A long-abandoned trolley terminal has been hiding in plain sight at the eastbound platform of the Essex Street Station serving J and M trains on the Nassau Street BMT plying the Williamsburg Bridge, where it joins the Broadway Brooklyn el and heads south and east to Jamaica. It served as a terminal for numerous trolley lines from Brooklyn during the years 1903-1948 that crossed the adjacent Williamsburg Bridge, making it one of a handful of underground trolley stations or terminals; another was at the Manhattan end of the Queensboro Bridge. Most of the trolley lines that turned around here wound up in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Here’s a look at the trolley terminal when it was still lit, during or shortly after service ended. Photo via Joe Brennan’s comprehensive Abandoned Subway Stations page, which amazingly is older than this very website.
Here’s a closer look at the abandoned trolley tracks. Photos: Mike Fagan in 1999.
In 2012, a plan emerged for the the space to be turned into a park, a la the West Side High Line. Like the Queens Link that’s supposed to replace the LIRR Rockaway Branch in Queens, nothing will happen on this front.
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10/4/23
7 comments
The old trolley terminal has been hiding in plain sight since 1948. The plan to create an underground park there was dubbed the Low Line but is now dormant, as noted. In October 2013 I appeared on the “Secrets of New York” television show that featured the old terminal. The link is still available, shown below. I appear beginning at about 3:00.
http://www1.nyc.gov/site/media/shows/secrets-of-new-york.page?id=2244?pg=14
Did you meet Trenchcoat Girl?
If you the woman who narrates Secrets of New York, no. I did the filming in a studio, not on site. If you mean somebody else, please explain. Thank you.
The girl who was hosting was cute. I hope she didn’t have that typical media attitude that was portrayed so well in “Network”.
https://www.youtube.com/c/kellychoi7?app=desktop
I love transit and NYC history so I went to see this on a transit museum tour. It is basically a concrete floor with some traces of tracks. You have to REALLY use your imagination to enjoy the visit because there is so little left to observe.
The proposal for developing the site was called the “Low Line”. Sorry to see it not working yet.
Since this interests you & your readers try this one on for size (pay attention to the insider tip to better access this at a much lower cost)):
https://nypost.com/2023/10/20/old-city-hall-subway-station-is-nycs-hottest-ticket/