New York’s Forgotten Subway

Plagued by decades of neglect, red tape and an ever-increasing population, New York public officials, innovators and strap-hangers are constantly seeking innovative solutions to fix and diversify the city’s transport network. Troubleshooting the transportation system is a story almost as old as the city itself.

A few years after the Civil War, Manhattan had become home to one million people and thousands more were arriving every day. The majority of the city’s residents was packed into the lower third of the island. By 1870 Manhattan had become a perfect storm of overcrowding, pollution and hellish traffic jams, its streets clogged with carriages, overloaded streetcars and omnibuses pulled by teams of horses.