Civil Service Rules in the City of New York Source: An Official of the Commission Under the White Civil Service Law, Chapter 370. Laws of 1899. April 19, the rules apply to all positions in the service of the City of New York except officers elected by the people, all legislative officers and employees, heads of any department, or superintendents, principals, or teachers in a public school, academy, or college. The Unclassified Service includes elective officers: the officers and employees of the City Council: members of the Board of Elections; the head, or heads, of any department of the City Government; or any person appointed by name in any statute. The Classified Service is divided into four classes: namely: Exempt Class-The Exempt Class includes the deputies of principal executive officers authorized by law to act generally for and in place of their principals; one secretary of each officer, board, and commission authorized by law to appoint a secretary; one clerk and one deputy clerk, if authorized by law, of each court, and one clerk of each elective judicial officer. Non-Competitive Class-Includes all those positions of a minor nature, in the city institutions or elsewhere, that it is not practicable to fill through competitive examination. Positions in the Non-Competitive Class are filled as a result of the examinations held by the department subject to approval or rejection by the Municipal Civil Service Commission. Labor Class-Includes all unskilled laborers and such skilled laborers as are not included in the competitive or non-competitive classes. Competitive Class-Includes all positions in the Classified Service (excepting those in the Exempt, Non-Competitive or the Labor Class) for which it is practicable to determine the merit and fitness of the applicant by competitive exami nation. Filing Applications for Positions in Competitive Class-Applications for positions in the Competitive and Labor classes will be issued and received only for the position or positions advertised, and only during the period specified by the commission in such advertisement. Advertisements for the various examinations appear in the prominent daily papers, The Civil Service Bulletin, and in the City Record, on file in the city libraries. General Instructions and Conditions Age and Sex: All examinations are open to both men and women of all ages unless advertisement states otherwise. Citizenship and Residence: Candidates must be citizens of the United States and residents of the State of New York at the time of filing applications. In order to be appointed to a position in any branch of the government of the City of New York, applicants must have been residents of the City of New York for three years at the time of appointment. Positions in those nine agencies which are established under state law or which employ people outside the city limits are open to all eligible citizens of the United States but candidates must take up residence in New York State prior to receiving appointment. Military Service: Candidates who have entered the military, naval or marine service of the United States, must within thirty days of induction into such service, or of filing application if already in service, notify the Civil Service Commission of such fact. Refunds: There is no fee charged for the application. Candidates whose applications are rejected will receive a refund of their fees from the Comptroller's Office, one month after the examination is held. Notarization: All applications must be notarized except in the case of promotion examinations. Applicants for all positions in the Competitive and the Labor Classes are required to take a medical and physical examination. Applicants for Labor Class positions that require previous training or experience must take an oral. or practical test; written examinations, generally to determine whether the candidate is able to read and write English, are given to applicants in the Labor Class. The headquarters of the Commission are in No. 299 Broadway; applications distributed and received in No. 96 Duane St. As of July 1, 1941, there were about 150,000 employees in the governmental units serviced by the City of New York Civil Service Commission. Pensions for Employees of City of New York Source: The Citizens Budget Commission, Inc. The New York City Employeees' Retirement System was established in 1920, on an actuarial reserve basis, for all of the City's civil service employees who are not members of one of the City's other systems. All such employees in the competitive and labor classes must, and other city employees may, become members, if their annual salary is not less than $840. The City and the members share approximately equally in the cost of the system which provides retirement on the basis of half of the average annual pay for any five consecutive years. Laborers are eligible for retirement at age 58, skilled workers at 59 and other employees at 60; or a member may elect to contribute at a higher rate for retirement at the minimum age of 55. Employees must retire at age 70, unless a twoyear extension of service is granted by the Board of Estimate. Such extension may be renewed to a maximum age of 80. Members of the teaching staffs of the Board of Education and the Board of Higher Education must become members of the Teachers' Retirement System, to which both the City and members make approximately equal contributions on an actuarial reserve basis. Retirement at half of the average annual pay for the last five or any consecutive ten years is permitted after 35 years of service or upon attainment of age 65, and is compulsory at age 70. All other employees of the Board of Education must become members of the Board of Education Retirement System. The City and the members contribute approximately equally on an actuarial reserve basis. The system provides retirement, at half of the average annual pay for the last five years, at age 60 or after 35 years of service, at the option of the employee. Policemen and firemen must become members of the Police Pension Fund and Fire Department Relief Fund respectively, in which the benefits and conditions of membership were revised effective March 29, 1940. Under the new conditions, policemen and firemen who were members prior to that date, are required to contribute, but not on an actuarial reserve basis, either (1) Five per cent of their salary for retirement after 25 years of service or. (2) Six per cent of their salary for retirement after 20 years, for an annual service pension equal Dependents of policemen and firemen killed in line of duty receive annual pensions of half pay of the deceased members. Benefits are also provided for retirement for disability. The added cost of these benefits is borne entirely by the City for those who became members prior to March 29, 1940. The City maintains five other pension funds which are closed to new members and which will gradually diminish as deaths exceed retirements. These funds are those of the former Department of Street Cleaning, the Department of Health, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court 1st Department, the General Sessions Court and the Kings County Court. These are not actuarial funds. The City also contributes to the New York State Employees' Retirement System for certain of its library employees who are eligible for membership in that system. The total appropriation for pensions in the City's budget for the fiscal year 1941-42 is $34,481,956, exclusive of the cost of administration. The total income of the Retirement System, 1920-1939, was $262,499,201; the total expenditures were $101,485,502. Of the income, $113,174,459 was the deduction from the compensation of the members; $98.739,712 represented appropriations by the City: $49,197,603 was interest on investments, etc. Of the expenditures, annuities, from the salary deductions, totaled $7,131,173; pensions, from the City appropriations amounted to $28,278.266; ordinary death benefits, from City appropriations. were $14,404,585. The New York Municipal Airport (LaGuardia Field) Source: An Official of the Field each runway are two narrow-beam floodlights, each of 72 million candlepower. The New York Municipal Airport (LaGuardia | marked by green range lights and at the end of Field), costing $42,000,000 and considered the largest project of its kind in the world, occupies the site of an old amusement park, North Beach, L. I., where a small, privately-owned field had been constructed in 1929, utilized principally by private flyers. With condemned land purchased to the southwest of that field, and the filling in of a portion of Bowery Bay, Rikers Island Channel and Flushing Bay, plans were made to increase the original field site to 558 acres, of which about 357 acres are manmade. For this task a force of 5,000 men was employed, working three shifts a day, six days a week. When building construction started the force increased to a peak of 23,000 early in 1939. There are four great runways for land planes, the longest, running northwest and southeast. being 6,000 feet in length and 200 feet wide; No. 2, running northeast and southwest, is 5,000 feet long and 200 feet wide. Runway No. 3, running east and west, and No. 4, running north and south, are 4,500 feet and 3,532 feet long respectively. Both are 150 feet wide. Offices of the United States Weather Bureau and the two departments of the Civil Aeronautics Administration-Air Traffic Communications and Air Traffic Control-are located on the third floor of the Administration Building from which offices all air traffic in the northeastern part of the United States is coordinated. A The extreme western portion of the airport is occupied by the Marine Terminal, to the south and west of which is the marine terminal hangar, a five-sided building of such dimensions that two regulation sized football fields could be laid out on its floor and occupied at the same time. second large seaplane hanger is (1941) in process of construction. Giant clipper planes in the European or Bermuda trade land or take off on seaplane operating channels or on Long Island Sound, reached through a taxi-strip of water. At night the buildings are marked out by red lights; the runways bordered by contact lights 200 feet apart. The ends of the four runways are A control desk in the airways traffic control tower atop the landplane Administration Building is the nerve center of the entire network of lights. An airport in miniature is on this control desk, on which tiny lights go on and off with the contact lights, traffic lights and flood lights on the field. All radio receivers, including those of the airport itself and the airlines using the field, are located on Rikers Island, to eliminate electrical interference from automobiles and machinery at the field. LaGuardia Field has the heaviest air passenger traffic in the world-an average of 270 regularly scheduled airliners arriving or departing daily, carrying an average of approximately 4,000 passengers. At the busiest period of the day (around 5 P.M.) an airliner arrives or departs every minute. There are 4,500 employees on the airport, with an average payroll of $8,500,000. During the year 1940, the seventh huge land plane hangar was completed (cost $1,400,000), as well as the Eastern Regional Office Building and hangar for the Civil Aeronautics Administration (cost $450,000). The loading and dispatch of planes is accomplished from a huge loading deck handling twenty-five planes at one time, all within view of a 1,500-foot-long observation deck used by spectators, access to which is gained by ten-cent turnstiles. There are well over a million paid admissions yearly. There are three large restaurants on the field seating over 1,500 people at one time. LaGuardia Field is almost a small air city, having its own branch post office, a branch bank, a branch stock broker, and several shops that are branches of well known New York stores. The airlines operating from LaGuardia Field are American Airlines, Transcontinental and Western Air, United Airlines, Canadian Colonial Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Pan American Airways. American Export Airlines and Transcanada Airlines. Airmail letters can be mailed at any hour at LaGuardia Field day or night, and are forwarded immediately on the next plane to their destination. Air Mail Time, N. Y. City to Foreign Places Source: United States Government Foreign Air Mail Service; schedules are as of Aug. 11, 1939 Antigua (2); Buenos Aires (4); Cordoba (5); (3); Sao Paulo (4); British Guiana (3); Belize (3); Charlotte Amalie, Virgin Islands (2); Canal Zone (2); Bogota (2); Costa Rica (1); Cuba (1); Dominica to Antigua (thence by ordinary means) (2); Quito, Ecuador (2); Guadeloupe (2); Guatemala (1); Transpacific air service Hawaii (2); Guam (6); Philippines (7); Australia (Sydney), via Singapore (12), via Auckland (8); China (Hong Kong) (8); French Indo-China (Hanoi) (13); Rangoon (14); Calcutta (14-15); Delhi (14-15); Karachi (14-15); Haiti (1); Tegucigalpa, Honduras (1); Kingston, Jamaica (1); Martinique (2); Mexico City (1); Tampico (1); Nicaragua (1). Panama (2); Paraguay, via Buenos Aires (4-5); Lima, Peru (2); Puerto Rico (1); Paramaribo, Surinam (3), Uruguay, via Buenos Aires (4-5); Maracaibo, Venezuela (2); Newfoundland-Via Moncton, Can. (3). (days from N. Y. City) Japan (Kobe) (13-14); Macao (8); Batavia (1315); New Guinea (21-22); Straits Settlements via Hong Kong (8), via Singapore (11-13); Bangkok (13). Iraq (16); Alexandria (17); Khartoum (19); Tanganyika (22). New York General Post Office Source: An Official of the Establishment The New York General Post Office, with jurisdiction over Manhattan and the Bronx, covers the two city blocks, 31st Street to 33rd Street, Eighth Avenue to Ninth Avenue. The main entrance is on Eighth Avenue. Postmaster-Albert Goldman. Assistants-Charles Lubin and John W. Lynch. Mail Deliveries-Manhattan Borough, 3 to 4: Bronx Borough, 2 to 3; Suburban, 2 to 3. Mail Collections-Manhattan Borough, 10 to 26; Bronx Borough, 7 to 11; Suburban, 4 to 5. On October 3, 1937, City Hall Annex, formerly the Old General Post Office, at Park Row and Broadway, and Hudson Terminal Annex, at 30 Church St., were discontinued and their activities transferred to the Church St. Annex, in the New Federal Office Building at 90 Church St. The City Hall Annex, which formerly had housed also the Federal Courts, was sold to the City of New York for $1, in August, 1938, and the work of demolishing the 68-year-old structure was completed in 1939. The land reverted to the City, having been granted to the use of the Federal government for only so long as it was used actually for federal pur poses. The site, including Mail Street, thereupon was restored to and became a part of City Hall Park. The Grand Central Annex, Lexington Ave. and 45th St., handles the mail over the N. Y. Central and New Haven Railroads, in addition to local business in that district. The Foreign Section is in the Morgan Annex, 9th Ave., 29th to 30th Sts. The Bronx Central Annex is on Grand Concourse between 149th and 150th Streets. The New York Post Office (June, 1941) has 77 classified stations, and 92 contract stations. There are 21,970 employees. The Postal Receipts in the year ended June 30, 1941, were $77,736,235. Every day, on the average, the office received, delivered and dispatched 16,500,000 pieces of ordinary mail; and weighed and dispatched 290,000 pounds of newspapers and periodicals (at pound rates) and 70,000 insured and C.O.D. parcel post packages. The New York Post Office dispatches mail for U. S. Naval Vessels, and the U. S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Flag of the City of New York Source: Official Records The official city flag tells the story of the origin and early history of the city-founded by the Dutch in 1626 as "New Amsterdam." It was renamed New York in 1664 and a year later, on June 24. was formally 1665, the municipal government transferred to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of New York, as successors in office of the Burgomasters and Schepens of the City of New Amsterdam. The colors in the flag are Dutch-blue, white and which orange in perpendicular bars, the same floated over the Island of Manhattan more than 300 years ago. The colors are exact, a pure indigo blue in use in 1662 and the distinctive color of the Prince of Orange. The seal of the City which is the device on the middle or white bar of the flag stamped in blue contains in a central position the wings of a windmill, with a flour barrel on each flank, denoting the early industry of Manhattan. The sailor at the left symbolizes its sea-borne trade. He is dressed in garments of the English sailor of that period, in his right hand is a line and plumet and above his right shoulder is a cross-staff. At the a Manhattan other side of the shield stands Indian, with characteristic bow and head-dress. The beaver at the top and bottom of shield was the native animal of Manhattan and indicates work as well as industry and trade. The crest is a spread eagle, distinctly American. The date 1664 is the year of transfer from Dutch to English Sovereignty. The Mayor has an official flag, the same in design as the flag of the City, except that upon the middle or white bar there are above the design of the seal. in a semi-circle, five blue five-pointed stars, typifying the five boroughs of the City; the dimensions of the flag are 33 inches by 44 inches. The Bronx flag, in use it is stated since March. 1912, has orange, white and blue in horizontal bars, with a design in center encircled by a laurel wreath greater in diameter than the width of the white stripe. The crest upon a hemisphere is an American eagle with wings displayed, the shield is a sun rising from the sea and upon a ribbon beneath the shield are the words "Ne cede malis." The Queens Borough flag adopted by the borough itself on June 3, 1913 (without official recognition by ordinance) has two blue stripes separated by a white stripe horizontally. A circle of wampum in the center of the flag within which are a tulip of the Dutch, and a double red and white rose of the English. At the upper left-hand corner of the flag is Queen Catharine's crown for whom the borough was named, and the date 1898 signifying the year in which the borough became a part of the Greater City of New York. The Police Department has its own flag adopted in 1919 and the Department of Public Charities (now Welfare) adopted a flag in 1908. THE NEW YORK CITY HALL The first City Hall was the Stadt Huys, at No. 73 Pearl St., a stone building, erected in 1642 by Gov. Kieft at the West India Company's expense, used first as a warehouse and tavern. In 1653, when the Burgher government was established, the tavern was converted into the Stadt Huys, or City Hall. The original 5-lb. key which fitted the lock of 73 Pearl Street in 1642 was presented to Mayor LaGuardia on July 18, 1941 by Richard S. Palmer, a descendant of City Controller Thomas Palmer. The second City Hall stood on the northeast corner of Nassau and Wall Sts. The site is now occupied by the United States Subtreasury building. The old edifice, begun Aug. 9, 1699, and finished in 1703 from designs by James Evetts, architect, was not only the seat of municipal government but also of the provincial government when the State Legislature met in New York, and of the Federal Government during the first year after the inauguration therein of Washington as First President of the United States. The cornerstone of the third and present City Hall was laid by Mayor Edward Livingston. May 26, 1803. The plans were by McComb & Mangin. The building was formally dedicated on May 5. 1812, although the Common Council had met there as early as Aug. 12, 1811. The edifice is in the style of the Italian Renaissance, 216 feet long by 105 feet deep. The south front and sides are of Stockbridge (Mass.) marble, but the rear was built of brownstone. City Hall Park in Dutch colonial days was De Vlackte (the flat) and in British colonial times was variously called the Fields, and the Common. Besides the executive offices of the Mayor, President of the Council and the Art Commission, the Board of Estimate and Council Chambers, the building contains one room of unusual interestthe Governor's Room. The Governor's Room is so called because it was set apart for the Governor's use when he should be in the city. In the Governor's Room may be seen Trumbull's portraits of Washington and Hamilton, also other portraits of Governors, Mayors, and eminent Americans, by Trumbull and other artists, also the chair in which Washington was inaugurated first president of the United States, the desk on which he penned his first message to Congress. and several of the chairs used by the First Congress, brought from Federal Hall (second City Hall), before mentioned; a bust of Henry Clay. Among the historic associations of City Hall Park was the reading of the Declaration of Independence to the American Army there assmbled July 9, 1776 an event commemorated by a tablet on the south front of the building. On Monday, Aug. 16, 1824, when William Paulding (nephew of Andre's captor) was Mayor, Lafayette was received there after a brilliant reception at the Battery and some ceremonies at Castle Garden. In August, 1858, the laying of the Atlantic cable was celebrated by an illumination of the City Hall, from which the building caught fire. The front was blackened with smoke and the windows remained boarded up for a long time. During the visit of Albert Edward (then Prince of Wales, and late King of England) to this country in 1860 he was received at the City Hall. President Lincoln's body lay there in state, in 1865. after his assassination. In more recent years, the Prince of Wales, the King and Queen of the Belgians, Marshal Joffre of France, Gen. Pershing, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh and many other notables have been received at the City Hall. There have been several summer City Halls, the latest in Queens Borough, overlooking the World's Fair Lake north of Forest Hills. THE MUNICIPAL The building begun in 1910 and occupied in 1913, cost $11,787,213. It faces west on Center St. and east on Park Row. Its extreme north-and-south dimension is 450 feet; east-and-west, 300 feet. Number of stories in height, including tower stories, 40. Total height from curb to top of figure, 580 feet. Estimated weight 377,320,000 pounds. Total cubical contents, 19,490,000 cubic feet. Maximum depth of caisson foundations below curb, 147 feet. The basement, having an area of two and oneeighth acres, is utilized in part as a station for the subway, which runs directly underneath the building. Chambers St. runs through the middle of the building, and the court is closed on the western elevation by an open screen of, columns, which serve the purpose of binding together the north and south pavilions of the building. This colonnade rises to an average height of 70 feet, and is to be crowned by colossal figures. The colonnade is continued around the building in the BUILDING shape of pilasters of the same height as the columns. Above this surrounding colonnade of columns and pilasters comes the main wall surface of the building, which is treated with vertical bands, and the colonnade is echoed at the top of the building by one of less height. From the middle of the court on the eastern side rises the tower, which has been given a municipal character; that is, one in consonance with the tower of the City Hall, and of a character that has been used frequently in city halls in this country and abroad. The copper figure surmounting the tower represents Civic Fame, and is that of a woman in a flowing robe. Her height is 20 feet and she is posed on a copper ball. Her left hand holds a mura! crown of five parapets, representing the five boroughs, surrounded by dolphins, emblem of a sea port. On her right arm is a shield on which is the city's coat of arms Area of New York City Source: Chief Engineer's Bureau, Board of Estimate (The geographic center of the City is in Brooklyn, on the lot line in the block midway between Van Buren Street and Greene Avenue, 200 feet west of Reid Avenue) The City (five boroughs) of New York has an extreme length, north and south, of 36 miles; and an extreme breadth of 1611⁄2 miles, measuring from the North River along 23d Street, Manhattan, and thence to the easterly border of Queens Borough. From the western border of the Borough of Richmond to the eastern border of Queens Borough, the distance is 25 miles. Manhattan Borough is 121⁄2 miles long and its extreme breadth is 21⁄2 miles; Bronx, length 8.1 miles, breadth 9.2 miles; Brooklyn, length 11.5 miles, breadth 10.3 miles; Queens, length 15.1 miles, breadth 13.7 miles; Richmond, length 15.5 miles, breadth 7.0 miles. The area of the incoporated City of New York, according to the Chief Engineer is, in square miles, as follows: Manhattan, 22.24; Brooklyn, 74.47; Bronx, 42.82; Queens, 110.78; Richmond, 60.53; total city, 310.84.. By acres, the areas of the boroughs are as follows: Manhattan, 14,240; Bronx, 27, 406; Brooklyn, 47,660; Queens, 70,898; Richmond, 38,738; total-198,942. DISTANCES IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK (FROM THE CITY HALL) Todt Hill, Staten Island, rises from the Richmond Road at Dongan Hills on the rapid transit railway, and overlooks New Dorp and the Moravian Cemetery, where the Vanderbilts lie buried. This is the highest point on the Atlantic Coast south of Maine. Other elevations in Manhattan above sea level, expressed in feet and decimals thereof, are: Custom House, 17.06; Bowling Green, 21.75; Pine St. and Broadway, 40.78; Municipal Building, 41.61; City Hall, 44.74; Astor Place, 43.01; Union Square, 45.73; Columbus Circle, 86.64; Central Park near W. 93rd St.. 114.14; Amsterdam Ave.. at Trinity Cemetery, 148.73; Audubon Ave., at W. 174th St.. 185.92; Wadsworth Ave. near W. 182d St., 188.33; High Bridge water tower, at the street level, 203.25. The highest natural elevation in the Bronx-284 feet 6 inches-is on the hill bounded by Iselin Ave.. Highland Ave., and W. 250th St., Riverdale Hill. Other Bronx altitudes are: Jerome Ave., near E. 233d St., 210.73; Jerome and Mosholu Aves., Van Richmond: 1. Windsor Road between Todt Hill Road and Little Clove Road 2. Highest point in the City, south of the intersection of Todt Hill Road and Ocean Terrace, 300' s.w. of Todt Hill Road and 540' s. of Ocean Terrace. Coordinate position W. 20,000 S. 21,000.. Brooklyn: 264 409.8 182.7 1. Prospect Park West and 18th St.. 2. Barbey Street and Highland Blvd. near the entrance to Forest Park 167.7" 3. Greenwood cemetery, Highway monument on a cemetery road inside the 9th Ave. gate, on Reservoir Hill.. 216.5 Queens: 1. Southerly Service Roadway, Grand Central Parkway, at Station 374+00 near Glen Oaks Club house 1,650 feet east of Little Neck Parkway and 2.000 feet west of Nassau County line... 259* Cortlandt Park, 193.39; Riverdale Ave. and Spuyten Duyvil Parkway, 178.49; Grand Boulevard and Concourse, and E. 199th St.. 148.64; Hall of Fame Terrace, at University Ave., 170.32; Poe Park, E. 192d St., 140.22; east approach to Washington Bridge, at University and Aqueduct Aves.. 141.63. Other Brooklyn altitudes are: Base of the Museum on Eastern Parkway, at Washington Ave., 163.44; 9th Ave. (Prospect Park West). 32 feet south of 14th St., 155.34; Prospect Park West and 5th St., 162.16; Union St., Plaza, at Flatbush Ave., 146.29; 59th St. and 5th Ave., 116.96. The highest track elevation (altitude above Mean High Water at base of rail) on the subways is 161.2 feet, on the Washington Heights Line at Fort Washington Avenue and 175th Street (8th Ave., subway system). The lowest track elevation (depth below Mean High Water at base of rail is 113.12 feet under the East Channel of the East River on the 60th Street River Tunnels of the B.M.T. Broadway-7th Ave.60th St.-Queens Line. The New York City Transit System. Source: Officials of the The New York City Transit System is the largest municipally owned and operated transit property in the United States. It is the sole owner and operator of all the subway and elevated lines in the City of New York and the owner and operator of trolley and bus lines in the Borough of Brooklyn, some of which extend into the Boroughs of Queens and Manhattan. It has under its operating jurisdiction slightly less than 250 route miles of rapid transit lines, almost 225 route miles of trolley lines, and 80 miles of bus routes. Subsequent to June 30, 1941, four of the trolley lines were motorized and four other lines were in process of motorization. Board of Transportation company properties totalled $326,248,187, including $9,250,000 for. the elevated lines condemned for removal. Just previous to acquiring title to the privately owned lines, the City, through condemnation proceedings took title to the Fulton St. and 5th Ave. "L" Lines in Brooklyn and the 9th and 2nd Ave. "L" Lines in Manhattan. The structures of the 9th Ave. "L" Line south of 155th St. station, and the 2nd Ave. "L" Line north of the Queensboro connection, (59th St.), in Manhattan have been demolished and the structures of the Fulton St. and 5th Ave. "L" Lines in Brooklyn are being demolished. The New York City Transit System operates in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens Boroughs, under the administration of the Board of Transportation. For operating purposes, the entire System has been divided into three divisions known as the IRT, BMT and IND Divisions. DIVISION The New York City Transit System is the result of the Unification in June, 1940, of two of the large privately owned transit companies_with_the City owned and operated Independent Subway System. The purchase price of the privately owned INDEPENDENT Trunk Lines-From 211th St. and Broadway, down Broadway to the vicinity of Dyckman St.. southwesterly to 193d St. and Overlook Terrace; down Ft. Washington Ave. to 174th St. Thence southeasterly to Broadway and 173rd St.. down Broadway to St. Nicholas Ave., down St. Nicholas Ave. to Eighth Ave. and 122nd St., down Eighth Ave. and into Central Park West, along the Park wall, skirting Columbus Circle, down Eighth Ave. again to 53rd St. where it joins the Queens Line to Jamaica. From 53d St. the trunk line goes down Eighth Ave. to a junction at Sixth Ave., Carmine St. and Houston St., where the lower East Side link extends through Houston St. toward the Bowery, eastward to Essex St., to Rutgers St., the East River to Brooklyn. From the junction of Sixth Ave. and Carmine St. the line continues down the Sixth Ave. extension to the Holland Tunnel. Crossing over to Lispenard and Church Sts., it continues southerly to Fulton St., and passes under the East River to Cranberry St., Brooklyn. The line was put in operation from 207th St. to Fulton St. on Sept. 10, 1932. From Cranberry St. the line proceeds through High St., to Jay St., to Smith St., Ninth St. to Prospect Park West, where tracks branch. The express tracks pass under the westerly corner of Prospect Park and thence to McDonald Ave., where it eventually will be physically connected with the existing Culver Line to Coney Island. The part from Fulton St., Manhattan, to Jay St.. Brooklyn, was put in operation on Feb. 1, 1933; train service extended to Bergen St., Brooklyn, on March 20, 1933; to Church Ave., Brooklyn, on Oct. 7, 1933. Another line enters Brooklyn through Jay Street by way of a tunnel from the foot of Rutgers St. in Manhattan. The Smith St.-Church Ave. line goes into Manhattan by the Rutgers St. tunnel, under the East River to 53rd St., to Jamaica. At the intersection of Schermerhorn and Smith Sts., Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Crostown Line turns easterly into Schermerhorn St. and out across Central Brooklyn to 169th St.. Jamaica. The Brooklyn Crosstown portion of this line between the Hoyt-Schermerhorn St. station and the Nassau Ave. station in Greenpoint was opened July 1, 1937. A part of the line, from Nassau Ave., Brooklyn, to Queens Plaza, Queens, went into operation on Aug. 19, 1930. Fulton St.-Brooklyn Line-The Fulton St. line. running from Lafayette Ave. and Ft. Greene Place, along Fulton St. to Rockaway Ave., went into operation on April 9, 1936. It connects at Rockaway Avenue with the Fulton Street Line of the BMT Division. The construction of an extension to the Fulton St. Subway from Rockaway Ave. to Grant Ave. and Sunrise Highway is in progress. Bronx-Concourse Line-From a connection with the Washington Heights Line at St. Nicholas Ave. and 148th St., under St. Nicholas Place to the Harlem River at 157th St., under the river to Jerome Ave. and 161st St., under 161st St. to the Concourse and under the Concourse to Mosholu Parkway. Thence the line turns easterly through Van Cortlandt Ave. to 205th St., to Webster Ave. The Bronx Concourse line to 205th St. and Webster Ave., was put in service on July 1, 1933. The 53rd St.-Jamaica Line extends from a connection to the 8th Ave. line at 53rd St., to Long Island City; thence via Jackson Ave., Steinway Ave., Broadway, Queens Boulevard, 137th St., Hillside Ave., to 169th St. A part of the line, extending from 8th Ave., Manhattan, to Roosevelt Ave.. Queens, went in operation on Aug. 19, 1933. The portion from Roosevelt Ave. to Union Turnpike was put in operation on Dec. 31, 1936, and to 169th St., on April 24, 1937. The Houston-Essex St. Line extending along Houston St. and Essex St. from Sixth Ave. to East Broadway, was put in operation January 1, 1936. The extension of this line across the East River via the Rutgers-Jay St. tunnel to York St. station (Brooklyn), was put in operation April 9, 1936. The 6th Ave. Line-The 6th Ave. Line extends under 6th Ave. from 8th St. to 53rd St., Manhattan. At the southerly end at 8th St., it connects with the 8th Ave. Trunk Line, and at 53rd St. it connects with the 53rd St.-Jamaica Line, as well as with the Washington Heights and Concourse Lines. It was opened for service Dec. 15, 1940. Dyre Ave.-174th St. Line, formerly the New York, Westchester and Boston Railroad, will extend from the East 180th Street Station in the Bronx, northerly to the Dyre Ave. Station at the City limits. At its southerly terminal. East 180th Street, West Farms, it connects with the White Plains Road Line of the IRT Division. Operation under City management started May 15, 1941. 1. R. T. (INTERBOROUGH RAPID TRANSIT) DIVISION The west side system starts on an elevated structure at Livonia and New Lots Aves., East New York (Brooklyn), goes on Livonia Ave. to Saratoga Ave., then turns into Eastern Parkway, where it becomes a subway. It runs through the Eastern Parkway to Flatbush Ave., at Eighth Ave., thence to Fulton St.. to Clark St., and under the East River to William St., Manhattan; to Beckman St.; to West Broadway; to Varick St.; to Seventh Ave.: to Broadway; to St. Nicholas Ave.; to Amstredam Ave.; to Broadway; to 242d St., at Van Cortlandt a shuttle service under 42nd St., between Times Sq and Grand Central Station. The west side-east side systems have an elevated extension on Jerome Ave. extending north from Mott Ave. and 149th St., up through Fordham and Bedford Park to a point between Van Cortlandt Park and Woodlawn Cemetery, ending at about 214th St. Park. Another branch of the west side system starts at Flatbush and Nostrand Aves.,, Brooklyn, and runs in a subway through Nostrand Ave. to the Eastern Parkway, where it joins the other branch. At 96th St. and Broadway, the west side system has a branch (part of the original Interborough subway) that extends under Central Park to Lenox Ave., to 145th St., and under the Harlem River to 149th St., where it joins the east side trunk line on Westchester Ave. and the Southern Boulevard. Just south of Bronx Park an extension on elevated structure, branches off and goes along White Plalis Road to 241st St.; also used by Third Ave. "L" trains north of Gun Hill Road. There is an The east side system starts at Flatbush and Atlantic Aves. (Long Island R.R. Terminal), Brook lyn, goes under Flatbush Ave., to Fulton St.; to Joralemon St.; under the East River to Battery Park, Manhattan: under Broadway, to Park Row: to the Brooklyn Bridge, to Lafayette St., to Fourth Ave.; to 42nd St. (Grand Central Station); to Lexington Ave. to 130th St.; thence under the Harlem River to Mott Ave. to 149th St., where it emerges onto an elevated structure, to Westchester Ave., to the Southern Boulevard, to the southern part of Bronx Park (Bronx Zoo). An extension of the east side system starts at Mott Ave. and 138th St. and goes through 138th St. to the Southern Boulevard; to Whitlock Ave. to Westchester Ave., and through Old Westchester Village to the Eastern Boulevard, at the west side of Pelham Bay Park. |