Vanderbilt Cup Races

The Riverhead Land Purchase

Real Estate investor and Motor Parkway official Dean Alvord's letter to racing official Jefferson DeMont Thompson  requesting information about a planned purchase of land in Riverhead to be used for the Vanderbilt Cup Race.  

Eventually the Motor Parkway purchased land extending to Riverhead.  (vanderbiltcupraces.com)

The Plans are Formulated

Newspapers announced the Motor Parkway's intent to make Riverhead the eastern terminus of the parkway and to use this stretch for that year's Vanderbilt Cup Race.  (Brooklyn Times Union Feb. 27, 1907)

A race date of October 12 was announced.  (Brooklyn Times Union Feb. 27, 1907)

A fifteen mile straightaway with loops on each end with a grandstand in the middle would be utilized.  A hedge would be placed in the middle of the 100 foot roadway to prevent head-on collisions.  Must have been strong hedges in those days.   (Brooklyn Times Union Feb. 27, 1907)

Contracts for construction would be decided upon soon.  Also note the last sentence indicating the connection with New York City to be made on the western end by way of the Blackwell's Island Bridge (Ed Koch Queensboro/59th Street Bridge).   (Automobile Topics Mar. 2, 1907)

General Manager Pardignton's assurance that the portion of the parkway in Riverhead would be completed in time for the race.  (Brooklyn Times Union Mar. 9, 1907)

"Good for the county seat".  (Brooklyn Times Union Mar. 15, 1907)

"A whitewashed line will divide the road in two parts".  Another way to prevent head-on crashes, I suppose!  (The Automobile Mar. 28, 1907)

How The Local Papers Viewed The Race

The local papers favored the plans for the Parkway and the race in Riverhead and noted that officials wanted it held further away from New York "to avoid the crowds of rough element" that attended previous races.    (Sag Harbor Express Mar. 7, 1907)

". . . the biggest thing that Suffolk County ever had and will probably prove the biggest financial boom that Riverhead ever enjoyed".  (Sag Harbor Express Mar. 7, 1907)

" . . . gladdens the hearts of everybody in town."  Including "property owners, merchants, businessmen and everybody."  (The Long-Islander Mar. 8, 1907)

"Riverhead is in ecstacies . . ."  (The Port Jefferson Echo Mar. 9, 1907)

Other races besides the Vanderbilt Cup Race would be run with a garage and repair shop also envisioned on the property.  (The Long Island Farmer May 17, 1907)

This articles notes the whole idea is an "experiment" with the parkway people "desirous of seeing the project succeed as a touring road before they invest too heavily in the racing circuit".  (The County Review Jun. 14, 1907)

A prominent county resident suggested his own course stating "we have the finest course in the country to offer for such an event".  (The County Review Jun. 28, 1907)

As we know, the 1907 race did not occur and the Motor Parkway was never extended to Riverhead.  However, as previous posts have highlighted the idea of the race on a looped course was not forgotten with the Hempstead Plains (1909) and Ronkonkoma (1910 & 1913) as possible sites; however, these also never materialized.  

Shown is a 1910 drawing of a proposed course in Ronkonkoma.  In all cases, was the cost too prohibitive?