April 17, 2018
Over all, Beach’s transit system was viewed more as a curiosity than as a practical device, especially since it never grew past its one short tunnel, two stations, and one train car. Although New York’s State legislature eventually gave Beach a charter to build a subway line, the economic Panic of 1873 made funding for the project unavailable. After 1873, Beach’s demonstration subway line was no longer used.17 In 1912, when construction workers began building a subway line on Broadway, they rediscovered Beach’s tunnel, the original construction shield at the south end, and the remains of the wooden subway car. Unfortunately, the tunnel was destroyed during the new construction, and the original Beach Pneumatic Transit station, located in the basement of a nearby building, also disappeared when that building was torn down.18 However, not all was lost. Clearly, Alfred Ely Beach’s forward thinking inspired the transit of today, helping city-dwelling citizens of today and many more.
Alfred Ely Beach
New York City
Pneumatic Subway
William “Boss” Tweed
Cooper Dubrule
I’ve always wanted to visit New York and after reading this article, even more so because its written really puts the population and atmosphere into perspective. I liked the story behind the subways and how Boss Tweed was involved in the situation as well. Now, the subway system in New York is the primary mode of transportation for many and it was nice to receive insight to the origins of them.
02/09/2018
2:36 pm
Roman Olivera
Alfred Ely Beach, that’s a name I have not heard before. This seems like a man with vision for the future that was held back by greedy politicians. I guess not a lot has changed in 140 plus years. This man was truly the start of the New York subway system and his efforts seemed to be overshadowed by the actions of a corrupt local government in New York city. I learned a lot through this article a bout the early innovation of the Pneumatic Subway and the struggle for young inventors like Beach to be able to run with their ideas to help society as a whole. It was sad to hear that his system wasn’t allowed to be built during his lifetime and almost forgotten about until the building of the actual subway system was underway in 1912. This is a great article of information I definitely had never heard before. Thank you for shedding light on a little know but great inventor in american history.
02/09/2018
2:36 pm
Adrian Cook
I have never been to New York to experience these subway systems in themselves but I know it’s a majority of the city’s transportation. Each day there’s thousands to millions who ride the subway train and it’s all thanks to the idea of Beach. If he didn’t do this operation secretly behind Tweed’s back then it would’ve taken many more years to develop a successful railway system. It was a smart invention because the surface of New York is filled with millions of cars.
08/09/2018
2:36 pm
Reagan Meuret
The subway system really was so innovative especially for its time. It is even more impressive on how it was created underneath an already extremely populated city. It is also very crazy to think it could have been created much sooner if it wasn’t for the crooked politicians of the time! Overall this article was a very good read over a very interesting man and innovation.
09/09/2018
2:36 pm
Christopher Vasquez
It’s interesting to know where part of the inspiration for the subway comes from. Alfred Ely Beach’s forward thinking helped propel the scientific minds of inventors. Buying Scientific Americ American to help those who wanted to invent was a great idea; this way, those who could not readily access pertinent information found a great source of information. It’s also unfortunate that Beach ran into William “Boss” Tweed, a corrupt individual who would stop at nothing to make sure that his money and prospects were protected. In the end, however, despite being an obstacle, Beach was able to overcome him by funding an underground subway. Although it never became used as an actual subway system, his ingenuity was an impetus behind the underground subway.
11/09/2018
2:36 pm
Micaela Cruz
I had never heard of Alfred Ely Beach before reading this article, but after reading this article and learning about his contributions, it is surprising how little he is mentioned or credited with the creating of the underground transportation in New York. The author gave a great amount of detail to this story and even provided a bit more background on Beach than I would have expected. Overall, the quality content of this article was great.
11/09/2018
2:36 pm
Caden Floyd
Prior to reading this article, I had never knew where the ideas of an underground subway originated. However after reading the article, it has intrigued me how a secret tunnel built by a man completely changed public transportation for New York and it’s people forever. Starting off as a small project kept a secret, to completely revolutionizing the public transportation system for the generations to come. Although his model never was used to transport people in a subway, his idea helped shape the future of the underground transportation system.
16/09/2018
2:36 pm
kendrick Harrison
The article as a whole was magnificent–especially the exposition. I know very little about New York, so any bits of information about the culture, trade, or geography are helpful, and Iris managed to tie each of the categories together in a very convincing manner. As for Alfred Beach, his story really resonates with me. Like him, I have a passion for inventing, so to see him take such a big risk (at his own expense) against a powerful and crooked man like Tweed, was inspiring to say the least.
18/09/2018
2:36 pm
William Rittenhouse
If I wouldn’t of read this, I would not know of how the subway system in New York came to be. I’ve used the subway system now and it is pretty efficient. It is pretty crazy to think how one corrupt guy almost stopped his invention from happening and we probably wouldn’t have developed subways until much later. I would say this is probably the best transportation invention of the 19th century which revolutionized the travel and public transportation.
19/09/2018
2:36 pm
Harashang Gajjar
Elevated lines eventually gained popularity because of their lower cost. Thus the Interborough Rapid Transit Company didn’t begin underground public transit service until 34 years after Beach’s demonstration line first opened.Despite its appearance in Ghostbusters II, no elements of Beach’s subway remain. The station was lost to fire in 1898, and the tunnel was destroyed during construction of a Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit tunnel in 1912. Today’s City Hall station occupies the former tunnel’s footprint.
31/08/2018
2:36 pm