Flynn Syndicate Buys the City Island Horse Car Line in 1907 to Incorporate it Into Electric Trolley Line

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Regular readers know that recently I have been assembling research on the horse car line that once ran from Bartow Station to the end of City Island when the area was part of the Town of Pelham.  For examples of postings containing such research, see:

Fri., February 26, 2010:  1913 Decision of Public Service Commission to Allow Reorganization of City Island Horse Railroad for Electrification.

Thu., February 25, 2010:  Photograph of Patrick Byrnes and Article About His Retirement of the City Island Horse Car in 1914.

Wed., February 24, 2010:  Attempted Suicide of City Island's Long-Time Horse Car Driver

Wed., February 3, 2010:  Early Information Published in 1885 About the Organization of the "City Island Railroad", a Horse Railroad from Bartow Station to City Island

Tue., February 2, 2010:  Information About the Pelham Park Railroad at its Outset

Fri., January 22, 2010:  1884 Account of Early Origins of Horse Railroad Between Bartow Station and City Island

Tue., September 1, 2009:  Pelham News on February 29, 1884 Including Talk of Constructing a New Horse Railroad from Bartow to City Island

Wed., December 2, 2009:  Accident on Horse-Car of the Pelham Park Railroad Line in 1889

 Thu., December 31, 2009:  1887 Election of the Board of Directors of The City Island and Pelham Park Horse Railroad Company

Mon., January 4, 2010:  1888 Local News Account Describes Altercation on the Horse Railroad Running from Bartow Station to City Island

Post Card View of the Horse Car.

Photo of Patrick Byrnes Who Operated the Car for 25 Years Until 1914.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog continues to collect research regarding the line.  Below is the text of a newspaper article published in 1900 that recounted the purchase of the line by The New York, Westchester and Connecticut Traction Company as part of its efforts to cobble together an electric trolley line in southern Westchester County.  The company, better known as the "P. H. Flynn Syndicate", was the principal rival of the Union Railroad Company that also was working to develop trolley lines in the area.

"TROLLEY LINE NOW BETWEEN CITY ISLAND AND MOUNT VERNON
-----
Flynn Syndicate Steals March on Rival and Gets Line Through Pelham Bay Park.

-----
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE EVENING TELEGRAM.]

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y., Friday.--The New York, Westchester and Connecticut Traction Company, better known as the P.H. Flynn syndicate, and which has been working to get a foothold in Westchester county, has stolen another march on its rival, the Union Railroad Company, and purchased the Pelham Railway, a horse car line two miles long, which operates between the Bartow station, on the Harlem River branch of the New Haven Railroad, and Belden's Point, on City Island.

For this franchise the Flynn syndicate is to pay $14,000.  The Pelham company held the only franchise through the Pelham Bay Park, and it is anticipated that the syndicate will immediately abolish the horse car line and replace it with a trolley line between City Island and Mount Vernon."

Source:  Trolley Line Now Between City Island and Mount Vernon, The Evening Telegram - New York, Jan. 26, 1900, p. ?, col. 1 (Newspaper page does not included printed page number).

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.