| Reviews | The Journal of The Society For Industrial Archeology, 31.1

Reviews

722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York. By Clifton Hood. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2004, centennial edition [orig. published 1993]. 335 pp., maps, illus., refs., index. $18.95 pb (ISBN 0-8018-8054-8).

722 Miles covers the history of the New York City subway system from the late 1800s, when subways were first proposed, through 1953, when the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) was created. Clifton Hood discusses how the growth of New York created the need for an effective mass transit system and how, in turn, the new subway lines were the catalyst for development in northern Manhattan and, later, other boroughs in the city. He also describes the political forces that shaped the development of the city's subways.

The first New York subway was an experimental, pneumatically propelled system that opened in 1870 under Broadway near City Hall. The subway car was propelled by air being blown or sucked through the tunnel by a Roots blower. Although popular with the public, technical limitations prevented development of a more extensive system, and it shut down four years later.

In 1888, Mayor Abraham Hewitt proposed an underground rapid-transit system that would run from southern Manhattan to the Bronx. Hood provides a good account of the initial attempts to plan, finance, and build the subway. He begins with the Steinway Commission, chaired by William Steinway (yes, of the famous Steinway & Sons piano company), which planned two routes linking Manhattan and the Bronx. Although this commission was succeeded by the Rapid Transit Commission, the new commission proposed similar routes. Steinway, along with other business elites led by the New York State Chamber of Commerce, organized political and financial support for the subways. Finally, in 1900, Contract No. 1 was signed to build, equip, and operate New York's first subway.

Readers of 722 Miles gain an appreciation for the construction challenges faced by the project engineer, William Barclay Parsons. For example, much of Manhattan's geology consists of schist, a very hard rock prone to fracture, which made subway construction difficult and dangerous. Where possible, Parsons located subway tunnels close to the surface to avoid the schist, but this involved relocation of utilities such as telephone lines, electric cables, water pipes, steam mains, and sewer lines. Although most of the construction narrative focuses on the engineering issues faced by the builders, the hardships confronting the laborers are also covered, albeit briefly.

On 27 October 1904, the Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) subway opened for service. Hood conveys the joy New Yorkers experienced on their first subway rides. Mayor George McClellan, who had the honor of operating the first train, enjoyed it so much that he would not allow the motorman to take over at the designated time. When the subway opened to the public that evening, more than 110,000 people rode. Some spent the entire evening riding the train back and forth between the endpoint stations. Others dressed up and went out to dinner as if the occasion was comparable to New Year's Eve.

722 Miles gives readers a sense of why the New York subway was regarded as a technological marvel in the early-20th century. When it opened, the IRT was the fastest subway in the world. Its speed was both a source of amazement for New Yorkers and a source of danger for unwary passengers crossing the tracks who were hit by the fast subways. The high speeds were made possible by its four-track configuration, which separated local and express trains. While 722 Miles states that the New York subway was the first in the world to be built with four tracks, it does not mention that this system remains one of the only rail rapid-transit systems in the country with this configuration, even including the modern metro systems in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Washington, DC.

Subsequent chapters cover the expansion of the subway beyond the initial lines linking Lower Manhattan and the Bronx, the rapid development of real estate in four of the city's five boroughs, the social aspects of the subway, and the financial difficulties endured by the subway when politicians made it impossible to raise fares to fund increasing expenses. Five maps illustrate the expansion of the subways. Unfortunately, the maps, which fill up just a quarter page each, are too small. Full-page maps would have provided readers a much clearer understanding of how the subway lines served New York.

Hood's treatment of the New York subway after 1950 is disappointing. His claim that the creation of NYCTA "set the stage for the subway's deterioration in the 1970s and afterward" is unconvincing (p. 254). Much more important factors causing the decline of mass transit in New York and other American cities were increasing automobile ownership; rapid growth of the suburbs; and local, state, and federal policies that explicitly favored automobile usage at the expense of public transportation.

Although 722 Miles was first published in 1993 and republished in 2004 as a centennial edition, very little was added to bring the book up to date. Hood should have added a new chapter discussing the New York subway system since 1953. This chapter would certainly have described the further decline of the subway into the 1970s (along with the financial problems experienced by New York City itself). Moving into the 1980s, however, the additional narrative would have described how major improvements reversed decades of neglect and how New Yorkers began to return to the subways in great numbers. New stainless steel cars replaced the venerable red cars on the IRT, stations were renovated, and new fare collection systems were installed. Perhaps the most important symbol of the subway's resurgence was the eradication of nearly all graffiti on the subway cars. To meet the increasing demand on the original IRT lines, the NYCTA is now poised to build a new subway under Second Avenue.

On page 12 of the introduction, Hood declares, "The subway is essential to New York City's existence." It is puzzling that 722 Miles' epilogue concludes with the statement, "the subway belongs to New York's past rather than its future" (p. 260). He was right the first time.


	David E. Wohlwill

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