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Jay Street drawings and prints

 Collection
Identifier: 1999.66

Scope and Contents

The Jay Street Drawing Collection contains technical drawings documenting the construction, rehabilitation, maintenance, and power infrastructure of New York City surface transit, elevated railroad, and subway facilities and services from the 1880s through the 1970s. The Collection comprises 7,000 engineering and architectural sketches, original drawings, blueprints, and photo prints. The majority of the early materials, dating from the late 19th century, depict surface transit operations and services based in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Drawings dating from the early decades of the 20th century show power stations, trolley tracks, and equipment in Brooklyn. Early drawings also treat subway line design and layout, electrical components, equipment and signage, rail yards, elevated lines in Manhattan and the Bronx, and remodeling of transit facilities.

Dates

  • 1880 - 1990
  • Majority of material found within 1890 - 1940

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Restrictions apply to drawings or photoprints depicting currently active and operative sites within the New York City transit system. Materials depicting defunct facilities are available to the public.

Conditions Governing Use

No copyright restrictions apply.

Biographical / Historical

Surface Transit

At the turn of the 20th century, New York City’s surface transit system of cable cars and horse cars was supplanted by a network of electrified streetcar lines. In Brooklyn, streetcar lines were operated by myriad private companies, like the Brooklyn City Railroad (BCRR) and the Brooklyn Heights Railroad (BHRR), but many of these would eventually come under the control of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), formed in 1896 as a reorganization of the Long Island Traction Company.

The BRT was responsible for most streetcar line operations in Brooklyn and Queens through 1923, when it was reorganized as the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). In 1929, the BMT subsidiary Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation (B&QT) assumed control of surface transit services across Brooklyn and Queens, remaining the principal operator in that region until operations were transferred to the Board of Transportation (BOT) in 1940.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, capital budget projects were undertaken to remodel many of the garages, depots, and shops set up to support surface lines, including those in Manhattan and Staten Island, which served city bus operations. By the 1950s, streetcar operations were discontinued, and serially replaced by city or private bus operators.

Rapid Transit

At the turn of the 20th century, New York City had a system of steam-powered elevated train lines operated by the Manhattan Railway (MRy) in Manhattan and the Bronx, and by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) in Brooklyn. Between 1898 and 1903, these lines were converted from steam to electric power. In 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) opened the first city subway. Between 1913-1917, at the beginning of the Dual Contracts Era, the IRT and the BRT together built new subway lines across Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens.

In 1923, the BRT fell into bankruptcy and reorganized as the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Company (BMT). In 1932, the city-owned Independent System (IND) opened its first subway line. The IRT, BMT, and IND systems were unified in 1940, moving all operations under the jurisdiction of the Board of Transportation (BOT). In 1953, the newly-formed New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) assumed control of BOT operations, which it maintained through 1968, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was established.

Extent

7,000 Sheets (Engineering drawings, blueprints, and photoprints)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Jay Street drawings and prints contains technical and engineering drawings documenting the construction, rehabilitation, maintenance, and power infrastructure of New York City’s surface transit, elevated railroad, and subway facilities and services from the 1880s through the 1970s.

System of Arrangement

The Collection has been arranged into 3 series, in function of format, size and stability. The contents within each series have been arranged into subseries in accordance with their authoring agencies. Within each subseries, contents have been ordered to reflect original drawing, contract, or job numbers.

Other Finding Aids

PDF URL

Provenance

The Collection was transferred in 1999 from the Old Blueprints Room at 370 Jay Street, Brooklyn.

List of Acronyms

BCRR Brooklyn City Rail Road Company

BERR Brooklyn Elevated Railroad

BHRR Brooklyn Heights Railroad

BMT Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Company

BOT Board of Transportation

B&QT Brooklyn & Queens Transit Corporation

BRT Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company

BUERR Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad Company

CPM Capital Program Management

ECSC Empire City Subway Company

IND Independent System

IRT Interborough Rapid Transit Company

MaBSTOA Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority

MOW Maintenance of Way

MRy Manhattan Railway Company

MTA Metropolitan Transportation Authority

NYCT New York City Transit

NYCTA New York City Transit Authority

NYMRy New York Municipal Railway

NYRT New York Rapid Transit Corp.

PSC Public Service Commission

UERR Union Elevated Railroad

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Finding aid for the Jay Street drawings and prints
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Desiree Alden, 2009
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Revision Statements

  • 2022: Edited and reformatted by Elise Winks
  • 2023: Manually entered into ArchivesSpace by Joanna Satalof

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Gabrielle Shubert Research Center Repository

https://www.nytransitmuseum.org/
Contact:
Research Archivist

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