Lorimer Street Line

The Lorimer Street Line is a public transit line in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, running mostly along Franklin Avenue, Lorimer Street, and Nassau Avenue from Prospect-Lefferts Gardens north to Greenpoint. Once a streetcar line, it is now the B48 Lorimer Street/Franklin & Classon Avenues bus route, operated by the New York City Transit Authority.

B48 bus

The B48 bus route begins at the Prospect Park (BMT Brighton Line) subway station on the east side of Prospect Park. It heads northbound on Washington and Classon Avenues and southbound on Franklin Avenue through Bedford-Stuyvesant to Clinton Hill, where it turns east on Wallabout Street. It continues northeast and north on Lorimer Street through East Williamsburg, turning east on Nassau Avenue after passing through McCarren Park, and finishing on Meeker Avenue at the site of the former Penny Bridge, just west of the Kosciuszko Bridge. Along the way, passengers can transfer to the subway at Franklin Avenue (IRT Eastern Parkway Line), Franklin Avenue (BMT Franklin Avenue Line), Franklin Avenue (IND Fulton Street Line), Classon Avenue (IND Crosstown Line), Lorimer Street (BMT Jamaica Line), Lorimer Street (BMT Canarsie Line), Metropolitan Avenue (IND Crosstown Line), and Nassau Avenue (IND Crosstown Line).

History

The Greenpoint and Lorimer Street Railroad was incorporated on November 6, 1884 [cite BDE|title=A New Railroad Enterprise|md=November 6|y=1884|page=4] to operate along the New Williamsburgh and Flatbush Railroad (Nostrand Avenue Line) from the Broadway Ferry in Williamsburg southeast to Lorimer Street, and then north on Lorimer Street, east on Driggs Avenue, north on Manhattan Avenue, west on Meserole Avenue, north on Franklin Street, and west on Greenpoint Avenue to the Greenpoint Ferry; southbound cars would use Nassau Avenue to Lorimer Street. [cite BDE|title=The Aldermen|md=December 2|y=1884|page=2] In addition to the NW&F, this route used the tracks of several other companies: the Brooklyn Crosstown Railroad's Crosstown Line on Driggs Avenue and Manhattan Avenue, the Brooklyn City Rail Road's Greenpoint Line on Franklin Street, and the Bushwick Railroad's Bushwick Avenue Line on Greenpoint Avenue. The franchise was approved on February 26, 1885, [cite BDE|title=The Aldermen|md=February 27|y=1885|page=2] and the line was opened by August. [cite BDE|title=First Accident on a New Street Railroad|md=August 28|y=1885|page=4] The NW&F soon leased the G&LS , and Lorimer Street cars were sent south on the Nostrand Avenue Line to Prospect Park.Fact|date=February 2007 In July 1889 the Brooklyn City Rail Road leased them both,Fact|date=February 2007 and rerouted all cars but one per day (to preserve the charter) from Meserole Avenue to Greenpoint Avenue. [cite BDE|title=To Hold Their Charter|md=September 7|y=1889|page=1]

Beginning May 30, 1896, the Lorimer Street Line was extended southeast from Prospect Park along the Flatbush Avenue Line and new Bergen Beach Line to Bergen Beach during the summer season. [cite BDE|title=Better Service to Bergen Beach|md=May 29|y=1896|page=2] [cite BDE|title=About Financial Brooklyn|md=January 3|y=1897|page=25] At some point, the line was extended to Park Circle via Ocean Avenue and Parkside Avenue.Fact|date=February 2007 When the Franklin Avenue Line was discontinued on October 28, 1945, Lorimer Street cars were rerouted to cut west on the Flushing Avenue Line and south on Franklin Avenue to Prospect Park.Fact|date=February 2007 The north end was rerouted to absorb the Nassau Avenue Line east of Manhattan Avenue, ending near Newtown Creek, when that line was discontinued the same day.Fact|date=February 2007 Buses replaced streetcars on December 14, 1947,Fact|date=February 2007 and now run northbound on Classon Avenue rather than Franklin Avenue; the south end has been truncated back to the east side of Prospect Park.

References