The Fiery Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights

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Introduction

The phantom had "mammoth eyes like balls of fire."  Its frightening eyes and its horrible mouth belched flames.  Those ghostly fires seemed part of "a white cloud shaped like a human being."  

It was the Fiery Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

The fiery phantom always seemed to come out of nearby woods in Pelham Heights near its border with Mount Vernon.  The apparition danced in the roads, particularly on Boulevard.  When approached, the frightening specter would "recede, wave its long arms and then disappear again, as if the ground opened to receive it."  

For a time in late 1894, the Fiery Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights haunted the neighborhood where East 3rd Street in Mount Vernon becomes Boulevard at the border with Pelham Heights.  The phantom wandered the neighborhood along Boulevard as far as a half mile from the Mount Vernon border.  Some say that the frightful phantom wanders there still.

All Hallows' Eve Is Upon Us

Halloween is one week away.  It is time to share more Pelham ghost stories for the amusement of young and old.  

The area in and around Pelham is among the oldest settlements in the New York City region.  Settlers first planted on Manor of Pelham lands in November, 1654, barely five months after Thomas Pell acquired the lands from local Native Americans on June 27, 1654.  With such a long and storied history, it should come as no surprise that Pelham has a host of hauntings and ghost stories that have been documented in books, newspapers, and other resources during the last four centuries.  There are dozens and dozens of ghost stories involving Pelham and what once were Pelham lands (and waters).  Additionally, research constantly reveals new ones.  Today we learn about the Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.  Thereafter, through Halloween next Monday, we will learn about other Pelham ghosts each day.

The Fiery Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights

In 1894, the half-mile stretch along Boulevard from the Mount Vernon border was a quiet neighborhood of widely-separated residential homes in a quiet, relatively undeveloped area.  It would be more than twenty years later before construction began on today's Pelham Memorial High School.  A trolley line ran along tracks in the roadways from East 3rd Street in Mount Vernon onto a short stretch of Boulevard.  The tracks on that short stretch of Boulevard ended when they joined those of the trolley line than ran up and down Wolfs Lane at that point.  For a few days in early December, 1894, this neighborhood was haunted by a Fiery-Eyed Phantom that "caused no end of gossip" in Pelham and Mount Vernon.  

About the 1st of December that year, a trolley car conductor named Martin was operating a trolley at the Pelham / Mount Vernon border where East 3rd becomes Boulevard.  There were passengers in the trolley car with him.  Suddenly he saw a phantom ahead in the roadway.  As reported in a local news article, he described the specter as follows:  "It looked . . . like a white cloud shaped like a human being, with a large head and mammoth eyes like balls of fire, and from its mouth shot flames."  The specter never spoke and, soon, disappeared.  Significantly, Martin's trolley passengers also saw the ghost.  

Martin was so frightened by what he saw that he reported the incident to the President of the trolley company.  He reported he had never been so frightened in his life.  Indeed, Martin was so upset by the incident that later the same evening, as he operated his trolley car, he accidentally slammed his car into another trolley.  Martin was "severely injured" though no passengers were hurt.  

Martin convinced himself thereafter that the ghost actually had appeared to him and his passengers to warn them of the danger of the impending trolley car crash.  Despite reaching this conclusion regarding the ghost's beneficent motives, Martin remained so frightened that he refused to keep his trolley car waiting in the neighborhood and told others that he no longer wanted to operate a trolley car on the line.

Within days "several citizens" saw the fiery phantom.  Mount Vernon police officers began an investigation at the border with Pelham.  Police Officer Vollmer investigated, but returned without apprehending the phantom.

Watch Officer Jacob Josephson, however, had an entirely different experience.  He went to the area and saw the ghost.  According to one account:  "To him it looked large and formidable.  It would come out of the woods and dance on the road, but when Josephson advanced the ghost would recede, wave its long arms and then disappear again, as if the ground opened to receive it."

A few days later, the Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights either changed shape or a second ghost began haunting the same neighborhood.  The ghost appeared to Frank Pebbles of New Rochelle as he walked through Pelham Heights toward New Rochelle on Boulevard about a half mile from Pelham's border with New Rochelle.  According to a news report of the encounter:

"Frank Peebles, a resident of New Rochelle, reported to Chief of Police Foley, at Mount Vernon, last evening that he was intercepted a few nights ago by a ghost as he was walking through Pelham Heights, half a mile from where Martin says he saw it.  His ghostship was standing in the middle of the road, and as Peebles would try to pass to one side, the ghost would jump in front, all the time keeping well in advance.  He had a good chance to see the spook.  It was about seven feet in height, large head with horns, probably formed by a painted cap; hanging to its side it had large wings, which, when flapped, spread from one side of the road to the other.  It seemed illuminated from within.  Peebles says he does not know how he got past the ghost, but he shut his eyes hard and ran, and didn't stop until he fell exhausted at his house door in New Rochelle."

So many reports of the Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights surfaced in such a short time that the Mount Vernon Police Chief decided to investigate the matter himself, wisely choosing to bring a group of fellows with him, apparently for comfort.  There is no report suggesting the group found anything.

A young man named Hudson organized a group of armed vigilantes and announced that on the evening of December 6, 1894, he and his posse would arm themselves with guns and "patrol the haunted district."

The announcement, of course, seems laughable to us today.  Everyone knows you cannot shoot a ghost with a gun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights?

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Below is a news article describing the Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"TO LAY MT. VERNON'S GHOST
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It Has Wings and Fiery Eyes, and Police Chief Foley and Others Will Seek It To-Night.
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CITIZENS HAVE BEEN FRIGHTENED.
-----
Even a Trolley Car Conductor Dreads to Pass the Spot Where the Spook Has Made Its Home.
-----

The terminus of the Fourth avenue branch of the Union Electric Railway is at the bridge (East Third street) which divides the city of Mount Vernon and the village of Pelhamville, a locality occupied as residences by some of the best people of either place -- a quiet neighborhood, where the angel of peace always hovered until quite recently.  Within a few days, according to the testimony of several citizens, a phantom has haunted the aforesaid neighborhood.  It is difficult to describe the spirit, for such they say it is, because each person who claims to have seen it has a different idea of the supernatural thing.  There is no end of gossip in the two towns regarding the alleged ghost, and parties were formed Tuesday evening to lie in wait for it.  All say that it walks at 8 P.M.

Electric-car Conductor Martin says he saw the ghost.  It looked to him like a white cloud shaped like a human being, with a large head and mammoth eyes like balls of fire, and from its mouth shot flames.  He first saw the spirit a week ago.  That same night his car ran into another car, and the motorman, who also saw the ghost, was almost killed.  

Martin was also severely hurt, but no person on the other car was injured.  Martin says the ghost came to warn them of impending danger.  He had, he said, seen a ghost before.  It was just previous to his sister's death.  The last ghost flew close by him and disappeared in the cedar woods.

He is sure he saw the ghost.  He told President Maher of the company of it right after, and was never so frightened in his life.  Now he never keeps his car waiting in that vicinity for a moment.  Martin says passengers in the car also saw the ghost when he did.  He doesn't want to run a car on that branch any longer.  The ghost did not speak, Martin added.

Police Officer Vollmer has been down to apprehend the ghost, but he did not stay long.  He went back on the next car, probably, so he might have been afraid.  Martin is an able-bodied young man, but he showed signs of fear when the ghost was mentioned.

Watch Officer Jacob Josephson corroborated Martin.  He also saw the ghost.  To him it looked large and formidable.  It would come out of the woods and dance on the road, but when Josephson advanced the ghost would recede, wave its long arms and then disappear again, as if the ground opened to receive it.  Police Officer Vollmer says he has searched for the ghost without success, but admits he did not stay long at a time in the vicinity.  Frank Peebles, a resident of New Rochelle, reported to Chief of Police Foley, at Mount Vernon, last evening that he was intercepted a few nights ago by a ghost as he was walking through Pelham Heights, half a mile from where Martin says he saw it.  His ghostship was standing in the middle of the road, and as Peebles would try to pass to one side, the ghost would jump in front, all the time keeping well in advance.  He had a good chance to see the spook.  It was about seven feet in height, large head with horns, probably formed by a painted cap; hanging to its side it had large wings, which, when flapped, spread from one side of the road to the other.  It seemed illuminated from within.  Peebles says he does not know how he got past the ghost, but he shut his eyes hard and ran, and didn't stop until he fell exhausted at his house door in New Rochelle.

Police Chief Foley says he has heard much of the alleged ghost.  Everybody is talking about it.  He will go to-night himself, with others, and try to solve the mystery.  A young man named Hudson has organized a company of his companions, and armed with guns they will to-night patrol the haunted district.

Capt. Foley says he will be on hand to see that the young fellows do not shoot each other instead of the ghost.  Hudson says his namesake discovered the Hudson River, and he ought to be able to discover a ghost."

Source:  TO LAY MT. VERNON'S GHOST -- It Has Wings and Fiery Eyes, and Police Chief Foley and Others Will Seek It To-Night -- CITIZENS HAVE BEEN FRIGHTENED -- Even a Trolley Car Conductor Dreads to Pass the Spot Where the Spook Has Made Its Home, The Evening World [NY, NY], Dec. 6, 1894, p. 7, col. 1 (NOTE:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).
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I have collected ghost stories and legends relating to the Town of Pelham for more than fifteen years.  To read more examples that now total in the several dozens, see: 

Bell, Blake A., Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends, The Pelham Weekly, Oct. 25, 2002, p. 1, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., More Ghosts, Goblins of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 43, Oct. 29, 2004, p. 12, col. 1. 

Bell, Blake A., Archive of HistoricPelham.com Web Site:  Pelham's Ghosts, Goblins and Legends (Oct. 2002). 

Bell, Blake A., Bibliography of Pelham's Ghost Stories and Legends (Oct. 2002).

Mon., Oct. 24, 2016:  The Fiery-Eyed Phantom of Pelham Heights.

Mon., Sep. 19, 2016:  The Dark Spirit of the Devil and His Stepping Stones: A Pelham Legend.

Fri., Oct. 30, 2015:  The Shrieking Ghosts of Execution Rocks: Yet Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 29, 2015:  The Apparition of Wolfs Lane:  Another Pelham Ghost Story.

Wed., Oct. 28, 2015:  The Shadowy Specter of James Street:  A Pelham Manor Ghost Story.

Tue., Oct. 27, 2015:  The Ghostly Gardener of Bolton Priory:  A Pelham Apparition.

Mon., Oct. 26, 2015:  The Ghostly Matron of the Manor Club:  Even a Ghost Whisperer's Nightmare!

Fri., Oct. 31, 2014:  Ghosts in Pelham! Yet Another of Many Accounts of the Haunted Cedar Knoll.

Mon., Sep. 08, 2014:  In 1888, The "Ghost of City Island" Upset the Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 17, 2014: The Phantom Bell Ringer of Christ Church in Pelham Manor.

Fri., Jan. 30, 2009:  Article Published in 1901 Detailed Ghost Stories and Legends of Pelham.

Mon., Feb. 19, 2007:  Another Manor of Pelham Ghost Story: The Whispering Bell.

Fri., Aug. 18, 2006:  The Ghost Gunship of Pelham: A Revolutionary War Ghost Story.

Wed., May 03, 2006:  Another Pelham, New York Ghost Story.

Thu., Oct. 13, 2005:  Two More Pelham Ghost Stories.  

Wed., Oct. 14, 2009:  1879 News Account Provides Additional Basis for Some Facts Underlying Ghost Story of Old Stone House in Pelhamville.

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Where Did Trolleys Run In the Town of Pelham?

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Trolley tracks once criss-crossed the Town of Pelham.  Throughout each day and a portion of each night, electric trolleys rattled along tracks laid in the streets of all three villages that comprised the Pelhams.  Where were all the tracks?  Where did the trolleys run?

Detail from a Photograph in the Collections of the Westchester

County Historical Society Showing "Four Corners," the Intersection

of Pelhamdale Avenue and Boston Post Road Before 1937.  The

"H Line" Trolley is Returning from Shore Road Toward the Intersection.

At this Intersection, Trolley Tracks Along Pelhamdale Avenue Split

With Some Tracks Turning Onto Boston Post Road Toward New

Rochelle and Others Continuing Along Pelhamdale Avenue.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

At the very height of trolley travel in our little Town, in the late 1920s, several different trolley lines ran through Pelham.  In the upper reaches of the Village of North Pelham, a trolley line began in North Pelham on upper Pelhamdale Avenue near the Chester Heights Station of the New York, Westchester & Boston Railroad once located in the Village of Bronxville in the Town of Eastchester.  That trolley line proceeded a few blocks past part of Chester Park to Mayflower Avenue.  The tracks split there with one set of tracks turning east onto Mayflower Avenue into the City of New Rochelle.  The other set continued south along upper Pelhamdale Avenue past the remainder of Chester Park and continued onto Fifth Avenue.  The line continued south on Fifth Avenue and passed the intersection of Fourth Street (today's Lincoln Avenue).  

Detail of Map Published in 1924 Showing Upper Part of Village

of North Pelham.  Dashed Lines Show Paths of Trolley Lines.

Note the Line that Starts Near Chester Heights Station and

Proceeds South Along Upper Pelhamdale Avenue with One Set

of Tracks Turning East on Mayflower Avenue Into New Rochelle.

Source:  Fairchild, John F., "STREET MAP OF THE CITY OF

MOUNT VERNON AND THE TOWN OF PELHAM WESTCHESTER

CO., N.Y." (1924) (From the Digital Collections of the Westchester

County Archive).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Another line entered North Pelham from the City Mount Vernon on Fourth Street (today's Lincoln Avenue) and proceeded through the village on that roadway and on into the City of New Rochelle.   The map detail immediately below shows this line that crossed the Village of North Pelham via today's Lincoln Avenue.

Detail of Map Published in 1924 With Dashed Lines Showing

Trolley Lines.  Note the Trolley Line that Crosses North Pelham

from Mount Vernon to New Rochelle on Fourth Street (Lincoln Ave.)

Source:  Fairchild, John F., "STREET MAP OF THE CITY OF

MOUNT VERNON AND THE TOWN OF PELHAM WESTCHESTER

CO., N.Y." (1924) (From the Digital Collections of the Westchester

County Archive).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The first line on Fifth Avenue crossed Fourth Street (today's Lincoln Avenue) and passed beneath the overpass and Fifth Avenue Station of the New York, Westchester, and Boston Railroad that once passed through North Pelham.  That trolley continued south and passed beneath the overpass and tracks of the New Haven line where Fifth Avenue becomes Wolfs Lane.  As it passed beneath the railroad tracks, the trolley line exited the Village of North Pelham and entered the Village of Pelham (today's Pelham Heights) where the roadway becomes Wolfs Lane.  The map detail immediately below shows how the trolley line along Fifth Avenue proceeded south beneath the New Haven Line overpass and tracks heading toward today's Colonial Avenue.

Detail of Map Published in 1924 With Dashed Lines Showing

Trolley Lines.  Note the Trolley Line that Proceeds Along

Fifth Avenue Beneath the Overpass and Tracks of the New Haven Line

Onto Wolfs Lane in the Village of Pelham.  Source:

Fairchild, John F., "STREET MAP OF THE CITY OF

MOUNT VERNON AND THE TOWN OF PELHAM WESTCHESTER

CO., N.Y." (1924) (From the Digital Collections of the Westchester

County Archive).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

As the trolley line proceeded south in the Village of Pelham along Wolfs Lane and passed Boulevard, a set of trolley tracks from Mount Vernon's East 3rd Street entered the Village of Pelham via Boulevard and joined the trolley tracks on Wolfs Lane headed toward today's Colonial Avenue.  The map detail immediately below shows the trolley line as it passed Boulevard where another set of tracks joined it from East 3rd Street in Mount Vernon.

Detail of Map Published in 1924 With Dashed Lines Showing

Trolley Lines.  Note the Trolley Line that Proceeds Along

Wolfs Lane Past Boulevard Where a Set of Tracks Joined

from East 3rd Street in Mount Vernon.  Source:  Fairchild,

John F., "STREET MAP OF THE CITY OF

MOUNT VERNON AND THE TOWN OF PELHAM WESTCHESTER

CO., N.Y." (1924) (From the Digital Collections of the Westchester

County Archive).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

When the trolley tracks reached Colonial Avenue, they turned eastward onto Colonial Avenue.  In addition, another set of trolley tracks from today's East Sandford Boulevard in the City of Mount Vernon entered Pelham on Colonial Avenue and joined the tracks that proceeded only a couple of blocks on Colonial Avenue where the tracks turned southeastward on Pelhamdale Avenue where they entered the Village of Pelham Manor.  The tracks then proceeded along Pelhamdale Avenue toward Boston Post Road.  The map detail immediately below shows the path of the tracks in this region.

Detail of Map Published in 1924 With Dashed Lines Showing

Trolley Lines.  Note the Trolley Line that Proceeds Along

Wolfs Lane Where it Turns Onto Colonial Avenue and Is

Joined by Another Set of Tracks Entering from Mount Vernon.

The Tracks Continue Two Blocks then Turn Southeast on Pelhamdale.

Source:  Fairchild, John F., "STREET MAP OF THE CITY OF

MOUNT VERNON AND THE TOWN OF PELHAM WESTCHESTER

CO., N.Y." (1924) (From the Digital Collections of the Westchester

County Archive).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The trolley line continued along Pelhamdale Avenue until it reached Boston Post Road.  There the tracks split.  One set of tracks turned east onto Boston Post Road and continued into the City of New Rochelle along Boston Post Road.  The second set of tracks simply continued southeast along Pelhamdale Avenue, passing beneath the Branch Line overpass and tracks to the end of Pelhamdale Avenue at Shore Road where the trolley cars had to be flipped for a return trip.  The last of the map details that appears immediately below shows this region of the trolley lines that crossed the Village of Pelham Manor.

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In 1931, Pelham Recalled "Pelham Institutions Dear to the Hearts of the Old Timers"

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Where is Tillie's Rock?  What is "Grand Jury Bench?"  Have you ever heard of Beecroft Beach in Pelham?

The little Town of Pelham has a rich history that, thankfully, has been well recorded for at least the last 360 years.  As the Town has changed so, too, have its "institutions."  

In 1931, The Pelham Sun published a cheeky little article that recorded a few "Pelham Institutions" that only the old-timers in the Town could recall at that time.  The article discussed the nightly closing of the Boulevard, noting that a disgruntled motorist once blocked from the thoroughfare complained "Where else in this part of the world will you find them taking the streets in at night?"  The article discussed the "Toonerville Trolley," a source of pride for all Pelhamites, then and now.  It discussed the Red Church Corner, the Grand Jury Bench, Tillie's Rock and the Summer White House.  

Thank goodness for such articles for they have preserved little snippets of Pelham traditions that have helped make our town what it is today.  Below is a transcription of the article published in 1931, followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"PELHAM 'INSTITUTIONS' ARE DEAR TO THE HEARTS OF THE OLD TIMERS
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'Street They Take in at Night,' 'Toonerville Trolley,' 'Red Church Corner,' 'Grand Jury Bench,' and 'Summer White House' Are Institutions of Long Standing.
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Residential communities such as the Pelhams . . . are seldom without their 'institutions,' the novel features which contribute greatly to the homeliness of the villages.  Perhaps they mark us as 'small towners' but they are the items that make the Pelhams distinctive suburban communities, countryside of gentlefolk, one of our enterprising sloganeers once deftly termed the three villages, and it is the residential features to which the villages cling that certainly establish this fact.

'Where else in this part of the world will you find them taking the streets in at night?' one of our critics was heard to ask not so long ago.  He was a disgruntled motorist seeking a short route from Mount Vernon to New Rochelle after midnight.  Of course, he chose the Boulevard, only to find that the thoroughfare had been barricaded at Wolf's Lane to prevent the passage of noisy trucks through the residential district while the citizens of the villages were sleeping.

This unique procedure was instituted in 1924 when the Pelham Heights village trustees determined that the Boulevard had not yet been fully dedicated to the village, and could therefore be closed at will.  The passage of trucks through this avenue was extremely bothersome late at night.  The long hill from Pelhamdale to Corona avenues was too steep for heavy lumbering vehicles to negotiate in high speed and the clattering of transmissions and discordant rumble of racing engines made sleep almost impossible.

Proponents of the street closing were met with objections on the ground that the highway had been a public thoroughfare for a period of years.

'It had never before been closed,' said the objectors, 'and therefore could not be barricaded at night.'

Investigation, however, showed that the street had been closed at least once every year, to permit coasting on winter days, so the village fathers took advantage of this and consequently Pelham Heights sleeps peacefully at night.

'The Toonerville Trolley' is another much maligned 'institution' of the Pelhams, yet Pelham Manor is loath to relinquish it.  Perhaps a motor bus would give better service to the commuters who ridicule its contention of meeting all trains, but just listen to their howl if you talk about abandoning the line.  Long before Fontaine Fox visited Pelham in 1909 and gained the inspiration for 'Toonerville Trolley' by riding in the Pelham Manor car, the residents of the village had learned to depend on the car.  They'll swear it's a nuisance (you can find several examples of the Terrible Tempered Mr. Bang) but it's a favorite institution with residents of the Manor.  

'The Red Church Corner' is almost forgotten except by the old timers, who remember when the old Huguenot Memorial church, painted a brilliant red, was situated at the intersection of the Boston road and Pelhamdale avenue.  The late Edward Penfield, noted artist, erected a marker at the site, but the newcomers are ignorant of the fact that 'The Red Church Corner' was once as well known in Westchester as Columbus Circle is in New York City.

When the Pelham Manor village officials first contemplated plans for a park and bathing beach on Long Island Sound adjacent to Travers Island, Remington Schuyler, the artist, well versed in Pelham lore, proposed that it be called Beecroft Beach.  The Beecroft boys, of whom Edgar C. Beecroft, village attorney of Pelham Manor is the last in the village, were once the ringleaders of youth in the Pelhams and made their headquarters along the sound shore.  The site of the proposed beach was the scene of many of the Beecroft boys' escapades in the early days of the village, and there are still many of the old timers who have accepted 'Beecroft Beach.'  The park will not be ready for use by the villagers for several years, but the term will last among those who remember the old days.

About a mile away from Beecroft Beach is 'Tillie's Rock,' on Hunter's Island, which has for many years been the favorite bathing beach of the youth of the Pelhams.  What price a three mile hike, if one can enjoy a swim in the cooling waters of the Sound without the necessity of having to carry a bathing suit all that distance.  'Tillie's Rock' is reserved for men only, and it is as sacred a masculine haven as Huckleberry Island, the aristocratic beach of the Huckleberry Indians, on whose premises no woman has ever set foot.

North Pelham has its 'Grand Jury Bench,' where the old timers gather to discuss questions of international, national and local importance.  Former Mayor James Reilly, the old war horse of village politics, is the foreman of the jury which meets regularly on a low bench at Sixth Street and Fifth avenue.  Many of the major improvements of the village have been planned from this bench and at all hours of the day a loiterer is certain to pick up some interesting information from the 'jurymen.'

Although we must travel several miles to visit the next 'Pelham Institution,' its distance does not remove it from local patriotism in the least.  It is the 'Summer White House' at Alburg, Vt., where Supervisor David Lyon holds sway during the summer months.  The pilgrimages have already begun and rumor has it that the real Pelham political pot is brewing on the shore of Lake Champlain where the Supervisor is spending his vacation.

Do you know these 'institutions'?  If you don't you had better ask some of the old Timers and get acquainted.  You're missing something.  

Can you find anything more than those mentioned?"

Source:  PELHAM "INSTITUTIONS" ARE DEAR TO THE HEARTS OF THE OLD TIMERS, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 24, 1931, p. 5, cols. 1-2.

1868 Beer's Map of the Town of Pelham,

Page 35.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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More on the Nightly Closings of Boulevard in the Village of Pelham

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Last year I published a brief article on the nightly closing of Boulevard in the Village of Pelham.  See Tue., Aug. 19, 2014:  Why Is Boulevard in the Village of Pelham Closed Each Night?  In that posting, I provided a little of the fascinating history behind the nightly closings of Boulevard.  As I noted at the time, the posting was prompted by the many questions I have been asked on numerous occasions including questions such as the following.  Why is Boulevard closed each night?  Is Boulevard in the Village of Pelham a public road or a private parkway?  How long has Boulevard been closed with chains each night?  Does such a closing mean that the roadway is not public?  

Recently I located an extensive news report published in 1923 describing the night that unhappy residents near the Boulevard presented an extensive petition to the Board of what was then the Village of Pelham (today's Pelham Heights).  The account details how the rise of automobile and truck traffic on Boulevard had made the thoroughfare dangerous, noisy, and a nuisance.  The news account made clear just how angry local residents had become and how badly they wanted their local elected officials to do something about the problem.  The account is particularly significant because it reproduces the petition presented by Pelham residents in its entirety.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes the news report in its entirety followed by a citation and a link to its source.  The text of the news article is a little scrambled, apparently because the newspaper inadvertently inserted editorial text within the body of its transcription of the petition.  Nevertheless, I have presented the article as it appeared.  

Detail from 1914 Map Showing Boulevard in Pelham Heights

From Wolf's Lane to Ancon Avenue. Source: "Pelham, New

Rochelle" in Bromley, G. W., Atlas of Westchester County, N.Y.

Pocket, Desk and Automobile Edition, Vol. I, p. 124 (NY, NY:

G. W. Bromley & Co., 1914).  NOTE:  Click Image To Enlarge.

"Trustees To Ascertain Sentiment Of Public About Closing Boulevard; Will Remedy Automobile Nuisance
-----
Extra Motorcycle Policemen Detailed to See that Noisy Parties' Excessive Use of Honrs and Sirens and Speed Hogs Are Curbed As They Pass Through Village.
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May Hold Public Meeting to Give Residents Opportunity to Voice Opinions on Traffic Restrictions.
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The Village Board of Pelham Heights did not take any action on the petition for closing the Boulevard which was presented to it at Tuesday night's meeting, believing it best to obtain a thoroughly representative expression of opinion from the residents of the Heights before any decisive step is taken.  If necessary, a public meeting will be held at which the proposal may be thoroughly discussed.

Messrs. Harold W. Davis and Walter R. Quick of Pelham Heights presented the petition in an informal manner, stating that over one hundred signatures had been obtained for it and that only one resident had gone on record as opposed to it.  The petition follows:

To the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Pelham, New York.

Gentlemen:

We, the undersigned, taxpayers and residents of the Village of Pelham, hereby petition the Village Board, as follows:   

Automobile traffic upon and through the Boulevard Parkway has become so dense that it threatens to destory the character and purpose of this Parkway, imperil the life of pedestrians, particularly the children of the Village, and results in numerous collisions and other accidents and entails a large expense to the Village for maintenance of the roadway and policing and enforcing indispensable traffic regulations.  In spite of this policing, the residents along the Boulevard and for some distance in intersecting streets are inconvenienced by the density of the traffic in the Boulevard, and disturbed by the use of the cut-out, the incessant blowing of horns and the boisterous conduct of automobiles at all hours and particularly at night.  This traffic is principally through traffic between New Rochelle and Mount Vernon, and the class of traffic is increasing rapidly and threatens further increase by reason of the increased use of the Bronx River Parkway between the cities 

Continued on page four

Trustees To Find People's Sentiments On Boulevard Closing
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(Continued from page 1)

of New York and Mount Vernon and the Hudson River Ferry between Yonkers and Alpine, New Jersey, and the increased numbers of people who make use of the Boulevard in going to and returning from the beaches and other resorts along Long Island Sound.  The Boulevard was intended ordinarily for a parkway for the use of the residents of Pelham and the gratification of the Village of Pelham, and not for the use of through traffic.  Signs have been placed in New Rochelle and at the intersection of the Kings Highway and the Boston Highway and the Post Road directing traffic to New York through Pelham Manor.  Mayor Scott has granted permission for the sign and and it will be hung as soon as it is made.

[The following paragraph appears to be "out of order" in the original article.  The petition text seems to pick up again in the paragraph following the one immediately below.]

The Board decided not to take immediate action on the proposal until they could investigater the situation and given any persons objecting to the plan an opportunity to express their opinions.  If necessary, a special meeting will be held to consider the question before the regular August meeting.  

In order to remedy the present sit- [sic - text in original disjointed and is reproduced here exactly as printed] Post Road and at the   junction of the Kings Highway and the Boulevard directing certain through traffic into and upon the Kings Highway and the Boulevard.  We therefore request the Village Board to restrict and regulate traffic upon and through the Boulevard [illegible] from some point in the Town of Pelham necessarily or most conveniently reached via the Boulevard.

2.  That the rate of speed of automobiles in and upon the Boulevard be limited to eight miles per hour;

3.  That the use of cut-outs be wholly forbidden/

4.  That the unnecessary blowing of horns be forbidden;

5.  That the Village Board confer with, or designate some person to confer with the Mayor of the City of New Rochelle in an effort to obtain the substitution of signs at the intersection of the King's Highway and the Boston Post Road and at the junction of the King's Highway and the Boulevard appropriate to deflect through traffic from the King's Highway and the Boulevard, in the place of the signs now located at those points, and to obtain the co-operation in such other manner as may be desirable, of the City of New Rochelle in the limitation and regulation of traffic upon the Boulevard;

6.  That signs appropriate to give notice of the restrictions and regulations which shall be adopted by the Village Board be placed at the junction of the Boulevard and King's Highway and at the intersection of he Boulevard and Wolf's Lane;

7.  That the Village Board prescribe such penalties for the violation of the restrictions and regulations which it shall adopt as it shall deem necessary and proper for the enforcement of such restrictions and regulations.

8.  That a traffic policeman be placed at the junction of the Boulevard and the King's Highway and another at the intersection of the Boulevard and Wolf's Lane, at such hous of the day and night as the Board shall deem necessary, for the purpose of enforcing such restrictions and regulations;

9.  That the Village Board take such other or further measures for the accomplishment of the end in view as it shall see fit.

Dated:  Pelham, July   , 1923.

Respectfully submitted,

The Board pointed out that trucking along the Boulevard already was prohibited by village ordinance and expressed the opinion that the limitation of automobile speed to eight miles an hour was impracticable on account of the hilly character of the parkway.

Walter R. Quick, in supporting the petition, congratulated the Board in the efforts put forth recently to curb the speeders who were infesting the Boulevard.  Noisy automobile parties often passing along the Boulevard in the early hours of the morning were disturbing the peace of the neighborhood, and he believed if the clsoing of the Boulevard was necessary to secure relief, then the Board should take some action toward asserting the rights of the residents in prohibiting the use of the parkway to general traffic.  

Trustee Leahy pointed out that Wolf's Lane was not in good condition to detour traffic over, and in answer to a query, Engineer Fairchild stated that the repaving of the section of Wolf's Lane between Boulevard and Colonial Avenue would not be completed for another month.  The question was raised whether the closing of the Boulevard would not cause traffic to turn off into Second Street and First Street and constitute an even greater nuisance to the residents there.

President Bunnell informed Mr. Davis that the board had complied already with one request of the petition -- to ask the permission of Mayor Scott of New Rochelle to place an electric sign at the junction of King's [sic -- the text is disjointed here apparently due to the newspaper's editing errors] uation by enforcing the village ordinances rigidly, an extra policeman will be added to the force.  The board also voted to buy a motorcycle to be used by the new policeman.

With the addition of the motorcycle officer, the village department will have three mounted officers.  Under the new system, the streets will be patrolled by one of them fro eight in the morning until lthree [sic].  Between four and twelve in the evening two motorcycles will patrol the Boulevard.

Automobile parties who make unnecessary noises at night will receive summonses to appear to anser disorderly conduct charges.  Speeders will be arrested for slight infractions of the twenty-mile speed limit ordinance.  All minor violations of law which are not strictly enforced ordinarily will be dealt with severely if they disturb the peace of the residential district.

Up to July 16th, Officers Tierney and Stanyon have made 97 arrests,"

Source:  Trustees To Ascertain Sentiment Of Public About Closing Boulevard; Will Remedy Automobile Nuisance, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 20, 1923, p. 1, cols. 6-7 & p. 4, cols. 1-3.  

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Why Is Boulevard in the Village of Pelham Closed Each Night?

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As Historian of the Town of Pelham, I have been asked on many occasions and in many different ways variations of the following.  Why is Boulevard closed each night?  Is Boulevard in the Village of Pelham a public road or a private parkway?  How long has Boulevard been closed with chains each night?  Does such a closing mean that the roadway is not public?   

The history behind the nightly closings of Boulevard is fascinating.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog details a little of that history.

According to early reports, the origins of the practice seem to have arisen when the area known as Pelham Heights was being developed during the mid-1890's.  Certain roadways including Boulevard were deeded as private parkways rather than being dedicated as public streets.  With the incorporation of Pelham Heights as the "Village of Pelham," the area began to grow and development continued.  For decades, there seemed to be no effort by Pelham Heights to treat roadways deeded as private parkways as anything other than public roadways.

During the first two decades of the Twentieth Century, however, the use of the roadways in Pelham Heights and elsewhere in Pelham was changing.  The horse was being displaced.  Automobile, bus, truck and trolley transportation was growing and, by the 1920's, ruled the streets of Pelham including Pelham Heights.  

Such progress, of course, came with a price. . . . .

With the rise of automobiles and trucks, those who lived in Pelham Heights were growing increasingly unhappy.  There were two principal routes near The Heights through Pelham between the City of New Rochelle and the City of Mount Vernon:  the ancient and winding roadway known today as Colonial Avenue (Kings Highway or the original Boston Post Road) or the more direct and comparatively straight roadway known as Boulevard.  Most motorists chose Boulevard to cut through Pelham Heights between the two cities.

Moreover, nightly truck deliveries and truck transports were becoming a particular problem due to the long hill extending along Boulevard between Pelhamdale Avenue and Corona Avenue.  The inefficient, heavy and lumbering trucks of the day had difficulty negotiating the long hill.  According to one account, the "clattering of transmissions and discordant rumble of racing engines made sleep almost impossible" for residents along Boulevard.  

By 1923, Boulevard residents were mad as Hell and were not going to take it any longer.  They petitioned local Village leaders to solve the problem.

During the fall of 1923, signs unexpectedly popped up on the Boulevard at Pelhamdale Avenue indicating that the road was under construction and mandating detours to prevent traffic from entering the roadway.  Boulevard residents, it seemed, might get a little sleep. . . . 

The response from the adjacent Village of Pelham Manor was swift.  Officials and residents of the Village of Pelham Manor felt that motorists attempting to cut through Pelham to move between the cities of Mount Vernon and New Rochelle were being diverted to Pelham Manor streets.  They were unhappy that Pelham Manor streets were being forced to bear an unnecessary additional traffic volume with all the concomitant noise and annoyance.  

The President of the Village of Pelham Manor at the time, Newton M. Argabrite, protested the closing.  The Village of Pelham Manor Engineer, Edward Campbell, likewise complained that the detour signs were less than honest.  He howled that "The signs are not right. . . . They state that the road is under construction.  No road is under construction at Pelhamdale Avenue and the Boulevard and the sign is a subterfuge to divert traffic from going to New Rochelle over the Boulevard. . . .  I doubt whether Pelham is acting within its rights in placing a notice directing a detour on account of road construction when there is no road construction going on at Pelhamdale Avenue and the Boulevard."  

Village Engineer Campbell also fired the first salvo of what would become a "battle royale."  He argued that the closing was improper because, regardless of whether the thoroughfare had been deeded as a private parkway, it had been used as a public roadway open to all for more than thirty years, thereby converting its status from a private parkway to a public road.   

A few months later, in 1924, Pelham Heights undertook a bolder move.  The little village suddenly began closing the entirety of Boulevard by hanging red lanterns across the roadway at Wolf's Lane and at Ancon Avenue from 11:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. each night.  Village of Pelham Police officers closed the roadway and hung the lanterns each night.  They opened the roadway and removed the lanterns each morning.  Many in Pelham were unhappy with the move.

According to one account, "Pelham Heights village trustees determined that the Boulevard had not yet been fully dedicated to the village, and could therefore be closed at will."  Objectors argued, like the Pelham Manor Village Engineer, that the roadway had been open and in use for the previous thirty years and, thus, was a public roadway.

Officials of the Village of Pelham (today's Pelham Heights) had an Ace up their sleeve.  They argued that investigation had revealed that the Village had indeed closed the roadway at least once a year for each of the previous thirty years to permit "coasting" on the roadway after significant snowfalls.  ("Coasting" was a term used at the time for snow sledding.)  Thus, according to the Village, the roadway had not been open and in constant public use for the previous thirty years but, rather, had been closed each year by the Village as was its right since it was deeded as a private parkway rather than a public road.

Pelham resident Charles A. Hollister didn't buy it.  He took legal action.  Represented by Mount Vernon attorney, Elmer S. Davis, Hollister filed a lawsuit against the Village of Pelham and successfully obtained injunctive relief against the Village to prevent it from closing Boulevard each night.  

Pelham Heights and its attorneys reportedly came up with an ingenious solution to the inconvenient lawsuit brought by Hollister.  They granted Mr. Hollister the right of access through the Boulevard at night.  According to one account:  "with this personal redress, the injunction order was cancelled by court order on October 1, 1924.  By this token, the village authorities granted the same right to all residents of Pelham."  Each night, Village of Pelham authorities continued to close the Boulevard.

In early 1927, the Village of Pelham President, George Lahey, heard again from Mount Vernon attorney Elmer S. Davis.  President Lahey received a letter in which Davis claimed to represent a non-resident of Pelham named J. Edward Quinn (of Mt. Vernon) who had been inconvenienced by the closing of the public roadway in Pelham known as "Boulevard."  On behalf of Quinn (who was also an attorney in Mount Vernon), the letter from Elmer S. Davis threatened "if in the future I am deprived of that right (going through the Boulevard) I shall take such proper action as will insure me that right to lawful usage of the street at any time I may desire."

The Trustees of the Village of Pelham were quick to take up the matter at their next meeting.  They disposed of the complaint dismissively.  They decided to take no action.  Village President George Lahey sniffed that the "writer was evidently unfamiliar with the status of the Boulevard as a private parkway and not a public highway."  No evidence yet has been located to suggest that any lawsuit ever was filed by J. Edward Quinn.  Although it is not free from doubt, for now, it appears that the threat reflected in the letter never materialized after the Village Trustees chose to ignore it.

Tensions, however, continued to run high.  One letter to the editor of The Pelham Sun published in 1927 read, in part:  "Undoubtedly it is pleasant for the Boulevardiers to be free of automotive night noises, but then we must consider the unpleasant fact that each car diverted from the natural artery must traverse other streets of the village on which other residents would also like to slumber undisturbed."

Although the debate over the propriety of the nightly closing of Boulevard slowly seemed to subside, there occasionally were what appeared to be outbursts of dissatisfaction.  On one occasion in 1939, for example, all the red lanterns used to close the roadway were stolen one night and later turned up smashed along the Hutchinson River Parkway where they were found by Parkway Police.  Despite what may have been a silent protest to the nightly closings (or, perhaps, a simple act of vandalism), the roadway continued to be closed nightly.

Today, few motorists give any thought to the chains used to close Boulevard nightly, simply avoiding the closed roadway.  Indeed, Boulevard has been closed nightly for so long that most have forgotten the history behind the closing. . . . . . . .

Detail from 1914 Map Showing Boulevard in Pelham Heights

From Wolf's Lane to Ancon Avenue.  Source:  "Pelham, New

Rochelle" in Bromley, G. W., Atlas of Westchester County, N.Y.

Pocket, Desk and Automobile Edition, Vol. I, p. 124 (NY, NY:

G. W. Bromley & Co., 1914).

*          *         *         *          *

Below are transcriptions of the text of a number of news articles about the events surrounding the nightly closing of Boulevard.  Each is followed by a citation to its source.   

"DETOUR SIGNS AROUSE PROTEST FROM MANORITES
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Village Engineer Campbell Believes Pelham Has No Right to Divert Traffic
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Pelham Manor Streets Forced to Bear Unnecessary Addition to Traffic Volume
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The posting of detour signs on the Boulevard at Pelhamdale Avenue has aroused a protest from Village President Newton M. Argabrite and Engineer Edward Campbell of Pelham Manor, the claim being made that the signs should not be erected at that point, as traffic headed for New Rochelle is being sent a long way out of its journey unnecessarily.

Village Engineer Edward Campbell expressed himself emphatically on the matter during the week.  'The signs are not right,' he said.  'They state that the road is under construction.  No road is under construction at Pelhamdale Avenue and the Boulevard and the sign is a subterfuge to divert traffic from going to New Rochelle over the Boulevard.  The result is that a large volume of traffic comes down Pelhamdale Avenue to Pelham Manor streets and motorists are sent a long way out of their way in an unnecessary manner, with Pelham Manor having to bear the brunt of the increased traffic on the Boston Road already having burdened.  Wolf's Lane is impassable by reason of the construction work going on there and trucks have to proceed over the Boulevard parkway to Pelhamdale Avenue where they are detoured, and get sent on to Pelham Manor streets.  This traffic belongs to Pelham.  I doubt whether Pelham is acting within its rights in placing a notice directing a detour on account of road construction when there is no road construction going on at Pelhamdale Avenue and the Boulevard.'

Engineer Campbell further expressed his belief that the Boulevard is a public highway by reason of its existence in public use for a period of over thirty years.  An official protest may be made to the village authorities of Pelham."

Source:  DETOUR SIGNS AROUSE PROTEST FROM MANORITES, The Pelham Sun, Oct. 26, 1923, p. 1, cols. 1-2.

"Hills Are Closed To Traffic When Santa's Sled Is Tested Out
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Youngsters Enjoy Coasting Soon After Christmas.  Police Detailed For Safety of Skaters
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Jack Frost did not wait long after Christmas to allow youthful Pelhamites to test out Christmas sleds.  The snow of Sunday saw the coasting hills in the town dotted with juvenile speed kings whose fleet sleds ruled the road.  The village officials made haste to aid the fun and ensure the safety by blocking off the hills for coasters use.  In Pelham Manor, Carol Place was turned over to the coasters.  In Pelham Heights the Boulevard was blocked off from Monterey avenue to Highbrook avenue a distance of nearly a half mile.  In Pelhamwood the Washington avenue hill was closed off.  Police were detailed for the protection of the coasters.  

In many instances motorists were put to little difficulty in making detours around the coasting hills, but they soon realized the element of safety desired, and commended the plan."

Source:  Hills Are Closed To Traffic When Santa's Sled Is Tested Out, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 31, 1926, Vol. 17, No. 44, p. 2, col. 4.  

"Seeks Removal Of Chain Barriers On Boulevard At Night
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Attorney Davis Acting For Mount Vernon Resident Who Was Forced to Detour Several Blocks
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Village President George Lahey of Pelham, has received a communication from Elmer Davis, attorney representing J. Edward Quinn of Mt. Vernon, requesting that erection of the chain barriers which are nightly used to prevent traffic through the Boulevard after 11 o'clock, be discontinued.  Mr. Quinn was forced to detour several blocks one night last week when his automobile was barred by the chains.  

Attorney Davis contends that the Boulevard is a public highway and cannot legally be closed to traffic at any time.

The chain barricades were first erected in 1924 after residents had complained of the noisy traffic of joy-riding parties along the Boulevard at night.  The trustees' action was based on the belief that the streets of Pelham Heights are private parkways, made so by special legislation."

Source:  Seeks Removal Of Chain Barriers On Boulevard At Night, The Pelham Sun, Jan. 14, 1927, p. 8, col. 5.  

"PELHAM FACES COURT ACTION
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Attorney J. Edward Quinn Threatens Proceedings On Closing of Boulevard
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FILES FORMAL NOTICE
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Street Is Closed at 11 P. M. Each Night and Remains Until 7 A. M. Next Day
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Pelham, Jan. 14.--As the result of action taken by a Mount Vernon lawyer, the village authorities of Pelham today faced the possibility of being taken to court, for the practice in Pelham of turning the Boulevard, a public highway which forms the connecting link between Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, into a private thoroughfare between the hours of 11 o'clock at night and 7 in the morning.  Each night, a string of red lanterns is hung across the two entrances to the Boulevard, and during the hours above stated, traffic is closed on that street, except to such residents of Pelham as are allowed by the police to pass through.

The Mount Vernonite making the complaint is J. Edward Quinn, well known attorney, who through attorney Elmer S. Davis, also of Mount Vernon, has notified the officials of Pelham that 'if in the future I am deprived of that right (going through the Boulevard) I shall take such proper action as will insure me that right to lawful usage of the street at any time I may desire.'

Although this is not the first time that Pelham officials have faced court action because of their closing of the boulevard to outside traffic at night, it is the first time that a non-resident of Pelham has threatened  such action.

Personal Redress

In 1924, similar action was brought by Charles A. Hollister, a resident of Pelham and well known in Mount Vernon.  Mr. Hollister also through Attorney Elmer Davis, brought injunction proceedings against the village.  The village authorities then granted Mr. Hollister the right of access through the Boulevard at night, and with this personal redress, the injunction order was cancelled by court order on October 1, 1924.  By this token, the village authorities granted the same right to all residents of Pelham.

The chains with their string of lanterns were nevertheless still raised across the boulevard entrances at Wolf's Lane [and] Ancon avenue.  Each night it has been the task of the Pelham police to close the street, and each morning to take down the barriers again.

The complaint made by Mr. Quinn is regarded as of more importance, because it is made by a non-resident of Pelham, and may result in the opening of the boulevard to all motorists, whether residents of Pelham or non.  The boulevard is the main artery between New Rochelle and Mount Vernon, and is not lawfully a private street.  It is believed that the action of the village authorities in closing this street followed the request of residents on that street, who complained of motorists parking on or driving through the Boulevard at late hours.  It is probable that the Pelham officials will settle Mr. Quinn's demand amicably, on the claim of the Mount Vernonite that the Boulevard is a public highway.

Mr. Quinn's communication has been forwarded to the village trustees of Pelham by Attorney Davis, who asks that attention be given to the matter to the satisfaction of Mr. Quinn.  The board of trustees of Pelham will hold their regular monthly meeting next Tuesday evening, when full consideration will probably be given to Mr. Quinn's communication, which is as follows:

'During the last few days I have had occasion to drive through the village of Pelham, at about or shortly after 11 p.m., and have used or attempted to use the public street or thoroughfare known as 'Boulevard,' Pelham.

'One evening after entering the street at its easterly end and proceeding westerly to Wolf's lane, I was stopped at Wolf's lane by a police official and a string of red lanterns on the ground and compelled to retrack by way around several streets before getting back to the road to Mount Vernon.  

'This action on the part of some person seems to me to be an unlawful and illegal act in shutting off the use of a public highway to a citizen and taxpayer of this state and county.  As a taxpayer, I am writing to you that if I desire to use the street known as Boulevard for a lawful purpose at any time of the day or night, I desire your community to recognize the right.  If in the future I am deprived of that right, I shall take such proper action as will insure me the right to lawful usage of the street at any time I may desire.'"

Source:  PELHAM FACES COURT ACTION, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jan. 14, 1927, p. 3, col. 3.  

"No Action Taken On Protest Against Boulevard Closing
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Village President Says Boulevard is Not Public Highway and Closing Is Within Law
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No action was taken Tuesday night by the Board of Trustees of the village of Pelham, on the protest of J. Edward Quinn, Mt. Vernon attorney against the barricading of the Boulevard after 11 o'clock at night.  In a communication to the Board, addressed through Elmer Davis, North Pelham attorney, Mr. Quinn demanded that the barricade be removed and traffic be allowed unimpeded access and egress to the highway which connects Third street, Mt. Vernon, with Kings Highway, New Rochelle.  If the Board would not take such action, Mr. Quinn stated that he would at once take the matter into court to force the removal of the nightly barricade.  

After reading the communication President George Lahey stated that the writer was evidently unfamiliar with the status of the Boulevard as a private parkway and not a public highway.  The communication was laid on the table.

The barriers which are erected nightly at Wolf's Lane and the Boulevard and at Ancon avenue and the Boulevard first made their appearance in the fall of 1924, after petition of residents of the Boulevard requesting that night traffic on the Boulevard be stopped.  As the Boulevard has never been dedicated to the village as a public highway the State law provides for its being closed off."

Source:  No Action Taken On Protest Against Boulevard Closing, The Pelham Sun, Jan. 21, 1927, p. 1, col. 5.  

"Letters To The Editor
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INDIGNANT HUH?

To the Editor 'Pelham Sun' -- 

Closing the Boulevard to automobile traffic after eleven at night is rather convenient for the residents of that thoroughfare, but in my opinion it is also extremely impolite.  Undoubtedly it is pleasant for the Boulevardiers to be free of automotive night noises, but then we must consider the unpleasant fact that each car diverted from the natural artery must traverse other streets of the village on which other residents would also like to slumber undisturbed.  Colonial avenue cars, we believe, are every whit as sensitive as the auditory nerves of the Boulevard.

And then there are the motorists of New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and other communities (with whom we are apparently at peace) that must be considered.  It does not seem quite the courteous thing to force even a fleeting visitor to grope his way through unfamiliar lanes and byways with consequent loss of time and temper.

It is very legal, of course, to close the Boulevard.  But it is too haughty to be nice.  

A TERRIBLY, TERRIBLY INDIGNANT CITIZEN.

Pelham, N. Y. Sept. 15th, 1927."

Source:  Letters To The Editor -- INDIGNANT HUH?, The Pelham Sun, Sep. 16, 1927, p. 2, col. 5.

"Lanterns Stolen From Boulevard Barricade

Eighteen red lanterns, stolen from the barricades on the Boulevard, Pelham Heights, early this morning, were found a short time later strewn along the Hutchinson River Parkway between Pelham Heights and North Pelham.  Chief George Duff of the Pelham Heights Police Department said that the lanterns were smashed beyond repair.  

Patrolmen James Mullins and Frank McHugh noticed the lanterns stolen shortly before 1:00 a.m. as they cruised along Wolf's Lane in the patrol car.  An alarm was sent out from headquarters and a short time later, Parkway Police reported finding the lanterns."

Source:  Lanterns Stolen From Boulevard Barricade, The Pelham Sun, Dec. 21, 1939, p. 5, col. 4.  

"PELHAM 'INSTITUTIONS' ARE DEAR TO THE HEARTS OF THE OLD TIMERS
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'Street They Take in at Night,' . . . 

Residential communities such as the Pelhams are seldom without their 'institutions,' the novel features which contribute greatly to the homeliness of the villages.  Perhaps they mark us as 'small towners' but they are the items that make the Pelhams distinctive suburban communities, countryside of gentlefolk, one of our enterprising sloganeers once deftly termed the three villages, and it is the residential features to which the villages cling that certainly establish this fact.  

'Where else in this part of the world will you find them taking the streets in at night?' one of our critics was heard to ask not so long ago.  He was a disgruntled motorist seeking a short route from Mount Vernon to New Rochelle after midnight.  Of course, he chose the Boulevard, only to find that the thoroughfare had been barricaded at Wolf's Lane to prevent the passage of noisy trucks through the residential district while the citizens of the villages were sleeping.

This unique procedure was instituted in 1924 when the Pelham Heights village trustees determined that the Boulevard had not yet been fully dedicated to the village, and could therefore be closed at will.  The passage of trucks through this avenue was extremely bothersome late at night.  The long hill from Pelhamdale to Corona avenues was too steep for heavy lumbering vehicles to negotiate in high speed and the clattering of transmissions and discordant rumble of racing engines made sleep almost impossible.

Proponents of the street closing were met with objections on the ground that the highway had been a public thoroughfare for a period of years.

'It had never been closed,' said the objectors, 'and therefore could not be barricaded at night.'

Investigation, however, showed that the street had been closed at least once every year, to permit coasting on winter days, so the village fathers took advantage of this and consequently Pelham Heights sleeps peacefully at night. . . . . "

Source:  PELHAM "INSTITUTIONS" ARE DEAR TO THE HEARTS OF THE OLD TIMERS, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 24, 1931, p. 5, cols. 1-2.  

"Street No Longer 'Taken In' At Night.

Motorists who frequently pass through the Pelhams at night driving between Mount Vernon and New Rochelle have expressed surprise that the Boulevard is open to traffic after eleven p.m.  Since 1926 the thoroughfare has been 'taken in at night' to quote a phrase common to local motorists, and traffic detoured through Wolf's Lane and Colonial avenue.  The action was taken at the insistence of Pelham Heights residents who objected to the noise of trucks passing through the residential district during the night.  The action was possible because the Boulevard was deeded as a private parkway and not a public street.  

However, with paving work on Colonial avenue from Pelhamdale to Highbrook avenue, the Board of Trustees has temporarily discontinued the practice of closing the Boulevard at night."

Source:  Street No Longer "Taken In" At Night, The Pelham Sun, Aug. 21, 1936, p. 2, cols. 3-4.   

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