Piraeus is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus. Under Ottoman rule, especially before the beginning of the Greek War of Independence, Piraeus was mostly deserted, except for the monastery of Saint Spyridon (1590) and a customs house, and it was only used occasionally as a commercial port. Although there were numerous land owners, Athenians did not live in the area. There were at least two failed attempts to create a new town, the first in 1792 by bringing a population from Hydra and the second during the Greek War of Independence in 1825 by the installation of people from
Piraeus-Perama light railway at Methonis street, allowing freight trains to access Keratsini Port. At Keratsini a short branch was constructed leading to one of the jetties. Due to serious damages on infrastructure and rolling stock caused by Allied bombing of Piraeus on 11 January 1944 the line paused service until April 1945. Most of its time the line was exploited with two kind of regular services: one full length service from Piraeus to the Naval Base, running every 15 minutes with two car formation of the rolling stock (line number 4) and in between, 7,5 minutes after, a short service from Piraeus to