The Little Station in the Woods   Page 2

The Avenue H station house as it appears today. The woods pressing in on all sides are gone now and there are streets on two corners, but the distinctive appearance of the building is almost untouched. View is looking southwest from Avenue H and East 16th Street.    Courtesy of Kevin Walsh


The Woods of Midwood
When the Brighton Line began its life in 1878 as the Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railroad, there was no need for a station at Avenue H. In fact, there was no Avenue H or any settlement to have a station for. The BF&CI served the more populous parts of Flatbush and other settled communities, but mostly it whisked fun seekers from the Long Island Rail Road depot at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues down to the salt air and sea breezes at the Hotel Brighton on the shores of the newly developing Coney Island.
     When way stations became more numerous during steam days on the Brighton Line, stops were established to the north at South Midwood (Newkirk Avenue) and to the south at South Greenfield (Avenue M). Despite the nearby junction of the Brighton Line and the Bay Ridge Line of the LIRR, the future location of Avenue H remained an unpopulated forest of oaks and chestnuts.

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