A tour of the Cincinnati Subway: an entire subway network abandoned since 1928

@ElentirENG ES 10·22·2022 · 23:25 0

In almost all the metro networks of large cities there are ghost stations that were abandoned for various reasons.

The beautiful ghost station of the New York Subway that was designed by a Spaniard
Church Hill: A railway tunnel in which two men and a train are buried

In the city of Cincinnati (Ohio, USA), currently with about 300,000 inhabitants, they have something more surprising than an abandoned subway station. In 1910, this city had more than 360,000 inhabitants and was experiencing rapid growth (it reached half a million inhabitants in the 1950s). It was then that plans began to build an underground metro network that would have a total length of 36 kilometres. The idea excited the neighbors, the merchants and the media, and had a majority support in a popular vote held on April 17, 1917, a few days after the entry of the United States into the World War I.

The Great War, as it was known then, altered the construction plans for this metro network. Costs skyrocketed, but despite the lack of funds, work on the metro began in January 1920. Other problems were added to the economic problems: the construction of the metro began to cause damage to the nearby buildings, creating cracks and giving rise to numerous lawsuits. In 1927, 11 kilometers of tunnels had already been dug, but the funds dried up. The local media, which had previously been favorable to the idea, turned against it. Finally, the subway was canceled in 1928.

In the following years it was even proposed to take advantage of the tunnels for car traffic, but the idea did not prosper. During World War II it was also proposed to use the subway as an anti-aircraft shelter, but the proposal was rejected. The construction was only used in the 1950s to pass a large water pipeline, and in 1960 a shelter for a possible nuclear war was installed at Liberty Station. There were also proposals to create an underground shopping center and even as a set for shooting movies, but without success. In recent years there have been some proposals to resume the construction of the metro, but none of them have prospered. Sotoday, the Cincinnati Subway is the largest abandoned underground facility in the United States.

A group of US urban explorers, The Proper People, entered a few years ago in the tunnels of the Cincinnati Subway and recorded an interesting video showing its current state:

You can see some screenshots of the video below. Here we see one of the tunnels of the old Cincinnati Subway.

The old metro network was abandoned without the tracks being installed. No train ever ran through here.

Stairs to nowhere, which must have led to one of the stations.

One of the abandoned Cincinnati Subway stations.

The water pipe installed in the tunnels in the 1950s.

A fork in the old metro network.

Abandoned beds in the old atomic shelter installed in Liberty Station.