nathanstraus

This is likely the Harlem River Speedway, which opened July 2, 1898, in New York City for light harness horse pleasure competitions.[1]   "The Speedway", as it was known, served as a racecourse until 1915, after which it eventually became the Harlem River Drive, and today features a bicycle path along the river side. [2] Nathan Straus, who co-owned two of New York City's biggest department stores – R.H. Macy & Company and Abraham & Straus[3], was the owner of a grey trotting gelding named "Denver". Denver held a notable record of accomplishments on The Speedway (2:11¼), and was frequently reported on by The New York Times during the Fall of 1910 (known as the "Fall Brushing Season"). [4] [5] [6]  

Pixel Wrangler, Excellent research! Thanks for bringing so much more context to this very minimally captioned image. As you concluded, this is certainly the Harlem River Speedway, also referred to as the Harlem Speedway, and even just The Speedway. Most of our other views of the Speedway are not from right on the track like this one, so it's quite a shot! Comparing this photo to a circa 1905 photo of the Speedway gives us a chance to match details, especially when looking at the largest digital TIFF files of each image. (Go here for a link to the TIFF file for this image.) Amongst other details which match - like the fixtures along the speedway, the signs and buildings on the opposite shoreline - the most compelling is the distant view in both images of the domed library of the old uptown campus of New York University, designed by Stanford White and built in 1899. (See a 1904 photo of the library from our collections.) It is now part of Bronx Community College. (For more on the history of this building, read Christopher Gray's 1996 New York Times article.) Between the articles you cite about Denver's track exploits and the script caption up the side of the photograph reading 'Denver coming along Speedway', we can certainly confirm that Denver refers to the horse and that this is the Speedway. We will expand the caption for this photograph when we update. Thanks again!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Brandeis en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Straus en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Samuel_Wise

A similar picture ran in the Great Falls daily tribune., July 04, 1920, with the caption: "THREE PROMINENT ZIONISTS Left to right: Nathan Strauss, Judge Brandeis and Rabbi Wise, who recently sailed for Palestine to prepare a place for those of their race who desire to make their home there." chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024808/1920-07-04/ed-...

Aboard the Red Star Liner, Lapland on their way to the International Zionist Conference in London, per: query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9A06E1D9133AE0...

Very similar photo captioned "Three prominent Jews sail on the Lapland for Palestine" ran in The Sun and the New York herald, June 20, 1920. chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030273/1920-06-20/ed-...

Thanks, we'll add more information to the catalog record when we next update.

Nathan Straus ran several "milk depots" around New York to provide "sterilized" (pasteurized) milk at one cent per glass, a fee that was intended to be charitable without making people feel that they were receiving charity. The City Hall Park depot opened in 1894. Up until that time, many infants died from contaminated milk, especially in the poorer sections of New York during the summer months. The availability of affordable safe milk saved many lives. Ref: www.realmilk.com/untoldstory_1.html

Another Bain/LOC photo of a New York City milk house, during a heat wave in the summer of 1911:

Nathan Straus and the pure milk campaign: www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Nathan_Str...