Historic Pelham

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Additional Obituaries of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor

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Many in Pelham Manor drive by the two lovely homes that stand at 952 Pelhamdale Avenue and 964 Pelhamdale Avenue every day without giving either a second thought. The two homes, however, once formed the school buildings of The Taft School for Boys founded in Pelham Manor in 1890 and, today, one of the nation's premier preparatory schools. Today the school is located in Watertown, Connecticut. (Interestingly, the Taft School for Boys took over the two homes from Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls who also used them as school buildings the prior year before moving the girls' school to buildings constructed on Esplanade at Boston Post Road.)

964 Pelhamdale Avenue, Once the Main School Building of

the Taft School for Boys in the Early 1890s. Source: Google

Maps. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

952 Pelhamdale Avenue, One of Two Adjacent Residences that Once Were

Part of The Taft School for Boys That Operated in Pelham Manor 1890 - 1893.

Photograph Taken in 2005 by the Author. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Horace Dutton Taft founded the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor. Taft was a brother of William Howard Taft who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and, in 1909, became the nation’s 27th President.

Horace D. Taft had no training in school administration. Indeed, his only exposure to the teaching world reportedly involved tutoring Latin for three years at Yale, his alma mater. Horace Taft was, however, a friend of a prominent Pelham Manor resident – Mrs. Robert C. (Mary G. Witherbee) Black. Mrs. Black was the wife of a member of the internationally renowned jewelry firm of Black, Starr & Frost. The Blacks owned large tracts of land in Pelham Manor and had a palatial home known as “Dogwood” located almost directly across Pelhamdale Avenue from 952 and 964 Pelhamdale Avenue. The home faced the Esplanade on plots where homes located between 955 and 999 Pelhamdale Avenue stand today.

Robert and Mary Black had two sons: R. Clifford Black, Jr. and Witherbee Black. Mrs. Black reportedly contacted family friend Horace Taft seeking a tutor for her boys. She convinced Taft to open a boarding school for boys in Pelham Manor. Mrs. Black reportedly named the new school “Mr. Taft’s School” although it quickly became known as The Taft School for Boys.

The home that stands today at 964 Pelhamdale Avenue reportedly served as the main building for Mr. Taft’s School. According to a letter prepared in 1936 by one of the students who attended the school during its first year of operation, DeWitt Clinton Noyes, there were two homes that served as the grounds of the school when it opened in 1890 for the 1890/91 school year (see newspaper announcement of upcoming opening of the school transcribed below). The letter stated: “The main house belonged to Mrs. Robert C. Black and was directly behind her own on Pelhamdale Avenue. The second house was smaller and next door to the West.” The house that stands today “next door to the West” of 964 Pelhamdale is the home located at 952 Pelhamdale. After only three school years in Pelham Manor, Mr. Taft’s School moved to Watertown, Connecticut where it is located today.

Another of Horace D. Taft's brothers was a New York City attorney who lived for many years in Pelham Manor. His name was Henry Waters Taft, an important early Pelham Manor resident.

Horace Dutton Taft operated the Taft School for Boys as a for-profit boys' preparatory school for most of the years he served as its headmaster. In 1926, Taft donated his majority ownership interest in the school to the Board of Trustees of the institution for them to run as a non-profit institution. The Board reportedly "promptly elected him president of the board of trustees and headmaster." He served in those roles until the late 1930s when he became headmaster emeritus. He died on January 28, 1943 at the age of 81. His death was reported in newspapers all over the country.

I have transcribed a few such obituaries before. See Wed., Feb. 04, 2015: Obituaries of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor. Today's Historic Pelham article transcribes additional such obituaries (and a brief newspaper announcement of the planned opening of the school in 1890) immediately below. Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

Horace Dutton Taft in an Undated Portrait.
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

* * * * *

"PERSONAL AND POLITICAL. . . .

-- Mr. Horace D. Taft, son of Judge Alphonso Taft, will open a boarding and day school for boys next September at Pelham Manor, Westchester county, New York. The announcement says that, while the object is to prepare boys for college, nothing will be sacrificed for the sake of gaining time."

Source: PERSONAL AND POLITICAL, The Buffalo Commercial [Buffalo, NY], May 23, 1890, p. 4, col. 4 (NOTE: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

"HORACE D. TAFT SUCCUMBS AT 81
-----
Brother of Late President Founded Taft School
-----

Watertown, Conn., Jan. 28 (AP). -- Horace D. Taft, 81, brother of the late President William Howard Taft, and founder and for many years headmaster of the Taft School for Boys at Watertown, died at his home tonight.

Starting out to be a lawyer, Taft changed his mind after a year's practice. He spent three years as Latin tutor at Yale, and then started his own school in Pelham Manor with 10 pupils. For the rest of his life he was its headmaster.

In later years, after it moved to Watertown, it grew to be one of the leading preparatory schools of the country. And in 1926, he gave his majority holdings to the trustees for them to run as a non-profit institution.

They promptly elected him president of the board of trustees and headmaster, a post which he relinquished several years ago to become headmaster emeritus.

Born in Cincinnati, he was the son of Alphonso Taft, judge of the Ohio Supreme Court, who served in several administrations as the Secretary of War, as Attorney General and as U.S. Minister to Austria and Russia."

Source:  HORACE D. TAFT SUCCUMBS AT 81 -- Brother of Late President Founded Taft School, The Wilkes-Barre Record [Wilkes-Barre, PA], Jan. 29, 1943, p. 6, col. 1 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

"Horace D. Taft Died.

WATERTOWN, Conn., Jan. 28 (AP) -- Horace D. Taft, 81, brother of the late President William Howard Taft, and founder and for many years headmaster of the Taft School for Boys at Watertown, died at his home tonight.

Starting out to be a lawyer, Taft changed his mind after a year's practice. He spent three years as Latin tutor at Yale, and then started on his own school in Pelham Manor with ten pupils. For the rest of the his life he was its headmaster.

In later years, after it moved to Watertown, it grew to be one of the leading preparatory schools of the country. And in 1926, he gave his majority holdings to the trustees for them to run as a non-profit institution."

Source:  Horace D. Taft Died, Standard Sentinel [Hazleton, PA], Jan. 29, 1943, Vol. 77, No. 23,670, p. 1, col. 6 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

* * * * *

I have written on numerous occasions about the Taft School for Boys as well as Horace Dutton Taft and his brother, Henry Waters Taft, who lived in Pelham Manor. For a few examples, see:

Mon., Apr. 24, 2017: More on the World Famous Taft School for Boys that Began in Pelham Manor in 1890.

Wed., Feb. 04, 2015: Obituaries of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Mon., Jan. 15, 2007: Brief Biographies of Henry Waters Taft and Horace Dutton Taft of Pelham Manor (and Other Family Members).

Tue., May 30, 2006: A Biography Published in 1906 on the Life of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Wed., Nov. 14, 2007: 1890 Advertisement for Taft's School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Mon., Aug. 15, 2005: 952 Pelhamdale Served as a 19th Century School for Girls, Then a School for Boys.

Bell, Blake A., The Taft School in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 23, Jun. 4, 2004, p. 12, col. 1.

Fri., Mar. 14, 2014: “Life and Practice" of a Country Lawyer Living in Pelham Manor in the 1880s.

Tue., Feb. 14, 2006: An Account of the Blizzard of 1888 by Pelham Manor Resident Henry W. Taft.

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Labels: 1890, 1943, 952 Pelhamdale, 964 Pelhamdale, Education, Henry W. Taft, Henry Waters Taft, Horace Dutton Taft, school, schools, Taft School for Boys

Monday, April 24, 2017

More on the World Famous Taft School for Boys that Began in Pelham Manor in 1890

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1890 Newspaper Advertisement for The Taft School

for Boys in Pelham Manor. Source: MR. TAFT'S SCHOOL

for BOYS [Advertisement], New Rochelle Pioneer, Oct. 4, 1890,

Vol. XXXI, No. 26, p. 3, col. 6. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

TEXT READS: "MR. TAFT'S SCHOOL for BOYS, PELHAM

MANOR, A Boarding and Day School to prepare boys for College.

The principal a graduate of Yale, and for the last three years a

Tutor in that University. For circular and references address MR.

HORACE D. TAFT, Pelham Manor, N.Y."

The home that stands today at 964 Pelhamdale Avenue reportedly served as the main building for Mr. Taft’s School. According to a letter prepared in 1936 by one of the students who attended the school during its first year of operation, DeWitt Clinton Noyes, there were two homes that served as the grounds of the school when it opened in 1890 for the 1890/91 school year. The letter states: “The main house belonged to Mrs. Robert C. Black and was directly behind her own on Pelhamdale Avenue. The second house was smaller and next door to the West.” The house that stands today “next door to the West” of 964 Pelhamdale is the home located at 952 Pelhamdale. After only three school years in Pelham Manor, Mr. Taft’s School moved to Watertown, Connecticut where it is located today.

Mr. Taft's School began as a boarding and day school with ten "boarding scholars" in 1890. By the end of its third year in the spring of 1893, the tiny little school had expanded to capacity with twenty "boarding scholars." Rather than expanding in Pelham Manor (which had no suitable facility into which the school could move and expand over the summer before the next school year), Horace Dutton Taft moved the school to Watertown, Connecticut during the summer of 1893.

During the three years the Taft School for Boys operated in Pelham Manor, it graduated eight young scholars. The school graduated its first two scholars at the end of its first year of operation in the spring of 1891. One was Daniel O'Neill of Pittsburgh. O'Neill attended Yale University beginning the following fall, but died tragically during his first semester in the fall of 1891. The other graduating scholar in the first class that graduated from the school while it was located in Pelham Manor was Stillman Witt Eells. He also attended Yale after graduating from the Taft School. He graduated from Yale in the Class of 1895 and, the same year, married Helene Florence Watterman of Minneapolis. In 1896 he became Secretary of the Chicago Drop Forge & Foundry Co. The following year he became President of the Wheeler Mfg. Co. and the Alegnum Co. and served in that role until 1903. He resigned in 1903 and traveled for four years in Europe, Canada, and the United States. He then settled for a short time in Cleveland and then moved to Hamilton, Bermuda.

At the end of the Taft School's second year, in the spring of 1892, the institution graduated five students: (1) S.C. Alger; (2) Walter Bingham Brayton who later worked for The Standard Car Wheel Company in Cleveland; (3) Edward Laurence Brownell (died in 1905); (4) Neil Bernard Mallon (died in 1909); and (5) James Dwight Rockwell who graduated from Yale in 1896 and worked in the chemical business until his health deteriorated and he moved into the Yale Club in New York City.

S.C. Alger Who Graduated from the Taft School for Boys in 1892

When It Was Located in the Village of Pelham Manor. NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

James Dwight Rockwell Who Graduated from the Taft School

for Boys in 1892 When It Was Located in the Village of Pelham

Manor. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

At the end of the Taft School's third year (its last in Pelham), in the spring of 1893, the institution graduated a single student: James Hart Welch, Jr. Thereafter he worked in the real estate business in Douglaston, Long Island.

952 Pelhamdale Avenue, One of Two Adjacent Residences that Once Were

Part of The Taft School for Boys That Operated in Pelham Manor 1890 - 1893.

Photograph Taken in 2005 by the Author. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Horace Dutton Taft in an Undated Portrait.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

* * * * *

I have written on numerous occasions about the Taft School for Boys as well as Horace Dutton Taft and his brother, Henry Waters Taft, who lived in Pelham Manor. For a few examples, see:

Wed., Feb. 04, 2015: Obituaries of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Mon., Jan. 15, 2007: Brief Biographies of Henry Waters Taft and Horace Dutton Taft of Pelham Manor (and Other Family Members).

Tue., May 30, 2006: A Biography Published in 1906 on the Life of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Wed., Nov. 14, 2007: 1890 Advertisement for Taft's School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Mon., Aug. 15, 2005: 952 Pelhamdale Served as a 19th Century School for Girls, Then a School for Boys.

Bell, Blake A., The Taft School in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 23, Jun. 4, 2004, p. 12, col. 1.

Fri., Mar. 14, 2014: “Life and Practice" of a Country Lawyer Living in Pelham Manor in the 1880s.

Tue., Feb. 14, 2006: An Account of the Blizzard of 1888 by Pelham Manor Resident Henry W. Taft.

* * * * *

Below is the text of several items that form the basis for today's Historic Pelham article. Each is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"Mr. Taft's Own Account

The Taft School was founded by Horace D. Taft in the fall of 1890 in the village of Pelham Manor, Westchester County, New York. Mr. Taft had graduated from Yale in the class of '83 and during the three years prior to the opening of the school had been a member of the Yale Faculty.

The first year of the school there were only ten boarding scholars. The buildings were ordinary residences, the rooms of which were made to serve as school room, class rooms, etc., as well as they might. Altogether, it was a very small beginning and in some respects comical. During the second and third years there were twenty boarding scholars, all that there was room for. In the summer of 1893 the school was moved to Watertown, Connecticut, and located in an old hotel building, the Warren House. There a new beginning was made with thirty boarding scholars and an enlarged faculty. Everything about the school, as we look back on it now, was primitive and inefficient, but after Pelham Manor days it seemed magnificent. A higher standard, both in scholarship and discipline was attained. Athletic teams were organized and the various activities of school life began. The hotel building had to be changed in many respects to meet the requirements of a school. A new plant for heating and plumbing was installed and a gymnasium was built. The old Fair Ground was leased for an athletic field. . . ."

Source: "Mr. Taft's Own Account" in Wiggin, Lewis M., ed., The Taft School Biography Book, Vol. 1, p. 9 (Rutland, VT: The Tuttle Company, 1912).

"1891
Stillman Witt Eells

Mr. Eells holds the proud distinction of being the oldest living graduate. He has been followed by several cousins, among them William and James Symington and a nephew, Samuel Eells. He is the only remaining member of the first class to be graduated from Pelham Manor, the other member of the class, Daniel O'Neill of Pittsburgh, having died during the fall of his Freshman year at Yale. Eells was graduated from Yale in the class of 1895, having spent his summer vacations traveling in Europe, Canada and the West. In 1895 he was married to Miss Helene Florence Watterman of Minneapolis and spent the following year in Europe. In 1896 he became Secretary of the Chicago Drop Forge & Foundry Co. 1897 to 1903 was spent as President of the Wheeler Mfg. Co. and the Alegnum Co. He resigned in 1903 and spent the following four years traveling in Europe, Canada and the United States. In 1907 he made Cleveland his headquarters, having since then lived in Bermuda. His permanent address is P. O. Box 4, Hamilton, Bermuda.

Daniel O'Neill

Deceased.

1892
S. C .Alger

Alger claims that he was graduated the year the school started in Pelham Manor, but the records show it to have been in the second year of the school's history, 1892. It is on this that he bases his claim to being the oldest alumnus of Taft School, but whether he is or not, he is certainly one of the best. Graduated from Yale in the class of 1896 S. He was married in 1896, and has one daughter who was born in 1900.

Permanent address: 250 West 94th Street, New York.

William Bingham Brayton

Brayton was a member of the 1894 class at Sheff, but did not graduate. His address is care The Standard Car Wheel Company, Cleveland, Ohio.

Edward Laurence Brownell

Brownell graduated from Sheff. in the class of 1895. He died in 1905.

Neil Bernard Mallon

Graduated from Yale in 1896. Died in 1909.

James Dwight Rockwell

The following is Rockwell's own account of how it has happened: 'I went to Yale and graduated, 'mirable dictu,' in 1896. In 1900 I became associated in the chemical business with the late Edward L. Brownell, '92. In 1905 my health broke down and I have never succeeded in recovering it, having been confined to my room for several years. As befits one of the very Oldest Living Graduates, I have all the characteristics of extreme old age, except the whiskers, in proof of which I offer in evidence a photographic crime committed in 1902.'

Permanent address: Yale Club, New York.

1893
James Hart Welch, Jr.

Welch now in real estate business at Douglaston, L.I. . . ."

Source: Wiggin, Lewis M., ed., The Taft School Biography Book, Vol. 1, pp. 37-38 (Rutland, VT: The Tuttle Company, 1912).

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Labels: 952 Pelhamdale, 964 Pelhamdale, Education, Horace Dutton Taft, Pelhamdale Avenue, school, Taft, Taft School for Boys

Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Obituaries of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor

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One of the nation’s premier college preparatory schools, The Taft School (now located in Watertown, Connecticut), began in Pelham Manor in 1890. Horace Dutton Taft founded the institution. Taft was a brother of William Howard Taft who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and, in 1909, became the nation’s 27th President. Horace Taft had no training in school administration. Indeed, his only exposure to the teaching world reportedly involved tutoring Latin for three years at Yale, his alma mater.

Horace Taft was, however, a friend of a prominent Pelham Manor resident – Mrs. Robert C. (Mary G. W.) Black. Mrs. Black was the wife of a member of the internationally renowned jewelry firm of Black, Starr & Frost. The Blacks owned large tracts of land in Pelham Manor and had a palatial home known as “Dogwood”. The home faced the Esplanade on plots where homes located between 955 and 999 Pelhamdale Avenue stand today.

Robert and Mary Black had two sons: R. Clifford Black, Jr. and Witherbee Black. Mrs. Black reportedly contacted family friend Horace Taft seeking a tutor for her boys. She convinced Taft to open a boarding school for boys in Pelham Manor. Mrs. Black reportedly named the new school “Mr. Taft’s School” although it quickly became known as The Taft School for Boys.

The home that stands today at 964 Pelhamdale Avenue reportedly served as the main building for Mr. Taft’s School. According to a letter prepared in 1936 by one of the students who attended the school during its first year of operation, DeWitt Clinton Noyes, there were two homes that served as the grounds of the school when it opened in 1890 for the 1890/91 school year. The letter states: “The main house belonged to Mrs. Robert C. Black and was directly behind her own on Pelhamdale Avenue. The second house was smaller and next door to the West.” The house that stands today “next door to the West” of 964 Pelhamdale is the home located at 952 Pelhamdale. After only three school years in Pelham Manor, Mr. Taft’s School moved to Watertown, Connecticut where it is located today.

Another of Horace D. Taft's brothers was a New York City attorney who lived for many years in Pelham Manor. His name was Henry Waters Taft. I have written on numerous occasions about Horace Dutton Taft and his brother, Henry Waters Taft. For a few examples, see:

Mon., Jan. 15, 2007: Brief Biographies of Henry Waters Taft and Horace Dutton Taft of Pelham Manor (and Other Family Members).

Tue., May 30, 2006: A Biography Published in 1906 on the Life of Horace Dutton Taft, Founder of the Taft School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Wed., Nov. 14, 2007: 1890 Advertisement for Taft's School for Boys in Pelham Manor.

Mon., Aug. 15, 2005: 952 Pelhamdale Served as a 19th Century School for Girls, Then a School for Boys.

Bell, Blake A., The Taft School in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 23, Jun. 4, 2004, p. 12, col. 1.

Fri., Mar. 14, 2014: “Life and Practice" of a Country Lawyer Living in Pelham Manor in the 1880s.

Tue., Feb. 14, 2006: An Account of the Blizzard of 1888 by Pelham Manor Resident Henry W. Taft.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog includes an undated portrait of Horace Dutton Taft and transcribes two obituaries published immediately following his death.

Horace Dutton Taft in an Undated Portrait.

NOTE: Click Image to Enlarge.

"Taft, Brother of Ex-President, Expires at 81
-----
Founder of Boys' School Was Recipient Of Honorary Degree From Union College

WATERTOWN, Conn., Jan. 28 (AP). -- Horace D. Taft, 81, brother of the late President William Howard Taft, and founder and for many years headmaster of the Taft School for Boys at Watertown, died at his home tonight.

Starting out to be a lawyer, Taft changed his mind after a year's practice. He spent three years as Latin tutor at Yale, and then started his own school in Pelham Manor with 10 pupils. For the rest of his life, he was its headmaster.

In later years, after it moved to Watertown, it grew to be one of the leading preparatory schools of the country. And in 1926, he gave his majority holdings to the trustees for them to run as a non-profit institution.

They promptly elected him president of the board of trustees and headmaster, a post which he relinquished several years ago to become headmaster emeritus.

Born in Cincinnati, he was the son of Alphonso Taft, judge of the Ohio supreme court, who served in several administrations as secretary of war, as attorney general and as U.S. minister to Austria and Russia.

Another brother beside the late president is Henry W. Taft, New York attorney, and the late Charles P. Taft of Cincinnati, is a half-brother.

In 1892 he married Miss Winifred S. Thompson of Niagara Falls, N. Y., who died in 1909. Among his degrees were a B. A. from Yale in 1883, and an M. A. from Yale in 1893. Williams college awarded him an L. H. D. in 1920 and Union college an L. L. D. in 1924.

Although he was a Cleveland Democrat, Taft left the Democratic party in the 90s and was an ardent Republican after that. He supported vigorously the 18th amendment and wrote and spoke often in its behalf. Another interest was civil service, and he was the founder and for years president of the Connecticut Merit System association.

He published last year 'Memories and Opinions,' which he described as 'the tale of my uneventful life.'"

Source: Taft, Brother of Ex-President, Expires at 81, Schenectady Gazette, Jan. 29, 1943, p. 2, col. 2.

"HORACE TAFT DIES

WATERTOWN, Conn. -- (AP) -- Horace D. Taft, 81, brother of the late President William Howard Taft, and founder and for many years headmaster of the Taft school for Boys at Watertown, died at his home last night. Starting out to be a lawyer, Taft changed his mind after a year's practice. He spent three years as Latin tutor at Yale, and then started his own school in Pelham Manor with ten pupils. For the rest of his life he was its headmaster. In later years, after it moved to Watertown, it grew to be one of the leading preparatory schools of the country."

Source: HORACE TAFT DIES, The Morning Herald [Gloversville and Johnstown, NY], Jan. 29, 1943, p. 6, col. 1.

1890 Newspaper Advertisement for "MR. TAFT'S SCHOOL FOR BOYS"

When it Was Located in Pelham Manor. Source: MR. TAFT'S SCHOOL

FOR BOYS [Advertisement], The Evening Post [NY, NY], Aug. 6, 1890,

p. 6, col. 5. NOTE: Click Image to Enlarge.

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Labels: 1890, 1891, 952 Pelhamdale, 964 Pelhamdale, Education, Henry Waters Taft, Horace Dutton Taft, schools, Taft School for Boys

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

An Early History of Mrs. Hazen's School For Girls in Pelham Manor, Published in 1913

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As local developers and land owners worked to subdivide and develop properties in the sleepy little settlement known as Pelham Manor during the 1880's, one of the issues that arose was the adequacy of local public schools. In an effort to attract potential residents and real estate purchasers, local citizens pressed for the development of private schools to supplement the public school system.

The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York had a star teacher in the 1880's. Her name was Emily Hall Hazen. A few Pelham Manor landowners coveted the teacher’s talents and experience. They still were trying to develop the remnants of the subdivision planned by the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association founded in the early 1870's. To attract “upper class buyers,” a Pelham Manor landowner named Silas H. Witherbee recruited Mrs. Hazen to open a girl’s preparatory school in Pelham Manor. According to one account, “although Mrs. Hazen was urged to locate elsewhere, she yielded to the persuasion and promise of support given by the residents of Pelham Manor.” In 1889 the little school opened, only to become one of the finest girls’ schools in the country before it closed twenty-five years later at the end of the 1914-1915 school year. The school, officially named "Pelham Hall," was known far and wide as "Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls." As the school reached its last years, it had served over a thousand students from forty-two States and over two hundred and fifty towns and cities throughout the country.

Undated Post Card Showing Mrs. Hazen's School

(Between Esplanade and Edgewood Avenue, Ca. 1906).

At essentially the same time, Horace D. Taft (whose brothers included Pelham Manor resident Henry W. Taft and President William Howard Taft) founded one of the nation’s premier college preparatory schools in Pelham Manor in 1890. The school was known as The Taft School for Boys. It continues to operate as The Taft School (now located in Watertown, Connecticut).

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes a brief article published in 1913 that provided information about the early history of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls as well as a description of its courses of study in the 1913-1914 school year. I have written extensively about Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in the past. For a few of the many, many such examples, see the list (including links) at the end of this posting. What follows is a transcription of the article published in 1913, followed by a citation to its source.

“Mrs. Hazen’s School

-----

Mrs. Hazen’s School for Girls was established in Pelham Manor in 1889 and will this year celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary.

At the time of its foundation, a quarter century ago, conditions were so different from those now existing, that residents of to-day can scarcely appreciate the value to the village, at that time, of the establishment of a private school in the community.

Public schools had not then attained their present efficiency, and in the minds of many people of even small means, a private school was the only suitable place to educate their children.

It was therefore recognized by the larger property owners in Pelham Manor that a good private school would be an important factor in the growth and development of the town, and although Mrs. Hazen was urged to locate elsewhere, she yielded to the persuasion and promise of support given by the residents of Pelham Manor.

That their judgment was well founded has been demonstrated by the large number of families, amounting to over one hundred, who have since bought ore rented homes in the Pelhams solely through the influence of Mrs. Hazen and for the express purpose of sending their children to Pelham Hall.

Pelham Manor in 1889 did not present the attractions it does to-day. There were no pavements and in the spring the streets were exceedingly muddy; there was no water system, and it was necessary to pump all water by hand to a tank in the top of each house; there were no trolleys, and all day pupils residing in New Rochelle and Mount Vernon were obliged to drive to the school, while pupils in the boarding department when arriving and departing on trains were handicapped by the inadequacy of the one small livery then in existence, to which it was necessary to send orders by messenger or post, as the telephone was not then established.

For years the school provided forty per cent of the mail which passed through the Pelham Manor post office, and later was a factor in its promotion from a fourth to a third rate office, which would not have been possible without the postal revenue derived from the school.

The school first located on Pelhamdale avenue, opposite the residence of Mrs. Robert C. Balck, in the house then owned by Mr. Silas H. Witherbee, now occupied by Mr. Charles A. Perkins, and the house owned by Miss H.M. Mitchell, now occupied by Mr. Frank A. Hays. It had been the intention of Mr. Witherbee to erect a large and suitable building as soon as possible, but owing to his death, arrangements were made with Mr. Benjamin F. Corlies for the buidings upon the present site, the corner of the Esplanade and the Boston Post Road.

The building of the two houses facing the Esplanade was begun immediately, and they were ready for occupancy the second year of the school, when the number of pupils had increased from sixteen boarding and twenty-one day pupils with which it opened, to thirty-four boarding and thirty-nine day scholars.

The number was steadily augmented, until an additional building was required, and in 1893 the large gray building facing Edgewood avenue was built, affording increased facilities for accomplishing thorough and systematic work with a still larger number of pupils.

A study hall, fifty feet square, with carefully arranged lighting and ventilation, large recitation rooms, a chemical laboratory, an isolated suite of rooms for cases of contagious diseases, a studio for art work, piano practice rooms with sound proof walls, a gymnasium fifty feet square equipped with every apparatus suitable for young women, measuring rooms and shower baths, all contribute to the high degree of efficiency obtained by Mrs. Hazen in her school.

The buildings now accommodate fifty boarding pupils and seventy-five day pupils, and the large staff of instructors are qualified to conduct a child’s education from learning the alphabet, through twelve years of study, to graduations.

There are four departments, primary, intermediate, academic and collegiate, and upon the completion of the entire course, students have received the equivalent of a full college course in abbreviated form.

In addition to the scholastic work accomplished in the class room, drawing and painting, vocal and instrumental music are taught by visiting professional instructors.

The pupils have many forms of outdoor sports, including tennis, hockey and basket ball [sic], in addition to their gymnasium training, which combines the Sargent, Swedish, Savage and Delsarte methods.

That this school is widely known is attested by the fact that its registration list numbers over a thousand names, pupils having been received from forty-two States, and over two hundred and fifty towns and cities.

The school has every year offered gratuitously to the residents of the place as well as to its students, the opportunity of attending a lecture course covering a wide range of subjects: art, science, history, music, drama and literature, many of the lecturers being men and women of distinction and prominence.

The philanthropies of the school are probably more extensive than is realized by those not connected with the school, for in addition to liberal contributions to the churches, it aids by annual contributions amounting to several hundred dollars, the Jacob A. Riis settlement work, Dr. Grenfell's Labrador mission, St. Faith's House Rescue work, the New York Convalescent Home for Women, the Stony World Tuberculosis Sanitorium, the poor whites in the Kentucky Mountains, several fresh air homes for children, and many domestic and foreign missionaries.

In addition to these charities, the school this year contributed one hundred dollars to the New Rochelle Hospital campaign in addition to Mrs. Hazen's personal subscription.

The day has passed when private schools are supposed to encourage only superficiality, extravagance, false standards and general worldliness; for parents now realize that the private school of to-day has earnestly at heart the desire to equip the young girl and boy with every possible preparation for life; to give them cultivated minds, gentle manners, high ethical standards and a broad outlook upon life, and aims at the education of the heart and the spirit as well as the mind.

Its chief advantage lies in its ability to exclude harmful influences and undesirable associations from its pupils, to keep them constantly in an atmosphere of refinement and lofty ideals, and to deal with the variations of ability and temperament by methods carefully adopted to the individual.

Not infrequently it also acts as parent, guardian, guide and friend to many young persons whose home environment under present conditions of life in America is detrimental to their welfare and development. To these the boarding school becomes a home, where regularity of hours, wholesome recreation and the constant sympathy of teachers and schoolmates enable them to develop their best possibilities, and qualify them to fulfill their obligations in life in the ranks of noble American womanhood.

Mrs. Hazen was born in Auburn, N.Y., and is the daughter of the Hon. Benjamin Franklin Hall, who was appointed by President Lincoln as the first Chief Justice of Colorado, and was the partner at law of William H. Seward, Secretary of State under Lincoln's administration.

EDITH TIERS."

Source: Mrs. Hazen's School, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 20, 1913, p. 6, cols. 4-5.

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