Gouverneur Street Ferry

Map from 1847 showing the route of what was then the Navy Yard Ferry

The Gouverneur Street Ferry was a ferry route connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, United States, joining Gouverneur Street (Manhattan) and Bridge Street (Brooklyn) across the East River.

History

The ferry, originally the Walnut Street Ferry and later the Jackson Street Ferry or Hudson Avenue Ferry, was established on December 1, 1817, connecting Walnut Street (now Jackson Street) in Manhattan with Little Street (just east of Hudson Avenue, then Jackson Street) in Brooklyn.^[1] At some point, the Manhattan landing was moved to Gouverneur Street. Cyrus P. Smith and William F. Bulkley gained control by May 1852,^[2] and, effective May 23, 1853, the Brooklyn side was moved from Hudson Avenue to Bridge Street.^[3] Being unable to compete with the one-cent fare adopted by the Brooklyn Union Ferry Company in November 1850, it was sold to the new Union Ferry Company of Brooklyn (the successor to the Brooklyn Union) in December 1853.^[4] The lease expired on September 12, 1856, but the company continued to operate the ferry. They petitioned the City of New York to abandon the Roosevelt Street Ferry, in exchange for continuing Gouverneur Street operations and expanding the Manhattan landing.^[5] The city refused, and operations ended in January 1857.^[6]

A new ferry, known as the Navy Yard Ferry or Hudson Avenue Ferry, was established on July 8, 1859 between Jackson Street in Manhattan and Hudson Avenue in Brooklyn, almost exactly where the Gouverneur Street ferry started out in 1817.^[7] The Hudson Avenue Railroad opened a streetcar line from the ferry to Prospect Park in late 1867.^[8] The ferry shut down in early June 1868,^[9] leading the railroad to move its line to the Bridge Street Ferry.^[10][6]

References