DOWNTOWN SUBWAY Imagine descending an escalator from Star Plaza and boarding a subway bound for Tower City. Mayor Tom Johnson first proposed a Cleveland subway in 1905, and the idea surfaced repeatedly thereafter. After several failed attempts between the world wars, the city came closest to realizing this dream in 1953, when Cuyahoga County voters approved a downtown circulator subway by a two-to-one margin. The most discussed route would have traversed a loop from the Union Terminal to Superior and East Ninth, then to Euclid and East Thirteenth, and back along Huron, and Ontario to its origin. Another envisioned route connected downtown with University Circle. Although popular with the public, freeway advocate and county engineer Albert Porter persuaded county commissioners to nix the plan. Today the Silver Line realizes a longtime vision of improved transit.