The False Start Jerome Park N.Y.
date: label: Date made
content: 1868
name: label: maker
content: Kelly, Thomas
label: maker
content: Robertson, William C.
notes: label: Description
content: A color print of a starting line beside filled grandstands at a race track. The judges in the two octagonal viewing stands seem surprised to see five horses start before five others were in starting position. The scene is therefore one of great confusion. Banners and pennants fly from the roof of the grandstands. The largest one bears the symbol of Jerome Park – a horseshoe, a whip, and stirrups. The architecture is gracefully ornate. The stands have slender columns, wooden lattice work, and classical pediments. The stands for the judges have carved wooden finials and striped roofs. The jockeys wear colorful jackets.
label: Description
content: Jerome Park Racetrack opened on September 25, 1866 in Fordham, Westchester County, New York, which now forms part of the Bronx. The American Jockey Club operated this facility on what was once the Bathgate estate. It was owned by Leonard W. Jerome, who helped found the Jockey Club, and August Belmont, Sr. The course was known as “The Bluff” and hosted the first Belmont Stakes in honor of its owner and President of the Jockey Club in 1867. It ran there until 1890 until it was moved to the Morris Park Racetrack. Visits to Jerome Park were integral to New York City social life. In 1894, Jerome Park was scheduled to be turned into a reservoir for the city because the popularity of racing had begun to decline and “bookmaking” was introduced, lowering the class of the facility to the chagrin of the American Jockey Club, which later banned the activity. The prohibition of betting was the final factor in the downfall of Jerome Park.
label: Description
content: William J. Robertson is credited with the middle initials C,G, and J. He lived in New York City as a lithographer from 1865-1868. It is believed he may have created some of the works published by T. Kelly including some of the Civil War Prints.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
label: associated place
content: United States: New York, Jerome Park Reservoir
topic: label: Subject
content: Horses
label: Subject
content: Architecture, Commercial Buildings
label: Subject
content: Chronology: 1860-1869
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
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content: Horses
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.2826
label: catalog number
content: 60.2826
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: image: 18 in x 24 1/2 in; 45.72 cm x 62.23 cm