NYWF64.com has some beautiful photos from the fair, when the fountain was in operation.
Sergey Kadinsky
Photography
Flushing River, continued
Pool of industry/ Fountain of the Planets
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The Fountain of the Planets used 400 tons of water, shot
out of 2,000 nozzles. The show was embellished with over 1,000 different
parents of light.
NYWF64.com has some beautiful photos from the fair, when the fountain was in operation. |
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This pool of water was given an oval shape for the
1939 fair, and rounded some thirty years later. In the background is Shea
Stadium, and the (your company here) Stadium, which will open in 2009.
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| Among American cities, NYC has been a latecomer to the corporatizing of sports arena names. The streak was broken in 2000, when the Mets' minor league team, the Brooklyn Cyclones were introduced to Keyspan Park in Coney Island. The Mets followed the lead, and for the next 20 years, the new arena will bear the name Citi Field, after Citibank. | The pitch-and-putt golf course is relatively small by golf course standards, and is built atop the streambed, where there is a sand trap. In the background is the Porpoise Bridge. Built for the 1939 fair, this tidal gate bridge was built to protect the fairgrounds from the storm surges and salt water of Flushing Bay. Before the fair, salt marshes along the river absorbed the incoming waves. |
Following F. Scott...
When Jay Gatsby traveled across the "valley of ashes," it was aboard
the Port Washington line, which dams the river it is crossing. In the
background is the double-decker Roosevelt Avenue Bridge.
After the fair folded up, there were plans to restore the river to daylight, but they were as fruitless as plans to expand parkland into the industrial Willets Point district. Below is a stretched post-fair plan to restore the river, and an aerial view of current conditions.
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Willets Point Resists City Hall
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After the fair, there were also plans were drawn to annex the Willets Point junkyards and auto parts emporiums to the park, but the chop shops held on, as a result of efforts by lawyer Mario Cuomo. He later became a four-term governor. The only part of the plan on the left that became reality was the round-shaped Shea Stadium. |
On the right is a contemporary plan to turn the area into a business district and convention center. Don't hold your breath. The only part of this image that is a reality is the new Mets stadium, which has been named after Citibank. It is a replacement for Shea Stadium. | |
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Roosevelt Avenue Bridge
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This bridge was opened in 1928, with the upper level used by the 7 subway train, as it approaches its terminal at Main Street. Initially, it was a drawbridge, allowing large vessels to pass underneath. The only other subway drawbridge in the city is the Broadway Bridge in upper Manhattan. In the early 1960s, the Van Wyck Expressway was built atop the river, and under the bridge. The drawbridge's control room was then abandoned permanently, and it became a fixed bridge. |
The expressway hugs the water surface, and the Northern Boulevard Bridge is in the background. The first bridge across the river opened in 1800.
Restoring the Wetlands
As part of the Whitestone Expressway Bridge replacement, the Department of Transportation is also replanting 2.5 acres of wetlands along the left bank of the river in the above photos, according to a recent Daily News article. Under lead engineer John Elias, more than 90,000 native marsh grasses known as Spartina alterniflora were planted by hand along the lower tidal portion of the riverbank, with invasive plant species being removed. What a beautiful sight- nature being gently restored by otherwise masculine hardhats!
Photo by Christie M. Farriella for the Daily News
At this point, I'll give Kevin Walsh the photo credit for the remainder of the river
The mighty Flushing River is flanked by the junkyards and auto parts emporiums lining Willets Point Boulevard and the thoroughly impersonal College Point Blvd., whose highlight is Western Beef and Home Depot. Though upscale condos are sprouting on College Point Blvd. and 40th Road, it would take a miracle to create a San Antonio-style Riverwalk on the Flushing. The river is used today by concrete barges.
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| Views of the Flushing River and downtown Flushing from the Northern Blvd. bridge. Conditions on the pedestrian walk (accessible through two lanes of rushing traffic) have improved drastically from the mid-1990s when a rope separated the intrepid walker from a 20-foot drop into the weeds; a chain link fence has been raised. |
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Northern Boulevard Bridge
Before & After
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In the late 19th and early 20th Century
the stretch of Northern Blvd. between the Flushing River and Main Street was
called, sensibly, Bridge Street. A succession of bridges have been employed
here, including the drawbridge shown at left, opened in 1906. It's hard to
imagine it supporting today's parade of pedal-to-the-metal rolling
behemoths. However, it did last fairly far into the 20th Century; the
current span, which elevates the boulevard far above the river so that boats
can pass and connects traffic with the spaghetti-like interchange of the Van
Wyck Expressway and Grand Central Parkway, dates to October 1980. The
surface section of Northern Blvd, which joins the elevated part at Prince
Street, is welcomed by a fleet of cement trucks.
picture from Flushing 1880-1935,
James Driscoll, Arcadia Publishing 2005
Forgotten Fan Ken Buettner: The 1906 span shown in the page was replaced by another drawbridge in the 1930's when a sister drawbridge was built at the same time for the Whitestone Parkway (leading to the new Bronx-Whitestone Bridge). (That span, whose drawbridge mechanism was removed in 1963 and fixed in place, is currently being replaced.) It was the 1930's span which was replaced by the current fixed bridge. The new bridge is higher and longer. |
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The Whitestone Expressway Bridge
This is the last bridge over the river. It was originally built as a drawbridge for the Willets Point Boulevard in 1936, was soon appropriated for the Whitestone Expressway. The bascule drawbridge hasn't been raised since the early 1960s. At this time, it is being replaced by a fixed span.
Left- www.northeastroads.com Right-Victor G. Mimoni, Queens Courier
In early November 2008, the original bridge was raised for the final time, in preparation for its removal. The only other interstate highway in the city with a drawbridge is the Bruckner Expressway spanning the Bronx River. Like the Whitestone Expressway Bridge, it was originally a boulevard transformed into a highway. The new fixed span flanks the old bridge on both sides.
From here, the Flushing River curves to the west and empties into Flushing Bay, an arm of the East River, which itself is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean.
Thus ends our journey of the Flushing River and its tributaries.
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Let's review our trip with a map by Flushing resident and Green Party activist Paul Graziano. His 2001 city council candidacy website is still up, and I'm sure the young activist still has a future in politics. In his 2001 run, he got ten percent of the vote- which is impressive for someone running on a third-party ticket |
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Photo from the NY Times Mr. Graziano works as an urban planning consultant. |
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Above is an aerial view of the stream's approximate path. Red dots indicate locations of all the above photographs.
Go back to page one of Flushing River
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If you liked this page, explore my other forgotten Queens locations: |
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SOURCES:
"New York 1960" by Robert Stern, Thomas Mellins, and David Fishman. Monacelli 1997
New York Roads by Steve Anderson www.nycroads.com
NYC Subway by David Pirmann www.nycsubway.org
1939 World's Fair by Paul M. Van Dort http://www.pmphoto.to/WorldsFairTour/home.htm
1964 World's Fair by Bill Young http://www.nywf64.com/
Flushing 1880-1935 by James Driscoll, Arcadia Press 2005
"Flushing River Wetlands
Project may be Soaked" by John Lauinger NY Daily News 5/20/08
