Page:Vincent F. Seyfried - The Long Island Rail Road A Comprehensive History - Vol. 2 (1963).pdf/99

The Central Railroad of Long Island $394,350 for land generally considered worthless, and this was invested to pay the school and welfare expenses of the Town for decades to come. Stewart obtained 7,170 acres and proceeded to buy another 1,500 from private individuals to round out the tract.

With his characteristic energy Stewart undertook immediately the development of this colossal tract, which extended from the New Hyde Park Road on the west to the borders of the Village of Farmingdale on the east; and from the Old Country Road on the north to the Hempstead village border on the south, measuring roughly ten miles in length by two miles in width. Stewart immediately contracted for 500 miles of wagon roads and appointed an engineer, John Kellum, to superintend the armies of workmen, who were grading roads, laying out parks and planting miles of shade trees. The new city was to be a residence for people in "moderate circumstances" and of "refined and cultivated tastes," and Stewart insured that his clientele would be limited to this group by erecting homes ranging in value from $5,000 to $15,000 on plots of at least an acre. In the summer of 1870 the first houses went up, while thirty carpenters put up fifteen miles of fences around blocks 600 × 1200 feet. By the end of the year Stewart had laid out 120 acres and had spent $4,000 a day for grading and fencing.

Not the least of Stewart's spectacular plans for his City of the Plains was the construction of a private railroad which would provide luxurious express service to New York for the residents of the city. Within two or three months of Stewart's purchase, preparations were made to build the so-called Stewart road. There was no problem in building a railroad along the plains since Stewart owned all the land. The big problem was how to provide his road with an outlook to the East River and the New York ferries. Building an entire new route to the water when there were already three operating systems on Long Island seemed wasteful to Stewart's shrewd business instincts, so he decided to sound out the Long Island R.R. and the Flushing & North Side R.R. as to their attitude toward a leasing or operating agreement.

By December 1869 the route of the Stewart road through the plains had been laid out by Mr. Kellum, and with the plans in his pocket, Stewart went to call on Oliver Charlick on December