WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JUNE 21, 2018 25
Shortly thereaft er, the BRT placed
contracts with Frederick C. Burnham
to build the 1 1/2-mile elevated railroad,
but one of the conditions was that he
had to do so while maintaining service
on the railroad to Metropolitan Avenue
so as to not inconvenience local
residents.
In turn, the Manhattan-based Burnham
hired various subcontractors
including Million Brothers Company
to erect the steel and Empire Construction
Company to lay the steel
rails when the steel structure was
completed.
Prior to the erection of the new
elevated section, a dangerous reverse
curve led the trains from the elevated
level to the ground level at Myrtle and
Wyckoff avenues, across from the car
yards. This was eliminated and replaced
by a single curve from Myrtle
Avenue into Palmetto Street.
By May 1914, all of the concrete had
been poured and about 35 percent of
the steel work had been completed. In
September 1914, the Empire Construction
Company started laying rails.
On Feb. 15, 1915, the new section
of the elevated railroad was placed
into service from Wyckoff Avenue to
Fresh Pond Road. Shortly thereaft er,
the private right-of-way on the surface
of Palmetto Street was made available
for electric trolley service. The Fresh
Pond Storage and Service Yards were
enlarged on the east side of Fresh
Pond Road at Putnam Avenue to hold
700 cars.
The BRT purchased additional land
at a $20,000 cost to accomplish this.
They also built a concrete clubhouse
for the trainmen as the move to switch
some of the trolley lines that had formerly
terminated at Ridgewood Depot
to Fresh Pond Depot.
THE LOST STATIONS
Later dubbed the MJ line, the Myrtle
Avenue El ran on the current M line
between Metropolitan Avenue and
Central Avenue in Bushwick, then
continued above Myrtle Avenue to
Bridge-Jay Street.
Along the way, it served the communities
of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort
Greene and Clinton Hill, with stops
located at Broadway (above the Myrtle
Avenue J train station), Sumner
Avenue, Tompkins Avenue, Nostrand
Avenue, Franklin Avenue, Grand Avenue,
Washington Avenue, Vanderbilt
Avenue and Navy Street.
For decades, residents used the line
to not only businesses in downtown
Brooklyn and Manhattan, but also the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, which — during
World War II — employed 70,000 people.
Students also relied on the Myrtle
Avenue El to reach schools such as St.
Joseph’s College and Bishop Loughlin
High School, both in Clinton Hill.
END OF THE LINE
Many factors led to the Myrtle Avenue
El’s downfall. One of the fi rst occurred
during the late 1930s, when the
underground G line opened between
Brooklyn and Queens. The Crosstown
Line, as it is called, served many of
the same communities as the Myrtle
Avenue El and off ered an important
north-to-south link to other subway
lines and points of interest.
The El suff ered another blow in
1944, when the BMT ended its trips
across the Brooklyn Bridge. The line
then terminated at Bridge-Jay Street.
New York City began to decline fi -
nancially during the 1950s and 1960s,
as waterfront industry fl ed and middle
class residents left the city for the
suburbs. The state and federal governments
also invested tens of millions of
dollars in constructing expressways
bisecting the boroughs — but provided
little to support the city’s transit
system.
In its last few years, the Myrtle
Avenue El became symbolic of public
transit decay. It was the only line still
using wooden passenger train cars;
modern steel cars were used everywhere
else in the subway system. The
elevated stations— many of which
were still lined with wood plank
platforms—also deteriorated greatly.
In July 1969, the MTA announced
that it would be shutting down the
Myrtle Avenue El — a move which
Ridgewood lawmakers immediately
protested. In the July 24, 1969 Ridgewood
Times, Assemblyman John
Flack and Assemblywoman Rosemary
Gunning “called for a public
hearing before any action is taken to
discontinue the present service.”
Flack and Gunning, in a letter to
then-MTA Chairman William Ronan,
argued that “the elimination of train
service to downtown Brooklyn will
create severe hardship and great
inconvenience to workers, students,
shoppers and other residents who
must use the line daily.”
Ronan, however, noted that the
declining ridership made it a losing
proposition to continue. “In addition
to operating savings and increased
revenue from the bus service” that
would replace it, he reportedly said,
“demolition of the elevated structures
will open a 35-block stretch of Myrtle
Avenue to light and air.”
The end fi nally came for the Myrtle
Avenue El in October 1969, when
New York City Transit ended service
west of Myrtle Avenue-Broadway to
Bridge-Jay Street. The New York Times
reported that about 1,200 people rode
the fi nal cars to pass the line.
In the years that followed, the elevated
structure west of Lewis Avenue
was taken down piece by piece. While
Ridgewood, Bushwick and Middle
Village residents are still connected
by rail to the rest of the city via the M
line, there remains no direct rail link
to Downtown Brooklyn.
Now, 45 years aft er the Myrtle Avenue
El’s demise, western Queens and
Downtown Brooklyn are booming
once again. Perhaps the line, had it
survived, could have bounced back the
way the city did aft er decades of decline
— but we will never know for certain.
Source: The July 24, 1969, and Dec.
11, 2014, issues of the Ridgewood
Times.
***
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OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
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