More on Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910

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Trolleys once were a principal means of transportation throughout our region.  By 1899, one could travel between the Battery in lower Manhattan and any of New Rochelle, Pelham, Mount Vernon or Yonkers for a single fare of eight cents. 

Early last century, one of those trolley lines in the Village of Pelham Manor inspired the creative genius of a man named Fontaine Talbot Fox (1884-1964).  He created one of the most popular comics in the United States – “Toonerville Folks.”  The cartoon centered around the quirky inhabitants of a town called “Toonerville” and its rickety and unpredictable trolley.  The operator of the trolley was “The Skipper.”  Fontaine Fox, as he stated a number of times in published interviews and letters, based the comic on his experience during a trolley ride on a visit to Pelham on August 8, 1909. 

“Toonerville Folks” ran in hundreds of newspapers from about 1913 to 1955 and brought national attention to Pelham.  When Fontaine Fox made his now-famous visit to Pelham on August 8, 1909, the trolley line that inspired him ran along today's Pelhamdale Avenue to a stop near the railroad bridge of the New Haven Branch Line above Pelhamdale not far from today's Grant Avenue and Manor Circle.  

Barely a year later, the Westchester Electric Railway extended the Pelham Manor trolley line along Pelhamdale Avenue to Shore Road near the New York Athletic Club. I have written about that extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley line once before.  See Tue., Jan. 06, 2015:  Extension of the Toonerville Trolley Line in Pelham Manor in 1910.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog provides additional detail regarding the process of extending to Shore Road the little trolley line that inspired Fontaine Fox. At the end of today's article, I have listed links to the many previous articles I have posted about trolleys and the Toonerville Trolley.

In the late 19th century, the little Pelham Manor trolley line shuttled back and forth between the Town of Pelham's two principal commuter railroad stations:  Pelham Station on the New Haven Main Line and the Pelham Manor Depot on the New Haven Branch Line.  The trolley "met all the trains" -- a fact that Fontaine Fox played up in his "Toonerville Folks" comic strip when referencing his famous Toonerville Trolley.  

Until Labor Day in 1910, the Pelham Manor trolley began each run from a spot on Wolfs Lane near Pelham Station in the Village of Pelham (today's Pelham Heights) about where the buildings housing, among other things, Kravitz Real Estate, are located at present.  The trolley ran along Wolf's Lane to Colonial Avenue where it turned eastward (left) and proceeded the short distance along Colonial Avenue to Pelhamdale Avenue.  There it turned southeastward (right) and proceeded along Pelhamdale Avenue with intermediate stops along the way such as stops at the intersection of Witherbee Avenue and at Red Church Corner (today's Four Corners).  

When the trolley reached a point on Pelhamdale Avenue in the Village of Pelham Manor about where the New Haven Branch Line railroad overpass crossed the roadway, the trolley operator had to exit the vehicle, reverse the overhead connection of the trolley car to the electric wires and then begin a return trip along the same route back to the Pelham Station, always paying mind to the arrival times of all trains on both the Main and Branch Lines so as to meet all such trains.

By 1910, it was apparent to the Westchester Electric Railway, operator of the Pelham Manor trolley at the time, that so many people used the New Haven Branch Line to get to and from the New York Athletic Club facility and Long Island Sound at the end of Pelhamdale Avenue where it met Shore Road that it warranted extending the trolley line from its terminus near the Pelham Manor Depot all the way to the end of Pelhamdale Avenue at Shore Road.

In about early July of that year, the Westchester Electric Railway began staging work along Pelhamdale Avenue to prepare for laying trolley tracks along the roadway.  Because laying the tracks would require closure of the road, the Village of Pelham Manor asked Westchester Electric Railway to delay the work for a time because the only other way then possible to move through that portion of Pelham Manor was via Split Rock Road which then ran from Shore Road all the way to Boston Post Road.  That roadway was "practically closed" for repairs in July, 1910, thus prompting Pelham Manor to request a delay in closing Pelhamdale Avenue to lay the trolley tracks for the extension.

Although laying the trolley tracks for the Pelhamdale Avenue extension was delayed for a short time, during the week of July 19, 1910, the poles necessary to carry the overhead wires for the trolley extension were erected along Pelhamdale Avenue. 

By August, work to lay the trolley tracks beneath the New Haven Branch Line railroad overpass and along Pelhamdale Avenue to Shore Road was underway in earnest.  There was, however, a bit of a problem.

The giant rocky outcropping at the end of Shore Road known as the "Haunted Cedar Knoll" made the roadway at the intersection with Pelhamdale Avenue a little too tight for the small Pelham Manor trolley car to be maneuvered to a stop to allow passengers to disembark.  Track laying crews had to blast out about 100 feet of rock on Shore Road to make way for the trolley extension.

On Thursday, September 1, 1910, Superintendent William B. Wheeler of Westchester Electric Railway announced that all necessary poles and overhead wires had been erected and that the laying of the tracks for the extension was "practically completed."  He further announced that blasting of the 100 feet of rock on Shore Road was about to begin and the last 200 feet of rails would then be laid.  He further revealed that trolley cars would begin running on the extension on Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 1910.

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. The Trolley in the Photograph is

The Little Pelham Manor Trolley (i.e., The Toonerville Trolley).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"TROLLEYS TO SHORE MONDAY
-----

According to an announcement made Thursday morning by Superintendent Wheeler of the Westchester Electric Railway, the extension of the Pelham Manor trolley line from the old terminus at the foot of the hill on Pelhamdale avenue to the Shore Road, will be in operation on Labor Day.  Superintendent Wheeler expects to start the cars running on the extension on that day.  

It is not known how many cars will be operated, but Superintendent Wheeler said that it all depended upon the amount of traffic.

The construction is now practically completed.  There is about 100 feet of rock on the Shore Road that will have to be blasted out, and as soon as this work is done, 200 feet more of rails will be laid, and then the extension will be ready for operation.  The poles are all up and the wires have been strung.

It is believed that this extension will be a money maker, as many people will use the trolleys from Westchester County and various parts of New York in order to reach the Sound and the grounds of the New York Athletic Club."

Source:  TROLLEYS TO SHORE MONDAY, New Rochelle Pioneer, Sep. 3, 1910, Vol. 52, No. 23, p. 4, col. 3.

*          *          *          *          *

Below is a bibliography including links to a few of my many previous postings dealing with the topics of the "Toonerville Trolley," horse-drawn railroad cars, electric trolleys and other trolley-related information pertinent to Pelham, New York.

Bell, Blake A., Pelham and the Toonerville Trolley, 82(4) The Westchester Historian, pp. 96-111 (Fall 2006).

Bell, Blake A., Pelham and the Toonerville Trolley, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 11, Mar. 12, 2004, p. 10, col. 1.

Fri., Feb. 23, 2018:  Toonerville Trolley Accidents in Pelham Manor.

Thu., Feb. 22, 2018:  More on the 1916 Trolley Strike That Brought Violence to Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 06, 2017:  Has One of the Most Enduring Pelham History Mysteries Been Solved? The Mystery of Charles A. Voight!

Thu., Sep. 15, 2016:  Pelham Manor Residents Complained of Awful Service on the Toonerville Trolley Line as Early as 1899.

Fri., May 27, 2016:  Was Max "Maxie" Martin the Man Who Was the Skipper on the Pelham Manor Trolley the Day Fontaine Fox Rode the Line and Was Inspired?

Thu., Sep. 10, 2015:  Pelham Manor Citizens Voted to Reject Bus Service and Keep Their Toonerville Trolley in 1936.

Fri., Jul. 24, 2015:  The Day the Brakes Failed on the Pelham Manor Trolley, Inspiration for the Toonerville Trolley.

Tue., Jan. 06, 2015:  Extension of the Toonerville Trolley Line in Pelham Manor in 1910.

Wed., Mar. 19, 2014:  Another Confirmation the Famous "Toonerville Trolley" was Inspired by the Pelham Manor Trolley in 1909.

Wed., Mar. 05, 2014:  Trolleys Came to Pelham in the 1890s.

Tue., Jan. 05, 2010:  More on the Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910 -- The Toonerville Trolley Line.

Wed., Dec. 30, 2009:  Opening of the Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910 -- The Toonerville Trolley Line.

Wed., Dec. 23, 2009:  Attack on the Toonerville Trolley Line by Strikers in 1916

Thu., Aug. 27, 2009:  October 19, 1898 Report that the Tracks of the Toonerville Trolley Line Had Been Laid in Pelham.  

Mon., Aug. 17, 2009:  Efforts by Pelham Landowners in 1900 to Halt Construction of a Trolley Line on Shore Road.

Tue., Sep. 19, 2006:  Toonerville Trolley Cartoons Available For Free Viewing Online.

Tue., Sep. 19, 2006:  Toonerville Trolley Cartoons Available For Free Viewing Online.  

Wed., Aug. 9, 2006:  The Saddest Day in the History of Pelham Manor's "Toonerville Trolley"

Thu., Jul. 06, 2006:  Who Was the Skipper on the Pelham Manor Trolley the Day Fontaine Fox Rode the Line and Was Inspired?

Thu., Mar. 09, 2006:  Photographs of the H Line and A Line Trolleys on and Near Pelhamdale Avenue.

Tue., Oct. 11, 2005:  The Toonerville Trolley Pays Its Bills -- Late!

Tue., Sep. 20, 2005:  Pelham's "Toonerville Trolley" Goes To War.

Fri., Jun. 17, 2005:  "Skipper Louie" of Pelham Manor's Toonerville Trolley


Tue., Apr. 19, 2005:   Pelham Manor Residents Fight Construction of the Toonerville Trolley Line

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."

Toonerville Trolley Accidents in Pelham Manor

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."

To this day Pelhamites chuckle fondly when they reminisce about the tiny little Pelham Manor Trolley that met all the trains and that inspired cartoonist Fontaine Fox to create the "Toonerville Trolley" that also met all the trains as part of the long-running comic "Toonerville Folks."  Though the Pelham Manor trolley made its final run in 1937, more than eighty years later most residents of Pelham know of the trolley and the role it played in inspiring Fontaine Fox.

It seems quaint to think of a little rattle-trap of a trolley car bouncing along light rails down Pelhamdale Avenue on its way to the Pelham Manor Depot and, then, to Shore Road before it returned all the way back to the Pelham Train Station meeting all trains at both stations.  Truth be told, however, the trolley was a massive rail car plowing down the center of Wolfs Lane, Colonial Avenue, and Pelhamdale Avenue on dozens of trips a day with horse and buggy, pedestrian, and automobile traffic vying for parts of the same roadway and jockeying with the trolley for position.  Accidents were bound to happen -- and they did.

I have written about some such accidents before.  See, e.g., Fri., Jul. 24, 2015:  The Day the Brakes Failed on the Pelham Manor Trolley, Inspiration for the Toonerville Trolley.  As one might expect, there were other accidents involving the Pelham Manor Trolley including at least one additional accident involving failure of the trolley's brakes.  Today's Historic Pelham article provides information about such additional accidents.

One of the earliest serious accidents involving the Pelham Manor Trolley -- as opposed to trolleys that ran in North Pelham, on Fourth Street (today's Lincoln Avenue) between Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, and on Boston Post Road into New Rochelle -- was one that occurred on the evening of June 30, 1899.  The Pelham Manor Trolley was in its infancy.

The President of the Pelham School Board, John Beecroft, and his wife were returning from a school event at the Hutchinson School late in the evening in their horse-drawn carriage.  As they proceeded their horse shied and backed into the path of a Pelham Manor Trolley car approaching from the opposite direction.  The trolley struck the carriage and destroyed it, throwing the Beecrofts into the roadway.  Mr. Beecroft was knocked unconscious and received a severe cut to the head.  Mrs. Beecroft suffered a dislocated shoulder.

A few years later, on February 14, 1918, the little Pelham Manor Trolley was involved in another serious accident.  A large tank truck belonging to the "Texas Company," a predecessor to Texaco, collided with the trolley, shoving it off its tracks.  The truck was being driven by Charles McCarthy of New Rochelle.  It carried two passengers:  Morris Johnson of New Rochelle, agent for the Texas Company, and Bert Nelson, bookkeeper for the company.  The two passengers were injured, suffering lacerations and broken arms.  Miraculously, none of the passengers on the trolley car was hurt. 

On December 5, 1920, an odd "accident" involving Pelham's Toonerville Trolley occurred.  As the trolley proceeded on Wolfs Lane there was a loud crash.  Passengers were showered with broken glass.  The motorman stopped the trolley, jumped out and demanded to know who had thrown the rock that smashed a glass window of the trolley car.  Witnesses pointed to a man who had climbed aboard the trolley after the window was broken.  It turned out he was trying to catch up with a woman on the car and had been running alongside the car tapping on its windows, unbeknownst to the motorman.  The man finally grabbed a rock, said he would pay for the window and smashed the glass for attention, stopping the car.  Oddly, a news account suggests that once the unidentified man was identified by the motorman, all was forgiven and the trolley proceeded.

In mid-June, 1921, Pelham's Toonerville Trolley suffered yet another brake failure.  As the trolley car approached the end of its line where Pelhamdale Avenue intersects Shore Road, the motorman tried to apply the brakes to no avail.  Thankfully, a Pelham Manor police officer was on duty at the intersection and observed the car hurtling toward the intersection without slowing.  The officer, Officer Murphy, "saw the danger and held up autos approaching."  The trolley car left the tracks and missed one car "by six feet."  Two trolley car passengers, Mrs. and Mrs. Moran of 20 St. Joseph Street in New Rochelle, were "slightly shaken up," but apparently unhurt.

Barely a year later, on July 23, 1922, the Pelham Manor Trolley was involved in another crash.  Paul Deglinno of 10 South Sixth Avenue in Mount Vernon was driving a Ford Touring Car on Pelhamdale Avenue near Bolton Avenue.  A passenger, Camelia Strolle of 34 Fourth Avenue in Mount Vernon, was riding with him.

Deglinno was stuck behind the rattling trolley as it bounced along Pelhamdale Avenue.  He decided to pass the trolley being operated by motorman Edward Galzier.  Deglinno gunned the engine and tried to pass.  He misjudged the maneuver and struck the rear of the trolley car so violently that he launched his passenger through the glass windshield of the touring car, cutting her chin badly.  

The accident was witnessed by Pelham Manor police officer Philip Atkinson who assisted Deglinno to drive the injured woman to New Rochelle Hospital where she received stitches.  

There were other such accidents involving Pelham Manor's Toonerville Trolley during its forty-year span.  Those described today merely demonstrate a few of the many when trolleys once rattled along tracks in the streets of the tiny little Town of Pelham.

*          *          *          *          *

"EXTRA
-----
TROLLEY ACCIDENT AT PELHAM.
-----
JOHN BEECROFT AND WIFE INJURED
-----
A Wound on Head and a Dislocated Shoulder
-----

North Pelham, N. Y., July 1st -- This village was the scene of another trolley accident last night which occurred on Fifth avenue near Fourth street only a few feet from where little Ray Godfrey was hit and severely injured three weeks ago.

John R. Beecroft, President of the Board of Education, was returning to his home in Pelham Manor, with his wife, from the closing exercises at the North Pelham school over which he presided.  It was shortly after ten o'clock and as the carriage reached Third street on the way up Fifth avenue the horse shied and backed into a Pelham Manor trolley car coming from the opposite direction.  Mr. and Mrs. Beecroft were thrown out and the carriage completely wrecked.  

Mr. Beecroft was unconscious but escaped with a cut on his head and several bruises.  Mrs. Beecroft had her shoulder dislocated.

They were taken to the home of John Case and Drs. Fleming and Washburn summoned who set Mrs. Beecroft's shoulder and dressed her husband's wounds.  The motorman was arrested but later released."

Source:  EXTRA -- TROLLEY ACCIDENT AT PELHAM -- JOHN BEECROFT AND WIFE INJURED -- A Wound on Head and a Dislocated Shoulder, Mount Vernon Daily Argus, Jul. 1, 1899, Vol. XXIX, No. 2,227, p. 1, col. 4.

"Pelham Manor
-----
Accident Case Adjourned.

The case of Charles McCarthy, of New Rochelle, the chauffeur who drove the big tank motor truck of the Texas company, Thursday morning, when it collided with and pushed a Pelham Manor trolley car off the track on Pelhamdale avenue near Bolton avenue, came up yesterday morning before Justice of the Peace Ralph Rogers in the local court and was promptly adjourned until next Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock.  The two men who rode with McCarthy at the time of the accident Morris Johnson of New Rochelle, agent for the Texas company and Bert Nelson, the bookkeeper for the concern, are at the New Rochelle hospital where they were taken following the accident.  Their condition is reported as much improved and as no internal injuries of consequence have developed their condition is not serious.  The injuries are lacerations of the heads and each have a broken arm.  They will be able to leave the hospital in a few days.  None of the passengers who were in the trolley car have as yet reported injuries."

Source:  Pelham Manor -- Accident Case Adjourned, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Feb. 15, 1918, p. 9, col. 5.

"North Pelham. . . . 

The Pelham Manor trolley car had just left the Pelham station and was headed for the Manor at 7:15 o'clock last evening, when in front of Jeker's garage, there was a crash and a shower of falling glass.  The car stopped in front of the Pelham police headquarters and the motorman jumped off and asked who threw the stone through the window.  All rushed to the spot where two autos filled with people stood and asked the question there.  The autoists leaned forward and said:  'Do you see that man and woman who got on the car after it stopped?  Well, that man ran alongside the car and was tapping on the window.  The motorman did not hear or see him, so he said he would stop him and threw a stone through the glass, remarking at the time that he would pay for the window.'  There wass a stretching of necks to see who the man was, a chorus of 'Oh's' and the motorman remarked 'It's all right, never mind,' and the car was off."

Source:  North Pelham, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Dec. 6, 1920, p. 7, col. 5.

"Pelham Manor. . . .

The brakes on the Pelham Manor trolley car failed to work just as it was approaching the end of the line at the shore road, and ran across the shore road to the approach to the New York Athletic club.  Officer Murphy, who was on duty there at the time, saw the danger and held up autos approaching.  The car missed one auto by six feet.  Mr. and Mrs. Moran of 20 St. Joseph street, New Rochelle, were on the car and slightly shaken up. . . ."

Source:  Pelham Manor, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Jun. 18, 1921, p. 10, col. 4.  

"Woman Badly Cut When Auto Strikes Trolley
-----
Is Thrown Through Windshield By Impact.  Eight Stitches Taken In Chin At Hospital
-----

Thrown through the windshield of a Ford touring car, when it collided with the Pelham Manor trolley car.  Sunday afternoon, Miss Camelia Strolle, of No. 34 Fourth Avenue, Mount Vernon, received a deep gash in her chin, in which eight stitches had to be taken, by a surgenon at New Rochelle Hospital.

Miss Strolle was riding in the touring car which was operated by Paul Deglinno, of No. 10 South Sixth Avenue, Mount Vernon.  The couple in the automobile were going south on Pelhamdale Avenue, behind the trolley car, which was operated by Edward Galzier, Deglinno tried to pass the trolley car, but misjudged the clearance and crashed into it.

The force of the impact threw Miss Strolle forward, and her head struck the windshield, breaking it, and as her head passed through the broken pane of glass the jagged edge cut a deep gash in her chin.

Officer Philip Atkinson, of the Pelham Manor police department, witnessed the accident, and with Deglinno, drove the injured woman to New Rochelle Hospital.  There she received treatement and was removed to her home later.  There was no one else injured in the accident.  There was no damage done to the automobile than the broken windshield."

Source:  Woman Badly Cut When Auto Strikes Trolley -- Is Thrown Through Windshield By Impact.  Eight Stitches Taken In Chin At Hospital, The Pelham Sun, Jul. 28, 1922, Vol. 13, No. 22, p. 1, col. 5.

*          *          *          *          *

Below is a bibliography including links to a few of my many previous postings dealing with the topics of the "Toonerville Trolley," horse-drawn railroad cars, electric trolleys and other trolley-related information pertinent to Pelham, New York.

Bell, Blake A., Pelham and the Toonerville Trolley, 82(4) The Westchester Historian, pp. 96-111 (Fall 2006).

Bell, Blake A., Pelham and the Toonerville Trolley, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 11, Mar. 12, 2004, p. 10, col. 1.

Thu., Feb. 22, 2018:  More on the 1916 Trolley Strike That Brought Violence to Pelham.

Fri., Jan. 06, 2017:  Has One of the Most Enduring Pelham History Mysteries Been Solved? The Mystery of Charles A. Voight!

Thu., Sep. 15, 2016:  Pelham Manor Residents Complained of Awful Service on the Toonerville Trolley Line as Early as 1899.

Fri., May 27, 2016:  Was Max "Maxie" Martin the Man Who Was the Skipper on the Pelham Manor Trolley the Day Fontaine Fox Rode the Line and Was Inspired?

Thu., Sep. 10, 2015:  Pelham Manor Citizens Voted to Reject Bus Service and Keep Their Toonerville Trolley in 1936.

Fri., Jul. 24, 2015:  The Day the Brakes Failed on the Pelham Manor Trolley, Inspiration for the Toonerville Trolley.

Tue., Jan. 06, 2015:  Extension of the Toonerville Trolley Line in Pelham Manor in 1910.

Wed., Mar. 19, 2014:  Another Confirmation the Famous "Toonerville Trolley" was Inspired by the Pelham Manor Trolley in 1909.

Wed., Mar. 05, 2014:  Trolleys Came to Pelham in the 1890s.

Tue., Jan. 05, 2010:  More on the Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910 -- The Toonerville Trolley Line.

Wed., Dec. 30, 2009:  Opening of the Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910 -- The Toonerville Trolley Line.

Wed., Dec. 23, 2009:  Attack on the Toonerville Trolley Line by Strikers in 1916

Thu., Aug. 27, 2009:  October 19, 1898 Report that the Tracks of the Toonerville Trolley Line Had Been Laid in Pelham.  

Mon., Aug. 17, 2009:  Efforts by Pelham Landowners in 1900 to Halt Construction of a Trolley Line on Shore Road.

Tue., Sep. 19, 2006:  Toonerville Trolley Cartoons Available For Free Viewing Online.

Tue., Sep. 19, 2006:  Toonerville Trolley Cartoons Available For Free Viewing Online.  

Wed., Aug. 9, 2006:  The Saddest Day in the History of Pelham Manor's "Toonerville Trolley"

Thu., Jul. 06, 2006:  Who Was the Skipper on the Pelham Manor Trolley the Day Fontaine Fox Rode the Line and Was Inspired?

Thu., Mar. 09, 2006:  Photographs of the H Line and A Line Trolleys on and Near Pelhamdale Avenue.

Tue., Oct. 11, 2005:  The Toonerville Trolley Pays Its Bills -- Late!

Tue., Sep. 20, 2005:  Pelham's "Toonerville Trolley" Goes To War.

Fri., Jun. 17, 2005:  "Skipper Louie" of Pelham Manor's Toonerville Trolley


Tue., Apr. 19, 2005:   Pelham Manor Residents Fight Construction of the Toonerville Trolley Line

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."

Has One of the Most Enduring Pelham History Mysteries Been Solved? The Mystery of Charles A. Voight!

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."

On August 8, 1909, a man named Fontaine Fox arrived with his wife at the Pelham Station in the Village of North Pelham.  The couple hopped on the rickety little trolley that met all the trains.  

The little trolley shuttled back and forth, at that time, between the Pelham Station on the New Haven Line and the Pelham Manor Station on the New Haven Branch Line.  In 1909, the rattletrap trolley click-clacked along tracks laid on Wolfs Lane to Colonial Avenue where it turned toward New Rochelle.  It traveled along Colonial Avenue for a few hundred feet, then turned east onto Pelhamdale Avenue along which it traveled to its final stop near the Branch Line railroad trestle above Pelhamdale Avenue.  From there, the trolley operator reversed the trolley and returned along the same route to the Pelham Station.  (The following year, 1910, the trolley line was extended all the way to the end of Pelhamdale Avenue at Shore Road.)  

On that summer day in 1909, Fontaine Fox and his wife were on their way to visit their cartoonist friend, Charles A. Voight, who lived in Pelham Manor.  On the couple's brief trolley ride, as Fox later described in numerous letters and magazine interviews, Fox was struck by the folksy trolley operator with his Airedale beard, the idiosyncratic and rickety little trolley car known locally as the "Pelham Manor Trolley," and the concept that the little trolley met all the trains.  Fontaine Fox was so inspired by the ride that he created caricatures of the trolley operator, whom he named "Skipper," and the rickety little trolley that he called the "Toonerville Trolley that Meets All the Trains."  From there he created the wildly successful comic strip entitled "Toonerville Folks" that ran in syndication for the next forty years and made Fox a famous and wealthy man.  As Fox stated in one interview:

"After years of gestation, the idea for the Toonerville Trolley was born one day up in Westchester County when my wife and I had left New York City to visit Charlie Voight, the cartoonist, in the Pelhams.  At the station, we saw a rattletrap of a streetcar, which had as its crew and skipper a wistful old codger with an Airedale beard.  He showed as much concern in the performance of his job as you might expect from Captain Hartley when docking the Leviathan."

Source:  A Queer Way to Make a Living, The Saturday Evening Post, Feb. 11, 1928, p. 6.

Example of Sunday Comic Strip "Toonerville Folks" by

Fontaine Fox Featuring the Toonerville Trolley and its

Skipper.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

For decades, one of the most enduring Pelham history mysteries has been the location of the Charles Voight home that Fontaine Fox and his wife visited on August 8, 1909.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog attempts to shed light on that question.

Charles Anthony Voight was born in Brooklyn on April 28, 1887.  He showed artistic talent as a youngster and dropped out of school at the age of fourteen.  He became a member of the art staff a the New York World, a New York City newspaper, and did freelance advertising art work on the side.

Voight became an early comic strip artist.  Eventually he became best known for his long-running comic strip entitled "Betty."  According to one brief biography:

"In 1908, he drew his first comic strip, Petey Dink, for the Boston Traveler.  When [the comic strip] moved to the New York Herald it became simply Petey (sometimes titled Poor Little Petey).  He also drew for the New York World, and for Life, he created a series titled The Optimist.

The Sunday page of his popular glamour girl strip Betty began April 4, 1920 in the New York Herald, there was no daily strip.  Comics historian Don Markstein described the strip and characters [as follows]:  Betty Thompson's life was filled with cocktail parties, cotillions and affairs of that nature.  She wore all the latest high-class fashions, amply displayed by Voight's lush, stylish and highly individual illustration.  While Tillie the Toiler, very much a working girl, may seem to have little in common with Betty, they had one strong point of similarity.  Both went through handsome dashing men by the carload. . . ."

Source:  "Charles A. Voight" in Wikipedia -- The Free Encyclopedia (visited Jan. 2, 2017).

The comic strip Betty ended its run in 1943.  Thereafter Voight created art for comic books.  He died on February 10, 1947.

Voight and his wife, Nina, lived in Pelham Manor for a time.  The million-dollar-question, of course, is "where did they live on August 8, 1909."

Recently, while researching World War I draftees from Pelham, New York, I ran across a newspaper reference to the drafting of Charles A. Voight in July, 1917.  According to that record, Voight's address at the time was "541 Rochelle Place" in Pelham.  It turns out that there was no such address in Pelham at the time.  A quick review of World War I draft registration records, however, quickly revealed that on June 5, 1917, Charles Anthony Voight lived at 514 Rochelle Terrace in the Village of Pelham Manor.  (See immediately below.)

World War I Draft Registration Record for Charles

Anthony Voight of 514 Rochelle Terrace in Village

of Pelham Manor.  NOTE:  Click on Link to Enlarge.

The address is a starting point, of course, but certainly does not answer the question of where in Pelham Voight lived eight years earlier when Fontaine Fox visited him.  Thus, the 1910 Federal Census for Pelham was next consulted.  Neither Charles Voight nor his wife Nina, however, may be found anywhere in Pelham in the 1910 U.S. Census.  Nor has research yet revealed either of them anywhere else in the United States in the 1910 Federal Census.  If correct, this suggests, of course, that as was so often the case, they were among the members of the population who were missed in the census count that year.

This leaves us to review the 1905 and 1915 New York State census counts to try to find Charles Voight and his residence.  

Sure enough, the 1915 New York State Census shows Charles A. Voight and his wife, Nina, living with a live-in servant (a cook) in the Village of Pelham Manor at 457 Pelham Street.  There no longer is a street in Pelham Manor named Pelham Street.  That street once was located essentially where today's Monroe Street runs between Hunter Avenue and the end of Monroe Street.  The area was profoundly changed by the construction of the New England Thruway (I-95) through the neighborhood during the 1950s.  (See map detail immediately below.)

Detail from Map Published in 1910 Showing Location of

Pelham Street in Lower Left Quadrant of the Detail.

Source:  "Part of the Town and Village of Pelham Manor"

in Bromley, George Washington, Atlas of Westchester

County, New York, Vol. 1, p. 18 (Philadelphia, PA:  G.W.

Bromley & Co., 1910).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail from 1915 New York State Census, Westchester County,

Pelham, Assembly District No. 2, Election District No. 2, Page

14 of 21.  (Note:  Access via this link requires paid subscription).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The Voight home at 457 Pelham Street in 1915 was very near the terminus of the Pelham Manor trolley in 1909 when Fontaine Fox took his fateful ride.  That fact, of course, is encouraging.  It turns out, however, that Voight and his wife seem to have moved into the home at 457 Pelham Street some time after 1909.  At the very least, someone else was living in that home in 1910.

Returning to the 1910 U.S. Census for Pelham, it is possible to find the home located at 457 Pelham Street and identify the occupants of that home at the time the census was taken in May, 1910.  There were five residents in the home:  Felix J. Rush (father and head of household), Centa Rush (wife), Marie G. Rush (daughter), Philomena S. Rush (daughter), and Joseph Dirnago (a brother-in-law).  Neither Charles Voight nor his wife is listed.  Thus, it would seem that the couple did not live there in 1910 and may well have moved into that home at a later date.

Detail from 1910 U.S. Census, New York, Westchester

County, Town of Pelham, District 0110, Page 48 of 65

(Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Alas, although this research has added to the body of information regarding various homes in which famed cartoonist Charles A. Voight resided during his time in Pelham, the question of precisely where he lived on August 8, 1909 when Fontaine Fox visited him remains an unanswered question.  It remains, for now, one of the most enduring Pelham history mysteries to be resolved, hopefully, in the future.

*          *          *          *          *

Below is a bibliography including links to a few of my many previous postings dealing with the topics of the "Toonerville Trolley," horse-drawn railroad cars, electric trolleys and other trolley-related information pertinent to Pelham, New York.

Bell, Blake A., Pelham and the Toonerville Trolley, 82(4) The Westchester Historian, pp. 96-111 (Fall 2006).

Bell, Blake A., Pelham and the Toonerville Trolley, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 11, Mar. 12, 2004, p. 10, col. 1.

Thu., Sep. 15, 2016:  Pelham Manor Residents Complained of Awful Service on the Toonerville Trolley Line as Early as 1899.

Fri., May 27, 2016:  Was Max "Maxie" Martin the Man Who Was the Skipper on the Pelham Manor Trolley the Day Fontaine Fox Rode the Line and Was Inspired?

Thu., Sep. 10, 2015:  Pelham Manor Citizens Voted to Reject Bus Service and Keep Their Toonerville Trolley in 1936.

Fri., Jul. 24, 2015:  The Day the Brakes Failed on the Pelham Manor Trolley, Inspiration for the Toonerville Trolley.

Tue., Jan. 06, 2015:  Extension of the Toonerville Trolley Line in Pelham Manor in 1910.

Wed., Mar. 19, 2014:  Another Confirmation the Famous "Toonerville Trolley" was Inspired by the Pelham Manor Trolley in 1909.

Wed., Mar. 05, 2014:  Trolleys Came to Pelham in the 1890s.

Tue., Jan. 05, 2010:  More on the Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910 -- The Toonerville Trolley Line.

Wed., Dec. 30, 2009:  Opening of the Extension of the Pelham Manor Trolley Line in 1910 -- The Toonerville Trolley Line.

Wed., Dec. 23, 2009:  Attack on the Toonerville Trolley Line by Strikers in 1916

Thu., Aug. 27, 2009:  October 19, 1898 Report that the Tracks of the Toonerville Trolley Line Had Been Laid in Pelham.  

Mon., Aug. 17, 2009:  Efforts by Pelham Landowners in 1900 to Halt Construction of a Trolley Line on Shore Road.

Thu., Jul. 30, 2009:  Pelham-Related Trolley Franchises Granted in 1897.

Wed., Mar. 25, 2009:  Another Brief Account by Fontaine Fox Describing Trolley in Pelham Manor as Inspiration for Toonerville Trolley Comic Strip.

Mon., May 28, 2007:  Brief Biography of Henry De Witt Carey, 19th Century Pelham Justice of the Peace.

Mon., Mar. 05, 2007:  An Ode to the Toonerville Trolley and its Skipper Published in 1921.

Tue., Sep. 19, 2006:  Toonerville Trolley Cartoons Available For Free Viewing Online.

Tue., Sep. 19, 2006:  Toonerville Trolley Cartoons Available For Free Viewing Online.  

Wed., Aug. 9, 2006:  The Saddest Day in the History of Pelham Manor's "Toonerville Trolley"

Thu., Jul. 06, 2006:  Who Was the Skipper on the Pelham Manor Trolley the Day Fontaine Fox Rode the Line and Was Inspired?

Thu., Mar. 09, 2006:  Photographs of the H Line and A Line Trolleys on and Near Pelhamdale Avenue.

Tue., Oct. 11, 2005:  The Toonerville Trolley Pays Its Bills -- Late!

Tue., Sep. 20, 2005:  Pelham's "Toonerville Trolley" Goes To War.
Fri., Jun. 17, 2005:  "Skipper Louie" of Pelham Manor's Toonerville Trolley


Tue., Apr. 19, 2005:   Pelham Manor Residents Fight Construction of the Toonerville Trolley Line

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