Sanborn Map Company Opened a Map School in Pelham Before Opening its New Map Factory in 1906

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Nestled in the northern reaches of the Town of Pelham adjacent to the beautiful residential neighborhood known as Chester Park with its lovely central green is a building known as the Sanborn Map Building.  The Sanborn Map Building was built in 1906. In it the Sanborn Map Company produced maps for insurance company customers for many decades. 

The company's predecessor, founded by D. A. Sanborn in 1866, gained national recognition in the 19th century for its incredibly detailed fire insurance maps. The "Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, Limited" was established at the office of the Continental Insurance Company in New York in 1876.

By the early 20th century the company had changed its name to the Sanborn Map Company and had decided to build a massive "map factory" in the Village of North Pelham adjacent to Chester Park.  Construction began in 1906.  

The story of the Sanborn Map Building in Pelham has been told before.  See, e.g.:

Tue., Mar. 14, 2017:  The Sanborn Map Company Water Tower in North Pelham.

Mon., Nov. 28, 2005:  The Historic Sanborn Map Building In The Village of Pelham.

Bell, Blake A., The Sanborn Map Company and its Pelham Headquarters, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XV, Issue 14, Apr. 7, 2006, p. 10, col. 1.

Though many in Pelham know the story of the Sanborn Map Building, few know that before the building was built in 1906, the Sanborn Map Company operated a map-making school in a building owned by Philip Godfrey located on Fourth Avenue near Second Street.

It appears that the Sanborn Map Company hoped to hit the ground running in Pelham.  Thus, months before it opened its new map factory next to Chester Park, it decided to open a map-making school to train those scheduled to work in the factory how to craft insurance maps like those sold by the company.  

The company arranged to use the second and third floors of a newly-constructed building on Fourth Avenue owned by Philip Godfrey.  The structure was located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Second Street.  (The structure no longer exists.  It was in an area now covered by the parking lot behind De Cicco and Son's Market.)  Philip Godfrey was a notable resident of the Village of North Pelham who served as a member of the Relief Hook and Ladder Company of the First Fire District for about thirty years.

Sanborn Map workers reported for training at the makeshift school on Tuesday, May 1, 1906.  A local newspaper reported breathlessly as follows:  "The opening of this school simply means the beginning of a new era for North Pelham and will doubtless mean much to the village."

The makeshift school seems only to have operated for a few months until completion of the Sanborn Map Building in 1906 and and the opening of the new building in early 1907.

Sanborn Map Building in 2003.  Photograph by the Author.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Detail of 1908 Map Showing Location of "P. Godfrey" Building.

Source: Fairchild, John F., "City of Mount Vernon and Town of Pelham" in

Atlas of the City of Mount Vernon and the Town of Pelham Second Edition

Compiled from Official Records, Personal Surveys, and other Private Plans

and Surveys, Plate 27 (Mount Vernon, NY: John F. Fairchild, 1908).

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"MAP FACTORY'S SCHOOL IS AT NORTH PELHAM
-----
Sanborn Company Will Open a Course of Instruction for Workmen
-----
QUARTERS IN NEW HOUSE NOW ON FOURTH AVENUE
-----

North Pelham, April 30. -- It was learned this morning that the Sanborne [sic] Map Factory will establish a school in North Pelham, in which instruction will be given the employees in map making.  This will be somewhat of a novel departure, and will probably interest a good many people.

The school will be established on the second and third floors of the three story building erected by Philip Godfrey on Fourth avenue near Second street.  The school will be opened Tuesday morning, at which time the first group of men to be employed by the factory will report for instruction.

The idea of the Sanborne [sic] Map company to take these rooms is to break the men in who are to enter the employ of the factory.  The rooms will be properly fitted with tables and the necessary paraphernalia.  It could not be ascertained today, the nature of the work that these men are to learn, but it probably is some of the most important to be done by the factory.

The opening of this school simply means the beginning of a new era for North Pelham and will doubtless mean much to the village."

Source:  MAP FACTORY'S SCHOOL IS AT NORTH PELHAM -- Sanborn Company Will Open a Course of Instruction for Workmen -- QUARTERS IN NEW HOUSE NOW ON FOURTH AVENUE, Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Apr. 30, 1906, No. 4304, p. 1, col. 2.

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The Precise Location of the Congregational Church as Shown on a Map Published in 1908

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A tiny, but beautiful white wood clapboard-sided country church once stood on Second Avenue between third street and fourth street (now Lincoln Avenue).  It was known as the Congregational Church of North Pelham and was organized by a group known as the Union Sabbath School of Pelhamville.  It had a knee-high white-picket fence surrounding it, and evoked a simpler rural time when much of the Village of North Pelham (once known as Pelhamville) was entirely undeveloped.

I have written several times about the tiny little church.  See:

Wed., Nov. 19, 2014:  Rare Early Image of the Congregational Church of North Pelham in the Early 20th Century.

Tue., May 06, 2014:  More on the History of the Congregational Church of North Pelham.

Fri., Apr. 18, 2014:  The Union Sabbath School of Pelhamville. 

Fri., Feb. 28, 2014:  Brief History of the Role Churches Played in the Growth of the Pelhams Published in 1926. 

Mon., Sep. 21, 2009:  January 1882 Account of the 1881 Christmas Festival Held at the Union Sabbath School in Pelhamville. 

Mon., Aug. 24, 2009:  1878 Advertisement for Services of The Union Sabbath School Society of Pelhamville. 

Obverse of Undated Real Photo Post Card (RPP) Showing

"CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. NO. PELHAM, N.Y." Circa 1910.

Source: Recent eBay Auction Listing for the Post Card.

It was so wonderful to see yesterday that a civilized and enjoyable debate erupted on the "Remembering North Pelham" Facebook page addressing the question of precisely where the Congregational Church.  The area, as one might expect, is so different today that it is virtually impossible to tell where the church was located from looking at the entirely altered terrain.  

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog uses the hard-to-find 1908 Fairchild Atlas of Mount Vernon and Pelham to locate the church precisely.  There are two editions of the Fairchild Atlas.  The first was published in 1899.  The second was published in 1908.  They are very, very rare.  About a decade ago I was able to locate both from a Pennsylvania rare books dealer and bought copies that I have used for years.  Recently, however . . . . . . . . .

The New York Public Library Digital Collections have added high resolution images of the maps from the 1899 Fairchild Atlas and the 1908 Fairchild Atlas that can be magnified to a very high level.  See:

Fairchild, John F., Atlas of the City of Mount of Vernon and the Town of Pelham. Compiled from Official Records, Personal Surveys and Other Private Plans and Surveys. 1899. Compiled and published by John F. Fairchild. Civil Engineer and Surveyor. Rooms, 10-11 Bank Buliding, Mount Vernon, N.Y. (1899) (Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library). 

Fairchild, John F., Atlas of the City of Mount Vernon and the Town of Pelham Second Edition. Compiled from Official Records, Personal Surveys, and Other Private Plans and Surveys. 1908. Compiled and Published John F. Fairchild. C.E. Civil Engineer and Surveyor Engineering Building Mount Vernon, N.Y. (1908) (Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library).

NOTE:  In every instance when using these resources, it is critically important to consider the following as you are scrolling through the pages of the Atlas.  If you find a map that you wish to enlarge much larger than the book view permits you to enlarge, you find the tiny link above the book view to the map in the Atlas in which you are interested.  Once you click on that link, you can magnify the map page to a massive level.  When you are simply in the book view (but not the page view that is accessed by clicking on the link above the pages you see in the book view), you can only magnify the image slightly -- typically not to the extent necessary.

Below are two details from plate 27 of the 1908 Fairchild Atlas.  The first shows much of the plate.  In the upper left corner is the block on which the Congregational Church stood -- the block between First and Second Avenues bounded by Third Street and Fourth Street (today's Lincoln Avenue).  The second shows a magnified detail from the same plate (Plate 27) showing the block in question.

Detail from Plate 27 Showing Block on Which

the Congregational Church Stood at Upper

Left of the Street Grid.  Source:  See Citation Above.

NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

Magnified Detail of the Same Map Showing the Block on Which

the Congregational Church Stood in 1908.  Source:  See Citation

Above.  NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

As the magnified detail immediately above shows, the Congregational Church stood on a lot that extended through the entire block with frontage on both Second Avenue and First Avenue.  The church building, however faced Second Avenue and stood only a few feet away from the street.  The church lot was about halfway between Third Street and Fourth Street (today's Lincoln Avenue).  The church lot had 50 feet of frontage on Second Avenue and fifty feet of frontage on First Avenue.  The length of the lot was 309 feet (a combination of two lots, one of which was 155 feet long and the other 154 feet).  In 1908, about the time of the real post card image of the church shown above, the lots on both sides of the church when facing it from Second Avenue were empty.  The southerly lot of the two lots adjacent to the rear half of the church property was empty.  Two adjoining small structures (perhaps sheds) were on the northerly lot adjacent to the rear half of the church property.  They belonged at the time to C. W. Russell.  

Interestingly, directly across First Avenue from the rear of the church lot were the ice houses of the American Ice Company which was one of the local business that harvested "natural ice" from the Pelham Reservoir, the very tip of which can be seen at the bottom of the magnified map detail near the ice houses.

When a current satellite image of the same block is juxtaposed adjacent to the magnified map detail above, one can get a much better sense of how much the area has changed in the last 106 years.  Although I have made no meaningful effort to research the issue or survey the area, it would seem that none of the structures that were standing in 1908 on the block in question are standing on the block today.  

Google Maps Satellite Image of Block in Question

Juxtaposed Adjacent to Magnified Detail from Plate

27 of 1908 Fairchild Map of the Same Block.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

In short, although one would be hard-pressed to find any evidence today, the Congregational Church stood about halfway up the block on Second Avenue between Third Street and Fourth Street (today's Lincoln Avenue).  According to Plate 27 of the 1908 Fairchild Atlas, the church building was approximately 160 feet north of the northern edge of Third Street, and about fifteen or twenty feet westward from the western edge of Second Avenue.  

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How 4th Street in Today's Village of Pelham Became Lincoln Avenue

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Early maps of the Village of North Pelham, now part of today's Village of Pelham, reveal that today's Lincoln Avenue once was named "Fourth Street" within the Village of North Pelham.  Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog details how and why the name of the roadway was changed to Lincoln Avenue.

The roadway that we know today as Lincoln Avenue cuts entirely through today's Village of Pelham and extends from within the City of Mount Vernon, across all of the Village of Pelham, and extends into the City of New Rochelle.  The roadway has existed within Pelham since the area once known as Pelhamville was first plotted for development as the detail from a map published in 1853 and reproduced immediately below illustrates.

 Detail from 1853 Map Showing Pelhamville.

Source:  M. Dripps & R. F. O. Conner, Southern Part

of West-Chester County N. Y. (1853).

Note:  The Roadway Known as Fourth Street

Is Clearly Shown, Though Unlabeled, Beneath

"Pelham Square," Site of Today's Hutchinson School.

 

Map of Pelhamville Published in 1868.

Source: Beers, F.W., Atlas of New York and Vicinity from

Actual Surveys By and Under the Direction of F.W.Beers,

Assisted By A.B. Prindle & Others, pg. 36 (NY, NY:

Beers, Ellis & Soule, 1868) (Detail from Page 36 Map Entitled

"Town of New Rochelle, Westchester Co., N.Y. (With) Pelhamville).

NOTE:  The Street Is Clearly Labeled "Fourth St." Here.

Nearly 100 years after the streets were first laid out as part of the effort to develop and sell lots in the hamlet known as Pelhamville, the area had changed tremendously.  Mount Vernon was incorporated as a City and was growing in leaps and bounds.  Indeed, today it is reportedly the eighth largest City in the State of New York.  The little hamlet of Pelhamville had become the Village of North Pelham and was nearly fully developed.  Similarly, the City of New Rochelle had exploded in population and was becoming very developed.  Today it is reportedly the seventh largest City in the State of New York.

By 1948, the Village of North Pelham road known as "Fourth Street" connected with a road in Mount Vernon named Lincoln Avenue.  On the northeasterly side of the Village of North Pelham, Fourth Street once had continued into New Rochelle as a roadway known as
Pelhamwood Road and also as Winyah Avenue at different points along the road.  The City of New Rochelle, however, renamed Pelhamwood Road and Winyah Avenue as "Lincoln Avenue."  The result was that Lincoln Avenue extended through Mount Vernon until it reached North Pelham where it was known as Fourth Street, then again became Lincoln Avenue as the roadway entered the City of New Rochelle.

In March of 1948, Mayor Stanley Church of the City of New Rochelle contacted Mayor Dominic Amato of the Village of North Pelham as well as the Board of Trustees of the Village of North Pelham and asked if the Board would consider changing the name of the road in the Village of North Pelham from "Fourth Street" to "Lincoln Avenue" to make it consistent with the way the roadway was labeled in the City of Mount Vernon and in the City of New Rochelle.  The intent, according to the Mayor of New Rochelle, was to eliminate potential confusion among motorists traveling the roadway.  

On March 30, 1948, the Board of Trustees of the Village of North Pelham held a public hearing on the matter.  Twelve persons appeared during the hearing.  Several of the twelve spoke and expressed support for the proposed name change saying it would reduce confusion.  There was no opposition to the proposal.

The Board of Trustees voted in favor of the name change.  The street since has been known as Lincoln Avenue.

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Below are transcriptions of the text of two articles that appeared in a local newspaper about the name change, each followed by a citation to its source.  

"North Pelham Acts To Change Street's Name

NORTH PELHAM -- At the request of Mayor Stanley Church of New Rochelle, the North Pelham Village Board will hold a public hearing March 30 at 8 P. M. at Town Hall on a proposal to change the name of Fourth Street to Lincoln Avenue.  

New Rochelle requested the change because that City has re-designated Pelhamwood Road and Winyah Avenue, which are a continuation of Fourth Street in North Pelham to Lincoln Avenue.  It was brought out that Mount Vernon's part of Fourth Street is named Lincoln Avenue and that it will be  less confusing if the entire thoroughfare has the same name.  

The board decided to provide more parking areas by grading off the northwest areas by grading off the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Third Street for a temporary public parking space for day parking only.  It also decided to use the lot on Fifth Avenue adjacent to the fire headquarters for public all-day parking.  

Charles Nelson, chairman of the Village Board of Assessors, tendered his resignation effective March 31 because he has been named to the Town Board of Assessors.  The board accepted his resignation with regret and congratulated him on his elevation.

The board will hold an organization meeting April 5 at 8 P. M. at Town Hall when newly elected members will be welcomed.  

John W. Raymond, of Boston, Mass., was employed for a $300 fee as a consulting engineer to go over plans for a drain at First Street drawn up two years ago by Village Engineer George Godfrey.

The week of April 12 was designated as annual 'Clean Up Week.'

Sergeant Earl McCracken and Patrolman Robert Smith were put on permanent status after a three-month probationary period.  Mayor Dominic Amato presided."  

Source:  North Pelham Acts To Change Street's Name, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Mar. 17, 1948, p. 13, col. 3.

"No. Pelham Changes Fourth Street's Name

NORTH PELHAM -- The name of Fourth Street in this village was changed to Lincoln Avenue at a public hearing held last night by the Village Board in Town Hall.  No opposition was voiced to the change, and several of the 12 residents who attended pointed out that the change will avoid confusion, since New Rochelle changed the name of its part of the thoroughfare to Lincoln Avenue recently.  North Pelham thus links Mount Vernon's Lincoln Avenue stretch with that in New Rochelle."

Source:  No. Pelham Changes Fourth Street's Name, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Mar. 31, 1948, p. 9, col. 4. 

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