Fulton Ferry (ferry)

The Fulton Ferry was the first ferry route connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, United States, joining Fulton Street (Manhattan) and Fulton Street (Brooklyn) across the East River. After the Brooklyn Bridge was built, ridership declined, and the ferry is no longer operated.

History

A ferry connecting Broad Street in what was then New Amsterdam with Joralemon Street in what was then Breukelen was started in the 1630s by lone ferryman Cornelis Dircksen. It was later moved to Maiden Lane (Manhattan) and Fulton Street (Brooklyn). On January 24, 1814, the Fulton Ferry Company, founded by Robert Fulton and William Cutting, obtained a lease on the route from the City of New York. The company introduced steamboat service to the route with the "Nassau" on May 8, 1814, and moved the Manhattan landing to Fulton Street that year. The ferry, which had been known popularly as the Old Ferry since 1795, when the Catherine Ferry (New Ferry) was introduced, became known as the Fulton Ferry,Nathaniel Scudder Prime, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC01236721&id=elEOAAAAIAAJ A History of Long Island: from its first settlement by Europeans, to the year 1845] , pages 376 to 380] and the streets on either side were later renamed in turn.Fact|date=March 2007 The Fulton Ferry Company and the South Ferry Company merged in 1839 to form the New York and Brooklyn Union Ferry Company. [cite BDE|title=History of South Ferry|md=August 22|y=1886|page=5]

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