A Beloved Teacher Who Taught at the Jackson Avenue School and Siwanoy Junior High School

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Pelhamites love and treasure their teachers.  One beloved teacher who taught in the Pelham school system from 1909 until 1934 was Charlotte Lamson Root, known as Mrs. Root.  She was a storyteller par excellence.  She taught in the school system during a critical time, as it evolved from a small, simple system to a large, complex system not so different from today's.

In 1909, Mrs. Root (then "Miss Charlotte Lamson") left the Lincoln School in Mount Vernon to become principal and a teacher of the seventh and eighth grades at the Jackson Avenue School in Pelha Manor.  The Jackson Avenue School at the time was a three-room school with a total enrollment in all eight grades of about sixty students.  Charlotte Lamson was the Junior High School Principal in charge of the seventh and eighth grades with a grand total of eight students!

By 1917, Mrs. Root was a Junior High School teacher at Siwanoy when that school served as the Junior High School and High School before the construction of today's Pelham Memorial High School.  When Pelham Memorial High School opened, she became a member of the Junior High School faculty there, teaching english, reading and, later, mathematics until her retirement after 25 years at the end of the 1933-34 school year.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes the text of a lovely article that appeared in The Pelham Sun on the occasion of the retirement of Mrs. Root.  The article is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"Mrs. W. S. ROOT."

Source:    Mrs. Root To Retire After 25 Years As School

Teacher -- Member of Faculty of Junior High School

First Taught in Old Jackson Avenue School in Pelham Manor,

The Pelham Sun, Jun. 15, 1934, p. 3, cols. 1-2.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"Mrs. Root To Retire After 25 Years As School Teacher
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Member of Faculty of Junior High School First Taught in Old Jackson Avenue School in Pelham Manor.
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After a quarter of a century of service as a teacher in the Pelham public schools system, Mrs. William S. Root, teacher of mathematics in Pelham Memorial Junior High School, will retire at the end of this term.  During her 25 years of service, Mrs. Root has taught hundreds of Pelham children and is one of the most popular teachers on the local faculty.

In 1909, Mrs. Root, then Miss Charlotte Lamson, came from the Lincoln School in Mount Vernon, to become principal and teacher of the Seventh and Eighth Grades of the Jackson Avenue School in Pelham Manor.  This was a three-room building with a total pupil enrollment in the eight grades of approximately 60.  In the two grades Mrs. Root taught, there was a grand total of eight pupils.

Education in those days was a different story from that of today.  One of the many amusing anecdotes related by Mrs. Root about the Jackson Avenue Schoolhouse, dates back to 1910.  Just before the end of the term that year, one of the pupils was taken ill with measles.  The schoolhouse was quarantined and no classes were held.  However, in order that the pupils of the two highest grades might not be held back, classes were held in the old Pelham Manor police station on Black street.  Former Chief Philip Gargan, then a patrolman, was a great favorite with the pupils.

Mrs. Root also made it a point to attend the school board elections and in those days, she recalls, there was considerable opposition to the appropriation of money for the construction of Siwanoy School in 1910.  Mrs. Root taught several classes in that school.

It was while Mrs. Root was a teacher at Siwanoy, just after the United States entered the World War, that she became engaged to Captain William S. Root.  He had been in camp upstate and shortly before he received orders to sail for France, he came to Pelham and visiting his intended bride in her classroom, gave her an engagement ring.

'And do you know,' confided Mrs. Root with a smile, 'after that, the teachers at Siwanoy used to ask for that room and for a long tie, every teacher that had it got married.'

During the two years that her husband spent in France, Mrs. Root continued to teach and then when Memorial High School was completed, she beccame a member of the Junior High School faculty, first teaching English and Reading and later Mathematics.

She is exceedingly popular with her pupils, many of them terming her the 'story teacher,' because of the seemingly inexhaustible fund of anecdotes with which she lightens up the classroom duties.  She is possessed of a fine sense of humor, which is best evidenced perhaps by the fact that one minute she will be scolding the class and then in the next telling them a story that will send them into laughter.

'One of the nicest things about my teaching here,' she said this week, 'has been the wonderful children who have been in my classes.  Many of them have gone on to graduate from high school and college and take their places in the business and professional world.  Many of them have brought me little gifts that I treasure highly.  Why, at home, I find daily reminders of former pupils in their gifts.'

Asked whether she had had any pupils who went on to become officials in the town, she recalled Dominic Amato, former village trustee and now chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners of the First Fire District, who was in her class at the Siwanoy School.  Former Justice of the Peace Alfred P. Walker, Jr., was a member of her class at Siwanoy School.

'I'll tell you one interesting fact,' said Mrs. Root.  'When I first came to Pelham I had four Templetons in my first class.  I have one today, the daughter of one of my first pupils.'

Mrs. Root also recalled an amusing incident about John Cox, Jr., son of the Democratic candidate for president in the race against Warren G. Harding.  At that time, the son was a student in her class and was graduating from Junior High into Senior High School.  In 1920, Mrs. Root said, it was the custom to initiate newcomers into the Senior division of the school.  Accordingly, the group in charge of the ceremonies had John Cox attend the stage in the auditorium and give seven reasons why Warren G. Harding should be elected to the presidency instead of his father.  

Mrs. Root is only the second teacher to retire in the Pelham system after completing such a record of service."

Source:  Mrs. Root To Retire After 25 Years As School Teacher -- Member of Faculty of Junior High School First Taught in Old Jackson Avenue School in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 15, 1934, p. 3, cols. 1-2.  

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Was it Arson that Destroyed the Prospect Hill School at Jackson and Plymouth Avenues in 1917?

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In 1840, John Hunter of Hunter's Island (who also owned a large tract of land on the mainland just to the southeast of Prospect Hill) deeded a small corner of his land as a site for a new public school building.  According to one account, "In 1866, for some reason, the town purchased part of lot 51 from Terrance Malloy and moved the school to that site, which is now the front part of the main center section of 982 Split Rock Road."  See The Junior League of Pelham, Inc., A Glance at the Past: Pelham's Growth From 1775-1975 p. 14 (The Junior League of Pelham, Inc. Sept. 1976) (Pamphlet associated with accompanying map; 32 pp. including Map Bibliography, Manuscript Bibliography and illustrations by Hedy Klein).

As early as 1879, the Board of Education of the Union Free School District No. 1 of the Town of Pelham formulated a plan to replace the tiny one-room schoolhouse in Pelham Manor on Split Rock Road.  Pelham voters authorized a $4,000 bond issue to fund construction of the new school building on October 14, 1879.  Later in the year, the School District petitioned the Westchester County Board of Supervisors to permit it to sell the tiny Prospect Hill Schoolhouse and the land on which it stood along Split Rock Road and to permit the District to use the proceeds of the sale to purchase "other lands for the site of their school-house, and to the erection of necessary buildings therein." 

On December 22, 1879, Odle Close (a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Westchester County Board of Supervisors) presented to the Board of Supervisors on behalf of the Judiciary Committee a report recommending that the School Board's petition be granted and that authority to sell the schoolhouse and land be given.  The petition subsequently was granted and construction of a new school known as the Jackson Avenue School began shortly thereafter.  

The school building had been erected by the time G. W. Bromley and Co. published a map of the area in 1881.  A detail from that map showing the location of the school appears immediately below.

Detail from 1881 Bromley Map with Arrow

Showing Location of the Jackson Avenue School.

Detail from 1899 Map by John F. Fairchild

Showing Location of the Jackson Avenue School

Referenced on the Map as "Prospect Hill School."

The Jackson Avenue School served Pelham schoolchildren for nearly forty years.  Not long after the turn of the 20th century, however, the population of the Town of Pelham began to explode.  In 1900, the population of the Town was 1,571.  In 1905, the population reached 1,841.  By 1910, the population had grown to 2,998 -- nearly doubling over a ten-year period.  Pelham schools, including the little Jackson Avenue School, were bulging at the seams.  

Post Card View of the First Prospect Hill School on

Jackson Avenue at Plymouth Street in 1907.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Pelham did not even have its own high school at the turn of the 20th century.  It sent its young scholars to other communities such as Mount Vernon and New Rochelle for high school educations.  Finally, Pelham constructed the "Pelham High School, and Siwanoy Grammar School," the structure that we know today as the central portion of Siwanoy Elementary School.

After dedication of the new structure in 1911, Pelham Manor schoolchildren began attending the Pelham High School, and Siwanoy Elementary School."  The School Board closed the little brick Jackson Avenue School, although it used the structure for storage.

In late 1916 and early 1917, the School Board magnanimously allowed a local church to store some material in the building.  The congregation of Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church was building a new church building at Four Corners on the location of the Little Red Church the congregation opened in 1876.  The last service in the Little Red Church took place on December 10, 1916. The Little Red Church building was not demolished at that time.  Rather, elements of the church were salvaged from the structure and the building was moved across Pelhamdale Avenue to a site on Boston Post Road near the service station located there today. It was used as an apartment building with a retail store on the ground floor and lower level for many years until the building finally was razed.

With the permission of the School Board, Huguenot Memorial Presbyterian Church stored some of the salvaged elements of the Little Red Church and various furnishings in the Jackson Avenue School building.  That decision, it turned out, was an unfortunate one.  

On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 10, 1917, at about 4:30 p.m. a fire began in the structure.  The Pelham Manor Fire Department responded quickly, but the flames "had gained a good headway" by the time they arrived from their firehouse only a few blocks away.  

The fire roared through the building.  There was little that could be done.  By the time the Fire Department brought the fire under control, all that was left standing of the building were the exterior brick walls. The building, valued at $6,000, was a total loss.

The fire, it turned out, was suspicious.  Authorities concluded that an incendiary likely was used to start or spread the flames.  There is no indication, however, that any culprit ever was caught.  The fire remains one of the two most notorious arson fires ever experienced in the Town of Pelham.  (The other will remain for a later article on the Historic Pelham Blog.)

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There does not seem to be much news coverage regarding the fire that destroyed the Jackson Avenue School.  If the fire was reported in The Pelham Sun (which would seem likely), the issue or issues no longer exist.  The only report of the fire uncovered so far appeared in the July 14, 1917 issue of the New Rochelle Pioneer.  I have transcribed the text of that brief report immediately below, followed by a citation and link to its source.

"SCHOOL FIRE A MYSTERY.
-----

An incendiary is believed to have been at work in Pelham Manor.  Tuesday afternoon the old Jackson avenue school house, corner of Jackson and Plymouth avenues, was gutted by fire.  The fire started about 4:30 o'clock and the fire department was called out.  The flames had gained a good headway.  The brick walls of the building was the only remains left standing.

The building at the time of the fire was unoccupied.  Some of the old Red church which was torn down, was placed in the building until the new church is built.  The building was valued at about $6,000 and was used as a school building prior to the construction of the high school buidling.  It is owned by the board of education of the first school district of the town of Pelham."

Source:  SCHOOL FIRE A MYSTERY, New Rochelle Pioneer, Jul. 14, 1917, p. 6, col. 7. 

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Request for Comment: What Pelham Manor School is This, Shown in 1907?

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The post card below has troubled me for several years.  It purports to show the "Public School" in "Pelham Manor, N.Y."  The message on the bottom of the obverse of the used post card postmarked in 1907 takes no issue with the title of the photograph, indicating instead that it depicts "Otis' School."

Yet, this school building does not look to me at all like photographs I have seen of what once was known as The Jackson Avenue School -- a two story building of stone and red brick that once stood near the intersection of Jackson Avenue and Plymouth Street.  The building stood approximately where the homes at 212-220 Jackson Avenue stand today, no far from today's Prospect Hill School.  To read more about the history of that school building, see:  Mon., January 9, 2006:  The First Prospect Hill School in Pelham Manor.

The post card below shows what would seem to be a smaller school building than The Jackson Avenue School.  I would be most interested in hearing comments from any reader who might have a theory or information on this issue.  The structure depicted on the post card below does not seem to have any connection whatsoever to the tiny one room school house that once stood on Split Rock Road in the late 1860s and since has been incorporated into the home located at 982 Split Rock Road.  See:  982 Split Rock Road, Pelham, NY (Incorporates One Room School House).

Hopefully, the many insightful and intelligent lovers of Pelham History who read these postings can provide some guidance on the school building depicted on the post card above.

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Description of 19th Century Politics in the Town of Pelham Published in 1913

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The Town of Pelham was largely unpopulated and was spread over a vastly larger area of land in the 19th century as compared to today.  Three principal population centers fought for political control of the purse strings throughout that time:  Pelhamville, Prospect Hill and City Island.  City Island usually won the battle because it had the largest population of the three population centers.

Below is a brief description of politics in Pelham published in The Pelham Sun in 1913.

"Ye Olde Pelham Days
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In the early days when North Pelham was Pelhamville, Pelham Manor was Prespect [sic] Hill and City Island was the chief village in the town, there were rare old times political in the Pelhams.  Spring election was the principal dissipation with an occasional school election as a side show.  In the early spring when the mud roads were almost impassable and the patience of the people at its lowest ebb, electing a new road commissioner was the strict order of all good citizens.  Of course, other Town officers were elected from time to time, but the road commissioner was the 'man of the hour.'

The 'caucus' was always held at City Island, and on a Saturday night, so the men could rest up next day, and it was dawn Sunday before the rival factions returned, shouting in the joy of victory, or sullen and silent in defeat.  It took some time to prepare for the 'caucus.'  A couple of stout teams had to be procured, the farm wagons made read, and extra boards stretched across the wagons for seats.  The voters gathered at certain points along the way and were picked up by the wagons as they went through.  When they reached the 'thank you ma'ams' of Secor Lane the man who forgot to hold on, fell off, and when Pelham Lane was reached all alighted and helped the horses turn the wheels of the wagons, as the mud was hub deep and the strongest horses could not pull a load through it.  Woe to the unlucky man who was not on time on the return trip.  He walked home, cursing his fate and doubly cursing the roads over which he was walking. 

Election[s] were held at the old Town Hall, the little stone building at Bartow Station which the Park Commissioner has preserved as a landmark.  Here the men of the town gathered [to] vote and swap yarns while awaiting the result.  Gouverneur Morris, John Monroe, Peter Roosevelt, John Marshall, George Adee and other prominent residents of the town, exchanged courtesies with each other and chatted with their humble neighbors over crops, weather, planting and like interesting topics.  During the day a vote was taken on appropriations for the year, and the more money they voted, the more mud they got for their money.  No one thought of a better way to make roads than to clean the ditches on either side, pile the mud high in the centre and build an occasional 'thank you, ma'am' on the hillsides until the late eighties when a proposition was made to bond the town for $100,000. [to] build one good macadam road through the town and spend the remainder on the next important streets.

'Pelhamville' was willing, ditto Prospect Hill, but the conservative taxpayers of City Island could not see the use of contributing toward bettering the condition of their inland neighbors, and murmurs of disapproval were heard.  Nothing was thought of this, however, until the day for voting arrived.

The meeting was held at the old brick school on Jackson avenue and a large crowd of people gathered there to vote, but they reckoned without the women.  Up from City Island they came, women in wagons, carts and gigs, women in sunbonnets and women in silks.  They stalked grimly into the hall, cast their votes in the negative, and parted with sniffs of disdain at the 'backwoods farmers' who presumed to try to 'put one over' on the 'fishermen' when they were not on the alert.  That settled good roads in the 'Pelhams' until the villages of North Pelham, Pelham and Pelham Manor were incorporated and gradually built the beautiful roads that are the pride of Westchester County. 

KATE C. MULLIGAN."

Source:  Ye Olde Pelham Days, The Pelham Sun, 1913, p. 12, col. 4 (undated newspaper page in the collections of the Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham, NY; digital copy in author's files).

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Townspeople of Pelham Vote Down Bond Proposal at the First Prospect Hill School in 1891

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I previously have written about the first Prospect Hill School in Pelham Manor that once stood on the lands located at 212-22o Jackson Avenue and 966 Plymouth Street. For a brief history of the school and a early photograph of it, see:

Monday, January 9, 2006: The First Prospect Hill School in Pelham Manor.

Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes a brief report that appeared in the January 26, 1891 issue of The Sun, published in New York City. The report indicates that Town taxpayers met at the little school on January 25, 1891 to vote on a bond proposal for improvements to the Town's highways and roads. The bond was defeated "by a large majority".

"Will Not Bond the Town.

PELHAM. Jan. 25. -- The taxpayers of the town of Pelham held a meeting on Saturday night, in the schoolhouse in Pelham Manor, to vote upon the question of bonding the town for $90,000 for improvements to the highways and road purposes. The meeting was largely attended by both men and women property owners in the town. A vote was taken, and the proposition for the bonding of the town was defeated by a large majority."

Source: Will Not Bond the Town, The Sun, Jan. 25, 1891, p. 3, col. 7.

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