Long Island Railroad Company.

Commuter railroad service in Brooklyn dates to 1834 and the founding of the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) during that year. Originally conceived as a means to connect Brooklyn to Boston, Massachusetts more directly, the LIRR played a significant role in the development and economic growth of Long Island's suburban communities, particularly after the railroad was directly linked to Manhattan in the 1880s. As of 2010, the LIRR is the largest and busiest commuter railroad in the United States, with tracks spanning from Penn Station in Manhattan to the far eastern reaches of Long Island, and a daily ridership of over 200,000 commuters.

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) began construction of the first subway line in New York City in 1900. In 1909, construction began on Brooklyn's first subway line, the 4th Avenue subway. To encourage the rapid growth of subway construction, in 1913 the City of New York divided the disbursement of contracts between two companies: the IRT and the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT), which was later renamed the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT). Under the "dual contract" system, the IRT was awarded rights to expand the existing Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Bronx lines, while the BMT was awarded contracts for the construction of new lines in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. In the 1920s, the city-owned Independent Subway System (IND) was established to further expand the capacity of the city's subway system, as well as to compete with the privately-owned IRT and BMT. The IND's first completed line, the Eighth Avenue subway, opened in 1932.

In 1940, the IRT and BMT were acquired by the city and all three lines were consolidated with the IND into the New York City Board of Transportation. In 1953, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) was established as a public benefit corporation to operate the subway system, and in 1968 the NYCTA was placed under the control of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which continues to oversee and operate New York City's subway system as of 2010.

Long Island, the 118-mile-long island located in southeastern New York State and just east of the island of Manhattan, is comprised of four counties: Suffolk County, Nassau County, Queens County, and Kings County. Suffolk, Queens, and Kings Counties, three of the original 12 counties of New York, were established by the British in 1683. Nassau County, established in 1899, is comprised of the eastern portion of land that was once part of Queens County. Today, the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, located on the western portion of Long Island, comprise the entirety of Kings County and Queens County, respectively. Suffolk County, occupying the eastern-most portion of Long Island, is by far the largest of the four counties by area and is known for its rich, fertile farmland and vast coastline.

During the Spanish-American War, the United States government established two military camps on Long Island, Camp Black and Camp Wyckoff. Camp Black, which opened in April of 1898 near the town of Hempstead in Nassau County, was a training facility established to prepare troops for the Spanish-American War. Camp Wyckoff, established later in 1898, was located near Montauk Point in Suffolk County. The camp was set up as a quarantine and recuperation camp for soldiers returning from battle in Cuba. While in Cuba, many soldiers contracted infectious diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. The most notable of the soldiers sent to Camp Wyckoff were members of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, the "Rough Riders," led by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. The Spanish-American war ended with the signing of the Paris Treaty on December 10, 1898.

Viewbooks, also called souvenir albums or view albums, are books that contain commercially published groups of photographs depicting a place, activity, or event.

The line to Greenport, Town of Southold opened in Sept. 1844.