The Catherine and Main Street Ferry Company was established in 1811 by Samuel Bowne for the purpose of operating a ferry line that connected Catherine Street in Manhattan to Main Street in Brooklyn across the East River. This particular ferry line, originally known as the New Ferry, was first established in 1795 to supplement the service of the Fulton Ferry, which had been the first ferry to provide service between Brooklyn and Manhattan (1). Bowne operated the ferry until 1852, when he sold the company to Cyrus P. Smith and William F. Bulkley (2). The ferry was subsequently purchased the following year by the Union Ferry Company of Brooklyn, whose one-cent fare rendered the Catherine and Main Street Ferry Company and several other ferry companies uncompetitive (3).
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Sources:
- Nathaniel S. Prime.
A History of Long Island From its First Settlement by Europeans to the Year 1845 (New York: Robert Carter, 1845), 376-380.
- "Catharine Ferry,"
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 29, 1852, 1.
- "Brooklyn Ferries,"
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 10, 1853, 2.
From the guide to the Catherine and Main Street Ferry Company records, 1812-1845, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
