What was the first "development" in Pelham?  According to some, it was the development of the old Boston Post Road (what we now know as Colonial Avenue). 

What we know as Colonial Avenue is said to have been an Indian trail.  But, in 1671, John Pell (the nephew and sole heir of Thomas Pell, the founder of Pelham) was appointed together with another historically-significant local settler, John Richbell, "to lay out the new Road to New England, through East Chester." (Barr's History of Pelham, p. 31.) 

On January 13, 1673 the first round trip post ride between New York and Boston (which reportedly took one month) was completed.  By 1732, the first regular stage coach route was established along the Old Boston Post Road. 

The Mail Stage and Slow Freight on Old Boston Post Road
From Article Published in Scribner's in 1908

Development was slow.  On November 1, 1683, Westchester County was incorporated.  It included much of what we know today as Bronx County.  (Barr, p. 62).  It was not until 1729, however, that any meaningful portion of the lands that comprise today's Village of Pelham passed out of the hands of the Pell family.  On March 3, 1729, Thomas Pell (3rd Lord of the Manor) sold "to Edward Blagge, of New York City, a portion '. . . of all that tract of land . . . which lyes on the North side of the Boston Road or Highway, which leads from East Chester to New Rochelle. . . ' -- in other words, the tract now north of Colonial."  (Barr, pp. 131-32).

According to a history of the Village of North Pelham, "[t]he Pell family regained the tract in 1732 when Blagge resold the tract to Thomas Pell, Jr., son of the third Thomas, Lord of the Manor.  This tract was broken up into several large properties in the hundred years up to 1825."  Village of North Pelham, Souvenir Program Golden Jubilee Celebration of Village of North Pelham Westchester County, New York, p.6 (Village of North Pelham 1946). 

The few homes that sprang up in the area were built near the old Boston Post Road.  By about 1750, the farm house that later came to be known as the home of Col. Philip Pell III (born 1753, died 1811) was built.

Col. Philip Pell III's Farm House

Col. Philip Pell III was one of the most illustrious men ever to live in Pelham.  He served the nation as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and as a delegate to the Continental Congress.  He served the State of New York as a member of the New York State Assembly and as a Regent of the University of the State of New York.  He also served Westchester County, as its Surrogate.  (Barr p. 37).  

Colonel Pell lived in a lovely farmhouse, built in 1750, located where Cliff and Colonial Avenues exist today in Pelham Heights.  His land holdings were extensive and occupied much of the southern portion of the Village of Pelham and a portion of today's Pelham Manor.  The grounds of Pelham Memorial High School once were part of Col. Pell’s farm. 

Just outside the entrance to the Pelham Memorial High School sits a memorial to Colonel Philip Pell.  It is a large granite block with a bronze tablet affixed to it that reads:

THE GROUNDS OF THE
PELHAM MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL
WERE PART OF THE FARM BELONGING TO
COLONEL PHILIP PELL
1753 – 1811
JUDGE ADVOCATE CONTINENTAL ARMY
MEMBER OF THE NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
REGENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
SURROGATE OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y.
DELEGATE TO THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
_________

THE DATE STONE 1750 WAS TAKEN FROM HIS HOMESTEAD.
_________

THIS TABLET IS PRESENTED TO THE TOWN OF PELHAM
IN MEMORY OF MARY SARGENT GAUSE
OCTOBER 15, 1938

On the lower right side of the granite monument, embedded into the granite, is a dark stone with “1750” carved into it.  This is the date stone from the chimney of the Pell Homestead.  Although the home was destroyed in 1888, there is an old pen and ink drawing of it made by Fred Schall of Pelham from an old photograph of the homestead said to be in the McClellan family collection.  That engraving has been reproduced in several publications.  (Barr, p. 154; The Pelham Manor Story, p. 44). 

Pelhamdale

By about 1760, the home that we now know today as Pelhamdale had been built not far from the old Boston Post Road.  Located at 45 Iden Avenue (just within Pelham Manor), Pelhamdale is on the National Register of Historic Places, the New York State Register of Historic Places and the Westchester County Inventory of Historic Places.  The home belonged at one time to Philip Pell II, the father of Col. Philip Pell III (see above) and was built around 1750-60.  (Barr, pp. 119-20).  After the Revolutionary War another son of Philip Pell II, Colonel David Pell, occupied the home until his death in 1823.  David Pell’s widow sold the property to James Hay who reportedly was the one who named the home “Pelhamdale”.  (Id.). 

Development of the area we know today as the Village of Pelham came to a grinding halt -- as did development in all of Westchester County -- once the Revolutionary War began.

Early Map Shows Little Development

One early map in the collection of the Library of Congress clearly shows that prior to the Revolutionary War, what little development existed in the region centered around the old Boston Post Road. 

The map, entitled "Skecth [sic] of the Road from Kings Bridge to White Plains" is a pen-and-ink and watercolor map believed to have been created in approximately 1778.  As the detail to the right clearly shows, the only structures shown in what is designated as "Pels Manor" are the three or so  represented by dark squares along the old Boston Post Road between Eastchester and New Rochelle.  In the detail, "East Chester" is in the lower left and "New Rochelle" is in the upper right.

Native American Trail Later Becomes Wolfs Lane / Fifth Avenue

In the 18th century a Native American trail ran parallel to the Hutchinson River.  That trail became a country road that later took "its name from Anthony Wolf, who owned a farm and had a house which stood not far from 3rd Street and Fifth Avenue" in today's Village of Pelham.  (Barr 134).  The Native American trail eventually became essentially what we know today as Wolfs Lane and Fifth Avenue.

Undated photograph of Wolfs Lane at an unspecified location in Pelham Manor showing its character as a country road.  Photograph courtesy of the Office of the Historian of the Town of Pelham.

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