Brooklyn Timeline: Coney Island
1870s: Big Decade, HUGE, for Coney Island
A lot of projects that had been planted in Coney Island over the mid-19th century suddenly blossomed in the 1870s. The Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad opened and transported people to the beach for 35 cents. Which, actually, if you ask me, sounds like a lot for those times. I always feel like things back then should have cost a ha’penny or something. I mean, 35 cents? That must be $4,000 in today’s money.
The creator of the hot dog, Charles Feltman, opened up a hot dog stand on the beach.
People stopped being afraid that swimming in the sea would “leach all of the salts” out of their bodies and started to enjoy the ocean, albeit while wearing some pretty interesting get-ups.
Hotels and bathing pavilions and carousels and all sorts of must-see destinations opened up in Coney Island, and with the advent of Ocean Parkway being completed, people could reach the shoreline more easily than ever before.
Big things, people!