Walkabout: The Architect, the Baseball Stadium, and a Really Bad Couple of Years, Part 2

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In Part 1, we met Clarence R. Van Buskirk – architect, engineer, preacher’s kid, and well-regarded Assistant Engineer for the Brooklyn Department of Highways. He would one day be the architect of Brooklyn’s most iconic structure: Ebbets Field Stadium. But before that, he needed to get out of deep trouble. In 1907, the Department of Highways was on the hit list of a local politician looking to make a name for himself by rooting out corruption. And he had Van Buskirk in his sights. Next, read Part 3 and Part 4 of this story.

Bird S. Coler was the Borough President of Brooklyn, coming into office in the fall of 1905. But he had higher political ambitions, and was consumed with a fanatic’s zeal to weed out corruption in the borough. If it happened to further his political ambitions? Well, all the better.

Self-serving or not, he did have a point.

At the time, all of New York City was a hotbed of corruption of one kind or another, some forms more blatantly corrupt than others. Over at Brooklyn’s Department of Highways, where Coler first set his sights, the head of the department, Frank Ulrich, had continued a long-standing tradition.

He bloated his department with patronage jobs, played favorites with certain inspectors, accepted kickbacks, and hugely overbilled utilities like Edison Electric Company and Brooklyn Union Gas.

Ulrich overstepped and got caught accepting payoffs in exchange for jobs. He was indicted, arrested, and let out on bail awaiting trial. He submitted his resignation towards the end of 1906.

Coler called for a Grand Jury to determine if charges could be filed against anyone else in the department, especially Ulrich’s junior staff, which included Clarence Van Buskirk.

Investigators came to the offices and boxed up billing and other records pertaining to the utilities, and put them under lock and key, intending to remove them for review.

But in the early hours of February 25, 1907, at least two men entered the Department offices on the top floor of the old Municipal Building, broke into the locked desk which held the keys, and made off with the records.

Municipal Building, Downtown Brooklyn 1

Municipal Building, Brooklyn Eagle postcard

The police figured it had to be two men, maybe more, as there were a lot of records, including log books, blueprints and other documents.

The next day, Van Buskirk and his immediate supervisor reported the break-in. Coler was furious, and was sure that it was an inside job. The thieves knew exactly where to get the keys and where the records were. They also knew how to get in and out of the building without being seen or noticed.

Coler offered a $500 reward for information leading to the return of the records, but they were never found.

Bird S. Coler, Wiki 1

Bird S. Coler, Wikipedia

Coler didn’t think the Grand Jury was moving fast enough, and complained about them loudly in the papers, haranguing the body for being too timid in going after public officials. He called the Grand Jury’s protestations as to the way he was conducting business “twaddle.”

The Grand Jury shot back a letter stating that in the long, 223-year history of Brooklyn Grand Juries, no one had ever had the temerity to criticize how the Grand Jury was doing its job.

They were upset about a lot of the things Coler was doing, but their biggest gripe was that Coler had broken the seal of secrecy and closed hearings by publishing his witness lists and charges in the newspapers before delivering them to the body itself.

Coler basically ignored the Grand Jury’s concerns, while still griping about their functioning in the case. He had a “mission” and he was going to achieve his goals, no matter what.

Because Van Buskirk was a civic employee, he was entitled to a hearing before any criminal charges could be made. As Borough President, Bird Coler chose to adjudicate that hearing.

Coler published his charges, accusing Van Buskirk of overcharging the utility companies for inspections performed. He said that Van Buskirk had personally been in charge of collecting cash from the phone company, and that cash was not recorded in the ledgers.

He also accused Van Buskirk of lying to the investigators and to him personally, and he suggested that Van Buskirk had either organized, or had knowledge of the break-in. Van Buskirk was Coler’s new Master of Evil, and target for the day.

204 Livingston St. BE ad, 1914

Clarence Van Buskirk, Brooklyn Eagle

Bird Coler was so busy doing his own muckraking that he announced that he was giving up his position as Commodore of the Brooklyn Yacht Club. In his letter of resignation, he wrote there were indeed those who wanted to bring him down, but he would fight against the powerful and the despotic.

“It is true” he said, “that I am making a lone fight. But there is a certain amount of satisfaction in punching inflated humbugs and throwing light on respectable rascals that keeps me from being at all down-hearted.”

Clarence Van Buskirk was supposed to appear in front of Bird Coler’s investigative hearing on March 6, 1907. He didn’t show up.

His lawyer issued a statement saying that if Coler wanted to officially accuse him of a crime, he needed to take it to the Grand Jury. His client was not going to allow himself to be called up on the carpet like an errant schoolboy.

Coler retaliated by firing Van Buskirk from his job as Assistant Engineer in the Department of Highways. He promised that the Grand Jury and formal charges were next.

But they weren’t.

The entire episode seems to have died with Van Buskirk’s removal from office. There were no more Grand Jury hearings, no more investigations into the Department of Highways. There was no more press. There was no clue as to what happened to change anyone’s mind.

Coler had a lot of circumstantial evidence against Van Buskirk. People have been destroyed by less. But the case just disappeared.

Bird Coler remained Borough President until the fall of 1909, when a new BP was voted in. In 1918 he ran an unsuccessful campaign for State Comptroller, and gave up on politics. He had an interesting life, with many real successes and good deeds for the city he loved. Perhaps more on him at another time.

After being fired, Clarence Van Buskirk went into private practice, joining Alexander F. W. Leslie in the architectural practice of Van Buskirk & Leslie.

During this time, he designed a couple of apartment buildings, one of which was featured as a Building of the Day a few weeks ago, leading me to his name, and this story. His other bachelor flats appear below.

C.R. Van Buskirk bdg on Wash St. BE 1909

302-4 Washington Street in 1909, Brooklyn Eagle

He was also involved with several South Brooklyn projects from his native Gravesend which put him in the same room with Bird Coler on several occasions. One wonders how this minister’s son reacted.

We’ll never know if C.R. was a part of the graft and corruption of the Highway Department. But he had to have known about it, it was going on right in front of his face.

It didn’t seem to interfere with his reputation, though. After the incident, the scandal was never mentioned when his name came up. It was as if it had never occurred.

In 1912, Brooklyn Dodgers owner Charles Ebbets announced that he was going to build a brand new baseball stadium in Brooklyn for the borough’s beloved Dodgers.

As the plans became more formalized, a name appeared as the architect of this marvelous project. It was Clarence R. Van Buskirk.

Next time: Ebbets Field.

Top photo: Hall of Records, Kings County Courthouse and Municipal Building, undated photo, eBay

Site of Ebbetts Field, BE, 1912

Site of Ebbets Field in 1912, Brooklyn Eagle

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