Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall and Early Aviation History

The Roosevelt Field Mall, located in the Long Island suburb of Garden City, NY, is the second largest shopping mall in the state of New York and eighth in the country.

It is a beautiful, modernized mall offering Bloomingdale's, JC Penney, Macy's, Nordstrom, Dick's Sporting Goods and more than 270 specialty stores, including Aeropostale, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, The Disney Store, Gap, The Limited, Victoria's Secret, Coach, Betsey Johnson, Abercrombie & Fitch, Pottery Barn, Sephora, and many more.

I believe the most interesting fact about this mall, however, is that it is located on land that was once considered the world's premier airport during the 1920's and 30's and was considered the "cradle of American aviation."

It was constructed on the site of, and named for, Roosevelt Field, an airport and military airfield where Charles Lindbergh took off on his historic first trans-Atlantic flight on May 20. 1927 in his plane called "The Spirit Of St. Louis," and landed in Paris France 33 1/2 hours later.

Click on to enlarge the photos below to read the plaque that is located in the mall that explains some of the history of the land the mall is located on.

The greatest aviators from all over America and Europe came to this field in Long Island to show their latest flying machines, race, set records and win prize money. As an airfield, the land served as the take-off site of many famous aviators such as Amelia Earhart and Wiley Post, and their likenesses, among others, could be seen in an interesting mural outside a store undergoing renovation that displayed some renditions of the aviation history of Roosevelt Field.

I separated the mural into five images in case you'd like to look at some of the details:

Click on to enlarge the photo below and see if you can see a feature in the food court in the mall that appears to be another vehicle of early aviation. It is a zeppelin!

It is astonishing to think that land with such a historical background is now a shopping mall, but nearby the Roosevelt Field Mall is The Cradle of Aviation Museum, located on Charles Lindbergh Blvd, Garden City, NY which is preserving some of that history. The year 2009 will mark the centennial of the first flight on Long Island when Glenn Curtiss flew his "Golden Flyer" over the Hempstead Plains during the summer of 1909, and the museum is planning a year long celebration of Long Island's role in aerospace history with a series of events to commemorate this historic event.

To read more about the history of early aviation in Long Island on the museum's web site click here, also The Long Island Early Fliers Club has many interesting articles and photos from that era and a list of past and present Long Island aircraft manufacturers and aircraft.