Editing Park Row Terminal

{{Short description|Former BMT elevated station (closed 1944)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox New York City Subway station | type = former
| name = Park Row
| image = BRT Park Row c1905 from Detroit Publishing.png
| image_caption = Park Row station, {{Circa|1905}}
| image_size = 275px
| service_custom = [[BMT Brighton Line]] (until 1920)<br>[[BMT Culver Line]]<br/>[[BMT Fulton Street Line]]<br>[[BMT Myrtle Avenue Line]]<br>[[BMT Lexington Avenue Line]]<br>[[Fifth Avenue Line (Brooklyn elevated)]]<br/>[[BMT West End Line]] (until 1916)
| platforms = 3 [[island platform]]s (2 main terminal, 1 west end)<br>4 [[side platform]]s (2 main terminal, 2 west end)<br>[[Spanish solution]] (West End)
| tracks = 6 (4 main terminal, 2 West End)
| address = Brooklyn Bridge & Centre St & Brooklyn Bridge Promenade New York, NY 10013
| borough = [[Manhattan]]
| locale = [[Park Row, Manhattan|Park Row]]
| coordinates = {{coord|40|42|44|N|74|0|16|W||display=inline,title}}
| division = BMT
| structure = Elevated
| open_date = {{start date and age|June 18, 1898}}<ref name="1944closure">{{cite news |title=Brooklyn Bridge Train Service Ends Today -- Trolley Cars Stay On |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/37690631/park_row_station_march_5_1944/ |accessdate=October 22, 2019 |work=[[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle]] |date=March 5, 1944 |page=11 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}</ref>
| close_date = {{start date and age|1944|03|05}}<ref name="1944closure" />
| next_north = (Terminus)
| next_south = [[Sands Street (BMT station)|Sands Street]]
| hide_traffic = yes
|}}
The '''Park Row station''' was a major [[elevated railway]] terminal constructed on the [[Manhattan]] side of the [[Brooklyn Bridge]], across from [[New York City Hall]] and the IRT's elevated [[City Hall station (IRT Second Avenue Line)|City Hall station]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130410051922/http://stationreporter.net/cityhall.htm City Hall / Park Row Complex]</ref> It served as the [[terminal station|terminal]] for [[Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation|BMT]] services operating over the [[Brooklyn Bridge#Rail traffic|Brooklyn Bridge Elevated Line]] from the [[BMT Fulton Street Line]], [[BMT Myrtle Avenue Line]], and their feeders. Until the opening of the nearby [[Williamsburg Bridge]] to elevated train traffic in 1913, it was the only Manhattan station available for elevated trains from Brooklyn and the only elevated station in Manhattan to be owned by a company other than the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company|IRT]] or its predecessors.

==Early history==
{{stack|float=right|[[File:New York from tower of Brooklyn Bridge LCCN2004673010 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Park Row seen from the top of the Brooklyn Bridge]]}}
For the first fifteen years of its existence, it was used exclusively by trains of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway, a cable-hauled line that spanned the length of the bridge between Park Row and another terminal at the Brooklyn end of the bridge.<ref name="Small 1957" />

On June 18, 1898, elevated trains of predecessor companies of the [[Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation|BMT]] began using the station during off-peak hours, while the cable-hauled shuttle continued to run at rush hours.<ref name="Small 1957" />{{Rp|15}} Traffic at the station peaked in 1907, during what was known as the "Brooklyn Bridge crush", and additional stairways from the street to the terminal station were built.<ref name=nyt-1935-03-04>{{Cite news|date=1935-03-04|title=Bridge Terminal to Be Razed Soon; Extension of Brooklyn Span Station at Park Row to Be Closed March 31|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1935/03/04/archives/bridge-terminal-to-be-razed-soon-extension-of-brooklyn-span-station.html|access-date=2023-05-13|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> On January 27, 1908, the shuttle was eliminated and elevated trains began running to Park Row at all times.<ref>Cudahy, Brian (2002). [https://research.library.fordham.edu/nysh/2/ How We Got to Coney Island: The Development of Mass Transportation in Brooklyn and Kings County]. Fordham University Press. p. 168.</ref>

At its height, Park Row Terminal had four platforms on four tracks in the main part of the terminal, and another three platforms on two tracks beyond (west of) the main train shed. This resulted in very complex scheduling and track shifting, so that most trains discharged their passengers at dedicated exit platforms and then were transferred to tracks on other platforms for loading of outgoing passengers.<ref name="Small 1957" />

===Services===
From 1898 until 1913, the following lines were hosted at least part-time at Park Row:

*From Fulton Street Line ([[Kings County Elevated Railway]])
**[[Fulton Street Line (elevated)|Fulton Street Line]]
**[[BMT Brighton Line|Brighton Beach Line]] via Fulton Street Line from [[Franklin Avenue (BMT Fulton Street Line)|Franklin Avenue]].
*From Myrtle Avenue Line (Brooklyn Union Elevated Railway)
**[[BMT Myrtle Avenue Line|Myrtle Avenue Line]]
**[[BMT Lexington Avenue Line|Lexington Avenue Line (Brooklyn)]] via Myrtle Avenue Line from [[Grand Avenue (BMT Myrtle Avenue Line)|Grand Avenue]]
**[[Fifth Avenue Line (Brooklyn elevated)|Fifth Avenue Line]] via Myrtle Avenue Line from [[Navy Street (BMT Myrtle Avenue Line)|Navy Street]]
**[[BMT Culver Line|Culver Line]] via Myrtle Avenue Line and Fifth Avenue Line from 36th Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn via 9th Avenue lower level.
**[[BMT West End Line|West End Line]] via Myrtle Avenue Line and Fifth Avenue Line from 36th Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn via 9th Avenue upper level.
**[[BMT Third Avenue Line|Third Avenue–Bay Ridge Line]] via Myrtle Avenue Line and Fifth Avenue Line from 36th Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn (cars often attached to end of Culver trains during non-rush hours)
**[[BMT Sea Beach Line|Sea Beach Line]] via Myrtle Avenue Line, Fifth Avenue Line, and West End Line from [[Bath Junction]] (cars often attached to end of West End trains during slack times){{Clear}}

==Gradual decline==
{{wide image|City Hall Panorama one.jpg|1100px|Circa 1911 view of [[City Hall Park]], with the terminal at right}}As new bridges and new subways took the pressure off the Brooklyn Bridge services, ridership at Park Row gradually declined. In 1913, BMT built the nearby [[Chambers Street (BMT Nassau Street Line)|Chambers Street subway station]] below the yet to be completed [[Manhattan Municipal Building]], although nine years earlier IRT had built the [[Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall station|Brooklyn Bridge subway station]] at Center Street and Park Row.<ref name="Small 1957" />{{rp|16–17}}

October 27, 1913, was the last day of Sea Beach elevated service, in preparation for the new grade-separated line that began to use the [[BMT Fourth Avenue Line]] on June 22, 1915. On June 23, 1916, West End trains began using the Fourth Avenue subway exclusively. This was followed by the withdrawal of Brighton Beach service on August 1, 1920, when Brighton Beach trains began using a new connection to the [[BMT Broadway Line]] subway, severing its connection with the Fulton Street Line. On May 30, 1931, some Culver trains were rerouted to the Fourth Avenue subway and the [[BMT Nassau Street Line]] when the latter line opened.<ref name="Small 1957"/>{{rp|18}}

In 1936, Park Row was reconfigured to two tracks total (the two southern main shed tracks) due to declining use and to simplify operations. On May 31, 1940, in preparation for the [[New York City]] takeover of the [[Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation|BMT]] system, the Fifth Avenue and Bay Ridge lines and services were abandoned, which also ended remaining Culver elevated service via those lines. The main line of the Fulton Street line was abandoned at the same time and, on June 1, a new service, Fulton–Lex, was introduced, bringing trains from the surviving outer portion of the Fulton Street Line to Park Row over the Broadway, Lexington and Myrtle Avenue Lines.<ref name="Small 1957"/>{{rp|19}}

On March 5, 1944, all remaining elevated lines stopped using Park Row, and the Myrtle Avenue, Lexington Avenue, and Fulton–Lex services were cut back to the Bridge Street station in [[downtown Brooklyn]].<ref name="Small 1957">{{cite journal |last=Small |first=Charles S. |date=1957 |title=The Railway of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge |journal=The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin |issue=97 |pages=7–20 |issn=0033-8842 |jstor=43520182}}</ref>{{Rp|20}} [[Brooklyn Bridge trolleys|Brooklyn Bridge]] [[streetcar]]s were shifted to the elevated tracks and used them until 1950, when all public transit was removed from the bridge.<ref name="Small 1957" />{{Rp|20}}<ref name=":16">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/03/03/archives/brooklyn-bridge-traffic-will-undergo-changes.html |title=Brooklyn Bridge Traffic Will Undergo Changes |date=1950-03-03 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-06-27 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The streetcars did not use the Park Row terminal, but continued to use the trolley loops beneath the train shed, which was torn down.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Park Row (Bmt Station)}}
[[Category:Brooklyn Bridge]]
[[Category:Defunct Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation stations]]
[[Category:Former elevated and subway stations in Manhattan]]
[[Category:1883 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1950 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1883]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States closed in 1950]]