WEST FARMS 143- 



motions. Afterwards he invented the web perfecting press which 

 prints on both sides and includes a complicated apparatus for cut- 

 ting and folding the sheet. This machine revolutionized the art of 

 newspaper printing and permits the issuing of a "special extra" 

 within a few minutes after the occurrence of an extraordinary 

 event. The present Hoe Octuple Press prints 464 miles of news- 

 paper per hour. The factory on Grand Street, New .York, is said 

 to be the largest printing works in the world. 



During the summer months Colonel Hoe repaired to his 

 country seat in West Farms, where he owned an estate of sixteen 

 acres, which he styled Brightside. Here he indulged his 

 fancy for blooded cattle. The house, which was situated on the 

 southeast corner of Westchester Turnpike and the road to Hunt's 

 Point, now known as Southern Boulevard, was razed in 1908 to 

 make room for suburban improvements. Col. Richard March Hoe 

 died suddenly at Florence, Italy, June 7, 1886. 



Peter Hoe, nephew of R. M. Hoe, who added various improve- 

 ments to the original Hoe printing press, also had his home, 

 Sunnyside, in The Bronx. It was situated across Hunt's Point 

 Road and was one of the finest residences in the Borough. 



At the junction of Boston Road and Minford Place is the site 

 of the "Spy House." In this little building, it is said, lived an 

 American spy, who played in the neighborhood a part similar to 

 that of Cooper's spy at Mamaroneck. 



At Bryant Avenue and One Hundred Eightieth Street is the 

 West Farms Presbyterian Church, built in 1815. During the 

 Colonial and the Revolutionary periods of the Presbyterians in the 

 lower part of Westchester County had no church of their own. 

 This was considered by the New York Presbytery a good field for 

 missionary work. Between the years 1718 and 1721 William Ten- 

 nant, a Presbyterian clergyman, attempted to evangelize this sec- 

 tion. In 1814 the Rev. Isaac Lewis divided his time between West 

 Farms and New Rochelle. In the following year a church edifice 

 was erected; the congregation was fully organized by the election 

 of officers on November 5, 1818. By means of a legacy left to the 

 church by Charles Bathgate Beck, in 1903, a new stone edifice, 

 known as the Beck Memorial Presbyterian Church, was erected 

 directly opposite the old church building which was for a time given 

 over to a colored congregation. 



Adjoining the old church cemetery are interred many veterans 



