Vanderbilt Cup Races

-Who lived in this mansion which was located off Front Street in East Meadow?
This mansion, Brookholt, was built in 1897 for and to be lived in by Alva Vanderbilt and Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont.  Alva tried to use Brookholt in 1911 as a school of agriculture for women, however it failed. The estate was sold to Alex Smith Cochran in 1915 who in turn sold it in 1923 to the Cold Stream Golf Club.  The mansion was destroyed by fire in 1934.

-How were the mansion’s owners associated with the Vanderbilt Cup Races?  Alva was Willie K. Vanderbilt, Jr.‘s mother and she and Belmont often watched the races from their box at the grandstand.

-What event occurred in this mansion that had an impact on the ground-breaking ceremony for the Long Island Motor Parkway?  O.H.P. Belmont was stricken with a serious illness (at least it turned out to be) and was at Brookholt, the days immediately preceding the ground-breaking ceremony (June 6, 1908).  Originally planning to give the ground-breaking speech, Willie K. stayed behind at Brookholt and as a substitute, A.R. Pardington, delivered the speech.  Belmont, a few days, later succumbed to his illness after a series of operations. 

Kleiner’s Korner documentation to follow to Howard.

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

Congrats and very well deserved! Great to see you, Roz and to finally get to see the Chrysler in person today!

From Video of the Week "Willie K. in an Auto Boat Race on the Hudson"

The mansion is the Brookholt home of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont. She was the divorced from William K. Vanderbilt founder of the Motor Parkway. She married Oliver Hazzard Belmont and they built the house on Front St in East Meadow. Oliver Hazzard Belmont became ill and the Ground Breaking Ceremonies for the opening of the Motor Parkway was postponed

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

This is what I found. This mansion stood for more than 3 decades and now it’s long gone. It was called The Brook in Brookholt, was Meadowbrook, which ran where the parkway is now. Alva Vanderbilt Bellmont and her husband Oliva built it in 1897.    I just want to mention about a comment that Phil asked about there being another gear shift in the Chrysler, there isn’t one, I saw the car today. This might sound stupid, it does look like one. but looking at it now, it’s a shadow, it got us both fooled.  Howard- You can tell John, I questioned him about it

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

One last link; Zach’s blog at ‘Old Long Island’ has some very good information on “Brookholt’.

http://www.oldlongisland.com/search?q=Brookholt

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

Congratulations on the reward of all your hard work to restore this lovely beauty.  The pride you feel must be immense.

From Video: American Classic Closed Class Awards Ceremony at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

The house is Brookholt Mansion in East Meadow, Hempstead, LI and was built by Alva Vanderbilt-Belmont. After she had divorced William K. Vanderbilt, she remarried Oliver Belmont in 1896 and built this house in 1897. Shortly before the Ground-Breaking Ceremony for the Motor Parkway on June 6, 1908 Oliver Belmont fell ill from acute appendicitis. Because of this William Vanderbilt was unable to be present at the ceremony and to make his speech, which was now read by A.R. Pardington. On June 10, 1908, Oliver Belmont died due to complications after surgical treatment. Alva Belmont sold the house in 1915. The house burnt down in 1934.

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

This mansion was named Brookholt.It was built in 1897 for the newly wed Oliver and Alva Belmont. Alva was previously married to Willy K. Willy K could’nt be present for the LIMP ground breaking ceremony 6/6/1908 because of Olivers illness, Oliver passed away 4 days later from complications following an Appendicitis operation. Since he passed at the mansion, I’m assuming this was the event that impacted the ground breaking ceremony.According to a 1914 E Belcher Hyde map, the mansion was sort of at the N/W corner of Merrick Ave and Fulton St. Even with these handdrawn maps, it looked like such a pretty area with the Meadowbrook Pond and all. GoldCoastMansions.com has good info and photos.

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

Interesting NY Times article about the illness of OHP Belmont. It appears that Dr. Louis Lanehart, Chief Surgeon for the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race, was also one of his doctors.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9406EED7143EE233A25756C0A9609C946997D6CF

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

The Brookholt mansion (Meadow BROOK which flowed nearby, )located on the current Meadowbrook Pkwy path.
Original owners Alva and Willie K. Vanderbilt

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

Brookholt Mansion ......................
Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, who at one point had nine homes, and her new husband, Oliver Belmont, built Brookholt in 1897, a year after their marriage. In 1915, she sold Brookholt to Alexander Smith Cochran, heir to a carpet fortune. He sold the estate in 1923 to the newly formed Coldstream Golf Club. The house burned down in 1934. Much of the land was sold during the Second World War for an extension of Mitchel Field known as Santini which is how I knew the area as a child when I sometimes played along the banks of the Meadow Brook.

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

That mansion was called “Brockholt” and was the residence of Alva Erskine Smith Vanderbilt Belmont (Willie K. Jr.‘s mother) and Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont whose father was August Belmont, a director of the LIMP, Inc. It was built in 1897 by the newlyweds who had married in 1896 after Alva had divorced Willie K. Jr’s father, William Kissam Vanderbilt I in 1895. It burned down in 1934. Willie K. Jr. was scheduled to speak at the dedication ceremony on June 6, 1908 for his Long Island Motor Parkway at Central Park (Bethpage) but his step-father was seriously ill with appendicitis at “Brockholt” at the same time and A. R Pardington filled in for him at the ceremony. Sadly, O. H. P. Belmont died four days later after developing septicemia during surgery at “Brockholt”.

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

Found this. Some pretty cool history. I had some fun experiences in the area known as Santini’s as well the Mitchel Field remnants in the late 60s.
http://longislandcatalog.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-mansion-in-east-meadow.html

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

Clueless on this one, but at first i thought it might have been the Meadowbrook Club Clubhouse. Eager to see the answer on Monday, good one.

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

Who lived in this mansion which was located off Front Street in East Meadow?

Oliver Belmont, built Brookholt in 1897, a year after marrying Alva Vanderbilt. Brookholt was designed by Richard Howland Hunt .

-How were the mansion’s owners associated with the Vanderbilt Cup Races?

Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont and Alva Vanderbilt were William K Vanderbilt Jr’s stepfather and mother.

-What event occurred in this mansion that had an impact on the ground-breaking ceremony for the Long Island Motor Parkway?

OHP Belmont was ill on June 6, 1908 for the ground breaking and WKV was at Brookholt instead of the ceremony. Belmont died 4 days later.

From Mystery Foto #89 Solved: The Brookholt Mansion Built by Alva Vanderbilt Belmont and O.H.P. Belmont

The year of the race must have been 1901, when Keene started on Mors with no. 36 in the Newport races of August 30. He participated in the the first heat for cars developing more than 12hp, which he won, but in the final heat he was beaten by William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. who drove an identical Mors. There were several Mors racers in the country by then, probably all identical to the Paris-Berlin winning car. Fournier, the winner of that race, also participated in several races in the US at that time (like those at Narragansett Park and Coney Island), probably as demonstrator and also instructor of the famous Mors racer.

From Nassau County Historical Society Journal: Foxhall P. Keene and His "Life of Pure Delight"

Howard- I’m really looking forward to seeing you and finally the magnificent Chryslers Chrysler on this Sunday.

From Upcoming Howard Kroplick & Chrysler's Chrysler Events

From Bruce Adams:
Before Lindbergh even came into the picture in 1927:

Numerous textbooks still hail Charles Lindbergh an American Hero, errantly citing him as the first person to fly across the Atlantic!
• The very first transatlantic flight took place in 1919 (Lindbergh had absolutely nothing to do with it), when Lieutenant Commander Albert C. Read flew the Lame Duck, a Navy Curtiss NC-4 single-pilot flying boat for this purpose. After several engine breakdowns and floating at sea, he made it from New York, USA, to Lisbon, Portugal.
• The very first nonstop transatlantic flight (1,890 miles) in a fixed-wing aircraft, was accomplished only 3 weeks later, in 1919, by Cpt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Brown, who flew from Newfoundland to England in a Vickers Night Bomber. (Lindbergh still had absolutely nothing to do with it.)[5-6]
• In 1924, Lt. Lowell H. Smith and Lt. Erik H. Nelson took off on a journey of 26,100 mile s on a round-the-world trip beginning and ending in Seattle, Washington.
• In 1926, Ramon Franco flew across the South Atlantic in a twin-engine flying boat from Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was hailed as the “Columbus of the Air” in Latin America but received little notice in North America.
• From 1919 to 1927, an additional 78 people successfully flew across the Atlantic before Lindbergh’s attempt—a total of 81 people successfully flew across the Atlantic before Lindbergh.
• Finally, on June 27, 1927—8 years after the first transatlantic flights, and after 81 other people had already flown across the Atlantic, some of them solo—Lindbergh made his famed Atlantic crossing. Flying the Spirit of St. Louis for 3,600 miles in 33 hours, he went from Long Island, New York, to Le Bourget, close to Paris, France.

From Mystery Foto #88 Solved: The Homecoming of Charles Lindbergh to Roosevelt Field on June 16, 1927

What church is in the background ?
____________________________________

From Howard Kroplick
St. Brigid’s Catholic Church, 81 Post Avenue, Westbury
https://www.google.com/maps/place/St+Brigids+Catholic+Church/@40.7509382,-73.5877433,3a,90y,90h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sE3TyPogx6_7lB0Nb84XpHg!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x97cf0f9b03d00587!6m1!1e1

From Mystery Foto #88 Solved: The Homecoming of Charles Lindbergh to Roosevelt Field on June 16, 1927

The mystery photo:  Lindberg’s return from his flight to Paris, France in 1927.

The bridge over LIMP to get to the ceremony.  The cars to view the event make up the circle seen.

From Mystery Foto #88 Solved: The Homecoming of Charles Lindbergh to Roosevelt Field on June 16, 1927