Author Topic: 1873 Erie RR promo book: "Suburban Homes For City Men"  (Read 2883 times)

Offline BLeafe

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1873 Erie RR promo book: "Suburban Homes For City Men"
« on: September 22, 2010, 01:35:46 AM »
http://cgi.ebay.com/1873-Erie-Railroad-Book-Suburban-Homes-City-Men-/290476879289?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a1c56db9


Description:

Folks, here is a rare book published by the Erie Railway in 1873 as the railroad was trying to entice hard-working city families to move to the outlying suburban areas of North Jersey and southern New York serviced by the Erie.  The full name of this volume is "Suburban Homes For City Business Men On the Line of the Erie Railway." It lists the towns individually on each branch, and discusses them and how they might be attractive to families moving from the city.  Here is an example:

"Tenafly (formerly known as Highland House) distant 16 and 3/4 miles from New York, and reached by eight trains daily.  A picturesque stone church, built by the Presbyterians, is conspicuous in the general view, and the Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, and Roman Catholics all have their neat places of worship.  The roads are all macadamized, and the sidewalks, ornamented with a double row of young maples, give a very pleasing effect. . . . the healthfulness of this section of the country is proverbial; and it has long been a resort for invalids.  A beautiful cream-colored stone, resembling the Caen stone of France, used for building, is found in great abundance in the mountain slope.  Land sells here at about the same price as Englewood" ($650 per acre)

This type of description is listed for each town served by the young railway.  Some towns have rudimentary maps (see photo 4).  In addition to main line towns up to Port Jervis, the Hackensack Branch, The Newark Branch, The Newburgh Short Cut, the Newburgh Branch, the Warwick Branch, the Monticello and Port Jervis Branch, and the Northern RR of NJ are included.  This book is truly a rare jewel!

This vintage book is 100 pages long, and measures about 4 1/2 by 7 inches.  The binding is good.  The front cover has the lower right hand corner torn away (about a half inch).  All pages are present and readable.  There are no pencil or pen marks in the book.

This is truly a rare and wonderful old book!




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« Last Edit: September 22, 2010, 01:37:42 AM by BLeafe »


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