Kleiner’s Korner: How the Motor Parkway Aided the Red Cross in Garden City
Starting in 1941, the Red Cross Motor Corps utilized the Motor Parkway in Garden City to train and test volunteer members.
Art Kleiner
The Red Cross Motor Corps was founded in 1917 by the American Red Cross (ARC). The service was composed of women to render supplementary aid to the US Army and Navy in transporting troops and supplies during World War I, and to assist other ARC workers in conducting their various relief activities. Besides its war time service it also assisted during health emergencies including the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
During World War II, 45,000 women logged more than 61,000,000 miles with deliveries and providing transportation. Many of the corp members took classes in auto maintenance to keep their cars running and used their own transportation to deliver supplies and transport, not only to the sick and wounded, but also volunteers to and from facilities. (Wikipedia)
1941 saw the Garden City branch of the Red Cross begin training women in the Motor Corps. The volunteers undertook a number of classes to prepare them for various duties. (Nassau Daily Review Star, Jul. 11, 1941)
Included were "blackout and convoy driving and map reading". (Nassau Daily Review Star, Jul. 11, 1941)
In the summer of 1941, permission was asked of the Nassau County Public Works Dept. to allow the Red Cross Motor Corps to "conduct skill and safety driving tests" on a portion of the Motor Parkway. (Newsday, Aug. 19, 1941)
The Nassau County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the resolution and noted it as "related directly to the National Defense". The area to be used was "between Raymond Court and the Meadowbrook Entrance Road Bridge".
The resolution was approved with 5 terms and conditions. (Nassau County Board of Supervisors resolution minutes)
Nassau County Board of Supervisors resolution minutes
Caption: "Garden City, United States - January 01, 1942: Members of American Red Cross Motor Corps and a police officer engaged in wartime exercise." It is very likely the prominent photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt shot this photo on the Motor Parkway. (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images)
This Garden City section of the Motor Parkway seen in 1950 appears to match the above photo.
The Garden City Police were called upon to administer the training and testing. (Nassau Daily Review Star, Oct. 3, 1941)
I wouldn't want to mess with these members of Garden City's Motor Corps!
During WWI the Motor Corp was also active in Garden City. Here is an ambulance donated by the Wheatley Hills Golf Club (could have used the Motor Parkway section there for training also). Note who is listed as the driver!
Comments
She’s likely the daughter of the Frank Krug we know of, Art.
Amazing early Red Cross history. Thank you Art for sharing this find! And yes, the roadway in the background strongly resembles the Garden City stretch of Motor Parkway just south of Roosevelt Air Field. Most likely the same stretch of Motor Parkway!
Great observation Howard!
Art, That section of the Motor Parkway, photo, “seen in 1950”, abuts the Meadow Brook Club polo fields. Note that the tall shrubbery is only on the north side of the Parkway, placed there to screen the matches. If this wasn’t done Parkway motorists would park on the shoulder and get a free view of the action. Note the tank in the distance on the north side of the photo .
south side of the photo
Love this one, Art! Although my mother was a Supervisor of a Red Cross Surgical Dressings unit in Manhattan, she on occasion had to drive a RC vehicle in the Five Towns area of southwestern Nassau, where we lived, and so had to undergo the same training, somewhere in the Woodsburgh vicinity. Dad and I thought it was a howl that our ever-so-elegant lady had to be able to change a wheel! Gotta find my old pix - similar uniform but a hard kepi instead of the overseas cap. Sam, III