BOYNTON PLACE, GRAVESEND

HIDDEN histories abound in New York City’s street names. In Gravesend, a one-block street, Boynton Place, connects West 7^th Street and Avenue X between 86^th Street and the MTA’s Coney Island Subway Yards. Its location at the trainyards is not serendipitous.

Eben Moody Boynton was an entrepreneur and inventor in the first decade of the 20^th  Century. Though railroads had already been in common use for nearly three quarters of a century at that time, experiments with their efficiency were still ongoing. It was Boynton’s idea to reduce the loads carried by traditional tracks laid on the ground by placing one track on the ground and another track overhead, resembling a monorail but with two tracks instead of one. Boynton claimed such an arrangement would enable trains to run at the unheard-of speed of 60 miles per hour. An experimental locomotive and trainset, as well as tracks, were constructed in the Coney Island grasslands. Critics dubbed Boynton’s creation the “Flying Billboard” since the loco and passenger cars were only 4 feet wide, as well as the “Bicycle Railroad” for its one row of wheels. His train did exceed 60 MPH, but he was never able to obtain enough backing to expand. Rails from the experimental railroad later replaced those on the nearby Sea Beach line (today’s N train). The Flying Billboard is remembered by Boynton Place, which reportedly is in its old right-of-way.

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9/26/23