The Lenox Avenue Line is a surface transit line on Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, United States. The line was once operated separately, but later became the northern end of the

Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line The Columbus Avenue Line is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Columbus Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Harlem. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the M7 bus route, operate ...

and Broadway and Lexington Avenue Line, now the M7 and M102 bus routes.

History

The franchise given to the

Sixth Avenue Railroad Sixth is the ordinal form of the number six. * The Sixth Amendment, to the U.S. Constitution * A keg of beer, equal to 5 U.S. gallons or barrel * The fraction Music * Sixth interval (music)s: ** major sixth, a musical interval ** minor si ...

by the city in 1851 specified that it should extend its tracks "up the Sixth avenue to Harlem River, whenever required by the Common Council".Common Council resolutions relating to the Sixth Avenue Railroad, reproduced i
A Compilation of the Ferry Leases and Railroad Grants Made by the Corporation of the City of New York
1860, pp. 267–285 Because Central Park was designated in 1853, the Sixth Avenue Line was only built to 59th Street. This long-dormant clause was used in 1894, when the Common Council ordered the company, then leased to the Metropolitan Street Railway, to build in what had become Lenox Avenue from

110th Street 110th Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park, along which it is known as Central Park North. In the west, between Central Park West/Frederick Dougl ...

(the northern boundary of Central Park) to the Harlem River.Harry James Carman
The Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City
pp. 39–54, 198–202 The Metropolitan used the line to experiment with

conduit electrification Conduit current collection is an obsolete system of electric current collection used by some electric tramways, where the power supply was carried in a 'conduit' (a small tunnel) under the roadway. Modern systems fall under the term ground-level ...

, opening on July 9, 1895. From opening, the main line began at Columbus Avenue and 108th Street, where the cable-powered

Columbus Avenue Line The Columbus Avenue Line is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Columbus Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Harlem. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the M7 bus route, operat ...

ended, and ran along Columbus Avenue, 109th Street, Manhattan Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue to the river (148th Street). Franchises for the tracks other than on Lenox Avenue had been granted to the

Lexington Avenue and Pavonia Ferry Railroad Lexington may refer to: Places England * Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada * Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States * Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name * Lexington, Massachusetts, the old ...

in 1892 and the

Columbus and Ninth Avenue Railroad The Columbus Avenue Line is a public transit line in Manhattan, New York City, running mostly along Columbus Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue from Lower Manhattan to Harlem. Originally a streetcar line, it is now the M7 bus route, opera ...

in 1894. The Metropolitan soon decided that it would convert all of its lines to the conduit system, being less costly than cable traction. The

Lenox Avenue Car House MTA Regional Bus Operations operates local and express buses serving New York City in the United States out of 29 bus depots. These depots are located in all five boroughs of the city, with the exception of one located in nearby Yonkers in West ...

, a

car house A train shed is a building adjacent to a station building where the tracks and platforms of a railway station are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof. Its primary purpose is to store and protect from the elements train car ...

and

power house Powerhouse or power house may refer to: * Power station, a facility (or former facility) for the generation of electric power Businesses * Powerhouse (shop), a former electrical goods chain in the United Kingdom * Powerhouse Animation Studios, a ...

, occupied the block bounded by Lenox Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and 146th and 147th Streets. The car house was rebuilt as a

bus garage A bus garage, also known as a bus depot, bus base or bus barn, is a facility where buses are stored and maintained. In many conurbations, bus garages are on the site of former car barns or tram sheds, where trams (streetcars) were stored, and ...

by the New York City Omnibus Corporation in 1938 and 1939, and is still used by the New York City Transit Authority as the

Mother Clara Hale Depot MTA Regional Bus Operations operates local and express buses serving New York City in the United States out of 29 bus depots. These depots are located in all five boroughs of the city, with the exception of one located in nearby Yonkers in Westc ...

. By 1935, its last full year of operation, the line, operated by New York Railways, was known as the Lexington-Lenox Avenue Line. It ran from 22nd Street and Broadway to 146th Street and Lenox Avenue, via 23rd Street, Lexington Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue.

References

{{NYC streetcar transit Streetcar lines in Manhattan 1851 introductions