Historic Pelham: More on Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910

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Trolleys once were a principal means of transportation throughout our region. By 1899, one could travel between the Battery in lower Manhattan 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. I have written about that extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley line once before. See Tue., Jan. 06, 2015: Extension of the Toonerville Trolley Line in Pelham Manor in 1910.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog provides additional detail regarding the process of extending to Shore Road the little trolley line that inspired Fontaine Fox. At the end of today's article, I have listed links to the many previous articles I have posted about trolleys and the Toonerville Trolley.

In the late 19th century, the little Pelham Manor trolley line shuttled back and forth between the Town of Pelham's two principal commuter railroad stations: Pelham Station on the New Haven Main Line and the Pelham Manor Depot on the New Haven Branch Line. The trolley "met all the trains" -- a fact that Fontaine Fox played up in his "Toonerville Folks" comic strip when referencing his famous Toonerville Trolley.

Until Labor Day in 1910, the Pelham Manor trolley began each run from a spot on Wolfs Lane near Pelham Station in the Village of Pelham (today's Pelham Heights) about where the buildings housing, among other things, Kravitz Real Estate, are located at present. The trolley ran along Wolf's Lane to Colonial Avenue where it turned eastward (left) and proceeded the short distance along Colonial Avenue to Pelhamdale Avenue. There it turned southeastward (right) and proceeded along Pelhamdale Avenue with intermediate stops along the way such as stops at the intersection of Witherbee Avenue and at Red Church Corner (today's Four Corners).

When the trolley reached a point on Pelhamdale Avenue in the Village of Pelham Manor about where the New Haven Branch Line railroad overpass crossed the roadway, the trolley operator had to exit the vehicle, reverse the overhead connection of the trolley car to the electric wires and then begin a return trip along the same route back to the Pelham Station, always paying mind to the arrival times of all trains on both the Main and Branch Lines so as to meet all such trains.

By 1910, it was apparent to the Westchester Electric Railway, operator of the Pelham Manor trolley at the time, that so many people used the New Haven Branch Line to get to and from the New York Athletic Club facility and Long Island Sound at the end of Pelhamdale Avenue where it met Shore Road that it warranted extending the trolley line from its terminus near the Pelham Manor Depot all the way to the end of Pelhamdale Avenue at Shore Road.

In about early July of that year, the Westchester Electric Railway began staging work along Pelhamdale Avenue to prepare for laying trolley tracks along the roadway. Because laying the tracks would require closure of the road, the Village of Pelham Manor asked Westchester Electric Railway to delay the work for a time because the only other way then possible to move through that portion of Pelham Manor was via Split Rock Road which then ran from Shore Road all the way to Boston Post Road. That roadway was "practically closed" for repairs in July, 1910, thus prompting Pelham Manor to request a delay in closing Pelhamdale Avenue to lay the trolley tracks for the extension.

Although laying the trolley tracks for the Pelhamdale Avenue extension was delayed for a short time, during the week of July 19, 1910, the poles necessary to carry the overhead wires for the trolley extension were erected along Pelhamdale Avenue.

By August, work to lay the trolley tracks beneath the New Haven Branch Line railroad overpass and along Pelhamdale Avenue to Shore Road was underway in earnest. There was, however, a bit of a problem.

The giant rocky outcropping at the end of Shore Road known as the "Haunted Cedar Knoll" made the roadway at the intersection with Pelhamdale Avenue a little too tight for the small Pelham Manor trolley car to be maneuvered to a stop to allow passengers to disembark. Track laying crews had to blast out about 100 feet of rock on Shore Road to make way for the trolley extension.

On Thursday, September 1, 1910, Superintendent William B. Wheeler of Westchester Electric Railway announced that all necessary poles and overhead wires had been erected and that the laying of the tracks for the extension was "practically completed." He further announced that blasting of the 100 feet of rock on Shore Road was about to begin and the last 200 feet of rails would then be laid. He further revealed that trolley cars would begin running on the extension on Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 1910.