Oct 29 2013

Then & Now: The Proposed Fulton Avenue Entrance to the Motor Parkway in Hempstead (Part II)


In 1907, Long Island Motor Parkway, Inc. planned to connect the Parkway to Fulton Avenue and Hempstead by a 1.3 spur road.  Today's post will review the southern section of the extension and the proposed entrance on Fulton Avenue.The northern section of the Hempstead Spur was documented in Part I.

Enjoy,

Howard Kroplick

 

As seen in this Belcher Hyde map,  the Hempstead Spur extension headed south crossing Stewart Avenue and ending to the east of the Sidney Dillon Ripley property.


February 1908 Survey

This survey indicated that the Town of Hempstead had a plan to extend California Avenue  (which still ends south of Fulton Avenue) to Old Country Road. Note the reference to the "Spur".


1928 Motor Parkway Atlas

Twenty-one years after the original Spur survey, the Motor Parkway Atlas included the "proposed extension to Hempstead" in 1928. The spur road was never built.

The property purchased by the Motor Parkway adjoining Fulton Avenue was to the east of the Ripley property.


Then: August 3, 1938 Aerial

This Mitchell Field aerial shows the Motor Parkway and Roosevelt Raceway set up for midget racing. The proposed 1.3-mile Hempstead Spur is highlighted.


Now

The same view today as seen by Google Earth. Can you spot remnants of the Mitchel Field runway?

The proposed Motor Parkway entrance on Fulton Avenue (now Hempstead Turnpike) is now the Hofstra University Arboretum.

The arboretum was built on a two-acre recharge basin (AKA as a sump).

Hofstra's University Club/Mack Hall is located on the former Ripley property.



Comments

Oct 30 2013 Ted 4:43 PM

Just to let you,I went to the presentation last nite, a lot of people showed up. What a collection of car photos he has,ones that I’ve seen at car shows or something else and others I didn’t and probably will never see One other thing,that library is the best I’ve seen,It’s huge,so many things going on,maybe you can see if you can book a presentation,you’ll like the accommodations I’ll tell you. I just thought I’d bring that up

Oct 31 2013 Ted 12:12 AM

Getting back to the mysery#39. Will you really know about that faded#5,your reasoning sounds very possible,were they the same car or not? there’s uncertainty there,this turned out to be a mind boggling mystery,whose going to come up with the true answer? Greg,Howard or even Ariejan Bos,go for it. You guys seem to know how to do it. It would be interesting for us all to know,don’t you think so? I would be

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