Construction of Chicago's Subway System

[@chuckwagon5518]

I lived on Bernard, one block over from Kimball Av., when they built the Blue line between Logan Square and O'Hare airport, in the late 60's. I remember how torn up the neighborhood became from the constant flow of dump trucks and cement trucks. But they eventually got it done!

[@mkervelegan]

Cermak went to FDR in the early 1930s to get the financing for the twin bore subways under State and Dearborn. Because he needed to provide thousands of patronage jobs during the depths of the Depression. Another reason he came to a premature violent end a few years later...

[@xkee2013]

Some of these comments are a little prejudice or one-sided when talking about the outcome of the city today. Everything has an origin and the world, especially the USA (not just Chicago) as a whole was very different back then. Optimism was at an old time high, but deterred over time due to the effects of General Change. Including but NOT restricted to....The Great Depression, WW2, Civil Unrest, The Vietnam War, The Cold War, Segregation, The Great Southern Migration, White Flight, Race Riots, Political Corruption, Racial Unjustice, Corporate Greed, Government Cover-ups, Religious Differences, Opposing Beliefs, Dynamic Societal Changes, Administrative Secrets, Limited Resources of Education & Health Services, Legal & Illegal Minority Boom, The Dominance of Illicit Drugs, Mental Deprivation & Degenerative Acts, The Proverty Crisis, Less then worthwhile & Finite Employment Opportunities, Persistently Increasing & Overbearing Inflation, Racial Profiling, Atrocious Liars of the Status Quo, Constant Expanding Job Outsourcing, Untrustworthy Government, Bigoted & Biased Criminal Justice System, Street Gangs, Thieves, Convicts, Thugs, Crooks, Amoral Law Enforcement, Pedophiles, Rapists, Extremists, Terrorists, Radicals, Mass Inequality, Populace National Division, So on and so forth. So there is a lot of blame to go around. Simply as to as why we are where we are in the world today.

[@ihavefallenandicantreachmy2113]

"Weird Al" Capone controlled everything you listed, for decades. He was "Fat."

[@jimikrentkowski4073]

Been run by Dems for years…. Sanctuary city? What are they doing for black folk now? Just sweep them aside like always

[@Solitaryman70]

@@ihavefallenandicantreachmy2113. Richard Speck had the whole City of Chicago terrified…..😮😲😳🫣

[@RJS1974]

If only the master plan for the subway would have been built. About 1/2 that plan was built but also the red line all the way up to the north side was built but not included on the plan in this video.

[@jonnydanger7181]

Y’all have any video of the Chicago tribune tower construction or Wrigley Building construction?

[@jalilmuhammad8270]

6:25 Midway Airport. O'Hare Airport wasn't built until after World War II.

[@hunterkiller86]

Thanks for uploading. Funny how many subways were not made by the CTA

[@packr72]

CTA didn’t exist yet. The City envisioned that there would be bundles of money available after the war to build this system but most went to highways. Some of the lines were built including the median expressway lines and the Orange line.

[@kylefreeman3137]

Anybody know when these videos were filmed?

[@kylefreeman3137]

Nevermind. December 17th 1938.

[@archivej]

thank you !!

[@ambientstereorecordings3528]

What did they do with all that clay? i'll bet they could have made enough bricks with that clay to build an entire new neighborhood somewhere full of those ugly boxy beige-colored single-story bunglows.

[@jonnydanger7181]

Who do they call when those twin tubes leak?

[@ihavefallenandicantreachmy2113]

The Blues Brothers Brothers, the Tubes Brothers.

[@smileybubbles9894]

54 mile system ‼️ they did about 60% of what they planned.. A short period film❓ you don't know what year ❓

[@pauly5418]

I read that the State St subway opened October 1943. The Dearborn subway opened February 1951 after construction had been suspended during WWII.

[@roberthansen2008]

Thank you. Great history lesson.

[@schaerffenberg]

Chicagoans feel deeply bitter watching this early film, so filled with joy and hope for the future --- our present --- a collapsing dystopia of filth and fear. We live among the ruins of old dreams, populated now by nightmares of death and terror.

[@rileymrr1]

Not all Chicagoans are having nightmares or living in fear. I know I’m not. Never have and never will. Perception is everything.

[@Solitaryman70]

Nightmares like Al Capone and the St. Valentines Day Massacre and of course Richard Speck just to name a few…

[@ioodyssey3740]

A truly horrible system today.

[@johnnyboy9454]

There's no arguing that other cites namely Tokyo and souel have a much better subway system

[@arnoldberk7686]

Chicago has for the most part had a clean efficient transit system. In recent years many of the subway stations on the State Street line currently referred to as the red line have been improved in appearance. This includes the fare collection mezzanine level. I have not been on the CTA in five years or so due to ( police activity) frequently reported. Yes there are thugs and gangster violent minors to be concerned about. It’s a shame that our system has to be avoided for personal safety.

[@NosebergEatzbugsVonShekelstein]

If these people in 1938 had a crystal ball and could see how the city became covered in graffiti and taken over by loathesome animals by the 70's and 80's, they never would have built anything. Those people didn't deserve it.

[@Solitaryman70]

Which was the worst, Al Capone and the St. Valentines Day Massacre or Richard Speck?

[@NosebergEatzbugsVonShekelstein]

@@Solitaryman70 The people I described in the OP.

[@robertpreston2220]

Loved riding the subways here since the 70s. Sadly now like the most of the city it is dominated by thugs and homeless people

[@highwaymaintainer]

Yep, its become a shithole, look at the majority of the guys building it, then look at the majority in the city now

[@robertpreston2220]

@@highwaymaintainer Sadly I know what you mean

[@rileymrr1]

There are a lot of thugs here but the city isn’t dominated by them or the homeless. Far from it.