Pass to Ride on Final Trip of the Pelham Trolley,
July
31, 1937
Entire Record
Catalog
Transcription
Trolley tracks once criss-crossed lower Westchester County carrying clattering streetcars throughout the region. By 1899 travelers could journey between the Battery and New Rochelle, Pelham, Mount Vernon or Yonkers for a single fare of eight cents.
Early last century, one of those trolley lines in Pelham inspired the creative genius of a man named Fontaine Talbot Fox (1884-1964). He created one of the most popular comics in the United States – “Toonerville Folks”. The cartoon centered around the quirky inhabitants of a town called “Toonerville” and its rickety and unpredictable trolley. The operator of the trolley was “The Skipper.”
Fontaine Fox, as he stated a number of times in published interviews, based the comic on his experience during a trolley ride on a visit to Pelham on August 8, 1909. “Toonerville Folks” ran in hundreds of newspapers from about 1913 to 1955 and brought national attention to Pelham.
On July 31, 1937, the H-Line Trolley that inspired Fontaine Fox was shut down for good – replaced by a bus line. That day the Village of Pelham Manor hosted a celebration attended by about 8,000 people for the last run of the "Toonerville Trolley".
This “pass,” signed by Fontaine Fox who attended the event, entitled the bearer to ride the trolley car during its last trip. That trip took hours to travel only a couple of miles due to the crowds and the antics of local residents dressed as various characters from the “Toonerville Folks” comic strip.