Felt wanted a comprehensive plan of development, rather than speculation that would result in a "crazy quilt pattern of rehabilitated buildings."
     The East Side Chamber of Commerce commented, in a Times Real Estate section article, that the removal of the el would "add light and cheerfulness” to once-darkened Lower East Side shopping avenues, such as Division Street. All in all, after the fall of the el, optimism prevailed among the real estate interests who had so badly wanted to see the el come down.

Second Avenue Subway
What is most significant about the story of the Second Avenue el is what did not happen next. The Second Avenue subway was not built. In 1942, when the el came down, many New Yorkers expected that the subway would be built soon. In that year, the Board of Transportation submitted its 1944-48 Capital Program.

Of course, this solution would not give Queens residents a one-seat ride to Lower Manhattan, and would not relieve overcrowding on the Queens subway line, but at least riders would not have to pay an extra fare. By the time the plan reached the Board of Estimate on May 28, advocates of el demolition did not offer even any small tokens to the opposition. The Board simply disregarded Mr. Burke and voted to kill the el, despite his opposition. This was the death blow. The el only had a few weeks left to operate.
     On October 1, 1942, the New York Times announced that all that was left of the el were 27,100 tons of metal. The structure had been demolished.

This scrap found its way to war duty, as did the line’s rail cars, which were used to bring war workers to their jobs in the shipyards near Oakland, California. Although critics of the el had used the war situation to silence opposition to demolition, at least the el materials did find their way to important war uses.
     The question to ask is: "what became of the areas that the Second Avenue el once served?" Realtors began certain small-scale projects to beautify the avenue. Harry Helmsley, earlier foe of the el, embarked on a program to plant trees along the avenue. One realtor, James Felt, noted that, due to wartime restrictions, Second Avenue would not likely see much real estate activity until after the war.

First Second Avenue Subway Plan, 1929. Before the City had completed even the first line of its new Independent Subway, it issued an ambitious plan for a "Second System." This was to be little more than a dream, though some expensive provisions for it were made in planning and construction of the original system. Ballooning of the City's rapid transit debt for the first system, the Great Depression and World War II, the rise of auto travel and suburbs, poor market planning and a change in the City's financial situation caused by huge increases in social service spending all acted to doom the proposals. Still, the promise of a Second Avenue Subway helped pave the way for demolition of both the Second and Third Avenue els, leaving the East Side served only by the Lexington Avenue Subway and a large fleet of buses. Large map (20K).

©2001 Alexander Nobler Cohen. ©2001 The Composing Stack Inc. All rights reserved