The Nassau Electric Railroad was an

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

street railway company in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

of New York. The company operated throughout the borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, as well as over the Brooklyn Bridge and

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

into

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 ...

. The company was formed by

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...

Patrick H. Flynn, who owned land on Fifth Avenue south of 25th Street, where the

Atlantic Avenue Railroad The Atlantic Avenue Railroad was a company in the U.S. state of New York, with a main line connecting downtown Brooklyn with Jamaica along Atlantic Avenue. It was largely a streetcar company that operated its own trains, but the Long Island R ...

's Fifth Avenue Line ended. He went to the Atlantic Avenue Railroad and

Brooklyn City Rail Road The Brooklyn City Railroad (BCRR) was the oldest and one of the largest operators of streetcars (horsecars and later trolleys) in the City of Brooklyn, New York, continuing in that role when Brooklyn became a borough of New York City in 1898. In ...

, asking them to extend their lines to serve the area, but the Atlantic Avenue refused because the area was not built up, and the Brooklyn City refused because they had agreed to leave Fifth Avenue to the Atlantic Avenue. Faced with the lack of a railroad connection to his planned subdivision, Flynn incorporated the Coney Island, Fort Hamilton and Brooklyn Railroad, the Union Railroad, the Kings County Electric Railway, and finally the Nassau Electric Railroad to absorb them all. The CIFH&B was chartered by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

on June 7, 1890 to build from the 39th Street Ferry through

New Utrecht New Utrecht ( nl, Nieuw Utrecht) was a town in western Long Island, New York encompassing all or part of the present-day Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York Cit ...

to Coney Island and

Fort Hamilton Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which i ...

. Soon the Atlantic Avenue was also interested in extending its Fifth Avenue Line through Flynn's land to 36th Street, which it had a franchise to build to. In 1892, Flynn took over the Union Railroad, which had been chartered on May 6, 1884 and incorporated June 19 by other parties to connect Hamilton Ferry with Prospect Park along Union Street. Flynn's plan was to build the

Union Street Line The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) operates a number of bus routes in Brooklyn, New York, United States; one minor route is privately operated under a city franchise. Many of them are the direct descendants of streetcar lines (see l ...

and a connection along Second Avenue to the CIFH&B, allowing the RIFH&B to reach Hamilton Ferry. Flynn also planned to extend the Union Street Line east via

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough li ...

to City Line. The Kings County Electric Railway was incorporated by Flynn on November 29, 1892 to build a crosstown line from the 39th Street Ferry east along Church Avenue and New Lots Avenue to City Line, and to build from Canarsie Landing north to the city line on the west side of the

Cemetery of the Evergreens The Cemetery of the Evergreens, also called Evergreen Cemetery, is a non-denominational rural cemetery along the Cemetery Belt in Brooklyn and Queens, New York. It was incorporated in 1849, not long after the passage of New York's Rural Cemeter ...

, crossing the east-west line at Brownsville and the Union Street Line extension at East New York. Flynn then incorporated the Nassau Electric Railroad on March 13, 1893 in order to raise more capital for the system and with the right to use the tracks of the other three companies. In the next few years, most of the system's franchised lines, totalling about 100 miles (160 km), were built: * Fifth Avenue Line, Sunset Park to

* 86th Street Line,

Bay Ridge 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 an ...

to Bath Beach (connecting there with the

Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad The West End Line or New Utrecht Avenue Line was a surface transit line in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, running along New Utrecht Avenue and other streets between Coney Island and Sunset Park. Built by the Brooklyn, Bath and Coney I ...

(West End Line) to Coney Island) * Marcy Avenue Line and

Ocean Avenue Line The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) operates a number of bus routes in Brooklyn, New York, United States; one minor route is privately operated under a city franchise. Many of them are the direct descendants of streetcar lines (see li ...

, Williamsburg to

Sheepshead Bay Sheepshead, Sheephead, or Sheep's Head, may refer to: Fish * ''Archosargus probatocephalus'', a medium-sized saltwater fish of the Atlantic Ocean * Freshwater drum, ''Aplodinotus grunniens'', a medium-sized freshwater fish of North and Central Am ...

* Wilson Avenue Line and Rockaway Parkway Line, Williamsburg to Canarsie Landing *

St. Johns Place Line ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

and Liberty Avenue Line, Crown Heights to City Line * Church Avenue Line and New Lots Avenue Line, 39th Street Ferry ( Sunset Park) to New Lots Flynn incorporated the East River and Atlantic Ocean Railroad on November 16, 1895 to gain access to the Brooklyn Bridge, Long Island City, and other places. However, the Nassau leased the

on April 4, 1896, thus gaining Fifth Avenue and other streets north to the bridge, a lease on the

(West End Line), and several other lines, and the ER&A was no longer necessary. The Canarsie Depot, at the intersection of Hegeman Avenue (Church Avenue and New Lots Avenue Lines) and Rockaway Avenue (Wilson Avenue Line), stored cars. The depot existed from 1895 to 1951 and is now the site of the Butcher houses.Brooklyn Trolley Barns, Shops and Terminals (The JoeKorNer)
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nassau Electric Railroad Streetcar lines in Brooklyn Streetcar lines in Manhattan Predecessors of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation Companies affiliated with the Long Island Rail Road Defunct New York (state) railroads Railway companies established in 1893 Electric railways in New York (state) 1893 establishments in New York (state)