155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)

The 155th Street station was an elevated railway station in Manhattan, New York City, that operated from 1870 until 1958. It served as the north terminal of the IRT Ninth Avenue Line from its opening until 1918 and then as the southern terminal of a surviving stub portion from 1940 until its closure in 1958. It had two tracks and one island platform.

For other uses, see 155th Street.
 155th Street
 
Former New York City Subway station
Station statistics
AddressWest 155th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard
New York, NY 10039
BoroughManhattan
LocaleHarlem and Coogan's Bluff
Coordinates40.8301°N 73.9382°W / 40.8301; -73.9382
DivisionA (IRT)[1]
LineIRT Ninth Avenue Line
ServicesNone (demolished)
Platforms2 island platforms (1913–1940)
1 island platform (1940-1958)[2]
Tracks5 (1913–1940)
2 (1940–1958)
Other information
OpenedDecember 1, 1879 (December 1, 1879)[3]
ClosedAugust 31, 1958 (August 31, 1958)[4]
Next northSedgwick Avenue
Next south151st Street (Local)
145th Street (Express)
Location
155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line) is located in New York City Subway
155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)
155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line) is located in New York City
155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)
155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line) is located in New York
155th Street station (IRT Ninth Avenue Line)
Street map

Station service legend
Symbol Description
Stops all times Stops in station at all times
Stops all times except late nights Stops all times except late nights
Stops late nights only Stops late nights only
Stops late nights and weekends Stops late nights and weekends only
Stops weekdays during the day Stops weekdays during the day
Stops weekends during the day Stops weekends during the day
Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times except rush hours in the peak direction
Stops all times except weekdays in the peak direction Stops all times except weekdays in the peak direction
Stops daily except rush hours in the peak direction Stops all times except nights and rush hours in the peak direction
Stops rush hours only Stops rush hours only
Stops rush hours in the peak direction only Stops rush hours in the peak direction only
Station closed Station is closed
(Details about time periods)

History

When the Ninth Avenue El was extended to Harlem in 1879[5] it terminated at 155th Street as a matter of geographic necessity (the hills of Washington Heights and Highbridge would have made an northward expansion difficult) and demand (northern Manhattan and the Bronx were still sparsely populated). Development came to the area with the New York City and Northern Railroad (later known as the Putnam Division) building its terminal at 155th Street in 1881 and the Polo Grounds relocating to a site just west of the station in 1889. The line expanded into The Bronx on June 1, 1918, when the Putnam Bridge, which had been built in 1881 to carry the Putnam Division across the Harlem River, was leased by the IRT and connected to the 9th Avenue line, allowing it to join the IRT Jerome Avenue Line and add intermediate stops at Sedgwick Avenue and Anderson–Jerome Avenues.

With the building of the Eighth Avenue Line and Concourse Line by the city-owned Independent Subway System in the 1930s, the Ninth Avenue El was rendered redundant. On June 12, 1940, the el was closed entirely except for the portion from this station north to provide a connection from the Jerome Avenue Line to the Polo Grounds. The retained service, known as the Polo Grounds Shuttle, ran from 155th Street to the 167th Street on the Jerome Avenue Line.

Though still moderately successful at its outset, the Polo Grounds Shuttle eventually suffered at the hands of the Concourse line and declining ridership of the New York Central's Putnam Division, the successor to New York and Northern. The need for the shuttle decreased when the Polo Grounds went vacant in 1957 after the baseball Giants moved to San Francisco and football Giants moved across the river to Yankee Stadium.

On May 29, 1958, the New York Central ceased operations on the Putnam Division, which rendered the shuttle unnecessary. Three months later, at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, August 31, the shuttle was shut down and the elevated portion of the line demolished. The two underground stations were abandoned, but remain intact.

References
  1. "Glossary". Second Avenue Subway Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) (PDF). Vol. 1. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. March 4, 2003. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  2. "Showing Image 8296". 1950s. Archived from the original on March 14, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  3. Brennan, Joseph. ""The two roads are in perfect accord" 1878-1879". Archived from the original on October 13, 2016. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
  4. "Polo Grounds El is Doomed". New York Daily News. August 20, 1958. p. C8. Retrieved June 30, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  5. "The 9th Avenue Elevated-Polo Grounds Shuttle". nycsubway.org. 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
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