Trotting Course Lane

Ten-lane, pedal to the metal Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens ... once a country lane dominated by horses and carriages? It's true. And, the evidence is still there in plain view.

Look closely at this 1915 Hammond map of the Middle Village area of Queens (despite the crap I had to do with it to compress it to a size the browser can handle), compare it to a present city map, and you will see that the course of today's Woodhaven Boulevard was then known as Trotting Course Lane. Forest Park and St. Johns Cemetery are among the present sites that were there way back in 1915.

Undoubtedly Trotting Course Lane received its name in the 1800s when horses were the prime mode of transportation, although subway historian Joe Brennan has infomed me that Trotting Course Lane was probably so-called because it led to the Union Course, an important race course for trotting races, which was north of Atlantic Ave. between Trotting Course Lane and the "city line" of Brooklyn.

You wouldn't know it to look at it but today's Trotting Course Lane (at left) spawned a monster--Woodhaven Boulevard!

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In the mid-1930s, the city changed the name of the road from Trotting Course Lane to Woodhaven Boulevard, and its character changed dramatically with the rise of the automobile. Its path was straightened and it gained additional lanes until it became the near-freeway it is today, with ten busy lanes of traffic.

But pieces of old Trotting Course Lane are still there...

On this 1998 Hagstrom map of the area I have circled the two small pieces of Trotting Course Lane that are still there. The heavy yellow line is the present Woodhaven Boulevard; Trotting Course Lane follows the original course of the old road before it was straightened and widened.

Trotting Course Lane... a reminder of the rural, bucolic nature of the Queens of 100 years ago.