Fig. 9.1: Grand Central Station and Terminal City. As part of the new Grand Central Station
(1913), the New York Central Railroad created a planned Terminal City over the covered tracks.
The company would sell the air rights to developers who would build offices, hotels and
apartment buildings. The Terminal City drew midtown northward during the 1920s.

Fig. 9.2: Penn Station. In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) completed its terminal on
Seventh Avenue and 32nd Street. Unlike the New York Central, the PRR was not interested in
engaging in real estate development. The hanging laundry in the right front shows how the
surrounding neighborhood was a dense tenement area, and was less amendable to upscale
development as compared to the area around Grand Central Station. The terminal’s effect on
Manhattan, however, was equally as important, as it drew the garment industry. As railroad
travel declined after World War II, the terminal became an aging giant, and was demolished in
1963. The current Madison Square Garden was built over the tracks.