[St. Felix Street and Hanson Place, Brooklyn: BRT Brighton Line]
Survey photograph of St. Felix Street and Hanson Place, Brooklyn on the BRT Brighton Line. Shows condition of fronts of buildings 145 and 147 St. Felix Street after cave-in. Logbook reads: Camera at west curb of St. Felix Street, 18 feet west of center line of tunnel. Looking south showing bent at bulkhead station 10+75 and cave in. The image was taken at 3:10 pm.
New York Transit MuseumAftermath of a cave-in that occurred during BMT Brighton Line construction at St. Felix Street and Hanson Place, April 17, 1917.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle described the scene:
"A sudden slide of sand, bringing a tremendous impact against the supporting timbers in the new Brooklyn Rapid Transit subway excavation...caused a collapse of the construction work there today, and at least six men were carried down into a hole 50 feet deep."
The Eagle further noted that "an Italian, known only as Dominick, died," the only fatality from the collapse.
Twelve years later, the Hanson Place Methodist Episcopal Church (out of frame at right) was declared structurally unsound, due to damage to its foundation. A new church was built on the same site.
Urban Archive