The Iron Steamboat Company (1881–1932) provided ferry service between

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

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 ...

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original fleet consisted of seven iron-hulled

steamboats A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

, each named after a constellation or a star: the Cygnus, the Cepheus, the Cetus, the Pegasus, the Perseus, the Sirius and the Taurus. In later years two older wooden steamboats, the Columbia and the Grand Republic would also be added. Each boat was powered by a single cylinder vertical beam steam engine and was divided into three decks and twelve watertight compartments. Service began in May 1881 and continued until the close of the 1932 season. Initially the line serviced only Coney Island, but over the years service was expanded to

Long Branch, New Jersey Long Branch is a beachside City (New Jersey), city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the city's population was 30,719,< ...

Rockaway Beach, New York Rockaway Beach is a neighborhood on the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is bounded by Arverne to the east and Rockaway Park to the west. It is named for the Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk, which is the ...

, and for a brief time

Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Sunset Park to the north, Dyker Heights to the east, the Narrows and the Belt Parkway to the west, and Fort Hamilton Army Base and ...

. Boats left Manhattan (half-hourly during summer) from various piers along the west side and Pier One in Lower Manhattan. In Coney Island ships landed at the New and Old Iron Piers along the Coney Island Beach,Coney Island transport
/ref> and later at the amusement parks Dreamland and

Steeplechase Park Steeplechase Park was a amusement park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City. Steeplechase Park was created by entrepreneur George C. Tilyou in 1897 and operated until 1964. It was the first of the three large amusement parks built on Cone ...

, where a round trip Iron Steamboat ticket bought free admission to the parks. The company also ran a daily service up the Hudson to Oscawana Island north of

Croton-on-Hudson, New York Croton-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 8,327 at the 2020 United States census over 8,070 at the 2010 census. It is located in the town of Cortlandt as part of New York City's northern subu ...

, where it operated a small hotel built over a railroad tunnel.

References

External links

Zooming in on Coney Island
New York Times, August 11, 1929

Sources

* Cudahy, Brian J., ''Around Manhattan Island and Other Maritime Tales of New York'' {{NYC-transport-stub Coney Island Rockaway, Queens Ferries of New York City Transport companies established in 1881 Transport companies disestablished in 1932 1881 establishments in New York (state) 1932 disestablishments in New York (state)