Vanderbilt Cup Races

Newbridge Rd bridge of the LIMP.

Identify the building on the right and its location-

Newbridge Hotel, on Newbridge Rd on the North side of the LIMP

Identify the bridge in the photo. Provide a rationale.-

Looking West at the Newbridge Road ‘parkway’ Bridge in Hempstead Plains. (RR crossing sign on the left seen)

Identify the racer and the race.

The #12 Thomas heading East driven by George Saltzman during the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 24, 1908. Next stop; the grandstands!

Motor Parkway East of Newbridge Road facing west, as the road turns north toward today’s Levittown, the building on the right was the Newbridge Hotel.  Vanderbilt Cup Race- October 24, 1908, The #12 Thomas driven by George Saltzman. I like this location today because it is a good place to park my truck and ride a bicycle east to Deadmans Curve in Bethpage.

Newbridge Hotel on Newbridge Road East Meadow
Spectators watching from the hotel and grounds
LIMP bridge over Newbridge Road
#12 George Saltzman

Hello Howard,
Thanks for giving us an easy one for Valentine’s Day. That’s the Newbridge Road Hotel on the east side of Newbridge Road, slightly north of the LIMP in the Hempstead Plains, today’s Levittown. The LIMP bridge is going over Newbridge Road. My rationale (or research, or some would call cheating) is that it says so on page 90 of your “Vanderbilt Cup Races of L. I.”. The racer is the number 12 Thomas with George Salzman at the wheel during the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race. The mechanician is Blancard (couldn’t find his first name).

Nice shot. This photo gives a good view how these bridges really looked and how steep they were. The only possibility here is the Newbridge Rd parkway bridge in Levittown, with railroad running adjacent and the left curve immediately following. We’re facing west towards Salisbury. Oct 24,1908 / 258mi. VCRace / #12 Thomas 110hp / Driver: George Saltzman / Mechanician: Blancard / finished 5/17. The Newbridge Hotel at Merillon Estates, located just off and east of Newbridge Ave (Rd) is no longer there.

I will guess the Thomas Flyer in 1908 in the Vanderbilt Cup Race…...the overpass/bridge #6 traveled over Newbridge Road. The spectators are watching the races in front of and atop the Newbridge Road Hotel.

This is one of my favorite pics as it is .6 miles from where I live.  Realizing I was living so close to the Parkway was one reason for my interest over the past 13 years. 

Identify the building on the right and its location: New Bridge Hotel, New Bridge Road, Hempstead Plains (Levittown).  Operated by Jacob Gaenger.  Currently a gas station and homes. 

Identify the bridge in the photo. Provide a rationale.
New Bridge Road Parkway Bridge - After the bridge, the road curved to the north.  Central Railraod ran directly south of the bridge - a wooden diamond RR sign can be seen under one of the telephone poles. 

Identify the racer and the race.: #12 Thomas driven by George Saltzman (1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race)

Can’t recall and won’t cheat but I am amazed that the widow’s walk isn’t jammed to overflowing with spectators!  Sam, III

From Ariejan Bos:

The mystery wasn’t too hard this time. The photo shows Saltzman on Thomas during the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup race, passing the Newbridge Road bridge. The building would be Newbridge Hotel.

More interesting, but not directly related to this mystery is an article on the attached page from The Motor World of March 1909. I came across the article recently while searching for something else. It refers to the Sharp Arrow, winner of the Garden City Sweepstakes held on the new Motor Parkway two weeks earlier. As you can read the Sharp Arrow was disqualified following a protest from one of the other contestants. Because of the ‘tardy’ decision it seems that nobody has noticed this fact and in all lists I see nowadays the Sharp Arrow is still the winner. However, this must be of course the Knox!

Yes this was an easy one,but didn’t get a chance to answer,I just looked at it and knew what it was and couldn’t remember where it was and left it at that,never got back to it until now. You guys really do a great job on the findings

Based on the mystery photo, it appears certain that the Newbridge Hotel is actually on the east side of Newbridge Rd, making ALL the maps incorrect placing it on the west. Is this possible?

Art: The Motor Pkwy and old Jerusalem Rd are circled together. Can that section of Jerusalem Rd be today’s Salisbury Park Dr? This has been a mystery to me for years.

Frank - you are correct about Salisbury Park Drive and Jerusalem. 

And about where the hotel actually was, I wouldn’t know for sure, but back then who knows where Newbridge Road actually was.  The rest of the area was farmland, so possibly parts of Newbridge could have been moved when developers came in.

Frank: As the LIRR ran south of the LIMP here we’re definitely looking towards the west. You can’t see the tracks directly but you can see the crossing diamond and the poles with cross arms that held the overhead power for electric trains.

Hi Ernie: You are correct, this photo is definitely looking west. Though Newbridge Rd can’t be seen in the photo alongside the hotel, the bridge portal tunneling Newbridge Rd (also hard to see) appears in the photo to be behind the hotel (west of it). But all the maps posted on this blog indicate the opposite, showing Newbridge Rd to be east of the hotel. This has developed into - A mystery within a mystery! :D