The London Underground had been completed - the world’s first subway system - was completed in 1863, but it was plagued by the dirty soot of its steam-powered trains. Alfred Beach promised something similar, and yet entirely different for New York City. But his dreams for the future of transportation would be mired in the politics and economics of the present.
The history of cotton clothing has followed an interesting path, including a period of a few decades in the United States when cotton represented ingenuity, resilience, and patriotism itself.