Existing comment:
Pneumatic Tube Service:
Networks of pneumatic tubes speeded mail beneath city streets beginning in the 1890s. Pneumatic carriers holding 600 letters traveled at about 35 miles per hour. The tubes were introduced in 1893 in Philadelphia. Boston, Brooklyn, New York City, Chicago, and St. Louis also adopted the system. Soon these cities had over 56 miles of tubes.
Suspended in World War I as an economy measure, the service was restored in New York and Boston after the war. By the 1950s, increasing mail volume and changing urban landscapes made pneumatic tubes impractical. Post offices and businesses could move easily, but the underground pneumatic system could not. |