On this day in 1904, the New York City subway system opened for the first time.In those days, the streets of Manhattan were crowded with all kinds of horse-drawn vehicles and congestion was the order of the day. So New Yorkers thronged to try this new underground railroad. When the subway opened to the public at 7 PM that day, more than 100,000 people rode the line. It cost a nickel to board the train.
The first line traveled about 15 kilometres and stopped at 28 stations. It ran from City Hall in lower Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal and then on to Times Square and north all the way to Harlem. New York City mayor George McLellan was invited to inaugurate the line that afternoon of October 27th, and he was given the opportunity to drive the train. History.com reports that he liked the experience so much, he stayed at the controls from City Hall all the way to 103rd street.
The New York subway has now grown to 26 lines, operates 24 hours a day, and carries more than 4 million people every day.
For more information see:
http://www.nycsubway.org/index.html.
This site has a lot of information about the history of the subway, but also about what goes on in the subway system every day. It's more than just a transportation system, with many activities for New Yorkers and visitors alike.
For maps of the system and other information, here is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority site...also quite interesting:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm
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Photo courtesy of humdizzy
From...The stock.xchange (www.sxc.hu)
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