Rewind: The Construction of Penn Station

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Places & Travel, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 January 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On January 1, 2021 Moynihan Train Hallofficially opens to the public, a new commuters' wing catering to both Amtrak and Long Island Railroad train passengers at New York's underground (and mostly unloved) Penn Station. To celebrate this big moment in New York City transportation history, we’re going to tell the entire story of Pennsylvania Station and Pennsylvania Railroad over two episodes, using a couple older shows from our back catalog. The story of Pennsylvania Station involves more than just nostalgia for the long-gone temple of transportation as designed by the great McKim, Mead and White. It's a tale of incredible tunnels, political haggling and big visions. Pennsylvania Railroad was the largest railroad in the world by the 1880s, but thanks to Cornelius Vanderbilt's New York Central Railroad, one prize was strategically out of their grasp -- direct access to Manhattan. An ambitious plan to link New Jersey to New York via a gigantic bridge fell apart, and it looked like Pennsylvania passengers would have to forever disembark in Jersey City. But Penn Railroad president Alexander Cassatt was not satisfied. Visiting his sister Mary Cassatt -- the exquisite Impressionist painter -- in Paris, Cassatt observed the use of electrically run trains in underground tunnels. Why couldn't Penn Railroad build something similar? One problem -- the mile-wide Hudson River (or in historical parlance, the North River). This is the tale of an engineering miracle, the construction of miles of underground tunnels and the idea of an ambitious train station to rival the world's greatest architectural marvels. ORIGINALLY RELEASED AS EPISODE 80 -- APRIL 10, 2009 boweryboyshistory.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's the Bowry Boys.
0:02.0	Hey!
0:03.0	Support for the Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:06.0	Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.
0:17.0	On January 1st, 2021, Moynihan Train Hall officially opened to the public.
0:25.0	A new wing catering to passengers of Amtrak and Long Island Railroad trains at Penn Station.
0:32.0	At a price tag of $1.6 billion, this new addition to the bustling but unloved underground train station has been decades in the making.
0:43.0	The new hall rises within the old James A. Farley Post Office building, first constructed in 1912.
0:51.0	Its grandeur, its monumental facade and Corinthian colonon, meant to parallel the original Penn Station, which once stood across the street from it.
1:04.0	Now this is a big day for train and history lovers and the newest chapter in the saga of Pennsylvania Station, originally built in 1910.
1:15.0	And the saga of one of America's greatest train companies, Pennsylvania Railroad.
1:21.0	So for the next two weeks here on the Bowry Boys podcast, we're going to tell the whole story using a couple older episodes from our back catalog.
1:31.0	This week, it's the story of the construction of Penn Station.
1:36.0	Now not just the station but the revolutionary tunnels underneath the Hudson River, linking New York to New Jersey.
1:44.0	This is a tale of engineering marvels, political haggling and extraordinary visions from the brother of one of America's great impressionist painters.
1:54.0	In next week's show, we'll continue the story following the career of Penn Station and its eventual and controversial destruction.
2:03.0	We recorded the following show in the spring of 2009 and the song Pennsylvania 65000 was first recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra in 1940.
2:16.0	Referencing the old telephone number at the Hotel Pennsylvania, located at Seventh Avenue across the street from Old Penn Station.
2:25.0	So tickets please, relax and recline as Tom and I explore the origin story of Pennsylvania Railroad and Pennsylvania Station.
2:36.0	Penn's the 865000. Since today's Penn Station isn't even an above ground building that you can see today.
2:56.0	Which makes it a little difficult.
2:58.0	So people, you know, there are people who don't live here may actually not know really where it is.
	...

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