In the 1890s, William Steinway constructed the two tubes of the Steinway Tunnel for trolleys under the East River to link Manhattan to his also eponymous company town, Steinway Village, in Astoria, Queens. As part of that construction project, a shaft dug into the granite outcrop known as Man-o'-War Reef to reach the tunnels produced excess landfill that built up the reef and created a small island. Steinway died before his tunnels' completion, and financier August Belmont Jr. finished the project in 1907. Belmont Island, named after the financier, became the legal name of the island. Four workers were killed in a 1906 shaft accident under the island. The tunnels, which pass directly beneath the island, are still used by the IRT Flushing Line (), and are now part of the New York City Subway system. Buildings from the tunnel stayed up until at least 1918.