Скачать или смотреть The Federal Government Sealed These Tunnels in 1953. They're Still There.

Beneath the streets of Manhattan lies one of America's most forgotten engineering marvels: a 27-mile network of pneumatic tubes that transported mail at 35 mph through underground tunnels from 1897 to 1953. For over half a century, this system moved millions of letters faster than any delivery method available today — until federal officials sealed it permanently and erased nearly every visible trace.
This is the documented history of New York's Pneumatic Mail Tube System: how Victorian engineers built a city beneath the city, why it worked flawlessly for 56 years, and the real reasons Washington D.C. decided to bury it forever.

What You'll Discover:

→ The 1897 infrastructure crisis that sparked the $12 million pneumatic solution
→ How the system worked: 8-inch cast-iron tubes, 80 feet underground, 23 post offices connected
→ Peak operation in the 1920s: 95,000 letters per day, 30-minute cross-city delivery
→ The Great Depression, cost-cutting pressures, and corporate corruption allegations
→ The real reasons for the 1953 shutdown — maintenance records tell a different story
→ What remains today: sealed chambers, forgotten blueprints, and accidental discoveries
Timeline:
▸ 1897 — System construction begins during NYC's mail crisis
▸ 1920s — Golden age of pneumatic mail at peak efficiency
▸ 1930s — Great Depression forces budget scrutiny
▸ 1953 — Federal government orders permanent sealing
▸ 2001 — Engineers discover a perfectly preserved underground chamber
▸ Present — The network still exists 80 feet below Manhattan streets
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SOURCES & REFERENCES
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Primary Sources:

Smithsonian Institution Archives — "NYC Pneumatic Postal Tubes" → si.edu/spotlight/pneumatic-tubes
The New York Times Digital Archives (1897–1953) → timesmachine.nytimes.com
U.S. Postal Service Historian — Postmaster General Annual Reports (1897–1953), National Archives Record Group 28 → archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/028.html
New York Public Library Digital Collections (blueprints, photographs) → digitalcollections.nypl.org
Library of Congress — Prints & Photographs Division → loc.gov/pictures

Engineering & Technical:

Engineering News-Record Archives (1897–1920) — via university libraries
American Society of Civil Engineers Historical Records → asce.org
NYC Department of Records & Information Services → nyc.gov/records

Academic Sources:

"Forgotten New York" — Kevin Walsh (HarperCollins, 2006) ISBN: 978-0060758424
"The Lost Subways of North America" — Jake Berman (U. of Chicago Press, 2020) ISBN: 978-0226738345
"American Infrastructure: A History" — Clifford Hood (U. of Chicago Press, 2012) ISBN: 978-0226345239

Archival & Modern Research:

Postmaster General Annual Reports — HathiTrust Digital Library
Infrastructure Survey Report 2001 — NYC Dept. of Buildings, Technical Series 2001-14
99% Invisible Podcast — "Pneumatic Tubes: The Internet of 1897" → 99percentinvisible.org
New York Transit Museum Archives → nytransitmuseum.org
Columbia University — Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library → library.columbia.edu/libraries/avery.html

Government Records:

American Pneumatic Service Company Corporate Records (1897–1953) — NY State Archives, Series A1894
FCC Historical Archives (1950s infrastructure decisions) — National Archives II, College Park, MD

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More Hidden American Infrastructure:
▸ Abandoned subway stations sealed beneath major cities
▸ The interstate highway system's displaced neighborhoods
▸ Forgotten railway tunnels under downtown areas
▸ Cold War-era civil defense infrastructure
▸ Victorian-era urban engineering marvels
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