In the early 1800s, steamboats or ferries gained popularity from the invention of the steam engine. Steam power meant reduced need of relying on winds or man power and the various canals and harbors of New York facilitated this new kind of marine transportation. Development of the various New York boroughs was strongly linked to the opening of steam ferry services that linked them together, such as the steam ferry service connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn in 1814 (Homberger, p122) which was invented by Robert Fulton, a famous American inventor, and Staten Island’s first steam ferry service in 1817. Steam ferries served as an important form of transportation that increased trade and commerce between the cities and were also made more affordable and accessible to the middle class in the years that followed.
However, the use of steam ferries declined towards the early twentieth century as a result of bridge constructions and railroad expansion that served as a more convenient link between the cities. Furthermore, environmental impacts of the steamboats which included deforestation and siltation of the rivers resulting from increased use of wood for fuel undermined the use of the steam ferries. Rivers became shallower, navigation was difficult and many steam ferries were either damaged by siltation and swallowed by rivers, or ruined by explosions, fires, or collision with rocks and debris in the rivers.
I agree with you on how much influence the stream boat had between cities. Before the stream boat or ferries was invented we didn’t actually hear much about Brooklyn it seem as if Manhattan was the definition of New York. But with the new form of transportation many was able to leave manhattan and move to Brooklyn. Not so many brooklynites actually work in manhattan but those that did experience more wealth and status. The transformation in transportation allowed Brooklyn to become a city that was known. At first many consider it to be a suburban but as time change so did the shift of immigration and migration. Having ferries and the other forms of new transportation emerge a new city. Brooklyn became a place that many felt they could be able to have a decent place to live.
I think that the development of Manhattan that took place from the beginning of America until now allowed it to remain the center point of business for New Yorkers and Americans buts ferries and stream boat allowed others to realize you can work in Manhattan and live in nearby cities.