Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:09, 18 March 2021

72 Street ​​
New York City Subway station (rapid transit)
Original control house (left) and newer control house, located on opposite sides of 72nd Street
Station statistics
Address	area of West 72nd Street, Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10023
Borough	Manhattan
Locale	Upper West Side
Coordinates	40°46′44″N 73°58′55″W / 40.779°N 73.982°W / 40.779; -73.982
Division	A (IRT)
Line	IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line
Services	1  (all times) ​   2  (all times) ​   3  (all times)
Transit	NYCT Bus: M5, M7, M11, M57, M72, M104 MTA Bus: BxM2
Structure	Underground
Platforms	2 island platforms cross-platform interchange
Tracks	4
Other information
Opened	October 27, 1904; 120 years ago (1904-10-27)
Accessible	ADA-accessible
Opposite- direction transfer	Yes
Traffic
2023	9,086,110  16.6%
Rank	22 out of 423
Station succession
Next north	Template:NYCS next Template:NYCS next
Next south	Template:NYCS next Template:NYCS next
Location Show map of New York City SubwayShow map of New York CityShow map of New York
Track layout Legend to 96 St to 79 St to 66 St to 42 St
Street map
Station service legend Symbol Description Stops all times except late nights Stops all times Stops late nights only
Control House on 72nd Street
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 1021
MPS	Interborough Rapid Transit Subway Control Houses TR
NRHP reference No.	80002684
NYCL No.	1021
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 6, 1980
Designated NYCL	January 9, 1979
72nd Street Subway Station (IRT)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 1096
MPS	New York City Subway System MPS
NRHP reference No.	04001017
NYCL No.	1096
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 17, 2004
Designated NYCL	October 23, 1979

72nd Street is an express station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of Broadway, 72nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue (including Verdi Square and Sherman Square) on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It is served by the 1, 2, and 3 trains at all times.

The 72nd Street station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction of the line segment that includes the 72nd Street station started on August 22 of the same year. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. The 72nd Street station's platforms were lengthened in 1960 as part of an improvement project along the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. The station was built with a single head house south of 72nd Street, which provided the only exit and entrance to the complex. In 2002, the station was renovated and a second head house was built north of 72nd Street.

The 72nd Street station contains two island platforms and four tracks. The outer tracks are used by local trains while the inner two tracks are used by express trains. The interior of the station, as well as the original head house, are New York City designated landmarks and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The northern head house contains elevators, which make the station compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

History

Construction and opening

Planning for the city's first subway line dates to the Rapid Transit Act, authorized by the New York State Legislature in 1894. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, chief engineer of the Rapid Transit Commission. It called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into the Bronx. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and all lawsuits concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899. The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations. Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.

The 72nd Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from 60th Street to 82nd Street, for which work had begun on August 22, 1900. Work for that section had been awarded to William Bradley. The 72nd Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch. The opening of the first subway line, and particularly the 72nd Street station, helped contribute to the development of the Upper West Side.

Service changes and station renovations

1910s to 1930s

After the first subway line was completed in 1908, the station was served by local and express trains along both the West Side (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street) and East Side (now the Lenox Avenue Line). West Side local trains had their southern terminus at City Hall during rush hours and South Ferry at other times, and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street. East Side local trains ran from City Hall to Lenox Avenue (145th Street). Express trains had their southern terminus at South Ferry or Atlantic Avenue and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street, Lenox Avenue (145th Street), or West Farms (180th Street). Express trains to 145th Street were later eliminated, and West Farms express trains and rush-hour Broadway express trains operated through to Brooklyn. In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south of Times Square–42nd Street, thereby dividing the original line into an "H" system. Local trains (Broadway and Lenox Avenue) were sent to South Ferry, while express trains (Broadway and West Farms) used the new Clark Street Tunnel to Brooklyn.

To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening platforms at stations along the original IRT subway. As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts, made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to $1.5 million (equivalent to $0 million in 2023) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $16,350,000 in 2023) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. At the 72nd Street station, the northbound platform was extended 80 feet (24 m) south and 25 feet (7.6 m) north, while the southbound platform was extended 25 feet (7.6 m) south and 100 feet (30 m) north. A new crossover and signal tower were also built in conjunction with these extensions. Work progressed on the platform extensions at 72nd Street during 1910 and 1911. On January 23, 1911, ten-car express trains began running on the Lenox Avenue Line, and the following day, ten-car express trains were inaugurated on the West Side Line.

The original head house had two stairways to each platform, although a third stairway was added to the northbound platform at some point before 1924. In that year, it was proposed to build a third stairway to the southbound platform, and an exit-only staircase from the northbound platform to the traffic island just south of the head house; however, the Transit Bureau advised against this move as it would aggravate overcrowding. In 1930, there was funding allocated to remove the station head house, and replace it with an underpass and sidewalk entrances. In Fiscal Year 1937, space was cut out under parts of two staircases on the southbound platform to increase space for riders on the express side of the platform. Funding was again allocated to remove the station house in 1945.

1940s to 1980s

The IRT routes were given numbered designations with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock. The first such fleet, the R12, was put into service in 1948. The Broadway/West Side route became known as the 1, the West Farms route as the 2, and the Lenox Avenue route as the 3.

During the early 1950s, it was considered to convert the 59th Street–Columbus Circle station, a major transfer point to the IND Eighth Avenue Line from a local stop to an express stop in order to serve the anticipated rise of ridership at the stop resulting from the proposed New York Coliseum and the expected redevelopment of the area. In conjunction with that project, the New York City Transit Authority (now the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA) considered converting the 72nd Street station to a local station by walling off the express tracks from the platforms. In 1955, the firm Edwards, Kelcey and Beck was hired as Consulting Engineers for the construction of the express station.

The original IRT stations north of Times Square could barely fit five- or six-car local trains depending on the configuration of the trains. Stations on the line from Times Square to 96th Street, including this station but excluding the 91st Street station, had their platforms extended in the 1950s to 525 feet (160 m) to accommodate ten-car trains as part of a $100 million rebuilding program (equivalent to $1,084.8 million in 2023) . The platforms at 72nd Street were extended in 1960, and the track layout was changed accordingly. Once the project was completed, all 1 trains became local and all 2 and 3 trains became express, and eight-car local trains began operation. Increased and lengthened service was implemented during peak hours on the 1 train on February 6, 1959. Due to the lengthening of the platforms at 86th Street and 96th Street, the intermediate 91st Street station was closed on February 2, 1959, because it was too close to the other two stations. In 1959, work was underway to install fluorescent lighting in the station.

In 1973, funding was allocated to study removing the headhouse and replacing it with sidewalk entrances. In 1987, the founders of Ben & Jerry's proposed to spend $200,000 to $250,000 a year to maintain, clean, paint the station, install mosaics, and pipe in music into the station. Though their proposal was supported by the MTA, the Transport Workers Union was opposed to the proposal as Ben & Jerry wanted to hire some non-union labor for the project. As a result, the proposal died in April 1988.

21st century

By the late 20th century, the original configuration of the station was inadequate. Its only entrance was on the traffic island between Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and 71st and 72nd Streets. Furthermore, the platforms and stairways were unusually narrow; the platforms were 15.5 feet (4.7 m) wide at their widest point, and the staircases were 4 feet (1.2 m) wide. In the late 20th century, MTA officials announced that they would spend $40 million to widen the platform, but subsequently rejected the renovation as being infeasible. Donald Trump developed his Riverside South complex two blocks to the west in the 1980s and 1990s; some opponents to Trump's development said that it would increase crowding at the 72nd Street station. In 1998, New York City Transit's vice president for capital improvements, Mysore Nagaraja, said that a renovation of the 72nd Street station would commence after more important projects were completed.

State assemblyman Scott Stringer successfully campaigned to have money allocated to the 72nd Street station's renovation. In February 1999, the MTA Board adopted a resolution allowing the MTA to use a %

1. "Borough of Manhattan, New York City". Government of New York City. Retrieved December 28, 2020.
2. ^ "New York MPS 72nd Street Subway Station (IRT)". Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2006, Series: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records, 2013 - 2017, Box: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: New York, ID: 75313923. National Archives.
3. "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
4. ^ "Our Subway Open: 150,000 Try It; Mayor McClellan Runs the First Official Train". The New York Times. October 28, 1904. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
5. ^ "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
6. Cite error: The named reference focus2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. Cite error: The named reference NYCL-1021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. ^ "Interborough Rapid Transit System, Underground Interior" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. October 23, 1979. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
9. "Annual Subway Ridership (2018–2023)". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
10. ^ Walker, James Blaine (1918). Fifty Years of Rapid Transit — 1864 to 1917. New York, N.Y.: Law Printing. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
11. ^ Report of the Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners for the City of New York For The Year Ending December 31, 1904 Accompanied By Reports of the Chief Engineer and of the Auditor. Board of Rapid Transit Railroad Commissioners. 1905. pp. 229–236.
12. Stern, Robert A. M.; Gilmartin, Gregory; Massengale, John Montague (1983). New York 1900: Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism, 1890–1915. New York: Rizzoli. ISBN 0-8478-0511-5. OCLC 9829395.
13. "Our First Subway Completed At Last — Opening of the Van Cortlandt Extension Finishes System Begun in 1900 — The Job Cost $60,000,000 — A Twenty-Mile Ride from Brooklyn to 242d Street for a Nickel Is Possible Now". The New York Times. August 2, 1908. p. 10. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
14. The Merchants' Association of New York Pocket Guide to New York. Merchants' Association of New York. March 1906. pp. 19–26.
15. Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1916. p. 119.
16. "Exercises in City Hall; Mayor Declares Subway Open -- Ovations for Parsons and McDonald". The New York Times. October 28, 1904. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
17. "Open New Subway Lines to Traffic; Called a Triumph" (PDF). The New York Times. August 2, 1918. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
18. ^ Hood, Clifton (1978). "The Impact of the IRT in New York City" (PDF). Historic American Engineering Record. pp. 146–207 (PDF pp. 147–208). Retrieved December 20, 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
19. ^ Report of the Public Service Commission for the First District of the State of New York For The Year Ending December 31, 1910. Public Service Commission. 1911.
20. Mehren, Edward J.; Meyer, Henry Coddington; Goodell, John M. (1911). Engineering Record, Building Record and Sanitary Engineer. McGraw Publishing Company. pp. 520–522.
21. "Ten-car Trains in Subway to-day; New Service Begins on Lenox Av. Line and Will Be Extended to Broadway To-morrow". The New York Times. January 23, 1911. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
22. New York (State). Transit Commission (1924). Proceedings of the Transit Commission, State of New York. pp. 593–594. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
23. Proceedings of the Board of Transportation of the City of New York. New York City Board of Transportation. 1930. p. 303.
24. Legislature, New York (State) (1937). Legislative Document. J.B. Lyon Company. p. 15.
25. Proceedings of the New York City Board of Transportation. New York City Board of Transportation. 1945. p. 423.
26. Brown, Nicole (May 17, 2019). "How did the MTA subway lines get their letter or number? NYCurious". amNewYork. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
27. Friedlander, Alex; Lonto, Arthur; Raudenbush, Henry (April 1960). "A Summary of Services on the IRT Division, NYCTA" (PDF). New York Division Bulletin. 3 (1). Electric Railroaders' Association: 2–3.
28. Report. New York City Transit Authority. 1953. p. 32.
29. Minutes and Proceedings. New York City Transit Authority. 1955. pp. 3, 254, 1457.
30. Proceedings of the New York City Transit Authority Relating to Matters Other Than Operation. New York City Transit Authority. 1961. pp. 73, 179.
31. ^ "High-Speed Broadway Local Service Began in 1959". The Bulletin. 52 (2). New York Division, Electric Railroaders' Association. February 2009. Retrieved August 26, 2016 – via Issuu.
32. "Wagner Praises Modernized IRT — Mayor and Transit Authority Are Hailed as West Side Changes Take Effect". The New York Times. February 7, 1959. p. 21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
33. Aciman, Andre (January 8, 1999). "My Manhattan — Next Stop: Subway's Past". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
34. Annual Report For The Year Ending June 30, 1959 (PDF). New York City Transit Authority. 1959. pp. 8–10.
35. Comptroller, New York (N Y. ) Office of the (1973). Report of the Comptroller. p. 218.
36. LLC, New York Media (June 20, 1988). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC. p. 8.
37. "Ben & Jerry mixing it up to sweeten subway station". The Brattleboro Reformer. April 5, 1988. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
38. Cite error: The named reference nyt20010410 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
39. ^ Wong, Edward (June 7, 2000). "72nd St. Station Renovation Should Do More, Critics Say". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
40. Weber, Bruce (July 22, 1992). "Debate on Trump's West Side Proposal". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
41. Day, Sherri (June 18, 2000). "Neighborhood Report: Upper West Side; Are Renovations in Subway a Threat to the Life Upstairs?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 21, 2020.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

• Accessible New York City Subway stations