Lenox Avenue Line (surface)
File:Original Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot (15660966029).jpg
The Lenox Avenue Line is a surface transit line on Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, United States. The line was once operated separately, but later became the northern end of the Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line and Broadway and Lexington Avenue Line, now the M7 and M102 bus routes.
History
The franchise given to the Sixth Avenue Railroad by the city in 1851 specified that it should extend its tracks "up the Sixth avenue to Harlem River, whenever required by the Common Council".Common Council resolutions relating to the Sixth Avenue Railroad, reproduced in [https://books.google.com/books?id=HdVbGMuSqhwC A Compilation of the Ferry Leases and Railroad Grants Made by the Corporation of the City of New York], 1860, pp. 267–285 Because Central Park was designated in 1853, the Sixth Avenue Line was only built to 59th Street. This long-dormant clause was used in 1894, when the Common Council ordered the company, then leased to the Metropolitan Street Railway, to build in what had become Lenox Avenue from 110th Street (the northern boundary of Central Park) to the Harlem River.Harry James Carman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=TTwYcXTL28wC The Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City], pp. 39–54, 198–202 The Metropolitan used the line to experiment with conduit electrification,{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/03/09/archives/trolley-under-ground-traction-company-will-make-a-test-in-lenox.html |title=Trolley Under Ground |date=March 9, 1895 |page=5}} opening on July 9, 1895. From opening, the main line began at Columbus Avenue and 108th Street, where the cable-powered Columbus Avenue Line ended, and ran along Columbus Avenue, 109th Street, Manhattan Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue to the river (148th Street).{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/07/10/archives/new-trolley-a-success-the-metropolitans-line-in-lenox-avenue-in.html |title=New Trolley a Success |date=July 10, 1895 |page=5}} Franchises for the tracks other than on Lenox Avenue had been granted to the Lexington Avenue and Pavonia Ferry Railroad in 1892 and the Columbus and Ninth Avenue Railroad in 1894. The Metropolitan soon decided that it would convert all of its lines to the conduit system, being less costly than cable traction.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1895/08/31/archives/horse-and-cable-to-go-metropolitan-traction-co-will-extend-its.html |title=Horse and Cable to Go |date=August 31, 1895 |page=1}} The Lenox Avenue Car House, a car house and power house, occupied the block bounded by Lenox Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and 146th and 147th Streets.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0613F9385D15738DDDAB0994DA405B8585F0D3 |title=In the Real Estate Field |date=February 12, 1895 |page=15}}Map Showing the Metropolitan Street Railway System, 1899
The car house was rebuilt as a bus garage by the New York City Omnibus Corporation in 1938 and 1939,{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/05/24/archives/garage-to-replace-harlem-car-house-old-lenox-ave-barn-to-give-way.html |title=Garage to Replace Harlem Car House |date=May 24, 1938 |page=36}}{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1939/07/31/archives/3acre-bus-garage-to-be-opened-today-new-building-of-146th-st-and.html |title=3 Acre Bus Garage to be Opened Today |date=July 31, 1939 |page=11}} and is still used by the New York City Transit Authority as the Mother Clara Hale Depot.
By 1935, its last full year of operation, the line, operated by New York Railways, was known as the Lexington-Lenox Avenue Line. It ran from 22nd Street and Broadway to 146th Street and Lenox Avenue, via 23rd Street, Lexington Avenue, 116th Street, and Lenox Avenue.{{cite book|title=Red Book New York City|year=1935|publisher=Interstate Map Co.|location=New York|page=183}}