Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City - February 2nd, 1913

On this day in 1913, New York City’s Grand Central Terminal was officially opened to the public.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.
Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a
show that rides the rails of history every day of
the week. I'm Gabe Lucier, and today we're looking at

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the culmination of a decade long construction project that changed
the shape of New York City and brought a new
level of sophistication to mass transit. The day was February second,

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nineteen thirteen. New York City's Grand Central Terminal was officially
open to the public. The terminal doors were unlocked just
after midnight, and over the next seven hours, more than
one hundred and fifty thousand people from all over the
city would pass through them. Taken ten years and eighty

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million dollars to construct the sprawling transportation hub, and many
New Yorkers were understandably eager to see the finished product.
In fact, many visitors on opening day didn't even ride
a train. They were just there to check out the
long awaited new landmark. The huge turnout took railroad workers
by surprise, with one remarking to The New York Times

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that quote never before had the public been known to
take such a keen interest in the opening of a
railroad terminal. Before the construction of the Grand Central we
know today, the location at forty second Street was home
to an older steam train station that first opened in
the eighteen seventies. Known as the Grand Central Depot, it

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was built and operated by famed industrialists and railroad tycoon
Cornelius Vanderbilt. The depot had two tracks and accommodated trains
from three distinct rail lines running through and around New
York City. Over the next three decades, the depot was
gradually expanded and updated to better accommodate the growing number

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of commuters. In the year nineteen hundred, this larger Grand Central,
now known as Grand Central Station was reopened with four
tracks located just beneath Park Avenue. This set up isolated
the messy steam engines below ground, allowing the city's increasing
road traffic to pass over elevated bridges without interruption. Unfortunately,

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the subterranean tunnels were poorly ventilated, and passengers whose trains
were delayed were often subjected to suffocating heat, steam, and smoke.
These hazardous conditions quickly soured the public's opinion of the
newly revamped station, but it wasn't until two years later,
the New Yorkers would swear it off for good. The

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turning point came on January eighth, nineteen o two, when
a devastating crash in the Park Avenue tunnel claimed the
lives of fifteen people and injured dozens of others. Public
outcry was swift, and in response, the city passed legislation
banning the use of steam powered trains anywhere south of
the Harlem River. The collision highlighted the need for a

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more substantial renovation, and by the end of the year
the station's owners had settled on a plan to make
it happen. The initial idea came from a civil engineer
named William John Wilgis. He recommended tearing down the old
depot and replacing its underground tracks with a new electric
transit system, one that could safely operate without producing exhaust fumes.

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He cited the London Underground as his proof of concept,
as the system had already been using a deep level
electric railway for over a decade without issue. Vanderbilt's grandsons,
William and Cornelius the Third, championed the idea of going electric,
especially since Wilgos had also provided a plan for how
to pay for it. He reasoned that the railroad could

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finance the entire reconstruction just by selling the air rights
for developers to build residential and commercial buildings above the
underground system. That stroke of genius earned Wilgas the job
of chief engineer for the new electrified Grand Central. He
hired two architecture firms to help bring his vision to life,

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Reed and Stern and Warner and Wetmore. Working together, the
firm settled on a Beaux Arts design for the new terminal,
a grandiose French style of architecture characterized by formal symmetry,
lavish interiors, and classical elements such as columns and terraces.
Planning officials also took the opportunity to correct the station's name.

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Because trains no longer ran south from Grand Central, the
hub was now the end of the line, which technically
made it a terminal, not a station. Construction on Grand
Central Terminal began in the summer of nineteen o three
with the demo coition of the existing station. From there,
a new double level structure was built on a wopping

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sixty nine point eight acres of land, the world's largest
train station at the time. The main concourse was two
hundred and seventy five feet long, one hundred and twenty
feet wide, and one hundred and twenty five feet high,
complete with a towering white marble facade. The inside was
even more extravagant, featuring sweeping arches, ninety foot tall transparent walls,

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and an expansive ceiling mural depicting the constellations of the
Mediterranean night sky. More than just a pretty face, the
terminal also boasted a highly efficient circulation plan. Realizing that
long distance travelers would have suitcases in tow, the designers
kept staircases to a minimum, instead opting for a series

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of ramps that stretched all the way from the train
platform to the street. Another design innovation were the terminals
so called galleries, special elevated alcoves away from the main
flow of traffic, where arriving passengers could pause to greet
the loved ones who had come to meet them. These clever,
thoughtful touches didn't go unnoticed by the public or the press.

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In eighteen ninety nine, the New York Times had called
Grand Central a quote cruel disgrace, but after glimpsing the
new and improved terminal, On February second, nineteen thirteen, the
Times quickly changed its tune. It now declared, quote, the
Grand Central Terminal is not only a station, It is
a monument, a civic center, or, if one will, a

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city without exception. It is not only the greatest station
in the United States, but the greatest station of any
type in the world. Despite its warm reception, Grand Central
eventually fell into disrepair after a major uptick in highway
use led to its gradual neglect as the decades went on,

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Even its famous ceiling became tarnished by cigarette smoke. By
nineteen forty five, some people were already calling for the
building to be torn down, but thankfully, cooler heads prevailed
and the terminal was granted a reprieve. Then, in the
nineteen sixties, several high profile New Yorkers, including former First
Lady Jackie Kennedy, O Nassis, and architect Philip Johnson, banded

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together to create the Committee to Save Grand Central. The
group succeeded in preserving the terminal's landmark status, ensuring that
it could never be removed from the city skyline. By
that point, there wasn't all that much worth preserving, so
beginning in nineteen eighty, a one hundred million dollar restoration began,

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eventually restoring the historic monument to its ornate, bustling old self.
I'm gay, Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. If you
enjoy today's episode, consider keeping up with us on Twitter, Facebook,
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any comments or suggestions, you can always send them my
way by writing to This Day at iHeartMedia dot com.
Thanks as always to Chandler Mays for producing the show,
and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back
here again soon for another day in History class.