Virtual Walking Tour This Saturday: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Queens
The Queens Historical Society is conducting a real-time virtual tour of the Queens section of the the Motor Parkway.
Details are below.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Virtual Walking Tour: The Vanderbilt Motor Parkway
Date: Saturday, July 25, 2020.
Time: 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Price: FREE!
Media: Instagram
The Vanderbilt Motor Parkway was the first highway to have bridges and overpasses in the entire United States and the first reinforced concrete connection between New York City and Long Island. And it was in Queens!
In the early 1900s, William K. Vanderbilt II, a great-grandson of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, became obsessed with a new invention: the automobile. The scion founded the Vanderbilt Cup, a professional car race, in Long Island, but after a spectator was killed in 1906, he needed to create a safer place to zoom around. At the same time, his family wanted a quick way to drive from their Manhattan apartment to their Long Island estate. Promising Gold Coast investors that it would increase their property values, William spearheaded a three-year effort to create the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, which officially opened on Oct. 10, 1908. About 22 feet wide, it stretched for 48 miles from Fresh Meadows in Queens to Ronkonkoma in Suffolk County.
Vast swaths of Queens were farmland then, and few people could afford cars. So for many years, VMP was used mainly by extremely wealthy individuals and professional racers. William installed 12 tollbooths so he could pay back his investors, but the private thoroughfare hit a dead end after powerful urban planner Robert Moses refused to incorporate it into the Grand Central Parkway, which opened in 1933. Even after reducing the toll, William couldn’t make ends meet, eventually returning the land to the state to cover unpaid back taxes. VMP closed on Easter Sunday in 1938.
Most of it was covered for residential construction, but these days a roughly two-mile remnant runs from Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows, where two original bridges still stand, east to Alley Pond Park at Winchester Boulevard in Queens Village. Though in need of milling and a renovation, the roadway attracts walkers, bicycle riders, and history buffs. Cars, the original inspiration for VMP, are no longer allowed.
On July 25th, join Queens Historical Society on this unique virtual tour! We will be exploring the neighborhood on foot and learning about its intricate histories from our tour guide, Marketing & Tourism Director at Queens Economic Development Corp., Rob Mackay. The tour will be a real-time live stream event via Instagram Live. Click here to go to our Instagram page, and follow us to get notified when we go live! You will need an Instagram account to view. To get a free account, simply visit https://www.instagram.com/accounts/emailsignup/
Instagram does prefer a mobile device, and will limit your ability to browse it if you connect via computer.
Howard Kroplick Facts
- While in operation from 1908 to 1938, the Long Island Motor Parkway was never called the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway.
- In many sections of the Motor Parkway, 3-foot concrete extensions on each side of the road increased the size of the parkway from its original 16-foot width to 22 feet.
- Overall, the Motor Parkway built 20 toll collection structures.
- When it closed in 1938, the Motor Parkway was given to Queens, Nassau County and Suffolk County for cancellation of $80,00 in real estate taxes.
Comments
Rather humorous that while reciting incorrect information and improperly saying the Motor Parkway’s name, they also question the accuracy of Vanderbiltcupraces.com at the end….But at least it was a nice shout out to the site, so people can come here and learn the accurate, factual history of the Long Island Motor Parkway.