Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 14).djvu/153

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PLANNING, BUILDING, AND OPENING
149

the City Hall. At night the illuminations were beautiful, the commonest being the letter "C" and "Grand Canal;" the New York Coffee House, the City Hotel, Peale's Museum, Scudder's Museum, Chatham and Park theaters had elaborate displays. The illuminations of the City Hall were "surpassingly beautiful." The exhibition of fireworks in New York was said to be the greatest in its history. On Monday evening, November 7, the celebration was concluded by a grand ball at the Lafayette Amphitheatre in Laurens Street; in order to secure the necessary space required, the floor of the amphitheater was connected with the floors of an adjacent circus building on one side and the floor of a riding school on the other; as a result the largest ball room in America was temporarily formed, measuring two hundred feet in length and from sixty to one hundred feet in width. Above the proscenium were emblazoned the names of the engineers of the "Grand Canal"—Briggs, White, Geddes, Wright, and Thomas; also the names of the past and present canal commissioners—Hart, Bouck, Holly, De Witt,