The MTA has been working on reconstruciton of the South Ferry stop at the southern terminus of the 1 for some time. The station was in pretty bad shape, and since it had been built in 1905 when trains were shorter, was unable to accommodate current train lenghts.  While not uncommon for the MTA to reconstruct or remodel a subway stop, this project uncovered artifacts of Lower Manhattan’s past.  It has slowed completion of the project (set to reopen in Feb 2009) but produced some interesting peices of the city’s origins.