The Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C. is home to many species of birds, including a special eagle from New York City. You will find it perched outside the birdhouse. This stone monument is a remnant of the original Penn Station, designed by McKim, Mead, and White. It was one of 22 eagles that lined the cornice of the colossal train station. When the station was demolished in 1963, the eagles were scattered throughout the country.
Pennsylvania Central Railroad donated the eagle to the zoo after encouragement from Smithsonian Secretary Dillon Ripley. According to a sign located next to the statue, the eagle arrived in D.C. in 1965. It temporarily moved to Montreal for the Expo 67, where it was on display in the U.S. Pavilion. You can see it from above in this photo!
The eagle at the zoo is made of Tennessee pink marble and was designed by German-born sculptor Adolph Weinman. You may think it resembles the eagle on the Walking Liberty Half Dollar, also designed by Weinman. In addition to the stone eagles, Weinman crafted four pairs of allegorical figures titled “Day and Night” for Penn Station. One of those pairs, along with a pair of eagles, serves as the centerpiece of a fountain in Kansas City.
A PIGEON ON THE HIGHLINE
Rendering Courtesy of Iván Argote
A giant pigeon will soon be keeping watch over 10th Avenue. Iván Argote’s sculpture Dinosaur lands on the High Line this October as the next High Line Plinth commission. Perched atop the intersection of 10th Ave and 30th Street, Dinosaur is a colossal, hyper-realistic sculpture of a pigeon, cast in aluminum and hand-painted. “The name Dinosaur makes reference to the sculpture’s scale and to the pigeon’s ancestors who millions of years ago dominated the globe, as we humans do today,” said Argote in a press release. “The name also serves as a reference to the dinosaur’s extinction. Like them, one day we won’t be around anymore, but perhaps a remnant of humanity will live on—as pigeons do—in the dark corners and gaps of future worlds. I feel this sculpture could generate an uncanny feeling of attraction, seduction, and fear among the inhabitants of New York.” Dinosaur will be in view through Spring 2026.
ROSIE
ROSIE J-WALKS AND NOW WE HAVE SIGNS FOR DRIVERS TO BE WARNED OF HER VENTURES AROUND THE ISLAND.
Roosevelt Island: Art, Memory, and Community | Panel Discussion
Tuesday, October 8th @ 7 PM, RIVAA Gallery
Join us for a discussion in conjunction with the current photographic exhibition, Roosevelt Island: The Vision Revisited. RIVAA will bring together three distinguished panelists, who through their talent and remarkable efforts, have contributed to the beauty and quality of our built environment on Roosevelt Island.
– Amanda Matthews is a sculptor and creator of The Girl Puzzle, a tribute to groundbreaking investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Through her reporting, Nelly Bly changed how mental illness was treated in this country.
– Gina Pollara, Executive Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park from 2006-2013, oversaw the construction of the memorial designed by architect Louis I. Kahn to commemorate the 32nd President of the United States.
– Susan Rosenthal, President and CEO of Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) from 2016-2020, conceived the idea of a monument to Nelly Bly.
– Chris Vail, exhibiting photographer of Roosevelt Island: The Vision Revisited will moderate.
CREDITS
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
By most accounts, the Lincoln Tunnel is the world’s busiest vehicular tunnel (the type used by cars and trucks). It actually consists of three levels in a tube, and accommodates about 43 million vehicles per year, or about 120,000 per day.
It was opened in 1937, ten years after the Holland Tunnel (about three miles south) began handling traffic, and a Northern New York man was instrumental to the success of both tunnel systems.
Charles Watson Murdock, a native of Crown Point, New York, worked closely with some of the best engineers in American history, playing a key role in solving a problem unique to tunnels for vehicles with gasoline-powered engines.
Charles was born on February 11, 1889, to Andrew and Mary Murdock. After entering the Sherman Collegiate Institute (a prep school in Moriah), he attended Middlebury College in Vermont, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then RPI in Troy, graduating in 1912 as a civil engineer. Following a stint with the New York Telephone Company, he accepted a position with the Public Service Commission, 1st District, New York City in 1913.
During the next several years, a pressing problem developed in Murdock’s field of work. The automobile had taken hold in America, and with the proliferation of cars in New York City, gridlock became routine. There were far too many vehicles on the road, clogging thoroughfares with major traffic jams, particularly at bridges.
Ferries helped, but the wait was long. The solution of adding more bridges and more ferries carried several additional problems. After studying the issues, experts decided that tunnels were the best option.
Plenty of tunnels had been dug in the past to accommodate trains, water pipelines, and subway systems. The advent of the automobile introduced new problems in anything but the shortest of tunnels. The gasoline engine emitted poisonous gases, primarily carbon monoxide. The problem vexing engineers was how to discharge those deadly gases from tunnels to make the air safe.
No method had yet been devised to fill long tunnels (like the planned 1.6-mile Holland) with safe and breathable air. Slow traffic, stalled cars, and accidents could keep citizens within a tunnel for lengthy periods. All the while, every vehicle would be pumping poisonous gas into an enclosed space, with deadly results.
From among several options, the method proposed by Clifford Holland was chosen. On his team of engineers was Charles Murdock, who was then employed by the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission and the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission. (Clifford Holland died just two days before the two tunnels from east and west were joined. The project was renamed in his honor.)
Several dozen structures requiring innovative and exceptional engineering skills have been called “the Eighth Wonder of the World.” Among them is the Holland Tunnel, “the world’s first mechanically ventilated underwater vehicular tunnel.” That long-winded description is very important — the Holland’s machine-powered air-handling system became the standard blueprint for automobile tunnels the world over for the next seven decades.
Charles Murdock was deeply involved in its design, development, and implementation. In 1921, he conducted subway ventilation tests at the University of Illinois. Further work— highly detailed, exhaustive experimentation—was done in a test tunnel created in an old mine near Bruceton, Pennsylvania, duplicating the Holland site. The data from those testing facilities formed a basis for the creation of the Holland Tunnel’s ventilation system.
In the process, the engineering team also developed and used the first reliable automated carbon monoxide detector (with kudos from miners and canaries alike, no doubt).
The giant tubes that formed the highway tunnels were separated into three horizontal layers. The middle layer handled traffic; the bottom layer conducted fresh air throughout the tunnel; and the top layer pulled the poisonous gases upward for removal.
The system was driven by four 10-story ventilation towers, two on each side of the river. Together they housed 84 fans of 8 feet in diameter—half provided fresh air, which flowed through slits in the tunnel floor, and the other half expelled “dirty” air and gases skyward. The system provided a complete change in the tunnel’s air every 90 seconds.
Should it ever fail, thousands of lives were at risk. For that reason, extreme safety measures were built into the system. Power to the fans was supplied from six independent sources, three on each side of the river, and each capable of powering the entire tunnel on its own.
Due to Murdock’s great expertise, he was later chosen to oversee the installation of the ventilation system on the Lincoln Tunnel. Fifty-six fans performed the air-handling duties, and twenty men covered three shifts around the clock, monitoring the carbon monoxide instruments. Motorists commented that the air they breathed in the Lincoln Tunnel was far cleaner than what they breathed daily in the city.
In 1938, the year after the Lincoln Tunnel opened, Murdock’s presentation, “Ventilating the Lincoln Vehicular Tunnel” was made before the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers, setting the standard for similar tunnels around the world.
By 1947, ten years after the Lincoln Tunnel opened, Murdock’s work was praised as a modern wonder. It had operated perfectly for a full decade — none of the backup systems were called into use during that time.
Though he was known principally for his work on the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels from the 1920s through the 1960s, Murdock’s skills were called upon for many other large projects. He was a consulting mechanical engineer on the addition of second tunnels to four sites on the Pennsylvania Turnpike — the Allegheny, Blue Mountain, Kittatinny, and Tascarora tunnels.
Among jobs in other states, Murdock consulted on the East River Mountain Tunnel in West Virginia; Big Walker Mountain Tunnel in Virginia; and the Baltimore Tunnel (Outer Tunnel) in Maryland. He also worked on the Riverfront & Elysian Fields Expressway in Louisiana, and Route I-695’s Connector D in Boston.
Charles Murdock remained with the Port Authority of New York for more than 25 years. The Crown Point native is linked to some of the most important engineering work of the twentieth century. He died in Volusia, Florida in 1970 at the age of 81.
Roosevelt Island: Art, Memory, and Community | Panel Discussion
Tuesday, October 8th @ 7 PM, RIVAA Gallery
Join us for a discussion in conjunction with the current photographic exhibition, Roosevelt Island: The Vision Revisited. RIVAA will bring together three distinguished panelists, who through their talent and remarkable efforts, have contributed to the beauty and quality of our built environment on Roosevelt Island.
– Amanda Matthews is a sculptor and creator of The Girl Puzzle, a tribute to groundbreaking investigative journalist Nellie Bly. Through her reporting, Nelly Bly changed how mental illness was treated in this country.
– Gina Pollara, Executive Director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park from 2006-2013, oversaw the construction of the memorial designed by architect Louis I. Kahn to commemorate the 32nd President of the United States.
– Susan Rosenthal, President and CEO of Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) from 2016-2020, conceived the idea of a monument to Nelly Bly.
– Chris Vail, exhibiting photographer of Roosevelt Island: The Vision Revisited will moderate.
CREDITS
NEW YORK ALMANACK Illustrations, from above: Lincoln Tunnel under construction, 1936; Charles Watson Murdock; the three layers in the Lincoln Tunnel tube; and a Lincoln Tunnel ventilation tower in Manhattan.JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Anew video short by Unforgotten Films gives viewers a rare glimpse inside the crumbling walls of New York City’s only landmarked ruin, the abandoned hospital on Roosevelt Island. Originally built in 1856 and designed by architect James Renwick, Jr., it was the nation’s first hospital dedicated to the treatment of smallpox. The short film highlights efforts to stabilize the structure and challenges associated with preserving the abandoned site.
The Renwick building closed by the 1950s and sat abandoned for decades. In 1972, the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Four years later it earned landmark designation from the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Despite this designation and efforts to stabilize the structure in the 1990s, the ruin continued to deteriorate with the north wing collapsing in a snowstorm in 2007. Today you will find a fence around the property and various pieces of metal scaffolding to support parts of the structure.
The dilapidated ruin stands in sharp contrast to the modern Manhattan skyline and Roosevelt Island’s well-manicured Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. Large-scale art installations often activate the park, taking over its sprawling lawns and iconic white steps. The most recent work to appear at the park was a massive greenhouse filled with plush flowers by artist CJ Hendry. Could the smallpox hospital ruin be activated in this way? The non-profit Friends of the Ruin envisions the site as a permanent COVID-19 memorial. Unforgotten Minute encourages viewers to contemplate the potential adaptive reuse of New York City’s overlooked locations, inspiring us to see how these forgotten sites can be revitalized and reintegrated into urban life.
OUR SUBWAY STATION IS GETTING A LONG NEEDED CLEANUP:
ROOF PAINTED WALLS PAINTED RED INTERIOR TRIM PAINTED OUTDOOR VENTS CHANGED OUTDOOR DRAINS CLEANED WINDOWS CLEANED- DE GRAFFITTED AND POLISHED BOOTH SCRUBBED AND VENTS CLEANED UPPER LEVEL BENCHES VARNISHED BROKEN METALWORK REMOVED LOWER LEVEL AND MORE
BROKEN METAL WORK REMOVED AND A REALLY CLEAN UPPER LEVEL. IT EVEN SMELLS CLEAN!!!
TRAM STATION NEED A CLEANUP TIME.BOTH TRAM STATIONS ARE BEATUP AND GRUBBY. TIME FOR A MASSIVE CLEANUP OF THE TRAM STATIONS. THE MANHATTAN LOWER LEVEL AND ELEVATORS ARE DIRTY. THE STATIONS BOTH NEED A FACELIFT. EVERY NIGHT THE STATIONS ARE CLOSED AND APPARENTLY THE MANHATTAN STATION IS BEING IGNORED.
POMA- TIME TO CALL IN THE CLEAN TIME!!!!!
CREDITS
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Today was one of those days where one does all possible to avoid the East side of Manhattan. I was one of those who could not avoid the experience.
Having taken the 6:55 a.m. m. NYC Ferry I appreciated the sunrise over the East River. After an appointment on East 38th Street, I had to get to East 53rd Street by a very slow moving bus. After that I had to make my way to 5th Avenue and 51st Street. At Park Avenue I was detoured to 52nd Street to go west. Just east of 5th Avenue, I spotted the Olympic Tower. Remembering there was a passage, to entered to a bright, cheerful newly refashioned arcade. Bright art and a lovely cafe were located in the lobby, a quiet respite from the Rockefeller Center area a block away.
Lots of seating for just relaxing.
A coffee bar or the Tartinery Cafe in the lobby.
The perfumery adds a touch of color!
The storefront adjacent to the lobby has an eclectic selection of art some interesting and some beyond explanation!
SOME HISTORY FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Atrium A midblock pedestrian atrium, originally known as Olympic Place, is included in Olympic Tower’s design. The atrium, connecting 51st and 52nd Streets, covers 8,766 sq ft (814.4 m2) and is designed as the office lobby.[16][26] The atrium contains two stories and is 34.5 ft (10.5 m) high on average.[12][21] The upper tier of the atrium contains retail space,[12] and the atrium also contains a three-tiered waterfall.[27][28] The waterfall is built above a driveway for garbage trucks.[29]
The atrium is enclosed at either end with revolving doors and, as designed, had minimal exterior signage advertising its presence.[16] When Olympic Tower was being developed, the city allowed developers to enclose their public spaces as long as these spaces had heating and cooling systems. The city also incentivized developers to build enclosed spaces by awarding higher development bonuses for public spaces that were heated and cooled; this legislation was changed after Olympic Tower was constructed.[21][b] Additionally, the atrium was originally sparsely outfitted and had few chairs and tables.[30][31] Under city laws regulating privately owned public spaces, Olympic Tower’s owners were obligated to provide a minimum number of trees, light fixtures, benches, movable chairs, and planters.[32] A writer for The Washington Post stated in 1992 that the atrium’s “white chairs discourage lingering”.[33]
Moed de Armas and Shannon renovated the atrium in 2019.[34][35][36] As part of the renovation, Triangulated Passage Work, a set of sculptural artworks by Liam Gillick, was installed in the atrium.[34][35] The works consist of five sculptured panels mounted on the walls.[34] The atrium’s lighting system was designed to be active 24 hours a day, but the intensity of the light throughout the day was adjusted to align with the circadian rhythms. A new cafe was installed in the atrium as well.[34][35] As part of the renovation, a green wall with five types of plants was installed on parts of the atrium’s walls.[35]
THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE SOON.
CREDITS
WIKIPEDIA
JUDITH BERDY JEWISH MUSEUM ESTHER COHEN
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
A rich display of humanity on the grass and benches of Depression-era Tompkins Square Park
Gossipers, nappers, confidantes, playmates—Morris Shulman’s 1938 painting “Tompkins Square Park” is a stylized portrait of dozens of neighborhood characters congregating at this East Village park on a lush night in Depression-era Manhattan. The vibrant palette and expressive faces are captivating. Mothers chat while tending to an unseen baby in a bassinet. A little girl in a yellow dress holds an ice cream pop. A fellow in forgotten-man garb sits with his chin tucked into his chest, seemingly asleep.
Born in 1912, Shulman came to New York in the 1930s to study at the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League, and Hans Hofmann School of Art, according to incollect.com. Perhaps best known for his postwar works of Abstract Expressionism, he taught at many schools around the city, including the Brooklyn Museum School and the School of Visual Art.
Much about Shulman’s life and work is unknown to me. But at some point, this visual storyteller made his way to Tompkins Square Park and created an almost folk art–like tapestry of humanity sharing the grass and benches of one of New York’s oldest green spaces.
It’s part of the collection at the Jewish Museum.
Adult Education Class c. 1940 The Jewish Museum Collection
TIME-LIFE BUILDING IS NOW 1271 6th Ave.
“A bas-relief in Bronze reproduces a style of type inspired by the 18th century English type founder William Caslon, symbolizing the beauty and function of the fundamental communication tool of Time & Life.” (Time-Life Building)
The wonderful sidewalk and lobby terrazzo remains.
THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE SOON.
CREDITS
EPHEMERAL NEW YORK
JUDITH BERDY JEWISH MUSEUM ESTHER COHEN
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Somehow in 1887 Martin B. Brown convinced William Milne Grinnell to design the new headquarters for his Excelsior Power Company. Grinnell, while trained as an architect at Yale, never practiced. According to the 1922 State of New York Thirty-Third Annual Report of the State Hospital Commission, “He devoted himself largely to travel and the collections of works of art, and having a penchant for oriental art, spent much time in Egypt, Algiers, Tunis and Persia, occasionally extending his trips to China and Japan.”
Nonetheless, Grinnell paused in his travels long enough to design Brown’s building.
Brown’s firm, originally called the Excelsior Steam Power Company at 13 Spring Street, converted steam to electricity. As the population became familiar with electricity and its safety became more apparent, demand increased. Brown, who was also the printer for the City of New York, needed a more suitable building. (The very interesting Brown was also Fire Commissioner, President of the Queens Ice Company, Vice President of the 19th Ward National Bank, invented the steering wheel for fire trucks and built the first “cable road” in New York at 125th Street.)
The seven-story building at 33-38 Gold Street was completed in 1888, a sturdy red-brick Romanesque design with Queen Anne touches. Red terra cotta tiles, rough-cut stone blocks and multiple heavy arches gave interest to the substantial façade.
Above the entrance a cast-metal sign pronounced the building’s name over the terra cotta date – perhaps the structure’s single most interesting feature. Writing in the AIGA Journal of Design over a century later, Paul Shaw called the sign a“gutsy nameplate” and said “the proto-Art Nouveau letters, one of the great examples of architectural lettering in New York, are cast in metal and affixed by screws. Oddly, the date does not match the nameplate. Instead, it is cast in terracotta in Gothic revival style.”
Photo AIGA Journal of Design
Along with the power company and his printing business, Brown filled the building with other printing firms and jewelry manufacturers. In September of 1891, an exhibition was held here demonstrating a new printing press that “will print 24,000 to 40,000 shop bills in an hour and will use two miles of paper in that time.”
Other tenants included Patterson Press, Clark & Zagalla printers, C. P. Goldsmith jewelers and Stern Brothers & Co., a jewelry manufacturer who remained for decades.
In the first decades the new building seemed cursed by fire. A fire on Fulton Street on July 29, 1894 damaged the rear of the building. Four years later, on June 1, 1898 the Clark and Zugalla company on the fourth floor caught fire doing $3000 damage. Again, on January 25, 1901 the building caught fire. Through it all the substantial building never sustained serious structural damage.
The Excelsion Power Company building in 1895 — “King’s Photographic Views of New York” — author’s collection
No. 33 Gold Street’s back luck was not limited to fire. On September 10, 1892, 15-year old Frank Cowey got his hand caught in a pipe-cutting machine in the shop of E. F. Keating. The boy walked, with help, to the Chambers Street Hospital where doctors performed an amputation of a finger. When the ether cup was removed from his face, the boy was dead. At the inquest a week later, the jury exonerated the doctor from all blame in the matter. It decided that “death was caused by an injection of cocaine administered by Dr. Cushing with proper judgment and was in a measure due to ‘a peculiar unknown existing idiosyncrasy.’”
Another boy died at No. 33 Gold when 16-year old Francis Faeth, a worker at Stern Brothers, climbed out on the fire escape on the 6th floor to witness the excitement of a jewelers strike on the street below. The boy fell to his death.
Here, in 1921 Special Deputy Commissioner Carleton Simon seized a large quantity of opium and counterfeit revenue stamps in the jewelry firm of Sebastian Fagella. A few months later Fagella was arrested again, this time for producing forged fight tickets for the Dempsey-Carpentier bout.
The narrowness of Gold Street, originally laid out for horse carts and pedestrians, discouraged the growth of retail or office space. No. 33 Gold Street, therefore, retained nearly all of its architectural integrity – never being seriously altered with shop windows or pseudo-modern fronts.
Photo Wally Gobetz
Now converted to residences, its over-sized entrance arch has been bricked up, the original windows have been replaced by an unsympathetic modern mish-mash, and a truly unfortunate choice of a metal “Dutch door” with scalloped edges around the window serves as an entrance.
Nevertheless, one of William Milne Grinnell’s rare buildings – if not his only one – survives remarkably intact and essentially overlooked.
THOMAS ALVA EDISON REMEMBERED ON SITE AT 257 PEARL STREET
THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE SOON.
CREDITS
DAYTONIAN IN MANHATTAN
JUDITH BERDY ESTHER COHEN
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
DO YOU RECEIVE CALENDARS FROM ORGANIZATIONS? INSTEAD OF DISCARDING THEM, DONATE THEM TO THE COLER RESIDENTS. THE CALENDARS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED LEAVE THEM AT THE 531 MAIN STREET DOOR STATION FOR JUDITH BERDY THANK YOU
The 1908 New York to Paris Race crossed continents and was spoofed by Hollywood. The great international auto race traversed the United States and Asia, finally concluding the five-month contest in Paris.
At a time when the automobile industry was still in its infancy and superhighways were years in the future, this race was an event of epic proportions.
On February 12, 1908, six automobiles representing four countries embarked from Times Square in New York City. The event, sponsored by the New York Times and the French newspaper, Le Matin, attracted almost 250,000 spectators at the kick-off is is considered the longest motorsport event ever held.
Prior to the start of the race, a band in the grandstands played each participating nation’s anthem. America’s greatest adventurer President, Theodore Roosevelt, inaugurated the century’s greatest adventure.
The vehicles were decorated with flags, postcards and paraphernalia designating their respective country. An article in the Amsterdam Evening Recorder described the cars as the “queerest looking machines ever devised for motoring purposes.
With their heavy equipment of stores and camp utensils, they resemble an old prairie schooner. One resembled a hook and ladder truck, with long running boards on either side, equipped with axes, shovels, ropes and a dozen other articles.”
The drivers must have been a quite a sight as their “clothing… varied from black bear skins to the pure white fur outfit and head dress of a French team.” Although given the time of year and the topless design of the vehicles, it is no wonder they dressed as though in Siberia (through which the a later leg of the race would travel).
Given the time of year, they would often be traveling on snow-filled and mud-bogged roads. Gas stations few, there was often great distance between settled areas, and communication was poor. The motorists needed to be prepared for almost any situation they might have possibly encountered.
The American car, driven at the start by Montague Roberts, was a four cylinder, four speed, sixty horsepower 1907 Thomas Flyer manufactured by the E.R. Thomas Motor Company in Buffalo. The car was removed from the manufacturer’s showroom floor as a last-minute entry to the race, and equipped with extra gas tanks for the journey.
Traffic in Times Square had ceased a half-hour before the green flag. At the start of the race, the cars (three French, one German, one Italian, and one U.S.) left Times Square at Broadway and 42nd Street and headed north on the road to Albany.
The plan called for the automobiles to drive across New York State to Buffalo, go through Cleveland and Toledo in Ohio, Chicago to Omaha, Nebraska, through Reno to San Francisco.
It was intended, because the race began in February, that the teams would drive from San Francisco north through Seattle and cross the frozen Bering Straits from Alaska to Russia. However, the wintry weather proved some difficulty for the motorists.
According to the Amsterdam Evening Recorder, on the second day of the race, February 13th, three of the automobiles passed through Amsterdam, NY and the Mohawk Valley.
While the remaining three cars encountered heavy snowdrifts and ice in the Hudson Valley, the American, Italian and one of the French cars arrived in Montgomery County “over the Erie towpath” due to the heavy snow drifting in the roadways.
The American and Italian vehicles in the lead followed the pilot car, a 1908 Oldsmobile from Schenectady’s Stevenson & Swift garage, up the towpath.
When the pilot car turned onto River Street at the lower canal bridge, however, not realizing they reached their scheduled stopover in Amsterdam, the racers continued straight ahead. Once the drivers of the pilot car realized the error, they tried unsuccessfully to pursue the racers, instead hitting ice and skidding off an embankment.
The contestants eventually reached Fultonville, crossed the Mohawk River and spent the night in Fonda. Unfortunately, it’s still unknown where in Fonda they stayed over.
The driver of the third place French De Dion-Bouton car lodged at the Hotel Warner in Amsterdam, all continuing their journey through the Mohawk Valley the morning of the 14th.
Because there were no highways crossing the United States at that time, race contestants were forced to travel back roads, across creek beds, and even along the railroad ties of the Union Pacific Railroad.
It was fortunate if one of the members of their racing teams was a mechanic because contestants had to make their own repairs, and from accounts, the repairs were numerous.
People across the globe were hungry for reports of the contestants’ progress as journalists transmitting daily accounts back to their respective newspapers accompanied some of the teams. The accounts included reports on vehicle breakdowns, facing frontier bandits and encounters with wildlife.
Only three of the six original cars finished the 1908 race in Paris. The German car, Protos, arrived in Paris in July, four days before the American car, driven by New York native and E.R. Thomas employee, George Schuster.
The transcontinental race had taken approximately five months and over 22,000 miles to complete. Not, however, without controversy.
Because they rode the train rails (risking possible disqualification) from Ogden, Utah to Seattle, the German team received a penalty of fifteen days being added on to the length of their trip.
The American team, on the other hand, had fifteen days taken off of their time as a reward for attempting to take the original route from San Francisco up to Alaska before the wintry weather forced them back to Seattle to be shipped across the Pacific Ocean to Japan.
Ultimately, the American car was declared the winner.
The Thomas Flyer, after winning the race, disappeared for a number of years until collector Bill Harrah located the car in the 1950s and restored it. The vintage automobile is now exhibited at the National Auto Museum in Reno, Nevada.
As Schuster recounted tales of the race to his great-grandchildren, one of the highlights was lunching with “Buffalo Bill” Cody at his home in Nebraska.
Hollywood took a turn at depicting this event in the 1960s comedy film, The Great Race, starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon.
HAVE A SEAT ON ARLINE’S BENCH, OUTSIDE GALLERY RIVAA
THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE SOON.
CREDITS
Illustrations, from above: 1908 New York to Paris Race starting line in Times Square with De Dion-Bouton (in front), Protos and Motobloc; The New York car Thomas Flyer; Map of the route of the Great Race of 1908; the De Dion-Bouton car at Utica during the race; and the Thomas Flyer on display in Reno, Nevada.
A version of his essay fires appear on the website of he Montgomery County Department of History & Archives. Housed in the 1836 Old Courthouse, the department’s genealogical and historical research library contains a voluminous amount of records that are accessible to the public. Not a lending library, the Dept. of History & Archives welcomes visitors from all over the country in search of their heritage. Click here to make an appointment
NEW YORK ALMANACK JUDITH BERDY ESTHER COHEN
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Now in its 40th year, the Preservation League of NYS‘s annual Excellence Awards program shines a light on the people who are using historic preservation to make all our lives better — through exemplary restoration projects, indispensable publications, individual action, and organizational distinction.
Recipients of the Excellence Award represent the very best of what the League stands for and supports in historic preservation. They exemplify best practices in the field and demonstrate how preservation is integral to building stronger neighborhoods, boosting local economies, tackling the affordable housing crisis, mitigating climate change, opening our eyes to overlooked history, and saving the places that are special to all of us. The Excellence Awards celebrate those who work so hard to protect that shared heritage.
This year’s Award winners will be recognized at a public reception in New York City on Friday, November 15. Event details can be found here.
2024 Awardees include:
Reynold’s Way, Elmira, Chemung County
Located in the heart of Elmira‘s civic historic district, the Reynold’s Way project is comprised of four very different buildings that had all been vacant for many years. Taken together, Reynold’s Way now houses 41 affordable apartments.
“As one of many partners who brought this development to fruition, we are grateful that historic preservation projects such as this one provide much-needed supply to meet the demands of affordable housing,” said Susan Bull, President and CEO of Arbor Housing and Development. “We are thankful for the team of partners who shared in the vision of transforming the buildings and giving residents a beautiful space to call home.”
Little Caribbean, Brooklyn, Kings County
CaribBEING is an organization working at the intersection of Caribbean culture, community and commerce. Since 2017, when CaribBeing organized to get the official designation of the “Little Caribbean” neighborhood in Flatbush, Brooklyn, they have worked to sustain local businesses and support systems to ensure that Caribbean and Caribbean-American communities in Brooklyn and beyond can continue to thrive.
Little Caribbean is home to the largest Caribbean Diaspora community and residents have been making history here for decades. CaribBEING reinforces the fabric of small enterprises that make a neighborhood, and build links between entrepreneurs, larger funders, and developers to center well-being, arts and culture, commerce, and community. They do this through events, exhibits, tours, corporate partnerships, directories, maps, publicity and publications, and network building.
Town of Avon Opera Hall Rehabilitation, Livingston County
The Avon Opera Building is one of the most historically significant structures in the village, occupying a prominent place in the heart of the business district. The Italianate style Opera Hall was built in 1876, and despite suffering vacancy and disrepair for many years, the structure maintained a much of its architectural integrity in both the exterior and interior.
The Town purchased the Opera House and adjoining Bank of Avon buildings in 2005. Initial rehabilitation work joined the two structures from the inside by installing a new central stairwell. Before work began on the third floor Opera Hall, the first and second floor spaces were repurposed for use as local government offices and community service, now home to Avon’s Town Hall.
Restoration of the Opera Hall performance space was the final stage in bringing this historic building back to life. The building is now a jewel in the center of town, creating a sense of community pride. Completing the performance hall renovation, preserving the building’s architectural character and history, was like putting the “cherry on the sundae.”
Canal Commons, Rochester, Monroe County
Canal Commons is a $64 million affordable housing project that has changed the Rochester, NY landscape. Located in the historic Susan B. Anthony neighborhood, Canal Commons was a long-vacant historic warehouse building, which has been converted into a 123-unit apartment building.
The rehabilitation was made possible through incentives including Low Income Housing Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits. In addition to providing high quality affordable housing, most Canal Commons apartments are reserved for residents who have experienced chronic homelessness or are in recovery from mental health and substance use disorders.
The creation of this supportive housing was made possible through the Empire State Housing Initiative (ESSHI) administered through the NYS Office of Mental Health. This project is a mixed-income development that serves families earning up to 60% of the Area Median Income. The project also participated in the NYS Brownfield Cleanup Program and in NYSERDA’s Multifamily New Construction Program, significantly improving the viability of the neighborhood and of Canal Street.
Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells and Sons, Pittsford, Monroe County
Still Standing: The Barns of J.T. Wells & Sons strategically highlights the history, heritage, and present-day plight of Western New York’s agriculturally and architecturally significant Wells barns. This television documentary, produced by Churchbell Creative, LLC., creatively explores ways that remaining barns can regain their relevance through adaptive reuse while fostering community engagement in their preservation before these barns disappear from the landscape entirely due to development, decay, and obsolescence. The documentary is being offered for free to all NYS Public Television Stations courtesy of Rochester-based WXXI Public Media.
Roosevelt Island Lighthouse Restoration, New York County
A comprehensive restoration of the Roosevelt Island Lighthouse led by the team at Thomas A. Fenniman, Architect has ensured that this James Renwick Jr.-designed beacon will continue shining for many more years to come. The project included restoring brick, stone, windows, and doors.
Site improvements at the Lighthouse include installation of a new metal spiral staircase, new electrical and LED accent lighting, resetting and installation of new and salvaged stone pavers and curb stones, and the installation of new recessed ground lighting and controls. The project was completed by the construction team of The LIRO Group and ICC Commonwealth.
Moyer Carriage Lofts, Syracuse, Onondaga County
Syracuse‘s iconic “factory with a house on the roof” was built in stages from 1882-1909. The building where luxury cars were once made has found new life thanks to a careful rehabilitation that has transformed the former factory into 128 affordable apartments — the largest affordable housing project in the city.
Newburgh East End II, Orange County
Completed in 2023, Newburgh‘s East End II is RUPCO’s largest project to date. This $37-million scattered-site development includes 24 building sites spread across a 7-block radius located in New York State’s second-largest historic district. East End II includes the restoration of 10 vacant historic buildings and added new construction on 12 vacant lots – creating a total of 61 new, mixed-income homes plus a community space.
The project includes ten apartments for formerly unhoused persons who now receive rental subsidy and case management services from an Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) grant through the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. In addition, RUPCO partnered with local nonprofit LYNC to adapt and reuse the former United Methodist Church as a commercial and community service hub called “Highpoint.”
Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church, Astoria, Queens County
The restoration of the Art Deco masterpiece Most Precious Blood Church was a monumental 15-year effort aimed at preserving a historic landmark while ensuring its continued service to the community. Key aspects of the restoration included the complete renovation of the exterior facades, belfry, and roof, as well as the careful repair and preservation of the interior Art Deco elements.
The team worked diligently to restore the iconic geometric stained glass windows, the monumental steel frames, and the intricate terrazzo flooring, all of which are critical to the church’s unique character. The aluminum pinnacle adorned with a stylized peacock screen — a symbol of Christian rebirth — was also restored, ensuring it continues to be a beacon of hope against the night sky.
“It is incredibly rewarding to see our team’s hard work and dedication recognized by the Preservation League of NYS,” said Project Architect Carlo Zaskorski. “This award is a testament to our commitment to excellence in preservation, and it reflects the collaborative spirit and expertise that our firm brings to every project.”
Revive 65 Phila, Saratoga Springs, Saratoga County
Through a strategic grassroots campaign, Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation successfully preserved 65 Phila Street, which had fallen into severe neglect. After years of advocating against demolition and working with the city to enforce property maintenance codes, the Foundation acquired the building in May 2021 with the assistance of Mark Haworth, a long-time member of the Foundation.
The Foundation undertook a comprehensive rehabilitation, including environmental remediation, structural stabilization, and exterior restoration. Through monetary and in-kind donations, the “Revive 65” campaign raised over $500,000.
The project, completed in 2024, removed long-standing blight, increased property tax revenue, and demonstrated the community and economic benefits of historic preservation. The property is now on the market, with proceeds going to the Foundation’s Historic Property Redevelopment Fund.
COLER HAS WONDERFUL ART!! MANY TALENTED RESIDENTS ARE TALENTED ARTISTS. THIS PAINTING IS IN THE COLER AUXILIARY OFFICE.
THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE SOON.
CREDITS
GALLERY RIVAA JUDITH BERDY ESTHER COHEN
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Today, September 18th would have been Arline Jacoby’s 100th birthday.
Her daughters, grandchildren and many friends gathered tonight to celebrate her life and tell stories of her life, the formation of RIVAA and her contributions to the arts and Island community.
Arline’s daughter decorated the bench outside Gallery RIVAA in honor of her mother.. A plaque commemorating has been placed on the bench. What a wonderful way to celebrate the founder of the Gallery and so many arts programs. (Check out the plaque as you pass by).
Arline’s daughters, grandchildren and friends spoke of their memories.
Many of us remembered her garden and how she would find volunteers to help her there, sometimes for the entire summer.
Working with Alyce Russo to bring sculptures to the island every summer.
Everyone commented that Arline was a force of nature that could not be stopped!
Convincing RIOC President Robert Ryan to give Gallery the former pharmacy space in Rivercross.
Teaching art classes on and off the island.
Arranging one of the best exhibits at RIVAA on red, white and blue aner her solo exhibits that were memorable.
Arline, Isa, Anise and Grand-daughter here for her 95th celebration. The Blintz Club: Linda Pickett, Helen Roht, Maxine Sealy, Arline Jacoby
Great friends: Arline and Judy Berdy, Arline and Ashton Barfield
Arline and Tad Sudol commemorating friend Helen Roht.
THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE SOON.
CREDITS
GALLERY RIVAA JUDITH BERDY ESTHER COHEN
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
This request arrived in the mail the other day. Do you have a suggestion for a new home?
Hi, I inherited 2 beautiful pastel portraits of my ancestors recently. They belong in a museum. Abijah Pell built the house at 311 East 58th Street. Would someone in your historical society have interest in finding a proper place for the portraits?
The frame of Eliza is in poor condition resulting in the tearing of the very fragile old paper but both could be restored.
If you’d like to call my tel# is xxxxxxxx. Please leave a message if I don’t pick up an unknown call. Thank you and I look forward to a response. Best regards,
THE HOUSE AT 311 EAST 58 STREET STILL EXISTS
The Abijah Pell House – 311 East 58th Street
Abijah Pell, Jr. was born in New York City on November 8, 1811. His was an important family, tracing its roots in America to the 17th century. John Pell inherited the Pelham estate from his uncle, Thomas Pell, in 1670, and became the first lord of Pelham Manor.
Abijah’s parents, Abijah and Mary Baldwin Pell, owned considerable land in Greenwich Village and when the elder Abijah died in 1826 his seven children–five sons and a daughter–shared equally in the sizable estate.
In the decade before the outbreak of Civil War spotty development was taking place along East 58th Street near the East River; until only recently green farmland. Tax records indicate a house appeared by 1857 at what could be numbered 311 East 58th Street, when title to the property was in name of Charles Shute Pell.
It does not appear that Charles ever lived in the quaint brick-faced house. He and his wife, both educators, were appointed superintendents of the New-York Orphan Asylum by 1857 and as such would have living quarters there.
Instead his brother, Abijah, listed his address as “East 58th near 2nd” in the early 1860s. As a matter of fact, it may have been Abijah who constructed the house. He was described as “a leading builder of his day” by The Memorial Cyclopedia decades later. Pell was married to Eliza Brown Ward. She was the first cousin of New Jersey Governor Marcus Ward. The couple had three sons, Abijah, William and Charles. Despite their lofty pedigree, the extended Pell family was apparently well in tune with the condition of the less fortunate. Both Charles and Abijah were long-term members of The New York Association for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, for instance. Nevertheless, they moved socially among their peers. All the Pell brothers were members of the venerable St. Nicholas Society which included only men descended from New York’s earliest families.
When Abijah’s 48-year old brother, Aaron, died on November 8, 1861 of consumption, his funeral was held in the 58th Street house two days later.
Abijah had joined the Union Army only a month earlier. When a comrade, John R. Hobby, died “of disease contracted in the army,” on October 20, 1865, once again a funeral was held in the Pells’ parlor. The notice instructed mourners it was “second house east of 2d-av.”
In the spring of 1870 the Park Commissioners directed the North and East River Company and the Central Park Railroad Company to lay “double tracks in Fifty-eighth-street.” The intention was to provide a crosstown connection between the First Avenue and Eleventh Avenue streetcars. Local protest was quick and forceful, with Abijah Pell leading the charge.
On May 7 “a large number of property-owners” met at the Terrace Garden, on 58th Street near Third Avenue. The New York Times reported they gathered “for the purpose of protesting against the laying of a track for a horse-car railroad in that street.”
Abijah Pell presided that evening. Among the results of the meeting was the formation of a committee to raise funds for an expected legal battle.
Three years later Abijah Pell died in a bizarre and tragic accident in Newark, New Jersey. On Saturday morning, April 19, 1873, was run over by the “pusher,” or engine used to move train cars. He died the following day.
The 58th Street house was sold to John B. Huse and his wife, Emma. Huse was a printer with a shop on Hudson Street. He also apparently dabbled in real estate. In September 1873 he advertised “A store to let on Seventh Avenue–inquire at 311 East Fifty-eighth street, or in confectionery, No. 9 Seventh avenue.” Huse was adamant that his property would not be used as a saloon. His ad stressed “will not be rented for liquor store.”
On September 1, 1877 Huse sold the “two-story brick dwelling” to Henry S. Cohn for $8,000–just under $190,000 today. Cohn flipped the house for a tidy profit, selling it four weeks later, on October 5, to Mathias Down for $10,000.
Although the Prussian-born Down was listed as a merchant, his main income most likely came from the several tenements he owned throughout the city. In February 1890 he commissioned architect Charles Stagmeyer to add a two-story extension to the rear at a cost of $1,500. The enlargement may have had to do with Down’s grandson, Mathias Herman J. Weiden’s moving in. Both Down and Weiden were listed in the house in the 1890s.
Weiden (who went by the name Herman) and his wife, Margaret, had one child, Josephine, who was born in 1906. He was active in New York’s German community and served on the Executive Committee of the National Federation of German-American Catholics during the World War I years. Despite anti-German sentiments during the war, it often went by the name of the Catholic Central Verein of America. Weiden would remain an active member through the 1950s.
It appears that Margaret had died by 1920 when only Weiden and Josephine were listed as living in the 58th Street house. His marriage on Wednesday, February 15, 1928 was marred by tragedy when Catherine McMurray, his new mother-in-law, died two days later in her Brooklyn home.
In 1928, the year Weiden remarried, the house looked little different than it does today. photograph from the collection of the New York Public Library On December 30, 1950 The New York Times reported “After seventy-three years in the family of Mathias Weiden, the two story brick dwelling…at 311 East Fifty-eighth Street has been purchased by Charles Jones, music composer, for occupancy.”
The musician moved in with his wife, Sally. Born in Canada in 1910, he had come to the United States at the age of 18 to study violin at the Juilliard School (his father, incidentally, was an American citizen). He became a pupil of, and then assistant to Darius Milhaud at Mills College in Oakland, California. The two worked together at the Aspen Music School where Jones became Director in 1970.
Throughout his career he also taught at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music. His compositions included an oratorio on Piers Plowman, four symphonies, and nine string quartets.
Jones was still teaching composition at Mannes and Juilliard when he died from complications of heart surgery in June 1997. The remarkably-surviving little house was sold the following year to The Philip Colleck Gallery for $1.1 million. The gallery, established in the 1930s, deals in 18th century English antiques.
According to the firm’s president, Mark Jacoby, several months after the purchase “Part of the charm of the building is that it has its original doors, mahogany banisters and wide pine floors, all of which we’re keeping. We’re keeping the room configurations as well. There are seven different fireplaces on the three floors, and a large rear garden that we’re going to beautify.”
The new owners hired architect Peter M. Bernholz to design the gallery. At the same time the coat of what Jacoby described as “old blueberry-yogurt paint” was removed from the brickwork.
As if the history of the house were not amazing enough, local lore insists that Tennessee Williams rented a room here in the 1930s. In fact, he lived across the street at No. 316. And that is perfectly fine. The remarkable survivor does not need a celebrity to stand out; its excruciating charm is enough.
NEW SIGN URGES CAUTION
THE HIGH HOLIDAYS ARE SOON.
CREDITS
DAYTONIAN IN NEW YORK JUDITH BERDY ESTHER COHEN
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
