Bulls Head Hotel and Auto & Wagon Shed
30 Glen Cove Road, Greenvale
Bulls Head Inn was built as an inn by Adam Heiss around 1875 on the northeast busy corner of North Hempstead Turnpike and Glen Cove Road. The area was then called Bulls Head, later North Roslyn and now Greenvale.
In the late 1800s, the property was purchased by Aloysius Huwer (1844-1924) who added a shed for wagons and automobiles. The hotel was on the course of the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races with the hotel and shed used by several of the racing teams. In 2005, Huwer's great-grandson Fred Blumlein wrote:
Greenvale’s Bulls Head Hotel, located smack-dab on the corner of that tough turn, played an important role in the 1905 race. Aloysius Huwer, proprietor of the hotel (and the writer’s great-grandfather), rented his “Auto & Wagon Shed,” to race driver and car owner, Walter White. White and his mechanics bunked in the Hotel and used Huwer’s Shed to ready his steam-driven racer for the event. White’s machine was the only steam racer ever to be driven in the Vanderbilt Cup Races. He received an “A” for trying, but had to abandon his car in the fifth lap because of engine and tire troubles. During the 1906 race, the Bulls Head Hotel and Shed became the base camp for the Pope-Toledo car group. They were the last race team to use the site during the races.
In 1923, the auto and wagon shed and an ice house were destroyed by a fire. In the early 1930s, the hotel was moved further east on North Hempstead Turnpike and rotated 180 degrees on to a new foundation for a Socony service station. The building was then used as a boarding house and later for retail stores. The building was torn down by developers in 2005 for a new office building. The service station was demolished around 2010 for a new shopping center.
1906 map of Bulls Head
Views looking north east in 1905.
Aloysius Huwer and his family (circa 1905). Courtesy of Fred Blumlein.
As seen in this 1905 photo, a real bull was kept south of North Hempstead Turnpike across from the hotel. Ironically, this is the current location of Ben's Deli !
Bulls Head was the headquarters for racing teams for both the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races including the White Steamer in 1905. Fred Blumlein has identified his great-grandfather Aloysius Huwer standing on the porch in the last photo,
Racers taking the Bulls Head turn during the Vanderbilt Cup Races.
In the early 1930s, the hotel was moved further east on North Hempstead Turnpike and rotated 180 degrees on to a new foundation for a Socony North Roslyn service station. Police officer Harry LaRue can be seen on the far right. Courtesy of the Bryant Library Local History Collection.
The New York Times, May 1986
The Bulls Head building in 1999 being used as a training exercise by the Roslyn Fire Department. Courtesy of Fred Blumlein.
Now: The location of the hotel as seen in 2021.
3 Comments
Actually, Mr. Murtagh is correct about the date on the photo showing the fire apparatus extending from Northern Blvd. over a house beyond the old Bulls Head Hotel building. I apologize to Howard Kroplick for providing him with that incorrect date I had actually taken that photo in 1999. The house in question was going to be demolished along with the vacant hotel. The then developer/owner of these properties gave permission to the Roslyn Fire Department to practice venting (cutting through) its roof to allow practice smoke to escape from the house. Interestingly, this was the house that Aloysius Huwer, a veteran of the Civil War, built and moved into in the late teens after he sold the hotel and its corner property.
Regarding the above photo with the police officer standing on the corner, take a look at the long row of first-floor windows of the hotel that is facing us. These windows enclosed the hotels old front porch and, in 1932, housed the first post office in Greenvale. In later years, one of the buildings storefronts facing Northern Blvd. housed Dr. Cavotis original Greenvale Pharmacy, the first drug store in the hamlet. That pharmacy still operates today in Greenvale at a different location and under different management.
As a clarification, the hotel never burned down, but was demolished as I said above. The structure on the Huwers corner property that was destroyed by fire in the late teens was his Auto & Wagon Shed that once housed the Vanderbilt Cup racing cars.
An interesting family story was told by my grandmother, Louisa Huwer Blumlein, Aloysius daughter. When her father was offered to buy the land directly across Northern Blvd. where Bens restaurant exists today, he said, and I paraphrase, what do I want more property for?
Fred, thanks so much for updating and correcting the profile. Your efforts in preserving the history in our community is much appreciated!
Love the write-up and thank you for adding more Greenvale content however I think the 2005 dates on the two more modern images of the Tavern taken just before it was torn down are incorrect. Those pictures had to have been taken at least 5 years earlier than that. After the Tavern was torn down it was replaced by a single story red brick building that in turn was replaced by the current shopping center. That brick building originally housed a Duane Reade pharmacy which Im fairly certain was still the tenant in 2005. Eventually the pharmacy was replaced by Glen Cove Rug Co. before it was torn down a few years back. Im not sure how to link it here but you can see what Im talking about if you use the historical imagery feature on Google Earth. The tavern is there in the 1994 image but gone by the next satellite image taken in April 2000 by which point the brick building that replaced it is clearly visible. Please look into it when you can. Though I cant provide any evidence beyond my own memory my guess is that the two photos are probably from 1998 or 1999. In the second photo the Roslyn Fire Companies are using another structure that was next to the Tavern building for a drill. I live a street away and remember very clearly as a young teenager standing on the corner watching that drill with some neighbors. Notice also that the mobile station on the corner was still open in the same photo. It also closed and was torn down before 2005. If only we could see the gas prices that would be the best evidence.
Mike, you might be right. I will research the date of the fire.
Michael, you are amazing. Thank you for adding to our story. And Fred, I don't believe I ever knew that hotel was your family's! Patty, I will echo your statement: gone is ANY semblance of the town I knew and loved. I'd rather see a gas station on every corner than the monstrosities which have been erected mainly as tax losses and built by speculators who have no clue. But, as with all small towns, this too shall pass 💚
Thank you, Fred, thank you Michael.
Michael, you are amazing. Thank you for adding to our story. And Fred, I don't believe I ever knew that hotel was your family's! Patty, I will echo your statement: gone is ANY semblance of the town I knew and loved. I'd rather see a gas station on every corner than the monstrosities which have been erected mainly as tax losses and built by speculators who have no clue. But, as with all small towns, this too shall pass 💚
Thank you, Fred, thank you Michael.
Absolutely wonderful piece of history. I still miss the Greenvale of the 50s, how I wish I had seen it and known it in the days of the races! Gone now is any sign of a town with a personality. Thank you for sharing these and thank you Fred!!!