In 1869, inventor and Scientific American editor Alfred Ely Beach decided to solve Manhattan's nightmare traffic congestion by building an underground railway powered by compressed air. Fearing political opposition from Tammany Hall corrupt boss William 'Boss' Tweed, Beach quietly rented a basement and secretly excavated a 312-foot tunnel under Broadway at night, sneaking dirt out under the cover of darkness. When the Beach Pneumatic Transit opened in February 1870, astonished visitors paid a quarter to enter a lavish waiting station beneath Warren Street.
Decorated like a Victorian parlor, the subterranean lounge featured a grand chandelier, a piano, plush seating, and a freshwater aquarium. Passengers boarded a single cylindrical car that seated 22 people, which was pushed down the track by a massive 100-horsepower fan dubbed 'The Giant Blower.' When the train reached the end of the short track at Murray Street, the operator reversed the fan's valves, sucking the car backward into the station.
The demonstration was a massive sensation, offering over 400,000 rides in its first year. Beach petitioned to extend the pneumatic network all the way to Central Park, but Tweed repeatedly blocked the project to safeguard his own horse-drawn streetcar investments. By the time Beach finally secured political approval in 1873, the Stock Market Panic of 1873 wiped out financial backing.
The project was abandoned, the tunnel was sealed, and the plush station sat silent under Broadway for nearly 40 years. It was completely forgotten until 1912, when modern subway construction workers broke through a brick wall and discovered the preserved 19th-century station, with the decaying passenger car still resting on its iron tracks.