Boston Opens First Subway: Underground Transit Born
Boston's subway wasn't glamorous — it was a converted streetcar tunnel running 1.8 miles under Tremont Street, fare of five cents. New York hadn't built one yet. Chicago hadn't built one yet. Boston, a city famous for stubborn civic arguments about everything, somehow got underground transit done first in North America. The opening car was pulled by a horse, briefly, before a trolley took over. The tunnels are still in use today, making them the oldest continuously operating subway infrastructure on the continent.
September 1, 1897
129 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on September 1
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