More on the Town of Pelham's Consideration as a Potential Site for the 1893 World's Fair Eventually Held in Chicago as the Columbian Exposition

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In 1889, Americans already were preparing for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492.  A grand "World's Fair" was planned to open in 1892 as part of the "Great Columbus Celebration" in honor of the 400th anniversary. 

Eventually the event opened as the "World's Columbian Exposition," a world's fair held in Chicago.  Although dedication ceremonies were held on October 21, 1892, the fairgrounds were not ready for the public.  Thus, the World's Columbian Exposition did not open to the public until May 1, 1893.  Consequently, the Exposition often is referred to, informally, as the "1893 Chicago World's Fair."  It also is referred to as the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. 

In 1889, organizers of the upcoming Exposition were still searching for a site on which to build the fairgrounds.  Believe it or not, the Town of Pelham was in the running as a possible fairgrounds site for the World's Fair.

I have written about consideration of the Town of Pelham as the site of fairgrounds for the World's Fair before.  See Tue., May 30, 2017:  Parts of the Town of Pelham Were Considered as a Site for the 1893 World's Fair.  Today's Historic Pelham article provides more information about early efforts to tout Pelham as the site for the fairgrounds.

At least as early as the summer of 1889, New York City Mayor Hugh John Grant -- who remains the City's youngest Mayor ever even to this day -- already was working to attract the planned World's Fair to the New York City region.  That summer he reached out to five hundred notable New Yorkers to attend a massive meeting to begin planning New York's bid to attract the extravaganza.  

One of the first issues the group had to confront was the site of the massive World's Fair.  The event was expected to be so massive that there seemed to be a broad consensus that it could not be hosted on Manhattan island.  Although there were suggestions that Central Park might be a suitable site, the news media was quick to object.  One newspaper wrote:

"Central Park is not to be thought of.  Any serious proposition to turn that beautiful breathing place into a big fair ground would probably kill the whole project.  The people want Central Park for themselves, and won't give it up."

Attention quickly turned to the three new parks on the mainland north of Manhattan:  Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx Park, and Pelham Bay Park (then part of the Town of Pelham before New York City annexed the region in 1895).  Most agreed, as one newspaper put it, that Pelham was:

"delightfully situated for such a purpose as a grand world's fair.  Its area is more than twice that of Central Park.  It contains 2,700 acres of undulating land, with a water front of at least five miles on Long Island Sound.  The question of drainage is one of much importance in the case of a great fair ground, and that is already solved by nature at Pelham Bay.  The whole Park drains naturally into the deep water along its five miles of picturesque shore."

Pelham Bay Park was sufficiently large for the fair.  Its picturesque shore front offered important opportunities for water activities associated with the fair.  Additionally, Eastchester Bay and Pelham Bay offered important transportation opportunities.  The construction of docks there would permit the transport of goods for the fair.  As one article, quoted in full below, noted:  "Ships from all parts of the world could go right up to a dock at Pelham Bay and land their cargoes close by the exhibition buildings."  Moreover, fair visitors could be ferried cheaply to the site via waterways from all over the region.  The same article stated:  "If visitors to the fair preferred going by water, they could not desire a more delightful trip than up the East River and through the waters of the Sound into Eastchester Bay or Pelham Bay itself.  This trip can be made from the Battery within an hour, and the fare need not be more than 10 or 15 cents."  Proponents of the plan further emphasized that the New Haven Branch Line that ran through Pelham also offered important transportation alternatives to and from the site.

Some, however, objected that New York should host the fair within its city limits -- not within the limits of the adjacent Town of Pelham.  Proponents of the plan dismissed such objections with an interesting observation. As one newspaper put it:

"The objection that Pelham Bay Park is outside the city limits probably will not exist in 1892.  Before the great fair was talked of at all, it was intended to ask the Legislature to extend the city line eastward from the Bronx River to the Sound, and thus take in the beautiful new Park, and the request will probably be made when the next Legislature meets."  

Of course, New York City's efforts to annex the Pelham Bay Park region from the Town of Pelham did not bear fruit until 1895 -- long after the World's Fair ended.  Nevertheless, even in the late 1880s (and earlier), all expected the new park to be annexed by the city.

Of course, efforts to hold the fair in the Town of Pelham failed.  Eventually, the exhibition was held in Chicago and was wildly successful.  For a time, however, the world watched as New York City notables discussed the little Town of Pelham as a possible site for the World's Columbian Exhibition.

"Bird's Eye View of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893"

Showing What the Area in Pelham May Have Looked Like Had Pelham

Bay Park Been Chosen as the Site. NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

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Below is the text of a newspaper article published on July 21, 1889 that forms the basis of today's Historic Pelham Blog article.  The text is followed by a citation and link to its source.

"The Proposed Great Fair.

Mayor Grant's call for a meeting of 'representative citizens' to consider the question of a great world's fair in 1892, gives that question what may be called a boom.  Mayor Grant sees Mr. McAllister and goes him a hundred better, for his call is issued to 500 New Yorkers, instead of 400.  All of the 500 probably will not respond, for several are at the other side of the Atlantic, looking at the great show in Paris and having a good time in other ways, and many more are at summer resorts at home, and may not care to leave them just to attend a meeting.  But a sufficient number of representative citizens will doubtless come together to consider the question in a practical and serious way.  At the moment it seems highly probable that the idea of getting up a great fair for the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the land of the free and the home of the brave will be carried out.  And should it be carried out, the show will certainly be on a magnificent scale, very different from the Crystal Palace affair of 1853, though that was considered a great thing then.  One of my favorite early recollections is that of seeing President Franklin Pierce ride up Broadway at the head of a great procession to perform the important function of opening that exhibition, and I have a vivid remembrance of a sideshow near by, in which an armless young woman astonished me beyond measure by writing visiting cards with her toes, or rather with a pen held between two of them; also of a rickety 'observatory,' likewise near by, from the top of which, after one had climbed up to it, a pretty fair view of New York and a good deal of the surrounding country could be had.  The Crystal Palace Fair was held in Reservoir Square, now Bryant Park, at Sixth Avenue and Forty-second Street.  There was no Central Park then and above Forty-second Street there were very few houses.  The population of New York was about one fourth of what it is to-day.  The great metropolis of to-day was hardly imagined.  Should the outcome of the meeting called by the Mayor be the appointment of a committee to make arrangements for a really great fair, it is to be hoped that men with axes to grind won't get the thing into their own hands.  Satisfactory results certainly need not be expected if they do.  Several years ago a movement was started for a grand centennial international exhibition in 1889, but the men with axes to grind spoiled the whole business.  After the appointment of a committee the next step will be the raising of money.  Millions will be needed.  It is already proposed that the city shall subscribe generously, and then the State, and next the United States.  All right, if they are willing.  There will be use for every dollar.  And it may be expected, as a matter of course, that a good many dollars will go astray.

The Question of a Site.

Next after determining upon the fair itself will come the question of a suitable site for it.  Central Park is not to be thought of.  Any serious proposition to turn that beautiful breathing place into a big fair ground would probably kill the whole project.  The people want Central Park for themselves, and won't give it up.  It is more than likely that the fair won't be held on Manhattan Island at all.  A site for it will probably be selected in one of the new parks north of Harlem River.  Three of these are mentioned as offering suitable grounds -- Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx Park, and Pelham Bay Park.  The latter would be decidedly the best.  Pelham Bay Park is delightfully situated for such a purpose as a grand world's fair.  Its area is more than twice that of Central Park.  It contains 2,700 acres of undulating land, with a water front of at least five miles on Long Island Sound.  The question of drainage is one of much importance in the case of a great fair ground, and that is already solved by nature at Pelham Bay.  The whole Park drains naturally into the deep water along its five miles of picturesque shore.  Another important question is that of facilities for the delivery of goods for exhibition.  Ships from all parts of the world could go right up to a dock at Pelham Bay and land their cargoes close by the exhibition buildings.  New York City itself could not offer better facilities in this respect.  Pelham Bay is about 12 miles from Union Square.  It can be reached by rail from Harlem in about 10 minutes.  The Westchester branch of the New York & New Haven Railroad runs through the Park.  If visitors to the fair preferred going by water, they could not desire a more delightful trip than up the East River and through the waters of the Sound into Eastchester Bay or Pelham Bay itself.  This trip can be made from the Battery within an hour, and the fare need not be more than 10 or 15 cents.  The objection that Pelham Bay Park is outside the city limits probably will not exist in 1892.  Before the great fair was talked of at all, it was intended to ask the Legislature to extend the city line eastward from the Bronx River to the Sound, and thus take in the beautiful new Park, and the request will probably be made when the next Legislature meets.  Pelham Bay Park is by all odds the best place for the great fair, and it ought to be selected without hesitation.  But the first thing is to organize for the fair itself, and that is likely to be done very soon."

Source:  The Proposed Great Fair, Buffalo Courier [Buffalo, NY], Jul. 21, 1889, Vol. LIV, No. 202, p. 9, cols. 4-5.

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Early February, 1886, When the Waters Off Pelham Froze Over and Trapped Ships

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The cold that winter more than 130 years ago was so brutal that extreme efforts had to be taken to prevent prisoners held on Hart Island in the Town of Pelham from simply walking away from the prison across the ice of Long Island Sound.  Every day during that brutal cold spell in early February, 1886 the powerful steamboat Fidelity chugged along dutifully and plowed away the thick ice around the entire circumference of the island so Hart Island prisoners could not escape.  Winter was pounding poor Pelham once again.

Pelham, it seems, had grown accustomed to the terrible cold of a merciless winter.  Only four years before during another ferocious winter, the Long Island Sound around City Island and Hart Island off the shores of Pelham froze over and trapped hundreds of craft including schooners and myriad sailing vessels.  Indeed, so many ships were trapped in the ice on that occasion that, according to one account, at night the area "looked like a big town" due to the many lights that could be seen within the many trapped vessels waiting for the ice to thaw and break up.  

Three years before that, in 1879 during another brutal cold spell, much of the Sound and even rivers including portions of the Hudson froze over in a similar fashion.  Steamers were used to break up the ice to try to keep maritime navigation flowing.  Though shipping continued sporadically in the New York City region, the ice-choked waters slowed traffic tremendously for many, many days.

Early February, 1886 was no different.  On February 9, 1886, the New York Herald reported that around City Island and Hart Island "the ice was a complete field."  Pelham Bay "was an unbroken sheet of ice."  Ice on the rivers surrounding New York City was between four and six inches thick.  Schooners, tows, and tugs were stuck in the ice around the islands.  Indeed, on February 8, 1886 there were seven schooners and twenty one canal boats stuck in the ice near City Island and Hart Island.  Additionally, thirteen coal barges that were bound for Bridgeport were stuck in the area.  The New York Herald reported that the ice was solid from the waters around City Island all the way up to Saybrook, Connecticut.

In an effort to keep maritime commerce flowing to and from City Island, a steamship tug was used to cut a channel through the ice leading to the City Island dock one morning.  By the afternoon, however, the tiny little channel was virtually impassable.  It was "choked with broken cakes of ice."  

Sailors on board the trapped vessels made the most of their situation.  For example, Captain Flannery of the M. Vandercook (the vessel towing the thirteen ice-bound coal barges) was accompanied by his wife.  On the evening of Saturday, February 6, Captain Flannery's "buxom, hospitable" wife hosted a grand party for sailors including Captain Fillman, Captain John Walker "Peter" Carlin, and Captain Michael Daly.  Each captain was accompanied by his wife.  One of the crew members provided music with a concertina.  The ladies and gentlemen, according to the New York Herald, enjoyed "an elegant time . . . that evening on the frozen Sound."

It was days before the ice "rotted" from warm weather and ships could travel safely again.  For a time, however, the crews of many ships were ice-bound in a little place called Pelham, New York. . . .   

The Jeannette, Shown Ice-Bound in 1881.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"FROZEN IN ON THE SOUND.

The severity of the weather last week was especially remarkable up the Sound.  Around City Island and Hart Island the ice was a complete field, and from four to six inches in the rivers.  Schooners, tows and tugs were caught in Hart Island Roads and were ice bound for days.  Yesterday morning there were fixed there seven schooners and twenty-one canal boats.  The schooner John Douglass, Captain Jordan, with a crew of five, with coal, bound for Boston, ran in there on Wednesday night, and next day was unable to break through the ice, so heavy had been the frost within a few hours.  The other schooners caught in the same trap were the Helen Thompson, the Speedwell, the Charles W. Simmons, the E. Flower, the Randolph (Captain Ward), for Providence, the Gray Parrot (British, Captain Mulbury), for St. John, N. B., and the James English (Captain Perkins), for Newport.

A HERALD reporter yesterday went up to City Island to ascertain the state of things.  Pelham Bay was an unbroken sheet of ice and the Hart Island Roads were nearly in the same condition.  The powerful steamer Fidelity had ploughed along the shore of Hart Island every day so as to break the ice and thus prevent a possible means of escape for the prisoners confined on the island.  The ice in the roads was already black and showing signs of rottenness.  A channel from the City Island dock to the vicinity of the schooners had been made by a tug in the morning, but in the afternoon a good part of this channel was choked with broken cakes of ice.  The HERALD reporter pulled through the open water, and then he and his man had to drag the boat over the unbroken portion of the ice to get to another lead to reach the schooners.  The operation was watched with languid interest by the crews, who leaned over the bulwarks calmly smoking.

LIFE ON THE ICE-BOUND CRAFT.

When the reporter got alongside the Douglass and began to ask questions without introducing himself, Captain Jordan said:  --  

'I suppose you are a reporter?'

'Just so,' was the answer.

'Be you from the HERALD?'

'Why, of course,' was the response.

The skipper thereupon told his visitor that he would be still more delighted if he (the visitor) had brought along a sou'west wind to break up the ice.  The Douglass had spoken the C. B. Sanford, which reported that the ice was solid all the way up to Saybrook.  The crews of the different schooners had not suffered for anything.  Up to Sunday afternoon they were able to walk over the ice to City Island to get all the drink and (if necessary) all the food they wanted.

On Sunday afternoon, however, an accident occurred to one of the men.  A sailor named Jack Deering was in rear of a party, trudging over the ice to the village, when he got on a tender spot and down he went.  He clung to the edge of the broken ice and shouted.  His chums ran back and one of them extended to him a boat hook, which he grasped, and by this means was dragged to a safer place.

The Captain John, the steamer plying between New Rochelle, City Island and New York, got into City Island before Wednesday.  She came down to New York early yesterday morning.  
The Massachusetts was seen to pass down the channel outside the roads seemingly badly listed to port.  Every one thought she had met with a serious accident.

FESTIVITIES UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

From Wednesday until yesterday morning thirteen coal barges bound for Bridgeport and New Haven lay in the channel at the entrance of Hart Island roads.  They had been towed thus far by the M. Vandercook, but could get no further because of the ice.  The leading boat was bossed by Captain Flannery, whose buxom, hospitable wife determined on Saturday night to give a party.  The skippers who crowded her cabins were Captains Fillman, John Walker 'Peter' Carlin and Michael Daly, and the good ladies their wives accompanied them.  There was no grand piano aboard, but one of the crew had genius and a concertina and furnished the music.  The orchestra was not imbedded [sic] in a bower of roses, as is usual on such occasions, but a hillock of coal hid it from sight, and the proprieties were so far observed.  It was an 'elegant' time those ladies and gentlemen had that evening on the frozen Sound.  Yesterday their palatial floating residences were towed into the roads.

Mr. Furman, a member of the Pelham Yacht Club, said this winter, so far, the ice had not been as great and as unbroken as on some previous winters.  Four years ago there were hundreds of craft frozen in, and at night the roads, from the myriads of lights, looked like a big town.

Just below City Island Dock is Dan Carroll's shipyard, where the yacht Lurline is being repaired.  The Lurline belongs to Mr. James Waterbury, the millionaire.  The yacht is being fitted with a new boiler and a flush deck.  Owing to the cold the work on her has been slow, but it is hoped she will be ready by the 10th of March to go South.

The schooners Minnehaha and Oak Wood, which were disabled in the great storm of three weeks ago, are being repaired at the City Island Dock.  Should the fine weather continue -- indeed, should this morning prove very mild -- the schooners and tow named above will be able to get out by to-morrow morning."

Source:  FROZEN IN ON THE SOUND, N.Y. Herald, Feb. 9, 1886, p. 8, col. 6.  

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Pelham experienced a series of terrible winters during the 1850s, the 1870s, and the 1880s.  I have written before about some of these terrible winters and the major storms they produced. See, e.g.: 

Thu., Aug. 17, 2017:  More on Brutal Winters in Pelham During the 1850s.

Thu., Jul. 27, 2017:  Terrible Storm of 1856 Wrecks Dozens and Dozens of Ships Including Many on Pelham Shores. 

Fri., May 26, 2017:  The Significance of the Wreck of the Steamer Plymouth Rock in Pelham in 1855.

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More on the History of Community Rowing in Pelham

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Understanding the history of repeated efforts to construct a world-class rowing course in Pelham Bay and the area between Hunter's Island and the mainland known as the Orchard Beach Lagoon is critically important to understanding the evolution of the area that became today's Orchard Beach and the Orchard Beach parking area.  Today's Historic Pelham Blog article attempts to shed further light on that history.

The lovely Orchard Beach Lagoon formed from the remnants of Le Roy Bay off the shores of Pelham were improved and used as the site of the 1964 Olympics Rowing Trials. See Tue., Apr. 19, 2016:  The 1964 Olympic Rowing Trials Off the Shores of Pelham in The Orchard Beach Lagoon. The Orchard Beach Lagoon, however, was used as a competitive rowing course for many years before the 1964 Olympics Rowing Trials. 

Indeed, during the 1930s, noted North Pelham resident Theodore J. Van Twisk of River Avenue began pressing to convert a portion of the Orchard Beach Lagoon into a one-mile rowing course.  See Fri., Sep. 01, 2017:  Long History of Community Rowing in Pelham.  Van Twisk was widely known as an avid oarsman who eventually served as executive of the New York Rowing Association, a member of the Rowing Association, and a member of the Rowing Committee of the United States Olympic Games Committee. He also served for a number of years as Captain of the New York Athletic Club. 

Theodore J. Van Twisk's efforts did not bear fruit for a number of years. After the construction of Orchard Beach and the Orchard Beach parking lot, the bay that once separated Hunter's Island from the mainland looked more like a quiet, beautiful, still-water lake than a bay. Only the northeastern end of what once was known as Le Roy Bay remained an outlet to the Long Island Sound. The resultant "lagoon" (not a true lagoon) was viewed as a perfect site for a competitive rowing course. 

There was a problem, however. Even as late as 1940 there were remnants of a wooden bridge that once connected Hunter's Island to the mainland in the lagoon. The remnants cut across the Orchard Beach Lagoon. Until these bridge remnants could be removed, any such rowing course would have to be developed on one side of the bridge or the other and, depending on the side chosen, could only be as long as one mile rather than the preferred 2000 meter or 1-1/4 mile length necessary for Olympic tryouts, National rowing races, and Intercollegiate races. Additionally, there was a need to dredge the lagoon which had begun to grow shallow due to the buildup of silt. 

These issues did not stop Theodore J. Van Twisk and his colleagues. In an effort to show the viability of the Orchard Beach Lagoon as a rowing race course, they arranged for the New York Rowing Association, composed of sixteen colleges, athletic clubs, and rowing clubs, to hold a high-visibility regatta in the lagoon on August 18, 1940. The course ran from the remnants of the old Hunter's Island wooden bridge toward the southwest end of the Orchard Beach Lagoon at the shore adjacent to City Island Road -- a distance of one mile. See id.  

The move showed the viability of the Orchard Beach Lagoon as a world-class rowing race course, leading to its successful development and deployment as the site of the 1964 Rowing Trials off the shores of Pelham.  See Tue., Apr. 19, 2016:  The 1964 Olympic Rowing Trials Off the Shores of Pelham in The Orchard Beach Lagoon.

As one might suspect, Theodore J. Van Twisk's efforts to develop the Orchard Beach Lagoon as a premier rowing race course were not the first such efforts.  Even in 1915, more than a century ago, such a planned race course was described by a New York City newspaper as " long anticipated and long projected water course for aquatic sports on Pelham Bay."  

In about 1913, oarsmen throughout the New York City region began efforts to organize a rowing club the membership of which was to be limited to "university graduates" with the purpose of boating "an all-college crew each year that will rank with the Leander Club of England," the best in the world at the time.  Efforts to organize the club, however, foundered due to "lack of a suitable course."

Beginning at the outset of 1915, however, the New York Rowing Association began working with New York City officials to develop a world-class racing course.  The plan that emerged by July of that year was a grandiose and expensive scheme centered on the Orchard Beach Lagoon off the shores of Pelham Manor and Pelham Bay Park.

The plan was to create a perfectly calm and well-regulated racing course by building massive causeways at both ends to completely enclose the lagoon.  Each of the causeways was to have swinging locks that could be opened or closed.  Engineers planned to open the locks twice a month at high tide to flood the lagoon and ensure that the water would be kept at the highest possible level at all times.  One news report put it this way:

"In order to insure perfect water at all times the engineers contemplate the novel plan of completely locking the water in by means of causeways, extending from Rodman's Neck to Hunter's Island and from Hunter's Island to the mainland, just south of Travers Island.  Each of these causeways will contain swinging locks, and it is part of the plan of the engineers to flood the course at high water twice a month and to keep it at all times at high water level."

There was a problem, however.  In order to construct the rowing race course within such an enclosed lagoon, the decrepit wooden bridge between Hunter's Island and the mainland had to be removed.  By that time (mid-1915), the wooden bridge had been condemned by park authorities.  The same news report said:

"The construction of this land-locked course will make necessary the removal of the wooden bridge between Hunter's Island and the mainland.  This bridge has been condemned by the park authorities in The Bronx, and $60,000 has been appropriated for construction of a new one.  By using this money -- and the scheme has the approval of the city officials -- to build the causeway at the northern end of Hunter's Island the cost of the entire project will be greatly reduced.  In all about 1,800 feet of causeway will be necessary -- 600 at the north end of the island and 1,200 at the south end."

Local oarsmen were overjoyed.  Talks of creating the new club of university oarsmen began anew.  A sense of optimism pervaded local rowing clubs.  Several announced they would build boathouses on Pelham Bay as soon as construction began on the causeways with swinging locks.

Construction never began.  Indeed, it was another two decades before Theodore J. Van Twisk's efforts to develop the Orchard Beach Lagoon began to bear fruit.  With the construction of today's Orchard Beach and the Orchard Beach parking area that connected Hunter's Island with the mainland and closed off one end of the "lagoon," Van Twisk's efforts took on added urgency.

1966 Map Showing the "ROWING BASIN" Between Orchard

Beach and the Mainland Extending from an Area Near Orchard

Beach Road in Pelham Bay Park to Shore Park in the Village

of Pelham Manor. Map from the Author's Collection.

NOTE: Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"GREAT AQUATIC COURSE PLANNED FOR NEW YORK
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Land-Locked Waterway To Be Located in Pelham Bay Park.
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EXPENSE TO CITY WILL BE SMALL
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University Rowing Club Project Has Been Revived -- Would Rival Leander.

New York's long anticipated and long projected water course for aquatic sports on Pelham Bay seems at last to be close to realization.  It is confidently believed by those who are furthing the plans that actual construction work will be started in a few months and that the project will be carried through to a speedy completion.

The New York Rowing Association, in conjunction with the city officials, has been pushing the scheme for the last six months, with the result that plans have been drawn and specifications outlined.  All that remains is to obtain the consent of the Board of Estimate and the appropriation of less than $100,000, which, it is believed, will be sufficient to carry the project far enough along to make it nearly ideal for canoeing, rowing and long distance swimming sports.

Coincident with authoritative statements that the Pelham Bay course will be ready in a short time, there has also come to light the projected formation of a rowing club, whose membership is to be restricted to university graduates, and whose purpose will be to boat an all-college crew each year that will rank with the Leander Club of England.  

All that has retarded the organization of this club in the last two years has been the lack of a suitable course. With the completion of the Pelham Bay course in sight the originators of the plan for a university club are going ahead with their plans and expect to have their organization complete early in the fall.

The projected water course is in the extreme northeast corner of Pelham Bay Park and taken in the stretch of water beginning at Travers Island and running south between Hunter's Island and the mainland to Rodman's Neck.  There is ample room for a mile and 1/2 straight away.

Perfect Water Assured.

In order to insure perfect water at all times the engineers contemplate the novel plan of completely locking the water in by means of causeways, extending from Rodman's Neck to Hunter's Island and from Hunter's Island to the mainland, just south of Travers Island.

Each of these causeways will contain swinging locks, and it is part of the plan of the engineers to flood the course at high water twice a month and to keep it at all times at high water level.

The construction of this land-locked course will make necessary the removal of the wooden bridge between Hunter's Island and the mainland.  This bridge has been condemned by the park authorities in The Bronx, and $60,000 has been appropriated for construction of a new one.  By using this money -- and the scheme has the approval of the city officials -- to build the causeway at the northern end of Hunter's Island the cost of the entire project will be greatly reduced.  In all about 1,800 feet of causeway will be necessary -- 600 at the north end of the island and 1,200 at the south end.

Even in its present condition at high water the course offers few obstructions and practically no shallow water, so that a minimum amount of dredging will have to be done.  The course is 500 feet wide at its narrowest point, and the shore on both sides is high and rocky, affording a natural grandstand from end to end.  

It is not the intention of the city authorities to restrict the course exclusively to rowing, although the rowing clubs of the city have been the most active in having the plan advanced.  Sites for rowing and canoe clubs will be granted by the city at the southern end of the course, where a small creek will be dredged out to afford a waterway to and from the course.  

One of the features of the course is that a boulevard is to encircle it completely.  In the event of regattas being held on the course, the boulevard will afford a means of following the races from start to finish.

Rowing Clubs Interested.

When completed the course will be the only one within the metropolitan district where rowing may be enjoyed in safety and without interference from currents and river traffic, as is the case on the Harlem and the Hudson.  It will be possible, too, the rowing men assert, to hold regattas of national importance on the course.  New York has not had the national regatta since 1900, because of lack of facilities.

What the project would mean for rowing in New York can only be conjectured.  Already the Atalanta, Friendship, and Lone Star clubs have agreed to build at Pelham Bay as soon as the course is ready.  Although the course will not be as accessible as the Harlem, it is not more than fifty minutes from the Battery by way of the subway to West Farms, and thence on the Harlem River Railroad to City Island station.  The proposed site of the boathouse is not more than three minutes' walk from that station.

The proposed club of university rowing men will be organized, it is said, as soon as work is begun on the Pelham Bay course.  The plan for such a club was proposed by a group of Columbia, Harvard and Yale rowing men last summer, and the project was dropped temporarily after several discussions because no course was available for practice.  The broaching of the Pelham Bay plan has revived the scheme, however.

Letters have been addressed already to Anson Phelps Stokes, secretary of Yale University; Dr. J. Duncan Spaeth, of Princeton; Thomas Reath, of the University of Pennsylvania, former steward of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association; Public Service Commissioner Frank Irvine, former dean of the Cornell University Law School and an intercollegiate steward; William A. Shanklin, president of Wesleyan University, and officers or old rowing men of all other colleges, inviting them to submit ideas and the names of former oarsmen from their universities who are in New York.  It is estimated that more than three hundred former college oarsmen live in the metropolitan district.

It is planned to interest these men first of all and to have them form the nucleus of the club, afterward recruiting the membership from university men in general.  There will be a combination of rowing for pleasure and in competition.  Primarily all men using the boats will be considered pleasure oarsmen, but the best of these will be grouped in shells, from which will eventually be chosen crews which will be sent into competition.

These crews will be coached by one of the college coaches during the summer months, and it is the plan to be represented in the Henley regatta in England at least every other year, if not every year, and also to invite the best of the English crews to visit this country."

Source:  GREAT AQUATIC COURSE PLANNED FOR NEW YORK -- Land-Locked Waterway To Be Located in Pelham Bay Park -- EXPENSE TO CITY WILL BE SMALL -- University Rowing Club Project Has Been Revived -- Would Rival Leander, N.Y. Tribune, Jul. 18, 1915, p. 6, col. 1.

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News of Pelham Published February 12, 1875

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In early February, 1875 -- much like recent days in 2018 -- the Town of Pelham was in the midst of a brutal cold spell that froze much of Long Island Sound and the waters off the shores of Pelham with ice so thick that people, horses, sleighs, and more could cross on the ice safely from island to island.  The brutal cold, however, did not stop Pelhamites from enjoying an active social life and outdoor sports according to news of the Town published in a Mount Vernon newspaper on February 12, 1875.

In 1875, the Mount Vernon newspaper known as The Chronicle was in its sixth year of publication.  In its earliest days, the newspaper occasionally carried news of Pelham.  In those early days, Pelham Manor had not been settled much.  The settlement of Pelhamville was tiny and, as one might expected, generated little interest or news.  Indeed, most of the population of the Town of Pelham was concentrated on City Island and in the tiny nearby settlement on Shore Road known variously as Bartow, Bartow-on-the-Sound, and Bartow Station.  Thus, the earliest news of Pelham reported in The Chronicle focused on City Island.

In early February, with much of the Sound solidly iced over, Pelhamites were concerned about their safety.  Because it was possible to walk from island to island, prisoners held on Hart Island were escaping in droves -- simply walking away from the island on the ice to City Island and then to the mainland.  According to the February 12 news report, in one week alone "about thirty prisoners" escaped.

Pelhamites also were concerned about local environmental issues in early 1875.  The same news account reported the formation of a "committee" representing Pelham consisting of Town Supervisor James Hyatt, David Carll (shipyard owner and one of the most successful businessmen in Pelham), and Stephen Pell (a notable civic citizen and ancestor of John Pell, nephew of Pelham founder Thomas Pell).  On behalf of Pelham, the committee traveled to Albany to complain to lawmakers that New York City contractors were illegally dumping refuse in the waters between Throggs Neck and City Island risking destruction of the oyster beds in the region, the mainstay of the Town's principal industry involving the planting, harvesting, and sale of oysters.  The committee asked the lawmakers to enforce preexisting law banning such dumping. 

On the lighter side, the news account described a host of social and recreational activities undertaken (or planned) by Pelhamites that brutally-cold February in 1875.  For example, the Merry Ten of City Island planned a grand "calico ball" -- by invitation only -- at Leviness Hall on the evening of Monday, February 22, 1875.  

The "Merry Ten" was a social club based on City Island in the Town of Pelham during the latter part of the nineteenth century.  It seems to have been active from at least the early 1870's through at least the mid 1880's and, indeed, was described in one article published in [1882] as "an old organization of City Island."  See PELHAM AND CITY ISLAND, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], May 30, 1884, Vol. XV, No. 767, p. 3, col. 4 ("Last evening, the Merry Ten, an old organization of City Island, gave a complimentary ball, at Von Liehn's Hotel.").

In 1893, the highly-successful social club spawned a spin-off social club for the younger set known as "The Merry Ten, Jr."   The name "Merry Ten" was associated with unaffiliated social clubs throughout the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Social Clubs named "Merry Ten" can be found in San Francisco, Yonkers and even Lowell, Massachusetts.  There even was a dime novel story written by Harvey King Shackleford entitled "The Merry Ten; or, The Shadows of a Social Club. A Temperance Story."  I have written before about the "Merry Ten" of City Island.  See Wed., Sep. 03, 2014:  The Merry Ten Social Club of City Island in the Town of Pelham During the 19th Century.  

 Ticket:  "GRAND FANCY DRESS AND MASQUERADE BALL OF

THE MERRY TEN, TO BE HELD AT LEVINESS' HALL, City Island,

On Thursday Eve'g, Feb. 22d, 1872.  TICKETS, ADMITTING GENTLEMAN

AND LADIES, $1.00.  No Gentleman or Lady admitted on the floor, unless

Fancy Dressed and Masked, until after intermission.  J.M. FLYNN,

President. JOHN ADEMA, Sectretary.  M. KNAPP, Vice-President.

R. L. LINCOLN, Treasurer."  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

According to the same report, a charitable group named the Society of Earnest Workers formed by members of Grace Episcopal Church on City Island hosted a fundraiser consisting of an entertainment of tableaux and charades at Horton's Hall on the evening of Monday, February 8, 1875.  (A "tableaux," popular at the time, involved posing costumed people, objects and, sometimes, animals to represent a scene, famous picture, statue or the like.)  "Attendance was large" and the entertainment raised more than $10 to support the group's work.

The article further reported that a minstrel entertainment group known as the Stony Swamp Minstrels intended to give "one of their pleasing entertainments" at Leviness Hall on City Island later that month.  Minstrel shows, of course, were 19th and early 20th century entertainments that, sadly, lampooned African-Americans in burlesque settings with comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances.  Little is known of this minstrel group that appears to have been based in the City Island region and even owned an ice boat named the "Stony Swamp" that competed in local races.  Hopefully additional research will reveal more about the history of this minstrel group.

The Stony Swamp Minstrels raced their iceboat named the "Stony Swamp" on the ice of frozen Pelham Bay during that brutal cold snap in 1875.  The ice boat raced against other local ice boats including the Town Dock and the Graham.  One such race, held on the ice of Pelham Bay on Saturday, February 6, 1875, was somewhat unusual.  Two ice boats raced a horse-drawn sleigh on the ice.  The ice boats beat the horse-drawn sleigh soundly, beating it by one-third of the distance across the entire bay. 

19th Century Stern Steerer Iceboats Likely Similar to Those

Raced on Frozen Pelham Bay on Saturday, February 6, 1875.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

 And . . . THAT's the way it was in February, 1875, in the Town of Pelham.

*          *          *          *          *

"City Island.

The Merry Ten of City Island will give a grand invitation calico ball at Capt. Leviness' Hall on Monday evening Feb. 22nd.

On Monday evening last the members of the Earnest Workers gave an entertainment consisting of tableaux and charades at Horton's Hall.  The attendance was large and the proceeds netted over $10.

During the past week about thirty prisoners have escaped from Hart's Island and City Island.  People have been crossing from one island to the other for several days.

The residents of the Island have several ice boats, the Stony Swamp, Town Dock and Graham, in successful operation on Pelham Bay.  The Stony Swamp is owned by the minstrel troupe of the same name.

On Wednesday last several boats were a whole day in getting from opposite City Island to Throggs Neck.

The Stony Swamp Minstrels intend giving one of their pleasing entertainments at Leviness's Hall about the 28th inst.

On Saturday last a race took place on Pelham Bay between two ice boats and a horse attached to a [sleigh] but the horse was beaten one third of the distance across the bay.

On Monday a committee of gentlemen from this place consisting of David Carll, Stephen Pell and Supervisor Hyatt went to Albany for the purpose of protesting against the dumping of refuse matter by the contractors of New York between Throgg's Neck and City Island.  The committee requested our members to use their utmost endeavors to have the law in relation to the above abuse enforced.  It forbids the dumping of all refuse matter one mile from Sandy Point.  This action has been taken in prevention of the destruction of oyster beds beginning that part of the Sound spoken of above as a dumping ground." 

Source:  City Island, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Feb. 12, 1875, Vol. VI, No. 282, p. 3, col. 2.

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Public Auction of John Barton's Planted Oyster Bed in Pelham Bay in 1854

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It is common to assume that 19th century City Island oystermen planted the waters surrounding City Island, then part of the Town of Pelham, with oysters.  That was not, however, always the case.  Oysterman John Barton presents an excellent example.

John Barton was a resident of New York City in the early 1850s.  He had a wife, Elizabeth, and three children:  Elizabeth (born about 1850), Cynthia (born about 1852), and Clorinda (born about October, 1853).  Barton planted and maintained a large oyster bed containing about two thousand bushels of oysters on the northerly side of Pelham Bay about half a mile below Pelham Bridge.

Barton died in New York City without leaving a will on November 19, 1853, leaving behind his wife three daughters.  He died at about the time of the birth of his daughter, Clorinda.  It appears that his principal asset at the time of his death was his planted oyster bed in Pelham Bay in the Town of Pelham.  Barton was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

On February 13, 1854, Elizabeth Barton formally renounced all rights to administer the estate of her deceased husband, John Barton.  On February 18, 1854, The Surrogate's Court, County of New York, appointed the Public Administrator, Peter B. Sweeny, to administer the estate of John Barton.

The Public Administrator seems to have moved with exceptional dispatch to dispose of Barton's estate valued at less than $500 (about $20,000 in today's dollars), presumably because his widow and three daughters had little in the way of assets with which to survive.  Only one week later, on February 25, 1854, an auction notice appeared in the New York Herald.  It provided as follows:

"AUCTION. -- PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR'S SALE OF two thousand bushels of planted oysters, belonging to the estate of John Barton, deceased, as they lay, on the northerly side of Pelham Bay, one half mile below the bridge.  The above oysters will be sold at the public house of Mr. Wells, on City Island, on Tuesday, March 7, at 1 o'clock, P. M. Terms cash.

PETER B. SWEENY.

Public Administrator, 51 Chambers street, N. Y."

Source:  SALES AT AUCTION -- AUCTION -- PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR'S SALE, N.Y. Herald, Feb. 25, 1854, p. 5, col. 5.

No record yet has been located indicating whether the auction was held at the "public house of Mr. Wells, on City Island" nor any results if it was held.  Yet, this brief little slice of Pelham history demonstrates that even in the early days of oystering in Pelham waters, not all oystermen were City Island residents.

*          *          *          *          *

"SALES AT AUCTION.
-----
AUCTION. -- PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR'S SALE OF two thousand bushels of planted oysters, belonging to the estate of John Barton, deceased, as they lay, on the northerly side of Pelham Bay, one half mile below the bridge.  The above oysters will be sold at the public house of Mr. Wells, on City Island, on Tuesday, March 7, at 1 o'clock, P. M. Terms cash.

PETER B. SWEENY.

Public Administrator, 51 Chambers street, N. Y."

Source:  SALES AT AUCTION -- AUCTION -- PUBLIC ADMINISTRATOR'S SALE, N.Y. Herald, Feb. 25, 1854, p. 5, col. 5.  

*          *          *          *          *

Page 001 of Petition for Letters of Administration for

Estate of John Barton.  Source:  Petition for Letters

of Administration of John Barton in New York Surrogate's Court,

New York County, Box 0008-28986, Surname:  A-Z, 1854 (New York

County, New York) p. 1 of 3 (Note: Paid subscription required to access

via this link).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"Surrogate's Court.
-----
In the Matter of the Administration of 
John Barton
Deceased.

Petition, &c.

[Signed] H. Henderson, Proctor."

Source:  Petition for Letters of Administration of John Barton in New York Surrogate's Court, New York County, Box 0008-28986, Surname:  A-Z, 1854 (New York County, New York) p. 1 of 3 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

Page 002 of Petition for Letters of Administration for Estate

of John Barton.  Petition for Letters of Administration of John Barton

in New York Surrogate's Court, New York County, Box 0008-28986,

Surname: A-Z, 1854 (New York County, New York) p. 2 of 3 (Note:

Paid subscription required to access via this link).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"Surrogate's Court. -- County of New-York.
-----
In the Matter of the Administration of the Goods, Chattels and Credits of
John Barton, 
Deceased.
-----

To the Surrogate of the County of New-York.

The petition of Peter B. Sweeny the Public Administrator in the City of New York, 

RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH: -- upon information & belief as follows

That the petitioner is informed and believes, that John Barton late of the City of New York departed this life at the said City of New York on or about the nineteenth day of November 1853 without leaving any last will and testament, to the knowledge, information or belief of the petitioner; and that said deceased died possessed of certain personal property in the State of New-York, the value of which does not exceed the sum of about Five hundred Dollars -- dollars, as your petitioner has been informed and believes.  That the said deceased has left him surviving a widow Elizabeth Barton and three children ^ all minors ^ to wit Cynthia aged four years Elizabeth aged two years and Clorinda aged four months -- 

That said deceased was at, or immediately previous to his death a resident in the City and County of New York -- by means whereof the ordering and granting administration of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits whereof said deceased died possessed in said State, and also the auditing, allowing and final discharging the accounts thereof, belong unto the Surrogate of the said County.  [Following is struck through:  That your petitioner has caused the notice to be served and published as is required by law, and as approved by affidavits accompanying this petition.]

Your petitioner therefore prays that you will appoint him administrator of all and singular the goods, chattels and creidts which were of said John Barton deceased.

Peter B. Sweeny
Public Administrator in the City of New-York.

H. Henderson, PROCTOR.

STATE OF NEW-YORK          }
                                                }  ss.
City and County of New-York  }

On the 18th day of February A. D. 1854 before me came the above named Peter B. Sweeny and made oath that he has read the foregoing petition subscribed b] David y him, and knows the contents thereof, and that the same is true of his own knowledge, except as to those matters which are therein stated to be on his information or belief; and as to those matters, that he believes it to be true.

[Signed] David M. Sweeny
Comm'r [Illegible]"

Source: Petition for Letters of Administration of John Barton in New York Surrogate's Court, New York County, Box 0008-28986, Surname: A-Z, 1854 (New York County, New York) p. 2 of 3 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

Page 003 of Petition for Letters of Administration for Estate

of John Barton.  Source:  Petition for Letters of Administration of

John Barton in New York Surrogate's Court, New York County, Box

0008-28986, Surname: A-Z, 1854 (New York County, New York)

p. 3 of 3 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"Surrogate's Court
County of New York
In the Matter of the goods &c
John Barton dec'd

I Elizabeth Barton of the city of New York widow of John Barton late of the city of New York deceased do hereby renounce all right and claim to administration of the goods, chattels and credits of the said intestate -- 

Witness my hand New York aforesaid this 13th day of February A.D. 1854,

Signed in the
Presence of
Marcus B. Butter

[Signed] Elizabeth Barton

City and County of New York

Marcus B. Butter of said city being duly sworn doth depose and say that he is a resident of the [Following is struck through city and County] County of Richmond and State of New York that he knows Elizabeth Barton the person described in and who executed the foregoing renunciation that he saw her sign the same and that he subscribed his name as a witness thereto.

James M. Sweeny
Comm'r of [Illegible]"

Source:  Petition for Letters of Administration of John Barton in New York Surrogate's Court, New York County, Box 0008-28986, Surname: A-Z, 1854 (New York County, New York) p. 3 of 3 (Note: Paid subscription required to access via this link).

Letters of Administration Appointing New York City Public

Administrator Peter B. Sweeny as Administrator of Estate

of John Barton Who Died Intestate.  Source:   Letters of Administration

of John Barton in New York Surrogate's Court, New York County,

Letters of Administration (New York County, New York), 1743-1866;

Index, 1743-1910:  Letters, Vol. 58 (1853-1854), p. 309 (Note:  Paid

subscription required to access via this link).

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

"TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK

Peter B. Sweeny, the Public Administrator in the City of New-York.

SEND GREETING

Whereas, John Barton lately departed this life intestate, living aat or immediately previous to his heath an inhabitant of the County of New York, by means whereof the ordering and granting Administration of all and singular the goods, chattels, and credits, whereof the said intestate died possessed in the State of New York, and also the auditing, allowing and final discharging the account thereof, doth appertain unto us; and we being desirous that the goods, chattels and credits of the said intestate may be well and faithfully administered, applied and disposed of, do grant unto you, the said Peter B. Sweeny, Public Administrator aforesaid full power, by these presents, to administer and faithfully dispose of all and singular the said goods, chattels and credits:  to ask, demand, recover and receive the debts, which unto the said intestate whilst living, and at the time of his death did belong; the debts which the said intestate did owe, as far as such goods, chattels and credits will thereunto extend and the law require; hereby requiring you to make or cause to be made, a true and perfect Inventory of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits of the said intestate, within a reasonable time, and return a duplicate thereof to our Surrogate of the County of New York, within three months from the date of these presents; and if further personal property, or assets of any kind not mentioned in any Inventory that shall have been so made, shall come to your possession or knowledge, to make or cause to be made in like manner, a true and perfect inventory thereof, and return the same within two months after discovery thereof; and also to render a just and true account of administrqation when thereunto required; and we do by these presents depute, constitute and appoint you the said Peter B. Sweeny, Public Administrator aforesaid, administrator of all and singular the goods, chattels and credits of said John Barton, deceased,

In Testimony whereof, we have caused the Seal of Office of the Surrogate of said County to be hereunto affixed.  WITNESS, ALEXANDER BRADFORD, Surrogate of said County, at the City of New-York, the eighteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty four, and of our Independence the seventy eighth.

[Signed] A. B. Bradford,
Surrogate."

Source:  Letters of Administration of John Barton in New York Surrogate's Court, New York County, Letters of Administration (New York County, New York), 1743-1866; Index, 1743-1910:  Letters, Vol. 58 (1853-1854), p. 309 (Note:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

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