The Estate and Home of W. T. Grant that Became the Grounds of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Pelham Manor

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William Thomas Grant, Jr. was the founder and Chairman of W. T. Grant Co.,  one of the most successful retail chains in the United States for many decades. William T. Grant’s success enabled him to build a lovely estate on the north side of Boston Post Road where Our Lady of the Perpetual Help stands today. 

In the early years of his company, Grant worked long hours and opened stores in the northeast. He handled his own buying for the stores and negotiated leases for each store that he opened. Within ten years, he had opened thirty-six stores. By 1918 he raised the 25-cent price limit on the retail chain’s merchandise to $1. 

By about this time, W.T. Grant and his wife, Lena Blanche Brownell Grant (whom he married in 1907), were residents of Pelham Manor where they lived thereafter for many years. The couple, who adopted two children, built a lovely estate on the north side of Boston Post Road. The estate consisted of about six acres of property on which stood a large Manor House and two smaller houses. Records in the possession of the Library of Congress indicate that work on the estate continued for many years and that the beautifully-landscaped grounds were designed by “Lundquist, L., landscape architect.” The architect of the home was the noted Howard Major.

I have written a number of times about W. T. Grant and his company. See, e.g.:  

William Thomas Grant Jr. and His Estate in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 33, Aug. 20, 2004, p. 6, col. 1.

Mon., Apr. 02, 2018:  Pelhamite William T. Grant, Founder of Grant's Dime Stores, Donated Land for Our Lady of Perpetual Help - St. Catharine Parish in 1939.

W.T. Grant lived an exemplary life in Pelham as one of its leading citizens. He served as president of Pelham’s Men’s Club, an important civic and social organization. He was a member of the original board of directors of The Pelham Sun Publishing Company established in 1919 (only a few years after The Pelham Sun first began printing). He continued as a member of the board of directors until 1925. He also provided much needed financial support for Pelham’s Boy Scout program in its early years. 

William T. Grant, Jr.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

In about 1937, St. Catharine’s Parish served Catholics throughout the entire Town of Pelham and was experiencing a “rising number of standees at all Masses”. Grant, a Protestant, offered to give his estate to the Archdiocese of New York. According to a history of the church, the initial offer was refused because the diocesan office already had arranged an option on a piece of property at Hazen Street and the Esplanade for a proposed new parish. But, “[d]uring ensuing meetings with the village board of Pelham Manor, the idea met strong opposition, zoning permission was not granted, and eventually the option was dropped.” 

St. Catharine’s arranged an intermediary to approach W.T. Grant about his previously offered gift. The approach was successful and on May 27, 1939 a portion of the estate containing the Manor House and the land on which it stood was deeded for $1.00 to St. Catharine’s Parish as the gift of “Wm. T. and Beth B. Grant”. Approvals and legal technicalities required months of effort, but on December 8, 1939, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, at 11:00 a.m., worshipers celebrated the first Mass in a tiny chapel created within the Manor House. William and Beth Grant deeded a gift of the remainder of the estate on December 31, 1940. 

W.T. Grant served as President of his company until 1924. Thereafter he served as chairman of the board. After the company went public in 1928 he controlled about 25 percent of the stock. In 1966 he retired as chairman at the age of 90, but remained as honorary chairman until his death on August 6, 1972. 

Only three years later, W.T. Grant Co. declared bankruptcy – the largest retailing bankruptcy in history up to that point.

The home that William T. Grant built in Pelham Manor in 1918 and 1919 was rather fascinating.  The architect, Howard Major, was inspired to design the home after seeing former slave quarters while visiting historic manor homes in Maryland.  Yet, the large estate home evoked an English cottage.  It was a low, unimposing structure with six bedrooms and servants' quarters on the second floor.  Great care was taken to preserve foliage and shrubbery on the estate grounds as the home was built to give the home an immediate country estate feel without the need for extensive additional plantings on the grounds.

The seemingly modest exterior belied a grand and elegant interior.  As one article about the home published shortly after it was built stated:

"With the simple exterior one is not quite prepared for the elegance of the interior, suggestive as it is of the best English and Italian decorative periods.  One enters a formal hall with the stair hall opening off, floors of which are black and white marble squares laid diamond wise.  This feature gives not only a feeling of palatial beauty but one of cool refreshment as well.  The walls of the halls and of most of the rooms are of rough finished plaster in a soft gray and the wood trim is painted a Colonial white.  The woodwork in the small hall, from which the staircase rises, is pure Colonial, with charmingly proportioned doors and a panelled archway between the top of which is ceiled, as are the sides."

Images of the home are maintained in the collections of the Library of Congress and are included immediately below.  Today's Historic Pelham article also transcribes the text of an article about the W. T. Grant home shortly after it was built with three images of the home that appeared with the article.  The text is followed by a citation and link to the source.

William T. Grant Home on Boston Post Road in

Pelham Manor in an Undated Photograph.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Estate Fountain on Grounds of the William T. Grant Home

on Boston Post Road in Pelham Manor in an Undated Photograph.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

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"W. T. GRANT'S HOME at PELHAM, N. Y., VIEWED FROM ITS

INFORMAL GARDENS.  HOWARD MAJOR - ARCHITECT."

Source:  PICTURESQUE LINES OF OLD SLAVE QUARTERS

FURNISHED ARCHITECT WITH MOTIF FOR DESIGN OF SUBURBAN

HOME, New York Herald, Jul. 13, 1919, p. 44, cols. 1-8 (NOTE:  Paid

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

"ENTRANCE HALL WITH ITS FLOOR of BLACK and WHITE

MARBLE SQUARES LAID DIAMONG WISE."  Source:

PICTURESQUE LINES OF OLD SLAVE QUARTERS FURNISHED

ARCHITECT WITH MOTIF FOR DESIGN OF SUBURBAN HOME,

New York Herald, Jul. 13, 1919, p. 44, cols. 1-8 (NOTE:  Paid

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

"AN ADDED TOUCH of PRIVACY is GIVEN the ENTRANCE

by the DORMERS FLANKING IT."  Source:  PICTURESQUE LINES

OF OLD SLAVE QUARTERS FURNISHED ARCHITECT WITH

MOTIF FOR DESIGN OF SUBURBAN HOME, New York Herald,

Jul. 13, 1919, p. 44, cols. 1-8 (NOTE:  Paid subscription required

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

"PICTURESQUE LINES OF OLD SLAVE QUARTERS FURNISHED ARCHITECT WITH MOTIF FOR DESIGN OF SUBURBAN HOME

Howard Major Received Inspiration for Novel Plan During His Rambles Among Historic Manors in Maryland -- Later Embodied Crude Beauties of Outbuildings in Construction of House for W. T. Grant at Pelham, New York

It is safe to say no architect ever designed a house around such unique a motif as did Howard Major when he planned the long, low, rambling and altogether delightful dwelling for W. T. Grant at Pelham, N. Y.  Hugging the ground closely it stretches out over a hundred feet of pretty country, showing a contour of low gables and simple roof lines, of sturdy chimneys and quaint dormers that manifestly belong to the site.

At first glance the house does not seem to be made up of the various types from which our modern, domestic architecture is drawn, although it suggests the English cottage idea more than any other.  And it is only after Mr. Major -- one of the younger of New York architects, whose work is bound to enhance in value as time goes on, since he builds not for evanescent popularity but honestly with a vision for the future -- tells you how the idea for the Grant home took shape in his mind and gradually grew until it developed into this picturesque and livable home that the layman fully understands the inspiration that suggested it.

It was while visiting friends at Havre de Grace, Md., that Mr. Major, in prowling around among the famous old manors of that historic State, was struck by the exceedingly picturesque quality of the old slave quarters, always an adjunct to the 'big house.'  Invariably of brick and whitewashed with native materials that weathered into soft, mellow tones, these quaint little structures had a character peculiarly their own.  Sometimes they resembled the first Dutch Colonial houses of New Amsterdam and again the main unit had built against it the typical lean-to or additions graded down in size to small sheds.  Generally crude in form and shape, they nevertheless served to emphasize the picturesque character of the whole.

Masonry Haphazard.

As a rule there was a stanch though irregularly built chimney at one or both ends and the haphazard method of masonry added a distinction of its own.  Not only were those quaint little dwellings in harmony with their surroundings but they seemed to form a connecting link with nature and become a part of it, a feature all too often lacking in the fine country estates of to-day.  The more the architect saw of these simple native cottages the more he became imbued with the desire to build a suburban home around the motif.  The opportunity offered itself when a client, W. T. Grant of Pelham, sought his services to design for him a home.  Mr. Grant was delighted with the suggestion and soon the picturesque dwelling was under way.

The site for the new home bore all the evidences of having served for an earlier habitation and it seemed peculiarly suitable for the development of this novel idea.  The aspect of the surrounding country was essentially a domestic one, for the trees -- oak, maple, the elm -- were all native to the vicinity, and there were huge trees of box and giant bushes of lilacs already there that demanded a house of a simple, unpretentious sort.  The way the plan worked out and the manner in which the architect kept it all in 'key' combine to make it one of the most charming and essentially livable houses to be found anywhere.

House Set Close to Ground.

The house, with its delightful planes and roof surfaces, its gables and quaint dormers, is set close to the ground and field stone wall that follows the contour of the land encloses it in an intimate, friendly way that serves to emphasize the sweet, domestic character of the whole.  A flagstone pathway leads up through a country lot to the door and a grass path, rose bordered, offers another method of approach.  Only a little planting has been done, but that is of an effective sort such as the introduction of dwarf and blue spruces and dwarf Norway pines or vines planted in the angle of a gabled wing that climb up to the weathered , shingled roof and form a splash of green against the silvery surface that is as refreshing to the eye as it is picturesque in effect.  

With the simple exterior one is not quite prepared for the elegance of the interior, suggestive as it is of the best English and Italian decorative periods.  One enters a formal hall with the stair hall opening off, floors of which are black and white marble squares laid diamond wise.  This feature gives not only a feeling of palatial beauty but one of cool refreshment as well.  The walls of the halls and of most of the rooms are of rough finished plaster in a soft gray and the wood trim is painted a Colonial white.  The woodwork in the small hall, from which the staircase rises, is pure Colonial, with charmingly proportioned doors and a panelled archway between the top of which is ceiled, as are the sides.

Stairs in Fine Proportion.

The staircase itself is well worthy of comment.  Broken midway by a landing and a sharp turn, it forms a particularly interesting detail.  Slender spindles, delicately carved, are surmounted by a modest mahogany handrail and a crystal ball takes the place of the usual wood newel post.  The stairs are perfectly designed with broad treads and low risers, making the ascent to the upper story a real pleasure by reason of its fine proportions.  A simple crystal chandelier, small and unusual in design, suggests the type of lighting fixture carried out in the main living room on the first floor.

The main floor plan, built on one level, is simple but comprehensive, the living room, dining room and stair hall opening off the main hall.  The enclosed porch, which forms a gabled wing, is reached from the living room.  The service portion has ample space for its own needs.  The second floor contains six bed chambers and an equal number of baths.  The servants' quarters are arranged in the floor of the high portion.

Since Mr. Major is one of the architects who not only design their houses but furnish them as well, his work invariably has a charm of its own, dependent upon his fine decorative taste.  In the past an architect faced the possibility of having his work spoiled by the decorating, but nowadays it has become the custom for him to develop the furnishing to suit the design, and as a result there are far fewer failures to record.  Mr. Major depends more upon composition and arrangement to get his effect than upon the usual 'color schemes' of which we have, unfortunately, heard far too much in the past.

Dining Room Elegant but Simple.

Elegant simplicity prevails in the huge living room, lighted by four windows, which, furnished in Italian style with a predominance of green in the upholstery, harmonizes well with the gray rough plaster walls.  William Odom collected the furniture for this room while travelling abroad, and it includes some rare tapestries, furniture and draperies.  A number of fine canvases cover the walls, one of which is used as an over-mantel.  Mr. Major himself discovered some wonderful Italian polychrome sidelights, which he has used to good effect against the plain wall surfaces.

No room in the house is more effective than the Georgia dining room, which is panelled from floor to ceiling and painted in soft green, which has been rubbed down to a dull antique finish.  Against this background Mr. Major has placed the most delightful of furnishings in the shape of gilt consols used as side tables, a set of black and gold chairs, an ancient gilt mirror, an over mantel painted with gay flowers on a black background, and other similar fittings.  It is at once both simple and luxurious, and satisfies the taste for the elegant and refined without introducing anything obtrusive either in color or design.

Faithful devotion to an idea is one of Mr. Major's particular characteristics.  He believes, above all, in building honestly and well and in undertaking no more than he can personally carry out.  

'I never take more work,' he says 'than can be done under my direct supervision.  It must bear the imprint of my own taste and skill and so I never turn work over to others to execute for me.'

Just at present the architect is engaged on a $250,000 job at Southampton, L. I., besides the remodelling of a town house in the Empire period and several other contracts in the suburbs.  As to the continued high cost of building construction Mr. Major believes there is little if any chance of its coming down for some time to come.

'I believe we will see the present high rates for both labor and materials maintained for the next seven or eight years,' remarked Mr. Major in this connection.  'It looks to me as though the present inflated values will continue, but I don't believe that will have any effect in restricting building operations.

'There is an immense amount of work going on now and there is every reason to believe it will keep on, for in the majority of instances the incomes have increased with the high cost of living and so the people who want new homes will have them just the same.  The tendency to drop to normal will be gradual and it will be a number of years before this really happens, according to my judgment.'"

Source:  PICTURESQUE LINES OF OLD SLAVE QUARTERS FURNISHED ARCHITECT WITH MOTIF FOR DESIGN OF SUBURBAN HOME, New York Herald, Jul. 13, 1919, p. 44, cols. 1-8 (NOTE:  Paid subscription required to access via this link).

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Pelhamite William T. Grant, Founder of Grant's Dime Stores, Donated Land for Our Lady of Perpetual Help - St. Catharine Parish in 1939

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The name “William Thomas Grant, Jr.” may sound like a common name, but it once belonged to an uncommon man who lived in Pelham Manor. He was the founder and Chairman of W.T. Grant Co. 

I have written a number of times about W. T. Grant and his company.  See, e.g. William Thomas Grant Jr. and His Estate in Pelham Manor, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 33, Aug. 20, 2004, p. 6, col. 1.

For many decades W.T. Grant Co. was one of the most successful retail chains in the United States. William T. Grant’s success enabled him to build a lovely estate on the north side of Boston Post Road where Our Lady of the Perpetual Help stands today. Grant donated this 4-1/2 acre estate to St. Catharine's for construction of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  Today's Historic Pelham article provides a brief account of W.T. Grant, his company, his ties to Pelham, and the donation of his estate to St. Catharine's.

William Thomas Grant, Jr. was born on June 27, 1876 in Stevensville, Pa. His father bounced happily from failed venture to failed venture including a flour mill in Stevensville that flopped and an unsuccessful tea-store in Fall River, Massachusetts. Yet, as Grant stated in his autobiography published in 1954, his father was “always the optimist” seeing the possibility for “a great business success” in every venture. W.T. Grant’s father never found great business success, but his radiant optimism and desire to create a successful retail establishment passed to his son. 

William Thomas Grant, Jr.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

W.T. Grant had a happy childhood, but remembered in his biography that “there was never a time when the family income was sufficient to give my mother any sense of security” and that “many times” the family “had to move to a home where rent was lower.” 

As a youngster, to help his family, Grant became a hustler in the positive sense. He ran errands for neighbors and friends. He sold flower seeds. He delivered newspapers. He helped the owner of a butter-and-egg wagon. He worked at a drugstore fountain. During this time, he learned one important thing about himself. As he put it, he learned that: “I liked to sell.” 

Unfortunately, Grant liked to sell so much that he failed to focus on his education. He dropped out of high school during the second year. As he put it, he was “fascinated with selling” and his string of jobs after quitting high school reflected that fact. According to one biographer: 

“Grant became an errand boy for a group of Boston lawyers and then worked for a wholesale shoe house in that city and in a warehouse for a whetstone manufacturer in Pike’s Station, N.H. In 1895, he returned to Boston and entered retailing as a clerk in a boot and shoe company, followed by jobs selling shoes in a department store and managing a shoe store in Amesbury, Mass. As a sideline, he promoted prizefights.” 

While working as the manager of the shoe department for Almy, Bigelow and Washburn, a large department store in Salem, Massachusetts, Grant experienced an epiphany. He observed that department store customers bought twenty-five cent items on impulse. His 1954 biography, THE STORY OF W.T. GRANT AND THE EARLY DAYS OF THE BUSINESS HE FOUNDED, says: 

“One Saturday morning I had worked in the shoe department nearly an hour, trying to help a customer to come to a decision, finally making the sale after a dozen fittings. To cool my own exasperation after this chore, I took a turn through the accessories section of the store. Around the jewelry counter, covered with 25-cent items, were five or six women. I saw each one pick up a hat pin, or a brooch or bracelet and put down her quarter. No problem. No sizes. No fitting. No selling effort. Every purchase was an impulse purchase. The salesgirl had only to answer questions and make change. Suddenly I realized that this was the kind of selling I had been looking for! This was merchandise in motion!” 

Grant had observed the popularity of five and ten cent stores. He seemed to believe that there was a niche to be filled: the “25 Cent Store”. In 1906, at the age of 30, he opened his first “25 Cent Store” in Lynn, Massachusetts. By the time he died in 1972 (at the age of 96) his nationwide retailing empire included nearly 1,200 W.T. Grant Co. Stores. Grant’s Years in Pelham During the first year of the operation of his first store in Lynn, Massachusetts, Grant traveled to New York City so frequently on buying trips that he opened a tiny office in the City at 395 Broadway. That tiny office eventually grew to the behemoth national headquarters of the W.T. Grant Co. 

In the early years of his company, Grant worked long hours and opened more stores in the northeast. He handled his own buying for the stores and negotiated leases for each store that he opened.  Within ten years, he had opened thirty-six stores. By 1918 he raised the 25-cent price limit on the retail chain’s merchandise to $1. 

By about this time, W.T. Grant and his wife, Lena Blanche Brownell Grant (whom he married in 1907), were residents of Pelham Manor where they lived for many years. The couple, who adopted two children, built a lovely estate on the north side of Boston Post Road. The estate consisted of about six acres of property on which stood a large Manor House and two smaller houses. Records in the possession of the Library of Congress indicate that work on the estate continued for many years and that the beautifully landscaped grounds were designed by “Lundquist, L., landscape architect.”

W. T. Grant Home That Once Stood in Pelham Manor.

NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Fountain of the W. T. Grant Estate that Once

Stood in Pelham Manor.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

Grant and his first wife divorced and, on September 3, 1930, he married Beth Bradshaw. The couple adopted one child in addition to Grant’s two other adopted children. Grant had homes in Pelham Manor, Cape Cod and Miami but he eventually moved to Greenwich, Connecticut where he lived until his death. 

In about 1937, St. Catharine’s Parish served Catholics throughout the entire Town of Pelham and was experiencing a “rising number of standees at all Masses.” Grant, a Protestant, offered to give his estate to the Archdiocese of New York. According to a history of the church, the initial offer was refused because the diocesan office already had arranged an option on a piece of property at Hazen Street and the Esplanade for a proposed new parish. But, “[d]uring ensuing meetings with the village board of Pelham Manor, the idea met strong opposition, zoning permission was not granted, and eventually the option was dropped.”

St. Catharine’s arranged an intermediary to approach W.T. Grant about his previously offered gift. The approach was successful and on May 27, 1939 a portion of the estate containing the Manor House and the land on which it stood was deeded for $1.00 to St. Catharine’s Parish as the gift of “Wm. T. and Beth B. Grant”. Approvals and legal technicalities required months of effort, but on December 8, 1939, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, at 11:00 a.m., worshipers celebrated the first Mass in a tiny chapel created within the Manor House. 

William and Beth Grant deeded a gift of the remainder of the estate on December 31, 1940. According to a history of the parish, the second gift included: 

“the area now used for parking near the school and two additional houses one of which remains standing today as the parish rectory . . . The second house, which for several years was occupied by [New York Supreme Court Justice Ernest E.L.] Hammer, was later razed for the parking lot.” 

The parish was established as an Out Mission for St. Catharine’s Parish. On November 22, 1954, however, all the property of the Out Mission was transferred from St. Catharine’s Parish to the recently created Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. 

The parish quickly remodeled the tiny little chapel. According to a history of the parish published in 1968, the remodeled chapel “became 71 feet long, able to seat 200 people. The Manor House [was] occupied by Monsignor McCormick and his first assistants.” 

The parish expanded its physical plant rapidly. In 1955, Mr. and Mrs. Abdala Barsa gave the parish a half-block piece of property on Fowler Avenue facing Boston Post Road. This became a parking area. In 1956 the Parish purchased a nearby home from Evans Dawson to serve as a convent. In 1958, the parish completed and opened a building designed by Edward Flaegle to serve as a parochial school for children of the parish. 

Today, the Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a vibrant and successful part of the Pelham Community celebrating its fiftieth anniversary year. At least part of its success, as the parish has recognized in one of its publications, is due to “Mr. William T. Grant, a Protestant merchant prince of Scotch ancestry.” 

W.T. Grant served as President of his company until 1924. Thereafter he served as chairman of the board. After the company went public in 1928 he controlled about 25 percent of the stock. In 1966 he retired as chairman at the age of 90, but remained as honorary chairman until his death on August 6, 1972. 

Only three years later, W.T. Grant Co. declared bankruptcy – the largest retailing bankruptcy in history up to that point. According to one biographer “[t]he company, which had so successfully found a retailing niche during the early twentieth century, was unable to do so in the 1970’s. Caught between the rapidly expanding Sears and Penney chains and several new discount houses, W.T. Grant was unable to decide on a retailing focus.”

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"Grant Property In Manor Is Accepted By Church; To Install Chapel There
-----
Consent of Majority of Adjacent Property Owners Required In New Program for Catholic Parish.
-----

The Rev. Henry F. Hammer, Administrator of St. Catherine's [sic] Church in North Pelham announced yesterday that negotiations have been completed for the transfer of the William T. Grant estate in Pelham Manor to the church.  Mr. Grant, president of the William T. Grant Stores, Inc., and former resident of Pelham Manor, has given the 4 1/2 acre piece of property on the Boston Post Road at Fowler avenue and the large colonial manor thereon, to the church.  The property which was for many years occupied by Mr. Grant, is one of the show places of Pelham Manor. 

Father Hammer intends to remodel the mansion at once into a chapel of convenience to take care of the spiritual needs of the Catholics in Pelham Manor and vicinity.  There has been a distinct need, he said, for such a chapel.  The parish church of St. Catherine's [sic] in North Pelham is taxed to capacity at the Sunday services and many of the communicants have been forced to stand in the aisle during devotions, because of the limited facilities of the present church edifice.  The Sunday attendance of the Catholics of Pelham Manor at the new chapel will ease greatly the congestion at St. Catherine's.  

Father Hammer explained that there is no intention of establishing a new parish in Pelham Manor.  The new chapel, when completed, will be operated as a mission of St. Catherine's, under his administratorship, and will be attended by the priests of St. Catherine's with such additions to the staff as may be necessary.

The site of the new chapel is in a highly restricted residential zone in Pelham Manor, but Father Hammer has been assured that there will be no opposition on the part of neighboring property owners, and that the necessary consent of two-thirds of the property owners within 1,000 feet of the property can be obtained.  Committees of women and men of the parish have already been organized to gather the signatures.

Work will begin immediately on the remodeling of the mansion and it is hoped that services will be held in the new chapel on the first Sunday in September."

Source:  Grant Property In Manor Is Accepted By Church; To Install Chapel There -- Consent of Majority of Adjacent Property Owners Required In New Program for Catholic Parish, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 2, 1939, Vol. 29, No. 9, p. 1, col. 3.

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