The Queens Boulevard station was a local station 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 had two tracks and two

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms ...

s, with space for a third track in the center. This station was built as part of the

Dual Contracts The Dual Contracts, also known as the Dual Subway System, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the City of New York. The contracts were signed on March 19, 1913, by the Interborough Ra ...

. It opened on July 3, 1918, * * * and was closed in 1985 in anticipation of the Archer Avenue Subway, and due to political pressure in the area. The next stop to the north was

Sutphin Boulevard Sutphin Boulevard is a major street in the New York City borough of Queens, Its northern end is at Hillside Avenue in Jamaica and its southern end is Rockaway Boulevard on the border of South Jamaica and Springfield Gardens. It comes from the Dut ...

, until it was closed in 1977 and Queens Boulevard became a terminal station. The next stop to the south was

Metropolitan Avenue Metropolitan Avenue is a major east-west street in Queens and northern Brooklyn, New York City. Its western end is at the East River in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the eastern end at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. The avenue was construct ...

History

Queens Boulevard was built under the

as part of an extension of the Jamaica elevated past 111th Street to 168th Street, the second half of the line's extension along

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 ...

east of Cypress Hills.

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 d ...

New Subway Line: Affords a Five-Cent Fare Between Manhattan and Jamaica, L.I.
July 7, 1918, page 30 It opened on July 3, 1918, The station served as a replacement for the

Long Island Rail Road 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 (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...

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 which ran along the LIRR

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 ...

. By the 1960s, the city planned to close significant portions of the line in Jamaica. This was part of Mayor

John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, mayor of New York City, and candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regular ...

's effort to demolish "obsolete elevated railway structures" in the city, and in preparation for the Archer Avenue Subway which would replace the eliminated portions of the line. In 1977, the three stops east of Queens Boulevard station were closed, and it became temporary terminal for the Jamaica Avenue Line. This was opposed by local residents due to the increased traffic it would bring. While Queens Boulevard was the line's temporary terminal, a crossover switch was added west of the station, and the tracks continued east of the station to Sutphin Boulevard as lay-up tracks. Queens Boulevard was closed on April 15, 1985, when the line was cut back to 121st Street, with the Q49 bus (created to replace the eastern section of the line) replacing it. The Q49 bus was discontinued when the rest of the Jamaica Line was connected to the Archer Avenue Subway.

Current status

Both Metropolitan Avenue and Queens Boulevard stations were demolished in late 1990. On December 11, 1988, the MTA opened the nearby Jamaica – Van Wyck subway station on the Archer Avenue line two blocks west of Queens Boulevard, which served as their replacement station. That station, however, only serves trains from 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 ...

; the closest stations for Jamaica Line service are 121st Street to the west and Sutphin Boulevard – JFK Airport to the east.

References

External links

* *
December 22, 1976 photo of a Green Bus at Queens Boulevard Jamaica El station by Ed McKernen (BusTalk)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queens Boulevard (Bmt Jamaica Line) Defunct BMT Jamaica Line stations 1985 disestablishments in New York (state) 1918 establishments in New York City Railway stations in the United States opened in 1916 1916 establishments in New York City Railway stations closed in 1985 Former elevated and subway stations in Queens, New York Jamaica, Queens