Vanderbilt Cup Races

A couple of very minor corrections to the very informative Robert Greenhaus post. Beyond Merrick Ave. its not the Salisbury Country Club but course # 4 (of 5),  of the Salisbury Links complex owned by J. J. Lannin. The Salisbury Country Club clubhouse was located on the west side of Merrick Ave. south of Stewart Ave. Courses # 3 and 4 of the Salisbury Links were reserved for members of the Salisbury Country Club.  Roosevelt Field did not yet own the property the temporary road was built on for the 1908-1910 Vanderbilt Cup Races. At the time of the races the property was owned by J. J. Lannin. By the way, the temporary road was still visible in the early 1930’s aerial of the area.

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

David, I think we can agree that sometimes map producers were careless in identifying some roadways and not accurately correcting some changes leading to much confusion. For example, your reference to today’s Community Drive. The 1914 Belcher Hyde Atlas of Nassau County identifies it as Smoketown Rd. AND Hyde Park Rd.  In 1925 it’s known as New Hyde Park Rd. AND Valley Rd.  In the 1930’s it’s known only as New Hyde Park Rd. In the early 1940’s to the early 1950’s -Valley Rd. AND New Hyde Park Rd.  In 1954-Valley Rd. AND Community Dr.                                                                                     
Now for I .U. Willets Rd. ... The Hagstrom Nassau County Atlas -1954. From east to west….From Ellison Ave./Old Westbury Rd. to Glen Cove Rd. it’s I. U. Willets Rd. From Glen Cove Rd. to Willis Ave.-Albertson Station. From Willis Ave to Searingtown Rd-Nassau Blvd. From Searingtown Rd. to New Hyde Park Rd.- I. U. Willets Rd. again.  From New Hyde Park Rd. to Lakeville Rd. - Old Westbury Rd. From Lakeville Rd.to Horace Harding Blvd. - I. U. Willets Rd. and Lakeville Rd….. In the 1940 Hagstrom,  west of Searingtown Rd., it’s shown as Power House Rd. Other maps and atlases from the 1920’s ti the early 1950’s, its also shown as Route 25D. Enough already.

From Mystery Foto #24 Solved: A 1952 Aerial View of Lake Success

Kudos to Robert Greenhaus for providing the most links for the Mystery Foto to the Vanderbilt Cup Races and the Motor Parkway. Can anyone provide more?

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

Bottom LEFT - sorry.

From Mystery Foto #24 Solved: A 1952 Aerial View of Lake Success

Ooh, lookit!  Bottom right of Art’s 1914 map.  “Platsdale” with one “T”!  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #24 Solved: A 1952 Aerial View of Lake Success

Photo provided by Al Velocci, showing Strang in the Renault - note the similarity with the mystery photo and Frank’s comments (e.g., the car coming out of a turn). Can anyone be more specific in terms of where the fence is located?

From Mystery Foto #26 Partially Solved: Lewis Strang's P46 Renault during the 1908 Motor Parkway Sweepstakes

New thread for sure!
Al-The true ending of IUW was at the t-intersection (arrow in the 1900 USGS map overlaid on current map), where it met the N-S Valley Rd (Community Dr.). The east-west road there was an early Lakeville Road, which is mostly called Bates Road in Queens today.
Sam, III-The “Power House” is labeled in the 1947 USGS overlay and is the current PSE&G complex. The 1914 map shows this as Nassau Light & Power Co., of which Harry Payne Whitney was a director.
Note in the 1941 map overlay,  “Old Powerhouse Rd.” and “Power House Rd.,” which part of the NSP (lower red ribbon) overlays. Not shown is an western segment of Power House that forms the LIE south service road. (Part of that segment west of Hollow Lane is the part of IUW that became Power House Rd.)
The old and new (not built to the 1914 planned routing), merge just west of Mineola Rd.
Since 1941, the western part of the “old” road has been erased starting at Christopher Morley Park. (Does the 1941 map have a mapping error for the NSP because it shows a “3 Lane” segment that deviates from the current parkway?)

From Mystery Foto #24 Solved: A 1952 Aerial View of Lake Success

Whoa! Just 20 feet clearing the power lines. That is insane by any standards today. Thanks Howard for keeping us informed of historic events

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

From Art Kleiner:
Al has provided the attached map from the 1914 Belcher Hyde Altas which documents his comments above.  I’ve annotated the map with the roads under discussion.

From Mystery Foto #24 Solved: A 1952 Aerial View of Lake Success

Chas. Lindbergh taking off in The Spirit Of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field May 20th, 1927. Looking East as he cleared the telephone poles on Merrick/Whaleneck Ave with what is now Eisenhower Park in the background.

The biggest day for the LIMP in regards to Lindbergh was the homecoming celebration for his flight on June 16th 1927 where the LIMP and Roosevelt Field bridges were used to access the celebration.

Merrick Ave was used for Cup Races.

Lindbergh was a member of the Long Island Aviation club located on the LIMP.

Lindbergh was friendly with the Guggenheims (and wrote his book at Falaise) who were one of the wealthy families involved with the LIMP construction.

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

Guessing the mystery plane in the photo was the Spirit of St. Louis, sole piloted by young Charles Augustus Lindbergh (age 25), May 20, 1927. The historic take off just departed from Roosevelt Airfield [Mall] (Westbury, NY). The plane barely missed the overhead electrical wires on today’s Merrick Ave. The flight remarkably reached its destination to Paris, marking the first nonstop cross Atlantic flight from New York to Paris. Lindbergh won the Orteig Prize for his accomplishment. Upon arriving in Paris, jubilant Parisians began to tear the plane apart (by hand) causing damage. Airport personnel secured the plane and stopped further damage.. Not sure if the same plane was used by Lindbergh’s return to the states. The McCamish family, toll collectors of the Motor Parkway Meadow Brook lodge, were lucky to witness Lindbergh’s historic takeoff from the Lodge’s vantage point, through Westbury’s open fields at the time, just 0.3 miles away to the south. Lindbergh suffered family loss because of his fame, something I won’t disclose and forget

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

The last picture is my favorite, well done guys!

From Mystery Foto #26 Partially Solved: Lewis Strang's P46 Renault during the 1908 Motor Parkway Sweepstakes

What a mish-mash of old and fake but great fun, nevertheless.  Thanks, Howard.  Sam, III

From Film of the Week-The Classic Races:The Vanderbilt Cup (1904-1960) and the 1966 Bridgehampton 200

“Garage:” then (and well through my childhood in Manhattan - 30’s-40’s) had multiple meanings, including sales, repair, and storage of automobiles.  Sam, III

From Kleiner's Korner: The Vanderbilt Cup Garage

Lindbergh taking off in the Spirit of St. Louis at Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927.

Photo is facing slightly Southeast towards East Meadow.

Merrick Ave. is where the phone lines are.  In the distance are the Salisbury links. 

The LIMP ran immediately adjacent to the airfield, running West - East.  Very nearby would have been the East Meadow Lodge and the bridge over Merrick Ave.

The Vanderbilt car racing track was constructed in the same area as the plane is taking off.

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

The location is Roosevelt Field Long Island and the photographer is facing east.
The road could be Merrick Ave.
The background could be Hempstead Plains.
The airplane is the Ryan NYP (Spirit of St. Louis) piloted by Charles Lindbergh.
The photo was taken May 20, 1927.
Part of Roosevelt Field was sold and became Roosevelt Raceway where the 1936 and 1937 Vanderbilt Cup races were held.

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

If I may amend my previous response, the photo was probably taken across from land that was to come Roosevelt Raceway, Home of the reconstituted Vanderbilt Cup races

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

Mystery Foto #27… the photo shows the Ryan built Spirit of St Louis, flown by Charles Lindbergh taking off at Roosevelt Field on The morning of May 27 1927 on his record breaking trip across the the Atlantic.
I was at Roosevelt Field mall in 1957 when the movie replica of the Spirit of St Louis took off on the perimeter roads of the mall. Sadly no photos.

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

On May 20th, 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off heading East, passing over Merrick Ave, in the RyanAircraft “Spirit of Saint Louis.” What is now Eisenhower Park is just past the road. In 1927 Eisenhower Park was known as Salisbury Park. The photographer was facing south easterly probably about where “Fortunoff’s garage” now stands.  I believe that was part of the Roosevelt Field airport.

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927

This looks like the take-off of Charles Lindbergh from Roosevelt Field on the morning of May 20, 1927.  By the orientation of the photo, the photographer was standing north of the runway closer to Old Country road looking west.  The road along the telephone lines is Merrick/Whaleneck Avenue.  I believe the background area was either the Ladenburg Estate or the Hempstead Plains. 

Lindbergh would frequently take the motor parkway to the airport and would get off at the Garden City toll booth.

Happy 4th everyone.

Dave

From Update Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Lindbergh Taking Off from Roosevelt Field on May 20, 1927