The Pelham Manor Village Board Decides To Dedicate Park as "Martha Emmons Weihman Memorial Park" on September 8, 1941

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site

Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.

Regular readers of this Blog may remember that recently I have been doing research on the history of the Martha Emmons Weihman Memorial Park located on the Esplanade at Boston Post Road behind Huguenot Memorial Church. Information about the park has never been collected in one place, so the research is slow.

I have been doing the research to assist The Junior League of Pelham, Inc. That organization is engaged in an effort to raise funds to restore the park.

Recent postings on the topic include:

Mon. June 6, 2005: Martha Emmons Weihman Memorial Park in Pelham Manor - Origins of the Idea to Create a Park

Thu. June 2, 2005: Obituary of Martha Emmons Weihman From The Pelham Sun, August 16, 1940

Tue. May 24, 2005: Clifford and Martha Weihman of Pelham (Part I of II)

Wed. May 25, 2005: Clifford and Martha Weihman of Pelham (Part II of II)

Tue. May 31, 2005: The June 6, 1940 Fire That Destroyed the George M. Reynolds Mansion (Part I of II)

Wed. June 1, 2005: The June 6, 1940 Fire That Destroyed the George M. Reynolds Mansion (Part II of II)

Today's Blog posting will provide the latest additional information regarding creation of the park that I have been able to assemble.

During the Summer of 1941, Clifford T. Weihman proposed to the Village of Pelham Manor Board of Trustees that he would defray the cost of landscaping and planting shrubs on the site where the George M. Reynolds Mansion burned on the evening of June 6, 1940. On Monday, September 8, 1941 -- less than three months before Pearl Harbor -- the Village of Pelham Manor Board of Trustees voted to accept Mr. Weihman's offer and decided to dedicate a new park on the site named the "Martha Emmons Weihman Memorial Park".

A few days later, a brief article about the development appeared in The Pelham Sun. The article is set forth below in its entirety.

"To Dedicate Boston Post Road Corner As Memorial To Late Mrs. Weihman

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Property recently purchased by the Village of Pelham Manor on the southeasterly corner of the Boston Post Road and the Esplanade will be dedicated as the Martha Emmons Weihman Memorial Park. The Board of Trustees on Monday night accepted the offer of Clifford T. Weihman of Monterey avenue, to defray the cost of landscaping and planting shrubs on the property as a memorial to his late wife.

The property has a 250 foot frontage on the Boston Post Road and 250 foot frontage on the Esplanade. The three-story frame apartment building, which stood on the site, was gutted by fire on June 6, 1940.

The property is at the edge of the residential district and as a protection against reconstruction of an apartment building there, the village [purchased] the site for $15,000, for improvement as a park. Mr. Weihman's offer will make it possible that the improvement be started as soon as plans are approved by the Village Planning Board.

Village Trustee C. Furnald Smith submitted Mr. Weihman's offer, which had the instant support of the Board.

Mrs. Weihman was born in New York City, the daughter of Francis Robbins Emmons and Eliza Ridabock Emmons. She was a graduate of Barnard and received her Master's Degree at Columbia. Mrs. Weihman came to Pelham in 1920 and died here on Aug. 14, 1940."

Source: To Dedicate Boston Post Road Corner As Memorial To Late Mrs. Weihman, The Pelham Sun, Vol. 31, No. 23, Sep. 12, 1941, p. 1, col. 1.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.