ABSTRACT: Bob Diamond is Brooklyn's Indiana Jones. In 1979 he heard of a story very briefly of a possible tunnel under Atlantic Avenue that had only been a rumor and legend.
CONTENT: I heard this story the other night on the World News Now program and became utterly intrigued by it. When one thinks of major archeological finds, one tends to think they can only be found in such exotic places as Egypt, Greece, Italy or in the jungles of South America or Asia. Not so. It's amazing to think that, right under our feet, no matter where we are, we may be walking over the remains of a former past culture from another time long ago. Deeply buried underneath, we may be walking over a former Native American village, an unknown and yet discovered remains of a Revolutionary War or Civil War battle, we may even be walking over the remains of long extinct mammals that may have roamed on Earth millions of years ago.
I've always have had a deep love for the world of archeology, and when I was younger even had my sights set in possibly becoming an Egyptologist. I feel in love with the Raiders of the Lost Ark series of movies directed by Steven Spielberg, and ironically someone else had a love for these movies as well and it brought out the Indiana Jones in a man named Bob Diamond, a civil engineering student attending Pratt Institute back in 1979. Bob Diamond was listening to a radio program one day, when a book by G. J. A. O'Toole, entitled The Cosgrove Report: Being the Private Inquiry of a Pinkerton's Detective Into the Death of President Lincoln was being discussed which mentioned about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The radio program continued to mention how Mr. O'Toole had written that supposedly there existed some pages of a journal written by Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth and that these pages where hidden in a long forgotten tunnel running under Atlantic Avenue in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. (1)
His curiosity now peaked, Bob Diamond got in contact with the radio program and even managed to get in contact with author G. J. A. O'Toole himself, but neither were of any help to him. Mr. O'Toole merely mentioned that the idea that missing pages of Booth's journal hidden in some underground tunnel in Brooklyn had been a rumor and had never been verified. Did this discourage Bob Diamond? On the contrary, he was all the more determined to find out if such a tunnel existed and began pouring through old newspapers that had been published during the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s to find out about any mentioning of this mysterious tunnel. His meticulous sifting through tons of microfilmed newspapers struck a bit of gold as he came across one article published in the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper on July 23, 1911. In the article, it mentioned that there were a set of plans of such a tunnel and they were held in the Brooklyn Borough President's office. However, upon going to the office and asking about the plans, he was informed that no such plans were in their possession, that is, until he asked if he could look through an old box known to contain unmarked papers. Bingo! Among tons of papers he found the original plans that showed a 1,611 foot tunnel in which the location indicated was underneath Atlantic Avenue(1)
What was this tunnel? What was it used for? Why was it constructed in the first place and how long ago? This is where a bit of old New York history comes into place and the tunnel itself turns out to be the oldest subway tunnel, not only in New York, but in the world, the first underground subway being built in London. England in 1863.(2) As far as most people may be aware of and know, the New York subway system officially began around 1904, but as this tunnel proves the plans and building for a subway system began much further back and before the Civil War in 1844.
Prior to the building of this tunnel, a railroad ran right through the hectic streets of Atlantic Avenue, but above ground. Since the streets were always filled and congested with pedestrians many fatalities occurred with people being run over by the trains that couldn't stop in time to avoid hitting them. It was Cornelius Vanderbilt, the soon to be rich tycoon and then director of the Long Island Rail Road who decided something had to be done and started the idea of building a tunnel to run the trains underground rather than on the streets. For a twelve block stretch of Atlantic Avenue, the streets were dug up and in 1844 this first and historic underground subway tunnel was built. This early subway however, only lasted a mere six years and in 1850 was closed down and was supposedly filled in and sealed, its existence to be forgotten with time. Only rumors and legends, of hidden treasure, John Wilkes Booth's diary, and even possible vampires existing in the tunnel, kept the world's first subway tunnel alive. (1) That is until Bob Diamond came along and wanted to rediscover the infamous Atlantic Avenue tunnel.
After scrutinizing the ancient plans after a full year, in 1981 Bob Diamond was able to pinpoint the most likely entrance to the Atlantic Avenue tunnel...a manhole that didn't look like any of the other manholes that commonly dot the streets of New York City. He managed to get some help of friends of his and his search was now in earnest. Removing the old manhole cover, he was at first disappointed for it seemed that any entrance to this mysterious tunnel was blocked, but that didn't deter him and he and his friends began digging through mounds of dirt and came up to a brick wall blocking further entrance. This too was broken through, and suddenly Bob Diamond was looking at a fifteen foot drop. The legend and rumor was no longer a legend, it was fact, Bob Diamond had rediscovered the Atlantic Avenue tunnel.
Believe it or not, ever since Diamond's discovery, tours are now conducted by the brave-hearted and non-claustrophobic who are willing to go underground, and given by none other than Bob Diamond himself. There is a slight hiccup however, for the tunnel only stretches six of the twelve original blocks, the remaining six were walled up and Diamond is still trying to secure permission to dig through this wall to discover what lies hidden behind it and he hopes to get this permission this year. Who knows? There just might be treasure or John Wilkes Booth's diary hidden behind there after all, only time will tell if this is true. One can view a short trailer to the documentary, entitled Whats Behind The Wall . The next scheduled tour of the tunnel is on April 19th, and tours are held each month. To find out more information and if you would like to take this tour, one can find information here. Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour
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