More About the Prospect Hill Village Association in the Mid-19th Century
The "main line" of the New Haven opened in December, 1848. The "station" located within today's Village of Pelham soon was called "Pelhamville." During the early to mid-1850s, the United States economy was prosperous, fueled by the rise of railroads, improved transportation, and large amounts of gold mined in the west during the California Gold Rush. By about 1850, in the midst of this economic prosperity, land speculators converged on Pelham hoping to develop various sections of the town as a new railroad suburb serviced by the newly-opened New Haven Line.
For example, in 1850, a building society known as the United Brothers' Land Society (apparently referenced occasionally, and erroneously, as the "Pelhamville Village Association") was organized to develop certain tracts of unincorporated property in the Town of Pelham lying north of the railroad tracks and east of the Hutchinson River. The association purchased the Anthony Wolf Farm (John Anthony Woolf) north of the railroad tracks and arranged for surveyor William Bryson to survey and prepare a development plan for the development of Pelhamville by mapping proposed streets and building lots. Bryson completed two maps. The first, Map 346 of Pelhamville dated August 4, 1851, depicted the planned development north of the New Haven line railroad tracks. This map eventually governed the development of Pelhamville. The second map prepared by Bryson was dated October 11, 1851. It is entitled "MAP OF BUILDING LOTS Being a Continuation of PELHAMVILLE Westchester County N.Y. The Property of John B. Coppinger. Scale 132 feet to one Inch." According to the map, it depicted plans for the development of lands that were not part of the United Brothers' Land Society purchase of the Anthony Wolf farm. Rather, the map depicted proposed development of "The Property of JOHN B. COPPINGER" located south of the railroad tracks.
Bryson Map of Pelhamville, Aug. 4, 1851, from Original
Hanging in a Home on Mount Tom Road in Pelham Manor.
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
Legend of Bryson Map of Pelhamville, Aug. 4, 1851, from Original
Hanging in a Home on Mount Tom Road in Pelham Manor.
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
Detail from Bryson Map of Pelhamville, Aug. 4, 1851, from Original
Hanging in a Home on Mount Tom Road in Pelham Manor.
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
At about the same time, Bryson was involved in surveying and mapping a third section for development in the Town of Pelham. The section was to be named Prospect Hill Village. It became one of the two principal real estate developments from which today's Village of Pelham Manor evolved. The other, of course, was the development of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association organized on June 3, 1873 by Silas H. Witherbee, Henry C. Stephens, Robert A. Mitchill, Charles J. Stephens, Charles F. Heywood and other local landowners. On August 11, 1852, William Bryson filed a development map entitled "Map of Prospect Hill Village, Town of Pelham, Westchester County, New York." The map encompassed a prime area described by Lockwood Barr as "on the crown of the ridge near the Boston Post Road, bounded by what are now Highland, Prospect, Esplanade, New Haven Branch, Washington and Old Split Rock Road." Barr, Lockwood, A Brief, But Most Complete & True Account of the Settlement of the Ancient Town of Pelham Westchester County, State of New York Known One Time Well & Favourably as The Lordshipp & Mannour of Pelham Also the Story of the Three Modern Villages Called The Pelhams, p. 123 (Richmond, VA: The Dietz Press, Inc. 1946).
I have written before about Prospect Hill Village and the Prospect Hill Village Association. See, e.g.:
Bell, Blake A., The Founding of "Prospect Hill Village" in the Early 1850s, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XV, Issue 25, Second Section, Jun. 23, 2006, p. 34, col. 1.
Fri., Feb. 12, 2010: Documentation of the Creation of the Building Association Known as Prospect Hill Village Association on August 11, 1852.
Thu., Oct. 15, 2009: 19th and Early 20th Century Newspaper Notices Relating to the Prospect Hill Village Association.
Mon., Nov. 21, 2005: Prospect Hill and Pelhamville Depicted on the 1868 Beers Atlas Map of Pelham: Part I.
Wed., Mar. 30, 2005: Prospect Hill Village -- Yet Another Early Hamlet Within the Town of Pelham.
Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog publishes the image and transcribes the text of a legal notice reflecting what appears to be a foreclosure sale scheduled on March 10, 1856 of Prospect Hill Village properties owned by William Parker, George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf.
1856 Prospect Hill Village Association Legal Notice.
Notice], Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Mar. 7,
1856, p. 4, col. 1. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.
"SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -- The Prospect Hill Village Association against William Parker, George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf.
In pursuance and by virtue of a judgment or decree made in this action on the 15th day of January, 1856, will be sold, by or under the direction of the undersigned, Sheriff of the county of Westchester, at Gould's Hotel, in the village of Mount Vernon, on the 10th day of March next, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon of that day, all that certain piece or plot of ground situate lying and being in the town of Pelham, Westchester county, and State of New York, known and distinguished by the Number 13, (thirteen) on a map of property belonging to the Prospect Hill Village Association, entitled 'Map of Prospect Hill Village, town of Pelham, Westchester county, New York, surveyed and laid out by William Bryson, Architect and Civil Engineer, New Rochelle, November 22d, 1851, bounded and described as follows, viz: Beginning at the point of intersection of the easterly line of Peace street with the northerly line of Prospect avenue, as laid out on said map, and running thence north-easterly along the northerly line of Prospect avenue, two hundred feet, to lot Number 14 (fourteen) on said map; thence north-easterly along said lot Number 14, two hundred feet, to lot Number 5 (five) on said map; thence south-westerly along said lot No. 5 and lot No. 4 (four) on said map, two hundred feet, to said easterly line of Peace street; thence south-easterly along said easterly line of Peace street, two hundred feet, to the place of beginning. Containing forty thousand square feet -- be the same and the said several dimensions more or less; also, the land adjacent thereto in said street and avenue, to the centre thereof, to be used forever as public streets. -- Dated White Plains, January 22d, 1856.
DANIEL H. LITTLE, Sheriff.
B.V. BAGLEY, Plaintiffs' Attorney."
Source: SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -- The Prospect Hill Village Association against William Parker, George Robinson, John T. Lynch, and Andrew Woolf [Legal Notice], Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Mar. 7, 1856, p. 4, col. 1.
Labels: 1856, Foreclosure, Legal Notice, Prospect Hill Village, Prospect Hill Village Association, Real Estate
posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:32 AM
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