Later Means of Communication 245 



the issue of bonds for the construction of the road, which 

 was to be the property of the city. The vote showed 132,000 

 in favor of, and 43,000 opposed to, the plan. It was not until 

 January 14, 1897, that the routes were finally decided upon and 

 published; and it was not until January 15, 1900, that, all 

 legal difficulties having been overcome, the Commission was 

 able to open bids for the construction of the underground 

 railway. 



There were two bidders; and the contract was awarded to 

 John B. McDonald, who offered to construct the underground 

 railway for $30,000,000. The contracts were signed February 

 1 , 1900, and the work was formally begun on the twenty-fourth 

 of March by Mayor Van Wyck, who began the excavation in 

 front of the City Hall. The road was divided into divisions 

 and these into sections let to sub-contractors. No time was 

 lost in getting to work upon all sections of the road. 



The underground rapid-transit railway, or "subway," 

 as it is called popularly, enters the Borough at two points, 

 Morrisania and Kingsbridge. At Kingsbridge the road is 

 elevated, crossing the bridge over Spuyten Duyvil Creek. 

 The terminus of the Broadway branch of the subway is at 

 242d Street and Van Cortlandt Park. 



The West Farms division crosses under the Harlem River 

 in tubes at West 145th Street, Manhattan, the tracks emerging 

 from the subway east of Third Avenue at 149th Street. From 

 there to its terminus at West Farms and Boston Road it is 

 an elevated structure, following Westchester Avenue and the 

 Southern Boulevard. Work was started in the Borough in 

 the spring of 1901, and the road was formally opened for 

 passenger traffic from City Hall to 145th Street, Manhattan, 

 on October 27, 1904, and to the West Farms terminus on July 

 10, 1905. 



