Vanderbilt Cup Races

‘Willle K.’ Vanderbilt arrived at his Eagle’s Nest in Centerport in 1910, the same year Arthur R. Pardington, chief engineer of the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, moved into his’ Oakwell’ (demolished) just west of the present-day Bull in Smithtown. ‘1910’ also was the year Fred Wagner, five-time Vanderbilt Cup Race starter, bought land near A.R., and in 1912, was building his Sunnybrook Farm residence (National Register 2019), designed by Gustav Stickley, with a ‘stuccoed’ facade reminiscent of Vanderbilt’s Eagle’s Nest. During the second of Fred’s 12 annual picnics held for the auto industry and famous race car drivers at his Smithtown property, A.R. took the attached photo (Arcadia cover) of the nearby Riverside Garage diagonally east and within sight of his ‘Oakwell.’ The centermost and last surviving Riverside Garage building is planned for demolition shortly by the Town of Smithtown – for a parking lot. Too bad the town isn’t considering moving it, or saving the façade for (new and classic auto) photo ops similar to Pardington’s photo seen here on the cover of Arcadia’s ‘Smithtown,’ illustrating my article (with second images’ column continued in third attachment) this week in The Smithtown News. For Fred’s home, see Vanderbilt Cup Races at https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/the_residence_of_the_starter_of_five_vanderbilt_cup_races_rediscovered_in_s