Times Square–42nd Street subway station
234 West 42nd Street | also 231 West 41st Street | Times Square | built 1999
Open on the map7 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1904
The city's first subway opens with a Times Square station beneath the New York Times building
On October 27, 1904, the Times Square station began service as one of the 28 original stops on the new subway. The walls and ceilings were still unfinished the day before. Months earlier the Board of Aldermen had renamed Longacre Square after the newspaper, and the Rapid Transit Commission agreed to rename the station to match. The Times headquarters, built by owner Adolph Ochs, housed the original station in its basement.
“The Times Square station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1928
A downtown express derails just after leaving the station, killing 16 on the spot and two more later
On the evening of August 24, 1928, the final two cars of a packed ten-car downtown express left the rails after a faulty switch moved beneath them. The ninth car hit a wall and pillars beside the track and split in half. About 100 people were hurt, and 18 died in all, the second-deadliest accident in subway history. A maintenance foreman was charged with negligent homicide, but the towerman turned out to be a clerk using a false name, Harry Stockdale, who had a Baltimore stabbing conviction. The charges against the foreman were dismissed.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2001
Jacob Lawrence's glass mosaic New York in Transit brightens the mezzanine
The MTA dates Jacob Lawrence's mosaic New York in Transit to 2001 and places it at the focal point of the Times Square mezzanine. Its shimmering surface pays tribute to the city's neighborhoods, cultural life, recreation, sports and subway. Lawrence, who was born in 1917 and moved to Harlem in 1930, imagined New York as it looks from an elevated train. The agency calls it his last public work, a parting gift to the millions of people who see it.
Source: mta.info
- 2002
Roy Lichtenstein's porcelain-enamel Times Square Mural shows a bullet-shaped train in a station
The MTA lists Roy Lichtenstein's Times Square Mural as a 2002 work in porcelain enamel. A futuristic car shaped like a bullet speeds through an underground station, in a composition that the agency says captures the subway's linear movement and energy. Lichtenstein borrowed the hooded figure at the right from Buck Rogers comic strips, and the "42" comes from his drawings of subway architectural details.
Source: mta.info
- 2008
Jane Dickson fills the 41st Street passage with about 70 life-size mosaic revelers
Jane Dickson's glass mosaic Revelers, dated 2008 by the MTA, runs through the lower mezzanine and the 41st Street passage that links the Seventh and Eighth Avenue stations. Roughly 70 life-size figures walk, gesture, link arms and dance among the real commuters, with smaller groups of two or three scattered along the corridors. The scene recalls Times Square's role as the place where crowds gather under neon on New Year's Eve.
Source: mta.info
- 2017
A pipe bomb strapped to a man partly explodes in the passageway to Port Authority at the morning rush
Just before 7:20 a.m. on December 11, 2017, a man in a hooded sweatshirt set off a pipe bomb strapped to his body in the long underground walkway between the Times Square and Port Authority stations. The device failed to fully detonate, and the attacker, Akayed Ullah, was the only person seriously hurt, with burns to his hands and abdomen. Three bystanders had minor injuries. Thousands of commuters fled through smoke-filled corridors while hundreds of police converged on Midtown.
Source: Internet Archive
- 2021
The rebuilt 42nd Street Shuttle platform opens, with a new passage to Bryant Park
The shuttle platform opened on September 7, 2021, replacing the side platforms laid out for the 1904 subway with one island platform 28 feet wide and 360 feet long between tracks 1 and 4. A new passageway ran east to the 42nd Street-Bryant Park station, making the shuttle station accessible. Nick Cave's mosaic Every One, with 11 digital screens, lines the passage. Track 3 had closed in November 2020 to make room.
“The new platform opened on September 7, 2021, along with the passageway to the 42nd Street–Bryant Park station.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Times Square–42nd Street stationWikipedia
Nearby
- Candler Building221 West 41st Street | 8 entries
- Empire Theatre (AMC Empire 25)250 West 42nd Street | 6 entries
- New Amsterdam Theatre214 West 42nd Street | 14 entries
- Eleven Times Square640 8th Avenue | 13 entries
- Former New York Herald Tribune Building230 West 41st Street | 8 entries
- Times Square Theater217 West 42nd Street | 12 entries