100 Years of Subway

The MTA has announced plans for 100th anniversary of the NY subway system, and as the Post reports, things get started with some commemorative Metrocards in January. But it's not just marketing tie-ins, there will be exhibits and classic trains on display at the MTA Transit Museum.

The official centennial will be October 27, 2004, with a re-enactment of the first subway ride from City Hall to Broadway and 145th Street station; former MTA Chairman Virgil Conway, who is heading the centennial celebration, says that Mayor George McClellan was driving the train, and refused to let go of the controls, taking the train all the way to Harlem.

Back then, there were 28 stations on the 9 mile line. Today, according to the MTA:
The New York City subway, operated by MTA New York City Transit, is the largest subway system in North America, moving over 4.5 million customers each day, in 6,400 train cars, over 656 miles of subway track, to 468 stations, on 26 train lines.

Gothamist on the MTA.