Suffolk Downs

Suffolk Downs is a thoroughbred race track in East Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The track opened in 1935 after being built by Joseph A. Tomasello for a cost of $2 million. A number of famous horses have since raced at this track including Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, Funny Cide, and Cigar. The Massachusetts Handicap or MassCap is an annual event held at the track, but has not been held since 2008. The track is a 1-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval with a seven-furlong inner turf track. Non-race functions are also held at the venue such as the Hot Dog Safari.

The track provides the name of the nearby MBTA Suffolk Downs subway station.

Suffolk Downs is one of two live horse racing tracks in operation in Massachusetts, the other being Plainridge Racecourse.

History

Opening

After parimutuel betting was legalized in Massachusetts, the Eastern Racing Association, Inc. was formed to open a thoroughbred race track in East Boston. Businessman, politician, and former steeplechase jockey Bayard Tuckerman, Jr. was the corporation's first president. Harness racing promotor Allan J. Wilson was named vice president. Walter E. O'Hara, promoter of the Narragansett Park was named managing director of the track, however he backed out after a few months because he felt East Boston was not a suitable site for a race track and instead wanted to build a track in Framingham or Natick. Richard Danielson, Charles Adams, and John R. Macomber were also members of the track's first board of directors.

Suffolk Downs (LIRR station)

Suffolk Downs was a seasonal flag stop along the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road and was first built in 1907. The depot was purchased by an LIRR employee and was moved to Peconic Bay at an undisclosed location on February 6, 1923 and the station stop itself closed around 1927. The station stop was located between Canoe Place and Shinnecock Hills Stations.

References

Suffolk Downs (MBTA station)

Suffolk Downs is a rapid transit station on the MBTA Blue Line located off Bennington Street on the east side of Orient Heights in East Boston, Massachusetts. It serves the Orient Heights neighborhood as well as its namesake, the now-defunct Suffolk Downs racetrack.

Originally a Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad station called Belle Isle and Suffolk Downs from the early 1900s to 1940, it reopened in 1952 as a rapid transit station on the Revere Extension of the East Boston Tunnel line (now the Blue Line).

With just 1125 daily boardings in 2013, Suffolk Downs is the least-used rapid transit station on the MBTA system. It is fully handicapped accessible.

History

The narrow gauge Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad (BRB&L) opened from East Boston to Lynn through Breed's Hill (not yet part of East Boston) on July 29, 1875; there was initially no station at the modern site. A stop named Belle Isle opened at Waldemar Avenue around 1905. Just 2,000 feet (610 m) from Orient Heights station, it closed around 1925 and suffered a number of fires in 1925 and 1926 caused by sparks from locomotives.

Suffolk

Suffolk /ˈsʌfək/ is an East Anglian county of historic origin in England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket and Felixstowe, one of the largest container ports in Europe.

The county is low-lying with very few hills, and is largely arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north. The Suffolk Coast and Heaths are an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

History

Administration

By the 5th century the Angles (after whom East Anglia and England are named) had established control of the region. The Angles later became the "north folk" and the "south folk", from which developed the names "Norfolk" and "Suffolk". Suffolk and several adjacent areas became the kingdom of East Anglia, which later merged with Mercia and then Wessex.

Suffolk was originally divided into four separate Quarter Sessions divisions. In 1860, the number of divisions was reduced to two. The eastern division was administered from Ipswich and the western from Bury St Edmunds. Under the Local Government Act 1888, the two divisions were made the separate administrative counties of East Suffolk and West Suffolk; Ipswich became a county borough. A few Essex parishes were also added to Suffolk: Ballingdon-with-Brundon and parts of Haverhill and Kedington.

Andersonstown

Andersonstown is a suburb of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The area was originally known as Whitesidetown after the family that owned the land but they were dispossessed for the support they gave to the Society of United Irishmen, resulting in a change of name. The district is sometimes colloquially referred to as "Andytown" or "A Town".

History

Andersonstown sits at the bottom of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain and contains a mixture of public and private housing. It is largely populated by Irish nationalists/Irish Catholics. Andersonstown is an electoral ward of Belfast. The consensus view is that the area begins at the tip of the upper Falls Road, where it becomes the Andersonstown Road, close to the junction with the Glen Road. It is bounded at the western end by Shaw's Road, forming a large triangle.

The area rapidly expanded during the 1950s and 1960s as the local housing authority built hundreds of houses for people who were rehoused during the redevelopment of the lower Falls Road. Holy Child School and La Salle Secondary School were built, along with a library. As the population of the area increased Twinbrook and Poleglass housing estates were built further out of Belfast.

Suffolk (European Parliament constituency)

Suffolk was a constituency of the European Parliament located in the United Kingdom, electing one Member of the European Parliament by the first-past-the-post electoral system. Created in 1979 for the first elections to the European Parliament, it was abolished in 1994 and succeeded by the constituencies of Suffolk and South West Norfolk, Essex North and Suffolk South and Cambridgeshire.

Boundaries

On its creation in 1979, it consisted of the parliamentary constituencies of Bury St Edmunds, Eye, Harwich, Ipswich, Lowestoft and Sudbury and Woodbridge.

After the 1984 boundary changes based on the new UK parliamentary constituencies created in 1983, it consisted of the constituencies of Bury St. Edmunds, Central Suffolk, Ipswich, South East Cambridgeshire, South Suffolk, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney. South East Cambridgeshire had previously been part of Cambridge and Bedfordshire North, while Harwich was now part of Essex North East.

The constituency was abolished in 1994. Bury St Edmunds, Central Suffolk, Ipswich, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney became part of the new European constituency of Suffolk and South West Norfolk. South East Cambridgeshire was transferred to Cambridgeshire, and Suffolk South to Essex North and Suffolk South.