Brooklyn Trolley

Passengers ride the trolley between Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Bridge at the turn of the century. Electric trolleys replaced horse cars in the 1880s in New York and were a common sight for five decades. Passengers would hop on and off the trolleys, which averaged about 6 to 10 mph. With an increase in the number of automobiles, New York City started phasing out trolley operations in the 1930s.

“The electrified streetcar debuted in the 1880s,” The Times wrote. “In 1890, a line ran from Prospect Park to Coney Island, and trolleys exploded in the next decade. Scribner’s (magazine) proclaimed it nothing short of a miracle: ‘It is fast abolishing the horrors of the crowded tenement. It is shortening the hours of labor. It makes the poor man a land-holder. It is doing more to put down socialism, in this country at least, than all other things combined.’ The downside was hinted at by the nickname of the new Brooklyn baseball team, the Trolley Dodgers.”