First New York Subway

New York City built the first major rapid transit subway system in the United States.

In the 19th century, New York City was a burgeoning industrial and commercial metropolis - the largest city in the United States and second largest in the world. As the city's population increased, people began to call for construction of an underground railway. Many unusual engineering challenges had to be overcome, not the least of which was construction in a dense urban area. After lengthy legal battles over property rights and the debt limit of the city, ground was broken on March 24, 1900.

When the subway opened in 1904, it was operated by the private Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT). In 1940 the City merged the IRT with the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit system (BMT) and the Independent Subway System (IND), creating a single municipal agency. Today the New York subway system carries over 1 billion riders each year.

Resources

1. Clifton Hood, 722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993)
2. Interborough Rapid Transit. (1991). The New York Subway: Its Construction and Equipment . New York: Fordham University Press.
3. Metropolitan Transportation Authority
4. PBS American Experience, "New York Underground" video