Image of Hawkswood Published in 1831

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I previously have written about Elisha W. King and his estate known as "Hawkswood".  See

Wednesday, April 5, 2006: "Hawkswood", Later Known as the Marshall Mansion on Rodman's Neck in Pelham.

Thursday, June 28, 2007:  19th Century Notice of Executor's Sale of "Hawkswood" After Death of Elisha W. King.  

In the early 19th century, Elisha W. King was a distinguished New York City lawyer. He also served as an alderman and an assemblyman. In the 1820s, he built a lavish home in Pelham on Rodman's Neck opposite City Island. According to one source, King purchased nearby High Island in 1829 and quarried stones from the island "which he used in the construction of a foundation" for the mansion he built on Rodman's Neck. See Twomey, Bill, The Bronx, in Bits and Pieces, p. 83 (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc. 2003). King named his mansion and the estate on which it stood "Hawkswood".

I have located an engraving of Hawkswood published in a literary magazine in 1831.  The image appears immediately below.  The image was accompanied by a brief description of the property with interesting information about its origins.  I have transcribed that text below the image, followed by a citation to the source.

"PELHAM - RODMAN'S NECK, N.Y.
The seat of E. W. King, Esq.

This beautiful edifice is fifty feet in breadth and sixty-two in depth, composed of stone.  It is entirely of the Grecian order, and was planned by, and executed under the superintendence of Mr. Martin E. Thompson, Architect of New York, in the year 1828-9.  The Lawn is enriched with almost every variety of tree and shrub, and its arrangement is one of the happiest efforts of the late distinguished Landscape Gardener, Mr. Andrew Parmentier, of Brooklyn.  It is situated on a point of land jutting into the East River, or Long Island Sound, in Pelham, about sixteen miles east of New York; and is the property of E. W. King, Esquire.

The situation is peculiarly picturesque; in the rear are woodlands of great height, having one ravine, through which the banks of the Hudson are visible; on the east and west the shores are skirted with seats of uncommon beauty.  In front are three small inhabited Islands of great fertility.  The river affords an ever varying scene of vessels, with sails and steamers passing to and from the great commercial emporium of the west."

Source:  Atkinson's Casket Or Gems of Literature, Wit and Sentiment, 1831, No. 10, pp. 457 (October 1831) (Image appears on page between pages 456 and 457). 

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Public Service Commission Couldn't Find Marshall's Corners in 1909

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Marshall's Corners once was an area in the Town of Pelham near the Marshall Mansion known as Hawkswood on the mainland near the City Island Bridge.  Marshall's Corners was a stop on the horse railroad where the Pelham Park Railroad once joined the City Island Railroad in an area annexed by New York City in the mid-1890s. 

After the annexation, Marshall's Corners was removed from maps of the area.  That, it seems, presented a bit of a problem during hearings of the Public Service Commission conducted in 1909 as the Commission considered an application of the American Monorail Company for permission to issue $100,000 in bonds for construction of the now infamous monorail that replaced the horse railroad. 

The article below describes the Commission's troubles determining the location of Marshall's Corners during the hearing.

"MARSHALL'S CORNERS HARD TO FIND.
-----
Maps of City Searched in Vain for It at Monorail Hearing Before P.S.C.

The whereabouts of Marshall's Corners, New York City, provided a poser at a Public Service Commission hearing held yesterday to pass on the application of the American Monorail Company for permission to issue $100,000 in bonds for the construction of its monrail road from Bartow station to Belden's Point, City Island.  Bion L. Burrows, president of the company, and Commissioner John E. Eustis, who was holding the hearing, got out all the maps accessible, and finally decided that Marshall's Corners used to be in Pelham Bay Park, but was crossed off the map some years ago.  At any rate, it is the point where the Pelham Park Railroad joins the City Island Railroad.  These two roads at present operated a horse car line over the proposed route of the monorail road.

Of the $100,000 of new bonds, $55,000 will go toward refunding the maturing obligations of the Pelham Park and City Island roads and $45,000 will go toward the construction of the new monorail line.  The total cost of this line is figured at $76,731, divided as follows:  Construction, $38,181; three monorail cars, $20,530, and hower house, $18,000.

'We are all ready to go ahead with the construction of the road, said Mr. Burrows.  'The city has given us the right to proceed through Pelham Bay Park, hedged about with certain restrictions.  We hope to have the road in operation in the fall.'

The Board of Estimate and Apportionment has already approved of the route, as has the Public Service Commission and it is expected that the commission will act favorably on the bond issue.  The hearing was adjourned until next Wednesday."

Source:  Marshall's Corners Hard To Find, New-York Tribune, Apr. 25, 1909, p. 5, col. 4.

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