By Ray Geselbracht, Bronxville Village Historian
Dec. 18, 2024: A new photograph has arrived at the History Center. It’s immediately interesting, because it shows, sitting on top of Sunset Hill, the Gramatan Inn.
Gramatan Inn
I know of only two other photographs that show this short-lived predecessor of the Hotel Gramatan. It was built by William Van Duzer Lawrence in 1897 and it burned down in 1900. It was replaced by the much larger and grander Hotel Gramatan in 1905.
Spur That Divides Into Two Tracks
But there’s something else of interest in this photograph. It takes a few viewings and some concentration to notice.
Down Sunset Hill from the Gramatan Inn, in front of the old railroad station, there’s a spur that divides into two tracks.
This spur is, I believe, a new discovery for those interested in Bronxville’s history; it does not appear in any other photograph that I know of.
Wagon With Freight at the Boxcar
To add a special charm to this reviving of a place and a moment in Bronxville’s past, there is a wagon loading or unloading some freight at the boxcar closest to us in the picture. A pure white horse stands by in harness and a man sits up in the driver’s seat as the tipped wagon is loaded or unloaded—we will never know which, the photograph doesn’t reveal this.
Thank yous
I am grateful to William Rabsey for donating this photograph to the History Center, and to him, his father Robert Rabsey, and his grandparents for preserving it in their family home on Parkway Road for a very long time.
I thank Andy Grier for helping me understand the special importance of this photograph, and for guiding William Rabsey to the History Center.
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