Friday, August 19, 2011

Getting to the bottom of Horace Harding

From Little Neck Patch:

Ready to set the record straight was Kathleen McGrath, an amateur Queens historian and self-proclaimed expert.

"Horace J. Harding was an affluent financier and director of the New York Municipal Railways System. But he was also an ardent supporter of Robert Moses’ 'great parkway' plan who used his influence to petition for a highway from Queens Boulevard out to Shelter Rock in Nassau County," McGrath said.

Though McGrath was quick to speculate that Harding had ulterior motives—aside from public interest—behind promoting the construction of the road which now bares his name.

"He was a big golfer and wanted to build a road that would provide better access to the Oakland Country Club where he was a member," she said.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The former Oakland golf club is now home to Queensborough Community College. One can still visit the club house that now is called the Oakland Art Gallery.

http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/artgallery/index.htm

Anonymous said...

Why hasn't it been renamed for a Kennedy-- or for some Black panther or some shit like that?

Anonymous said...

Curious that it hasn't yet been renamed for a Kennedy, or some Black Panther, right? Maybe one of the oppressed 9/11 Highjackers? I expect that Ted Kennedy will get the honor-- didn't he visit Queens once when he was a kid?

Anonymous said...

When I tried to restore the Triboro name to the RFK Bridge page on Wikipedia, the dorks tried to ban me. I say that if enough of us do it, they can't ban us all.

georgetheatheist said...

Ted Kennedy has maintained his sobriety for the past few years. Quite an accomplishment.

Con Gary HAckerman said...

Why hasn't it been renamed for a Kennedy-- or for some Black panther or some shit like that?

I don't suppose that HAckerman Highway is out of the question?

Anonymous said...

I don't suppose that HAckerman Highway is out of the question?

Gary, you probably meant "Hershey Highway" if it's in your honor!