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{{Short description|Former New York City rapid transit line}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox rail line
| box_width =
| name = IRT Ninth Avenue Elevated
| other_name = West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway<br>West Side and Yonkers Patent Elevated Railway Company<br>Westside Patented Elevated Railway Company<br>Ninth Avenue El
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| color =
| logo =
| logo_width =
| logo_alt =
| image = NYC Elevated RR 110thSt.png
| image_width = 300px
| image_alt =
| caption = The Ninth Avenue El's "suicide curve" at [[110th Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|110th Street]], in 1896
| type =
| system =
| status =
| locale =
| start =
| end =
| stations =
| routes =
| daily_ridership =
| ridership2 =
| planopen = <!--{{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD}}-->
| open = {{Start date|1868|07|01}}
| yearcommenced = {{Start date|1867|07|01}}
| yearcompleted = {{Start date|1868|4|}}
| close = {{end date|1940|06|11}} (South of 155th Street)
{{end date|1958|08|31}} (North of 155th Street)
| event1 = 1868
| event1label = [[Cable car (railway)|Cable railway]]
| event2 = February 14, 1870
| event2label = Regular Service
| event3 = 1903
| event3label = [[Electric railway|Electrification]]
| owner =
| operator =
| character = [[elevated railway]]
| depot =
| stock =
| linelength_km =
| linelength_mi =
| linelength =
| tracklength_km =
| tracklength_mi =
| tracklength =
| tracks = 2–3
| gauge = {{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
| old_gauge =
| load_gauge =
| minradius =
| routenumber =
| linenumber =
| electrification = [[Direct current|DC]] [[third rail]]
| speed_km/h =
| speed_mph =
| speed =
| elevation_m =
| elevation_ft =
| elevation =
| website =
| map = {{IRT Ninth Avenue Line}}
| map_name =
| map_state = uncollapsed
}}
The '''IRT Ninth Avenue Line''', often called the '''Ninth Avenue Elevated''' or '''Ninth Avenue El''',<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mta.info/news/2011/10/26/remembering-9th-avenue-el|title=Remembering the 9th Avenue El|work=MTA.info|date=October 26, 2011|access-date=October 28, 2011|archive-date=August 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140818132042/http://www.mta.info/news/2011/10/26/remembering-9th-avenue-el|url-status=dead}}</ref> was the first [[elevated railway]] in [[New York City]]. It opened in July 1868 as the '''West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway''', as an experimental single-track [[Cable car (railway)|cable-powered]] elevated railway from Battery Place, at the south end of [[Manhattan]] Island, northward up [[Greenwich Street]] to [[Cortlandt Street (Manhattan)|Cortlandt Street]]. By 1879 the line was extended to the [[Harlem River]] at [[155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|155th Street]]. It was electrified and taken over by the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]] in 1903.
The main line ceased operation in June 1940,<ref name=Closure>[https://www.angelfire.com/fl/mainframeconsole/polo_grounds_shuttle/el9end.jpg Ninth Avenue Elevated Closure Poster]</ref><ref name=Ninth>{{cite news|work=[[New York Times]]|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A14FF345D10728DDDAB0994DE405B8088F1D3 |title=Two 'El' Lines End Transit Service|date=June 12, 1940|page=27}}</ref> after it was replaced by the [[IND Eighth Avenue Line]] which had opened in 1932. The last section in use, over the [[Harlem River]], was known as the '''Polo Grounds Shuttle'''. It closed in August 1958.<ref name=155Shuttle>{{cite web|url=http://s1373.photobucket.com/user/JavierMitty/media/imagejpg1_zpse1f8a458.jpg.html|title=imagejpg1_zpse1f8a458.jpg Photo by JavierMitty – Photobucket|work=Photobucket}}</ref> This portion used a now-removed [[swing bridge]] called the [[Putnam Bridge (New York City)|Putnam Bridge]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nycsubway.org/perl/show?8282|title=Image 8282|access-date=November 27, 2007|date=June 14, 1958|work=nycsubway.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nycsubway.org/perl/show?8296|title=Image 8296|access-date=November 27, 2007|work=nycsubway.org}}</ref> and went through a still-extant tunnel with two partially underground stations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forgotten-ny.com/1999/12/remnants-of-the-ninth-avenue-el-when-is-a-subway-not-a-subway-when-its-an-el/|title=When Is a Subway Not a Subway?|access-date=November 27, 2007|last=Walsh|first=Kevin|work=Forgotten NY| date=December 25, 1999 }}</ref>
The line had the worst accident in the history of New York City [[elevated railway]]s, on September 11, 1905, when a [[Ninth Avenue derailment|train derailed and fell to the street]]. Of the 61 casualties, 13 were killed and 48 were injured.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shaw |first=Robert B. |title=Down Brakes: A History of Railroad Accidents, Safety Precautions and Operating Practices in the United States of America |publisher=P. R. Macmillan |year=1961 |___location=London |oclc=2641112}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite book| first=Robert C.| last=Reed| title=The New York Elevated| ___location=South Brunswick, NJ and New York| publisher=Barnes| year=1978| isbn=0-498-02138-6 |page=138}}</ref>
==History==
===
[[File:Harvey Cable Car.jpg|thumb|West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway test run, 1867]]
The predecessor of the Ninth Avenue Elevated was the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, which was built on [[Greenwich Street (Manhattan)|Greenwich Street]] by Charles T. Harvey and ran from July 1, 1868, to 1870. The line used multiple one-mile-long (1.6 km-long) cable loops, driven by [[steam engine]]s in cellars of buildings adjacent to the track. Each loop was started when a car neared it and stopped when it had passed. The cables were equipped with collars that the car connected to with "claws". As the claws could not be "slipped" the car was jerked each time it moved to the next cable. The system proved cumbersome, broke down several times and eventually the company ran out of money and the system was abandoned. The new owners replaced the cable cars with [[steam locomotives]].
In 1885, the first demonstration of an electric traction engine in New York took place on the Ninth Avenue El.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sansone|first1=Gene|last2=P. Roess|first2=Roger|title=9783642304842|date=August 23, 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783642304842}}</ref>
===Extension===
The Ninth Avenue Elevated was extended up Greenwich Street and Ninth Avenue by 1891. The Ninth Avenue El and several other lines of the [[Manhattan Railway Company]] were taken over with a 99-year lease by the [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]] on April 1, 1903.<ref name="feinman">{{cite web|url=http://www.nycsubway.org/lines/9thave-el.html|last=Feinman|first=Mark S.|title=Continuing the Story of the 9th Avenue El|quote=On April 1, 1903, the entire Manhattan Elevated system was leased to the IRT Company for 999 years. Subway system construction was planned to connect with the Els at various points. By June 25, 1903, the last steam-powered elevated train was operated in passenger service on the 9th Ave El. |access-date=2009-08-04}}</ref><ref name="walker">{{cite book|first=James Blaine|last=Walker|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lpEgAAAAMAAJ|title=Fifty Years of Rapid Transit, 1864-1917|year=1918|pages=182–186}}</ref> The Ninth Avenue Elevated extended over {{convert|100|ft}} above the street at "Suicide Curve", where the line made two 90-degree turns above 110th Street to travel from Columbus Avenue to Eighth Avenue.<ref name="History 2013">{{cite web|last=History|first=Bloomingdale|title=The Ninth Avenue El|website=bloomingdalehistory.com|date=September 13, 2013|url=http://bloomingdalehistory.com/2013/09/13/the-ninth-avenue-el/|access-date=October 25, 2015}}</ref> On [[Ninth Avenue derailment|September 11, 1905]], the worst accident in the history of New York's [[elevated railway]]s took place at a curve at 53rd street, resulting in 13 deaths and 48 serious injuries.<ref name=":0" /> The rebuilding project was extended all the way north to 116th Street, creating Manhattan's first three-track elevated, although center-track express service did not begin until 1916.
[[Image:El' station, Sixth and Ninth Avenue Lines- downtown side, 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue, Manhattan (NYPL b13668355-482803).jpg|thumb|[[Berenice Abbott]] photograph of Ninth Avenue El station at [[72nd Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|72nd Street]], 1936]]
The line began at South Ferry and ran along Greenwich Street from Battery Place to Gansevoort Street in lower Manhattan, Ninth Avenue in midtown (joining with the [[IRT Sixth Avenue Line|Sixth Avenue El]] at 53rd Street, continuing along Columbus Avenue in upper Manhattan between 59th Street and 110th, turning east on 110th and running north on Eighth Avenue (Central Park West and Frederick Douglass Boulevard) until the Harlem River.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Red Book: New York|year=1935|publisher=Interstate Map Co.|___location=New York}}</ref>
In January 1917, the installation of a third track was completed.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05clAQAAIAAJ|title=Documents of the Senate of the State of New York|last=Senate|first=New York (State) Legislature|date=1917|language=en}}</ref> The third track allowed the IRT to begin running express trains on the line in July 1918, from [[125th Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|125th Street]] to [[155th Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|155th Street]]; trains began using the new express station at [[145th Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|145th Street]] for the first time.<ref name=1918Extension>{{cite news|title=Open New Subway To Regular Traffic — First Train On Seventh Avenue Line Carries Mayor And Other Officials — To Serve Lower West Side — Whitney Predicts An Awakening Of The District — New Extensions Of Elevated Railroad Service|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/07/02/106215771.pdf|access-date=October 25, 2015|work=New York Times|date=July 2, 1918|page=11}}</ref> At the same time, the line was extended to 162nd Street in the Bronx, and stations were opened at [[Sedgwick Avenue (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Sedgwick Avenue]] and [[Anderson–Jerome Avenues (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Anderson–Jerome Avenues]].<ref name=1918Extension /> In December 1921, Lexington Avenue–Jerome Avenue subway trains began running north of 167th Street at all times, replacing elevated trains, which ran to Woodlawn during rush hours, but terminated at 167th Street during non-rush hours.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pudl.princeton.edu/sheetreader.php?obj=e75de858-4334-4238-bc92-399e37286bbb|title=An Improvement in Service for Passengers on the Jerome Avenue Line North of 167th Street|date=December 11, 1921|website=pudl.princeton.edu|publisher=Interborough Rapid Transit Company|access-date=September 19, 2016}}</ref>
As of 1934, the following services were being operated:{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}
* 9th Avenue Local — South Ferry to 155th Street all hours, extended Sundays and late nights to [[Burnside Avenue (IRT Jerome Avenue Line)|Burnside Avenue]] via Jerome Avenue Line.
* 9th Avenue Express — Rector Street to Burnside Avenue via Jerome Avenue Line weekdays and Saturdays daytime, extended to Fordham Road weekday rush periods, also Saturday morning rush and afternoon thru PM peak. These trains ran express south of 155th Street southbound until noon and northbound after noon, and made all stops in the opposite direction.
===Closing and Polo Grounds Shuttle===
Most of the line was closed June 11, 1940, and dismantled, following the purchase of the IRT by the City of New York.<ref name=Closure /><ref name=Ninth/> A small portion of the line north of 155th Street remained in service as the "Polo Grounds Shuttle".<ref name="Norwood 2018 p. 351">{{cite book | last=Norwood | first=Stephen | title=New York Sports: Glamour and Grit in the Empire City | publisher=University of Arkansas Press | series=Sport, Culture, and Society | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-61075-635-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PMBYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA351 | page=351}}</ref><ref name="Sansone 2004 p. 43">{{cite book | last=Sansone | first=G. | title=New York Subways: An Illustrated History of New York City's Transit Cars | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-8018-7922-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WFHNSXBpocC&pg=PA27 | access-date=December 18, 2023 | page=43}}</ref> Service ended in August 1958 as a result of the departure of the New York Giants baseball team, which had relocated to San Francisco, and the ending of passenger service on the [[New York Central]]'s [[Putnam Division]].<ref name=155Shuttle /><ref name=":13">{{Cite web|title=Annual Report For The Year Ended June 30, 1959|date=October 1959|publisher=New York City Transit Authority|page=15}}</ref>
==Station listing==
From north to south, the stations were:
{|class="wikitable"
!Station
!Tracks
!Opening date
!Closing date
!Transfers and notes
|-
|[[
|Express
|July 1, 1918<ref name=1918Extension />
|August 31, 1958<ref name=155Shuttle />
|Still exists in ruins; continued north via the [[IRT Jerome Avenue Line|Jerome Avenue Line]] to [[167th Street (IRT Jerome Avenue Line)|167th Street]], and later to [[Woodlawn (IRT Jerome Avenue Line)|Woodlawn]] on January 2, 1919<ref name=nycsubway>{{cite web|url=http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/The_9th_Avenue_Elevated-Polo_Grounds_Shuttle|title=The 9th Avenue Elevated-Polo Grounds Shuttle|publisher=nycsubway.org|date=2012|access-date=July 3, 2014}}</ref>
|-
|[[Sedgwick Avenue (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Sedgwick Avenue]]
|Express
|July 1, 1918<ref name=1918Extension />
|August 31, 1958<ref name=155Shuttle />
|Still exists in ruins; transfer point with [[New York Central Railroad|NYC]] [[New York and Putnam Railroad|Putnam Division]]<ref name="nycsubway"/>
|-
|[[155th Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|155th Street]]
|Express
|December 1, 1879<ref name=brennan>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter18.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013210008/http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/chapter18.html|archive-date=October 13, 2016|access-date=November 13, 2022|title="The two roads are in perfect accord" 1878-1879|first=Joseph|last=Brennan}}</ref>
|August 31, 1958<ref name=155Shuttle />
|Built next to NYC Putnam Division southern terminus, former transfer point until Putnam Division service to Manhattan ended in 1918<ref name="nycsubway"/>
|-
|[[151st Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|151st Street]]
|Local
|November 15, 1917
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|December 1, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|
|Local
|September 27, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|September 27, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|September 27, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|September 17, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|September 17, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 3, 1903
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 21, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 21, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 21, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 21, 1879
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 9, 1879<ref name="tmc"/>
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 9, 1879<ref name="tmc"/>
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 9, 1879<ref name="tmc">{{cite news|title=The Manhattan Company — Opening of the West Side to Eighty-first Street — The Sunday Trains|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1879/06/10/80757413.pdf|newspaper=New York Times|page=8|date=June 10, 1879|access-date=February 11, 2009}}</ref>
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|Transfer to [[IRT Sixth Avenue Line|Sixth Avenue Elevated]]
|-
|[[
|Local
|January 18, 1876
|Before 1887
|
|-
|
|Local
|June 2, 1878
|Before 1887
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|January 18, 1876
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|November 6, 1875<ref name="nycsubway"/>
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|July 30, 1873<ref name="nycsubway"/>
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|December 13, 1873
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|
|July 3, 1868<ref name="Fifty Years of Rapid Transit 1918"/>
|1873
|Original northern terminus
|-
|[[
|Local
|October 21, 1873
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|October 21, 1873
|Before 1887
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|June 17, 1872
|1880?
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|November 5, 1875
|Before 1887
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|November 3, 1873
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|November 3, 1873
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|May 6, 1872
|Before 1887
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|November 23, 1873
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[Franklin Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Franklin Street]]
|Local
|January 21, 1873
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Express
|February 14, 1870
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[
|Local
|February 14, 1870
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[Dey Street station|Dey Street]]
|
|July 3, 1868<ref name="Fifty Years of Rapid Transit 1918">{{cite book | last=Walker | first=James Blaine | title=Fifty Years of Rapid Transit, 1864-1917 | publisher=Law Print. Company | year=1918 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lpEgAAAAMAAJ }}</ref>
|1874
|Original southern terminus
|-
|[[Cortlandt Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Cortlandt Street]]
|Express
|May 25, 1874
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[Rector Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Rector Street]]
|Local
|May 25, 1874
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|
|-
|[[Morris Street (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Morris Street]]
|Local
|August 15, 1872<br>April 15, 1877
|March 19, 1873<br>September 27, 1879
|
|-
|[[Battery Place (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|Battery Place]]
|Express
|June 5, 1883<ref>{{cite news|title=A Station at Battery Place|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1883/06/03/archives/a-station-at-batteryplace.html|newspaper=New York Times|page=5|date=June 5, 1883|access-date=September 22, 2020}}</ref>
|June 11, 1940<ref name=Closure />
|[[IRT Sixth Avenue Line|Sixth Avenue Line]]
|-
|[[South Ferry (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)|South Ferry]]
|Express
|nowrap|April 5, 1877
|nowrap|June 11, 1940 (9th Avenue)<br>December 22, 1950 (other services)<ref name=Closure />
|[[IRT Second Avenue Line|Second]], [[IRT Third Avenue Line|Third]] and [[IRT Sixth Avenue Line|Sixth Avenue]] Lines; [[South Ferry (Manhattan)|various ferries]]
|}
==
{{
==External links==
{{Commons category|IRT Ninth Avenue Line}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050806015341/http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/ Beach Pneumatic Transit Co by Joseph Brennan] Full of Photographs and information about the line, particularly Chapter 14.
* [http://www.nycsubway.org/
* [http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/caption.pl?/img/maps/irt_1939_small.jpg 1939 track map]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111002120430/http://databear.webs.com/ Time Traveling on the NYC Ninth Ave El] — A History of New York City (Manhattan) Elevated Railways
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[[
[[Category:Interborough Rapid Transit Company|9th Avenue]]
[[Category:Railway lines opened in 1868]]
[[Category:Railway lines closed in 1940]]
[[Category:Railway lines closed in 1958]]
[[Category:1868 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1940 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
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