From Book News, Inc.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the New York City Subway, this volume presents five chapters that describe the beginnings and development of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, look at the connected New York suburban electric rail lines, offer comparative discussions of the subway systems of Boston and London, and provide an overview of rapid urban rail transit across North America over the past 100 years.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Book Description
"I declare the subway open," said Mayor George B. McClelland at about 2 p.m. on October 27, 1904. His hand on the switch, McClelland drove the new electric-powered cars of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company out of the City Hall station for the ride under Broadway to 145th Street in Harlem. After a decade of digging, New York was moving uptown. And everything began to change. Brian Cudahy offers a fascinating tribute to the world the subway created. Taking a fresh look at one of the marvels of the 20th century, Cudahy creates a vivid sense of this extraordinary achievement—how the city was transformed once New Yorkers started riding in a hole in the ground. The story begins before 1904. For years, everyone knew only a new public transportation system could break the gridlock strangling the most crowded city in America. Cudahy’s hero is August Belmont, Jr., the banker who risked a fortune to finance the building of the IRT. Next, Cudahy moves to Boston and London, whose subways were older than New York’s, to compare the experiences of these great cities. And he explores the impact of the new IRT on New York’s commuter railroads and later on rail transportation from Buffalo to Los Angeles. New York simply would not be possible without its subways. With this spirited salute to the powerbrokers and politicians who planned it and the engineers and laborers who built it, Brian Cudahy helps us remember the real legacy of the subway—and the city it made.


About the Author
Brian J. Cudahy’s books from Fordham University Press include such classics as Under the Sidewalks of New York, Around Manhattan Island, and Cash, Tokens, and Transfers.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"I declare the subway open," said Mayor George B. McClellan at about 2 p.m. on October 27, 1904. His hand on the switch, McClellan drove the new electric-powered cars of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company out of the City Hall station for the twenty-six minute ride under Broadway to 145th Street in Harlem. After a decade of digging and building, New York was moving uptown, underground. And everything began to change. A century later, Brian Cudahy offers this fascinating tribute to the city -- and the world -- that the subway created. Taking a fresh look at one of the marvels of the twentieth century, Cudahy tells not one big story, but five carefully linked tales to create a vivid sense of this extraordinary achievement -- how the city was transformed once New Yorkers started riding in a hole in the ground.

The story begins well before 1904. For years, everyone knew that only a new public transportation system could break the constant gridlock that threatened to shut down the most crowded city in America. Cudahy's hero is August Belmont, Jr., the powerful banker who risked what no one else would: he not only financed the building of the subway but also hired the engineer William Barclay Parsons to design it, and later became the first president of the IRT.