to Cuba and United States Under Secretary of State.
• Ambrose Cornelius Kingsland (1835–1890), who married Katharine Aspinwall (1847–1924), the daughter of prominent merchant William Henry Aspinwall.
• Augusta Lovett Kingsland (b. 1839), who married Herman Leroy Jones.
• Charles C Kingsland (b. 1836 d. 1837)
• Henry Pierre Kingsland (b. 1838), who married Harriet Emily O'Brien, daughter of William Arthur O'Brien
• Mary Helena Kingsland (1841–1934), who married William Wright Tompkins, son of Daniel Hyatt Tompkins and grandson of Daniel D. Tompkins, the 6th Vice President of the United States.
• Daniel C Kingsland (b. 1845 d. 1866)
• Walter Frederick Kingsland (1848–1929), who married Caroline Elizabeth Godbee (d. 1916), then Blanche Vanderbilt Marcelin (d. 1941), the daughter of Jules Marcelin and first wife of Franklin Morse Singer.
• Albert Alexander Kingsland (1849–1917), who married Jennie Travis (1864–1930), the daughter of Gilbert Travis and Abbie Rogers Travis.
• Cornelius Francis Kingsland (b. 1851 d. 1912)
• Philip Kingsland (b. 1852 ), who died young.

Kingsland died at his home, 114 Fifth Avenue, in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, at 11 o'clock on a Sunday evening, October 13, 1878. In his obituary, The New York Times announced that his death "removes one of the last of that band of old New-York merchants who were in business 50 years ago, and whose names have become interwoven with the history of New-York."

Residences

Kingsland's home was at 114 Fifth Avenue (southwest corner at 17th Street), now the site of a Banana Republic store.

In 1866, Kingsland purchased Hunter Island, now part of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, for $127,501. Sometime later, he purchased a sizeable estate on the Hudson River in North Tarrytown (present day Sleepy Hollow). The sale of this land by his heirs to the Mobile Company of America, an early automotive manufacturer, helped open North Tarrytown's 20th century era as a major automotive factory town. In the 1920s, a parcel of the former estate where Kingsland's mansion once stood was acquired by New York's Westchester County and converted into a public park named Kingsland Point Park.

Legacy

A Hudson River waterfront park, Kingsland Point Park, in the Village of Sleepy Hollow, in Westchester County, still bears Kingsland's name, as does Kingsland Avenue in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, which he helped survey. There is also a Kingsland Avenue in the Baychester section of the Bronx.

References

References

1. (November 18, 2013). "The Top Ten Greatest Mayors of New York City: Runners-Up {{!}} City & State". [[City & State]].
2. (1905). "The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-".
3. (1914). "History and Genealogy of the Cock, Cocks, Cox Family: Descended from James and Sarah Cock, of Killingworth Upon Matinecock, in the Township of Oyster Bay, Long Island, N.Y.". Privately Printed.
4. (November 30, 1919). "HAD 76 BANK ACCOUNTS; Executors Find Mrs. Kingsland Made Deposits Under Various Names.". [[The New York Times]].
5. "The Century in Times Square". [[The New York Times]].
6. {{Cite Central Park History
7. Steiner, Henry. "The Merchant Prince". River Journal.
8. (1858). "Ninth Annual Report of the Croton Aqueduct Dept to the Common Council".
9. Lankevitch, George. (2002). "New York City: A Short History". New York University Press.
10. (November 6, 1850). "The Result of the Election Yesterday". New York Herald.
11. Mayor Ambrose Kingsland's Message to the Common Council, reproduced from City of New York Department of Parks Annual Report, 1914 http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/pdf/govpub/4308annual_report_nyc_dept_parks_1914_part1.pdf
12. Eric., Homberger. (1994). "Scenes from the life of a city : corruption and conscience in old New York". Yale University Press.
13. Cedar., Miller, Sara. (2003). "Central Park, an American masterpiece : a comprehensive history of the nation's first urban park". H.N. Abrams.
14. With hindsight Jones Wood appears to have been unambitiously small in comparison to the park that came to be, Central Park. However, at the time, there were just 57 acres of publicly accessible parks in New York (see Reference #15, New York Tribune, June 13, 1851) i.e. the addition of Jones Wood represented a tripling of publicly available park space.
15. (June 13, 1851). "The New Park". New York Daily Tribune.
16. (June 6, 1851). "The New Park of the Metropolis - Enlargement of the Battery". New York Herald.
17. (June 28, 1851). "". Journal of Commerce
18. Downing, Andrew. (August 1851). "The New York Park". The Horticulturalist and Journal of Rural Arts and Rural Tastes.
19. Stewart, Ian. (July–October 1977). "Politics and the Park; the Battle for Central Park". New York Historical Society Quarterly.
20. Following the State enabling legislation, there ensued another three years of political and legal challenges and other delays before July 5th 1856 when Judge Harris of the NY Supreme Court signed the report of the Commissioners of Assessment tasked with appraising the 7,500 lots that comprised Central Park, allowing the city to proceed with acquisition and construction of the park.
21. Spann, Edward. (1981). "The New Metropolis, New York City 1840-1857". Columbia University Press.
22. (January 10, 1853). "City Reform". New York Times.
23. Vitteriti, Joseph. (1989). "The Tradition of Municipal Reform: Charter Revision in Historical Context". Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science.
24. (1866). "To the Judges of the Court of Appeals, Vol. 13".
25. (July 18, 1892). "George L. Kingsland Buried.". [[The New York Times]].
26. (February 16, 1911). "DIED. Kingsland". [[The New York Times]].
27. (January 17, 1935). "GEORGE L. K. MORRIS ENGAGED TO MARRY; Son of Mrs. Newbold Morris Affianced to Miss Estelle Condit Frelinghuysen.". [[The New York Times]].
28. (May 17, 1890). "Ambrose C. Kingsland's Will". [[The New York Times]].
29. (December 18, 1924). "DIED. Kingsland". [[The New York Times]].
30. (May 1, 1881). "Finding Relief in Suicide; John W. Minturn Taking His Own Life in His Office.". [[The New York Times]].
31. (August 2, 1935). "Ambrose Kingsland Jones.". [[The New York Times]].
32. (January 14, 1903). "H. LE R. JONES BANKRUPT.; Society Man Has Over $87,000 of Liabilities and Nominal Assets.". [[The New York Times]].
33. (February 23, 1934). "MRS. W. W. TOMPKINS.; Daughter of Ambrose Kingsland, Once Mayor Here, Was 92". [[The New York Times]].
34. (April 23, 1931). "W.F. Kingsland Left $1,720,193.". [[The New York Times]].
35. (August 18, 1941). "Mrs. Walter F. Kingsland". [[The New York Times]].
36. (April 1, 1917). "DIED. Kingsland". [[The New York Times]].
37. (October 15, 1878). "Ex-Mayor Ambrose C. Kingsland.". [[The New York Times]].
38. "5th Avenue: New York Songlines". NY Songlines.
39. (April 9, 2009). "Former mayor's townhouse sells". The Real Deal New York.
40. (April 21, 2015). "Big Old Houses: And Now I Know — Part 3 of 3 — 1026 Fifth Ave.". [[New York Social Diary]].
41. Twomey, Bill. (2007). "The Bronx, in Bits and Pieces". Rooftop Publishing.
42. "Pelham Bay Park Highlights - Hunter Island : NYC Parks".
43. "History of the Village".
44. Seaman, Barrett. (August 31, 2025). "A Trove of Kingsland Treasure Returns To Sleepy Hollow".
45. "Kingsland Point Park".
46. (April 8, 2007). "EAST WILLIAMSBURG PART 2, Brooklyn - Forgotten New York".