100 Years Ago

On November 1, 1918, the worst transit disaster in New York City history occurred just outside Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The wooden cars of the Brighton Beach line of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (B.R.T.) company left the tracks, crashing inside the tunnel beneath the busy intersection where Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue and Malbone Street met [Google map]. The Malbone Street Wreck killed nearly 100 people and injured more than 250. Criminal trials and lawsuits arising from the accident dragged on for years, contributing to the bankruptcy of the BRT. The name “Malbone Street” became associated with the disaster; it’s known today as Empire Boulevard.

The BRT line followed roughly the current route of the B/Q subway lines from Coney Island to Prospect Park, and the shuttle from Prospect Park to Franklin Avenue. Conditions for the disaster were created by a number of factors. World War I, and the influenza pandemic, were still raging. A multi-year project to consolidate the BRT and then-IRT required temporary rerouting of several lines, creating a sharp turn into a tunnel beneath what is now Empire Boulevard, just north of the current Prospect Park station of the B/Q lines and the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. This turn, called “Dead Man’s Curve” even before the accident, is still visible from the street today.

Detail, Brooklyn's Franklin Avenue Shuttle Track Map

A strike by motormen who ran the BRT’s trains caused the BRT to run its trains with inexperienced staff:

As Edward Luciano began a run as motorman on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit’s (BRT) Brighton Beach line on the evening of November 1, 1918, getting home quickly and safely might well have been foremost in his mind. Luciano’s career as a motorman had started earlier that very day, when the BRT pressed the twenty-three year-old dispatcher into service after company motormen went out on strike. Weakened by a recent bout with influenza and emotionally anguished by the death of one of his children from flu the week before, Luciano nonetheless complied with his employer’s wishes.

The posted speed for the tunnel entrance was six miles per hour; witnesses estimated that Luciano’s train entered the curve at over thirty. The train’s first car hung precariously to the track, then derailed upon entering the tunnel. The second car slammed violently into a concrete abutment, losing its roof and one of its sides in the impact. The third car disintegrated into a tangled mass of wood and glass.
– Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

This is a photo of three of the five wooden cars of the train. You can clearly see that the top half of the second car is gone. In his review of the book, The Malbone Street Wreck, on rapidtransit.net, Paul Matus explains the image:
MalboneStreetWreck2

The Malbone Street train sits in the BRT’s 36th St. Yard after salvage. The relatively minor damage to 726 [the first car in the photo] shows why most in the first car escaped serious injury. Even the window of Motorman Luciano’s cab (left, front) is intact. Not so lucky were those in trailer car 80 immediately behind, with half the car sheared away. Behind 80 is motor car 725, also almost unscathed. Chillingly absent between 80 and 725 would have been car 100, the remains of which were dismantled at the scene.

The accident occurred during the evening rush hour. It was already night-time. In the closed confines of the tunnel, rescuers tried to save who they could. It was a horrific scene.

Dozens of passengers died immediately, many of them decapitated or impaled by shards of wood and glass. Others were electrocuted by the third rail, which had shut down on derailment but was turned back on by offsite monitors who attributed the shutdown to labor sabotage. [Note: The claim of death by electrocution is refuted in Cudahy’s book.] Rescuers rushed to the station, to help the dazed and injured and to carry away the dead. The power failure in the tunnel posed a problem for rescuers that was partially solved when automobiles pulled up near the entrance to the station to illuminate the ghastly scene.

Worried friends and relatives came from across the city and waited outside the station for news of loved ones who frequented the Brighton Beach trains. Medical personnel used the Brooklyn Dodger’s Ebbets Field as a first aid station. And Mayor John Hylan, a strong opponent of privately operated transit lines like the BRT, arrived on the scene with freshly-milled accusations of transit-interest malfeasance.
– Death Beneath the Streets

Newspapers of the day published the names and addresses of those killed and injured in the crash. From that, I created a Google Map with the names and addresses of the dead. The geographic distribution is striking. The majority of those killed were from greater Flatbush, including Prospect Lefferts Gardens, but also included victims from East Flatbush and Kensington, to the east and west, and, to the south, from Midwood, Gravesend, and Sheepshead Bay.

Here’s the list of dead and injured. Most of this list is presented as it was reported in the Brooklyn Standard Union on November 2, 1918, the day after the crash. I made other edits and corrections from additional sources, such as follow-up articles in the new York Times. Some information was originally printed in error, some of the injured later died, and one man originally listed as dead was found to be safe at home. Where available, the addresses link to the Google Map I created which shows the homes of the victims. Some victims also received short descriptions in the paper of the time; I added that to the descriptions of the markers.

  1. ALEXANDER, James, 647 Fenimore Street
  2. ALFARO, Peschal, 160 Robinson Street [I can’t locate this street on current maps of Brooklyn. Has this been renamed to Parkside Avenue?]
  3. AMREIN, Ada, Address unkown
  4. ARENA, Mabel, 186 Lefferts Avenue
  5. BARCINO, Eugene Edward, 42 Henry Street, Flatbush [sic, this address is in Brooklyn Heights, not Flatbush]
  6. BARGIN, Etta, 1145 East 14th Street
  7. Bechtold, Emily or Elise M., 362 East 9th Street
  8. BERKOWITZ, Herman, Address unknown
  9. Borden, Helen, 445 Riverside Drive, Manhattan, or 1011 Ocean Avenue [two addresses were given for Ms. Borden]
  10. Bogen, David, 27 years old, 94 Kenmore Place [Originally listed among the dead as D. Borgen of 97 Kenmore Place]
  11. Brunswick, David, 70 years old, 847 East 10th Street
  12. BURTON, Mary, 1458 East 17th Street
  13. Calibria or Calabria, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [Published in NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident]
  14. CLEARY, Margaret, 318 Parkville Avenue
  15. Clifford, Ethel or Louise, 485 Argyle Road
  16. COADY, Emily, 682 Argyle Beach [sic: Argyle Road]
  17. Condra, Louisa G, 23 years old, Brooklyn [No address given. Not listed originally among the dead or injured. “Louisa G. CONDRA, also killed, was born in Newark twenty-three years ago and had been a resident of Brooklyn for three years. She was secretary to the vice-president of the National City Bank in Manhattan and is survived by her mother, Marguerite, and two sisters The funeral will be held to-morrow morning with a requiem mass at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Interment will be at Newark.”]
  18. COOPER, Margaret, Detroit, Mich.
  19. ENGGRAN, John W., 37 East 10th Street
  20. FLEMING, Catherine, 7 East 10th Street
  21. FITZPATRICK, Ed., Avenue H and East 17th Street
  22. FLAHAVE, James F., 277 East 38th Street
  23. Gardner (or Gardiner), Marion (Mary) Norcross, 347 Lincoln Road
  24. GILBERT, Michael, 26 years old, 1510 East 18th Street or 1819 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gilbert]
  25. GILFEATHER, Thomas F. 388 East 49th Street
  26. GILLEN, Harry P., 29 years old, 1539 East 13th Street or 1634 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gillen]
  27. GIVNAN, Thomas, 28 years old, 1601 Voorhies avenue
  28. GUIDE, Nicholas, 1505 Neck Road
  29. Hennison, Emelia, 95 Lenox Road [Listed only in association with Aline Schwaan at the same address]
  30. HOLMES, George W., 611 Westminster Road
  31. HOLTORF, Theodore, 60 years old, 984 East 18th Street
  32. HOPKINS, Lewis, 2130 Bedford Avenue
  33. JACKOWITZ, Sophie, 4301 Church Avenue
  34. JOHNSON, Mary, Address unknown
  35. KEMPF, Christina, 203 Parkside avenue
  36. KERR, David B. 132 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  37. KINSIE, Benjamin A., 79 Haven Avenue, Manhattan
  38. KIRCHOFF, Clara, 877 East Fifteenth Street
  39. LARSEN, H.W., 713 Avenue N
  40. LAWREY, Nellie, 1782 Shore Road
  41. LAWSON, T. C., 1716 Caton Avenue
  42. LEE, Fred W. 212 South Oxford Street
  43. LOMBACK, Harry 22721 77th Street [invalid street address]
  44. LOMBARD, Henry, 1016 East 18th Street or 1919 East 18th Street [two different addresses were given for Mr. Lombard, in the initial list of the dead, and in a follow-up mention]
  45. LOURING, Frank J., 1025 East 15th Street
  46. LOVE, Bessie, 90 St. Marks Place
  47. LOVELL, Aubrey, 1522 East 10th Street
  48. LYONS, Caroline, 1616 Avenue H
  49. MAIER, Joseph A. 204 Midwood Street
  50. MALAMAUD, Abraham, 602 East 16th
  51. MALONEY, Lillian, 178 Lefferts Avenue
  52. MATTOOK, Ethel, 335 East 21st Street
  53. MEEHAN, Helen, 22, 348 Eastern Parkway
  54. METZGER, Ira H., 816 East 14th Street
  55. McMILLEN, Carnette, Address unknown
  56. McCORMACK, Mrs. Grace, 1404 Cortelyou Road
  57. MUNN, Sadie, 25 Rugby road
  58. MURPHY, Grace, a school teacher, 1297 Homecrest Avenue [invalid address]
  59. NAGLE, Richard, 2124 East 24th Avenue
  60. PALMEDO, Alexander M., 439 East 19th Street
  61. Payne, Raymond, 18 years old, 1213 Avenue H
  62. Pierce, Wilbur F., 23 years old, 244 Lefferts Avenue
  63. PILKINGTON, Mrs. 214 Webster Avenue
  64. PORTER, Willis D., 721 Argyle Road [Mistakenly reported as dead, as “William Porter, Argyle Road”]
  65. PORTER, Edward Erskine, 309 Caton Avenue [Possibly 307 Caton Avenue?]
  66. PROUT, Grover T., 275 Ocean Avenue
  67. Rathe, John Charles Ferdinand (or Roth, Charles), 311 E 19th St
  68. RUBIN, M. H., 675 Flatbush Avenue
  69. RUSSO, Mamie, 485 Grand Avenue
  70. RYAN, Michael, 36 years old, 2163 Nostrand Avenue [Possibly 2162 Nostrand?]
  71. SCHWAAN, Aline, 95 Lenox Road
  72. SCUDDER, Ethel, 1221 Avenue Q
  73. SHEVIT, Syd, 224 East 26th Street
  74. SHIEDEN, John, 420 Cortelyou Road
  75. STEVENS, W. E., 150 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  76. SCHAEFER, Harold, 2804 Farragut Road
  77. Stephens, W. A., 83 Rugby Road
  78. STERN, Adolph, 141 Central Avenue
  79. SULLIVAN, Margaret, 19, 2745 Bedford Avenue
  80. TEN BROUCK (or Broeck), Floyd, 46 years old, 1419 Avenue G (Glenwood Road, today)
  81. THORN, C.C. 2023 Caton Avenue
  82. TIETJEN, Johann W., 420 Cortelyou Road
  83. TOLZE, Genaro, 2439 East 14th Street
  84. TOWNSON, T.G., 1716 Caton Avenue
  85. VINCENZO, Louis A. 493 Gravesend Avenue [Published in the NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident. I can’t locate this street. Is this know today as Gravesend Neck Road?)
  86. VINEBERG, Morris, 1706 Bath Avenue
  87. WALKER, Marion, 1670 East 10th Street
  88. WEED, H.E., Address unknown
  89. WATTS, Hazel, 48 East 22nd Street
  90. WALSH, Genevieve, 4301 Church Avenue
  91. WOELFER, Charlotte, 738 East 21st Street

Injured

AYER, Oscar, 600 East 16th Street
AMREIN, Kurt, 634 West 135th Street, Manhattan
ANTONELLO, Rosario, 1419 Lincoln Road

BAIRD, Loraine, 2542 East 5th Street
BANELSON, Vera, 170 Coleridge Street
BARRETT, Susan, 1550 East 12th Street
BOOM, Martin P., 635 Flatbush Avenue
BRAULT Zephrin, 107 Martense Street
BROSER, Mrs. Wm., 2641 East 21st Street

CALABRIA, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [or Calibria, she died 4 days later]
Castellani, Marie, 2764 Haring Street, Sheepshead Bay
CLEARY, Mary, 318 Parkville Avenue
CLINCHY, Susan, 1704 Kings Highway
CORCOCILLO, Joseph, 1089 East 39th Street
COSTELAN, Marie, 24 Harrett Street

DRENNAN, Margaret, 1911 Homecrest Avenue

(No. listings for “E”)

F.

FELICIA, Samuel, 38 Darby Street
FENNON, Edith, 826 Avenue P
Fitzpatrick, Edward N. [No address available. Mr. Fitzpatrick was not originally listed among the injured. He was awarded $35,000 in 1920 from injuries received in the crash. Reference: New York Times, 1920-01-08]
FUCHS, Pauline, 2902 West 17th Street
FULLER, Elizabeth, 364 East 18th Street

G.

GOWARD, Harold, 234 Lefferts Avenue
GIILERDI, Sylvia, 2617 Jerome Avenue
GUTHRIE, James, 800 East 15th Street

H.

HARLEY, Helen, Crown Street
HARRIS, Leonore, 62 Marlboro Road
HARRIS, Gertrude, 810 Avenue U
HARM, George, 2801 East 7th Street
HAYES, Nora, 287 East 17th Street
HALL, Martha, 2715 East 23d Street

(No listings for “I”)

J.

JUDD, Francis, Manhattan Beach

(No listings for “K”)

L.

LARSON, Lillian, 713 Avenue M
LEE, Henry A. 971 Utica Avenue
LERNER, Nathan, 15 President Street
LEES, Loretta, 619 East 4th Street
LEES, Mary, 619 East 4th Street

M.

MITCHELL, Matilda, 3456 East 15th Street
MURPHY, Veronica, 1922 Homecrest Avenue
McGARRY, John, 120 Avenue C
MANDER, Walter, 840 Flatbush Avenue
MARTENSE, Gary, 1501 Avenue U
MULE, Ernest, 2421 East 18th Street
MUSSON, Silas, 402 Ocean Avenue
MELLOW, William, 568 East 18th Street
MESSIER, Josephine, 2163 Coney Island Avenue

(No listings for “N” and “O”)

P.

PIERCE, Mrs. Kate, 1011 Ocean Avenue
PITTS, Frank G. 632 East 16th Street
POCHICHIE, Louis, 354 Prospect Place

(No listings for “Q”)

R.

ROCHES, Mary, 2647 East 18th Street
REILLY, Alfred, 153 Martense Street

S.

SCHMITT, Geo. W., 856 Est 5th Street
SEYMANN, Harry, 104 Woodruff Avenue
SCHUBERT, Arthur, 100 Webster Avenue
STOBEI, Rev. Joseph, 225 Emmons Avenue
SULLIVAN, Loretta, 437 East 15th Street

(No listings for “T” and “U”)

V.

VAN ARSDALE, Betty, 3122 Mermaid Avenue


[bit.ly]

Related content

Malbone Street Wreck, Google Map

Links

Malbone Street Wreck, Wikipedia
Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

The Malbone Street Wreck, by Brian Cudahy [I’ve got this back-ordered from Amazon]
Review of the book by Paul Matus on rapidtransit.net

Franklin Shuttle, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York
BMT Franklin Avenue Line, Wikipedia
Lanes of Mid-Brooklyn, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York

Eve of Destruction, 1918: The Malbone Street Horror and Day of the Dead, A Year in the Park

Brooklyn Ron

Malbone Street Wreck, nycsubway.org, transcription of the article published in the New York Times on November 2nd, 1918
List of dead and injured, Brooklyn Standard Union
Alternative Map

Plant Sales This Week in and near Brooklyn

BBG Plant Sale, May 2009
BBG Plant Sale

It’s the week for the annual plant sale frenzy. All listed here are benefits for their respective gardens. It’s a great way to support your local gardens, meet other gardeners, and pick up some cool plants.

Saturday, May 1

Bay Ridge
Narrows Botanical Gardens (NBG)
10am-3pm
Annual Spring Plant Sale and Art Show
(Rain Date: May 8)

Sunday, May 2

Kensington/Windsor Terrace
East 4th Street Community Garden
East 4th Street between Caton and Fort Hamilton Parkway
9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Veggies, flowers and herbs

Tuesday, May 4

Downtown Manhattan
The Battery (Battery Park)
11am-1pm

The Battery Plant Sale, April 2008, with spectacular views. That’s the Statue of Liberty there in the background!
Battery Park Plant Sale

Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Annual Plant Sale
Tuesday, 5/4: Members-Only Preview Sale
Open to the Public Wednesday, 5/5 and Thursday, 5/6
Hours vary by date; see the BBG Web site for details

Wednesday, May 5

BBG Plant Sale

Thursday, May 6

BBG Plant Sale

Sunday, May 8

Park Slope/Prospect Heights
Pacific Street Bear’s Garden, Pacific Street and Flatbush Avenue
Annual Plant and Bake Sale
10am-4pm

Related Content

Plant Sale, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2009-05-05

Links

Narrows Botanical Gardens
The Battery (Battery Park)
BBG Annual Plant Sale

Kensington Blog interviews local creativista Gideon Kendall

Dino Pets illustration by Gideon Kendall, author: Lynn Plourde, publisher: Dutton/Penguin

Neighbors and colleagues, the Kensington, Brooklyn blog interviewed the multi-talented Kensington resident Gideon Kendall. And my neck of the woods get a mention:

KB: Do you draw any inspiration from the neighborhood?
GK: Absolutely. In Dino Pets, all of the houses and scenery are based on Ditmas Park [Victorian Flatbush].
Local Spotlight: Gideon Kendall, Kensington, Brooklyn, 2008-01-08

Must … have … Dino Pets …
Raptors on gables – DO NOT WANT!

I’m not aware of any exact match for the houses in the illustrations, but it’s easy to see the influences in the neighborhood. Check out these examples from Prospect Park South.

170 Stratford Road, Prospect Park South
170 Stratford Road, Prospect Park South

1203 Albemarle Road, prospect Park South
1203 Albemarle Road

143 Buckingham Road, Prospect Park South
143 Buckingham Road

Related Content

Prospect Park South
Victorian Flatbush

Links

Gideon Kendall
Kensington, Brooklyn

90 Years Ago: The Malbone Street Wreck

On November 1, 1918, the worst transit disaster in New York City history occurred just outside Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The wooden cars of the Brighton Beach line of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit (B.R.T.) company left the tracks, crashing inside the tunnel beneath the busy intersection where Flatbush Avenue, Ocean Avenue and Malbone Street met [Google map]. The Malbone Street Wreck killed nearly 100 people and injured more than 250. Criminal trials and lawsuits arising from the accident dragged on for years, contributing to the bankruptcy of the BRT. The name “Malbone Street” became associated with the disaster; it’s known today as Empire Boulevard.


The BRT line followed roughly the current route of the B/Q subway lines from Coney Island to Prospect Park, and the shuttle from Prospect Park to Franklin Avenue. Conditions for the disaster were created by a number of factors. World War I, and the influenza pandemic, were still raging. A multi-year project to consolidate the BRT and then-IRT required temporary rerouting of several lines, creating a sharp turn into a tunnel beneath what is now Empire Boulevard, just north of the current Prospect Park station of the B/Q lines and the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. This turn, called “Dead Man’s Curve” even before the accident, is still visible from the street today.

Detail, Brooklyn's Franklin Avenue Shuttle Track Map

Finally, a strike by motormen who ran the BRT’s trains caused the BRT to run its trains with inexperienced staff:

As Edward Luciano began a run as motorman on the Brooklyn Rapid Transit’s (BRT) Brighton Beach line on the evening of November 1, 1918, getting home quickly and safely might well have been foremost in his mind. Luciano’s career as a motorman had started earlier that very day, when the BRT pressed the twenty-three year-old dispatcher into service after company motormen went out on strike. Weakened by a recent bout with influenza and emotionally anguished by the death of one of his children from flu the week before, Luciano nonetheless complied with his employer’s wishes.

The posted speed for the tunnel entrance was six miles per hour; witnesses estimated that Luciano’s train entered the curve at over thirty. The train’s first car hung precariously to the track, then derailed upon entering the tunnel. The second car slammed violently into a concrete abutment, losing its roof and one of its sides in the impact. The third car disintegrated into a tangled mass of wood and glass.
Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

This is a photo of three of the five wooden cars of the train. You can clearly see that the top half of the second car is gone. In his review of the book, The Malbone Street Wreck, on rapidtransit.net, Paul Matus explains the image:
MalboneStreetWreck2

The Malbone Street train sits in the BRT’s 36th St. Yard after salvage. The relatively minor damage to 726 [the first car in the photo] shows why most in the first car escaped serious injury. Even the window of Motorman Luciano’s cab (left, front) is intact. Not so lucky were those in trailer car 80 immediately behind, with half the car sheared away. Behind 80 is motor car 725, also almost unscathed. Chillingly absent between 80 and 725 would have been car 100, the remains of which were dismantled at the scene.

The accident occurred during the evening rush hour. It was already night-time. In the closed confines of the tunnel, rescuers tried to save who they could. It was a horrific scene.

Dozens of passengers died immediately, many of them decapitated or impaled by shards of wood and glass. Others were electrocuted by the third rail, which had shut down on derailment but was turned back on by offsite monitors who attributed the shutdown to labor sabotage. [Note: The claim of death by electrocution is refuted in Cudahy’s book.] Rescuers rushed to the station, to help the dazed and injured and to carry away the dead. The power failure in the tunnel posed a problem for rescuers that was partially solved when automobiles pulled up near the entrance to the station to illuminate the ghastly scene.

Worried friends and relatives came from across the city and waited outside the station for news of loved ones who frequented the Brighton Beach trains. Medical personnel used the Brooklyn Dodger’s Ebbets Field as a first aid station. And Mayor John Hylan, a strong opponent of privately operated transit lines like the BRT, arrived on the scene with freshly-milled accusations of transit-interest malfeasance.
Death Beneath the Streets

Newspapers of the day published the names and addresses of those killed and injured in the crash. From that, I created a Google Map with the names and addresses of the dead. The geographic distribution is striking. The majority of those killed were from greater Flatbush, including Prospect Lefferts Gardens, but also included victims from East Flatbush and Kensington, to the east and west, and, to the south, from Midwood, Gravesend, and Sheepshead Bay.


View Larger Map

Here’s the list of dead and injured. Most of this list is presented as it was reported in the Brooklyn Standard Union on November 2, 1918, the day after the crash. I made other edits and corrections from additional sources, such as follow-up articles in the new York Times. Some information was originally printed in error, some of the injured later died, and one man originally listed as dead was found to be safe at home. Where available, the addresses link to the Google Map I created which shows the homes of the victims. Some victims also received short descriptions in the paper of the time; I added that to the descriptions of the markers.

Dead

  1. ALEXANDER, James, 647 Fenimore Street
  2. ALFARO, Peschal, 160 Robinson Street [I can’t locate this street on current maps of Brooklyn. Has this been renamed to Parkside Avenue?]
  3. AMREIN, Ada, Address unkown
  4. ARENA, Mabel, 186 Lefferts Avenue
  5. BARCINO, Eugene Edward, 42 Henry Street, Flatbush [sic, this address is in Brooklyn Heights, not Flatbush]
  6. BARGIN, Etta, 1145 East 14th Street
  7. Bechtold, Emily or Elise M., 362 East 9th Street
  8. BERKOWITZ, Herman, Address unknown
  9. Borden, Helen, 445 Riverside Drive, Manhattan, or 1011 Ocean Avenue [two addresses were given for Ms. Borden]
  10. Bogen, David, 27 years old, 94 Kenmore Place [Originally listed among the dead as D. Borgen of 97 Kenmore Place]
  11. Brunswick, David, 70 years old, 847 East 10th Street
  12. BURTON, Mary, 1458 East 17th Street
  13. Calibria or Calabria, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [Published in NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident]
  14. CLEARY, Margaret, 318 Parkville Avenue
  15. Clifford, Ethel or Louise, 485 Argyle Road
  16. COADY, Emily, 682 Argyle Beach [sic: Argyle Road]
  17. Condra, Louisa G, 23 years old, Brooklyn [No address given. Not listed originally among the dead or injured. “Louisa G. CONDRA, also killed, was born in Newark twenty-three years ago and had been a resident of Brooklyn for three years. She was secretary to the vice-president of the National City Bank in Manhattan and is survived by her mother, Marguerite, and two sisters The funeral will be held to-morrow morning with a requiem mass at the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Interment will be at Newark.”]
  18. COOPER, Margaret, Detroit, Mich.
  19. ENGGRAN, John W., 37 East 10th Street
  20. FLEMING, Catherine, 7 East 10th Street
  21. FITZPATRICK, Ed., Avenue H and East 17th Street
  22. FLAHAVE, James F., 277 East 38th Street
  23. Gardner (or Gardiner), Marion (Mary) Norcross, 347 Lincoln Road
  24. GILBERT, Michael, 26 years old, 1510 East 18th Street or 1819 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gilbert]
  25. GILFEATHER, Thomas F. 388 East 49th Street
  26. GILLEN, Harry P., 29 years old, 1539 East 13th Street or 1634 East 13th Street [two addresses were given for Mr. Gillen]
  27. GIVNAN, Thomas, 28 years old, 1601 Voorhies avenue
  28. GUIDE, Nicholas, 1505 Neck Road
  29. Hennison, Emelia, 95 Lenox Road [Listed only in association with Aline Schwaan at the same address]
  30. HOLMES, George W., 611 Westminster Road
  31. HOLTORF, Theodore, 60 years old, 984 East 18th Street
  32. HOPKINS, Lewis, 2130 Bedford Avenue
  33. JACKOWITZ, Sophie, 4301 Church Avenue
  34. JOHNSON, Mary, Address unknown
  35. KEMPF, Christina, 203 Parkside avenue
  36. KERR, David B. 132 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  37. KINSIE, Benjamin A., 79 Haven Avenue, Manhattan
  38. KIRCHOFF, Clara, 877 East Fifteenth Street
  39. LARSEN, H.W., 713 Avenue N
  40. LAWREY, Nellie, 1782 Shore Road
  41. LAWSON, T. C., 1716 Caton Avenue
  42. LEE, Fred W. 212 South Oxford Street
  43. LOMBACK, Harry 22721 77th Street [invalid street address]
  44. LOMBARD, Henry, 1016 East 18th Street or 1919 East 18th Street [two different addresses were given for Mr. Lombard, in the initial list of the dead, and in a follow-up mention]
  45. LOURING, Frank J., 1025 East 15th Street
  46. LOVE, Bessie, 90 St. Marks Place
  47. LOVELL, Aubrey, 1522 East 10th Street
  48. LYONS, Caroline, 1616 Avenue H
  49. MAIER, Joseph A. 204 Midwood Street
  50. MALAMAUD, Abraham, 602 East 16th
  51. MALONEY, Lillian, 178 Lefferts Avenue
  52. MATTOOK, Ethel, 335 East 21st Street
  53. MEEHAN, Helen, 22, 348 Eastern Parkway
  54. METZGER, Ira H., 816 East 14th Street
  55. McMILLEN, Carnette, Address unknown
  56. McCORMACK, Mrs. Grace, 1404 Cortelyou Road
  57. MUNN, Sadie, 25 Rugby road
  58. MURPHY, Grace, a school teacher, 1297 Homecrest Avenue [invalid address]
  59. NAGLE, Richard, 2124 East 24th Avenue
  60. PALMEDO, Alexander M., 439 East 19th Street
  61. Payne, Raymond, 18 years old, 1213 Avenue H
  62. Pierce, Wilbur F., 23 years old, 244 Lefferts Avenue
  63. PILKINGTON, Mrs. 214 Webster Avenue
  64. PORTER, Willis D., 721 Argyle Road [Mistakenly reported as dead, as “William Porter, Argyle Road”]
  65. PORTER, Edward Erskine, 309 Caton Avenue [Possibly 307 Caton Avenue?]
  66. PROUT, Grover T., 275 Ocean Avenue
  67. Rathe, John Charles Ferdinand (or Roth, Charles), 311 E 19th St
  68. RUBIN, M. H., 675 Flatbush Avenue
  69. RUSSO, Mamie, 485 Grand Avenue
  70. RYAN, Michael, 36 years old, 2163 Nostrand Avenue [Possibly 2162 Nostrand?]
  71. SCHWAAN, Aline, 95 Lenox Road
  72. SCUDDER, Ethel, 1221 Avenue Q
  73. SHEVIT, Syd, 224 East 26th Street
  74. SHIEDEN, John, 420 Cortelyou Road
  75. STEVENS, W. E., 150 Nassau Street, Manhattan
  76. SCHAEFER, Harold, 2804 Farragut Road
  77. Stephens, W. A., 83 Rugby Road
  78. STERN, Adolph, 141 Central Avenue
  79. SULLIVAN, Margaret, 19, 2745 Bedford Avenue
  80. TEN BROUCK (or Broeck), Floyd, 46 years old, 1419 Avenue G (Glenwood Road, today)
  81. THORN, C.C. 2023 Caton Avenue
  82. TIETJEN, Johann W., 420 Cortelyou Road
  83. TOLZE, Genaro, 2439 East 14th Street
  84. TOWNSON, T.G., 1716 Caton Avenue
  85. VINCENZO, Louis A. 493 Gravesend Avenue [Published in the NY Times, 2008-09-06, five days after the accident. I can’t locate this street. Is this know today as Gravesend Neck Road?)
  86. VINEBERG, Morris, 1706 Bath Avenue
  87. WALKER, Marion, 1670 East 10th Street
  88. WEED, H.E., Address unknown
  89. WATTS, Hazel, 48 East 22nd Street
  90. WALSH, Genevieve, 4301 Church Avenue
  91. WOELFER, Charlotte, 738 East 21st Street

Injured

AYER, Oscar, 600 East 16th Street
AMREIN, Kurt, 634 West 135th Street, Manhattan
ANTONELLO, Rosario, 1419 Lincoln Road

BAIRD, Loraine, 2542 East 5th Street
BANELSON, Vera, 170 Coleridge Street
BARRETT, Susan, 1550 East 12th Street
BOOM, Martin P., 635 Flatbush Avenue
BRAULT Zephrin, 107 Martense Street
BROSER, Mrs. Wm., 2641 East 21st Street

CALABRIA, Rose, 1935 East 9th Street [or Calibria, she died 4 days later]
Castellani, Marie, 2764 Haring Street, Sheepshead Bay
CLEARY, Mary, 318 Parkville Avenue
CLINCHY, Susan, 1704 Kings Highway
CORCOCILLO, Joseph, 1089 East 39th Street
COSTELAN, Marie, 24 Harrett Street

DRENNAN, Margaret, 1911 Homecrest Avenue

(No. listings for “E”)

F.

FELICIA, Samuel, 38 Darby Street
FENNON, Edith, 826 Avenue P
Fitzpatrick, Edward N. [No address available. Mr. Fitzpatrick was not originally listed among the injured. He was awarded $35,000 in 1920 from injuries received in the crash. Reference: New York Times, 1920-01-08]
FUCHS, Pauline, 2902 West 17th Street
FULLER, Elizabeth, 364 East 18th Street

G.

GOWARD, Harold, 234 Lefferts Avenue
GIILERDI, Sylvia, 2617 Jerome Avenue
GUTHRIE, James, 800 East 15th Street

H.

HARLEY, Helen, Crown Street
HARRIS, Leonore, 62 Marlboro Road
HARRIS, Gertrude, 810 Avenue U
HARM, George, 2801 East 7th Street
HAYES, Nora, 287 East 17th Street
HALL, Martha, 2715 East 23d Street

(No listings for “I”)

J.

JUDD, Francis, Manhattan Beach

(No listings for “K”)

L.

LARSON, Lillian, 713 Avenue M
LEE, Henry A. 971 Utica Avenue
LERNER, Nathan, 15 President Street
LEES, Loretta, 619 East 4th Street
LEES, Mary, 619 East 4th Street

M.

MITCHELL, Matilda, 3456 East 15th Street
MURPHY, Veronica, 1922 Homecrest Avenue
McGARRY, John, 120 Avenue C
MANDER, Walter, 840 Flatbush Avenue
MARTENSE, Gary, 1501 Avenue U
MULE, Ernest, 2421 East 18th Street
MUSSON, Silas, 402 Ocean Avenue
MELLOW, William, 568 East 18th Street
MESSIER, Josephine, 2163 Coney Island Avenue

(No listings for “N” and “O”)

P.

PIERCE, Mrs. Kate, 1011 Ocean Avenue
PITTS, Frank G. 632 East 16th Street
POCHICHIE, Louis, 354 Prospect Place

(No listings for “Q”)

R.

ROCHES, Mary, 2647 East 18th Street
REILLY, Alfred, 153 Martense Street

S.

SCHMITT, Geo. W., 856 Est 5th Street
SEYMANN, Harry, 104 Woodruff Avenue
SCHUBERT, Arthur, 100 Webster Avenue
STOBEI, Rev. Joseph, 225 Emmons Avenue
SULLIVAN, Loretta, 437 East 15th Street

(No listings for “T” and “U”)

V.

VAN ARSDALE, Betty, 3122 Mermaid Avenue


[bit.ly]

Related content

Malbone Street Wreck, Google Map

Links

Malbone Street Wreck, Wikipedia
Death Beneath the Streets, New York Underground, The American Experience, PBS

The Malbone Street Wreck, by Brian Cudahy [I’ve got this back-ordered from Amazon]
Review of the book by Paul Matus on rapidtransit.net

Franklin Shuttle, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York
BMT Franklin Avenue Line, Wikipedia
Lanes of Mid-Brooklyn, Kevin Walsh, Forgotten New York

Eve of Destruction, 1918: The Malbone Street Horror and Day of the Dead, A Year in the Park

Brooklyn Ron

Malbone Street Wreck, nycsubway.org, transcription of the article published in the New York Times on November 2nd, 1918
List of dead and injured, Brooklyn Standard Union
Alternative Map

Pakistani-American Festival, Sunday, August 17

via the NYC DOT Weekend Traffic Advisory:

Coney Island Avenue between Avenue H and Newkirk Avenue will be closed Sunday, August 17, from 11am to 6pm for the Pakistani-American Festival as permitted by the Mayor’s Street Activity Permit Office (SAPO).

The event is sponsored by the Pakistani-American Merchants Association. Today, August 14, is the 61st Anniversary of Pakistan’s independence.

The Times discovers Kensington

“Pink Shell”, Coney Island Avenue, Kensington, Brooklyn
Pink Shell
The “Living In” feature of tomorrow’s NY Times Real Estate section focuses on Kensington:

… a quiet, verdant area, just below Windsor Terrace, straddling McDonald Avenue and Ocean Parkway. The neighborhood, which is almost one square mile in size, has several long-established immigrant groups among its roughly 70,000 people.
Name From London, People From Everywhere, New York Times, May 25, 2008

Even though it’s right across Coney Island Avenue from me, I have been neglectful of Kensington and haven’t spent much time there in the three years I’ve lived in Flatbush. Kensington and Flatbush both enjoy a rich diversity. With 7 lanes and no median, Coney Island Avenue serves as an (un)natural barrier between our neighborhoods. I have visions of more pedestrian-friendly streetscapes fostering streetlife along C.I.A. Maybe I’ll live to see that.

Once part of Flatbush, Kensington was developed after the completion of Ocean Parkway in 1875, according to the Encyclopedia of New York City. It was later named for the borough in West London; much of its housing was built in the 1920s. The wave of immigration that brought the neighborhood much of its ethnic diversity began in the 1980s.

Besides Church Avenue, smaller shopping districts can be found along Ditmas Avenue and Cortelyou Road, though the latter is not as developed in Kensington as it is in Ditmas Park, the neighborhood of Victorian houses to the east, where it is a major commercial street. A Food Town supermarket on McDonald Avenue recently expanded, to accolades from many residents.

Most of Kensington is a short walk from the southern tip of Prospect Park, including the park’s Parade Grounds, with its tennis courts and baseball and soccer fields. Prospect Park Lake is also close by. Kensington Stables, just outside the park, offers riding lessons.

Individual Plots, East 4th Street Community Garden, Kensington
Individual Plots, East 4th Street Community Garden

Related content

Other posts about Kensington
My photos of Kensington

Some Kensington Blogs and Bloggers

Bad Girl Blog
Kensington
New York City Garden
Porochista Khakpour

Links

Name From London, People From Everywhere, New York Times, May 25, 2008

Sources of Plants for Brooklyn Gardeners

Left to right: Gowanus Nursery, Liberty Sunset Garden Center, Chelsea Garden Center, and Brooklyn Terminal Market

Gowanus NurseryLiberty Sunset Garden CenterChelsea Garden Center, Red HookFlats and racks of annuals at Whitey Produce, Brooklyn Terminal Market

Just a timely pointer to my post from last year, Sources of Plants for Brooklyn Gardeners, May 24, 2007. Since Blogspot doesn’t give me any means of creating a standing topic page, I continue to keep that post up to date.

Related Posts

Liberty Sunset Garden Center, July 20, 2007
Brooklyn Terminal Market is NOT Closed, June 22, 2007
Chelsea Garden Center, June 16, 2007
Sources of Plants for Brooklyn Gardeners, May 24, 2007
Opening Day at Gowanus, March 31, 2007
A Visit to the Brooklyn Terminal Market, May, 2006

Kensington Blogade

2008.03.17: Added more links to posts from other attendees.


The Kensington Blogade
Kensington Blogade

I’m overextended. Too many pokers in the fire. Wearing too many hats. No room for another pig in the sty. (I just made that one up. Blog Widow and I like pigs.)

It’s going to take me most of the week to catch up with my weekend. Saturday I attended Making Brooklyn Bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. And I’m writing a post about that, really I am. But this post is about yesterday’s Kensington Blogade.

We pretty much filled the space at the Old Brick Cafe at 507 Church Avenue, between East 5th Street and Ocean Parkway in Kensington. This was the second-closest Blogade for me, about a 10 or 15 minute walk from my home. (The closest was the inaugural event.)

Kensington Blogade

I was glad to see several new-to-the-Blogade bloggers there. Most I had already met virtually, several were also neighbors. At least two were completely new to me.

Joyce Hanson of Bad Girl Blog organized yesterday’s event.
Joyce Hanson, Bad Girl Blog

Each host chooses if and how to structure the event. Joyce asked each of us attending to present something we had published on our blog.

DSC_9033

DSC_9042

DSC_9060

Brenda from Flatbush, Crazy Stable/A Year in Prospect Park

DSC_9086

Most were readings, but there were also two media presentations, on laptops setup on the bar. My laptop is a heavyweight, or I would have done the same with my photography.

DSC_9049

Tom Hart, HutchOwen

Related Posts

At yesterday’s Blogade, I read Barbara Corcoran Hates the Earth and Back in the Day.
My other Blogade posts
My Flickr photo set from yesterday

Links

Attending:
Blogade Review from the Laziest Girl in Town, Bad Girl Blog
Blue Barn Pictures
A Taste of the Blogade at Old Brick, Brooklynometry
Crazy Stable
Creative Times
Brooklyn Blogade last Sunday, Found in Brooklyn
HutchOwen
Story Time, Luna Park Gazette
Poking My Head Out, Midnight Cowgirls
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
Self-Absorbed Boomer
Kensington Blogade, Shellytown
Washington Square Park
Sheepish, A Year in Prospect Park

This Sunday: The Kensington Blogade

This is a reminder that the next Brooklyn Blogade, our mostly monthly meetup of Brooklyn bloggers and community members, will be this Sunday, March 9, in Kensington. Joyce Hanson of Bad Girl Blog is hosting this month at Old Brick Cafe, 507 Church Avenue, between Ocean Parkway and E. 5th Street:

Time for “Show & Tell”: Bloggers are encouraged to be brave and give a reading from one of their best blog posts. Or bring along your laptop and a screen and show us your best pics. Or just tell us about your best post. Please plan to limit your presentation to about five minutes so everybody can have a turn.

RSVP by THIS THURSDAY. See Joyce’s Blogade post for details.

Sunday March 9: The Kensington Blogade

On Sunday, March 9, the Brooklyn Blogade visits Kensington, courtesy of Bad Girl Blog:

Time for “Show & Tell”: Bloggers are encouraged to be brave and give a reading from one of their best blog posts. Or bring along your laptop and a screen and show us your best pics. Or just tell us about your best post. Please plan to limit your presentation to about five minutes so everybody can have a turn.

WHEN: Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 12noon

WHERE:
Old Brick Cafe
507 Church Avenue, between Ocean Parkway and E. 5th Street
Kensington, Brooklyn

RSVP REQUIRED. See Bad Girl Blog for details.

Related Posts

Blogade

Links

Bad Girl Blog