THE DIRTY, JERKY, FOUL “L” TRAIN (1892)
Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes.
The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
Do you know the history of YOUR house?
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At least that’s the impression you would have gotten if you were to read Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World in the early 1890s. The campaign that the newspaper developed to improve elevated service would have had you believe that the elevated train (the “L”) – which delivered passengers from the Brooklyn Bridge to their homes throughout the borough (and vice versa) – was just as liable to kill you as to get you safely home.
If you had spoken to an “L” Train rider back then, too, you would have had further proof that all of this was true.
Today, while the mode of travel and the specifics thereof, at their base, are different from those which we have at our disposal, many straphangers’ complaints concerning the slowness of the subway, the dirtiness of the cars and stations, and the lack of train cars, ring as true today as they did 125 years ago.
Which begs the question, “Has anything really changed?”
Here follows some of the prize-winning….ahem…..yellow journalism illustrations that may better illustrate the problems existent in 1892.
“The crowding and pushing that you have witnessed to-night could be avoided if the Company would only put on more trains,” stated one rider.
“I always walk home from the end of the bridge, nowadays,” said a Brooklyn citizen. “I find I can do that and make better time as a rule than I would by taking the Elevated.”
“One who rides much on the Fifth Avenue line comes to the conclusion that there are a few locomotive engineers on that road and that the throttle is pulled by a lot of wipers and hostlers,” stated one frequent rider.
“This evening (my) shoulder was pushed through a large pane of glass in one of the cars to the imminent risk of cut clothing and cuticle.”
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Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
