although it was upon the nation's first early rail hubs
and now home to one of the nation's largest public transit systems
the philadelphia transportation system is one that many people are not familiar with however
had the network reached its full growth potential we would be telling a very different story
did you know that philadelphia's system could have been much bigger than it is today for beneath the
busy streets there now sit countless abandoned subway lines that remain tragically unrealized
as mere shells of what could have been today we discover the lost lines and go stations of
philadelphia's transportation network i'm your host ryan socash and you're watching it's history
now the tale of philadelphia's forgotten subway lines is a fascinating one and i'd like to thank
our history council and history preservationist producers for making this episode possible if
you'd like to get on the team click that join button and now into the story of philadelphia's
forgotten subway let's set the framework for those lost lines by first taking a brief look at
the history of public transit in philadelphia the late 19th century was an incredibly transformative
time for not only philadelphia but transportation across the country in the years building up to the
industrial revolution and at its peak there came an ever increasing demand for new forms of travel
philadelphia was no exception transitioning out of the fixed route ferries that ran between
philly and camden in 1688 to rail lines that ran gradually expanding passenger rail throughout
the height of the 19th century and for those who were able to afford it the invention of
the omnibus service that ran from philadelphia to its immediate suburbs marked a new era of
efficient travels starting in 1831. commuter trains were quick to follow their lead
making their way to the philadelphia germantown and norristown railroad this new development
now made it possible for people to work further outside of the city in places such as east falls
chestnut hill and montgomery county after philadelphia was politically consolidated
in 1854 streetcars were at the forefront of public transportation bringing the city's
development to new heights on january the 20th 1858 the frankfurt and southwork philadelphia
city passenger rail company began operating the region's very first streetcars these streetcars
were larger faster and all around able to turn more profit than their predecessors by servicing
even more areas and extending the reach of the transportation network even farther than the
omnibus had in fact the horse-drawn transportation system in philadelphia was so efficient for its
time that the philadelphia encyclopedia states philadelphia could justly claim one of the finest
transportation systems in the country by the time of the nation's centennial exhibition in 1876
these streetcars were not only major methods of transportation in philadelphia at the time
but steam-hauled commuter trains were also on the rise as previously mentioned these commuter trains
served the region as a whole and as the name suggests opened up far more opportunities for
philadelphians who needed to commute to areas that were further away it is also important to
note that it wasn't until 1893 when the three main rail systems in philadelphia all relocated to the
center city and made their rail facilities much more accessible that the commuter train gained
popularity with the middle class initially most of these streetcars and railroad companies were
run by smaller specialized organizations that ran a small number of routes following the civil war
the intensely competitive atmosphere between railroads that ran long distance eventually
brought about the consolidation that quickly spread across the nation's railway industry
this coupled with similar mergers happening in the streetcar industry led to a total transformation
instead of multiple rival companies competing the three main companies the philadelphia attraction
company people's traction company and the electric traction company all of which supplied power to
existing transportation lines merged into the union traction company in 1895. this new company
was later absorbed into philadelphia's rapid transportation company prt in 1902 leading to a
monopoly on public transportation this monopoly was held by both prt and two railroad systems
that you might recognize today the pennsylvania railroad and the philadelphia and redding they
collectively provided the vast majority of passenger transportation throughout the region
from the jersey shore to harrisburg even so the philadelphia system was far from done changing
the late 1800s would see a brief and unsuccessful attempt to popularize cable cars followed by
electric trolleys and streetcars in the year 1901 philadelphia finally approved a rapid transit
ordinance to allow both subway and elevated lines this ordinance was approved to solve the growing
transportation crisis of the 1900s this crisis stemmed from the growing demand for high-speed
inexpensive mass transportation to support not only commuting but recreational activities
such as shopping other new developments most importantly the rise of the working class wages
and the lowering of the transportation fair made the trolleys and subways more accessible than ever
however there was still an overarching issue while the subways and trolleys were more
accessible to the working class than they had been before the services began to deteriorate
and strikes became more frequent this led to a government consensus that public transportation
from then on would need far more regulation and planning so now that we have the framework let's
quickly talk about philadelphia's very first rapid transit line initially the market street elevated
line was off to a rocky start the prt had a lot of trouble fundraising due to lingering debt from
previous projects but nonetheless construction of the market street elevated subway line began with
groundbreaking in 1903. it was carried out in six phases including the construction of a bridge to
carry it over the skikkail river construction of the four-track subway under market street from
the skikkill river to city hall and construction of a two-track subway from city hall under market
street to an outlet at fort and arch street after the western part of the subway was opened for use
in 1905 it was greeted with much acclaim as the first philadelphian rapid transit line
that was both affordable and fast the city was eventually given partial oversight of the prt
and with it partial oversight of the market street elevated line by the fall of 1908 the
market street elevated line was fully operational with extensions for example
it was able to run from 69th street to delaware avenue in less than 30 minutes in total including
road and equipment expenditures the market street and elevated route came to about 23 million 72
114 that's around 664 million in 2020. following the completion of the market street elevated line
the city would take on a far more prominent role in rapid transit planning and funding
until the late 1960s and the market street line would see extensions and later reconstruction
in 1913 philadelphia's transit commissioner a merritt taylor published a map of the planned
future rapid transit line in a copy of the city of philadelphia's annual report this plan aptly
called the teller plan contained many routes that philadelphians today may recognize such
as the broad street line bsl in addition to these routes the map also held taylor's ambitious plans
for the future including lines that reached as far as roxboro and overbrook as well as
extensions to chestnut hill there were also major branches that taylor planned for such as
a divide on the north end of the broad street line that was meant to split off to only and rising sun
taylor believed that building the full system as quickly as possible would further spur and support
development throughout the city philly curb also noted that at that time the booming population in
center city was putting considerable strain on the transportation available at the time due to
congestion building more subway lines would help relieve much of the congestion by giving people
in center city a chance to spread out and move to the southwest and northern parts of philadelphia
thanks to the opportunity to commute this also ensured that those who moved out of center city
would still have access to the bustling area sadly a large number of taylor's approved plans failed
to come to fruition and were set aside after politicians pushed taylor out of his position
though they were far from the only thing that caused his plans to fall into obscurity
world war one loomed overhead causing construction costs to increase considerably until it was no
longer financially feasible to spend such a large sum of money on multiple subway lines projected
all at once and yet all these years later many who know the story lament at just how well these lines
would have served the city well beyond what we have today and although these original plans for
the philadelphia subway system have largely been lost to time there are many remnants so now let's
have a look at what's been left behind one of the best known remnants is the roosevelt boulevard
subway originally proposed in 1913 this lost subway is nothing if not resilient titled by some
as the subway that refuses to die there have been two attempts to build this subway one of which
built in 1967 by sears and roebuck costing around 1 million dollars is still rumored to exist
originally intended to be a massive transit terminal between center city and northeast
philadelphia politics and economics both kept the broad street line from extending far enough
and the project was sealed off and laid to rest though the sears building was later imploded some
have suggested that the subway tunnels still exist underground if this is true then it is truly one
of the most striking examples of a ghost subway line remaining dark and derelict after decades
another interesting remnant is the lost center city loop subway located at 1300 arch street
the original expansion was planned for the broad street trunk line to turn into a large loop when
it reached center city it would have made a large delivery loop that ran by arch street
8th street and locust street before looping back around to broad street construction of
the loop began in the early 1900s and a series of short tunnels were dug beneath 1300 arch street
and locust street however these tunnels were ultimately abandoned after work was halted due
to a lack of funds now the locust street tunnel is actually still in use today after it was widened
but the arch street tunnel remains closed off to the public and empty the henry avenue bridge was
completed in 1932 after 20 years of proposals it is a single span two ribbon arch bridge made of
reinforced concrete though it has carried vehicle traffic ever since its opening its purpose now is
far different from its original intent originally the henry avenue bridge was built to carry a rapid
transit line between the road deck that would connect roxborough and germantown to philadelphia
even today we still don't know why the rapid transit line was not constructed its tunnels
today instead abandoned to time as a shell of what could have been the darby elevated subway line was
another line that was never created from the plan it would have run from darby through center city
and finally to camden there are also many lost extensions to the original plans one example being
the oak lane extension a later addition to the original subway plan proposed due to the growth of
the neighborhoods north of logan which are not so abandoned after all it is now used as a turnaround
for the ridge spur trains last but not least there is also the passong spur located between
the tasker morris and snyder stations if you take a train towards the stadium on broad street
you might feel the train make a slight jog to the right as it pulls out of the tasker morris station
this light jog is where the passong spur was meant to branch off from the broadway street
trunk though it was added as a substitute for the woodland avenue elevated rail proposed in 1912.
it met the same fate though it is still visible today if you look out the window on the right
side of the southbound train you can see an empty space just before entering the snyder station this
empty space is where the inbound track was meant to join the main stem just after passing under it
when it comes to philadelphia's transport network we probably can't expect and shouldn't expect
the same degree of visions of grandeur that were once held in the past the subway still
faces many challenges it was especially hit hard by the pandemic causing a devastating plummet in
ridership and even before the pandemic ridership had been decreasing steadily
over the past years due to complaints about late trains cleanliness and safety concerns
even so a romantic might claim that taylor's spirit is still within according to greater prt
mass transit along roosevelt boulevard is still proposed by septa and other planning
organizations not only this but the concept of transforming the chestnut hill western regional
rail into mass transit that connects the broad street subway is also discussed here and there
and in 2018 septa received a federal grant and planned a subway improvement project worth 37
million dollars and although that amount probably won't go too far in the grand scheme of things
i'd also look at the system from another angle part of the charisma of philadelphia is its
urban decay its oldness its spirit i feel this best in areas that have been neglected
it might not be comfortable for the residents i respect and recognize that however if we take
it as it is i think that it is very much a part of what makes philadelphia beautiful
and mysterious and this is just the tip of the iceberg we also did a video about philadelphia's
abandoned concourse tunnels so check that out don't forget to subscribe and join our history
council if you'd like to have a say in what video we do next this is ryan socash signing off