Nassau Boulevard Airport

The 350-acre Nassau Boulevard Airport in Garden City existed from 1910 to 1913. It extended from Stratford Avenue at the south end to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) main line (with a stop at Merrilon Avenue and Nassau Boulevard) at the north end, and from Roxbury Road on the east and Clinch Avenue on the west.

The airfield had 30 hangers, a 3,000 person grandstand and other facilities.

In 1911, the airport sponsored the Nassau Boulevard Meet, in which aviators competed in various aerobatic activities. The Meet also hosted the world's first Airmail delivery service. New York Lieutenant Governor Timothy L. Woodruff and U.S. Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock setup a U.S. Mail tent at the Meet. They asked for a volunteer pilot to fly the mail from Garden City to Mineola. French pilot Earle L. Ovington volunteered and became the world's first airmail pilot.

Ovington flying over U.S. Mail tent at Nassau Boulevard Airport

Wright B takes off in front of hangar row

Note: Earle L. Ovington had worked as an engineering assistant to Thomas A. Edison in New Jersey prior to his historic airmail flight.

On Wings of Faith: Navigating the First Day/Night Transcontinental

We wonder about Tanners Pond Road. It couldn't have been there when the airfield was in operation. The Denton Avenue bridge that carries the Long Island Railroad main line was built in 1888. North of that bridge was Denton Avenue. But what was to the south if Tanners Pond Road wasn't there?

The City of Garden City says that although the bridge has no datestone, "the 1888 construction drawing for it is in our files."