The 137th Street–City College station is a local station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 137th Street and Broadway in Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, it is served by the 1 train at all times. The station serves the nearby City College of New York and Riverbank State Park.

The 137th 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 137th Street began on May 14 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 station's platforms were lengthened in 1948, and the station was renovated in the late 20th century.

The 137th Street station contains two side platforms and three tracks; the center track is not used in regular service. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations. The platforms contain exits to Broadway's intersection with 137th Street and are not connected to each other within fare control.

History

Construction and opening

Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864, The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. 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, under which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. A third track was added directly north of 96th Street, immediately east of the originally planned two tracks. By late 1903, the subway was nearly complete, but the IRT Powerhouse and the system's electrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening. As late as October 26, 1904, the day before the subway was scheduled to open, the walls and ceilings were incomplete.

The 137th 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.

Service changes and station renovations

After the first subway line was completed in 1908, the station was served by West Side local and express trains. Express trains began at South Ferry in Manhattan or Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and ended at 242nd Street in the Bronx. Local trains ran from City Hall to 242nd Street during rush hours, continuing south from City Hall to South Ferry at other times. In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south of Times Square–42nd Street, and the original line was divided into an H-shaped system. The original subway north of Times Square thus became part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Local trains were sent to South Ferry, while express trains used the new Clark Street Tunnel to Brooklyn.

To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the 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 $ million in ) spent on platform lengthening, $500,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. The northbound platform at the 137th Street station was extended to the south, Subsequently, the station could accommodate six-car local trains, but ten-car trains could not open some of their doors. Platforms at IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line stations between and , including those at 137th Street, were lengthened to between 1946 and 1948, allowing full ten-car express trains to stop at these stations. with an estimated cost of $3.891 million. The platform extensions at these stations were opened in stages. On April 6, 1948, the platform extension at 137th Street opened. Simultaneously, the IRT routes were given numbered designations with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service. The route to 242nd Street became known as the 1. In 1959, all 1 trains became local.

In 1981, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority listed the station among the 69 most deteriorated stations in the subway system. A renovation of the 137th Street station was funded as part of the MTA's 1980–1984 capital plan. The MTA received a $106 million grant from the Urban Mass Transit Administration in October 1983; most of the grant would fund the renovation of eleven stations, including 137th Street.

In April 1988, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) unveiled plans to speed up service on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line through the implementation of a skip-stop service: the 9 train. When skip-stop service started in 1989, it was only implemented north of 137th Street–City College on weekdays, and it was the northernmost local stop served by both the 1 and the 9. Skip-stop service ended on May 27, 2005, as a result of a decrease in the number of riders who benefited.

On January 2, 2007, film student Cameron Hollopeter suffered a seizure in the station and fell off the platform onto the tracks. Wesley Autrey saved his life as a train was approaching. Autrey was given numerous awards and prizes, and his two daughters were given a scholarship.

thumb|alt=An aboveground elevator structure |The elevator structure on the northbound side of the station

In 2019, as part of an initiative to increase the accessibility of the New York City Subway system, the MTA announced that it would install elevators at the 137th Street–City College station as part of the MTA's 2020–2024 Capital Program. In December 2022, the MTA announced that it would award a $146 million contract for the installation of eight elevators across four stations, including 137th Street. Construction efforts on the elevator project at 137th Street began in early 2024 and were expected to be completed by March 2025. The accessibility improvements were not completed by October 2025, though plans were made to widen the staircase leading to the uptown platform. An updated release from Shaun Abreu's office indicated that construction on the uptown track access would be finished in January 2026, and the downtown elevator would be in operation by the second quarter of that year. The northbound platform elevator has been accessible since May 2026.

Station layout

thumb|150px|Mosaic by Heins & LaFarge

thumb|150px|Cartouche with three faces

This station was part of the original subway, and has two side platforms and three tracks, the center one being an unused express track. and is between 145th Street to the north and 125th Street to the south. The platforms were originally long, like at other stations north of 96th Street, The tunnel is covered by a U-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. This trough contains a foundation of concrete no less than thick. There is a gap between the trough wall and the platform walls, which are made of -thick brick covered over by a tiled finish.

Track layout

In the past, 137th Street was sometimes used as a terminal station. There are switches north of the station that allow northbound trains to enter the underground 137th Street Yard, then return to the other side of the station for the next trip south. The center express track that passes through the station is currently unused in revenue service.

Just south of the station, the tracks emerge onto the Manhattan Valley Viaduct. The line is elevated at 125th Street, and then underground once again at 116th Street–Columbia University, allowing trains to maintain a relatively level grade while passing through highly uneven terrain. and the southbound platform has a token booth and two staircases, one to each western corner of Broadway and 137th Street. There are no crossovers or crossunders to allow transfers between directions.

References

Further reading

  • nycsubway.org – Fossils Artwork by Steve Wood (1988)
  • Station Reporter – 1 Train
  • Forgotten NY – Original 28 – NYC's First 28 Subway Stations
  • The Subway Nut – 137th Street–City College Pictures
  • MTA's Arts For Transit – 137th Street–City College (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line)
  • 137th Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
  • Platforms from Google Maps Street View