Episode description

Alfred Ely Beach was a good and decent man. Born in 1826 in Springfield Massachusetts, Alfred loved his family, he loved the opera and he loved inventing. In fact, he invented the world’s first practical typewriter. He was legit.

Hailing from a rich family in the newspaper business, Alfred made his way to New York where he learned the family trade. Heading up Scientific American Magazine, turning it into one of the most successful, powerful, and influential weeklies of its kind, Beach rubbed shoulders with the greats. Samuel F. B. Morse (inventor of Morse code), R. J. Gatling (inventor of the machine gun) and Thomas Edison himself called Beach friend. 

New York inventor life in the mechanical age was riveting! 

But there was one problem. The traffic… was horrendous. The hustle and bustle of Manhattan had become unbearable. 

So Beach was determined to find a solution. Eureka... A New York Pneumatic Subway!

Beach had the brains, the money and the drive to make his idea work. Soon, all New Yorkers would travel via an underground tube in lavish style, sucked or blown to their destination of choice. No more arduous commutes. No more collisions with horse poo, rickety carts and polluted air. 

But there was just one person standing in Beach’s way: Boss Tweed, Mr Corruption himself. 

William Magar Tweed was the worst of the worst. Controlling the Democratic political machines of both city and state, Tweed had a monopoly on everything. He held everyone in the palm of his hand and nothing went under his nose without him getting a pretty penny from it.

Everyone was afraid to do business with Boss Tweed. And no one ever stood up to him, except our good and decent inventor, Alfred Beach. 

Knowing Tweed would never grant permission for him to build his magnificent pneumatic subway, Beach decided to play Tweed at his own game. Applying for a building permit for an underground postal tube, Beach and his team dug in secret for 58 nights. But this was no postal tube. 

After 2 years, spending the equivalent of $7m of his own money, Beach had built a full-blown, high-class New York Pneumatic Subway.

So where is it today?

What happened to this magnificent invention?

Was there a subway brawl between Alfred Beach and Boss Tweed?

SOURCES:

• American Heritage - Alfred Ely Beach And His Wonderful Pneumatic Underground Railway
• New York Times - The Broadway Tunnel
• Damn Interesting - The Remarkable Pneumatic People-Mover
• Scientific American - Scientific American’s owner built the first New York Subway

IMAGE CREDITS

• New York Times images from The New York Times, 27 Feb 1870
• Other images from the Illustrated Description of the Broadway Pneumatic Underground Railway 

PRIOR EPISODES MENTIONED:

• Thou Art The Man! (Or, The Great Moon Hoax)

• YouTube: https://youtu.be/yyEbU7y7vA8

OmnyFM: https://omny.fm/shows/the-wholesome-show/thou-art-the-man-or-the-great-moon-hoax 

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