New York’s Lost Subway | The Secret Beneath Broadway
It’s History31 Maj 2025

New York’s Lost Subway | The Secret Beneath Broadway

Before New York built its legendary subway system, an inventor quietly constructed a different kind of underground transit—powered not by electricity, but by air. In 1870, Alfred Ely Beach opened the Beach Pneumatic Transit beneath Broadway, a functioning subway that silently whisked passengers through a sealed tunnel using air pressure. It was revolutionary, popular—and ultimately, shut down. This episode dives into the forgotten story of America’s earliest subway experiment, built in secret under Manhattan at a time when the city’s streets were choked with chaos. We’ll explore how political corruption, especially from Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, crushed the project—and how the remains were unearthed decades later during construction of the modern subway system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Why Toronto’s Airport Was Built Around a Cemetery

Why Toronto’s Airport Was Built Around a Cemetery

For decades, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport housed a 19th-century Catholic cemetery, the resting place of early settlers from the now-vanished village of Elmbank. This cemetery, fenced off an...

10 Apr 19min

Why This California City Built 500 Miles of Roads to Nowhere

Why This California City Built 500 Miles of Roads to Nowhere

In the Mojave Desert, about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, lies California City—a vast urban experiment designed for nearly half a million residents but now home to fewer than 15,000. This stark ...

9 Apr 13min

Why This Illinois City Built a Gate to Seal Itself Off

Why This Illinois City Built a Gate to Seal Itself Off

At the southern tip of Illinois, where the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers converge, lies the city of Cairo, which once depended on the Big Subway Gate for flood defense. This massive iron barrier was des...

8 Apr 14min

Why San Francisco’s Treasure Island is Radioactive

Why San Francisco’s Treasure Island is Radioactive

In the middle of San Francisco Bay sits an island that did not even exist a century ago. Built from dredged sand and rock in the 1930s, Treasure Island was created as the dazzling home of the 1939 Gol...

7 Apr 11min

Why Niagara Falls Was Turned Off

Why Niagara Falls Was Turned Off

In 1969, engineers performed the unprecedented act of turning off Niagara Falls, leaving the American Falls as a dry cliff face for several months. This episode explores the surprising findings uncove...

5 Apr 16min

New York's Most Disturbing Island | The History of Rikers Jail

New York's Most Disturbing Island | The History of Rikers Jail

Delve into the history of Rikers Island, the notorious jail complex in New York City. This video explores the origins of Rikers Island as a jail, its growth from a small facility to an overcrowded com...

4 Apr 19min

Why There’s an Abandoned Mansion Beneath the Bay Bridge

Why There’s an Abandoned Mansion Beneath the Bay Bridge

Every day, thousands of drivers cross the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge without realizing they are passing over the abandoned Nimitz House on Yerba Buena Island. This residence was once home to Adm...

3 Apr 18min

Why Pacifica California is Falling into the Sea

Why Pacifica California is Falling into the Sea

Perched along the cliffs just south of San Francisco, Pacifica, California, was built on a dream of ocean views and quiet living. However, this dream conceals a dangerous reality. Developers initially...

2 Apr 13min

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