A New City, a Premier American Suburb

A ew City, A Premier American Suburb 1900 - 1930 On April 24, 1989, the entire Town of New Rochelle and its Village was incorporated as the City of New Rochelle. At the time, there were about 14,000 residents. Three decades later, in 1930, New Rochelle’s population had exceeded 54,000. The community’s expansion of infrastructure, neighborhoods, public buildings, schools, Main Street businesses, houses of workshop, and civic pride kept pace with the mushrooming population. Sewer lines were installed, the Water Company expanded to include an additional reservoir, and a new lighting company was been formed so that lights were available in the daytime as well as at night. Trolleys remained a key mode of transportation, electrifying soon after the turn of the 20 th century, when the first automobiles were also seen in town. Beginning with Rochelle Park in the 1880s, “residential parks”, as the planned neighborhoods in park-like settings were called, rose on cleared farmlands and former estates. These early suburban neighborhoods were hugely popular—particularly with the brand new breed of American worker: the commuter. Although George M. Cohan’s smash hit musical, “45 Minutes from Broadway”, poked fun at the “rubes” (country folk) in New Rochelle, the community had become one of the most fashionable in the New York area. In 1906 when the show opened on Broadway, the local newspaper’s society page was a virtual “Who’s Who” of prominent artists, actors, and businessmen. New Rochelle’s part in World War went beyond highly successful War Bond drives, Victory Gardens, Volunteer Civil Air Patrol, Coast Guard Auxiliary and other Home Front efforts of other American cities. Fort Slocum, located on Davids Island just off the City’s shoreline, was the largest Recruiting Depot east of the Mississippi. As a result, New Rochelle residents were also tending to the needs of thousands of young men on their way to war. Once the war ended, the construction it delayed was resumed. The New York-Westchester- Boston Railway had cut through New Rochelle beginning service right before the war began. Banking on a huge influx of commuters wanting homes near its luxury stations, developers immediately set to the task of providing them with fine homes. Tudor, Colonial Revival, and Spanish Revival styled homes were constructed on the waiting large tracts. For example, the former property of General Daniel Sickles’ family became Rochelle Heights; Colonel Bergolz’s estate was later named “Glenwood Lakes”; and the 450-acre spread of society dance instructor and millionaire John Trenor became Wykagyl Farms. Of all eras in New Rochelle’s history, the 1920s were filled with seemingly boundless opportunities and optimism. The population numbers – both real and anticipated, put the wheels in motion for the construction of six additional school buildings, including a new, very large, high school. Churches and synagogues were also stretching their resources northward – or considering plans to so. Downtown, construction vehicles shared downtown streets with the chauffeur-driven Packards and Pierce Arrows of shoppers. The glamour and whimsy of the Art Deco movement took hold along Main Street, as owners employed the best architects and materials to attract the top spenders. Newcomers and old timers strengthened existing community organizations and formed additional ones as needed. The New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce set the trend in 1920, when several former city-boosting entities joined into one collective and official entity. The New Rochelle Art Association’s innovative civic efforts made national press, as did many of the trend setting residents. In a 1929 report, City Plan and Twenty-Year Program of Public Improvements, the Planning Board extolled: "We are strongly impressed with the fact that New Rochelle is at a critical point in its history…... It clearly appears to be on the eve of a new and great development. It is nearer to New York City than any other community in which there is still available a large area suitable for the development of residential districts of a high type.” The rigorous pace would be slowed by the Crash of October 1929, but not halted. .

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