Long Island Motor Parkway History Page 3 keywords = Long Island Motor Parkway Vanderbilt toll road limited access highway Horace Harding boulevard automotive auto car truck car history Miller Sempre Vivolo Brentwood
Updated: 17 Sep 2005, 23:05 ET
(Created: 17 Aug 2000)
{Many images lost; see Problem;
several restored 17 Nov 03}
[Ref: This is limphst3.html (URL http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/limphst3.html )]

S. Berliner, III's

Long Island Motor Parkway
History Page 3

{and these are only thumbnails, at that!

Consultant in Ultrasonic Processing
"changing materials with high-intensity sound"
Technical and Historical Writer, Oral Historian
Popularizer of Science and Technology
Rail, Auto, Air, Ordnance, and Model Enthusiast
Light-weight Linguist, Lay Minister, and Putative Philosopher

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY

a.k.a. Vanderbilt Motor Parkway

(and related matters)

[If my discs weren't floppy, my photos wouldn't be LIMP!]

{LIMP does NOT refer to rigidity!}

This site has now been visited times since the counter was installed.

Because the Main Page overloaded, please visit the many Continuation Pages noted on the LIMP Index page.

PAGE INDEX

The index on this page has been truncated (links removed) to save page space; see the LIMP Index on the page preceding the main LIMP page.

On the main LIMP page:

HISTORY OF THE LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY,

now continued on the LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY HISTORY page, and

on LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY HISTORY page 1a, etc.

LIMP Lodges Page:

LIMP Toll Lodges

: (or booths, kiosks, gates, or accesses) with

List of LIMP Toll Lodges and

List of LIMP Toll Gates.

List of LIMP Accesses.

On Continuation Page 0:

LIMP POSTS (and reinforced concrete).

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY TIMELINE.

LINKS to the LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY.

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY BIBLIOGRAPHY.

On Continuation Page 1A:

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY TODAY.

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY BRIDGES.

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY at confluence of Marcus/Lakeville/NSParkway.

On Continuation Page 2:

On Continuation Page 3:

Crossings from Roslyn Road to the Maxess Road Bridge.

On Continuation Page 4:

Old Courthouse Road Bridge, New Hyde Park.

Garden City Toll Lodge.

Crossings Continued - Maxess/Duryea Road Bridge.

On Continuation Page 5:

LI MOTOR PARKWAY SPURS.

PERSONAL LI MOTOR PARKWAY APOCRYPHA,

and now continued on the LIMP Apocrypha Page.

LEVITTOWN GRANDSTAND AREA.

DEAD MAN'S CURVE REDIVIVUS.

On Continuation Page 6:

LI MOTOR PARKWAY at WlLLISTON/ALBERTSON/SEARINGTOWN.

Dubious Artifact at NSP/NHP Road.

Queens Vignettes.

On Continuation Page 7:

OLD BETHPAGE AREA Update.

ROUTE 110 SAND PITS AREA Update.

On Continuation Page 8:

North Hills.

Mineola - Carle Place.

{etc. - see LIMP Index Page}

On the LIMP History Page:

HISTORY OF THE LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY

- continued, with more photographs.

On the LIMP History Page 1a:

HISTORY OF THE LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY

- continued, with more photographs.

Who's Who (or Was)

On the LIMP History Page 2:

HISTORY OF THE LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY

- continued, with more photographs.

The General Manager's House.

Sempre Vivolo (Brentwood Toll Lodge).

On this LIMP History Page 3:

Motor Parkway Historical Miscellany

Motor Parkway Auto Tags/Plates

On the LIMP History Page 4:

Nassau County Police Photos (moved from LIMP History Page 2 on 21 Nov 03).

This is yet another page to cover additional information and photographs of this interesting old highway; see also my Automotive, Chrysler, Dudgeon (really!), Mercedes, and SS and JAGUAR car pages and other related pages.

A Motor Parkway Panel has been convened to keep the LIMP alive in minds and museums.

There is also a lot of automotive material on my ORDNANCE and HISTORY pages.

Also, if you like automotive history, see the links on the Automotive page.

RoW = Right-of-Way.

(Courtesy of Northport Public Library)
[Thumbnail image; click on picture for larger image.]

William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.
"Willie K."

LONG ISLAND MOTOR PARKWAY HISTORY - continued

History Page 3

- - - * - - -

Who's Who on the Motor Parkway

(or Who Was Who)

(moved to LIMP History Page 1a on 14 Jan 2002)

LIMP Historical Miscellany:

This is an early photograph of a LIMP bridge, possibly taken at Bethpage; I lost the provenance and the filename was corrupted:

If anyone knows more about this (or finds it elsewhere on my site, please let me know.

Now, speaking of bridges, here's what happened to most of them (ca. 1942-43):

The provenance of this photo, which is from the collection of Panel member William Frohlich, is only slightly less uncertain; it has a label on the back that reads:

                                 (Caption for steel salvage pict.)
    GETTING IN THE SCRAP.- Borough President James A. Parks, of
Queens, is shown directing salvaging of a 14 ton steel girder from
                                                          (Wed)
the Motor Parkway overpass at Little Neck Parkway yesterday./ The
                               in Queens
steel reclaimed here and elsewhere/ in the present drive will total
4,000 tons.  Parks already has 300 tons of tanks and guns, some of
them captured from the Germans, stored at Flushing Asphalt plant.
                          (end)

and the label is rubber-stamped (diagonally):

FROM GELWICKS
LONG ISLAND CITY

whatever that might represent.

Not all Motor Parkway bridges were built by Vanderbilt and his LIMP company; some were built later by Robert Moses's LI parkways crews to cross (and thwart) the LIMP; when Northern State was widened in 1969, the two at Lakeville and New Hyde Park Roads were torn down. Bob Miller was fortunate enough to take a photo of the LIMP and Lakeville Road bridges being demolished. Since so many people plagiarize Bob's work and steal his photos without credit, he was not willing to let me reproduce his sharp original but did kindly tell me that it had been reproduced and could be found. BINGO! I don't like being devious, especially with Bob, an old friend, but I found what i thought was an uncopyrighted reproduction, from an otherwise-unprovenanced copy of the Tower Times (of North Shore Towers), and I had posted it, in all its as-printed graininess, here. Unfortunately, the photo was from an article by Panelist Fred Hadley (Part II, Page 11) in Volume 3, Issue 8, of August 1997, and was copyrighted, so I have removed it and hereby apologize for inadvertently breaking copyright.

The bridge in question carried the LIMP, not Lakeville Road, over the NSP; it is "AT" (in good Lawn Guylundese) Lakeville Road. The bridge carrying Lakeville Road over the NSP is the one in the background (east).

One of the many respondents to the LIMP article in NEWSDAY on 14 Jun 2001 said she had old photos of the LIMP in East Williston which I might see and reproduce! They turned out to be an aerial view of the Wheatley Hills Golf Club and a shot of Roslyn Road looking north at the bridge; both taken ca. 1937. There were two prints of the aerial view, one yellowed and one fresh and black, but both apparently printed from a common negative. These vanished but the lady was kind enough to allow me to reshoot them 17 Nov 03.

I had posted these at high resolution, almost uncropped, with their annotated reverses, plus an enlargement of the Golf Club bridge portion (the Hillside Avenue bridge is shown looking down along the RoW so nothing shows and I did not enlarge it).

(~1937 photo from anonymous source - all rights reserved to source)
[Thumbnailed image - click on picture for larger image]

Above is the 8"x10" B&W print, with Hillside Avenue near the bottom, today's Andrews Lane in the lower left, Orchard Meadow looping in the center left around what is noted on the back as "Wheatley Ridge - East Williston - Spring - 1937 -with ", Meadow Lane, Shadow Lane, and Ridge Road to the lower left (SW) of the curved Club boundary, I. U. Willets Road at the far top right running left (W), and Northern State Parkway and Glen Cove (Guinea Woods) Road running N-S diagonally along the upper right [NSP is to the left and GC(GW)R to the right]. The bridge over the LIMP carrying the Club service road is in the right center - enlarged view follows:.

Next, here are the reverse of that B&W photo (turned 90° and cropped) {the yellowed print (approx. 5"x7"), and its reverse are no longer available}:

(~1937 photo from anonymous source - all rights reserved to source)
[Thumbnail image - click on picture for larger image]

The yellowed print reverse was marked (vertically) "Chas. Stopyer {or some such} - 140-20 Seaford Ave. / Flushing" and the text read:

ROAD GOING OVER HILLSIDE AVE. IS OLD "MOTOR

PARKWAY" IT FOLLOWED THE GOLF COURSE, TURNED WEST

AND CROSSED ROSLYN ROAD - IT WAS A PRIVATE ROAD -

WITH NO SPEED LIMIT & AND CARS WERE KNOWN TO

GO AS HIGH AS 40 MPH - A TOLL BOOTH FOR THE

ROAD WAS AT JERICHO TURNPIKE -

AS YOU CAN SEE, 24 RIDGE HAD NOT

YET BEEN BUILT-

Spring (Airplane View)

1937

[24 Ridge is (now) in the NE portion of the loop of Ridge Road.]

Turning to the third photo, it shows Roslyn Road, N/B, looking from just south of today's Robbins Drive [on the right (E)], with a concrete or block wall along the W side of Roslyn Road and tall gate posts at the break in the wall immediately S of the bridge where the entry ramp came down to grade, apparently inside retaining walls. The Roslyn Toll Lodge is out of sight about 150' to the left of the posts. There appears to be a less- dramatic wall on the right (E) with an opening and ramp opposite the posts and which ramp is still there today (please bear in mind that the Toll Lodge and the houses along Robbins are private property and the residents claim to OWN the RoW north of their houses!):

The reverse is marked:

Roslyn Road -

Looking north -

Bridge of old Motor Pkway.

About -

1937

(This scene today can be seen at Roslyn Road Toll Lodge on LIMP page 12.

Here are two U. S. Army Air Corps aerial photographs of Mitchel Field, dated 8-10-24 (left), looking east, and 5-5-31 (right), looking north-west across the Field to Roosevelt Field:

[1924 (L) and 1931 (R) U. S. Army Air Corps photos]

Examining each carefully revealed the following:

[1924 U. S. Army Air Corps photo]

The 1924 picture, looking east clearly shows the LIMP going cross-country from the upper left to the top center, dark with trees, and bending slightly southeast at the left margin (at Whaleneck Avenue - today's Merrick Avenue - where the large white buildings are). The LIRR Central Branch is immediately north (left) of the Field) with Stewart even further, almost to the LIMP. If you look carefull at the dark patch in the upper left across the LIMP, you are almost certainly looking at the Meadowbrook Lodge entry ramp, the curved line just to the right of the intersection of the RoW and what was (pre-Salisbury/Eisenhower Park) School Street/Newbridge Road. The dark line running from the upper right margin to the top ¾ from the left to the right is the Hempstead Turnpike/Conklin Street.

[1931 U. S. Army Air Corps photo]

The 1931 picture, looking north-west across the Field to Roosevelt Field, is even easier to interpret (at the left (west) end. I well remember the gas holder at the LILCO plant on Stewart just east of Clinton. Directly above the gas holder is the curved white line of the LIMP coming across from Clinton, which goes off diagonally to the upper right; I would guess that the straight road coming in to it's left (west) was a continuation today's 11th Street. You can easily follow the RoW above the long, narrow dark triangle along the north side of Stewart and over the bridge (Avenue C or Whaleneck?) above the small very dark triangle. Post-cum-Whaleneck-cum-Merrick Avenue seems to zizag through the canted fields beyond the canted hangar, with two pair of reviewing stands on the west and east sides of the nearer (east) field. Directly below the holder is the LIRR Central Branch, and, if you go north "through" the canted hangar and to the north end of the fields, you come to the RR bridge (over Avenue C or Whaleneck?) which is still there opposite 1-800-Flowers at 1600 Stewart in the loop of the Meadowbrook Parkway/Stewart Avenue cloverleaf. Old Country Road is quite clear north of Roosevelt Field and I would guess that weird bridge jumping up across the northeast corner, but with a solid pier dead center, is something temporary to do with an auto race course or some such.

I solicit (and welcome) knowledgeable comments on these two interpretations.

1909 LIRR Vanderbilt Cup Timetable

Art Huneke, old railroad friend and noted LIRR photographer, was kind enough to scan this 1909 special Vanderbilt Cup race timetable for me and allow me to reproduce it here; that's quite a favor, since I bid on one on eBay and gave up when the price went into the collector's realm where I will not tread, However, another friend (thats some friend!) GAVE me my own copy:

(Thumbnail images - click on pictures to see full, sharp images)

That race was run (as were the trains, naturally) on Saturday, 30 October 1909.
Now, to make it easier on you, especially those who have no image processing
capability (or desire), here is an enlargement of the general course area,
itself, from Garden City on the west to Central Park (now Bethpage) on the east:

and, even larger, Art's enlargement from his LIRR site:

1909 VC LIRR Sched course

The southern leg of the course, that immediately alongside, north, of the LIRR's Central Branch, was on the RoW of the then one-year-old Motor Parkway.

What is especially interesting about this special timetable is that it shows that the LIRR's Central Branch (the former Central RR of LI), which had closed down as a scheduled passenger line in 1896 or 1897, was running scheduled passenger trains in 1909 (albeit only specials and for only one day)!

It also misspells "Long Island Rail Road", condensing "Rail Road", the actual and legal name, into "Railroad", a common misnomer (even by the LIRR, itself).

LIMP Auto Tags/Plates/Badges

(Toll Plates)

The earliest version of the Easy Pass was a series of metal tags, plates, or badges issued by the Long Island Motor Parkway, Inc., to frequent motorists; here is a photo (left) from Panel Member Al Velocci, courtesy of Panel Member Howard Kroplick, of what appears to be a 1930-31 Cadillac V-8 sedan with undated tag #421:

(17 Sep 05)

Because so little detail shows, I lightened the image dramatically (right) to no avail.

From the collections of members of the Antique License Plate Collectors come these additional sixteen porcelain Motor Parkway plates:

1925 #18, 1935 #23, undated #25, and 1927 #25:

[AT&T Worldnet "light" images missing - see PROBLEM] (17 Sep 05)

1925 LIMP tag 18 1935 LIMP tag 23 undated LIMP tag 25 1927 LIMP tag 25

1934 #25, 1937 #31, 1926 #52, and undated #70:

1934 LIMP tag 25 1937 LIMP tag 31 1926 LIMP tag 52 undated LIMP tag 70

1932 #93, 1924 #95, undated #122, and 1929 #122:

1932 LIMP tag 93 1924 LIMP tag 95 undated LIMP tag 122 1929 LIMP tag 122

Illegible date #140, 1933 #226, 1928 #450, and undated #603:

illegible date LIMP tag 140 1933 LIMP tag 226 1928 LIMP tag 450 undated LIMP tag 603
(Images courtesy of Panel Associate R. Sisler, Apr 01)

[Some of these tags are badly warped and some only appear that way because
of parallax when the entire set was photographed as a huge array.]

1935 LIMP tag #1 is {28 Feb/01 Mar 02} on eBay at $750, Item #1079036530!

Seller (an ALPCA member) states {edited slightly}: "There are only a couple of dozen surviving Motor Parkway Plates and only two other known 1935 issues. Of those, one is a dug-up plate and the other is the mate to this plate. - - - A total of three #1 Parkway plates were sold to a collector about ten years ago {as of Mar 2002}. They came from the family of a chauffeur for the family they were originally issued to. I understand this family was friendly with Vanderbilt. Subsequently, the three #1 plates changed hands and I acquired two of them. What was not known to collectors was the existence of an additional 1935 #1 plate that the chauffeur�s family retained. Some years later I acquired this plate from the family {it is a porcelain plate with exceptional gloss and no scratches}. The only chipping is at the lower mounting holes; interestingly, the mate has chipping at the same areas indicating that both plates were used."

Williston Park resident Bob Valentine sent in this B&W photo of his red 1934{?} plate #459:

Compare it to #603, above. We also know absolutely that 1934 plate #175 (possibly Mrs. Whitney's) is black-on-white (I hope to get a photo).

Panel Friend Pat Masterson sent me this tag photo from his own Website: (21 Sep 2004)

Panel Member Ron Ridolph sent me (via his son Gary) this copy of "AUG 30 1912" day ticket, #1132, issued by the "Hillside Ave. Lodge" good "FOR ONE ROUND TRIP, WITHOUT PRIVILEGE OF LEAVING THE PARKWAY" for the sum of one whole Yankee dollar:

The original ticket is in virtually mint condition. Wonder whose car bore tag number 40357?

He also has this 1930 "Rocky Hill Road (Springfield Blvd.) Lodge" ticket, #2201, of 06 Apr 1930:

Along the bottom of an announcement of a signing for his book on the Toll Lodges (see the LIMP Bibliography), Al Velocci included this as a bottom border:

(04 Nov 04)