Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad

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The Brooklyn and Jamaica Raiload

Image:railroad.jpg

Historical Overview

The Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad is a railroad company that went through various name changes and was under the control of different other companies. The railroad was chartered on April 25, 1832, and it was mostly complete by 1834. It was the first railroad on Long Island. The railroad connected South Ferry of Brooklyn to the town of Jamaica, which was of a distance of more than ten miles. In 1836, the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad was leased, for forty-five years, by the Long Island Railroad, at an expense of $33,000 a year.[1] On April 18th, of the same year, the Brooklyn and Jamaica Company were able to open a railroad line Connecting Massachusetts and South Carolina, which was a line also used by the Long Island Railroad due to the previously issued lease.[1]

The Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad was finally opened in April 1836. It connected the ferry at the end of Atlantic Avenue with Beaver Street(now known as the 151st Street), in Jamaica.[2] The lease issued in April, comes to effect on December 1 of the same year.[2] The LIRR receives rights, concerning areas of the Atlantic Avenue railway, on April 25, 1860, from the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad.[3] On the next day however, the LIRR gives surrenders the lease, and gives back the rights to the company.[3] On August 8, the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad became the Brooklyn Central and Jamaica Railroad.Later on in the year, the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad was foreclosed.


Timeline[4][2][5][3]

  • Apr. 25, 1832: Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad incorporated
  • Summer of 1832: Maj. David Bates Douglass (1790-1849) surveys Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad
  • Jan. 29, 1836: Locomotive Ariel (BLW c/n 19) makes frist trial run on Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad
  • Apr. 16, 1836: Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad opens between Atlantic Avenue ferry and Beaver Street, Jamaica (151st Street)
  • Dec. 01, 1836: LIRR leases Brooklyn & Jamaica retroactive to Apr. 18, 1836; rent of $33,300 a year is based on a heavy New York-Boston through traffic which never materializes, creating an intolerable burden on the LIRR and a huge windfall for the B&J stockholders
  • Aug. 31, 1859: Jamaica to horse car line; later in year builds track over the Brooklyn & Jamaica tunnel at the foot of Atlantic Avenue
  • Apr. 25, 1860: Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad conveys all right of way between Rockaway Road and Beaver Street in Jamaica to LIRR
  • Apr. 26, 1860: LIRR surrenders lease of Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad and deeds its rights to Atlantic Avenue tunnel to B&J
  • Aug. 08, 1860: Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad reorganized as Brooklyn Central & Jamaica Railroad
  • 1860: Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad foreclosed

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Felix Reifschneider's 1925:History of the Long Island Rail Road." The Third Rail. <http://www.thethirdrail.net/0103/reif2.html>
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "PRR CHRONOLOGY 1836." June 2004 Edition. <http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1836%20June%2004.wd.pdf
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "PRR CHRONOLOGY 1860." May 2004 Edition. <http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1860%20June%2004.wd.pdf
  4. ↑ "PRR CHRONOLOGY 1832." June 2004 Edition. <http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1832%20June%2004.wd.pdf>
  5. ↑ "PRR CHRONOLOGY 1859." March 2005 Edition. <http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1859%20Mar%2005.pdf>
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