Before Route 66: The Story of America’s First Highway
Long before Route 66 captured the American imagination, another road did something far more ambitious: it connected the country. The Lincoln Highway, completed in 1913, was the United States’ first true transcontinental road—stretching from Times Square in New York to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. But while it revolutionized travel, kickstarted tourism, and helped birth car culture, most people today have never heard of it.In this episode, we trace the rise and quiet fall of the Lincoln Highway: from muddy wagon trails and volunteer road crews to cement milestones, patriotic branding, and fierce industrial politics. You’ll discover how a group of dreamers and auto tycoons built a road without government help, changed how Americans moved—and then watched it get dismantled by the federal highway system. Buckle up: this is the lost story of the road that made road trips possible.
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New York’s Lost Subway | The Secret Beneath Broadway
Before New York built its legendary subway system, an inventor quietly constructed a different kind of underground transit—powered not by electricity, but by air. In 1870, Alfred Ely Beach opened the Beach Pneumatic Transit beneath Broadway, a functioning subway that silently whisked passengers through a sealed tunnel using air pressure. It was revolutionary, popular—and ultimately, shut down.This episode dives into the forgotten story of America’s earliest subway experiment, built in secret under Manhattan at a time when the city’s streets were choked with chaos. We’ll explore how political corruption, especially from Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall, crushed the project—and how the remains were unearthed decades later during construction of the modern subway system.
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Why the Pentagon Is Totally Forbidden
It’s the largest low-rise office building on Earth—and one of the most secretive. With more floor space than the Empire State Building and 17 miles of corridors, the Pentagon is the center of U.S. military command—but the public only sees a sliver of it. From forgotten tunnels to sealed war rooms, its true layout remains hidden even from most who work there.In this episode, we uncover the forgotten history and classified secrets of the Pentagon: why it was built so fast, what lies in its deeper levels, and how its very structure was designed for control, movement, and defense. From the Pentagon Papers to lost access tunnels and internal surveillance, we reveal why this five-sided fortress is still one of the most off-limits places in America.
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The Forgotten Monoliths of St. Louis | Stand Pipes
Before pressure valves and digital controls, American cities relied on a forgotten form of infrastructure: the standpipe. These towering vertical tubes stabilized water pressure across growing metropolises—but almost all were demolished once they became obsolete. Except in St. Louis.Between 1871 and 1898, the city built three massive architectural towers to house its standpipes—each one more ambitious than the last. Why did St. Louis treat these utility structures like civic monuments? How did they work? And why are they still standing when every other city tore theirs down? In this episode, we explore the story of St. Louis’ hydraulic past—and the industrial monuments it left behind.
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Why the Real Shawshank Prison Was Worse Than the Movie
What happens when a prison becomes more famous after it closes? The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield was once a state-of-the-art facility meant to rehabilitate young offenders. But over time, its towering gothic architecture became a symbol of overcrowding, violence, and ghost stories — until it finally shut its doors in 1990.Today, it’s a hotspot for filmmakers, tourists, and ghost hunters alike — best known as the filming location for The Shawshank Redemption. In this episode, we explore the strange life of the reformatory, from its progressive 19th-century roots to the brutal scandals that defined its later years. You’ll discover how it became both a cinematic icon and one of America’s most haunted places.
IT’S HISTORY is a ride through history – join us in discovering the world’s most important eras, the minds that changed everything, and the most important inventions of our time through weekly tales of Urban Decay.
This podcast is distributed and operated by Video Brothers Music.
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