The Woodlawn station (sometimes called Woodlawn–Jerome Avenue station) is the northern
terminal
Terminal may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together
* Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line
* Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...
of the
New York City Subway
The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
's
IRT Jerome Avenue Line
The IRT Jerome Avenue Line, also unofficially known as IRT Woodlawn Line and IRT Burnside Avenue Line is an A Division (New York City Subway), A Division New York City Subway line mostly along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. Originally an Interboroug ...
. The station is located at the intersection of Bainbridge and
Jerome Avenues, outside
Woodlawn Cemetery. Despite the station name, this intersection is in the
Norwood section of
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, and not in
Woodlawn. It is served by the
4 train at all times. This station was constructed by the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT w ...
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 ...
and opened in 1918.
Its opening helped spur development of the area that had begun with the opening of nearby Woodlawn Cemetery. Following renovations in 2005, it was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
for its use of
ornamental concrete. A
public art
Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
display of
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
called ''Children at Play'' was also installed.
History
![Woodlawn IRT Jerome Avenue 1378](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Woodlawn_IRT_Jerome_Avenue_1378.JPG)
Background
In the 1840s, the
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 18 ...
made the first rail connection between Manhattan and what became the
Woodlawn neighborhood, a connection that still exists via the
Woodlawn station on what is now
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 ...
's
Harlem Line
The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...
. At that time, like much of the western Bronx, it was still rural and heavily farmed. Residential development did not start until after the opening of the cemetery in 1865. As a
rural cemetery
A rural cemetery or garden cemetery is a style of cemetery that became popular in the United States and Europe in the mid-nineteenth century due to the overcrowding and health concerns of urban cemeteries. They were typically built one to five ...
, at the time of its opening, it was as much a park as a burial ground, a popular place to visit for strolls and picnics. By the 1890s the surrounding neighborhood was well-populated with working-class
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
and
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
.
Those residents had regularly been lobbying for a subway connection, which was constructed the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT w ...
(IRT) was expanded via 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 ...
.
Construction and opening
The Dual Contracts, which were signed on March 19, 1913, were contracts for the construction and/or rehabilitation and operation of rapid transit lines in the
City of New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. The contracts were "dual" in that they were signed between the City and two separate private companies (the
Interborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT w ...
and the
Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company
The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) was a public transit holding company formed in 1896 to acquire and consolidate railway lines in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It was a prominent corporation and industry leader using ...
), all working together to make the construction of the Dual Contracts possible. The Dual Contracts promised the construction of several lines in the Bronx. As part of Contract 3, the IRT agreed to build an elevated line along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx.
[ ]
The first part of the line opened on June 2, 1917 as a shuttle service between Kingsbridge Road and 149th Street,
in advance of through service to the
IRT Lexington Avenue Line
The IRT Lexington Avenue Line (also known as the IRT East Side Line and the IRT Lexington–Fourth Avenue Line) is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Lower Manhattan north to 125th Street in East H ...
, which began on July 17, 1918.
Woodlawn station opened on April 15, 1918 as part of the final extension of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line from
Kingsbridge Road.
This section was initially served by shuttle service, with passengers transferring at 167th Street. The construction of the line encouraged development along Jerome Avenue, and made surrounding areas desirable places for commuters to live, leading to their growth.
The station was named after Woodlawn Road, the former name of Bainbridge Avenue,
but is most often associated with
Woodlawn Cemetery,
whose main entrance is just up the street. Woodlawn Road was renamed years ago, but the old name persists to this day on some signs.
Woodlawn, though, became even more densely populated after the station opened. The cemetery, which had lobbied for a stop nearby, benefited as well. It opened a sales office to deal with the demand for burial plots. The subway's connection to
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
led to many
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
figures such as
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...
and
W. C. Handy
William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...
being buried at Woodlawn.
The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940.
Later years
The 1991 death of John McNalley at the station triggered an investigation into whether it could have been prevented. McNalley, in his 50s, had been reported as having difficulties as the train passed the
Burnside Avenue station, six stops south. The train continued north;
transit police
Transit police (also known as transport police, railway police, railroad police and several other terms) are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier (a transit district, railway, railroad, bus line, or any other mass tran ...
were notified of the situation at
Fordham Road
Fordham Road is a major thoroughfare in the Bronx, New York City, that runs west-east from the Harlem River to Bronx Park. Fordham Road houses the borough's largest and most diverse shopping district. It geographically separates the North Bron ...
. By the time
paramedic
A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research.
Not all ambulance personnel are p ...
s were able to reach McNalley he had died from
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
. Transit police officers claimed that their calls to the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...
command center urging the train to be stopped were ignored. Their union president called for police to be given the authority to order a train stopped in an emergency.
In the mid-2000s, the station was renovated, as were others on the line. The second story was added above the mezzanine. Inside, the newsstand was restored. The station was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
after it was renovated.
Albright's work was installed in two stages.
Albright, a
Queens College
Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...
graduate and city native who has been commissioned to do several
public art
Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...
works in the city, is primarily a painter and
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
ist who focuses on everyday members of the community.
''Children at Play'' was her first work in glass, and she spent time at a
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
glass fabricator to understand the process. She took much of her inspiration from watching her son and his friends play, and also visited the station's vicinity extensively.
Station layout
![Woodlawn; IRT Jerome Avenue; Stop Sign; Trk 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Woodlawn%3B_IRT_Jerome_Avenue%3B_Stop_Sign%3B_Trk_1.jpg)
The station has two tracks, one center
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 ...
and two disused
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 extending south, ending a short distance north of 213th Street. The tracks end at
bumper block
A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track.
The design of the buffer stop is dependent, in part, on the kind of couplings ...
s at the north end of the platforms. The station was formerly set up as a
Spanish solution
In railway and rapid transit parlance, the Spanish solution is a station layout with two railway platforms, one on each side of the track, which allows for separate platforms for boarding and alighting.
Description
This platform arrangement allo ...
with alighting passengers using the side platforms and boarding passengers using the island platform in a style similar to the other Bronx
IRT terminals. Now all passengers use the island platform.
The 4 stops here at all times.
There are old style signs on the center platform built from the ground up.
The station is located above
Jerome Avenue
Jerome Avenue is one of the longest thoroughfares in the New York City borough of the Bronx, New York, United States. The road is long and stretches from Concourse to Woodlawn. Both of these termini are with the Major Deegan Expressway which ...
just south of its oblique intersection with Bainbridge Avenue at that street's northern end.
Woodlawn Cemetery is on the east side of the street, and its main entrance and
gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...
are a block to the north of the station.
Exterior
Squire J. Vickers
Squire Joseph Vickers (1872–1947) was an "underground Renaissance man", according to ''The New York Times''. He was a chief architect of the New York City subway system.
Vickers began work in the subways in 1906, as a young architect, and worke ...
, the chief architect for the subway system, designed the station in 1917. The use of ornamental concrete was in keeping with his dictum that, in any location where an elevated subway line intersected a major boulevard or was close to a scenic asset such as a parkway, it should be sheathed in it. As a result, it serves as a visual focal point for the area and connects the commercial areas on either side of the street. Its interior is also decorated with the
ceramic tilework that characterizes many of his stations above and below ground.
Woodlawn is built of
steel frame
Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The developm ...
faced in ornamental concrete, with a large headhouse at the northern end.
Three large steel arches over Jerome Avenue support the
mezzanine
A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...
level. The tracks above them are supported by through
girder
A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizing ' ...
s with four half-inch ()
expansion joint
An expansion joint, or movement joint, is an assembly designed to hold parts together while safely absorbing temperature-induced expansion and contraction of building materials, and vibration, or to allow movement due to ground settlement or seis ...
s at their intersection with the supporting members in order to mitigate stress to the concrete caused by vibrations from passing trains.
Burlap
Hessian (, ), burlap in the United States and Canada, or crocus in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, is a woven fabric usually made from skin of the jute plant or sisal fibres, which may be combined with other vegetable fibres to make rope, nets, ...
coated in
coal tar
Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psoriasi ...
atop the girders provides a waterproof track floor.
The concrete surface of the platforms is smooth, in contrast to the rough
bush-hammered finish preferred elsewhere on the IRT Dual System stations.
Corrugated metal
Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...
windscreens are located along the length of the side platforms, which have also been enclosed in plywood. The west side has been partially enclosed to serve as station rooms. They are covered in steel frame canopies with
truss
A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure.
In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...
supports and wooden-slat
gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d roofs and lit by
fluorescent
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, tha ...
fixtures.
At the south end the platforms are open and lit by modern double lampposts. Just south of the island platform's end is a pyramid-roofed original signal tower. There are other signal towers and service rooms, faced in corrugated metal, south of the other platforms. A flagman's structure is beneath the north end of the island platform canopy.
Interior
The entrances are at the base of the stair towers. They are openings sheltered by a
bracketed metal
portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
that echoes the station's roof-line. Pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks can continue through.
Stairs lead up to the mezzanine, its interior faced in cream-colored brick. Fifteen
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
panels in the five windows, depicting children playing against swirling, colorful backgrounds, comprise a work called ''Children at Play'' by Josie Gonzalez Albright. There is a newsstand and restrooms here.
Three separate flights of stairs lead up to the platform. Here, there is a dispatcher's office and crew quarters in the tops of the stair towers. There is a
turnstile
A turnstile (also called a turnpike, gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce one-way human traffic. In addition, a t ...
bank and
MetroCard
The MetroCard is a magnetic stripe card used for fare payment on transportation in the New York City area. It is the primary payment method for the New York City Subway (including the Staten Island Railway), New York City Transit buses and MTA ...
machines.
Exits
![Woodlawn 4 IRT stair jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Woodlawn_4_IRT_stair_jeh.JPG)
The station's only exits are at the very north end of all of the platforms, where the head house is. Two cubical concrete stair towers with corner piers are at either end of the head house,
going down to either side of Jerome Avenue at Bainbridge Avenue.
The symmetrical windows on the west end are original nine-light
casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...
s; those on the east have been covered over or replaced. All are flanked with a narrow, wide-silled window similar to those on the north
facade. Piers are at the corners. Murals with patriotic themes have been painted on the sides. At the top, below the gently
pitched gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d roof in standing-seam metal, is a
polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.
Ancient Egypt
Colossal statu ...
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
above three recessed panels.
Between the towers is a two-story span. Its lower level, the
mezzanine
A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...
, is faced in concrete and divided into three sections divided by square pilasters. All have a recessed triple casement window; that in the central portion is flanked by two similar double windows. Traffic lights are mounted on the west side and western portion of the central section below window level. At the top of each pilaster is a mosaic tile. A smooth metal strip runs across the top. Above it is an apparent second story, sided in the vertical plywood that shelters the platform. It is recessed slightly from the mezzanine, with its
fenestration
Fenestration may refer to:
* Fenestration (architecture), the design, construction, or presence of openings in a building
* Used in relation to fenestra in anatomy, medicine and biology
* Fenestration, holes in the rudder of a ship to reduce the w ...
echoing that below.
See also
*
List of New York City Subway terminals
In the New York City Subway there are three types of terminal stations:
# Station where a train proceeds beyond the station, like at a non-terminal station, and returns to service on another track.
# Station with one or more tracks, often wit ...
*
References
External links
*
* nycsubway.org â€
Children At Play by Josie Gonzalez Albright (2005)* Station Reporter â€
* The Subway Nut â€
* MTA's Arts For Transit â€
*[https://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.886614,-73.878314&spn=0.004039,0.013433&z=17&layer=c&cbll=40.886789,-73.878205&panoid=PbF841YrG8X4ZcEO0o_gTA&cbp=12,337.19,,0,2.56 Bainbridge Avenue entrance from Google Maps Street View]
Platforms from Google Maps Street View
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York
IRT Jerome Avenue Line stations
Railway and subway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City
National Register of Historic Places in the Bronx
New York City Subway stations in the Bronx
New York City Subway stations located aboveground
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1918
1918 establishments in New York City
Norwood, Bronx
New York City Subway terminals