Financial History Issue 128 (Winter 2019) | Page 13

CONNEC TING TO COLLEC TIONS   THE TICKER Bringing the Subway to Columbus Circle By Sarah Poole, Collections Manager As a New York City institution, the Museum’s collection contains a number of historical images documenting the city’s development. This photograph shows Columbus Circle during subway construc- tion in 1901. The Museum acquired the print in 1994, and the original photograph is in the collection of the Library of Congress. Named for the landmarked monument of Christopher Columbus at its center, Columbus Circle is a busy traffic circle located at the intersection of Eighth Ave- nue, Broadway, Central Park South and Central Park West at the southwest corner of Central Park. The circle was constructed from 1868–1870 as a part of the original plan for Central Park and was known simply as “the circle” or the “grand circle” prior to the installation of the monument in 1892. The monument, sculpted by Ital- ian artist Gaetano Russo, was installed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ landing in the Americas and was constructed with funds raised by the Italian language newspaper, Il Progresso. Columbus Circle was excavated in 1901 to accommodate construction of New York City’s first subway line by the Rapid Transit Construction Company. As shown in the photograph, the column was reinforced with trestles, and the streetcar tracks running through the circle were sus- pended on wooden bridges. Rock beneath the column and circle was blasted away to make room for what is now part of the 59th Street–Columbus Circle station. The changes made during the construc- tion made an already busy and confusing intersection even more chaotic for traf- fic and pedestrians. The New York Times described the process that would occur every time dynamite was used at the site: As soon as the dynamite has been placed in the hole…the drillers and blasters rush up to the street to get out of the way. Then four or five men, armed with brilliant red flags, take their positions around the neighbor- hood and wave at the cars and pedes- trians. When the way is clear, every- body having run as fast as they could from the place indicated by the flags, a short dull report is heard, and the ground shakes a bit as though a mild earthquake were on. Work and life would then continue as usual immediately after the explosion. The Columbus Circle subway station was com- pleted in February 1904, and service began in October. The station only served local trains on the Interborough Rapid Tran- sit Company’s Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (now the 1 train). The Independent Subway System’s Eighth Avenue Line (now the A, B, C and D trains) expanded service to Columbus Circle in 1932 with a new sta- tion that was built underneath the original. The present-day station still serves the same lines, now operated by the Metro- politan Transit Authority of New York City. As of 2017, the 59th Street–Colum- bus Circle station serves more than 73,000 subway passengers every weekday. It is the eighth busiest subway station in New York City.  www.MoAF.org  |  Winter 2019  |  FINANCIAL HISTORY  11