The 145th Street station is a station on the IRT Lenox Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 145th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, Manhattan, it is served by the 3 train at all times. Built for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the 145th Street station contains two side platforms that can only fit six and a half train cars, unlike almost all other IRT stations, which are able to fit full-length ten-car trains.
The station opened in 1904 as one of the northern termini of the original subway line operated by the IRT. With the construction of the Harlem–148th Street station to the north in the 1960s, the 145th Street station was planned to be closed, but due to community opposition, and passengers' protests, the station remained open. Since the 145th Street station is the second-to-last stop on the line, entry is provided only to the southbound platform, although northbound customers are allowed to exit from this station. The station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and was closed from July to November 2018 for extensive renovations.
The 145th Street station contains two side platforms and two tracks. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations. The platforms contain exits to Lenox Avenue's intersection with 145th Street and are not connected to each other within fare control.
History
Construction and opening
Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864. However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. It called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into the Bronx. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and legal challenges were resolved near the end of 1899. The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, in which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations. Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.
The 145th Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's East Side Branch (now the Lenox Avenue Line). The original plan envisioned a station on the Lenox Avenue Line at 141st Street, just south of the 142nd Street Junction, where a spur of the Lenox Avenue Line diverges to the Bronx via the IRT White Plains Road Line. This was ultimately not built, and instead, the 145th Street station became the last stop on the Lenox Avenue Line before it entered the Lenox Yard, a train maintenance yard immediately to the north. McMullan & McBean began work on the section from 135th Street and Lenox Avenue to Gerard Avenue and 149th Street, including the 145th Street spur, on September 10, 1901.
On November 23, 1904, the East Side Branch opened to 145th Street. Initially, the station was served by East Side local and express trains. Local trains ran from City Hall to Lenox Avenue (145th Street). Express trains had their southern terminus at South Ferry or Atlantic Avenue and had their northern terminus at 145th Street or West Farms (180th Street). South of the station, most northbound trains used a switch to access the western platform, which served both entering and exiting passengers; the train would then reenter service in the southbound direction. Northbound trains heading to Lenox Yard would drop off passengers on the eastern platform, which was an exit-only platform and did not have any ticket booths. Express trains to 145th Street were eliminated in 1906.
Later years
In 1918, the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south of Times Square–42nd Street, and the original line was divided into an "H"-shaped system. Local trains were sent to South Ferry. The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. The IRT routes were given numbered designations with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock. These fleet contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service. The first such fleet, the R12, was put into service in 1948. The route to Lenox Avenue–145th Street became the 3. The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) announced plans in 1956 to add fluorescent lights above the edges of the station's platforms. In 1959, all 3 trains became express.