Delay in Completion of the Pelham Region's First Telephone Circuit in 1882

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Like so many other American inventions, the telephone changed life in the little Town of Pelham in the 19th Century.  Indeed, United States Patent No. 174,465 for "Telegraphy" was issued to A. G. Bell on March 7, 1876.  Within only a few short years, residents of Pelham began telephone installations throughout the region.

The telegraph, of course, pre-dated the telephone.  It was developed by Samuel Morse during the 1830s and 1840s.  Despite the earlier development of the telegraph, Pelham seems to have remained cut off from the rest of the world regarding electronic communications until June, 1878, when financier William Belden had a telegraph line installed by the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company to an office in his home on Belden's Point, City Island in the Town of Pelham.  The telegraph was manned by a private telegrapher employed by Mr. Belden.  See City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], May 31, 1878, Vol. IX, No. 454, p. 2, col. 5 (reporting that "Mr. Wm. Belden is having the A. & P. Telegraph wire extended as far as his house, and has an operator and an office of his own at his private residence.").  In 1882, the telegraph system was expanded when the Western Union Telegraph Company installed telegraph lines between Williamsbridge and City Island to connect with the line of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.  See Fri., Nov. 27, 2009:  Telegraph Wires Connected Pelham to the Outside World in 1882.  The same year (1882), a telegraph office began operating in Pelham Manor daily (except Sundays) from 6:00 a.m. until 8:45 p.m. each day.  See Tue., Aug. 11, 2009:  News of Pelham Manor and City Island Published on July 14, 1882.

A Morse Telegraph from 1872-73 of the Type Likely

in Use at About the Time William Belden of City Island

Had a Telegraph Line Extended to His Residence There.

Source:  Wikimedia Commons. NOTE: Click to Enlarge.

I have written on numerous occasions of the histories of telegraph and telephone communications in the Town of Pelham.  See, e.g.:

Tue., Mar. 29, 2005:  The Earliest Telephone in Pelham Manor? 

Tue., Aug. 11, 2009:  News of Pelham Manor and City Island Published on July 14, 1882.

Fri., Nov. 27, 2009:  Telegraph Wires Connected Pelham to the Outside World in 1882.

Mon., Dec. 21, 2009:  More on What May Have Been the First Telephone Installed in Pelham. 

Mon., Mar. 24, 2014:  The Earliest Telephone in Pelham? When and Where Was it Installed?

Mon., Mar. 02, 2015:  The Telegraph in Pelham: Pre-Telephone Communications with the Outside World.

Tue., May 03, 2016:  More on the Earliest Installations of Telephones in the Town of Pelham.

By 1882, it seems, Pelham and the entire region were clamoring for installation of telephone lines and telephones.  There was talk of the creation of a telephone circuit through installation of telephone poles and wires throughout the City Island, Pelham, New Rochelle, and Larchmont region with a central office ("general office") to be located in New Rochelle.  The concept was to have merchants and residents in the region who wished telephone service to pay "monthly dues" to fund installation of the poles and wires as well as creation of the telephone circuit.  

By late summer of 1882, however, it became clear that the initiative would not proceed that year.  Residents of the lovely summer resort community of Larchmont did not want "ungainly" telephone poles erected along their streets.  Instead, they wanted telephone wires to be laid underground.  Additionally, the entire summer resort was more seasonal than residential.  Because most in Larchmont at the time closed their resort homes for the winter and departed to other locations including New York City until the spring, Larchmont residents did not want to begin paying "monthly dues" until the following spring season when they would return to their vacation homes.

New Rochelle merchants who wanted phone service raised similar concerns.  They noted "now that the season is so far advanced, [they] would rather commence paying the monthly dues for the same in the spring."

Given such concerns, on August 26, 1882 the New Rochelle Pioneer reported that "telephone managers at present are not making arrangements to erect poles about New Rochelle, Larchmont, Pelham and City Island, with a general office at New Rochelle."  It also reported that "From the present outlook the telephone circuit will not be perfected before the winter sets in."

Pelham would have to wait a little longer before its residents could install the latest technology:  the telephone.

1884 Telephone, From a Newspaper

Advertisement Published that Year.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"The telephone managers at present are not making arrangements to erect poles about New Rochelle, Larchmont, Pelham and City Island, with a general office at New Rochelle.  The Larchmont people do not care to have the ungainly poles erected about their streets, and there is a strong possibility that the wires will be laid under ground.  This will delay the work until late in the fall, and by that time Larchmont will be deserted.  We understand that a number of the New Rochelle merchants, now that the season is so far advanced, would rather commence paying the monthly dues for the same in the spring.  From the present outlook the telephone circuit will not be perfected before the winter sets in."

Source:  [Untitled], New Rochelle Pioneer, Aug. 26, 1882, Vol. XXIII, No. 20, p. 3, col. 2.  

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