Vanderbilt Cup Races

Penn Station Eagles

In 1910, as the cast iron eagles were coming down from the top of Grand Central Station during its demolition, their new 'cousins' in the form of carved marble eagles were being installed on the roof of the newly constructed Penn Station.

When that Penn Station building was demolished in 1963, the marble eagles from Penn ended up in various locations around NYC and other states. Much is known about their locations, but what about those eagles from the old Grand Central Station?

Grand Central Depot

Construction began of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt's Grand Central Depot on 42nd street on Sept 1st, 1869. A short 2 years later on Oct. 9th, 1871, trains from the NY Central & Hudson River R.R., NY & Harlem R.R. and the New Haven R.R. began running in and out of the 'L' shaped Grand Central, known then as the Grand Central Depot.

Grand Central Station

The Commodore died in 1877 with the Grand Central subsequently being run by his son William Vanderbilt. By the 1890's, it became clear to William that the 1871 Grand Central needed to be expanded.

In 1898, a much larger structure replaced the depot with clock towers at the 4 corners of the building. At the base of each clock tower, massive 1 1/2 ton cast iron eagles were placed. to this day it is unclear exactly how many eagles were placed on the building, but anywhere between 10 to 16 eagles may have been on the building.

With the completion of the new building, it was now called Grand Central Station.

Grand Central Terminal

The 1898 Grand Central Station was quickly becoming overwhelmed. Train traffic was a concern, even resulting in a horrific 1902 Park Ave tunnel crash.

On Feb. 2nd, 1913, the current Grand Central Terminal that we know today was opened to replace the 1898 station.

But where o' where did those pesky eagles from the 1898 Grand Central Station end up?

The Known Eagles: The North Tarrytown Eagle

The search for the eagles began in earnest by David McLane. McLane was a photographer for the NY Daily News and in 1965 he photographed a gigantic eagle with a 14 foot wingspan at the Philipse Manor/N. Tarrytown train station for his noted feature in the paper "New York's Changing Scene".

Learning that the Tarrytown eagle was once atop of the Grand Central Station, it piqued his interest in finding others. He printed this photo in the Daily News on October 31st, 1965 and had asked readers for any known whereabouts of the other eagles.

The N. Tarrytown eagle shortly after it was placed there in 1910.

And as seen in 1994. It is still there and has been painted white and bronze.

Mount Vernon Eagles

This eagle, was originally at the home of Henry LoTang on 110 Villa Street in Mount Vernon.

In 1966, David McLane purchased the eagle from LoTang for a mere $100 during his research to find the eagles.

Not wanting to keep it in his yard without being seen by the public, it eventually was restored and adopted by the town of Shandaken, New York on Aug. 23rd, 1986.

Sadly, David McLane passed away just before the dedication.

A second Mount Vernon eagle was not far away at 102 Villa Street. In the 1960's, it resided on that property owned by Mario and Lena Torrisi.

In a later interview of their son, Carl, he remembered that eagle was removed by crane as a young boy but was unable to find who purchased it within his father's paperwork.

The whereabouts of this eagle are unknown today.

Garrison Eagle

Here, Rev. Jordan Sullivan and Rev. Roch Mullin admire the eagle on the grounds of the former Mary Immaculate Friary (now the Capuchin Seminary) on a bluff of the Hudson River in Garrison, NY.

In 2001, the MTA rescued and restored the Garrison eagle and installed it above the Grand Central Terminal's southwest entrance, at 42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue after the station's renovation.

it is one of two original, 1898 eagles that have returned home to the 'modern' Grand Central Station that can be seen today.

Bronxville Eagle

For many years, this eagle sat on the property of Dr. and Mrs. Albert Rogliano of Bronxville, mostly hidden by azalea bushes.

Rusting and falling apart in 1998, new owners of the property, Laurie Hawkes and Paul Grand Pre, transferred ownership of the eagle to the Metro-North R.R./MTA.

The Bronxville eagle received a full restoration and is the 2nd eagle that resides at the Grand Central Station. Its location is above the Lexington Avenue entrance.

Cold Spring Eagles

St. Basil's Academy in Cold Spring, NY is home to two of the eagles. Here the Rev. Demetrius Frangos, director of the academy can be seen with one.

Both currently still reside there.

Kings Point Eagle

This eagle is located on the grounds of Edwin S. Marks' estate in Kings Point, Great Neck.

According to documentation at the Great Neck Public Library, the wings of this eagle moved up and down in conjunction with barometric pressure. Pretty neat!

It is unclear whether it still features its moving wings after its 1983 restoration.

Vanderbilt Eagles

Appropriately at the gate of Eagle's Nest, is Willie K.'s two eagles that he claimed during the demolition of his family's station in 1910, coincidently the same year Eagle's Nest was being constructed.

In the early 1990's, the local Boy Scouts coated the eagles in an effort to preserve them. It worked, as in this photo that I took a few weeks ago when I was there myself.

The plaque under the Vanderbilt eagles.

Space Farms Eagle

While there are 10 known eagles, in 2007, another eagle from the 1898 Grand Central Depot was found by the investigators from “History Detectives” by PBS television. The eagle belongs to family-run Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Sussex, NJ.  

More than 80 years ago, in 1927, this place had been started as mom and dad general store.

The statue's previous location is not known- it was brought to Space Farms in the mid-1960s. Experts proofed that it is a Grand Central Station eagle. But whether this was the lost 102 Villa Street eagle from Mount Vernon, or a newly discovered, 11th eagle, is unclear.