Historic Pelham Blog Archive
August 15, 2005

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Many in Pelham know that one of the nation’s premier college preparatory schools, The Taft School (now located in Watertown, Connecticut), began in Pelham Manor in 1890. It is also widely known that the lovely home located at 964 Pelhamdale Avenue served as the first home of the Taft School for Boys. Fewer know that before the Taft School for Boys opened in the little home, Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls used the structure as its first home the year before. Even fewer know that the home next door, located at 952 Pelhamdale Avenue, was also used by both Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls in 1889 and the Taft School for Boys in 1890 and thereafter for a short time to house students. Today's Historic Pelham Blog posting details the evidence for the conclusion that 952 Pelhamdale was used by both institutions early in its life. A photograph of the home appears immediately below.

The conclusion that 952 Pelhamdale Avenue was used by Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls and by the Taft School for Boys in the late 19th Century is based on a variety of unrelated sources. In 1913, Mrs. Hazen’s daughter wrote that “[t]he school first located on Pelhamdale avenue, opposite the residence of Mrs. Robert C. Black, in the house then owned by Mr. Silas H. Witherbee, now occupied by Mr. Charles A. Perkins, and [in] the house owned by Miss H.M. Mitchell, now occupied by Mr. Frank A. Hays.” Tiers, Edith, Mrs. Hazen’s School, The Pelham Sun (1913) (copy of clipping in the collection of The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham) (hereinafter “Tiers, Mrs. Hazen’s School”). A map published in 1908, five years before Mrs. Hazen’s daughter made her statement, shows that the home located at 952 Pelhamdale Avenue was then owned by “Miss H. Mitchell” and the home located at 964 Pelhamdale Avenue was then owned by Witherbee Real Estate & Improvement Co. Fairchild, John F., Atlas of the City of Mount Vernon and the Town of Pelham, Plate 35 (1908).

Further research reveals a letter by the founder of the Taft School for boys, Horace Taft, on February 26, 1936 stating: “[t]he first year we had two buildings on Pelhamdale Avenue . . . Crossing Pelhamdale Avenue from the driveway of the Black place, you would almost strike our main building; the Red Building, we called it. Next to it, on the side of the Boston Post Road, was a little house which we called the Mitchell House. Those two were our complete equipment the first year.” Letter from Horace D. Taft to William R. Montgomery, Feb. 26, 1936, pp. 1-2 (original in collection of The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham). Finally, this evidence is further supported by a published account of a “tea” given at the “Red House” by the boys of the Taft School for Boys for guests including, principally, girls from Mrs. Hazen’s School for Girls in 1892. The account states that the “young ladies began to arrive about half after five, and most of them were shown their old rooms, now occupied by the boys.” See Original undated and untitled clipping from The Manor in the collection of The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham, Mrs. Hazen’s School clippings file (located with other clippings from 1892; date references on front and back of clipping including “Wednesday, June 1st” and “Monday afternoon, June 6th” support date of 1892).

In short, the lovely 19th Century home located at 952 Pelhamdale Avenue was just as much a part of the life of Mrs. Hazen's School for Girls and the Taft School for Boys as its better known next door neighbor.

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 5:31 AM Comment

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