Vanderbilt Cup Races

Sorry I missed this but this aerial also displays the sharpest view to date of the Old Country Road highway bridge and the Mineola RR bridge. Howard, would love to see these zoomed by your methods. Nice aerial shot.
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Howard Kroplick
Close-ups added above.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Great Job, Bill Bellmer

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Reveals Another Piece of Long Island History in Garden City

Howard,

Any chance you could make a high quality available for download?  I’m collecting early Mott aerials for a photo collage of the area and would love to add this to my wall. Dave
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Dave,

I sent you a high resolution jpeg courtesy of Richard Panchyk.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Interesting info. Never knew there was a spur that extended east from the past Mineola-Hempstead branch. Obviously for coal delivery to the power house. Guess the local farmers made no waste utilizing the refuse for composting and possibly feed for the livestock.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Reveals Another Piece of Long Island History in Garden City

I’m not knowledgeable concerning any classic automobile. The front end makes me think of the Batmobile for whatever reason.

Silly question perhaps, but what is the purpose of a headlight that only switches on when steering left or right? I guess the headlight will also activate either with a switch or upon low light/darkness?
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Howard Kroplick

Brian, the middle headlight was designed to light up curves on turns.

From On the Road to Pebble: The Unique Tucker Cyclops Headlight

I had family in from out of town and had to miss the event. Looks like it was a great educational day. With only 4 or 5 years before I retire, I’m looking to get more involved in volunteering in historical preservation activities. Please pass along any similar events or any other historical preservation organizations in Nassau county in need of a volunteer.
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Howard Kroplick

Victor, thanks you are now a proud member of the Long Island Motor Parkway preservation Society which entitles you to all the preservation efforts. Welcome!!

From Update #1: Seven Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Members Help to Preserve a Town Landmark

Camp Mills?  NO.  Camp Mills was east of Clinton and south of the LIRR Central Branch tracks; see <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Camp_mills_new_york.jpg>.  There’s a monument to the Rainbow Division (the 42nd) at St James Street and Rainbow Place (the triangle at Clinton) across from the site of Camp Mills.  I asked about the same area, above.  Sam, III
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Howard Kroplick

Garden City Village Historian Bill Bellmer has confirmed that the remnants of the Camp Mill Hospital Complex can be seen in the middle of both the 1926 and 1931 aerials. More documentation to follow.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

sam - would you happen to remember who you worked for in the Denton Building?

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

1926 aerial of the Mineola Fair and Clinton Road Motor Parkway Bridge added above.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

I have one of the original tickets. It is not dated. It is No. 7114
Would this be worth something to a collector?
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Howard Kroplick

Nicholas, the toll tickets usually go for $50 to $100. Please send a jpeg to me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and I will post it.

From Vanderbilia: The Long Island Motor Parkway Toll Ticket

Art - personal favor, please.  Can you put a street number on the Denton Building?  Ca. 1956, I worked in what I then knew as the Denton Building, at the south-east corner of Hilton Avenue and the tracks (between 6th and 7th Streets).  Perhaps I misremember; there’s no trace of any such there, now.  I also worked in the basement of George Dade’s building on the north side of OCR immediately east of the LIMP RoW and in the Oxford-Pendaflex (ex-Curtiss) building at Clinton between Stewart and Commercial and lived many years in the ca. 1928 Mott section of Mineola (Marcellus, between Jericho and Hillside).  So, this picture is quite a kick for me!  By the way, the old Garden City Hotel is just off screen at the center left and certainly would qualify for a bonus if it were visible.  Darn!  What are the grouped rectangles two-three blocks north of Osborne and what’s in that big field just to the east?  Sam, III

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Howard, would it be a possibility to expand the picture where NYU Winthrop Hospital is located ? It would be really cool to see it’s buildings there at the time (which btw in the lobby has the names of many of the LIMP benefactors carved onto 2 huge marble stones), and possibly do a focus story on the hospital’s history and its connection to the cup races.  Thanks, Mike
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Howard Kroplick

Mike, close-up has been added above.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

The photo was taken over Garden City and Mineola facing northwest
Major roads - Clinton Rd, Old Country Rd, Glen Cove Rd, Jericho Turnpike, Westbury Rd, Roslyn Rd, Washington Ave, Franklin Ave, Mineola Blvd, and LIMP

LIRR Mainline, LIRR Oyster Bay branch, Mineola spur to Garden City
LIMP Bridges- Mayan ruins, Old Country Rd, and LIRR mainline.

The ovals is the Mineola Fairgrounds which is now the Nassau County Court Complex
The buildings in the lower right hand side is part of Roosevelt Field off of Clinton Rd
I would date the photo to be around 1938/39 due to comparing it with the 1942 photo.
It looks like Krugs corner and Hotel is still there and also the building across the other side of Willis Ave, 136 Jericho Turnpike

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Mystery Foto #28… I am going to take a stab at it because my research had poor results. The series of ovals on the left section of the aerial could be Deer Park Speedway (Dix Hills Racetrack) long ago closed and replaced by a community called Baldwin Estates. That’s all I’ve got this time.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Identify the aerial’s location and orientation of the photographer.
Generally north west over Carl Place towards Mineola.

Identify the major roads and a railroad.
At the bottom we see Clinton Rd, then the LIMP. Running across is Old Country Road. The LIRR runs parallel to OCR; the Mineola station is just visible along with the Oyster Bay branch and the branch line to Hempstead.

Identify the bridges of the Long Island Motor Parkway.
I only see the bridge over OCR middle right side

These are all the answers I have.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Additional info - The Queens-Nassau Agricultural Society sold the site where the Nassau County Courthouse currently is to Nassau County in 1938.  As part of the agreement, Nassau County was to take over all of the grounds as a civic center and after the 1952 fair, the County used it for the rest of the buildings currently there today.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Looking northwest over Mineola.
Old Country Road and LIRR Central branch diagonally upper left-lower right
Oval in center is Mineola Fairgrounds racetrack.
Nassau County Courthouse on Franklin Avenue
Police headquarters to the left of the courthouse.
Approximate year 1930 based on the look of the police building.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Howard The Grant very much exists today and has been in dry storage for decades not far from my home. Ill see if I can find a recent picture of the car and post it. Mike

From The 1897 Grant-The Oldest Automobile on Long Island

The photographer is over East Garden City looking west toward Mineola. Along with the LIMP, we can see Roslyn Road, Mineola Blvd, Franklin Ave, Old Country Road, Clinton Road, and Glen Cove Road. The two LIMP bridges are over the LIRR Mainline and under Old Country Road, along with the “Mayan Ruins” abutments. The series of ovals are various race tracks at the old Mineola Fairgrounds which is the current site of the Nassau County Court Complex. The buildings in the lower right are hangars, etc. at Roosevelt Field. Since the first “new” courthouse on the fairgrounds property opened in 1940 and there is no evidence of any construction for this building, I think the photo dates to around 1936. The building associated with the 1904 V. C. Race is probably the “old” Nassau County Courthouse in which Supreme Court Justice (and famous Patchogue resident) Wilmot M. Smith made the decision on 10/7/1904 to allow the race to take place the next day.

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola

Long Island Rail Road mineola Station is visible.  Junctions to Hempstead Branch and Oyster Bay branch visible along with large substation where Hempstead branch drops off heading south.  This is before Hempstead line was cut back to Country Life Press.
Photographer is facing wet-northwest

I think the ovals are on site of the Bloomingdale Saks Fifth Avenue location in Garden City. Race track for autos. Building to west side of ovals was there in conjunction with stands in 1904.  All related to County Fair Groinds in Mineola

LIMP passes over the LIRR and under Old Country Road.

Road to the north Edge of the ovals is Old Country Road

Lower right structures are part of Mitchell Field.

My time estimates is 1925-30 based on railroad, level of development and Mitchell Field

From Update #3: Mystery Foto #28 Solved: A 1931 Aerial of the Motor Parkway in Garden City and Mineola