The Park Row station was a major

elevated railway An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks ...

terminal constructed on the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

side of the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East Rive ...

, across from

New York City Hall New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building i ...

and the IRT’s elevated City Hall station. It served as the

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devi ...

for BMT services operating over the Brooklyn Bridge Elevated Line from the

BMT Fulton Street Line The Fulton Street Line, also called the Fulton Street Elevated or Kings County Line, was an elevated rail line mostly in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It ran above Fulton Street from Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn in Downtown Brooklyn east ...

BMT Myrtle Avenue Line The Myrtle Avenue Line, also called the Myrtle Avenue Elevated, is a fully elevated line of the New York City Subway as part of the BMT division. The line is the last surviving remnant of one of the original Brooklyn elevated railroads. The re ...

and their feeders. Until the opening of the nearby

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

to elevated train traffic in 1913, it was the only Manhattan station available for elevated trains from Brooklyn, and the only elevated station in Manhattan to be owned by a company other than the IRT or its predecessors.

Early history

For the first fifteen years of its existence, it was used exclusively by trains of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable-hauled line that spanned the length of the bridge between Park Row and another terminal at the Brooklyn end of the bridge. On June 18, 1898, elevated trains of predecessor companies of the BMT began using the station during off-peak hours, while the cable-hauled shuttle continued to run at rush hours. On January 27, 1908 the shuttle was eliminated and elevated trains began running to Park Row at all times.Cudahy, Brian (2002)
How We Got to Coney Island: The Development of Mass Transportation in Brooklyn and Kings County
Fordham University Press. p. 168. At its height, Park Row Terminal had four platforms on four tracks in the main part of the terminal, and another three platforms on two tracks beyond (west of) the main train shed. This resulted in very complex scheduling and track shifting, so that most trains discharged their passengers at dedicated exit platforms and then were transferred to tracks on other platforms for loading of outgoing passengers.

Services

From the 1898 until 1913, the following lines were hosted at least part-time at Park Row: *From Fulton Street Line ( Kings County Elevated Railway) ** Fulton Street Line ** Brighton Beach Line via Fulton Street Line from Franklin Avenue. *From Myrtle Avenue Line (Brooklyn Union Elevated Railway) ** Myrtle Avenue Line ** Lexington Avenue Line (Brooklyn) via Myrtle Avenue Line from Grand Avenue ** Fifth Avenue Line via Myrtle Avenue Line from Navy Street ** Culver Line via Myrtle Avenue Line and Fifth Avenue Line from 36th Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn via 9th Avenue lower level. ** West End Line via Myrtle Avenue Line and Fifth Avenue Line from 36th Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn via 9th Avenue upper level. ** Third Avenue–Bay Ridge Line via Myrtle Avenue Line and Fifth Avenue Line from 36th Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn (cars often attached to end of Culver trains during non-rush hours) ** Sea Beach Line via Myrtle Avenue Line, Fifth Avenue Line, and West End Line from Bath Junction (cars often attached to end of West End trains during slack times)

Gradual decline

As new bridges and new subways took the pressure off the Brooklyn Bridge services, ridership at Park Row gradually declined. In 1913, BMT built the nearby Chambers Street Subway Station below the yet to be completed

Manhattan Municipal Building The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building (originally the Municipal Building and later known as the Manhattan Municipal Building) is a 40-story, building at 1 Centre Street, east of Chambers Street, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhat ...

, although nine years earlier IRT had built the Brooklyn Bridge subway station at Center Street and Park Row. October 27, 1913, was the last day of Sea Beach elevated service, in preparation for the new grade-separated line that began to use the

BMT Fourth Avenue Line The BMT Fourth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the New York City Subway, mainly running under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn. The line is served by the D, N, and R at all times; the R typically runs local, while the D and N run express duri ...

on June 22, 1915. On June 23, 1916, West End trains began using the Fourth Avenue subway exclusively. This was followed by the withdrawal of Brighton Beach service on August 1, 1920, when Brighton Beach trains began using a new connection to the

BMT Broadway Line The BMT Broadway Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan. , it is served by four services, all colored : the on the express tracks and the on the local tracks during weekdays (the N and Q train ...

subway, severing its connection with the Fulton Street Line. On May 30, 1931, some Culver trains were rerouted to the Fourth Avenue subway and the

BMT Nassau Street Line The BMT Nassau Street Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system in Manhattan. It is a continuation of the BMT Jamaica Line in Brooklyn after crossing the Williamsburg Bridge into Manhattan; it continues to ...

when the latter line opened. In 1936, Park Row was reconfigured to two tracks total (the two southern main shed tracks) due to declining use and to simplify operations. On May 31, 1940, in preparation for the

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takeover of the BMT system, the Fifth Avenue and Bay Ridge lines and services were abandoned, which also ended remaining Culver elevated service via those lines. The main line of the Fulton Street line was abandoned at the same time and, on June 1, a new service, Fulton–Lex, was introduced, bringing trains from the surviving outer portion of the Fulton Street Line to Park Row over the Broadway, Lexington and Myrtle Avenue Lines. On March 5, 1944, all remaining elevated lines stopped using Park Row, and the Myrtle Avenue, Lexington Avenue, and Fulton–Lex services were cut back to the Bridge Street station in

downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and r ...

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

s were shifted to the elevated tracks and used them until 1950, when all public transit was removed from the bridge. The streetcars did not use the Park Row terminal, but continued to use the trolley loops beneath the train shed, which was torn down.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Park Row (Bmt Station) Brooklyn Bridge Defunct Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation stations Defunct New York City Subway stations located aboveground Former elevated and subway stations in Manhattan New York City Subway stations located aboveground 1883 establishments in New York (state) 1950 disestablishments in New York (state) Railway stations closed in 1950 Railway stations in the United States opened in 1883