Vintage Photo Of The Week: Coney Island

Bird’s Eye View of Coney Island, ca. 1892, v1972.1.777; Photography Collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.

This aerial view of Coney Island includes several of the attractions that led the area to become a favorite weekend destination for New Yorkers and others. In the center of this photograph is Surf Avenue, as well as the Elephant Hotel, which opened in 1892. The hotel had staircases and shops in the elephant’s legs and rooms inside the structure’s body.

To the right of the elephant is the Sea Beach Palace, another example of Coney Island’s early hotels. It was also the terminal of the New York and Sea Beach Railroad, one of several steam railroads that served the area at the time. Most of the New York and Sea Beach Railroad’s route became part of the BMT Sea Beach Line, or N train.

To see more photos from BHS’s collection, visit their online image gallery.