[WATCH] The Race to Construct the First Subway | The Engineering that Built the World

Before the complex transit network we rely on today, Boston and New York City engaged in an intense race to build the first underground subway system in America. While Boston achieved the initial milestone in 1897 with a straightforward construction project, New York City pursued a far more ambitious vision that eventually created an engineering marvel connecting the entire city. The New York project benefited from the revolutionary work of engineer William Parsons and the electric motor innovations of Frank Sprague, which together paved the way for the 24 hour service that remains a backbone of modern urban life. Decades earlier, the visionary Alfred Beach had proposed his own transit solution, and in a fascinating turn of history, workers rediscovered his long lost pneumatic subway remnants during the expansion of the modern system.