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Astor Place (New York Subway)

Astor Place (New York Subway)

Manhattan Lexington Avenue Line local: local: October 27, 1904 Astor Place is a local station with two side platforms, located on Lafayette Street at Astor Place and Eighth Street; the express tracks are on the inside. The street it is named after (Astor Place) is named for John Jacob Astor. Astor Place is a busy subway station in the East Village of Manhattan, and has a department store entrance on the southbound side (Wanamaker's when constructed, now K-Mart). The station has been renovated and, in addition to the famous glazed ceramic beaver plaques, new porcelain street artwork was installed in 1986. There is a reproduction of an entry kiosk on the street level over the northbound entrance. The fare control is at platform level. There was an underpass between the uptown and downtown sides, but it was closed in the 1970s and was covered up in the 1980s renovation. The heavy brick-faced square columns on the downtown platform supported the old Wanamaker's store (formerly A.T. Stewart, built 1868). The store above burned in the 1950s; octagonal windows on the brick wall of the platform were the store's showcases. The original plans for the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now ) included a spur along Ninth Street to this station. Plaques of beavers are located on the walls, in honor of John Jacob Astor's fortune derived from the beaver-pelt trade. The plaques, as well as name tablets, were made by the Grueby Faience Company in 1904. The station also has untitled porcelain on steel murals, made by Milton Glaser in 1986. New York University is located nearby.

External links

- [http://nycsubway.org/irt/eastside/irt-eastside-astor.html NYCsubway.org - IRT East Side: Astor Place] (text used with permission) Category:IRT Lexington Avenue Line stations

Manhattan

:For other uses, see Manhattan (disambiguation). Manhattan (disambiguation) Manhattan refers both to the Island of Manhattan which borders the lower Hudson River, and also to the Borough of Manhattan (one of the five boroughs of New York City), which includes the Island of Manhattan itself, as well as several other smaller islands and a small portion of the mainland (see geography). The borough is conterminous with New York County, and addresses within the borough of Manhattan are typically designated as New York, New York. As of 2000, the population comprised 1,537,195 people, but the county is geographically among the smallest in the United States with only 33 square miles (85 km²) of land. Thus, it is by far the most densely populated county in both the state and the entire United States.

History

United States United States United States The name Manhattan ("hilly island" or possibly "place of intoxication") is from the Algonquian languages of the earliest known inhabitants of the area. Legend has it that the island was purchased from the natives for $24 in beads and other such trinkets. Explorers, however, paid the wrong tribe, who were glad to accept money for an island that wasn't even theirs. The first European discovery of Manhattan is generally credited to English explorer Henry Hudson sailing for the Dutch, who first entered Upper New York Bay on September 11, 1609, and sailing up the lower Hudson River, anchored off the tip of northern Manhattan that night. However, the earlier Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano explored New York harbor in 1524, and a few months later so did the Portuguese Estevan Gomez; the latter also recognized the Hudson River (calling it the Rio de San Antonio), and both, in all likelihood, saw Manhattan island while in New York Harbor. The island was settled by the Dutch in 1613 as a fur trading post founded by Hendrick Christiansen; it must also be mentioned that Jan Rodrigues, the first African-American resident of New York, was among the first settlers. The original Dutch spelling of the island was Mannatthans. Later in 1623 it took the name of New Amsterdam. The Duke of York occupied it in 1664 and according to the Treaty of Breda ending the second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665 to 1667 it was offically recognised as English property (in exchange for the small island of Run in the East Indies). New York County is named in honor of the Duke of York, later to become the Catholic James II of England, after whom the City and State of New York were also named. New York County was an original county of New York State, one of twelve created in 1683. At the time of creation of New York County, its territory consisted of Manhattan Island, and occupied the same area which it occupies today. In 1873, the western portion of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County. In 1898, when New York City was constituted as five boroughs, the separate boroughs of Manhattan and of the Bronx were formed, though both remained within the single County of New York. In 1914, those parts of the then New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County were constituted the new Bronx County, and New York County was reduced again to its present boundaries. From the latter half of the 1960s through most of the 1970s, Manhattan suffered from urban flight as the middle-class fled to the outer boroughs and suburbs due to an increase in crime. However, as with many other American cities, there was an increase in population growth in the latter part of the century due to a renewed interest in the urban lifestyle, a trend which began in the late 1980s and has continued to present day. It was thought that the September 11, 2001 attacks would initiate a new exodus from the City due to a fear of terrorism, but this has not come to pass.

Geography

terrorism]] The terms "New York County" and the "Borough of Manhattan" refer to the same geographical area, although in former times New York County also included part of today's Borough of The Bronx. As a part of New York City, New York County contains no other political subdivisions. It occupies the whole of Manhattan Island, surrounded by the East River, the Harlem River, and the Hudson River. It also includes some smaller islands, including Roosevelt Island (formerly Welfare Island, and even earlier Blackwell's Island), U Thant Island (officially known as Belmont Island), and a small portion of the North American mainland (Marble Hill) contiguous with The Bronx. Marble Hill was originally part of Manhattan Island; but the Harlem River Ship Canal, dug in the late 19th century to improve navigation on the Harlem River, separated it from the remainder of Manhattan, and eventually the part of the original Harlem River channel separating Marble Hill from the Bronx was filled in. Manhattan Island is 21 km (13 miles) long and 3.7 km (2.3 miles) wide (at its widest point). According to the United States Census Bureau, New York County (the Borough of Manhattan) has a total area of 87.5 km² (33.8 mi²). 59.5 km² (23.0 mi²) of it is land and 28.0 km² (10.8 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 32.01% water. Manhattan is connected by bridges and tunnels to New Jersey to the west, and three New York City boroughs: the Bronx to the northeast and Brooklyn and Queens on Long Island to the east and south. Its only direct connection with the fifth New York City borough is the Staten Island Ferry, whose terminal is at Battery Park at its southern tip. On May 28 and July 12 the sunset is aligned with the street grid lines, so that the sun is visible at or near the horizon from street level.

Manhattan landmarks

sun sun The Empire State Building, the theater district around Broadway, New York University, Columbia University, the financial center around Wall Street, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Harlem, the American Museum of Natural History, Chinatown, and Central Park are all located on this densely populated island. The phrase "a New York minute" refers to the extremely rapid pace of living in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue bisects Manhattan Island, dividing it into the East and West Sides. These east-west designations are used in latitudinal (east-west) streets (e.g. East 27th Street, West Houston Street). The Manhattan numbering system extends into the western Bronx, using Jerome Avenue as the east-west divider. In Manhattan, uptown means north and downtown means south, either in direction of motion or in relative location. For example, an uptown train means a subway train heading north, while a restaurant located three blocks downtown would be three city blocks south of the person who is speaking. Beginning north of Houston Street, and fully in place north of 14th Street, nearly all east-west streets use numeric designations - which increase from south to north (reflecting the city's original growth in that direction). The terms uptown and downtown are most often used in the relative sense of north and south; however, uptown can also refer to the northern part of Manhattan (generally speaking, above 59th Street) and downtown to the southern part (typically, below 23rd Street or 14th Street). Keep in mind that these terms are relative - a resident of the Bronx would probably consider anything in Manhattan below 96th Street to be "downtown". This usage differs from that of most American cities, where downtown refers to the central business district. Manhattan has two central business districts, namely the Financial District downtown and the newer business district in Midtown. Within "downtown" is Lower Manhattan, a neighborhood defined as everything approximately south of Barclay Street and the Brooklyn Bridge; it is perhaps one of the most well-known parts of the city, home to City Hall, Wall Street, the South Street Seaport, the site of the former World Trade Center (often referred to commonly as "Ground Zero"), as well as a number of other significant landmarks. The northernmost area of "uptown" is Upper Manhattan, encompassing the neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood, and often Harlem. It is a less famous and hectic area. Upper Manhattan is often thought of as an outer borough, given the similarities the region has to the adjacent western section of the South Bronx and the distance from Midtown. In fact, Manhattan stretches so far northward from Midtown that some in the southern parts of Manhattan jokingly refer to the Inwood neighborhood as "Upstate Manhattan," "Arctic Manhattan," or "NoFair" (short for "North of Fairway," Fairway being a popular supermarket at 132nd St. and the Hudson River). Traditionally, many New Yorkers have used the phrase The City when referring only to Manhattan, while referring to the other four boroughs as "outer boroughs". These terms are becoming less common, however, as more transplants from Manhattan continue to move into the other boroughs.

Neighborhoods

Harlem :Main article: List of Manhattan neighborhoods Manhattan is politically divided in 12 Community Boards :
- 1 : Tribeca and Lower Manhattan
- 2 : Greenwich Village (aka West Village or simply "the Village"), NoHo, SoHo, Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Little Italy
- 3 : Tompkins Square, East Village, Lower East Side, Chinatown, Two Bridges
- 4 : Clinton, Chelsea
- 5 : Midtown
- 6 : Stuyvesant Town, Tudor City, Turtle Bay, Peter Cooper Village, Murray Hill, Gramercy Park, Kips Bay, and Sutton Place
- 7 : Manhattan Valley, Upper West Side, and Lincoln Square
- 8 : Upper East Side, LenoxHill, Yorkville, and Roosevelt Island
- 9 : Hamilton Heights, Manhattanville, and Morningside Heights
- 10 : Harlem and Polo Grounds
- 11 : East Harlem, El Barrio/Spanish Harlem, Ward's and Randall's Island
- 12 : Inwood and Washington Heights As with all large cities, Manhattan consists of many distinct neighborhoods, each with its own character.

Law, government, and politics

:See also: Government of New York City Like the other counties which are contained within New York City, there is no county government, but county courts and some others such as the district attorney (public prosecutor) do exist. Each borough within New York City elects a borough president - Manhattan's borough president is currently Democrat C. Virginia Fields, who will be succeeded by Scott Stringer in January 2006 - but the office no longer carries any significant powers. Manhattan is officially designated as the county seat of New York County. This is meaningless for all practical purposes because there are no other towns or cities in New York County, which is wholly contained within the City of New York. However, the Borough President's office, City Hall, the District Attorney's office, and the Municipal Building all cluster, within a few blocks of each other, near Center Street and the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge - a downtown neighborhood. Manhattan is one of the main strongholds of the Democratic party, and has not voted for a Republican in a presidential election since 1924. The GOP used to win more than 20% of the vote, but it hasn't won even that much since before the Clinton era. Moreover, Republican registered voters are a very tiny minority in the borough, making more than 20% of the electorate only in the Upper East Side and Financial District.

Demographics

Financial District.]] New York County is the most densely populated state county in the United States, with a density of 25,849.9/km². In 1910, it reached a peak to 46,428.9/km². As of the census of 2000, there are 1,537,195 people, 738,644 households, and 302,105 families residing in the county. The population density is 25,849.9/km² (66,940.1/mi²). There are 798,144 housing units at an average density of 13,421.8/km² (34,756.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 54.36% White, 27.18% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race, 17.39% Black or African American, 0.50% Native American, 9.40% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 14.14% other races, and 4.14% from two or more races. A partial list of the specific European ancestry claimed by Manhattan residents is as follows (2000):
- Irish : 7.48%
- Italian : 7.10%
- German : 6.63%
- English : 5.43% According to an estimation by the Census Bureau, the population of New York county increased to 1,562,723 in 2004. Lower Manhattan (ie Manhattan south of Houston street) has a sharply different population than the rest of the borough. Indeed, to the census of 2000, the neighborhood was 41 percent Asian, 32 percent non-Hispanic white, 19 percent Hispanic and 6 percent black, and 43 percent of the inhabitants were immigrants. This can be explained by the demographic weight of Chinatown, which counts for 55% of the population of Lower Manhattan. There are 738,644 households out of which 17.1% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.2% are married couples living together, 12.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 59.1% are non-families. 48.0% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.00 and the average family size is 2.99. In the county the population is spread out with 16.8% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 38.3% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 36 years. For every 100 females there are 90.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 87.9 males. The median income for a household in the county is $47,030, and the median income for a family is $50,229. Males have a median income of $51,856 versus $45,712 for females. The per capita income for the county is $42,922. 20.0% of the population and 17.6% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 31.8% of those under the age of 18 and 18.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line. poverty line

External links

- [http://www.mountcarmelofeastharlem.com/ Our Lady of Mount Carmel Shrine]
- [http://www.lostnewyorkcity.com/ Randall's Lost New York City]
- [http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/00000002.htm Letter of 1626 stating that Manhattan Island had been purchased for the value of 60 guilders (PD)]
- [http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/00000006.htm Map of Mannados or Manhattan in 1661 (PD)]
- [http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/manbus.pdf NYC MTA Transit Bus Map of Manhattan] (PDF file)
- [http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/3/8/4/13842/13842-h/13842-h.htm The Story of Manhattan], by Charles Hemstreet. 1901 publication from Project Gutenberg
- [http://www.lodgephoto.com/galleries/usa/newyork/ Photographs of Manhattan]
- [http://www.forgotten-ny.com/ Forgotten New York]
- [http://www.newyorkcitywalk.com/ New York City Walk]

Maps, streets, and neighborhoods

- [http://www.citidex.com/map/ CitiDex: New York Maps Index]
- [http://translate.google.com/translate?langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&prev=%2Flanguage_tools&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.insecula.com%2Fmusee%2FM0100.html/ Avenues, streets of Manhattan]
- [http://www.hot-maps.de/north_america/usa/new_york/new_york/manhattan/homeen.html Interactive Manhattan Map]
- [http://bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/NY.1729.html 1729 map of Manhattan] Category:New York City Category:Islands of New York City New York County, New York ko:맨해튼 ja:マンハッタン

Lexington Avenue Line

:Brooklyn had an elevated BMT Lexington Avenue Line until 1960.

The Lexington Avenue Line (sometimes called the Lex or the IRT East Side Line) is one of the major lines in the New York City Subway. Part of it was the first subway in New York. The line is the most crowded of the subway system, being the only line in Manhattan east of Central Park. The Second Avenue Line is proposed to fix this problem. Several stations have been abandoned. When platforms were lengthened to fit 10 cars, new entrances were built for adjacent stations, making the abandoned ones redundant. For example, 14th Street-Union Square has an entrance on 16th, and 23rd Street has an entrance on 20th, so 18th Street station was abandoned.

Extent and service

Services that use the Lexington Avenue Line through Midtown and Downtown Manhattan are colored green. The following services use part or all of the Lexington Avenue Line: The Lexington Avenue Line begins just north of 125th Street, at an underground flying junction of the Jerome Avenue Line (4 5) and the Pelham Line (6). 125th Street station is laid out interestingly, with uptown trains on the upper level and downtown trains on the lower level. The line runs south under Lexington Avenue to 42nd Street, at Grand Central Terminal. The Metro-North Railroad tunnel ends at Grand Central, allowing the Lexington Avenue Line to switch to Park Avenue south of it. At this shift, a single non-revenue track joins the Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle to the southbound local track, along the alignment of the original IRT subway. Where Park Avenue ends, the subway shifts onto Fourth Avenue and then Lafayette Street. Lafayette Street merges into Centre Street; at the south end of Centre Street is the abandoned City Hall station, on the loop that the 6 service turns around at. The City Hall station, located on the loop, was the southern terminus of the original subway. The single track on the loop continues to become the uptown local track at the Brooklyn Bridge station. The express tracks of the Lexington Avenue Line then continue south along Park Row and Broadway, leading into the Joralemon Street Tunnel to Brooklyn. Just north of the tunnel, some trains used to run to an inner loop at South Ferry station; this loop is now used to turn 5 trains except during rush hour, when they continue into Brooklyn.

History

The part of the line from City Hall to 42nd Street was part of the original line, opened on October 27, 1904. An extension to Fulton Street opened at 00:01 on January 16, 1905. The next station, Wall Street, was opened on June 12, 1905.[http://nycsubway.org/irt/tenyears.html] The first revenue train on the South Ferry extension left South Ferry at 23:58 on July 9, 1905; the extension of the IRT White Plains Road Line to West Farms opened just after. The first train ran through the Joralemon Street Tunnel to Brooklyn about 00:45 on January 9, 1908. The rest of the line, north to 125th Street, opened on July 17, 1918. However, until the evening of August 1, 1918, it ran as a shuttle on the local tracks only, terminating at 42nd Street and at 167th Street on the IRT Jerome Avenue Line (where the connection from the elevated IRT Ninth Avenue Line merged). On August 1, service patterns were changed, and the Lexington Avenue Line became a through route. The IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line also switched from shuttle operation at that time, and the 42nd Street Shuttle was formed along the old connection between the sides. Due to the shape of the system, it was referred to as the "'H' system". Also on August 1, the first bit of the IRT Pelham Line opened to Third Avenue.

Station listing

External links

- [http://nycsubway.org/irt/eastside/ nycsubway.org - IRT East Side]

References

- Fulton St. Trains Monday, New York Times January 14, 1905 page 5
- Subway at Fulton Street Busy, New York Times January 17, 1905 page 9
- Subway Trains Run Again This Morning, New York Times June 13, 1905 page 1
- Subway Trains Running from Bronx to Battery, New York Times July 10, 1905 page 1
- Subway to Brooklyn Opened for Traffic, New York Times January 9, 1908 page 1
- Lexington Av. Line to be Opened Today, New York Times July 7, 1918, page 13
- Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph, New York Times August 2, 1918 page 1
- Old City Hall Station of IRT to Close Monday, New York Times December 27, 1945 page 24
- IRT Station to be Closed, New York Times November 6, 1948 page 29
- New Platform for IRT Locals at Brooklyn Bridge to End Jams, New York Times September 1, 1962 page 42
- M.T.A. Expected to Save Franklin Avenue Shuttle, Once an Austerity Target, New York Times February 10, 1977 page 27 Lexington

1904

1904 (MCMIV) is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-March

- January 7 - The distress signal CQD is established only to be replaced two years later by SOS.
- February 7 - The Great Baltimore Fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
- February 8 - Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur (Lushun) starts Russo-Japanese War
- February 10 – Roger Casement publishes his account of Belgian atrocities in Congo
- February 23 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.
- March 3 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a political recording of a document, using Thomas Edison's cylinder.
- March 4 - Russo-Japanese War: Russian troops in Korea retreat toward Manchuria followed by 100,000 Japanese troops.
- March 8 – The first tunnel beneath the Hudson River completed
- March 21 – Battle of Chumik Shenko – British under general Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.

April-June

- April 8 - Entente Cordiale signed between the UK and France.
- April 8 - Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
- April 8, April 9, and April 10 - Aleister Crowley receives The Book of the Law in Cairo, Egypt.
- April 18 – Hurricane in Goliad, Texas kills 114.
- April 27 - The Australian Labor Party becomes the first such party to gain national government, under Chris Watson.
- April 30 - Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in Saint Louis, Missouri (closes December 1)
- May 4 - First Rolls-Royce manufactured
- May 5 - Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
- May 18 - in Paris, 12 nations sign the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Trade
- June 15 - A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1000.
- June 16 - Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolai Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
- June 16 - Leopold Bloom walks through Dublin (First Bloomsday).

July-December

- July 21 - Trans-Siberian railway completed
- July 23 - In St. Louis, Missouri, Charles E. Menches invents the ice cream cone during the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
- August 3 - A British expedition under colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa in Tibet
- August 17 – Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.
- August 18 - Chris Watson resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and is succeeded by George Reid.
- September 7 - Fire spreads over downtown Baltimore in USA - 1500 buildings destroyed, no known fatalities.
- September 7 - Dalai Lama signs the Anglo-Tibetan Treaty with colonel Francis Younghusband
- October 21 - Russian Baltic Fleet fires on British trawlers it mistakes for Japanese torpedo boats in the North Sea, in what would be known as the Dogger Bank incident.
- October 27 - The first underground line of the New York City Subway opens (IRT); the system is now the largest in the United States, and one of the largest in the world.
- November 4 - In Florence, Italy, the Arno River floods.
- November 8 - Theodore Roosevelt defeats Alton B. Parker in the U.S. presidential election
- November 24 - The first successful caterpillar track is made (it would later revolutionize construction vehicles and land warfare).
- December 2 - St. Petersburg Soviet urges run on the banks. Attempt fails and the executive committee is arrested
- December 27 - The stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premiered in London
- December 31 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York.

Unknown dates

- Ismael Montes becomes president of Bolivia.
- Herero Wars begin.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Joseph F. Smith issues a "Second Manifesto" against polygamy.
- 1904-1905 Welsh Revival- Christian revival breaks out in Wales.
- Subject of alcohol and heart attacks first investigated.

Births

January-February

- January 1 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d. 1982)
- January 3 - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (d. 1997)
- January 10 - Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
- January 14 - Cecil Beaton, English photographer (d. 1980)
- January 18 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
- January 22 - George Balanchine, Russian-born choreographer (d. 1983)
- January 22 - Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (d. 1941)
- January 26 - Ancel Keys, American scientist (d, 2004)
- January 26 - Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1988)
- January 29 - Arnold Gehlen, German philosopher (d. 1976)
- January 29 - Luigi Nono, Italian composer (d. 1990)
- February 1 - S. J. Perelman, American humorist and author (d. 1979)
- February 3 - Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (d. 1975)
- February 3 - Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
- February 4 - MacKinlay Kantor, American writer and historian (d. 1977)
- February 11 - Sir Keith Holyoake, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983)
- February 16 - George F. Kennan, American diplomat (d. 2005)
- February 20 - Aleksei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
- February 29 - Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)

March-April

- March 1 - Glenn Miller, American bandleader (d. 1944)
- March 2 - Dr. Seuss, American author (d. 1991)
- March 4 - George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (d. 1968)
- March 6 - Joseph Schmidt, Austrian tenor (d. 1942)
- March 7 - Reinhard Heydrich, Nazi official (d. 1942)
- March 20 - B. F. Skinner, American behavioral psychologist (d. 1990)
- March 26 - Joseph Campbell, American author on mythology (d. 1987)
- March 26 - Xenophon Zolotas, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
- April 3 - Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (d. 1979)
- April 7 - Ralph Bunche, American diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1971)
- April 8 - John Hicks, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- April 9 - Sharkey Bonano, American jazz musician (d. 1972)
- April 14 - Sir John Gielgud, English actor (d. 2000)
- April 16 - Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (d. 1983)
- April 22 - Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (d. 1967)
- April 24 - Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (d. 1997)
- April 26 - Jimmy McGrory, Scottish footballer (d. 1982)
- April 27 - Cecil Day-Lewis, English poet (d. 1972)

May-July

- May 6 - Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born engineer (d. 1984)
- May 6 - Harry Martinson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
- May 11 - Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989)
- May 17 - Jean Gabin, French actor (d. 1976)
- May 21 - Fats Waller, American pianist and comedian (d. 1943)
- May 21 - Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (d. 1981)
- May 27 - Chuhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (d. 1997)
- June 2 - Frantisek Planicka, Czech footballer (d. 1996)
- June 2 - Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (d. 1984)
- June 3 - Jan Peerce, American tenor (d. 1984)
- June 26 - Peter Lorre, Austria-Hugarian-born film actor (d. 1964)
- July 5 - Ernst Mayr, German-born biologist and author (d. 2005)
- July 12 - Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- July 17 - Tsarevich Alexei of Russia (d. 1918)
- July 28 - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
- July 31 - Brett Halliday, American writer (d. 1977)

August-December

- August 4 - Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (d. 1969)
- August 7 - Ralph Bunche, American diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1971)
- August 16 - Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- August 17 - Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
- August 21 - Count Basie, American musician and bandleader (d. 1984)
- August 22 - Deng Xiaoping, de facto Chinese leader (d. 1997)
- August 23 - Thelma Morgan, Viscountess Furness, American socialite twin (d. 1970)
- August 23 - Gloria Morgan-Vanderbilt, American socialite twin (d. 1965)
- August 28 - Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer (d. 1980)
- August 29 - Werner Forssmann, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1979)
- September 9 - Feroze Khan, Pakistani field hockey player (d. 2005)
- September 22 - Joseph Valachi, gangster (d. 1971)
- September 29 - Greer Garson, English actress (d. 1996)
- October 1 - A.K. Gopalan, Indian communist leader (d. 1977)
- October 3 - Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- October 23 - Harvey Penick, American golfer (d. 1995)
- October 25 - Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (d. 1968)
- November 2 - Louis Eugène Félix Néel, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
- November 11 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (d. 1960)
- November 12 - Jacques Tourneur, French director (d. 1977)
- November 14 - Dick Powell, American actor and singer (d. 1963)
- November 14 - Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1988)
- November 25 - Lillian Copeland, American athlete (d. 1964)
- November 30 - Clyfford Still, American painter (d. 1980)
- December 12 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor, socialite (d. 1981)
- December 18 - George Stevens, American film director (d. 1975)
- December 25 - Gerhard Herzberg, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- December 26 - Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
- December 30 - Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky, Russian composer (d. 1987)

Unknown dates

- Gustave Biéler, Swiss-born hero of World War II (executed) (d. 1944)
- Bernard Castro, Italian inventor (d. 1991)
- J. J. Gibson, Gay psychologist (d. 1979)

Deaths

- January 2 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (b. 1821)
- January 20 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist (b. 1834)
- March 5 - John Lowther du Plat Taylor, British founder of the Army Post Office Corps (b. 1829)
- May 1 - Antonin Dvorak, Czech composer (b. 1841)
- May 19 - Auguste Molinier, French historian (b. 1851)
- June 4 - George Frederick Phillips, Canadian-born military hero (b. 1862)
- July 3 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian founder of Zionism (b. 1860)
- July 5 - Abai Kunanbaiuli, Kazakh poet (b. 1845)
- July 14 - Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (b. 1860)
- July 14 - Paul Kruger, South African resistance leader (b. 1825)
- July 22 - Wilson Barrett, English actor (b. 1846)
- August 6 - Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (b. 1825)
- August 22 - Kate Chopin, American author (b. 1851)
- August 25 - Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter (b. 1836)
- August 29 - Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1840)
- September 25 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1860)
- September 26 - John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman and statesman (b. 1848)
- October 4 - Frédéric Bartholdi, Alsatian sculptor (b. 1834)

Nobel Prizes

- Physics - The Lord Rayleigh
- Chemistry - Sir William Ramsay
- Physiology or Medicine - Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
- Literature - Frédéric Mistral, José Echegaray Y Eizaguirre
- Peace - Institut De Droit International Category:1904 ko:1904년 ms:1904 ja:1904年 simple:1904 th:พ.ศ. 2447

Eighth Street (Manhattan)

Eighth Street is a street that runs from New York's Sixth Avenue to Third Avenue, and Avenue B to Avenue D; it switches from west to east at Fifth Avenue. From 1907 until 1955, Wanamaker's Bridge of Progress ran over East 8th Street from the first building in the Wanamaker's department store to the 13 hectare addition. Today a GAP store and a K-Mart discount store reside in the lowest portions of the addition. Between Third Avenue and Avenue B, Eighth Street is known as St. Mark's Place, named after the nearby St. Mark's-On-The-Bowery church. St. Mark's Place is considered a main cultural vein for the East Village. Vehicular traffic runs east along this one-way street.

External links

- [http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/8st.htm 8th Street/St Marks Place: New York Songlines] – A history of buildings and establishments along 8th Street. 08

John Jacob Astor

right John Jacob (originally Johann Jakob) Astor (July 17, 1763 - March 29, 1848) made a fortune in fur trading and real estate. He is the founder of what became known as the Astor family. Born in Walldorf, Baden, Germany (currently in the Rhein-Neckar district), his father was a butcher, and he learned English in London while working for his brother, George whose business was manufacturing musical instruments. Astor arrived in the United States in March 1784 just after the end of the Revolutionary War. He started a fur goods shop in New York City in the late 1780s. Astor took advantage of the Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States in 1794 which opened new markets in Canada and the Great Lakes region at the expense of the Canadians. By 1800 he had amassed nearly a quarter of a million dollars, and had become one of the leading figures in the fur trade. In 1800, Astor followed the example of the Empress of China, the first American trading vessel to China, and started to trade furs, teas and sandalwood with Canton in China. He used the opportunity, that American merchants did not need a permission to trade in ports monopolized by the British East India Company after the Revolutionary War. He greatly benefited from the fur trade with China. But the Embargo Act from Thomas Jefferson in 1807 disrupted his import/export business. Therefore he established with the permission of President Jefferson the American Fur Company on April 6, 1808, and later formed subsidiaries, the Pacific Fur Company and the Southwest Fur Company (in which Canadians had a part) to control fur trading in the Columbia River and Great Lakes area respectively. His fur trading ventures were disrupted when the British captured his trading posts during the War of 1812. However, his operations rebounded in 1817 after the US Congress passed a protectionist law that barred foreign traders from U.S. Territories. The American Fur Company once again came to dominate trading in the area around the Great Lakes. In 1822, Astor established the Astor House on Mackinac Island as headquarters for the reformed American Fur Company, making the island a metropolis of the fur trade. Astor withdrew from the company in 1834. A lengthy description based on documents, diaries etc. was given by Washington Irving in his travelogue Astoria. As the cost of fur went up due to over trapping, and the demand went down due to changing fashions, Astor turned his sights on New York City real estate. He retired from business in 1834 and spent the rest of his life as a patron of culture. He supported the famous ornithologist John James Audubon, Edgar Allan Poe, and the presidential campaign of Henry Clay. Furthermore he was the founder of the first hotel which belonged to the Astor family, the Astor House. In his last will he gave orders to build the Astor Library for the New York public and to build a poorhouse in his German hometown Walldorf. At the time of his death, Astor was the wealthiest person in the United States, leaving an estate estimated to be worth 20 million dollars or more. He is interred in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery on the 155th Street in Manhattan, New York. The great bulk of his fortune was bequeathed to his second son, William Backhouse Astor Sr., instead of his eldest son John Jacob Astor II (1791-1869). A part of his money also went to found the Astor Library which was later consolidated with other libraries to form the New York Public Library.

Children

# Magdalen (1788-1832) # Sarah (1790-1791) # John Jacob II (1791-1869) # William Backhouse (1792-1875) # Dorothee (1795-1853) # Henry (1797-1799) # Eliza (1801-1838) # unnamed son (1802)

External links

- [http://manybooks.net/titles/irvingwaetext98stria10.html# Astoria, Author Washington Irving full text (pdf)] Category:German emigrants Astor, John Jacob Astor, John Jacob Astor, John Jacob Astor, John Jacob Astor, John Jacob Astor, John Jacob Astor, John Jacob Astor, John Jacob Category:Natives of Baden-Württemberg

Subway

:This article is about high-capacity urban rail public transit systems. For lower-order systems, see tram, light rail, bus, and bus rapid transit. :Metro and Subway redirect here. For other uses of the words, see metro (disambiguation) and subway (disambiguation). For specific rapid-transit systems, many of which use one of the two words in their names, see list of rapid transit systems. list of rapid transit systems A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated, or metro system is a railway system, usually in an urban area, that usually has high capacity and frequency, with large trains and total or near total grade separation from other traffic.
Characteristics and nomenclature
There is no single term in English that all speakers would use for all rapid transit or metro systems. This fact reflects variations not only in national and regional usage, but in what characteristics are considered essential. One definition of a metro system is as follows:
- an urban, electric mass transit railway system
- totally independent from other traffic
- with high service frequency. But those who prefer the American term "subway" or the British "underground" would additionally specify that the tracks and stations must be
- located below street level so that pedestrians and road users see the street exactly as it would be without the subway; or at least that this must be true for the most important, central parts of the system. Conversely, those who prefer the American "rapid transit" or the newer (when used in English) term "metro" tend to view this as a less important characteristic and are pleased to include systems that are entirely elevated or at ground level (at grade) as long as the other criteria are met. A rapid transit system that is generally above street level may be called an "elevated" system (often shortened to el or, in Chicago, 'L'). In some cities the word "subway" applies to the entire system, in others only to those parts that actually are underground; and analogously for "el". For a more comprehensive listing showing names of this kind of system in cities around the world, see the list of rapid transit systems. Germanic languages generally use names meaning "underground railway" (such as "subway" or "U-Bahn"), while many others use "metro". See also passenger rail terminology.
Extent
passenger rail terminology In larger metropolitan areas the metro system may extend only to the limits of the central city, or to its inner ring of suburbs, with trains making relatively frequent station stops. The outer suburbs may then be reached by a separate commuter, suburban, or regional rail network, where more widely spaced stations allow a higher speed. These trains are often more expensive and less frequent, sometimes operating only in rush hours, and sometimes for political reasons they are operated by a separate authority that tends not to cooperate with the city's transit authority.rush hour Many of these regional railways were first built to operate in one direction from a city-center terminus, but some have been extended across the city center, sometimes running in tunnels. By making multiple stops in the city, they can offer suburban passengers a choice of stations, and also provide useful transportation within the city. A notable example is the Paris RER system, where (in cooperation with the city's transit authority) several pairs of existing suburban lines running in opposite directions from the city have been extended in tunnel to join up and form new through routes across the city. They are provided with frequent service and, within the city, the same fares as the Métro are charged, providing an integrated network. In German-speaking countries, such a system is called an S-Bahn. In Italian-speaking countries such a system is called Linea S or Treno Suburbano. In some cases, such as the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Washington Metrorail systems, the rapid transit system itself runs to the suburbs and effectively functions as a regional rail service as well. Where there are separate systems, the rapid transit system is typically a self-contained service with its own dedicated tracks and stations and technologically incompatible with other railways. Suburban rail services, on the other hand, often share tracks and stations with long-distance trains (historically they were usually operated by the same company, which also owned the rails and ran freight, although this has become less common) and are subject to the same standards and regulations. There are exceptions; some London Underground lines share track with suburban rail services. In some cases, metro lines have been extended by taking over existing regional rail lines, notably the Central and Northern Lines in London. London Underground, Greece double as museums. Antiquities found in excavations of its tunnels are on display there.]]The Athens Metro's Blue Line shares tracks with suburban rail services in order to connect the metro to Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, but does not stop at the suburban rail stations because the platforms of the stations are a lot lower than the train's floor. In Hong Kong, metro-like frequent service on the KCR East Rail to the new towns is provided by electrifying existing railway line, while continues to share part of the tracks with the much less frequent intercity and freight trains. The KCR West Rail, on the contrary, is designed to accommodate intercity and freight traffic in future, while presently provides only metro-like service. Elevated railways were a popular way to build mass transit systems in cities around the turn of the twentieth century, but they have fallen out of favour and many elevated lines were later demolished, being replaced by subways or buses. Elevated rail saw something of a resurgence in the late twentieth century, with the construction of a number of new lines such as the Docklands Light Railway in London and the Vancouver SkyTrain; in the United States a few such lines have been built, including the AirTrain JFK and the Las Vegas Monorail, but these are typically seen as more futuristic, and are not representative of the overall trends in U.S. transit development.
Importance, functions, and station design
The volume of passengers a metro train can carry is often quite high, and a metro system is often viewed as the backbone of a large city's public transportation system. In many cities passengers beginning their journeys on a streetcar/tram, bus, or suburban rail system must finish their journey into the city center on the metro as their first mode of transport will terminate at a metro station to avoid congesting the city center above ground. Budapest is a perfect example where the two more modern metro lines connect with buses and trams and also with two circular streetcar/tram routes (one closer to and one further from the city center) that allow travel between suburbs and also into the centre of the city by changing onto the metro. In some cities, the urban rail system is so comprehensive and efficient that the majority of city residents go without an automobile. Hong Kong, London, Moscow, New York City, Madrid, Paris, and Tokyo have the most extensive and advanced metro systems in the world. Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Boston follow New York distantly, while the rest of the cities in the United States only have partial or poorly-used systems, such as Los Angeles, Saint Louis or Philadelphia. In the Western Hemisphere, Mexico City also has a large system. In Canada, only Toronto and Montréal have extensive metro networks serving their urban centers (see Toronto subway and RT and Montréal Métro); Vancouver's SkyTrain also provides high-grade service, but at present acts primarily as a connection between Vancouver and the surrounding area. SkyTrain Most underground systems are for public transportation, but a few cities have built freight or postal lines. One example was the Post Office Railway, which transported mail underground between sorting offices in London from 1927 until it was abandoned in 2003. Similarly, in its early days the London Underground's Metropolitan Line (then the Metropolitan Railway) transported goods as well as running passenger trains. Another example was the Chicago Tunnel Company, which had a dense grid of tunnels under downtown Chicago. During the Cold War an important secondary function of some underground systems was to provide shelter in case of a nuclear attack. Urban rail systems have often been used to showcase economic, social, and technological achievements of a nation, especially in the Soviet Union and other Communist countries. With their marble walls, polished granite floors and splendid mosaics, the metro systems of Moscow and St. Petersburg are widely regarded as some of the most beautiful in the world. Modern metro stations in Russia are usually still built with the same emphasis on appearance. Similarly, the Independent Subway System in New York City was built to compete with the private IRT and BMT systems, and succeeded in running them out of business (in conjunction with other factors, such as fare limits). The New York City subway system (actually only approximately 60% of total track miles are underground) is now owned by the city government. In fact, almost all subway systems around the world are owned by government entities. BMT.]] See also Metro station.
Technology

Train size and motive power
Some urban rail lines are built to the full size of main-line railways; others use smaller tunnels, restricting the size and sometimes the shape of the trains (in the London Underground the informal term tube train is commonly used). Some lines use light rail rolling stock, perhaps surface cars simply routed into a tunnel for all or part of their route. In many cities, such as London and Boston's MBTA, lines using different types of vehicles are organised into a single unified system (though often not connected by track). Although the initial lines of what became the London Underground used steam engines, most metro trains, both now and historically, are electric multiple units, with steel wheels running on two steel rails. Power for the trains, referred to as traction power, is commonly supplied by means of a single live third rail (as in New York) at 600 to 750 volts, but some systems use two live rails (notably London) and thus eliminate the return current from the running rails. Overhead wires, allowing higher voltages, are more likely to be used on metro systems without much length in tunnel, as in Amsterdam; but they also occur on some that are underground, as in Madrid. Boston's Green Line trains derive power from an overhead wire, both while traveling in a tunnel in the central city and at street level in the suburban areas. Systems generally use DC power rather than AC, even though this requires large rectifiers for the power supply. DC motors were formerly more efficient for railway applications, and once a DC system is in place, converting it to AC is generally considered too large a project to contemplate.
Tracks
motor Most rapid transit systems use conventional railway tracks, although since tracks in subway tunnels are not exposed to wet weather, they are often fixed to the floor rather than resting on ballast. The rapid transit system in San Diego, California operates tracks on former railroad rights of way that were acquired by the governing entity. An alternative technology using rubber tires on narrow concrete or steel rollways was pioneered on the Paris Métro, and the first complete system to use it was in Montréal. Additional horizontal wheels are required for guidance, and a conventional track is often provided in case of flat tires and for switching. Advocates of this system note that it is much quieter than conventional steel-wheeled trains, and allows for greater inclines given the increased traction allowed by the rubber tires. Some cities with steep hills incorporate mountain railway technologies into their metros. The Lyon Metro includes a section of rack (cog) railway, while the Carmelit in Haifa is an underground funicular. For elevated lines, still another alternative is the monorail. Supported or "straddle" monorails, with a single rail below the train, include the Tokyo Monorail; the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal is a suspended monorail, where the train body hangs below the wheels and rail. Monorails have never gained wide acceptance outside Japan, though Seattle has a short one (in November 2005 voters in Seattle decided against expanding this system, which dates to the World's Fair of 1962), and one has recently been built in Las Vegas. One of the first monorail systems in the United States was installed at Anaheim's Disneyland in 1959 and connects the amusement park to a nearby hotel. Disneyland's builder, animator and filmmaker Walt Disney, offered to build a similar system between Anaheim and Los Angeles.
Crew size and automation
Los Angeles trains, manufactured by Alstom of France, are fully automated and are not manned by any driver.]] Early underground trains often carried an attendant on each car to operate the doors or gates, as well as a driver (often called the "motorman"). The introduction of powered doors around 1920 permitted crew sizes to be reduced, and trains in many cities are now operated by a single person. Where the operator would not be able to see the whole side of the train to tell whether the doors can be safely closed, mirrors or closed-circuit TV monitors are often provided for that purpose. closed-circuit TV An alternative to human drivers became available in the 1960s, as automated systems were developed that could start a train, accelerate to the correct speed, and stop automatically at the next station, also taking into account the information that a human driver would obtain from lineside or cab signals. The first complete line to use this technology was London's Victoria Line, in 1968. In normal operation the one crew member sits in the driver's position at the front, but just closes the doors at each station; the train then starts automatically. This style of system has become widespread. A variant is seen on London's Docklands Light Railway, opened in 1987, where the "passenger service agent" (formerly "train captain") rides with the passengers rather than sitting at the front as a driver would. The same technology would have allowed trains to operate completely automatically with no crew, just as most elevators do; and as the cost of automation has decreased, this has become financially attractive. But a countervailing argument is that of possible emergency situations. A crew member on board the train may be able to prevent the emergency in the first place, drive a partially failed train to the next station, assist with an evacuation if needed, or call for the correct emergency services (police, fire, or ambulance) and help direct them. emergency.]] In some cities the same reasons are considered to justify a crew of two rather than one; one person drives from the front of the train, while the other operates the doors from a position farther back, and is more conveniently able to assist passengers in the rear cars. The crew members may exchange roles on the reverse trip (as in Toronto) or not (as in New York). Completely unmanned trains are more accepted on newer systems where there are no existing crews to be removed, and especially on light rail lines. Thus the first such system was the VAL (véhicule automatique léger or "automated light vehicle") of Lille, France, inaugurated in 1983. Additional VAL lines have been built in other cities. In Canada, the Vancouver SkyTrain carries no crew members, while Toronto's Scarborough RT, opening the same year (1985) with otherwise identical trains, uses human operators. These systems commonly use platform-edge doors (PEDs), in order to improve safety and ensure passenger confidence, but this is not universal: for example, the Vancouver SkyTrain does not. (And conversely, some lines which retain drivers nevertheless use PEDs, notably London's Jubilee Line Extension. MTR of Hong Kong also uses platform screen doors, the first to install PSDs on an already operating system.) Rapid transit systems in the United States do not use PEDs, with the exception of the Las Vegas Monorail which was the first system to use them in the country because of the city's desert climate. As to larger trains, the Paris Metro has human drivers on most lines, but runs crewless trains on its newest line, Line 14, which opened in 1998. Singapore's North East MRT Line (2003) claims to be the world's first fully automated underground urban heavy rail line. The Disneyland Resort Line of Hong Kong MTR is also automated, with a staff riding with the passengers. :See also People mover.
Tunnel construction
People mover] The construction of an underground metro is an expensive project, often carried out over a number of years. There are several different methods of building underground lines. In one common method, known as cut-and-cover (used in the first New York City subway line), the city streets are excavated and a tunnel structure strong enough to support the road above is built at the trench, which is then filled in and the roadway rebuilt. This method (used for most of the underground parts of the São Paulo and Guadalajara subways, for example) often involves extensive relocation of the utilities commonly buried not far below city streets – particularly power and telephone wiring, water and gas mains, and sewers. This relocation must be done carefully, as according to documentaries from the National Geographic Society, one of the causes of the April 22 explosions in Guadalajara, which happened in 1992, was a misrelocated water pipeline. The structures are typically made of concrete, perhaps with structural columns of steel; in the oldest systems, brick and cast iron were used. Cut-and-cover construction can take so long that it is often necessary to build a temporary roadbed while construction is going on underneath in order to avoid closing main streets for long periods of time; in Toronto, a temporary surface on Yonge Street supported cars and streetcar tracks for several years while the Yonge subway was built. Some American cities, like Newark, Cincinnati and Rochester, were initially built around canals. When the railways replaced canals, they were able to bury a subway in the disused canal's trench, without rerouting other utilities, or acquiring a right of way piecemeal. Another usual way is to start with a vertical shaft and then dig the tunnels horizontally from there, often with a tunnelling shield, thus avoiding almost any disturbance to existing streets, buildings, and utilities. But problems with ground water are more likely, and tunnelling through native bedrock may require blasting. (The first city to extensively use deep tunneling was London, where a thick sedimentary layer of clay largely avoids both problems.) The confined space in the tunnel also limits the machinery that can be used, but specialised tunnel-boring machines are now available to overcome this challenge. One disadvantage with this, however, is that the cost of tunnelling is much higher than building systems cut-and-cover, at-grade or elevated. Early tunnelling machines could not make tunnels large enough for conventional railway equipment, necessitating special low, round trains, such as are still used by most of the London Underground, which cannot install air conditioning on most of its lines because the amount of empty space between the trains and tunnel walls is so small. The deepest metro system in the world was built in St. Petersburg, Russia. In this city, built in the marshland, stable soil starts more than 50 metres deep. Above that level the soil mostly consists of water-bearing finely dispersed sand. Because of this, only three stations out of nearly 60 are built near the ground level and three more above the ground. Some stations and tunnels lie as deep as 100-120 meters below the surface. However, the location of the world's deepest station is not as clear. Usually, the vertical distance between the ground level and the rail is used to represent the depth. Among the possible candidates are: marshland, Russia metro depicts Ancient Greece; the word "sportivnaya" means "sporty" or "athletic".]]
- Deepest stations in St. Petersburg, Russia:
- Admiraltejskaya (The Admiralty, 102 meters, still in construction, probably the best candidate)
- Komendantskij Prospekt (The Commandant Avenue, 78 meters, launched 2005)
- Chernishevskaya (Chernyshevsky, 74 meters, launched 1958)
- Ploshad Lenina (Lenin Square, 72 meters, launched 1958)
- Arsenal'na station in Kyiv, Ukraine (built under a hill)
- Park Pobedy station in Moscow Metro (built under a hill)
- Puhung station in Pyongyang, North Korea (the Pyongyang metro doubles as a nuclear shelter)
- Washington Park station on Metropolitan Area Express in Portland, Oregon (built under a hill), 260 feet (80 m) One advantage of deep tunnels is that they can dip in a basin-like profile between stations, without incurring significant extra costs due to having to dig deeper. This technique, also referred to as putting stations "on humps", allows gravity to assist the trains as they accelerate from one station and brake at the next. It was used as early as 1890 on parts of the City and South London Railway, and has been used many times since. The proposed West Island extention to the Island Line of the MTR of Hong Kong will have stations over 100 metres below the ground level, to serve passengers on the Mid-levels. According to the latest proposal some of the entrances/exits will be equipped with high-speed lifts, instead of the conventional way to use escalators.
History
Mid-levels.]] The 2750-foot (850-m) Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn, New York (now part of New York City) is claimed to be the "world's oldest subway tunnel". This was formed in 1850 when an open cut on the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad in the middle of Atlantic Avenue was bricked over to form a tunnel. The company was later taken over by the Long Island Rail Road, but the tunnel was closed in 1861. This tunnel was not a true subway, as it had no stations and was used for long-distance regional rail and streetcars. Soon after, the similar Murray Hill Tunnel on the New York and Harlem Railroad was roofed over in the 1850s. This ran under Park Avenue in New York City, and later even included an underground station at 38th Street, opened in 1870. [http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/38st.html] As with the Cobble Hill Tunnel, this carried regional rail and streetcars. The tunnel has since been converted for automobile traffic. The first real underground line in the sense discussed here was the Metropolitan Railway in London, which opened in 1863, using the era's most advanced propulsive technology: steam locomotives, specially designed to condense their exhaust steam when in the tunnels. It was an immediate success and many extensions followed; the Metropolitan eventually became an important part of the London Underground system. Steam working underground lasted until 1905. The first elevated railway in the world was the Ninth Avenue Elevated in New York City, opened in 1868 as a cable car and later converted for steam and then electric operation. Elevated railways were seen as a cheaper alternative to subways, but were often seen as dirty, ugly, and dangerous. In 1870 short single-track lines opened in both New York and London using alternative technologies, neither of which was a success. In New York, Alfred Beach built a 95 m tunnel (with a single station and a dead end at the other end) to demonstrate pneumatic train operation; this operated until 1873, after which the tunnel became a rifle range and was then abandoned. The Beach subway was demolished in 1912 to build the BMT City Hall station. In London, the Tower Subway provided a crossing under the River Thames using a tiny cable car for the 410-m journey; the line closed in a matter of months and the tunnel was given over to pedestrians, later becoming a utility conduit. The first deep-level underground line (other than the Tower Subway) was the City and South London Railway, which opened in 1890. Steam operation being considered ridiculous in view of the limited ventilation so far underground, cable traction was chosen; but during construction the management decided to try electric locomotives instead, and so the C&SLR became the first underground electric railway. It too is now part of the London Underground. London Underground), at first a trolleybus system, opened in 1980; the second line was opened in 1994, and a third line is in project.]] The first line of the Chicago 'L' opened in 1892; most of Chicago's system is still elevated, but a few subways have been built, the first opening in 1943. The first underground railway in continental Europe was the Tünel, an underground 573-meter funicular between the quarters of Beyoğlu and Galata in the European part of Istanbul, completed in 1875 by French engineers on behalf of the Ottoman Empire. It rarely figures as continental Europe's first metro, though, partly because of its limited length, partly because the cars were pulled by horses until the line was converted to electrical operation in 1910. After the Tünel, the first underground railway to be completed in continental Europe was opened in