"Brooklyn Bound Wall St. Ferry" - New York 1905

The East River waterfront, between old piers 15 & 16, is the scene for “Brooklyn Bound-Wall St. Ferry”. Located at the foot of Wall St. and owned by the Union Ferry Company, the ferries provided routine service from the foot of Wall St. in Manhattan to Montaque St. in Brooklyn.  The ferry terminal waiting room is lit up as darkness approaches.

Just north of the ferry terminal the steamer “Santiago” can be seen docked at Pier 16, with the Brooklyn Bridge behind in the distance.  She was owned by the Ward Line, also known as the NY & Cuba Service Line, one of Americas oldest shipping lines, providing weekly passenger & freight service to Havana, Cuba and Nassau in the Bahamas.

South of the ferry terminal is Pier 15, home of the U.S Army Quartermaster Department, which ran a fleet of service and transport vessels; including the “Terry” currently docked on the south side of the pier.

The early evening setting, with an early moonlit sky, creates interesting lighting contrasts from both the moonlight and electric lights.  Wagons are lined up for the ferry back to Brooklyn after a long delivery day in Manhattan. They include the Quaker Oats wagon, heading back to their building at Brooklyn Bridge terminal, and the Entenmann’s Bakery wagon, returning to Rodgers Ave. in Flatbush.  The bakery opened in 1898, providing fresh baked goods door-to-door by horse drawn wagon.

A horse drawn taxi is bringing a visitor to the Quartermaster Dept., while the Keuffel and Essa (K&E) company delivery wagon is making a late delivery of compasses and telescopes.  K&E was a drafting instrument & supplies company that expanded their product line to include optical instruments. It was founded in 1867, located at 127 Fulton St. in lower Manhattan, and was supplied by their own large factory in Hoboken, N.J. in the 1900’s.

An older man with his dog is sitting waterside, catching an off-water breeze and watching the ongoing activity.