Early history of the IRT subway
The first regularly operated line of the New York City Subway was opened on October 27, 1904, and was operated by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company. The early IRT system consisted of a single trunk line running south from 96th Street in Manhattan, with a southern branch to Brooklyn. North of 96th Street, the line had three northern branches in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. The system had four tracks between Brooklyn Bridge–City Hall and 96th Street, allowing for local and express service. The original line and early extensions consisted of:
- The IRT Eastern Parkway Line from Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center to Borough Hall
- The IRT Lexington Avenue Line from Borough Hall to Grand Central–42nd Street
- The IRT 42nd Street Shuttle from Grand Central–42nd Street to Times Square
- The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line from Times Square to Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street
- The IRT Lenox Avenue Line from 96th Street to 145th Street
- The IRT White Plains Road Line from 142nd Street Junction to 180th Street–Bronx Park
The designs of the underground stations are inspired by those of the Paris Métro; with few exceptions, Parsons's team designed two types of stations for Contracts 1 and 2. Many stations were built just below or above street level, as Parsons wished to avoid using escalators and elevators as the primary means of access to the station. Heins & LaFarge designed elaborate decorative elements for the early system, which varied considerably between each station, and they were also responsible for each station's exits and entrances. Most tunnels used cut-and-cover construction, although deep-level tubes were used in parts of the system; elevated structures were used in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. The lines used third rail power supplied by the IRT Powerhouse, as well as rolling stock made of steel or of steel–wood composite.
The city could only afford one subway line in 1900 and had hoped that the IRT would serve mainly to relieve overcrowding on the existing transit system, but the line was extremely popular, accommodating 1.2 million riders a day by 1914. Although the subway had little impact on retail in Lower and Midtown Manhattan, the completion of the IRT subway helped encourage other development, including residential growth in outlying areas and the relocation of Manhattan's Theater District. The Dual Contracts, signed in 1913, provided for the expansion of the subway system; as part of the Dual Contracts, a new H-shaped system was placed in service in 1918, splitting the original line into several segments. Most of the original IRT continues to operate as part of the New York City Subway, but several stations have been closed.
History
Earlier plans
The New York State Legislature granted a charter to the New York City Central Underground Company to give it power to construct a subway line in 1868. However, the charter made it impossible for the company to raise adequate money to fund the line's construction. Cornelius Vanderbilt and some associates had the New York City Rapid Transit Company chartered in 1872 to build an underground line from Grand Central station to City Hall as an extension of the Park Avenue main line. The line would have run from Broadway's east side at City Hall Park east to Chatham or Centre Street, then to Park Street, Mott Street, the Bowery, Third Avenue, and Fourth Avenue to connect with the existing line between 48th Street and 59th Street. The line was estimated to cost $9.1 million.While Cornelius Vanderbilt had indicated his intent to continue the underground line to City Hall, there was speculation that he did not intend to build the section south of 42nd Street. William Henry Vanderbilt stated the line would not be as dark as the Metropolitan Railway, and that there would be stations every eight blocks, or every. In January 1873, he expected the cost of the work to City Hall to be $8 to $10 million, and that the whole project would be completed by January 1, 1875. The line was expected to have 400,000 daily passengers, and trains would have traversed the line from City Hall to Grand Central in twelve minutes, and from there to the Harlem River in ten minutes. Although plans and surveys for the line were completed by January 1873, and proposals for the project were being received, Vanderbilt elected not to follow through on the project due to public criticism for the grant, opposition to the project from business people and homeowners in the Bowery and due to the Panic of 1873.
The State Legislature granted other applications for the incorporation of companies to construct a subway in New York, including the Arcade Railroad, which would have been built by the Beach Pneumatic Railroad Company. Since none of these companies could obtain enough capital to fund construction, proposals to construct a subway line died by 1875. That year, the Rapid Transit Act of 1875 was passed, allowing for the construction of multiple elevated rail lines in the city, which reduced demand for a subway line until 1884. In 1874, the New York State Legislature passed a bill allowing for the creation of a rapid transit commission in New York City, which was formed in 1875.
In April 1877, the New York City Board of Alderman passed a resolution requesting that Commissioner Campbell assess the feasibility of constructing an underground line from City Hall to the existing line by private enterprise. The Commissioner was strongly in support of such a plan, and predicted that such a line would have a daily ridership of 100,000, would make $1.8 million annually and would cost $9 to $10 million to build–in his mind, a financial success. William Vanderbilt was criticized for not following through on the plans of his father to extend the line to City Hall.
In 1880, the New York Tunnel Railway was incorporated to construct a railroad from Washington Square Park under Wooster Street and University Street to 13th Street, and then under Fourth Avenue and 42nd Street to connect to the Fourth Avenue Improvement. On October 2, 1895, the Central Tunnel Company, the New-York and New-Jersey Tunnel Railroad Company, and the Terminal Underground Railroad Company of New York were consolidated into the Underground Railroad Company of the City of New York. Together, they planned to build a line running from City Hall Park to the Fourth Avenue Improvement. The line would have run north under Chambers Street and Reade Street, before going up Elm Street to Spring Street, Marion Street and Mulberry Streets, before continuing through blocks and Great Jones Street, Lafayette Place, Astor Place and Eighth Street, and then under Ninth Street to Fourth Avenue, before heading under 42nd Street to Grand Central Depot to connect with the Fourth Avenue Improvement. The line would have had three connecting branches.
In January 1888, Mayor Abram Hewitt, in his message to the New York City Common Council, conveyed his belief that a subway line could not be built in New York City without the use of credit from the city government, and that if city funding were used, the city should own the subway line. He stated that a private company would likely be needed to undertake the construction of the line, and would have to provide a sufficient bond to complete the work to protect the city against loss. Hewitt said that the company would be able to operate the line, but would need to do so under rent, which would pay off the interest on the city bonds used to finance the construction of the line, and a sinking fund to pay off the payment of the bonds. Furthermore, the company should fund the real estate needed for buildings, such as power houses, the rolling stock to operate subway service, and a fund to protect the city against losses if the company failed to build and operate the subway line. Though the Mayor in the message also suggested encouraging the New York Central Railroad to construct and operate a subway line, the company was unwilling to start such a venture. Legislation was drafted and submitted to the State Legislature in 1888 to allow for competition among companies and people willing to start work on a subway line. However, due to opposition from the Common Council, and Tammany Hall, it was hard to find any legislator to sponsor the bill. The bill failed after the Committee of the Legislature elected not to report the bill back to the New York State Senate.
New mayor Hugh J. Grant appointed a five-member Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners in April 1889 to lay out planned subway lines across the city. The Board held its first meeting on April 23, 1890, and elected August Belmont as its President. The Board sent a letter to Mayor Grant on June 20, telling him that state law made it illegal to construct a rail line on many streets in the city, making it impossible to provide routes for a subway line that would benefit the public. The Board later adopted a route that would avoid these restrictions, with the section of the route between 42nd Street and City Hall being identical to the route of the first subway line that would be built.
As a result of the worsening transportation situation in the city, and requests for action by the public, the State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act of 1891, allowing all cities with a population of over one million, of which New York City was the only one, to create a board of "rapid transit railroad commissioners." This Board would determine whether it was necessary to build a rapid transit system, and if this were the case, would adopt a route for the construction of a railroad and obtain permission for its construction from local authorities, and local property owners, or from the General Term of the New York Supreme Court. The Board would then approve detailed plans for the operation and construction of the railroad and sell the right to operate and construct the rail line. The government could issue bonds in order to fund rapid transit for the city. The year, a five-member rapid transit board for the city, called the Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners, was appointed. After a series of hearings, it unanimously concluded that a rapid transit system was needed in New York City and that it should be completed through an underground system. The board released a plan for a mostly underground rapid transit line on October 20, 1891, and obtained consent from local authorities and the General Term of the New York Supreme Court. The Board adopted detailed plans for the railroad, and opened bidding for the contract on December 29, 1892. While it received bids for the municipal rail line, no bids were selected as no responsible bidder was willing to take on the project. Following this failed attempt, the plan was essentially scrapped, and the Board lacked the power to act further.
As a result of this failure, a proposition was made requesting that the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York construct a subway system if New York City loaned it money to undertake the work. A committee of the most influential members of the Chamber came out in support of the proposition, but former Mayor Hewitt stated it was not wise to present the public with a proposal in which public money would be used by the private sector. Hewitt's opinion was unanimously approved by the Chamber of Commerce, and a new committee was created to write a bill, based in part on the legislation Hewitt proposed in 1888, to submit to the State Legislature.