The 72nd Street station is an abandoned station located in the Park Avenue Tunnel used by

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

for all of its trains. The station has two side platforms and is located in between 72nd Street and 73rd Street underneath

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Avenu ...

on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. The station was built by the

New York Central & Hudson River Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

as part of an agreement with

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 ...

History

Construction

The

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

passed legislation in 1872, requiring that of

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

tracks between Grand Central and the Harlem River be placed underground. The confluence of tracks to the north of Grand Central was considered to be the city's "most fearful death-trap" by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 1872, and large meetings were held to protest the deaths caused by collisions between trains and pedestrians. The law set up a Board of Engineers to manage the project, which was known as the Fourth Avenue Improvement. The law stated that the authorization for two additional tracks was given "for the purpose of facilitating rapid transit and accommodating local traffic": these tracks were built on the same level, and as part of the project, four local stations were built. The project's cost was split between the New York Central, run by

Commodore Vanderbilt Cornelius Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794 – January 4, 1877), nicknamed "the Commodore", was an American business magnate who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. After working with his father's business, Vanderbilt worked his way into lead ...

, and New York City, whose payment of $3.2 million was to be made up from increased taxes from future development. The line was sunk into a tunnel between 59th Street and 96th Street through Mount Pleasant, known as the Yorkville Tunnel. The preexisting track level in this section was maintained as the streets crossed over the line via iron bridges. The contract for the section between 79th Street and the Harlem River was awarded to them on November 11. Work on the project began in fall 1872. In December 1872, shafts were sunk at 91st and 93rd Streets and two tunnels were being built alongside the old tunnel. The tunnels were to be completed in September 1873. On May 3, 1875, the first section of the improvement between 56th Street and 94th Street was placed in full revenue service, running through the cut south of the Yorkville Tunnel. On June 20, the entire improvement opened, and the first trains from Grand Central to the Harlem River were witnessed by large crowds of spectators. That morning, new rails and ties were installed between 96th Street and 33rd Streets, and the old track and trestle were demolished. The first train, the St. Louis Express, due at 12:30 p.m., arrived late at 1:50 p.m. due to the work. Masonry work continued to be done to lengthen the tunnel at Yorkville down to 80th Street, arching over the tracks. The tracks were not yet ballasted, forcing trains to run slowly. The side tracks to be used for local rapid transit trains were not yet laid, and the passenger stations at 59th Street, 72nd Street, 86th Street,

110th Street 110th Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is commonly known as the boundary between Harlem and Central Park, along which it is known as Central Park North. In the west, between Central Park West/Frederick Dougl ...

and 125th Street were not yet built. At this time, local rapid transit trains were expected to begin operation by September 1875 and were to serve stations yet under construction. The rolling stock for the local trains were to be much lighter than those used on the through trains. On May 15, 1876, partial rapid transit began on the Harlem Line, with sixteen trains a day running between Grand Central Depot and William's Bridge. These trains made all stops between Grand Central and William's Bridge, with the exception of Jerome Park, which was skipped by half of trains. This was in addition to eight regular trains per day that stopped at William's Bridge. Two new stations were opened at 86th Street and

, both being exclusively served by the rapid transit service. However, much to the dissatisfaction of local residents, the 59th Street and 72nd Street stations did not open. With horse cars running on Second Avenue, Third Avenue, and Fourth Avenue, local residents around the 72nd Street station were not willing to go all the way to the 86th Street station. Loud daily complaints were made to William Vanderbilt, urging him to equip these two stations on the line, which was paid in half by the city's taxpayers. A newspaper supposed that the station could be fitted for less than $500 (). These stations were all closed by 1906 by approval of the Railroad Commission.

Opening

The station was built during the late 19th century, and it is unclear if any regular trains actually stopped here. Currently, the station is used as an emergency exit for

in the Park Avenue Tunnel. The staircases are intact and can be accessed from Park Avenue. According to an 1895 timetable, two trains stopped at 72nd Street daily to serve students attending what is now

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

. On April 29, 1901, the New York Central was granted permission to abandon the station and the 86th Street station by the New York State Railroad Commissioners due to its low ridership. The Central had applied for permission to discontinue the two stations as they were operated at a loss, and as it was purported that having trains stop in the tunnel was a threat to public safety.

References

{{Park Avenue Former railway stations in New York (state) Former New York Central Railroad stations Railway stations in Manhattan Park Avenue Upper East Side