Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/59

The North Shore R.R. the Flushing R.R. track at the Flushing Creek drawbridge and skirted the south end of the village. When it became obvious to the directors that every possible route would expose them to abuse from some quarter, they resolved to adopt the direct route through the center of Flushing Village.

The direct route had much to recommend it; it passed through the center of population and avoided the necessity of building a station in the meadows far out of town; it was also the shortest route and the straightest, and the one favored by the press and many of the villagers.

The first month of the new year 1864 saw the acquisition of the right-of-way from Little Neck to Manhasset, and the opening of this stretch to bidders. The Flushing Village right-of-way remained in doubt. On February 2, 1864 the thirty or more bids for grading and bridging were opened and the contract for the whole road awarded to a contractor named N. H. Decker. To expedite construction on the west end at Flushing, it was necessary to resolve the thorny question of route. Those property owners who were opposed to the direct route applied to the Supreme Court for a commission, and three men were appointed with authority to decide on the route and to assess damages. Many in Flushing deplored this appeal to law and felt that the property owners should have bowed to the opinion of a majority of the villagers. The Flushing press had come out unanimously for the direct route, and so did the Trustees, as being the one that would be least injurious to private interests, and the only one, the location of which would not be prejudicial to the growth and prosperity of the village.

A complication in the controversy was the uncertainty over the grade at the Bowne Street and Union Street crossings. Many who were in favor of the direct route disliked the idea of the railroad making a deep chasm through Flushing east of Main Street where the land was more elevated. It was suggested that nearly everyone would be satisfied if the North Shore road were to run in a cut with properly walled sides, and with Bowne Street and Union Street carried over the cut on bridges. By covering up the cut altogether on the east side of Main Street where the cut began, it would be possible to blot out from view altogether any unsightly railroad operation. It so happened at this time and for many years thereafter that the land between Main and