WOODHAVEN Boulevard is but a mere local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line, which runs express between Rooosevelt and Continental Avenues, but were it built today instead of the 1930s, it might well be an express station as directly above it is the massive Queens Center mall, one of Queens’ premier shopping locales. In the 30s, Woodhaven Boulevard was about a decade since its expansion into a multilane auto route that roars across Jamaica Bay to the Rockaway Peninsula. Before that, it was a more modest horse and cart route called Trotting Course Lane. In the old days, “trotters” driven by jockeys in carts were considered rather more respectable, as in the Music Man song “Trouble”:
And the next thing you know your son is playing for money in a pinch-back suit
And listenin’ to some big outta town jasper, hearin’ him tell about horse race gamblin’
Not a wholesome trottin’ race, no, but a race where they set down right on the horse
Like to see some stuck-up jockey boy, settin’ on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil
Well I should say
Here’s an annotated “Trouble,” explaining what Preston is singing about.
I remember the “trotters” because the harness races were televised on Channel 9 just before the Saturday night wrestling in the 1970s.
The Woodhaven Boulevard IND station is rather forbidding. It’s dimly lit with a low ceiling. However the station entablatures are classic IND, with brilliant blue coloring. While today, the Queens and Woodhaven Boulevard intersection is nameless, in the 1930s, an effort was made to call it “Slattery Plaza”:
Slattery Plaza was a small cluster of stores that occupied a traffic island on Horace Harding Boulevard in the 1930’s and 40’s, and disappeared when the Long Island Expressway was built, said Jeff Gottlieb, president of the Central Queens Historical Society.
He said the plaza was named for James Slattery of Jackson Heights, an engineer who helped map the BMT subway lines. NYTimes
However, wikipedia disagrees on the name:
The plaza and subway station were named after Colonel John R. Slattery, former New York City Board of Transportation chief engineer who died in 1932 while supervising the construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line.
As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site. Take a look at the new JOBS link in the red toolbar at the top of the page on the desktop version, as I also get a small payment when you view a job via that link.
3/11/24
19 comments
Were those harness races on Channel 9 televised from Aqueduct?
The harness racing show was on late Saturday night from either Roosevelt or Yonkers Raceway. The thoroughbred racing show (from either Aqueduct, Belmont, or Saratoga) was on at 6pm.
i vote for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rodolph_Slattery for military service, and general manager for IND subway system under construction.
I had heard that it was a group of stores.
While you are on the subway statoins you shuold do one that had a passenger drop off ramp from one of the expressways. I recall seeiing it but think it was closed as being dangerous.
You are no doubt referring to another Queens IND station built at the same time as Woodhaven Blvd. – Union Turnpike – Kew Gardens. The station goes below the Interboro (now Jackie Robinson) Parkway, which splits the mezzanine in two parts. The station had an exit that led to a turnoff from that parkway that allowed motorists to drop off and pick up subway riders. The exit to the parkway was closed years ago because it created a traffic hazard, but the exit to the street above is still in use, with a glass wall now separating the parkway level from the subway. Current photo of this location: https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?79189
Wikipedia has a detailed article about this station:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kew_Gardens%E2%80%93Union_Turnpike_station
When I was a kid my brother and I would take the subway to Mets’ games at Shea Stadium (E or F to 74thSt/Roosevelt Ave, change to the 7 train to Willets Point). We lived in S. Ozone Park near Aqueduct. Our mom would drive us to Kew Gardens and drop us off at the Union Turnpike station, using the drop off alongside the Interboro Parkway. That would have been around 1965-67. I was around 11-13 years old. It felt like a real adventure to me.
The Harlem River Drive was also a road that was limited to use by horses and buggies, like from another musical, Oklahoma, i.e., “surries with a fringe on top.” No commercial use, so you didn’t see teams pulling wagons.
Of course the Music Man also had a musical ode to Gary, Indiana. How’s *that* work out?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_hTcYKrXl0
Nearby is another disused name, this one for a structure. Like Woodhaven Blvd. the structure is still alive and well. The structure name is Lost Battalion Hall, a name lost to history. FNY covered this building in September 2017; the building name commemorates a World War I US Army battalion that was lost and then rescued after over 100 of its personnel were killed in battle. I remember seeing signs in the mezzanine at the Woodhaven Boulevard IND station years ago, pointing to the exit closest to the “Lost Battalion Building.” Never knew what that name signified till FNY did the 2017 posting. The building is now used by NYC Parks Department.
In battle on October 3, 1918, the 77th Infantry Division was trapped behind enemy lines, surrounded by German troops. Firing on what they believe were German positions, the US Artillery rained down “friendly fire” on those men as they were also fighting off the Germans. Many US soldiers were killed or wounded. Runners, with messages, that were sent back to the US command by Major Whittlesey were killed or captured. He sent two carrier pigeons with message of help, but they were both shot down. Finally, a third pigeon, Cher Ami, was sent with a desperate message to stop the shelling. Although he was shot down, loosing an eye, and being shot in the breast and one leg, Cher Ami took flight again and flew the 25 miles to division headquarters in 25 minutes. Having received the Major’s message, the shelling was stopped. The 77th remained trapped and under attack by the Germans until October 8th, when a relief force was able to break through the German lines and relieve them.
Cher Ami was later awarded the Croix De Guerre with Oak Leaf Clusters. He died in 1919 from his wounds. Cher Ami’s body was preserved and may be viewed at the Smithsonian Museum, in Washington, DC.
Of all the local stations on the QBL Line, I think Woodhaven Blvd-Slattery Plaza is the most modern and recently renovated, which I believe was done in 1996. This may play in the role of the dimness. The odd thing about this station that nobody mentions is the lack of the typical IND black-colored name tiles that spread across the walls like in the other stations, since there isn’t any “WOODHAVEN” written along the walls. Another oddity is a lone door that is suspended high near the ceiling of the 60th Ave entrance.
In response to Mr. Singleton: The dreaded Interborough Parkway underpass at Queens Boulevard – four narrow parkway lanes and four narrow service road lanes, with a curve exactly as you entered the tunnel darkness from the east – had a cutout lane on the eastbound service road to enable cars to pull over, stop and discharge passengers who could then enter the Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike IND station. Scarcely enough room for one car to slow down, pull over, stop, then merge at speed back on the road. More than one car? Fuggeddaboudit. The worst part was that a driver’s eyes had no time to acclimate to the dark while executing these white knuckle moves. And approaching vehicles could no line of sight to the parking lane until they were less than 100 feet away. The four roadbeds were separated by (often mangled) iron fencing. My father referred to the area as “Chrome Trim Gulch” due to the inevitable piles of metal scrapings in the road. The subway access was shut down decades ago, thankfully. Now the parking lane is barred and the subway access wall has been glass bricked.
The Interboro/JRP does not have service roads, as many think. Those outer lanes are Union Turnpike’s main roads, which straddle the Parkway but have no access to it. The Turnpike’s service roads split at Austin Street’s service roads and lead to/from Queens Boulevard.
The harness racing/thoroughbred racing references really refer to the fact that harness racing developed primarily from rural farm roots with trotters racing each other carrying carts behind them, while thoroughbred racing developed primarily from upper class roots. That divide exists to this day, as do many other fundamental differences in the two sports. Two other asides–the present day Harlem River drive was a famous trotting race course for decades. Also trotters are driven by drivers, NEVER jockeys.
To Tama–I was a big fan of both shows back in the day. Thoroughbreds at about 6PM and Harness at around 11.
This is now one of the busiest stations in the subway system, the nearest stop to the Queens Center Shopping Mall, which is virtually on top of it.
Not to be confused with the incredibly similarly named Queens Place shopping mall, which is confusingly located one station west at Grand Avenue.
(Queens Place is the cylindrical one, Queens Center is the two cubes)
The book “Tracks of New York City Subway” by Peter Dougherty, mentions that the Woodhaven Blvd. stop was constructed with provisions for the eventual conversion to an express stop during the construction of the “IND Second System”.
I have read the description of how it would be converted. I’ve even seen the bellmouths set as provision for the change, but for the life of me, I can’t imagine what it would look like!
When I was 7-10 (early 1950s?) years old,we were living at 2467(?) 84th St. Place, Queens, I would walk down to the 23rd Ave Subway stop on Woodhaven Blvd to take a subway into Manhattan for Saturday choral classes at a Music School which name escapes me. it was about 1/2 block in from Central Park West. Anybody who has more facts to which I’m referring please contact me…wbrody1044@gmail.com. Thanks, Walter Brody