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Faces & Places of Yesterday

Building the DC Metro: Vintage Construction Photos

Vintage photos from Metro’s own archives document the decade-long construction of the Washington subway system before it opened in 1976.

Posted 1 min read
Atlas
Nov 1982 | Crews work to complete the building of the tunnel near Forest Glen Station.
Nov 1982 | Crews work to complete the building of the tunnel near Forest Glen Station.

How cool are these? We stumbled across them on Metro’s Facebook page.

Tunnel near Forest Glen

Nov 1982 | Crews work to complete the building of the tunnel near Forest Glen Station.
Nov 1982 | Crews work to complete the building of the tunnel near Forest Glen Station.

Forest Glen construction

1982 | Building the emergency evacuation staircase and shaft near the now Forest Glen Station. Forest Glen is about 22 stories below ground, so building a staircase for emergencies is crucial.
1982 | Building the emergency evacuation staircase and shaft near the now Forest Glen Station. Forest Glen is about 22 stories below ground, so building a staircase for emergencies is crucial.

Silver Spring station construction

1975 | A look at the construction of Silver Spring Station foundation.
1975 | A look at the construction of Silver Spring Station foundation.

Gallery Place-Chinatown 1974

1974 | Looking down at construction of our Gallery Place-Chinatown station
1974 | Looking down at construction of our Gallery Place-Chinatown station

Gallery Place-Chinatown construction

1974 | More construction, as crews build the Metro Gallery Place-Chinatown station.
1974 | More construction, as crews build the Metro Gallery Place-Chinatown station.

Archives construction 1975

June 1975 | Inside the construction work at Archives Station
June 1975 | Inside the construction work at Archives Station

Take a look at the rest of the photos here.

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Filed underFaces & Places of Yesterday

Topics1970s · 1980s · Transit

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On the Atlas

See the 4 places in this story.

Silver Spring Metro Station · Forest Glen Metro Station · Gallery Place-Chinatown Metro Station

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