The 168th Street station was the

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

on the demolished section of the

BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southea ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was located between 165th and 168th Streets on

Jamaica Avenue Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Broadway and Fulton Street, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's E ...

History

Early years

168th Street was part of two Dual Contracts extensions of the BMT Broadway-Jamaica Line east of Cypress Hills and the "S-Curve" from Fulton Street to

. It opened on July 3, 1918, * * * replacing 111th Street as the line's terminus. 168th Street station also replaced the Canal Street Station along the

Atlantic Avenue Rapid Transit The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

line (today part of the

LIRR The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

Main Line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

), which closed nineteen years earlier, and supplanted the trolley service on Jamaica Avenue.

Decline and closure

In 1937, the Queens Boulevard Line of the city-owned

Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND or ISS), formerly known as the Independent City-Owned Subway System (ICOSS) or the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit Railroad (ICORTR), was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of th ...

was extended to a new terminal at 169th Street and

Hillside Avenue Hillside may refer to the side of a hill. Places Australia *Hillside mine, a proposed mine on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia * Hillside, New South Wales *Hillside, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne Canada * Hillside, Nova Scotia United Kin ...

, four blocks away. The opening of the IND terminal drew passengers away from the BMT lines. Many groups had called for the removal of the extension in the Jamaica Business district since shortly after it opened, and by the 1960s the city planned to close the station and significant portions of the line in Jamaica. Many merchants blamed the line for causing blight and hurting business in the neighborhood. The line was also torn down in preparation for the completion of the Archer Avenue Subway one block south, which would serve the Jamaica Line and a spur of the

IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, United States. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 s ...

, and due to political pressure in the area. Construction of that line began in 1972. 168th Street closed at midnight on September 10, 1977, and the elevated structure from 168th Street to Sutphin Boulevard was torn down by 1979. The line was truncated to

Queens Boulevard Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens connecting Midtown Manhattan, via the Queensboro Bridge, to Jamaica. It is long and forms part of New York State Route 25. Queens Boulevard runs northwest to so ...

, with the Q49 bus replacing the demolished portion of the line until December 11, 1988.

Current status

In spite of the support of local business owners for the demolition of the line, stores continued to suffer and several establishments closed due to the absence of the El. This included the large

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

location in the

165th Street Pedestrian Mall The 165th Street Bus Terminal, also known as Jamaica Bus Terminal, the Long Island Bus Terminal (the name emblazoned on the entranceway's red tiles), Jamaica−165th Street Terminal (as signed on buses towards the terminal), or simply 165th Stre ...

near the bus terminal. Unlike the 160th Street and Sutphin Boulevard stations, which were completely demolished in 1979, 168th Street's former control tower, known as the "Station and Trainmen's Building", still remains standing on the southeast corner of 165th Street and

. It sits inactive atop a block of storefronts. The exit stairways for the station were purchased by a private citizen to be used on their estate in

Nissequogue Nissequogue () is a village in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The village population was 1,564 at the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Nissequogue is located entirely within the Town of ...

on the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

. The Archer Avenue Line was completed in 1988, nearly ten years after the closure of the station, but it does not extend east to 168th Street. The closest subway stations to this former station are Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer, at Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue, which is nine blocks west and one block south, as well as the existing 169th Street station which is four blocks to the north on

Station layout

This elevated station had two tracks and one

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

. It was constructed with a

diamond crossover A railroad switch (), turnout, or ''set ofpoints () is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off. The most common type ...

switch west of the station, and a large signal and switch tower built to the south side of the elevated structure at 165th Street. The entrance to the station at this location was built into an alcove of the signal building, which contained storefronts at ground level. Past the crossover, the line expanded to three tracks, with the middle track ending at 160th Street. While reports say the station had a concrete platform, photographs show a wooden platform. It served trains from the BMT Jamaica- Nassau Street Line to Manhattan (the predecessors to today's and trains) and from the

BMT Lexington Avenue Line The BMT Lexington Avenue Line (also called the Lexington Avenue elevated) was the first standard elevated railway in Brooklyn, New York, operated in its later days by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporat ...

. The station also connected to the nearby

165th Street Bus Terminal The 165th Street Bus Terminal, also known as Jamaica Bus Terminal, the Long Island Bus Terminal (the name emblazoned on the entranceway's red tiles), Jamaica−165th Street Terminal (as signed on buses towards the terminal), or simply 165th Stre ...

(opened in 1936) at 89th Avenue and

Merrick Boulevard Merrick Road is an east–west urban arterial in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties in New York, United States. It is known as Merrick Boulevard or Floyd H. Flake Boulevard in Queens, within New York City. Merrick Road runs east from the Queens ...

via an exit on 165th Street.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:168th Street (Bmt Jamaica Line) Railway stations in the United States opened in 1916 1916 establishments in New York City Railway stations closed in 1977 Defunct BMT Jamaica Line stations 1977 disestablishments in New York (state) 1918 establishments in New York City Former elevated and subway stations in Queens, New York Defunct New York City Subway stations located aboveground Jamaica, Queens