James Gruszka, to answer your question about the subway system, I was able to find out the following: The Detroit-Superior subway was built to be the linchpin of a plan for linking planned subways on the east and west sides of the city. The plan was released in 1919, the same year voters passed a franchise to the Van Swerigen brothers to build a new Union Terminal on Public Square, for uniting railroads, interurban lines and proposed rapid transit routes into a single, massive station. This was separate from the 1919 subway plan, which was to be voted on the following year. The initial phase of the $15 million subway plan included extending the existing subway east on Superior to East 9th Street, with two other subways extending out from Public Square under Euclid Avenue to East 22nd Street and under Ontario to near the Central Market (where Jacobs Field is today). The subway plan was turned down by city voters in 1920, who said it should have been a county tax proposal. Other factors included labor shortages, high-interest rates after World War I, a large city debt, and the high cost of construction materials. With the Cleveland Union Terminal project proceeding, the Van Swerigens began building rapid transit infrastructure that would lay the foundation for the future Red Line. The brothers also began planning for a citywide network of rapid transit routes, including subways under Euclid Avenue and St. Clair Avenue. Part of the Union Terminal even included portals for a subway to go under Huron Road to reach Euclid Avenue at Playhouse Square. The portals still exist today. All of the construction and planning work for the rapid transit and subway lines was stopped dead in its tracks by the Great Depression. This was the 1929 rapid transit/subway plan.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 14:53:33 +0000
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