Historic Pelham: 1874 Handbill Advertising Homes, Lots, and Securities for Sale by the Pelham Manor And Huguenot Heights Association

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During the 1870's, real estate speculators who owned lands in the area of today's Village of Pelham Manor began to dream big. They formed the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association to develop a first class, elegant suburban respite from the vagaries of the giant metropolis nearby. Their plans were grandiose. They developed an Esplanade "in the center of which rows of trees are left standing with such care as to give it the appearance of one of the drives in the famous Bois de Boulogne."

They placed the center of the new development at the location we know today as Four Corners. They had a grand plan to build a magnificent church at the corner. The developers flooded the Metropolitan region with handbills, sales brochures, newspaper advertisements, and even a stock prospectus in connection with the sale of shares in the venture.

I have written on numerous occasions about the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association, as well as the development of the suburb that came to be known as Pelham Manor. See the end of this article for a lengthy list of such postings with links to each.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog provides the images and text from a large advertising handbill from the digital collections of the New York Public Library. An image of the handbill appears immediately below, followed by its text as well as detail images from the handbill.

1874 Handbill Advertising Sale of Lands and Shares of the

Pelham Manor and Huguenot Hights Association. Source:

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New

York Public Library. (1874). Map Showing Location of Lands

of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association and

Their Railroad Communications with New York City. NOTE: Click

on Image to Enlarge.

Example of a Pelham Manor Cottage Offered for Sale

by the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.

Source: Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New

York Public Library. (1874). Detail from Map Showing Location of Lands

of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association and

Their Railroad Communications with New York City. NOTE: Click

on Image to Enlarge.

"Pelham Manor AND Huguenot Heights ASSOCIATION.

Organized under the Laws of the State of New York.

OFFICERS,

S. H. WITHERBEE, PRESIDENT.
C. J. STEPHENS, SECRETARY.
H. C. STEPHENS, TREASURER
R. M. MITCHILL, SUP'T.
E. G. SPILSBURY, ENGINEER.
-----

THIS ASSOCIATION has been formed and legally incorporated for the purpose of MOST EFFECTIVELY combining capital and skill in the control and improvement of such a large body of land as should, by its NATURAL ADVANTAGES and

Superior Accessibility

-----FROM THE-----

Business Centres of New-York City

be found most adaptable for sub-division into VILLA PLOTS, AND THEREIN PROVIDE At a Moderate Cost to every Purchaser, A FOUNDATION FOR A SUBURBAN HOME, OR FOR PROFITABLE INVESTMENT that would surely commend itself to public favor. As fully satisfying these various objects, SEVERAL ESTATES COMPRISING 500 Acres of Choice Land, adjacent to the new Metropolitan limits, are finally consolidated and being improved as ONE WHOLE, under the ownership of this Corporation, who now invite the attention of the Public to a New Suburb so regulate as to guarantee to those who shall early purchase LAND PORTIONS or STOCK SHARES therein, a Combination of advantages seldome equalled [sic].

-----

New-York Office,
-----WITH-----
STEPHENS BROTHERS and COMPANY, 187 BROADWAY, Between Courtlandt [sic] and DEY Streets.

BEAUTIFUL 'PELHAM MANOR AND HUGUENOT HEIGHTS' EIGHT MILES only from Harlem Terminus
-----

TIME VIA EXPRESS BOATS & H. R. & PORTCHESTER R. R. FROM FULTON ST. TO 'PELHAM MANOR' ONLY 55 MINUTES.

TIME VIA N. Y. NEW HAVEN & HARTFORD R. R. FROM GRAND CENTRAL DEPOT TO HUGUENOT HEIGHTS ONLY 35 MINUTES.

"START OF 'THE PELHAM COACH' from the 'Hotel Brunswick' Madison Square.

Source: Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New

York Public Library. (1874). Detail from Map Showing Location of Lands

of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association and

Their Railroad Communications with New York City. NOTE: Click

on Image to Enlarge.

START OF 'THE PELHAM COACH' from the 'Hotel Brunswick' Madison Square.

MAP SHOWING LANDS LOCATION OF RAIL ROAD COACHING & BOAT ROUTES OF THE PELHAM MANOR & HUGUENOT HEIGHTS ASSOCIATION.

THIS PROPERTY is situated in the Township of Pelham,, Westchester County, EIGHT MILES ONLY FROM THE CENTRE OF NEW-YORK CITY, extending from the New Haven Railroad on the NORTH, to the picturesque shores of the Sound on the SOUTH. The natural characteristics of this GRAND CONSOLIDATED TRACT OF LAND are in part, its diversified and inspiring Landscape, (nearly all of which is beautifully wooded), culminating in a multiplication of CHARMING VILLA SITES, and crowned by HEIGHTS, which command views of the Sound and the Hudson Highlands; -- its salubrious atmosphere and remarkably pure and abundant spring waters; -- its fertile soil of sandy loam, ENTIRELY FREE, through the natural subsoil drainage, from malarious exhalations; -- its south-easterly exposure and proximity to the sheltered Sound, warding off the extremes of BOTH WINTER AND SUMMER; -- with a well-proven record through the present century of the almost PERFECT HEALTH of its Inhabitants: all these, combined with other Conspicuous Advantages, make this portion of OLD WESTCHESTER County Peculiarly Favorable for HOME SETTLEMENT, and RESIDENCE the YEAR ROUND.

SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, &c. { Of the excellent institutions in the immediate neighborhood, is the FAR AND WORTHILY-FAMED 'PELHAM PRIORY,' attractive in its School and English Church; while in the vicinity are several other good Churches and Schools of VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Also, north-east from, and NEARLY ADJOINING the lands of this Association, may be found 'HUGUENOT PARK,' with its beautiful Villas, Avenues and Lakes. Again, half a mile beyond 'PELHAM MANOR,' upon the VERY ROMANTIC SEA-SHORE ROAD, is situated the spacious and well-appointed 'Neptune House,' which is largely patronized by the best classes.

COMMUNICATIONS, DRIVES &c. { Further, the local and carriage drive communications of this excellent Suburb deserve mention. In addition to the fine Avenues (one a perfect Esplanade one hundred feet in width,) already made or under construction by this Association, and running through its lands and centrally intersecting therein,, are two great East-and-West and North-and-South Highways, -- namely, the Boston, Boulevard and Pelhamdale Avenue, which latter Avenue is the DIRECT THOROUGHFARE between the CAPTIVATING SEA-SHORE and the large and thriving community of Mount Vernon, whilst the Boulevard affords a STRAIGHT AND SPLENDID DRIVE to New Rochelle, and other prosperous towns beyond, or in the other direction to New-York City.

RAILROAD FACILITIES. { But of still greater imporTance are the REMARKABLE Railroad facilities possessed by 'PELHAM MANOR' and 'HUGUENOT HEIGHTS, rendering either MORE ACCESSIBLE FROM City Hall, THAN ARE MANY PARTS OF THE CITY ITSELF, ACTUALLY NEARER.

41 TRAINS DAILY. { First on the MAIN LINE of the New-York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, on the NORTHERN BOUNDARY of this NEW TOWN SITE, is a STATION served by Twenty-three Passenger Trains Daily, STOPPING BUT TWICE between Pelhamville and 42d Street; -- thus giving direct access in Thirty-Five Minutes time only to the Grand Central Depot. Besides the LIBERAL SERVICE, the Southerly portion of this Suburb is traversed by the NEW AIR LINE EXTENSION, or HARLEM RIVER BRANCH OF THE NEW HAVEN RAILROAD, with EIGHTEEN DAILY TRAINS BETWEEN 'PELHAM MANOR' STATION AND THE HARLEM RIVER TERMINUS OF THIS GREAT RAILWAY BOULEVARD where close connection is made with the Express Boats of the Morrisania Steamboat Company, which in ABOUT HALF AN HOUR, land their passengers at FULTON SLIP, the Southerly and Business end of the Great Metropolis. By this UNEQUALED ROUTE, residents are enabled to leave their Homes at Pelham, and reach Offices and Stores below Canal Street, in New-York City, in about ONE HOUR'S TIME; thus realizing for THIS SUBURB AT LEAST, the much coveted RAPID TRANSIT.