1883 Budget for Pelham School District No. 2 on City Island in the Town of Pelham

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The schools within our little Town of Pelham operate within the "Pelham Union Free School District."  What, exactly, does that mean?  

The concept of a union free school district reflects the historical evolution of public school systems within the State of New York.  Such a district results from the union of multiple common school districts that, by virtue of such a combination are rendered free from previous State-law restrictions that barred smaller so-called "common school" districts from operating high schools.  

In 1795, the State of New York established a Statewide system of support for public schools.  In 1812, the State established common schools that operated within "common school districts" and provided public support for such schools.  Common school districts tended to serve small localities and were not authorized to operate high schools.  

With the proliferation of common school districts throughout the State, New York embarked on a major reorganization of its public school system in 1853.  Part of that reorganization involved the establishment of so-called "union free school districts" authorized to operate secondary schools.  To reduce the proliferation of common school districts and to gain some economies of scale, the State authorized the combination of common school districts into union free school districts authorized to operate high schools.  

Few in Pelham realize that the Town once had two school districts:  School District No. 1 that served the mainland and School District No. 2 that served City Island when that community was part of the Town of Pelham.  Today's Historic Pelham article presents the 1883 budget for Pelham School District No. 2 as reported in a local newspaper on October 14, 1882.

On October 10, 1882, the annual meeting of Pelham School District No. 2 was held at the local school house.  This school house was the second one built on City Island.  It was built in about 1860 and was located on land once owned by David Scofield located at the intersection of Orchard Street (today's Hawkins Street) and Main Street (today's City Island Avenue).  The detail from a map published in 1868 shown immediately below indicates the location of the school building where this annual meeting was held on October 10, 1882.

Detail from Map of "City Island, Pelham Township, Westchester Co.,

N.Y. [with] Town of Pelham, Westchester Co., N.Y.," Published by

F.W. Beers in 1868 in the "Atlas of New York and Vicinity from

Actual Surveys by and Under the Direction of F.W. Beers,

Assisted by A.B. Prindle & Others." NOTE: Shows the Location of

the Second Dedicated School Building on City Island on Property

Acquired in 1860 from David Scofield on the Northwest Corner of

the Intersection of Orchard Street and Main Street (Now City Island

Avenue).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The report suggests that the entire budget for Pelham School District No. 2 for the 1882-83 school year was about $2,970 (about $98,700 in today's dollars).  Pelham taxpayers funded $2,270 of that amount with New York State providing $700 from the State school fund (23.7% of the total annual budget). 

There were at least three teachers (described as "under teachers" so there may have been one or more additional).  The budget provided $1,800 for teachers' salaries.  Interestingly, although the budget provided $150 for "incidental expenses," nowhere does it provide any explicit appropriation for books or other academic resources.  The budget appropriated $100 for each of three categories:  janitor, cleaning (presumably supplies), and fuel (likely coal -- or wood -- for a heating stove).  The budget also provided $20 to pay for "census" taking (presumably the need to determine the number of school age children within the district for planning purposes).  

In addition to passing the school budget for the year, the annual meeting elected a trustee, a clerk and a tax collector to collect school taxes.  Mr. Thomas Martin was elected trustee.  William Anderson was elected Clerk.  William E. Loundes was elected collector.  The meeting then adjourned to the second Tuesday of October in the following year (1883).  

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I have written a number of times about the early public school system in the Town of Pelham.  See, e.g., 

Thu., Jan. 28, 2016:  The Early Development of Pelham Schools in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries.

Mon., Jun. 19, 2017:  A Little About the History of the Pelham School System During the Mid-1850s.

Mon., Apr. 07, 2014:  History of A Few of the Earliest Public Schools in the Town of Pelham.

Thu., Feb. 26, 2015:  The Use of Pelham's Town Hall on Shore Road as a Public Schoolhouse During the 1880s.

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Transcribed below is the text of the news article on which today's Historic Pelham article is based, followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"CITY ISLAND.  --  At a meeting of the Republican Association of the town of Pelham on Saturday last, Dudley R. Horton was elected President.  There was a full attendance, and much earnestness was manifest.  It was unanimously resolved, not only to vote the straight Republican ticket, but to use all honorable means to elect the entire ticket.  The following named were elected delegates to the County convention:  Dudley R. Horton, Jerome Bell, and W. H. Sparks, the above named also to the Assembly convention.

The annual school meeting of District school No. 2, of Pelham, was held at the school house, City Island, on the 10th inst.  Mr. Thomas Martin was elected Trustee, Wm. Anderson, Clerk, William E. Loundes, Collector.  After which the following appropriations made:

For teachers salary,         -          $1,800
"     janitor,     -     -     -     -     -         100
"     fuel,        -      -     -     -     -         100
"     cleaning school,  -     -     -         100
"     taken census      -     -     -            20
"     incidental expenses  -     -          150

Total             -      -     -     -     -    $2,195 [sic]

Seven hundred dollars is received from the State school fund.  The yearly salaries of the three under teachers were raised $100 each.  After which the meeting adjourned until the second Tuesday in October, 1883."

Source:  CITY ISLAND, New Rochelle Pioneer, Oct. 14, 1882, Vol. XXIII, No. 27, p. 3, col. 7.

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Early February, 1886, When the Waters Off Pelham Froze Over and Trapped Ships

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The cold that winter more than 130 years ago was so brutal that extreme efforts had to be taken to prevent prisoners held on Hart Island in the Town of Pelham from simply walking away from the prison across the ice of Long Island Sound.  Every day during that brutal cold spell in early February, 1886 the powerful steamboat Fidelity chugged along dutifully and plowed away the thick ice around the entire circumference of the island so Hart Island prisoners could not escape.  Winter was pounding poor Pelham once again.

Pelham, it seems, had grown accustomed to the terrible cold of a merciless winter.  Only four years before during another ferocious winter, the Long Island Sound around City Island and Hart Island off the shores of Pelham froze over and trapped hundreds of craft including schooners and myriad sailing vessels.  Indeed, so many ships were trapped in the ice on that occasion that, according to one account, at night the area "looked like a big town" due to the many lights that could be seen within the many trapped vessels waiting for the ice to thaw and break up.  

Three years before that, in 1879 during another brutal cold spell, much of the Sound and even rivers including portions of the Hudson froze over in a similar fashion.  Steamers were used to break up the ice to try to keep maritime navigation flowing.  Though shipping continued sporadically in the New York City region, the ice-choked waters slowed traffic tremendously for many, many days.

Early February, 1886 was no different.  On February 9, 1886, the New York Herald reported that around City Island and Hart Island "the ice was a complete field."  Pelham Bay "was an unbroken sheet of ice."  Ice on the rivers surrounding New York City was between four and six inches thick.  Schooners, tows, and tugs were stuck in the ice around the islands.  Indeed, on February 8, 1886 there were seven schooners and twenty one canal boats stuck in the ice near City Island and Hart Island.  Additionally, thirteen coal barges that were bound for Bridgeport were stuck in the area.  The New York Herald reported that the ice was solid from the waters around City Island all the way up to Saybrook, Connecticut.

In an effort to keep maritime commerce flowing to and from City Island, a steamship tug was used to cut a channel through the ice leading to the City Island dock one morning.  By the afternoon, however, the tiny little channel was virtually impassable.  It was "choked with broken cakes of ice."  

Sailors on board the trapped vessels made the most of their situation.  For example, Captain Flannery of the M. Vandercook (the vessel towing the thirteen ice-bound coal barges) was accompanied by his wife.  On the evening of Saturday, February 6, Captain Flannery's "buxom, hospitable" wife hosted a grand party for sailors including Captain Fillman, Captain John Walker "Peter" Carlin, and Captain Michael Daly.  Each captain was accompanied by his wife.  One of the crew members provided music with a concertina.  The ladies and gentlemen, according to the New York Herald, enjoyed "an elegant time . . . that evening on the frozen Sound."

It was days before the ice "rotted" from warm weather and ships could travel safely again.  For a time, however, the crews of many ships were ice-bound in a little place called Pelham, New York. . . .   

The Jeannette, Shown Ice-Bound in 1881.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"FROZEN IN ON THE SOUND.

The severity of the weather last week was especially remarkable up the Sound.  Around City Island and Hart Island the ice was a complete field, and from four to six inches in the rivers.  Schooners, tows and tugs were caught in Hart Island Roads and were ice bound for days.  Yesterday morning there were fixed there seven schooners and twenty-one canal boats.  The schooner John Douglass, Captain Jordan, with a crew of five, with coal, bound for Boston, ran in there on Wednesday night, and next day was unable to break through the ice, so heavy had been the frost within a few hours.  The other schooners caught in the same trap were the Helen Thompson, the Speedwell, the Charles W. Simmons, the E. Flower, the Randolph (Captain Ward), for Providence, the Gray Parrot (British, Captain Mulbury), for St. John, N. B., and the James English (Captain Perkins), for Newport.

A HERALD reporter yesterday went up to City Island to ascertain the state of things.  Pelham Bay was an unbroken sheet of ice and the Hart Island Roads were nearly in the same condition.  The powerful steamer Fidelity had ploughed along the shore of Hart Island every day so as to break the ice and thus prevent a possible means of escape for the prisoners confined on the island.  The ice in the roads was already black and showing signs of rottenness.  A channel from the City Island dock to the vicinity of the schooners had been made by a tug in the morning, but in the afternoon a good part of this channel was choked with broken cakes of ice.  The HERALD reporter pulled through the open water, and then he and his man had to drag the boat over the unbroken portion of the ice to get to another lead to reach the schooners.  The operation was watched with languid interest by the crews, who leaned over the bulwarks calmly smoking.

LIFE ON THE ICE-BOUND CRAFT.

When the reporter got alongside the Douglass and began to ask questions without introducing himself, Captain Jordan said:  --  

'I suppose you are a reporter?'

'Just so,' was the answer.

'Be you from the HERALD?'

'Why, of course,' was the response.

The skipper thereupon told his visitor that he would be still more delighted if he (the visitor) had brought along a sou'west wind to break up the ice.  The Douglass had spoken the C. B. Sanford, which reported that the ice was solid all the way up to Saybrook.  The crews of the different schooners had not suffered for anything.  Up to Sunday afternoon they were able to walk over the ice to City Island to get all the drink and (if necessary) all the food they wanted.

On Sunday afternoon, however, an accident occurred to one of the men.  A sailor named Jack Deering was in rear of a party, trudging over the ice to the village, when he got on a tender spot and down he went.  He clung to the edge of the broken ice and shouted.  His chums ran back and one of them extended to him a boat hook, which he grasped, and by this means was dragged to a safer place.

The Captain John, the steamer plying between New Rochelle, City Island and New York, got into City Island before Wednesday.  She came down to New York early yesterday morning.  
The Massachusetts was seen to pass down the channel outside the roads seemingly badly listed to port.  Every one thought she had met with a serious accident.

FESTIVITIES UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

From Wednesday until yesterday morning thirteen coal barges bound for Bridgeport and New Haven lay in the channel at the entrance of Hart Island roads.  They had been towed thus far by the M. Vandercook, but could get no further because of the ice.  The leading boat was bossed by Captain Flannery, whose buxom, hospitable wife determined on Saturday night to give a party.  The skippers who crowded her cabins were Captains Fillman, John Walker 'Peter' Carlin and Michael Daly, and the good ladies their wives accompanied them.  There was no grand piano aboard, but one of the crew had genius and a concertina and furnished the music.  The orchestra was not imbedded [sic] in a bower of roses, as is usual on such occasions, but a hillock of coal hid it from sight, and the proprieties were so far observed.  It was an 'elegant' time those ladies and gentlemen had that evening on the frozen Sound.  Yesterday their palatial floating residences were towed into the roads.

Mr. Furman, a member of the Pelham Yacht Club, said this winter, so far, the ice had not been as great and as unbroken as on some previous winters.  Four years ago there were hundreds of craft frozen in, and at night the roads, from the myriads of lights, looked like a big town.

Just below City Island Dock is Dan Carroll's shipyard, where the yacht Lurline is being repaired.  The Lurline belongs to Mr. James Waterbury, the millionaire.  The yacht is being fitted with a new boiler and a flush deck.  Owing to the cold the work on her has been slow, but it is hoped she will be ready by the 10th of March to go South.

The schooners Minnehaha and Oak Wood, which were disabled in the great storm of three weeks ago, are being repaired at the City Island Dock.  Should the fine weather continue -- indeed, should this morning prove very mild -- the schooners and tow named above will be able to get out by to-morrow morning."

Source:  FROZEN IN ON THE SOUND, N.Y. Herald, Feb. 9, 1886, p. 8, col. 6.  

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Pelham experienced a series of terrible winters during the 1850s, the 1870s, and the 1880s.  I have written before about some of these terrible winters and the major storms they produced. See, e.g.: 

Thu., Aug. 17, 2017:  More on Brutal Winters in Pelham During the 1850s.

Thu., Jul. 27, 2017:  Terrible Storm of 1856 Wrecks Dozens and Dozens of Ships Including Many on Pelham Shores. 

Fri., May 26, 2017:  The Significance of the Wreck of the Steamer Plymouth Rock in Pelham in 1855.

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Construction of the First Clubhouse of the Manor Club in 1887 and 1888

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Currently among the many, many eBay auction offerings related to the history of Pelham is a lovely postcard entitled "Manor Club, Pelham Manor, N. Y."  It depicts the original clubhouse of the Manor Club, known as the "Manor House," built in 1887-1888 (see image below).  The cornerstone of the structure was laid on Thanksgiving Day, 1887 (November 24, 1887).  Construction was completed and the Manor House opened in June, 1888.  The structure stood where today's clubhouse of the Manor Club stands.

Postcard View of the "Manor House," the Original Clubhouse of the

Manor Club Built on the Site of Today's Clubhouse in 1887-1888.

Postcard is Postmarked July 5, 1917.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail from 1899 Map Published by John F. Fairchild Showing

Location of the Original "Manor House" of the Manor Club.  Red

Arrow Shows View of Photographer Who Created the Image

of the Manor House on the Postcard Immediately Above.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

The precise origins of the Manor Club, unfortunately, are unknown. Some believe that in 1878, only five years after the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association formed to develop the area that came to be known as Pelham Manor, a few local residents began gathering socially in local homes. This group, with no organizational structure, is believed to have evolved into the Manor Club.

On January 10, 1882, “the greater part of the residents” of Pelham Manor gathered at the home of Mr. E.E. Hitchcock. See The Manor Club, THE HISTORY OF THE MANOR CLUB, p. 6 (Pelham Manor, NY: 1973). Their purpose was to “reorganize” the Manor Club which, for some unknown reason, “had formally been disbanded at a meeting held December 9, 1881” according to the minutes of the January 10 meeting.  Id.  A history of the club published in 1973 says that during the “reorganizational” meeting: “a constitution and by-laws were drawn up and unanimously adopted. Mr. John H. Dey, temporary chairman of the meeting, appointed a committee to nominate the officers of the new club and said officers were elected by acclamation.  This new constitution provided that the offices of vice president and treasurer must be filled by ladies.”  Id. 

Early meeting minutes suggest that the club held monthly meetings in various members’ homes.  Entertainment included recitations, singing and – even as early as 1882 – simple plays such as “a serio-comic representation of Oscar Wilde’s Dream”.  Id.

A previous Historic Pelham article detailed how the original clubhouse depicted in the postcard view set forth above came to be:

"There is a fascinating story about the origins of the Manor Club’s first clubhouse.  According to William Barnett, a member of the original Club and an early Club historian, it seems that Pelham Manor residents were unhappy with their lack of influence in local school affairs.  They decided to acquire lands, erect a clubhouse and give all members a "freehold interest" in order to qualify all members (including women) to vote as property owners during school elections. 

It appears that residents of Pelhamville (the area north of the New Haven line) dominated school affairs.  In the fall of 1882, residents of Pelham Manor supported one of their own, Mr. George H. Reynolds, as a candidate for the school board. At about this time, it was “suggested that lands be purchased under the auspices of the Club and freehold interest conveyed therein to each member, in this way qualifying all members (including the ladies) to vote at school elections.”  Id., p. 7. 

In effect, Pelham Manor residents had formed a plan to stuff the ballot box in school elections.  To implement that plan, however, they needed a large number of landowners. Common ownership of land set aside for a new clubhouse seemed to be the perfect solution.  According to a history of the Club prepared by Mrs. Earle E. Bradway: 

'In May 1883 the Club voted to purchase, for three hundred dollars, two lots of land on the Esplanade, numbers 161 and 162.  In order to effectuate the object of the purchase, it was desirable that an incorporate institution should first take title to the land from Mrs. [Robert C.] Black and then convey undivided interests therein to the voters.  Accordingly, Mr. Robert C. Black, Mr. John H. Dey, Mr. W.R. Lamberton, Mr. George H. Reynolds and Mr. G. Osmar Reynolds signed and filed articles of association under the provisions of an Act of the Legislature passed in 1875, and on the 28th day of May 1883 became incorporated under the name of the Manor Club.  This incorporated club in June 1883 took title to the land referred to and carried out the intention of the purchase by conveying life interests to the several members of the old Manor Club.'  Id.

At a meeting of the club held on June 7, 1883, members voted to build a permanent clubhouse. Mrs. Robert C. Black, whose family founded the settlement and owned large swaths of land in the area, donated a lot on the Esplanade as the site for the new clubhouse. 

During the summer of 1887, the Club raised $10,000 by subscription to fund construction of the new clubhouse. Club members selected Pelham resident F. Carles Merry as the architect. He designed a lovely shingle-style building with a large auditorium in the center and a deep “piazza” (porch) that surrounded nearly the entire building."

The day after the cornerstone laying ceremony on Thanksgiving that year, a local newspaper reported as follows:

 "The Manor Club of Pelham Manor, in Westchester County, is erecting a very picturesque and substantial club-house to be called the Manor House, from plans furnished by Mr. F. Carles Merry.  The material is the rough stone found upon the place, and it has been treated in a simple but very effective manner.  The Club subscribed $10,000 for building purposes during the summer, and broke ground this fall.  Yesterday the corner-stone was laid by Mrs. Robert C. Black with appropriate ceremonies."

The club completed construction of the "Manor House" over the next few months and opened it to members in June, 1888.  

Only a few weeks after the Manor House opened in June 1888, another local newspaper reported:

"An attractive, cozey [sic] and popular resort for Manorites and their friends is the Manor House, but quite recently opened by the Manor club.  It presents an appearance of ease and comfort well calculated to attract after a day spent in the busy metropolis over scorching pavements and within sizzling brick walls."

Little did anyone suspect that the Manor Club would still be going strong nearly 130 years later, in an even larger and more impressive clubhouse built to replace the first one.

Manor Club Advertisement From Local Newspaper Published Only

a Few Months After the Original "Manor House" of the Club Opened

in 1888.  Source:  THE MANOR CLUB, AMATEUR THEATRICALS

[Advertisement], The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Nov. 2, 1888,

p. 2, col. 4.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

I have written about the original Manor Club clubhouse built in 1887-1888 on several previous occasions.  See:

Early History of the Manor Club, The Pelham Weekly, May 14, 2004, Vol. XIII, No. 20, p. 12, col. 2.

Tue., Dec. 13, 2005:  The Manor Club's First Clubhouse Built in 1887-1888. 

Wed., Dec. 28, 2005:  The Mystery of the "Manor Club Girl" That Set Pelham Tongues Wagging in 1913. 

Fri., Aug. 4, 2006:  Early Images of the Original and Current Clubhouse Structures of the Manor Club in the Village of Pelham Manor, New York. 

Mon., Feb. 15, 2010:  Early History of the Manor Club in the Village of Pelham Manor. 

Thu., Sep. 25, 2014:  The Manor Club's Celebration of its Golden Anniversary in 1932.

Mon., Feb. 08, 2016:  Laying of the Cornerstone of the First Manor Club Clubhouse on Thanksgiving Day in 1887.

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"New York.

A NEW CLUB-HOUSE AT PELHAM.

The Manor Club of Pelham Manor, in Westchester County, is erecting a very picturesque and substantial club-house to be called the Manor House, from plans furnished by Mr. F. Carles Merry.  The material is the rough stone found upon the place, and it has been treated in a simple but very effective manner.  The Club subscribed $10,000 for building purposes during the summer, and broke ground this fall.  Yesterday the corner-stone was laid by Mrs. Robert C. Black with appropriate ceremonies."

Source:  New York -- A NEW CLUB-HOUSE AT PELHAM, The Evening Post [NY, NY], Nov. 25, 1887, p. 3, col. 5.  

"PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND.

The Public School of Pelham Manor has lost the valuable services of Mr. E. B. Dumond who for the past six years has been its able principal.  Mr. Dumond's resignation takes effect September 1st.  He will be greatly missed as he has made a host of friends by his gentlemanly deportment and upright character.  He goes back to Fishkill where he taught for a period of twelve years previous to his coming to Pelham Manor.

The Trustees of School District No. 1, Pelham, have appointed a young lady Principal of the Pelham Manor School in place of Mr. Dumond.  The schools of this town will re-open September 4th.

Mr. W. E. Robinson of Pelham Manor has gone to Buffalo.  Mr. James M. Townsend, Jr., and family have left for New Haven.

A week from to-morrow the New York Athletic Club will have their annual swimming match from headquarters on 'Traver's' formerly 'Hunter's' Island.  September 23 they will have their annual regatta and games.  On Monday next, it is understood, the club will break ground for the new club house which is to cost sixty thousand dollars.  This will add another to the many fine club houses which already grace the north shore of Long Island Sound. 

Quite a lively school election is anticipated in the First District on the 28th.  Pelham Manor proposes to place a ticket in the field for Trustees.  There is some talk of dividing this district by setting either Pelhamville or Pelham Manor off by itself.  It is certainly a good suggestion; this having the entire main land of the town one school district should not be; it is too large a territory.

Mrs. A. S. Wilson of City Island died on Sunday last of pneumonia and was buried Tuesday.

Miss Annie Horton is putting up a handsome residence near Belden's.

Arrangements are making for Grace Church pic-nic which will be at Glen Island as heretofore.

An attractive, cozey [sic] and popular resort for Manorites and their friends is the Manor House, but quite recently opened by the Manor club.  It presents an appearance of ease and comfort well calculated to attract after a day spent in the busy metropolis over scorching pavements and within sizzling brick walls.

Miss Windsor, daughter of Rev. Windsor of Grace Church is going to give a lawn party to-morrow, Saturday evening, on the grounds of Mr. George W. Horton.  The revenue will be devoted to the church.

Fishermen are said to be having some fine sport these days taking blue-fish and weak-fish from LeRoy's Cove on the banks of which Mose Secord holds forth to fit one out with necessary tackle, bait, etc.  It is convenient to Barton [sic; should be Bartow], being but a short distance on the road to City Island.  Mose had a big clam bake on the Point, Wednesday, for the delectation of his patrons and friends.

An Electorama was given in Trinity M. E. Church, City Island, last night, by Mr. Elmer Poulson.  Some very fine views were exhibited.

Mr. E. W. Waterhouse has set an example that others would do well to emulate.  He has place in his grocery store what is known as the O. M. Whitman Patent Butter Cooler.  It is, without exception, the finest thing in the line of a refrigerator that we have seen.  Besides holding about 400 pounds of ice, this one is also calculated for three tubs or firkins of butter, besides a large quantity of small articles.  It is fitted with oval glass fronts for each firkin of butter which stand on revolving pedestals and when open there is no escape of cold air.  Should any of our enterprising Mount Vernon grocers read this, we advise them to take a look at the 'cooler.'

By the burning of the house occupied by Mr. Jacob Gruse on City Island, last week, that gentleman loses about $1,200.  His total loss was $1,700 and he had insurance for $600, but the Insurance Companies, we understand, claim about $75 salvage.  The report that two men called at Mr. Gruses' in the night for drink and were refused and that when he discovered his house on fire he saw two men running away, was untrue.  Mr. Gruse attributes the barking of his dog, which woke him, not to any noise made by persons outside, but to animal instinct, that there was danger.  The old German is very loud in praise of his dog to which he owes so much; a few minutes more and escape from the burning building might have been cut off unless, possibly, by hazarding a jump from windows.  The dog saved him and his family."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Aug. 17, 1888, Vol. XIX, No. 1,116, p. 3, col. 3.

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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.

*          *          *          *          *

"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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More on the Early History of the Wolfs Lane Railroad Bridge on the New Haven Line in Pelham

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Recently I wrote about the fascinating history of the Wolfs Lane Railroad Overpass long known as the "Fifth Avenue Bridge" that carries the New Haven Main Line tracks over Wolfs Lane adjacent to the Pelham National Bank Building at One Wolfs Lane.  See Friday, October 06, 2017 Early History of the Wolfs Lane Railroad Bridge on the New Haven Line in Pelham.  Additional research now has revealed even more about the earliest efforts to have such a railroad overpass built at that location.  It now seems clear that efforts began in 1882 and ripened into a petition reportedly prepared for submission to the railroad in 1884.  Today's Historic Pelham article will detail the new research.

The earliest efforts to create a railroad overpass with the roadway running beneath it seem to have begun in about 1882.  A brief report (that will require a little explanation after quoting it) appeared in a local newspaper in 1884 and read as follows:

"A petition is in circulation, and has already been largely signed, asking that Pelhamdale avenue, where it crosses the New Haven Railroad track at Pelhamville, be cut through under the track at Pelhamville, be cut through under the track.  It is understood that the town of Pelham and the railroad company are to bear an equal share of the expense.  About two years ago, an interview was had with President Watrous, on the subject, and he then promised to use his influence towards accomplishing the object.  The crossing in question is probably one of the most dangerous on the road, as the approach from either side is up a steep grade, and incoming trains cannot be seen until one is upon the track.  This matter of cutting down the hill, so as to run underneath the track, is a subject that should have been considered years ago and it is a marvel that accidents have not been of frequent occurrence."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Jul. 4, 1884, Vol. XV, No. 772, p. 3, col. 5.  

The above-quoted reference may seem odd to those who read it carefully.  It states that the petition seeks to have PELHAMDALE AVENUE (rather than Wolfs Lane) lowered beneath the New Haven Main Line tracks.  Some may wonder:  is this the Pelhamdale Avenue that we know today -- an avenue that does not cross over or under the tracks but, instead, ends at East 1st Street in Pelham Heights at the railroad tracks adjacent to East 1st Street?

As noted by Lockwood Barr in his History of Pelham published in 1946, the 1881 Bromley Map of the area seems to provide the answer.  In the early 1880s, Pelhamdale followed a very different path from the path it now follows through Pelham Heights to the railroad tracks.  The neighborhood of Pelham Heights, of course, did not exist in the early 1880s; there were no roadways through the virgin forest in that area including that portion of what we know today as Pelhamdale Avenue that extends across Colonial Avenue and heads straight to the New Haven Main Line tracks.  Instead, in the early 1880s, Pelhamdale Avenue crossed today's Colonial Avenue and immediately made a diagonal turn toward today's Wolfs Lane, cutting across the back section of today's high school property until it reached what we know as Wolfs Lane roughly at Second Street in today's Pelham Heights (near today's Pelham Picture House).  At the time, Pelhamdale Avenue then merged with what we know today as Wolfs Lane.  Thus, the above-quoted reference to the petition in 1882 "asking that Pelhamdale avenue, where it crosses the New Haven Railroad track at Pelhamville, be cut through under the track at Pelhamville" is, indeed, a reference to a cut-through where the roadway was lowered and a railroad overpass actually was built several years later.

As Lockwood Barr stated:

"There was no trail or early road across the Town of Pelham, that would correspond to the present Pelhamdale Avenue. When Elbert Roosevelt, in 1800, purchased his tract of 250 acres on the Mainland, opposite Travers Island and Hunter's Island, the northern boundary of his property was evidently an old dirt road--now Pelhamdale Avenue--beginning at the Shore Road, near the present boundary line between New Rochelle and the Village of Pelham Manor, and running north to where is now Hillcrest. When the New Haven Railroad, Harlem Division, opened the Pelham Manor Station in 1873, Pelhamdale was extend.ed from the Shore Road to that Railroad Station, and reached the Boston Post Road soon thereafter, as is shown on maps of The Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.

"On the Bromley map of the Town of Pelham, dated 1881, Pelhamdale then crossed Colonial Avenue, diagonally through the back corner of the present High School property, intersecting Wolf Lane near 2nd Street, Village of Pelham, not far from the Pelham Picture House. On this old map that section of the Village of Pelham (now The Heights), between 2nd Street and Colonial, appeared the name "Pelhamdale" while the word "Avenue" was in Pelham Manor. The road was named from the old Philip Pell stone house, called Pelham Dale. When Pelham Heights was developed, after 1890, and the Village of Pelham incorporated in 1896, the diagonal cut was eliminated and Pelhamdale was cut through to the New Haven Main Line Railroad Station."

Source:  Barr, Lockwood Anderson, 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 & Manour of Pelham Also The Story of the Three Modern Villages Called The Pelhams, pp. 118-19 (The Dietz Press, Inc. 1946).

A look at a detail from the 1881 Bromley map certainly confirms the conclusions of Lockwood Barr.  The detail immediately below has been rotated from the original so that due North is at the top of the image.

Detail of 1881 Map of Pelham Showing "Pelhamdal" [sic],

Immediately East of Esplanade, Following a Course of 

Crossing "Old Post Road" (Today's Colonial Avenue) and

Drifting Northeast Across Grounds That Became Today's

Pelham Memorial High School, Then Joining "FIFTH AVE"

At About Where Today's East Second Street Intersects

Wolfs Lane Near the Modern Picture House.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Clearly the reference published in 1884 to efforts to create a cut under the New Haven Main Line tracks where "Pelhamdale Avenue" intersected the tracks was a reference to the very spot where a modern railroad overpass stands to this day.

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