Kleiner’s Korner: 100 Years Ago on the Motor Parkway Part 3 - June, 1924
June, 1924 items include real estate, a scenic route to Lake Ronkonkoma, items lost on the Motor Parkway, a mystery gate keeper and a Motor Parkway speedster.
Art Kleiner
Lodging & Real Estate
East Williston, opposite the Motor Parkway Lodge entrance. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Jun. 1, 1924)
1923 map showing the lodge.
Might this have been the property for sale? 1927 photo.
One block from the Motor Parkway in Lake Ronkonkoma. No other information about Greylock Hall has been found. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Jun. 13, 1924)
Dr. B. (Bernard) Baruch purchases a Vanderbilt property in Half Hollows. Much has been written in this blog about Bernard's brother Herman actually having purchased the property and if it was originally built by the Vanderbilts. (Long Islander Jun. 13, 1924)
The mansion in question. All evidence is that brother Herman Baruch purchased the property and mansion shown here. The article above is the only reference I've found indicating it was Bernard who purchased the property.
The Road to Ronkonkoma
The NY Daily News provided its readers with a picturesque route on the Motor Parkway to Ronkonkoma. (NY Daily News Jun. 8, 1924)
The paper's editor traveled the Parkway himself, even paying a toll of $1 (unless Willie waved the toll for publicity purposes!). (NY Daily News Jun. 8, 1924)
Lost & Found
Anybody find a brown suitcase . . . (The New York Times Jun., 17, 1924)
. . . or a gold watch and knife on the Parkway? If found please forward to Howard K. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Jun. 24, 1924)
A Mystery Motor Parkway Gate Operator
Samuel Hope of Lake Ronkonkoma was robbed by a gang of three, one being involved in the Bellmore Bank robbery. Hope appears to have had various occupations, including as a gate keeper at the Ronkonkoma Lodge. However no evidence of Hope being a gate keeper anywhere along the Parkway has been found except in this article. Al V. - any thoughts? (Long Islander Jun. 20, 1924)
The Lake Ronkonkoma Lodge in 1923 at which Hope was supposed to have been gate keeper.
Hope mentioned as proprietor of a gasoline station. (Times Union Apr. 8, 1924)
And as a baseball player. (Times Union May 13, 1924)
While proficient as an amateur, Hope pitched in only one professional game for the Philadelphia Athletics. (findagrave.com)
Hope's debut in professional baseball occurred on August 5, 1907 when according to baseball-almanac.com he gave up 3 hits, 1 run and got 1 man out. This game was also his last as a pro.
With only one professional game under his belt Hope's chances of making it big fizzled and he became a farmer - hopefully he was more successful at that. (Newsday Jul. 2, 1946)
A Speedster on the Motor Parkway
A LIRR employee, Deacon Heller, raced his autos on the Motor Parkway and proved to be a "speed demon". (LIRR Information Booklet Jun. 27, 1924)
Could this be similar to the Rolls Royce Coupe (or written as "Rools Roice Coupet" in the artcile above) that Heller drove? (classiccars.com)
Deacon's place of employment - "J Tower", the Jamaica tower of the LIRR. Here it is in 1921.
And in 2020.
That wraps it up for another look 100 years ago on the Motor Parkway! Enjoy your summer and look for another edition soon.
Comments
I love the random little stories in this Kleiner’s Korner. But getting perhaps a little off topic, what I’ve been thinking about lately is how did they assemble the property to build LIMP? Even Robert Moses, who was able to utilize eminent domain, seems to have had problems putting roads where he wanted. How would you get all these independent Long Island land owners to sell you relatively narrow strips of property? Did they assure prospective sellers that their remaining property would greatly increase in value due to the parkway? How would you deal with holdouts that demanded exorbitant prices?
Maybe I missed it, but I don’t think I’ve seen this addressed before… Thanks!
Art, The gas station was located on the grounds of the Petit Trianon Inn. The Ronkonkoma Lodge never sold petroleum products.
Bob Allen, Your question about holdouts demanding exorbitant prices. In most cases the routing of the Motor Parkway answers that question. But… sometimes the Parkway paid the price. One example was the purchase of the Robbins parcel on the east side of Roslyn Road to the Wheatley Golf Club. The Parkway paid roughly $3,000 an acre for the parcel on the west side of Roslyn Road and paid Robbins, who figured out what was going on, and held the last parcel to complete the Parkway in that areas, $10,000 per acre. Not only that, the Parkway had to build a farmway bridge for Robbins.
Al. I was very familiar with that Robbins property. When delivering mail I did a route that area. The houses that were built there are extrodinary. Curiously, there is still one vacant lot on the west side of “Robbins Dr!” Imagine what the owner of said property would get for that lot. Bob
Hi Art, like when you post historical info. Tried lookin around for a mention of Greylock Hall, but no luck. Left a screenshot of a map showing properties surrounding the lake in the 1930s, into the 1940s. Realize the inns, hotels etc would change owners. One of the properties could’ve been Greylock.
Samuel Hopes life was interesting ( besides being assaulted & mugged ) States on his obituary that while residing in Lake Ronkonkoma, he was in charge of a Lilco Substation. Maybe he did this after the parkway closed. Lilco may’ve hired him to watch guard the substation, I’m sure there were people that would try to steal wire ( people still do ) and other equipment from the substations
Thanks for the comments, gents. Love the map you provided, Brian. Especially the notation for the Petit Trianon - Little Vienna. More research needed for that.
Brian, There was a Greylock Hall in Far Rockaway in the early 1900’s.