Who Drove the First Automobile in Pelham?

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Much of the history of Pelham is a history of "firsts."  For example, Historic Pelham has looked at such issues as:  (1) When was the first telegraph installed in Pelham? (2) When was the first telephone installed in Pelham?  (3) When was baseball first played here? (4) When was football first played here?  (5) When was tennis first played here?  (6) When did the first airplane fly across Pelham skies?  (7) When did the first dirigible fly above Pelham?  (8) When was Pelham first settled?  (9) When did the first airplane fly overhead in Pelham skies?  There are simply too many such examples to list!

Today Historic Pelham addresses another historic first:  Who drove the first automobile in Pelham?

I have written before about the history of early automobiles in Pelham.  See Thu., Nov. 05, 2015:  The Earliest Days of the Automobile in Pelham.  As I have noted before, Henry Ford did not perfect the assembly line production of his Model T automobile until about 1913.  Only then did the new-fangled gasoline-powered automobile start to become affordable for average Americans.  In the earliest years of the twentieth century, however, many Pelham residents were not "average Americans."  They were, to put it bluntly, comparatively affluent.  Thus, Pelham residents were caught up in the national car craze years before other areas of the country.  A number of Pelham residents owned automobiles in the earliest years of the twentieth century.  

For example, the Fourth of July Parade held in Pelham in 1910 included an "Automobile Division" consisting of five automobiles that led the parade.  According to the local Newspaper, the Automobile Division consisted of the following:

"First division, automobiles -- No. 1, automobile containing Harry A. Anderson, Village President James Reilly, Village Trustee David Lyon and Street Commissioner Vinccent Barker; No. 2 automobile containing George Rupert and Tax Collector George Lambert; No. 3 automobile containing President Huber of the fire commission, Justice of the Peace Peter Ceder, Jouhn Young and Miss Lillian Young; No. 4 automobile containing Edward Rosenheimer, Justices of the Peace Kilvert and Curnen; No. 5, automobile containing Steven Rupert, Nina Rupert, the Misses Creed and William Creed of Peekskill. These machines were very attractively decorated."

Source:  Certainly, Our Fourth A Grand Success, The Pelham Sun, July 9, 1910, Vol. 1, No. 14, p. 1, cols. 1-2 & p. 4. col. 1.

As indicated above, among those who participated in the Automobile Division of the Fourth of July Parade in 1910 was George Rupert.  George Christopher Rupert was born in Somerset, New Jersey on August 18, 1875.  He was a son of Conrad and Anna Maria Rupert.  His father was a German immigrant while his mother had been born in New Jersey.

George Rupert moved to Pelham shortly after the turn of the 20th century.  He and his wife, Carolyn, became long-time residents of the Village of North Pelham.  The couple lived for a time at 125 Sixth Avenue in the Village of North Pelham and, on several occasions, with his attorney brother, Henry L. Rupert, at 107 Sixth Avenue.  George Rupert became a builder who constructed homes and commercial buildings in Pelham during the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s including a row of stores on the east side of Fifth Avenue between Second and Third Streets.  He and his wife lived for many years at 58 Harmon Avenue in Pelhamwood, a home that Rupert built.  The 1940 U.S. Census shows Rupert and Carolyn living with a maid in New Rochelle.  

In 1931 the local newspaper, The Pelham Sun, reported that George Rupert was "the first Pelhamite who dared to drive one of those gasoline buggies."  It further noted that the "snappy machine could make as much as fifteen miles per hour quite easily if the passengers did not mind the shaking up that the got due to the dirt roads."  As one might expect in those early days of the "horseless carriage," the brief report also indicated that "Fred Case's horses were brought into service at many an occasion" to help pull the vehicle.  A photograph of the vehicle appears immediately below.  It looks more like a carriage than an automobile. . . . 

"THE FIRST AUTO IN PELHAM

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What a stylish machine it was.  George Rupert, who distinguished himself as being the first Pelhamite who dared to drive one of those gasoline buggies has carefully preserved this picture.  This snappy machine could make as much as fifteen miles per hour quite easily if the passengers did not mind the shaking up that the got due to the dirt roads.  Fred Case's horses were brought into service at many an occasion."

Source:  THE FIRST AUTO IN PELHAM, The Pelham Sun, Apr. 17, 1931, p. 20, cols. 3-4.

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