Rob Lammle
4 Secret Subways Hiding Underground
by Rob Lammle - January 20, 2010 - 2:30 PM

It seems impossible to think that a city could have an underground rail system that most people don’t even know about. But that’s the case with these four secret subways hidden beneath the bustling streets of some of America’s biggest cities.

1. The Wet & Windy City

chicago-undergroundStarting in 1899, the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph Company dug under most of downtown Chicago, creating nearly 62 miles of tunnels, six feet wide by seven and a half feet tall. Their original intention was to house telephone cables, but the company also installed tracks to make getting around easier. Spotting an opportunity, they renamed their business The Chicago Tunnel Company in 1906 and became an underground delivery service instead.

At their peak use, the tunnels buzzed with around 150 small locomotives, hauling 3,300 miniature train cars that delivered 600,000 tons of freight every day. Using special elevators connected to the tunnels, businesses like Marshall Field’s would get new clothing and shoe shipments from the rail, but delivering coal for furnaces was the company’s bread and butter. However, by the late-1940s, most buildings were using natural gas for heat and those still using coal were getting it by truck, which was much cheaper. Business declined until the company went bankrupt, and the tunnels were sealed in 1959. Shortly after, scrap metal thieves cleaned out the tunnels, including steel doors that were meant to close off the passageways that ran under the Chicago River.

The rails were virtually forgotten until 1992, when a pile driver in the Chicago River hit a freight tunnel wall. A small crack eventually became a 20-foot hole, allowing over 100 million gallons of water to flood the tunnels. Many downtown buildings still had basement connections to the railway, so as the water rose underground it flooded these buildings too, ruining stock in storage rooms, shutting down the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Board of Trade, and shorting out electrical power for blocks. Days later, the hole was repaired and the water was pumped out. The clean-up cost and estimated damage to downtown businesses was more than $1 billion. Since then, many sections of the tunnel have been closed off, while other branches have come full circle—they’re once again being used to house telecommunication wires.

2. The Subway You Paid For (And Probably Didn’t Know It)

capital-subway

Once called “the shortest and most exclusive railway in the world,” the U.S. Capitol Subway—AKA “The Senate Subway”—is a little-known secret to most Americans. Initially built in 1912, a small, two-line monorail system linked the Capitol building to the Russell Senate Office Building just 1/5 of a mile away. The open-air cars held 18 people in wicker seats, took 45 seconds to make a one-way trip, and were known to travel back and forth up to 225 times a day when the Senate was in session.

mccain-subwayOver the years, the line has expanded to all the Senate Office Buildings, as well as to the House Office Building, allowing every member of Congress to reach the Capitol with ease. The old cars were upgraded in 1965 with new models that include upholstered seats and windshields, most of which are still in use today. In 1993, the cars on one line were replaced with sleek, fully enclosed cabins, and feature an automatic, driver-less system, which normally performs quite well. However, in May 2009, the train broke down, stranding Senators Voinovich, Lieberman, Alexander and McCaskill between stations. McCaskill let the world know via Twitter that their train had stalled. They were rescued shortly after, but McCaskill was still a little leery, tweeting that it “takes longer, but I think I’ll walk.”

And in case you were wondering, you don’t have to be in Congress to ride the Senate Subway, but you do need special clearance to do so.

3. If You Can’t Beat City Hall, Go Under It

beach-subway-2New York City’s streets were becoming an overcrowded, dangerous place to be. So in 1866, Alfred Beach, scientist, inventor, and publisher of Scientific American, came up with a plan to shuttle people around underground. The concept worked just like the pneumatic tubes for the drive-up teller at your local bank, with a giant fan pushing and pulling the train cars from station to station. But there was one big roadblock to Beach’s plan: a powerful, corrupt politician named William “Boss” Tweed. Tweed was accepting bribes and kickbacks from everyone in New York City, including, it’s speculated, the businesses that ran private streetcars. Because Tweed had a vested interest in keeping the streetcars going above ground, he fought any proposals to develop public transportation down below. Knowing this, Beach asked for and received permission to build a tunnel for delivering mail via pneumatic tubes.

In a gutsy move, Beach used his permit for the mail tunnel as cover to build a working prototype of his pneumatic subway system. The project was constructed in secret, mostly at night, and cost Beach $350,000 of his own money. When it was finished, the subway featured one velvet-seated wooden train car riding inside a 9-foot diameter brick tube that ran 300 feet down the length of Broadway—right in front of City Hall. The subway started at a lavish station that featured painted frescoes, goldfish swimming in a fountain, and a grand piano to complete the upscale ambiance.

beach-subwayAfter a grand opening celebration in 1870, thousands visited Beach’s subway for a ride. Thanks to public enthusiasm, the state legislature approved funding to start building on a grander scale. But Boss Tweed and the governor aligned to veto the bill, and they succeeded in shutting down the subway a year after it opened. The tunnel was eventually closed and sat forgotten until 1912, when workers adding a new branch to the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit (BMT) line accidentally broke through the tunnel wall. They found what was left of the station and the wooden car, but it had deteriorated beyond recovery. A few photos of the car were taken before it was destroyed to make room for the new subway line.

4. The Subway That Never Was

During the first part of the 20th Century, Cincinnati was one of the largest cities in the country, with a growth rate nearly the same as Chicago and New York City. And like those cities, Cincinnati had a problem with dangerous, busy streets. So in 1916, a 16-mile mass transit system was proposed to alleviate the congestion. The project included aboveground and underground rails with much of the latter to be constructed by tearing up the Miami and Erie Canal, a man made waterway that had fallen into disuse.

$6,000,000 in bonds were approved in April 1916, but America had entered World War I just eleven days before, and the federal government soon put a freeze on all bond issues. When the war was over, the price of steel and concrete had skyrocketed, so the original $6,000,000 was now insufficient. A modified plan eliminated some of the original 17 stations and cut the track down to six miles, servicing only the western half of the city. With the new plan, construction began in 1920 and lasted until 1925, when the $6,000,000 ran out. During that time, two miles of 26-foot wide subway tunnel were built where the canal had been, and then covered by a new street, Central Parkway, creating a major thoroughfare for aboveground traffic. Until more money could be raised, there were no tracks or train cars, but the infrastructure was in place for the subway’s eventual completion.

cincy-subway

While city government argued over what to do next, the Stock Market crashed in 1929, World War II stalled the project, and by the 1950s, America was in love with its automobiles, so the demand for mass transit dried up. Today, the tunnel sits, unused and unfinished for nearly 85 years. The entrance to the grand staircase that leads to the tunnel has been closed and most of the aboveground stations have been torn down. There’s really very little evidence that the tunnel even exists, which is perfectly fine to some people embarrassed by the project’s history.

Over the years there have been numerous attempts to find some use for the tunnel, but none have been successful. Most recently, in 2002, a proposal for mass transit was again considered, but the idea was voted down.
* * * * *
Does your city have any legends of secret, underground passages? Are there tunnels in your neighborhood you’ve always wanted to explore? Tell us about them in the comments below.

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Comments (42)

  1. I worked for a small engineering firm in Cincinnati in the early 1990s. I had a chance to tour a small section of the abandoned Cincinnati subway. You accessed it through a manhole in median of a very busy road, it must have been quite a site to see this gorup of people disappearing down a hole in in the middle of a busy road.
    It was an interesting tour.

    posted by Cathy on 1-20-2010 at 3:10 pm

  2. I also took a tour of the Cincinnati subway. It was very surreal down under the street. Its a shame it was never completed.

    posted by Laura Anne on 1-20-2010 at 3:38 pm

  3. there’s a 2 mile stretch of what’s left of the subway here in downtown Rochester, NY. It’s mainly used by the homeless and graffiti artists. It’s past, present and future are quite well documented (with lots of pics and videos) at this website – rochestersubway dot com/rochester_subway_history dot php

    posted by Clotho on 1-20-2010 at 3:47 pm

  4. Toronto has a few “secret” stations on their subway line. As routes were planned and replanned some anticipated stations never came to be, and some were in use, but discontinued.

    One of them (Lower Bay) is still attached to the active subway line and is often used for film and TV. They can run real trains through it, but it is not a stop on any regular line.

    http://transit.toronto.on.ca/subway/5006.shtml

    posted by Brian on 1-20-2010 at 3:50 pm

  5. When my family visited Dc in the early ’70s the public could ride the Senate subway and I got to take a very short trip on it, I believe from the Capitol to a cafeteria under the National Gallery of Art.

    Growing up in a relatively rural area, this was the first time I had ever ridden on a subway.

    posted by Cy Guy on 1-20-2010 at 4:09 pm

  6. I know there are caves in St Paul by the river that have quite a history, especially during Prohibition, when they were used as speak-easies and a popular haunt for gangsters who had a deal w/ the cops. I think they house a mushroom farm now, but they were used for brewing too I think in the 1800s.

    posted by Big Jonny on 1-20-2010 at 4:09 pm

  7. Oh wow. I thought New York’s pneumatic subway was fictional — a major turning point in the second Ghostbusters film is the “river of slime” discovery in its tunnels.

    posted by Mark on 1-20-2010 at 4:09 pm

  8. http://www.undergroundtour.com/about/index.html

    Seattle’s Underground

    posted by Jessie on 1-20-2010 at 4:10 pm

  9. I rode the senate subway during a “Close-up” trip to D.C. in 1990. No special clearance was needed at that time that I recall. We had stopped into our local congressman’s office to pick-up tickets to view congress and then rode it to the capital building.

    posted by Lewen on 1-20-2010 at 4:37 pm

  10. It’s not mass transit by rail, but by foot. Due to the shallow water table, basements in Houston, Tx are almost nonexistent. But underneath the streets of downtown, there is an extensive tunnel system connecting the buildings. It is for pedestrian traffic only, but the city provides guided tours.

    posted by Adam V. on 1-20-2010 at 5:23 pm

  11. I rode the Senate Subway during a class trip to D.C. in 94, or 95. We had just visited with our state rep and took a trip to the Capital building, I believe. The guide we had was pretty underwhelmed with it, or just tired of blowhard Congressmen-women, and as he explained the purpose of it he also took jabs at the pampered lives of our reps and senators.

    posted by Kosmo on 1-20-2010 at 6:39 pm

  12. there was a song from a mysterious group in the mid 1970′s named Klaatu…They sang \Sub Rosa Subway\, and the lyric went something like this:
    Back in 1870, just beneath the great white way, Alfred Beach worked secretly, risking all to ride his dream. His wind Machine.
    New York City and the morning sun, were awoken by the strangest sound. Reportedly as far as Washington, the tremers shock the earth as Alfie, blew under ground.
    All aboard Sub Rosa Subway. Had you wondered who’s been digging under Broadway, it’s Alfie, poor Al, woe Al.
    As for Americans first subway, the public scoffed, it’s far too rude. One station filled with Victoria’s age, from frescoed walls and goldfish fountains…to Braumsian tunes.

    posted by Jim Burton on 1-20-2010 at 7:26 pm

  13. I’ve been to the Capitol subway. I was on a group visit to my congressman, and they let us walk through the tunnel to get to the Capitol instead of going outside. We didn’t get to ride because there was a vote going on, but it was still very cool. :)

    posted by band_nerd on 1-20-2010 at 9:44 pm

  14. Centralia, WA has underground tunnels which have been in place since the Prohibition period, or so I have been told. There is a trapdoor leading into the tunnel in what is currently the Olympic Club. The Oly used to be a historic speakeasy, and the trapdoor was an alternate exit for imbibers and a storage area for the false-bottomed pickle barrels used to smuggle in booze. I have been told that the tunnel crosses the street into the building on the opposite side, and when President Clinton visited the town, Secret Service agents had to clear the tunnel prior to his arrival.

    posted by Lizz on 1-20-2010 at 11:33 pm

  15. In Indianapolis, we have an underground underneath our downtown- it’s been closed off since the ’60s due to rising crime/our downtown sucking. My parents remember when they were open, though- I wish I had pictures!

    posted by Wendy on 1-21-2010 at 12:39 am

  16. Really, Wendy? I grew up in Noblesville and I’ve never heard of such tunnels. That’d be awesome to see.

    posted by Anne on 1-21-2010 at 1:14 am

  17. Back around 1998 on a college class field trip to DC we were allowed to walk in the Capital tunnel from one place to the other. I believe we were on our way from the Senate area.

    I can’t remember whether or not we were asked if we wanted to ride it but I do remember it traveling past us on our way through.

    posted by Christina on 1-21-2010 at 3:09 am

  18. I knew about the Beach Pneumatic Subway from the third “An American Tail” movie!

    posted by MetFanMac on 1-21-2010 at 4:41 am

  19. Rochester, NY has an abandoned subway tunnel, that is slated to be destroyed. It is pretty creepy.

    posted by Andy on 1-21-2010 at 6:01 am

  20. Under Providence RI

    http://www.darkpassage.com/postmortems/providence.htm

    posted by ChrisP on 1-21-2010 at 8:11 am

  21. In Brooklyn, there is an old subway line that runs under Atlantic Avenue that was just recently rediscovered.

    Also, I went to college at Wake Forest and there are supposedly tunnels that connect the different parts of campus, though I can’t say I ever ventured down into them. It was too easy to get caught during the day, and at night it was just a little too creepy.

    posted by amanda on 1-21-2010 at 9:09 am

  22. Beneath Grand Central Terminal in New York are secret underground tracks that go directly to the Waldorf Astoria. Under the hotel there was a train platform with a secret entrance and an elevator that went straight to the hotel.

    President Franklin D. Roosevelt used it when he came to New York City as a way to get from his train to the hotel without being bothered by reporters.

    posted by Sue on 1-21-2010 at 9:11 am

  23. i don’t know if they’re secret but the underground subway here in LA is certainly deserted.

    posted by jason on 1-21-2010 at 11:24 am

  24. There is a secert tunnel in Tulsa Oklahoma. I was a sales manager for a hotel downtown and gave many tours of the secert tunnel. It was originally built in the 1920 for the Oil tycoons on Tulsa. Back then the streets of Tulsa was filled with down on their luck people who would kidnapped rich oil companies employees going to work, lunch, and even meetings. The oil barrons built the tunnel togther and connected all of the buildings in downtown Tulsa(as of 1920-something. There is even a fault door that supposed weighs over 2 tons and can move with the touch of a finger! The tunnels are still in use by a VERY few people. Please send someone to do a story on the Tulsa Tunnels. This is a great story for the MentalFlossers out there!

    posted by michael simmons on 1-21-2010 at 11:30 am

  25. I went on a tour of Cincinnati’s tunnels a few months ago. There is *some* use for it – they have water pipes running through it, I believe.

    posted by Kelly on 1-21-2010 at 11:42 am

  26. Albany, NY can get very cold and snowy. Lucky for me, a fellow student at SUNY Albany told me about the tunnel system. It was toasty warm (from the steam pipes, and you could get from one part of campus to another by walking through it. I never had a lot of company down there, so I don’t know how many people knew about it.

    posted by christine sleight on 1-21-2010 at 2:40 pm

  27. Where I live tunnels are discovered routinely, because I am a few minutes from Mexico. The tunnels are primarily used for bringing drugs and people into the U.S.

    posted by salemthegoddess on 1-21-2010 at 10:59 pm

  28. Rob, I was able to hitch a ride on the Senate train when Pop and Grannie traveled to DC..Not sure of the year, but, somewhere in the late 1950′s. I guess they would let anybody ride in those days.

    posted by ferrell on 1-21-2010 at 11:01 pm

  29. In Annapolis, Maryland there is a tunnel that stretches been the Maryland Inn on Church Circle, goes past St. Anne’s Church and ends up at the State House. Reportedly constructed in the late 1700′s, the tunnel offered private passage to legislators between the State House and the Maryland Inn, at that time functioning as a bordello. In later years, the tunnel also played a role in the Underground Railroad offering access to and sanctuary at St. Anne’s Church. The tunnel has been closed for many years, however its entrance is visible in the basement of the Maryland Inn which now houses a Starbucks.

    posted by lee1954 on 1-22-2010 at 12:30 am

  30. Wow…I guess I’m lucky but I’ve ridden on the Capitol Subway post 9-11. My family had talked to our local congressman’s office and had got tickets to go up to the gallery. We went and picked them up one of the Senate office buildings and then one of his aides took us on the train over to the capitol building and gave us a very nice tour.

    posted by Joshua on 1-22-2010 at 11:36 am

  31. I believe, but not sure, there is a railway tunnel under San Francisco Bay that connects Alcatraz with Fort Mason that was used to fortify the island to defend SF from the sea.

    posted by Ronald Seto on 1-22-2010 at 11:40 am

  32. Dallas, Tx downtow there is tunnel network. Its pretty cool. Lots or shops and offices.

    posted by Devon M Dallas, Tx. on 1-23-2010 at 2:09 pm

  33. Going with the Dallas theme there are gigantic underground tunnels in Waxahachie that were going to be used as a Supercollider. The project was abandoned and there are 30km of 15ft wide tunnel under a suburban town.

    posted by Mark on 1-28-2010 at 3:18 pm

  34. IIRC, the 1870 NYC pneumatic subway was shown as part of the design on the wallpaper used in Subway restaurants into the early/mid 2000s.

    Mike

    posted by Mike from Wisconsin on 2-2-2010 at 11:47 am

  35. I rode the Capitol subway last August; a friend was working for a Representative on a fellowship. We rode back and forth about three times, it’s ridiculously short!

    posted by Kristin on 3-5-2010 at 1:11 am

  36. @lee The tunnel in Annapolis would be used by important political guests who were staying at the Inn to get to the state house w/o being stopped on the streets.

    posted by V on 3-20-2010 at 10:32 am

  37. @cy guy I used to work at the National gallery of art, and the capitol subway def doesn’t go there. It’s much farther away than any of the senate office buildings are to each other/the capitol floor. It does connect to the library of congress though.

    posted by L on 3-21-2010 at 8:44 am

  38. @Jason
    Which L.A. subway are you talking about? The Red Line runs from Union Station to North Hollywood, is entirely underground and is heavily patronized since it only takes about 30 minutes for the trip between Downtown and the San Fernando Valley. The Blue line begins at Metro Center (Flower and 7th Sts.) and spend it’s first 1/2 mile in a tunnel that ends near the Convention Center. The line then runs on the surface all the way to Long Beach. Trains run every 10 minutes and are usually quite full. Beginning next year, the new Expo Line will also use the Flower St. tunnel.
    Have you recently ridden on one of these lines? Are you just one of those people who hates mass transit?

    posted by Jim_J on 11-20-2010 at 11:53 am

  39. I’ve gone on tours of seattle’s underground (i live there) not very exciting, however i’ve heard recently about a “subway” type tunnel system under the University of Washington/university Village. All you need are the right tools, something that looks like a construction workers outfit, and to know where the access panels/manhole are. Anyone ever heard of these as well?

    posted by David Reid on 7-14-2011 at 9:18 pm

  40. There are still tunnels that are used in Indianapolis that connect the Capitol Building, Circle Center Mall, other Government buildings, and the Embassy Suites. I think you have to have government ID to use most of the walking tunnels though.

    posted by Chelsea on 10-19-2011 at 12:01 pm

  41. I grew up in a small town. Payson, UT. Much of the old mainstreet buildings are connected via tunnel. I’ve never had the privilege of exploring them though.

    In Salt Lake, my friend rented an old house which had a basement door which was quite permanently sealed with cinderblock… We believe it, like many other houses in Salt Lake, was connected to a neighboring home or homes to allow the practice of polygamy after it was banned.

    posted by ckswenson on 10-25-2011 at 1:32 pm

  42. NYC, like Toronto, has a disused but otherwise normal subway station: the Court Street station in Brooklyn. It was only in revenue service from 1936 to 1946, running a shuttle train a mere three blocks to the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station. Nowadays, Court Street is used for filming, but also houses the New York Transit Museum. Exhibits are transported to and from the museum using the still-maintained shuttle line.

    Other disused and abandoned stations and parts of stations are shown at http://www.nycsubway.org/abandsta.html .

    posted by John Cowan on 10-29-2011 at 3:56 pm

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