Kings County Elevated Railway

The Kings County Elevated Railway Company (KCERy) was a builder and operator of elevated railway lines in Kings County, New York, now coextensive with the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Its original services were operated with steam locomotives.

Corporate History

The KCERy was founded January 6, 1879 but did not open its first line for revenue service until 1888. The company was organized by Judge Hiram Bond and financed by a group of investors from Boston around Willard T. Sears a contractor with experience in stone railroad bridges and ramps. On October 1, 1899, the Kings County Elevated Railroad (KCERR) became successor to the KCERy, and on May 24, 1900 the KCERR was merged into its competitor, the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad company, thus ending its separate corporate existence.

Fulton Street Line

The KCERy ran only one rapid transit mainline, the Fulton Street Elevated, beginning in 1888, but it was one of the most lucrative in Brooklyn, operating from Fulton Ferry, through the heart of the downtown area, then through the center of the borough, and the communities of Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York and Brownsville to City Line. In addition, the KCERy later acquired access to the tracks of the Brooklyn Bridge railroad to bring its trains to the Park Row terminal in New York City (Manhattan) opposite the New York City Hall.

ervice on the Brighton Beach Line

In 1896, the KCERy built a short elevated line from Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street to connect to the tracks of the Brooklyn & Brighton Beach RR south of Atlantic Avenue, permitting KCERy elevated trains access to the communities of Crown Heights, Flatbush, Midwood, Homecrest, Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island at Brighton Beach.