Brooklyn Today for March 13
Good morning. Today is the 70th day of the year. On this day in 1899, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that two elevated trains crashed on the Brooklyn Bridge. One Kings County Elevated Company train slammed into the back of a Brooklyn Elevated train (these were two different companies). “Owing to the quick work of officials,” said the author of the piece, “there was very disruption of service. Trains were switched from Track 1 to Track 2.”
Within a few years, all Brooklyn elevated trains were consolidated under the umbrella of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit company. The BRT, in turn, was reorganized as the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit (BMT) company in 1924. In turn, the BMT evolved into the BMT Division of the city subway system. Trains stopped running across the Brooklyn Bridge in 1944.
Well-known people who were born today include musician Adam Clayton of U2, Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka (“Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” “Laughter in the Rain,” “Calendar Girl”), actress Glenna Heady (“The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Dick Tracy”) and singer-actress Charo (“Chico and the Man”).