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"You must take the 'A train/To go to Sugar Hill 'way up in Harlem." Billy Straylwrn for Duke Ellington, 1941.
Prior to the opening of its subway 101 years ago, New York could be characterized as a city of horse cars (and manure), street and cable cars, and steam locomotives.
The subway began service on Oct. 27, 1904, at the new City Hall station. The arched ceiling of Gustavino tiles and the chandeliers-still intact today-are hardly the design motif contemporary straphangers expect.
Financier August Belmont handed the silver control key to Mayor George McClellan, who startled the dignitaries on board by taking the train to 145th Street, a distance of nine miles, at speeds up to 40 miles per hour.
The VIPs survived, as did the Interborough Rapid Transit system. Today, the IRT. is a key link in a citywide system of over 722 miles of track serving 4.5 million passengers daily from 468 stations.
In 1978, ASME and the American Society of Civil Engineers designated the original nine miles of track, including its power system and signals, a landmark: "The first...