Talk:Pneumatic tube mail in New York City

A fact from Pneumatic tube mail in New York City appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 21 October 2013 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that one of the first items posted through the New York pneumatic tube mail in 1897 was a live cat?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2013/October. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/New York pneumatic tube mail.

Wikipedia

New York City Mid‑importance

	New York City portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject New York City, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of New York City-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.New York CityWikipedia:WikiProject New York CityTemplate:WikiProject New York CityNew York City articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Philately Low‑importance

	Philately portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Philately, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of philately and stamp collecting on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhilatelyWikipedia:WikiProject PhilatelyTemplate:WikiProject PhilatelyPhilately articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

3,750 feet

This cannot be so. "...between the General Post Office on 32nd Street (now James Farley Post Office) and the Produce Exchange on Bowling Green, a distance of 3,750 feet" because 32d Street in Midtown is about eight times that distant from Battery Park. Either a decimal got slipped somewhere or the north end was closer downtown. Park Row or Chambers Street would approximately fit. Jim.henderson (talk) 23:43, 31 October 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A bit of Web searching found a December 11 1897 Scientific American article [1]] with a detailed technical description. This version lacks the map which could greatly clarify the vague geographical description, but I get the impression it isn't saying anything about a west side line; only an east side one. So, no, I'm pretty sure the initial main station was the old GPO on lower Broadway and construction at that time was near completion to connect Grand Central Station (adjoining Grand Central Terminal). Plans for a west side line were probably only made a few years later when plans for a post office near the not yet completed Penn Station were more definite. Jim.henderson (talk) 13:11, 1 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

All right; the building now called "Farley" did not exist in 1897. The Herald Square GPO has also been proposed, but I've failed to find evidence that such a thing ever existed. On the other hand the article quotes a witness saying a dazed cat arrived at Park Row and Broadway, which to me can only mean City Hall Post Office and Courthouse (New York City) which apparently was serving as NYC GPO at the time. I propose to put that in the article unless someone gives a good reason to object. Jim.henderson (talk) 01:02, 3 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Paris

Information about the Paris system in under a larger article on pneumatic tubes in the French Wikipedia at https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_pneumatique. Because it's part of a larger article it doesn't link here and therefore this article makes it sound like Wikipedia has nothing on the Paris system. I don't know if there is a way to link this information or not. Cardweaver (talk) 18:36, 7 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Since April, FRWP has had a separate article for the Poste pneumatique de Paris but my French is not good enough to translate it. Jim.henderson (talk) 11:47, 10 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Chicago

Chicago opened a pneumatic tube mail system in 1904. Pictures trumpeting the opening can be seen in the September 1904 issue of Harper's Weekly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:98A:4100:36A0:449B:4FE0:5CEC:3467 (talk) 18:20, 13 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]