By Joseph M. Calisi (c)2020 All Rights Reserved Text and Photos
New York City, October 27, 2020 -
With the advent and fall out from the Wuhan/Corona/COVID-19 virus' effects, the 116th anniversary of the opening of New York City's Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) has gone unnoticed as no mention of the historic day was mentioned by New York City Transit. The construction of the subway system has been credited as the vehicle that transformed New York City into a metropolis.
Construction
of the IRT began on March 25, 1900 with a groundbreaking ceremony at New York's
City Hall in Lower Manhattan. Critics of that construction boasted that ‘no one
would want to ride in a hole in the ground because it puts you closer to the
devil’ among other snide comments.
After the City Hall opening ceremony on October 27, the subway was opened for free to the public and 33,000 took advantage of the free ride that day and New York City hasn’t looked back ever since.
Prior to the pandemic’s effects on ridership beginning in March, the subway system was headed to another multi-million daily ridership figure.
Photo caption: New York City Transit 'Redbird' vintage fleet on excursion over the Flushing line in Long Island City, Queens
