Editing Coney Island (section)

=== Resort development ===
[[File:Railroad Station, Coney Island, Brooklyn, ca. 1872-1887. (5832942813) (cropped).jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Railroad station in Coney Island, Brooklyn, c. 1872–1887]]
In 1824, the Gravesend and Coney Island Road and Bridge Company built the first bridge across Jamaica Ditch (by now known as Coney Island Creek), connecting the island with the mainland. The company also built a shell road across the island to the beaches.<ref name="heartofconeyisland1" /><ref name="bde19390305">{{cite news|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/52755417/|title=Yellowed Pages of Coney Island Register Reveal Visits of Many Great and Near-Great of Day|date=March 5, 1939|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=July 21, 2018|page=11|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1829, the company also built the first hotel on the island: the Coney Island House, near present-day Sea Gate.<ref name="bde19390305" /><ref name="Phalen2016">{{cite book|last=Phalen|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2HCQDAAAQBAJ|title=Coney Island : 150 years of rides, fires, floods, the rich, the poor and finally Robert Moses|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|year=2016|isbn=978-0-7864-9816-1|oclc=933438460}}</ref>{{rp|8}}<ref name="PBS">{{cite web|title=American Experience. Coney Island. People & Events|publisher=PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/coney/peopleevents/pande07.html|access-date=November 13, 2015}}</ref>

Due to Coney Island's proximity to [[Manhattan]] and other boroughs, and its simultaneous relative distance from the city of Brooklyn to provide the illusion of a proper vacation, it began attracting vacationers in the 1830s and 1840s, assisted by carriage roads and steamship service that reduced travel time from a formerly half-day journey to two hours.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Berman|first1=John S.|last2=Museum of the City of New York|title=Coney Island|publisher=Barnes and Noble Books|series=Portraits of America|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7607-3887-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a_paj4cavDwC&pg=PA15|access-date=November 13, 2015}}</ref>{{rp|15}} Most of the vacationers were wealthy and went by carriage. Inventor [[Samuel Colt]] built an observation tower on the peninsula in 1845, but he abandoned the project soon after.<ref name="PBS" /> In 1847, the middle class started going to Coney Island upon the introduction of a ferry line to Norton's Point—named during the mid-1870s after hotel owner [[Michael Norton (New York state senator)|Michael Norton]]—at the western portion of the peninsula. Gang activity started as well, with one 1870s writer noting that going to Coney Island could result in losing money and even lives.<ref name="PBS" /> The [[Brooklyn, Bath and Coney Island Railroad]] became the first railroad to reach Coney Island when it opened in 1864,<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]|location=[[Brooklyn]], NY|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50404324|title=Travel|date=June 9, 1864|page=1}}<br>{{cite news|work=[[Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]|location=[[Brooklyn]], NY|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50404348|title=Another New Rail Road|date=June 9, 1864|page=2}}</ref><ref name="Our Brooklyn 1936" /> and it was completed in 1867.<ref name="Cudahy 2009" />{{rp|71}} Over the next 13 years, four more railroads were built specifically to transport visitors to Coney Island; this was part of a larger national trend toward [[trolley park]] development.<ref name="Cross Walton 2005" />{{rp|14}}

In 1868, William A. Engeman built a resort in the area.<ref name="Coney Island Hotels" /> The resort was given the name "[[Brighton Beach]]" in 1878 by [[Henry C. Murphy]] and a group of businessmen, who chose the name as an allusion to the English resort city of [[Brighton]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Weinstein, Stephen|editor1=Jackson, Kenneth T.|editor2=Keller, Lisa|editor3=Flood, Nancy|editor-link=Kenneth T. Jackson|edition=2nd|date=2000|chapter=Brighton Beach|title=The Encyclopedia of New York City|isbn=0-300-11465-6|location=New York, NY, and New Haven, CT, US|publisher=The New York Historical Society and Yale University Press|pages=139–140|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0300182570|access-date=November 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Our Brooklyn 1936">{{cite web|title=Brighton Beach History|website=Our Brooklyn|publisher=[[Brooklyn Public Library]]|date=August 30, 1936|url=http://www.bklynlibrary.org/ourbrooklyn/brightonbeach/|access-date=July 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117015009/http://www.bklynlibrary.org/ourbrooklyn/brightonbeach/|archive-date=November 17, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> With the help of Gravesend's surveyor [[William Stillwell]], Engeman acquired all 39 lots for the relatively low cost of $20,000.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Real Brighton Beach|magazine=The New Yorker|date=March 29, 2010|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/29/the-real-brighton-beach|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Phalen2016" />{{rp|38}} This {{convert|460|by|210|ft|m|adj=on}} hotel, with rooms for up to 5,000 people nightly and meals for up to 20,000 people daily, was close to the then-rundown western Coney Island, so it was mostly the upper middle class that went to this hotel.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Williams|first=Keith|title=Brighton Beach: Old World mentality, New World reality|url=http://theweeklynabe.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/brighton-beach-brooklyn-history/|journal=The Weekly Nabe|access-date=July 29, 2012}}</ref> The {{convert|400|ft|m|adj=on}}, double-decker Brighton Beach Bathing Pavilion was also built nearby and opened in 1878, with the capacity for 1,200 bathers.<ref>{{cite news|title=Engeman's New Bathing Hotel|date=July 1, 1878|page=1|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com|url=http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50423388/|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Phalen2016" />{{rp|38}}<ref name="Our Brooklyn 1936" /> Hotel Brighton, also known as the Brighton Beach Hotel, was situated on the beach at what is now the foot of [[Coney Island Avenue]].<ref name="Coney Island Hotels">{{cite web|last=Stanton|first=Jeffrey|year=1997|title=Coney Island&nbsp;— Luxury Hotels|publisher=Coney Island History Site|url=http://www.westland.net/coneyisland/articles/luxuryhotels.htm|access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref><ref name="NY1900"/>{{rp|248}} The [[Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Coney Island Railway]], the predecessor to the [[New York City Subway]]'s present-day [[BMT Brighton Line|Brighton Line]], opened on July 2, 1878, and provided access to the hotel.<ref name="NYCS 2001">{{cite web|last=Feinman|first=Mark S.|title=Early Rapid Transit in Brooklyn, 1878–1913|publisher=nycsubway.org|date=February 17, 2001|url=http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Early_Rapid_Transit_in_Brooklyn,_1878-1913|access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Phalen2016" />{{rp|38}}<ref>{{cite news|title=Another Coney Island Railroad – Opening of the Brooklyn and Flatbush Line to Brighton Beach|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 2, 1878|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1878/07/02/archives/another-coney-island-railroad-opening-of-the-brooklyn-and-flatbush.html|access-date=March 30, 2018}}</ref>

Simultaneously, wealthy banker [[Austin Corbin]] was developing adjacent [[Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn|Manhattan Beach]] after being interested in the area during a trip to the beach to heal his sick son.<ref name="Coney Island Hotels" /><ref name="Features 2013">{{cite web|title=The Upper-Class Brooklyn Resorts of the Victorian Era|website=Curbed NY|date=June 27, 2013|url=http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/06/27/the_upperclass_brooklyn_resorts_of_the_victorian_era.php|access-date=November 12, 2015}}</ref> Corbin, who worked on [[Wall Street]] and had many [[railroad]] investments, built the [[New York and Manhattan Beach Railway]] for his two luxury shoreline hotels. These hotels were used by the wealthy upper class, who would not go to Brighton Beach because of its proximity to Coney Island.<ref name="Coney Island Hotels" /> The 150-room Manhattan Beach Hotel—which was designed by [[J. Pickering Putnam]] and contained restaurants, ballrooms, and shops—was opened for business in July 1877 at a ceremony presided over by President [[Ulysses S. Grant]].<ref name="Features 2013" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Wilderness Made Prosperous By One Man's Vision and Daring|date=July 11, 1954|page=7|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/54414817/|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref> The similarly prodigal Oriental Hotel, which hosted rooms for wealthy families staying for extended periods, was opened in August 1880.<ref name="Features 2013" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Opening Reception at the Oriental Hotel|date=August 3, 1880|page=3|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50504406/|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref>

[[Andrew R. Culver]], president of the [[Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary 1 – No Title|date=July 13, 1906|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1906/07/13/archives/obituary-1-no-title.html|access-date=November 3, 2020}}</ref> had built the [[Culver Line (surface)|Culver Line]] steam railway to West Brighton in 1875,<ref name="NY1900">{{cite New York 1900}}</ref>{{rp|248}} before Corbin and Engeman had even built their railroads. For 35 cents, one could ride the Prospect Park & Coney Island Railroad to the [[Culver Depot]] terminal at Surf Avenue.<ref name="Coney Island Hotels" /> Across the street from the terminal, the {{convert|300|ft|m|adj=on}} Iron Tower (also known as the Centennial Observatory), bought from the [[1876 Philadelphia Exposition]], provided patrons with a bird's-eye view of the coast. The nearby "Camera Obscura" similarly used mirrors and lens to provide a panoramic view of the area.<ref name="Coney Island Hotels" /><ref name="Immerso2002" />{{rp|22–23}} Coney Island became a major resort destination after the Civil War as excursion [[rail transport|railroads]] and the [[Coney Island & Brooklyn Railroad]] [[streetcar line]] reached the area in the 1860s and 1870s, followed by the [[Iron Steamboat Company]] ferry to Manhattan in 1881.<ref name="Phalen2016" />{{rp|29}}<ref name="Cudahy 2009">{{cite book|last=Cudahy|first=Brian J.|title=How We Got to Coney Island: The Development of Mass Transportation in Brooklyn and Kings County|publisher=Fordham University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8232-2211-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtUzg07N0wwC|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref>{{rp|64}}

The 150-suite Cable Hotel was built nearby in 1875.<ref name="NYCS 2001" /> Next to it, on a {{convert|12|acre|ha|adj=on}} piece of land leased by James Voorhies, [[maitre d']] Paul Bauer built the western peninsula's largest hotel, which opened in 1876.<ref name="Coney Island Hotels" /> By the turn of the century, Victorian hotels, private bathhouses, and [[vaudeville]] theaters were a common sight on Coney Island.<ref name="DeSenaShortell2012">{{cite book|author1=Judith N. DeSena|author2=Timothy Shortell|title=The World in Brooklyn: Gentrification, Immigration, and Ethnic Politics in a Global City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S-YNs4ih1FUC|year=2012|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-6670-3|pages=147–176}}</ref>{{rp|147}} The three resort areas—Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach and West Brighton—competed with each other for clientele. By the early 1900s, West Brighton had gradually become the most popular destination, and as such, became associated with the lively amusement area of Coney Island.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=November 19, 2016|publisher=heartofconeyisland.com|url=http://www.heartofconeyisland.com/west-brighton-coney-island-history.html|title=Coney Island History: How 'West Brighton' became Modern-day Coney Island|author=David A. Sullivan|ref=none}}</ref><ref name="Cross Walton 2005" />{{rp|14–15}}

In the 1890s, Norton's Point on the western side of Coney Island was developed into [[Sea Gate, Brooklyn|Sea Gate]], a [[gated community|gated]] summer community that catered mainly to the wealthy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50387044/|title=Sea Gate and Sheepshead|date=August 6, 1899|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=July 21, 2018|page=16|via=Brooklyn Public Library; newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Quest for Rural Homes – Toilers of Greater New York to Gain by Long Island Rapid Transit – Twenty Minutes to Jamaica – Pretty Suburban Villas Springing Up in Anticipation of the Proposed Atlantic Avenue Tunnel – Grass and Air for All|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 16, 1897|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1897/05/16/archives/quest-for-rural-homes-toilers-of-greater-new-york-to-gain-by-long.html|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref> A private yacht carried visitors directly from [[the Battery (Manhattan)|the Battery]] at the southern tip of Manhattan Island. Notable tenants within the community included the [[Atlantic Yacht Club]], which built a [[colonial style]] house along the waterfront.<ref>{{cite news|author=J.B.T.|title=Sea Gate|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 14, 1898|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/08/14/archives/sea-gate.html|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref>