Building the Long Island Motor Parkway
Motor Parkway Capitalized at $2 Million and Cancellation of 1907 Race
With great promise and fanfare Long Island Motor Parkway, Inc. was capitalized with $2,000,000 in December 1906. A frustrating series of setbacks in obtaining right-of-way to privately owned property resulted in a steady series of missed project milestones. Eventually the Vanderbilt Cup Race Commission was forced to cancel the 1907 race and Long Island Motor Parkway, Inc. delayed construction until 1908. Issued November 16, 1906, a prospectus for the Long Island Motor Parkway proclaimed the company’s visionary operating plans and projected a positive outlook for success. The document described a grand thoroughfare that would boost real estate values, create jobs, and fuel the Long Island economy. It called for a high speed link 100 feet wide and 50 miles long to start in New York and end near Riverhead in Suffolk County.
Crowds at Dedication Ceremonies in Central Park, Long Island
Several hundred people attended the June 6, 1908, ground-breaking ceremony to commemorate the construction of the Long Island Motor Parkway. Guests of honor sat in what newspapers called a “rough grandstand” of wood planks at Jerusalem Road in Central Park east of Mineola. William K. Vanderbilt Jr. had planned to perform the ceremonial turn of sod with a gold plated shovel and make a speech, but the sudden and fatal illness of his stepfather, O.H.P. Belmont drew him away.
Pardington Delivers Vanderbilt’s Speech
A.R. Pardington, the general manager for the Long Island Motor Parkway, filled in for Vanderbilt, reading from remarks Vanderbilt had written to mark the occasion. The comments praised the impact and potential of the automobile and reflected on unforeseen obstacles that had impeded the Parkway’s progress. “The automobile has come into such prominence that it has revolutionized all mode of travel. Distance has been eliminated, highways improved, unknown districts opened up, and pleasure given to thousands… land owners in almost every case, seeing what a benefit a road of this character would be to their property, gladly came forward with help, enabling us to complete a forty-five mile right of way.” Later, Pardington became the most important salesman for the Parkway with speeches throughout Long Ilsand and articles in popular magazines and trade journals. Harpers’ Magazine article
The Motor Parkway Sweepstakes -->
Feature
The 128-page book by Howard Kroplick, a researcher and lecturer on the races, contains rare images of the races from the archives of major museums, libraries and private collectors. The book Vanderbilt Cup Races of Long Island will be available from Arcadia Publishing in March 2008.
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