Excerpts of January 8, 1889 Remarks Dedicating a New School Building in Pelhamville

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In 1910, The Daily Argus of Mount Vernon, New York published an important history of the schools of Pelhamville.  Included in the article were discussions of the early records of the Pelham Union Free School District No. 1 as well as excerpts of January 8, 1889 remarks delivered at the dedication of the new school house in Pelhamville that replaced the original "Little Red School House" on the site of today's Hutchinson School.  The brief article provides a wealth of information about the early history of Pelham schools and is quoted in its entirety below, followed by a citation to its source.

 

Supervising Principal Isaac C. Hill.

"THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF PELHAM; HOW IT HAS ADVANCED; THE PROGRESS MADE AND MANY ADVANTAGES OFFERED NOW.
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North Pelham, Reb. [sic] 9.—The development of the school system in Pelham during the past fifty years has been as pronounced as the growth of the town itself.  When one considers that in I860, there was only one school in the town and that was located on Prospect Hill, Pelham Manor, while now there are three schools and a modern high school building is in the course of construction which will be occupied in September, an idea of the progress that has been made may be had.

The name of Supervising Principal, I.C. Hill is closely linked with the history of the schools of the town.  Mr. Hill has been teaching here for the past 33 years and became principal of the North Pelham school on January 7, 1878, succeeding Principal Clark.  Three years ago, he was promoted to the position of supervising principal.  Mr. Hill recalls well when he began to teach In the old Prospect Hill school In Pelham Manor. He was then a young man and says that he had under him pupils who were even older than he.  Some days he would have as many as fifteen pupils and then on other days, he says, "I would look up and down the street to see if anybody waa coming."  Mr. Hill was at the head of this school three months and then became principal of the North Pelham grammar school.

When Mr. Hill first came to the town of Pelham there were not more than fifty pupils attending the two schools in North Pelham and in Pelham Manor.  Now there is the following enrollment in the three schools:  North Pelham, 162; Pelham Heights, 60; Pelham Manor, 61.  It will thus be seen that there are 263 pupils in the three schools, while there are 50 boys and girls attending high schools and other educational Institutions outside of the town.   When the high school building [NOTE:  this is a reference to Siwanoy]  is completed, these scholars will come back to Pelham, making the total enrollment over 300.  It was on Monday, January 8. 1889, that the present school building in North Pelham was dedicated.  On that occasion. William Allen Smith, president of the board of education, delivered the address and told about the inception and the growth of the school system In the village of North Pelham.  The following are excerpts from this address, showing the history of the North Pelham school. 

"This has been a Union Free School district beyond the memory of the oldest Inhabitant.  Three years ago, the board of education attempted to find the record of the meeting at which It was voted by the inhabitants to form such a district The record is missing, no copy of it could be found either in the archives of the town, the county or the state.  But the fact that the district has for thirty years been recognized as a Union Free School district is conclusively established and there is no question of the legality of the constitution district.  The full records now well preserved for future reference, reach back nearly 23 years, beginning February 26, 1866.  The earliest known document relating to the history of the district is the deed of the lot of ground on which we stand today.

"This deed is dated November 19,1860, and it from Lewis C. Piatt, of White Plains, Henry Marsden, of Brooklyn, trustees of Pelhamville Village Association to William S. Coffey, William S. McClellan, James Hinman, John M. Lockwood, Edward A. Campbell and J. W. Tavina, the board of education of school district No. 1 of the town of Pelham; and the consideration was one dollar for the lot of land, 250 by 150 feet, on which the present edifice stands.

"It was a barren rock on which nothing but ideas would grow.  The old building or rather the main part of it, was erected in the following year, 1861.  This small building filled the needs of the locality until 1873, when on April 14, a committee of the board of education was appointed to consider building an addition for a primary department, but the contract for this addition was not awarded until March 29, 1875, and the addition was built by Henry Engle, the following summer.  Twelve years elapsed and Pelhamville again needed larger school accommodations.  December 20, 1887, the board of education, after hearing reports of committees and making a thorough investigation, decided that the old building was inadequate to the growing needs of the locality. 

"A special meeting of the voters of the district was called and was held at the Prospect Hill school house May 8, 1888, at which the appropritation of $6,000 was voted for the erection of a new school building at Pelhamville.  A building committee was appointed May 15, 1888, and the result of their labors is before us today.  The people of the district, expecially the residents of Pelhamville, are to be congratulated on the completion of this beautiful and convenient edifice standing like a city on a hill which cannot be hid; a masterpiece of architectural symmetry and adaptation.  The thanks of all are due to the untiring labors of the building committee, consisting of Robert C. Black, E. H. Gurney and Henry N. Babcock."

In his address, the speaker went on to name those who had taught in the North Pelham school and continued:  "The school was opened in September, 1861, with Miss Lillian McClellan as its first teacher.  She remained two years and was followed by Watson E. Knox, Amos Towle and Mr. Gore.  Orin Baxter was the fifth teacher, he was transferred to the Prospect Hill school in February, 1867, and was succeeded by Edward Gallagher, who resigned January 28, 1869.  The minutes show that on February 8, 1869, 'a teacher by the name of Mr. Bartlette was engaged at $700 per year, as long as he suits the board of education.  October 27, 1869, we find that Jared Barhite was the teacher of the school; he resigned February 23, 1870, and received a vote of thanks from the board for the 'moral improvement of the children under his charge.'  March 9, 1870, a committee of the board was appointed to furnish a teacher for Pelhamville school.  An appointment was evidently made, as we find that the teachers of both schools resigned July 27, 1870.  November 21, 1879, a free night school was established with F. A. Lafferty as teacher.  This continued through February, 1871.  Mr. Lafferty was appointed teacher of the school in October, 1871, and in November again began a night class in addition to the day school, which continued 100 nights.  Mrs. Agnes Lafferty was at the same time appointed assistant teacher.  October 5, 1872, Chales J. Carlisle was appointed teacher, and April 15, L. Reynolds; he resigned November 10, 1873, and was succeeded by Thomas Clark, who taught the school until his resignation, December 31, 1877.  I. C. Hill, who had previously taught the Prospect Hill school, was then appointed.  Mr. Hill took charge January 7, 1878, and we are thus adding to our other exercises the celebration of Mr. Hill's tenth anniversary.  The recent assistant teachers have been:  Miss S. H. Sparks, appointed February, 1876; Miss E. Case, appointed February, 1877; Miss Katie Donon, appointed October, 1878; Miss Addie Case, appointed October, 1883; Miss Case resigned, September 1888, and has been succeeded by Miss Julit L. Wilson."

From this address it will be seen that Mr. Hill has been in charge of the North Pelham school thirty-three years, and whereas he only had one assistant after he took charge, he now has the following assistants:  Misses Anna E. Risley, F. Hazel Curtis, Anna A. Coleman, Elizabeth J. McCormick, Marion J. Raynes and Mrs. C. M. Barker, who has charge of the kindergarten department.

Ten years ago, the present attractive brick school house in Pelham Heights was built.  It contains four rooms, two on each floor.  The principal of the school is Miss Clara E. Beaudray and her assistants are:  Miss Edith Granger, Miss Alice B. Cozine, while Miss M. B. Tripp has charge of the kindergarten work.

The Pelham Manor school has three rooms, one upstairs and two downstairs and does not meet the present needs.  The principal is Miss Charlotte M. Lamson and her assistants are Miss Edith Turner and Miss N. M. Evans.

The new high school is now in the course of construction in Pelham Manor, and it will be a graded school for Pelham Manor, and Pelham Heights will also have a high school section.  The cornerstone of this building was laid last November and the address was delivered by Judge G. F. C. Wahle."

Source:  THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF PELHAM, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Feb. 9, 1910, p. 14, cols. 4-5.

 

Architectural Rendering of the Original Siwanoy School,

a High School and Grammar School.

Source:  THE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF PELHAM,

The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY],

Feb. 9, 1910, p. 14, cols. 4-5.



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History of A Few of the Earliest Public Schools in the Town of Pelham

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For many, many years I have assembled research on the history of education in the Town of Pelham.  A small part of that quest has been trying to identify the earliest school in our town.  Recently, Jorge Santiago of the East Bronx History Forum sent me a copy of a wonderful article by former Bronx Historian John McNamara.  (The East Bronx History Forum is the most active group of serious local historians I yet have encountered )

As I have noted many times, the principal population center of our Town for much of its history was City Island, annexed by New York City during the mid-1890's.  That alone, of course, suggests the unquestionable likelihood that the earliest efforts to provide organized and formal education to our children was in that part of our Town.  

The article Jorge Santiago provided me was written by John McNamara, Bronx Historian who died in 2004.  I had never run across the article before.  It provides important information about the early public school system on City Island when that area was part of the Town of Pelham.

According to that article, three of the earliest efforts to educate the young people of City Island were:  (1) a teacher named Rachel S. Fordham who conducted classes in her home during some unspecified time in the 1830s; (2) the opening of the first City Island public school (a one-room schoolhouse) on June 3, 1839; and (3) the construction of a newer and larger school house on property purchased in 1860 at the corner of Orchard Street and Main Street (now City Island Avenue).  

Rachel S. Fordham

According to family genealogists, Rachel S. Fordham was born in about 1822 in Essex, Middlesex County, Connecticut.  She was a daughter of Rufus Fordham (1782-1868) and Rebecca Shipman Fordham (1786-1823).  Clearly, if John McNamara's account is correct, Rachel Fordham would have been quite a young teacher during the 1830s -- perhaps in her mid-teens late in that decade.  

Two sources indicate that before the Town of Pelham opened a one-room school house to serve the children of City Island in 1839, classes were held in the home of Rachel S. Fordham.  See below (McNamara article).  See also Scott, Catherine A.,  Images of America:  City Island and Orchard Beach, p. 34 (Charleston, SC:  Arcadia Publishing, 1999).  Although the 1868 Beers map of City Island (see detail below) shows a home and two lots owned by someone named "Fordham," I have been unable, so far, to confirm that a woman named Rachel S. Fordham taught classes in her home on City Island at any time during the 1830s.  

The One-Room Schoolhouse Opened June 3, 1839

In 1838, the Town of Pelham created City Island School District No. 2.  See Scott, Catherine A.,  Images of America:  City Island and Orchard Beach, p. 34 (Charleston, SC:  Arcadia Publishing, 1999).  The Town raised the money necessary to build a tiny one-room schoolhouse and began construction in 1838.  Additionally, the "school board raised money through assessments to cover various expenses, such as yearly fuel."  Id.  According to Bronx Historian John McNamara, the schoolhouse opened on June 3, 1839 (see below).  The one-room schoolhouse, shown in the image below, was located on the site of the current playground of Public School 175, 200 City Island Avenue, City Island, The Bronx, NY, 10464.  See Images of America:  City Island and Orchard Beach, p. 34.  

In 1847, the number of children attending the tiny school had grown such that the school was enlarged and a new teacher, Mary A. Tooker, was hired.  

Undated Photograph of the One-Room Schoolhouse

Built in About 1838 in City Island on Land Now Thought To

Be the Current Playground of Public School 175 Located

at 200 City Island Avenue, City Island, The Bronx, NY, 10464.

Larger School Built in the Early 1860s

By the early 1860s, the growing population of City Island required a bigger school.  In 1860, land owned by David Scofield located at the intersection of Orchard Street (today's Hawkins Street) and Main Street (today's City Island Avenue) was acquired for a new school.  During the early 1860s, that larger school was built and opened.  (See below.  See also Images of America:  City Island and Orchard Beach, p. 34.)  It operated until 1898, after City Island was annexed by New York City, when New York City built a replacement school at 190 Fordham Street (today's City Island Historical Nautical Museum), on the site of City Island's first cemetery.  (See Images of America:  City Island and Orchard Beach, p. 34.)

The school budget for oversight of this larger school seems quite quaint today.  The newspaper announcement of the passage of the budget for City Island School District No. 2 published on October 14, 1882 read as follows:

"The annual school meeting of District school No. 2, of Pelham, was held at the school house, City Island, on the 10th inst.  Mr. Thomas Martin was elected Trustee, Wm. Anderson, Clerk, William E. Loundes, Collector.  After which the following appropriation made:

For teachers salary, - $1,800
" janitor, - - - - - - - - - -       100
" fuel, - - - - - - - - - - - -       100
" cleaning school, - -         100
" taken census - - - - -         20
" incidental expenses -      50

Total - - - - - - - - - - - - - $2,195  [NOTE:  Total does not agree with the entries above.]

Seven hundred dollars is received from the State school fund.  The yearly salaries of the three under teachers were raised $100 each.  After which the meeting adjourned until the second Tuesday in October, 1883."

Source:  COUNTY MATTERS, The Pioneer [New Rochelle, NY], Oct. 14, 1882, Vol. XXIII, No. 27, p. 3, cols. 6-7.  

By 1895, shortly before City Island was annexed into, and became part of, New York City, the schoolhouse was in a dilapidated condition.  It was described as follows:

"PELHAM.

City Island School.--Francis Ward, principal and teacher of first, second and third grammar grades; one grammar teacher, two primary teachers.

The old frame structure used as a school at City Island was found in a dilapidated and unsanitary conditioin.  It is on a low, sunken lot, and Mr. Maclay suggested that the proper disposition of this would be to sell the property and to purchase a new site on higher ground, and erect a new and suitable building.  Such a site in a central part of the town was inspected by the committee."   

Source:  "A GREAT TERRITORY -- THE NEW DISTRICT AND ITS SCHOOLS" in School - Devoted to the Public Schools and Educational Interests, Vol. VI, No. 44, Jul 11, 1895, pp. 367 & 372 cols. 1-2.

The City of New York seemed to agree.  Soon the City Island School became part of the 24th Ward of the so-called "Annexed District" of The Bronx.  Then, during 1897 and 1898 the City of New York built the school that became Public School 17 located at 190 Fordham Street.  h

Detail from Map of "City Island, Pelham Township, Westchester Co.,

N.Y. [with] Town of Pelham, Westchester Co., N.Y.," Published by 

F.W. Beers in 1868 in the "Atlas of New York and Vicinity from

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

Assisted by A.B. Prindle & Others."  NOTE:  Shows the Location 

of the Second Dedicated School Building on City Island

on Property Acquired in 1860 from David Scofield on the Northwest

Corner of the Intersection of Orchard Street and Main Street (Now

City Island Avenue)

Below are a few random local newspaper references to the second school on City Island built in the early 1860s.

"City Island, April 29, 1878.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRONICLE:

SIR--On last Friday [April 26, 1878] and Saturday evenings a school exhibition was given by the pupils of the Public School of City Island and so favorable an opinion concerning it has never been expressed of any entertainment given here before.  The representations were most admirably managed and the characters well sustained.  From the opening of the first little scene, when nearly the whole school sang in concert, until the end of the 'May Queen,' one could but look at the stage and listen to the spoken words of the charming little actors with delight, and wonder how so many little performers had been taught so sell.  The management of the whole affair was in the hands of our indefatigable principal, Mr. C. A. Bien and his worthy assistant, Miss L.M. Byrnes; and with praiseworthy skill and perseverance did they carry the affair through to a successful termination.  There are a number of pupils in our school whose talents are worthy of careful cultivation.  And we are all proud of our teachers -- Mrs. M.E. Lockwood and Miss Sara Scofield not to be forgotten in the list.  If our little ones shall long continue to be guided by such excellent mentors, we shall have a school at the head of any in the county.  May we all soon have another opportunity to witness the performance of the little ones.

Very truly,

L"

Source:  City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], May 3, 1878, Vol. IX, No. 450, p. 2, col. 5.

"It has been ascertained that the persons who took Sammy Davis from in front of the school house, City Island, on Monday the 3rd inst., were the boy's mother, who has obtained a decree of divorce from Mr. Davis, and Officer Bloom of New Rochelle.  Mr. Davis has not yet succeeded in finding the boy."  

Source:  Pelham, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Mar. 14, 1879, Vol. X, No. 495, p. 2, col. 6.  

"Mr. C.A. Bien, principal of the school on City Island has resigned and Mr. Stearns, of Long Island has been appointed in his place."

Source:  City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Aug. 19, 1881, Vol. XII, No. 622, p. 2, col. 2.  

"The closing exercises of the public school of City Island will be concluded this evening."  

Source:  CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], June 29, 1883, Vol. XIV, No. 719, p. 3, col. 4.  

"The closing exercises of the public school of City Island were held Wednesday last [June 25, 1884], and were very interesting.  The school will be closed until September 1st."  

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], July 4, 1884, Vol. XV, No. 772, p. 3, col. 5.  

"The school on City Island opened Monday [August 31, 1885], with a good attendance.  The new principal Mr. Ward entered upon his duties under very favorable auspices."

Source:  PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Sep. 4, 1885, Vol. XVI, No. 833, p. 2, col. 4.  

Research Note:  The City Island Historical Nautical Museum has in its collections a set of materials designated as the "City Island Schools Collection, [ca. 1838-1976]" that includes, among other things, an attendance register (1873-1899).  

*         *           *

"The Bronx In History By John McNamara:  1830s' First City Island Teacher, Rachel Fordham, Used Own Home

Historian Alfred Fordham records the fact that the first school teacher on City Island was Rachel S. Fordham, who conducted classes in the 1830s.  She taught in her own home, prior to the formation of the City Island School District No. 2, and continued to do so until the first school was opened on June 3, 1839.  

The school house was located on Main St. (now City Island Ave.) at about where the office of the H. B. Nevins shipyard is now located; it was a one-room building which was enlarged in 1847 in order to take care of the increased number of children attending it.  The teacher was Mary A. Tooker.  

The school remained there until a newer and larger one was erected and opened at the corner of Orchard and Main Sts., where the City Island Park is now located.  It was on property purchased from David Scofield in 1860.  This schoolhouse continued to be used until after annexation of City Island to the City of New York, according to the Sessions Laws of the State Legislature for the year 1895.  Some islanders now living attended that school and received their education in the Three R's, and quite a few of the graduates went on to enter colleges of higher learning and to enter various professions and become successful.  

In passing I mention only two, and hope I shall be forgiven for not mentioning many more:  Frederick Lawrence, M.D., son of Cornelius Lawrence, carpenter, builder and Long Sound and Hell Gate pilot, was born at City Island and was educated in the school on the island.  He attended N.Y.U. Medical School from 1891 to 1895 and established himself in the practice of medicine in his home town and continued to do till the time of his death in 1930.  Many people now living revere his memory; many people living here are alive because of hiim and his knowledge and experience and I am one of them.

The other man whom I have chosen is Charles McAllister, born at City Island and educated in that same school, eventually to study at Cornell University and engage in naval construction.  Later he became head of the Revenue Cutter Service (now known as the Coast Guard) and at the time of World War I, served as the head of the Shipping Board until his death.

(Next week:  City Island was worth its salt.)"

Source:  McNamara, John, The Bronx In History:  1830s' First City Island Teacher, Rachel Fordham, Used Onw Home, Bronx Press-Review, Jul. 15, 1965 (copy in possession of the author of this Blog posting).  

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