The York Street station is a
station on the
IND Sixth Avenue Line
The IND Sixth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in the United States. It runs mainly under Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and continues south to Brooklyn. The B, D, F, and M trains, which use th ...
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 ...
. It is served by the
F train at all times and the
<F> train during rush hours in the peak direction. It is located at York Street and Jay Street in
Dumbo
''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, a ...
and is the only Sixth Avenue Line station in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
History
Background
More than 50 years before the construction of the IND Sixth Avenue Line, the intersection of York and Jay Streets was between two stations on the original
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 Corpor ...
. West of the intersection was
York and Washington Streets station, which had a connection to the
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...
via the New York and Brooklyn Bridge Railway. One block east of the station was the
Bridge Street station. The line and the two stations ran west to east, were built by
Brooklyn Elevated Railroad The Brooklyn Elevated Railroad was an elevated railroad company in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, operated from 1885 until 1899, when it was merged into the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company-controlled Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad.
Lines
...
on May 13, 1885
and closed by
Brooklyn Rapid Transit
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 ...
on April 11, 1904.
Construction and opening
New York City mayor
John Francis Hylan
John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936) was the 96th Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskills, Hylan eventually obtained work in Brook ...
's original plans for the
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 ...
(IND), proposed in 1922, included building over of new lines and taking over nearly of existing lines, which would compete with the IRT and the
Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation
The Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) was an urban transit holding company, based in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, and incorporated in 1923. The system was sold to the city in 1940. Today, together with the IND subway s ...
(BMT), the two major subway operators of the time. The
IND Sixth Avenue Line
The IND Sixth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in the United States. It runs mainly under Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and continues south to Brooklyn. The B, D, F, and M trains, which use th ...
was designed to replace the elevated
IRT Sixth Avenue Line
The IRT Sixth Avenue Line, often called the Sixth Avenue Elevated or Sixth Avenue El, was the second elevated railway in Manhattan in New York City, following the Ninth Avenue Elevated.
The line ran south of Central Park, mainly along Sixth A ...
.
The first portion of the line to be constructed was then known as the Houston–Essex Street Line, which ran under Houston, Essex, and Rutgers Streets. The contract for the line was awarded to Corson Construction in January 1929, and construction of this section officially started in May 1929.
The York Street station opened on January 1, 1936, as the southern terminus of the first four stations to open on the Sixth Avenue Line. Two local tracks split from a junction with the
Eighth Avenue Line south of
West Fourth Street–Washington Square
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, running east under Houston Street and south under Essex Street to a temporary terminal at East Broadway.
The station was initially served by
E trains to
Church Avenue.
Just after midnight on April 9, 1936, trains began running under the East River via the Rutgers Street Tunnel, which connected the Houston-Essex Street Line with the north end of the Culver Line at a junction with the Eighth Avenue Line north of
Jay Street–Borough Hall
A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family (biology), family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For examp ...
. E trains were sent through the connection to
Church Avenue.
When further sections of the Sixth Avenue Line opened on December 15, 1940, the F train replaced the E train at the East Broadway station.
Station layout
This underground, deep-level station has two tracks and one narrow
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 ...
. Located at the southern end of the
Rutgers Street Tunnel
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...
, it has round
deep-bore walls with matte-finish white brick tiling and purple tile border. The station is about deep. The platform contains six large circular
piers Piers may refer to:
* Pier, a raised structure over a body of water
* Pier (architecture), an architectural support
* Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name)
* Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
supporting the
Manhattan Bridge
The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is long, with the suspension cables be ...
, which contain white-brick tiling.
The standard I-beam columns are painted blue with alternating ones having black name plates in white lettering. The columns are largely apart, except at two locations where they are apart.
To the north of the station, the Sixth Avenue Line continues via the Rutgers Street Tunnel to
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 ...
; to the south, it converges with the
IND Eighth Avenue Line
The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in New York City, United States, and is part of the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND), and the ''Eighth Avenu ...
and ends north of
Jay Street. The Sixth Avenue Line tracks continue south as the
IND Culver Line
The IND Culver Line (formerly BMT Culver Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, extending from Downtown Brooklyn south to Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. The local tracks of the Culv ...
.
Exit
Northern exit
![York IND Jay sta jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/York_IND_Jay_sta_jeh.JPG)
The only exit, located at the station's north end, leads to the Rutgers Street tunnel ventilation tower at the intersection of York Street and Jay Street. It has a turnstile bank and long passageway and staircase to the platform.
Proposed southern exit
There were proposals for a mezzanine at the station's south end, with an unbuilt entrance leading to the intersection of High Street and Jay Street.
[ The lack of an entrance created dangerous conditions. For example, when the northern exit was obscured by smoke during a fire in 2003, several commuters were hospitalized because they were mistakenly diverted to the south end of the platform. In 2016, Delson or Sherman Architects proposed a new accessible entrance at the south end of the York Street station.
The MTA started conducting a feasibility study for a new entrance in 2021, following complaints from local residents and politicians who said the single entrance posed a safety hazard. The study found that both options for a new southern entrance would be prohibitively expensive because of the complex infrastructure around the site. A full stair and elevator entrance would cost $420–450 million, while an entrance containing only elevators would cost $230–260 million.][ In both cases, a new mezzanine would need to be constructed.][ At the time, the MTA was expected to receive $7 million for station improvements from the developer of a nearby building.]
Points of interest
* Dumbo Tech Triangle[
*]Farragut Houses
The Farragut Houses is a public housing project located in the downtown neighborhood of northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, bordering the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Farragut Houses is a property of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The houses ...
[
*]Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
[
** Commandant's House at Brooklyn Navy Yard][
]
References
External links
*
* Station Reporter â€
F Train
* The Subway Nut â€
York Street Pictures
York Street entrance from Google Maps Street View
Platform from Google Maps Street View
{{NYCS stations navbox by line, 6ave=yes
IND Sixth Avenue Line stations
New York City Subway stations in Brooklyn
New York City Subway stations located underground
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1936
1936 establishments in New York City
Brooklyn Heights
Dumbo, Brooklyn