Many may know Robert Miller as a Motor Parkway historian, but his talents go beyond just the Motor Parkway.
In this week's video, he talks about Long Island's Master Builder, Robert Moses.
Greg O.
The six Vanderbilt Cup Races held on Long Island from 1904 to 1910 were the greatest sporting events of their day, and the first international automobile road races held in the United States. The races had a far-reaching impact on the development of American automobiles and parkways. This site provides comprehensive information on the races, the Long Island Motor Parkway and current Long Island automotive events, car shows and news.
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My favorite - the Whitestone Bridge. The personification of Art Deco elegance. I was five years old when my parents bought a brand new up and down house at 51st Ave and 199th St, Flushing, which was w/in the Fresh Meadows “65” postal zone. The “unrecognized” dividing line between Fresh Meadows and Bayside was Francis Lewis Blvd (200th St). Given that PS 162 at 201st St. and 53rd Ave the closest grade school, I started attending it in the Fall of ‘54 (First grade), having gone to PS 177 on 188th St & 58th Ave by bus for Kindergarden because PS 162 was undergoing an expansion to accommodate the growing nearby population. In or about ‘53-54,” the parents in my neighborhood were in an uproar when they learned that the “Clearview Expressway” was going to be built using not only the right of way of Francis Lewis Blvd, but 199th St itself, where we had just moved into our newly built house. Protest to shift the location of the Clearview mounted all along the proposed right of way. I remember well carrying a little sign myself, although I, of course, didn’t know what was going on. When the Clearview was shifted to 204th St, everyone believed that the protests were the reason. They weren’t. Rather, it was better to leave Francis Lewis doing what it was intended to do when it was named “Cross Island Blvd,” which was to funnel traffic to the Whitestone Bridge. Eventually, I moved to the Island after I got married (47 years now), where I set up my law practice. My wife and I first bought a pre-construciton condo right next to the terminus of the SOB Expressway. We then moved to 1-acre Woodbury on the other side where we did a teardown and built a custom home. Then eventually to Boca Raton, and for the last few years Phoenix, where we are now. Through it all, I always of the opinion that a tunnel should have been built under the Sound. The wasted travel time and the pollution caused by it from all of those drivers who were forced to go probably 20+ miles out of their way to get to the other side of the Sound, most especially “big rig” truckers, changed the region for the worse. Indeed, the fees shippers would have paid to use such a tunnel could have been very high, given the savings generated from the wear and tear on vehicles, fuel savings, and wasted manhours.
Roy Warner - Here’s a high resolution aerial of Fresh Meadows including 51st Ave and 199 St. See above.
Click here to Download this file
Fresh Meadows aerial above is a Fairchild aerial photo from Sept 5, 1951
the verazano bridge ruined staten island and turned it into a overbuilt disgrace. no more was it a green oasis. It is sad!
In fact the massive garbage dump in Staten Island was visible from the space station.