did you realize that right in the heart of america sits a sprawling and abandoned subway system
featuring over two miles of derelict tunnels these hollow and forgotten places represent
a time when the country was on the verge of its peak ambitions yet those lofty dreams were crushed
in the face of the first world war leaving these empty spaces behind to be hidden away forever this
is the story of cincinnati's lost subway i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
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welcome to cincinnati ohio home to around 2 million today it is america's 29th largest
city and ohio's largest metropolitan area the city began in 1788 when colonel robert patterson
and israel ludlow decided to settle there and by 1811 with the advancements in steamboats the ohio
river brought commercial ties with st louis and new orleans cincinnati was incorporated as a city
on march the 1st 1891 around this time exporting pork products and hay put the town on the map
and with only a few decades the city's population tripled from that point cincinnati was surging
thanks to new found business brought in by the miami and erie canal additionally the
many railroads that were adding the city to its schedule extended the city's commercial reach to
the point that employers were struggling to hire enough people to fill positions the town answered
these labor shortages with waves of irish and german immigrants who continued to grow the city's
population and subsequent prosperity naturally the city needed to develop its infrastructure to
support and enable its new citizens and in many ways public transportation was at the heart of
this new reality throughout the 19th and 20th centuries cincinnati's public transportation
industry saw many changes however it first started with the horse-drawn carriages and omnibuses
typical of the early 1800s in most cities in the mid-1800s metal rails were embedded in the streets
to give passengers a much smoother and less bumpy ride reducing friction and allowing horses to pull
heavier loads by 1880 the central basin had eight horse car lines in full operation however the
areas outside it were an entirely different story due to the city's steep hills though eventually it
would be solved by developing many inclines that would later become a part of cincinnati's early
suburbs metro cincinnati remarks that these inclines quote functioned as a cross between
railroad and elevator horse cars cable cars and street cars were driven onto level platforms
then pulled along the top of hills by cables along a sloped track typically these inclines had two
tracks with counter-balanced platforms starting in 1872 a series of five inclines were built the last
one stopped operating in 1948 the rise of cable cars and other large cities such as san francisco
had reached cincinnati in the 1880s in the form of three routes although in the end the city's
brief use of cable cars was more of a transitional phase for the city since they lasted just 20 years
all the routes were either abandoned or turned into electric streetcars in 1889 cincinnati would
see its very first electric streetcar on the main street line and over the next few years
most of its remaining horse cars and cable car lines were also electrified you see cincinnati had
a rather unique system at that time most streetcar systems operated under a single supply wire while
running rails that worked as the ground return cincinnati's system however had its electric power
provided through two overhead wires one worked as supply and the other worked as the return in many
ways this system became the heart of the city and it ran no matter what even throughout the violent
strike of 1913 with time the system grew to be 200 miles of track serving 100 million passengers
over the decades that it was active yet the city still had higher ambitions and hence the idea of
a subway started to creep into the minds of the authorities that ruled cincinnati and whereas the
concept of a subway within a metropolitan makes a lot of sense you simply won't believe where they
wanted to build the tunnels the miami and erie canal was part of a massive series of waterways
that ran throughout ohio and the midwest it was at its peak in 1850 carrying both cincinnatians
and various goods from the city throughout the country but by 1880 this canal had already lost
much of its relevance turning into little more than an unused backwater known by few and used by
next to none the canal and its boats were quickly being replaced by faster and more efficient trains
on september the 27th 1884 the graphic one of cincinnati's popular newspapers printed
a picture that would change everything for the near abandoned canal this picture showed the canal
being replaced by a gorgeous street underneath it set a subway complete with steam trains
for the first time since the early 1880s the lost miami and erie canal site would have purpose again
but more than that this stream of a subway system soon became one many cincinnatians who hadn't even
considered before it began to aspire towards but that old newspaper clipping was not the
only reason that construction ultimately began you see at the turn of the century cincinnati
thrived as not only one of the midwest's leading trade centers but as one of america's top 10
largest cities as we discussed before there was significant demand for a faster way to transport
passengers in and out of the downtown area and by march of 1912 cities rallied around an attempt
when the county appointed a three-person board of rapid transit commission to find a way to make
rapid transit happen in cincinnati the original price for the construction plan proposed was an
estimated 12 million dollars but it had to be reduced to 6 million the proposed loop would run
16 miles and use the former miami and erie canals bed to build the portions of tunnel under central
parkway this short subway portion would be built downtown then run through the canal to brighton
surfacing through the mill creek valley to saint bernard trains would then run east through norwood
and south through oakley and evanston to the river which it would follow upon its way back
downtown on an elevated runway and importantly the connection would have offered a convenient
transfer onto interurban trains that terminated at race street not long after bonds were issued
the city of cincinnati leased out part of the right-of-way of the old miami and erie canal
from the state of ohio raising about 50 thousand dollars in funds for surveying and estimations
in 1916 cincinnati voters approved a six million dollar bond and granted it by an almost unanimous
vote of six to one previously cincinnati having its own subway system was something that many
never even considered and yet it was well on track to becoming a reality few saw the sheer number
of future delays and setbacks in the coming years worst of which was the first world war
world war one was a significant setback to the proposed tunnel development putting it
off until january the 28th 1920 when the first steam shovel met the dirt of the canal at walnut
street as time went on however more and more cincinnatians began to doubt that the 6 million
bond would be enough to complete the job due to inflation caused by the war
initially the rapid transit board set these concerns aside and continued construction focusing
on the less expensive downtown subway portion first as they believed that it would be easier
by early 1921 the rise of construction costs seemed to spell disaster for the developing subway
the granted 6 million dollars would be completely exhausted well before the original 16 miles
proposed were to be completed it seemed that at best only 11 miles were possible they would have
to make a significant compromise and eliminate the entire eastern part of the loop from oakley
to downtown but this was far from the only problem that the cincinnati subway faced the project
was also delayed by negotiations with saint bernard and norwood residents for over a year
it was then delayed again in 1922 for over two months the culprit being blasting for the subway
that caused damage to residential property while two miles of subway tunnels were completed in 1923
and its above ground sections were close to being finished by early 1927 there was no money to
equip them properly the bond had been completely exhausted and yet there were still no tracks laid
many essential parts of the system were missing additionally another reason for the five remaining
miles of proposed loop not being built was that the subway failed to obtain the right-of-way
construction was officially halted in 1928 and it seemed as if the cincinnati subway system
was nothing more than a pipe dream for a long while just over two miles of unused subway tunnel
worth six million dollars laid forgotten beneath the busy streets of cincinnati as even in 1928
estimations suggested that it would take another 9 to 10 million dollars to save the subway cash
that just did not exist at the time and so the sheer amount of money that the subway would cost
quickly diminished any remaining interest and the cincinnati subway only fell further into
its early grave thanks to the great depression even the interurban rail lines were steadily
going bankrupt and the population was no longer so closely clustered together in serviceable areas to
justify such major investment mix that with the up and coming motor car and the situation was dire it
wasn't until 1936 that the cincinnati engineers club proposed that the city trolley system
could be connected to the subway via the abandoned tunnels however this was quickly shut down because
the streetcars were too long to make the curves that the subway tunnels had in 1939 the city
manager proposed that the forgotten subway tunnels could be extended as downtown riverfront parking
though while the cars would fit the cost was still too great then just after world war ii
a local business interest wanted to lease part of the subway between plum street and ludlow avenue
to bring in railroad cars which would service businesses along the route the station at liberty
street under the burger brewing company was intended to be the main loading point and even
though the city approved a five-year lease for the project it was later discovered that the freight
cars would not fit through the subway tunnels and the plan was foiled in 1948 a comprehensive
study took place and the city recommended that it would be better to forget the entire project
and the abandoned subway system worth millions of dollars altogether be that as it may these
tunnels actually did see use in the 1960s just not in the way that they were originally designed
let me explain amidst the looming cold war it was decided that the subway tunnels would be
ideal as an underground fallout shelter to protect citizens in the event of a bombing one
station was renovated and completely revamped as a shelter with toilets water and heating facilities
among other accommodations of course fortunately this shelter never served its necessity
it might surprise you to learn that many of these lost subway tunnels and stations
still sit under central parkway abandoned and hollow but still intact they never saw
passenger service but they are still maintained by the city undergoing various inspections and
forms of maintenance tours of these subway tunnels were actually offered as late as 2015
but public access has been revoked and the tunnels are restricted it's totally illegal to enter them
over safety concerns and although it might seem like the story ends here there are many
plans to decide the final fate of cincinnati's tragically unrealized system and i have to admit
some of the ideas are pretty creative for example back in 1969 the diocese of southern ohio wanted
to hold a candlelight communion service in what they called quote catacombs of cincinnati however
the church officials couldn't get insurance for it and this event never took place years later the
myers winery wanted to convert part of the subway into an underground winery storing many locally
produced wines in the area that tourists would be able to come and visit though the city also shot
this idea down in 1974 a local group intended to lease part of the subway tunnels to be converted
into retail shopping areas and nightclubs then three years later the ohio kentucky indiana mass
transit committee proposed a light rail massive transit system for cincinnati following the
footsteps of chicago this massive system would connect the suburbs and the western side of town
with the downtown area and cut down traffic congestion air pollution and so on the proposed
line could be developed in one of two ways the first is that the mill creek could be bridged with
a line leading into the union terminal area or the riverfront alternatively it could be linked with
an existing subway and run across central parkway down main street and out to grade at the surface
near the riverfront but after so many decades all these ideas just seem like a thing of fantasy with
many catching buses at government square today it is difficult to imagine what it might look like if
cincinnati's subway system indeed came to life yet under the busy streets these underground stations
and lines sit dormant and abandon lost to time and forgotten by the vast majority of cincinnatians
you might say that this is a true example of lost potential with the opportunity to serve thousands
if not millions of passengers every year just gone with the wind keep this story alive by sharing
don't forget to subscribe to its history and until next time this is ryan silkesh signing off