Vanderbilt Cup Races

I had stop by 6 Locust Ave. East Norwich from my Oyster Bay nearby, spoke to a young lady on her way to pick up her son, did not know of anything about the former resident or the history of that location, so I printout this story and this website and drop it in her mailbox, Hope she finds this interesting? NOW, where is James Remsen who had lived within 2 blocks from Veron, had lived and buried??

From Greg O's Garage: Maggie Helck discovers two 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race flags

Lower left corner is the Garden City Casino and tennis courts. Top center is the smoke stack for the Garden City Water Works. Left side above the Casino is the school administration building. Bottom center is the LIRR train station.

From A 1924 aerial of the Garden City Hotel

Stewart Ave. facing west Roosevelt Field Mall North-West off the Meadowbrook in the Early 1950’s

From Mystery Friday Foto #1 Solved: A 1956 aerial over the Meadowbrook Parkway Extension

Greg. All clear now.
Brian. Thanks for the info on online maps.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

Well, that cleared up all of my confusion as to how the race course made it from Guinea Woods Road to Wheatley Road. Nice research. Thank you for the thorough explanation. I lived at 30 Wheatley Road 20 years ago. The property was the former polo field for the Grace Estate. I would have appreciated knowing the history of the cup race each time that I turned out of the driveway.

From Greg O's Garage: Anatomy of the 1906 Hairpin Turn

Looking Northwest towards Roosevelt Field.  To the lower left is Mitchel Field.  The tennis courts behind the single family homes on North Road are visible.  LILCO ‘Gas Heats Best’ tower is seen on the horizon.  Stewart Ave. runs top-bottom on the left.

Meadowbrook Parkway extension runs through middle of photo.  Exit ramp for what is today Merchant’s Concourse is not finished.  Bottom right is Mitchel Gardens.  Former Polo Grounds exercise property and LIMP ROW are beyond those homes.  In the distance, the bridge for what will become Zeckendorf Blvd. is present.

Difficult to tell from the distance if construction for Roosevelt Field Mall has begun.  Hangers along Old Country Road are still standing.

Parkway extension opened in mid 1956.  This couldn’t have been much later than that.

Approximately same orientation seen below.  Forgot who contributed the image though.

From Mystery Friday Foto #1 Solved: A 1956 aerial over the Meadowbrook Parkway Extension

Rare photo of what appears remnants of the original Motor Parkway, just south of the newly built Roosevelt Field Shopping Center in East Garden City, Dec 1956. This strip lines up with the original Motor Parkway Right-of-Way. Photo is looking west with the Motor Pkwy Clinton Rd bridge already removed. The Garden City Lodge and Supt’s house are there but difficult to see. Present day Roosevelt Field Ring Road South will eventually occupy the remnant strip, almost. Stewart Av and Meadow Brook State Parkway dominates this photo

From Mystery Friday Foto #1 Solved: A 1956 aerial over the Meadowbrook Parkway Extension

From Greg O.

Dave- The house in the 1906 photos is at #1 Wheatley at Wheatley Rd &Old; Westbury Rd., torn down on 2017. There may have been a similar house at the location you’re asserting, but it is not the hairpin landmark. Hopefully my post tonight clears it up when Howard makes it live later.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

That’s the whole point Mark. I thought the picture/house was at the intersection of Post and Wheatley. I think the location you are talking about is not correct. The house that looked exactly like the house in the pics was at the intersection of Post and Wheatley.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

Dave. If the house in the picture is indeed the one that was torn down and we know that it was a few hundred feet from the intersection of Wheatley and Old Westbury Roads, how could it have been at the intersection of Wheatley and Post.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

I have no idea what the 1906 course route was, but I do know Old Westbury and I always thought from the pics of the hairpin turn that spot seemed to be exactly at the location of present dayWheatley and Post Road. 

And the house that was in all the old pics, that was there until a few years ago right at that spot.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

Sounds good, Greg. Looking forward to the blog : )

Mark - I screenshot those maps from websites - Course Maps are here on the site, of course. NassauCounty.gov website - LRV ( Land Record Viewer ) has 1926 & 1950 aerials, as well current property maps. HistoricMapWorks website - has Atlases for just about everywhere. I also like SuffolkCounty.gov - GIS Aerial maps from 1947 till now, also shows property data. Tried looking at GIS maps yesterday, but it looks the website is reconfigured. Look again soon.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

From Greg O.

Brian- you are correct. Tonight’s post should clear it up.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

Brian. Interesting how many roads got reconfigured through the years because of LIE ect. The 1939 map shows Hastings merging into Wheatley Rd. Do you have these actual maps or is this off a website?

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

Mark - I became creative with the course southeast of Red Ground Rd. Here’s a couple of maps from 1914 and 1939. 1914 map shows Red Ground Rd extending southeast towards Wheatley and Old Westbury Rd. That seems to be the course route. 1939 map shows Red Ground as it’s today. Hastings La connects with Wheatley Rd, unofficially on the map.

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

This shows the interchange at the Meadowbrook and what is now Merchant’s Concourse. The straight road on the left is is Stewart Avenue, and we are looking essentially west. The Motor Parkway is barely visible west of the interchange, but can be seen as a dark line (of trees?) which separates the developed and undeveloped areas in the lower right of the pic. I’d date this as 1956 because it looks like some Roosevelt Field buildings are complete.

From Mystery Friday Foto #1 Solved: A 1956 aerial over the Meadowbrook Parkway Extension

I can see that the race course turned south onto Glen Cove Road then branched onto Red Ground Road and somehow weaved through Old Westbury towards the hairpin turn. Anyone know if there was a connecting road that is long gone now?

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

Wanted to leave these “marked maps” that show the 1906 course, this course on a 1926 aerial and a today map. Trying to show all the roads described in the comments : )

From Mystery Friday Foto #53 Solved: The #8 FIAT driven by Felice Nazzaro practicing at the 1906 Hairpin Turn in Old Westbury

Photographer is up in the air over Stuart Avenue slightly west of the current day entrance to Eisenhower Park, and a couple of hundred yards south of what was the location of the Meadowbrook Lodge of the LIMP.  This photo looks so neat and clean. 
We see the new Meadowbrook parkway and the area around it looks like it has been groomed like a major league infield.  Leading me to believe the Meadowbrook parkway is brand spanking new.  We see the LIMP coming from about the 4 O’clock position on the right.  Traveling at the edge of what is left of Mitchell Gardens.  And ending at today’s Merchants Concourse.  Two bridges, one next to the other had crossed the LIMP at this point.  On the far side of the picture, the LIMP continues toward the Clinton Rd bridge.  But it is too far to away to see anything.  Steward Ave and the Meadowbrook Parkway are the main roads we see.  Along with Roosevelt Field in the background.  We can faintly see an oval where the racetrack will one day be.  A stunningly beautifully clear picture.

From Mystery Friday Foto #1 Solved: A 1956 aerial over the Meadowbrook Parkway Extension

This is the interchange of the Meadowbrook pkwy where it crosses under Stewart ave and directly above that to the right it crosses under Merchants Concourse.  The photographer is facing west.  Stewart ave runs straight up the left side of the picture and to the left is the military housing near mitchell field.  Also, in the distance to the left of Stewart is the old LILCO gas tank.  At the near bottom right was additional housing that is now the location of a recycling plant.  Way out, top center you can see a rectangular white building that is Macy’s which was part of the newly opened Roosevelt field mall.  The right of way for the LIMP is behind the last row of houses starting at the bottom right of the photograph.  It runs along the briefly straight (between bends) part of the Meadowbrook parkway, then runs parallel to Stewart ave as you go west before it blends in with the south part of Ring round by Roosevelt field.  The Cradle of Aviation was out doing aerial photographs in February of 1957 over Roosevelt field during the release of “The Spirit of St. Louis” movie and conference with Jimmy Stewart as Lindeberg.  So maybe this picture was taken along with those shots.

From Mystery Friday Foto #1 Solved: A 1956 aerial over the Meadowbrook Parkway Extension