Harvey's Prototype El - 1867

9th Ave Elevated Prototype
1867 - Engineer Charles Harvey rides his prototype up a stretch of elevated track above Greenwich Avenue. His company had been chartered the year before under the name of the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Company, with subscribed capital of $100,000, to build a 25 mile elevated railroad from Battery Park of the city northward through the city along the Hudson.

Manhattan used to have 4 main elevated lines, running up 2nd,3rd, 6th and 9th avenues - all built during the 1870's. Eventually, they were consolidated under the New York Elevated Railroad Company, which reported more than 14 million passengers in 1878 alone.

 

 

Background
Beginning about the mid-1850s, traffic jams became a way of life for New Yorkers. Horse railways, freight wagons, provisioners' carts and private carriages contended for space on the city's streets. There was simply no way for someone to get from here to there with any expediency.

Going under the streets immediately raised the spectacle of buildings collapsing, though the real problem was actually the cost of digging. Further fears were that water mains would be endangered and/or that subterranean tunnels would be filled with water. There seemed to be no way to go but up.

 

6th Avenue El - 1886