Vanderbilt Cup Races

From Art Kleiner:
An article about Fred Wagner resigning his post as president of a publishing company to devote time to his Long Island farm. From “The Motor World”, Nov. 2, 1911, two years before the house was built.  But he remained an official A.A.A. starter.  And maps from E. Belcher-Hyde (1917) and Google (current).

From The Residence of the Starter of Five Vanderbilt Cup Races -Fred Wagner- Rediscovered in Smithtown

The PEACE MONUMENT on the 1917 thru 1921 maps captured my curiosity. Shows on the north side of Hillside Ave, opposite of Merrick Blvd ( 166th St ) Jamaica. A bit of research brings me just a little north to CAPTAIN TILLY PARK. The park was named in honor of Captain George H Tilly, who died in 1898 during the Spanish American War. Prior to 1935, it was known as Hillside Park. A Spanish American War Heroes Monument was erected in the park in 1941.

Maybe there’s an older PEACE MONUMENT being that it’s noted on these maps?

From Kleiner's Korner: The Motor Parkway in Maps - Part IV

Of the 2 ‘dangerous places’ on the map. I believe the one in the upper right was the Jericho RR crossing where the 1908 course went through. Shown below when it was the 1st mystery photo of 2019.

From Kleiner's Korner: The Motor Parkway in Maps - Part IV

Even more aerials added to the post.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Howard. Great mystery photo. It stumped me.  But, those respondents who said the view is to the south east got it wrong. MaCamish took the photo from the south side of the Parkway. The view is actually to the north west. Take a look at the 1936 aerial view. Only the east bridge has a roadway that reaches Stewart Ave.  Then look at Frank Femenias circa 1938/1939 photos,  they also show that only the east bridge has a roadway to Stewart Ave.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

I wish I had a time machine, so I could cruise by the Packard plant, Disbrow’s garage, and the Peace Monument on the way to the Wright flying school!

From Kleiner's Korner: The Motor Parkway in Maps - Part IV

One of my all time favorite photos, Old Country Road and Clinton Ave looking SE at old Roosevelt Air Field. Today, its busiest intersection in Nassau County.

From Kleiner's Korner: The Motor Parkway in Maps - Part IV

So with the t handle knob pulled out it is disengaged ? . Its my grandfathers car he bought it new in Glendale ca. now i have it runs great looks bad had to replace all the glass and rubber that helped it is in sound running shape have not driven to far just around the block have not gone over 35 mph .When i get tires i will drive it faster is the overdrive a vacuum internal shift should i look for rotten vacuum lines . thanks

From The 1937 Chrysler Automatic Overdrive

New aerials have been added.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Love this!

From Remembering the Vanderbilt Races: Roslyn News, March 13, 2008

Art, you’re a gem!  Forgot all about Wireless Blvd.; used to use it.  Since the polefield was on the left outbound and the right inbound, that kinda proves that we were on the LIMP (and, knowing Dad, that was probably the weekend it closed - I was all of FOUR).  See, folks, I *TOLD* you so!  That would have been in Dad’s new 1939 Dodge, with me standing in the back holding on the the rug rail for dear life.  Al - minor detail, but just how were the unsold lots conveyed to Willie personally when they had been bought by the LIMP corporately; was he the guarantor?  Sam, III

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

I remember working on this restoration in the ‘60s when I was in high school. I worked for Jim Hoe in Weston, CT as a mechanic’s helper during my summer vacation. One of my jobs on this particular car was to install asbestos cloth to the inside of the hood for heat protection. My god, what a car! Never forget when they started it up for the first time and drove it down the road. What a sound!

From Update: Peter Helck's 1921 Benz-Mercedes "Rabbit-the-First" Now Owned by Jay Leno

You can also thank the anti-car lobby for some of this stuff too.

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: 1910 Plans for the Ronkonkoma Motor Speedway

Steve, The bridge adjacent to the Meadow Brook Club bridge was not built as an entrance to Roosevelt Field. It was built by the Parkway in 1908.  It was constructed over a lightly used Hempstead Town road known as Sheep’s Pen Road.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Sam, Regarding the fate of properties the Parkway purchased east of Inn….  Almost all of the properties for the ROW east of the Petit Trianon were purchased in 1907 with just a few in early 1908. They were not an easy sell because most of those acquired parcels were only 100 feet wide and not all has road frontage.  Some of the properties were returned to the sellers because they had covenants that required that the Parkway had to be built by a certain date. Some of the larger tracts were broken up and sold piecemeal but many of the properties were sold by Suffolk County at tax lien sales in 1939 because the Parkway had stopped paying the real estate taxes in the early 1930’s.  Those properties not sold when the Parkway was dissolved were turned over to Vanderbilt personally who walked away from those in the tax lien sales.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

Location - East Garden City/Roosevelt field
            Photo is facing towards the southeast
Bridges - Meadowbrook Polo bridge being built {foreground)
          Roosevelt Field bridge (background)
Year built - 1929-1930
Purpose -  access to the Meadowbrook Club’s north polo fields

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

From Art Kleiner
Hi Sam, you might be referring to the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Co. location as shown on the 1941 Hagstrom map here. I also have a 1952 Hagstrom which also shows it.  The other two are from historicaerials.com and are from 1953 (still showing the building) and 1980 (showing the building’s footprint).  The street named Wireless Blvd. is a reminder of the Mackay company.  Send me an e-mail apart from the blog is you have any other questions about Mackay.  An internet search produced a lot of hits pertaining to a lawsuit it was in back in the late 30s with the National Labor Relations Board and RCA among others.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

I would love to find a re-print of this poster.

What great art work!

From Helck Family Collection: The Story Behind Peter Helck's Artwork for this Vanderbilt Cup Race Poster

My father drove me all over the place, especially LI, and I remember one of the marvels of my world was an overseas antenna system (zillions of phone poles all wired together).  As recall it was on the flat land of Hauppauge between the curve of the LIMP and Old Willetts Path and No. St. Pkwy./New Hwy.  Those poles remained there until the Marcus Blvd. area (where I twice worked) was built up.  I can’t find any reference to this array - anyone?  Sam, III

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

From Art Keiner:
I found this picture in a publication named “The Wireless Age”, July, 1920 in a story about the New York Radio Central Station, which was to be a powerful transmitting station located near Rocky Point.  While the Motor Parkway was not named on the map, it is very easily noticeable.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)