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# New York City Subway Maps Across Time
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/new-york-city-subway-maps-across-time/
- Published: 2014-04-28T14:35:08.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:00:48.000Z
- Description: Municipal signage and schematics, as design firm Pentagram's recent work on New York's beach and parking signage attests, can play a significant role in (re)defining the character of urban space.
- Author: Mostafa Heddaya
- Tags: Art, NYC Subway, Photo Essays, public transit, subway, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![irt-1904-mapprofile](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/irt-1904-mapprofile.jpg)

1904 Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) map (all images via nycsubway.org)

Municipal signage and schematics, as design firm Pentagram’s recent work on New York’s [beach](http://hyperallergic.com/75314/a-beautiful-new-look-for-nycs-beaches/) and [parking](http://new.pentagram.com/2013/01/new-work-new-york-city-parking-signs/?ref=hyperallergic.com) signage attests, can play a significant role in (re)defining the character of urban space. Subway maps similarly develop an aesthetic character that transcends their function, as in the [London Underground pamphlet](http://www.designweek.co.uk/we-like/rachel-whiteread-creates-holey-new-london-pocket-tube-map-design/3038320.article?ref=hyperallergic.com) released last week designed by the artist Rachel Whiteread.

Though ultimately utilitarian, these textual and visual signs, symbols, and graphics form a vernacular urban directory, a tangible expression of the city’s identity. Over time, such artifacts can serve to document a collision of disparate forces at the intersection of geography, politics, and sensibility.

Fortunately, an independent online repository called [nycsubway.org](http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Historical%5FMaps?ref=hyperallergic.com) collects New York’s historical transit maps and schedules, offering a collection ranging from the late 19th century to the present. Here are a few highlights.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/1906-irt-map-manhattan-south.gif)

1906 IRT map – Manhattan South

![bmt_1924](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/bmt_1924.gif)

1924 BMT system map

![ind_1937](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/ind_1937.jpg)

1937 system map

![system_1939](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/system_1939.jpg)

1939 system map

![system_1959](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/system_1959.gif)

1959 system map

![system_1966_a](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/system_1966_a.gif)

1966 system map

![system_1964map](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/system_1964map.jpg)

1964 World’s Fair system map

![system_1972](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/04/system_1972.jpg)

The world famous 1972 system map designed by Massimo Vignelli.

*More maps can be viewed on the* [*Historical Maps*](http://www.nycsubway.org/wiki/Historical%5FMaps?ref=hyperallergic.com) *page at nycsubway.org.*