Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/58

42 survey beginning at Kissena Boulevard in Flushing and striking across country, passing south of Flushing Cemetery and north of Alley Pond. By the end of this preliminary survey, twenty-two miles had been covered with three or four possible lines laid out. By the end of 1853 it had become apparent that the Flushing R.R. company had means to build to Flushing only, and talk of an extension eastward died away.

Three years later in 1856 another attempt to arouse public interest was made, this time at Manhasset, but again nothing happened. Three years more passed and in 1859 certain prominent and wealthy estate owners in Bayside, Great Neck and Manhasset began to discuss seriously the feasibility of organizing a road to Glen Cove. In the preceding year the Flushing R.R. had gone into bankruptcy, and there was some hesitation about any new railroad projects pending the court's disposition of the Flushing road.

In the year 1863 the obscurity that had hitherto cloaked the activities of the North Shore backers was dispelled. On June 29 at a meeting at Little Neck a company was formally organized; it was resolved to build eastward to Manhasset, and to place on the market 8,000 shares of stock at $25 each. At this first meeting 4,700 shares of stock at $117,500 were subscribed. The initial meeting of the Board of Directors was held on July 16, and at a subsequent meeting held August 29, 1863, a committee was appointed with power to obtain a new survey of the route with maps of the same, and estimates of the cost of the proposed road. The legal organization of the company was perfected on September 23, 1863. The road was to be known as the "North Shore R. R. Company" and its backers included many of the most prominent names in North Hempstead Town, such as Messenger, Mitchell, Willets, Bell, Mott and Udall.

During August and September 1863 all the remaining stock was subscribed and the company had two or three possible routes surveyed. As soon as the surveyors appeared with their chains, a lively excitement ensued, every property owner urging that the road be located on his neighbor's property and not on his own. This was especially true in Flushing. It soon developed that there were two main routes under consideration: the direct one which continued the Flushing R.R. track eastward in a straight line, and the meadow route, which dropped south from