Brooklyn Manor was a station on the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

Rockaway Beach Branch The Rockaway Beach Branch was a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, New York City, United States. The line left the Main Line at Whitepot Junction in Rego Park heading south via Ozone Park and across Jamaica B ...

located on the south side of

Jamaica Avenue Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Broadway and Fulton Street, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's E ...

at 100th Street, straddling the border between Richmond Hill and Woodhaven in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The station name referred to the nearby Brooklyn Manor section of Woodhaven, originally a 603-lot development bounded by

Woodhaven Boulevard Woodhaven Boulevard and Cross Bay Boulevard (formerly Jamaica Bay Boulevard) are two parts of a major boulevard in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Queens. Woodhaven Boulevard runs roughly north–south in the central p ...

to the west, 96th/98th Streets to the east,

Forest Park A forest park is a park whose main theme is its forest of trees. Forest parks are found both in the mountains and in the urban environment. Examples Chile * Forest Park, Santiago China *Gongqing Forest Park, Shanghai * Mufushan National Fores ...

to the north, and Jamaica Avenue to the south. The station opened in January 1911, and was constructed as a replacement for the Brooklyn Hills station, which was located to the north. This station closed along with the rest of the Rockaway Beach Branch in 1962, and was subsequently demolished.

Station layout

The elevated station was located on the south side of the overpass over Jamaica Avenue, with two side platforms and shelters on both platforms. The platforms at this station, like the others on the line, were constructed from wood. While most of the other stations on the line south of here were rebuilt in the 1930s and 1940s with concrete platforms, the platforms at this station were not replaced. * * * * The

BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southea ...

runs over the

tracks along Jamaica Avenue. This section of the Jamaica Line opened in 1917, built after the

(LIRR) station. * * * Connection was available to the Jamaica Avenue surface trolley, and to the Jamaica Line two blocks east at the 102nd–104th Streets station.

History

A new station along the Rockaway Beach Branch at Jamaica Avenue was proposed in 1909 by the LIRR. In April 1910, the LIRR applied to the

New York Public Service Commission The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Ser ...

(PSC) for permission to discontinue service at the Brooklyn Hills station, which was built in 1882, and relocate it to the south of the station side at

Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Route description Queens Myrtle Avenue has been a major thoroughfare since the early ...

. The PSC granted the LIRR's application on May 20, 1910, on the condition that the LIRR submit plans for the new station to the PSC for approval, which it did on September 29, 1911. The station was built in conjunction with other projects along the line, including the elimination of

grade crossings A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

, its electrification, and its extension from the Glendale Junction with the

Montauk Branch The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. How ...

to the LIRR

Main Line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

at Whitepot Junction, known as the Glendale Cut-off. The new station opened on January 9, 1911, and was only served by electric trains, because the platforms could not accommodate the steam trains to

Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...

. Service was initially provided by six trains to

Penn Station Pennsylvania Station is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad to several of its grand passenger terminals. Pennsylvania Station or Penn Station may also refer to Current train stations * Baltimore Penn Station * Pennsylvania Station (Cinci ...

, and by eleven trains to

Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...

. Following the opening of Brooklyn Manor, passengers were diverted away from the

Atlantic Branch The Atlantic Branch is an railway electrification, electrified Track (rail transport), rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger serv ...

, leading to increased service to

. In the early expansion plans of the city's

Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND or ISS), formerly known as the Independent City-Owned Subway System (ICOSS) or the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad (ICORTR), was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of th ...

(IND) in the 1930s, the Rockaway Beach Branch was planned to be absorbed into the new subway, which would have turned the Brooklyn Manor station into a stop on the

IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 s ...

or a new Queens crosstown line. In 1950, the

south of

Ozone Park Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts Wor ...

closed after the trestle across

Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, ...

between The Raunt and

Broad Channel Broad Channel is a neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It occupies the southern portion of Rulers Bar Hassock (known colloquially as "Broad Channel Island"), the only inhabited island in Jamaica Bay. The ...

stations was destroyed by a fire. The city purchased the entire line in 1955, but only the portion south of Liberty Avenue was reactivated for subway service. Ridership declined on the remaining portion of the branch. Vandalism and criminal activity along the line also led the LIRR to take the two side platforms out of service in 1958, replacing these with a low-level platform in the former southbound trackway. The station closed on June 8, 1962, along with the rest of the Rockaway Beach Branch.

Current status

In the 1950s, following the fire that led to service reductions on the line, the QM23 express bus was created by

Green Bus Lines Green Bus Lines, also referred to simply as Green Lines, was a private bus company in New York City, United States. It operated local service in Queens and express service to Manhattan until January 9, 2006, when the city-operated MTA Bus Compan ...

to replace LIRR service between this station and Manhattan. After takeover by the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

(MTA) in 2006, the route was discontinued on June 27, 2010, due to budget cuts. Alternate service is provided by the nearby 104th Street subway station on the Jamaica Line. While few remnants of the station site remain, there still is dilapidated track and signal infrastructure. Signal towers can still be seen on the path to Brooklyn Manor. Much of the roadbed is overgrown with trees and weeds. Access to the area is currently limited, although

Queens Community Board 9 The Queens Community Board 9 is a local government in the New York City borough of Queens, encompassing the neighborhoods of Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Ozone Park and Kew Gardens. It is delimited by the Brooklyn border to the West, Park Lane an ...

has proposed to redevelop the right-of-way into a greenway bike path.

References

External links

Former Rockaway Beach Branch, including Brooklyn Manor Station (Forgotten New York)LIRR Station History (TrainsAreFun.com)Brooklyn Manor Station image — May 20, 1931 (Unofficial LIRR History Website; Ron Ziel Collection)Location of former Brooklyn Manor station site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooklyn Manor (Lirr Station) Former Long Island Rail Road stations in New York City Railway stations in the United States opened in 1911 Railway stations closed in 1962 Railway stations in Queens, New York 1911 establishments in New York City 1962 disestablishments in New York (state) Richmond Hill, Queens