| • | • |
FROM THE BRYANT ROOM ARCHIVES
By Myrna Sloam ©March/April 2008
A View of the Mackay Estate, Part 15:
A Trip to New York City and back to Roslyn, With My Father, William Donaldson
by Stewart Donaldson
NOTE: Stewart Donaldson’s father, William (1879-1939), was born in Ireland. After emigrating, he became a coachman and later a chauffeur, on the C.H. Mackay estate. William worked on the estate from 1902 until 1931, when the estate was closing down. In 1906 William married Ella Pollack [1886-1946] the granddaughter of Roslyn carpenter Stephen Speedling. Stewart (1907-1994,) was the eldest of their three children.
The south part of the stable [on the Mackay estate] was converted into a garage after 1911, with living quarters for the workers overhead. They had five chauffeurs and two wash men. Every time a car entered the garage it was left on the wash stand to be washed and cleaned, then filled with gas and the oil checked [and made] ready for the next call or trip. They had a large underground gasoline storage tank.
The chauffeurs were Jim Gillispie who drove the boss [Clarence H. Mackay]; Jim Donohue who drove Mr. Mackay’s mother [Marie Louise Hungerford Bryant Mackay, 1843-1928]; Jim Ludlam who drove Katherine [the first wife of Clarence Mackay and his eldest daughter were both named Katherine]; and Teddie Mackie who drove [daughter] Ellin (she later married Irving Berlin the famous song writer) and William Donaldson who drove the trucks and the suburban…. W. Donaldson usually drove the Buick suburban to Roslyn for the mail and to [William] Pickering’s [store] for the daily papers, which he brought back to the mansion and to Mr. Hechler’s [the estate superintendent] office. He did this every morning and afternoon, six days a week and on Sundays, went for the papers….
In the winter…William Donaldson would bring the flowers in from Roslyn [to Mr. Mackay’s townhouse in New York City] three days a week, as well as [bringing] the milk, butter cream and whatever vegetables were available [from the estate.] Then William would go to the different merchants… [to get] supplies for the [Mackay] house.
I remember going to New York City from Roslyn [in] about 1925 with my father “Billy Donaldson” in C. H. Mackay’s Buick suburban, or station wagon. We left home (North Roslyn) about 8:30 AM taking the North Hempstead Turnpike (Northern Boulevard) [west] down the hill to Roslyn Village, then across the Mill Dam [Old Northern Boulevard] past the Clock Tower, up the hill which we called the West Turnpike—past Flower Hill on the right, still on the turnpike [and] past open land to Manhasset. [We went] on by Plandome Road, down a hill past Payne Whitney’s estate on the left, then up Spinney Hill (still Northern Boulevard) on past Middle Neck Road, which went to Great Neck to the north, or Lakeville to the south, and then crossed the Nassau County/New York City line just as we came to Little Neck. [We went] on through Little Neck to Bayside, then down a hill and through the meadows, past the North Shore Traction Company [trolley]car barns on the north side of the road. Now the area was becoming more “city-like” with many homes.
We went through the outlying area of Flushing and then the Flushing city area. Now there were quite a few stop and go lights along the route which were slowing us up somewhat. Then we crossed over a small bridge over the creek. Now the area was well built up from here on into the city. We went through Corona, Elmhurst—there were a few small truck farms along the highway to Jackson Heights. From here on in it was densely populated as we passed by the Long Island Railroad yards to the south of us and we could see the National Biscuit Company building above the buildings along the highway. Then we came to Long Island City and we turned right under the electric elevated railroad line and on across the 59th Street Bridge (the Queensborough Bridge) over Blackwell’s Island (now [in 1962] Welfare Island) [renamed Roosevelt Island in 1973] to First Avenue.
We would turn right, off the Queensborough Bridge and onto First Avenue, then go “uptown” to about 75th Street, then left to C.H. Mackay’s “townhouse” at 3 East 75th Street. We would arrive there at around 9:45 or 10:00AM, depending on how heavy the traffic was on the way in…. I can recall going in with him to the townhouse, having coffee and some delicious French pastry, then down to the grocers, a Mr. Hughes, on Madison Avenue and then to Hicks Fruit store, also on Madison Avenue. After I had a chocolate soda there, we would go on to Kelly’s fish market on Third Avenue. The men working there always wore straw hats and [had] white paper sleeves from their wrists up the arm a ways. After this [we went] to the French butcher on First Avenue to pick up the meat and poultry which Mr. Mercer the butler, or Mr. Adam the chef, [on the Mackay estate] had ordered. I usually received candy or a large yellow banana or hot house grapes to take home from these stores, such as you could not buy in the country….
On the way home from New York my father would [also] pick up things from Hughes, Bruns, Hicks and the French butcher to deliver to estates on the Island, such as the Graces, Milburns, Phipps, Steeles, Ryans and Bradys. We had so much pot roast and noodles, that they came out of my ears. The butcher would always give my father a big pot roast and liver and bacon for delivering the meat for him….
Going home, we would leave around 2 or 2:30 PM, go downtown to 57th Street and then [make] a left turn and [go] across to the 59th Street Bridge, across the bridge and make a left turn in Long Island City to Hunter Point Road. [We] took this southeast across to Horace Harding Boulevard [now the Service Road of the Long Island Expressway in Queens] and [went] east on Horace Harding through Rego Park, Flushing Meadows, down the hill through Alley Pond and Lake Success. [We] then took Power House Road [now the service road of the Long Island Expressway] east to Roslyn Road in Roslyn Heights, left to Harbor Hill Road and east to the Chicken Farm Drive on the Mackay estate and [then] through the estate to North Hempstead Turnpike and home [at] about 4 PM….
Permission to reproduce, publish or display whole text articles must be obtained from the Bryant Library Archivist.
Email: localhistory@bryantlibrary.org