the first subway was built in new york city on october 27, 1904.
the first subway was built in new york city on october 27, 1904.
when was the first subway built in new york city?
october 27 , 1904
in the bronx, the earliest stations and infrastructure of the new york city subway still in existence lie in the irt white plains road line. the line, under a contract with the city of new york called contract 1, was constructed to connect to the original irt subway system which had operated since october 27, 1904. the section of the white plains road line that opened a month later operated between 149th street and 180th street–bronx park (a spur line station closed in 1952, now demolished) and ran through the irt third avenue line. the underground subway from manhattan (via the irt lenox avenue line) reached the bronx by july 10, 1905 and white plains road line trains operated through the subway. in 1908, as an extension of contract 1, the irt broadway–seventh avenue line would reach the western bronx from 225th street to its present terminal at van cortlandt park–242nd street, signifying the completion of the first subway. the irt's next contract, contract 3, would be granted alongside the bmt's, contract 4, in what is called the dual contracts. under the dual contracts, from 1917 to 1920, the white plains road line was extended from what is now west farms square–east tremont avenue to 219th street, 238th street, and wakefield–241st street, its northernmost terminal. also under the contract, the irt jerome avenue line was opened in 1917 between 149th street–grand concourse and kingsbridge road before its extension northward to woodlawn and the completion of the irt lexington avenue line a year later. the irt ninth avenue line's 155th street station also connected to the jerome avenue line at 167th street in 1918. (this section was closed in 1958 and later demolished.) between 1918 and 1920, the irt pelham line was the last contract 3 line to be built, from its original section between 125th street (in manhattan) and third avenue–138th street, to extensions to hunts point avenue, east 177th street, westchester square, and its northeastern terminus at pelham bay park. the ind's first and only line in the bronx, the ind concourse line, opened in 1933 from 145th street in manhattan to norwood–205th street, its northernmost terminal. the most recent expansion of bronx service happened shortly after the unification of the three new york city subway systems: in 1941, the former tracks of the new york, westchester and boston railway between east 180th street and dyre avenue were acquired by the board of transportation to be part of the irt division as the irt dyre avenue line. through service to manhattan via the white plains road line at east 180th street began in 1957.
list of new york city subway stations in the bronx
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. this commission mapped out elevated railway routes that would be built by private companies, but did not plan any underground lines. in 1889, mayor hugh j. grant created a five-member rapid transit board to lay out lines in the city. in 1891, the state legislature passed the rapid transit act, allowing the government of new york city and all cities with a population of over one million to create a board of "rapid transit railroad commissioners", which would dictate the expansion of rapid transit facilities within the city. the government could issue bonds in order to fund rapid transit for the city. that year, a five-member rapid transit board was created for the city, called the "board of rapid transit railroad commissioners". the board received bids for a municipal underground rail line, but no bids were selected. the board was abolished in 1894 by the state legislature due to its failure to create a subway line. it was replaced by a new board whose members included the mayor of new york city. that year, the new york city government issued a referendum stating that future rapid transit lines should be municipally operated, as opposed to issuing franchises to private operators. in spite of this, the initial subway lines to be operated in the city − the "first subway" opened in 1904, and the initial portion of the centre street loop to essex street opened in 1908 − were privately operated by the interborough rapid transit company (irt) and the brooklyn rapid transit company (brt) respectively. the initial 1890s transit board was replaced in 1907 by the state-run new york public service commission (psc). this agency would oversee the dual contracts subway expansion, which led to the construction of new lines for the irt and brt.
new york city board of transportation