Let Us Give a Tanks

These two personal pictures come from the personal collection of ..... which are part of the Brooklyn Historical Society collection.  I am posting them here not because I like stealing but because these photographs are very rare.  I posted earlier that there were gas tanks near the Sea Beach Line in Bensonhurst near 8th Avenue.  Here is a 1950's picture of the Sea Beach "8th Avenue Station" showing the edge of a large gas tank.  The gas tank is of the stationary type and I do not know if it was as tall as it's brother in Coney Island.  Notice the Type D Triplexes at the station.

The photo below comes from the collection of John D. Morrell and the photograph was taken on 5/30/1958.  I do not know when the gas tank on the extreme right was taken down.  The gas tanks were are over Brooklyn, including some "baby" tanks in Sunset Park.  They are all gone now due to advances in storage technologies for natural gas.

  This photo also comes from the Brooklyn Historical Society and was taken in December 1958.  You are facing the Manhattan bound platform  at Smith-9th Street of the then "D" train that ran between Coney Island and 205th Street in the Bronx.  Notice the gas tanks above the station roof.  At that time, the platform had windows of frosted glass.  They became shabby after the years and the Transit Authority blocked them up.  In a recent renovation, the windows were restored without glass and they are very nice and offer beautiful views of the Manhattan skyline and downtown Brooklyn.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, the restored arch over Fourth Avenue and 9th Street was also restored but with frosted glass and we thus are missing a nice vista.