Accessibility InfoThis park takes its name from the Long Island Railroad (LIRR), whose tracks form the area’s southwest boundary. The railroad began with the incorporation of the Brooklyn & Jamaica Railroad Company on April 25, 1832. The enterprise originally planned to lay ten miles of track connecting Brooklyn and Jamaica before expanding eastward to Greenport, the northeastern tip of Long Island. There, passengers would connect with a ferry to Stonington, Connecticut where the Norwich & Worcester Railroad would carry them to Boston. The route, devised by Mayor of East New York, B.D. Douglass, would cut the 16-hour trip to Boston to 11-hours. The New York State Legislature chartered the Long Island Railroad Company on April 24, 1834 and track construction immediately began, with the initial ten-mile section completed on April 18, 1836.
This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.
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