Pelham Hall Shelter for "Erring Girls" Was Established in August 1895

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For more than a decade I have written about one of the grandest charitable endeavors of the late 19th century established and supported by Pelham women.  It was known by various names.  Most frequently it was known as "Pelham Hall Shelter."  It was formed by Mrs. Emily Hall Hazen, the headmistress of Pelham Hall, otherwise known as Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls located in Pelham Manor between Esplanade and Edgewood Avenue at Boston Post Road.  For one example, see:  Wed., Sep. 06, 2006:  Pelham Hall Shelter, a "Refuge for Erring Girls", Founded by Alumnae of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor.  

Mrs. Hazen worked with representatives of her many loving alumni in 1895 to create a shelter for "erring girls."  The shelter opened in August, 1895.  While it might be easy today to imagine such a charity to help only those young women who had strayed with their young beaus, that would be entirely off the mark.  

In 1895, Pelham Manor's "Mrs. Hazen" joined forces with then-famed Rebecca Salome Foster ("Mrs. Foster").  Mrs. Foster was a missionary and prison relief worker known as the "Tombs Angel" because she helped women imprisoned at The New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention (otherwise known as "The Tombs").  To learn generally a little more about Rebecca Foster, see "Rebecca Salome Foster" in Wikipedia -- The Free Encyclopedia (visited Sep. 3, 2017).  

"MRS. FOSTER."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL

CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known

-- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened --  New

York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Mrs. Hazen mustered the alumnae of her nationally-renowned girls preparatory school in Pelham Manor to create and support "Pelham Hall Shelter" located at 31 Webster Avenue in New Rochelle.  A directory of "Reformatories for Women" published in 1897 described the institution as follows: 

"Pelham Hall Shelter (estab. 1895), 31 Webster Ave., New Rochelle, N. Y.  A refuge for erring girls between 15 and 25 years old who evince a sincere desire to reform.  Founded and supported by the alumnae of Mrs. Hazen's School, Pelham Manor.  Capacity for 8 girls, who are taught to do housework, and are instructed in other branches of useful employment.  Effort is made to find homes for them in the country and situations best suited to their various needs and ability.  Girls are received from N. Y. City.  The Home is an effective aid to Mrs. Foster in rescue work at the N. Y. City courts and prisons.  Mrs. J. C. Hazen, Pres. and Treas., Pelham Manor, N. Y.; Mrs. S. N. Morse, Matron." 

Source:  Charity Organization Society of the City of New York, New York Charities Directory. - A Classified and Descriptive Directory to the Philanthropic, Educational and Religious Resources of the City of New York Including the Boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond, p. 217 (NY, NY: The Knickerbocker Press 1897).

The shelter was tiny.  It sheltered eight to ten young women often plucked from the black-hearted Tombs in New York City where, occasionally, a young woman was wrongly imprisoned or terribly wronged, at least as Rebecca Foster perceived things.  According to one account:  

"It is not the intention of the Shelter to care for women of bad reputation or those who have lived a constant life of sin and crime, but to help some of the many girls who have grown up in the midst of temptation with no means of learning occupations to take them from it, and are driven by excessive poverty to theft and other wrong doing, as seemingly, the only way to obtain the necessities of life."

Mrs. Hazen, her alumnae, and women of Pelham who supported the shelter worked incessantly to help the young women who cycled through the shelter.  They considered time in the Pelham Hall Shelter to be educational.  They educated their young charges in "sewing, housework, or whatever they may seem to be best fitted for.  They are allowed to follow their own religious tendencies, and the only religious services held regularly in the house are the morning and evening prayers."  

"MRS. HAZEN."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL

CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known

-- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened --  New

York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

As one might expect, the Pelham Hall Shelter was managed by a board of trustees.  Mrs. Thomas P. Field was president in the early years of the organization.  Other members at the same time were:   Mrs. Alice Drake, Mrs. John A. Foster, Mrs. Martin J. Keogh, wife of Supreme Court Justice Keogh; Miss Marie Harrison of New Rochelle, and (of course) Mrs. John Cunningham Hazen and her daughter, "Miss Hazen," of Pelham Hall.  

The work of the important charity shelter was supported by the "entrance fee and annual dues of the school society" for which it was named and also by the proceeds of entertainments, subscriptions and contributions of clothing, and money from friends.  

"MRS. FIELD."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL

CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known

-- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened --  New

York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

The lengthy article transcribed below records much about the history of Pelham Hall Shelter and the nature of the young women whom the charity helped at the time.  It is important and fascinating reading for anyone interested in the history of philanthropy in our little Town of Pelham.  


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"GOOD IS THEIR AIM.
-----
NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN METHODS.
-----
'The Angel of the Tombs,' as Mrs. Foster Is Known -- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened.
-----
New York Letter.

THE charity and rescue work carried on by Mrs. Foster, who is called the 'Tombs Angel,' is of a practical sort.  There is no singing of hymns, reading of tracts, or preaching to the unfortunates with whom she deals, but, in her own language ,she simply aims to do what one woman would do for another who was in trouble.  It must not be imagined that Mrs. Foster is not a religious woman, but she does not believe in forcing religion upon the unfortunate women to whom she offers her aid.  Mrs. Foster was formerly a paid missionary of the Presbyterian City Mission society, but she found herself in a position where she could afford to give up the salary, and now what she does for the unfortunates that drift into the criminal courts is without desire of remuneration.  She has received several offers to act as the paid representative of missions in other cities who are anxious to take up the rescue work as practiced by her in the Tombs, but she has declined them because she loves New York, her native city.

She deals with the women who find themselves in trouble through having, in a moment of desperation or temptation, committed some crime which puts them behind the prison bars, and she works among them without regard to race, color, creed or nationality.  For instance, the other day she took up the case of a woman who had been locked up in the Tombs charged with abandoning her baby.  The woman was awaiting the action of the grand jury on the complaint on which she was awaiting the action of the grand jury on the complaint on which she was held in the police court.  Mrs. Foster in her daily rounds of the prison, talked with the woman and learned that it was through absolute ignorance of how to provide food and shelter for herself and the baby that the woman was tempted in a moment of despair to leave it on the doorstep of a dwelling in the hope that it would be taken care of by the persons who found it.  Mrs. Foster learned from the woman that she had spent nine days in the Harlem hospital. She had struggled along as best she could to earn her own living, until finally she was taken ill and had to go to the hospital she had no relatives or friends in the city, and had to walk the streets day and night with her baby.  She finally became so exhausted that she thought if she kept the baby with her any longer it would die, and she abandoned it, not because she wanted to desert it, but simply because she had no means of providing for it.  She was anxious to have the baby with her, but was unwilling to sacrifice its life.  Mrs. Foster, after hearing her story, appeared before the grand jury.  She told members of that body the circumstances of the case, and the grand jury dismissed the complaint on Mrs. Foster's assurance that she would see the mother and baby taken care of.  Mrs. Foster sent the woman to a place where she can earn a living by taking care of another baby, and after a year's service she will be at liberty to go away and leave her own baby, paying a nominal sum for its support.  This was rather an exceptional case for Mrs. foster to take charge of [sic].

Her ideal work is rescuing young women who fall into the hands of the police for the first time.  She prefers to take the cases of girls who are left without natural protectors and need a woman's care.  The reason the judges and others in authority in the criminal courts are willing to condone petty offenses, or even those that might be regarded as of a graver nature, on Mrs. Foster's plea, is that they are certain that she can do what no amount of imprisonment or other punishment could accomplish.

Mrs. Foster is enabled to provide a home and the means of making good women out of wayward girls through an organization known as the Pelham Hall league.  The league has a quiet little country home at New Rochelle that is known as the Pelham Hall Shelter for Homeless Girls.  It is supported entirely by the pupils and alumni of Mrs. J. C. Hazen's school at Pelham Manor.  The home was opened last August.  Since the league took up the work Mrs. Foster has saved many young women from prison and started them on the road to earn their own living and look out for others dependent upon them.

The cases which she takes up are something like the following:  A young woman who was living out with a family and supposed to be receiving $6 a month was arrested charged with stealing a dress belonging to her mistress.  She was locked up in the Tombs and Mrs. Foster, upon investigating the case, learned that the mistress owed her a month's wages, and the dress which she was accused of stealing was an old skirt which she had taken and altered to fit herself.  Mrs. Foster advised her to plead guilty, saying that she did not want her to add the crime of perjury to her other fault, and got the judge to suspend sentence.  She took the girl to her home, where she was taught how to do good housework, and then got her a situation.

Another girl whose case she took up was a cook who became addicted to drink.  She could not control herself, and twice got into the hands of the police.  Mrs. Foster took her to the Pelham home, and under the refining influence of the women there, the girl soon lost her appetite for alcoholic stimulant.  She became so that she was able to resist temptation, and is now serving in a private family in the city.  Another case which Mrs. Foster had some months ago was that of a girl who was a servant in a family up town on the West side.  She became jealous because the other servants were better dressed than she, and as most of her wages went to support her aged father, she had little left to vie with them in the matter of clothes.  In a moment of weakness she stole a watch belonging to her mistress and kept it for several days.  Then her conscience reproved her, and she acknowledged having stolen the watch when her mistress asked her about it, and brought it back at once.  She was arrested, nevertheless.  Mrs. Fowler investigated her past career and found that she was a good girl, and that it was simply a desire to dress well that induced her to take the watch.  She took charge of her, and ever since the girl has been an honest and excellent servant in a situation which Mrs. Foster got for her.  

A case in which Mrs. Foster did excellent work was that of Nellie Hathaway, a woman who was arrested in a Bayard street dive charged with being an accessory to murder.  Mrs. Foster secured her release and has made a decent woman of her.  There is one class of cases which Mrs. Foster never has anything to do with, those of immoral women.  She has been known, however, to help such women along while in prison.

In the home at New Rochelle the inmates are allowed to come and go at will.  They receive good food and good clothes, and are educated during their stay in sewing, housework, or whatever they may seem to be best fitted for.  They are allowed to follow their own religious tendencies, and the only religious services held regularly in the house are the morning and evening prayers.  The home looks like a private residence.  The work is conducted on a rather limited scale at present, but eight or ten girls are being taken care of constantly.  The main object is simply to afford a quiet, healthful shelter.  The work is managed by a board of directors of which Mrs. Thomas P. Field is president.  The other members are:  Mrs. Alice Drake, Mrs. John A. Foster, Mrs. Martin J. Keogh, wife of Supreme [Court] Justice Keogh; Miss Marie Harrison of New Rochelle, and Mrs. J. C. Hazen and Miss Hazen of Pelham Hall.  The work is supported just now by the entrance fee and annual dues of the school society for which it is named, by the proceeds of entertainments, subscriptions and contributions of clothing, and money from friends.  Mrs. Hazen, in speaking of the work, said:

'It is not the intention of the Shelter to care for women of bad reputation or those who have lived a constant life of sin and crime, but to help some of the many girls who have grown up in the midst of temptation with no means of learning occupations to take them from it, and are driven by excessive poverty to theft and other wrong doing, as seemingly, the only way to obtain the necessities of life.'  

Mrs. Fowler is the widow of the late Gen. John A. Foster, who won distinction in the civil war and was a conspicuous New York lawyer.  Mrs. Foster is the only woman who enters the criminal courts and intercedes with the judges for prisoners with any degree of success."

Source:  GOOD IS THEIR AIM -- NEW YORK WOMEN WITH PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN METHODS -- "The Angel of the Tombs," as Mrs. Foster Is Known -- How She Assists Poor Girls -- Many a Pathway Is Brightened -- New York Letter, The Daily Chronicle [De Kalb, IL], Apr. 11, 1896, p. 4, cols. 4-5.

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Interesting Account of 1894 Graduation Exercises Conducted by Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor

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In 1889, Emily Hall Hazen who had taught at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, opened a girls' school in Pelham Manor.  It almost immediately became one of the finest girls’ schools in the country.  The school closed twenty-five years later at the end of the 1914-1915 school year. 

Officially named "Pelham Hall," the school was known far and wide as "Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls."  By the time the school reached its final academic year, it had served over a thousand students from forty-two States and over two hundred and fifty towns and cities throughout the country. 

I have written about Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls on many occasions. I have included a list of links to numerous such articles at the end of today's posting.

The year 1894 was a special year for Pelham Hall.  Since its founding, the school had been relegated to the use of small residential structures along Pelhamdale Avenue modified to serve as school buildings.  In 1894, for the first time, the school held its graduation exercise in its own assembly hall.  Before then, the school held its largest assemblies such as graduation in the nearby Manor Club building.  

During 1893, a large gray building facing Edgewood Avenue was built by Benjamin Corlies and was leased to the institution, affording larger facilities for the increasingly-famous school.  Among the many new amenities available in the newly-constructed Edgewood Avenue facility was a sufficiently large assembly hall to permit Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls to host its own graduation exercises for the first time.  

The faculty and students of Pelham Hall in 1894 decorated the new auditorium in a rather spectacular fashion with bunting and field flowers "in abundance."  Among the many important elements of the graduation ceremony was the original music (with singing) of original music prepared as a "recessional hymn" by Professor Louis C. Jacoby entitled "Forward Be Our Watchword."  

The most moving aspects of the 1894 Pelham Hall graduation ceremony seem to have been quite clear.  A description of the ceremony noted:

"An exceedingly pretty feature of the exercises was the entrance of the young ladies of the school, seventy or more in number after the rest of the audience was seated, and their withdrawal after the benediction in procession, dressed in white, and singing appropriate hymns."

During the late afternoon of the day, an important organization met.  It was the "Pelham Hall League," an alumni organization established very early in the history of the school.  That alumni organization continued to operate for many, many years (long after the school closed upon the retirement of Ms. Emily Hall Hazen Cunningham's retirement).  

"Edgewood House" Built Facing Today's Edgewood Avenue

(with Rear Toward the Esplanade).  Edgewood House, Which

No Longer Stands, is the Pelham Hall Building that Included

an Auditorium in Which the 1894 Graduation Exercises Were

Held.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Below is a transcription of the text of the article published in 1894 describing the graduation exercises of Pelham Hall in 1894.  It is followed by a citation and link to its source.  

"Miss Wells Gets the Prize.
[From the Tribune, Wednesday.]

The closing exercises at Mrs. J. C. Hazen's school, Pelham Manor, were held Tuesday in the large fine assembly hall of the additional building erected for this institution last year.  Heretofore these ceremonies have been conducted in the clubhouse of the Manor Club.  Bunting and field flowers in abundance constituted the decoration of the auditorium.  The Misses Catherine Fry, of Chicago; Bertha Swift, of New Britain, Conn., and Pauline Wells, of Brewster, N.Y., received full diplomas; and testimonials for excellence in elective courses were awarded to Misses Agnes Weed, Binghamton; Aria Avery, Detroit, and Sadie Furman and Lulu McAllister, of Rochester.  The Corlies prize for English composition was won by Miss Pauline Wells.  After the bestowal of these honors and the reading of reports on the standing of the pupils by the principal , an address was delivered by the Rev. R. R. Converse, Chaplain of Hobart College.  Mrs. Hazen was assisted in her duties on this occasion by the Rev. H. E. Adriance, of Pelham Manor.  Prayer was offered by the Rev. A. T. Tenney, of the same place, and the Rev. J. Nevett Steele, of New York city pronounced the benediction.  Professor Louis C. Jacoby conducted the singing, and furnished original music for the recessional hymn.  'Forward Be Our Watchword.'  An exceedingly pretty feature of the exercises was the entrance of the young ladies of the school, seventy or more in number after the rest of the audience was seated, and their withdrawal after the benediction in procession, dressed in white, and singing appropriate hymns.

In the afternoon there was a reunion of alumnae, whose association is known as the Pelham Hall League."

Source:  Miss Wells Gets the Prize, The Brewster Standard [Brewster, NY], Jun. 8, 1894, p. 1, col. 4.  

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I have written extensively about the private school known as "Pelham Hall" and "Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls."  For a few of the many examples, see:

Bell, Blake A., Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls: Pelham Hall, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 40, Oct. 8, 2004, p. 12, col. 1.

Wed., Mar. 18, 2015:  Account of Women's Cricket Match Played by Pelham Manor Women in 1898.

Tue., Feb. 03, 2015:  1907 Commencement Exercises at Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor.

Mon., Feb. 02, 2015:  The Three Houses of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in the Late 19th Century.

Tue., Nov. 25, 2014:  Too Smart for Late 19th Century Scammers: Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls.

Tue., Mar. 11, 2014:  An Early History of Mrs. Hazen's School For Girls in Pelham Manor, Published in 1913.

Mon., Aug. 15, 2005:  952 Pelhamdale Served as a 19th Century School for Girls, Then a School for Boys. 

Fri., Oct. 14, 2005:  A Reunion of Alumnae of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls. 

Tue., Aug. 22, 2006:  Early Advertisements for Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor.  

Wed., Sep. 6, 2006:  Pelham Hall Shelter, a "Refuge for Erring Girls", Founded by Alumnae of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor.  

Thu., Jul. 12, 2007:  The Infamous Burglary of the Girls of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor in 1905.  

Mon., Mar. 3, 2008:  1891 Advertisement May Reflect Summer Rental of One of the Dormitories of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls.

Fri., Jul. 24, 2009:  Late 19th Century Photos of Students with Tennis Rackets at Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor.

Tue., Feb. 16, 2010:  Photograph of Only Known 19th Century Women's Baseball Team in Pelham, New York.

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More on Golf in Pelham During the 19th Century

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."

Pelham has a long tradition of supporting the ancient sport of golf.  I have written before about golf in 19th century Pelham. For examples, see: 

Mon., Jan. 11, 2010:  The First Pelham Country Club's Plans for a July 4, 1898 Opening of its New Nine-Hole Golf Course Accessible by a New Trolley Line.

Thu., Nov. 26, 2009:  The First "Pelham Country Club" Established in 1898 Built a Nine-Hole Golf Course in Pelham in 1898.

Tue., Oct. 20, 2009:  Manager of Pelham Manor Golf Links Committed Suicide Over Debt to Club in 1899.

Mon., Mar. 09, 2009:  Another Brief Account of Golf at Pelham Manor in 1895.

Mon., Jan. 14, 2008:  Golf at Pelham Manor in 1895.

Thu., Jul. 19, 2007:  Members of The New York Athletic Club Were Duped Into Believing the Club Created a Small Nine-Hole Golf Course in Pelham Manor in 1897.  

Bell, Blake, The Early Days of Golf in Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 36, Sep. 10, 2004, p. 12, col. 2. 

I also have written on many other occasions about golf in the first decade or so of the 20th century as well.  I have listed examples of such additional writings with links at the end of today's Historic Pelham blog posting.

One of the early efforts to establish golf in the Village of Pelham Manor occurred in 1895 when Mrs. John Cunningham Hazen (of Hazen's School for Girls) and her daughter, Miss Edith Cunningham Hazen established a club and laid out a tiny course on Prospect Hill in Pelham Manor.  In truly "Trump-Like" fashion, the Hazen women decided to market the new golf club as an incredibly exclusive club limited to only one hundred members from Pelham Manor and New Rochelle combined.  

A brief article on the organization of the exclusive golf club and the opening of its new links appeared in the November 8, 1895 issue of the Daily Argus published in Mount Vernon, New York.  The text of the article is transcribed below, followed by a citation to its source.

"Pelham's One Hundred to Play Golf.
-----

PELHAM MANOR, N.Y., Nov. 6.--The Golf links, on Prospect Hill, belonging to the Pelham Manor Golf Club were formally opened yesterday afternoon.  A big tent was put up at the grounds, and an informal reception was held from 2 o'clock p.m. until 6 o'clock p.m.  Several of the most prominent women of Pelham Manor and New Rochelle received the guests.  Altogether the event was very swagger.  Only the smartest set of Pelham Manor and New Rochelle were present.

The Pelham Manor Golf Club was organized by Mrs. John Cunninham [sic] Hazen and Miss Edith Cunninham [sic] Hazen.  It is a strictly society club.  The membership is to be limited to one hundred, and persons are admitted to membership only by invitation.  In fact it is intended that the Golf Club shall consist of the 'One Hundred,' of Pelham Manor and New Rochelle.  It is going to be quite dangerous to ask any one if he is a member of the Golf Club unless it is certain that he has been taken into the field.  Otherwise the question will prove embarrassing as no one will be able to admit with good grace that he is not a member.

The Golfers will play every pleasant day until cold weather sets in."

Source:  Pelham's One Hundred to Play Golf, Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Nov. 8, 1895, Vol. XV, No. 1101, p. 3, col. 2.  

 

Horace Rawlins, Winner of the Inaugural U.S. Open in 1895

Source:  Golf Illustrated & Outdoor America, Vol. III, No. 4,

"Photographs" Section (Jul. 1915).



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For more examples of blog postings about golf in Pelham during the first years of the early 20th century, see:

Tue., Apr. 13, 2010:  The New Pelham Bay Golf Course Became Popular in 1903.  

Fri., Oct. 02, 2009:  Failed Efforts in 1900 to Build a Golf Course on Hunter's Island Rather than on the Mainland in Pelham Bay Park.  

Thu., Oct. 01, 2009:  Pelham Country Club Secures Land for New Golf Course in 1904.

Thu., Mar. 19, 2009:  More on the Early Efforts To Develop the First Nine Holes of the First Pelham Bay Golf Course.  

Tue., Jan. 15, 2008:  Golf at Pelham Manor in 1903.

Tue., Dec. 20, 2005:  An Early Description of Construction of the First Nine Holes of the Pelham Bay Golf Course.  

Mon., Sep. 26, 2005:  Brief History of The Pelham Country Club Published in 1954. 

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Home Page of the Historic Pelham Blog.

Order a Copy of "Thomas Pell and the Legend of the Pell Treaty Oak."

Another Brief Account of Golf at Pelham Manor in 1895

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Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
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I have written before about the long tradition of golf in Pelham Manor. See, e.g., The Early Days of Golf in Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 36, Sept. 10, 2004, p. 12, col. 2.

On January 14, 2008, I posted to the Historic Pelham Blog an item that appeared in the November 10, 1895 issue of The New York Times describing the opening of the Pelham Manor Golf Club season on November 9. See Monday, January 14, 2008: Golf at Pelham Manor. Below is a brief excerpt from an article published in the November 11 issue of The Sun on the same topic.

"THE PROGRESS OF GOLF.

-----

* * * * *

The links of the Pelham Manor Golf Club, on Prospect Hill adjoining Pelhamville Park, were formally opened on Wednesday and a reception was held in a tent near the first tee. The guests were received by Mrs. John C. Hazen, Mrs. Robert C. Black, Mrs. Jabish Holmes, and Mrs. Frank Hunter of Pelham Manor, and Mrs. Robert Lathers, Jr., Mrs. Henry Loomis Nelson, and Mrs. Henry D. Noyes of New Rochelle. . . . ."

Source: The Progress of Golf, The Sun, Nov. 11, 1895, p. 8, col. 4.

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Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

1891 Advertisement May Reflect Summer Rental of One of the Dormitories of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in Pelham Manor became one of the nation's finest "finishing schools" for young women. As the school grew in stature, it grew in size with numerous dormitories to house the young women.

It long has been known that the school rented the dormitories during the summer season to those who wished to summer in Pelham Manor. The advertisement below, placed by John Cunningham Hazen (Mrs. Hazen's husband), seems to reflect an offer to lease one such building. It appeared in the April 12, 1891 issue of the New-York Tribune.

"Country.

A VERY DESIRABLE, FURNISHED HOUSE TO LET AT PELHAM MANOR-ON-SOUND, N. Y. - From June 15 until September 15. Large, new and delightfully situated, with 25 rooms; gas, water, sanitary plumbing, lawn, large shade trees, tennis court; all in perfect order; 8 minutes' walk from station; half-hourly trains to New-York after June 1 by N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R.; 17 miles from City Hall; rent moderate to private family.

Address J. C. Hazen,
Pelham Manor, N. Y."

Source: Country, New-York Tribune, Apr. 12, 1891, p. 10, col. 4.

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Golf at Pelham Manor in 1895

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

Pelham has a long tradition of supporting the ancient sport of golf. Indeed, I have written before about golf in Pelham. See Bell, Blake, The Early Days of Golf in Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 36, Sep. 10, 2004, p. 12, col. 2.

One of the early efforts to establish golf in the Village of Pelham Manor occurred in 1895 when Mrs. John Cunningham Hazen (of Hazen's School for Girls) and her daugher, Miss Edith Cunningham Hazen established a club and laid out a tiny course. The New York Times published an article about the club. The text of that article appears below, followed by a citation to its source.

"
GOLF AT PELHAM MANOR.

---------

Mrs. Hazen Organizes a Club, with Prospects for Success.



PELHAM MANOR. N. Y., Nov. 9. - Residents of Pelham Manor are going to play golf every pleasant day until Winter begins in earnest. Every one who lives at the Manor has caught the
craze to become a golfer, and most of the talk bristles with golf terms. The golf fever, if it may be so termed, began here this Summer, and now, as a result, Pelham Manor has a golf club to which a number of prominent residents of this place and New-Rochelle belong. The organization of a club here is probably the forerunner of similar clubs through all Eastern Westchester County.

It is proposed to make the Pelham Manor Golf Club a society organization. The membership wlll
be limited probably to 100. The first requisite to become a member will be to have received an
invitation.

Golf sticks, and all paraphernalia necessary for playing the game have already been secured by
the more enthusiastic golfers. Links have been layed [sic] out on Prospect Hill., adjoining Pelhamville Park. The first essay at playing the game was made a. day or so ago, when a number of golfers went out on the gruunds and practiced striking the little white balls.

The work of organizing the Pelham Manor Golf Club was begun and carried out by Mrs. John
Cunningham Hazen and MIss Edith Cunningham Hazen. Miss Hazen Is Secretary and Treasurer of the club. There are a good many details yet to be arranged before the club becomes thoroughly established, but enough has been done to insure a. highly successful organization by the time snow melts in the Spring.

The links were opened formally last week. A large tent was put up at the teeing ground, where a reception was held. Mrs. John C. Hazen, Mrs. Robert C. Black, Mrs. Jabish Holmes, and Mrs. Frank Hunter of Pelham Manor, Mrs. Richard Lathers, Jr., Mrs. Henry Loomis Nelson, and Mrs. Henry D. Noyes of New-Rochelle received.

Among those who have joined the club are Mr. and Mrs. Cholmondeley Thornton, Robert C. Fisher, Arthur L. Clark, the Misses Ogden, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gillett, Theodore M. Hill, L. Percy James, the Misses Le Barbier, the Misses Bolton, Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Roper, Mr. and Mrs. James Boothby, Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Corlies, Mr. and Mrs. H. B. B. Stapler, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Scribner, George A. Albro, and Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Remington."

Source: Golf At Pelham Manor - Mrs. Hazen Organizes a Club, With Prospects for Success, N.Y. Times, Nov. 10, 1895, p. 6.

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