1867

Manhattan: Greenwich Street - Dey Street

Greenwich Street, at Dey Street, showing the "El" station at the S.E. corner under construction. This view shows the Dey Street side, as the "El" tracks are on Greenwich Street. To the right center are buildings at the S.W. corner of this intersection. Kings "Handbook of New York" states that the inventor Charles C. Harvey was permitted to build an experimental track along Greenwich Street from the Battery to 29th St. If it succeeded he was to have permission to extend the line to the Harlem River, but if it failed he was to take it down. The system was commenced in 1867 and the means of locomotion was a wire rope drawn by a stationary engine. The method was unsuccessful and the matter lay in sbayence for several years. The company failed in 1870 and was succeeded by the New York Elevated Railroad Co. which began the use of small locomotives on the tracks.

Photo from the New York Public Library - Milstein Collection