24 JUNE 21, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
The Myrtle Avenue El of a bygone era
Decades ago, Middle Village residents could travel to Downtown Manhattan on rail directly from their neighborhood by picking up the MJ train at the
Metropolitan Avenue station. Here’s how the station looked circa January 1973.
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
Rusting away above the Myrtle
Avenue-Broadway station on
the J and M lines in Bushwick
is a reminder of the fi rst major commuter
train that linked Ridgewood
and surrounding communities to the
business hubs of Downtown Brooklyn
and Lower Manhattan.
The last steel trusses of the old Myrtle
Avenue Elevated Line (El) tower
over Myrtle Avenue from Lewis Avenue
in neighboring Bedford-Stuyvesant
to the curvy spur where M trains
shift between the elevated Broadway
Line and the existing Myrtle Avenue
Line that runs through Bushwick and
Ridgewood to Metropolitan Avenue in
Middle Village.
Trains last ran on the Myrtle Avenue
El in October 1969, which — by
that point — deteriorated greatly from
overuse, neglect and urban decline.
Nonetheless, it played an important
role in accelerating the transition
of our neighborhood from rural to
urban life, spurring the construction
of communities fi lled with apartment
houses, single-family homes and small
businesses that remain vibrant to
this day.
Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT, later
reorganized as Brooklyn Manhattan
Transit BMT) developed the Myrtle
Avenue El, with the fi rst section
opening in April 1888. At fi rst, it was
a shuttle line connecting Adams Street
in Downtown Brooklyn to Grand Avenue
in Clinton Hill.
Development of the line continued
into Queens in 1890, when it reached
Wyckoff Avenue in Ridgewood. From
there, the Myrtle Avenue El moved
to ground level and ran through
Ridgewood along Palmetto Street and
the former Lutheran Line (named for
the nearby cemetery) to its terminus
at Metropolitan Avenue in Middle
Village.
At fi rst, heavy steam locomotives
pulled the Myrtle Avenue El trains.
By 1900, the entire line was electrifi
ed via third rail technology. This
enabled the BRT to introduce lighter
train cars capable of crossing the
(RIDGEWOOD TIMES/fi le photo courtesy of Patrick Cullinan)
Brooklyn Bridge. Thus, a rail line was
constructed in Downtown Brooklyn
running the Myrtle Avenue El over
the famed bridge to Park Row in Lower
Manhattan, which became the line’s
western terminus.
RAISING IT IN RIDGEWOOD
In early February 1913, the city’s
Public Service Commission announced
that it had granted the BRT
permission to elevate the 1 1/2-mile
section of the Myrtle Avenue Line
from Wyckoff Avenue to just east of
Fresh Pond Road. This was done to
eliminate some of the congestion at
the Ridgewood depot at the corner of
Myrtle and Wyckoff avenues.
Prior to this, there were low-level
stations at Seneca Avenue, Forest
Avenue, Fresh Pond Road and Metropolitan
Avenue. From Wyckoff
Avenue to Fresh Pond Road, the atgrade
railroad was fenced in on each
side and the only crossings were at
the stations.
RIDGEWOOD TIMES/File photo, courtesy of Patrick Cullinan
Now covered in cement, the platform between the tracks at the Metropolitan Avenue station in Middle Village
were originally lined with wooden planks, similar to a beach boardwalk.
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