Astor Place Subway Station (IRT) National Register of Historic Places Listing

In October 1904, the first New York City subway rumbled to life. Astor Place was right there. Walk down the stairs today and you will spot something bizarre on the walls. Dozens of ceramic beavers stare back. Architects Heins & LaFarge ordered these glazed clay plaques from the Grueby Faience Company to honor John Jacob Astor. Astor built his massive empire on beaver pelts. He monopolized the American fur trade. So, commuters literally stand next to symbols of 19th-century frontier slaughter while waiting for the local 6 train.

There is more to this place than just rodents. Look at the uptown platform. You can still see bricked-up archways that once opened directly into the basement of the massive Wanamaker's Department Store. Shoppers loved this. They stepped off the train and immediately browsed French silks without ever facing the brutal winter slush above ground. Then there is the kiosk. The ornate cast-iron entrance with its steep, triangular roof looks straight out of 1904. Actually, workers demolished the original structure decades ago to free up road space. The current kiosk is a replica. But preservationists built it in 1986 using the original Heins & LaFarge blueprints, saving a piece of the city's ironclad past.