New York and Harlem Railroad
 |
An 1847 map of Lower Manhattan; the only railroad in Manhattan is the New York and Harlem Railroad. |
The
New York and Harlem Railroad (now the
Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line) was one of the
first railroads in the United States, and possibly the first
street railway, running north from
Lower Manhattan to and beyond
Harlem. The line was later truncated at
Grand Central Terminal, with the rest becoming part of the
Fourth Avenue Horse Car Line. The line became part of the
New York Central Railroad system, with
trackage rights granted to the
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad into Manhattan. It is now part of the
Metro-North Railroad system, and the only
Manhattan trackage of that system.
The company was incorporated on
April 25,
1831 as the
New York and Haerlem Railroad Company, to link
New York City with
Harlem (specifically, the "power to construct a single or double railroad or way from any point on the northern boundaries of Twenty-third Street to any point on the Harlem River by the power and force of steam or of any mechanical or other power or any combination of them." The first section, along
The Bowery from
Prince Street north to
14th Street, opened on
November 26,
1832. After that, the following sections opened:
*
June 10,
1833 - north along
Fourth Avenue to
32nd Street*
May 9,
1834 - north along
Fourth Avenue to
Yorkville, including the
Murray Hill Tunnel*
October 26,
1837 - north along
Fourth Avenue to
Harlem, including the
Yorkville Tunnel*
May 4,
1839 - south along
The Bowery,
Broome Street and
Centre Street to
City Hall at Centre Street and
Park Row*
September 3,
1842 - north to
Williamsbridge*
December 1,
1844 - north to
White Plains*
June 1,
1847 - north to
Croton Falls*
December 31,
1848 - north to
Dover Plains*
January 19,
1852 - north to
Chatham Four Corners with a connection to the
Albany and West Stockbridge Railroad, and
trackage rights northwest to
Albany*
November 26,
1852 - south along
Park Row to
Astor House at Park Row and
BroadwayA branch was built to
Port Morris for
freight.
Horses were used at first, but this was changed to
steam north of
23rd Street. It was soon bought by
Cornelius Vanderbilt.
The New York City
Common Council passed an ordinance on
December 27,
1854, to take effect in 18 months, barring the NY&H from using
steam power south of
42nd Street, due to complains by abutters. Before that, the steam locomotives had run to
32nd Street. When the ordinance took effect, the NY&H had not done anything. After much debate, including an
injunction issued preventing the city from enforcing the ordinance, the courts struck down the injunction on
July 30,
1858.
Between
1847 and
1856, a track was built in
Grand Street between
Centre Street and
The Bowery (along with one block on The Bowery) for northbound trains. Southbound trains continued to use the old route.
Grand Central Depot opened just north of
42nd Street in October
1871, and intercity passenger trains from the north were ended there. (Ironically, by this point, the first of the Manhattan
els had opened on
Ninth Avenue.) Freight trains continued to operate along the tracks south of Grand Central, as did streetcars (still turning off at 42nd). On
April 1,
1873, the NY&H leased its freight lines to the
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, but the horse car line south of Grand Central remained separate. This eventually became the
New York Central Railroad and then part of
Penn Central and
Conrail.
Metro-North Railroad took over the line in
1983.
The streetcar line
In
1864 or
1865, a branch was added for trains between downtown and the
34th Street Ferry, running along
32nd Street,
Lexington Avenue and
34th Street. This was the start of separate
horse car service, running between Astor House and the ferry.
On
July 2,
1870, horse cars started to run not only to the 34th Street Ferry but to
73rd Street via
Madison Avenue. These trains ran through the
Murray Hill Tunnel and turned west on 42nd before going north on Madison (northbound cars used
Vanderbilt Avenue to
44th Street). The line was soon extended to
86th Street and then to
Harlem.
The first electric streetcar open to passengers in
New York City, a
Julien electric traction car, was run on
September 17,
1888 on the line to
86th Street. The line went back to using horses for a time, but switched to an underground
third rail in
1897.
On
July 1,
1896, the
Metropolitan Street Railway leased the streetcar lines. The
New York City Railway, which leased the Metropolitan, went
bankrupt in
1908 (?), and was sold to receivers, who gave the Fourth Avenue line back to the
Metropolitan Street Railway for operation on
July 31,
1908. The lease was terminated on
January 31,
1920, and operation was returned to the NY&H. On
October 10,
1932, it was leased again, this time to the
New York Railways Corporation, with the right to
bustitute the lines. The stockholders voted to do this on
February 19,
1934. An approximation of the route is now traveled by
MTA New York City Transit's
M1 bus. The
Murray Hill Tunnel now carries two lanes of roadway, but not the buses.
*
The Harlem Line* 1863
Harlem Railway Speculation Affair
*
Railroad History Database*Steam Below Forty-second-street,
New York Times July 2, 1856 page 8
*Railroad is King,
New York Times, September 24, 1856 page 2
*The Harlem Railroad Compant vs. The City and Police Commissioners,
New York Times July 31, 1858 page 4
*General News,
New York Times December 15, 1863 page 4
*
Our City Railroads,
New York Times December 26, 1865 page 8
*Madison Avenue Railway,
New York Times July 3, 1870 page 5
*Local News in Brief,
New York Times November 1, 1871 page 8
*New York's First Electric Car,
New York Times September 18, 1888 page 8
*Quicker Surface Transit,
New York Times December 6, 1896 page 16
*New York & Harlem Intact for Century,
New York Times May 25, 1930 page 39
