Mystery Foto #69 Solved: The Long Island Motor Parkway Bridge over Colonial Springs Road
Steve Lucas forwarded this weekend's Mystery Foto.
Answer to the Mystery Foto Question:
-Where was this Motor Parkway bridge located in Suffolk County? Hint: This was a "parkway bridge" where the Motor Parkway went on top of the bridge.
The Mystery Foto was the Long Island Motor Parkway Bridge over Half Hollow Hills Road (now Colonial Springs Road) located in West Deer Park and Wyandanch (in 1974 changed to Wheatley Heights.)
Congrats to Greg O., Brian McCarthy, Tim Ivers, Leroy Douglas, Erci Shaffer and Frank Femenias for correctly identifying the Mystery Foto.
Enjoy,
Howard
1941 Hagstrom map showing the bridge's location.
The 1928 Motor Parkway Atlas indicated the bridge as a parkway bridge over Half Hollows Hills Road.
A 1928-1930 aerial of the area. Note the Pinelawn Cemetery (later Long Island National Cewmetery) on the left
A 1930 aerial of Wyandanch and "West Deer Park".
A close-up shows the bridge.
Just north of the bridge, the Bablyon Lodge was going to be built on Lee Avenue.
This was a survey schematic of the "toll-gate inn" that was never built.
Comments
Colonial Springs Road Parkway Bridge
I’ve come across this photo in the past. It’s the LIMP traveling. over Colonial Springs Rd in Wheatly Heights. Pretty sure this photo is from the 1960’s, looking west ; I think.
The Colonial Springs Road bridge in Wheatley Heights
This looks like the Motor Parkway bridge on Colonial Springs Road in Wheatley Heights, Wyandanch when I was growing up. There is now a shopping strip and post office across the street and a VFW Hall on the east side of the former bridge. There was also a Motor Parkway bridge which ran across Little East Neck Road just north of Colonial Springs Road in what I knew as Wyandanch. Both bridges were razed by the Town of Babylon in the early 1960s. I wish you would show photos of the Vanderbilt estate in Wheatley Heights, now known as Madonna Heights School for Girls
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From Howard Kroplick:
I will research the Madonna Heights School property and post it later this week.
Parkway Bridge over Ruland Road.
this is the bridge over colonial springs road in deer park/Wyandanch looking east.
This could be the Colonial Springs LIMP PKWY Bridge over Colonial Springs Rd in Wheatley Heights, Suffolk. Another possibility is the elusive sister bridge nearby, the Little East Neck Rd Pkwy Bridge. I’m going with Colonial Springs on this one. Any pictures out there of the Little East Neck Rd Bridge?
Are you sure that is a 1930s Hagstrom map? - I am guessing that map is from the 1940’s/1950’s. Republic Aviation was named in 1939.
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From Howard Kroplick
Good catch..Likely 1941.
According to Babylon Town Board Minutes: Volume 3: 1909-1915, page 23 in the Babylon Town Clerk’s Office in North Lindenhurst, the Babylon Town Board agreed to allow LI Motor Parkway officials to build two overpass bridges in Babylon on April 14, 1910. “Mr Pardington came before the board on behalf of the Motor Parkway and stated that he would build (the bridges) as requested by the board. The minutes indicate that the bridges would cross Half Hollow Hills Road (today Colonial Springs Road) and East Neck Road (today Little East Neck Road). The April 18, 1910 issue of the South Side Signal (Babylon) reported that: “A.R. Pardington, second vice-president of the Motor Parkway, was again before the board with a petition asking town authorities for permission to place bridge supports twenty-four feet apart on two highways in the northern portion of the town. The parkway is to pass through the section of the town near Wyandanch and Mr. Pardington is willing to bridge the highways but does not wish to span the throughfares their entire width. Source: South Side Signal, April 16, 1910: 3. The bridges stood from 1910 until they were demolished by the Babylon Town Highway Department in the early 1960s.
I forgot to thank Babylon Town Clerk, Carol Quirk, and her fine staff for cooperating so well with me this morning in providing the Babylon Town Board Minutes: 1909-1915.