One of the earliest maps of the Washington Street grid notes the sale of two plots—formalized in 1811—by Colonel John Stevens, and his wife, Rachel, to Peter Ten Brook and Sandy Lee, two free men of color, who were married to women enslaved by the extended Stevens family. The freedom of Ten Brook, who was enslaved by another slave holder, was purchased through the Last Will and Testament of Colonel Stevens’s mother. Although the same will was meant to liberate Ten Brook’s wife Nancy and their daughter Silvia (married to Sandy Lee), there are no records that prove the colonel, as executor, ever did so. A note in the Stevens family bible states that he did not.
Portrait studio photograph of Peter Lee (1804-1902), circa 1880s. He is dressed in the livery he wore as a butler for the Stevens family.
Figure B_peter lee GR.048395
Stables fronted the Washington Street lots for most of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1911, as cars were increasingly replacing horses as the standard form of transport, the main street stables were demolished to make way for a movie house that opened in 1914, part of a wave of “moving picture exhibitions” that began to outnumber Hoboken’s once-popular theater halls. Although the U.S. Theatre also contained a full stage with box seats and an orchestra pit, its main purpose was to screen movies. In 1955, it too was supplanted by a new form of entertainment: television. By 1955, half of all homes in America had a black and white TV.
Photograph of boy shoveling snow on a Washington Street sidewalk with the U.S. Theatre behind him, 1940. A banner for the film “Gone With the Wind” adorns the building.
Figure D_20110130001
The most recent establishment to take up residence on the lots is actually an old Hoboken institution, a bank founded as Haven Building &. Loan Association in 1938, and now known as Haven Savings Bank.
Interior photograph of the lounge at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
YMCA lounge 20011260010
Page from a plat book for the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company, the development arm of the Stevens family. Plots 168 and 169 were initially purchased on April 9, 1804, by Peter Ten Brook, which would have made him among Hoboken’s first lot owners. This was the date of the initial public sale of land in the New City of Hoboken by Colonel Stevens. Seven years later, Ten Brook still owned plot 169, but plot 168 had become the property of Ten Brook’s son-in-law, Sandy Lee.
Figure A_HL&I book1_plate14
Because Silvia was not free, and a child’s status under slavery was based on the mother’s standing, Silvia’s son Peter was enslaved by the Stevenses and worked as the family butler, continuing even after slavery was abolished. There is no official record of Peter’s liberation—and the stories of Stevens family members vary widely—but he is listed in 1835 as the inheritor, with his brother George, of 168, the Washington Street plot owned by their father. They also had a share, with other family members, in 169, the plot owned by their grandfather. Although other members of the extended Lee family eventually sold both plots and moved out of the area, Peter continued to live on or near Washington Street for decades. He married Mary “Hannah” Thompson in 1846 in the new Trinity Episcopal church on Washington Street, founded by the Stevens family.
Photograph of 617-623 Washington Street, circa 1911, including Castle Point Stables, a shoemaker, and a sign announcing plans for the construction of the United States Theatre.
Figure C_20150040003
The demolition of the U.S. Theatre again left empty lots. They were put into service as the parking area for patrons of the Union Club on Hudson Street, known as the premier setting in Hoboken for weddings and corporate and political events until its closure in 1960, following the decline in industry in the city.
Former site of the U.S. Theatre is currently occupied by the Haven Savings Bank, 621 Washington Street.
Figure E_Haven
Interior photograph of the pool at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
YMCA pool 20011260016
