The Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, also known as Long Island Motor Parkway, survives today as a bicycle path, but began as America’s first all-elevated road for cars.

Originally built in 1908 as a racecourse by the railroad mogul and financier William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. (1878-1944), the Parkway would later develop into a major public thoroughfare. It was one of the first concrete roads in the nation, the first highway to use bridges and overpasses, and the first high-speed route from Queens to Suffolk County. The Parkway’s largely untold history is filled with intrigue: race cars, bootlegging, historic preservation efforts, and public controversy.