Vanderbilt Cup Races

Reducing Traffic on Long Island

During 1926 there were several proposals to reduce traffic on Long Island roadways.  The Motor Parkway was included in these proposals.   (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Apr. 27, 1926)

Sections of the Parkway were to be incorporated in new roads and some to be absorbed into the park system.  (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Apr. 27, 1926)

The new roads were to follow the course of the Parkway at certain points and then meet it again further along.  (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Apr. 26 1926)

The "Central Express Road" in the center of the island would meet the Parkway near Farmingdale and proceed east where it would turn northward and meet the "Grand Central Expressway".   (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Apr. 27, 1926)

The proposal suggested acquiring the Motor Parkway . . . (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Apr. 26, 1926)

. . . but if not it would continue to be used.  (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Apr. 26, 1926)

Alcohol and the Motor Parkway

Driving under the influence on the Motor Parkway probably caused many accidents; here is one.  (Times Union Apr. 6, 1926)

The accident supposedly occurred near Massapequa.  (Times Union Apr. 6, 1926)

A Corresponding Crime Involving Liquor

Bootleg whiskey found in a 10 room house in Suffolk.  (Brooklyn Daily Times Apr. 19, 1926)

Seems to have been quite the bootleg set-up, including double-barrelled shotguns and dynamite near the Motor Parkway.  (Brooklyn Daily Times Apr. 19, 1926)

Real Estate Transactions Near the Motor Parkway

141 acres at Wyandanch.   (Brooklyn Eagle Apr. 11, 1926)

A chicken farm with frontage on the Motor Parkway.  (Brooklyn Citizen Apr. 15, 1926)

Garden City

Development near the Parkway in Hempstead and Garden City.  (The New York Times Apr. 18, 1926)

The Marvin Manor developments were much further south than the Motor Parkway so I'm assuming the above article refers to the Parkway extension that had been proposed through Mitchell Field.   (E. Belcher-Hyde, 1927)

Marvin Avenue and Manor Parkway are shown on this 1939 map with the extension also shown as a dotted line.  (Dolph Stewart, 1939)

New Bridge

A sale just south of the Motor Parkway in today's Levittown, near the proposed race track mentioned in my posts earlier this year.   The previous home of Kleiner's Korner sits just north of the Motor Parkway and east of Newbridge Road.   (Brooklyn Eagle Apr. 30, 1926)

The proposed race track was to take the place of Aqueduct Racetrack which had opened in 1894.  Interestingly, 100 years after the supposed closing of Aqueduct in 1926 the announcement was just made in June of 2026 that Aqueduct would finally close.  Guess the track had an extra 100 years to prove its worth!  

Note the reference to New Bridge, L.I., which I guess was what the area was known as at the time.  (Brooklyn Eagle Apr. 30, 1926)