Forgotten Streetcar Tunnels of Chicago

Forgotten Streetcar Tunnels of Chicago - IT'S HISTORY

Рет қаралды 355,611

Күн бұрын

Today we discover Chicago's forgotten streetcar tunnels, built centuries ago, they run under the Chicago river at 3 points and are sealed off from any access to the public.
Episode Index:
0:00 - Introduction to the Chicago streetcar tunnels
0:45 - The origin and evolution of the Chicago streetcar tunnels
2:12 - Description of the Chicago streetcar tunnels
3:09 - Converting the tunnels from horse and carriage to cablecars.
3:39 - Washington streetcar tunnel overview
5:21 - Lasalle Streetcar tunnel overview
7:02 - Van buren Streetcar tunnel overview
8:44 - The abandonment of Chicago’s streetcar tunnels
9:25 - What is left of the Chicago streetcar tunnels
» Sources / Creative Commons / Fair use / Quotation
"See Chicago and a Century of Progress Exposition: Use Chicago Surface Lines (1933)" by Eric Fischer is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"Car 5568 on Halsted" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"Green Hornet on Clark" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"Cable Car Service" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"69th on the Normal Park 'L'" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"Clark/Foster in 1934" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"State Street Subway Construction" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"Clark/Jackson in early 1930s" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
"Streetcars at Wrigley in 1935" by Chicago Transit Authority is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
"1750_A" by University Archives WUSTL is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source:
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Пікірлер: 381

@oscargreig7487 2 жыл бұрын

I have been on one of these cable cars it was relocated to New Zealand to transport tree loggers and still has the old Chicago insignia

@johnbooth9957 2 жыл бұрын

Wow that's cool

@johnbooth9957 2 жыл бұрын

Great video Wheeling Wv has a few tunnels

@illumencouk 2 жыл бұрын

What an interesting spinoff - Any idea what the year was when the logging operation is said to have taken charge of the cable car etc?

@patrick383ironworker Жыл бұрын

We have some old Chicago streetcars in Wisconsin at the East Troy Electric Railroad; still operating flawlessly with passengers.

@roadmonkeytj Жыл бұрын

Do you have a photo of that hosted somewhere?

@HRHolm-bi6zu 2 жыл бұрын

Having been born and initially raised in Chicago, and a 'streetcar rooter' since age 3, this naturally captured my attention. Available photos of the tunnels/portals are not that many, even with the internet. The Van Buren tunnel portals in particular are now hidden, one covered over at/by a paid-parking lot on Clinton St. (last I looked a couple years ago), and the Franklin Street portal now evidently tucked/buried inside/beneath a parking garage on that thoroughfare. There had been talk some years ago of reopening the Van Buren tunnel as a pedestrian link between Union Station and east of the river (somewhere), but like so many other Chicago transit-related projects, that idea too has evidently faded away. (That would have been quite difficult anyway with the erstwhile east portal being inside a parking garage.) This video should actually be re-edited to add how each respective portal location looks in 2021.

@jayh9529 2 жыл бұрын

You should checkout jon levi channel 👍

@HRHolm-bi6zu 2 жыл бұрын

@@jayh9529 There are a number of channels with that name in some manner or another. I looked thru a number of them, and found no video that indicated it covered this topic. Would appreciate a specific link, or the exact video title(s).

@scottconcertman3423 2 жыл бұрын

I wonder if the Jackson Street tunnel played any role in the Haymarket Street riot?

@HRHolm-bi6zu 2 жыл бұрын

@@scottconcertman3423 Jackson Street tunnel? You *must* mean the Van Buren one. Was either portal near the riot site?----I sure was not aware of that. ( I'm rather dubious). And what would the existence of a streetcar tunnel have to do with a riot, anyway?

@HRHolm-bi6zu 2 жыл бұрын

@Nolan's Innocent Wait..whaaat? What does what you say have *anything* to do with the subject shown/discussed here????? We are supposed to be talking about transit-related tunnels!

@Steven_Williams 2 жыл бұрын

Funny, I live in Chicago and also work for CDOT, and was just last week talking with a co worker about the network of tunnels that run underneath the city. A lot of these tunnels were sealed off and bulk- headed after the flood in the early 90's. Great video !

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

I knew about the network of tunnels beneath downtown, but never knew of the three tunnels under the river.

@pinker812 2 жыл бұрын

He has a video on those tunnels.

@audioidkid Жыл бұрын

I used to walk them all the time designing fiber optic routes.

@FrancesBedoya89 2 жыл бұрын

Born and raised Chicago and I never knew there were underground streetcar tunnels. 🤯🤯🤯🤯

@poppinpatty2507 2 жыл бұрын

This was a really interesting video about Chicago's tunnels. it was really nice how Ryan focused on the tunnels and didn't throw in a snappy nickname for your city like he did for mine when he referred to my city as Killadelphia.must be nice, wish Philadelphia got as much respect as Chicago does, LMAO, LMAO😀

@johndonlon1611 3 жыл бұрын

Cool story...I remember two of these tunnels as a kid in the 1950s. They still had the tracks in them but were unused and had cyclone fences and concrete blocks in their entryways.

@chriscohlmeyer4735 2 жыл бұрын

Yup, I recall seeing those entrances as well. Lots of different things have been part of Chicago's transportation history.

@pensfan044 2 жыл бұрын

There are a series of old canal tunnels built in the 1800s underneath Pittsburgh, PA. Built by the Pennsylvania Main Line of Works, the Pennsylvania Canal Tunnel connected the various canal companies to the three rivers at various points, as well as a series of aqueducts (basically “canal bridges”). They were eventually abandoned when railways took off and canals fell out of favor. They laid sealed off and abandoned until the 1960s when US Steel Tower was being constructed downtown and the workers digging the foundations dug into them. But their story doesn’t stop there. Pittsburgh’s subway and streetcar network (known locally as “the T”) would eventually reuse portions of them, making them some of the oldest tunnels still in use today.

@DeadAbeVigoda 3 жыл бұрын

There is one entrance known to exist. It's a manhole-within-a-manhole visible on LaSalle north of the river, about a block north of the existing down ramp. Also, a guy said he was present when a wall was knocked down in the basement of the Britannica building and he could see the old tunnel, although it was filled in with landfill.

@hoppes9658 2 жыл бұрын

Can you remember the maker of the sewer cover?

@WesternOhioInterurbanHistory 2 жыл бұрын

Is the whole tunnel filled in?

@danayen4806 2 жыл бұрын

I played in them I remember you must be as old as I am.

@scottconcertman3423 2 жыл бұрын

@@hoppes9658 no doubt lawn for the Lawndale Foundry.

@hoppes9658 2 жыл бұрын

@@scottconcertman3423 I was thinking E.J.I.W. from Michigan.

@WAL_DC-6B 2 жыл бұрын

Hey, that's a photo of an electric trolleybus at 9:12 (used two trolley poles to access the electric current from two overhead wires). Not a diesel bus as mentioned in the narration. Chicago had at one time the largest trolleybus system in the country. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) last operated trolleybuses in regular service on March 31, 1973.

@Harley-and-Her-Ruff-Riders 2 жыл бұрын

I love the 3D images you always include. Every single time I pause the video and stare until I can see the two images together. And seeing it 3D? Definitely makes it feel less like history and more like I was there. Not to mention you are fantastic with the historical information and giving facts, not exaggerated or sensational stories like many other channels do while skimping on facts and real information. Keep up the amazing work!

@arkos4366 3 жыл бұрын

A video on the 500mile overseas Key West Railway would be quite interesting. An astonishing feat for it's time (1912)

@wendellwhite5797 2 жыл бұрын

You must be talking about the Flager RR running from Jax to Key West? The Overseas RR was only about 150 miles long.

@johndavies9270 2 жыл бұрын

@@wendellwhite5797 That would be an intriguing subject - a 150 mile long railroad trestle? I've heard of the Florida & Key West; indeed one of the most amazing projects I think I've come across. A pity it was never rebuilt after that hurricane, but probably wouldn't have survived the growth of airlines.

@unnecessaryapostrophe4047 2 жыл бұрын

Unnecessary apostrophe

@robertrichard6107 2 жыл бұрын

You can enjoy seeing the old sections, and improved sections if your a passenger in a car going down to Key West and/or back.

@wendellwhite5797 2 жыл бұрын

@@robertrichard6107 There is the 7 mile bridge and the Bahia Honda Bridge. There are also places where you can still see the old piers from the old RR bridge. I grew up in KW, and travelled over these bridges many times getting off of the Rock as they call KW.

@thechicagorailfan9234 2 жыл бұрын

5:14 that photo was of the 69th street terminus of the Normal Park Branch. It was demolished in 1954 and is about a mile south of the Green line Ashland/63rd Branch. East of the Former C&WI tracks

@luisreyes1963 2 жыл бұрын

A piece of Chicago history that I never knew until now. Thanks for the video. 😄

@marcfechtner1074 2 жыл бұрын

The Elroy/Sparta trails and tunnels in Wisconsin are still open to walking and biking and there is signage about its history - I would love to see more on this historic Wisconsin railroading/tunnel system. Thanks

@dodgeguyz 2 жыл бұрын

Was just there for Memorial Day weekend. Road from Elroy to the end of the 3rd tunnel. It was very cool to see the history still there.

@inspiredwoodworks4131 3 ай бұрын

As a youth, I biked that whole distance (Sparta all the way to Elroy) on a bmx bike. I didn’t appreciate it like I should have back then. These days, I think I’d appreciate it more, but I also think I’d have to do it in sections!🤣🤣

@dancedecker 2 жыл бұрын

Many thanks for such a great video. You asked for examples of other such tunnels and so I offer that here is still such a tram ( streetcar) tunnel that exists right in the centre of London. It's called Kingsway Subway and allowed first single and later, double decker trams to pass under the Thames to serve South London. Amazingly, one of the entrances still exists, absolutely as it did when it shut in 1950. Tracks, cobbles and the conduit system of current collection in a groove between the rails, a bit like a Scalextric car racing set. All perfectly preserved for all to see. It has been used as an art gallery, a flood defence and alarm system, ( which always somewhat amused me. A flood warning system ....underground.. erm, Have you FULLY thought this through guys...lol.). And occasionally, you can go down into it on guided tours. Fascinating and a bit like the Chicago one,full of mystery and legend. Cheers.

@ExpoAviation 3 жыл бұрын

Very interesting, I'd never heard of these tunnels before :)

@blakelyedwards8118 2 жыл бұрын

Having been a Teamster in the '80s, backing my truck to the dock under the Chicago Tower, dodging pilons (& other trucks), folding my side mirrors in, working blind, the incredible underground Chicago is, and always has been an amazing feat of engineering in the middle of a swamp bounded by a helluva Great lake and rivers.

@paraguaymike5159 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this very interesting video.

@function0077 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent video, and I should know. I have walked and inspected every inch of the Chicago Freight and Trolley Tunnel System (CFTTS). From about 2006 to about 2010 I worked as an engineering consultant for the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). The CFTTS is filled with fiber optic cable, concrete encased high voltage power lines, and steam pipes. I imagine this tunnel system will be maintained for many years to come, because it is very useful in the Chicago Loop for the aforementioned utilities. My favorite trolley tunnel is the Washington Street one, and my least favorite trolley tunnel is the Van Buren Street one. I no longer live and work in Chicago, but I have a ton of interesting and fond memories of these trolley tunnels.

@DOLRED 2 жыл бұрын

I always wondered if the Washington St Tunnel was still there. The 2 buildings shown in the video at 4:44 are still in place at 301 W Washington. So the tunnel ramp is now part of the CTA Bus stand there!!!

@denizalgazi 2 жыл бұрын

I've visited Chicago many times and not once have any guides mentioned these tunnels! I'd only heard of the coal tunnels. Thank you for sharing this story! 👍

@MarcAndre1 2 жыл бұрын

The reason is they never existed. The pictures you see at the beginning are what became upper and lower Wacker Drive. The only "tunnels" under Chicago were the freight, coal and mail tunnels and they could not fit street cars.

@function0077 2 жыл бұрын

@@MarcAndre1 You don't know what you are talking about. These three trolley tunnels still exist and they go under the river. I have inspected all three of these tunnels.

@Zach-lz1zh 2 жыл бұрын

@@function0077 any thing i should know before trying to find a way in?

@function0077 2 жыл бұрын

@@Zach-lz1zh I do not recommend trying to gain unauthorized access. You will get in a lot of legal trouble.

@vettebecker1 2 жыл бұрын

I truly wish that we never lost the use of street cars in major cities, there is something about them. Seeing them running the streets and hearing the bell, a truly lost piece of nostalgia history

@kanister21 2 жыл бұрын

In Germany we have them in every bigger city.

@LifeOfPACS 2 жыл бұрын

Toronto still has them

@randomrazr Жыл бұрын

woud have made public transit more viable if they were kept. but oil companies bought them all up

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

As a child, I knew about the tunnel system under downtown, but I never heard about these three tunnels under the river. Fantastic!!

@marvwatkins7029 2 жыл бұрын

Never knew the full story. Thanks for telling it.

@rosaamarillo2110 Жыл бұрын

‘Gene Krupa at the Panther Inn’ Crystal clear photos from another time.. love this channel.

@tylerkochman1007 2 жыл бұрын

Word is the builders of 311 South Wacker had plans, originally, to repurpose the Van Buren Street tunnel as a pedway under the river, connecting their tower to Union Station.

@hartmutlorentzen9659 3 жыл бұрын

A video full of information, Thanks from Germany

@reynaldodelrio1548 3 жыл бұрын

I lived here(Chicago) my entire and I had no idea lol

@chalsfo 3 жыл бұрын

Nothing to See there today ?

@ITSHISTORY 3 жыл бұрын

I grew up in Chicago, and also didn't know about those tunnels - Ryan

@KatriceMetaluna 2 жыл бұрын

How do we know there's not some underground villain's lair in those tunnels now?

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

Send rivera down there.

@timsmith7351 2 жыл бұрын

Probably lizard people lair

@hollowdonte 2 жыл бұрын

I'm homeless and live in a section trust me everyone down here aren't villains.also plenty of hidden entrances most don't know about. Most people down here are just normal people that can't afford the rent. I work at a gas station

@tangyorange6509 2 жыл бұрын

@@hollowdonte wow that is super interesting, I hope all goes well. I’ll be downtown tomorrow so maybe I will say hi

@HANKTHEDANKEST 2 жыл бұрын

@@hollowdonte I hope all is well with you bro. I hope you find a more permanent place to hang your hat some day.

@jiifigmentforever 2 жыл бұрын

So now I'm curious. Given that these streetcar tunnels opened in the mid-late 1800s, compared to the official opening date of the "first subway in America" in Boston as Tremont Street tunnel in 1892, does that mean Chicago actually beat Boston to the first subway? Or do these tunnels not count?

@corderajones 2 жыл бұрын

It’s doesn’t count because for it to be a subway it has to have a station underground

@johndavies9270 2 жыл бұрын

@@corderajones Depends on your definition of a subway. In England we sometimes use the word as a substitute for 'pedestrian underpass', and 'Underground' for a subterranean passenger railway, such as in London and Glasgow.

@robertrichard6107 2 жыл бұрын

Chicago was home to first skyscraper, I recall. The new longer rails are nice into Union Station, no clickety clack.

@draculasbridekaren1664 2 жыл бұрын

Something's not quite right about American history, Figments. Incredibly beautiful cities seem to just spring up, practically upon the arrival of settlers, on horse drawn carts. It makes very little sense.

@OriginalChicagoKrawZ 2 жыл бұрын

@@draculasbridekaren1664 it was aliens

@carstarsarstenstesenn 2 жыл бұрын

this is so cool. i wish they were still here

@h.mandelene3279 2 жыл бұрын

You could say there was one more of this type of commuter tunnel at 10200 Roosevelt Rd. The Chicago,Aurora, and Elgin RR ran under Roosevelt Rd at this address.

@syguzman5739 2 жыл бұрын

This video earned you a new subscriber! 💚 Thank you! Very informative! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

@billbye2427 2 жыл бұрын

Very good presentation, and informative; thank you!

@paulakpacente 2 жыл бұрын

At 9 minutes and 17 seconds there is an advertisement for the Chicago Surface Lines. My grandfather designed streetcars for them from the 1920's until they merged with Rapid Transit and were bought by the city in the 1950's. It then became the CTA. He designed the logo for the CTA right before he retired. RIP Gramps.

@richdiscoveries 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent job sharing this story with us

@spookerredmenace3950 3 жыл бұрын

love these type of channels! great video, didnt they use the tunnels in the Chris Nolan Batman movies?

@spanishstudiolanguagecente4751 3 жыл бұрын

Nope... that was Lower Wacker Drive... road beneath upper wacker drive..

@spookerredmenace3950 3 жыл бұрын

@@spanishstudiolanguagecente4751 ah ok, i was also thinking where the cops were forced to stay... but cool.

@kaosworld9491 2 жыл бұрын

@@spanishstudiolanguagecente4751 also famously use in the Blue Brothers movie for a car chase that speeds topped out at over 100 mph.

@justdrive5327 2 жыл бұрын

@@spanishstudiolanguagecente4751 Lower wacker drive technically a tunnel. You can argue it isnt because its open next to the river, but all the other street connect to Lower Wacker are tunnels

@CarlosGonzalez-tk1wf 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks you for the video.

@drippinglass 2 жыл бұрын

Kool story! Thank you! 😀

@darincochran3274 2 жыл бұрын

There is a map of a supposed tunnel under the Ohio river that goes from I think jeffersonville Indiana to Louisville Kentucky. I would love to know more about this . It was a railroad tunnel supposedly built in the mid 1850s

@frankym69 2 жыл бұрын

I would love to see that. I love urban exploration, but KZfaq would most likely have an issue with anything civil war related.

@tc1718 Жыл бұрын

I knew about these. Thanks for the details!

@Whiteboy39thchi 2 жыл бұрын

Great video 💪🏼

@VintageSpeedwerks 3 жыл бұрын

Neat. Some more pics would make this from 7/10 to 10/10. Especially when you mentioned 2013.

@ZacBrzuchalski 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome video! Please do a video about the 8th street tunnels and the 9th street incline that was in Kansas City, Missouri.

@audioidkid Жыл бұрын

I've been in the LaSalle and Washington Street tunnels back in my fiber optic design days.

@BOBXFILES2374a 2 жыл бұрын

I lived in Chicagoland from 1976-80. Rode C&NW to Ravenswood. Thanks for the history of the cable car tunnels! Go Cubs!

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

Go White Sox!!!

@neilurwin9670 2 жыл бұрын

A Very Good Video All The Best.

@slink1957 2 жыл бұрын

Well done. New subscriber here!

@arnomrnym6329 3 жыл бұрын

Very interresting. 👍🏾😎

@peterjamesfoote3964 2 жыл бұрын

Very interesting!

@SpaceLizard1049 2 жыл бұрын

I drove trucks down that north LaSalle ramp regularly for work. It's all loading docks down there now but there is still a track down there.

@johnnelson5083 2 жыл бұрын

Peacock Alley in Ford City Shopping mall is another tunnel. Built during WW2 as part of a Ford Motor plant, there are allegedly tunnels that go all the way from what is now the shopping mall to Midway Airport so that cargo (mainly aircraft motors) could be moved to the airport for transportation without enemy eyes seeing it. The tunnel was converted into shops in the 70's that connected the two large main buildings of the mall.

@ITSHISTORY 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks John! The “alleged” part seems like a mystery we need to solve!

@johnnelson5083 2 жыл бұрын

@@ITSHISTORY I think the mall is still open, but I don't think Peacock Alley has stores anymore (I can remember when they opened it as part of expansion in the 1970's) so the stairs are probably closed off. If you search for "peacock alley ford city" you'll see a bunch of photos of a low ceiling area with lots of support posts, those pictures are in the tunnel (in later years it was called "The Connection" because it connected the two separate mall buildings). Per WTTW (local PBS station) they built 18,000 B-29 engines there during WWII and only 51 cars were ever built there so it was mainly built as a factory for WWII. There is also a rail yard right there.

@kwilde1131 2 жыл бұрын

I remember Peacock Alley fondly as a kid in the late 70's / early 80's.

@jeffking4176 2 жыл бұрын

I know there were some tunnels in St.Louis Missouri as well.” I actually remember them - though I couldn’t tell you where. I grew up in University City. I even [ barely] remember the street car that came up past our apartment on Pershing Ave. [ It would he just past our apartment, and slide back down, some times taking 3 times to make it. I also remember riding with my grandmother up into Clayton,and back , and down to “The Loop”. I don’t know what the tunnels were used for, or just don’t remember any more, but there were several. 📻🙂

@Thaistickthai 2 жыл бұрын

So although I have never been down any, my hometown of Saint Cloud, MN has a network of tunnels that may make for an interesting historical tunnel video. Our downtown is located a stone's throw away from the Mississippi, and it's said that Al Capone himself used them in his bootlegging. It's closed now, but there was a bar downtown called Rumrunner's. A prominent auto dealer in the 50's also had tunnels dug from the Pantown Motor Lot, to his manse a few blocks over. The dealership became a factory that was owned by Maytag or Fridgedair, then became Electrolux. The house still exists and is on the Historical Preservation list of houses in the area.

@albertgreene313 3 жыл бұрын

My 99 year old gma (we are a Chicago family) spoke of such mythical tunnels, myths for the most part in her youth as well. But thanks for this video, I love this city and am always happy to know more. PBS gets something’s but not all the wild and crazy things this city has done!

@carlthornton3076 2 жыл бұрын

Very Good!.

@KaaimanProductions 2 жыл бұрын

You can actually still enter these tunnels via 3 emergency exits in buildings that were left open. The La van salle tunnel flooded am while ago around 199-something. The Washington tunnel flooded very recently in 2019. The Van buren tunnel never (has) flooded and there are lots of old trolleys, busses and wooden carriages. I even saw an entire metro carriage in the Washington tunnel.

@tangyorange6509 2 жыл бұрын

Wow that is super interesting! I’m going downtown tomorrow and I’m really curious now about seeing these tunnels…

@chiron14pl Жыл бұрын

I never knew this, thanks

@jbb8382 2 жыл бұрын

Very cool

@sarcasmo57 2 жыл бұрын

Tunnels are always interesting.

@RileyMacc 2 жыл бұрын

make a “kids history” channel for classes at school to watch definitely a good way to branch

@marianlincoln9008 2 жыл бұрын

As a child I remember riding the Amtrak from ROCKFORD, IL. Into downtown Chicago to go Christmas shopping with my Mom and her best Friend... It was Scary and THRILLING. HOW CLOSE THE SUBWAY CARS SEEMED TO GET TO THE BUILDINGS AND HOW FAST THEY WHIPPED AROUND CORNERS. I LOVED IT ... YEARS LATER MY HUSBAND TOOK ME TO DISNEY LAND FOR MY BIRTHDAY.... NONE OF THE RIDES SEEMED TO HAVE THAT TIGHT KNOT IN YOUR STOMACH THRILL LIKE THE RIDE OF THE CHICAGO SUBWAY DID WHEN I WAS 11 YRS OLD.

@tangyorange6509 2 жыл бұрын

Wow, I never knew! I’ll be down there tomorrow! And I thought I recognized that logo, your with The Great War!

@samiam7086 Жыл бұрын

My grandfather worked on trolley working for CTA, when bus's came out he was to drive a bus that he never even drove a car. So he crashed the bus and left it and went to work for Chicago school system, until he retired. With Chicago growing up around him.

@garyjust.johnson1436 2 жыл бұрын

I enjoy the Chicago history videos very much. The Windy City is more than Gangsters and crime sindicates.

@lakotathierauf2419 2 жыл бұрын

The abandoned tunnels in Cincinnati are pretty cool.

@timmmahhhh 2 жыл бұрын

That would be awesome if Cincinnati one day installs the subway system those were intended for. Are they accessible?

@marc639 Жыл бұрын

I grew up with streetcars and trains in Detroit. Us leaders allowed the automobile companies to buy up most of these facilities and destroy them to sell more cars

@user-eb5cb6ud1p 4 ай бұрын

Yes - look up National City Lines. They were a false-front company that promised to "improve" streetcar operations, but instead they'd shut them down. NCL was by no means the only reason streetcar systems went out of business, but they accelerated the decline.

@nathandeal9703 2 жыл бұрын

This gives me an idea for a model railroad.

@karlmadsen3179 2 жыл бұрын

I bet Geraldo Rivera could re-open the lost tunnels only to find there is nothing in all of them.

@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome 2 жыл бұрын

LMAO !!!

@danielthoman7324 2 жыл бұрын

I remember that. for a couple months there was nothing but hype and Hysteria about the upcoming event. as far as I'm concerned geraldo lost all of his credibility after that. I still think about that whenever he shows up on TV.

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

To the contrary, Rivera is thoroughly respected for having the guts to take the risk!! No credibility was lost. Even a third grader could understand the concept.

@karlmadsen3179 2 жыл бұрын

@@sludge4125 My second grade education foils me again!

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

@@karlmadsen3179 🤪🤪🤪

@NovaMoonstar 2 жыл бұрын

Has anyone suggested rebuilding these old abandoned tunnels for green transportation, bicycling and pedestrian commuting, exercise, and tourism? Those rebuilt tunnels would sure come in handy for human mobility in Chicago’s hot summers and cold winters.

@function0077 2 жыл бұрын

I have inspected all three of these tunnels. They are mostly empty, but have some utilities in them (e.g. fiber optic cable, steam pipes, power lines). Because of the utilities I don't think these tunnels will ever be open to the public again. Also, the bridges on the surface are better for bikes and pedestrians than the tunnels. I have personally used both, the tunnels and the bridges.

@trueword247 2 жыл бұрын

love it

@mattypants 2 жыл бұрын

Great video. I'd love to see one done about Cleveland Ohio. It's an incredible city with a very long and very old past that gets a bad rep.

@poppinpatty2507 2 жыл бұрын

Great video, very interesting! It was really nice to see how you focused on the tunnels and didn't come up with an insulting snappy nickname for Chicago like you did in your video about the tunnels under Killadelphia. You could've done it very easily Ryan. The same way you said kill instead of Phil you could've said deadly instead of windy, everybody would've loved it. the deadly city. Great to see you think some cities are better than others.

@ITSHISTORY 2 жыл бұрын

I didn’t come up with the Philly nick name, everyone in Philadelphia told me about that. I’m open to some snappy Chicago nick names if you have them.

@michaelstephens2875 2 жыл бұрын

I don't know if it still exists, but under Wacker drive, from about Van Buren on the south to perhaps Lake street on the north was a vehicular tunnel running in both directions. It was lite by green light bulbs, thus called EMERALD CITY. Do you have any any info on the genesis of t his?

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

Lower Wacker Drive.

@jackholmesdiscovereranglos7891 2 жыл бұрын

Chicago tunnel used by Trams. Interesting. That reminds me of the Tram tunnels of Sydney Tramway network, only it used the Eastern Side of the Harbour bridge from the north and on the approach to the CBD an underground tunnel to Wynyard Platforms 1 & 2.

@jackholmesdiscovereranglos7891 2 жыл бұрын

Also I have to say, when Sydney’s underground tram route was shutdown for the tramway closure. The tunnels of Wynyard platforms 1 & 2 were converted into a car park while the tunnel entrance was blocked under the ramp carrying the Cahil expressway

@adamcarter7826 2 жыл бұрын

Cincinnati Ohio at one time started building a subway tunnel system that never got put into use.. If you search around on KZfaq you can find some information about it.. Might be worth another video.

@SuperEtab 2 жыл бұрын

Toronto still has many of these in use.

@tabitha_lilly_pad4109 2 жыл бұрын

I love Chicago ❤️❤️❤️❤️

@trainrover 2 жыл бұрын

As school teenagers, a friend and I each snuck out of our houses overnight and explored Montreal's Blue Line during its construction. We covered several inter-station tunnelings, but got stumped by heat and muggy humidity along the bendy one twixt Edouard-Montpetit and Université-de-Montréal stations (the overnight low that late-February night was -14°F/-27°C back up on the surface). Eventually, we arrived there to where the concrete tunnel lining had been fully poured within just 2 foot of a mightily hot rock face, so hot that I was the one of we two that could palm that igneous intrusion (Mt Royal) for a full 3-second spell. Delays for the few years afterwards were attributed by news plants of the day to unidentified geotechnical difficulties.

@rodmunch69 2 жыл бұрын

I remember working on building these, it was pretty hard work.

@mariocisneros911 2 жыл бұрын

There is one or two still around. Next to or near the Sears Tower on Wacker Avenue

@TheRealLaughingGravy 2 жыл бұрын

The video says the western entrance to the Washington Street tunnel was paved over in 2013, but this is incorrect. The entrance was just east of Clinton, and the Google Street View image from August, 2007, shows traffic flowing in the middle section beneath the Metra/UP tracks where the entrance was. I can remember when the entrance was still there, fenced off, but I think it was paved over in the 1990's or early 2000's.

@theugliestamerican 2 жыл бұрын

@itshistory the high school my wife and I went to has abandoned tunnels under it. I knew an access under the stage in the auditorium. Used to explore during lunch.

@jimtaylor294 2 жыл бұрын

Chicago's equivilant of the Thames Tunnel. Originally made for horses in the 1800's, she instead was a pedestrian tunnel for a bit, before being repurposed as an Underground tunnel. Says a lot about Trams (as we call them) that they can go where horses, cars & trains can't. (trains generally hate going up hills, without special gearing)

@lilgrlQ1 2 жыл бұрын

My grandfather was a cable car operator till he retired in 1953! 😁

@anthonywells5521 2 жыл бұрын

Can you do a vid on the unfinished underground sub system in Cincinnati?

@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome 2 жыл бұрын

I didn't know this about Chicago. The only thing I hear about Chicago is the amount of murders so this makes a refreshing change.

@TestTubeBabySpy 2 жыл бұрын

They even sealed up the ramp to lower wacker dr. near the sears tower. I used to take that all the time.

@guyincognito1232 2 жыл бұрын

Lived in Chicago for 20 something years and never heard of this 😮

@barryvandraiss6083 2 жыл бұрын

Suggestion; tunnels of Southern Pacific Railroad between Los Gatos, Ca & Santa Cruz, Ca

@ellesmerewildwood4858 2 жыл бұрын

Have you considered a video about the New York underground pneumatic railway ?

@Elainerulesutube 3 жыл бұрын

In Australia, street cars are called trams.

@ITSHISTORY 3 жыл бұрын

In Europe also

@alfyryan6949 2 жыл бұрын

In Britain too

@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome 2 жыл бұрын

Yeah pretty much everywhere except the US lol. Americans have to make up their own names for shit.

@alfyryan6949 2 жыл бұрын

@@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome I did read somewhere though that it might possibly have been derived from the German term for tramways, "Straßenbahn"; therefore a tramcar would be a streetcar. Before the First World War, Germans were the most prominent and numerous of immigrants to America, and it would be fair to say that they had influenced aspects of American English to some extent.

@johndavies9270 2 жыл бұрын

@@alfyryan6949 Some people argue that 'tram' is derived from the name of an early promotor, a Mr Outram, but variations of it were used long before, in the mines of North eastern England. 'Street railway' is a perfectly logical phrase - Germans being very logical people - to distinguish them from 'eisenbahn'. The first street trams in Britain - in Birkenhead, introduced by a Mr G F Train (!) - used ordinary railway track, laid on the surface of the road, which did nothing to ensure their popularity with other road users.

@sfmike711 2 жыл бұрын

@IT'S HISTORY : At 9:10 you state "diesel buses" yet show an electric trolley coach. It appears to be a Marmon-Herrington.

@RetroPC 2 жыл бұрын

I like this channel. Sub!

@winterplays665 2 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure how much info you'd find on our county's historical website. But the trains and train system running through Hillsdale County, Michigan might make for an interesting video. The websites called Hillsdale County Historical Society.

@t.l.robinson2162 2 жыл бұрын

There are also abandoned street car tunnels beneath the streets of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. I think that they would make a very good story.

@sludge4125 2 жыл бұрын

I would love to see that.

@norahjaneeast5450 2 жыл бұрын

I would imagine all of those tunnels must be flooded it's under a river

@comethiburs2326 2 жыл бұрын

you could be suprised, if the asphalt layer hasnt been compromised. however it would be unsafe to breathe in them now, if they arent.

@function0077 2 жыл бұрын

The tunnels are closed to the public but they are used and maintained because they have some utilities in them (e.g. fiber optic cable, steam pipes, power cables). The tunnels have automated pumps that keep them dewatered.