Bellcourt Divided: How the Clearview Changed Our Community Forever
1934 photo of Clearview Park Golf Course showing the portion of Little Bay that the Throgs Neck Bridge would eventually tower over. Note the farmland abutting the course.
Credit: NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.
Aerial photograph of Bayside High School, which opened in 1936, with Raymond O'Connor Field across the street and Bayside Golf Links (completed around 1932) right next door.
Credit: Collection of Bayside Historical Society
A detail from a 1956 Shell Oil Company map of New York City gives a good sense of what lay in the path of the Clearview. Note that Corporal Kennedy St. stretched north almost to the Cross Island. Bayside Golf Club was soon to disappear, having been sold in March 1956 to developer Jack Parker. (The club was established by Charles G. Meyer, enthusiastic golfer and president of the Cord Meyer company
September 1957 New York Times article about the controversy surrounding the choice of route for the Clearview Expressway.
Homeowners whose property lay in the path of the Clearview Expressway could visit the temporary Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority office on Francis Lewis Blvd. to view this tabletop map of the area. It helped them visualize the new neighborhoods.
Credit: Collection of MTA Bridges and Tunnels Special Archive
Proposed land development schemes (Bayside Times, February 27, 1957)
1. Little Jones Beach proposed by Robert Moses
2. Country Club Homes, Jack Parker, developer
3. Clearview Expressway 207th St. route
4. Site for homes displaced by the Clearview
5. 10-acre site of National Guard armory
6. Considered for a $57 million Olympic City
7. Site of Levitt House apartment complex, built in 1957 (now Le Havre)
8
December 3, 1958, article about the first homes moved out of the path of the Clearview Expressway. The article describes the move of the Oehler house from 56-41 204th St. to 230-10 57th Ave., a section of the Oakland Golf Course.
This sequence of four photos was taken from the website "The Clearview Expressway: A Digital History." The site includes a collection of photos and details about the Clearview construction as well as newspaper articles and testimony delivered during the contentious public hearings about the Clearview's path.
Credit:
“House-Moving Project 4,” Digital History: The Clearview Expressway, accessed Apri
Second photo of the sequence.
Third photo of the sequence.
Fourth photo of the sequence.
This house at 33-22 207th St. belonged to John and Julia Mirady. It was moved to its new location at ....
... 203-41 28th Ave., where it still sits today.
Credit: Courtesy of June Geary
This is one of a series of houses moved from 206th St. and 45th Dr. to Francis Lewis Blvd. between 45th Rd. and 45th Dr. This house currently sits at 45-31 Francis Lewis Blvd.
This is one of a series of houses moved from 206th St. and 45th Dr. to Francis Lewis Blvd. between 45th Rd. and 45th Dr. This house currently sits at 45-35 Francis Lewis Blvd.
This is one of a series of houses moved from 206th St. and 45th Dr. to Francis Lewis Blvd. between 45th Rd. and 45th Dr. This house currently sits at 45-39 Francis Lewis Blvd.
This is one of a series of houses moved from 206th St. and 45th Dr. to Francis Lewis Blvd. between 45th Rd. and 45th Dr. This house currently sits at 45-43 Francis Lewis Blvd.
A July 2, 1958, article from The New York Times reports on a group of Bayside homeowners who fought to have one of the moved houses, a 1920s wood-frame structure with "checkerboard" siding, removed from their neighborhood of state-of-the-art 1950s ranch-style homes. They felt that the old house cheapened the overall look of the area. They lost the battle and the house remained, although the city a
Here's a photo of the "checkerboard" house, taken from 1940s tax photos.
Queens side tower pier and anchorage.
Photograph from the Queens side tower looking south. Note the Clearview Golf Course in the background.
Assembly of the road deck with truss segments hoisted into position at the towers.
Credit: Courtesy Lynn Manheim, Whitestone, N.Y.
The Clearview Expressway takes shape in this undated photo, probably from the late 1950s. At the foreground is the 43rd Ave. pedestrian bridge, followed by the LIRR bridge and Northern Blvd. In the distance sits Bayside High School and the 32nd Ave. bridge. Note the houses that have sprung up on what had been the Bayside Golf Course and the open space at far right where Bay Terrace Shopping Center