On this day in New York · October 27, 1904
Mayor-Motorman Opens the Subway
New York's first subway opened on October 27, 1904, and the mayor liked driving the train so much he wouldn't let go of the controls.
The facts
- Opened
- October 27, 1904, at 7 p.m. to the public
- Route
- City Hall to 145th Street and Broadway, 9.1 miles, 28 stations
- Fare
- 5 cents
- Opening night ridership
- More than 100,000 riders
At 2:35 p.m. on October 27, 1904, Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. took the controller of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company's inaugural train at the City Hall station and refused to hand it over to a professional motorman, running the train himself all the way to 103rd Street. The line opened to the paying public that evening at 7 p.m., running from City Hall up to 145th Street and Broadway, 9.1 miles through 28 stations, for a nickel a ride. More than 100,000 New Yorkers rode it that first night, and thousands more had gathered outside City Hall for the opening ceremony. It was the moment New York stopped being a city that stopped at the edge of its els and started becoming one that could spread uptown in fifteen minutes flat.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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No sir! I'm running this train!
Mayor George B. McClellan Jr., refusing to give up the controls on opening day, October 27, 1904
Source: Untapped New York
Why it still matters
The IRT proved a city could grow along a subway line instead of an elevated track or a horse cart, and it set the template, and the ambition, for the system nine million people still ride every day.
Sources
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