Poughkeepsie Eagle News

May 31, 1935

Vassar to Offer Township Tract in Raymond Avenue for Two-Way Boulevard
MacCracken Reveals Plan of Gift of Land Used by Trolleys

ASKS FOR PAVING

Project Would Mean Decrease in Danger of Traffic Mishaps

Proposing a two-way boulevard in Raymond avenue for safety and improved appearance,  President MacCracken of Vassar college will ask the college trustees at their June meeting for permission to deed to the town of Poughkeepsie the college owned land on which the trolley line operates parallel to the road.

The improvement is suggested in view of the intention of the Poughkeepsie and Wappingers Falls Electric Railway company to substitue buses for electric cars on all its lines.  Dr. MacCracken proposes that the land be given to the town on condition that it be paved but that the row of trees between the road and the college right of way be preserved and that traffic be routed one way on either side of the boulevard.

In a statement yesterday the president said he believed this system of traffic regulation would reduce the number of accidents in Raymond avenue.  Students and faculty members of the college have been injured, as well as other persons, and some of the accidents have been fatal.

The statement said:

Wishes Trees Preserved

"President MacCracken is planning to ask the authorization of the trustees to deed to the town of Poughkeepsie that part of Raymond avenue which is outside the campus for a two way street with parkway treatment, on condition that they will preserve the trees in the center of the parkway as a beautiful feature.  He has been in touch with officials of the town and hopes that his plan may be carried out by the town with the co-operation of the state highway department.

"It would of course, be necessary for the Trolley company to remove the rails. He ads that there have been several bad accidents, some of them fatal, on Raymond avenue, and he hopes the danger from trafic would be greatly diminished by the two way street .  This would extend from the bridge below Vassar lake to Fulton avenue."

Dr. MacCracken's proposal is expected to be placed before the board of trustees at its commencement day meeting, June 10.  The president said last night that as a result of his inquiries about the project he has reason to believe it will be approved by both the trustees and the town officials.  He was asked whether the college would recommend that the work be done as a TERA project, and replied that the institution was not especially concerned with that detail. Vassar college owns all the land between its wall and the edge of the present road in Raymond avenue between Vassar lake and Fulton avenue.  Dr. MacCracken said he believed the continuation of this strip north of Fulton avenue was public property.

The Trolley company has indicated its intention of taking up the rails in Raymond avenue if it is given permission to substitute buses for electric cars.  Dr. MacCracken said the trolley line was laid on the college property under an agreement that the students were always to have a five-cent fare to the river.

Some years ago when the Trolley company raised its fare the college called attention to the original agreement.  The Public Service commission ruled, however, that the agreement was not valid because only the commission itself could establish rates.  The agreement had been maide prior to the creation of the Public Service commission, however, and while the college considered bringing suit, it finally decided to take no action.

Dr. MacCracken said he believed the trolley company could hold the college to the agreement only so long as it operated electric cars over the rails.  The president said he believed the job of removing the rails would not be great since they are not under pavement as in Main street. The trolley company extended its line to Vassar college in 1872, two years after the original company, the City Railway company, was organized.  That extension was the first beyond the original line from the river to the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway station.

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Poughkeepsie Eagle News

June 1, 1935

Town Highway Head Says Paving in Raymond Avenue should be done by State

Tompkins Estimates Cost of Boulevard Plan at $16,000; Holds Town Can't Afford It; Bixby Doubts Albany will do Job

The widening of Raymond avenue as a boulevard proposed by President Henry Noble MacCracken of Vassar college in his suggestion that the college donate to the town its land now used as a trolley right of way, should be undertaken by the State Department of Public Works, in the opinion of Nicholas Tompkins, town superintendent of highways.

Although James S. Bixby, divisional superintendent of the State Public Works department said yesterday it was improbable that the state would undertake the work.  Mr. Tompkins said he regarded the proposed project simply as a widening of an existing state road.  Placing a rough estimate of $16,000 on the cost of the operation he said he did not think the town of Poughkeepsie could possibly shoulder that expense.  He suggested the possibility of doing the work as a county TERA project should be investigated.

Mr. Tompkins believes that if the project is carried out the line of trees which would form the dividing line for one-way traffice on either side of the boulevard should be removed and shrubbery planted in their place.  He pointed out that the trees are very old and that road building operations would undoubtedley destroy the roots of many of them.

In making his suggestion Dr. MacCracken, however, entered the stipulation that the trees be preserved for beauty.

Supervisor Townsend of the town of Poughkeepsie could not be reached last night for comment on Dr. MacCracken's proposal.  He was quoted earlier yesterday as saying that he personally considered the suggestion well worth study.

Mr. Bixby said the idea was new to him and added that he believed it "improbably [sic] that the state would build the highway."  He said such a project would be classified as a "luxury" inasmuch as it is not really necessary.  He pointed out that the state has hesitated to spend money for four strips of pavement on the Albany post road and might be expected to hesitate also over the Raymond avenue project.

The divisional superintendent was asked what he thought of the possibility of the town's receiving 100 per cent federal public works grant for the project.  He said he could not comment on that angle.  He suggested, however, that the propositon was not similar to the city's application for a grant for paving of Hooker avenue through the Eighth Ward, because the city's problem is one of a broken pavement and inadequate drainage [. . . .bad spot in film here . . . .] good pavement exists.