Photograph of New York City subway construction

This photograph is one of several included in a collection of material that belonged to Stephen Schmidt, a section engineer with the New York State Public Service Commission. He was charged with inspecting “Route 43, Section 1,” an Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) Company tunnel connecting the original 1904 subway under Park Avenue—the 4, 5, and 6 trains running from City Hall to East 42nd Street—with its new extension north of 42nd Street along Lexington Avenue, then being built. The papers also include a clipping of a letter to the editor published in The New York Times in 1916 that complained of blasting in the subway at 8:15 AM. “A report loud enough to cause temporary deafness, followed by clouds of smoke which partially filled the cars, threw the passengers into a condition approaching panic. Two girls became hysterical and left the train…” Dynamite blasts would have been necessary to clear a path through solid bedrock, like that visible in this image. In a statement that may resonate with many of today’s riders, the author continued, “The normal hazards and discomforts of subway travel are quite sufficient, without having added to them such risks as we ran this morning.”