The first NYC subway line opened in 1904 and was owned by private companies. In 1932, the city took over operations. The goal of the subway was to quickly transport people into and out of Manhattan regardless of weather. It became very popular serving hundreds of thousands daily. In the following decades, the city expanded and improved the system, though it also faced challenges like strikes that halted service.

2. The first subway line in New York City opened about 35 years
after the first elevated train line in NYC, October 27, 1904. The
subway lines opened in 1904 were owned and run by privately
owned companies. They also started some elevated train lines in
Brooklyn.
In 1913 New York City built and improved some of the subway
lines, they were then leased to the companies. 1932 was when the
first line owned and operated by New York City, Independent
Subway System (IND). New York City bought the two private
systems and closed some of the elevated train lines.
The goal of the NYC Subway trains was to get passengers
transported quickly into and out of Manhattan as well as around
different areas of Manhattan. Passengers liked the system because
it was much faster and cheaper than other options and not affected
by bad weather when it was underground. The NYC subway system
is very popular serving hundreds of thousands of people every day.
(AP)

3. This is an 1878 view of the Third Avenue Line El train tracks, looking north up the east side of the Bowery, at Chatham Square in lower Manhattan, New York.
(AP Photo)

4. This group of financiers and city officials get a tour of New York City's first
subway in January 1904 while the city's policemen stood by on the platform
at City Hall Station. Seated toward the front of the ceremonial flat car are
Alexander Orr, August Belmont, John B. McDonald, and Mayor George B.
McClellen. (AP Photo/NYC Transit Authority)

5. This is an undated photo of a New York City subway car, the "A" train. (AP Photo)

6. A man gets change in nickels from a change booth operator so he can pass through the new
nickel-operated turnstiles which have replaced the ticket and ticket-chopper (a man who
manually cut tickets at the gate) system in the New York City subway, early 1920s. The move
allowed subway companies to reduce operating costs by drastically reducing personnel.
(FPG/Getty Images)

7. Work begins for an underground replacement for the Sixth Avenue "El" (elevated train), shown looking north from 42nd Street, July 28, 1936. The El is to be
demolished in 1939. (AP Photo/HS)

8. Steel cars for the new 8th Avenue subway in New York, in May 1937. (AP Photo)

9. Robert Wadlow, 18, of Alton, Ill., enters
a turnstile at a New York City subway
station, April 7, 1937. (AP Photo)

10. This is an interior view of the new 8th Avenue subway
car in New York City, May 1937. (AP Photo)

11. The new streamlined red, white and blue Rapid Transit car which made its
"maiden voyage" along the BMT lines in New York, March 28, 1939. It weighs
76,000 pounds, about half the weight of the conventional cars, and is
equipped with special sound-deadening and shock-cushioning devices. (AP
Photo)

12. Air conditioned and equipped with upholstered green mohair cushions, a new streamlined luxury car of the BMT lines
made its inaugural run in New York, March 28, 1939. This group tried out the comforts of the new car which will be
placed in operation March 30. Sound-deadening and shock-absorbing devices are part of the new equipment. (AP
Photo)

13. The Ninth Avenue "El" or elevated, is shown looking north along State Street
in New York, Feb. 22, 1940. The transit commission has authorized the
condemnation of the structure. (AP Photo)

14. The Ninth Avenue "El", or elevated, tracks are seen
looking south at 33rd Street in New York, Feb. 22, 1940.
The transit commission authorized condemnation of the
structure. (AP Photo)

15. This view shows the 42nd Street subway entrance and store fronts in New York City on April 2, 1940. (AP Photo)

16. New Yorkers, caught in a surprise air
raid warning alert seek shelter in
stores and subways. A crowd waits
for the "all clear" in a subway station
at Lexington Avenue and 51st street,
Oct. 22, 1942. (AP Photo)

17. Interior view of the subway car of the future as it was displayed at the Chambers Street Station of the Independent Division
in New York on July 9, 1947. The new car has 56 seats, 14 adjustable, exhaust ventilators, eight 10-inch fans, is painted blue
and grey and has an off-white ceiling. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano)

18. New York City subway worker squeezes one
more onto a train car, May 5, 1943. (AP Photo)

19. A brother and his sister
look up at a newsstand,
located on the platform
of the New York city
subway, as they wait
for the train to Coney
Island, New York, 1948.
(Getty Images)

20. Vincent R. Impellitteri, right, acting mayor of
New York City, and Brooklyn Borough President
John Cashmore (second from right), inspect the
first completed subway car of an order for 750,
at the American Car and Foundry Co., Berwick,
Penn., Feb. 20, 1948. C.J. Hardy, Sr., company
chairman, points out a feature of the new cars.
Men inside subway cab are unidentified. (AP
Photo/HG)

21. Carmen Gherdol of Long Island City, N.Y. drops the last nickel permitted to be
dropped in one of the BMT-IRT subway turnstiles at Times Square, New York,
June 30, 1948 when the fare was raised to ten cents for a subway ride in
New York City. Assistant supervisor Bartholomew Barry, left, prepares to pull
a canvas cover over the slot, until it is changed over to receive the smaller
coin. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo/Matty Zimmerman)

22. Changing from one subway line to another, passengers at the IND line's Broadway-Nassau St. station
crowd through aisles to get free transfers from transportation employees under the city's new ten-cent
fare, July 1, 1948. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano)

23. Patterned asbestos tile flooring, increased and improved fluorescent lighting,
illuminated route and destination signs, double roofs, and electronically
controlled heat and ventilation, improved brakes and door controls, and
foam and vinyl seats are among major changes designed for passenger
comfort and greater operational and maintenance efficiency in New York City

24. Crowd at Times Square station subway in New York City on March 6, 1956. (AP Photo/HVN)

25. While other subway passengers perspire in the warm and humid
underground station, Paul Forman appears cool and comfortable in the
experimental air conditioned train which made its first run in New York City,

26. Juana Otero, a victim of heat exhaustion in the abnormally packed Grand Central subway station in
New York, gets assistance from transit policeman Arthur Dixon as other victims rest in a corner of
the station, July 16, 1956 (AP Photo/Jacob Harris)

27. (AP Photo/Tom Fitzsimmons)

28. New York City subway, 1953.Ralph Morse—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

29. Subway riders in news-
hungry New York returned
to their favorite reading
matter after end of
newspaper strike, Dec. 29,
1958. (AP Photo/Anthony
Camerano)

30. Scene on the New York subway, 1959. Stan Wayman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

31. Joseph E. O'Grady, right, member of New York City's Transit Authority, stands at bar installed temporarily in the Authority's "dream car" in New York, Jan. 17,
1962. The car, which had fresh flowers, carpeting, draperies and pastel lighting, made a special trip as part of a nine-car train on the cityâs subway lines from
Times Square to South Ferry and back. It was to help publicize a clean subways campaign to the Young Men's Board of Trade New York City Junior Chamber of
Commerce. (AP Photo/John Rooney)

32. New York City policemen
tangled with
demonstrators at a
subway station on the
opening day of the New
York World's Fair, April
22, 1964. Youths
attempted to stall the
train, which was headed
from the city to the
fairgrounds, as a form of
protest on behalf of civil
rights for blacks. (AP
Photo/Charles Gorry)

33. Teenagers trying to work the subway turnstiles with slugs instead of tokens, 1958.Stan Wayman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

34. Actress Shirley MacLaine rides the New York subway on her way to the World's Fair for the premiere of her film "What A Way to Go", May 13, 1964. (AP
Photo/Marty Zimmerman)

35. Young woman riding the D train, 1951 Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

36. An American policeman on patrol in the New York subway, August 11, 1965. (Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images)

37. Passengers sit patiently in near-darkness in a stalled subway car at West 4th Street in the Manhattan section of New York, Nov. 9, 1965, during the massive
power failure that darkened a vast portion of the northeast including New York State, most of New England, parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and
Ontario, Canada. (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey)

38. This is the platform at the Worth Street subway station in lower Manhattan, shown during a non-rush hour time, Jan. 7, 1966. (AP Photo)

39. New Yorkers who used to complain about the crush of riding the subway during the rush hours have had 12 subway-less days to change their minds, there
were no such complaints heard from the passengers of this crowded train, Jan. 13, 1966. Everybody was happy the crippling transit strike was over. (AP
Photo)

40. New York City subway train packed with commuters during rush hour in 1966. (AP Photo)

41. Scene on the New York subway, 1969. Ralph Crane—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

42. An unidentified
conductor for an
IRT subway train
is shown on the
job in New York,
July 10, 1970.
(AP Photo)

43. Subway crowds at Times Square Station in New York March 4, 1970. (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano)

44. Graffiti on New York City subways shown on July 26, 1972. (AP Photo/Jim Wells)

45. Graffiti sprayed on the subway of New York on July 27, 1972. (AP Photo)

46. Two curious subway riders look into the window of a new style subway car, by the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City's IND station at 57th street
and Sixth Avenue, May 13, 1974. A special press and invited guests ride to the Wall Street area followed the showing. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm)

47. (Tony Vaccaro/Getty Images)

48. Ralph Crane—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

49. Thousands of New Yorkers cross the Brooklyn Bridge
heading for work in Manhattan on April 2, 1980, the
second day of the transit strike which halted city
subway and bus service. (AP Photo/Carlos Rene
Perez)