The most extraordinary incident of the year 1876 was the burning of the Brooklyn Theatre in December, and the loss of 295 lives. This tragedy caused intense excitement throughout the city. The temporary morgue on Adams Street presented the most ghastly spectacle the city had ever witnessed. After all possible identification had taken place, 100 unclaimed bodies were publicly buried at Greenwood. CHAPTER XIV THE MODERN CITY 1877-1890 Rapid Transit. James Howell, Jr., elected Mayor. Work on the Bridge. Passage of "Single Head" Bill. John Fiske on the "Brooklyn System." Seth Low elected Mayor. His Interpretation of the "Brooklyn System." Reëlection of Low. Opening of the Bridge. Bridge Statistics. Ferries and Water Front. Erie Basin. The Sugar Industry. Navy Yard. Wallabout Market. Development of the City. Prospect Park. Theatres and Public Buildings. National Guard. Public Schools. Brooklyn Institute. Private Educational Institutions. Libraries. Churches, Religious Societies, Hospitals, and Benevolent Associations. Clubs. Literature, Art, and Music. The Academy of Music. "The City of Homes." Brooklyn had now fairly entered upon what may be called its modern period. The first wires had been stretched for the great Bridge, and soon afterward the six years' labor at Hell Gate culminated in the long-anticipated blast. Ground had been broken for the new Municipal Building, the Ocean Parkway had been opened for travel, work had begun on the Brooklyn elevated road, rapid transit trains had begun running on Atlantic Avenue, the Manhattan Beach and Sea Beach railroads were opened to Coney Island, which had started upon its career as a great popular watering-place and pleasure resort, and a line of Annex ferryboats was opened between Jewell's Wharf and Jersey City. In the mayoralty contest of 1877 James Howell, Jr., was elected on the Democratic ticket. The bill which had passed the Legislature at the previous session reduced the Mayor's salary from $10,000 to $6000. Mayor Howell took a strong interest in the progress of the Bridge, and succeeded Henry C. Murphy as a trustee. Work on the Bridge advanced steadily during the years 1877 and 1878. The breaking of a strand of the cable at the New York anchorage in June, 1878, resulted in the death of several workmen. In April, 1880, farewell services were held in St. Ann's Church, at Washington and Prospect streets, preparatory to the removal of the building, to make way for the Bridge approach. The prospective area of the approach necessitated the removal of much property, and the slow work of demolition and advance still continues, after fifteen years, to present unsightly pictures at the threshold of the city. Mayor Howell's message in January, 1880, revealed the fact that the taxable value of property in the city had reached $232,925,699, which was an increase of nearly $3,000,000 over the figures for the previous year.