Later Means of Communication 243 



made to Bronx Park through the grounds of Fordham Univer- 

 sity in 1902, thus making the total length of the line about five 

 miles. Until August, 1891, to get from any place in the 

 Annexed District to any place in Manhattan by elevated 

 required the payment of two fares, or ten cents ; but upon this 

 date the Manhattan Company acquired the Suburban, and 

 since that time the fare from the upper terminus of the road 

 to the South Ferry has been five cents. The future will 

 undoubtedly see the farther extension of the elevated road to 

 the city line, and ultimately, to within the cities of Mt. Vernon 

 and Yonkers. 



As early as the middle of the last century, the subject of 

 underground railways was discussed for the old city of New 

 York. In 1868, the New York Central Underground Railway 

 was chartered; in 1872, the New York Rapid Transit Com- 

 pany, in which Cornelius Vanderbilt was interested, was 

 chartered, and among other schemes was the Beach Pneumatic 

 Railway Company, which actually built a section underground, 

 still existing abreast of City Hall Park. « All these companies, 

 though granted full powers and excellent routes, failed to 

 attract the necessary capital for their construction; and the 

 building of the elevated roads sidetracked the idea of under- 

 ground railways for several years, or until 1884, when the 

 discussion was resumed. 



In his message to the Common Council in January, 1888, 



Mayor Hewitt called their attention to the subject of under- 



' On February 8, 1912, preparatory to beginning work on the new 

 Broadway-Lexington Avenue subway, a party of engineers and contractors 

 visited the old tunnel. They found the tube in an excellent state of pre- 

 servation, but the rails had almost entirely rusted away, and the one car 

 of the Beach Railway, which had been immured for forty years, was in a 

 state of absolute decay. The brick-work of the tube was in such good 

 c 1 lition that the contractors feared it would take as much work to de- 

 molish it as to build the new tube. 



