Pelham Town Historian

At Pelham's annual Memorial Day Service on Monday, Harry Patterson will be the first name read among the long list of Pelhamites who gave their lives in wars to defend our country. Here is his story as representative of just one of the many who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms we enjoy:

https://pelhamtownhistorian.com/harry-patterson

Last year's Memorial Day post was about Eli P. "Tim" Howard, one of the greatest athletes in Pelham Memorial High School History who lost his life in a second tour in Vietnam. Thanks to former Pelham Mayor Joe Durnin, the American Legion Post 50, Pelham, has selected LTC Howard's daughter, Captain Deidre Thomas, to be the Grand Marshall of this year's Pelham Memorial Day Parade. She will be accompanied by her sister, Lisa. (The story of Tim Howard can be seen here: https://pelhamtownhistorian.com/eli-howard Though their father grew up here, this is the first time they have been to Pelham. Thanks to Pelham School District Facilities Manager, John Condon, they were able to tour PMHS today where their father graduated in 1946. They also had a great visit at the home of fellow classmate, Dr. Jim McElhinney, PMHS '46. The parade steps off from the Manor Club at 11:30 am and Captain Thomas will deliver the keynote address at the annual ceremony at Town Hall at the end of the parade.

Harry D. Patterson - Pelham Town Historian Harry Patterson was the youngest of ten children of Pelham’s first Justice of the Peace, Edward Alexander Patterson, and his wife, Margaret Jane Campbell Patterson. The Pattersons were among the first residents of “Pelhamville,” settling about 1866 in a home at the very north end of First Aven...

Pelham in 1934, like the rest of the country, was in the throws of the Great Depression. Yet the pages of the PMHS Pelican yearbook that year contain a series of unifying artwork, signed by “M. Nakayama,” that conveyed nothing but optimism for the future. As we finish a month recognizing the contributions of Americans of Asian Pacific heritage, here is the story of that artist and her family’s life and contributions in Pelham.

Mitsu Nakayama - Pelham Town Historian As the PMHS Pelican yearbook board assembled at the start of the 1933-34 school year, the country was in dire straits. After the stock market crash of 1929, the policies of President Hoover to impose new tariffs on foreign imports, more than double the top federal income tax rate and maintain -- and...