53rd Street Crosstown Line

The 53rd Street Crosstown Line was a surface transit line in Manhattan, New York City, United States, running along 53rd Street in Midtown, between Sixth Avenue and Ninth Avenue. It served as a connection between north-south lines during the times that they were not affiliated with the 59th Street Crosstown Line. The street is no longer used by buses, which now use 59th Street to make the crosstown connection.

History

The tracks in 53rd Street were added in 1894, when the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line, a cable car line, opened.Fact|date=March 2007 However, the Metropolitan had a lease on the Central Park, North and East River Railroad, the owner of the 59th Street Crosstown Line, and used 59th Street as a connection in the Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line. [Stuart Charles Wade, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC35914321&id=sNm2-q5b3AgC A Birds-eye View of Greater New York and Its Most Magnificent Store] , 1898] After the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line was converted to electricity in 1901,Fact|date=March 2007 those cars were also moved to 59th Street, and a new service - the 53rd Street Line - was added. The route began at Sixth Avenue and 50th Street and traveled north on Sixth Avenue for three blocks, west on 53rd Street to Ninth Avenue, and north on Ninth Avenue to 54th Street. [Carl-Axel Rheborg, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC09291039&id=2OXifdf0CbUC Pocket Guide to New York] , 1906]

Effective August 6, 1908, the CPN&ER was separated from the bankrupt Metropolitan, and three lines - the Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Line , Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line, and Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line - were placed on 53rd. [New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00B13FD395A17738DDDA80B94DF405B888CF1D3 Cross Town Lines Back to Old Hands] , July 31, 1908, page 4] [New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20D11FD385A17738DDDAA0894D1405B888CF1D3 The Street Cars] , September 3, 1908, page 6] [Brooklyn Daily Eagle, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC56699812&id=gqQJAAAAIAAJ Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac] , 1916]

The Ninth Avenue Railroad, which owned the trackage on 53rd Street between Seventh and Ninth Avenues,Harry James Carman, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC39242813&id=TTwYcXTL28wC The Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City] , 1919] was split from New York Railways, the Metropolitan's successor, in 1919.Fact|date=March 2007 The Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue Line and Sixth and Amsterdam Avenues Line were discontinued, while the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line remained, using trackage rights over the Ninth Avenue's trackage on 53rd Street and Ninth Avenue south of Broadway to reach Columbus Avenue.Fact|date=March 2007 The Ninth Avenue Railroad brought back the old 53rd Street shuttle to Sixth Avenue. [New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10615F93D5F10738DDDAC0994DD405B828EF1D3 3 Hurt in Trolley Crash] , May 15, 1922, page 3]

On February 12, 1936, New York City Omnibus Corporation buses replaced the trolleys on the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line, [New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70D1FF93C58107A93C6A91789D85F428385F9 Broadway Bus Line to Run Next Week] , February 4, 1936, page 23] [New York Times, [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10D1FFA3D54147B93C3A81789D85F428385F9 Broadway Buses Ready for Service Tomorrow] , February 11, 1936, page 6] ending use of the 53rd Street tracks.Fact|date=March 2007 The replacement bus - now the M7 - used 54th Street eastbound and 55th Street westbound until after the 59th Street Crosstown Line was replaced by buses.Fact|date=March 2007

References