The Centenary of the New York Subway

New York Transit Museum with Vivian Heller. The City Beneath Us: Building the New York Subway. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004. 248 pp. $45.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-393-05797-3. Reviewed by Peter Derrick Published on H-Urban (April, 2006) The 100th anniversary of the opening of New of the city's subways lines between 1900 and 1940. York City's frst subway line was celebrated in In fact, as indicated by the subtitle, this book was 2004.[1] The celebration included numerous ex‐ prepared to use these photographs, almost all of hibits, tours and lectures throughout the city as which are from the collection of the Transit Muse‐ well as a nostalgic train trip using vintage subway um, to show in detail the complexities involved in cars for invited guests (including this reviewer) building the world's largest rapid transit network, on October 27. This subway ride started at the and what a major accomplishment this was. same City Hall station at which the frst subway Heller's subway history was meant to accompany service had been inaugurated precisely 100 years these photographs, not the other way around. before.[2] This review will focus mainly on The City Be‐ The subway's centenary also saw the publica‐ neath Us but will frst provide a summary of the tion of numerous books specifically for this occa‐ other books published for the subway's centenary. sion. In this reviewer's opinion, the best of these is This is a useful exercise in how a major public The City Beneath Us: Building the New York Sub‐ event was celebrated in print as well a commen‐ way, prepared by the New York Transit Museum tary on the lack of involvement by academics. with Vivian Heller, who helped select the photo‐ Aside from City, the only other new book that has graphs in the book and wrote the book's narrative a coherent narrative history is Lorraine B. Diehl's history of the subway. Heller's short history is ele‐ Subways: The Tracks That Built New York City gantly written and provides numerous insights (2004). In many ways, Diehl's book is a useful into the subways relationship to New York's econ‐ compliment to City, which only has black and omy, society and politics over the past 100 years. white photos, largely of subway construction and The book's main strength, however, is its hun‐ a few illustrations. Subways draws on the large dreds of black and white photographs, taken be‐ number of photos, illustrations, maps and other fore and during the building of the vast majority material available at the Museum of the City of H-Net Reviews New York, the New York Historical Society, univer‐ 100th anniversary, The Subway and the City: Cele‐ sity and public research libraries in New York, brating a Century (2004).[4] This work is the rail and many private collections. (Strangely enough, fan's book for the centennial. It has over 400 pho‐ none of Diehl's materials are from the Transit Mu‐ tographs, many of them never before published, seum.) Her illustrations are organized very effec‐ mostly of subway lines and equipment and the tively to accompany the book's straightforward communities they go through. The text is of a narrative history of rapid transit in New York genre almost unto itself, a jumble of anecdotal from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. nostalgia, including some very interesting stories. To write this history, the author explicitly drew For this reader, the best of these is his piece "John upon several secondary sources, which are cited Tauranac--Mapmaker Extraordinaire," about the in her notes when directly quoted and listed in man most responsible for the current official sub‐ her bibliography. Diehl also thanks specific au‐ way map, which is much more readable, under‐ thors in her acknowledgements and her book has standable and practical than prior ones. an index. (This is in contrast to Heller's text, An even more prolific author on the history which does not have source notes even for direct of mass transit in the New York metropolitan area quotes, does not have a bibliography or an index, is Brian Cudahy. His standard popular history of and which acknowledges no specific secondary the New York subway, Under the Sidewalks of source or author.) New York: The Story of the World's Greatest Sub‐ In addition to City and Subways, the cente‐ way System, has gone through three editions, with nary was seized upon by several other authors the frst published in 1979. This book has a excel‐ and publishers. These works fall into three cate‐ lent narrative text that follows the story chrono‐ gories: narrative or anecdotal histories or ac‐ logically, with the focus on technical matters relat‐ counts; children's books; and books of photo‐ ing to the system itself. In 2002, Cudahy published graphs. The frst category includes another edi‐ a book about many forms of transit in Brooklyn. tion of the standard academic history of the sub‐ For the centennial, he wrote A Century of Sub‐ way, reworks or updates of popular histories, and ways: Celebrating 100 Years of New York's Under‐ a collection of columns about the subway by a re‐ ground Railways (2003). This book does indeed porter who had covered the subway beat for the have one chapter on the frst subway in New New York Times. York, built and operated by the Interborough A centenary edition of the standard academic Rapid Transit Company (IRT), although owned by history of the New York subway, Clifton Hood's the City of New York. There is also a chapter on 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How the legacy of the IRT, which is about rapid transit They Transformed New York, was published in in several American cities, including Chicago, 2004. First published in 1993, Hood's narrative Philadelphia, San Francisco and other cities, to‐ traces the history of the subway up to the creation gether with a brief update on events in New York. of the New York City Transit Authority in 1953. There are also a chapters on the development of His book remains the best comprehensive history rapid transit systems in Boston and London. In of the development of the rapid transit system in addition, there is chapter that covers the develop‐ New York, and will probably remain so for several ment of the electrified commuter rail network in years.[3] the New York metropolitan area, which includes services now operated by the Long Island Rail Stan Fischler, a sports writer who has pub‐ Road, Metro-North Railroad (both of which are lished two previous popular histories of the New agencies of the Metropolitan Transportation Au‐ York subway, prepared a brand new book for the thority, or MTA, which also oversees the New York 2 H-Net Reviews City Transit Authority, the agency that now oper‐ front. Oftentimes, deep tunnels were blasted out ates the subway and the city's buses), and New of bedrock, with workers making holes for dyna‐ Jersey Transit. mite, setting off the charges and then removing Much of Cudahy's career was spent in mass the debris. There are also illustrations of power transit, and he is a master of his genre, which is systems, stations and subway cars. These draw‐ distinctly different than that of the nostalgic sto‐ ings are useful to examine when looking at the ries related by Stan Fischler. He also made sure photographs of underground construction in The that a centennial edition of the 1904 book pub‐ City Beneath Us. Weitzman's text describing the lished by the IRT to celebrate the subway's open‐ work going on (proofread by this reviewer) is ing, The New York Subway: Its Construction and clear and concise. Equipment Interborough Rapid Transit 1904 A third category of books published for the (2004), was reprinted, at a reduced size, with a centennial is of works consisting primary of pho‐ new introduction by Cudahy. tographs, with little text. For this reviewer, the The last book in the frst category is a collec‐ best of these books is another one produced by tion of articles by Randy Kennedy which original the New York Transit Museum, Subway Style: 100 appeared in his "Tunnel Vision" column in the Years of Architecture and Design in the New York New York Times.[5] This book has little to say City Subway (2004). The illustrations in this book about the subway's history, but does capture effec‐ are of materials that were in a 2004 exhibit at the tively some of the more interesting aspects of re‐ UBS Gallery in Manhattan, curated by Carissa cent activities in the subway, including perform‐ Amash of the Transit Museum. Unlike most of the ers, underground fauna, a traveling magician, other photo books, which feature subway passen‐ door blocking, pole hugging and "token suckers." gers, Subway Style has chapters on artifacts of the physical plant of the system: stations and struc‐ Subway books for children were also pub‐ tures, subway mosaics and other ceramic designs, lished in 2004. My Subway Ride, is aimed at four- metalwork, lighting, station furnishings, fare col‐ to eight-year-olds.[6] This charming book takes lection equipment, signage and graphics, route readers on a subway ride to several famous sites and system maps, and on the design of subway in New York, including Yankee Stadium, the Muse‐ cars. What strikes the reader most are the bright um of Natural History, Coney Island and Times colors and vibrancy of the subway cars and of the Square.

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