115-497: The BMT Lexington Avenue Line (also called the Lexington Avenue Elevated ) was the first standard elevated railway in Brooklyn , New York, operated in its later days by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company , the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation , and then the City of New York . 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 (which
230-467: A geyser of water 250 feet (76 m) in the air. The blast has been described as "the largest planned explosion before testing began for the atomic bomb", although the detonation at the Battle of Messines in 1917 was larger. Some of the rubble from the detonation was used in 1890 to fill the gap between Great Mill Rock and Little Mill Rock, merging the two islands into a single island, Mill Rock . At
345-424: A union station for the steam and horse railroads into East New York. Another east terminal at Van Siclen Avenue was opened on December 3, 1885, with the structure above Fulton Street extending east two more blocks to Schenck Street. After a half day of infrequent service, trains began serving the new station on a regular schedule the next morning. Several weeks before the line was completed to Van Siclen Avenue,
460-509: A bridge built in that location from Manhattan to Queens. The Queensboro Bridge was eventually built south of this location. In 2011, NY Waterway started operating its East River Ferry line. The route was a 7-stop East River service that runs in a loop between East 34th Street and Hunters Point , making two intermediate stops in Brooklyn and three in Queens. The ferry, an alternative to
575-536: A dam at Roosevelt Island (then Blackwell's Island) to create a wet basin for shipping. Filling in part of the river was also proposed in 1867 by engineer James E. Serrell, later a city surveyor, but with emphasis on solving the problem of Hell Gate. Serrell proposed filling in Hell Gate and building a "New East River" through Queens with an extension to Westchester County . Serrell's plan – which he publicized with maps, essay and lectures as well as presentations to
690-399: A farmer collecting 20 oxcarts worth of menhaden using simple fishing nets deployed from the shore. The combination of more sewage, due to the availability of more potable water – New York's water consumption per capita was twice that of Europe – indoor plumbing, the destruction of filter feeders, and the collapse of the food chain, damaged the ecosystem of the waters around New York, including
805-549: A new canalized East River, only this time from Flushing Bay to Jamaica Bay . He would also expand Brooklyn into the Upper Harbor, put up a dam from Brooklyn to Staten Island , and make extensive landfill in the Lower Bay. At around the same time, in the 1920s, John A. Harriss, New York City's chief traffic engineer, who had developed the first traffic signals in the city, also had plans for the river. Harriss wanted to dam
920-483: A new junction into the Hudson Avenue elevated , closed north of Myrtle Avenue since shortly after it opened due to safety concerns with the at-grade crossing at Myrtle Avenue. Thus passengers transferring between the two lines could disembark at Navy Street and simply enter the next train on the other route. The company continued to operate one daily train, closed to passengers, over Park Avenue, "to satisfy, it
1035-549: 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." Demolition began on November 1. 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. The original service pattern
1150-409: Is a railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks). The railway may be broad-gauge , standard-gauge or narrow-gauge railway, light rail , monorail , or a suspension railway . Elevated railways are normally found in urban areas where there would otherwise be multiple level crossings . Usually,
1265-485: Is a type of driverless grade-separated, mass-transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems that serve as loops or feeder systems, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated systems. Similar to monorails, Bombardier Innovia APM technology uses only one rail to guide the vehicle along the guideway. APMs are common at airports and effective at helping passengers quickly reach their gates. Several elevated APM systems at airports including
SECTION 10
#17327649311821380-541: Is dominated by residential neighborhoods consisting of large apartment buildings and parkland (much of which is dotted with the ruins of older structures). The largest land mass in the River south of Roosevelt Island is U Thant Island , an artificial islet created during the construction of the Steinway Tunnel (which currently serves the subway's 7 and <7> lines) . Officially named Belmont Island after one of
1495-578: Is navigable for its entire length of 16 miles (26 km), and was historically the center of maritime activities in the city. Technically a drowned valley , like the other waterways around New York City, the strait was formed approximately 11,000 years ago at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation . The distinct change in the shape of the strait between the lower and upper portions is evidence of this glacial activity. The upper portion (from Long Island Sound to Hell Gate), running largely perpendicular to
1610-630: Is now a pedestrian walkway within the Farrugut Houses), 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 BMT Jamaica Line . The original structure east of Alabama Avenue in East New York still exists, although it has been rebuilt to support subway cars, which are heavier than
1725-554: Is thought, legal requirements", according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle . The structure above Park Avenue, closed to passengers since late 1889, was finally removed in late 1891. The New York State Board of Railroad Commissioners approved its abandonment on late December 1891, and removal soon began of the entire portion on Park Avenue, from the Hudson Avenue Elevated east to Grand Avenue, as well as
1840-466: Is without consideration of the tidal influence of the Harlem River, all of which creates a "dangerous cataract", as one ship's captain put it. The river is navigable for its entire length of 16 miles (26 km). In 1939 it was reported that the stretch from The Battery to the former Brooklyn Navy Yard near Wallabout Bay , a run of about 1,000 yards (910 m), was 40 feet (12 m) deep,
1955-547: The Army Corps of Engineers to continue Maillefert's work. In 1851, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , "under Lt. Bartlett of the Army Corps of Engineers," began to do the job, in an operation which was to span 70 years. The appropriated money was soon spent without appreciable change in the hazards of navigating the strait. An advisory council recommended in 1856 that the strait be cleared of all obstacles, but nothing
2070-642: The Brooklyn Bridge was opened. Brooklyn Elevated Railroad leased the newer Union Elevated Railroad , which had yet to run a train, on May 13, 1887. However, the two companies, despite sharing large portions of their lines, remained technically separate, commonly called the "Brooklyn and Union Elevated Railroads", until they merged in October 1890 and kept the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad name. On April 10, 1888, Union Elevated opened
2185-750: The Docklands Light Railway is a modern elevated railway that opened in 1987 and has since expanded. The trains are driverless and automatic. Another modern elevated railway is Tokyo's driverless Yurikamome line, opened in 1995. Most monorails are elevated railways, such as the Disneyland Monorail System (1959), the Tokyo Monorail (1964), the Sydney Monorail (1988–2013), the KL Monorail ,
2300-587: The Dutch name Hellegat meaning either "bright strait" or "clear opening", given to the entire river in 1614 by explorer Adriaen Block when he passed through it in his ship Tyger – is a narrow, turbulent, and particularly treacherous stretch of the river. Tides from the Long Island Sound, New York Harbor and the Harlem River meet there, making it difficult to navigate, especially because of
2415-1143: The Las Vegas Monorail , the Seattle Center Monorail and the São Paulo Monorail . Most maglev railways are also elevated. During the 1890s there was some interest in suspension railways , particularly in Germany, with the Schwebebahn Dresden , (1891–) and the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (1901). H-Bahn suspension railways were built in Dortmund and Düsseldorf airport , 1975. The Memphis Suspension Railway opened in 1982. Suspension railways are usually monorail; Shonan Monorail and Chiba Urban Monorail in Japan, despite their names, are suspension railways. People mover or automated people mover (APM)
SECTION 20
#17327649311822530-724: The Long Island Rail Road towards the east, the Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach Railroad (Canarsie Line), and the New York, Woodhaven and Rockaway Railroad . Shops , car houses , and other facilities were located at East New York, where the New York City Subway 's East New York Yard still stands. On September 5, 1885, the line was extended one more station to Alabama Avenue near the Howard House ,
2645-510: The Long Island Rail Road 's Flatbush Avenue terminal, on November 5, 1888, and began operating between Fulton Ferry and Flatbush Avenue. Another piece of the Myrtle Avenue elevated , from the crossing of the Brooklyn elevated at Grand Avenue east to Broadway , opened on April 27, 1889. Trains on this route did not cross the line on Grand Avenue, but turned onto Grand Avenue and used the Brooklyn elevated to Fulton Ferry. Simultaneously,
2760-529: The Lower East Side . The captain of the ship and the managers of the company that owned it were indicted, but only the captain was convicted; he spent 3 + 1 ⁄ 2 years of his 10-year sentence at Sing Sing Prison before being released by a federal parole board, and then pardoned by President William Howard Taft . Beginning in 1934, and then again from 1948 to 1966, the Manhattan shore of
2875-528: The Myrtle Avenue elevated west of Myrtle Avenue station, and this line was only used by Myrtle Avenue trains. Lexington Avenue trains were moved to this route on April 27, 1889, joining the old route just west of Myrtle Avenue station. 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
2990-671: The New York City Subway system – as does the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Queens-Midtown Tunnel . (See Crossings below for details.) Also under the river is Water Tunnel #1 of the New York City water supply system , built in 1917 to extend the Manhattan portion of the tunnel to Brooklyn, and via City Tunnel #2 (1936) to Queens; these boroughs became part of New York City after the city's consolidation in 1898. City Tunnel #3 will also run under
3105-604: The PHX Sky Train at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; AeroTrain at Kuala Lumpur International Airport; and the Tracked Shuttle System at London Gatwick Airport , United Kingdom. East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary or strait in New York City . The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island , with
3220-522: The American East Coast. The Department of Docks was given the task of creating the master plan for the waterfront, and General George B. McClellan was engaged to head the project. McClellan held public hearings and invited plans to be submitted, ultimately receiving 70 of them, although in the end he and his successors put his own plan into effect. That plan called for the building of a seawall around Manhattan island from West 61st Street on
3335-544: The Americans at the Battle of Long Island , General George Washington was rounding up all the boats on the east shore of the river, in what is now Brooklyn, and used them to successfully move his troops across the river – under cover of night, rain, and fog – to Manhattan island, before the British could press their advantage. Thus, though the battle was a victory for the British, the failure of Sir William Howe to destroy
3450-843: The BMT Lexington Avenue Line itself was demolished between Washington Avenue on the Myrtle Avenue Line and Gates Avenue on the Jamaica Line. Just before Gates Avenue, Lexington Avenue trains joined the BMT Jamaica Line . The section of the BMT Jamaica Line used by Lexington Avenue trains is now used by the J and Z trains. The former connection to the BMT Lexington Avenue Line can be seen just west of Gates Avenue. Elevated railway An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train or el for short)
3565-563: The Blasting of Hell Gate traces Newton's work on this project from 1866 to 1885. On September 24, 1876, the Corps used 50,000 pounds (23,000 kg) of explosives to blast the rocks, which was followed by further blasting. The process was started by excavating under Hallets reef from Astoria . Cornish miners, assisted by steam drills, dug galleries under the reef, which were then interconnected. They later drilled holes for explosives. A patent
BMT Lexington Avenue Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
3680-629: The Bronx, and Sunswick Creek in Queens. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the land north of the East River was occupied by the Siwanoys , one of many groups of Algonquin -speaking Lenapes in the area. Those of the Lenapes who lived in the northern part of Manhattan Island in a campsite known as Konaande Kongh used a landing at around the current location of East 119th street to paddle into
3795-465: The Brooklyn Union elevated extended both Lexington Avenue Line and Broadway Line trains to the new terminal. This extension incorporated portions of the old structure over Park Avenue. The original Brooklyn elevated over Hudson Avenue and York Street to Fulton Ferry, only used by Myrtle Avenue elevated trains after 1889, was closed on April 11, 1904. On April 27, 1950 it was announced that
3910-785: The Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro Bridges, and the Ward's Island Footbridge, and terminates just before the Robert F. Kennedy Triboro Bridge when it connects to the Harlem River Drive . Between most of the FDR Drive and the River is the East River Greenway , part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway . The East River Greenway was primarily built in connection with the building of
4025-629: The Continental Army when he had the opportunity allowed the Americans to continue fighting. Without the stealthy withdrawal across the East River, the American Revolution might have ended much earlier. Wallabout Bay on the River was the site of most of the British prison ships – most notoriously HMS Jersey – where thousands of American prisoners of war were held in terrible conditions. These prisoners had come into
4140-489: The East River Ferry as part of the system. In February 2012 the federal government announced an agreement with Verdant Power to install 30 tidal turbines in the channel of the East River. The turbines were projected to begin operations in 2015 and are supposed to produce 1.05 megawatts of power. The strength of the current foiled an earlier effort in 2007 to tap the river for tidal power . On May 7, 2017,
4255-589: The East River at Hell Gate and the Williamsburg Bridge, then remove the water, put a roof over it on stilts, and build boulevards and pedestrian lanes on the roof along with "majestic structures", with transportation services below. The East River's course would, once again, be shifted to run through Queens, and this time Brooklyn as well, to channel it to the Harbor. Periodically, merchants and other interested parties would try to get something done about
4370-457: The East River near 65th Street. Although the museum denied that any fossils had been dumped into the river, Reeves's allegations prompted commercial divers to search the river for evidence of mammoth bones. Throughout most of the history of New York City, and New Amsterdam before it, the East River has been the receptacle for the city's garbage and sewage. " Night men " who collected " night soil " from outdoor privies would dump their loads into
4485-401: The East River was authorized to be filled-in, this time to a point 400 feet beyond the low-water mark; the parts that had already been expanded to the low water mark – much of which had been devastated by a coastal storm in the early 1720s and a nor'easter in 1723 – were also expanded, narrowing the channel even further. What had been quiet beach land was to become new streets and buildings, and
4600-735: The East River wharves and slips to begin a long process of decay, until the area was finally rehabilitated in the mid-1960s, and the South Street Seaport Museum was opened in 1967. By 1870, the condition of the Port of New York along both the East and Hudson Rivers had so deteriorated that the New York State legislature created the Department of Docks to renovate the port and keep New York competitive with other ports on
4715-452: The East River's tides helped to power mills which ground grain to flour. By 1642 there was a ferry running on the river between Manhattan island and what is now Brooklyn, and the first pier on the river was built in 1647 at Pearl and Broad Streets. After the British took over the colony in 1664, which was renamed "New York", the development of the waterfront continued, and a shipbuilding industry grew up once New York started exporting flour. By
BMT Lexington Avenue Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4830-403: The East River, almost beyond repair. Because of these changes to the ecosystem, by 1909, the level of dissolved-oxygen in the lower part of the river had declined to less than 65%, where 55% of saturation is the point at which the amount of fish and the number of their species begins to be affected. Only 17 years later, by 1926, the level of dissolved oxygen in the river had fallen to 13%, below
4945-567: The FDR Drive, although some portions were built as recently as 2002, and other sections are still incomplete. In 1963, Con Edison built the Ravenswood Generating Station on the Long Island City shore of the river, on land some of which was once stone quarries which provided granite and marble slabs for Manhattan's buildings. The plant has since been owned by KeySpan . National Grid and TransCanada ,
5060-520: The Hudson, around The Battery , and up to East 51st Street on the East River. The area behind the masonry wall (mostly concrete but in some parts granite blocks) would be filled in with landfill, and wide streets would be laid down on the new land. In this way, a new edge for the island (or at least the part of it used as a commercial port) would be created. The department had surveyed 13,700 feet (4,200 m) of shoreline by 1878, as well as documenting
5175-483: The New York City Subway, cost $ 4 per one-way ticket. It was instantly popular: from June to November 2011, the ferry saw 350,000 riders, over 250% of the initial ridership forecast of 134,000 riders. In December 2016, in preparation for the start of NYC Ferry service the next year, Hornblower Cruises purchased the rights to operate the East River Ferry. NYC Ferry started service on May 1, 2017, with
5290-667: The River's principal islands include Manhattan's Mill Rock , an 8.6-acre (3.5 ha) island located about 1000 feet from Manhattan's East 96th Street; Manhattan's 520-acre Randalls and Wards Islands , two formerly separate islands joined by landfill that are home to a large public park, a number of public institutions, and the supports for the Triborough and the Hell Gate Bridges ; the Bronx's Rikers Island , once under 100 acres (0.40 km ) but now over 400 acres (1.6 km ) following extensive landfill expansion after
5405-596: The Triborough), and the Hell Gate Bridge . On the south side of Wards Island, it is joined by the Harlem River . Newtown Creek on Long Island, which itself contained several tributaries, drains into the East River and forms part of the boundary between Queens and Brooklyn. Bushwick Inlet and Wallabout Bay on Long Island also drain into the strait on the Long Island side. The Gowanus Canal
5520-971: The US included the Chicago "L" , which was built by multiple competing companies beginning in 1892, as well as the Boston Elevated Railway in 1901 and the Market–Frankford Line in Philadelphia in 1907. Globally, the Berlin Stadtbahn (1882) and the Vienna Stadtbahn (1898) are also mainly elevated. The first electric elevated railway was the Liverpool Overhead Railway , which operated through Liverpool docks from 1893 until 1956. In London,
5635-480: The area which ended in 1851 with a detailed and accurate map. By then Maillefert had cleared the rock "Baldheaded Billy", and it was reported that Pot Rock had been reduced to 20.5 feet (6.2 m), which encouraged the United States Congress to appropriate $ 20,000 for further clearing of the strait. However, a more accurate survey showed that the depth of Pot Rock was actually a little more than 18 feet (5.5 m), and eventually Congress withdrew its funding. With
5750-405: The battles in the war: as many as 12,000 soldiers, sailors and civilians. The bodies were thrown overboard or were buried in shallow graves on the riverbanks, but their bones – some of which were collected when they washed ashore – were later relocated and are now inside the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in nearby Fort Greene Park . The existence of the ships and the conditions the men were held in
5865-405: The boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens , from Manhattan Island, and from the Bronx on the North American mainland. Because of its connection to Long Island Sound, it was once also known as the Sound River . The tidal strait changes its direction of flow regularly, and is subject to strong fluctuations in its current, which are accentuated by its narrowness and variety of depths. The waterway
SECTION 50
#17327649311825980-405: The burgeoning sea trade. Many of the "water-lot" grants went to the rich and powerful families of the merchant class, although some went to tradesmen. By 1700, the Manhattan bank of the river had been "wharfed-out" up to around Whitehall Street , narrowing the strait of the river. After the signing of the Montgomerie Charter in the late 1720s, another 127 acres of land along the Manhattan shore of
6095-485: The catastrophic failure of a Con Edison substation in Brooklyn caused a spill into the river of over 5,000 US gallons (18,927 L; 4,163 imp gal) of dielectric fluid , a synthetic mineral oil used to cool electrical equipment and prevent electrical discharges. (See below .) At the end of 2022, gold miner John Reeves claimed that up to 50 tons of ice age artifacts bound for the American Museum of Natural History , including mammoth remains, had been dumped into
6210-432: The channel was by 1776 three fathoms deep (18 feet (5.5 m)), five fathoms deep (30 feet (9.1 m)) in the same spot by 1798, and when surveyed by Williams in 1807 had deepened to 7 fathoms (42 feet (13 m)) at low tide. What had been almost a bridge between two landforms that were once connected had become a fully navigable channel, thanks to the constriction of the East River and the increased flow it caused. Soon,
6325-475: The city, state and federal governments – would have filled in the river from 14th Street to 125th Street. The New East River through Queens would be about three times the average width of the existing one at an even 3,600 feet (1,100 m) throughout, and would run as straight as an arrow for five miles (8.0 km). The new land, and the portions of Queens which would become part of Manhattan, adding 2,500 acres (1,000 ha), would be covered with an extension of
6440-413: The core of the city's sea-borne trade. This infilling went as far north as Corlear's Hook . In addition, the city was given control of the western shore of the river from Wallabout Bay south. Expansion of the waterfront halted during the American Revolution , in which the East River played an important role early in the conflict. On August 28, 1776, while British and Hessian troops rested after besting
6555-399: The current in the East River had become so strong that larger ships had to use auxiliary steam power in order to turn. The continued narrowing of the channel on both side may have been the reasoning behind the suggestion of one New York State Senator, who wanted to fill in the East River and annex Brooklyn, with the cost of doing so being covered by selling the newly made land. Others proposed
6670-451: The current sounded "like a bull bellowing for more drink" at half tide, while at full tide it slept "as soundly as an alderman after dinner". He said it was like "a peaceable fellow enough when he has no liquor at all, or when he has a skinful, but who, when half-seas over, plays the very devil." The tidal regime is complex, with the two major tides – from the Long Island Sound and from the Atlantic Ocean – separated by about two hours; and this
6785-414: The currents and tides. By 1900, 75 miles (121 km) had been surveyed and core samples had been taken to inform the builders of how deep the bedrock was. The work was completed just as World War I began, allowing the Port of New York to be a major point of embarkation for troops and materiel. The new seawall helps protect Manhattan island from storm surges, although it is only 5 feet (1.5 m) above
6900-442: The difficulty of navigating through Hell Gate. In 1832, the New York State legislature was presented with a petition for a canal to be built through nearby Hallet's Point, thus avoiding Hell Gate altogether. Instead, the legislature responded by providing ships with pilots trained to navigate the shoals for the next 15 years. In 1849, a French engineer whose specialty was underwater blasting, Benjamin Maillefert , had cleared some of
7015-478: The end of the 17th century, the Great Dock, located at Corlear's Hook on the East River, had been built. Historically, the lower portion of the strait, which separates Manhattan from Brooklyn, was one of the busiest and most important channels in the world, particularly during the first three centuries of New York City's history. Because the water along the lower Manhattan shoreline was too shallow for large boats to tie up and unload their goods, from 1686 on – after
SECTION 60
#17327649311827130-414: The end of the piers. The "landfill" which created new land along the shoreline when the river was "wharfed out" by the sale of "water lots" was largely garbage such as bones, offal, and even whole dead animals, along with excrement – human and animal. The result was that by the 1850s, if not before, the East River, like the other waterways around the city, was undergoing the process of eutrophication where
7245-453: The existing street grid of Manhattan. Variations on Serrell's plan would be floated over the years. A pseudonymous "Terra Firma" brought up filling in the East River again in the Evening Post and Scientific American in 1904, and Thomas Alva Edison took it up in 1906. Then Thomas Kennard Thompson, a bridge and railway engineer, proposed in 1913 to fill in the river from Hell Gate to the tip of Manhattan and, as Serrell had suggested, make
7360-410: The fields of medicine and biological science. North of it is one of the major medical centers in the city, NewYork Presbyterian / Weill Cornell Medical Center , which is associated with the medical schools of both Columbia University and Cornell University . Although it can trace its history back to 1771, the center on York Avenue, much of which overlooks the river, was built in 1932. The East River
7475-426: The first piece of the Myrtle Avenue elevated , from Adams Street at City Hall east over Myrtle Avenue to Grand Avenue, where it junctioned with the Brooklyn elevated. The company operated through to the end of the Brooklyn elevated at Van Siclen Avenue. Another branch operated by Union Elevated, the Broadway elevated from Gates Avenue northwest to Driggs Avenue in Williamsburg , opened on June 25, 1888. This
7590-518: The former elevated cars. The remaining elevated structure is the oldest such structure in the subway system. The Brooklyn Elevated Railroad opened the line to passengers at 16:00 on May 13, 1885, with a five-cent fare for trains every five minutes. The original line ran from York and Washington Streets (near the Brooklyn Bridge ) along York Street, Hudson Avenue, Park Avenue, Grand Avenue, Lexington Avenue, and Broadway to Gates Avenue . The three stations on Park Avenue had island platforms , while all
7705-435: The glacial motion, is wide, meandering, and has deep narrow bays on both banks, scoured out by the glacier's movement. The lower portion (from Hell Gate to New York Bay ) runs north–south, parallel to the glacial motion. It is much narrower, with straight banks. The bays that exist, as well as those that used to exist before being filled in by human activity, are largely wide and shallow. The section known as "Hell Gate" – from
7820-421: The hands of the British after the fall of New York City on September 15, 1776, after the American loss at the Battle of Long Island and the loss of Fort Washington on November 16. Prisoners began to be housed on the broken-down warships and transports in December; about 24 ships were used in total, but generally only 5 or 6 at a time. Almost twice as many Americans died from neglect in these ships than did from all
7935-441: The harbor was not created. In the 1850s the depth continued to lessen – the harbor commission said in 1850 that the mean water low was 24 feet (7.3 m) and the extreme water low was 23 feet (7.0 m) – while the draft required by the new ships continued to increase, meaning it was only safe for them to enter the harbor at high tide. The U.S. Congress, realizing that the problem needed to be addressed, appropriated $ 20,000 for
8050-414: The increase in nitrogen from excrement and other sources led to a decrease in free oxygen , which in turn led to an increase in phytoplankton such as algae and a decrease in other life forms, breaking the area's established food chain. The East River became very polluted, and its animal life decreased drastically. In an earlier time, one person had described the transparency of the water: "I remember
8165-477: The island on its north end is due to an extension of the 125th Street Fault . Politically, the island's 147 acres (0.59 km ) constitute part of the borough of Manhattan. It is connected to Queens by the Roosevelt Island Bridge , to Manhattan by the Roosevelt Island Tramway , and to both boroughs by a subway station served by the F train . The Queensboro Bridge also runs across Roosevelt Island, and an elevator allowing both pedestrian and vehicular access to
8280-498: The island was added to the bridge in 1930, but elevator service was discontinued in 1955 following the opening of the Roosevelt Island Bridge, and the elevator was demolished in 1970. The island, which was formerly known as Blackwell's Island and Welfare Island before being renamed in honor of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt , historically served as the site of a penitentiary and a number of hospitals; today, it
8395-452: The island's 1884 purchase by the city as a prison farm and still home to New York City's massive and controversial primary jail complex; and North and South Brother Islands , both of which also constitute part of the Bronx. The Bronx River , Pugsley Creek , and Westchester Creek drain into the northern bank of the East River in the northern section of the strait. The Flushing River , historically known as Flushing Creek, empties into
8510-574: The late 1860s onward, elevated railways became popular in US cities. New York's West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway opened in 1868 as a cable-hauled elevated railway and was operated using locomotives after 1871, when it was renamed the New York Elevated Railroad. This was followed in 1875 by the Manhattan Railway Company , which took over the New York Elevated Railroad. Other early elevated systems in
8625-550: The line on Hudson Avenue to Fulton Ferry. All Lexington Avenue trains served Sands Street after 1889, but Myrtle Avenue trains began alternating between Fulton Ferry and Sands Street on April 10, 1899, in order to avoid the transferring of Myrtle Avenue passengers to trains bound for the bridge. Lexington Avenue trains were extended from Sands Street over the Brooklyn Bridge to Park Row in June 1898. This pattern remained until
8740-710: The line to Fulton Ferry closed on April 11, 1904. From 1904 until the abandonment of service on October 13, 1950, the Lexington Avenue service pattern (labeled 12 after 1924) was relatively simple. Trains began at either Park Row in Lower Manhattan or Sands Street in Downtown Brooklyn , and ran along the Broadway elevated at least to East New York and sometimes to Jamaica . Beginning on April 27, 1889, all Lexington Avenue trains used
8855-702: 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. The last Lexington Avenue train ran at 21:00 on October 13, 1950, with
8970-435: The long section from there, running to the west of Roosevelt Island, through Hell Gate and to Throg's Neck was at least 35 feet (11 m) deep, and then eastward from there the river was, at mean low tide, 168 feet (51 m) deep. The broadness of the river's channel south of Roosevelt Island is caused by the dipping of the hardy Fordham gneiss underlying the island under the less strong Inwood marble which lies under
9085-458: The low water mark into the river, and with the advent of gridded streets along the new waterline – Joseph Mangin had laid out such a grid in 1803 in his A Plan and Regulation of the City of New York , which was rejected by the city, but established the concept – the coastline become regularized at the same time that the strait became even narrower. One result of the narrowing of the East River along
9200-413: The main shipping channels through The Narrows into the harbor silting up with sand due to littoral drift , thus providing ships with less depth, and a new generation of larger ships coming online – epitomized by Isambard Kingdom Brunel 's SS Great Eastern , popularly known as "Leviathan" – New York began to be concerned that it would start to lose its status as a great port if a "back door" entrance into
9315-531: The marine sciences section of the DEP, the channel is swift, with water moving as fast as four knots, just as it does in the Hudson River on the other side of Manhattan. That speed can push casual swimmers out to sea. A few people drown in the waters around New York City each year. As of 2013 , it was reported that the level of bacteria in the river was below federal guidelines for swimming on most days, although
9430-559: The mean sea level, so that particularly dangerous storms, such as the nor'easter of 1992 and Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which hit the city in a way to create surges which are much higher, can still do significant damage. (The Hurricane of September 3, 1821, created the biggest storm surge on record in New York City: a rise of 13 feet (4.0 m) in one hour at the Battery, flooding all of lower Manhattan up to Canal Street .) Still,
9545-426: The menhaden population collapsed. Menhaden feed on phytoplankton, helping to keep them in check, and are also a vital step in the food chain, as bluefish , striped bass and other fish species which do not eat phytoplankton feed on the menhaden. The oyster is another filter feeder: oysters purify 10 to 100 gallons a day, while each menhaden filters four gallons in a minute, and their schools were immense: one report had
9660-454: The new seawall begun in 1871 gave the island a firmer edge, improved the quality of the port, and continues to protect Manhattan from normal storm surges. The Brooklyn Bridge , completed in 1883, was the first bridge to span the East River, connecting the cities of New York and Brooklyn , and all but replacing the frequent ferry service between them, which did not return until the late 20th century. The bridge offered cable car service across
9775-542: The northern shipping entrance to the city were now open, modern dredging techniques had cut through the sandbars of the Atlantic Ocean entrance, allowing new, even larger ships to use that traditional passage into New York's docks. At the beginning of the 19th century, the East River was the center of New York's shipping industry, but by the end of the century, much of it had moved to the Hudson River, leaving
9890-483: The number of rocky islets which once dotted it, with names such as "Frying Pan", "Pot, Bread and Cheese", "Hen and Chicken", "Heel Top"; "Flood"; and "Gridiron", roughly 12 islets and reefs in all, all of which led to a number of shipwrecks, including HMS Hussar , a British frigate that sank in 1780 while supposedly carrying gold and silver intended to pay British troops. The stretch has since been cleared of rocks and widened. Washington Irving wrote of Hell Gate that
10005-639: The original Brooklyn elevated route via Lexington Avenue to Fulton Ferry was discontinued, with all Lexington Avenue trains running over Myrtle Avenue to the Brooklyn Bridge, and passengers for the ferry required to transfer at Myrtle Avenue station via several stairways. 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
10120-879: The other stations had two side platforms . The first extension, east to Manhattan Beach Crossing in East New York , named for the crossing of the Manhattan Beach Division of the Long Island Rail Road , opened at 09:00 on June 14, 1885. Arrangements were made with the LIRR for joint tickets to Manhattan Beach , as well as with the Grand Street, Prospect Park and Flatbush Railroad ( Franklin Avenue Line of streetcars) and Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway (Brighton Beach Line) to Brighton Beach . Other connections at East New York included
10235-531: The point at which most fish species can survive. Due to heavy pollution , the East River is dangerous to people who fall in or attempt to swim in it, although as of mid-2007 the water was cleaner than it had been in decades. As of 2010 , the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) categorizes the East River as Use Classification I, meaning it is safe for secondary contact activities such as boating and fishing. According to
10350-537: The portion above Grand Avenue north of the Myrtle Avenue Elevated . This was the only part of the New York City elevated system to be permanently closed without ever having been electrified . By August 9, 1900, the rest of the line was electrified with third rail . An extension of the Brooklyn elevated east to Cypress Hills, over Fulton Street and Crescent Street, opened on May 30, 1893, and
10465-474: The readings may vary significantly, so that the outflow from Newtown Creek or the Gowanus Canal can be tens or hundreds of times higher than recommended, according to Riverkeeper , a non-profit environmentalist advocacy group. The counts are also higher along the shores of the strait than they are in the middle of its flow. Nevertheless, the "Brooklyn Bridge Swim" is an annual event where swimmers cross
10580-573: The result of deregulation of the electrical power industry. The station, which can generate about 20% of the electrical needs of New York City – approximately 2,500 megawatts – receives some of its fuel by oil barge. North of the power plant can be found Socrates Sculpture Park , an illegal dumpsite and abandoned landfill that in 1986 was turned into an outdoor museum, exhibition space for artists, and public park by sculptor Mark di Suvero and local activists. The area also contains Rainey Park, which honors Thomas C. Rainey, who attempted for 40 years to get
10695-708: The river became the location for the limited-access East River Drive , which was later renamed after Franklin Delano Roosevelt , and is universally known by New Yorkers as the "FDR Drive". The road is sometimes at grade, sometimes runs under locations such as the site of the Headquarters of the United Nations and Carl Schurz Park and Gracie Mansion – the mayor's official residence, and is at time double-decked, because Hell Gate provides no room for more landfill. It begins at Battery Park , runs past
10810-402: The river bed. Why the river turns to the east as it approaches the three lower Manhattan bridges is geologically unknown. Roosevelt Island , a long (2-mile (3.2 km)) and narrow (800 feet (240 m)) landmass, lies in the stretch of the river between Manhattan Island and the borough of Queens , roughly from the latitude of Manhattan's East 46th to 86th Streets. The abrupt termination of
10925-532: The river in canoes fashioned from tree trunks in order to fish. Dutch settlement of what became New Amsterdam began in 1623. Some of the earliest of the small settlements in the area were along the west bank of the East River on sites that had previously been Native American settlements. As with the Native Americans, the river was central to their lives for transportation for trading and for fishing. They gathered marsh grass to feed their cattle, and
11040-557: The river, and even after the construction of the Croton Aqueduct (1842) and then the New Croton Aqueduct (1890) gave rise to indoor plumbing , the waste that was flushed away into the sewers , where it mixed with ground runoff, ran directly into the river, untreated. The sewers terminated at the slips where ships docked, until the waste began to build up, preventing dockage, after which the outfalls were moved to
11155-457: The river, under the northern tip of Roosevelt Island, and is expected to not be completed until at least 2026; the Manhattan portion of the tunnel went into service in 2013. Philanthropist John D. Rockefeller founded what is now Rockefeller University in 1901, between 63rd and 64th Streets on the river side of York Avenue , overlooking the river. The university is a research university for doctoral and post-doctoral scholars, primarily in
11270-442: The rocks which, along with the mix of tides, made the Hell Gate stretch of the river so dangerous to navigate. Ebenezer Meriam had organized a subscription to pay Maillefert $ 6,000 to, for instance, reduce "Pot Rock" to provide 24 feet (7.3 m) of depth at low-mean water. While ships continued to run aground (in the 1850s about 2% of ships did so) and petitions continued to call for action, the federal government undertook surveys of
11385-480: The same time that Hell Gate was being cleared, the Harlem River Ship Canal was being planned. When it was completed in 1895, the "back door" to New York's center of ship-borne trade in the docks and warehouses of the East River was open from two directions, through the cleared East River, and from the Hudson River through the Harlem River to the East River. Ironically, though, while both forks of
11500-489: The shoreline of Manhattan and, later, Brooklyn – which continued until the mid-19th century when the state put a stop to it – was an increase in the speed of its current. Buttermilk Channel , the strait that divides Governors Island from Red Hook in Brooklyn, and which is located directly south of the "mouth" of the East River, was in the early 17th century a fordable waterway across which cattle could be driven. Further investigation by Colonel Jonathan Williams determined that
11615-493: The signing of the Dongan Charter , which allowed intertidal land to be owned and sold – the shoreline was "wharfed out" to the high-water mark by constructing retaining walls that were filled in with every conceivable kind of landfill: excrement, dead animals, ships deliberately sunk in place, ship ballast, and muck dredged from the bottom of the river. On the new land were built warehouses and other structures necessary for
11730-989: The span. The Brooklyn Bridge was followed by the Williamsburg Bridge (1903), the Queensboro Bridge (1909), the Manhattan Bridge (1912) and the Hell Gate Railroad Bridge (1916). Later would come the Triborough Bridge (1936), the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (1939), the Throgs Neck Bridge (1961) and the Rikers Island Bridge (1966). In addition, numerous rail tunnels pass under the East River – most of them part of
11845-564: The strait's southern bank near LaGuardia Airport via Flushing Bay . Further west, Luyster Creek drains into the East River in Astoria, Queens . North of Randalls Island , it is joined by the Bronx Kill . Along the east of Wards Island, at approximately the strait's midpoint, it narrows into a channel called Hell Gate , which is spanned by both the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (formerly
11960-399: The time, gentlemen, when you could go in twelve feet of water and you could see the pebbles on the bottom of this river." As the water got more polluted, it darkened, underwater vegetation (such as photosynthesizing seagrass) began dying, and as the seagrass beds declined, the many associated species of their ecosystems declined as well, contributing to the decline of the river. Also harmful
12075-547: The tracks of elevated railways that run on steel viaducts can be seen from street level. The earliest elevated railway was the London and Greenwich Railway on a brick viaduct of 878 arches, built between 1836 and 1838. The first 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of the London and Blackwall Railway (1840) was also built on a viaduct. During the 1840s there were other plans for elevated railways in London that never came to fruition. From
12190-433: The tunnel's financiers, the landmass owes its popular name (after Burmese diplomat U Thant , former Secretary-General of the United Nations ) to the efforts of a group associated with the guru Sri Chinmoy that held mediation meetings on the island in the 1970s. Today, the island is owned by New York State and serves as a migratory bird sanctuary that is closed to visitors. Proceeding north and east from Roosevelt Island,
12305-529: 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 . That same day, a covered walkway above Washington Street from the inbound platform of the York and Washington Streets station to
12420-430: Was a single line from Fulton Ferry to East New York . On April 27, 1889, all Lexington Avenue trains began using the Myrtle Avenue elevated to Sands Street at the Brooklyn Bridge , while the old portion above Park Avenue, Hudson Avenue, and other streets to Fulton Ferry became part of the outer Myrtle Avenue service. The Park Avenue structure was last used on December 8, 1889, but Myrtle Avenue trains continued to use
12535-548: Was built from Gowanus Creek , which emptied into the river. Historically, there were other small streams which emptied into the river, though these and their associated wetlands have been filled in and built over. These small streams included the Harlem Creek, one of the most significant tributaries originating in Manhattan. Other streams that emptied into the East River included the Sawkill in Manhattan, Mill Brook in
12650-602: Was done, and the Civil War soon broke out. In the late 1860s, after the Civil War, Congress realized the military importance of having easily navigable waterways, and charged the Army Corps of Engineers with clearing Hell Gate. Newton estimated that the operation would cost about half as much as the annual losses in shipping. The 2021 book by Thomas Barthel titled Opening the East River: John Newton and
12765-456: Was extended to Broadway Ferry on July 14, 1888. The Myrtle Avenue elevated was extended north over Adams Street to Sands Street at the Brooklyn Bridge on September 1, 1888, and the Union elevated began running between Sands Street and Van Siclen Avenue. Union Elevated opened the Hudson Avenue elevated , a branch of the Brooklyn elevated from the intersection of Hudson and Park Avenues south to
12880-429: Was issued for the detonating device. After the explosion, the rock debris was dredged and dropped into a deep part of the river. This was not repeated at the later Flood Rock explosion. On October 10, 1885, the Corps carried out the largest explosion in this process, annihilating Flood Rock with 300,000 pounds (140,000 kg) of explosives. The blast was felt as far away as Princeton, New Jersey (50 miles). It sent
12995-402: Was the general destruction of the once plentiful oyster beds in the waters around the city, and the over-fishing of menhaden , or mossbunker , a small silvery fish which had been used since the time of the Native Americans for fertilizing crops – however it took 8,000 of these schooling fish to fertilize a single acre, so mechanized fishing using the purse seine was developed, and eventually
13110-564: Was the site of one of the greatest disasters in the history of New York City when, in June 1904, the PS General Slocum sank near North Brother Island due to a fire. It was carrying 1,400 German-Americans to a picnic site on Long Island for an annual outing. There were only 321 survivors of the disaster , one of the worst losses of life in the city's long history, and a devastating blow to the Little Germany neighborhood on
13225-497: Was widely known at the time through letters, diaries and memoirs, and was a factor not only in the attitude of Americans toward the British, but in the negotiations to formally end the war. After the war, East River waterfront development continued once more. New York State legislation, which in 1807 had authorized what would become the Commissioners Plan of 1811 , authorized the creation of new land out to 400 feet from
#181818