WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 15, 2018 29
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
The other Queens subway to the World’s Fair
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Old Timer’s Note — We’re indebted
this week to Joseph Raskin, one
of the city’s foremost transit
historians and former MTA director of
governmental relations, for this week’s
story about the World’s Fair IND, a special
subway line in Queens during the
1939-40 World’s Fair.
Two World’s Fairs have been held on
the grounds of what is now Flushing
Meadows Corona Park, in 1939-40 and
1964-65. Given their continuing service
past the park (and possibly helped
by a catchy song advertising subway
service to the 1964-65 Fair), most
people will think that public transit
access to the Fairs came only from the
still-existing services to the north of
the park, MTA New York City Transit’s
Flushing Line along Roosevelt Avenue
and the Long Island Rail Road’s Port
Washington Line.
Another route to the 1939-40 Fair
came from the south. In 1937, the
World’s Fair Corporation (George
McAneny, the corporation’s first
president, played a major role in the
subway system’s initial expansion in
1913) requested that the New York City
Board of Estimate fund improvements
to the transit system that would improve
access to the fairgrounds.
One project the World’s Fair Corporation
called for was a spur line off
the Independent City-Owned Subway
System’s (IND) Queens Boulevard Line,
which was extended from Roosevelt
Avenue-Jackson Heights in April 1936.
It would run from the 71st-Continental
Avenue Station, through the Jamaica
Subway Yard and along what is now
the northern extension of the Van
Wyck Expressway to a terminal south
of Horace Harding Boulevard (today’s
Horace Harding Expressway, the Long
Island Expressway’s service road) by
Mount Hebron Cemetery.
The Board of Estimate approved
the plan in early 1938, and the World’s
Fair Railroad was built by the P.T. Cox
Corporation Company at grade level.
Piles and landfi ll were placed to enable
service over the swampy land along
the route.
The terminal at Horace Harding
Boulevard was diff erent than what
had been seen in the subway system
until that point, and would still be
unique today, built in Art Deco style,
keeping with the World’s Fair‘s
architecture. The New York Board
of Transportation (BOT) operator
of the IND (later the entire subway
system), predecessor of the New York
City Transit Authority, had an exhibit,
similar to what would be seen decades
later at the New York Transit Museum,
explaining the expansion of the transit
system and its impact on the city.
As part of the World’s Fair Corporation’s
plan, work also took place on
the Flushing Line and the Long Island
Rail Road’s Port Washington Line. The
Willets Point Boulevard Station was
expanded and moved westward to its
current location (the original Manhattan
bound platform still exists, beyond
the east end of the current platform);
express service on the Flushing line
began.
The Passarelle Bridge, running
from the subway station to the park,
opened and the LIRR opened a new
station at Willets Point to provide
access to the Fair.
Service on the World’s Fair Railroad
began on April 30, 1939, mostly provided
by the GG line, supplemented
by some E trains. A double fare was
charged, with riders being charged to
exit at the terminal, and being charged
10 cents to board at Horace Harding
Boulevard. The line didn’t operate in
the time the World’s Fair was closed.
Over seven million used the Railroad
during the 1939 season; 5 million riders
used it in the shorter 1940 season.
The World’s Fair closed on Oct. 27,
1940. IND service ended the next day;
the line’s infrastructure would remain
in place for some time, although the
BOT sought its removal. However,
Queens elected offi cials and community
groups wanted to reopen and
extend the line.
Borough President George U.
Harvey raised the issue prior to the
Fair’s opening. In 1937, he noted the
extension as a means of promoting
the growth of the Flushing area. John
H. Delaney, the longtime BOT Chairman
disagreed: “We recommended
a temporary spur from our yards
between Kew Gardens and Forest
Hills because a permanent line would
be useless aft er two years … The only
thing planned for the park is a stadium
which would seat a maximum
of 8,000 persons where an occasional
track meet or concert could be held
during the summer months. This
would mean maintaining a permanent
line for traffi c, which would be slight…”
Councilman Hugh Quinn discussed
the matter with Delaney at a Finance
Committee meeting in December 1939.
Quinn sought an extension to College
Point and Whitestone. “To me, it seems
a waste of money to demolish the line
if there is any possibility of … building
extensions to College Point and
Whitestone.”
BOT capital plans from 1929 to 1945
called for a spur line from the Flushing
line to Whitestone and College
Point via 149th Street and 11th Avenue
to 122nd Street.
Delaney again disagreed: “It is
not suitably located for extension to
Whitestone and College Point. It was
built superfi cially and wouldn’t stand
up. It is only a temporary railroad
constructed at the lowest possible cost
… Rapid transit ought to be built out to
Bayside and then through to College
Point and Whitestone. That has been
our plan for seven or eight years and
I am all for it if anyone can get us the
money to do it with.”
The neighborhoods to the north
and east of the World’s Fair were
beginning to grow. They would have
benefi ted from the extension. Queens
College had opened in 1937, and would
have been helped by direct subway
service. Paul Klapper, the president
of the college, also spoke in support.
Parks Commissioner Robert Moses
backed Delaney. Moses had opposed
building the railroad in the fi rst place,
and wanted the land to build a permanent
park and the eventual northern
extension of the Van Wyck Expressway.
Delaney and Moses’ viewpoint
won out, and the Board of Estimate
authorized removal of the World’s Fair
Railroad on Dec. 19, 1940. A similar extension
of the Queens Boulevard Line
was not considered for the 1964-65
World’s Fair.
Despite the amount of riders that
made use of the World’s Fair Railroad,
the Flushing and Port Washington
Lines and bus service were found to
be suffi cient.
Old Timer’s Note — Our thanks again
to Mr. Raskin for his wonderful and
thorough retelling of the World’s Fair
Railroad. One wonders how Queens
might look today had the city went
against the advice of Robert Moses —
who, in his 44 years in city and state
government, built 627 miles of expressways
and parkways, but did very little to
expand public transportation.
The extension of the World’s Fair Railroad
to College Point and Whitestone is
just one of a number of unbuilt subway
projects that Mr. Raskin chronicles in
his acclaimed book, “The Routes Not
Taken: A Trip Through New York City’s
Unbuilt Subway System.” It’s available
for purchase on Amazon and at local
book retailers — and you can also borrow
it from the Queens Borough Public
Library.
* * *
Share your history with us by
emailing editorial@ridgewoodtimes.
com (subject: Our Neighborhood:
The Way it Was) or write to The Old
Timer, ℅ Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell
Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. Any mailed
pictures will be carefully returned to
you upon request.
Photo via Queens Library Digital Archives
An aerial view of the Van Wyck Expressway, which covered much of
where the World’s Fair Railroad once ran, in 1963. Venues for the 1964-
65 World’s Fair are shown rising in the background.
Photo courtesy of Queens Library Digital Archives
The World's Fair Railroad running through an area that is now the Van
Wyck Expressway.
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