BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM / @ANGELAMATUA
Anew exhibit at the New York Transit Museum
will explore Queens’ first subway line and
how it transformed the borough socially and
economically.
“7 Train: Minutes to Midtown” opened on Aug. 3,
and museumgoers will be able to view photographs and
objects from the line’s beginnings in 1915 and beyond.
The 7 line is different from other early lines in that it
was built to attract more residents to the underpopulated
borough. Other subways, like the IRT Ninth Avenue line,
were constructed in densely populated areas in lower
Manhattan. The first 7 train ran on June 22, 1915.
Queens’ population exploded as a result of the new
line, which provided a short commute to Manhattan.
Between 1910 and 1930, the borough’s population
jumped 300 percent from 284,000 to 1,079,000.
The exhibit features images of the line from as far
back as 1916 and as recent as 2016 by photographer
John Sanderson. The museum also displays a New
York and Long Island City ferry ticket from the late
1800s, station wayfinding signs dating from between
1928 and 1949.
In addition, the exhibit includes a Queensboro
Bridge Railway token from 1945 and archival transit
maps will highlight the expansion of the subway and
elevated lines in Queens.
“We are incredibly proud to share this story of
Queens and how it was transformed from bucolic
farmland to the world’s cafeteria in the span
of a century,” said museum director Concetta
Bencivenga. “At its inception, the New York
City subway was a means to decongest
lower Manhattan and draw the popula-tion
10 AUGUST 2017 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
of the city northward. The story of
Queens, and by extension the 7 train,
was and continues to be, one of vi-sion;
whether a hundred years ago
with the Steinway Tunnel, or right
now with Hudson Yards, the 7
train established communities,
a neighborhood, and an en-tire
borough, by providing
people with access to
transportation.”
What’s New
Photo by John Sanderson
Minutes
to Midtown
