Robert Anderson Van Wyck - Political Career

Political Career

For many years Van Wyck took an active interest in Democratic Party matters, attending many conventions, state and national. Later, Van Wyck was elected Judge of the City Court of New York. He advanced to Chief Justice.

Van Wyck resigned as justice to accept the Democratic Party nomination for Mayor of Greater New York. He was elected in 1897 by a very large majority. He served as mayor of New York City between 1898 and 1901, as the first mayor to govern New York City after its five boroughs had been consolidated into a single city.

As Mayor, he brought together the innumerable municipal corporations comprising the greater city, adjusting their finances and bringing order out of almost total chaos. He directed construction of the Interborough Rapid Transit, the first subway in Manhattan, and provided for the construction of the proposed Brooklyn Tunnel.

Van Wyck is generally regarded as a colorless mayor, selected by the leaders of Tammany Hall as a man who would do little to interfere with their running of the city. Initially highly popular as a result of his reversal of the various reforms introduced by the preceding Fusion administration, Van Wyck's administration foundered on the so-called 'Ice Trust' scandal of 1900. The New York World] reported that the American Ice Company of Charles W. Morse planned to double the price of ice, from 30 to 60 cents per hundred pounds. In the era before refrigeration, this had potentially fatal effects, as ice was the only preservative available to keep food, milk and medicines fresh. The high price would have put ice beyond reach of many of the city's poor – Tammany's main power base in the years of waves of immigration.

American Ice was forced to reverse its decision due to the public outcry. Van Wyck's political rivals forced an investigation into the issue. It revealed that American Ice had secured an effective monopoly over the supply of its product to the city – it was the only company with rights to land ice at New York piers – and would have dramatically increased its profits at the new price. In addition, Van Wyck, whose salary as mayor was only $15,000, owned, and had apparently not paid for, $680,000 worth of American Ice stock.

The Ice Trust Scandal destroyed Van Wyck's political career and was generally reckoned to have cost Tammany the elections of 1901, which was won by the Fusion reformist slate led by Seth Low. Two years later, the New York Times characterized the Van Wyck administration as one mired in "black ooze and slime". Governor Theodore Roosevelt initiated an investigation, which determined that Van Wyck had not been personally implicated in the Ice Trust Scandal.