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SMITH POINT BRIDGE & PARK

"A LONG WAIT FOR A SHORT BRIDGE"

 

The illustrations on this page are from a book published in October of 1938 titled "Restoration & Protection of Fire Island" by W. Earle Andrews, Civil Engineer . Andrews was hired by Robert Moses of the Long Island Park Commision to present Moses' vision of a causeway stretching from Bayshore to Hampton Bays. Included in the proposal was a permanent bridge and park at Smith's Point. Now a bridge and recreation area for Smith's Point was nothing new even in 1938. The big idea goes as far back as 1910 with Fred Quimby and his ill fated Tangiers Manor Corp. Grandiose plans for Smith Point had come and gone just like the temporary wood bridges that did get built over the years and then swept away by the January ice. It's obvious by the size and completeness of this book, (which I found here in Nashville by the way ) that it had been in the planning for some time, but the occurence of the hurricane of 1938 a month before it was published contributed a great deal to it's persusavive photo sections and it's arguments for "Doing Something Concrete" while there still was an Island left to do it to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking East

 

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