In 1846 when Hamilton Avenue Ferry service to Manhattan started it was the only mass transit option to and from Red Hook, Brooklyn. This was no longer the case in 1914, street cars and elevated subway lines crossed the Brooklyn Bridge,...
Handy Map of Brooklyn - 1897
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Streetcar Line to the Hamilton Ave. Ferry
In 1897, commuters could take a streetcar right to the Hamilton Avenue Ferry. From there it was an easy walk to the businesses clustered around Atlantic Basin. Streetcars also ran to the similarly busy Erie Basin. This according to the Brooklyn...
Overspreading on transit seats ca. 1850. Contentions on the Hamilton Avenue Ferry
All was not peaceful on the new Hamilton Avenue Ferry. People, particularly in the evening, were sprawling out across the benches, and extra deckhands were hired to keep the order. One of the directors suggested adding dividing armrests, but the...
Hamilton Avenue Ferry Terminal, 1924
Hamilton Avenue Ferry Terminal in Brooklyn as seen from Union Street, 1924. Clicking on the TAG Hamilton Avenue Ferry below will bring you to a list of related stories such as: How the Hamilton Avenue Ferry got started,...
Hamilton Avenue Ferry House, 1934
An aerial view of the Hamilton Avenue Ferry house in Red Hook that includes several piers and other waterfront buildings. The image was taken in 1934 by a Daily Eagle photographer, likely for a story of how the building was condemned and due...
Hamilton Ave Ferry House, Stereoscope, 1877
A stereoscopic view of the Hamilton Avenue Ferry house, 1877. The ferry was one of the key means for both the working poor and the well-to-do to travel between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Construction on the Brooklyn Bridge had started in 1869 but...
Hamilton Ferry Terminal, 1854
Hamilton Avenue Ferry house in Red Hook with two horse-drawn wagons and several people in the foreground. Clicking on the TAG Hamilton Avenue Ferry below will bring you to a list of related stories such as: How the Hamilton...
Red Hook Subway Plans, 1922
In 1922, New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, a strong advocate for expanding the subways, held public hearings on the topic. George T. McQuade of Coastwise Lumber & Supply Co. supported a line that would run down Hicks and Lorraine Streets in Red...
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and how it has gone through Red Hook
Instead of building the Brooklyn Queens Expressway down Van Burnt Street, Robert Moses decided to build the highway through Hicks Street thus bisecting the Red Hook neighborhood while connecting the Brooklyn Bridge with the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel....
That Red Hook Subway Route, 1923
A reader wrote to the editor of the Standard Union asking about a potential Red Hook subway connection. The editor responded that the subway project was only a tentative proposal. Text of Q&A in the Brooklyn Standard Union, September 7, 1923 To...