Once upon a time, streetcars ruled New York City. Today, we stand at Trolley Car Triangle. It is a small park with a big story.
Trolley Car Triangle is bounded by Astoria Boulevard and 97th Street. It sits in the northwestern Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights. This wasn’t always a park. In fact, the area was farmland. It became densely populated after the Queensboro Bridge opened in 1909.
This area is also home to the nation’s first garden apartments. These cooperatives remain dominant in the area today. Jackson Heights was named after John C. Jackson. He was the president of a turnpike company in the early 1860s.
Look around Trolley Car Triangle. This park was developed in 1927. The City acquired the property in 1928. It was originally known as Street Car Triangle. The name honored the old trolley line.
Imagine a ride on the Grand Street trolley line. It once ran through this very area. The first Brooklyn City trolley car entered Queens County in May 1894. At the end of the month, the Grand Street line opened. It ran between the Maspeth Depot and Broadway. Soon, the line extended to Junction Avenue. It also went across to Bowery Bay.
The trolley’s opening day was a big event. The first trolley carried important people. Among them was the president of the Brooklyn Heights Rail Road. When the trolley reached Jackson’s Mill, they stopped. Passengers toured the old mill. Its water wheel and grinding stones were still intact.
During the 1920s and 1930s, developers built streets near Bowery Bay Road. The Brooklyn City Rail Road kept the trolley line as it was. Residents got used to trolley traffic behind their houses. In the 1930s, the rest of Old Bowery Bay Road disappeared. The trolley tracks were the only reminder of the old street.
Later, the city paved over much of the trolley line. The stretch became a street. But sometimes, you could still see trolley tracks and original bricks. They offered a glimpse of 1890s Queens.
Step back to the present. In 1997, the Parks Commissioner renamed the property Trolley Car Triangle. The triangle was rebuilt in 2001. Mayor Giuliani allocated nearly $25,000 for the reconstruction. The project rebuilt the park’s sidewalks. Today, the park has benches, shrubs, and pin oak trees.
The trolley era didn’t last. New York City phased out trolley operations in the 1930s. The city favored cars. Trolleys were quick, clean, and nearly noise-free. But they got in the way of cars. So, they had to go.
However, there’s hope for trolley fans. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a light rail. It would run along the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront. This BQX project could reconnect the boroughs. It would be their first surface rail line in over half a century.
Trolley Car Triangle reminds us of a time when trolleys connected the city. It is a small park with a big history. Take a moment to appreciate this link to New York’s past.