115 years ago today: New York City subway opens

The Interborough Rapid Transit Subway, or IRT, was the first subway company in New York City. The company formed as a response to elevated train lines springing up around the city-it was time to go underground and build a rapid transit railroad to help combat street congestion and assist development in new areas of New York.

So on this date in 1904, the first IRT subway line opened with the City Hall station as its showpiece. The day was considered one to remember, with excitement over the admirable feat of moving the city's transit system underground. Two hundred policemen managed a crowd of as many as 7,000 people around City Hall, some of which pushed through the entrance underground.

The third man to buy a ticket, Henry Barrett, was a resident of West 46th Street. He took the first train at 7:02 p.m., at the 28th Street station, and then at 7:03 he claimed his diamond horseshoe pin with 15 karats went missing. This marks the first crime on the NYC subway system.

Although the track at the Old City Hall station is still active as a turnaround for the 6 line, trains no longer stop there. New York Transit Museum members can do tours on foot. It was closed in 1945, because the curvey platform wasn't able to accommodate the IRT's newer, longer cars. It remains impressive, and a reminder of what a huge deal it was over a century ago to go underground and hop on a train.