17.Jan.2017 Acorn Terrace

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There are two separate streets in New Rochelle with the name Acorn: (1) Acorn Lane (as previously described) and (2) Acorn Terrace (in the East End).  The symbolism of acorns was described at length in the entry for Acorn Lane.

Technically, Acorn Terrace is in a neighborhood called, “Pine Park,” a moniker that seems to have fallen out of use.  Like most of the East End, the land upon which Pine Park was developed was once devoted to the ice operation at Crystal Lake, which was filled in by John Stephenson after the water turned brackish and (possibly) malarial.

By 1893, maps show the northwest corner of the property carved off to Thomas G. Hall, a stationary dealer with ties to several old sound shore families.  While he aspired to public office (unsuccessfully) in his younger years, that didn’t appear to dampen his spirit for public service — he was an active member of New Rochelle’s Board of Trade, was an accomplished orator who was frequently gave speeches to various organizations in the area, and served on numerous committees.

In August 1906, Hall sold the property to Winfield Spencer Realty Co., which in turn appears to have conveyed the land on that same day to Echo Realty Co.  Spencer, the town Postmaster, founded Echo Realty Co. with H.H. Todd, president of New Rochelle Coal and Lumber Company and president of the New Rochelle Board of Trade.  Todd eventually retired from the NRC & L to devote his time to real estate.

The Echo Realty Co. held an auction for “150 fine lots” on May 15th, 1907.  An advertisement for the auction called Pine Park a “beautiful new park recently laid out” — the land is “high and sandy with a beautiful grove of fine old pine trees, from which the park takes its name.”  The ad touts the site as “only a four minute walk to the Main Street trolley” and “only two short blocks from the proposed station of the new Westchester and Boston Railroad” to be located in Homestead Park (see entry on Adams St. for possible railroad station location).  “Steinmetz’s full band was on hand to enliven the occasion.”

It should be noted that Acorn Terrace originally connected Rhodes Street with Oak Street (which ran parallel to, but just north of, present day Palmer Avenue).  But when Oak Street was connected to Palmer Avenue in the 1970s, Acorn Terrace was disconnected from Oak Street/Palmer Avenue, making it a dead end.