Greg O’s Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold
In 1947, a small strip of the Motor Parkway was sold to William Levitt and Sons.
As William Levitt was acquiring land in 1947 to develop Island Trees into Levittown, much of the land surrounding the Motor Parkway ROW was sold by Nassau county for his development.
In April of 1947, a small strip of the parkway itself was also sold off.
Greg O.
Rediscovered 1947 plans showing the small strip of the Motor Parkway itself was sold to Levitt and Sons to be developed along with the rest of the newly planned Levittown neighborhood.
The strip began just at the west edge of Newbridge Rd through the curve and Northwest approximately 1700 feet, (or about 1/3 of a mile) to the beginning of the right-handed curve towards the grandstands as per the description in the plan's details page.
One of the rare places where the Motor Parkway itself was built upon and not turned into a bike path (Queens), a ROW for LILCO (Nassau), or secondary road development (Suffolk).
Spectators watching George Salzman's 110hp Thomas on that very strip of Motor Parkway from the top of the Newbridge Hotel immediately north of the LIMP Newbridge Road parkway bridge.
Salzman and his Thomas were in 5th place when the race was called.
Approximately 1 month after the deal in this aerial dated May 12th, 1947, work had yet to be started on the section. Even the Newbridge Road Motor Parkway bridge was still intact.
Just a short 6 months after in this November 1947 aerial,19 houses were already almost completed on the old ROW, and work to take down the Newbridge Road bridge was underway.
The area as seen today with the original ROW in green.
Google Earth Overlay courtesy of Frank Feminias
Comments
Great documentation of this part of the Motor Parkway ROW. I still wonder why Levitt didn’t build on the Motor Parkway between Pintail lane and Jerusalem ave. He seemed to have no problem buying land and building here as well as between Bloomingdale rd and Wantagh ave.
I grew up in Levittown just a half mile from this location. I’m also curious as to why Levitt didn’t purchase more property where the LIMP existed in Levittown. Thanks for the historical details Greg!
Levitt not being able to acquire all of the Motor Parkway ROW through today’s Levittown… seems like a no brainer, right ? Especially when you consider the County claimed they were aggressively trying to sell off the Parkway ROW and get the property back on the tax rolls. Not so for the section between Clinton Ave. in Garden City and Rt. 135. After WW 11 there was talk about building a super highway in Nassau County. In January 1948 it was announced it would stretch from North Hempstead to Farmingdale “following the old Motor Parkway for a goodly distance “. On January 31, 1948, William Levitt agreed to keep vacant a 115 foot wide strip of land 4 miles long thru Island Trees for the highway. Coincidently it was on Jan. 5, 1948 that Levitt announced that his Island Trees development was to be called Levittown.
Two things I always found curious about Levitt in this area. First is Orchid Road ended at the corner of Carnation, and the last north west corner plot (could have been #88 Carnation) was never developed, despite being an oversized when compared to its neighbors. Next is when in a later phase of Levittown Orchid was pushed out to Newbridge, but with a kink at this corner.
Fun fact: if you look close where the LIMP curves south by Pintail the fence line curves on the empty lot before Pintail Lane. That lot was once a school, and the fence line still to this day has that curve.
Years back on some forgotten blog I remember reading someone’s post who as a child lived on Carnation, and he said their back yard had a bit of a hill from the elevated curve of the former roadway.
In the Raceway picture showing number 12 there are some obscure details. First is the Newbridge hotel (now a Mobile gas station). Directly to the left of the race car is a square sign that surely reads “RAILROAD CROSSING LOOK OUT FOR THE CARS” as that is an at grade crossing of the Steward Line over Newbridge Road. The two power poles appear to be traditional trolley type power poles; at this time the Pennsylvania Rail road was using this section of track to test various power schemes for their under construction Pennsylvania Station of New York City. See: http://arrts-arrchives.com/newpage1.html
Ernie - here’s a survey done in 1949 showing the extension of Orchard Road at Carnation and the undeveloped lot. 1926 and 1950.
The undeveloped lot.
And I meant note the survey is courtesy of Al Velocci. Thanks Al!
To Al Velocci: Leaving only a 115 ft wide space open for a proposed “super highway” doesn’t seem nearly wide enough to accommodate. And the distance left open by Levitt, (even if you want to include the polaris ball fields) from Pintail lane to Bloomingdale road is only a mile and a half. Far short of 4 miles. Additionally, if there was a risk of this highway actually being built, why would Levitt then build over the Motor Parkway ROW from Bloomingdale road to Wantagh ave? Not arguing, I’m just fascinated how it all played out.
David, Your assuming the overall width of the super highway was to be 115 wide. My thoughts are that the Levitt piece abutted the 100 foot wide Motor Parkway ROW and together they would make the super highway more than 200 feet wide.
Art: Thank you for posting that survey. I believe it answers my question why that plot was never developed: half of it remained with the county. Even today on Google Maps there is a boundary line that follows the south side of Orchid leaving the county’s triangle between that boundary and the “proposed” Orchid road.
Now if some brave elected official would just put some sort of park in that area.
My pleasure Ernie. If you are interested I’ll be posting additional Nassau County surveys showing acquisition and disposal of Motor Parkway property in several Nassau County locations, including Levittown.
Ernie, Your comment about “some sort of park in area” was first brought up when the super highway project was abandoned in late 1952. ( Moses effectively killed it.) Concerned new residents in the area asked the County not to sell the Motor Parkway ROW but save it for parks, schools, community centers etc.