The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 100

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 100

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lic confidenee and secured patronage, and this stage line contributed largely to the growth of the city in the Bedford district. When city railroads were estab- lished, Mr. Queen became their warm supporter, and was largely identified with the Brooklyn City Railroad Company. Soon after 1840 he established other lines through. Flushing avenne, and a little later through DeKalb and Flatbush avenues. On this last-named avenue the stages ran regularly to the village of Flat- bush. There was also a stage line through- Myrtle avenue, owned and operated by Seymour L. Husted, which was maintained only at a great pecuniary sacri- fice. In 1851 the first regular line of stages from Flat- bush, was run by "Old John Roe," of Canarsie, who made two trips daily from Canarsie via Flatbush to Fulton ferry, changing horses at Flatbush. It was through the efforts of the parishioners of " the Holy Cross" that this stage line was first established, and it was maintained until the Flatbush route of the Brook- lyn City Railroad took its place in 1860.

The historian of Coney Island and Gravesend has kindly furnished us with the following facts relative to stages and staging in Gravesend :

Fifty years ago, and even less, it was a day's journey to go to Brooklyn and return ; consequently dne prep- aration must be made the day beforehand for such an undertaking. The lumbering stage-coach was the only publie conveyance at that time. Neither was there a direct public highway to the city then as now, but people were compelled to go through Flatlands and Flatbush before they could reach Brooklyn. The stage left Gravesend in the morning and did not return again until night. The journey became, therefore, a matter of dread, rather than pleasure, to those eom- pelled to undertake it.

Mr. Church, of Fort Hamilton, ran a line of stages from the Fort, through Gravesend to Brooklyn, some fifty years ago. We have no knowledge of any publie conveyance to the city before this period. In 1834 Mr. James W, Cropsey ran a stage line from Coney

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Island to Fulton Ferry, a distance of eleven miles. He was then the proprietor of the Coney Island House, and the same year built the first horse railroad on Long Island, running from his hotel to the shore, some eighty rods, for the aeeommodation of his guests.

Mr. Cropsey continued the stage line for six years, and then sold out to one Felter; who, after some years, was sueeeeded by John Carll, who, in addition to pas- sengers, earried also the mail. Carll gave place to Pat Breslin, well remembered to-day as a jolly and accommodating stage driver.

In 1879 a line of stages was started by Mr. Stiles, to run from the corner of Grand and Lafayette avenues to the City Hall. He afterwards extended the route, and formed a stoek company ealled the Lafayette Ave- nue Stage Company. April 23d, 1882, H. Hamilton bought the line of stages, with all its appurtenanees, and now runs them between Bedford Station and Wall Street Ferry. He is sole proprietor, and owns twenty stages, eighty-five horses, and employs twenty-five men.

In the Eastern Distriet of the present city, the first omnibus was started in the year 1840 by a Mr. Williams, a painter, who resided in South Fifth street, near Twelfth. Unlike the systematie manage- ment of the present lines of stages, the first omnibus was driven promiscuously through the different streets, and straggling pedestrians pieked up and conveyed to or from the Peek Slip Ferry, which was the business focus of this new enterprise. Mr. Williams continued the running of his omnibus about six months, when, not having sufficient patronage to defray the ineurred ex- penses, he abandoned the enterprise, and thus the in- habitants of Williamsburgh were again left to their own traveling resources. Since then, lines of stages have been suecessfully and profitably run through Grand, First, South Fourth and South Seventh streets, and to East New York; Fulton and South Ferries, Brooklyn, Bushwiek, Maspeth, Newtown, Greenpoint, Astoria and Flushing.

In 1836 the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad, which had been chartered in 1832, was opened from the South Ferry to Jamaica, a distance of about twelve miles ; and not long after the Long Island Railroad, chartered April 26, 1834, ran ears over the same traek, reaching some of the towns in Suffolk County. The route was along Atlantie street, and what is now Atlantie avenue. But although this road was a great advanee on all previous modes of locomotion, its value, as a means of local travel, was limited to the immedi- ate vicinity of the street through which it passed, and it served even this need imperfeetly. It is not to be supposed that it had attained to the effieieney of the railways of the present day. The best locomotive in this country at that time, seldom execeded a speed of twelve miles an hour, and the Long Island Railroad, having no competition to fear, was not then, nor for

many years subsequently, equipped in the best man- ner. More than twenty years later, in its passage through Atlantic avenue, an active boy or man found no difficulty in keeping up with its express trains for two or three miles. As to its loeal support, in its route through Kings County, it was mneh less valuable than a horse railroad would have been. From the vieinity of the ferry, for nearly a mile, it ran through a tunnel, or a sunken arcade, where it eould receive no passen- gers, and at the road or street-erossings beyond, its high platforms, and the difficulty of entranee or exit to and from the cars, made the loeal patronage very meagre. It is to be remembered also that it eonld af- ford aeeommodation to only a small portion of the in- habitants of Kings County, had its facilities been mueh greater than they were.

There was a settlement of moderate extent, near the present junetion of Flatbush and Atlantie avenues ; a village of somewhat larger size at Bedford, around the erossing of the Clove road with Fulton street ; and another near the eastern border of the county, then known as the town of New Lots-now the populous suburb of East New York. These three points were all of any importanee in the county, reached by the Long Island Railroad. Its moderate business was mainly with Queens, and later also with the western portion of Suffolk County.

Although chartered in April, 1834, the main line was not opened for travel through to Greenport until July 29, 1844. It was designed to be a direet route be- tween New York and Boston, by connecting at the eastern end of Long Island with a line of steamers for the main land, but the eompletion of the New Haven all-land route diverted the through travel. The Brook- lyn and Jamaiea Railroad, leased from its completion in 1836, extended its line to the South Ferry in Brook- lyn. The new line to Long Island City, having been completed in 1861, the line in the eity of Brooklyn was abandoned, but was rebuilt in 1876 as far as the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. In 1881, the Long Island Railroad Company was formed for the purpose of uniting the various lines under one management. At this time the old projeet of a steam ferry from the east end of the route to Block Island, Newport and Providenee was revived, but after one season's trial was again relinquished. The road was for some time in the hands of a receiver, but was dis- charged by order of the Supreme Court, October 17, 1881. During the past two years, the company has largely inereased the equipments of the road, purehased 10,000 tons of steel rails, and acquired valuable doek privileges at Long Island City. The eapital stock was increased from $3,260,700 to $10,000,000, of which about $9,000,000 was used in retiring the old indebtedness of the road, and in the improvements already mentioned.

The OFFICERS for 1882-'83 are Austin Corbin, Pres .; J. R. Maxwell and B. S. Henning, Vice-Presidents ; F.

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W. Dunton, Treas .; E. B. Hinsdale, See .; I. D. Bar- ton, Supt .; J. Carlsen, Auditor. In the winter of 1882-'3 arrangements were completed by Mr. Austin Corbin and his associates, by which the Manhattan Beach Railroad, also owned and controlled by them, was leased by the Long Island Railroad, and its track widened, so that it could be run in connection with that road, thus opening a direct route to and from Coney Island, to all parts of Long Island. The extension to Montauk is to be completed during the autumn of 1883, and limited express parlor-car trains run through to Sag Harbor in two hours and twenty minutes. On the first of June, 1883, maps and papers were filed for a Long Island Trunk Railroad Co., having substantially the same stockholders and managers as the Long Island Railroad Company, and intended to connect the Long Island Road with the newly-opened Bridge ; and, as soon as possible, with the Hudson River and other railroads coming into New York, by means of an ele- vated railway, which they proposed eventually to con- tinue to Jamaica, Long Island. The purpose of this connecting link was to enable any person on Long Isl- and (in Brooklyn or elsewhere) to go without change of cars to any part of the continent, even to the Pacific coast. This project will meet with strong opposition, but in some form will probably be carried into effect. The capital of the new road is to be five million dollars.

But to recur to the early history of travel in Kings County ; the omnibuses had a monopoly of the business of local passenger travel, for about thirteen years, when the

Brooklyn City Railroad Company was incorpo- rated (Dec. 17, 1853). This road bought out most of the old stage lines, including the Myrtle Avenue line, which Mr. Seymour L. Husted had so long struggled to maintain. There were, however, one or two of these running as late as 1859 or 1860, and between 1875 and 1883 two or three new stage lines have been estab- lished. Of these, the Lafayette Avenue Stage Co. and the Montague Street Cab-line are still in existence.

Four of the Brooklyn City Railroad's routes, viz., the Fulton Avenue, Myrtle Avenue, Flushing Ave- nue and Court Street, were in operation for two or three miles of their length by the 3d of July, 1854. This company now have twelve car routes, beside trans- fers, all starting from Fulton Ferry, and radiating thence in every direction to the city line, and several of them to and beyond the county line. These are, in alphabetical order: 1. The Flatbush Line, from Ful- ton Ferry to Prospect Park and Flatbush. 2. The Flushing Avenue Line, from Fulton Ferry to Sands street and Flushing and Van Cott avenues. This line transfers passengers at corner of Classon and Flushing avenues to Greenpoint and to City Hall. 3. Fulton Street to East New York. 4. Furman Street Line, from Fultou Ferry to Eric Basin. 5. Gates Avenue Line, by Fulton, Greene and Gates avenues to Ridgewood.

6. Greenpoint Line via Classon Avenue, from Fulton Ferry to Newtown Creek. This is a transfer to Gra- ham avenue. 7. Greenpoint Line via Washington Avenue. This is much the same as the preceding, ex- cept a short cut across the Wallabout through Wash- ington avenue to Kent. It is not a transfer line. 8. Greenwood Line via Court Street, to Third and Fifth avenues, to Greenwood Cemetery, and connecting with steam-cars for Coney Island. 9. Hamilton Avenue Line, from Hamilton Ferry to Greenwood at 25th street, and by steam-cars to Bay Ridge and Fort Hamilton. 10. Myrtle Avenue Line, from Fulton Ferry through Myrtle avenue to Ridgewood. 11. Putnam Avenue Line, from Fulton Ferry, and Fulton street to Putnam avenue and Halsey street, to Broadway and by trans- fer to Ridgewood. 12. Third Avenue Line, from Fulton Ferry to Flatbush and Third avenues, to 25th street and Greenwood Cemetery. Its routes have an aggregate length of 43 miles. Messrs. S. L. Husted, Henry C. Murphy, Henry G. Pearson and Algernon S. Sullivan were among its leading promoters ; and the two first named, together with Charles Whitson, Whit- son Oakley, William Benson, John Kellum, J. O. Whitehouse, George S. Harland, Thomas J. Cochran, Jeremiah Johnson, George L. Bennett, Henry W. Conkling and Thomas Brooks, were the first Directors of the company. Mr. Montgomery Queen, the ener- getic stage proprietor, finding his occupation gone, be- came identified with the railroad company at an early date, and was for many years its efficient superintend- ent. The first officers of the company were S. L. Hus- ted, President, and Charles C. Betts, Secretary.

The Board of OFFICERS in 1883 consists of S. L. Husted, Prest .; William M. Thomas, Vice-Prest .; Will- iam B. Lewis, Sec. and Cashier ; Daniel F. Lewis, Asst. See. and Treas. The number of cars in use is 625 ; of horses, 2,500 ; employment is given to 1,500 men. The total number of passengers carried in 1882 was 34,000,000. The capital, originally fixed at $2,- 400,000, was reduced by legislative permission in 1855 to $1,000,000.

The Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad was, as we have noticed above, of earlier date than the Brooklyn City Railroad, having been chartered in 1832 and opened in 1836 ; but it and its congeners, the Brooklyn Central and Jamaica, Flushing, New York and Flushing, and South Side, were steam, not horse railroads. All of them, with the exception of the Atlantic Avenue, an organization of later date, though running over the same tracks, are now leased to or consolidated with the Long Island Railroad.

The Atlantic Avenue Railroad Co. first operated in 1859 and reorganized in 1873, has now six routes, viz .: the Atlantie Avenue Line, from Fulton Ferry,- the cars run by steam-motors from Flatbush avenue to Jamaica. 2. The Adams Street and Boerum Place Line, to Prospect Park, Coney Island and Greenwood,

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

passing over the Atlantic avenue tracks from Boerum Place to Fifth avenue and Greenwood, and with a branch at 15th street to Ninth avenue and Greenwood, eastern entrance, and transferring to and from South and Wall Street Ferries at 15th street. 3. The Butler Street Line, passing over the Adams and Atlantic street routes to Washington avenue, thence to Butler street and Nostrand avenue. Transfers to and from South and Wall Street Ferries. 4. The Greenwood and Coney Island Line, from Fulton Ferry through Fur- man street and Atlantic avenue and Fifth avenue, connecting at 27th street with Bath and Coney Island Steam Railway. 5. The Prospect Park Line. Over the same route as preceding, to Fifth avenue, and Flatbush avenue to Prospect Park, and along Ninth avenue to Greenwood, connecting with Prospect Park and Coney Island Steam Railroad at 20th street. 6. The Seventh Avenue Line, following the Adams street route to Fifth avenue, thence by Flatbush avenue, along Seventh avenue, to Greenwood, at 29th street, thence to Ninth avenue and Prospect Park and Coney Island steam-cars at 20th street. Transfers are made here to and from South and Wall Street Ferries. These lines are leased to and controlled by William Richardson.

The Grand Street and Newtown Railroad Company was chartered August 18th, 1860, with a capital stock of $200,- 000, which was afterwards reduced to $170,000. A double track, from the foot of Broadway along First and Grand streets, was completed to Bushwick avenue in October, 1860, and afterwards extended to Maspeth and Newtown. The present route of the main line is from Grand street to Hum- boldt street, to Meeker avenue and to Calvary cemetery, while a branch road continues on the original track from Grand street to Newtown. The whole length of the road is 8} miles. The company has 50 cars and 180 horses. Nearly 2,000,000 passengers were carried last year. This road was much indebted to its originator, Ira Buckman, Jr., for its suc- cessful struggle against many obstacles and much opposition.

Its present officers are : Nicholas Wyckoff, Pres., Edmund Driggs, Vice Pres., William E. Horwill, Scc. and Treas., and R. B. Sturges, Supt.

The Broadway Railroad Company was the first one or- ganized in the eastern district. Its charter is dated August 20, 1858, but the road was not established till 1860. Its original officers were Thomas G. Talmage, Pres., R. O. Cromelin, Scc. and Treas., Augustus Ivins, Supt., L. R. Miller, Att'y. The company's route extends from Roose- velt street ferry up Broadway to East New York. They have also two branch lines, one from Broadway to Reid avenue and Utica avenue to Atlantic avenue and return, and the other from Broadway through Sunner and Troy avenues to Bergen street. The length of track is 7 miles. The company employs 350 men and uses 120 cars and 625 horses. The number of passengers carried last year was 5,790,755. An extension from East New York to Cypress Hills, a distance of two miles, is operated as a steam-road, and is owned jointly by the Broadway and Brooklyn city companies.

The Brooklyn and Coney Island Road, usually known as the Smith street route, is chronologically next in order, but we will postpone the consideration of that till we take up the Coney Island roads together.

The Brooklyn City and Newtown Railroad Co. comes next. The articles of association of this company were filed May 22, 1860, with the following officers: R. B. Catherwood, Pres., E. Pell, Vice Pres., C. O. Richardson, Sec., S. R. Phelps, Treas., and Samuel McElwy, Eng'r. Its route extends from Fulton Ferry through Fulton, Front, Washington, entering Fulton again at Myrtle, thence to DeKalb avenue to Myrtle avenue, a distance of 4} miles. At first and for several years its route was from Front street to Bridge, to Willoughby and to DeKalb, and returning from DeKalb to Gold, to Front and Water, only touching Fulton at Gold street. These routes were definitely abandoned in 1877. Since the open- ing of the Bridge, they have been partially revived in con- nection with a short line to the Bridge approach in Sands street. This road is said to run the finest cars in the city. Officers, Samuel Hutton, Pres., Louis Fitzgerald, Vice Pres., H. A. Schultz, Sec. and Treas., and H. W. Bush, Supt.

The South Brooklyn Central Railroad Co. is next in the order of time. The first company operating the route now controlled by this company was known as the South Brook- lyn and Park, and was organized in 1865. It was long known as the Sackett street and Bergen street line, and did not attain any considerable success. The road was foreclosed and sold ; the company reorganized under its present name and chartered August 7th, 1877. Its capital stock is $125,- 000. Its line from Hamilton ferry to Kingston avenue is 7 miles in length, of which 4} are in operation. It has recently opened a branch through Bergen street, Flatbush avenue to Prospect Park. At Nostrand avenue it connects with the Williamsburgh and Flatbush line to foot of Broadway, E. D. The number of passengers transported last year was 1,500,000. Officers, D. B. Mangam, Pres., R. W. Adams, Treas., John O. Adams, Sec.

The Bushwick Railroad Company was chartered March 20th, 1867, with a capital stock of $200,000, and the fol- lowing Officers: F. W. Kalbfleisch, Pres., A. M. Bliss, Treas., H. S. Bellows, Sec., Ira H. Moore, Sup't. The company operates three horse routes: the Bushwick, from Grand street ferry to city line ; the Greenpoint, from Tenth and Twenty-third street ferries, Greenpoint, to Bushwick avenue, and the Tompkins Avenue, from South 7th and Grand street ferries to Bergen street, Kingston avenue and Brighton Beach junction. It also runs two steam lines, from City line to Cypress Hills, and from the city line to the Lutheran cemetery. The total length of its lines is about 13 miles. The company employs five motors, 140 cars and 475 horses. Officers, Wm. H. Husted, Pres., Frederick Crom- well, Vice Pres., Augustus Ivins, Treas., S. D. Hallowell, Sec., Wm. N. Morrison, Supt.

The Van Brunt and Erie Basin Railroad Co .- Organized February 15th, 1861, with a capital of $50,000, which was afterwards increased to $150,000. Its first officers were : Robert Middleton, Pres., and Andrew Foster, Sec. Its route extends from Hamilton Ferry to the Erie Basin, one and one quarter miles. It transfers its passengers by Brooklyn City Railroad to Fulton Ferry, passing all ferries. It employs 20 men, and with 25 horses and 6 cars carried nearly a half mil- lion of passengers last year. Officers, 1883 : Jas. Binns, Pres .; Edmund Terry, Treas. and Sec .; John Cunningham, Supt.

The Brooklyn Cross-town Railroad Co .- In 1868 the Nas- sau Railroad Co. and the Greenpoint and Williamsburgh Co. were merged in the Brooklyn City, Hunter's Point and Pros- pect Park Co., with Gen. H. W. Slocum, Pres., Demas Strong, Treas., and C. F. Estee, Sec. In 1874 the company was changed to the Brooklyn and Crosstown Railroad Co., with a capital of $200,000 in $50 shares. Its length of track from Hunter's Point to Erie Basin is eight miles. Its route tra-

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verses the whole length of the city from North to South, connecting all the great manufacturing and commercial establishments, and crossing all the numerous East and West lines. The company started originally with 8 two-horse cars and 76 horses. In 1876, one-horse cars, leaving every two minutes during the day, were substituted for the larger cars running at longer intervals. The company now employs 240 men, 400 horses and 75 cars. It carried five million passen- gers last year. Officers : Gen. H. W. Slocum, Pres., John R. Connor, Sec. and Treas.

The North Second Street and Middle Village Railroad Co. was first organized in 1864 as the Metropolitan Railroad. In 1869, its name was changed to the Grand Street Ferry and Middle Village R. R .; and on Oct. 10, 1870, when it first com- menced an active existence, it took the name of the North Second Street and Middle Village Railroad Co. It absorbed whatever there was to absorb (not very much) of the Brook- lyn, Winfield and Newtown Co., and commenced the con- struction of its road from the foot of Broadway, E. D., through First to North Second street, along North Second to Metropolitan avenue, to the Lutheran Cemetery and to Mid- dle Village, Queens Co. Its track is seven miles in length ; capital stock is $150,000, and it has a funded and floating debt of $186,000. It carried, in 1881, 1,375,488 passengers. The Pres. of the road is R. H. Greene ; the Sec., William T. Graff.

New Williamsburgh and Flatbush R. R. Co .- This com- pany organized in 1866 as the Williamsburgh and Flatbush, with the following officers and directors : J. C. Hazelton, Pres. ; Edward Boddy, Sec. ; C. H. Wilkins, Treas. ; J. T. Conover, H. A. Merrill, W. V. Studdiford, J. C. Oatman, C. H. Smith. The company was re-organized in 1873, and chartered October 18, 1873. The length of the road from the South Seventh street Ferry to Prospect Park is four and a half miles. Its route is from foot of Broadway to Fifth street, Division avenue, Lee avenue, Nostrand avenue, Malbone street and Prospect Park. It employs 220 horses and 56 cars, and transported two million passengers last year. Officers and directors : Geo. W. Van Allen, Prcs. ; Wm. B. Wait, Sec. ; C. B. Cottrell, Treas. ; Wm. H. Van Allen, D. W. Binns. W. A. Jones, C. B. Cottrell, R. W. Adams, Di- rectors.

Grand Street, Prospect Park and Flatbush Railroad Co. -The first officers of this company were Loftis Wood, Pres. ; Walter G. Hovey, Sec. ; P. H. House, Supt. The road was sold on foreclosure Dec. 23d, 1869. The company was re- organized with a capital of $200,000, and a new charter ob- tained April 13th, 1870. This company leases the Prospect Park and Flatbush Road, which was organized in 1878. Its length of track, in 1882, was 4} miles. It employs 125 men, 250 horses and 60 cars, and last year carried nearly 2,000,000 passengers. Officers : Loftis Wood, Pres. and Supt. ; Thomas Ennis, Treas. ; Samuel Parkhill, Scc. In the beginning of 1883 this company again changed hands, Mr. Loftis Wood and his associates withdrawing from it entirely. The new company have laid new track, equipped it throughout in the best manner, and extended the route to the Eastern entrance to Greenwood, a distance of nearly two miles, making its entire track over six miles. It now passes around the east and south sides of the park, between it and Windsor terrace, and reaches the new and beautiful eastern entrance to Greenwood. It connects at Bedford station with the Man- hattan Beach and Brighton Beach Railroads, and at Ninth avenue and Twentieth street with the Culver road. Its original capital stock was $200,000, and its funded debt of the same amount. The new company has increased the capital and probably the funded debt.

Before entering upon the Coney Island Railroads, some of which are also largely engaged in local trans- portation in Brooklyn, there is one more route, part railway and part steamboat, which deserves mention. It is :

The Brooklyn, Canarsie and Rockaway Beach Railroad and Steamboat Route. During the summer, trains run half hourly or hourly between the Howard House, East New York, and Canarsie Bay, and connect with steamers running to and from Rockaway Beach. D. C. Littlejohn is president of the company. Both the Rockaway beaches are now reached by branches of the Long Island Railroad and by steamers plying regularly from New York, passing and land- ing also at the Coney Island piers; and the Canarsie route has not met with such an extraordinary increase as some of the other modes of reaching these famous beaches. A part of this road is or has been leased to the Manhattan Beach Railway.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 100

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114