More About the Images in the Banner at the Top of Each Page on the Site

More About the Images in the Banner
at the Top of Each Page on the Site

At the top of each page on the Historic Pelham Web site is a "banner" that includes five images. Below is information about the historical significance of each of the five images in the Historic Pelham banner.

The Memorial Bell

The first image on the left in the banner at the top of this page is created from a color photograph of a bell on a stone monument that stands on the lawn of the Richard J. Daronco Town House located at 20 Fifth Avenue in Pelham, New York. The photograph was taken by Blake A. Bell on January 12, 2002.

The Richard J. Daronco Town House was originally built as the Episcopal Church of Christ the Redeemer. The Parish merged with Christ Church located on Pelhamdale Avenue at Shore Road in 1976 and, at that time, the church building was deeded to the Town of Pelham. Prior to erecting the church building that became the Richard J. Daronco Town House, the congregation worshipped in a lovely stone church of modified English Gothic style built in 1892. This bell is from that church. See Village of Pelham, Village of Pelham ~ Centennial Celebration Walking Tour 1896-1996, p. 17 (Village of Pelham 1996). For more about the history of the Church of the Redeemer, see Brown, Herbert Haigh, Historical Sketch of The Church of the Redeemer Pelham, New York 1859 - 1941 (1941).

According to an inscription on the bell, it was manufactured by the "Clinton H. MeNeely Bell Company Troy, N.Y. A.D. 1892" and was given to the church by Howland Pell, William Rhinelander, T.J. Oakley Rhinelander, Philip Rhinelander and Henry G. Trevor in honor of their ancestors "JOHN PELL LORD of the MANOR", "PHILIP JACOB RHINELANDER" AND "ANTONE LISPENARD" (1669 - 1894).

A Trolley Car from the Line that Inspired "The Toonerville Trolley"

Early last century Pelham and its citizens inspired the creative genius of a man named Fontaine Talbot Fox (1884-1964) who created one of the most popular comic strips in the United States that became known as "Toonerville Folks". The strip centered around the quirky inhabitants of a town called "Toonerville" as well as a rickety and unpredictable trolley car that came to be known as "The Toonerville Trolley". The operator of the trolley was known as "The Skipper." The comic strip was based in part on the artist's experience during a trolley ride on a visit to Pelham. The strip ran in hundreds of newspapers from about 1910 to 1955 and brought national attention to The Pelhams.

The second image from the left on the banner above shows a trolley car from the "H-Line" that ran from Mt. Vernon to New Rochelle through Pelham along Fifth Avenue and Wolf's Lane with a short stint on Colonial Avenue then along the length of Pelhamdale to Shore Road where it turned around and repeated the trip. The two trolley operators standing in front of the car were Skippers Dan and Louie. They were successors to James A. Bailey, the blue-eyed skipper of the H-Line trolley the day cartoonist Fontaine Fox took his historic ride on the trolley that inspired "The Toonerville Trolley that Met All the Trains".

Engraving of "Pelhamdale" by P.M. Pirnie

The third image from the left on the banner above is a detail from an engraving by P.M. Pirnie of East Chester, New York created in 1861. The engraving, provided courtesy of The Office of the Town Historian, Pelham, N.Y., shows "Pelhamdale," one of only two pre-Revolutionary War homes still standing in the Village of Pelham Manor.

Pelhamdale, located at 45 Iden Avenue, is a lovely stone house that was built circa 1750-1760 by Philip Pell II, a grandson of Thomas Pell, 3rd Lord of the Manor of Pelham. After the Revolutionary War, Col. David Pell, a son of Philip Pell II lived in the home. According to Lockwood Barr, who wrote a popular book on the history of Pelham in 1946, "Pelham Dale was one of the magnificent country estates of Westchester." It is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been granted a New York State Historical Marker.

Engraving Showing Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

The fourth image from the left on the banner is a "mirror image" (for design purposes and "esthetics") of a detail from one of three engravings that appeared in the January 16, 1886 issue of Scientific American depicting what the journal called "A Remarkable Railroad Accident" that occurred on the New Haven Line in Pelhamville (now part of the Village of Pelham within the Town of Pelham, New York) at about 6:00 a.m. on December 27, 1885. See A Remarkable Railroad Accident, Scientific American, Jan. 16, 1886, Vol. LIV, No. 3 pp. 31-32 (the first page of the issue is page 31).

The accident occurred when a train traveling from Boston to New York City struck a portion of a 100-foot long passenger platform as it passed the Pelhamville Train Station. The platform, which was not attached to the posts on which it rested, was blown onto the tracks by a heavy wind. The train derailed when it struck the platform, killing the train fireman and injuring many others. The image in the banner above shows the steam locomotive and the tender, after the accident, lying at the bottom of a high grade. The cars that did not derail may be seen resting on the tracks above at the top of the grade.

Pelhamwood Clocktower

The last image, the fifth from the left, is created from a photograph by Blake A. Bell taken on January 6, 2002. It shows the Pelhamwood Clocktower. The Pelhamwood Clocktower is a Pelham landmark located at the intersection of Harmon Avenue and Harmon Place. It is visible to commuters from the Pelham Train station.

The Clocktower was built during the first decade of the 20th Century by real estate developer Clifford B. Harmon to attract purchasers of lots in what is now known as Pelhamwood. According to one publication, "[t]he clocktower was rededicated in 1975 to 'honor the memory of past, present and future Pelhamwood residents'. Extensive renovation, including remote control units for the clock mechanism, was donated by longtime Pelhamwood resident Helen Leale Harper, Jr., as a 1976 Bicentennial gift to the community." See Village of Pelham, Village of Pelham ~ Centennial Celebration Walking Tour 1896-1996, p. 13 (Village of Pelham 1996).