Every day for the last several years, I’ve made the trek to DUMBO from further south in Brooklyn for work. And every day, I feel like I learn more about the area’s illustrious history as a welcoming ferry port and hub of Brooklyn industry.

My latest discovery occurred upon reading more about the trolley tracks that run through much of the neighborhood (pictured above), which really aren’t trolley tracks at all. They’re actually part of the Jay Street Connecting Railroad, one of the shortest historical railways in the entire world at approximately half a mile. According to the New York Press, the JSCR was pivotal in the development of the neighborhood, from its construction in 1904 to its abandonment in 1959:

In its life and death, the short line’s history illuminates change: in industrial technology, in the regional economy, in the neighborhood it served (named Vinegar Hill by an 1820s developer, after the site of a fierce battle during the Irish rebellion of 1798). For example, Empire-Fulton Ferry Park only exists today because the railroad preserved the open space for team tracks: an open-air freight terminal where the crews of horse-drawn teams and wagons (and later trucks) could unload cargoes from freight cars directly into their vehicles. Unlike most railroads, the JSC had no direct connection with another railroad. On the map, it seems as solitary as a Lionel train set on a kitchen table. In fact, it connected to the nation’s other railroads by carfloat: long, flat-decked barges with railroad tracks on them for transporting freight cars about the harbor. This was not unusual: at one time, New York’s railroads used tugboats and barges to move over 5,300 freight cars every day about the harbor, providing direct service to pier heads in all five boroughs.

For a comprehensive history, check out the full article on their website or this great virtual tour on OldNYC.com. Or, of course, get yourself down to the waterfront and check it out!