BRIARCRIER
Jan.
24, 2014, Friday, 12:15, The Briar's Restaurant, Briarcliff Manor
Rotary Club.
TODAY
IN HISTORY
1950:
The Israeli Paliament affirmed a resolution declaring Jerusalem as
the capital of Israel.
MEETING
LEADER: President Anne Cargill
PLEDGE:
Anne Cargill PATRIOTIC SONG: Sy
Yuter PRAYER: Paul Rosen
HAPPY
THOUGHTS: Anne, this is Robert Burns birthday in Scotland; Anne,
beautiful Scotland, home of golf; Dr. Maher's students marching in
superbowl parade; Other happy thoughts but not correctly
recorded.
ROTARIANS
PRESENT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: 17 Rotarians present. Kris, we have
new Rotary shirts and caps from India.
GUESTS:
None.
SPEAKER
AND SUBJECT: Alex Vastole, an interne for the
Briarcliff/Scarborough Historical Society, on 1908 Briarcliff
Race together with society co-presidents Jan Wagner and Karen
Smith.
SUMMARY
OF TALK
Walter
law, who founded our village in 1902, based on farming properties he
bought from 1890 on, sponsored the 1908 Briarcliff Race in order to
advertise the availability of Briarcliff realty for sale. A church
and a few homes still exist. Law put up a trophy, made by Tiffany,
which is now in the Indianopolis museum. He also, as a first prize,
put up $10,000, now worth about $250 million. The race was run up and
down the county, encircled four times, mostly on dirt roads, some
with oil on them but mostly gravel. Karen Smith and other society
members drove the race route and distributed a paper listing the
race route. Some 300,000 people attended the race, about
100,000 in what is now our village. Some stayed at the Briarcliff
Lodge, then one of the nicest vacation spots in the country. Others
camped out. They came up mostly from New York City by horse and
buggy, early cars and railroad. Most people populated sharp turns
where they expected race cars to turn over. One did, but was righted
by the driver and mechanic in the car and finished the race. The race
was won by local Louis Strang in an Italian car, an Isotta
Fraschini, presently in the Tokyo Toyota museum. The winner
died in a car accident in a 1911 race. Among the race drivers
was Barney Oldfield, a dare devil driver.
This
Friday, tomorrow, the speaker will be our own Vijaya Jain on
malnutrition.
Elinor
Yuter, Reporter
Rachel
Leihbacher, Expedite
