BMT Lexington Avenue Line

Lexington Avenue Elevated
65th Street
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation
Operator(s)	Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation
History
Opened	1885–1893
Closed	1889 (Park Avenue Elevated) 1950 (section west of Gates Avenue)
Technical
Number of tracks	2
Character	Elevated
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map Legend Park Row Fulton Ferry[1] closed 1904 York–Washington Streets closed 1904 Bridge Street closed 1904 Fifth Avenue Line via Hudson Avenue Navy Street closed 1889 Cumberland Street closed 1889 Washington Avenue closed 1889 Myrtle Avenue Line Myrtle Avenue – Grand Avenue Myrtle Avenue Line to Metropolitan Avenue DeKalb Avenue Greene Avenue Franklin Avenue Nostrand Avenue Tompkins Avenue Sumner Avenue Reid Avenue Broadway (Brooklyn) Line to Broadway Ferry or Williamsburg Bridge Gates Avenue Halsey Street Chauncey Street Eastern Parkway Canarsie Line to Rockaway Pkwy and Fulton Street Line to Lefferts Blvd Alabama Avenue Van Siclen Avenue Cleveland Street Norwood Avenue Crescent Street Cypress Hills Jamaica Line (Dual Contracts section) to 168th Street This diagram: view talk edit

The BMT Lexington Avenue Line (also called the Lexington Avenue Elevated) was the first standard

.

The original line, as it existed at the end of 1885, traveled from Fulton Ferry in Downtown Brooklyn east to East New York, passing over York Street, turning right onto Hudson Avenue (now Navy Street), left onto Park Avenue, right onto Grand Avenue, left onto Lexington Avenue, right onto Broadway, and slight left onto Fulton Street.

The structure above Broadway and Fulton Street is now part of the

in East New York still exists, although it has been rebuilt to support subway cars, which are heavier than the former elevated cars. The remaining elevated structure is the oldest such structure in the subway system.

History

The

The first extension, east to

On September 5, 1885, the line was extended one more station to

Several weeks before the line was completed to Van Siclen Avenue, the western terminal at Fulton Ferry was opened at noon on November 11, 1885. This portion of the line was built above York Street to just shy of the bridge, where it turned northwest parallel to the bridge, not turning back west under the bridge until Plymouth Street at the East River.^[1] That same day, a covered walkway above Washington Street^[10] from the inbound platform^[11] of the York and Washington Streets station to the Brooklyn Bridge was opened.^[12]

Brooklyn Elevated Railroad leased the newer Union Elevated Railroad, which had yet to run a train, on May 13, 1887.^[13][14] However, the two companies, despite sharing large portions of their lines, remained technically separate, commonly called the "Brooklyn and Union Elevated Railroads",^[15][16][17] until they merged in October 1890 and kept the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad name.^[14][18]

On April 10, 1888, Union Elevated opened the first piece of the

Another piece of the

Effective December 9, 1889, a new service pattern went into effect, in which the structure above Park Avenue and its three stations, two of them located one long block north of Myrtle Avenue stations, were closed. Myrtle Avenue trains, which had used this structure since April 27, instead continued along Myrtle Avenue to Hudson Avenue, turning north there via a new junction into the

The structure above Park Avenue, closed to passengers since late 1889, was finally removed in late 1891. The

An extension of the Brooklyn elevated east to Cypress Hills, over Fulton Street and Crescent Street, opened on May 30, 1893, and the Brooklyn Union elevated extended both Lexington Avenue Line and

The original Brooklyn elevated over Hudson Avenue and York Street to Fulton Ferry, only used by

On April 27, 1950 it was announced that the line would be demolished at the suggestion of the Board of Transportation and the Brooklyn Borough President John Cashmore. Cashmore, following the line's demolition, wanted to widen the street to become a major traffic artery. The demolition of the line was expected to save $781,000 annually. Patronage on the line had decreased to 7,337 daily passengers, and the fare booths on the line were closed between 9 P.M. and 5. A.M., requiring conductors to collect fares onboard.[32] The last Lexington Avenue train ran at 21:00 on October 13, 1950, with a small celebration, 65 years after the line opened. Transportation Commissioner G. Joseph Minetti joked that "if we had this many passengers riding regularly we wouldn't have to shut it down."^[33] Demolition began on November 1.^[34] Former riders of the Lexington Avenue Line were encouraged to use bus service along Gates and DeKalb Avenues or to use the IND Crosstown Line subway.^[32]

Service patterns

The original service pattern was a single line from

Main article:

BMT 12

From 1904 until the abandonment of service on October 13, 1950, the Lexington Avenue service pattern (labeled

.

Station listing

Original line from Fulton Ferry

Beginning on April 27, 1889, all Lexington Avenue trains used the

Myrtle Avenue elevated

west of Myrtle Avenue station, and this line was only used by Myrtle Avenue trains.

Name	Location	Opened	Closed	Notes
Fulton Ferry	Fulton Ferry	November 11, 1885[12]	April 11, 1904[31]	Separate terminal adjacent to the terminal of BMT Fulton Street Line , line between Fulton Ferry and Washington Street is along ROW on the north side of the Brooklyn Bridge
York and Washington Streets	York Street and Washington Street	May 13, 1885[4]	April 11, 1904[31]	Connection to the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway
Bridge Street	York Street and Bridge Street	May 13, 1885[4]	April 11, 1904[31]
Navy Street	Park Avenue and Navy Street	May 13, 1885[4]	December 8, 1889[17]
Cumberland Street	Park Avenue and Cumberland Street	May 13, 1885[4]	December 8, 1889[17]
Washington Avenue	Park Avenue and Washington Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	December 8, 1889[17]

Later line from the Brooklyn Bridge

Lexington Avenue trains were moved to this route on April 27, 1889, joining the old route just west of Myrtle Avenue station.

Demolished section

This section of the line closed in three stages. Service past Bridge–Jay Streets ended in 1944. Service on the section shared with the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line ended in 1969 when that line closed, 19 years after the BMT Lexington Avenue Line itself was demolished between Washington Avenue on the Myrtle Avenue Line and Gates Avenue on the Jamaica Line.

Name	Opened	Closed	Notes
Manhattan
Park Row	June 1898[37]	March 5, 1944[citation needed]
Brooklyn
Sands Street	September 1, 1888[22]	March 5, 1944[citation needed]
Adams Street	April 10, 1888[19]	March 5, 1944[citation needed]
Bridge–Jay Street	April 10, 1888[citation needed]	1950[citation needed]	Free transfers were offered to the <F> ​ trains) after 1944.
Navy Street	April 10, 1888[citation needed]	October 4, 1969[38]
Vanderbilt Avenue	April 10, 1888[citation needed]	1950[citation needed]
Washington Avenue	April 10, 1888[citation needed]	October 4, 1969[38]
Myrtle Avenue	After 1912	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to Myrtle Avenue Line streetcars
DeKalb Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to DeKalb Avenue Line streetcars
Greene Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to Greene and Gates Avenues Line streetcars
Franklin Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to Greene and Gates Avenues Line streetcars
Nostrand Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to Lorimer Street Line streetcars
Tompkins Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to Ocean Avenue Line streetcars
Sumner Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to Sumner Avenue Line streetcars
Reid Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	October 13, 1950[39]	connection to Utica and Reid Avenues Line streetcars

BMT Jamaica Line

Just before Gates Avenue, Lexington Avenue trains joined the

trains. The former connection to the BMT Lexington Avenue Line can be seen just west of Gates Avenue.

Name	Opened	Closed	Notes
Gates Avenue	May 13, 1885[4]	present	connection to Ralph Avenue Line streetcars
Halsey Street	August 19, 1885[40]	present	connection to Putnam Avenue Line streetcars
Chauncey Street	July 18, 1885[41]	present	connection to Wilson Avenue Line streetcars
Manhattan Beach Crossing	June 14, 1885[5]	present	connection to the BMT Canarsie Line and IND Fulton Street Line (present day A and ​C, L trains).
Alabama Avenue	September 5, 1885[6]	present
Van Siclen Avenue	December 3, 1885[7]	present
Cleveland Street	May 30, 1893[29]	present
Norwood Avenue	May 30, 1893[29]	present
Crescent Street	May 30, 1893[29]	present
Cypress Hills	May 30, 1893[29]	present

References

Further reading

• A Great Day for Brooklyn, The New York Times May 14, 1885 page 8
• A Short Cut to Coney Island, The New York Times June 15, 1885 page 5
• City and Suburban News, The New York Times November 12, 1885 page 8
• City and Suburban News, The New York Times December 15, 1885 page 8
• Elevated Tracks to Come Down, The New York Times December 25, 1891 page 1
• B.M.T. 'El' Lines to Shift Service; City to Close 2 Sections This Week, The New York Times May 27, 1940 page 19

External links

• "My Recollection" – A ride on the last Lexington Avenue elevated train