100 Years Ago

On November 1, 1918, the worst transit disaster in New York City history occurred just outside Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The wooden cars of the Brighton Beach line of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (B.R.T.) company left the tracks, crashing inside the tunnel beneath the busy intersection where Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue and Malbone Street met [Google map]. The Malbone Street Wreck killed nearly 100 people and injured more than 250. Criminal trials and lawsuits arising from the accident dragged on for years, contributing to the bankruptcy of the BRT. The name “Malbone Street” became associated with the disaster; it’s known today as Empire Boulevard.

The BRT line followed roughly the current route of the B/Q subway lines from Coney Island to Prospect Park, and the shuttle from Prospect Park to Franklin Avenue. Conditions for the disaster were created by a number of factors. World War I, and the influenza pandemic, were still raging. A multi-year project to consolidate the BRT and then-IRT required temporary rerouting of several lines, creating a sharp turn into a tunnel beneath what is now Empire Boulevard, just north of the current Prospect Park station of the B/Q lines and the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. This turn, called “Dead Man’s Curve” even before the accident, is still visible from the street today.

Detail, Brooklyn's Franklin Avenue Shuttle Track Map

A strike by motormen who ran the BRT’s trains caused the BRT to run its trains with inexperienced staff:

As Edward Luciano began a run as motorman on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit’s (BRT) Brighton Beach line on the evening of November 1, 1918, getting home quickly and safely might well have been foremost in his mind. Luciano’s career as a motorman had started earlier that very day, when the BRT pressed the twenty-three year-old dispatcher into service after company motormen went out on strike. Weakened by a recent bout with influenza and emotionally anguished by the death of one of his children from flu the week before, Luciano nonetheless complied with his employer’s wishes.

The posted speed for the tunnel entrance was six miles per hour; witnesses estimated that Luciano’s train entered the curve at over thirty. The train’s first car hung precariously to the track, then derailed upon entering the tunnel. The second car slammed violently into a concrete abutment, losing its roof and one of its sides in the impact. The third car disintegrated into a tangled mass of wood and glass.
– Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

This is a photo of three of the five wooden cars of the train. You can clearly see that the top half of the second car is gone. In his review of the book, The Malbone Street Wreck, on rapidtransit.net, Paul Matus explains the image:
MalboneStreetWreck2

The Malbone Street train sits in the BRT’s 36th St. Yard after salvage. The relatively minor damage to 726 [the first car in the photo] shows why most in the first car escaped serious injury. Even the window of Motorman Luciano’s cab (left, front) is intact. Not so lucky were those in trailer car 80 immediately behind, with half the car sheared away. Behind 80 is motor car 725, also almost unscathed. Chillingly absent between 80 and 725 would have been car 100, the remains of which were dismantled at the scene.

The accident occurred during the evening rush hour. It was already night-time. In the closed confines of the tunnel, rescuers tried to save who they could. It was a horrific scene.

Dozens of passengers died immediately, many of them decapitated or impaled by shards of wood and glass. Others were electrocuted by the third rail, which had shut down on derailment but was turned back on by offsite monitors who attributed the shutdown to labor sabotage. [Note: The claim of death by electrocution is refuted in Cudahy’s book.] Rescuers rushed to the station, to help the dazed and injured and to carry away the dead. The power failure in the tunnel posed a problem for rescuers that was partially solved when automobiles pulled up near the entrance to the station to illuminate the ghastly scene.

Worried friends and relatives came from across the city and waited outside the station for news of loved ones who frequented the Brighton Beach trains. Medical personnel used the Brooklyn Dodger’s Ebbets Field as a first aid station. And Mayor John Hylan, a strong opponent of privately operated transit lines like the BRT, arrived on the scene with freshly-milled accusations of transit-interest malfeasance.
– Death Beneath the Streets

Newspapers of the day published the names and addresses of those killed and injured in the crash. From that, I created a Google Map with the names and addresses of the dead. The geographic distribution is striking. The majority of those killed were from greater Flatbush, including Prospect Lefferts Gardens, but also included victims from East Flatbush and Kensington, to the east and west, and, to the south, from Midwood, Gravesend, and Sheepshead Bay.

Here’s the list of dead and injured. Most of this list is presented as it was reported in the Brooklyn Standard Union on November 2, 1918, the day after the crash. I made other edits and corrections from additional sources, such as follow-up articles in the new York Times. Some information was originally printed in error, some of the injured later died, and one man originally listed as dead was found to be safe at home. Where available, the addresses link to the Google Map I created which shows the homes of the victims. Some victims also received short descriptions in the paper of the time; I added that to the descriptions of the markers.

  1. ALEXANDER, James, 647 Fenimore Street
  2. ALFARO, Peschal, 160 Robinson Street [I can’t locate this street on current maps of Brooklyn. Has this been renamed to Parkside Avenue?]
  3. AMREIN, Ada, Address unkown
  4. ARENA, Mabel, 186 Lefferts Avenue
  5. BARCINO, Eugene Edward, 42 Henry Street, Flatbush [sic, this address is in Brooklyn Heights, not Flatbush]
  6. BARGIN, Etta, 1145 East 14th Street
  7. Bechtold, Emily or Elise M., 362 East 9th Street
  8. BERKOWITZ, Herman, Address unknown
  9. Borden, Helen, 445 Riverside Drive, Manhattan, or 1011 Ocean Avenue [two addresses were given for Ms. Borden]
  10. Bogen, David, 27 years old, 94 Kenmore Place [Originally listed among the dead as D. Borgen of 97 Kenmore Place]
  11. Brunswick, David, 70 years old, 847 East 10th Street
  12. BURTON, Mary, 1458 East 17th Street
  13. Calibria or Calabria, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [Published in NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident]
  14. CLEARY, Margaret, 318 Parkville Avenue
  15. Clifford, Ethel or Louise, 485 Argyle Road
  16. COADY, Emily, 682 Argyle Beach [sic: Argyle Road]
  17. Condra, Louisa G, 23 years old, Brooklyn [No address given. Not listed originally among the dead or injured. “Louisa G. CONDRA, also killed, was born in Newark twenty-three years ago and had been a resident of Brooklyn for three years. She was secretary to the vice-president of the National City Bank in Manhattan and is survived by her mother, Marguerite, and two sisters The funeral will be held to-morrow morning with a requiem mass at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Interment will be at Newark.”]
  18. COOPER, Margaret, Detroit, Mich.
  19. ENGGRAN, John W., 37 East 10th Street
  20. FLEMING, Catherine, 7 East 10th Street
  21. FITZPATRICK, Ed., Avenue H and East 17th Street
  22. FLAHAVE, James F., 277 East 38th Street
  23. Gardner (or Gardiner), Marion (Mary) Norcross, 347 Lincoln Road
  24. GILBERT, Michael, 26 years old, 1510 East 18th Street or 1819 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gilbert]
  25. GILFEATHER, Thomas F. 388 East 49th Street
  26. GILLEN, Harry P., 29 years old, 1539 East 13th Street or 1634 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gillen]
  27. GIVNAN, Thomas, 28 years old, 1601 Voorhies avenue
  28. GUIDE, Nicholas, 1505 Neck Road
  29. Hennison, Emelia, 95 Lenox Road [Listed only in association with Aline Schwaan at the same address]
  30. HOLMES, George W., 611 Westminster Road
  31. HOLTORF, Theodore, 60 years old, 984 East 18th Street
  32. HOPKINS, Lewis, 2130 Bedford Avenue
  33. JACKOWITZ, Sophie, 4301 Church Avenue
  34. JOHNSON, Mary, Address unknown
  35. KEMPF, Christina, 203 Parkside avenue
  36. KERR, David B. 132 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  37. KINSIE, Benjamin A., 79 Haven Avenue, Manhattan
  38. KIRCHOFF, Clara, 877 East Fifteenth Street
  39. LARSEN, H.W., 713 Avenue N
  40. LAWREY, Nellie, 1782 Shore Road
  41. LAWSON, T. C., 1716 Caton Avenue
  42. LEE, Fred W. 212 South Oxford Street
  43. LOMBACK, Harry 22721 77th Street [invalid street address]
  44. LOMBARD, Henry, 1016 East 18th Street or 1919 East 18th Street [two different addresses were given for Mr. Lombard, in the initial list of the dead, and in a follow-up mention]
  45. LOURING, Frank J., 1025 East 15th Street
  46. LOVE, Bessie, 90 St. Marks Place
  47. LOVELL, Aubrey, 1522 East 10th Street
  48. LYONS, Caroline, 1616 Avenue H
  49. MAIER, Joseph A. 204 Midwood Street
  50. MALAMAUD, Abraham, 602 East 16th
  51. MALONEY, Lillian, 178 Lefferts Avenue
  52. MATTOOK, Ethel, 335 East 21st Street
  53. MEEHAN, Helen, 22, 348 Eastern Parkway
  54. METZGER, Ira H., 816 East 14th Street
  55. McMILLEN, Carnette, Address unknown
  56. McCORMACK, Mrs. Grace, 1404 Cortelyou Road
  57. MUNN, Sadie, 25 Rugby road
  58. MURPHY, Grace, a school teacher, 1297 Homecrest Avenue [invalid address]
  59. NAGLE, Richard, 2124 East 24th Avenue
  60. PALMEDO, Alexander M., 439 East 19th Street
  61. Payne, Raymond, 18 years old, 1213 Avenue H
  62. Pierce, Wilbur F., 23 years old, 244 Lefferts Avenue
  63. PILKINGTON, Mrs. 214 Webster Avenue
  64. PORTER, Willis D., 721 Argyle Road [Mistakenly reported as dead, as “William Porter, Argyle Road”]
  65. PORTER, Edward Erskine, 309 Caton Avenue [Possibly 307 Caton Avenue?]
  66. PROUT, Grover T., 275 Ocean Avenue
  67. Rathe, John Charles Ferdinand (or Roth, Charles), 311 E 19th St
  68. RUBIN, M. H., 675 Flatbush Avenue
  69. RUSSO, Mamie, 485 Grand Avenue
  70. RYAN, Michael, 36 years old, 2163 Nostrand Avenue [Possibly 2162 Nostrand?]
  71. SCHWAAN, Aline, 95 Lenox Road
  72. SCUDDER, Ethel, 1221 Avenue Q
  73. SHEVIT, Syd, 224 East 26th Street
  74. SHIEDEN, John, 420 Cortelyou Road
  75. STEVENS, W. E., 150 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  76. SCHAEFER, Harold, 2804 Farragut Road
  77. Stephens, W. A., 83 Rugby Road
  78. STERN, Adolph, 141 Central Avenue
  79. SULLIVAN, Margaret, 19, 2745 Bedford Avenue
  80. TEN BROUCK (or Broeck), Floyd, 46 years old, 1419 Avenue G (Glenwood Road, today)
  81. THORN, C.C. 2023 Caton Avenue
  82. TIETJEN, Johann W., 420 Cortelyou Road
  83. TOLZE, Genaro, 2439 East 14th Street
  84. TOWNSON, T.G., 1716 Caton Avenue
  85. VINCENZO, Louis A. 493 Gravesend Avenue [Published in the NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident. I can’t locate this street. Is this know today as Gravesend Neck Road?)
  86. VINEBERG, Morris, 1706 Bath Avenue
  87. WALKER, Marion, 1670 East 10th Street
  88. WEED, H.E., Address unknown
  89. WATTS, Hazel, 48 East 22nd Street
  90. WALSH, Genevieve, 4301 Church Avenue
  91. WOELFER, Charlotte, 738 East 21st Street

Injured

AYER, Oscar, 600 East 16th Street
AMREIN, Kurt, 634 West 135th Street, Manhattan
ANTONELLO, Rosario, 1419 Lincoln Road

BAIRD, Loraine, 2542 East 5th Street
BANELSON, Vera, 170 Coleridge Street
BARRETT, Susan, 1550 East 12th Street
BOOM, Martin P., 635 Flatbush Avenue
BRAULT Zephrin, 107 Martense Street
BROSER, Mrs. Wm., 2641 East 21st Street

CALABRIA, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [or Calibria, she died 4 days later]
Castellani, Marie, 2764 Haring Street, Sheepshead Bay
CLEARY, Mary, 318 Parkville Avenue
CLINCHY, Susan, 1704 Kings Highway
CORCOCILLO, Joseph, 1089 East 39th Street
COSTELAN, Marie, 24 Harrett Street

DRENNAN, Margaret, 1911 Homecrest Avenue

(No. listings for “E”)

F.

FELICIA, Samuel, 38 Darby Street
FENNON, Edith, 826 Avenue P
Fitzpatrick, Edward N. [No address available. Mr. Fitzpatrick was not originally listed among the injured. He was awarded $35,000 in 1920 from injuries received in the crash. Reference: New York Times, 1920-01-08]
FUCHS, Pauline, 2902 West 17th Street
FULLER, Elizabeth, 364 East 18th Street

G.

GOWARD, Harold, 234 Lefferts Avenue
GIILERDI, Sylvia, 2617 Jerome Avenue
GUTHRIE, James, 800 East 15th Street

H.

HARLEY, Helen, Crown Street
HARRIS, Leonore, 62 Marlboro Road
HARRIS, Gertrude, 810 Avenue U
HARM, George, 2801 East 7th Street
HAYES, Nora, 287 East 17th Street
HALL, Martha, 2715 East 23d Street

(No listings for “I”)

J.

JUDD, Francis, Manhattan Beach

(No listings for “K”)

L.

LARSON, Lillian, 713 Avenue M
LEE, Henry A. 971 Utica Avenue
LERNER, Nathan, 15 President Street
LEES, Loretta, 619 East 4th Street
LEES, Mary, 619 East 4th Street

M.

MITCHELL, Matilda, 3456 East 15th Street
MURPHY, Veronica, 1922 Homecrest Avenue
McGARRY, John, 120 Avenue C
MANDER, Walter, 840 Flatbush Avenue
MARTENSE, Gary, 1501 Avenue U
MULE, Ernest, 2421 East 18th Street
MUSSON, Silas, 402 Ocean Avenue
MELLOW, William, 568 East 18th Street
MESSIER, Josephine, 2163 Coney Island Avenue

(No listings for “N” and “O”)

P.

PIERCE, Mrs. Kate, 1011 Ocean Avenue
PITTS, Frank G. 632 East 16th Street
POCHICHIE, Louis, 354 Prospect Place

(No listings for “Q”)

R.

ROCHES, Mary, 2647 East 18th Street
REILLY, Alfred, 153 Martense Street

S.

SCHMITT, Geo. W., 856 Est 5th Street
SEYMANN, Harry, 104 Woodruff Avenue
SCHUBERT, Arthur, 100 Webster Avenue
STOBEI, Rev. Joseph, 225 Emmons Avenue
SULLIVAN, Loretta, 437 East 15th Street

(No listings for “T” and “U”)

V.

VAN ARSDALE, Betty, 3122 Mermaid Avenue


[bit.ly]

Related content

Malbone Street Wreck, Google Map

Links

Malbone Street Wreck, Wikipedia
Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

The Malbone Street Wreck, by Brian Cudahy [I’ve got this back-ordered from Amazon]
Review of the book by Paul Matus on rapidtransit.net

Franklin Shuttle, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York
BMT Franklin Avenue Line, Wikipedia
Lanes of Mid-Brooklyn, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York

Eve of Destruction, 1918: The Malbone Street Horror and Day of the Dead, A Year in the Park

Brooklyn Ron

Malbone Street Wreck, nycsubway.org, transcription of the article published in the New York Times on November 2nd, 1918
List of dead and injured, Brooklyn Standard Union
Alternative Map

Brooklyn’s corridor of diversity

Today’s New York Daily News highlights the diversity of Brooklyn’s southern reaches, especially along the fabled B/Q subway line:

Immigration experts said the rich mosaic of cultures now found in southern Brooklyn rivals the well-known ethnic diversity found in Queens along the 7 Train — dubbed the “International Express.”

Brooklyn now has its own “Immigrant Express” — the Q/B Train — cutting through Flatbush to Brighton Beach and home to growing numbers of foreign born residents from Guyana, El Salvador, Poland, Armenia and Turkey.

“This corridor is as diverse as the corridor we see on the 7 Train,” said City Planning Department immigration czar, Joseph Salvo. “The bottom of Ocean Parkway has become a real United Nations.”
Boro turning into a world, Jeff Wilkins and Elizabeth Hays, New York Daily News

Q Train Beverly Road subway platform
Beverly Road Subway Platform

In 1970, Census Tract 520 in Ditmas Park [sic] was 92.1% white. Less than a quarter of the population was foreign-born, and most of them were Italian and Jewish. Today, the neighborhood is a miniature United Nations, with nearly two-thirds of the population coming from other countries.

Although Elmhurst and Jackson Heights have a larger percentage of foreign-born residents, the city’s demographer, Joseph Salvo, said it’s the convergence of racial and ethnic diversity that distinguishes Ditmas Park.
In a Diverse City, Ditmas Park Takes the Cake, New York Sun, May 26, 2005

Census Tract 520 comprises the eastern half of Ditmas Park West, my neighborhood neighbor to the south, plus the blocks between Newkirk and Foster Avenues.

[TinyURL]

Related Content

More love for the Q train, 2008-09-09
Flatbush by rail with Francis Morrone, 2008-07-10
DCP’s Census Fact Finder, 2007-12-13

Links

Boro turning into a world, Jeff Wilkins and Elizabeth Hays, New York Daily News, 2009-03-17
In a Diverse City, Ditmas Park Takes the Cake, New York Sun, 2005-05-26

90 Years Ago: The Malbone Street Wreck

On November 1, 1918, the worst transit disaster in New York City history occurred just outside Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The wooden cars of the Brighton Beach line of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (B.R.T.) company left the tracks, crashing inside the tunnel beneath the busy intersection where Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue and Malbone Street met [Google map]. The Malbone Street Wreck killed nearly 100 people and injured more than 250. Criminal trials and lawsuits arising from the accident dragged on for years, contributing to the bankruptcy of the BRT. The name “Malbone Street” became associated with the disaster; it’s known today as Empire Boulevard.


The BRT line followed roughly the current route of the B/Q subway lines from Coney Island to Prospect Park, and the shuttle from Prospect Park to Franklin Avenue. Conditions for the disaster were created by a number of factors. World War I, and the influenza pandemic, were still raging. A multi-year project to consolidate the BRT and then-IRT required temporary rerouting of several lines, creating a sharp turn into a tunnel beneath what is now Empire Boulevard, just north of the current Prospect Park station of the B/Q lines and the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. This turn, called “Dead Man’s Curve” even before the accident, is still visible from the street today.

Detail, Brooklyn's Franklin Avenue Shuttle Track Map

Finally, a strike by motormen who ran the BRT’s trains caused the BRT to run its trains with inexperienced staff:

As Edward Luciano began a run as motorman on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit’s (BRT) Brighton Beach line on the evening of November 1, 1918, getting home quickly and safely might well have been foremost in his mind. Luciano’s career as a motorman had started earlier that very day, when the BRT pressed the twenty-three year-old dispatcher into service after company motormen went out on strike. Weakened by a recent bout with influenza and emotionally anguished by the death of one of his children from flu the week before, Luciano nonetheless complied with his employer’s wishes.

The posted speed for the tunnel entrance was six miles per hour; witnesses estimated that Luciano’s train entered the curve at over thirty. The train’s first car hung precariously to the track, then derailed upon entering the tunnel. The second car slammed violently into a concrete abutment, losing its roof and one of its sides in the impact. The third car disintegrated into a tangled mass of wood and glass.
Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

This is a photo of three of the five wooden cars of the train. You can clearly see that the top half of the second car is gone. In his review of the book, The Malbone Street Wreck, on rapidtransit.net, Paul Matus explains the image:
MalboneStreetWreck2

The Malbone Street train sits in the BRT’s 36th St. Yard after salvage. The relatively minor damage to 726 [the first car in the photo] shows why most in the first car escaped serious injury. Even the window of Motorman Luciano’s cab (left, front) is intact. Not so lucky were those in trailer car 80 immediately behind, with half the car sheared away. Behind 80 is motor car 725, also almost unscathed. Chillingly absent between 80 and 725 would have been car 100, the remains of which were dismantled at the scene.

The accident occurred during the evening rush hour. It was already night-time. In the closed confines of the tunnel, rescuers tried to save who they could. It was a horrific scene.

Dozens of passengers died immediately, many of them decapitated or impaled by shards of wood and glass. Others were electrocuted by the third rail, which had shut down on derailment but was turned back on by offsite monitors who attributed the shutdown to labor sabotage. [Note: The claim of death by electrocution is refuted in Cudahy’s book.] Rescuers rushed to the station, to help the dazed and injured and to carry away the dead. The power failure in the tunnel posed a problem for rescuers that was partially solved when automobiles pulled up near the entrance to the station to illuminate the ghastly scene.

Worried friends and relatives came from across the city and waited outside the station for news of loved ones who frequented the Brighton Beach trains. Medical personnel used the Brooklyn Dodger’s Ebbets Field as a first aid station. And Mayor John Hylan, a strong opponent of privately operated transit lines like the BRT, arrived on the scene with freshly-milled accusations of transit-interest malfeasance.
Death Beneath the Streets

Newspapers of the day published the names and addresses of those killed and injured in the crash. From that, I created a Google Map with the names and addresses of the dead. The geographic distribution is striking. The majority of those killed were from greater Flatbush, including Prospect Lefferts Gardens, but also included victims from East Flatbush and Kensington, to the east and west, and, to the south, from Midwood, Gravesend, and Sheepshead Bay.


View Larger Map

Here’s the list of dead and injured. Most of this list is presented as it was reported in the Brooklyn Standard Union on November 2, 1918, the day after the crash. I made other edits and corrections from additional sources, such as follow-up articles in the new York Times. Some information was originally printed in error, some of the injured later died, and one man originally listed as dead was found to be safe at home. Where available, the addresses link to the Google Map I created which shows the homes of the victims. Some victims also received short descriptions in the paper of the time; I added that to the descriptions of the markers.

Dead

  1. ALEXANDER, James, 647 Fenimore Street
  2. ALFARO, Peschal, 160 Robinson Street [I can’t locate this street on current maps of Brooklyn. Has this been renamed to Parkside Avenue?]
  3. AMREIN, Ada, Address unkown
  4. ARENA, Mabel, 186 Lefferts Avenue
  5. BARCINO, Eugene Edward, 42 Henry Street, Flatbush [sic, this address is in Brooklyn Heights, not Flatbush]
  6. BARGIN, Etta, 1145 East 14th Street
  7. Bechtold, Emily or Elise M., 362 East 9th Street
  8. BERKOWITZ, Herman, Address unknown
  9. Borden, Helen, 445 Riverside Drive, Manhattan, or 1011 Ocean Avenue [two addresses were given for Ms. Borden]
  10. Bogen, David, 27 years old, 94 Kenmore Place [Originally listed among the dead as D. Borgen of 97 Kenmore Place]
  11. Brunswick, David, 70 years old, 847 East 10th Street
  12. BURTON, Mary, 1458 East 17th Street
  13. Calibria or Calabria, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [Published in NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident]
  14. CLEARY, Margaret, 318 Parkville Avenue
  15. Clifford, Ethel or Louise, 485 Argyle Road
  16. COADY, Emily, 682 Argyle Beach [sic: Argyle Road]
  17. Condra, Louisa G, 23 years old, Brooklyn [No address given. Not listed originally among the dead or injured. “Louisa G. CONDRA, also killed, was born in Newark twenty-three years ago and had been a resident of Brooklyn for three years. She was secretary to the vice-president of the National City Bank in Manhattan and is survived by her mother, Marguerite, and two sisters The funeral will be held to-morrow morning with a requiem mass at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Interment will be at Newark.”]
  18. COOPER, Margaret, Detroit, Mich.
  19. ENGGRAN, John W., 37 East 10th Street
  20. FLEMING, Catherine, 7 East 10th Street
  21. FITZPATRICK, Ed., Avenue H and East 17th Street
  22. FLAHAVE, James F., 277 East 38th Street
  23. Gardner (or Gardiner), Marion (Mary) Norcross, 347 Lincoln Road
  24. GILBERT, Michael, 26 years old, 1510 East 18th Street or 1819 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gilbert]
  25. GILFEATHER, Thomas F. 388 East 49th Street
  26. GILLEN, Harry P., 29 years old, 1539 East 13th Street or 1634 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gillen]
  27. GIVNAN, Thomas, 28 years old, 1601 Voorhies avenue
  28. GUIDE, Nicholas, 1505 Neck Road
  29. Hennison, Emelia, 95 Lenox Road [Listed only in association with Aline Schwaan at the same address]
  30. HOLMES, George W., 611 Westminster Road
  31. HOLTORF, Theodore, 60 years old, 984 East 18th Street
  32. HOPKINS, Lewis, 2130 Bedford Avenue
  33. JACKOWITZ, Sophie, 4301 Church Avenue
  34. JOHNSON, Mary, Address unknown
  35. KEMPF, Christina, 203 Parkside avenue
  36. KERR, David B. 132 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  37. KINSIE, Benjamin A., 79 Haven Avenue, Manhattan
  38. KIRCHOFF, Clara, 877 East Fifteenth Street
  39. LARSEN, H.W., 713 Avenue N
  40. LAWREY, Nellie, 1782 Shore Road
  41. LAWSON, T. C., 1716 Caton Avenue
  42. LEE, Fred W. 212 South Oxford Street
  43. LOMBACK, Harry 22721 77th Street [invalid street address]
  44. LOMBARD, Henry, 1016 East 18th Street or 1919 East 18th Street [two different addresses were given for Mr. Lombard, in the initial list of the dead, and in a follow-up mention]
  45. LOURING, Frank J., 1025 East 15th Street
  46. LOVE, Bessie, 90 St. Marks Place
  47. LOVELL, Aubrey, 1522 East 10th Street
  48. LYONS, Caroline, 1616 Avenue H
  49. MAIER, Joseph A. 204 Midwood Street
  50. MALAMAUD, Abraham, 602 East 16th
  51. MALONEY, Lillian, 178 Lefferts Avenue
  52. MATTOOK, Ethel, 335 East 21st Street
  53. MEEHAN, Helen, 22, 348 Eastern Parkway
  54. METZGER, Ira H., 816 East 14th Street
  55. McMILLEN, Carnette, Address unknown
  56. McCORMACK, Mrs. Grace, 1404 Cortelyou Road
  57. MUNN, Sadie, 25 Rugby road
  58. MURPHY, Grace, a school teacher, 1297 Homecrest Avenue [invalid address]
  59. NAGLE, Richard, 2124 East 24th Avenue
  60. PALMEDO, Alexander M., 439 East 19th Street
  61. Payne, Raymond, 18 years old, 1213 Avenue H
  62. Pierce, Wilbur F., 23 years old, 244 Lefferts Avenue
  63. PILKINGTON, Mrs. 214 Webster Avenue
  64. PORTER, Willis D., 721 Argyle Road [Mistakenly reported as dead, as “William Porter, Argyle Road”]
  65. PORTER, Edward Erskine, 309 Caton Avenue [Possibly 307 Caton Avenue?]
  66. PROUT, Grover T., 275 Ocean Avenue
  67. Rathe, John Charles Ferdinand (or Roth, Charles), 311 E 19th St
  68. RUBIN, M. H., 675 Flatbush Avenue
  69. RUSSO, Mamie, 485 Grand Avenue
  70. RYAN, Michael, 36 years old, 2163 Nostrand Avenue [Possibly 2162 Nostrand?]
  71. SCHWAAN, Aline, 95 Lenox Road
  72. SCUDDER, Ethel, 1221 Avenue Q
  73. SHEVIT, Syd, 224 East 26th Street
  74. SHIEDEN, John, 420 Cortelyou Road
  75. STEVENS, W. E., 150 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  76. SCHAEFER, Harold, 2804 Farragut Road
  77. Stephens, W. A., 83 Rugby Road
  78. STERN, Adolph, 141 Central Avenue
  79. SULLIVAN, Margaret, 19, 2745 Bedford Avenue
  80. TEN BROUCK (or Broeck), Floyd, 46 years old, 1419 Avenue G (Glenwood Road, today)
  81. THORN, C.C. 2023 Caton Avenue
  82. TIETJEN, Johann W., 420 Cortelyou Road
  83. TOLZE, Genaro, 2439 East 14th Street
  84. TOWNSON, T.G., 1716 Caton Avenue
  85. VINCENZO, Louis A. 493 Gravesend Avenue [Published in the NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident. I can’t locate this street. Is this know today as Gravesend Neck Road?)
  86. VINEBERG, Morris, 1706 Bath Avenue
  87. WALKER, Marion, 1670 East 10th Street
  88. WEED, H.E., Address unknown
  89. WATTS, Hazel, 48 East 22nd Street
  90. WALSH, Genevieve, 4301 Church Avenue
  91. WOELFER, Charlotte, 738 East 21st Street

Injured

AYER, Oscar, 600 East 16th Street
AMREIN, Kurt, 634 West 135th Street, Manhattan
ANTONELLO, Rosario, 1419 Lincoln Road

BAIRD, Loraine, 2542 East 5th Street
BANELSON, Vera, 170 Coleridge Street
BARRETT, Susan, 1550 East 12th Street
BOOM, Martin P., 635 Flatbush Avenue
BRAULT Zephrin, 107 Martense Street
BROSER, Mrs. Wm., 2641 East 21st Street

CALABRIA, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [or Calibria, she died 4 days later]
Castellani, Marie, 2764 Haring Street, Sheepshead Bay
CLEARY, Mary, 318 Parkville Avenue
CLINCHY, Susan, 1704 Kings Highway
CORCOCILLO, Joseph, 1089 East 39th Street
COSTELAN, Marie, 24 Harrett Street

DRENNAN, Margaret, 1911 Homecrest Avenue

(No. listings for “E”)

F.

FELICIA, Samuel, 38 Darby Street
FENNON, Edith, 826 Avenue P
Fitzpatrick, Edward N. [No address available. Mr. Fitzpatrick was not originally listed among the injured. He was awarded $35,000 in 1920 from injuries received in the crash. Reference: New York Times, 1920-01-08]
FUCHS, Pauline, 2902 West 17th Street
FULLER, Elizabeth, 364 East 18th Street

G.

GOWARD, Harold, 234 Lefferts Avenue
GIILERDI, Sylvia, 2617 Jerome Avenue
GUTHRIE, James, 800 East 15th Street

H.

HARLEY, Helen, Crown Street
HARRIS, Leonore, 62 Marlboro Road
HARRIS, Gertrude, 810 Avenue U
HARM, George, 2801 East 7th Street
HAYES, Nora, 287 East 17th Street
HALL, Martha, 2715 East 23d Street

(No listings for “I”)

J.

JUDD, Francis, Manhattan Beach

(No listings for “K”)

L.

LARSON, Lillian, 713 Avenue M
LEE, Henry A. 971 Utica Avenue
LERNER, Nathan, 15 President Street
LEES, Loretta, 619 East 4th Street
LEES, Mary, 619 East 4th Street

M.

MITCHELL, Matilda, 3456 East 15th Street
MURPHY, Veronica, 1922 Homecrest Avenue
McGARRY, John, 120 Avenue C
MANDER, Walter, 840 Flatbush Avenue
MARTENSE, Gary, 1501 Avenue U
MULE, Ernest, 2421 East 18th Street
MUSSON, Silas, 402 Ocean Avenue
MELLOW, William, 568 East 18th Street
MESSIER, Josephine, 2163 Coney Island Avenue

(No listings for “N” and “O”)

P.

PIERCE, Mrs. Kate, 1011 Ocean Avenue
PITTS, Frank G. 632 East 16th Street
POCHICHIE, Louis, 354 Prospect Place

(No listings for “Q”)

R.

ROCHES, Mary, 2647 East 18th Street
REILLY, Alfred, 153 Martense Street

S.

SCHMITT, Geo. W., 856 Est 5th Street
SEYMANN, Harry, 104 Woodruff Avenue
SCHUBERT, Arthur, 100 Webster Avenue
STOBEI, Rev. Joseph, 225 Emmons Avenue
SULLIVAN, Loretta, 437 East 15th Street

(No listings for “T” and “U”)

V.

VAN ARSDALE, Betty, 3122 Mermaid Avenue


[bit.ly]

Related content

Malbone Street Wreck, Google Map

Links

Malbone Street Wreck, Wikipedia
Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

The Malbone Street Wreck, by Brian Cudahy [I’ve got this back-ordered from Amazon]
Review of the book by Paul Matus on rapidtransit.net

Franklin Shuttle, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York
BMT Franklin Avenue Line, Wikipedia
Lanes of Mid-Brooklyn, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York

Eve of Destruction, 1918: The Malbone Street Horror and Day of the Dead, A Year in the Park

Brooklyn Ron

Malbone Street Wreck, nycsubway.org, transcription of the article published in the New York Times on November 2nd, 1918
List of dead and injured, Brooklyn Standard Union
Alternative Map

More love for the Q train

Part of the Beverly Road subway platform on the Q line.
Beverly Road Subway Platform

A writer in today’s New York Observer romances the Q:

I love the Q train. O.K., I love the B, too, but it’s the Q that’s stolen my heart.

When I moved back to Brooklyn in January, the biggest factor in finding an apartment was its proximity to this train line, and especially to the 7th Avenue station (a nice change of pace after riding the G train for three years). It’s just far enough into Brooklyn that I am in a quiet, residential neighborhood, but also only the third stop into the borough, easily depositing me anywhere I need to go in Manhattan.
Brooklyn, The Borough: Can the Q Be the Next L?, Nicole Brydson, The Observer

She parrots the fiction that “Ditmas Park” equates “Flatbush.” And she heralds what may be the death knell for the livability of my neighborhood: the arrival of celebrities. Comparing the Q to the L does not bode well.

Like the L train of the early ‘00s, the neighborhoods along the Q/B line have seen new crops of people popping out of its stations along a path rumbling through central and southern Brooklyn, from Downtown, Park Slope, Midwood and Ditmas Park, through Sheepshead Bay and, via an expert right turn, Brighton Beach and Coney Island. The Q line even has some of the same digitally enhanced trains that graced the L line a few years back.

Not only is the Q/B line convenient, with a recent sighting by Page Six Magazine of Brooklyn celebrity darling Michelle Williams dining with new beau Spike Jonze at popular Ditmas Park eatery The Farm on Adderley (off the Cortelyou Q stop), the perception of southern Brooklyn seems to be getting a makeover.

Related Posts

Flatbush by rail with Francis Morrone

Links

Brooklyn, The Borough: Can the Q Be the Next L?, Nicole Brydson, The Observer

Flatbush by rail with Francis Morrone

Writing in today’s New York Sun, Francis Morrone extols the charm – yes, charm – of the B/Q subway line that runs through the heart of Victorian Flatbush:

Two things bring charm to the line. One is that many of the original subdivisions of early 20th-century Flatbush remain intact. These planned communities are picture-perfect railroad suburbs of riotously eclectic bungalows and mansions on tree-shaded streets, many with brilliant design flourishes such as landscaped medians, or the illusion of spaciousness that comes from planting trees at the house line rather than the curbline. It’s fair to say that for cleverness of planning and quality of architecture, these communities rank among the finest of their kind in America.
Savoring the Brighton Line, a Rare MTA Charmer, Francis Morrone, The New York Sun, July 10, 2008

This is the landmarked Avenue H subway station on the Q line in Flatbush, Brooklyn. It was originally a sales office for Thomas Benton Ackerson’s real estate developments in the area. Ackerson is one the developers responsible for my neighborhood of Beverley Square West in Victorian Flatbush. This is the only wooden station house in the New York City subway system.
Avenue H Subway Station, Flatbush, Brooklyn

Morrone briefly samples the neighborhoods of Prospect Park South, Ditmas Park, and Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park. He’s written much about the architecture of this area. But today, his focus is the ride itself:

This would not be evident to riders but for the other thing that makes the line so delicious: From Prospect Park to Coney Island, the trains run entirely out of doors. From Prospect Park to Avenue H, the trains run in an open cut. From Avenue H to Sheepshead Bay, the trains run on an embankment. From Sheepshead Bay to Coney Island, the trains are elevated. The stations have the air of country railroad depots.

The Q train’s Beverly Road subway platform
Beverly Road Subway Platform

Morrone doesn’t say much about the architecture in this article, but he does highlight one house in Ditmas Park:

Look for 463 E. 19th St., at the end of the block at Ditmas Avenue. The 1906 Colonial Revival beauty was designed by the great Brooklyn architects Slee & Bryson and has a rounded, jutting front porch with the most beautifully turned wooden balusters you’ll ever see.

463 East 19th Street, Ditmas Park, Flatbush, Brooklyn463 East 19th Street, Ditmas Park, Brooklyn

Related Posts

Links

Beneath New York: The Marine Grill Murals

Marine Grill Murals (1/6), depicting Native Americans in canoes rowing out to greet a schooner.
Marine Grill Murals (1/6), Broadway-Nassau Subway Station

A: They’re rat-infested, crowded, dirty, smelly, and noisy enough to deafen a banshee. However, they are safer than they used to be. And they have magnificent tilework from the golden age of public transportation.
Q: What are the subways?

I work in downtown Manhattan. I remember when these tile murals were installed in the Broadway-Nassau Subway Station, astonished when they were revealed. These murals are unusual, even for the subway: they were not originally designed for or located in the subway. They’re also an object lesson in preservation: they were almost lost forever to residential conversion:

The 1913 Marine Grill murals by Fred Dana Marsh, now installed in the Fulton/Broadway/Nassau complex, were originally in a basement restaurant of the McAlpin Hotel on Herald Square. The developer converting the hotel to condos agreed at the last minute to preserve them. While the workers managed to remove most of the ceramic tiles without breaking them, they simply piled them at random in two dozen crates. MTA Arts for Transit had the crates delivered to a TA bus garage with some free floorspace, and a group of college interns spent their summer playing jigsaw puzzle! They were reinstalled at Broadway/Nassau in 2000.
Artwork: Marine Grill Murals, 1913, www.nycsubway.org

Marine Grill Murals (2/6), depicting pilgrims arriving at a Dutch settlement on the shore, complete with windmill and hangings.
Marine Grill Murals (2/6), Broadway-Nassau Subway Station

A 1990 article from the New York Times provides more background:

A collection of colorful terra cotta wall panels designed by the late muralist Fred Dana Marsh that depict New York City’s nautical heritage is looking for a new home. For over 40 years the 24 panels were the backdrop for the 250-seat Marine Grill at the McAlpin Hotel on Herald Square, which opened in 1912 and between World Wars was one of the city’s more fashionable restaurants.

Preservationists failed in a bid to have the restaurant designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission but the wall tiles may be saved if a museum or historically oriented group can use them at a new location.

POSTING: From the McAlpin; Nautical Tiles, Anyone?, By Richard D. Lyons, Published: January 21, 1990

Marine Grill Murals (3/6), appears to depict a British Man-o-War firing cannons in New York Harbor.
Marine Grill Murals (3/6), Broadway-Nassau Station

A 2001 article, also from the Times, follows up after the murals were installed in the subway:

It would have been hard for Susan Tunick, president of the Friends of Terra Cotta, to imagine a happy ending a decade ago [ie: 1991 or so, shortly after the above NY Times article was written] when she saw dumpsters at the McAlpin Hotel on Herald Square filled with fragments from the fabulously ornate Marine Grill murals of 1912 by Fred Dana Marsh. “It was truly devastating,” she recalled. “I could not go near it.”

That is not where the story ended, however. A rescue effort began that eventually involved the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the Municipal Art Society, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Students working under Vel Riberto of the M.T.A. Arts for Transit program reassembled the jumbled pieces, which were turned over for conservation to the Alan M. Farancz Painting Conservation Studio and then reinstalled by New York City Transit workers as part of the overall renovation of the station.

“Something about this terra cotta brought out the best every person had to offer,” said Sandra Bloodworth, director of Arts for Transit. “It was the opportunity to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” The project cost about $200,000.

POSTINGS: Rescued McAlpin Hotel Murals From 1912 Find a Home in the Subway; For Terra Cotta, Terra Firma, By David W. Dunlap, Published: April 29, 2001

Marine Grill Murals (4/6), depicting Robert Fulton’s steamboat Clermont (1808).
Marine Grill Murals (4/6), Broadway-Nassau Subway Station

Marine Grill Murals (5/6), depicting the Mauretania (1906).
Marine Grill Murals (5/6), Broadway-Nassau Subway Station

Marine Grill Murals (6/6), depicting the Fall River Line steamboat COMMONWEALTH in 1908.
Marine Grill Murals (6/6), Broadway-Nassau Subway Station

It’s also nice to see these murals show up in a visualization of the redesigned Fulton Street Transit Center, the construction of which has been disrupting traffic above and below ground for the past two years:

Fulton Street Transit Center: A view east to the A/C mezzanine, which will improve connections to the J/M/Z platforms. Credit: LowerManhattan.info. Source.
Marine Grill Murals in the Fulton Street Transit Center

I found some more information, including descriptions of what’s depicted in each mural, in This Week in New York. This helped me make out as best I can what’s depicted in each mural:

The landmarked terra-cotta murals, designed by Fred Dana Marsh, reveal the history of New York harbor, making their 2000 move to this downtown station near the water rather sensible. The murals depict Native Americans rowing out in canoes to greet a large schooner, pilgrims landing on the shore (look for the Dutch windmill and the two people being hanged), Robert Fulton’s Clermont steamer, a luxury liner sailing in front of the more modern New York City skyline, and lots of other ships bearing a multitude of international flags. In addition to the murals (of which there were originally twenty at the McAlpin), the intricately carved ironwork entrance gate to the restaurant is on display as well.
Exposed bodies and marine murals at the Seaport [Note: Skip past the gruesome photos preserved Chinese prisoners bodies from the Bodies exhibit.]

Ironwork gate from the Marine Grill Restaurant, Broadway-Nassau Subway Station
Ironwork gate from the Marine Grill Restaurant, Broadway-Nassau Subway Station

I can find little information about the artist. Although a Google search turns up hundreds of hits, most of them simply duplicate the same information. He was born in 1872 and died in 1961. There is a Fred Dana Marsh Museum in Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach, Florida, near Daytona Beach.

Links:

Garden (and more) Diary, June 17, 2005: The Fourth Garden, Four Gardens

[Transcribed from note book. Written while on the R train to work]

My good deed for the day: Letting a fat man on the subway know his fly is open.

I can relate. I’ve done the same in the past week. It’s not easy for a fat man to be aware of his appearance below the chest. Easier, more comfortable, to stay in the head. There I can be as thin as I remember I was.

John and I bought a house. I’ve written nothing for so long. Major events like that can just slip by without notice. It’s a big house. So far, it’s too big for the two of us. And it needs lots of work. I’m trying to do a little each day, but it’s hard.


Got off the R at Rector Street. Now sitting on a bench in the graveyard of Trinity Church. “Here lies …” “Sacred to the memory of …” Even the bench is worn, low to the ground. To remind us, I guess.

I like to walk through here on the way to work. From our new home, my commute offers more opportunities to do so. Reminders of impermanence to help me keep work in perspective.

The gardens here – the cemetery is a garden – are simple and beautiful. Massive hostas, irises, past bloom. Daylilies, clouds of them, in fat green buds, just about to announce summer.

I’m starting my fourth garden in New York City. Some day it will be on the Victorian Flatbush House & Garden Tour, probably years before the house itself is. I can aim for 2008, the year of my 50th, three years away.

There are at least four gardens to be developed: two sides, the front, and back. All have something different to offer. Each can welcome visitors in its own way. All will relate to the house, and relate the house to the grounds. It’s already happening, as I come to understand the house and what it wants.

Well, off to work …