1913 Decision of Public Service Commission to Allow Reorganization of City Island Horse Railroad for Electrification

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Recently I have been writing about the "horse railroad" that ran from Bartow Station to City Island when the area was part of the Town of Pelham.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes the text of an article published in 1913 describing a decision by the Public Service Commission to allow reorganization and electrification of the line.  The decision sounded the death-knell for the City Island horse railroad.  Horse cars ceased running on the line a little more than a year later.

"NEW 'L' STATION IS ORDERED AT 99TH STREET
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Public Service Commission Instructs Interborough on Behalf of Upper West Side Residents.
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FIVE CENT FARE ALSO TO CITY ISLAND.
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A new elevated railroad station for which residents within a radius of five blocks of Ninety-ninth street and Columbus avenue have been clamoring for months was made a certainty by the order of the Public Service Commission to-day which directs the Interborough Rapid Transit Company to construct the new station and have it completed and in service by December 1 of this year.

At present the 'L' line on Columbus avenue makes a jump of eleven blocks without a station from Ninety-third street to 104th street.  This has caused residents in this section to walk several blocks to the station, and many petitions have been sent to the Service Board for a change.  A little more than one year ago a new station was built at the order of the Commission at Eight-sixth street and Columbus avenue, breaking the run from Eighty-first to Ninety-third street without a stop.

The Public Service Commission to-day also authorized the reorganization schem of the Pelham Park Railroad Company and the City Island Railroad Company, by which a new concern to be known as the Pelham Park and City Island Railroad Company is to rebuild the present lines and run electric cars from Bartow Station in Pelham Park to Belden Point, City Island, for one five cent fare.

Two fares are now charged, one on the monorail line of Pelham Park, and one on the horse car line of the City Island line.  The new company is authorized to issue $117,000 bonds for the purchase of roadbed and reconstruction."

Source:  New "L" Station is Ordered at 99th Street, The Evening Telegram - New York, May 27, 1913, p. 7, col. 1.

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