WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES SEPTEMBER 2, 2021 23
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
October 2021 marks 200th anniversary of fi rst
race at the legendary Union Course Racetrack
The 1845 match between Fashion and Peytona, representing the North and the South, respectively. Courtesy of the Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society
PRESENTED BY THE WOODHAVEN
CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Oct. 15, 2021, will mark the 200th
anniversary of the very fi rst
race at the legendary Union
Course Racetrack. The Union Course
was one of the major contributing
factors to the early development of
Woodhaven and the surrounding area.
This story begins in 1821 when
the New York state Legislature
legalized “trials of speed” between
the months of May and October in
Queens County. The Union Course,
a mile-long dirt track which was
laid out that very same year, opened
on Oct. 15, 1821.
Several 4-mile-long races, or
heats, were held to determine a
winner and horses from the North
and the South were commonly
squared off against each other to
maximize interest. On that opening
day, the famed Lady Lightfoot
(from North Carolina) suffered her
only recorded loss to the legendary
American Eclipse (born and bred on
Long Island), who was victorious in
all heats that day.
Union Course’s fame exploded in
1823 when American Eclipse faced
off against Sir Henry (representing
the South). More than 60,000
people flocked to the area to watch
this race, including the current
Vice President Daniel Tompkins,
Florida Governor Andrew Jackson
(a few years away from becoming
our seventh president) and Aaron
Burr (who shot and killed Alexander
Hamilton in an infamous duel).
American Eclipse was bested by
Sir Henry in the first heat, much
to the disappointment of the locals.
The owner blamed the jockey and
went into the stands looking for the
famous jockey Samuel Purdy. Purdy
was retired and legend has it that
he showed up just to watch the race
but when called upon, he removed
his coat and had his jockey’s outfit
on underneath!
Purdy and Eclipse narrowly beat
Sir Henry in that second match and
both horses, by now completely
exhausted, fought each other to the
finish in the tiebreaker. And in the
end, it was Eclipse and the North
who came away triumphant.
These North-South races would
continue to be popular and even
feed on the growing animus between
the two regions that would
develop into war within a few
decades.
The popularity of these races led
to rapid development in the area,
with roads being paved, houses
built and hotels, general stores and
saloons popping up along the outer
rim of the track.
With the rise of racing in
Woodhaven came a real need to
transport people to and from the
track and as a result, the Long Island
Rail Road built a track along
Atlantic Avenue, with a stop near
Rockaway that was constructed so
that you could walk directly into
the Union Course race track from
the station.
The line and the station opened in
April 1836 and just two weeks later,
history happened here in Woodhaven,
outside the Union Course,
when a train hit a cow and a second
train slammed into the back of the
first. It was the first accident in the
history of the Long Island Rail Road.
Union Course was the site of an
even more famous race, between
Fashion and Peytona (representing
the North and South, respectively).
An estimated 100,000 people came
out to see Peytona beat the horse
from New Jersey in two straight
heats.
As the decades passed and other
tracks opened nearby, the Union
Course’s popularity faded, but
during the 1860s, the land was temporarily
used as an encampment for
Union soldiers during the Civil War.
A turn to trotting breathed new
life into the track and it experienced
a burst of renewed energy, but it
faded as quickly as it blossomed
and by the 1870s it began to keep an
irregular schedule and show signs
of disrepair.
For the next 15 years or so, it
became a community eyesore. The
once beautiful fencing around the
track was torn apart by locals for
firewood, and many of the buildings
and businesses that depended
on the track’s customers began to
close their doors and disappear.
Today, there are very few signs
that a racetrack ever existed in
this part of Woodhaven. The one
significant remnant of the Union
Course racetrack is Neir’s Tavern,
at the corner of 78th Street and 88th
Avenue.
Founded in 1829, just a few years
after the Union Course opened,
Neir’s sat directly across the street
from the Union Course, making it
a prime gathering spot for bettors
and spectators at the racetrack.
Two hundred years after it
opened, the Union Course Racetrack
may be gone but it is not forgotten
and later this year, it will be honored
with a street sign at the corner
of 78th Street and Jamaica Avenue.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or
old photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you would
like to share with our readers, please
write to the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood
Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY
11361, or send an email to editorial@
ridgewoodtimes.com. Any print photographs
mailed to us will be carefully
returned to you upon request.
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