The Union Avenue Line was a

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

line in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, running mostly along

Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Myrtle is a main thoroughfare through the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton ...

, Knickerbocker Avenue,

Flushing Avenue Flushing Avenue is a street running through northern Brooklyn and western Queens, beginning at Nassau Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and ending at Grand Avenue in Maspeth. It divides the neighborhood of Williamsburg from Clinton Hill a ...

, Throop Avenue, and Union Avenue from

Ridgewood, Queens Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth to the north, Middle Village to the east, and Glendale to the southeast, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick to ...

northwest to

Greenpoint, Brooklyn Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway and East ...

History

The Calvary Cemetery, Greenpoint and Brooklyn Railroad began operating the

Calvary Cemetery Line Calvary ( or ) or Golgotha () was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, Jesus was crucified. Since at least the early medieval period, it has been a destination for pilgrimage. ...

on Greenpoint Avenue, from Greenpoint Ferry in Brooklyn east across the Blissville Bridge over

Newtown Creek Newtown Creek, a long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City. River engineering#Channelization, Channelization made it one of the most heavily-use ...

to Calvary Cemetery in Queens, in the mid-1880s. This route ran along part of the Bushwick Railroad's Bushwick Avenue Line west of Manhattan Avenue. On April 21, 1887, the Brooklyn Crosstown Railroad, which operated on Manhattan Avenue, bought the company, which was not profitable. The Crosstown soon began building the rest of the CCG&B's proposed system, from the Crosstown's

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

s on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint east on Ash Street, south on

McGuinness Boulevard McGuinness Boulevard is a boulevard in Greenpoint, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It runs between Interstate 278 (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) in the south and the Pulaski Bridge in the north, which connects Greenpoin ...

, west on Driggs Avenue, and south on Union Avenue, Broadway, and Throop Avenue to a terminus at Park Avenue. This included some trackage of the Bushwick Railroad's Bushwick Avenue Line and the Crosstown's Crosstown Line on Driggs Avenue. Plans were also made to continue the line south past Park Avenue to

Prospect Park Prospect Park may refer to: Businesses * Prospect Park (production company), entertainment production company *Prospect Park Productions NZ, theatre company based in Dunedin, New Zealand Places New Zealand * Prospect Park, New Zealand, a portion ...

, but were not carried through. The Park Avenue Line, a

cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** ...

line, ran from Fulton Ferry east to

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; the cemeteries of Highland Park to the southe ...

, including a stretch of Crosstown trackage on Park Avenue between Navy Street and Washington Avenue. It had been built by the

Atlantic Avenue Railroad The Atlantic Avenue Railroad was a company in the U.S. state of New York, with a main line connecting downtown Brooklyn with Jamaica along Atlantic Avenue. It was largely a streetcar company that operated its own trains, but the Long Island Ra ...

and leased to a cable company. The line was a failure, and the lessee transferred the lease to the Crosstown in July 1887, giving the Crosstown access to downtown and an outlet for the Union Avenue Line. Horse cars replaced Park Avenue cable cars on July 16, and Union Avenue cars began running to the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a 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 River. It w ...

around then. The

Brooklyn City Rail Road The Brooklyn City Railroad (BCRR) was the oldest and one of the largest operators of streetcars (horsecars and later trolleys) in the City of Brooklyn, New York, continuing in that role when Brooklyn became a borough of New York City in 1898. In ...

leased the Crosstown on August 1, 1889, and on August 2 it truncated the Union Avenue route to Park Avenue; about a month later the original owner - the

- began operating the Park Avenue Line with horse cars. On April 27, 1890, the Brooklyn City opened new trackage on

from Graham Avenue east to Metropolitan Avenue, and on Knickerbocker Avenue from Flushing Avenue southeast to

. In addition to introducing a new Flushing Avenue Line (the existing line on Flushing Avenue was the

Graham Avenue Line The Graham Avenue Line and Tompkins Avenue Line were two public transit lines in Brooklyn, New York City with the Graham Avenue Line running mainly along Graham Avenue and Manhattan Avenue and the Tompkins Avenue Line running mainly along Tomp ...

), it rerouted the Union Avenue Line to run from Ridgewood to Greenpoint Ferry. This new route used Myrtle Avenue, Knickerbocker Avenue, Flushing Avenue, Throop Avenue, Union Avenue, Driggs Avenue, Manhattan Avenue, and Greenpoint Avenue. Streetcar service stopped running on December 1, 1945 on a temporary basis, but service was never restored.

References

{{Brooklyn surface Streetcar lines in Brooklyn Streetcar lines in Queens, New York