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.
As always, “comment…as you see fit.” I earn a small payment when you click on any ad on the site.
8/23/23