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America's First Subway
September 1, 1897 was a day to remember in Boston history. In the hours of that morning crowds of curious onlookers assembled at the Park and Boylston Street stations. At 6:02 a.m., the object of their curiosity finally arrived: an open-bench four-wheel trolley car, overflowing with 175 passengers, completed the first official run of Boston's new subway.
Over 100,000 revelers mad the historic ride that day. Beginning in Allston, through Cambridge and finally descending into the subway tunnel at Boston's Public Garden. The actual "subway" passage, from the Public Garden to the platforms at Boylston and Park, was only six-tenths of a mile. Despite its short length, it was worth all the pomp and circumstance because the first subway system in America had just been born.
After this historic opening day, the system grew rapidly, from that original half-mile strip, the Hub's public transit network has grown to a sprawling web serving seventy-nine cities and towns in the Greater Boston area.
Boston's various mass transit lines -- both above and below ground -- were consolidated under the Boston Elevated Railway Company (the "El") in 1922, which in turn was replaced by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (M.T.A.) in 1947. In 1964 M.T.A. was replaced by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (M.B.T.A.) which expanded the "T's" services and operates the entire system today.
The "Omnibus"
In the 18th-century public transportation had made its debut in Boston with the first old-fashioned stage coaches, transporting people from town to town. Local commuters were still largely traveling by foot or horse, at least until 1892, when Ephraim Dodge introduced the horse-drawn "omnibus."
In 1856, metal rails were laid on Boston's city streets in preparation for the arrival of horse drawn rail cars. This new mode of transportation was smoother, and faster than the old omnibuses. Two years later Brookline entrepreneur Henry M. Whitney began consolidating Boston's various horsecar lines under one company, and by 1889, Whitney introduced electrified trolley cars, which eventually eliminated horse power from Boston's public transit system.
Traffic Jams
Despite improvements in public transportation, downtown Boston had become a traffic nightmare by the end of the nineteenth century. One observer noted that at rush hour a person could walk down Tremont Street on the roofs of streetcars without ever touching the ground. This and other problems helped Boston decide to construct America's first subway.
The First Big Dig
Since 1964, the original stations had head-houses designed by city architect Edmund Wheelwright, have been honored as National Historic Landmarks and National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks. |