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The United States Custom House, sometimes referred to as the New York Custom House, was the place where the
United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was a federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted criminal in ...
collected federal customs duties on imported goods within
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.


Locations

The Custom House existed at several locations over the years. From 1790 to 1799, it was at South William Street, opposite Mill Lane, known as 5 Mill Street. From 1799 to 1815, it was in the Government House, roughly on the former site of Fort Amsterdam. From 1817 to 1834, it was in a converted bookstore and reading room on
Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
at the east side of Nassau Street. That building was demolished for construction of a new Custom House at the same location, completed in 1842, which was designed by John Frazee, and is today designated
Federal Hall National Memorial Federal Hall was the first capitol building of the United States under the Constitution. Serving as the meeting place of the First United States Congress and the site of George Washington's first presidential inauguration, the building existe ...
. From 1862 it was in the Merchant's Exchange Building at 55 Wall Street. In 1907 it moved into a new building, now called the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, built on the site where Government House sat earlier, on the south side of Bowling Green. The Customs Service signed a long-term lease with the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...
at Six World Trade Center in 1970, and moved the custom house there in 1973. After the World Trade Center was destroyed during the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
in 2001, employees were moved to various places in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
,
Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, and Elizabeth in
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...
. The Customs Service was split into several agencies in 2003. One of its successors, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, planned to return to the new World Trade Center, moving into
One World Trade Center One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and as the Freedom Tower, is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Tr ...
.


Importance

In the 19th century, the Port of New York was the primary port of entry for goods reaching the United States, and as such the Custom House in New York was the most important in the country. In 1853, for instance, it collected almost 75% of the custom revenue in the country. Until the passage of the 16th Amendment in 1913, which instituted a national income tax, the New York Custom House supplied two-thirds of the federal government's revenue. The amount of money passing through the Custom House made working there a prime position, and corruption was widespread. At one point, 27,000 people applied for 700 open positions in the Custom House.Keller, Mollie and Marton, James. "U.S. Customs Service" in , pp.1355-56


Patronage

Until the civil service reforms of the late nineteenth century, all Custom House employees were political appointees. The President appointed the four principal officers: Collector of Customs, Naval Officer, Surveyor of Customs, and Appraiser of Customs. The Customs House patronage was the subject of great debate during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration, as Hayes attempted to establish a merit-based system of appointments, while Senator
Roscoe Conkling Roscoe Conkling (October 30, 1829April 18, 1888) was an American lawyer and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician who represented New York (state), New York in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Se ...
wished to retain the
spoils system In politics and government, a spoils system (also known as a patronage system) is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends (cronyism), and relatives (nepotism) as a rewar ...
, under which he controlled the patronage there. One Collector of Customs, Chester A. Arthur (1871–1878), later became President of the United States following an
assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
. Arthur was said to have made several times more income as a collector than he did as a lawyer, about $50,000 a year in his first three years in office.


References


Bibliography

*{{cite book, last=Stokes, first=Isaac Newton Phelps, authorlink=Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, title= The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498–1909, year=1915–1928, publisher=Robert H. Dodd Government buildings in Manhattan
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...