nyandw wrote:Truly a remarkable achievement as they are very accurate. My previous 1845 house in Patchogue with an addition added c. 1880+ was depicted accurately as to the windows placements, roof lines, chimney location, placement on the lot, the surrounding houses, etc.
Perhaps some Valley Stream folks might have similar views to share as to what they found?
Well, I'll chime in as my parents and I moved to Valley Stream c1974, and I've lived in the area ever since (over 4 decades - how did that happen?) Spot checking some of the older buildings I know by sight and via Google (now with the funky tilt feature), even after 90+ intervening years they look reasonably close (the isometric aero-view is obviously not blue-print level, but still matches reasonably well). Of course, since it's a south-west looking map, things in that far direction are a bit less distinct. There is at least one error on the Aero-View, the E-W road now called Roosevelt Ave. is listed as Rockaway Ave., when it should be Rockaway Rd. (I guess it was named after FDR, not Teddy). I recall the large fenced-in complex on the NE corner of Rockaway & Merrick was supposed to be a lumber yard which had burned down - that's the current site of CVS.
Bizarrely, the house on the SE corner of Grove and Maple is labeled Stone Hill Farms, Inc. - searching on-line just yields lots of vague links from sites which purport to be the new "Yellow Pages", but aren't. Oh well, maybe that's the house where (according to my friend a decade ago) they raised alligators in the basement (
"The guy's friend told me!" "Did you see the alligators?"
"No, but he wouldn't lie about that!").
I see the east leg of the Far Rockaway Wye is gone by 1924, but the Aero-view does show the "LI Traction Co." Jamaica Ave. streetcar route crossing the LIRR on a trestle.
It takes a while to orient yourself south of the LIRR, until you realize that Sunrise Highway follows the former route of Brooklyn Ave. east till Rockaway, then jogs NE until it parallels the LIRR a little distance south, and then follows that alignment East into Lynbrook. Brooklyn Ave. still exists from Rockaway to Satterie (site of the New Honda Dealer). Scranton North of the LIRR is now all Hawthrone Ave., I guess Sunrise occupies a segment of the old Scranton ROW up to Horton Ave., where Scranton continues along it's long-time route SE to East Rockaway. Judging from the Historic Aerials site topos, Sunrise Highway was build immediately Post WWII, listed on the 1947 topo (but not the 1945). Thank goodness they did build it, as I use Sunrise Highway almost every day (and I am darned peeved it's not a limited access with service roads, like it is east of Lindenhurst - that would have saved days of wasted commute time over my life. GRRRRR!)
Looking at that 1914 atlas page one more time, all I can say is that Valley Streamers should salute the Windsor Land & Improvement Co, which appears to have developed most of Valley Stream north of Merrick and a good chunk south...