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Kings County Elevated Railroad Company

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The Kings County Elevated Railway, along with the Brooklyn, Canarsie, and Rockaway Beach Railroad; Brooklyn, Bath, and Coney Island Railroad; Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad; Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad; New York and Sea Beach Railroad; Brooklyn Elevated Railroad and the Union Elevated Railroad Company eventually became part of the New York’s famous BMT (Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company).

One of the road’s more famous line was the Brighton Line, which came under the control of the Kings County Elevated in 1900. The Brighton Line began service on July 2, 1878 as the Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railroad, between Prospect Park and the Brighton Beach Hotel as a surface steam railroad. (The Brighton Beach Hotel was owned by the railway.) It was extended on August 19, 1878 at the north end to Atlantic Avenue and Franklin St. (now Franklin Avenue), where it connected with the Long Island Railroad mainline. The LIRR, however, owned the competing Manhattan Beach RR, and terminated the trackage right agreement in December 1883. The BF&CI was then reorganized as the Brooklyn & Brighton Beach Railroad in 1887.

After losing its connection to the LIRR, the Brighton line began negotiations with the Kings County Elevated Company to route its trains downtown via the Fulton Street El. Through service began on the Fulton El in 1896. Around the same time, the Brighton Line was electrified using trolley wire from Fulton St & Franklin St to Newkirk Avenue, and then to Brighton Beach in 1899. In 1900, the Kings County El took control of the Brighton Line. When the Fulton St El was electrified, a ramp to the Brighton Line at Fulton & Franklin was built, and through trains to Park Row, Manhattan, via the Brooklyn Bridge began on July 9th, 1900. By this time, the Brighton Line was more than just a small railroad serving seasonal customers; it became a bona-fide mass transit line carrying thousands of Brooklynites to their jobs in downtown Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.

By 1900, through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company has gained control the Kings County Elevated (and the Brighton Line), along with almost every other railroad, elevated and streetcar line in Brooklyn, with the exception of some LIRR routes.

The vignette om this piece features Brooklyn Borough Hall, a Greek revival building, designed in 1835 and completed in 1849 for use as the City Hall of the City of Brooklyn, and located on the triangle of land bounded by Joralemon, Court, and old Fulton Streets. The building was home to the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Brooklyn when, on the morning of February 26, 1895, a lighted gas jet in a small, third-floor closet filled with waste paper caused a fire that destroyed the clock and bell tower, gutted the top floor of the building, and ruined the walls and ceiling of the Common Council chamber by water damage. In January 1898 the independent City of Brooklyn was consolidated into the City of New York and Kings County became the Borough of Brooklyn.


We are currently offering the following pieces from the Kings County Elevated Railroad Company:





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