Popular Posts

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Request for Comment: What Pelham Manor School is This, Shown in 1907?

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
The post card below has troubled me for several years.  It purports to show the "Public School" in "Pelham Manor, N.Y."  The message on the bottom of the obverse of the used post card postmarked in 1907 takes no issue with the title of the photograph, indicating

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Obituary of William McAllister Who Built Civil War Gunboats in Pelham

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Pelham and her residents played most important roles in the Civil War -- as did most small communities throughout the nation (North and South).

City Island in the Town of Pelham was a critical shipyard involved in the construction of northern gunboats.  Among

Monday, March 29, 2010

Nathaniel H. Bouldin, a Poor Confederate Prisoner of War Who Died in Pelham in 1865

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
No one yet has researched and written the history of Pelham's participation in the Civil War.  I have a special interest in that era -- I have discovered (to my amazement and sadness) that my wife's Great-Great Grandfather was a Confederate soldier who was

Friday, March 26, 2010

Captain Joshua Leviness Defies the New York Legislature and Dredges Oysters with a Steamer in 1878

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
I recently have enjoyed researching the 19th century oyster industry in waters off City Island.  It seems apparent that Joshua Leviness was the "Dean" of City Island oystermen who consistently was involved in each and every development that affected the industry

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Discovery of "The Great Oyster Bed" in Long Island Sound in 1859

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
I have written before of the discovery of "The Great Oyster Bed" in Long Island Sound in 1859.  See Fri., July 27, 2007:  Possible Origins of the Oyster Feud Between City Islanders and Huntington, Long Island.  During the fall of 1859, five fishermen from Darien

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Oyster War of 1884 Between Glen Cove and City Island Intensifies

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Yesterday I posted an item about the 1884 "Oyster War" during which Glen Cove, Long Island feuded with City Island and Connecticut oystermen over ownership of oyster beds off its shores.  See Tue., March 23, 2010:  Yet Another "Oyster War" in 1884; Glen Cove

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Yet Another "Oyster War" in 1884; Glen Cove Officials Feud with City Island and Connecticut Oystermen

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
During the 19th century, many with dollar signs in their eyes flooded into the Long Island Sound oyster industry just as pollution, garbage dumping and over-harvesting was reducing oystering opportunities.  One consequence was an ongoing battle over whether

Monday, March 22, 2010

77-Year Old City Island Oysterman Joshua Leviness Reminisces in Testimony Provided in 1884

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
In late 1884, the New York State Commissioner of Fisheries, Eugene G. Blackford, conducted an investigation of the state of the oyster industry.  He held a hearing on Monday, November 24 of that year in Pelham to hear from City Island oystermen regarding the

Friday, March 19, 2010

The New York Legislature Stepped Into the Oyster War on Long Island Sound in 1895

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Regular readers of the Historic Pelham Blog know that I recently have been collecting research regarding the oystering industry off the waters of City Island in the Town of Pelham during the 19th century.  Recent postings on the topic are collected at the end of

Thursday, March 18, 2010

1859 Town of Huntington Record Reflecting Dispute with City Island Oystermen

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog continues the recent series that collects research regarding the oystering industry in the waters off City Island when it was part of the Town of Pelham in the 19th century.  In 1859, the Board of Trustees of the Town

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Report of September 13, 1884 Tour of Oyster Beds by Captain Joshua Leviness of City Island

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.

On September 13, 1884, City Island oysterman Joshua Leviness served as pilot of the steamer "Lookout" that carried Eugene G. Blackford on a tour of the oyster beds owned by Captain Leviness.  Mr. Blackford subsequently published a brief report of the tour.  I

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

More on 19th Century Oystering in Pelham - Descriptions of Oyster Beds Off Hart Island, City Island and in Pelham Bay Published in 1887

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
I continue my efforts to research 19th century oystering in the waters off the Town of Pelham.  At the end of this posting I have collected links to the Historic Pelham Blog postings that deal with the topic to date.

Today's posting transcribes a description of

Monday, March 15, 2010

More on 19th Century City Island Oyster Industry - City Island Oystermen Complain of Pollution

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Recently I have devoted efforts to researching the history of oystering in the waters off City Island in the Town of Pelham during the early 19th century.  For a few of the many examples of postings to the Historic Pelham Blog that deal with oystering, see,

Friday, March 12, 2010

Early History of Oystering in the Waters Off City Island in the Town of Pelham

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Recently I have devoted efforts to researching the history of oystering in the waters off City Island in the Town of Pelham during the early 19th century.  For a few of the many examples of postings to the Historic Pelham Blog that deal with oystering, see, e.g.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

The "Great Oyster War" Between City Island and Tarrytown in 1877 and 1878

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
A "war" of epic proportions erupted between the Oystermen of City Island and the Oystermen of Tarrytown in 1878.  I previously have written on the Historic Pelham Blog about the oystering industry on City Island during the 19th century.  (Indeed, one such

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

1899 Article About City Island's New Bridge Describes History of Area and Includes Wonderful Images

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
During 1899 and 1900, the bridge that now connects City Island to the mainland was built next to the ancient wooden bridge as a replacement.  The November 5, 1899 issue of the New-York Daily Tribune included a lengthy, interesting article about the new bridge,

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Earliest Reference Yet to Organized Baseball Played in Pelham

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings
I long have researched the history of baseball in the Town of Pelham.  On Friday, December 11, 2009, I posted to the Historic Pelham Blog an item entitled "Earliest Reference Yet to Baseball Played in Pelham".  In it I quoted a reference to a recreational

Monday, March 8, 2010

"Water Famine" in the Town of Pelham in 1886

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings
Local newspapers published in the 19th century provide and interesting and quaint view of the Town of Pelham as it developed slowly from a rural community to a New York City suburb.  One issue of The Chronicle published in Mount Vernon in 1886 makes clear how

Friday, March 5, 2010

Construction of the City Island Horse Railroad in 1887

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog continues the recent series of postings on the Horse Railroad that once ran from Bartow Station to City Island in the Town of Pelham.  Today's posting transcribes a local news column published in The Chronicle in 1887

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Beginnings of Horse Railroad - News From Pelham and City Island Published in 1884

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog continues my unexpectedly-robust series of items on the Horse Railroad that once operated between Bartow Station and City Island in the Town of Pelham.  Below I have transcribed a column published in September 1884 in

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

1879 Advertisement for Robert J. Vickery's City Island Stage Line, A Predecessor to the City Island Horse Railroad

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Those who follow the Historic Pelham Blog know that I have been trying to document the City Island horse railroad that once ran between Bartow Station and City Island.  See, e.g., Tue., March 2, 2010, 1901 Report Indicated that the Flynn Syndicate Planned to Buy

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

1901 Report Indicated that The Flynn Syndicate Planned to Buy the Pelham Bay Park & City Island Railroad Horse Car Line

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog continues recent efforts to document research regarding the horse car line that once ran from Bartow Station to the end of City Island when the area was part of the Town of Pelham.  Other examples of such research

Monday, March 1, 2010

Flynn Syndicate Buys the City Island Horse Car Line in 1907 to Incorporate it Into Electric Trolley Line

Please Visit the Historic Pelham Web Site
Located at http://www.historicpelham.com/.
Please Click Here for Index to All Blog Postings.
Regular readers know that recently I have been assembling research on the horse car line that once ran from Bartow Station to the end of City Island when the area was part of the Town of Pelham.  For examples of postings containing such research, see:

Fri.,