Transit Walk: Downtown Brooklyn

Explore the rich history of New York City, past and present, one neighborhood at a time. Through the lens of transportation, discover new places, share stories, and connect with communities.

Over the past 400 years, Brooklyn’s transformation from rural villages and farmland into New York City’s most populous borough has been shaped by mass transit. Early ferry service to Manhattan created the region’s first commuter suburb, followed by trolleys, bridges, and later rapid transit, which helped establish Downtown Brooklyn as a center of civic and cultural life.

Join us for a walk through the transit history of Downtown Brooklyn. Trace the path from early ferry landings, across former trolley routes, past ghosts of elevated trains, and into the subway era, concluding at the New York Transit Museum’s historic Court Street Station.

Your tour ticket includes Museum admission.