Article from April 23, 1910 Issue of The Pellham Sun

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Peter Ceder founded The Pelham Sun on April 9, 1910 and nurtured the growing newspaper until shortly before the advent of the Roaring Twenties when he turned his attention, full time, to real estate development in the Town of Pelham.  In 1919, Ceder began a search for a new owner to whom he could turn to continue the institution he had created. He turned, first, to J. Gardiner Minard, a resident of the Village of North Pelham who had some newspaper experience.  Having just returned from World War I, Minard demurred, telling Ceder "I am sick of wars and running newspapers." 

Soon it began to appear that Ceder might close the newspaper, leaving the growing and increasingly-prosperous town without its own newspaper.  A group of nine civic-minded citizens led by Pelham Manor multi-millionaire William T. Grant, the founder of the nationwide chain of W. T. Grant 25 Cent Stores, formed The Pelham Sun Corporation and bought the newspaper from Peter Ceder. 

Pelham resident Thomas M. Kennett was appointed the editor of The Pelham Sun on February 28, 1921.  In 1925, Kennett purchased The Pelham Sun from the nine Pelham residents who had acquired it from Ceder.  Kennett operated the newspaper with his son, Frederick T. Kennett for many years thereafter.

Sadly, however, many issues of the newspaper published in its early years have been lost forever.  Thus, it is a particular joy to locate an article that appeared in The Pelham Sun less than two weeks after the newspaper was founded.  The article, entitled "PELHAM MANOR MURMURS," was reprinted in the New Rochelle Press a week after it originally appeared in The Pelham Sun on April 23, 1910.

The article reports on a number of interesting issues including the baseball team of the Pelham Country Club and the location of the field on which it played, the state of disrepair of the horse watering fountain on Boston Post Turnpike at the Esplanade, and the newly-created U.S. Postal Service mail delivery service for Pelham Manor established in 1910 and operated out of the Pelham Manor Post Office.

The text of the article appears immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.   

Post Card View of the Horse Drinking Fountain at Boston

Post Road and Esplanade, Circa 1910, Referred to in the
"PELHAM MANOR MURMURS" ARTICLE.
NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

"PELHAM MANOR MURMURS
-----
(From the Pelham Sun, April 23).

The younger members of the Pelham Country Club, who has leased the old Iden residence, will organize a baseball team again this year.  They had one last year and played many successful games.  The diamond is situated three hundred feet west of Wolf's Lane, opposite the club house.

Miss Grace M. Hubbard's dancing class closed its season at the club house last Saturday.  The Misses Elizabeth Eyre, Elizabeth Tanner, Elizabeth Sawyer, Louise Abbott, Marguerite and Catherine Ferns, Eleanor Tyson and Helen Fairchild, combined with twelve little girls, made a very pretty picture.  The flower dance was especially fascinating and the class acquitted itself delightfully.

The shabby condition of the drinking fountain on the Boston Turnpike and the Esplanade is the subject of some comment in the Manor.  This fountain was presented to the village by Mrs. Iselin, of New Rochelle.  The bronze dogs at either side of the main trough are badly mutilated by wagon poles coming in contact with them.  The ornamental lamps that adorn the whole are sadly in need of paint and badly rusted.  On the whole, the fountain presents a rather neglected appearance.  

The Split Rock road is being improved by the employees of Pelham Bay Park and the conditions now stand in strong contrast with past years of neglect.  The brushes and shrubbery are being cut away for a distance of thirty feet on each side of the highway and it is now possible to drive there with a reasonable degree of safety.  Heretofore the sharp curves of the road have been hidden from view by dense foilage [sic] making autos and vehicles coming in an opposite direction obscured to each other until dangerously close.  Only an experienced driver dared negotiate the road during the past.  As this is the nearest highway between Pelham Manor and City Island and also draws considerable traffic from Mt. Vernon, East Chester and Yonkers, it can readily be seen that the course just pursuded by the Board of Park Commissioners is commendable.  Many residents of the Manor, daily, take an early morning drive down this historic and picturesque road.

The free delivery service recently instituted at the Pelham Manor post office is now in successful operation.  Two deliveries are made daily, at 7 a.m. and 4.15 p.m.  Carrier Benj. Hobson serves all that section which lies south of Boston Turnpike, with the exception of Pelhamdale avenue, and Carrier David Wagner serves the section north of Boston Turnpike.  Both of these are men of many years' experience as letter carriers and on the routes which they formerly served in New York they were highly regarded by the business men and residents.  At the time of delivery, collections of mail are made from the various street letter boxes that have been placed at convenient locations.  New arrivals and departures of mail are also in operation, thereby affording this section improved facilities.  The office, which is now a branch of the New York post office, is in charge of Superintendent L. Dreyfus who is assisted in the work by Clerk R. J. Wilson.  They also have behind them long years of service in the post office department and are well qualified to render to the public efficient service."

Source:  PELHAM MANOR MURMURS, New Rochelle Pioneer, Apr. 30, 1910, p. 6, col. 3 (reprinted from Apr. 23, 1910 issue of The Pelham Sun).  

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