Historic Pelham: Extension of the Toonerville Trolley Line in Pelham Manor in 1910

Trolley tracks once criss-crossed lower Westchester County carrying clattering streetcars throughout the region. By 1899, travelers could journey between the Battery and any of New Rochelle, Pelham, Mount Vernon or Yonkers for a single fare of eight cents.

Early last century, one of those trolley lines in the Village of Pelham Manor inspired the creative genius of a man named Fontaine Talbot Fox (1884-1964). He created one of the most popular comics in the United States – “Toonerville Folks”.

The cartoon centered around the quirky inhabitants of a town called “Toonerville” and its rickety and unpredictable trolley. The operator of the trolley was “The Skipper.”

Fontaine Fox, as he stated a number of times in published interviews and letters, based the comic on his experience during a trolley ride on a visit to Pelham on August 8, 1909. “Toonerville Folks” ran in hundreds of newspapers from about 1913 to 1955 and brought national attention to Pelham.

When Fontaine Fox made his now-famous visit to Pelham on August 8, 1909, the trolley line that inspired him ran along today's Pelhamdale Avenue to a stop near the railroad bridge of the New Haven Branch Line above Pelhamdale not far from today's Grant Avenue and Manor Circle. Barely a year later, the Westchester Electric Railway extended the Pelham Manor trolley line along Pelhamdale Avenue to Shore Road near the New York Athletic Club.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes the text of a brief article published in 1910 describing plans to expand the little trolley line that inspired Fontaine Fox. Following the brief article, I have listed links to the many previous articles I have posted about the Toonerville Trolley.

"Toonerville Folks" United States Postage

Stamp Issued on October 1, 1995.

"PELHAM MANOR
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The extension of the Pelham Manor line of the Westchester Electric Railway will be in operation within two months, according to an announcement made by a railway official. The running of this line will open up to Westchester county and New York another means of reaching Long Island Sound by trolley. The poles were put up this week and just as soon as work is completed on the Split Rock road, the tracks will be laid on Pelhamdale avenue. Superintendent Wheeler said: 'It all depends as to the time when they will complete the improvements on the Split Rock road. That is the only other thoroughfare which can be used by people while we are doing our work. The street is now practically closed and the company was requested not to begin laying the rails until that street was open, as soon as it is open we will go ahead, and it will only be a matter of a few days when the extension will be ready for use.' The Pelham Manor line ends now at a point near the bridge of the Harlem River railroad. It is to be extended under the bridge down Pelhamdale avenue to the entrance to the grounds of the New York Athletic Club."

Source: PELHAM MANOR, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 23, 1910, Vol. I, No. 16, p. 1, col. 3.