September 1, 1897: Boston Opens America's 1st Subway

September 1, 1897: The Tremont Street Subway opens in Boston. It is the 1st subway system in America.

This original line consisted of a main line under Tremont Street that terminated at Park Street in downtown Boston, and two forks to the south. One of these was the Pheasant Street Incline, heading to Pheasant Street in the South End, and remained in operation until 1961.

The other remains in operation today, veering westward along Boylston Street, and eventually extended to lines labeled B, C, D and E, serving as the Green Line when the system was rebranded from the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA, made famous in folk song) to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA, or just "T") in 1964.

In the opposite direction, the line headed for Scollay Square (now Government Center), North Station, Science Park, and over the Charles River into Cambridge, at Lechmere. This line is currently being extended to Medford and Tufts University, and the MBTA is hoping to open it next May.

Chicago's elevated line, or "L," actually predates the Boston subway by 5 years, but the city didn't get its 1st underground subway line until the State Street line opened on October 17, 1943.

For each city in Major League Baseball with a subway system, here are the opening dates:

1. June 6, 1892, Chicago.

2. September 1, 1897, Boston.

3. October 27, 1904, New York.

4. March 4, 1907, Philadelphia.

5. December 17, 1913, Cleveland.

6. March 30, 1954, Toronto.

--. October 14, 1966, Montreal.

7. September 11, 1972, San Francisco.

8. March 27, 1976, Washington.

9. June 30, 1979, Atlanta.

10. July 26, 1981, San Diego.

11. November 21, 1983, Baltimore.

12. April 15, 1984, Pittsburgh.

13. May 20, 1984, Miami.

14. July 31, 1987, Detroit.

15. July 14, 1990, Los Angeles.

16. July 31, 1993, St. Louis.

17. June 14, 1996, Dallas.

18. January 1, 2004, Houston.

19. June 26, 2004, Minneapolis.

20. December 27, 2008, Phoenix.

21. July 18, 2009, Seattle.

22. April 22, 2016, Denver.

23. May 6, 2016, Kansas City.

24. September 9, 2016, Cincinnati.

25. November 2, 2018, Milwaukee.

26. Never, Tampa Bay. Neither Tampa nor St. Petersburg has any.

San Francisco had cable cars going back to 1878, and streetcars in 1948, before the opening of BART in 1972. In the cases of San Diego, St. Louis, Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Seattle, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Milwaukee, the service in question is street-level light rail. And Miami's, Detroit's and Seattle's are above-ground monorails. Those cities have never had subway systems. Cincinnati started to build one, but abandoned the project in 1928.

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September 1, 1897 was a Wednesday. Basketball was a new invention. Professional hockey did not exist. Professional football barely did. But all 12 teams in baseball's National League were in action:

* The Boston Beaneaters beat the Chicago Colts, 7-4 at the South End Grounds in Boston. The Beaneaters, the forerunners of the Braves, were in a torrid struggle for the Pennant with the Baltimore Orioles. In fact, from 1891 to 1898, one or the other won the Pennant every year. The former Chicago White Stockings were then known as the Colts because they had so many young players. They became the Cubs in 1903.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the St. Louis Browns, 11-5 at Oriole Park in Baltimore. These Orioles went out of business after the 1899 season. These Browns became the Cardinals soon thereafter. A series of teams in Baltimore took on the Orioles name, and in 1902, an American League team took on the St. Louis Browns name. In 1954, this team moved, becoming the Baltimore Orioles.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-7 at the Polo Grounds.

* The Brooklyn Bridegrooms beat the Cleveland Spiders, 5-1 at Eastern Park in Brooklyn. They were called the Bridegrooms because, a few years earlier, several of their players got married in the off-season. By 1911, they were the Dodgers. The Spiders folded after the 1899 season.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Louisville Colonels, 7-6 at Huntingdon Avenue Grounds (later renamed Baker Bowl) in Philadelphia. The Colonels folded after the 1899 season.

* And the Washington Senators beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1 at Boundary Park in Washington. These Senators folded after the 1899 season.