THIS auto collision repair shop at #1552 McDonald Avenue near Avenue M in Midwood likely does not have a proprietor named Culver. Instead, it is found under the only elevated subway line in NYC named for an actual person…the Culver Line, which was named for a rail entrepreneur named Andrew Culver (1832-1906).
In 1875, Culver founded and built a steam railroad that ran from the Green-Wood Cemetery entrance at Prospect Park West and 20th Street and then ran straight down 20th Street to 10th Avenue and then south on Gravesend Avenue, later named McDonald Avenue, to Coney Island. After experiencing poor heath he sold the Prospect Park and Coney Island RR, as it was called, to the Long Island rail Road in 1893. When a third rail was added in 1899, the LIRR ceased operations on the line and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. was reorganized into the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Company, later the BMT, which took it over. As the region became more built up the line was elevated over Gravesend Avenue in 1919 and in common parlance became “the Culver Line.”
When the IND extended its line in Kensington to connect with the Culver Line in the 1950s, the section of the el connecting with the West End Line was orphaned and became the Culver Shuttle, which ran until 1975; its structure was torn down 10 years later.
But, some still refer to the F train in south Brooklyn as the Culver Line, for a railman who died in 1906.
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8/23/23
9 comments
Until recently the official MTA subway maps identified the F route in Brooklyn as “Culver Line” in small font – and did the same for the nearby Brighton, West End, and Sea Beach routes. The current on line map does not display those names.
The R160 subway cars that operate on the F train still display the words “Culver Local” on the electronic route signs that appear on the outside of every car. So indeed there is a direct contemporary connection to Andrew Culver, born in 1832, and 191 years later as his name is memorialized on every train that operates on his namesake railroad. Sort of the opposite of “sic transit gloria mundi,” a Latin phrase that means “Thus passes the glory of the world.” It is sometimes paraphrased to mean “fame is fleeting.” In this case, Culver’s name continues to live on after nearly two centuries.
Andew Culver is buried nearby in Greenwood Cemetery, where he can still hear his trains rumbling by.
The online version of the MTA subway map still refers to the Brooklyn portion of the “F” train as the Culver Line. The West End, Sea Beach and Brighton lines also retain their old names, albeit in very small type.
https://new.mta.info/map/5256
Growing up in the Parkville section of Brooklyn about a block away from the Ave I station, we always called it the Culver Line. Back then the “D” train ran on the elevated track. I’ve commented before how trolleys and freight trains competed with cars on McDonald Ave down below. The other Brooklyn subways were the West End, the Sea Beach, the Brighton, and the Fourth Ave lines. I don’t know what their designations are now. The Culver Shuttle was simply “The Shuttle” and it came in handy to get to the West End Line and New Utrecht HS in bad weather, and later getting to the Fourth Ave Line for the Verrazzano Bridge bus at 95th St. A long time ago…
Too bad it was elevated instead. Would have been neat to have the Culver Culvert.
Naming things after people can have its drawbacks.
Imagine the ridicule you’d get if your father’s father’s father’s father was Dr. Alois Alzheimer.
I live a couple of blocks away from the collision shop in Mapleton by St. Athanasius. I always thought that McDonald Ave was the dividing line for Mapleon and Midwood. If so, the collision shop would be on the Mapleton side. This is an area where a bunch of neighborhoods meet: Gravesend/Midwood/Mapleton/Borough Park/Parkville. Just wanted to get some thoughts.
Mike, it sure is confusing, isn’t it! On a map that I just Googled they’ve got Borough Park extending all the way down to McDonald Ave and Ave N. No way! We always figured 51st St was in Parkville because the Parkville Junction of the Bay Ridge Branch of the LIRR was a block away, and Parkville Ave was a few blocks up from Ave I. The only reference I ever heard of Mapleton was the public library on 17th Ave and 60th St.
Hey Bill, growing up here, we always thought the area I lived in was Bensonhurst. As I started looking into the history, I learned about Mapleton/Mapleton Park as the area of 16th Ave to the Dahill Road/Ave P and 54th Street to 65th Street, which the library you speak of is on 60th Street and 17th Avenue. Now, I believe the Mapleton/Borough Park boarder is now 60th Street and as the community has changed, the Real Estate agents started calling Mapleton area, “Borough Park” to attract young families from the Borough Park proper. On some real estate websites they call the area Bensonhurst, Mapleton, or Borough Park. I’m going to stick to Mapleton. LOL
Just wait, Mike. The real estate people will eventually rename it “South” Borough Park, or “East” Bensonhurst. Look what they did to Midwood! I had a lot of friends who went to St. “A”s, but I went to PS 121 and Montauk JHS.