New York's secret subway : the underground genius of Alfred Beach and the origins of mass transit / Matthew Algeo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Algeo, Matthew, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Beach, Alfred E. (Alfred Ely), 1826-1896.

Beach, Alfred E.

Subways--New York (State)--New York--History.

Subways.

Local transit--New York (State)--New York--History.

Local transit.

Urban transportation--New York (State)--New York--History.

Urban transportation.

New York (N.Y.)--History--1865-1898.

New York (N.Y.).

Civil engineering--United States--19th century.

Civil engineering.

Political corruption--New York (State)--New York--19th century.

Political corruption.

Genre:

Creative nonfiction.

Physical Description:

xii, 276 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Underground genius of Alfred Beach and the origins of mass transit

Alfred Beach and the origins of mass transit

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Island Press, [2025]

Summary:

In the nineteenth century, Manhattan's streets were so choked with pedestrians, horses, vehicles, and vendors that a trip from City Hall to Central Park could take hours. Alfred Beach had the perfect solution: build a giant pneumatic tube underneath Broadway from the Battery to Harlem. Air pressure would shoot passengers up and down the island in clean, quiet carriages. But Beach was up against the operators of the horse-drawn streetcars and the politicians in their pay, most conspicuously William M. Tweed, the notorious "Boss" of Tammany Hall. New York's Secret Subway: The Underground Genius of Alfred Beach and the Origins of Mass Transit tells a classic story of good versus evil, pitting the mild-mannered Beach, a visionary inventor and entrepreneur, against the oafish tyrant Tweed, the exemplar of corruption in the Gilded Age. It also tells the story of one of the most astonishing feats of engineering in American history, the surreptitious creation of the nation's first operational subway. New York seemed destined to become the second city in the world with a comprehensive subway system, after London. Unfortunately, political lethargy and greed would conspire to deny the city a subway for another thirty years. Yet Alfred Beach still proved conclusively the feasibility of underground railways in Manhattan, and paved the way for modern mass transportation systems. Richly illustrated and populated with larger-than-life characters, New York's Secret Subway will captivate readers and provide historical context for today's clashes between public interests and powerful business and political groups. Algeo tells this amazing true story in full for the first time, and although it took place more than a century ago, it will at times sound surprisingly familiar.

Contents:

A kind of Aladdin's cave

For society he had no taste

This Aëriel and invisible deity

Dreams are sometimes verified

Not an honest politician

Unabated confidence

Indefatigably laboring

Unapproachable cheapness and facility

Under the supervision and direction of

Richly upholstered and very comfortable

May as well make the mayor a partner

Pneumatics and arcaders

A short travel in fairy land

The big fish who eat up the little ones

A mild odor of corruption

An appearance of brilliancy

Soulless vampires

A quiet but invincible pertinacity

Entitled to much congratulation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-269) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Rupp Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

1642833657

9781642833652

OCLC:

1514652623