Transportation
6
The kiosk at the Tram Plaza on Roosevelt Island is one of five original kiosks that marked staircase entrances at the trolley station at 59th Street and Second Avenue, leading to underground trolley car stations at the Manhattan entrance to the Queensboro Bridge. Dating from the bridge's construction in 1909, the trolley system's five lines linked several Queens neighborhoods to Manhattan via the bridge. One line, the Bridge Local, began at 59th Street and crossed over Blackwell's Island, now Roosevelt Island, where it stopped at the roof of the Storehouse station to take on and discharge passengers beside the nine-story elevator building that once stood on the site. It then continued to Vernon Avenue and Queens Plaza before turning back. The Bridge Local used tracks on the outer roadway of the bridge's lower level, with Queens-bound trolleys on the southern roadway after leaving the underground station and Manhattan-bound trolleys on the northern roadway entering the station under 60th Street. Trolley service ended in 1957 with the opening of the bridge to Welfare Island, originally named Blackwell's Island and now Roosevelt Island, and the Storehouse elevator building was demolished in 1970. Of the five original kiosks, three were demolished, one remains at 59th Street and Second Avenue after restoration by the New York City Department of Transportation in 2005, and this one was moved in 1970 to the Brooklyn Children's Museum for use as its main entrance. When the museum planned a new entrance in the late 1990's and the kiosk faced demolition, Roosevelt Island Historical Society President Judith Berdy worked with the museum and city agencies to move it near its original home for reuse as the Roosevelt Island Historical Society Visitor Center. It was trucked to Roosevelt Island in January 2005, installed by crane in October 2006 on a concrete foundation built to support its 68,000 pounds, and opened in June 2007 as the Roosevelt Island Historical Society Visitor Center.
Hear stories like this as you drive
ExploreHere reads historical markers out loud as you pass them: over 325,000 stories across the US. No account needed.
4.7 · 800+ ratings · Free
FIND IT
New York, New York · United States
