Tunneling to the Future: The Story of the Great Subway Expansion That Saved New York

In 1913, more than two-thirds of New York City's residents lived in tenements and the Lower East Side had the highest population density in the world, housing approximately 600,000 people in less then two square miles. Contagious diseases such as TB were rampant, and the infant mortality rate in the Italian community had grown to 71%. In response to these dangerous conditions, city officials decided to double the mileage of New York's subway lines (which first opened in 1904) and triple their capacity, to encourage people to move uptown and into the outer boroughs. Derrick, the archivist for the Bronx County Historical Society, has produced a rousing history of the myriad struggles to build these lifesaving additions to the city's rapid transit system. Charting the fights between the city and privately owned transit companies (the two were sharing the cost of the subway system's expansion), he shows how the popular Hearst press and other media attacked the private companies for greed, while the companies themselves discovered that the new subway lines would not be as immediately profitable as they had planned. Derrick carefully explicates the impact of these rapid transit extensions on the city's economy, housing, jobs, neighborhood development and human interactions. Writing in a clear, compelling style, he constructs his history within the framework of several disciplines. Though the level of detail may overwhelm general readers, those already knowledgeable about New York political and social history will welcome this excellent addition to the literature of the city's planning, development and economics. (Apr.)