Expert: John V. Barbieri - 2/24/2009

Question
The first ever American Marathon (1896) ended at a stadium called the Columbia Oval, often described as being at the corner of Gun Hill Road and Bainbridge Avenue, Williams Bridge, in the Bronx. However none of the contemporaneous street maps published on the internet show it, and the streets around where it is described seem too close for  stadium to be squeezed between them. Have you any ideas?

Answer
Hugh,

I found two articles on the web which explain where it was and that it was auctioned off and sub-divided (around 1922).

Here you go:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980CE1DE1F39EF3ABC4F51DFB66783896...


http://www.bronxmall.com/norwoodnews/past/071802/features/page3.html

Hope this helps.

John