Historic Pelham

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Three Original Neighborhoods Planned by the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Associations in the Early 1870s

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During the 1870s, real estate speculators who owned lands in the area of today's Village of Pelham Manor began to dream. They formed the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association to develop a first class, elegant suburban respite from the giant metropolis nearby. Their plans were grandiose. They developed an Esplanade "in the center of which rows of trees are left standing with such care as to give it the appearance of one of the drives in the famous Bois de Boulogne."

They placed the center of the new development at the location we know today as Four Corners. They had a grand plan to build a magnificent church at the corner. The developers flooded the Metropolitan region with handbills, sales brochures, newspaper advertisements, and even a stock prospectus in connection with the sale of shares in the venture.

I have written on numerous occasions about the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association, as well as the development of the suburb that came to be known as Pelham Manor. See the end of this article for a lengthy list of such postings with links to each.

The Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association developers envisioned three neighborhoods that would form the initial basis of the new development. The three were: (1) Pleasant Ridge Division; (2) Glen Mitchill Division; and (3) Chestnut Grove Division. Where were these three original Pelham Manor neighborhoods? It turns out that one of the three was not even within the boundaries of today's Village of Pelham Manor. Rather, it was within an area now part of Pelham Heights in today's Village of Pelham.

Marketing materials for the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association shed light on the locations of the three original neighborhoods. In 1875, the Association released a large map entitled "MAP of THREE DIVISIONS AS PLOTTED of Lands of the PELHAM MANOR & HUGUENOT HEIGHTS ASSOCIATION. PELHAM, WESTCHESTER CO. N.Y." (see below).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

The map provides a fascinating glimpse of the original vision of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association developers. For example, the map shows that a large hotel once was planned along the Esplanade near its eastern end adjacent to the Pelham Manor Depot that once stood where I-95 now cuts through Pelham Manor. The hotel would have stood roughly adjacent to the home that now stands at 1084 Esplanade. A store and post office was planned for the area across the street from Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church where today's Four Corners Shopping Center stands.

The rough center of the development was expected to be today's Four Corners intersection of Boston Post Road and Pelhamdale Avenue, anchored by the beautiful church building of the Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church known as the "Little Red Church." A detail from the map above showing the planned Little Red Church roughly a year before it actually was built appears immediately below.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

The central avenue of the new development was the exceptionally-wide boulevard known as "Esplanade." According to text included with the map, the planned development would include:

"Dwelling Houses of new & tasteful designes for sale, -- (or may be rented,) as now built, or building, -- $4,000 to $12,000 for Estate Complete fitted for residence the year roudn, -- having furnaces on sanitary principles, (from Gold's Heater Co. of New York,) -- Hot and Cold Water circulation, Lavatories, Closets, etc., -- Gas, (at less than one-half City cost,) -- Sidewalks, Graded Lawns, &c. Built after best models from Boston Suburbs and elsewhere in the Healthful, well privileged including liberal and handsome grounds and select suburb called  Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights, extending from the New Haven Railroad to the Sound. Accessible from N. Y. City business centres -- with over 40 trains daily, by two thoroughly equipped railroads, and the well appointed East River Boats. One commutation ticket serves on both railroads. Two Depots, Two Churches, Schools, etc. on premises. About one hour's ride to Fulton Street, by Cars and Boat, -- or by all rail, about half hour only to Grand Central Depot. Also, -- Choice Lands in parcels, large or small, on good Avenues, for sale favorably. This Westchester County suburb is now so endowed and regulated as to offer almost everything sought for in the externals of a home; -- its healthfulness is proven by the Sanitary Record for nearly forty years of the adjacent 'Priory' (Young Lades') School, -- by the continuous health and longevity of the several families there resident from the beginning of the century, -- as well as by its gravelly, well drained soil. Those subject to Asthma elsewhere, having come to Pelham Manor to live, find themselves rid of that distressing malady. All family supplies daily served at residences; -- good public and social privileges; -- associations refined; absolute restrictions insuring against nuisances; landscape beautifully wooded, and combined with attractions of Sound, most picturesque; delightful drives, with boating and fishing ad libitum; Neptune House and Pelham Bay Hotels near by, &c., &c. Taxes in Pelham are very light, about one-eighth of city imposition. Agents effecting sales fairly dealt with. Excursions, -- pleasures, -- plans, -- etc., furnished by Stephens Brothers, Managers for Corporation, 187 Broadway, New York City. R. M. Mitchill, Sup't residing at Pelham Manor."

Although a number of the anticipated roadways either were not built or, subsequently, were rerouted or (in the case of those where I-95 now stands) were destroyed, it is still possible to determine the rough locations of the three original neighborhoods planned by the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.

The Pleasant Ridge Division stood in a portion of today's Pelham Heights. It was bounded, roughly, by Colonial Avenue (designated as Old Boston Post Road on the map above), Wolfs Lane, properties plotted on the north side of today's Boulevard (designated as "Ridge Avenue" on the map, and properties plotted on the north side of what looks to be, roughly, today's Cliff Avenue (designated as "Glen Avenue").

The Glen Mitchill Division, apparently named after the on-site Superintendent of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association, Robert M. Mitchill, stood in an area now part of today's Village of Pelham Manor. It was bounded, roughly, by Colonial Avenue (designated as Old Boston Post Road on the map above), Pelhamdale Avenue, an area near but not adjoining today's Boston Post Road (designated "Boston Boulevard" on the map above), and properties plotted on the north and east sides of the curving Monterey Avenue (designated "Lake Avenue" on the map above).

The final neighborhood was the Chestnut Grove Division that likewise was planned in an area that is part of today's Village of Pelham Manor. That neighborhood was bounded, very roughly, by the New Haven Branch Line Railroad tracks still in use that run parallel to today's I-95, today's Lake Drive to the northeast of Pelhamdale Avenue (designated as a planned "Continuation of Glen Avenue" on the map above"), today's Boston Post Road (designated "Boston Boulevard" on the map above), and properties plotted on the east and south sides of the curving roadway consisting of today's Prospect Avenue and Highland Avenue.

If you live in one of these three areas today, congratulations! You live in what were the first planned suburban neighborhoods designed by the founders of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association in the early 1870s!

1874 Newspaper Advertisement for Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights.

Source: Westchester County Property for Sale and to Rent, N.Y. Daily

Herald, Jun. 28, 1874, p. 14, col. 5 (Note: Paid subscription required to

access via this link). NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Labels: 1875, Chestnut Grove Division, Development, Glen Mitchill Division, Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, Pleasant Ridge Division, Real Estate, Robert M. Mitchill, Village of Pelham Manor

Tuesday, May 08, 2018

More Early References to Development of Prospect Hill by the Prospect Hill Village Association in the Early 1850s

With the coming of the railroad to the Town of Pelham from New York City in late 1848, real estate developers seized on the opportunity. They formed a number of so-called "building societies" to develop the areas known as Pelhamville and Prospect Hill within the Town of Pelham. (Other building societies operated nearby at the same time, particularly in Mount Vernon.) Building societies were an early form of financial institution owned by members as mutual organizations. Building societies offered banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending to support new home construction and purchase.

By about 1850, in the midst of national economic prosperity, land speculators converged on Pelham hoping to develop various sections of the town as a new railroad suburb serviced by the newly-opened New Haven Main Line. Developers formed the freehold land society named United Brothers' Land Society to sell lots in Pelhamville. Another building society named the Prospect Hill Village Association was formed to sell lots in the Pelham neighborhood known today as Prospect Hill. There was some overlapping management and involvement between the two associations that strongly suggests a coordinated effort to sell real estate in the two sections of the Town.

The United Brothers' Land Society arranged purchase of the Anthony Wolf Farm (John Anthony Woolf) north of the New Haven Main Line railroad tracks and arranged for surveyor William Bryson to survey and prepare a development plan for the development of Pelhamville by mapping proposed streets and building lots. At about the same time, Bryson was involved in surveying and mapping another section for development in the Town of Pelham. The section was to be named Prospect Hill Village. The section eventually became one of the two principal real estate developments from which much of today's Village of Pelham Manor evolved. (The other section, of course, was the development of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association organized two decades later on June 3, 1873 by Silas H. Witherbee, Henry C. Stephens, Robert A. Mitchill, Charles J. Stephens, Charles F. Heywood and other local landowners.)

On August 11, 1852, William Bryson filed a development map entitled "Map of Prospect Hill Village, Town of Pelham, Westchester County, New York." The map encompassed a prime area described by Lockwood Barr as "on the crown of the ridge near the Boston Post Road, bounded by what are now Highland, Prospect, Esplanade, New Haven Branch, Washington and Old Split Rock Road." Barr, Lockwood, A Brief, But Most Complete & True Account of the Settlement of the Ancient Town of Pelham Westchester County, State of New York Known One Time Well & Favourably as The Lordshipp & Mannour of Pelham Also the Story of the Three Modern Villages Called The Pelhams, p. 123 (Richmond, VA: The Dietz Press, Inc. 1946).

Today's Historic Pelham Blog article transcribes a few very early newspaper notices seeking proposals for the surveys and grading necessary to develop the new Prospect Hill Village settlement. Included are images of the newspapers notices, followed by transcriptions of their text as well as citations and links to their sources.

The development area was about 96 acres owned by the Prospect Hill Village Association. The Society facilitated savings by its members to acquire building lots and, in some instances, to construct homes on the lots.

In early October, 1851, the Association sought proposals "for surveying and staking off the land." The proposals were to be submitted to the office of the President of the Association, Mr. Alfred S. Peace (after whom Peace Street on Prospect Hill is named) at 161 Third Avenue in Manhattan. The Association required all proposals to include "References as to ability" as well as "security . . . for the faithful performance of the work." A notice published in the October 1, 1851 issue of The New York Times placed by William Parker, Secretary of the Association, appears immediately below.

Prospect Hill Village Association Notice. Source: MISCELLANEOUS. --

PROSPECT HILL VILLAGE ASSOCIATION, N. Y. Times, Oct. 1, 1851,

p. 3, col. 3 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge. Transcription Immediately Below.

"MISCELLANEOUS.

-----

PROSPECT HILL VILLAGE ASSOCIATION. -- SEALED PROPOSALS for surveying and staking off the land (96 acres) belonging to the above Society, near New Rochelle, will be received until Monday, M., October 5th, by the President, Mr. Alfred S. Peace, 161 3d-av. References as to ability and security, will be required for the faithful performance of the work.
WM. PARKER, Sec'y.
192 Canal st.
ol-lt*"

Only a few weeks later, in January, 1852, the Association was ready to begin grading its land on Prospect Hill. Again the secretary of the Association, William Parker (who operated out of an office at 192 Canal Street in Manhattan), placed a notice in The New York Times asking for proposals to be sent to the President of the Association, Alfred S. Peace. Such proposals were due by January 10, 1852.

Soon, development of today's Prospect Hill neighborhood was underway. . . .

Prospect Hill Village Association Notice. Source: PROSPECT HILL

VILLAGE ASSOCIATION, N.Y. Times, Jan. 3, 1852, p. 3, col. 5 (Note:

Paid subscription required to access via this link). NOTE: Click on

Image to Enlarge. Transcription Immediately Below.

Labels: 1851, 1852, Alfred S. Peace, Development, Peace Street, Prospect Hill, Prospect Hill Village, Prospect Hill Village Association, Real Estate, William Parker

Friday, March 30, 2018

Where in the World Is Pelham's "Clovelly" Neighborhood?

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There is in Pelham a lovely neighborhood known as the "Clovelly-in-Pelham" section and "Clovelly" (for short). Where is this section? What is its story?

Clovelly is a neighborhood in Pelham Heights in the area around the Clovelly-in-Pelham development bounded by today's Parkway Drive, Brookside Avenue, Carol Avenue, and Hillside Avenue. The initial section of the Clovelly-in-Pelham development was created in 1927 after local contractor (and then former member of the Town Board) Manning Stires battled the Village of Pelham Planning Board in Court and won a decision permitting him to build so-called "multi-plex" housing units consisting of attached -- rather than free-standing -- single family homes despite local zoning ordinances banning such construction. Stires slowly expanded the small development and continued to battle the Village of Pelham (Pelham Heights) and the local zoning board for years as he attempted to expand his development efforts.

Slowly the area adjacent to Clovelly-in-Pelham became known, colloquially, as "Clovelly." The name became so ingrained locally that the residents of Carol Avenue reportedly successfully petitioned the Village to permit them to change the name of Carol Avenue to "Clovelly Place." A local newspaper report indicates that the Village Board actually changed the name of the street to Clovelly Place at a meeting held the evening of Wednesday, February 19, 1930. The name of the street today, of course, is Carol Avenue. Research has not revealed how or why the name reverted to Carol Avenue, assuming that the decision to change its name to Clovelly Place was actually implemented.

The map detail from a map published in 1929 below shows "Clovelly-in-Pelham" and the Clovelly section that surrounds it.

Detail From 1929 Map Showing Clovelly Development That Became

Known as Clovelly-in-Pelham and the Clovelly Section. Source: G.M.

Hopkins Co., Atlas of Westchester County New York Complete in Four

Volumes, Vol. 1, p. 4 (Philadelphia, PA: G. M. Hopkins Co., 1929).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

* * * * *

"STIRES RESENTS EXAMINATION AT ZONING BOARD HEARING; RETIRES THREATENING ANOTHER ZONING SUIT
-----
Builder of Clovelly Proposes Another Multi-Plex Group In Pelham Heights. Zoning Board of Appeals Refuses To Allow Him To Build Within Two Feet Of Property Line. Judge Menkel's Questions Antagonize Him. Board Upholds Attorney's Action
-----

Blocked in his attempt to break for a second time the Pelham Heights zoning restrictions, Manning Stires, former member of the Town Board, quit the meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeal, Tuesday night, when he resented cross examination by Village Attorney Anthony M. Menkel. Mr. Stires withdrew, stating that as he considered the attitude of the board unfair, he would take the matter to court, where he hoped to gain a more favorable decision.

Mr. Stires won a similar case in the Supreme Court two years ago, effecting a change in the zoning ordinance which permitted the construction of the multi-plex house group which is known as Clovelly-in-Pelham. The zoning ordinance has since been reenacted and the zoning board feels confident that Mr. Stires will not meet with the same decision in court.

Later in the evening, B. H. Simonson, architect for Mr. Stires, appeared before the board and was told of certain modifications in the plans which were advised by the zoning board. These will be submitted to Mr. Stires for his consideration. The zoning board adjourned the matter without date.

Mr. Stires proposes to construct a group of eight houses in a single unit on a plot of ground with 150 foot front on Manning Circle, adjacent to the Clovelly section. The plan is so laid out as to violate the setback rule both on the front and rear lines of the property. At one place only two feet is allowed at the rear of the building. The members of the Zoning Board objected to this inasmuch as it would set a precedent whereby the owner of adjacent property could construct a building within two feet of the line also, creating a hazardous condition with two buildings only four feet apart.

Attorney Menkel put a few questions to Mr. Stires relative to the legal points of the matter and the former answered some of them, but apparently considering the cross questioning as an indication of a dissenting attitude of the board, refused to go further with his application, and retired.

After his withdrawal the zoning board approved the action of the village attorney.

Mr. Stires told The Pelham Sun that he had no statement to make at this time.

Objection to the proposed houses was made by Mrs. Weston Roberts, of No. 159 Sparks avenue, who told the zoning board that Mr. Stires had told her when she purchased her property from him that there would never be anything but one-family houses on his property. She would make no official protest."

Source:  STIRES RESENTS EXAMINATION AT ZONING BOARD HEARING; RETIRES THREATENING ANOTHER ZONING SUIT -- Builder of Clovelly Proposes Another Multi-Plex Group In Pelham Heights. Zoning Board of Appeals Refuses To Allow Him To Build Within Two Feet Of Property Line. Judge Menkel's Questions Antagonize Him. Board Upholds Attorney's Action, The Pelham Sun, May 3, 1929, Vol. 20, No. 5, p. 1, cols. 6-7.

"NO LONGER CAROL AVENUE
-----

The name Carol avenue has been changed to Clovelly Place. The change was made by the village board at a meeting held Wednesday night at Pelham village hall".

Source:  NO LONGER CAROL AVENUE, The Pelham Sun, Feb. 21, 1930, p. 1, col. 2.

"Ten New Houses To Be Built In Pelham Heights
-----

Plans for another real estate development in Pelham Heights were announced this week with the purchase of ten lots on Brookside avenue by the Bergenwood Realty Corporation of New York City. Ten attractive brick and stucco dwelling houses are to be constructed on the property, each with an individual value of $10,000,000.00.

The transfer of the property was made this week by Gordon E. Ferguson. The trustees of the Westchester Title Company received $9,000 for the property which has 250 feet frontage on Brookside avenue.

The new development which overlooks the Hutchinson River Parkway, is the third such undertaking to be announced for the section of Pelham Heights known as Clovelly, within the last few weeks. Manning Stires, who built the first Clovelly houses will soon file plans for another group of buildings on Manning Circle. Building permits have already been issued for two houses to be constructed by the Gramatan Construction Company, one on Manning Circle and another on Sparks avenue."

Source:  Ten New Houses To Be Built In Pelham Heights, The Pelham Sun, Nov. 1, 1935, Vol. 26, No. 30, p. 1, col. 2.

"SEEK VARIANCE FOR 4 MULTIPLEX HOMES IN HEIGHTS
-----

The Pelham Heights Zoning Board of Appeals will meet Wednesday night September 14, to hear the application of Manning Stires, developer of the Clovelly-in-Pelham section for a variance to permit the erection of another unit of multiplex house on the northerly side of Manning Circle in the Sparks avenue section of the village. Mr. Stires has filed tentative plans for four six-room houses. A permit has been denied by Building Inspector R. I. Dodge, because the property is zoned for single-family unattached dwelling houses.

Variance was granted Mr. Stires in the construction of the previous units of the Clovelly development."

Source:  SEEK VARIANCE FOR 4 MULTIPLEX HOMES IN HEIGHTS, The Pelham Sun, Sep. 9, 1938, Vol. 28, No. 23, p. 1, col. 6.

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Labels: 1927, 1929, Clovelly, Clovelly Section, Clovelly-in-Pelham, Development, Manning Stires, Real Estate

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Auction of Chester Park Lands in Pelhamville in 1892

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In 1891, William T. Standen, an actuary with the United States Life Insurance Company, and his wife, Elizabeth G. Standen, owned much of the land we know today as Chester Park in the Village of Pelham. At the time, the land was located just north of an unincorporated section of the Town of Pelham known as Pelhamville.

Though Standen worked in the headquarters of United States Life Insurance Company located at 261 Broadway in New York City, he and his wife had a residence on the lands they owned in the Town of Pelham. They called their residence "The Homestead."

The Homestead was located north of today’s Pine Avenue between Maple Avenue and Pelhamdale Avenue. By May of 1891, the Standens had decided to subdivide their land and develop it as “Chester Park”. In May and June of that year, the lands were surveyed for the purpose of creating a subdivision map for development purposes.

"The Homestead," Residence of William T. Standen,

The Founder of Chester Park, Ca. 1890s. Source:

Courtesy of The Office of The Historian of The Town of

Pelham from a Board of Photos Donated to the Town of Pelham.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail from 1893 Map Showing Layout of Chester Park. Source:

Bien, Joseph R., "Towns of Westchester and Pelham (With) Villages

of Westchester and Unionport. (With) Village of Pelhamville" in Atlas

of Westchester County, New York Prepared Under the Direction of

Joseph R. Bien, E.M., p. 3 (NY, NY: Julius Bien & Co., 1893).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

On several occasions during the 1890s, William Standen and his wife relied on public auctions to try to sell lots in their new Chester Park development. Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog publishes an image, and transcribes the text, of an advertisement for one such early auction held on May 7, 1892.

The advertising is interesting and significant because it goes into detail regarding the improvements made to the new development. For example, the advertisement indicates that water for each plot was provided by Artesian Well with "Water Pipes to every Plot tested to 250,000 gallons capacity daily." The advertisement emphasizes the beauty of the large, two-acre "Public Green" in the center of the development "from which can be seen miles of beautiful valley sloping toward the Sound." The advertisement further makes clear that sixty New Haven Line trains stopped at the nearby Pelhamville Station each day for trips to and from New York City that only took thirty minutes with annual commutation costs of "$60 Yearly." (In contrast to a trip that, nearly 125 years later, takes on average, about 35 minutes and costs $2,784 in annual commutation costs of twelve monthly passes costing $232 each. Sixty dollars in 1892 would be the equivalent of roughly $2,025 in 2015 dollars.)

The image appears immediately below, followed by a transcription of its text with a citation and link to the source.

"Real Estate at Auction.
-----
300 OF THE MOST VALUABLE BUILDING LOTS EVER OFFERED FOR SALE

In the vicinity of this city will be sold at

AUCTION, WITHOUT RESERVE, NEXT SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1892, AT 3 P.M., ON THE PREMISES.

This is the property of Mr. W. T. Standen, Actuary of the United States Life Insurance Co., No. 261 Broadway, N.Y. Many thousands of dollars have been spent to beautify this place. These lots are in

CHESTER PARK

near the City of Mount Vernon, and just north of the N.Y., N.H. & H.R.R. station at Pelhamville.

Carefully laid-out Park. Macadamized Roads, (40 feet wide.) Artesian Well. Water Pipes to every Plot tested to 250,000 gallons capacity daily. Large Public Green of two acres, from which can be seen miles of beautiful valley sloping toward the Sound. Less than 10 Minutes to Station at Pelhamville on New-Haven Road. 60 Trains Daily and Only 30 Minutes to New-York. Commutation $60 Yearly. Easy of access. High, Dry, and Healthy. Just the place for men of Moderate Means to locate. Must be sold on day of sale. No reserve. Worth $500 each 25 feet, but will not bring one-half of it at this sale. This is no Trial Sale -- Bona fide bids or none. Do not forget the day or date.

SALE WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE PREMISES.

TRAINS WILL LEAVE

Grand Central Station on N.Y., N.H. & Hartford R.R., at 2:02, 3:02, 4:08, 4:33.

ON WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, & FRIDAY and will be met by carriages at Pelhamville Station free of charge,

AND ON SATURDAY, THE DAY OF SALE,

conveyances will meet the trains that leave the Grand Central Depot at 1:02 and 2:02 P.M.

Rebate Tickets of $2 for expenses, fares, &c., will be given each purchaser. Send to me now and get one. Ten per cent. and auctioneer's fee on day of sale; balance easy. Full particulars, views, map &c., on application to

GEORGE W. BARD, AUCTIONEER, REAL ESTATE AUCTIONEER FOR WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

Office, No. 4 North 3d Av., MOUNT VERNON, N.Y.

This is a peremptory sale, and one of the most beautiful and valuable pieces of property in New-York State. No such advantages have ever been offered in connection with the sale of suburban property as in this instance. Prospective buyers are invited to bring real estate experts. Remember that this sale

Is Absolute Without Reserve, and upon easy terms.

SATURDAY, MAY 7, AT THREE P.M."

Source: Real Estate at Auction -- 300 OF THE MOST VALUABLE BUILDING LOTS EVER OFFERED FOR SALE [Advertisement], N.Y. Times, May 4, 1892, p. 7, col. 4.

* * * * *

I have written about the history of Chester Park on numerous occasions. For more, see:

Bell, Blake A., History of Chester Park in the Village of Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 46, Nov. 19, 2004, p. 10, col. 1.

Thu., Jul. 23, 2015: The Home at 45 Maple in Chester Park Built to Serve as a Church.

Tue., Mar. 24, 2015: An Early Description of Efforts to Open Chester Park Published in 1891.

Wed., Jul. 16, 2014: Final Auction of Remaining Lands of the Pelhamville Land and Homestead Association in 1898.

Thu., Jun. 01, 2006: Early Photographs of Chester Park Among Materials Donated to The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham.

Fri., Jun. 2, 2006: Several of the Early Photographs of Chester Park Recently Donated to The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham.

Mon., Jun. 5, 2006: More Early Photographs of Chester Park Recently Donated to The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham.

Tue., Jun. 6, 2006: More Early Photographs of Chester Park Recently Donated to The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham.

Mon., Jun. 19, 2006: Court Decision Issued in 1894 Sheds Light on Finances Behind the Development of Chester Park in the Early 1890s.

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Labels: 1891, 1892, Chester Park, Development, Elizabeth G. Standen, Pelhamville, Real Estate, Real Estate Advertisement, William T. Standen

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Unusual 1909 Advertising Pamphlet for Pelhamwood

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Pelhamwood is the place to dwell,

Between Mount Vernon and New Rochelle!

-- 1909 Advertising Pamphlet.

During the spring of 1909, a newly-created company known as Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc. began grading and developing the neighborhood we know today as Pelhamwood. While the company was new, its namesake had been involved for more than two decades in the creation of suburban developments throughout the northeast and along the Atlantic coast.

The company built steps up the hill across from the station plaza on the north side of the New Haven Line tracks leading up to a sales office. It built a "tea house" used to host visitors and prospective buyers of lots and homes in the new development. It built the Pelhamwood clocktower as well as covered "gates" leading in and out of the development, all intended to add to the rustic charm of the idyllic setting.

Within months of beginning such development work, Clifford B. Harmon & Co. began flooding the New York City region with countless real estate advertisements for the new development. New York City newspapers ran large advertisements. Advertising post cards were mailed throughout the region. Maps, booklets, brochures, and pamphlets were printed and distributed to prospective buyers. In addition, the company began offering incentives to prospective buyers to encourage them to buy lots, incentives to individual owners to encourage them to build homes in the new development quickly, and incentives including payments in gold to builders and contractors to encourage them to build groups of homes in the new development.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog reproduces the pages of a lovely twelve-page advertising pamphlet published before June 1, 1909 by the company. The brochure is special because it contains rare early photographs of the area under development, an early photograph of today's Pelham Train Station with the development rising in the background, and images of new homes in the Pelhamwood Deveolopment. The pamphlet is also significant for the emotions it attempts to evoke and the beautiful picture it attempts to paint of the lovely setting of the new development. It provides an important glimpse into the mind of what the creator of the development intended when he began to build Pelhamwood.

Below the image of each page I have transcribed the text to facilitate search. Following each image is a citation and a link to its source.

Page 1 (Cover) of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 1
(Cover) (NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of Stream in Woods.]

PELHAMWOOD"

Page 2 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 2
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Text Appears as Signs Nailed to a Tree]

NEW ROCHELLE 4 MINUTES
NEW YORK 30 MINUTES
PELHAMWOOD
IS THE PLACE TO DWELL BETWEEN MT. VERNON AND NEW ROCHELLE
ANOTHER HARMON PROPERTY MEANS ANOTHER HARMON SUCCESS
For 22 years Mr. Harmon has had a large share in the development and success of more than 100 suburbs of the big eastern cities. And his custoers have shared in his success.
CLIFFORD B. HARMON & CO. INC. AT 42ND ST. AND MADISON AVE.
[Library Plate]
Ex Libris
SEYMOUR DURST
[Stamped]
AVERY DURST"

Page 3 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.

Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 3
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of Homes Under Construction.]

[Photograph of Home with Stone Columned Piazza.]

TO the dweller in the closely-built city, merely the thought of a home in the suburbs brings with it a tangible feeling of rest and relief.

Test it!

Lean back in your office chair some busy, bustling day, close your eyes for a second or two, and think of a home in the country -- anyone's home -- and note the real, momentary brain-relief that comes to you; for in those few seconds your brain has strayed away from the stuffy confines of an office, and is rested. The brain must have elbow-room no less than the body!

* * * * *

And it is this primal thought, that the mind needs elbow-room, that induced 50,000 New Yorkers to move out of the city limits last year. Out they went -- out where the sky was bluer, the grass greener, the air purer. Out they went -- away from the row on row of buildings that leaned up tight against one another for support -- out to where they could get close to the soil, where they could build a home, and where the thought of a 'city apartment' conjured pity for the person so afflicted. Out they went, 50,000 New Yorkers last year, to build homes in the suburbs.

* * * * *

'Ah,' you say, 'I wish I was rich. Then I, too, would move from the stuffy town and build. But I can't save a cent; it costs me so much to live in New York that --'

Stop where you are; don't finish the sentence. We know just what you're gooing to say, and it's wrong -- all of it except that it does cost a lot to live in New York."

Page 4 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 4
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of a Train Station with Development in Distance. Note: Although There is Some Similarity in this Photograph to the Pelham Train Station with Pelhamwood Behind it, But This Does NOT Appear to be Such a Photograph. Not Only was the Pelham Train Station Not Built Until 1914, But Also the Landscape -- Though Certainly Subject to Change Over More than a Century -- Does Not Seem to be the Pelhamwood Landscape.]

OUR part is to show you how easy it is to own your own plot of ground in the suburbs; how easy it is to build your home (and we help you build, too); how easy it is to follow in the steps of the 50,000 New Yorkers who moved to the suburbs and built last year.

You needn't be rich; all you need is a little pluck -- a belief in yourself -- belief in us. Then we'll do our share toward that home of yours.

Listen!

PELHAMWOOD

Pelhamwood is the place to dwell,

Between Mount Vernon and New Rochelle!

Pelhamwood is the name of the new suburb on the main line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. It is 1 1/2 miles beyond the city limits, 15 1/2 miles from the Grand Central Station, takes 30 minutes by electric train, is between Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, and Pelham Station is directly on the property. The success of Pelham, as a high-class suburb, is too well known to need comment.

The above is the story in a nutshell -- condensed for quick reading.

But it isn't all the

[Photograph of Unidentified Church]"

Page 5 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 5
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of Street with New Homes and New Telephone Pole without Wires Strung]

story, for the greatest and best part of the story can't be told in type -- it's the sort of a story that must be seen.

Think of trees -- of tall, straight, beautiful trees of oak and elm and maple and beech. Think of acres and acres of trees -- of a virgin forest full of trees -- of a tract of land so beautiful, so alluring, that to live merely in a tent amid such surroundings makes life worth while.

Yet you can build your house there, for we will help you.

All you need is ten dollars to start -- the rest in small monthly payments.

That initial payment of ten dollars gives you your choice of any plot at Pelhamwood, big or little. The plots have a depth of 125 to 200 feet, a frontage of as much as you want. And all around you are trees, trees, trees!

On one side of Pelhamwood lies Mount Vernon; on the other side, adjoining, is New Rochelle. You are surrounded by the villas of the wealthy and the well-to-do. But your advantage over them is manifest -- you can buy your plot of ground by instalments -- say a little now, a little next month. No big sum must be paid down at once, and a bigger sum shortly afterward, while the specter of a mortgage hovers around day and night. But the buying of a plot of ground at Pelhamwood means the acquiring of a hoe site within 30 minutes of New York, amid wonderfully beautiful surroundings, and the paying for it on the easy payment plan, of which we are the originators!

[Photograph of New Home with Columned Piazza]"

Page 6 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 6
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of Double-Trunked Tree]

You are surrounded -- absolutely surrounded -- by the homes of the well-to-do. Schools and churches are within 5 inutes' walk -- trolley lines to ount Vernon and New Rochelle pass Pelhamwood. The city of New Rochelle has purchased soe of our property and will erect at Pelhamwood a fine brick school-house costing $80,000. You are not off in the wilderness at Pelhamwood -- you are in the very center of refinement, culture and wealth. You are only a mile and a half from the New York City line -- 30 minutes by train to Grand Central Depot, while 50 trains stop every weekday at Pelham Station.

And think of the advantages you enjoy. No bridges, no ferries, no smoke, no cinders. A clean, cool ride to Pelhamwood -- and a seat; for there is no overcrowding, no strap-

[Photograph of New Home]"

Page 7 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 7
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of Tree-Lined Path]

hanging on these electric trains. There is ample room for everyone, and a ride that is a pleasure every inute of the way!

Never in the history of real estate in this big, overcrowded, bustling New York was an opportunity for investment in a home site near to the city so advantageously offered you. For all you need to start is a ten-dollar bill -- and a little pluck. Select any plot you wish, pay in monthly instalments; then you're not only saving your money, but investing it all at the same time.

* * * * *

We want you to see Pelhamwood. Come as our guest -- see the improvements already under way, the improvements projected. Electric lights, telephone, reservoir of pure water, macadam roads, cement walks and gutters.

[Photograph of New Home]"

Page 8 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 8
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of New Home]

[Photograph of Winding, Unpaved Road Through Trees]

See the superb $35,000 residence already on the property -- the other beautiful hommes within a stone's throw away. Seeing is believing, and we want you to come and see it -- it won't cost you a penny.

And when you do see, you'll be convinced.

* * * * *

In Pelhamwood you will have no undesirable neighbors. Wise and helpful restrictions guard your interests as an investor. Pelhamwood is too close to New York to be a 'cheap' place, and we safeguard you, no less than ourselves, by the helpful restrictions we have planned. Why, merely a short distance from the property is Travers Island and the New York Athletic Club on the Sound, at Pelham Manor; while even closer at hand is the Pelham Country Club, with its public golf links, tennis courts, etc.

Thus you may see that merely from the standpoint of location, Pelhamwood is a wonderful home site; that is, from the fact of its immediate surroundings. But add to this that it is superbly beautiful (you never saw such

[Photograph of New Home]"

Page 9 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.
Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 9
(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).
NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of New Home]

[Photograph of Trees]

trees in your life); that it is only 30 minutes from New York on the main line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Road; that its commutation fare is $5.85 for 60 trips to and from Grand Central Station; that a trolley line runs from Pelham to New York; that the mere paying of a ten-dollar bill starts you buying a lot at Pelhamwood -- weigh all these advantages together, and if you're a man with a fair share of red blood in your veins, you just simply must enthuse over this ideal location, ideal surroundings, ideal investment. There is no element of gamble to it -- no possibility of failure. If you bought your plot of ground at Pelhamwood, and then didn't do a blessed thing but sit down and twirl your thumbs, the values there would rise just as surely as Harlem or Bronx real estate values went soaring skyward in the past fifteen years. And nothing under heaven's sun made this possible except that the city had to stretch out, and northward was the only way it could stretch. At Pelhamwood you are 1 1/2 miles from the New York City line and a Pelhamwood plot

[Photograph of New Home]"

Page 10 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.

Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 10

(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Image of Apparent Drawing of Front Door of Home Flanked by Two Potted Trees]

a few years from now will be worth what a Harlem or Bronx lot is to-day!

Impossible, you think!

Well, the only way we judge the future is by the past.

And real estate is no exception to the rule.

* * * * *

But -- and this is very vital -- don't delay if you would buy at Pelhamwood. First comers, naturally, have first choice. And by every means in our power, as a result of long experience, we make it easy for you to become, first, a land-owner; second, to build your own home. Mr. Clifford B. Harmon, the projector of Pelhamwood, has had for the past twenty-two years a large share in the development and success of over 100 suburbs in the following principal Eastern cities: Philadelphia, New York City, Brooklyn, N.Y., Baltimore, Md., Buffalo, N.Y., Harrisburg, Pa., Newark, N.J., Columbus, O., Providence, R.I., Rochester, N.Y., Springfield, Mass., Auburn, N.Y., Cincinnati, Ohio, Boston, Mass., Washington, D.C., Pittsburg, Pa., Portland, Me., Hartford, Conn., Syracuse, N.Y., New Haven, Conn., Scranton, Pa., Lovell, Mass., and Detroit, Mich.

And Mr. Harmon's success has been shared by his customers. To-day he unhesitatingly goes on record to say that never, in his business career, has he had so wonderful a property as Pelhamwood, or one that promised so much for his customers.

* * * * *

But your safeguards? They are many. Listen!

[Photograph of Unidentified School Building?]"

Page 11 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.

Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 11

(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"[Photograph of New Home]

TITLE GUARANTEED

Before we invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Pelhamwood, we found out positively that the title was free and clear. The Title Guarantee and Trust Company have carefully examined the title of Pelhamwood, and have insured it to us, and for a small sum will issue individual policies to each customer.

CONTRACT NON-FORFEITABLE

Where a lot purchaser at Pelhamwood shall be unable, in consequence of being out of employment, resulting from ill health or other reasonable cause, to make his payments regularly, his account will be kept in good standing simply by the payment of a small amount on each lot per month.

FREE DEED IN CASE OF DEATH

Should a purchaser die before his payments have been copleted, his heirs will be given a deed for the property without further cost; provided (1) that he was under sixty years of age and in good health at the time of the purchase; (2) that payments had never been thirty days in arrears; and (3) that two years had elapsed since date of purchase. Should

[Photograph of New Home]

Page 12 of 1909 Pelhamwood Advertising Pamphlet.

Source: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., PELHAMWOOD, p. 12

(NY: Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Inc., 1909).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

"a purchaser, who was under sixty years of age and in good health at the time of purchase, die within two years from date of purchase, and his payments not have been at any timme thirty days in arrears, all money paid by him will be returned with interest at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum.

$24,500 IN GOLD TO BUILDERS

To stimulate the man who wants to build his home at Pelhamwood -- for the more houses there, the greater your plot increases in value -- we offer the following prizes as incentives to early builders:

First 10 villas costing not less than $10,000.........$500 each.
First 10 villas costing not less than $9,500...........$450 each.
First 10 villas costing not less than $8,000...........$400 each.
First 10 villas costing not less than $7,000...........$350 each.
First 10 villas costing not less than $6,000...........$300 each.
First 10 villas costing not less than $5,000...........$250 each.
First 10 villas costing not less than $4,500...........$200 each.

[The following sentence appears to be stamped beneath -- not printed with the original text.]

TO COME UNDER THIS OFFER, HOUSES UST BE STARTED BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1909, AND COMPLETED BEFORE FEBRUARY 1ST, 1910.

FREE TRANSPORTATION TO NEW YORK

To the head of each family, who begins building at Pelhamwood before June 1, 1909, and commpletes same before January 1, 1910, we will give free transportation for one year between Grand Central Station and Pelhamwood.

I unhesitatingly go on record to say that never in my business career have I had so wonderful a property as Pelhamwood, or one that promised so much for my customers.

[Signature of Clifford B. Harmon]"

* * * * *

Periodically I have written about Pelhamwood and Clifford B. Harmon, a principal developer of Pelhamwood. For those interested in a comprehensive history of the early development of Pelhamwood, see Bell, Blake A., The Early Development of Pelhamwood, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 37, Sept. 17, 2004, p. 12, col. 2. For earlier postings about Pelhamwood and Clifford B. Harmon, see:

Tue., Feb. 02, 2016: Early Pelhamwood Advertisements with Important Sketches of the New Development.

Tue., Nov. 10, 2015: The New Development of Pelhamwood as it Was in 1913.

Mon., Mar. 16, 2015: Newspaper References and Advertisements Regarding Development of Pelhamwood.

Mon., Mar. 16, 2015: Newspaper References and Advertisements Regarding Development of Pelhamwood.

Fri., Sep. 26, 2014: 1909 Advertisements Show How the New Development of Pelhamwood Was Marketed to New Yorkers.

Sat., Jan. 25, 2014: Putting the Finishing Touches on the Lovely New Church in Pelhamwood in 1923.

Mon., Feb. 1, 2010: Obituary of Richard B. Ferris of Pelhamwood.

Thu., Oct. 11, 2007: Biographical Data and Photographs of Clifford B. Harmon Who Developed Pelhamwood.

Tue., Jul. 10, 2007: An Early Event in the History of Pelhamwood.

Thu., Jun. 21, 2007: Information About "Aeronautic" Exploits of Clifford B. Harmon Who Developed Pelhamwood in Pelham.

Thu. Aug. 10, 2006: The New Development of Pelhamwood Gets Approval for its Proposed Sewage System in 1912.

Tue., Nov. 15, 2005: Plaque Dedicated at the Historic Pelhamwood Clock Tower.

Mon., Sep. 12, 2005: Pelhamwood Association Celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 1942.

Thu., May 12, 2005: Clifford B. Harmon, Developer of Pelhamwood.

Archive of the Historic Pelham Web Site.

Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.

Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."

Labels: 1909, Clifford B. Harmon, Clifford B. Harmon & Co., Development, Pelham Train Station, Pelhamwood, Real Estate, Real Estate Advertisement

Historic Pelham

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The Three Original Neighborhoods Planned by the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Associations in the Early 1870s

Tuesday, May 08, 2018

More Early References to Development of Prospect Hill by the Prospect Hill Village Association in the Early 1850s

Friday, March 30, 2018

Where in the World Is Pelham's "Clovelly" Neighborhood?

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Auction of Chester Park Lands in Pelhamville in 1892

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

Unusual 1909 Advertising Pamphlet for Pelhamwood

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