Mystery Friday Foto #3; Solved; The Powell Ave. Bridge Under Construction
Did you identify the Powell Ave. bridge being built?
Identify;
- The location, orientation of the photographer and roads
Looking North, the Motor Parkway going under the Powell Ave bridge in Bethpage (Central Park) during construction.
- Structure being built
Powell Avenue Bridge in Central Park (Bethpage)
- Date
September 1908
- The building and its owner to the left of the photo
The Motor Parkway House in Central Park (Bethpage) owned by Mathias Romscho.
Congrats to David Miller, Steve Lucas and Frank Femenias for identifying the Powell Ave. Bridge.
Kudos to Frank Femenias for supporting photos (see my comment below)
Greg O.
Close ups
A keen observation by Frank Femenias in the comments;
"Could this be the Motor Parkway House, now part of a larger house on Barbara St?"
With the appearance, size and shape of the original Motor Parkway Hotel, Frank may be correct in his assessment. Upon checking land records, the house he references at 36 Barbara St. was built in 1933, with the houses on either side built in 1926, and 1923 respectively. It is also notable that the location at 36 Barbara would be a little farther than what we see in the mystery photo.
It is possible that the Motor Parkway Hotel structure was moved to the Barbara St location and expanded in 1933 since its resemblance to the Parkway Hotel is too similar to ignore.
However, a 1953 aerial of 36 Barbara St. (circled in red) shows a different footprint than the house we see today, so the Motor Parkway Hotel's fate likely remains a mystery.
Comments
This is the Powell ave bridge being built near Central Park (Bethpage), probably around July or August of 1908. The photographer is facing north and the “Motor Parkway house” building is visible on the left. Maybe the building was owned by the “Nibbe” family who owned the farm nearby.
We are looking north at the intersection of Powell Avenue and the LIMP in Central Park (Bethpage). The Powell Avenue highway bridge is under construction sometime during the summer of 1908. The building on the left is the Motor Parkway House, a hotel owned and operated by Mathias Romscho.
Thanks to Gary Hammond, it’s the Motor Parkway Hotel on Powell Av in Central Park (Bethpage), built by Mathias Romscho of Germany, age 42. View is looking north on Motor Parkway during Powell Av bridge construction, Aug-Sep 1908.
Alternate view below of Powell Av bridge construction through the Nibbe’s farmway bridge construction
Could this be the Motor Parkway House, now part of a larger house on Barbara St?