Celebration at Pelham Bridge in 1872

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On the evening of Thursday, September 26, 1872, a celebration described as "the most brilliant we ever witnessed in Westchester County" occurred at the Grand View Hotel at Pelham Bridge. The description of that ceremony that appeared nearly a week later in the New York Herald provides an interesting glimpse of an evening entertainment in the Town of Pelham in the days before radio, television, movies, the Web and other such entertainment vehicles. The description of the event is quoted in its entirety immediately below, followed by a citation to its source.

"ON LAST THURSDAY EVENING A SUMPTUOUS EN-tertainment was given by Mr. Griffith Thomas, at the Grand View Hotel, Pelham Bridge, kept by Blizzard & Mahony, and on this occasion, as on all others, his generosity was boundless, and the whole affair was the most brilliant we ever witnessed in Westchester county; 140 variegated lanterns illuminated the arched platform of the hotel, on which the guests assembled, and while the New Rochelle Brass Band filled the air with delightful music, magnificent fireworks were set off in front of the balcony, where his lovely wife and her lady friends were seated. The supper was delicious, the table was splendidly arranged and elegantly decorated with choice flowers. But its chief ornament was Mrs. Thomas, in her surpassing beauty, void of that haughty consciousness that is so painfully perceptible in Nature's favorites, reminding us of Raphael's Madonna. Mr. Thomas is a very wealthy gentleman, and, being one of Nature's noblemen, the wealth could not have fallen into better hands. His sole happiness appears to be centered in making others happy, and his kind deeds will be remembered long after he has joined his loved ones, gone before him to a happier land than this."

Source: [Untitled], N.Y. Herald, Oct. 2, 1872, p. 1, col. 2.

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