John B McDonald

THE first street cars in the world were developed in New York by John Stephenson who was born in Armagh in 1809. Stephenson’s company was very successful in its heyday selling street cars to cities around the world but as Lower Manhattan became more and more crowded it was clear that a more radical solution would be needed - a subway.

The man for the job was one John B McDonald from Fermoy a successful engineering contractor who finished the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore a major railway project that had taken more than four years to complete.

That was enough to secure him the job of developing New York’s first subway system, the tunnels for which would be dug by immigrant miners known as the ‘Irish Sandhogs’ -

The contract was awarded in 1900 and McDonald set about subcontracting for the massive project that was completed in less than four years at a cost of about $40 million - and the lives of some 120 construction workers. The new IRT system was 20 miles long and included 48 stations, 33 underground.

The New York Subway would grow from McDonald’s initial system to become one of the longest and busiest metros in the world and would prove vital for the development of New York itself. McDonald died in 1911 just six years after his IRT line opened for business; as a mark of respect the entire subway system stopped running for two minutes in his honour. McDonald’ s work in New York may have been over, but the Sandhogs became evermore vital for the growing city. They continued to build the growing subway network and the major tunnels connecting Manhattan. Perhaps their greatest achievement though was building the water infrastructure that supplies New York City.