THE only elevated section of the Independent Subway, built by the City of New York in the 1930s to compete with the privately-run IRT and BMT systems, ascends on a steep grade here at Luquer and Smith Streets. Two IND elevated stations were built at Smith and 9th Streets (see FNY pages here) and at 4th Avenue, one of the gems of the subway system. in 1940, all three subway systems were united and ran by the city and state by various agencies, the latest of which is the Metropolitan Transit Authority.
The city chose to elevate the IND here as it makes a turn south on 9th Street, one of Park Slope’s major east-west routes. To clear shipping on the Gowanus Canal, it built the highest elevated station in the subways at Smith-9th, which rises a good 88 feet above the street and requires two escalators to board and deboard. In the pages linked above, I described the two stations’ unique designs; Smith/9th is the only station in which tiled IND-style signage appears outdoors.
The elevated structures themselves provide a tantalizing glimpse at what IND elevated would look like had they ever been built. The iron superstructures were clad in concrete. About two decades ago, the concrete was beginning to crack and descend to the street, so the pillars and trestle were wrapped in black canvas until the city effected repairs. Today, the elevated structure appears as it did when brand new in July 1933. Elevated sections had been planned in Queens for the IND Second System, which would have hastened the urbanization of sections of Maspeth and Ridgewood; perhaps just as well that els did not invade those realms (besides the Myrtle El in south Ridgewood). The Second System was abandoned when the USA entered World War II.
Luquer Street is one of Brooklyn’s more unusual street names; many locals pronounce it Lu-QUEER, as if it has an extra “e” and by some maps and guides, it actually once did.
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8/28/24
6 comments
Thousands of photos showing NYC subway construction from 1900 – 1950 at the link below.
https://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/islandora/object/nyhs%253Asubway
There is a Luquer Road in Port Washington. Old maps show the land was owned by a person with that surname.
It was pronounced Lu-Queer by locals.
Thanks for this link.
Another reason for elevating the IND atop the Gowanus Canal and along 9th Street was because the ground around the canal was difficult for tunneling because of the high water table. Also the elevated alignment allowed the IND builders to take advantage of the natural west to east slope of the area when the subway returns underground at 7th Ave. Station.
Andy, thank you for that explanation. I understood that any bridge had to be high enough to allow ships on the Gowanus Canal, but always wondered why they didn’t just tunnel under it. That seemed to make more sense until now.
You are welcome!
When I was living in San Francisco in the mid ’90s I became friends with a woman whose last name was Luquer, which she told me was French. Turns out some of her ancestors lived in NYC long ago, hence the street name. Then some of her them moved west where she wound up.