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CHAPTER I
Chapter I - Larchmont – 1914
Today, as one rides through Larchmont along streets lined with houses and past large schools and apartments, with no undeveloped land in sight, it is difficult to visualize the Larchmont of fifty years ago as it was described in the New York Herald:
"Known for may years as an exclusive summer resort, Larchmont Manor on the Sound has been gradually drifting toward all year prominence as a place of residence. Until the last couple of years or so, the property at Larchmont was closely held in large tracts by persons anxious to maintain the village’s reputation for exclusiveness. But, in the course of time, several large estates were acquired and plotted by development companies… Though Larchmont has only a population of 1,958 (it is by far the smallest village of prominence between Manhattan and Greenwich), nevertheless, it is a question whether any place has become better known. The Larchmont Yacht Club has been largely instrumental in accomplishing this result…"
But, more than a century before this description in the Herald, Larchmont had two or three handsome estates. One of these estates was, eventually, to give Larchmont its name.
Mr. Peter Jay Monro owned a tract of land extending from the Boston Post Road to the Sound. In 1790 he built his Manor House on what is now Elm Avenue. This house has been in use as a private residence ever since.
Evidently, bothered by the noise and dust of the "turnpike," he wanted to plant a grove of quick-growing trees that would shut out both. Mr. Monro’s Scotch gardener suggested the larch trees of his native land. Seeds were sent for and planted, the trees flourished and served the purpose well for many years. The house with the larches was built on an elevation or "mont" hence the name "Larchmont" came into being.
The estate changed hands more than once. In 1865, it was advertised in the New York papers to be sold at auction as a tract "with unusual adaptability for building sites. Nearest railroad station New Rochelle, two miles distant."
A few years later, a railroad station was built here on about the same site as the present station. It was called Chatsworth. (Only the area south of the Post Road was considered to be Larchmont.) Not until many years later was the name on the station changed to Larchmont.
The character of Larchmont had begun to change during the 1890’s when many summer residents began to winterize their homes and remain throughout the year. During that decade, the Larchmont Water Company was formed and a sewer system installed, replacing the individual wells and cesspools.
Almost the entire population resided between the Post Road and the Sound. There were a few houses scattered between Atlantic Avenue (now called Forest Park Avenue) and the railroad. A border of stores and service shops, among them the blacksmith’s, fringed the Post Road and extended a short distance up Larchmont and Chatsworth Avenues.
The year 1902 saw the building of Larchmont’s first public school. It was a four room structure, larger than was needed at the time, but, according to an article in the Larchmonter-Times, "thought to be large enough to take care of all the school population for at least a decade and probably several years beyond that."
Before the decade was up, an annex had to be added and subsequent additions made it the present Chatsworth Avenue School. But when it was first built and for many years thereafter, it was always referred to as "The School House." At about the same time, a parochial school was established by nuns in their convent on Monroe Avenue.
There were two churches in Larchmont, St. John’s Episcopal Church and, on Beach Avenue, a small Roman Catholic Chapel, now a private residence. In those days, St. John’s rented its pews and allocated seats. To Protestant newcomers that arrangement occasionally proved embarrassing when they sat in the wrong place.
In 1910, a real estate company began a development known as Larchmont Woods, and the following year Larchmont Gardens was developed, though it was to be many a year before either one had many residents. Meanwhile, about twenty houses had been built in what is now known as Larchmont Park.
In 1911, a group of Manor residents formed the Larchmont Improvement Society. One of its first projects was, "to plant a row of trees to the north of the railroad tracks to obscure the unsightly tenements, leaving sufficient room (between the tracks and the trees) for carriages to pass to the railroad station." The "unsightly tenements" were scattered shacks, each with its herd of goats, on land now occupied by large apartment buildings. The present station park was once an eyesore but a happy hunting ground for the goats.
Another preoccupation of the Society was the dust that plagued the village, particularly from the Post Road, for, in 1914, no roads in Larchmont had yet been paved. Measures were taken to have the road oiled periodically to overcome the nuisance and the Society employed a man "to sweep the street crossings every day, including Sundays." A trolley ran along the Post Road from the Bronx to Greenwich.
Each week the Larchmonter-Times ran a box on its editorial page "What Larchmont Needs – More Sewers, Sidewalks, Free Postal Service, A Municipal Building." And the Westchester Lighting Company was advertising, "Let your coal stove go out and cook with gas – it’s cooler."
There was a small Chapel on Weaver Street south of Palmer Avenue where laymen conducted Sunday School classes. This notice appeared in the village newspaper, June 1914, "On Sunday at 3:15 p.m. in the Chapel on Weaver Street, Dr. Cobden, Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, will baptize those who expect to be confirmed in the Episcopal Church. Mr. Ross, pastor of the Mamaroneck Methodist Church will baptize those who expect to be confirmed in the Methodist Church."
This was Larchmont in 1914. Those Protestants who did not attend St. John’s Episcopal Church went by trolley or horse and carriage to worship in New Rochelle or Mamaroneck. Or as a few families who had moved to the Larchmont Woods and Murray Avenue areas remarked, "On fine Sundays we walked through the woods to the North Avenue Church in New Rochelle."
Clearly, it was time for another church in Larchmont. |
| PREFACE |
CHAPTER II
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