Long Island Rail Road early property records
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the early history of the Long Island Rail Road Company (LIRR) through a record of its property acquisitions and real estate transactions from the 1830s to the early 1900s. A series of 18 distinct land maps documents the construction of the LIRR across Long Island and the routes of other New York railroad companies later acquired by LIRR. The maps collectively show the placement of tracks and depots through Kings County (Borough of Brooklyn), Queens County (Borough of Queens), Nassau County (formerly Queens County), and Suffolk County. Ink and pencil labels and annotations describe the landowners of specific lots surrounding the railroad and summarize relevant property transactions involving LIRR or other companies.
The maps are accompanied by a series of three binders of hand-written records describing over 500 deeds, mortgages, leases, and other transactions, many of which directly involve the Long Island Rail Road Company or other significant individuals, railroad companies, ferry companies, and financial institutions. The covers and contents of the binders imply that they are from the office of William J. Kelly (shortened as W.J.K.) who worked for or with the Long Island Rail Road in either a legal or financial capacity at the turn of the century.
Dates
- 1836 - 1936
- Majority of material found within 1836 - 1904
Creator
- Long Island Rail Road (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright restrictions apply; requests for reproduction must be submitted to the department in writing.
Biographical / Historical
The Long Island Railroad Company (LIRR) was incorporated in 1834 to construct a single-or double-track railroad from Southold Bay in the village of Greenport westwards towards the village of Brooklyn. Service from Atlantic Avenue to 151st Street in Jamaica opened in 1836, with service to Hicksville by 1837. The Hempstead Branch opened in 1839 and eastern terminals at Farmingdale and Deer Park opened in 1841 and 1842 respectively, arriving in Medford by 1844. In the same year, the Long Island Rail Road Company purchased Cornelius Vanderbilt’s steamboat, Cleopatra, for ferry service across Long Island Sound; the railroad operated various other steamboat services with connections to the Norwich and Worcester Railroad and the Boston and Worcester Railroad, running rail and ferry service between New York and Boston. In 1854, the LIRR completed its branch from Hicksville to Syosset and in 1860, when steam railroads were banned from Brooklyn, the portion of the road from East New York to Jamaica was taken over by the Brooklyn, Central and Jamaica Railroad. Service from Mineola to Glen Head opened in 1864, the line from Flushing to Great Neck opened 2 years later, and the line to Northport opened by 1867. Austin Corbin served as company president from 1880-1896, overseeing the extension and development of the railroad at the end of the nineteenth century. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) purchased and operated the company for the first half of the twentieth century, from 1900 to 1966. LIRR declared bankruptcy in 1949, but was bailed out by 1954, after New York State devoted $60 million towards the railroad’s improvement and operation through 1966. In 1966, ownership of LIRR was transferred from PRR to the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority (MCTA), which was renamed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in 1968. Today, under the MTA, LIRR operates 11 lines, 124 stations, and 700 miles of track.
Extent
14.85 Linear Feet (21 binders) ; Various sizes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Long Island Rail Road early property records contains 18 binders of land maps and 3 binders of typed and hand-written real estate records documenting the development of the Long Island Rail Road, the property acquisitions and legal transactions of the Long Island Rail Road Company (and other early railroad companies in New York), and the landscape of property owners on Long Island in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
System of Arrangement
The collection is organized into one overarching series and two subseries. The purpose of the overarching series is to accommodate future additions to the collection. The two subseries distinguish the land maps from the real estate record books. The land maps are listed and stored in no particular order; the real estate records are listed and stored sequentially. The binders vary in size but all fit securely in regular archives storage at 882 3rd Avenue. They are stored flat, face up on open shelving.
Other Finding Aids
PDF URL
Provenance
Internal transfer from Long Island Rail Road, October 2019.
- A.S. Seer Print
- Albert B. King, Printer
- Algoma Central and Hudson Bay Railway and Navigation Company
- American National Bank of New York
- American Screw Company of Providence
- American Unitarian Association
- Arverne Improvement Company
- Broadway Savings Institution
- Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad Company
- Brooklyn and Montauk Railroad Company
- Brooklyn, Bath and West End Railroad Company
- Central Railroad Company of Long Island
- Central Trust Company of New York
- Corbin Banking Company
- Coumerilh Gold Mining and Milling Company
- Deer Creek Gold Mining and Milling Company
- East River Ferry Company
- East River Savings Institution
- Equitable Life Assurance Society
- Evening Post Job Printing House, New York
- Fahys Watch Case Company
- Flushing Railroad Company
- Flushing and North Side Railroad Company
- Flushing and Woodside Railroad Company
- Flushing, North Shore & Central Railroad Company
- Glen Cove Mutual Insurance Company
- Glendale and East River Railroad Company
- Great Neck and Port Washington Railroad Company
- Guaranty Trust Company
- Hackley School
- Hagerman Land Company
- Harway Dye Wood & Extract Manufacturing Company
- Joseph Fahys & Co.
- Joy Steamship Company
- Kings County Gas and Illuminating Company
- Knapp & Rightmyer Script
- Land Mortgage Investment & Agency Company of America
- Lawrenceville Cement Company
- Long Island City Savings Bank
- Long Island City and Flushing Railroad Company
- Long Island Improvement Company
- Long Island Rail Road
- Long Island and New England Steamboat Company
- Maine Central Railroad Company (MEC)
- Manhattan Beach Hotel and Land Company
- Manhattan Beach Surf Bathing Company
- Maxwell & Graves
- Metropolitan Printing Company
- Montauk Extention Rail Road Company
- Montauk Steamboat Company
- Montauk Water Company
- Morris Building Company
- Mutual Life Insurance Company
- Nassau County Water Company
- Nassau Development Company
- New England Mortgage Security Company
- New York Bay Extension Railroad Company
- New York Ferry Company
- New York and Brooklyn Suburban Investment Company
- New York and Flushing Railroad Company
- New York and Jamaica Rail Road Company
- New York and Long Island Construction Company
- New York and Rockaway Beach Railroad Company
- New York, Brooklyn and Manhattan Beach Railway Company
- Northport Traction Company
- Old Dominion Steam Ship Company
- Oyster Bay Extension Railroad Company
- Pain Manufacturing Company
- People's Trust Company
- Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad Company (PP&CI)
- Real Estate Mortgage Company
- Ridgewood Land and Improvement Company
- River and Harbor Transportation Company
- Rockaway Park Improvement Company
- Title
- Finding aid for the Long Island Rail Road early property records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid written by Olivia Meehan
- Date
- 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Revision Statements
- 2024: Manually entered into ArchivesSpace by Joanna Satalof
Repository Details
Part of the Archives and Reading Room Repository