New York's First Subway

www.PDHcenter.com www.PDHonline.org Table of Contents Slide/s Part Description 1N/ATitle 2 N/A Table of Contents 3~91 1 Battery to Harlem in 15 Minutes 92~169 2 The Elm Street Route 170~254 3 A Gigantic Task 255~339 4 Plant & Equipment 340~375 5 The People Ride in a Hole in the Ground New York’s First Subway1 2 Part 1 Setting Precede nts Battery to Harlem in 15 Minutes 3 4 “Just what are the rights of the owners of property abutting upon a street or avenue, the fee in and to the soil underneath the surface of which has been acquired by the city of New York, so far as the same is not required The completion of the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) railroad in the New York City (NYC) for the ordinary city uses of gas or water pipes, or others of a like boroughs of Manhattan,theBronx and Brooklyn (commonly referred to as the “Subway”) demonstrated that underground railroads could be built beneath the congested streets of character, has never been finally determined…” the city and made possible a comprehensive system of subsurface transportation extending New YkYork Sta tte Supreme CtCourt throughout the territory of Greater NYC. In March 1900, when NYC’s Mayor Robert Van Wyck RE: owing to the magnitude of the work, delay might easily result in failure. An ceremoniously broke ground at Borough Hall Manhattan for the new subterranean railroad, underground railroad was something very new in NYC. No one could say for there were many well-informed people, including prominent financiers and experienced certain that the abutting property owners might not make damage claims engineers, who predicted failure for the enterprise. The railway was to be owned by the city, substantial enough to entitle them to their day in court, a day which might stretch built and operated under legislation unique in the history of municipal governments. into many months or several years. Provisions for the occupation of city streets, payments by the city and city supervision over construction and operation were scrupulously outlined. The experience of the elevated railroad companies in building their lines had demonstrated the uncertainty of depending upon legal precedents. It was not believed, at that time, that the abutting property owners would have any legal ground for complaint against the elevated structures, but the courts found new laws for new conditions and spelled out new property rights of light, air and access which were made the basis for an unprecedented volume of litigation. 5 6 © J.M. Syken 1 www.PDHcenter.com www.PDHonline.org “…a condition absolutely impossible of fulfillment…How is the city to prevent interference with the work by injunction? That question lies with the courts; and not with the courts of this State alone, for there are cases without doubt in which the courts of the United States would have jurisdiction to act, and when schsuch ju risdiction eistsexists thethey hav e not hitherto shown much reluctance in acting…That legal proceedings will be undertaken which will, to some extent at least, “…to secure to the contractor the right to construct and interfere with the progress of this work seems to be operate, free from all rights, claims, or other interference, inevitable....” whether by injunction, suit for damages, or otherwise on the New York State Supreme Court part of any abutting owner or other person.” RE: clause in the NYC contract for constructing the IRT Subway Above: caption: “View of Fourth Avenue at 32nd Street during construction of the IRT Subway, August 1902” 7 8 Another difficulty was the fact that the Constitution of the State of New The engineering difficulties were also intimidating. Subsidence of tall York limited the debt-incurring power of the city. The capacity of the city buildings along the streets had to be to undertake the work had been discussed at length in the courts and the considered and the streets NYS Supreme Court had mitigated this aspect by suggesting that it did themselves were already occupied not make much difference to the municipality whether or not the debt limit with a complicated network of subsurface structures such as permitted a contract for the work, because if the limit should be sewers, water and gas mains, exceeded; “no liability could possibly be imposed upon the city,” aview electric cable conduits, electric which might comfort the nervous taxpayers but hardly inspired the surface railway conduits, telegraph confidence of the financiers who undertook the contracts. Various and power conduits and many vaults extending out under the streets corporations, organized during the thirty-odd years of unsuccessful occupied by the abutting property attempts by the city to secure underground rapid transit, claimed that owners. On the surface there were their franchises gave them vested rights in the streets to the exclusion of street railway lines carrying a very the new enterprise and they were prepared to assert their rights in the heavy traffic load night and day and all the thoroughfares in the lower courts. In fact, the Underground Railroad Company of the City of New part of the city were congested with York sought to enjoin the building of the subterranean railroad and vehicular traffic. The city was carried their contest to the Supreme Court of the United States, which did unwilling to take any risk and not finally decide the questions raised until March 1904, when the Subway demanded millions of dollars of security to insure the completion of was practically complete. Problematic also were NYC’s biennial elections the Subway precisely according to and the fact that the railroad could not be completed in just two years. contract, the terms of which were The attitude and policies of one administration toward the project might exacting down to the smallest detail. 9 Left: underground work at Broad- 10 be very different from that of its successors. way & 96th Street The builders of the IRT did not underestimate the magnitude of the task before them and retained experienced experts for every part of the work. The subway was built near the surface and was easily accessible, well-lit, dry, clean and well ventilated. The stations and approaches were generous in their proportions and the stations themselves were furnished with many conveniences previously unknown. There was a separate express service with its own tracks and the stations were so arranged that passengers could pass from local to express trains and vice-versa without delay and/or payment of an additional fare. Special precautions were taken and devices adopted to prevent a failure of electric power and the delays which would ensue. An electro-pneumatic block signal system was devised excelling any system previously used. The third rail for conveying the electric current was covered so as to prevent injury from contact. Special emergency and fire alarm signal systems were installed throughout the length of the railroad. At a few stations, where the IRT was not near the surface, improved escalators and elevators were provided. The cars were designed to Above Top: 81st Street Sewer prevent danger from fire and improved types of motors were adopted, capable of supplying Above Bottom: 45th Street and high-speed combined with complete control. Strength, utility, beauty, efficiency and Broadway convenience were considered for all parts of the IRT’s structures and equipment, stations, Left: view looking north on Broadway Power House and electrical sub-stations. 11 Left: caption: “A typical station of the new subway, showing proposed arrangement and architectural details” 12 from Post Office Building Right: caption: “A view of the interior of the new subway in New York, showing the general arrangement of tracks and stations “ © J.M. Syken 2 www.PDHcenter.com www.PDHonline.org “The railway and its equipment as contemplated by the contract constitute a great public work. All parts of the Top Left: exterior of IRT sub-station structure where exposed to public sight shall therefore be Top Right:interiorof23rd Street IRT designed, constructed, and maintained with a view to the station beauty of their appearance, as well as to their efficiency.” Left: Fulton Street IRT entrance RE: excerpt from clause in the IRT construction contract 13 14 Above: IRT Subway kiosk “In the new subway in New York crowding will be eliminated by the simple device of providing one stairway for entrance and one for exit, and by making the platforms large enough to accommodate several hundred persons at once. There will be broad staircases, of easy grade, ticket booths designed with reference to appearances as well its use, and the stations will have lofty vaulted ceilings well lighted by day through bulls- eye glass and at night by electric lamps. The decorations will be of tiles, faience, and glazed terra-cotta, with the name of the station plainly marked in panels. All the ornamentation has been designed to help the passenger recognize his station without the necessity of listening for the announcement of the guard or reading the signs. Express stations at the City Hall, Fourteenth Street, Forty-second Seventy-second, and Ninety- sixth streets naturally divide the local stations into groups. For each group a general scheme of decoration has been devised, and no two stations in a group are decorated in the same colors…” Harper’s Weekly, January 31st 1903 15 16 “…Repeated experiments have convinced the architects and engineers that the moisture and drip familiar to explorers of caves and tunnels can be avoided in the Subway stations by building air-chambers behind walls and ceilings. Accordingly, this method of construction has been adopted, and the underground will be damp-proof.

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