The 191st Street station is a station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of St. Nicholas Avenue and 191st Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, it is served by the 1 train at all times. It is the deepest station in the New York City Subway system at about below street level. Access to the station's main entrance is only provided by four elevators from the mezzanine situated above the platforms. Tunnel Street, a pedestrian tunnel, also extends west from the station to Broadway, connecting it with the Fort George neighborhood.
Built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), the station opened on January 14, 1911, as an infill station along the first subway. Even though the line through the area had opened five years earlier, no station was constructed at this location because the surrounding neighborhood had a lower population than other areas of Manhattan. Before the opening of the pedestrian tunnel two years later, the area's hilly topography made it hard for area residents to access the station. The opening of the station and the tunnel led to the development of the surrounding area, including the construction of apartment buildings. Hundreds of lots held by the Bennett family since 1835 were sold at an auction in 1919. These provided additional housing opportunities for the middle class, taking advantage of the area's improved transportation access.
History
Construction Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864, but development of what became 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 all legal conflicts over the route alignment 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, under 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 tunnel leading to what would become the 191st Street station was built as part of the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from a point north of 182nd Street to Hillside Avenue. Work on this section was conducted by L. B. McCabe & Brother, who started building the tunnel segment on March 27, 1901. The 168th Street, 181st Street, and 191st Street stations were built as part of the Washington Heights Mine Tunnel (also known as the Fort George Tunnel), which stretches for over . The tunnel was dug through the hard rock under Washington Heights, with work proceeding from either end as well as from construction shafts at 168th and 181st Streets.
Station
The West Side Branch was extended northward from 157th Street to a temporary terminus at 221st Street and Broadway on March 12, 1906. There was no station at 191st Street. With the construction of the line, the population in Washington Heights grew rapidly. It was determined that a station should be built at 191st Street to bridge the gap between the 181st Street and Dyckman Street stations, which had become overcrowded. A station had not been deemed necessary as this area of Manhattan was less densely populated, and it was thought that there was no need to have stations as close together as they were downtown.
The opening of the station was expected to spur development in the Fort George area. Its original sponsor was David Stewart. He and other property owners had pushed for the station's construction seeking better accessibility to their land. Following the announcement of the station's construction, and before it began, interest in nearby real estate, having been nonexistent in the previous two years, increased.
Construction of the station began on July 20, 1909. Work on new shafts began on August 18, 1909, after legal and engineering difficulties were straightened out in the previous months. Preliminary work involved the clearing of a site in a vacant lot south of 191st Street on the west side of St. Nicholas Avenue for a shaft deep. More than of rock was blasted and removed from the shaft. It was designed to accommodate four elevators and a steel emergency staircase from the surface to platform level. The four elevator wells were in the four corners of the main shaft with the staircase between them. The emergency staircase, along with those at the 168th Street and 181st Street stations, whose platforms were also accessed mainly by elevators, were used for the first time on March 23, 1914, after the elevators stopped working due to a problem at the Dyckman power station. This resulted in extreme congestion.
Construction of the station proved difficult. It required the sinking of a shaft and the widening of the tunnel bore on both sides to accommodate the platforms; this was accomplished without interrupting subway service. The station platforms were constructed by building two new tunnels alongside the existing tunnel, and connecting them once the platforms were complete. Blasting for the station was limited to between midnight and 5:00 a.m. when subway service was less frequent. The station platforms were designed to be long to accommodate 10-car express trains. Originally, part of the old tunnel arch was to be used for the station roof. However, the discovery of a mud seam, and the development of cracks in the roof, made it necessary to build a flat roof over the tracks, and filling in the space between the arch and the roof with concrete.
Pedestrian tunnel Along with the construction of the station, a tunnel was built to connect the station at 191st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue with Broadway, located west of Fairview Avenue. James A. Lynch, counsel for many subway contractors, recommended the construction of a tunnel street to provide better access to the station, and convinced local property owners and the city to fund it. The tunnel street cost $76,000, with $5,000 provided by the IRT and the remainder levied on the neighborhood property owners at their request. Engineers found the construction of the tunnel to be feasible since the subway platforms would be on almost the same level as Broadway.
On October 5, 1909, the Board of Improvements of Washington Heights approved plans for the construction of a tunnel to Riverside Drive. Three entrances to the tunnel were proposed at Broadway, Fort Washington Avenue, and Riverside Drive. The entrances to Broadway and Riverside Drive would have been located at street-level, as the tunnel was to be at the same elevation as the streets at these locations. Two elevators would be required for the entrance to Fort Washington Avenue, which was located at a higher elevation. The tunnel would have been bored from both sides, and was expected to be completed within 14 months.
Since the tunnel was to be located underneath private property, easements had to be obtained to allow for its construction. They were acquired in a proceeding under a provision of the City Charter, not under the terms of the Rapid Transit Act. In June 1910, the local board of directors sent a resolution calling for the construction of the street tunnel to the New York City Board of Estimate (NYCBOE). At the time, funding had been acquired for slightly more than half the length of the tunnel, with the remainder expected to be secured by easements. The NYCBOE approved the petition for the improvement and agreed to hold a public hearing on December 29, 1910. Unlike other streets in the city, easements were only acquired to a height of above the tunnel. In January, construction was expected to begin that summer. The contract for the underground street was let on September 9, 1911, and was awarded to the Bell-Ross Contracting Company, headed by Roswell D. Williams, on September 25. The company was given a year to finish the work, but expected to complete it in nine months. In October 1911, construction of the tunnel was expected to be completed on April 1, 1912; construction began in January 1912.
In December 1911, the local Board of Improvements authorized plans to extend the tunnel west at grade across Broadway and Bennett Avenue and to tunnel to a point underneath Fort Washington Avenue, the highest point in Manhattan, where elevators would take passengers to the surface. An extension of the tunnel was expected to lead quickly to development in the area. As such, an extension was discussed and questions were raised concerning which agency would operate the elevators. In June 1912, blasting on the tunnel was completed, with its expected opening date being September 1912. To cut down the danger of accidents, the contractors sank a shaft halfway up the hill and tunneled east to the subway station and west to Broadway.
The tunnel opened on March 8, 1913. At a ceremony for the tunnel's opening, Manhattan Borough President George McAneny, Commissioner Williams of the Public Service Commission and other officials unanimously allowed the street to be named Tunnel Street. The tunnel was also intended to be used as an easy way for pedestrians to get to St. Nicholas Avenue at the top of the hill; pedestrians were allowed to use the elevators free of charge. A new ticket booth opened on May 18, 1913. On December 31, 1913, the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court issued a decision denying a revision to the awards made for the easements for the tunnel's construction. Since it was very windy at both entrances to the tunnel, storm doors were later installed at either end of the tunnel.
At its connection to the subway station elevator, it is below the surface. The tunnel was built underneath a steep hill to save people a walk of and a steep climb. Before the tunnel opened, riders used circuitous routes to get to either the Dyckman Street or 181st Street stations. The tunnel provided better access westward to the Hudson River in the valley between 187th Street and Nagle Avenue. The tunnel was built to be wide and high in the center, with sides, and an arched roof with a radius of . The tunnel was built of concrete reinforced with steel, and excavated through solid rock, except for at the street end of the tunnel, which was built as a roofed-over cut. The tunnel's construction was expected to increase development in this area of Manhattan as the difficult terrain would no longer be a deterrent. The underground street remains the only one of its kind in Manhattan. The tunnel was lined with glazed tile, lit for its entire length, and guarded at all times. It had a stationary post where a policeman was always on duty. Policemen were stationed at either end of the tunnel. The tunnel's grade from the steps at the Broadway entrance to the subway platform is one percent to allow water used in cleaning that collects around the walls to drain through a sewer to the subway. The difference in elevation between the tunnel's two ends is .
The approach to the entrance through the building at the southwest corner of 191st Street and St. Nicholas Avenue was rebuilt by the Morgenthau Realty Company in conjunction with the construction of a building at this location. In November 1916, work on rebuilding the station entrance was completed.
Opening and early years