428 The Story of The Bronx 



shall's Corners at the end of Rodman's Neck ; for an additional 

 fare, he was carried to the end of the island. In 1910, a mono- 

 rail electric line was inaugurated ; but its first day of business 

 was an unfortunate one, for the car met with an accident and 

 several people were killed. The road has been run since with 

 more or less success; but at this writing, the rolling stock has 

 decreased to one car; and that is uncertain in its operation 

 when the weather is bad, or windy — the very time when one 

 most wants to use the line. 



City Island was originally called Minnewits, or Great Min- 

 nefords, Island. The origin of the name is doubtful, it being 

 ascribed to Peter Minuits, the Dutch Governor and purchaser 

 of the island of Manhattan, and also to Minnefords, Minifers, 

 or Minnewies, the original Indian proprietors. It was within 

 Thomas Pell's purchase of 1654, and also within his manor- 

 grant of Pelham. It received its name of City Island from a 

 scheme of the inhabitants of 1761-62 to establish upon the 

 island a city that was to outrival New York. General Heath 

 uses the name "New City Island" in his Memoirs, so that the 

 name must have been well established in Revolutionary days. 



On May 10, 1763, a ferry was ' established "acroost from 

 Mr. Samuel Rodman's Neck to said Island." The same year 

 a ferry was established from the north end of the island and 

 leased to Mrs. Deborah Hicks, "the best and fairest [sic] 

 bidder." On May 13, 1766, a ferry was established between 

 the south end of the island across the Sound to Long Island; 

 it was leased to John Barnes for five years. 



The first purchaser from Thomas Pell, the manor-lord, was 

 John Smith, of the town of Bruckland [Brooklyn]. The 

 island, on June 19, 1761, came into possession of Benjamin 

 Palmer, the builder of the free bridge at Spuyten Duyvil, for 

 £2730. He appears to have suffered considerable loss during 



