Historic Pelham: Pelhamville Citizens Petitioned to Establish a Fire District In Early 1893

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In late 1892 and early 1893, before the incorporation of the Village of North Pelham and the adjacent Village of Pelham (today's Pelham Heights), residents of the area north of the newly-incorporated Village of Pelham Manor agitated to form a modern volunteer fire fighting unit to fight fires in Pelhamville and the area we know today as Pelham Heights.

Under recently enacted New York State laws, the taxpayers of Pelhamville and Pelham Heights prepared a petition signed by more than half the resident taxpayers in that part of the town asking for the "authority to organize a fire department in that portion of said town lying north of the old Boston Post Road, and to be known as the Pelhamville fire department."

The petition, presented to the Board of Supervisors of Westchester County, was signed by a host of the most notable residents of Pelhamville and Pelham Heights including Congressman Benjamin L. Fairchild, Reverend Cornelius Winter Bolton, noted architect F. Carles Merry, Pelhamville Station Agent Charles H. Merritt, longtime schoolmaster and principal Isaac C. Hill, Judge William H. Sparks, real estate developer Benjamin F. Corlies, and many other important citizens.

The petition to create the fire unit was presented to the Board of Supervisors by Sherman T. Pell, Supervisor of the Town of Pelham and a member of the Board of Supervisors. Pell was in the waning weeks of his last term as Supervisor of Pelham. Pell engaged in election fraud to extend his service as Town Supervisor of the Town of Pelham. Then, shortly (after he presented this petition to create the Pelhamville Fire Unit on February 20, 1893, after completing seven years of service as Town Supervisor but recently defeated in his bid for re-election, Sherman T. Pell simply disappeared, never to be seen again. It turned out that he had embezzled Town funds for years and had forged Town of Pelham bonds that he fraudulently sold to unsuspecting investors in New York City for more than $100,000. Pell was rumored to have fled to Canada or to South America, but was never heard from again and was never brought to justice. See Bell, Blake A., Take the Money and Run: Pelham Town Supervisor Sherman T. Pell, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIV, Issue 19, May 13, 2005, p. 14, col. 2.

On February 20, 1893, however, Sherman T. Pell was simply doing what the constituents he surreptitiously was cheating demanded. He was presenting a petition to the Board of Supervisors of the Westchester County to establish what would become the First Fire District of the Town of Pelham, a forerunner to today's Village of Pelham Fire Department.

As would be expected, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to grant the petition as submitted. Sherman Pell immediately presented the following resolution:

"Resolved, That there be levied and assessed upon the taxable property of all that portion of the Town of Pelham, lying north of the northerly boundary of the village of Pelham Manor, in said town, and collected, the sum of four thousand dollars for the purpose of purchasing a site and erecting a building thereon for an engine house; also for a suitable fire apparatus as provided by chapter 18 of the laws of 1892."

According to the records of the meeting that day, Pell's resolution "was adopted, a majority of all the members of the board, including the supervisor of the town of Pelham, voting in favor thereof." Thus, today's Village of Pelham Fire Department, after months and years of labor, was formally born.

Map of Pelhamville Published in 1868. Source: Beers, F.W.,

Atlas of New York and Vicinity from Actual Surveys By and

Under the Direction of F.W. Beers, Assisted By A.B. Prindle

& Others, pg. 36 (NY, NY: Beers, Ellis & Soule, 1868) (Detail

from Page 36 Map Entitled "Town of New Rochelle,

Westchester Co., N.Y. (With) Pelhamville"). NOTE: Click on

Image to Enlarge.

* * * * *

"Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of Westchester County.
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Annual Session of 1892-93
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MONDAY, February 20th, 1893. . . .

Mr. Pell [Sherman T. Pell, Supervisor of the Town of Pelham and a member of the Board of Supervisors] presented the following petition:

To the Honorable, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Westchester:

Gentlemen -- The undersigned, taxpayers of the town of Pelham, would most respectfully petition your honorable body for authority to organize a fire department in that portion of said town lying north of the old Boston Post Road, and to be known as the Pelhamville fire department, by authority of and in accordance with the laws of 1892, chapter 18, general laws, section 37, P. P. 1755 and 1756 and laws of 1892, chapter 20, general laws, section 171, P. P. 2261 and 2262.

Wm. Edinger,
E.A. Schwartz,
Wm. Broege,
Vincent Barker,
Wm. H. Sparks,
Gustave I. Karbach,
Ben L. Fairchild, for the Pelham Height Ass.
William Barry,
Louis C. Young,
C. W. Bolton,
W. B. Caffrey,
John Lynch,
M. Whitley,
A. S. Ford,
Alex Anderson,
Wm. S. Algie,
J. Rohrs,
Ezra Daggett,
L. L. Hecinbothem,
F. Carles Merry,
C. F. Caldwell,
Pelhamville Land and Homestead Assoc'n by Geo. C. Appell, attorney
C. Barker,
W. J. Evert,
S. Gregove,
B. F. Crewell,
L. T. Vorhans,
George Bowden, Esq.,
Geo. McGalliard,
John H. Young,
C. H. Merritt,
I. C. Hill,
E. A. Patterson,
Wm. C. Barker,
C. Green,
John T. Logan,
J. Henderson,
Conrad Bifer,
Wm. H. Sparks, Jr.,
M. I. Sparks,
B. F. Corlies,
Geo. C. Appell.

Westchester County, ss.:

Wm. H. Sparks, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he knows the individuals whose names are signed to the within petition and knows they are taxpayers and residents of the district mentioned in said petition, and that they comprise more than one half of the resident taxes assessed and collected in said district.

WM. H. SPARKS.

Subscribed and sworn before me this 20th day of Feb. '93 }
GUSTAVE I. KARBACH, Justice of the Peace. }

The question was taken on said petition and it was declared granted by the following vote:

Ayes -- Messrs. Banta, Breakell, T. E. Carpenter, Close Fancher, Johnson, Lent, Molloy, Morris, Pell, Platt, Read, Secor, See, Taylor, Thurton and Todd -- 16; nays -- none.

Mr. Pell presented the following resolution:

Resolved, That there be levied and assessed upon the taxable property of all that portion of the Town of Pelham, lying north of the northerly boundary of the village of Pelham Manor, in said town, and collected, the sum of four thousand dollars for the purpose of purchasing a site and erecting a building thereon for an engine house; also for a suitable fire apparatus as provided by chapter 18 of the laws of 1892.

The question was taken on said resolution and it was adopted, a majority of all the members of the board, including the supervisor of the town of Pelham, voting in favor thereof. . . ."

Source: Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of Westchester County -- Annual Session of 1892-93, The Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Feb. 25, 1893, Vol. XLVIII, No. 48, p. 1, col. 4.